Haunted Jukebox

With no firsthand memory of it (being one year old at the time), for me, 1976 will always evoke the US Bicentennial, disco’s ascendancy and Stevie Wonder’s monumental (if not best) album Songs In The Key Of Life, whose still-dazzling first single leads off this year’s playlist. Another prime ’76 totem remains Wings’ sublimely daft “Silly Love Songs”, over which I’ve chosen its follow-up hit “Let ‘Em In” if only for its sheer weirdness—the precise moment Paul truly began (to paraphrase critic Robert Christgau) making pop directly geared towards potheads (give or take a “Hi, Hi, Hi”.)

Rather than blending everything together like a fruit salad (or this being the ‘70s, a health shake laced with alfalfa sprouts and some ‘ludes because why not), the first dozen or so tracks gradually shift from funk to disco, finding common ground between Boz Scaggs and ELO, or squeaky-clean Tavares and real-life porn actress Andrea True. While disco nears its artistic summit (but doesn’t quite reach it—check back next year) with extended jams from The Spinners, Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band and Diana Ross (her best single of the ’70s), there’s also new sounds to behold: punk via The Ramones (albeit at their cuddliest here), new wave from Blondie and The Modern Lovers (I don’t know where else to slot the latter; Jonathan Richman is more defiant dweeb than mere punk) and the newfound resilience of their forebears (Lou Reed, Bryan Ferry, David Bowie.) 

ABBA’s “Knowing Me, Knowing You” is not only peak ’76 (from Arrival, but a hit the next year) but also the Swedish foursome’s crowning achievement (“Dancing Queen” a close second): it encompasses infinite shades of heartbreak in an immaculate pop song where the cracks still show but never fully give way to chaos amidst the steady beat and melodic hooks. Not even Elton and Kiki’s impassioned duet can top it. The lingering ennui of “Year of the Cat” by Al Stewart (the proto-Stuart Murdoch) is as good a place as any to go out on, although I debated placing The Langley Schools Music Project version of “Rhiannon” at the end: when those kids suddenly go loud at the chorus, it’s spookier than anything even Stevie Nicks could’ve come up with.

1976: It’s The Best I Can Do

1. Stevie Wonder, “I Wish”
2. Parliament, “Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off The Sucker)”
3. Boz Scaggs, “Lowdown”
4. Electric Light Orchestra, “Livin’ Thing”
5. Candi Staton, “Young Hearts Run Free”
6. Maxine Nightingale, “Right Back Where We Started From”
7. Tavares, “Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel”
8. Andrea True Connection, “More, More, More”
9. Diana Ross, “Love Hangover”
10. Bee Gees, “You Should Be Dancing”
11. Walter Murphy, “A Fifth of Beethoven”
12. ABBA, “Knowing Me, Knowing You”
13. Blue Oyster Cult, “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper”
14. Cliff Richard, “Devil Woman”
15. Wings, “Let ‘Em In”
16. Elton John & Kiki Dee, “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”
17. Bryan Ferry, “Let’s Stick Together”
18. AC/DC, “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap”
19. Ramones, “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend”
20. Blondie, “Rip Her To Shreds”
21. David Bowie, “TVC15”
22. Lou Reed, “Coney Island Baby”
23. The Langley Schools Music Project, “Rhiannon”
24. The Modern Lovers, “I’m Straight”
25. James Brown, “Get Up Offa That Thing”
26. The Spinners, “The Rubberband Man”
27. Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band, “Cherchez La Femme / Se Si Bon”
28. Lou Rawls, “You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine”
29. Steely Dan, “The Royal Scam”
30. Joan Armatrading, “Down To Zero”
31. Joni Mitchell, “Hejira”
32. Al Stewart, “Year Of The Cat”