The Love Unlimited Orchestra -- Love's Theme

 

The above is a whole string of openings for the various Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) news programs that have been broadcast over the past few decades. But unfortunately much to my disappointment, the one opening that I've been seeking is not among them, and I'm not quite sure why. The program that I'm talking about is "24 Hours" which was the 6 pm news on CBC Toronto when it used to be known as CBLT, and it had its run in the 1970s when I was about to enter prepubescence. 

Now, why am I going ga-ga on an ancient opening sequence for a news show? Well, it isn't so much the sequence itself (although the bird's-eye view of skimming over Lake Ontario toward the Toronto shore at sunset was pretty impressive) but the song that accompanied it.

"Love's Theme" by The Love Unlimited Orchestra was indeed that theme. I was obviously just a kid back then but looking back on it now, I think "Wow! That was one kickass choice for a theme song for a nightly news show!". You had those dramatic strings, the wacka-wacka electric guitar and the epic French horns mixed into a tune that has been classified as proto-disco on the relevant article at Wikipedia. In fact, the way it's been described, "Love's Theme", which was released in November 1973, seems to come off as one of the parents of disco itself, so feel free to praise or condemn the song as you wish depending on your musical preferences.

From that same Wiki article, I found out that The Love Unlimited Orchestra was a 40-piece string group led by the late singer-songwriter Barry White created to back up him and his vocal trio Love Unlimited. "Love's Theme" was their debut single which hit No. 1 on both the American Billboard and Canadian RPM charts, and by the end of 1974, it would finish the year as the 25th-ranked single in the Great White North and as the No. 3 single Stateside.

Along with being the theme for "24 Hours", I also remember the song being used as the background music for ABC's weekend golf broadcasts. I'm sure that "Love's Theme" would have been quite soothing for any of the players who had gone through a bad spate of bogeys but then again they probably wouldn't have been able to hear it. I've read that the airline Cathay Pacific has also used it in their commercials.

In 1973, a number of Japanese acts were making their debuts with a rash of singles. Let's see who some of them were and what they were releasing to the public at around the time of "Love's Theme".

1. Finger 5 -- Koi no Dial Six-Seven-Oh-Oh （恋のダイヤル６７００）

December 1973 (4th single)

2. Candies -- Anata ni Muchu （あなたに夢中）

September 1973 (debut single)

3. Momoe Yamaguchi -- Kinjirareta Asobi （禁じられた遊び）

November 1973 (3rd single)