Living in the 70s

Way back in the 1970s, not everyone was getting sweaty at a disco or grooving to soul music. No indeed, for some music lovers, nothing could be more transporting than settling in to the bean bag and poring over the latest fantastical triple-gatefold album cover while listening to some complex, lengthy, and conceptual progressive rock. Its critics often characterised prog rock as pretentious, pompous, and taking itself way too seriously, but for its fans, progressive rock has always had the power to exhilerate in a way other music cannot. On this weeks show, we explore some tracks from prog rock’s hey day in the early 1970s and find out just why the fans love this genre so much.

Today’s show is a tribute to the humble cowbell. So, uncelebrated and yet such an essential feature of rock, funk and latin music. It doesn’t play melody, being only one note, but it does add texture, syncopation and drive to any track. For as long as we’ve been human we’ve clapped our hands, stamped our feet and hit two sticks together to create a beat. The cow bell is the perfect beat keeper, resonant and loud enough to cut through amplified rock guitars and the noise of a full drumkit. Even today, along with all the other bits and pieces of expensive and elaborate kit in the studio or on the stage, the simple cow bell has pride of place.

Happy mother’s day to all the boogie mamas! Yes it’s that time of year again where we all say a big thank you to the mamas. Mamas who rock, mamas who boogie, mamas who get down and mamas who keep it funky. Today’s show is for you.

This week it’s part three of our exploration of Seventies musical artists in alphabetical order. On this week’s show,  we continue our journey through the alphabet, covering the letters Q to Z.  Yes, it’s all the tricky letters, including Q, U, X, Y and Z. And what do you know? We managed to find tracks for them all.

Last week we brought you part one of our exploration of Seventies musical artists in alphabetical order. On this week’s show,  we continue our journey through the alphabet, covering the letters I to P.  From Iggy Pop to the Pointer Sisters, it’s an orderly progression through some Seventies fabulousness.

We love a theme challenge here at Living in the Seventies. A little while ago the team from Saturday Breakfast gave us the idea to create some shows using the alphabetical as an organising theme. Of course 26 tracks is more than we can fit into one show, so welcome to part one of three shows featuring tracks from Seventies artists in alphabetical order! And yes, we even got tracks from artists starting with U and X. Cool, eh?

Last week we celebrated Marty’s birthday, this week it’s Venetia’s turn. All of the tracks this week have been chosen by Marty in Venetia’s honour. Did he choose as well as Venetia did? We’ll soon find out. Happy birthday Venetia!

It’s Marty’s birthday! To celebrate, this week all of the tracks have been chosen by Venetia in Marty’s honour. Did she choose well? Marty will be the judge. Happy birthday Marty!

It’s that time of year again, when in recognition of a certain event on the Christian calendar (though with deeply pagan roots), we trawl through the Seventies musical canon for songs with a spiritual bent. And there are plenty to choose from. So if you fancy something a little uplifting to accompany you while you butter your hot cross buns and hunt for easter eggs, we’ve got the perfect playlist for you.

We had so much fun travelling down memory lane last week, paying track from artists we have seen live, that we though we would do it again.  This week we remember even more concerts, featuring artists who were releasing music in the Seventies.