Make that five...
A little background. Tony Orlando got his first break as a post-payola teen idol who had two hits in 1961: "Halfway To Paradise" (probably better known for Bobby Vinton's later version) and "Bless You" (the bigger hit). And then the long drought, despite the fact that Orlando had not only been discovered by Brill Building main man Don Kirshner, but had, for a few years, Carole King as his arranger (and of course he recorded Goffin-King songs, too). He recorded for Epic, the Columbia subsidiary label; everything looked pretty good. But like many young guys with modest talent and material, he was off the charts about as fast as he'd arrived. He kept plugging along for years, moving from label to label--no further success.
But then, in 1969, he got his second 'wind' with Wind, which was, typical for the '60s, not a group but a gathering of studio personnel--session cats, backing singers, and Orlando, the anonymous lead singer. Like Ron Dante (The Archies, Cuff Links), Orlando got a hit by proxy when "Make Believe" hit the Top 40 that fall. But after a few more failures, the end of Wind, and the beginning of Dawn. Born in NYC and loaded with connections, Orlando's next gig was with The Tokens, who beyond their own catalog of music, did a lot of moonlighting as songwriters, arrangers and producers long after the Brill Building concept had waned. So to the Bell label in 1970 and "Candida." That record was credited only to Dawn, and was slow to sell, but eventually became a big hit, as did its rewrite, the superior (and cute) "Knock Three Times." Then came the first album, CANDIDA, and if not for a 'Special thanks to Tony Orlando,' you might never have thought that it was him doing the singing (didn't occur to me at the time, and I owned several of his Epic singles, and a few Wind 45's as well).
As 1970/71 bubblegum goes, Dawn wasn't exactly awful (their equally contrived female counterpart, Dawn, actually had a few singles on Bell that were better, but they never had an album, and so none of their material was ever issued in stereo, let alone quad). But as time went on, and chart numbers became more erratic, so did their sound. They were all but moribund in 1972, but in early '73 and the risible "Tie A Yellow Ribbon" they were back. The single not only sold a million, but its infernal ribbon went on to be one of those sickening, maudlin tokens of love and devotion that literally millions of (I hope, only) Americans seem to think to this day a gesture equal to saluting the flag. Overall, the Orlando/Dawn catalog is fluff at best, wretched bullshit at worst, exemplified by such faux-retro nonsense as "Gypsy Rose" "Sally," while "Steppin' Out," which must have been the inspiration for the story that became the film
Saturday Night Fever, has to be some kind of '70s summit of camp.
And they put this BS brew into quad...
:yikes
More later; for now I'm stunned just thinking about the ramifications of hearing this one again. Whether in mono, stereo or quad, this is uphill climb on a sweltering summer afternoon with a backpack and a bladder full o' urine....
@:
ED