70s Cup Round 8 Match 12 *Modernist 14- kath 12*

[never/ever]

A

Marshall Hain - Dancing in the City





B

Humble Pie - You're So Good for Me

[Purgatory Brite]

B

[naughty boy]

The Humble Pie clip isn't available to UK viewers. No matter, I always hated Steve Marriott's bellowing and carrying-on in that group. The worst of 70s rock excess.

I got a bit of a Proustian rush from A - and it's such a lovely song, the kind of pop music that hasn't been made for decades, sadly. Anyway it would win against most things I've heard so far this round

A

[Diamond Dog]

How somene as great as Steve Marriott descended so quickly to making American rock-a-boogie shite like that is a very very sad tale.

As was said above, the Marshall Hain track is a beauty anyway. Good choice G! A

[C]

Steve and the boys (and girls Madeline Bell and Doris Troy I recall) - ooof!

Marshall Hain did nothing for me

-+B+-




.

[Loki]

Don't care for A at all, I'm afraid.

[Polishgirl]

Phew

A I suppose

[toomanyhatz]

I agree with Coan and DD about HP - always thought they were a waste of Marriott's (frankly often overrated to begin with) talents, although this is less objectionable than plenty I've heard from them. The guitar intro's nice, anyway, speaking of people who wasted their talents.

A is nothing earth-shattering, but it's a pleasant enough one-off and I can see having affection for it if associated with pleasant memories. Those weirdos who just adore Marriott for some reason could probably have found much worthier tracks - even in the 70s.

[echolalia]

A - It’s great to hear this song again. I loved to hear it on the radio. It's stood the test of time.

B sounds OK but is sadly bereft of originality.

A

[The Modernist]

As 70s Marriott goes, this is one of the better things I've heard from him. He's trying to reconnect with his inner Otis and he's doing a decent job of it. It's certainly preferable to a lot of their stadium rock bluster. The problem here is it's a nothing song dressed up in mid 70s rock cliches, it could be anyone of a hundred acts.
There'll be lots of sounds on A that people will detest, given it's lightweight disco played by a session musicians. But the melody glides along beautifully and how can you not like a chorus that sounds that happy, that pleased to be alive. It would need a harder heart than mine to deny its charms.

A

[naughty boy]

[

[Darkness_Fish]

Ok, A is very nostalgic in some vague 'Top of the Pops album with some scantily-clad woman in front of a barn' way, and I do seem to have some vague memory of this one. I don't recall Field Marshall Hain though. And I do like the drums. However, it's not the sort of thing someone with my intense level of masculinity could ever admit to liking.

B's started off surprisingly pleasantly, too. I was expecting far worse in the lumpen rock excess and bluster stakes. I guess it's just ramping them up a bit now, but I don't actually detest this at the gut-level I was anticipating. It's not exactly the most original thing, but it does it quite well.

For a round of things I don't like which actually define the 70s, this hasn't been too bad at all. I'll just give B the unexpected nod, crossing the line first by a chest-hair.

[Belle Lettre]

Ugh

B

[Osgood]

It's been a great relief to listen to that Humble Pie tune after the ultimate blandness of A, FFS, I can't stand this kind of thing.

I like the Smokin' album, HP is not yet the caricature it became later and this song is one of its highlights. Love it to pieces.

B

[The Modernist]

You could just as easily accuse B of being bland. It's certainly equally, and in fact more, in thrall to the cliches and formulas of the period. It's just that B's formulas and cliches are seen as being more "authentic" within the rock narrative and therefore more acceptable.

[Jumper K]

A is freakin great. A seductive masterpiece. I did some of my best work in the disco to this soundtrack.
Humble Pie are crap.
A.

[sloopjohnc]

B

[Penk!]

Hey that lady can clap her hands really loud! That's pretty awesome!

I've never heard of Marshall Hain before, I really liked the laidback, understated verses but thought it drifted into naff cliche in the chorus. Nice tubs.

A band called Humble Pie and an album called Smokin' make me very reluctant to click the "play" button. The opening is actually quite nice, though. It reminds me of some of the Stones' or Led Zep's lighter moments.

But then the drums kick in and it turns into formulaic shoutalong blues bobbins. Shame.

A

[Ranking Ted]

We had a thread on A recently - I said then it "has a lovely hop, skip and jump lightness about it" and it remains a firm RT favourite. I wish there had been more pop hits picked in this Cup - enough with the statement 'difficult' stuff. B is not really at the races here. Easy...

A

[trans-chigley express]

I know A well but I have absolutely no recollection of the name of the artist at all. It's a nice lightweight bit of fluff with a memorable chorus that brought some waves of nostalgia as I probably haven't heard it in 40 years but I won't be in any real rush to replay it again for another few decades.

B never lived up to the promise of the opening 1.5 minutes but I did like the intro quite a bit.

B