The best-selling album of the 1970s, according to the folks at Billboard, was “Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975)” by the Eagles, a collection of singles.
But don’t be misled. Fueled by the rise of FM radio and the advertising dollars that were siphoned into it, the music biz in the 1970s saw a transition from Top 40 hit singles to albums, reflected in top-sellers like Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon,” Carole King’s “Tapestry” and the soundtrack to “Saturday Night Fever.”
So when Kerry Meads and Vanda Eggington set out to craft a musical celebration of the 1970s for Lamb’s Players Theatre, it didn’t take long for them to find their focus.
“Oh my gosh, it was like music blew up in the ’70s, in the sense that you had everything from the long-play record to what happened with radio to artists having the freedom to make more than a 2-1/2-minute single,” said Meads, an associate artistic director at Lamb’s.
“Artists wanted to explore ways to make rock fuller, more exciting,” said Eggington. “The ‘70s is where the artist wanted to take over and create art.”
The product of Meads’ and Eggington’s research and curating is a musical revue aptly titled “The ’70s! The Golden Age of the Album.” Previews begin Tuesday at Lamb’s Players Theatre in Coronado.
Even pop and rock historians might find it daunting to encapsulate into a 140-minute show the music of a dynamic decade that included the emergence of disco and punk as well as the growth of glam and progressive or art rock, and the flourishing of confessional singer-songwriters like Joni Mitchell, James Taylor and Jackson Browne.
But Meads and Eggington are veterans at this kind of challenge. Together they’ve created for Lamb’s the musical revue “Boomers,” defined primarily by the sounds of the 1960s, the Great American Songbook-driven “American Rhythm” and just two years ago “R-E-S-P-E-C-T,” a cross-genre tribute to female artists of the ‘60s.
“The ‘70s!” is not just a concert.
“We want to tell a story, not just have song after song after song,” Eggington said.
But even with more than two hours onstage to work with, honoring the music of an entire decade requires some creativity, and some cutting.
“We are either omitting things that people are expecting to hear or shortening things people want,” explained Eggington, “because that’s the only way we can fit it all in. You may have one verse of this song instead of no song at all.”
Led Zeppelin fan Meads pointed out that, for example, “It’s painful to not be able to do all of ‘Stairway to Heaven,’ but we’re doing a four-minute cut.”
Songs for the show were chosen not only for their popularity and prominence in the 1970s but also for how they could be presented on stage.
“There are a number of songs,” Meads said, “that have a theatrical base, like (Billy Joel’s) ‘Piano Man.’ There’s a real story there. ‘Hotel California,’ too. I can visualize it on the stage. Songs where I can do some imagery along with the music creates emotion.”
“The ‘70s!” features a cast of 16, many of whom will play instruments onstage as well as sing. They include everyone from 21-year-old bass player Avery Nelson to guitarist (among other instruments he plays) Rik Ogden, whom Meads says is the only performer who’s actually from the era of the 1970s. He’s been dubbed by the Lamb’s team “The Rock Father.”
This show is personal to Meads and Eggington.
“You listen to these songs and your memories start flooding back to where you were or what place you were in,” Eggington said. “For us, it’s the soundtrack of our lives.”
‘The ’70s! The Golden Age of the Album’
When: Previews: Thursday through June 24. Opens June 25 and runs through Sept. 14. 7 p.m. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays; 2 and 7 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays
Where: Lamb’s Players Theatre, 1142 Orange Ave., Coronado
Tickets: $48-$118
Phone: 619-437-6000
Online: lambsplayers.org
