Past Tunes — Timeless Music, Unforgettable Stories
Rediscover the voices, songs and stories that shaped the 1970s & 1980s.
Memory Lane Music Some songs announce themselves at once; others grow on you, and this is one of the latter kind in the best sense. Written by Peek and released on Homecoming in 1972, “Don’t Cross the River” is a cautionary folk-rock song about a traveller tempted by an easier road. Its river is both a real landscape … Read more
Some songs announce themselves at once; others grow on you, and this is one of the latter kind in the best sense. Written by Beckley, “I Need You” was an early America single and a hit in 1972. It was the song the band first expected to lead their debut album, before “A Horse With … Read more
CC0 1.0, Eric Nopanen. Listening first Put this record on before you read further, if you can. I Get Around, released in 1964, is the Beach Boys in full flight: a song that starts with a chorus, not a verse, as if the band cannot wait to get to the good part, and then never … Read more
CC0 1.0, Photo: Anthony DELANOIX, via Wikimedia Commons. Listening first Put this record on before you read further, if you can, and listen quietly, because God Only Knows, released in 1966 on the album Pet Sounds, is a record that rewards quiet attention. It begins with a harpsichord-like figure and a horn, and then Carl … Read more
CC0 1.0, Jenkuh. Listening first Put this record on before you read further, if you can. Help Me, Rhonda, released in 1965, is a paradox in pop form: a song about heartbreak that you can dance to, a plea for help set to one of the brightest choruses of the decade. It became the Beach … Read more
CC0 1.0, Eric Nopanen. Listening first Put this record on before you read further, if you can. California Girls, released in 1965, begins with one of the most beautiful introductions in pop music: an orchestral prelude, slow and almost classical, with strings and horns, before the band crashes in with a beat and a chorus … Read more
CC0 1.0, Photo: Anthony DELANOIX, via Wikimedia Commons. Listening first Put this record on before you read further, if you can. Good Vibrations, released as a single in 1966, is often called Brian Wilson’s pocket symphony, and the phrase is apt. It is barely three and a half minutes long, but it contains more musical … Read more
CC0 1.0, Jenkuh. Listening first Put this record on before you read further, if you can. I Can’t Get Next to You, released in 1969, is the sound of a group at full power. It begins with a bass figure and a guitar riff that seem to be circling each other, and then Dennis Edwards’ … Read more
CC0 1.0, Eric Nopanen. Listening first Put this record on before you read further, if you can. It does not sound like the Temptations you already know, and that is the point. Cloud Nine, released in late 1968, opens with a wah-wah guitar and a rhythm that feels closer to rock than to the smooth … Read more
CC0 1.0, Photo: Anthony DELANOIX, via Wikimedia Commons. Listening first Put this record on before you read further, if you can. It begins with a sound that is almost a character in itself: rain, or the suggestion of it, in the patter of percussion and a low, rolling figure, and then David Ruffin’s voice, lower … Read more