MySpace a place for friends

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You've probably heard of the famous disco club "Studio 54"
but are wondering what "Studio 74" is, right?

Well, "Studio 74" is a club in cyber space, the web page
you are presently visiting, which is my little way
of paying tribute to some of my favorite musical
groups and TV shows which had a significant year in 1974.

For example, a pay tribute on my page to some of my
favorite musical groups and TV shows that ended in 1974,
like The Moody Blues, The Brady Bunch and The
Partridge Family. And I also pay tribute to some of my
favorite musical groups and TV shows that began in
1974, like disco music, ABBA, The Six Million Dollar
Man and The Rockford Files. 1974 was also an
important year for the Beach Boys. Although they didn't
begin or end that year, they were awarded the "Band
of the Year" award by Rolling Stone magazine.

On the left side of my page I pay tribute to the musical
groups and on the right side I pay tribute to the TV
shows.

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1974 was a sad year for fans of the Moody Blues. In the
spring of 1974 the Moody Blues announced they were
breaking up. Their last album had been released a
couple years previously and was title “Seventh
Sojourn” – a #1 album that was released on November 17,
1972.

Following the release of this album, the Moody Blues
embarked on an ambitious tour schedule which ended
in Asia, and then they called it quits. Or so the
public thought. To the great surprise of many, the
Moody Blues reunited and began recording albums
again in 1978. Their album “Octave” was released on June
9, 1978, followed by several other albums.

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1974 was a big step forward in the disco music scene
because it gained mainstream popularity that year when
several disco songs hit the top of the charts; for
example “Rock the Boat” by The Hues Corporation,
“Rock Your Baby” by George McCrae, “Love’s Theme” by
Barry White’s Love Unlimited Orchestra, and “Walking in
Rhythm” by the Blackbyrds. Additionally, the first
disco radio show premiered in 1974 on WPIX-FM in New
York City.

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The musical group ABBA began their career before 1974 but
their first big success came when they won the
Eurovision song contest on April 6, 1974 with their song
"Waterloo," which subsequently raced up to the tops
of song charts across Europe. Full of unbridled
enthusiasm and artistic energy ABBA promoted their
musical art by touring Europe and performing on several
popular TV shows. During the following years they
would release some of the greatest pop albums ever
made.

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After working hard for several years to recapture the
success of their glory days, the Beach Boys had a number
one album in 1974 called “Endless Summer.” This
double album was a greatest hits compilation of their
early to mid-1960s career. It was the Beach Boy’s
first multi-million selling record since “Good
Vibrations” from 1966 and it stayed on the Billboard
album chart for three years.

Also in 1974, the Rolling Stone magazine named the Beach
Boys as the “Band of the Year,” based on their
impressive touring schedule and the public interest
their tours rekindled for their music.

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***THE MOODY BLUES***

The Moody Blues band originated in Birmingham, England,
and the founding members included Michael Pinder,
Ray Thomas, and Graeme Edge. They originally had a
rhythm and blues style in 1964, but quickly
transformed into the signature sound of their symphonic
rock style after John Lodge and Justin Hayward
joined the group. They have had many hit records in the
U.S., U.K., and around the world. Perhaps their best
known album is “Days of Future Passed,” which was
released in 1967 and contains the hit single “Nights
in White Satin.” The Moody Blues have periodically
taken time off but are still currently active.

My personal favorite Moody Blues albums, in order of
release date, are:
“Days of Future Passed” (1967)
“In Search of the Lost Chord” (1968)
“On the Threshold of a Dream” (1969)
“To Our Children’s Children’s Children” (1969)
“A Question of Balance” (1970)
“Every Good Boy Deserves Favour” (1971)
“Seventh Sojourn” (1972).

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***DISCO***

I have too many favorite disco groups and artists to talk
about in the limited space of this page, but some of
my favorites are the Bee Gees, Chic, Gloria Gaynor
and Donna Summer.

~~~THE BEE GEES~~~

I know the Bee Gees' art-music is not confined to the
disco genre but because they reached their peak of
popularity during the disco era I am including them in
this disco section.

“The most wonderful thing about having children is that
you get to go on being a child. You get to grow up
again. You get to live your childhood again through
theirs”

~Barry Gibb, father of five children.

For more information on the children and family of the Bee
Gees, please click on the following link:

===BEEGEES-WORLD.COM===

Andy Gibb
(1958-1988)

First male solo artist in U.S. to get three #1
singles in a row on the Billboard Hot 100 list.

In 1985 he made a guest appearance as “Tony Glen” the
piano teacher on the Punky Brewster TV Show (Play it
again, Punky).

Andy tragically died from a heart infection at the
relatively young age of 30.

[---- BEE GEES LYRICS ----]

* THE LORD *

What do you get for trying?
Minute you're born you're dying.
The body is six feet down.
The Lord says the soul sticks around.

You can believe what you wanna
But I know what I'm gonna do.
I'm gonna believe in the Lord.

You think you live on laughter.
But you don't know what's after.
Singing Hallelujah.
I can know the Master.

When my life is over.
Lie in fields of clover.
Waiting for my own girl.
Living in a new world .

Yeah,
I'm gonna believe in the Lord

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* I STARTED A JOKE *

I started a joke, which started the whole world crying
But I didn’t see that the joke was on me, oh no

I started to cry, which started the whole world laughing
Oh, if I’d only seen that the joke was on me

I looked at the skies, running my hands over my eyes
And I fell out of bed, hurting my head from things that I’d said

Till I finally died, which started the whole world living
Oh, if I’d only seen that the joke was on me

* STAYIN’ ALIVE *

Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk,
I’m a woman’s man: no time to talk.
Music loud and women warm, I’ve been kicked around
Since I was born.

And now it’s all right. it’s ok
And you may look the other way
We can try to understand
The New York Times’ effect on man.

Whether you’re a brother or whether you’re a mother,
You’re stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive.
Feel the city breakin’ and everybody shakin’,
And we’re stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive.

Ah, ha, ha, ha
Stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive
Ah, ha, ha, ha Stayin’ alive

Well now, I get low and I get high,
And if I can’t get either, I really try.
Got the wings of heaven on my shoes.
I’m a dancin’ man and I just can’t lose.

You know it’s all right. it’s ok.
I’ll live to see another day.
We can try to understand
The New York Times’ effect on man.

Life goin’ nowhere. somebody help me.
Somebody help me, yeah.
Life goin’ nowhere. somebody help me.
Somebody help me, yeah. stayin’ alive.

And we’re stayin’ alive
Stayin’ alive.
Ah, ha, ha, ha Stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive.
Ah, ha, ha, ha Stayin’ alive.

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***ABBA***

ABBA's first full length album and single were both titled
"Ring Ring." But their first big success came when
they won the Eurovision song contest in 1974 with
their song "Waterloo," which subsequently raced up to
the tops of song charts across Europe. And their
second full-length album, which also bore the name
"Waterloo," was released when the final round of the
Eurovision contest occurred in England at the
Brighton Dome on April 6, 1974. Full of unbridled
enthusiasm and artistic energy ABBA promoted their
musical art by touring Europe and performing on
several popular TV shows.

The hit single "Waterloo" became ABBA's first #1 hit in
the UK. And in the US, where their Eurovision
victory carried no weight, Waterloo still climbed up to
#6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

ABBA's third album was self titled, and became known to
fans as the "Limo Album" because of the photo on the
album cover of the four ABBA members in a limo. Their hit
single "SOS" gave them success again in the UK, where
it climbed the charts to #6. The "Limo Album"
reached #13 on the UK album charts. Further
solidifying ABBA's success was their single "Mamma Mia"
which zoomed up to #1 on the UK charts towards
the end January in 1976. In the United States, "SOS"
climbed up to the #10 spot on the Record World
Top 100 singles chart and #15 on the Billboard
Hot 100 chart. ABBA won a BMI award for "SOS" as one
of the most played songs on American radio in 1975.

Nevertheless, splashy success eluded ABBA in the United
States. Despite having four top 30 singles in the US by
early 1976, ABBA had difficulty with reaching the
heights on the album charts. Despite having three hit
singles, the self-titled ABBA album only reached the
#165 position on the Cashbox album chart. And on the
Billboard 200 chart it only reached the #174
spot. Part of the reason for these low charting positions
may have been due to promotional issues. For
example, the publication "Cream" pontificated that ABBA
had a "a very sloppy promotional campaign" in the US.

The situation was remarkably different in Australia. After
videos for their songs "I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do"
and "Mamma Mia" were shown on national TV in August
of 1975, a wave of popularity for ABBA swept them to
the #1 positions on the single and album charts,
were they remained for months. And a 1976 compilation
album, called "The Best of ABBA" sold 1.1 million
copies and reached the #1 position, where it
remained for 16 weeks. To this day it is the biggest
selling album of all time in Australia.

ABBA's success in Australia can also be measured by TV
statistics. On Saturday, March 20, 1976, precisely as the
clock stuck 6:30 pm, Australia's Channel 9 broadcast
"The Best of ABBA", which was a production filmed
during ABBA's visit the week before. This particular TV
program about ABBA was watched by 54 percent of TV
viewers. Not since the famous moon landing in 1969
had an event captured such a significant portion of
TV viewers in Australia. This ABBA special has
remained the most viewed program in Australia up to the
recent calculation of statistics for 2007.

With zestful gusto, ABBA released a compilation album of
Greatest Hits in March 1976 - despite having but six
Top 40 hits in the UK and the US. This album,
however, became ABBA's first #1 album on the UK
charts. In the US, the album cracked the Top 50 on the
album charts, a first accomplishment for ABBA. The
Greatest Hits album was a juggernaut that went on to
sell over one million copies in the US. In addition
to past successes, the album also included a new
single called "Fernando". A Swedish version of this song
had been included on Frida's 1975 solo album Frida
ensam ("Frida alone"), a number one album in Sweden.
After the tremendous success of the song "Fernando"
by Frida in Scandinavia, ABBA decided to record an
English version. Great success unsued as the English
sung "Fernando" hit the #1 spot in twelve
countries.

In Australia the song stayed at #1 for 15 weeks, tying
"Hey Jude" by The Beatles for the longest time at
number. "Fernando" became one of the best-selling singles
of all time in Australia. During 1975 ABBA received
their first international prize; "Best Studio
Recording of 1975" for Fernando. In the United States,
"Fernando" reached the Top 10 on the Cashbox Top 100
singles chart and #13 on the Billboard Hot 100.
"Fernando" topped the Billboard Adult Contemporary
chart, which made it ABBA's first American number one
single of any nature.

The title of ABBA's next album was very apropos; "Arrival."
This creative venture was a new high in terms of
compositional maturity and studio recording. The album's
release elicited excited reviews from a variety of
sources, including rock-orientated music weeklies in
the UK, such as Melody Maker and New Musical Express.
Critiques in the US were mostly positive. From
"Arrival" came the hits "Money, Money, Money", "Knowing
Me, Knowing You", and "Dancing Queen". The album
"Arrival" was nominated in 1977 for the inaugural BRIT
Award for the category "Best International Album of
the Year". At this time in their career ABBA were
extremely popular in the UK, most of Western Europe and
Australia.

ABBA's success was scaled back in the US. The only #1
single ABBA had on the US Billboard Hot 100 was
"Dancing Queen." ABBA did have three more #1 singles
on other Billboard charts, however, including
Billboard's Adult Contemporary and Hot Dance Club Play
charts. Nevertheless, "Arrival" represented a bona
fide breakthrough for ABBA on the US album charts
where it peaked at #20 on the Billboard album chart,
and reaching platinum status in sales in the US.

ABBA's next album, simply titled "ABBA - The Album" was
released in December of 1977 to coincide with "ABBA: The Movie."

This album was not as enthusiastically
embraced by the UK critics as the previous album
"Arrival". However, it did contain the worldwide hits
"The Name of the Game" and "Take a Chance on Me." Both of
these singles reached the very pinnacle of the UK
charts. In the US they attained the #12 and #3
spots, respectively speaking, on the Billboard Hot
100 chart.

ABBA performed at the Music for UNICEF Concert on January
9, 1979. This concert was held at the United Nations
General Assembly in celebration of UNICEF's Year of
the Child. ABBA performed Chiquitita and, in a
gesture of extraordinary generosity, donated the
copyright of the song to UNICEF. The following week the
single was released to the public, and zoomed up to
the #1 position in ten countries.

Later in January, on a sad note, Björn and Agnetha
publicly announced their intentions of getting divorced.
Despite this circumstance, ABBA assured their fans
and the press that they would continue to create and
perform music together as a group.

True enough, in April of 1979 ABBA released their sixth
studio album, called Voulez-Vous. This album reached the
top of the charts across Europe. It also reached
number one positions in both Japan and Mexico. In Canada
and Australia Voulez-Vous cracked the Top 10. In the
US it cracked the top 20. None of the released
singles from the album reached the #1 slot on the UK
charts. However, the songs "Chiquitita", "Does Your
Mother Know", "Angeleyes", and the "double A-side"
single "Voulez-Vous"/I have a Dream" all reached at
least #4 on the UK charts.

ABBA's released their seventh album later in 1980. It was
titled Super Trouper. This album was characterized by
heavy use of synthesizers and songs with deeply
personal lyrics. A whopping one million copies of this
album were pre-ordered before its release, setting a
record for the most pre-orders of any album in the
UK. The single, "The Winner Takes It All", proved to
be ABBA's eighth visit to the number one slot on the
UK charts (and also their first number one hit in the
UK since 1978.

In my opinion, the lyrics of "The Winner Takes It All" are
among the very best lyrics every written for any
song! And this is all the more remarkable when you
consider that English was not the primary language of
Björn and Benny. These extraordinary gentlemen are
musical geniuses!

In the US, "The Winner Takes It All" reached #8 on the
Billboard Hot 100 chart and #1 on the Billboard
Adult Contemporary chart (making it ABBA's second
#1 hit on that particular chart). The poignant
lyrics of this song are supposedly references to the
marital difficulties that Björn and Agnetha
experienced. Agnetha seemed to sing the words of the song
as if they were spontaneously springing forth from
her heart.

The subsequent single from "Super Trouper" carried the same
name as the album. The single "Super Trouper" reached
the #1 slot on the UK charts, making it ABBA's
ninth (and last) #1 hit in the UK.

ABBA's eighth (and last) studio album, represented a mature
attainment of Benny and Björn's compositional
skills. Benny later would reveal that the title track
of the album referred to secret meetings that were
held against the approval of totalitarian governments
in Soviet-dominated states. The single "One of Us"
was released in December of 1981 and reached the
#3 position in the UK.

"The Visitors" album reached the very top of the album
charts across most of Europe. It cracked the Top 20 in
France and Japan and the Top 30 in the US and
Australia. However, despite this measured success,
comparatively speaking, "The Visitors" did not measure up
the success of ABBA's previous albums. The
symbolically titled single "When All Is Said and Done"
became ABBA's last Top 40 hit in the US and, in
Canada, climbed to #4 on the RPM Adult Contemporary
chart.

ABBA appeared for the last time in Sweden on November 19,
1982, on the TV show Nöjesmaskinen. They made
their last performance ever on December 11, 1982 on
Noel Edmonds' UK show "The Late, Late Breakfast
Show." ABBA appeared via a live link from a TV studio in
Stockholm.

If you'd like to visit Abba's official website, please
click on the link below:

www.abbasite.com

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***THE BEACH BOYS***

The Beach Boys formed their group in 1961 and initially
consisted of Brian Wilson, his brothers Carl and
Dennis, their cousin Mike Love, and their friend Al
Jardine. This core quintet was sometimes joined by David
Marks, an early member of the group, and Bruce
Johnston, a later member of the group.

The initial popularity of the Beach Boys was probably
based on their close vocal harmonies and their songs
which celebrated the youth culture of Southern
California, with a preoccupation on cars, surfing, and
girls – not necessarily in that order, lol. The
genius of Brian Wilson would unfold over the years and
eventually take the group in artistic paths beyond
the surfing stereotype.

On the U.S. charts, four of the Beach Boys’ singles have
reached the number one position, thirty-six have
reached into the Top 40, and fifty-six have made it onto
the Hot 100 list. According to Billboard, the Beach
Boys have the greatest number of single and album
sales (combined) of any American band.

The Beach Boys “Love You” album
One of my personal favorites!

The Beach Boys “Friends” album,
a mellow album full of interesting melodies and
fresh musical ideas.

The best American rock album ever!

The Beach Boys have undergone many notable changes in
musical style and group membership. Brian Wilson
eventually withdrew from the group. Dennis Wilson died
in a diving accident in 1983, and his brother Carl
died in 1998.

L.A. (Light Album), one of my personal favorite
Beach Boys albums. Please read my blog review.

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***CHICAGO***

Although 1974 wasn't the beginning or the end of the band
Chicago, I must include them on my page because
they are one of my favorite bands. Their jazzy album
"Chicago VII" was released in 1974. This double
album has two of my all-time favorite Chicago songs;
“(I’ve Been) Searching So Long” and “Wishing you were
here,” the latter song included background vocals by
the Beach Boys and climbed the charts to #11.

The band Chicago was formed in 1967 in Chicago,
Illinois, when a group of DePaul University music
students began playing a series of late-night jams at
clubs on and off campus.

They burst on to the music scene with the release of their
first record (a double LP) in April 1969, titled
“The Chicago Transit Authority,” which was a stunning
display of jazzy instrumentals, extended jams, Latin
percussion, and experimental, feedback-laden guitar
abstraction.

The band's popularity exploded with the release of their
second album, which bore the simplified name
“Chicago” and was another double-LP set. This album
yielded several top-40 hits. The centerpiece track was a
thirteen-minute suite composed by James Pankow
called "Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon" (the structure
of this suite was inspired by Pankow's love for
classical music). The suite yielded two top ten hits,
the crescendo-filled "Make Me Smile" and prom-ready
ballad “Colour My World.”

Among the other popular tracks on the album was Robert
Lamm's dynamic but cryptic wah-wah-buttressed "25 or 6
to 4" (a reference to a songwriter trying to write
at 25 or 26 minutes to 4 in the morning, sung by Cetera).

Other successful albums and singles followed in the
succeeding years. The band's double-disc 1974 release,
“Chicago VII”, featured the Cetera-composed "Wishing
You Were Here", sung by Terry Kath and Cetera with
background vocals by Cetera and The Beach Boys and
some fusion jazz.

Their 1975 release, Chicago VIII, featured the political
allegory "Harry Truman" and the nostalgic Pankow-
composed "Old Days". That summer also saw a very
successful joint tour across America with The Beach
Boys, with each act performing some of the other's
material. The concert at the time was considered one of
the highest grossing of all time.

But for all of Chicago’s efforts, none of their singles
went to number one until Chicago X in 1976, when
Cetera's slow, exquisite ballad "If You Leave Me Now"
climbed to the top of the charts. The song also won
Chicago their only Grammy award, for Best Pop
Performance by a Duo or Group in 1977.

1978 was a tragic and transitional year for Chicago. On
January 23rd, guitarist/singer/songwriter/group
co-founder Terry Kath died of an accidental
self-inflicted gunshot wound while cleaning his
gun). Kath was the group's leader onstage, and for
many longtime fans, its musical soul. Terry Kath's
stunning death could have meant the end for Chicago,
but encouraged by friends and admirers such as Doc
Severinsen, the group held fast and soldiered on.
And the band’s biggest selling album was yet to come.

Chicago 17, in 1984, was the band’s biggest selling album
and contained two Top Ten singles ("You're the
Inspiration" and "Hard Habit to Break") and two other
singles ("Stay the Night" and "Along Comes a Woman")
which charted in the top 20.

In 1988, the band topped the charts again with the Diane
Warren-composed single "Look Away", from the album
Chicago 19. During 1989, Chicago did a reprise joint
concert tour with The Beach Boys (they would do this
once again in 1997). The band continued in the
decade of the 1990s, even though their popularity began
to decline.

Despite personnel changes over the years, the group still
keeps active four decades after its founding. They
are one of the few major rock groups that has never
broken up or even taken an extended hiatus.

Four of the six surviving founding members (major
songwriters Lamm and Pankow, plus Loughnane and
Parazaider) remain to this day providing continuity,
while Bill Champlin has put in over 25 years with the
band, Jason Scheff over 20, Tris Imboden over 15 and
Keith Howland having logged 13. The current lineup
has been in place longer than any other in group
history; 13 years and counting.

In 2006 the group released their first all-new studio
album since Twenty 1, entitled Chicago XXX, on March 21,
2006.

A couple years later, on June 17, 2008 the dynamic Stone
of Sisyphus album was finally released. The album
contains eleven of the original twelve tracks, plus
four demo recordings. Its official title is "Chicago
XXXII: Stone of Sisyphus”

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OTHER MUSIC I ENJOY

I love lots of different styles of music from Classical to
Jazz to early pop songs from the first half of the
20th century. A list of my favorite musical artists
and songs would entirely fill up this page (and
additional pages). To keep things simple, here is a list
of my favorite pop/rock musical artists. As you can
see, I’m a big fan of pop and dance music from the
1970s:

A taste of Honey
ABBA (see blogs)
Arabesque

Baccara

Beach Boys (see blog)

Beatles (see blogs)

Carpenters

Tina Charles
Chic
Chicago (see blog)
Linda Clifford
John Denver
Neil Diamond
Dolly Dots
Carol Douglas
Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band
Earth, Wind and Fire
Yvonne Elliman
The Emotions
First Choice
Roberta Flack
Fleetwood Mac
Dan Fogelberg
Gloria Gaynor
Hues Corporation
K.C. and the Sunshine Band
Gladys Knight and the Pips
Gordon Lightfoot
Lipps Inc.
Luv’
Barry Manilow
Maywood
Van McCoy
George McCrae
Maureen McGovern
Stephanie Mills
Ronnie Milsap
Moody Blues
Tom Moulton (mixer/producer)
Walter Murphy
The Nolans
Olivia Newton-John
Osmonds
Ottawan
Partridge Family
Ritchee Family
Rose Royce
Diana Ross
Sister Sledge
Donna Summer
James Taylor
BJ Thomas
The Three Degrees
Voyage
Roger Whitaker
Carol Williams
Michael Zager

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I also have lots of music videos and fun commercials from
the 1970s on my “freeblueeagle” youtube channel.
Please follow this link:
www.youtube.com/freeblueeagle

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