Five brilliant but underrated albums from the 1970s

Gallagher and Lyle - Breakaway

Some of you reading this will wonder who Gallagher and Lyle are. But you will likely know several of this album's songs. And if you do happen to remember this pairing of singers and songwriters and this excellent album of songs, you’ll do so with warm memories. 

Benny Gallagher and Graham Lyle are the duo behind the album. They first came to prominence back in 1968 when they were signed by The Beatles to Apple Music to write songs. That led to them being original members of McGuinness Flint, co-writing the band's 1970 hit “When I’m Dead And Gone”. They've also jointly or individually performed with and written for an extensive list of stars. Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Tina Turner, Ringo Starr, Ronnie Wood, and Ronnie Lane are just some of those who regard the pair highly.

The album Breakaway came out in 1975 and was a regular play for me. I still have a rather worn out cassette tape of it. It did reasonably well in the UK briefly reaching number six in the charts. The pair also had several hit singles in the UK from Breakaway. “I Wanna Stay With You” and “Heart On My Sleeve” also made it to the US charts. 

Gallagher and Lyle’s strength lay in their ability to craft great songs.  Aside from those hits above, the album’s title track “Breakaway” was also a huge worldwide hit for Art Garfunkel. Don Williams took another of their songs from Breakaway, “Stay Young”, to the top of the US country music charts in 1983.

The remainder of the album continues in a similar vein with great songs, soft acoustics, and harmonising vocals in an easygoing style. The album doesn't get too many mentions these days. That's a travesty, any album that has so many hit songs on it as Breakaway deserves more recognition.

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