In Commemoration of 1977, part 1

March 12, 1977 was a beautiful history-changing-day for human kind. That was the day I was born. For a moment the planet stood still and hate, envy, rage and all sorts of negative feeling were replaced with joy, happiness, kindness, love... differences and disagreements were for a breve instance erased of the minds of enemies and adversaries, the entire human race felt under an invisible blanket of well-being and understanding... total world peace was as close as the air that touches the skin... Well, at least thats how I remember that day.

To commemorate such a wonderful year I want to share some videos of songs that I find worth remembering, the videos may not be exactly of that year but the song's release year was 1977. Please take in consideration that the selection is based on my personal taste and not on the popularity of the music. Enjoy!

The Beatles 
Free as a Bird

This song was written and recorded by John Lennon in 1977 and brought to life after Paul McCartney asked Yoko Ono if she had any unreleased material by John. 'Free As a Bird' and 'Real Love' were chosen from what Yoko Ono handed to Paul. The Band finished the lyrics and made overdubs to make it a Beatles song. It was not an easy task, first because the source was a low quality recorded cassette containing John's voice and piano which were impossible to separate, and second, it was emotionally a tough task, so they pretended that John had gone for lunch or for a cup of tea and he had left the tape for the band to play with.

The intention was to make a promotional single to the upcoming Anthology compilation and it was released on december 1995 in the Anthology 1 compilation as vinyl and cd single. It reached #2 in its first week of release in the UK charts.

'Free As Bird' is my humble opinion belongs to the great Beatles songs. The work done by the band and producer Jeff Lynne with the material they had it's outstanding. It totally has the Beatles sound and soul and I am sure John Lennon would have been very pleased with the final product. The atmosphere created is very dreamlike, chilled and nostalgic. One of the elements that stands out is George Harrison's slide guitar which flows nicely to Ringo's monotonous but hyptnotizing drums. It reminds me a lot of the work he was doing in his 1987's record 'Cloud Nine'. One of the band's goals was to produce a timeless sound, trying not to reflect the time it was recorded using analog equipment of the period. The goal... was achieved!

Dire Straits
Six Blade Knife

This song is one of my all time favorite songs. Written in 1977 when the band was formed and released in their debut album 'Dire Straits'. For a lot of people Dire Straits started in the 80's with their mega hit 'Money for Nothing', but their beginnings where more humble and blues oriented as compared with the 80's records filled with synthesizers and huge productions. This song was featured in Robert Rodriguez's Desperado film soundtrack and there's where I heard it for the first time.

Six Blade Knife has a rhythm so intoxicating and sexy that is beyond me why this song is not widely celebrated. Mark Knopfler's riffs and solos are subtle but at the same time so powerful. The music flows smooth as silk making you fall in an almost morphine induced trance (not that I have tried it but this is what I want to be hearing if it happens). The arrangement is very simple relying mainly in the same three bass notes through almost the whole song changing only in the bridge, but the other two elements that make this song what it is, of course, Knopfler's finger pick guitar playing and his low-keyed voice.

The other album's tracks, though more up beat, are also great ones making this a very solid debut that stands the test of time and gets better with time.