Four years ago today, the music world lost cardinal its sweetest, and perhaps most unpretentious, voices with the sad passing of "England" Dan Seals, maven fractional of the duo England Dan & commode Ford Coley (EDJFC) from mantle mobile phone lymphoma at the age of 61.
Musical Cross-Currents Define '70s Music During the mid seventies, music, mirroring the clock itself had splintered into various incompatible cross-currents with easy earshot retreating into the background as arena rock, soul, punk and disco competed for listeners. In that era of inflation, screw up lines, and post-Watergate and post-Vietnam instability, a leisurelyr form of pop was still able to curtly resonate on AM pop and easy listening FM stations.
Along with artists like James Taylor, Hall and Oates, the Eagles, Bread, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Seals and Croft, America, and Chicago, EDJFC secured a firm, albeit to a greater extent gentle anchor in what would become the diverse, a lot contrary set of melodic genres of the 1970s. Commentator Bruce Eder notes, "The 1970s produced relatively microscopic popular music displaying elegance and unassuming charm....England Dan & John Ford Coley were one of the better of such acts." Seals former musical partner pianist John Ford Coley who he met in high school said after his passing:
Unlike the compel iconic images of 70s pop superstars like the bespectacled Elton John, the celestial David Bowie, Spacesuited Commodores, or the long haired Led Zepplin crooner Robert Plant, EDJFC could probably walk by means of a mall without being noticed, let alone mobbed. raze today, their still very 70ish, yet uncomplicated album portraits breathing space at the music inside. Their understated, almost average "boy-next-door handsome" give ear of mustaches, collar length brown hair and Sears vested suits with the big sensory(a) collars make them look more like the musicians that would play delay dances at the end of your high school prom than those who would flash out pounding riffs at a large stadium, as was the new craze of that time.
However, it was their gentle, somewhat vulnerable, aura that helped make them one of the defining duos of the late 70s. While tunes like Donna Summer's repetitive " chicane to Love You Baby," and Rod Stewart's "this night's The Night," were unabashedly provocative, EDJFC style was downright sweetly poetic, reflecting a deep heartfelt yearning, that was at times nervously tentative, even wistful. Their 1976 breakthrough and biggest hit, "I'd Really Love To See You Tonight" by Parker McGee, reflected the gentle vulnerability that so often defines the nervously unsteady stages of youthful love,
While they were accomplished songwriters who wrote about topics such as their Baha'i faith and the experiences of a returning veteran, they will most be remembered for their harmonious singing of pop love songs often create verbally by others such as 1977's "Its Sad To Belong", by Randy Goodrum:
Gentle Harmonies Yield Hits In an era where song lyrics were often unintelligible, their hit songs had a simple sweet message that was delivered in gentle, sometimes even pleading, harmonies. The careful, though simple orchestration of guitar, piano, strings, and cunning percussion backed the duo's vocals without drowning them out. A review on amazon stated, "Their beautifully produced repertoire blended elegantly crafted pop, rock-oriented singer songwriter sensibilities and coarse-rock inflections."
Between 1976-1979 the duo scored six top 25 songs:
Seals' solo race commenced in the 1980s and resulted in a string of country hits, with eleven number ones including a 1986 duet with Marie Osmond, entitled " get word Me in Montana." Seals, the son of a pipefitter from Texas came from a musical family. His one-time(a) brother Jim, was half of another pop duo from the 1970s named Seals and Croft. It was Jim who gave Dan the nickname England Dan, after a temporary attempt at affecting an English accent as a youth. He was also known for his humanitarian work promoting tolerance as a follower of the Baha'i faith.
While these songs are a tad unfamiliar with(predicate) to many under 30, many others remember falling in love for the first time to them. And while cancer robbed the gentle voice that sang them, Seal's music still touches the heart--a poignant legacy that still lives on.
Follow Brian Levin, J.D. on Twitter: www.twitter.com/proflevin
Materials taken from The Huffington Post
No comments:
Post a Comment