Various Artists [Ultimate Seventies]I spent my teenage years in the mid to late Seventies, and of course i listened to the singles charts of the day, so i'm quite familiar with most of these compilation discs, except the very early Seventies hits, it's a good mix of music, Disco, Reggae, Glam Rock, Soul, Pop, and even Punk to some degree, mixing the well known with other tracks that might be somewhat obscure, i enjoyed listening to this today.
This compilation came out in 1995, i like the booklet front cover, a re-creation of Leonardo DaVinci's The Vitruvian Man, nicely symmetrical, with some of the Artists names written round the edges in colour to form a square, a very nice concept indeed.
The tracks i liked the most were 1-5, 6-8, 12, 14-18, 20, 22, 27, 31 & 36, disc one is so much more superior to disc two, here's the three very best tracks, and a synopsis of them,
2 Hot Chocolate - You Sexy Thing, as the title suggests, a really sexy track, with a really funky beat, and nice layered different guitars, what really makes the track is the bongos [0:09+], but more likely they're played by a synthesizer or guitar, it gives it a real reggae feel, Errol Brown's down to earth vocal delivery, with his 'lyrics don't quite fit the music' writing, and his cries at the end of certain words / phrases, as well as almost ad-libbing at certain points, in the outro i like the way Brown sings 'ahh ha-aa it's extacy, arghhhhh' [3:22-3:27] it really is a very bubbly track.
5 Gerry Rafferty - Baker Street, famous for the sax solo [0:23-0:41], which returns halfway through [1:43-2:16], and takes us out at the end [3:51-4:05], which justly catapults the song into greatness, the verses have a superb use of an accordian and neat rattling percussion, which give it a kind of folky feel, and in the chorus a glockenspiel is used, it's little touches that bring about enormous rewards, with a serious wailing electric guitar solo before the end [3:20-3:51], it's one of those biographal tales that weave away a story, it's just superbly put together and is a classic.
8 ELO - Turn To Stone,
2 Hot Chocolate - You Sexy Thing, as the title suggests, a really sexy track, with a really funky beat, and nice layered different guitars, what really makes the track is the bongos [0:09+], but more likely they're played by a synthesizer or guitar, it gives it a real reggae feel, Errol Brown's down to earth vocal delivery, with his 'lyrics don't quite fit the music' writing, and his cries at the end of certain words / phrases, as well as almost ad-libbing at certain points, in the outro i like the way Brown sings 'ahh ha-aa it's extacy, arghhhhh' [3:22-3:27] it really is a very bubbly track.
5 Gerry Rafferty - Baker Street, famous for the sax solo [0:23-0:41], which returns halfway through [1:43-2:16], and takes us out at the end [3:51-4:05], which justly catapults the song into greatness, the verses have a superb use of an accordian and neat rattling percussion, which give it a kind of folky feel, and in the chorus a glockenspiel is used, it's little touches that bring about enormous rewards, with a serious wailing electric guitar solo before the end [3:20-3:51], it's one of those biographal tales that weave away a story, it's just superbly put together and is a classic.
8 ELO - Turn To Stone,
