Diana Ross - Swept Away

This week (September 13th) marks the thirtieth anniversary of Swept Away, the fifteenth solo studio album from Motown legend Diana Ross. This Gold seller went to number 78 in Australia, number 40 in the UK, number 37 in Canada, number 32 in Japan, number 22 in Germany, and number 10 in the Netherlands and Sweden. Here in the US, it spent forty-five weeks on the Billboard Album chart, peaking at number 26, and also went to number 7 on the Billboard R&B chart.

Joe Cocker - Civilized Man

This month marks the thirtieth anniversary of Civilized Man, the ninth studio album from British singer Joe Cocker. It went to number 100 in the UK and spent nine weeks on the US Billboard Album chart, peaking at number 133.

Lou Reed - New Sensations

This month marks the thirtieth anniversary of New Sensations, the thirteenth solo album from the late Lou Reed. The 1984 release went to number 92 in the UK and spent thirty-two weeks on the US Billboard Album chart, peaking at number 56.

M+M - Mystery Walk

With the release of their 1984 album Mystery Walk, the Canadian new-wave band Martha and the Muffins officially switched over to the name of M + M. The band was now a duo of Martha Johnson (guitar, keyboards and vocals), and Mark Gane (guitar, keyboards and vocals) along with a number of studio musicians. It spent four weeks on the US Billboard Album chart, peaking at number 163 (their highest US showing ever). In their native Canada, it went to number 56.

Parliament - Mothership Connection

Welcome to another edition of Seventies Saturday. This weekend we also wish a very happy seventy-first birthday to George Clinton, born July 22nd in 1941.

Clinton and his Detroit-based funk super group Parliament released Mothership Connection, their fourth studio album, on December 15th, 1975. The Platinum selling record went to number 13 on the US Billboard Hot 200 and number 4 on the US R&B charts. It also generated a trio of R&B hit singles including their biggest crossover track.

Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run

Welcome to another edition of Seventies Saturday.

In 1975, Bruce Springsteen released his third studio album, the hugely successful Born to Run. The record helped him break through to a more national and international audience. It was his best selling record up to that point in his career, going Platinum in the UK, Canada, Australia and the US (a number of times over in the later three). It debuted its first week on the US Billboard 200 album charts at number 84, moved to number 8 the following week, spent the next two weeks at number 4 and finally reached number 3 by its fifth week of release. The 30th anniversary edition released in 2005 reached number 18 on the same charts. The album was also a critical success, earning high marks from numerous music publications. Rolling Stone magazine ranked it number 18 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All-Time. VH-1 ranked it at number 27 on its Greatest Albums of All-Time list. Many fans consider it one of Springsteen's greatest works to date.