Ignored             Obscured              Restored

Congratulations to the New York Knickerbockers for winning the 2026 NBA Championship.  Much has been made of the Knicks’ 53-year title drought.  Their last championship came on May 10, 1973, when they defeated the Los Angeles Lakers four games to one, winning four straight after dropping the opening game in Los Angeles.

To appreciate just how much time passed between championships, let’s take a trip in the Way-Back Machine and revisit some of the terrific music we were listening to in the spring of 1973.

A logical place to start is There Goes Rhymin’ Simon, since Paul Simon is the quintessential New Yorker — even if he’s more of a Yankees fan than a Knicks fan. Released on May 5, 1973, the album earned a five-star rating in the first Rolling Stone Record Guide and was nominated for Album of the Year at the 1974 Grammy Awards.

The album opens with “Kodachrome,” which was released as a single and climbed to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.

More than fifty years later, “Kodachrome” remains one of the great summer songs, buoyed by an infectious melody, sunny harmonies, and a soaring chorus:

Kodachrome
They give us those nice bright colors
Give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world’s a sunny day, oh yeah
I got a Nikon camera
I love to take a photograph
So mama, don’t take my Kodachrome away

If Paul Simon provided the soundtrack for a sunny afternoon, Pink Floyd supplied the soundtrack for late-night contemplation.  The Dark Side of the Moon was released on March 1, 1973, and has since become one of the most successful albums in history.  It has sold more than 45 million copies worldwide and spent an astonishing 996 weeks on the Billboard album chart.  Like There Goes Rhymin’ Simon, it earned a five-star rating in the first Rolling Stone Record Guide and was later included in MOJO’s The Greatest Albums of All Time.

While “Money” remains the album’s signature hit, I’m choosing “Us and Them” for today’s post.  Perhaps that’s my saxophone player bias. 

Originally composed by Richard Wright for Michelangelo Antonioni’s film Zabriskie Point, the music was ultimately rejected for the soundtrack.  Repurposed for The Dark Side of the Moon, it became one of the album’s emotional centerpieces, pairing Wright’s haunting melody with Roger Waters’ meditation on conflict, division, and human indifference.

Another landmark release from the spring of 1973 was Catch a Fire, issued by The Wailers on April 13.  Like Dark Side of the Moon, it earned a place in MOJO’s The Greatest Albums of All Time.  For many rock fans, Catch a Fire served as an introduction to reggae music, bringing the sounds of Jamaica to a much wider audience.

The album was memorable even before listeners dropped the needle.  Early pressings came packaged in an ingenious album-sized Zippo lighter sleeve, complete with a hinged top.  It was an expensive production choice, but one that perfectly matched the music’s originality. (I still have one in my collection.)

Among the album’s highlights is “Stir It Up,” a song Bob Marley had originally recorded and released as a single in Jamaica in 1967 before revisiting it for Catch a Fire.

Smooth, sensual, and effortlessly melodic, it’s the musical equivalent of a warm Caribbean evening.

So, congratulations to the Knicks on ending one of the longest championship droughts in professional sports.  And thanks for providing an excuse to revisit some of the remarkable music that filled the airwaves the last time New York stood atop the basketball world.

Enjoy… until next week.