Tuesday Tunes 306: Still Easy

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Having indulged myself last week with a set of easy songs I thought I’d do it again today. I have quite a list of these, so we could be here a while! These are the usual mixed bunch, a bit of loud and a bit less so.

Let’s get started with a loud one:

Uriah Heep, with Easy Livin’ – one of their best known songs. Uriah Heep formed in London in 1969 and are still going today, though guitarist Mick Box is the only original remaining member. They were part of the early 1970s rock scene and have been referred to as ‘major pioneers of the hard rock, heavy metal and prog rock genres.’ The band have sold over 40 million albums worldwide, with over 4 million sales in the US. Easy Livin’ was a track on their fourth album, Demons And Wizards, which was released in May 1972 and reached #20 in the UK and #23 in the US, though its main claim to fame was spending fourteen weeks at #1 in Finland! The album went Gold in the US, with over half a million sales. This track was released as a single in July 1972, and fared best in The Netherlands, where it got to #5. It didn’t make the UK chart, but was their only top forty hit in the US, peaking at #39. It is one of their most covered songs including, believe it or not, an instrumental version by the James Last Orchestra. Sometimes, music can be weird! I saw them at the Leas Cliff Hall in Folkestone around that time, where I worked evenings, weekends and school holidays, and they are still the loudest band I have ever seen: they literally made the building shake!

Taking things down several notches for this next one:

That was Carolina Story with Lay Me Down Easy, a track from their second album, Dandelions, which was released in September 2020. Carolina Story comprises a married couple, Ben and Emily Roberts. He’s playing acoustic and harmonica in the video, the other guys were at the time their seemingly anonymous band. They were a little hard to track down, as they don’t have a Wikipedia entry, but fortunately their own website is a little more forthcoming. They have been together since meeting at college in 2007, and have been touring, writing songs and releasing albums since 2009. The band name derives from their being on tour in Carolina at the time they realised theirs was more than a professional relationship – isn’t that sweet? Their first mainstream album, Lay Your Head Down, was released in 2018, and their third, Colors Of My Mind, came out in April 2023 – all equally lovely records. That last one was the occasion for an updating of their website, as it now gives more information about them. It was produced by Paul Moak, who also played guitar and piano on it, and featured their longtime live band (guitarist/pedal-steel player Sam Wilson, bassist Randle Scruggs, drummer Nathan Sexton), who I guess may well have been in this video. Like everything they do, I love Emily’s voice: even when Ben takes the lead, as here,  she still shines for me.

And in similar vein, I played one last week from the band that gave my blog its name. This is their other one:

The Eagles, of course, with Peaceful Easy Feeling. This was a track on their eponymous debut album, released on 1 June 1972 – fifty four years ago yesterday, and I’m now feeling very old at that thought! The album peaked at #22 in the US but didn’t make the UK chart, though subsequent sales have seen it go Platinum in the US for a million sales, and Silver in the UK for 60,000 – frankly, I would have thought it sold more here. This was the third single taken from the album, in December 1972, and it also reached #22 in the US without bothering the UK charts. It has sold steadily here, though, and has been awarded Silver status here for 200,ooo sales. Quite right too! This clip is from a concert aired on the BBC in early April 1973, just before the release of their second album, Desperado. The coverage seems to have helped, as that was their first entry in the UK Albums Chart, where it got to #39, outperforming the US, where it made #41.

One of similar vintage is up next. This one gives you loud and quiet-ish in the same song:

David Bowie, with It Ain’t Easy, a track from his fantastic album The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars, which was released in June 1972 and peaked at #5 in the UK and #21 in the US. June 1972 was clearly a good month for album releases, and both of these were in my collection by the time I went to uni three months later. The album went 2x Platinum in the UK, for 1.5m sales, and Gold in the US for 500,000, out of total worldwide sales of 7.5m. It Ain’t Easy is the only track on the album not written by Bowie: credit for it goes to Ron Davies, an American songwriter of whom I hadn’t otherwise heard. Though he isn’t credited for it, Rick Wakeman played harpsichord on this one.

I’m closing today with one that I expect will be unknown to most. It is a collaboration by two acts I like a lot, and they go so well together on this:

That was Blackberry Smoke and Amanda Shires with Let Me Down Easy, a track on Blackberry Smoke’s sixth album, Find A Light, which was released in April 2018 and reached #31 in the US, though it did better here in the UK, where it got to #12. But it went well on the US specialist album charts: #2 on both the Americana and Independent listings, and #3 on the Country one. Amanda sang backing vocals on the album, but isn’t credited for her fiddle on it. She has her own musical career, both as a solo artist and as an ex-member of her ex-husband Jason Isbell’s band, The 400 Unit. She is also a member of the folk supergroup The Highwomen, alongside Maren Morris, Brandi Carlile and Natalie Hemsby. Highly recommended!

That’s all for this week, and I hope you have found something among these to enjoy. I’ll see you again in a few days, so until then be healthy and happy 😊

 

[My usual reminder to visit the two places where this is being shared: Esme’s Senior Salon Pit Stop and Cathy’s Monday’s Music Moves Me (on a Sunday!)]

52 thoughts on “Tuesday Tunes 306: Still Easy”

  1. Always nice to see Bowie, and I had The Eagles album with that track on it. (Their first oen, I think?) And you managed to resist ‘Easy’, by The Commodores. Well done! ☺️

    Best wishes, Pete.

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  3. Clive, I am glad you went beyond the two I knew by Uriah Heep and The Eagles. My wife and I really liked “Lay me down easy.” I need to check out the last one tomorrow. Keith

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  4. Take It Easy is my clear choice this week. That’s no surprise, since The Eagles are near the top of my list of favorite bands. I recall that you’re a fan of Phil Collins. I’m guessing you already know this one with Philip Bailey from Earth, Wind, and Fire. I love watching them being silly in the video.

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  5. I knew two of the songs (Uriah Heep and Eagles). Interesting listening to the other songs. They make good background songs for writing a blog post in the backyard, which is how I listened to them. Easy songs titles, easy listening. Eagles were still my favorite this week, followed by Blackberry and Amanda. Alana ramblinwitham

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  9. Nice tunes Clive. ‘Peaceful Easy Feeling’ was written by Jack Tempchin, and he derived inspiration to write it while he was sleeping on the floor, which is an unexpected place to get an idea.  Jack started playing the guitar at the age of 18, and he began writing his own songs and soon had a repertoire of music that he took with him to the various hoots and open mics around town.  Jack had a gig in a folk music place called the Aquarius located El Centro, California, where he had never been, and he met a waitress.  She said that she was gonna take him to her place, but then she left, and she never came back.  He was in a strange town, and he ended up sleeping on the floor of this coffee house when he started writing this on the back of one of his flyers.  Jack felt like he had been let down.  He had a friend that was really into Zen and psychedelics, and this guy was always talking about the magic of when you let go.  A lot of times that’s when you find things, because when you were looking so hard, you end up getting in your own way.

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      • Sadly, I never saw them live, but would love to, even though the original lineup isn’t there anymore. They have some excellent songs! For live loudness, my top pick is Judas Priest.

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      • I was paid to watch them. Officially I was working but due to union rules I had finished the job I started and couldn’t be redeployed. Had to stay to the end and was paid for the whole evening! I’m not a big fan of hard rock bands – I think the only others I’ve seen are Led Zeppelin and, if you count them, Thin Lizzy.

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      • Nice work if you can get it! 😀 Too bad it wasn’t your kind of music. I’m jealous you got to see Led Zeppelin, since that opportunity passed me by. Thin Lizzy is okay – not sure I would pay money to see them, though.

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      • It was a good job!

        I like a lot of rock bands, I just haven’t seen many play live. Led Zep was a warm up gig before a major world tour – a crowd of 1300 at the local uni. Thin Lizzy were great. I saw them twice – I had to pay at the local venue (before I started working there) and then a free concert in the town park some years later, after uni, marriage and all that.

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  13. Wonderful songs, Clive. It’s funny how things happen; I was writing to Violet earlier and used the phrase “peaceful, easy feeling”. We’re on the same wavelength. 😉 I knew all but two of your songs … can you guess which ones? Doesn’t matter, because I love them all. What a fabulous way to start my day! 🙂

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    • I’m pleased you liked them all, Nancy, and that our wavelengths are in alignment. I guess the two you didn’t know were Carolina Story and Blackberry Smoke? Possibly my two favourites in this set 👍

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