Here's another song from the 1974-1975 era of which I've been reminded recently, that has been on my mind ever since I heard it.
This was a rockish song that I wrongly believed was by the progressive rock band Genesis all this time, but tonight I just got done going through every album and single that Genesis put out up to 1975, studio and live, and didn't find it, so I have to abandon my earlier belief it was by Genesis. I heard the song on the radio in Orange County, California, either in late 1975 or more likely early 1976. It was a station that played pop and rock songs that year, some of which I remember from that same radio in that same period were...
50 Ways to Leave Your Lover (Paul Simon, 1975, "Still Crazy After All These Years" (10-1975), author Paul Simon)
Dream On (Aerosmith, 1973, "Aerosmith" album (1-1973), author Steven Tyler)
Show Me the Way (Peter Frampton, 1976, "Frampton Comes Alive!" album (1-6-1976), author Peter Frampton)
I don't know why I was so convinced it was by Genesis: I probably tried to note the group name for future reference, and the DJ may have been referring to another song played in a chain, and mentioned Genesis. I think I heard it only twice around that time, maybe 3-4 times at most, but never before and never after that, so I'm guessing it was an obscure rock song that came out around then, maybe an album cut.
I went through all the following Genesis music, which I believe is comprehensive up to that year, but didn't find it:
not on "From Genesis to Revelation" (1969)
not on "Trespass" (1970)
not on "Nursery Cryme" (1971)
not on "Foxtrot" (1972)
not on "Genesis Live" (1973)
not on "Selling England by the Pound" (1973)
not on "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" (1974)
not on "A Trick of the Tail" (1976)
not on any single
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genesis_discography
In retrospect, it doesn't really sound like Genesis except for their first (1969) album, which has a more catchy, rockish, '60s sound. This song sounded like it was early '70s in style with its guitars, unsophisticated vocal harmonies, and relative simplicity. It may or may not have been progressive rock.
Now a description of the song itself...
The closest songs of which I'm aware are:
(1) Mr. Skin (Spirit, 1970, "Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus" album (11-1970), author Jay Ferguson)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yzdnz82TSZw
Listen to the horn and organ part starting at 0:18.
That's the same chord progression in the mystery rock song. That chord progression is musically generalized to (I believe) I V bVII IV, which in this case I believe are the chords E B D A. That's a great-sounding but rare chord progression. The only other song I can remember offhand that contains it is another progressive rock song:
(2) The Revealing Science of God (Dance of the Dawn) (Yes)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJPe_RGZoH8
Listen to the synthesizer part starting at 1:40.
Therefore that chord progression should in theory be the best way to find this song, except that songs are almost never categorized by their chord progressions, and few people would recognize progressions anyway. But maybe the sound of the above songs will trigger somebody's memory.
The Spirit song above is the closest in speed and instrumentation to the mystery song. Over that chord progression the vocals were just "Ah, ah. Ah ah." with one "ah" per each of the four chords, with the sung pitches just matching the pitches in the chords rather than being an independent melody, sung by a male vocalist, most likely in harmony. The speed and timing of the chords was almost identical to that part of that Spirit song. That part was repeated a few times, and was probably the chorus: I don't remember any other part of the song, other than I believe the verses were different, and less interesting.
Although it was a rock song, it wasn't hard rock, but rather borderline pop, as in "Mr. Skin" above. It was a pretty good, catchy rock song, and I would like to finally know what it was and hear it again. This is going to be a hard one to identify, I believe.
P.S.--I updated the years in this post: they should have been 1975-1976, not 1974-1975.
Also, the thought occurred to me after posting this that maybe the name of the song had the word "genesis" in it.