The Golden Age of Soul/R&B

I was pretty lucky 2 start listening 2 AM radio in the Fall of 1970, when the Golden Age of Soul & R&B still had a little while left 2 run.
Course I missed the REAL Golden Age -- the '60s, when people like James Brown & Aretha Franklin & The Supremes & Miracles & Temptations & Four Tops & Wilson Pickett & Otis Redding & a cast of thousands from Motown were toppin' the charts every other week. I don't consider that "my" decade because I wasn't old enuf then 2 appreciate any music -- I didn't even realize what a radio was for until the Fall of '70.
But there was still lotsa great stuff being played then. The Jackson 5 had just had their 1st few hits, "I Want You Back" & "ABC" & "I'll Be There" & so on, but they were still really hot. 1 of the 1st few 45's I ever bought was the Jacksons' gorgeous "Maybe Tomorrow" -- I've still got it. & I remember "Never Can Say Goodbye" getting some airplay -- tho not really THAT much in Tacoma, Wash., where I was living at the time. & later on I bought Michael's "I Wanna Be Where You Are," thot it was pretty cute, & better than summa his other early solo hits.
Smokey Robinson & the Miracles were still all over the radio with the classic "Tears of A Clown" -- what an amazing song that is; it had #1 Hit written all over it. Can you believe Motown sat on it 4 3 years before issuing it as a single?
Stevie Wonder was still pretty hot. I'd heard his marvelous "I Was Made to Love Her" & summa his earlier hits, & Tacoma-area radio was all over stuff like "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" & "If You Really Love Me" & "Superstition" -- I was more a fan of "Higher Ground." It just seemed irresistable with that great chugging rhythm & killer choruses.
But maybe my all-time fave by Stevie was "Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing" -- hilarious! & so relaxed! Stevie always seemed 2 B having such a good time in a lotta his songs, & so did you when you heard them....
Stevie's later stuff was pretty great too -- "Sir Duke," "Isn't She Lovely?," the way-underrated "A Seed's A Star/Tree Medley," & the best childhood-nostalgia song ever: "I Wish." But I had some blank spots with summa Stevie's stuff: "For Once in My Life" was maybe a pretty-good song, but a little overproduced -- & how bout that showbizzy backing choir on the choruses? Who's idea was that? & do you know it took me YEARS 2 realize "My Cherie Amour" is a great song? & it's so lonely. & there's Stevie's great "la-la-la"'s, showing 1nce again that sometimes you can say a whole lot with no words at all....
I've always been a sucker 4 group vocals, & soul groups were great at them. I was also a sucker 4 what they useta call "sweet soul." The Stylistics were like the gods of sweet soul, with gorgeous hits like "You Are Everything" & "Betcha By Golly Wow." If you want romantic & mushy, there you go.
Summa the more upbeat groups were pretty great too: The Spinners were amazing, with great hypnotic stuff like "I'll Be Around" & their other early hits, "I'm Comin' Home," "Rubberband Man".... I was also a fan of The Dramatics, whose "What'cha See is What'cha Get" still sounds like pure 1971 to me. Their big hit "In the Rain" could stand with any of the best "sweet soul" here.
Al Green piled-up the hits thru the early '70s & he was always a pleasure 2 hear, tho 4 me he never topped "Let's Stay Together" -- I still turn that 1 up whenever it comes on oldies radio....
Marvin Gaye probly peaked in the early '70s, tho it took me a few years 2 discover his great '60s hits like "Ain't That Peculiar?" & "I Heard it Through the Grapevine," + his classic duets with Tammi Terrell.
Meanwhile in the early '70s, Marvin was knockin folks out with the brilliant "What's Goin' On" & "Inner City Blues." Has anyone else ever sounded so relaxed while talking about Big Social Problems?
I always got Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes confused with the O'Jays or the Chi-Lites, but "Bad Luck" is a freakin' classic. 4 me they never topped it. & I don't think I've ever heard any of Teddy Pendergrass's solo stuff....
A lot of Aretha's '60s stuff went right past me, but in the early '70s she was still rockin -- "Spanish Harlem" was a huge hit, & 2 songs especially stood out for me: the gorgeous, leisurely "Daydreaming" & the light-hearted "'Until You Come Back to Me," with its loopy flute & great backing chorus.
The Supremes' "Back in My Arms Again" was 1 of the stack of old 45's I grabbed from my Cousin Carol when I was around 6 years old -- & I remember the B-side of that single was just as good, but I can't remember what it was..... I'd loved their stuff thru "I Hear a Symphony" & "Love is Here and Now You're Gone" & "Reflections" -- & in the early '70s the Diana-Ross-less Supremes issued 1 more killer, the very-underrated "Up the Ladder to the Roof." When's the last time you heard that 1 on your fave oldies station? Meanwhile, Diana was releasing her own great stuff, like the brilliant epic long version of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" -- wow.
The Four Tops had a bit of a comeback in the early '70s with songs like "Keeper of the Castle," but for me they never topped the brilliant "Reach Out, I'll Be There." & I never heard the Xcellent "It's the Same Old Song" until after I heard KC & the Sunshine Band's version of it 10 years later! Another Xample of not doing my homework....
Speaking of homework, when I 1st started listening 2 AM, Sly and the Family Stone were all over the place with great hits like "Thank You Falletinme Be Mice Elf Agin" & "I Want to Take You Higher" -- the intensity level was unbeatable! Their GREATEST HITS album is still an adventure 2 listen 2, tho it took me years 2 latch on2 it.... Sly's little sister ended up in a vocal group called Little Sister, who scored a minor hit with "Somebody's Watching You," which sounds like a REALLY QUIET (but really good) Sly track. 4 years I thot it was some forgotten Sly hit....
There were lots more: Timmy Thomas's "Why Can't We Live Together?"; the Jimmy Castor Bunch's hilarious butt-bumpin' "Troglodyte"; Tower of Power's "So Very Hard to Go," "Down to the Nightclub" & "You're Still a Young Man"; & later on Earth, Wind and Fire's joyous early hits like "Shining Star," "Sing a Song" & "September," & the gorgeous "After the Love Has Gone"; Prince's classics "1999" & "Purple Rain" & "Let's Go Crazy"; the Brothers Johnson's "I'll Be Good to Ya" & "Strawberry Letter #23"; the Three Degrees' "When Will I See You Again?"; the Commodores' "Sail On" & "Night Shift"; Chic's "I Want Your Love" & "Good Times"; Donna Summer's "I Love You" & "Heaven Knows".... I'm sure I'm forgetting somebody, there was so much great stuff on the radio back then....
When I moved back 2 Idaho in the Fall of '73 I figured the music I'd hear on the radio might change -- no big urban environment in Boise, which was then still just a small town. But I was wrong, pretty much. 1 of the 1st songs I remember hearing on local Top 40 station KFXD was Ike & Tina Turner's great "Nutbush City Limits" -- so good it couldn't be ignored, even in then-99.5-percent-white Idaho.
I've wanted 2 write about this stuff 4 awhile. Seems like NEtime I crank-up the CD player if there R guests in the house, my 1st choice is always a Best of Motown CD. It's just really good get-together/party/feel-good music. So obviously it's left its mark on me like everything else I listen 2. Not bad 4 a white kid from Boise....