Tuesday Tunes 287: Still In The Seventies

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Having had a couple of trips down Memory Lane in recent weeks I still have a few more to play from those days, so I’m going for another set from the Seventies this week. As before, the only things they have in common are that I like them, and the decade in which they were released. Sounds fair to me, so let’s get started.

As I always try to do, I’m starting with something to blow away any cobwebs:

Thin Lizzy released their version of Rosalie as the opening track on their fifth album, Fighting, in September 1975. The song is a cover of Bob Seger’s original, which they take slightly faster and with more verve. Both versions are good, though. This was their first album to chart in the UK, peaking at #60, before things began to take off for them with their next release, Jailbreak, a mere six months later. This track was released as a single but didn’t chart anywhere, though it was then re-released in 1978 and got to #20 in the UK. It’s one I’ve always liked – as with most of their stuff. I saw them play live twice back in the day, and they were great.

In a more gentle mood for this next one:

America released A Horse With No Name in the UK in November 1971, and it peaked at #3. The US release followed in January 1972 and there it made #1. It sold over a million copies in the US and 600k in the UK – pretty impressive numbers, especially for a debut record by a hitherto unknown band. Their eponymous debut album was also released in January 1972: in the US they got this song on it, but we didn’t. I had already bought the single anyway, before buying the album too. Imagine my delight when, after the single’s success, they re-released the album here with this track on it. Record companies know how to take our money, don’t they! The album made #1 in the US and Canada, and got to #14 here – combined UK sales across the two versions topped 100k, and it was another million seller in the US.

Next up is one of the most iconic songs of this – or any – decade:

Walk On The Wild Side was a track on Lou Reed’s second album, Transformer, which was released in November 1972, a month after I went to uni. It’s funny how our minds play tricks on us, isn’t it: if I’d been pressed to guess when this came out I’d have gone for my later schooldays, maybe 1969 or 1970. No matter, it’s still a fantastic song, and that insidious bass line is brilliant in the way it underpins Lou’s laconic vocals. The album peaked at #29 in the US but did better here in the UK, reaching #13. The song was released at the same time as the lead single, as a double A-side with Perfect Day: now that’s what I call value for money as a single purchase! It was a hit on both sides of the Atlantic, at #16 in the US and #10 in the UK, and no doubt that helped the album’s sales too, though the single alone sold more than 600k copies in the UK: the album has been certified Triple Platinum here.

The lyrics of Walk on the Wild Side were, as Wikipedia note, groundbreaking and risqué for their time, telling stories not usually told in rock songs up to then and containing references to prostitution, transgender people, and oral sex. Lou is quoted as saying  “I always thought it would be kinda fun to introduce people to characters they maybe hadn’t met before, or hadn’t wanted to meet,” and he sure did that! Transformer was produced by David Bowie and was recorded at Trident Studios in London, which probably explains why a number of British musicians played on it, notably Herbie Flowers, who gave us the wonderful bass on this track, and Ronnie Ross who is credited for the saxophone.

This next one is another from early in the Seventies, and marks (no pun intended) the point at which one of the decade’s biggest bands took off in the UK:

T Rex originally began as Tyrannosaurus Rex, playing a brand of folk rock music heavily imbued with mystical elements. They built a strong following across several albums and singles, and then shortened their name, releasing Ride A White Swan as a single in October 1970. Some of their followers saw this a sellout, others – like me – loved it and saw it as a natural progression, though I don’t think I’d seen the transformation into glam rock coming! It reached #2 in the UK and even got to #76 in the US, where they were generally far less successful. It began a fantastic run of hit singles for Marc Bolan and his band here in the UK: over the next two years they enjoyed four #1s and four #2s in our singles charts, and also managed a #1 and three other top ten entries in our album charts. They enjoyed a good deal of success across Europe, too, and even made the US Albums chart on several occasions. They were different and exciting, and isn’t that what pop music is all about? Sadly, we lost Marc far too young to a car accident (he was 29), which I always remember as it happened on my birthday, and turning on the tv news when we got back from a meal out rather put a damper on things.

I’m closing today with something from one of my all time favourite musicians:

Refugee sneaks in at the end of the decade, having been included on the third album by Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers, Damn The Torpedoes, which was released in October 1979 and reached #2 in the US and Canada, #1 in New Zealand, and a rather paltry #57 here in the UK. I was already a fan by then, and added this one to my collection as soon as  I could. Like everything he did, it is a great record, which was rewarded by Triple Platinum status in the US for 3m sales and by being included in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time. Well merited, in my view. I’m slightly cheating here, as this track wasn’t released as a single until January 1980, but who’s counting?  It peaked at #15 in the US, #2 in Canada and at #3 in New Zealand, but didn’t make the UK Singles chart. Wikipedia mentions several cover versions of the song, including one by Alvin And The Chipmunks, but I’d need to be feeling extremely brave to venture anywhere near that one!

That’s today’s set of five and, as always, I hope you found something in here to enjoy. I’ll see you again soon, and wish you a good week. Take care 😊

[A quick PS: if you’re wondering who said that quote at the beginning, it was David Lee Roth]

54 thoughts on “Tuesday Tunes 287: Still In The Seventies”

  2. The selection keeps the seventies thread alive with a solid spread—Thin Lizzy’s punchier take on Rosalie adding that live-era verve you clearly still feel from seeing them twice, America’s deceptive simplicity in A Horse With No Name (those million-seller stats never quite prepare you for how quietly hypnotic the acoustic line is), and the understated menace of Herbie Flowers’ bass anchoring Walk On The Wild Side so perfectly beneath Reed’s deadpan delivery. It’s easy to see why that track still feels groundbreaking; the way it introduces those characters without apology lingers.

    T. Rex’s Ride A White Swan marks that sharp pivot from folk to glam you note, and the personal sting of Bolan’s death landing on your birthday adds a layer most retrospectives skip. Ending with Refugee feels like a strong closer—Petty’s refusal to let the hooks overwhelm the bite keeps it timeless rather than dated.

    These Tuesday Tunes posts consistently pull from genuine affection rather than obligation, and the mix of chart facts, production nods (Bowie at the helm, Trident’s sound), and lived memories gives them more substance than a straight playlist dump. It’s the kind of sharing that makes you want to dig out the originals and listen again, especially the ones that shaped taste back when. Solid continuation of the series.

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    • Thank you for taking the time and trouble to read, watch and offer such a detailed commentary. I won’t attempt to answer every point: I’ll just say that I agree with your intelligent assessments of the songs.

      I’m pleased you appreciate this series, which has become the mainstay of my blog for nearly six years!

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  5. You certainly finished with the best, Clive…I am so pleased you didn’t pick “Perfect Day” for your playlist. That song is at the top of my most disliked songs; it makes me cringe… T. Rex was my sister’s favourite. She was so upset when he passed…I must admit I quite like them, although at the time, little sis got ridiculed for her musical taste by moi…xxx

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  9. A much maligned decade for music probably because it followed on from the incredible 60’s when everything was new and ground-breaking, but as your clips show there was a lot of brilliant music, and much more besides.

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      • I agree about the disco but I think punk, though I didn’t like it at the time, helped shake things up and indirectly helped a lot of great artists like Elvis Costello to break through.

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      • The only ‘punk’ band I liked were The Clash, and whilst they were lumped under that banner I thought they had much more going for them. Likewise The Stranglers. I take your point about that shake up, it’s just a shame it had to come from a load of tuneless shouting!

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  11. A decent dollop of classics here Clive. Funny how T-Rex didn’t take off in the States, all the T-Rex songs have an insistent pop groove and catchy hooks in the lyrics and the guitar flourishes. ‘Walk On The Wild Side’ was way out there for its time. Your comment about it ‘feeling’ from 1969/70 I agree with, and on that note in my mind I put Tom Petty in the 80s-90s and on, it comes as a surprise he first hit in the 70s.

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    • They aren’t the first or last to suffer that fate, and it woks both ways.

      It’s funny how our memories can play those tricks on us. Tom started in the 70s but really took off in a big way in the 80s.

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    • I’m pleased you liked these. I wasn’t expecting those two to be well known over there, but they were both favourites of mine back in the day. I could have played several other Tom Petty songs!

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  14. Terrific selection, Clive! The Lou Reed is a classic and one I will never tire of. I only heard A Horse With No Name at uni in the early 90s and for years s thought it was a new song! 😀 It definitely deserved its success.

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  15. Thanks for these memories, Clive. (Though I’ve always considered the Neil Young imitation “A Horse With No Name” pretty wretched…”Ain’t no one for ta give ya no name”: is a triple negative a negative?) But I have fond memories of that Lou Reed song, and still remember the first time I heard it. Those were real people Reed knew from his Warhol/Factory days.

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