Midnight Wind - John Stewart (1979)

As a member of The Kingston Trio during the early-to-mid 1960s, John Stewart was well versed in mixing traditional folk elements with pop styles, a trend he continued after beginning a solo career in 1968. Despite John's versatility, solid musicianship and acclaim from the critics, his first nine solo albums met with only limited commercial success. That changed with the release of Bombs Away Dream Babies in 1979, which gave John his first top 5 pop hit, "Gold," in the summer of that year.

"Midnight Wind" was the second single to be released from the album, debuting in August. Like "Gold," it prominently featured backing vocals from Stevie Nicks and vocal and guitar work from her Fleetwood Mac bandmate, Lindsey Buckingham. While "Midnight Wind" was not as successful as "Gold" had been, it would achieve a peak position of #28 on the Hot 100 chart in October. It would be followed shortly after by "Lost Her in the Sun," which also became a top 40 hit.

Although Bombs Away Dream Babies was released on CD by Razor and Tie Records in the 1990s, it appears to be currently out of print, as do several compilations of John's solo material containing the single version of "Midnight Wind." However, a re-recorded version of the track appears on Airdream Believer, which features John's more recent interpretations of several of his most popular compositions.

Listen to the original hit version on YouTube:

I Need to Be in Love - Carpenters (1976)

It has been said that of all the songs Karen Carpenter recorded, "I Need to Be in Love" was her favorite. Listening to the track, it's not difficult to see why she admired the song so much. The beautiful melody was ideally suited to Karen's rich, expressive voice, and her wistful, introspective interpretation suggests that the lyrics may have had personal meaning for her as well. As with many of the duo's other songs, it was composed by Richard Carpenter and John Bettis, with singer-songwriter Albert Hammond collaborating.

"I Need to Be in Love" was the second single to be released from the Carpenters' eighth studio album, There's A Kind of Hush. Strangely, the single was not as successful on the Billboard Hot 100 chart as many of Karen and Richard's earlier hits had been, peaking at #25 in July 1976, although it did top the Adult Contemporary chart for one week. In 1995, the song was issued as a CD single in Japan, where it sold extremely well.

Listen to "I Need to Be in Love," accompanied by wonderful video footage of Karen and Richard, on YouTube: .
In addition to A Kind of Hush, the song can be found on numerous compilations of the Carpenters' hits, including The Ultimate Collection and Love Songs.

Who'll Be the Fool Tonight - Larsen/Feiten Band (1980)

While "Who'll Be the Fool Tonight" was the first hit single for the Larsen/Feiten Band, it was not the first occasion on which keyboardist Neil Larsen and guitarist Howard "Buzz" Feiten had worked together. The two had previously collaborated with several other musicians on the 1972 album Full Moon, one of the most highly regarded jazz fusion recordings of its time. Buzz also provided session guitar work on Neil's late 1970s solo albums Jungle Fever and High Gear.

Buzz and Neil formed the Larsen/Feiten Band in 1980 and the group's self-titled album was released later that year. Featuring contributions from a variety of musicians in the jazz and pop genres, the album quickly became a Westcoast classic. "Who'll Be the Fool Tonight," the only single released from the album, first appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in August 1980, peaking at #29 in the early autumn.

After years of varying availability of Larsen/Feiten Band, the album was issued on CD by Wounded Bird Records in 2005. The reissue also contains the tracks from their excellent 1982 follow-up effort, Full Moon; the name was a nod to Neil and Buzz's earlier collaboration, but featured different songs. You can view footage of the Larsen/Feiten Band performing "Who'll Be the Fool Tonight" on the Solid Gold program, via YouTube: