Hello, Myteefine:
"Live and Let Die" is an excellent movie theme! Paul McCartney and Wings definitely stepped outside their comfort zone with that, and the gamble paid off. That song is a movie in itself (as is "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey"). Lulu's "Man With the Golden Gun" is good also.
My Billboard book says David Gates' single got up to No. 15 on Dec. 17, 1977. I would have thought it placed higher. I still have his "Goodbye Girl" LP, which didn't come out until the next year. I didn't realize he appeared on "The Hardy Boys." I loved Bread then and still do now – even though I know they were considering too "lite" by the rock purists.
There were so many great songs from movies and TV shows in the '70s and early '80s. Often the songs had little in common with the production other than the title, and occasionally they had a different title. Even Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds action films had a "love theme" by Roberta Flack or Randy Crawford.
TV series also had some memorable songs, often better than the shows themselves: "Welcome Back" by John Sebastian (from "Welcome Back, Kotter"), "Making Our Dreams Come True" by Cyndi Grecco (from "Laverne and Shirley"), "Keep Your Eye on the Sparrow" by Sammy Davis Jr. (from "Baretta"). Those songs were intertwined with the whole package.
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13 years ago
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WarpedRecord
13 years ago
I wish I had watched that episode of "The Hardy Boys" with David Gates, though I'm sure it's available now on DVD. It seems like pop stars would appear as themselves on TV shows fairly often, with a subplot about winning tickets to a show or finding something the star had lost. I loved the Hardy Boys books but never really got into the TV show. The books seemed to have a '50s feel, and setting them in the '70s just seemed out of time.
I indeed had one of those suitcase record players! My mom worked at Woolworth's, and I'd always have her bring home 45s that I heard on the radio. Many of them I still have with the picture sleeves: "Morning Has Broken" by Cat Stevens, "Me and Bobby McGee" by Janis Joplin and various Carpenters singles.
In the years before MTV, there were so many great shows like "Midnight Special" that played a variety of rock and soul. "Soul Train" and "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert" (may he rest in peace) were two others. Many of these shows had early forms of music videos by ABBA and other bands. And yes, Rhythm Heritage's "Theme from SWAT" was another great TV theme; I was thinking of that when I mentioned the "Baretta" theme.
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