Up & Down

Rock On's 1974 collection is an up and down set that has some classics tempered by the worst the 70's has to offer. The album opens with the fun "Hooked On A Feeling" by Blue Swede that was used so well in Quentin Tarrantino's Reservoir Dogs and is followed by the southern rock anthem "Sweet Home Alabama" by the masters of the genre, Lynyrd Skynyrd. Those two songs are followed by three hideous entries, the banal "Air That I Breathe" by The Hollies, the vomit inducing "Seasons In The Sun" by Terry Jacks and the zany "Kung Fu Fighting" by Carl Douglas. It doesn't say much for the taste of listeners in 1974 that the latter two songs hit number one. The album is lifted up by two straight songs by classy ladies, Gladys Knight's "The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me" and Chaka Khan with Rufus on "Tell Me Something Good". George McRae's "Rock Your Baby" was one of the first disco songs to go to number one and was written and produced by a Harry Casey who himself would reach the top of the charts as KC with the Sunshine Band. Jethro Tull have been better than "Bungle In The Jungle" and Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells" is perfectly creepy in The Exorcist, but doesn't stand up on its own. Al Wilson had a number one hit with the soulful "Show & Tell".