History
"Singers and Songwriters" was first issued in the US in the winter of 2000, with the first volume in the series titled Singers and Songwriters: 1972–1973. As was the case with Time-Life's other series, "Singers and Songwriters" was advertised in television and magazine advertisements. The series was available by subscription (by calling a 1-800 number); those who purchased the series in that fashion received a new volume roughly every other month (on the format of their choice), and had the option of keeping the volumes they wanted.
Each volume was also offered for individual sale. When the series was fully issued, a customer could purchase the entire series at once (or a group of albums, as packaged by Time-Life as part of a promotion), often at a discounted price.
New volumes continued to be issued through 2002, the final one being a volume titled Singers and Songwriters: Hard to Find Hits; an additional single-disc volume not included in the subscription series (but available for sale) was titled Singers and Songwriters: The Classics. Time-Life continued to offer "Singers and Songwriters" through the latter half of the 2000s.
All told, the US series had 432 tracks (429 songs with three titles repeated on various volumes). The UK/European series was much more expansive, finally comprising 870 tracks.
However, due to licensing restrictions, some of the songs in the original series were replaced with other songs instead, Artists like Gilbert O'Sullivan, Bob Seger, Neil Young, and some of the familiar songs from James Taylor, including "You've Got A Friend", "Shower the People", and the more familiar songs from Joni Mitchell, including "You Turn Me On, I'm a Radio", and "Help Me", and Paul Simon, including "50 Ways to Leave your Lover", and "Mother and Child Reunion", and "Loves Me like a Rock" could not be included, due to the demands and high expenses imposed though the publishing companies The Gilbert O'Sullivan song "Alone Again Naturally" was omitted in the later collection due to the licensing restrictions issues. The song "Fool, If you think it's Over" by Chris Rea, is a different version of the song. In the original version Rea's voice was sped up. Rea was never happy with that recording and although a hit in the US wanted the original version buried. The re-recording is Rea singing in his normal voice. The Stevie Nicks song, plus the songs that Nicks did with Fleetwood Mac, could not be used in this collection, due to the same licensing restrictions.
The US series
As with many of Time-Life Records' multi-volume releases, the volumes were not issued in a logical, sequential order by date or era of the subject; that is, issuing volumes covering the 1960s before progressing into the 1970s. In the track information section, the volumes will be listed sequentially by era; the following list is the order in which the volumes were released. Also, unlike their other compilation series, Singers and Songwriters includes the album versions of songs rather than the single or radio edits.
2000
- Singers and Songwriters: 1972–1973
- Singers and Songwriters: 1970–1971
- Singers and Songwriters: 1974–1975
- Singers and Songwriters: 1976–1977
- Singers and Songwriters: 1978–1979
- Singers and Songwriters: The '60s
2001
- Singers and Songwriters: 1980–1982
- Singers and Songwriters: The Mid '70s
- Singers and Songwriters: The Early '70s
- Singers and Songwriters: The Late '70s
- Singers and Songwriters: 1970–1974
- Singers and Songwriters: 1975–1979
- Singers and Songwriters: 1979–1989
- Singers and Songwriters: 1964–1969
- Singers and Songwriters: The '70s
- Singers and Songwriters: 1969–1972
- Singers and Songwriters: The Classics
2002
- Singers and Songwriters: 1973–1975
- Singers and Songwriters: Hard to Find Hits
2004
- Singers and Songwriters: Lady Writers
2010
- Singers & Songwriters: Troubadours
The UK/European Series
All of the European series had the prefix TL SSW/nn where nn is the catalogue number. There were 28 titles in the series plus a Christmas album with a different catalogue number. They were all double CDs with 15 tracks on each disc, making a total of 870 tracks, double the total number of the US series.
2001
TL SSW/01 – Singers and Songwriters 1973–1976
TL SSW/02 – Singers and Songwriters 1970–1972
TL SSW/03 – Singers and Songwriters 1977–1979
TL SSW/04 – Singers and Songwriters 1965–1969
TL SSW/05 – Singers and Songwriters 1980–1983
TL SSW/06 – Singers and Songwriters The Classics
TL SSW/07 – Singers and Songwriters Late 60s
TL SSW/08 – Singers and Songwriters Early 70s
TL SSW/09 – Singers and Songwriters Late 70s
2002
TL SSW/10 – Singers and Songwriters Early 80s
TL SSW/11 – Singers and Songwriters 1970–1974
TL SSW/12 – Singers and Songwriters 1975–1979
TL SSW/13 – Singers and Songwriters 1964–1969
TL SSW/14 – Singers and Songwriters 1980–1986
TL SSW/15 – Singers and Songwriters The Originals
2003
TL SSW/16 – Singers and Songwriters The Folk Years
TL SSW/17 – Singers and Songwriters Diary
TL SSW/18 – Singers and Songwriters Storytellers
TL SSW/19 – Singers and Songwriters All Through The 89s
TL SSW/20 – Singers and Songwriters Mavericks
TL SSW/21 – Singers and Songwriters Made In Australia (released 2002)
TL SSW/22 – Singers and Songwriters 1960–1964
TL SSW/23 – Singers and Songwriters Protest Songs
TL SSW/24 – Singers and Songwriters Pure and Simple
2004
TL SSW/25 – Singers and Songwriters Allstars
TL SSW/26 – Singers and Songwriters Lady Writers
TL SSW/27 – Singers and Songwriters Once Upon A Time In The West
TL SSW/28 – Singers and Songwriters Country USA
TL XXD/08 – Singers and Songwriters Christmas
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1972.
Linda Maria Ronstadt is an American singer who has performed and recorded in diverse genres including rock, country, light opera, the Great American Songbook, and Latin music.
List of notable events in music that took place in the year 1974.
Popular music of the United States in the 1970s saw various forms of pop music dominating the charts. Often characterized as being shallow, 1970s pop took many forms and could be seen as a reaction against the high-energy and activist pop of the previous decade. It began with singer-songwriters like Carole King and Carly Simon topping the charts, while New York City saw a period of great innovation; hip hop, punk rock and salsa were invented in 1970s New York, which was also a center for electronic music, techno.
Carole Bayer Sager is an American lyricist, singer, songwriter, and painter.
Daniel "Danny Kootch" Kortchmar is an American guitarist, session musician, producer and songwriter. Kortchmar's work with singer-songwriters such as Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, David Crosby, Carole King, David Cassidy, Graham Nash, Neil Young, Steve Perry, and Carly Simon helped define the signature sound of the singer-songwriter era of the 1970s. Jackson Browne and Don Henley have recorded many songs written or co-written by Kortchmar, and Kortchmar was Henley's songwriting and producing partner in the 1980s.
Michael H. McDonald is an American singer, keyboardist and songwriter known for his distinctive, soulful voice and as a member of Steely Dan (1973–1974), and the Doobie Brothers. McDonald wrote and sang several hit singles with the Doobie Brothers, including "What a Fool Believes", "Minute by Minute", and "Takin' It to the Streets." McDonald has also performed as a prominent backing vocalist on numerous recordings by artists including Steely Dan, Toto, Christopher Cross, and Kenny Loggins.
Weldon Dean Parks is an American session guitarist and record producer from Fort Worth, Texas. Parks has one Grammy nomination.
Russell Kunkel is an American drummer who has worked as a session musician with many popular artists, including Bill Withers, Jackson Browne, Joni Mitchell, Jimmy Buffett, Harry Chapin, Rita Coolidge, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Cass Elliot, Dan Fogelberg, Glenn Frey, Art Garfunkel, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Carole King, Lyle Lovett, Reba McEntire, Stevie Nicks, Linda Ronstadt, Bob Seger, Carly Simon, Stephen Stills, James Taylor, Joe Walsh, Steve Winwood, Neil Young, and Warren Zevon. He was the studio and touring drummer for Crosby & Nash in the 1970s and played on all four of their studio albums.
Sherlie Mae Matthews is an American singer, songwriter and former Motown Records producer, best known as a backing vocalist for pop, R&B and rock groups from the mid-1960s to the present.
Sounds of the Seventies was a 40-volume series issued by Time-Life during the late 1980s and early-to-mid 1990s, spotlighting pop music of the 1970s.
Gary Burr is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer, primarily in the country music genre. Many of the songs he has written have become Top-10 hits, the first of which was "Love's Been A Little Bit Hard On Me" released by Juice Newton in 1982. He became a member of the group Pure Prairie League, taking over after Vince Gill departed the group. Burr later moved to Nashville to focus on his songwriting career, though he has continued performing and is currently a member of the Blue Sky Riders. He has written and co-written songs for many country artists, and a few songs for Pop and Rock artists.
Bruce Roberts is an American singer and songwriter. His songs have been recorded by such artists as The Pointer Sisters, Donna Summer, Barbra Streisand, Jeffrey Osborne, Whitney Houston and Laura Branigan. He has released three albums as a solo artist including Intimacy (1995), which featured musical and vocal contributions by many notable artists; Elton John and Kristine W contributed to the single "When the Money's Gone".
List of notable events in music that took place in the year 1971.
Dream Ticket is a four-disc DVD release of Elton John, compiling three concerts and an additional bonus disc of music videos. It was released in 2004.
The History of Rock and Roll is a radio documentary on rock and roll music, originally syndicated in 1969, and again in 1978 and 1981. It is currently distributed as both a 2+1⁄2-minute short feature on internet networks, and a two-hour weekly series hosted by Wink Martindale, distributed to radio stations nationwide. This list below reflects the contents of the more widely heard 1978 version of The History of Rock & Roll.
Pamela Anna Polland is an American singer-songwriter who made three albums for Epic and Columbia Records in the 1960s and 1970s and whose songs have been recorded by a number of popular artists. In the 1980s, she re-emerged as an independent recording artist and vocal coach, later working in film and TV scoring and Hawaiian music.
Doug Sax was an American mastering engineer from Los Angeles, California. He mastered three The Doors' albums, including their 1967 debut; six Pink Floyd's albums, including The Wall; Ray Charles' multiple-Grammy winner Genius Loves Company in 2004, and Bob Dylan's 36th studio album Shadows in the Night in 2015.
