Superstars of the '70s

[Dawn]

In Joe's "Summer Songs" thread, I mentioned listening to "School's Out" on a compilation I've owned since I was a kid. That compilation was a 4 LP set called "Superstars of the '70s", issued by Warner Special Products. Here's a picture of the cover art - very retro-looking:



I bought the album set at a yard sale for $2.00 in either summer 1978 or '79, I can't recall exactly which. At the time I wasn't familiar with some of the songs by title, but I did know "Anticipation" (the ketchup song!), "American Woman" and several others, so I happily picked it up.

What's interesting is that I used to play some of the album sides and songs over and over - kinda "cherry-picking" as I was prone to do with albums when I was younger, while others I didn't listen to at all until many years later. So "Surf's Up" was actually in my collection for most of my life, and it took me years to discover that gem! (I'd always listen to "School's Out" and "Summer Breeze" and then stop to change records. I should have listened further!).

Here's the tracklisting:


A1 Alice Cooper - School's Out
A2 Seals & Crofts - Summer Breeze
A3 The Beach Boys - Surf's Up
A4 Randy Newman - Sail Away
A5 Judy Collins - Both Sides Now
A6 The Doors - Tightrope Ride

B1 Bee Gees - Lonely Days
B2 James Taylor - Fire & Rain
B3 Grateful Dead - Truckin'
B4 Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway - Where Is the Love
B5 Stephen Stills - Love the One You're With
B6 Yes - Roundabout

C1 The Doors - Light My Fire
C2 Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit
C3 Crosby, Stills & Nash - Marrakesh Express
C4 Jimi Hendrix - Purple Haze
C5 Bee Gees - To Love Somebody
C6 The Kinks - Lola

D1 Carly Simon - Anticipation
D2 The Guess Who - American Woman
D3 Todd Rundgren - We Gotta Get You a Woman
D4 America - Ventura Highway
D5 Jo Jo Gunne - Run, Run, Run
D6 The Rolling Stones - Tumbling Dice

E1 Otis Redding - (Sitting On) The Dock of the Bay
E2 Deep Purple - Hush
E3 Gordon Lightfoot - If You Could Read My Mind
E4 Roberta Flack - The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
E5 Jimi Hendrix - Foxey Lady
E6 Led Zeppelin - Whole Lotta Love

F1 Eagles - Take It Easy
F2 America - A Horse With No Name
F3 The Byrds - Cowgirl in the Sand
F4 Joni Mitchell - Big Yellow Taxi
F5 The Guess Who - These Eyes
F6 Van Morrison - Domino
F7 Judy Collins - Amazing Grace

G1 The Doobie Brothers - Listen to the Music
G2 Joni Mitchell - Woodstock
G3 Wilson Pickett - In the Midnight Hour
G4 Arlo Guthrie - City of New Orleans
G5 Jackson Browne - Doctor My Eyes
G6 Black Sabbath - Paranoid

H1 The Allman Brothers Band - One Way Out
H2 Aretha Franklin - (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman
H3 Faces - Stay With Me
H4 Graham Nash - Chicago
H5 The Rolling Stones - Happy
H6 Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Lucky Man

I think the "D" and "F" sides were the ones I listened to the most overall, along with the first two songs on side "A".

Of all the compilations I've come across during my record hunts, I'd have to say this one would have to rank among the best ever. The number of Hall of Fame inductees is amazing...The Beach Boys, Aretha, the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Led Zeppelin...just to name a few. Much as I have a soft spot for K-Tel, Ronco records and the like, they were known to include many "filler" artists. But there's definitely no filler in this Warner collection.

[Railyn]

Decent compliation.

I have some good ones. I'll have to see if I can find some info and post it.

[H2IZCOOL]

It's a great compilation, but the first thing that jumps out at me is that not only was Siitin' On the Dock Of the Bay from early '68, but it was a posthumous song for Otis Redding. He died just about the time the song was released. He was hardly a superstar of the '70s.

- Dawn - about Surf's Up. You bought that record when you were about 10. That song is difficult to appreciate at that age.

[m c dornan]

Quite a few of those are late 60s songs.

The big surprise is the Doors' "Tightrope Ride". Never heard of that before!

Is the Byrds' "Cowgirl in the Sand" the Neil Young song?

[Dawn]

Jun 11, 2010 22:04:45 GMT -5 H2IZCOOL said:

It's a great compilation, but the first thing that jumps out at me is that not only was Siitin' On the Dock Of the Bay from early '68, but it was a posthumous song for Otis Redding. He died just about the time the song was released. He was hardly a superstar of the '70s.

- Dawn - about Surf's Up. You bought that record when you were about 10. That song is difficult to appreciate at that age.

I think you may be right about "Surf's Up," Ed. Although I can't recall for sure, it's likely that I did hear at least the first part of it at some point while listening to the other songs on the album, but it didn't "stick" with me then enough to listen further. As you mentioned, it's not the kind of song a grade-school age kid would necessarily take to...too complex and "arty," maybe, for lack of a better word. Love it now, though.

[Dawn]

Jun 11, 2010 23:42:57 GMT -5 m c dornan said:

Quite a few of those are late 60s songs.

The big surprise is the Doors' "Tightrope Ride". Never heard of that before!

Is the Byrds' "Cowgirl in the Sand" the Neil Young song?

Yep, I too thought it was strange that they titled it a compilation of the '70s when around 1/2 the collection is actually from the '60s. I'm guessing it was an attempt to sound current.

"Tightrope Ride" was released after Jim Morrison's death, on an album called Other Voices.

Yes, the very same. I remember not being overly fond of the song as a kid, but it's grown on me quite a bit as I've gotten older.

[Ken]

This sure brings back memories Dawn, my brother had this compilation on 8 - track sometime in the mid 70's and I listened to it all the time. A terrific collection.

Like you, I use to "cherry pick" when I played it which was harder to do on 8 track (having to press the fast forward button to get through the songs I didn't know as well as others.


There are so many great tunes included. "Paranoid" was the only Sabbath song I could listen to the rest of their songs were way too "gloom and doom" way to creepy lol


The only Doors songs I was familiar with at the time were "Light My Fire" and "People are Strange." I always played LMF but always skipped over "Tightrope Ride" so I didn't discover it until the 80's when I found a copy of the song on 45.