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ABBA – “Chiquitita”
Here in the States, “Chiquitita” barely cracked the Top 30, yet another victim of America’s ABBA apathy.
Richard Challen
Mar 30, 202010 min read
2,020 views
9 comments
Dionne Warwick – “Déjà Vu”
“Déjà Vu” is an odd marriage between two competing strands of late ‘70s pop: deep burgundy soul and schlock-heavy soft-rock.
Richard Challen
Mar 27, 20205 min read
729 views
10 comments
Foghat – “Third Time Lucky (First Time I Was A Fool)”
Foghat made their bones playing unrepentant Neanderthal blues for stoned teenagers, but their second-biggest single was pure country.
Richard Challen
Mar 25, 20203 min read
991 views
5 comments
The Alan Parsons Project – “Damned If I Do”
At some point, probably when an entire orchestra crashes in on top of the synthesized trumpets, it all becomes a bit too much.
Richard Challen
Mar 23, 20205 min read
887 views
4 comments
Fleetwood Mac – “Sara”
The mystery surrounding “Sara” isn’t a barrier to entry. The mystery is what makes “Sara” a masterpiece.
Richard Challen
Mar 20, 20208 min read
2,239 views
11 comments
Isaac Hayes – “Don’t Let Go”
A chewy morsel of glitter-ball silliness that returned the soul legend to the Top 40 for the first time since 1973.
Richard Challen
Mar 18, 20205 min read
473 views
3 comments
Daryl Hall & John Oates – “Wait For Me”
Long before the public got back on board, Hall and Oates had already figured out the direction that would reshape the rest of their career.
Richard Challen
Mar 16, 20207 min read
1,578 views
10 comments
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – “Don’t Do Me Like That”
It's as clean and direct as anything in Petty’s notably clean-and-direct catalog, buoyed by an arrangement that’s all accents.
Richard Challen
Mar 13, 20206 min read
852 views
4 comments
Pablo Cruise – “I Want You Tonight”
“I Want You Tonight” sounds like Pablo Cruise decided to glom onto every trend that was happening in late ’79. At the exact same time.
Richard Challen
Mar 11, 20204 min read
528 views
2 comments
Kenny Loggins – “This Is It”
Its streamlined surface practically defines the entire “yacht” aesthetic, even as its subject matter threatens to blow up the whole marina.
Richard Challen
Mar 9, 20207 min read
1,282 views
4 comments
The Buggles – “Video Killed The Radio Star”
A deeply sad song delivered like an advertising jingle, a triumph of technological wizardry bemoaning our obsession with technology.
Richard Challen
Mar 6, 202012 min read
1,630 views
17 comments
Prince – “I Wanna Be Your Lover”
“I Wanna Be Your Lover” is a sex song like most Prince songs are sex songs, but far too bright and fizzy to be confused with his later work.
Richard Challen
Mar 4, 20206 min read
1,018 views
4 comments
Jefferson Starship – “Jane”
“Jane” is gloriously stupid trailer-park rock’n’roll at its finest, no apologies necessary.
Richard Challen
Mar 2, 20205 min read
1,562 views
12 comments
Dr. Hook – “Better Love Next Time”
Every element of "Better Love Next Time" amounts to pure fluff, studio-engineered soft-rock dressed up in a polyester leisure suit.
Richard Challen
Feb 28, 20204 min read
641 views
5 comments
Foreigner – “Head Games”
"Head Games" is sneakily subversive, and that weirdness never once gets in the way of its elemental arena rock stomp.
Richard Challen
Feb 26, 20204 min read
655 views
4 comments
Eagles – “The Long Run”
"The Long Run” is competence without passion, hooks without heart. It sounds like a million bucks and leaves zero lasting impact.
Richard Challen
Feb 24, 20203 min read
780 views
10 comments
Smokey Robinson – “Cruisin’”
Smokey Robinson scored his first solo Top 10 at a time when a large swath of the public—and his own label—had written him off completely.
Richard Challen
Feb 21, 20204 min read
878 views
4 comments
Little River Band – “Cool Change”
"Cool Change"is a piece of pleasant and competent soft-rock that goes down easy and dissipates immediately upon fadeout.
Richard Challen
Feb 19, 20203 min read
1,872 views
9 comments
Cliff Richard – “We Don’t Talk Anymore”
For one brief, twenty-four month stretch, Richard took a chintzy, harmless pop ditty and parlayed it into some modicum of Stateside success.
Richard Challen
Feb 17, 20205 min read
650 views
8 comments
Kool & The Gang – “Ladies’ Night”
“Ladies’ Night” is the sound of a veteran group recalibrating their entire aesthetic in an unabashedly craven bid for commercial acceptance.
Richard Challen
Feb 14, 20204 min read
607 views
4 comments
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