Now that the California wildfires are under control, the long, arduous job of cleanup and recovery has begun. This week, the state’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) announced that employers performing cleanup work are subject to California’s workplace safety and health regulations. With that in mind, the Song of the Week is “Pick Up the Pieces,” a supremely funky 1974 instrumental from the Average White Band.
The song was included on the Scottish band’s second album AWB, with the single released first in the U.K. in the summer of 1974. While it failed to make the charts there, when “Pick Up the Pieces” came out in the U.S. that fall, radio stations began playing it; the song hit #1 in the U.S. in February 1975 and sold over 1 million copies. After its success in North America, the song became a hit in the U.K., reaching #6 on the charts.
The Average White Band continued to record and perform until last year, when they finished their farewell tour, but they never had another song as successful as “Pick Up the Pieces.”