Songs that evoke 1970s LA

I'm cheating because this is 1980... Babylon Sisters/Steely Dan

Good one, r1.

Hasten down the Wind - Linda Ronstadt (full album is so very LA to me)

Warren Zevon (full album) *IS* LA in the '70s.

On Sunset

Witchy Woman - The Eagles

It Never Rains in Southern California

Nicolette Larson - Lotta Love

Hot Child in the City by Nick Gilder

I would think LA Woman by the Doors.

this

Anything/everything ever recorded by Donna Summer.

I went to high School in LA in the 70s and I would say that almost anything by Elton John qualifies but especially Bennie and the Jets. Imagine being a kid, cruising down Sunset Blvd with Saturday Night's All Right For Fighting and seeing a big billboard for Elton at Dodger Stadium over Tower Records.

Late for the Sky By Jackson Browne. 1974

Court and Spark by Joni Mitchell. The whole album. 1974

Magnet and Steel.

Led Zepplin "That's the Way"

end of the era...

R1 good one. I was going to find something by Steely Dan that would be appropriate as well. I’ll go with your answer.

‘Free Ride’ by The Edgar Winter Group.

This little known track by The Buoys from 1971.

"And if California slides into the ocean, like the mystics and statistics say it will..."

Anything by Carly Simon.

Anything produced by David Geffen.

Anything by the Runaways

"Pleasant Valley Sunday" by the Monkees reminds me of suburban LA.

Michelle Phillips' Victim of Romance album.

"Hey Nineteen" is a very LA Steely Dan song.

"Baker Street" is not about LA but it was very much a song of the summer. I recall dousing myself in Hawaiian Tropic oil and lazing on the beach with an FM radio...amongst dozens of other people with radios on the same station and that song's saxophone riff blaring up and down the beach.

"Summer Rain" by Johnny Rivers

Little Feat

[quote]Anything by Carly Simon.

r23 I can only think of one Carly Simon song that reminds me of LA, "The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of," in which she mentions a girlfriend moving "out to Malibu" with her new boyfriend. But the album it's on, [italic]Coming Around Again[/italic], didn't come out until 1987. Which songs, specifically, make you think of LA in the '70s? Didn't she and James live in NY then?

Running on Empty - Jackson Browne

[quote]I find the song "Gold" by Jon Stewart (no, not that one)

It's "not that one" because his name was JOHN Stewart, not JON.

Sorry, John.

[quote] Which songs, specifically, make you think of LA in the '70s? Didn't she and James live in NY then?

Actually, Carly Simon and James Taylor lived in Brentwood in the '70s. In the house later made famous by OJ Simpson.

But I don't associate Simon with LA. She's always had more of a NYC sensibility.

I do associate Carole King's Tapestry with LA. (And requiring songs to actually mention the city is a little too obvious.)

You bitches may enjoy SOMA FM Left Coast 70s. It's available to stream on their website, and can also be played on your phone (for the car). If you still have the old Apple iTunes Internet radio player, it's under 70s music (that's how I found it).

A mix of what was listed here and the "yacht rock" sound.

PS, I loathe John Stewart - it's his voice, I think. That station plays a lot of good stuff but I get bored when they play a few of the ones I don't like, mainly Stewart, Robert Palmer (his early stuff) and Dire Straits. All the other stuff is pretty good.

This one, for sure.

Ronstadt did her version too, but Karla's original is way better.

Ned Doheny - The Devil In You

This, this a thousand times this

WHEN THE LIGHTS GO DOWN IN THE CALIFORNIA TOWN PEOPLE ARE IN FOR THE EVENING

ODYSSEY - NATIVE NEW YORKER (1977)

ODYSSEY - NATIVE NEW YORKER (1977)

The original definitely evoked 70s singer songwriter LA.

I posted this in the Dan Fogelberg thread the other day - one absolute legend paying tribute to another. Be prepared to sob. (It was her last recording.)

"I Love L.A." by Randy Newman.

Hollywood Nights

R44 It's a good song but it came out in the 80s and feels 80s, especially with the solo section with all the synthesizer.

China Grove

I much prefer "Midnight Wind" by Stewart, especially Stevie's role in it. Ditto, her work on hottie Walter Egan's fist album. (I wanted to fuck him bad back then).

Stewart's voice just always sounded like some random old drunk on the street speak-singing.

Magnet and Steel by Walter Egan.

Summer Breeze by Seals and Krofts.

Another handsome dude that should have been a superstar.....Terence Boylan.

It never rains in Southern California

More Terence Boylan

R13, you and I may have gone to high school together.

I cannot believe no one has suggested Elton's "Tiny Dancer." Or Joni Mitchell's "Ladies of the Canyon."

"Danny's Song" and "House at Pooh Corner" from Loggins and Messina's "Sittin' In" album.

Every song by Jim Croce. If I have to pick just one, I'll go with "Photographs and Memories," but that may just be 2020 me looking back.

So much Linda Ronstadt: Different Drum, Silver Threads and Golden Needles, etc., etc.

Bob Seger's "Night Moves."

And of course, the whole Laurel Canyon sound thing.

Those days sucked for me, but at least we had a good soundtrack.

Mommmeeeeeeee! Mommmeeeeeeeee!

My father sits at night with no lights on

Cruel to be Kind

r56, the living room in which Richard Simon sat with no lights on was in his house in the Riverdale section of the Bronx.

"Hotel California" by the Eagles, of course

L. A. Woman by the Doors

"Redondo Beach" by Patti Smith

I lived very briefly in LA in the late 1970s and will occasionally hear songs that evoke such strong feelings for that time and place. "Ventura Highway" is probably the most aptly named, but even its wistful sadness reminds me of the time. "Come Monday," by Jimmy Buffet does also, though of course he is 100% Florida. Also: "The Rockford Files" theme; "Sunset People," by Donna Summers; "I Go Crazy," by Paul Davis,;"Lose Again," by Karla Bonoff; "Every Kinda People," by Robert Palmer; "Running on Empty," by Jackson Browne -- and the live version of "Stay" with that great vocal hook by Rosemary Butler.

Hey, that was fun. Great topic, thanks.

Christopher Cross's "Ride Like the Wind" and "Sailing" make me think of LA in 1979 (when the album they were on was released).

If you want a nice dose of druggy, '70s-era southern California dead, check out the album "On the Beach" by Neil Young. Especially the song "Revolution Blues" which is about the Manson family. Lyrics:

Well, we live in a trailer at the edge of town

You never see us because we don't come around

We got twenty five rifles just to keep the population down

But we need you now and that's why

I'm hanging around

So you be good to me and I'll be good to you

And in this land of conditions

I'm not above suspicion

I won't attack you but I won't back you

Well, it's so good to be here asleep on your lawn

Remember your guard dog?

Well, I'm afraid that he's gone

It was such a drag to hear him whining all night long

Yes, that was me with the doves setting them free near the factory

Where you built your computer love

I hope you get the connection because I can't take the rejection

I won't deceive you, I just don't believe you

Well, I'm a barrel of laughs with my carbine on

I keep 'em hopping until my ammunition's gone

But I'm still not happy

I feel like there's something wrong

I got the revolution blues

I see bloody fountains

And ten million dune buggies coming down the mountains

Well, I hear that Laurel Canyon is full of famous stars

But I hate them worse than lepers and I'll kill them in their cars

(Commence fiery guitar outro)

I did a short playlist a couple years back, inspired by the aforementioned "Revolution Blues," that I called California Gothic:

"Revolution Blues," Neil Young

"Stranger in a Strange Land," the Byrds

"Tribal Gathering," the Byrds

"This Flight Tonight," Joni Mitchell

"After the Glitter Fades," Stevie Nicks

"Do It Again," Steely Dan

"Incident at Neshabur," Santana

"Okonkole y Trompa," Jaco Pastorius

"White Rabbit," Jefferson Airplane

"Heroes and Villains," Brian Wilson

"Into the Great Wide Open," Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

"Malibu," Hole

"Twelve Thirty (Young Girls are Coming to the Canyon)," The Mamas and the Papas

"California Earthquake," Cass Elliot

"I Can't Tell You Why," the Eagles

bitches, pls

R54, I went to Uni High. It was sort of rock and roll high school Darby Crash was in my graduating class.

As such you and I have a different interpretation of the subject matter. These are songs that evoke our school days, so they wouldn't necessarily mean anything to anyone outside of LA. Anyone super popular, Elton, Stevie Wonder, Donna Summer, Eagles, Linda, Fleetwood Mac were our soundtrack.

On the eve of the 70s, this brings back the druggy hippie LA of that era.

Was "It Never Rains in Southern California" about a suicide or just a guy down on his luck?

America really has the trinity of evocative songs that hit the emotional sweet spot:

Horse With No Name

Ventura Highway

and the one that really gets to me

Daisy Jane

I was just re-watching Over the Edge last night, and while I know it wasn't set in LA, its soundtrack was solid 70s, but on the harder side compared to most of what's been posted above. Any hard rock LA 70s kids on here? How's this?

The Cars' first album is a perfect fit, r73.

Boz Skaggs Lowdown

Sara Stevie Nicks, something about this video more than the song itself. The warm breeze blowing and Stevie looking so ....

Cars may be late 70s but it's a very different feel.....they're more within the bracket with Blondie, the Police, etc.

I got my copy of THE CARS from the guy who was interviewing me at Elektra/Asylum Records the day it came out, r77. It's very LA to me.

Hello

Rolling 7s - Dirty Honey

And speaking of hello - another very melancholy, beautiful 70s song

Hello It's Me

Hypnotized by the original Fleetwood Mac.

Rock On. Hey kid, rock and roll...rock on, ooooh my soul!

Truly- Even though it is from 2012- Fear Fun by Father John Misty. Very much so. And of course many of Joni Mitchell's albums.

The album “Desolation Boulevard” by The Sweet

R73 I love Over The Edge! Matt Dillon looked so young. The soundtrack was great.

R73, I was 16 in LA in '79, and Cheap Trick's manager (or at least he claimed to be) came on to me in a movie theater in Hollywood. I left so quickly that I tripped over a chair, fell down, ripped a hole in the bloody knee of my Levis, and kept on scurrying out.

Here's Bowie doing "Cracked Actor" at the Universal Amphitheater in LA in '74.

R37 I like Linda’s version better.

There was a radio station in LA in the 70’s and 80’s, KNX FM. They played mellow rock mixed with some smooth jazz. You would hear Steely Dan, Michael McDonald, Lee Ritenour, Nicolette Larsen, etc. Cool station.

R88 That's your right, but it's hideous and I won't have it in my house.

Linda's version is heartfelt and emotional.

Not a song but the movie Foxes.

Ventura Highway is such a great choice though.

Poco, Crazy Love.

Not from the 70's, but the Motels - So LA.

Theme song of the San Fernando Valley porn industry. You can't get any more 1970s LA than that.

This may have already been listed, I haven't the energy to scan through every post. But Art Garfunkel's "99 Miles To L.A." from 1975 is a song that still stirs my emotions when I hear it.

[quote]Not a song but the movie Foxes.

YES. That film - no matter how cheesy overall - is a true snapshot of its time and place.

I love this thread

Walking In L.A.

These girls all became adults in the 70s L.A. scene =

For R94 =

As a native Angelino, the first 70s band that comes to mind is Fleetwood Mac. I live right by the Troubadour and I believe that's where they broke, right? Or am a getting that wrong with The Eagles?

r99 is decadely challenged.

R104 They all grew up in the 70s & had wrote many songs that weren't released at that time since they got a record deal in 1980 but their first album has a 70s L.A. vibe to it (kind of like films that were released in 1980 but were written & shot in 1979).

The Go-Go's who came together in the late 70s L.A. scene had many 70s songs (which the girls wrote by themselves, as part of other groups or as collaborators) appear on both their '81 debut album & '82 follow up album according to the copyrights years on them so the OP might want to add them (or their 70s original demos that are on YT) to his list.

[quote]They all grew up in the 70s & had wrote many songs

They "had wrote," had they?

R106 I changed that post so many times I finally gave up on it.

R105, I just listened to that song you posted in r99. It's evocative of the '80s on MTV, not the '70s in Los Angeles.

R108 It's not that different the The Cars early album sounds.

I’m a Millennial and this made me nostalgic for an era I never lived in (I prefer pre-80s music). It all seems very evocative of the times, even though I have no idea what it was like to be alive then.

If you’re feeling extra nostalgic, check out radio checks from that era (and older) on youtube. They’re like a time machine.

This was written ‘79 and recorded in ‘80

R99 R100 R101 and R102 is all 80s.

And I suspect the Belinda Carlisle Troll is here.

[quote] The Go-Go's who came together in the late 70s L.A. scene had many 70s songs

Considering that they didn't get together until '78 it's not "many."

Some of you are not getting the larger picture - regardless of dates/years, there's a very definite scene, and sound, being talked about here. The new wave sound started in the late 70s and is amazing - I love it, too - but is a **different sound and vibe** than what is being discussed by others in this thread.

R113 As I mentioned above at R105 they did songs before their '78 get together.

The song below is hardly new wave =

The song "Gold" that the OP is talking about came out in 1979

so it's not like he was asking for a certain time frame

other than the 70s southern California vibe.

Pablo Cruise, "A Place In The Sun"

Thanks for the return to the '70s, r116. Here's one from the shade of the freeway:

"Gold" was written about Malibu.

Jackson Browne wrote this in '71 while living in a rundown LA apartment complex. Living in the apartments on either side of him were JD Souther and Glenn Frey.

1972:

1973. Linda Ronstadt and her backup band, The Eagles.

R15 Yep. This song especially is evocative for me. "Where in the city can that boy be...?" Waiting up on Laurel Canyon... or Topanga... listening for the car .....

A weird live version. Joni MItchell, Car on the Hill

^^^link

^^^ Which I wrote about ex-boyfriend Jackson Browne! You know, before accusing him of driving his first wife to suicide and smacking Daryl Hannah around in "Not To Blame."

1974. Ol’ 55. The Eagles.

I saw a documentary about Johnny Cash once. They mentioned that his early music had a lot of guitar music that sounded like a train running over the tracks. If you listen to his early music you can hear it. The guitar imitating the sound of riding in a train, bumping over the tracks, while the songs were about traveling away from home.

The Eagles were like that. Put on an Eagles song and ride down the freeway. You realize the songs were made for driving down the freeway, or down the open road. Almost every early song sounds like that. There’s something about the beat of those songs that has the rhythm of the freeway in them.

Many songs on the Eagles’ The Long Run. It came out in 1980 so don’t bust my balls.

The Long Run was released in 1979, r126.

A lot of Supertramp songs...like this one.

I meant to post "The Long Run" in r127. Oops.

Since the Eagles won't allow anything from the actual The Long Run album to be posted on YT, here's JD Souther's version. He wrote it, too, and they were all at the Troubadour together.

Hotel California crosses all its various city lines.

Joni Mitchell and Supertrqmp evoke Canada, not LA

Supertramp was English

R133 so was Elton John for fuck’s sake!! And he’s been listed plenty of times on here.

No one said the artist had to be FROM California. It’s just supposed to be a song that would have been popular to play out there back then and reminds you of that time.

In any event, they moved to LA in the mid/late 70s when they recorded their two hit albums.

R134 Popular songs were played EVERYWHERE duh !

Cocaine

[quote]Joni Mitchell and Supertramp evoke Canada, not LA

Joni Mitchell doesn't evoke LA for you? Then you weren't paying attention.

Supertramp's Breakfast in America always reminded me of a coffee shop at (or near) the corner of Wilshire and Westwood.

And there are movies that evoke 1970s LA.

This canyon's in CAlifornia, not CAnada.

R131, your link has no audio. The Eagles are notorious for having Eagles songs removed from YouTube as copyright infringement.

Here’s the 1998 Hall of Fame performance of Hotel California by the Eagles. It’s note for note perfect to the original recording. The guitar duet “competition” between Joe Walsh and Don Felder is a thing of beauty.

This recording is presumably owned by the Hall of Fame and not the Eagles, so they probably can’t get it taken down.

The Laurel Canyon scene... coming out of the late 60s (Byrds, Mamas and Pappas, Buffalo Springfield, Zappa, Love, Crosby Stills Nash) into the 70s WAS the epitome of 70s LA. And Joni Mitchell was central to that...saying that she is the sound of Canada is nuts, eh? In those canyons Joni was queen of a a group of artists that saw the Byrds become country artists with Gram Parker, and then other "country roots" became slick LA studio virtuosity with incredibly skillful songcraft: John David Souther, Jackson Browne, Poco, Little Feat, Bonnie Rait, and LInda Ronstadt's backing band the Eagles. And then the later, even more druggy, iterations of the canyon sound across the city - Fleetwood Mac, Warren Zevon, Neil Young (and Dylan) hiding up in Malibu hills near Zuma beach.

And c.f. Father John Misty's later day evocation of that canyon ethos as nostalgia for a time and place more in his mind than reality.

^^ Gram Parsons

Movies that capture the 70's LA perfectly:

The Late Show

Welcome to LA

Foxes

Shampoo (even though it's set in the previous decade, still has a 70's feel to it)

I see someone already mentioned Crazy Love by Poco. One of my favorite songs.

The Doors, "L.A. Woman".

R39 It's a great song... but I think it evokes returning to NYC. Bloomingdales... "looking at people 30 stories down" etc.

This is a great docuseries for those interested!

Another

More 60s and some 70s but still interesting

Year of the Cat

The Welcome to L.A. soundtrack.

There was a 90s song called Santa Monica by a very forgettable band called Everclear. But it was a cool song and got the LA feel for sure. Let's just surf was the theme. I listen to it still.

Led Zepelin's "Going to California", which I've played approximately 200 million times since March.

The theme of unrealistic dreams being crushed is very LA, so is the description of the mountains "... begin to tremble and shake", and I've actually seen "... the sea was red and the sky was gray"! It was near sunset, with a layer of fog slightly above the sea. I was on the top of a seacliff, and when the fog covered the lowering sun, the reddening sun was reflected in the ocean even when the sun itself wasn't visible under the gray fog.

Also, not music, but Less Than Zero by Brett Easton Ellis is verrrry early 80s LA.

We are straying from the thread's theme.

I'd love to see a "Songs that evoke 1980s LA" thread. Guns and Roses, Janes Addiction, David and David, Rickie Lee Jones (ok, never mind, that's the thread)

basically anything that has Waddy Wachtel on it just says LA in the 70s. So Linda Ronstadt, Warren Zevon, Jackson Brown, James Taylor etc etc etc

After the Gold Rush Neil Young!!

Speaking of Rickie Lee, this is from '79 and seems to fit the LA evocative bill.

A Horse With No Name

bump

I didn't go until Summer 1980 and this was the song that summer.

Probably one of the most 70s LA tunes I can imagine, other than something by The Carpenters; who were pretty much 60s carryovers in terms of musical style and production.

[quote]Actually, Carly Simon and James Taylor lived in Brentwood in the '70s. In the house later made famous by OJ Simpson.

Actually, that was their Cali layover house. They actually spent the majority of their time raising their kids in their NYC apartment in The Langham, throughout much of the 70s. With summers spent on his family estate on the Vineyard, natch. JT is the quintessential Boston-associated troubadour, Carly is most heavily associated with NYC and environs, where she has lived virtually her entire life (hattip to r58).

The Cars, very post-punk New Wave, are also mostly associated with the Boston-NY music scene of the late 70s. While popular in LA, I wouldn't say they are heavily associated with that area.

The Motels and Go-Gos, as mentioned upthread, are very LA-attached. They are however bands of the 80s, not the 70s.

Early 70s was a very different sound and mood from late 70s.

From An American Family, Grant Loud singing Apeman

Escape (pina colada song). Could only have been a hit in the seventies. Personal columns before dating apps.