The Love Unlimited Orchestra -- Rhapsody in White

 

In this current age of the Wild West of social media where folks can give out all sorts of rumours about the famous (whether they are true or not) through platforms like Facebook and YouTube, the following show of yesteryear may not mean much. However, back in the 1970s, it was apparently something quite intriguing.

What I'm writing about is the popular show "Terebi Sanmen Kiji Weekender"（テレビ三面記事 ウィークエンダー...TV's Page 3 Articles Weekender） which had a nearly 10-year run on NTV between 1975 and 1984. And as the title suggests, this Saturday night program was all about spotlighting issues such as some lurid crime stories that didn't make it to the front page but got on some of the back pages. 

The opening theme for "Weekender" was by The Love Unlimited Orchestra led by Barry White, "Rhapsody in White". I'd never expected that they would be up on KKP again after I featured them through a ROY article back on Halloween 2020 because of their famous "Love's Theme" from 1973. "Rhapsody in White" was released as a single in 1974 and like "Love's Theme" from the previous year, it's another epic disco anthem that doesn't bring back memories of the glitter ball and the sweaty dance emporia of the late 1970s. As one commenter so gloriously put it under the "Love's Theme" YouTube video (one of them anyways), TLUO has put forth something that deserves a classy late afternoon repast on board a cruise ship. Not sure how the producers ever came up with the idea to put this particular tune as a theme song for a sensationalistic news show but as it turned out, it probably helped lure viewers in.

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)