Precious and Few: Pop Music of the Early '70s

by Don Breithaupt, Jeff Breithaupt

Here is a lively and nostalgic look back at the forgotten era that gave us "Hooked on a Feeling", "Dancing in the Moonlight", "I Am Woman", "Seasons in the Sun", and more. The early '70s brought a "Convoy" of popular music--everything from the cheesy to the classic. The authors, true-blue '70s fanatics, have put together this irresistably readable book to transport readers back to a time when people wore smiley-face buttons, went to singles bars, and heartily sang along with Mac Davis. Illustrations throughout.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, History

216 pages, Paperback

First published October 15, 1996

Reviews

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

By far the best book I have read about the AM hit singles of the early 70's that I grew up on. From "Don't Pull Your Love" to "American Pie" to "Family of Man" to "Billy Don't Be A Hero", the pop charts were full of riches. In 1972 you could hear "School's Out" back to back with "Sealed With A Kiss", "Long Cool Woman", "Down By The Lazy River" and "Backstabbers" and that's how it was. Music was mixed together, things weren't grouped into genres as much as they later did. Breithaupt knows that era too and his themed chapters capture that era perfectly.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I coauthored this book with my brother and gave us each 2.5 stars.

[Gerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

As light and frivolous as a Brady Bunch tune and great fun to boot. Wonderful overview of the golden days of Top 40 egalitarian radio and pop culture.

[librarygrl · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could NOT put this book down. It was so funny.

[J.J. Lair · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had this on my want to read list for a long time. I finally read it. I didn't learn anything. This was a series of essays on music genre of the 1970s. It did make me want to go find some of these songs, some just to hear again, some for the first time.
As much as the essays say many 1970s songs were thin and feel-good only, I have to say the same about this book.

[scott richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

They do a good job chronicling the time period of 1970-1975 with music from the radio. I agreed with many of their opinions on certain songs but some times they missed the mark. Taste in music is subjective.

[Jonathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

A light survey, broken down into short chapters, each devoted to a "genre" across 1970-1975. More structure would make more sense of some of the choices of genres and make them memorable, if not useful. As it stands, a quick, enjoyable survey, but something better is surely desirable.

[Mike Drinkard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such wonderful memories...such great songs. Chronicled with love and lots of belly laughs!

[Rebecca Plaza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nostalgia galore! Such a fine trip to my youth. Thank you authors!

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very entertaining history of early 70s pop music - rattled off machine-gun style.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Admirable organization of songs by topics and masterful transitions between specific songs, but very dated (mid 1990s) in its contextual pop cultural references used for readers - and so doomed to not stand as a long term reference work.

[Matt Love · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really disliked this book. It was supposed to be a celebration of the music of the early 70s, but the overall tone was snarky and snide.The authors seemingly didn't believe in their own conceit. Full of dubious opinions (they dismiss most of Lennon's solo work, but praised a handful of songs, including the tedious "Whatever Gets You Through The Night," but omits any mention of the towering "Instant Karma" or "Cold Turkey." ON the same page they casually refer to Lennon as the "eldest Beatle" - but of course it was Ringo. And this is only page 9, it would take a book to correct all the errors in this book! Even in the pre-google search era when this book was written, such mistakes are hard to understand. The put Andy Kim in the Brill Building, and gave him credit for writing Baby, I Love You! They confuse the Soul Brothers Six song "Some Kind Of Wonderful" that Grand Funk covered with the Goffin-King song of the same name. Stop me before I write more! I would write to the publishers and offer to assist them in correcting errors for future editions, but frankly, the book isn't good enough to revisit. And it would take a huge effort to excise the snark, and give it the tone of warm, breezy nostalgia the subject deserves.