Welcome to another Reminiscings of Youth article. Last week, I wrote about Roberta Flack's iconic 1973 cover of "Killing Me Softly with His Song" and though I had heard that classic on the radio a number of times when I was a boy, it took a drive home late at night to really infuse the wonder of it into me.
I've had a similar experience with Nicolette Larson's 1978 "Lotta Love" which was indeed a cover as well (to my surprise once more) of Neil Young's original 1976 recording, although that song wouldn't see the light of day until its inclusion in his 1978 album "Comes a Time". On Wikipedia, Young's contemplative original has been categorized as country rock; I would also add the adjective "soft" to the genre as well.
As mentioned, I'd heard Larson's version a number of times on AM radio as a kid, but as with "Killing Me Softly with His Song", "Lotta Love" finally hit me when I was actually watching an episode of the CBS sitcom "WKRP in Cincinnati". I forgot what the episode was all about but there was a scene of a Cincinnati sunset as the helicopter shot over the bridge and then "Lotta Love" came on, and I just thought that it was the most amazing collaboration of visual and aural. There was Andrew Love's boss saxophone, Plas Johnson on the flute (he was also the tenor saxophonist on the famous "Pink Panther" theme!), the disco strings and of course Larson's slightly raspy voice.
To me, Larson's "Lotta Love" wasn't country rock; it's been this amazing car stereo-friendly disco AOR tune that tells driver and passengers "Yup, welcome to the city!". It was a hit in both Canada and the US, reaching No. 4 and No. 8 respectively and then it hit the top spot on their respective Adult Contemporary/Easy Listening charts. Larson, who left us all way too early at the age of 45, didn't quite hit the heights of superstardom but was a very popular figure to her fans and on the radio with some of her other songs, one which I will be doing as another beloved example of ROY soon enough. By the way, below is the Neil Young original.
Larson's debut album "Nicolette" was released on September 29th 1978. I found the Oricon Top 10 chart for September 25th that year. What were the top 3 singles on that day?
1. Takao Horiuchi -- Kimi no Hitomi wa Ichi-man Boruto （君のひとみは１００００ボルト）
2. Pink Lady -- Toumei Ningen（透明人間）
3. Masanori Sera & Twist -- Hikigane（銃爪）
No comments:
Post a Comment
Feel free to provide any comments (pro or con). Just be civil about it.