Max Picks …songs from 1970

1970

The Beatles officially broke up in April of 1970…I hate leaving the 60s behind. The seventies was the time of my childhood at the age of 3 through 13. My music tastes were formed in this decade by listening to…well mostly the 60s.

So let’s get started with The Grateful Dead. They released two of their most popular albums this year… Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty. Two excellent albums and it was hard to pick a song off of them…but this one does quite nicely. It was written by Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter.

It’s George Harrison time again. When the Beatles broke up, no one knew what to expect from him. Well…George delivered a knockout punch with his album All Things Must Pass. At that time he was outselling John and Paul and just about everyone else. George wrote this song.

This was the opening track on the A Question Of Balance album by the Moody Blues, and at one point it was going to be the title track. The song was recorded several months earlier than the other tracks on the album and its title was shortened from “Question Of Balance” to “Question.”

When I was younger I started with this album and owned everything up until Long Distance Voyager. Their early seventies output is my favorite period but I liked their entire catalog as a whole. It was written by Justin Hayward.

This is what I wrote in my post on this song a while back...”The bass in this song punches you like a heavy-weight fighter and will roll you like wholesale carpet…the timing is absolutely perfect. I hear some Otis and Wilson Pickett in this song and it will make you move.” Huh…I still agree with me!

Groove Me has been a favorite of mine for so long. King Floyd takes almost a full minute to build up to the chorus and it’s well worth the wait when he kicks it in. Thank you King Floyd for writing this song.

This song by Simon and Garfunkel has become a standard. Bridge Over Troubled Water along with Georgia On My Mind was my mom’s favorite song…so I couldn’t leave it off. It was written by Paul Simon.

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

57 thoughts on “Max Picks …songs from 1970”

  1. I love the ’70s! Gotta agree with George’s ‘What is Life’ being right at the top! ATMP, one of the very first solo Beatles albums out of the gate after they broke up and it was a mighty high bar for the other three to top, of George himself to match.

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      1. Simon & Garfunkel deserve it, Moody Blues are always good, I don’t know I’d put ‘Question’ that high but it is a good song… probably would be difficult to exclude CSNY but that’s what makes lists great, quite subjective and always going to be something good excluded!

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      2. Oh they are in no order…just 5 songs that I like from each year…the sixties were easy because my favorite bands were releasing songs all of the time…
        For some reason CSNY was not in my head…but these songs were at the top of my own list…this is where it becomes hairy…in the 60s my favorites were along with the popular choices…now they veer off.

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      3. That’s funny, when I saw 1970 coming up, I thought of Question and Teach Your Children, and thought they were probably both worthy of the same spot on the list. I love the Moodies, so I’m totally on board with Question getting the spot, but between those two it would almost be a coin flip decision for me.

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  2. Well this list caught me off guard a bit. Not because they aren’t great songs but because most wouldn’t be on a list I might make. I was able to hear Justin Hayward do The Question when he visited last summer, he sounded awesome. I think for transition decades there’s more blending happening between the late 60”s and early 70”s than any other time. Totally forgot about that King Floyd song, really was a great tune!

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    1. Yes this was a different one…it wasn’t as obvious anymore. Because these choices play in with my taste…this is when it starts diverging from the…uh top 10 I guess. In the 80s it WILL go bananas lol….because I wasn’t a fan of the top ten then…at least later on.
      I’m a huge Moody Blues fan…so you will see them next year lol.

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  3. As a contrarian, I need to acknowledge the great choices and then point out what had to be left out to keep the list to five (and this was a time of albums, not singles, in my world). Miles Davis may have invented fusion with the album “Bitches Brew” in 1970. (Okay, “invented” might be a little strong, but it made both rock and jazz charts and was certified gold.) It was also the year of “Moondance”. If I had to pick a single Van Morrison favorite, that might be it. 1970 seems like the year the Grateful Dead said, “yes, we can write 3 minute songs and sing harmony. We just don’t always choose to.” What Phil Lesh actually said was “The almost miraculous appearance of these new songs would also generate a massive paradigm shift in our group mind: from the mind-munching frenzy of a seven-headed fire-breathing dragon to the warmth and serenity of a choir of chanting cherubim.” Speaking of cherubim, Paul Simon always got the most press, but Art Garfunkel sings like an angel on “Bridge Over Troubled Water”. This was also the year of CSNY’s Déjà Vu, featuring Jerry Garcia on pedal steel guitar (which got a lot of work in 1970). 1970 also featured the recording debut of Funkadelic. (And you probably had trouble leaving out “Layla” and “Live at Leeds”.)

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    1. Miles Davis…Bitches Brew is fantastic…Yes Van Morrison is one of my favorite artists…he will be start popping up! I enjoy knowing what I left off…because sometimes I totally missed someone while looking.

      Oh…Live At Leeds HURT me…The Who are my second most favorite band of all time…so yes it did. I was tempted to take Bridge over Troubled Water out…but I could not do that. I agree Art sang great in that… Also….Let It Be was released in 1970…those two songs go together for me…both have a gospel feel….
      CSNY…see that is one that I overlooked because of no room.

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  4. Nice picks! As a wee girl, I always loved to sing along with the radio. I had a gift for remembering song lyrics and was taking part in carpool karaoke long before it was a thing! In 1970, I was 10 years old and my mom said I had a voice like Karen Carpenter. The Carpenters had two top 100 hits in 1970 and their album was one of the few my mom bought me, so I could “practice” my singing. Boy, I can really belt out “We’ve Only Just Begun!”

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    1. My sister had some Carpenter albums and I grew up with them as well. Well Dana…you may have missed your calling! I could have been posting about you!
      Wasn’t the seventies great? I remember being in a car also and singing along…but my voice wasn’t that great!

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    1. This is where it gets hard Jim. Because this started out as my favorite songs of the years…. In the 80s… you will see a lot of alternative music… but as far as the most popular… although it was a hit… I see what you are talking about. In the sixties my tastes went with more of the public point of view… but most of the popular ones will be here… I try to ride that line between popular and my tastes… if that makes any sense.

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      2. While I agree with Jim, it’s Max’s list & there are no right or wrong picks. Fun thing about lists, they generate discussion, debate and on this maybe going back and listening to some fine old music once more

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      3. Yea it got people agoing today! Yea I just love Groove Me…I always have…it’s the bass player in me.

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  7. I understand Jim, but I do like the Floyd track- there’s something familiar to it- beatwise it would lend itself to a reggae treatment too.
    I understand why some might not rate it up there but just ’cause it didn’t sell gazillions doesn’t diminish it to the listener- and, Hell, it is your list. I KNOW ‘Bridge Over Troubled Waters’ I well know ‘All Things Must Pass’ but that doesn’t mean the outliers aren’t just as great, even if on a personal level. This is what music is for, to touch us.
    Sorry, I’ll jump off my soapbox now, before the rotten tomatoes start flying!

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    1. Yes I agree Obbverse. And it’s the song that we need to look at more than who did the song. Yes that was his only big hit…but it represents another kind of music. I could have put the Temptations there instead with a little funk and R&B at this time…but this song stands up for that time as well I think.

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  9. Imagine John and Paul going bonkers when they learned that George was outselling them both lol. I feel bad for the poor bastard who had to break the news to Lennon/McCartney!

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  11. There’s a lot for me to love about this list. King Floyd is new to me, but the song is catchy. Not sure why it doesn’t ring a bell. The Moodies’ song is perfect, imo. It expressed the angry conversations and confrontations of that year, and the yearning, all in one song. George was on fire at that time. One great song after another came from his album. And Bridge Over Troubled Water was a masterpiece.

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      2. Yep! I get that Groove Me is not as popular with people than me lol… Actually I do like people telling me what I left off. I did miss CSNY completely.

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  12. Great picks, Max. I didn’t know/remember the Dead tune, even though I’ve listened to both the “Workingman’s Dead” and “American Beauty” albums. Based on what I’ve heard from the Dead, these are my two favorite albums. I might have picked “Casey Jones” but like your choice as well. King Floyd (which at first I misread as Pink Floyd! 🙂 ), is new to me. He sounds great! George Harrison, the Moodys and Simon & Garfunkel are neat picks as well!

    1970 was a great year in music. I just looked in Wikipedia to refresh my memory. In addition to the above your had “Moondance” (Van Morrison), “Morrison Hotel” (Doors), “Déjà Vu” (CSNY, one of my all-time favorite albums), “Mona Bone Jakon” (Cat Stevens), “Let It Be”, “Deep Purple in Rock”, “John Barleycon Must Die” (Traffic), “Abraxas” (Santana), “Idlewild South” (Allmans), “Led Zeppelin III”, “Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs” (Derek and the Dominoes) and “Pendulum” (CCR) – and that’s not meant to be a complete list. With so much great music, picking only five songs essentially becomes mission impossible!

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    1. Oh yes Christian…it’s impossible not to miss someone. Since I got Zep in the last one I skipped them for this one…don’t worry…as you know 1971 was the best year for albums…and The Who and Zep will be on there.
      I do these on my taste…not the best selling…that wouldn’t be fun! Thanks man…I love hearing the ones I left off. I may make something at the end of the ones that I left off…Stand By Me…would be one.

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  13. Give me King Floyd over What Is Life and the (for me) intolerable Questions anyday.

    That’s what it’s all about – opinions, and these were Max’s. Not maybe the five best, he would admit that too, but the five he felt like choosing from a veritable goldmine.

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    1. Yes…it’s the ones that speak to me. Since I was only 3 in 1970…I only have 2nd hand experience of that time.
      I can’t complain though…the comments are why I do this…and this one generated them! Good and bad. Thanks Paul.

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    1. Yes that one is great! I couldn’t argue with any of them. I wouldn’t mind making one on there. My searches for songs have led me to that site before.

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    2. Our house had a little AM radio in the kitchen by the back door in 1970 and these songs was were revolving on repeat. The best of times for music within some chaotic family times. Thank goodness for music taking me away…

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  15. Love the playlist, Max. I’m going to focus on the Geo song. That video is included in the box set DVD and won a contest where Geo said somebody create a video for it so they did. On the box set CDs there is faulty recording and you can’t hear the whole song well just the background tracks, which is very frustrating. I looked to Geo’s book, _I Me Mine_ for his blurb on the song. This is what he wrote:
    “Was written for Billy Preston in 1969. I wrote it very quickly, fifteen minutes or half an hour maybe, on my way to Olympic Studios, London, when I was producing one of his albums. Because of the situation at the session it seemed too difficult to go in there and say ‘Hey I wrote this catchy pop song’ while Billy was playing his funky stuff. I did it myself later on “All Things Must Pass.” “

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    1. I never head that before…I need to read that book. I’m sure glad he didn’t give it to Billy…it wouldn’t have been the same thing.
      That is frustrating on his CD’s….did they ever correct it?

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      1. Max, me too! That book has comments on every song he wrote (up to the time the book was published in 1980.) It’s a gem of a book for Geo fans. I never asked them to correct it as I didn’t listen to it right after I bought it and so the warranty (30 day free return) probably had expired by then.

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      2. Thats too bad about the CDs but they might do it anyway because it’s their fault….of course Lisa..as silly as this sounds…it could be a collectors item.

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      4. I have a Led Zeppelin single with The Crunge and Dy’er Mak’er and the labels are switched…I can’t find it but I have it somewhere…who knows? It could be worth something.

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  17. For what it’s worth, here are my top 5 songs of 1970:

    1. Bridge Over Troubled Water – Simon & Garfunkel
    2. Close to You – Carpenters
    3. My Sweet Lord – George Harrison
    4. Ain’t No Mountain High Enough – Diana Ross
    5. Spirit in the Sky – Norman Greenbaum

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  18. I love this series. Disagree with your choices on this year, except maybe the Dead. But it is your list. And as we turn the corner from singles to albums, well, I’m still reading and still having fun.

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