EMOTIONAL RESCUE
EPISODE 5

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, New Wave, film music, jazz, disco, and much more. I’m Andy Miles, and this is King Crimson.

King Crimson “Cat Food” (1970)

Brute Force “The Deacon” (1970)

The Velvet Underground “Jack & Jane” (1973)

John Stewart “Gold” (1979)

That’s John Stewart teamed up with Stevie Nicks for the single “Gold,” released in 1979. Nicks’s Fleetwood Mac bandmate Lindsey Buckingham was also involved in the recording of the song and the album it comes from, “Bombs Away Dream Babies,” as guitarist, backing vocalist, and co-producer with Stewart. Both the song and the LP enjoyed top 10 success in the United States. In 1979 it might have seemed like John Stewart had just sprung on the scene, with the three top 40 singles that came from the album, but he’d been around for years, as a member of The Kingston Trio, the composer of “Daydream Believer,” and a solo artist recording for major labels like Capitol, Warner Brothers, and RCA. In fact, “Bombs Away Dream Babies,” which he made for the RSO label, was his eighth solo album of the ’70s, and by far the most successful.

The Velvet Underground before that with a song from their final album, “Squeeze,” recorded at a time when all of the original members had departed, leaving Doug Yule pretty much on his own. He sang all the leads, played all the guitars and keyboards, and produced it — and then endured all of the negative reviews when the album was released. Yule had joined the band in 1969, as John Cale’s replacement.

We heard the band Brute Force with their 1970 recording “The Deacon.” The self-titled album it comes from was produced by the jazz flutist Herbie Mann.

And King Crimson opened the show with a track from their second album, also released in 1970. “Cat Food” is the song, “In The Wake of Poseidon” the album.

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 Donny Hathaway, The Staples Singers, Mavin Gaye, Chicago, and this from Tyrone Davis.

Tyrone Davis “Turn Back The Hands of Time” (1970)

Graham Parker & The Rumour “Local Girls” (1979)

John Lennon “Bring on the Lucie (Freda People) (1973)

Donny Hathaway “Jealous Guy (Live)” (1972)

A pair of John Lennon songs to close that set, that one coming from Donny Hathaway, a live nightclub recording he made in 1972 at The Bitter End in Greenwich Village, released on the album “Live.” Lennon’s recording of “Jealous Guy” was, surprisingly, not itself issued as a single, at least not till years after his death.

Nor was “Bring on the Lucie,” the 1973 Lennon recording we heard in that set, a song included on the “Mind Games” album. The song’s parenthetical title is “Freda People.”

We heard Graham Parker & The Rumour’s “Local Girls” from the end of the decade. The song comes from the critically hailed “Squeezing Out Sparks” album, released in early 1979, and Village Voice’s album of the year. “Local Girls” was the album’s only U.S. single, one that got some play on the FM dial.

And Mississippi-born, Chicago-based Tyrone Davis at the top of the set, his million-selling 1970 single “Turn Back the Hands of Time,” his second of three career R&B chart number ones. It also climbed to the number three position on Billboard’s pop chart.

From Studio C Chicago, this is “Emotional Rescue.” I’m Andy Miles. Next up, The Staple Singers.

The Staple Singers “Heavy Makes You Happy (Sha-Na-Boom-Boom)” (1970)

Bob Dylan “Wigwam” (1970)

Paul McCartney & Wings “Bridge on the River Suite” (1975)

Jimmy McGruff & Junior Parker “The Inner Light” (1970)

A soulful, and slightly scratchy Beatles cover ending that set; it comes from Jimmy McGruff and Junior Parker, who teamed up for a 1970 album called “The Dudes Doin’ Business,” released by Capitol Records. George Harrison wrote the song and it was the sitar-suffused B-side to “Lady Madonna,” which was a top 10 single in at least 20 countries. McGruff was a jazz organist, Parker a vocalist. Parker actually released his own version of “Lady Madonna” as a single in 1970, with another Indian-influenced Harrison song, “Tomorrow Never Knows,” on the B-side.

We heard “Lady Madonna”’s composer, Paul McCartney, with the instrumental “Bridge on the River Suite.” It’s a bonus track, credited to The Country Hams, contained on the 2014 reissue of the 1975 LP “Venus and Mars,” which topped album charts on both sides of the Atlantic the year of its original release.

Bob Dylan’s “Wigwam” before that, the only single from the “Self Portrait” album, released by Columbia Records in 1970. It was a modest success in the U.S., not quite a top 40 single but a top 41 single. The Belgians, Dutch, Malaysians, and Swiss were much more partial to it; in all four countries it cracked the top 10.

The Staple Singers at the top of the set, “Heavy Makes You Happy (Sha-Na-Boom-Boom),” a hit single issued the same month as Bobby Bloom’s version came out in the U.K. Bloom was also one of the song’s co-writers.

And you’re listening to “Emotional Rescue” from Studio C Chicago. I’m Andy Miles. This last full set on the show begins with The Grateful Dead.

Grateful Dead “Estimated Prophet” (1977)

Johnny Nash “Reggae On Broadway” (1975)

Marvin Gaye “Trouble Man” (1972)

Chicago “Wishing You Were Here” (1974)

It was a number one single on Billboard’s Easy Listening chart in 1974, Chicago’s “Wishing You Were Here,” with backing vocals from three Beach Boys, Al Jardine, Carl Wilson, and Dennis Wilson.

Before that, Marvin Gaye’s “Trouble Man,” the title song for the 1972 film “Trouble Man,” whose main character, played by Robert Hooks, was named Mister “T.” The single’s B-side was the Gaye song “Don't Mess With Mister ‘T’.”

We heard “Reggae on Broadway,” a 1975 deep cut from Johnny Nash.

And The Grateful Dead’s “Estimated Prophet” at the top of the set, the opening track on the band’s 1977 album “Terrapin Station,” with a Bob Weir vocal. A decade after “Terrapin Station” was released the record turned gold, when the Dead reached the peak of their popularity. On “Estimated Prophet,” Tom Scott played sax and an electronic wind instrument called the lyricon. In fact, Scott was the instrument’s first buyer a few years before, and in 1982 played it on Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean.” Scott was also a founding member of The Blues Brothers band and played saxophone on “The Blues Brothers” soundtrack, where he was credited as Tom “Triple Scale” Scott.

And you’ve been listening to “Emotional Rescue” from Studio C Chicago. I’m Andy Miles. Thanks for joining me. I have one last song on the show; it’s the drummer Idris Muhammad with the eight-minute R&B/dance track “Could Heaven Ever Be Like This” from 1977. Frank Floyd is the lead vocalist, Hiram Bullock the guitar soloist.

Idris Muhammad “Could Heaven Ever Be Like This” (1977)

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