I signed up for the Sounds of the Seventies series of compact discs from Time-Life Music in 1989, with the discs appearing in my mailbox for most of the next decade. Hype stickers on the discs reminded buyers that the discs were "Double Length - equivalent to 2 LPs". The discs have detailed liner notes or "music notes" including single catalog numbers and peak Billboard Hot 100 chart positions, a variety of pop, rock & soul songs, and above all, sound very good. The original advertising literature claimed the discs had "dazzling state-of-the-art sound". There were no compilations like these Time-Life discs from the late Eighties devoted to a single year of popular music, and they have held their own against all comers after more than thirty-five years. We're going to take a listen to each volume from Time-Life's Sounds of the Seventies in the order they were mailed out. Today, we're featuring the first four volumes as they were released in 1989, rating them on our exclusive six-disc rating scale.
Sounds Of The Seventies 1970 provides a few good examples of the music and vibe of the Sixties carrying over to the Seventies. Several tracks, such as "Up Around The Bend," "Love On A Two-Way Street," and "Lonely Days," demonstrate how the 1960s sound continued to influence music into the new decade. Another way the 1960s continued into the 1970s is through cover versions; there are six covers on Sounds Of The Seventies 1970 that were originally released in the Sixties.
Interestingly, the album also includes a true 1960s song, originally released in 1967, which is featured here in a new 1970 mix. "The Tears Of A Clown" had been an album track originally, but was plucked from obscurity by Motown Britain for a single release in 1970. The song's success there prompted a U.S. release. It is one of six Number One songs from 1970 here, with all but two of the disc's twenty-one songs making Billboard's Top 10. Sounds Of The Seventies 1970 is a great way to kick off the series and the decade of the Seventies.
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While Sounds Of The Seventies 1971 also features six Number One songs, it's not nearly as top-heavy chart-wise; there are fourteen Top 10s alongside deeper cuts, such as "Eighteen" and "Truckin'." There aren't nearly as many covers as on Sounds Of The Seventies 1970, though several of the songs would go on to be covered themselves, such as "Wild Night", "Never Can Say Goodbye", and "If You Could Read My Mind". There are some Sixties-sounding songs like "Have You Ever Seen The Rain?" and "Love The One You're With". Sounds Of The Seventies 1971 is a great snapshot of the music from the year. 💿💿💿💿
Sounds Of The Seventies 1971 was originally released with an illustration of Jerry Garcia as the cover art. Apparently, Garcia objected, and the disc became collectible, as shortly thereafter, an illustration of Marvin Gaye that had originally appeared on the back of the enclosed booklet was reversed, recolored, and used as the cover art. A photo of Van Morrison replaced Gaye on the rear of the revised booklet.
Sounds Of The Seventies 1972 features eight Number Ones and fifteen tracks that made the Top 10. "Nights In White Satin", yet another track from 1967, rose from its original number 103 to number 2 upon its release in 1972. Three discs into the series, and we have little issue with the compiler's choice of single edit versus album cut. On Sounds Of The Seventies 1972, I would prefer the longer segue of "Nights In White Satin" with "Late Lament" or the entirety of "Hold Your Head Up". There is a brutal sub-three-minute edit of "Layla" out there that was wisely ignored for this compilation, and we are eternally grateful.
We can only imagine what it sounded like to hear "Go All The Way" blasting out of radios for the first time in 1972. It still sounds amazing all these years and remasters later. If we had sequenced this disc, "Go All The Way" would have been track one, yet it's down there at lucky track 13 coming out of "Lean On Me" and going into "A Horse With No Name", both much slower tracks. Doesn't ruin the disc in any way. 💿💿💿💿
Our musical sweetspot is 1973-1982, so Sounds Of The Seventies 1976 is right there in the thick of it. There are seven Number Ones on the disc, and sixteen of the tracks were Top 10 hits. When the disc arrived in 1989, we had no issue with the track listing, as the songs reminded us of listening to WLS in 1976. Through the years, we've come to appreciate two full-length album cuts more than their respective single edits on Sounds Of The Seventies 1976: "Fooled Around And Fell In Love" and "The Rubberband Man".
We'll be back with the next batch of Sounds Of The Seventies discs soon.
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