'70s Soft Hits

Smooth as a slice of ripe avocado, cozy as your favorite tie-dyed tee, soothing as the scent of honeysuckle incense, these are sounds of ’70s Soft Hits, your personal playlist for the finest in retro-relaxation and romance. We kick it all off with the ultimate mellow match-up between ’70s songwriter supreme Carole King and “Sweet Baby” James Taylor on J.T.’s version of “You’ve Got a Friend,” before moving through the hint of minor-key mischief in Seals and Crofts’ fragrant “Summer Breeze,” the golden stardust of the Carpenters’ “(They Long to Be) Close to You,” and Roberta Flack’s sultry soul love call “Feel Like Makin’ Love.”

“Do That to Me One More Time,” croon the Captain & Tennille, and how could we refuse?! More ’70s Soft Hits await in Next Steps.

Former Raspberries front man Eric Carmen is still feeling the hurt on a down-and-dejected “Never Gonna Fall In Love Again,” but Texas twosome England Dan & John Ford Coley can’t help looking ahead to warm winds and starry skies on “I’d Really Love to See You Tonight.” Piano man Elton John is making his last stand on a heart-baring “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On Me,” while country hunk Glen Campbell is gearing up for post-sunset heat-seeking on “Southern Nights.” And while Chicago are craving a certain someone on a cool and groovy “Wishing You Were Here,” Rita Coolidge has her loved one right where she wants him on “We’re All Alone.”

The decade’s not over yet — find more great ’70s soft hits in Deep Cuts.

A stern lecture never sounded so good as the one delivered by velvet-voiced soul man Lou Rawls on “You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine.” After all, when it comes to ’70s soft hits, even downers arrive in desirable packages — just ask Marilyn McCoo, who tries to look on the bright side in the 5th Dimension’s brokenhearted ballad “One Less Bell to Answer.” Luckily, things are looking up for ’70s novelty king Ray Stevens as he takes a moment to give thanks on his open-hearted ode “Everything Is Beautiful,” while ramblin’ boy Dave Loggins can’t resist the call to come home on the sweet plea “Please Come to Boston.”

You can’t blame a country when, after it’s weathered one of the most turbulent decades in its relatively brief history, it just wants to take a year or ten to chill out. The ’70s may have been known as the Me Decade, but we prefer to look at it as the Me-llow Decade, a time when trippy tunes came dripping in honeyed vocals instead of acid-washed guitar — think America’s “Tin Man” — and rockers cranked down the Marshalls to sink back into sunny SoCal sounds, à la the Eagles’ “Desperado.” Barbra Streisand captured time in a bottle and wound up with a signature hit on “The Way We Were,” and Johnny Nash paved the way for a U.S. reggae revolution with “I Can See Clearly Now.” And they all wound up in ’70s Soft Hits, our easygoing decade in a playlist for your tranquil time-traveling pleasure.