Mayer Hawthorne's oldschool pop-R&B homages are so meticulous that it's tempting to overrate his pipes. Dude's got a convincing falsetto; in the Seventies, he might've made the backup-harmony cut for some mid-level vocal group. Hawthorne's second album is full of Philly soul strings and yacht-rock brass; "The Walk" could pass for the Young Rascals in 1966 if not for its Cee Lo-era swear words. Don't expect emotion for the ages, and you'll have fun with this.

Listen to "A Long Time":

“Everyday People”

"Everyday People" managed to trailblaze in two different ways -- it was one of the first pop hits to deal with the subject of racial harmony, and it utilized Larry Graham's "slap" technique on the bass guitar, which would soon be copied by countless other bassists. Graham once said about his pulsating style, "I'd never done that before … that's where the freedom of creativity came in for the band, that we'd be allowed to do that." In 1978, the song's line "Different strokes for different folks" would be borrowed for the title of the hit television show Diff'rent Strokes.