Song Of The Day 3/22/2016: Marva Whitney – “Unwind Yourself”
To be perfectly honest, Star Time is pretty much going to be a '60s and '70s show, since the 20 years those decades comprise contained so many radical shifts in popular music, including R&B. There wasn't a lot of time to get settled and a whole lot of records came out. When the synthesizers took over in the '80s pop music got a lot easier to do but a lot harder to do well. And I say this as a keyboard player who used to dream of relaxing in a chaise lounge, constantly stroked by a bevy of beautiful Yamaha DX7's. I think I dodged a bullet by never owning a Yamaha DX7. I've only ever had two synthesizers and I wished I appreciated them more when I had them. They were unassuming and far more responsive than I gave them credit for. I blame my impatience. I tried to hurry love. You can't hurry love.
One of my watershed music purchases of the '80s was the Atlantic Rhythm & Blues 1947-74 box set on cassette. It's since been rendered moot by the availability of everything in the world but back in 1986 it was a big deal. It kept me occupied while I was in the middle of Ohio for five weeks. I think it was the only music I had with me, in fact. So it was sort of an indoctrination, heightened by the fact that I was living in a bunker-type situation at the time. Anyway, that was the unofficial start of my getting all I could find from the styles of '60s and '70s R&B, and it didn't really stop until I had no more strength to move my record collection around. So that's what you're getting and why you're getting it.