April 1974

Continuing the series, (Jan, Feb and Mar):

April 1974... 40 years ago... I was 13.5 years old, in 8th grade and living in Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh Pirates opened a season in which they would finish 1st (and lose to LA Dodgers in LCS).  It would be their 4th divisional championship in 5 years.  In today's world it's easy to forget how successful the Pirates were in the 70's.  They won 2x World Series, 6 division titles, and only finished as low as 3rd once.  But the big story in baseball was Hank Aaron breaking Babe Ruth's home run record.

Meanwhile, "The Sting" won the Academy Award for best picture.  And the US suffered a "Super Outbreak" of Tornadoes....

What was happening in music?

Albums released in 1974 include:

•  Lynyrd Skynyrd - Second Helping.  Featuring the iconic "Sweet Home Alabama".  Skynyrd's first, and biggest hit. 
• Poco - Seven.  Poco's first album post-Richie Furay, continuing to be the best unknown "country rock" band.
• J.J. Cale - Okie.  The 3rd release from my favorite obscure artist.  Yep. I liked J.J. Cale before it was cool.
• Blue Oyster Cult - Secret Treaties.  My introduction to BOC, and still one of my favorite albums....  "Being chased around, by the neighbor's cat, but it's so lonely in the state of Maine!"

Yep, I have all of those on vinyl.   As for singles, only 3 songs topped the charts in April 1974:

• TSOP (The Sound Of Philadelphia) - MFSB (4/27 and 4/27)
• Hooked On A Feeling - Blue Swede (4/6)
• Bennie And The Jets - Elton John (4/13)

Some really good songs made their chart debuts:

• (I've Been) Searchin For So Long - Chicago (peaked at #9)
• Oh Very Young - Cat Stevens (#10)
• Don't You Worry ' Bout A Thing - Stevie Wonder (#16)
• Piano Man - Billy Joel (#25)