This is another of those songs that never fails to lift my spirits the moment I hear the exuberant opening notes on that rarest of pop instruments, the calliope. (more…)

Another of the first singles I bought, in the summer of 1970, I had no idea until now that this was a cover of a Randy Newman song (which I’ve never heard). (more…)

Cat Stevens sang a heartfelt but creepy tribute about how much he missed his girlfriend – and freaked her out so much that she dumped him when she heard it. (more…)

This isn’t the greatest song – little more than drums and a chanted chorus – but it lodges itself in your brain, which helped it sell two million copies in 1970. (more…)

British blues rockers Ten Years After had their solitary hit with Love Like A Man, featuring the fast fingers of guitarist Alvin Lee. (more…)

I’m not sure I know a single other song by blues rockers Ten Years After but their only hit single has stayed in my mind, thanks to Alvin Lee’s memorable guitar riff.
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The first Elvis song I ever heard, recorded live at the height of his Vegas period, The Wonder Of You topped the charts in the UK and USA in 1970.

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Fairports founder Iain Matthews had his solitary hit single with a cover of this Joni Mitchell song, Woodstock, also covered by CSNY. (more…)

There’s no sunshine, surfing or girls in The Beach Boys’ cover of an old Lead Belly tune that gave them perhaps their least typical hit in the summer of 1970. (more…)