Content tagged 'Soft Rock'

Today we celebrate the birthday of James Taylor, master of “laid-back adult contemporary music,” as it was once described on The Simpsons, and that reference brings us to how we’ve decided to pay tribute to Mr. Taylor on this important date: we’ve pulled together five appearances that he’s made on TV and in film, each of which we’re hoping will involve at least one fact you didn’t know about the man, the myth, and the musical legend that is James Taylor. He was part of the cast of a musical adaptation of Studs Terkel’s Working. PBS aired the program as part of the 1982 season of American

41 years ago today, Linda Ronstadt released her ninth studio album, an LP which was so in-demand in advance of its release that it managed to go double platinum before it ever hit record stores shelves, the first time in music history that such a thing had ever occurred. Produced by Peter Asher, as so many of Ronstadt’s classic albums were, LIVING IN THE USA took its title from the Chuck Berry song that Ronstadt covered as the lead-off track, but before we dig into the contents of the album, we should take a moment to discuss the cover. Here’s another true testament to just how successful this

The singer found the song on the floor of Neil Young's car.

How Christopher Cross shocked the music world by sweeping the "Big Four" categories.

46 years ago today, Stephen Stills released the song that would go on to become the biggest hit single of his entire career. The origins of the phrase that drives “Love The One You’re With” are a bit murky, but the recurring rumor that continued to run rampant on Wikipedia is that Stills heard Billy Preston utter the words, after which he reportedly asked for and received permission to write a song around them. The only problem with this story is that there doesn’t seem to be a single interview with the late Mr. Preston wherein he says anything about it, and you’d think there would be. On the

41 years ago today, Rod Stewart released his sixth studio album as a solo artist and, in doing so, secured his fourth chart-topping album in a row in the UK. Unlike the LPs that had preceded it, however, Atlantic Crossing found Stewart putting the production responsibilities in someone else’s hands. Tom Dowd was already a legend for his work with such artists as the Rascals, Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, Dusty Springfield, and Derek and the Dominos, which was exactly why Stewart wanted to work with him. The title of the album was a reference to the fact that Stewart had shifted his base of

42 years ago today, Roberta Flack found herself atop the Billboard Hot 100 for the third time in her career, this time with a composition by Eugene McDaniels. Released a full nine months before the album sharing its title hit record store shelves, “Feel Like Makin’ Love” was actually produced by Flack herself, albeit under a pseudonym (Rubina Flake), but in an interview with JazzWax, she was quick to credit the song’s musicians as a significant reason for its tremendous success. “When Gene [McDaniels] first called and sang his song to me, he just strummed it,” said Flack. “I basically had that

35 years ago today, Stevie Nicks released her first-ever solo album, kicking off a career which has resulted in 10 top-40 singles and more than a few classic LPs. Stevie Nicks’s evolution from a member of Fleetwood Mac into a solo artist in her own right was one which came about organically: when you’re part of a band that has three songwriters, it’s hard to keep things fair and spread the wealth while still providing space for all of the material that was being written. As a result, Ms. Nicks took some time during the sessions for TUSK to record demos for a solo project, but that was in ’78

38 years ago this month, Genesis released the second single from …And Then There Were Three, but while the song hit #43 in the UK, its failure to reach the upper heights of the singles chart has led many to forget that it was released as a single at all. Written by Tony Banks, the ballad “Many Too Many”– which was described by its composer as having “a simple love lyric” – was issued as the follow-up to Genesis’s “Follow You, Follow Me,” which had taken the band into the UK top 10 for the first time in their career. Unfortunately, the masses weren’t quite as taken with the track as they had