EMOTIONAL RESCUE
EPISODE 3

From Studio C Chicago this is “Emotional Rescue,” a tuneful tapestry of all things 1970 to 1980, with plenty of air time given to pop, soul, funk, postpunk, classic rock, Afrobeat, New Wave, film music, jazz, disco, and much more. I’m Andy Miles, and this is Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons.

Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons “The Night” (1972)

Squeeze “Cool For Cats” (1979)

Stevie Wonder “If You Really Love Me” (1971)

John Cale “Mr. Wilson” (1975)

John Cale, “Mr. Wilson,” the opening track from the 1975 album “Slow Dazzle.” Cale was backed on the record by a number of notable ’70s session players and producers, as well as Brian Eno and Phil Manzanera of Roxy Music.

Stevie Wonder before that, “If You Really Love Me,” a crossover hit that went top 10 on the pop, R&B, and easy listening charts. The female singer you hear on the song is Syreeta Wright, who co-wrote the song with Wonder, giving him the 11th top 10 pop single of his then-10-year-old career.

From 1979 we heard Squeeze, “Cool For Cats, a top five record in both the U.K. and Australia, but a song that got little play in the United States.

And Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons at the top of the show, a song called “The Night,” which, like the Squeeze record, was a top 10 hit in Britain but failed to make the American charts. It came out in 1972 but had its U.K. chart run in ’75.

And you’re listening to “Emotional Rescue” from Studio C Chicago. I’m Andy Miles. Thanks for joining me. Lots of good stuff on the way, including Yes, The Chi-Lites, Elton John, Jean-Luc Ponty, and this from Aaron Neville.

Aaron Neville “Hercules” (1973)

Frank Sinatra “Wave” (1971)

War “Why Can’t We Be Friends” (1975)

The Brothers Johnson “Strawberry Letter 23” (1977)

It’s “Strawberry Letter 23,” a top five 1977 pop hit for The Brothers Johnson. Written by Shuggie Otis and produced by Quincy Jones, it was the second of three career R&B chart toppers for the L.A. funk duo.

We heard War, “We Can’t We Be Friends?” one of the first 45s this disc jockey ever bought. It came out in April 1975 when I was four and a half years old and I can still remember the United Artists label spinning on my bedroom record player. I must have bought it sometime that summer, when it climbed to the number six spot on Billboard’s pop chart and turned gold. It was actually one of seven top 10 singles War had in the decade.

Frank Sinatra’s 1971 recording of “Wave” before that, a song written by Antônio Carlos Jobim, who plays guitar and sings some backup on the recording. It was the second Sinatra-Jobim collaboration, accounting for half of the tracks on the 1971 “Sinatra & Company” album, four years after their critically acclaimed full-length LP collaboration, “Francis Albert Sinatra & Antônio Carlos Jobim.”

And Aaron Neville at the top of the set, “Hercules,” one of three singles Neville put out in the ’70s, none of which charted.

From Studio C Chicago, this is "Emotional Rescue," a show devoted to one of the great decades in popular music: the 1970s. Next up: Yes.

Yes “Long Distance Runaround” (1972)

The Chi-Lites “(For God's Sake) Give More Power To The People” (1971)

Black Merda “Reality” (1970)

Elton John “Take Me To The Pilot” (1970)

Elton John at his very best, the fantastic “Take Me To The Pilot,” released in 1970 as the A-side to “Your Song,” which became the bigger hit of the pair.

Black Merda before that, also from 1970. The song we heard is called “Reality”; it comes from the Detroit quartet’s self-titled debut album.

We heard The Chi-Lites, “(For God's Sake) Give More Power To The People,” released in 1971 as the title track of the Chicago soul group’s third album. The lead vocalist, Chicago-born Eugene Record, wrote the song and produced the album.

And Yes at the top of the set, some prog-rock from their fourth album, “Fragile.” The song we heard, “Long Distance Runaround,” was the B-side to a double-sided hit single released in early 1972; the A-side, “Roundabout,” was a top 15 single in the U.S. and Canada.

From Studio C Chicago, this is “Emotional Rescue.” I’m Andy Miles. One last full set of music on the show; it starts with John Handy.

John Handy “Hard Work” (1976)

Steely Dan “FM” (1978)

Minnie Riperton “Les Fleurs” (1970)

Labi Siffre “Cannock Chase” (1972) [lead-in sound comes from an early ’70s BBC interview]

That’s the British folk singer Labi Siffre with a song from his third album, “Crying Laughing Loving Lying,” released in 1972 and the source of his two biggest hit songs. During Siffre’s heyday of British popularity, his records failed to have any impact on the American charts, even while his music earned the accolades of reviewers on both sides of the Atlantic.

Chicago singer Minnie Riperton before that with a song recorded at the tail end of 1969, released as the opening track on her debut album in 1970, and issued as a single in 1972, the same year Riperton gave birth to her daughter, Maya Rudolph. By decade’s end Riperton had tragically died of breast cancer at the age of 31.

We heard Steely Dan’s “FM (No Static At All),” the title song from the film “FM,” which was a flop in theaters but a hit in record stores. The soundtrack went platinum on the strength of songs by ’70s heavy hitters Bob Seger, Steve Miller, Tom Petty, Boz Scaggs, Boston, The Doobie Brothers, Queen, Billy Joel, Jimmy Buffet, James Taylor, and Steely Dan, who scored a top 25 hit with the “FM” single, at a time when their best-selling album to date, “Aja,” was enjoying its long run on the album chart.

Jazz saxophonist John Handy at the top of the set, “Hard Work,” the title track from his 1976 album, which sold well in both the U.S. and U.K. It was his ninth career LP but just the second of the ’70s, following a seven-year recording hiatus as a front man.

And you’ve been listening to “Emotional Rescue” from Studio C Chicago. I’m Andy Miles. Thanks for joining me. We’re going to go out with more jazz, this one from the French electric violinist Jean-Luc Ponty. It’s called “Mirage” and comes from the 1977 album “Enigmatic Ocean,” which topped Billboard’s jazz album chart.

Jean-Luc Ponty “Mirage” (1977)

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