At the time we were actually a four-piece, and Terry, the guitarist, was fluent at the funky, jazzy style of the guitar player on the record. The drums were funky and really swinging although fairly simple, so it was a fun song for me to play. Don played great bass and sang backup. Skip sang it like the guy on the record and played the keyboard parts to a T, and we did a nice job with the tune.
I've mentioned it before but that couldn't have been a better first band. And BTW I only use the term "professional" as in the band was a profession and I got paid. I'm not saying my drumming was professional. It was a lounge act, so we played everything from Jazz standards to Classic Rock to Country to Disco to the latest Pop hits of the day, so I had to learn to fake a lot of styles in a hurry. It was sticks to the fire and it was great for me to be pushed. Also I'm forever in Skip's debt for patiently encouraging me to sing while playing drums, which was something I absolutely could not (and still can't) do. He worked with me and took me from not being able to keep a beat and go "Laaaaa" at the same time, to being able to sing decent harmony, and on pitch at that. Thanks, Skip. RIP.
Speaking of Pop, the reaction to this song by the crowd, from it being on the radio, was duly noted. As a band that played mostly in hotel lounges we tried to play something for everyone from the drunk locals with no life to out friends and family who dropped by to the bartenders to the guests and their kids, plus the older Snowbirds and such. It was a lot of fun. The older folks loved the Sinatra and stuff; the dancers loved the Disco and Country and the kids wanted Rock, but hearing radio tunes got a reaction from more of the age groups than anything. "Play that 'hurry don't be late' song again" we'd hear from the crowd. Why not. It was usually worth a round of drinks or two.
There wasn't much all that special about this tune except for the memories it brings back. Ha-ha, I'm reminiscing. It was a well-done tune and all but it wasn't like some gem amongst the gravel or anything. It does get major bonus points for having a trumpet solo as the fadeout. Besides Herb Alpert or Sergio Mendez or Penny Lane maybe you hardly ever heard trumpet on Pop radio. I also have to award mega-bonus points for the charming video for this song, which I never sawr until just now. It's classic fucking 70s all the way. The guys are all relaxing in a mansion and they're wearing tuxes. It starts out with the singer drinking tea in an antique chair and the bass player playing upright bass. That's good for starters. Then it shows the guitar player playing to his cat, who actually turns its head to listen. How could you not love that? As turbulent as the 70s were, it was a MUCH kinder, gentler time and sometimes I miss it (sigh). Obviously this tune taps into that feeling for me. Good kitty.
Other than that it's a fairly typical song. It has an intro, verse, chorus, bridge/breakdown, solo, verse, chorus, and outro like usual. It has nice wall-of-sound background vocals but the rest of the tune is fairly simple in orchestration. A few of the drum breaks featured the first commercially-available electronic drums- the Syndrum. Back then there was no sampling or having a pad with 500 sounds loaded into it. You had to buy a dedicated pad just to get three or four sounds, and besides changing the pitch and duration and a couple more tweaks that was it. They ended up mostly being used for that classic, high-pitched, descending "POOooo" sound that was in every other Disco song. Like they did once or twice in this tune, the pitch was dropped to get sort of a "DOOOooon" sound that was supposed to be a drum but sounded to me more like someone on a mic imitating the sound of a drum.
Speaking of drums the groove of this song is really hyper-funky. The drummer is playing with "implied swing," which means that (except for the softer, "ghosted" notes on the snare drum in between the backbeats, which are syncopated but very quiet) the main beat he's playing is straight, like "Ba-ba-ba-ba," he's also adding a subtle "Chooka-chooka" feel in the background. It's pretty cool. That's another example of the "Clave" beat which I talk about and which I believe is hardwired in all of our brains. It's what makes us have no choice but to groove along to it, and maybe even get out of the dance floor and shake that thang. It's all good.
Well I guess that's about it. It's been fun reminiscing. Unless you're an old fuck like me you'll never know what the vibe was like in the 70s, and that's a shame. For me this is a tune that takes me back to a time when I was learning that playing music, which is something I'd have done for free, could make me really good money, free drinks and occasionally even get me laid. If you want to take a trip back to a time when there were bell-bottoms, Quaaludes, Nature-lovers and music that didn't punish your eardrums, give this tune a spin. If by a million-to-one shot you happen to have a vinyl LP in the shrink jacket, it would be a good time to open it before listening to this song. Take your fingernail and slit the shrink and open the jacket and stick your face in and inhale deeply. Nothing like the aroma of fresh vinyl in the morning. As we said in the day and some still say now...Have a nice day. Peace.
"Reminiscing" by Little River Band: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2U-OAAHncHQ
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