MFD Random Five #54

In which I shuffle through some music files and listen to the first five songs from the years 1976-85 that randomly pop up.

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1. "Say Say Say" by Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson (1983, Columbia)
   A smash that spent 6 weeks atop the Billboard charts, most likely because Jackson had the Midas touch at the time. It's not a bad tune, but I've heard it enough for one lifetime.  Also, when I was a high school senior, my jazz band played a cheesy arrangement of Say Say Say which the world could have done without.


2. "Happy Music" by Linda Williams (1979, Arista)
   A fun little disco tune. It would be totally generic if it weren't for the outstanding synth soling all over the thing.


3. "Love's a Heartache" by Leslie Smith (1982, Elektra)
   Smooth ballad with spot on vocals from Smith. The album from which this comes is fantastic and has already been given a turn on this blog, where it earned a grade of A-.


4. "Come to Me" by Bobby Caldwell (1978, Clouds)
   Another smooth ballad. This one from Caldwell's debut album featuring his stellar vocals atop soaring orchestration. Reminds me a lot of what Boz was doing at the time.


5. "The Lone Ranger" by Dan Siegel (1982, Elektra)
   A straight-up Dave Grusin smooth-jazz-meets-movie-soundtrack knock-off, complete with orchestration. However, Larry Carlton gets the spotlight, so it's not half-bad. (I hope blogger doesn't fine me for overuse of hyphens)