5CD - Seals & Crofts - Gold And Rainbows - The Warner Bros. Years 1969-1978

Despite epitomizing the platinum selling Californian soft rock sound that dominated the US airwaves throughout the mid-1970s, both Jim Seals and Darrell “Dash” Crofts originally hailed from Texas. Formed in 1969 in Los Angeles, Seals and Crofts released their self-titled debut the same year, followed by ‘Down Home’ in 1970. Warner Bros. Records were the ideal home for their mellow, acoustic based sound, with whom they signed in 1971 for ‘Year Of Sunday’. Seals and Crofts and Warner Bros. finally struck gold with 1972’s ‘Summer Breeze’, a worldwide smash that year, which was subsequently covered and a global hit for The Isley Brothers.

The title track to 1973’s ‘Diamond Girl’ maintained their upward trajectory with another platinum hit, even if their stance exemplified on 1974’s ‘Unborn Child’ divided their fan base. By 1974 Seals and Crofts were established enough to hold their own alongside the biggest hitters of the decade - Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, ELP, Eagles - at one of the biggest festivals of the 1970s, the California Jam. By 1978 the influence of disco could be heard in the grooves of the danceable ‘Takin’ It Easy’.

Deciding to call it a day following their final Warner Bros. album in 1980, Seals and Crofts went their separate ways, occasionally reuniting for successful reunion shows. Although unfairly maligned in the ensuing years, the growth in interest for the smoother sounds and platinum hits of the 1970s, plus the cult success of the Yacht Rock series presented Seals and Crofts to a whole new audience in the 21st Century.

TRACK LISTING

DISC ONE

SEALS AND CROFTS (1969)

1  See My Life

2  Sea Of Consciousness

3  Seldom's Sister

4  Not Be Found

5  Birthday Of My Thoughts

6  In Tune

7  Cows Of Gladness

8  Earth

9  Seven Valleys

10  Jekyll And Hyde

11  Ashes In the Snow

12  See My Life (Reprise)

DOWN HOME (1970)

13  Ridin' Thumb

14  Hand-Me-Down Shoe

15  Purple Hand

16  Robin

17  Hollow Reed

18  Gabriel Go on Home

19  Tin Town

20  Today

21  Cotton Mouth

22  Granny Will Your Dog Bite?

23  Leave

DISC TWO

YEARS OF SUNDAY (1971)

1  When I Meet Them

2  'Cause You Love

3 Antoinette

4  High On a Mountain

5  Year Of Sunday

6  Paper Airplanes

7  Irish Linen

8  Springfield Mill

9 Ancient Of the Old

10  Sudan Village

SUMMER BREEZE (1972)

11  Hummingbird

12  Funny Little Man

13  Say

14  Summer Breeze

15  East Of Ginger Trees

16  Fiddle In the Sky

17  The Boy Down the Road

18  The Euphrates

19  Advance Guards

20  Yellow Dirt

DISC THREE

DIAMOND GIRL (1973)

1  Diamond Girl

2  Ruby Jean And Billie Lee

3  Intone My Servant

4  We May Never Pass This Way (Again)

5  Nine Houses

6  Standin' On a Mountain Top

7  It's Gonna Come Down (On You)

8  Jessica

9  Dust On My Saddle

10  Wisdom

UNBORN CHILD (1974)

11  Windflowers

12  Desert People

13  Unborn Child

14  The Story of Her Love

15  Dance By the Light of The Moon

16  Rachel

17  King Of Nothing

18  29 Years from Texas

19  Ledges

20  Follow Me

21  Big Mac

DISC FOUR

I'LL PLAY FOR YOU (1975)

1  I'll Play for You

2  Golden Rainbow

3  Castles In the Sand

4  Blue Bonnet Nation

5  Ugly City

6  Wayland The Rabbit

7  Freaks Fret

8  Truth Is but A Woman

9  Fire And Vengeance

SUDAN VILLAGE (1976)

10  Sudan Village

11  Advance Guards

12  'Cause You Love

13  Baby I'll Give It to You

14  Thunderfoot

15  East Of Ginger Trees

16  Put Your Love in My Hands

17  Arkansas Traveller

18  Eighth Of January

DISC FIVE

GET CLOSER (1976)

1  Sweet Green Fields

2  Get Closer

3  Red Long Ago

4  Goodbye Old Buddies

5  Baby Blue

6  Million Dollar Horse

7  Don't Fail

8  Passing Thing

TAKIN' IT EASY (1978)

9  Takin' It Easy

10  One More Time

11  Midnight Blue

12  You're The Love

13  Sunrise

14  Breaking In a Brand New Love

15  Magnolia Moon

16  Nobody Gets Over Lovin' You

17  Forever Like the Rose

18  A Tribute To 'Abdu'L-Baha'