Having indulged myself last week with a set of easy songs I thought I’d do it again today. I have quite a list of these, so we could be here a while! These are the usual mixed bunch, a bit of loud and a bit less so.

Let’s get started with a loud one:

Uriah Heep, with Easy Livin’ – one of their best known songs. Uriah Heep formed in London in 1969 and are still going today, though guitarist Mick Box is the only original remaining member. They were part of the early 1970s rock scene and have been referred to as ‘major pioneers of the hard rock, heavy metal and prog rock genres.’ The band have sold over 40 million albums worldwide, with over 4 million sales in the US. Easy Livin’ was a track on their fourth album, Demons And Wizards, which was released in May 1972 and reached #20 in the UK and #23 in the US, though its main claim to fame was spending fourteen weeks at #1 in Finland! The album went Gold in the US, with over half a million sales. This track was released as a single in July 1972, and fared best in The Netherlands, where it got to #5. It didn’t make the UK chart, but was their only top forty hit in the US, peaking at #39. It is one of their most covered songs including, believe it or not, an instrumental version by the James Last Orchestra. Sometimes, music can be weird! I saw them at the Leas Cliff Hall in Folkestone around that time, where I worked evenings, weekends and school holidays, and they are still the loudest band I have ever seen: they literally made the building shake!

Taking things down several notches for this next one:

That was Carolina Story with Lay Me Down Easy, a track from their second album, Dandelions, which was released in September 2020. Carolina Story comprises a married couple, Ben and Emily Roberts. He’s playing acoustic and harmonica in the video, the other guys were at the time their seemingly anonymous band. They were a little hard to track down, as they don’t have a Wikipedia entry, but fortunately their own website is a little more forthcoming. They have been together since meeting at college in 2007, and have been touring, writing songs and releasing albums since 2009. The band name derives from their being on tour in Carolina at the time they realised theirs was more than a professional relationship – isn’t that sweet? Their first mainstream album, Lay Your Head Down, was released in 2018, and their third, Colors Of My Mind, came out in April 2023 – all equally lovely records. That last one was the occasion for an updating of their website, as it now gives more information about them. It was produced by Paul Moak, who also played guitar and piano on it, and featured their longtime live band (guitarist/pedal-steel player Sam Wilson, bassist Randle Scruggs, drummer Nathan Sexton), who I guess may well have been in this video. Like everything they do, I love Emily’s voice: even when Ben takes the lead, as here,  she still shines for me.

And in similar vein, I played one last week from the band that gave my blog its name. This is their other one:

The Eagles, of course, with Peaceful Easy Feeling. This was a track on their eponymous debut album, released on 1 June 1972 – fifty four years ago yesterday, and I’m now feeling very old at that thought! The album peaked at #22 in the US but didn’t make the UK chart, though subsequent sales have seen it go Platinum in the US for a million sales, and Silver in the UK for 60,000 – frankly, I would have thought it sold more here. This was the third single taken from the album, in December 1972, and it also reached #22 in the US without bothering the UK charts. It has sold steadily here, though, and has been awarded Silver status here for 200,ooo sales. Quite right too! This clip is from a concert aired on the BBC in early April 1973, just before the release of their second album, Desperado. The coverage seems to have helped, as that was their first entry in the UK Albums Chart, where it got to #39, outperforming the US, where it made #41.

One of similar vintage is up next. This one gives you loud and quiet-ish in the same song:

David Bowie, with It Ain’t Easy, a track from his fantastic album The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars, which was released in June 1972 and peaked at #5 in the UK and #21 in the US. June 1972 was clearly a good month for album releases, and both of these were in my collection by the time I went to uni three months later. The album went 2x Platinum in the UK, for 1.5m sales, and Gold in the US for 500,000, out of total worldwide sales of 7.5m. It Ain’t Easy is the only track on the album not written by Bowie: credit for it goes to Ron Davies, an American songwriter of whom I hadn’t otherwise heard. Though he isn’t credited for it, Rick Wakeman played harpsichord on this one.

I’m closing today with one that I expect will be unknown to most. It is a collaboration by two acts I like a lot, and they go so well together on this:

That was Blackberry Smoke and Amanda Shires with Let Me Down Easy, a track on Blackberry Smoke’s sixth album, Find A Light, which was released in April 2018 and reached #31 in the US, though it did better here in the UK, where it got to #12. But it went well on the US specialist album charts: #2 on both the Americana and Independent listings, and #3 on the Country one. Amanda sang backing vocals on the album, but isn’t credited for her fiddle on it. She has her own musical career, both as a solo artist and as an ex-member of her ex-husband Jason Isbell’s band, The 400 Unit. She is also a member of the folk supergroup The Highwomen, alongside Maren Morris, Brandi Carlile and Natalie Hemsby. Highly recommended!

That’s all for this week, and I hope you have found something among these to enjoy. I’ll see you again in a few days, so until then be healthy and happy 😊

[My usual reminder to visit the two places where this is being shared: Esme’s Senior Salon Pit Stop and Cathy’s Monday’s Music Moves Me (on a Sunday!)]