tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76280839219813180272024-03-13T23:18:24.036-07:00EARLY '70S RADIOSongs, stations and tangents. The companion blog for <i>Early '70s Radio: The American Format Revolution</i>, a book by Kim SimpsonUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger126125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628083921981318027.post-24140102676576084692022-02-22T19:05:00.032-08:002022-04-05T10:59:53.735-07:00Top 40 Entry 1/8/72: Three Dog Night - "Never Been to Spain"<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgktPMOLTxTlW_CVTnrGbucSfMXSfEufh47ZU-vYAAbd_-tmwkQlGqOzuCRDN0oub5GXRpOMF50nN8QMYK5T3R3gw1yFFF8q_JGZcMfg8WMH5dzV63wrMw2k3UXPT_DNhj0y8EAE_B4m5w88SYxjuaXyLByOoBZkEykX8XW_xsU1WowelaNzr_Rxsx4YQ=s599" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="390" data-original-width="390" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgktPMOLTxTlW_CVTnrGbucSfMXSfEufh47ZU-vYAAbd_-tmwkQlGqOzuCRDN0oub5GXRpOMF50nN8QMYK5T3R3gw1yFFF8q_JGZcMfg8WMH5dzV63wrMw2k3UXPT_DNhj0y8EAE_B4m5w88SYxjuaXyLByOoBZkEykX8XW_xsU1WowelaNzr_Rxsx4YQ=s320"/></a></div><br>
<b>Three Dog Night—“Never Been to Spain.”</b>Dunhill 4299; Top 40 debut: 1/8/72. Peak date: 2/12/72. Written by Hoyt Axton. Produced by Richard Podolor. B-side: “Peace of Mind.” LP:
<i>Harmony</i>. Charts: <i>Billboard</i> Hot 100 (#5), easy listening (#18).<br><br>
Oklahoma songwriter Hoyt Axton’s fried nursery rhymes were a natural fit for early ‘70s AM radio. It’s possible that no one would have known this if Three Dog Night (always crafty song pickers) hadn’t taken a chance with his “Joy to the World,” which ended up seeping deeply into the era’s singalong culture. Axton’s bluesy “Never Been to Spain,” the group’s twelfth Top 40 hit, had a similar appeal abeit in the form of a slow boil. It took three full verses for all three throats to start wailing together and for the church of what-does-it-matter’s revival meeting to get into full swing.
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Like the most memorable of the era’s hits, “Never Been to Spain” made people want to join hands and sing away their troubles. Popular taste for such fare made for a blurred boundary between the adult and youth markets and generated an influx of borderline novelty songs, a situation songwriters like Jim “Spiders and Snakes” Stafford and Loudon “Dead Skunk” Wainwright III were watching closely. It also cultivated a taste for stage-friendly “show band” rock, the kind all ages could enjoy, and which Three Dog Night did better than just about anyone. Rock critics tended to chafe at the mega-successful outfit’s finesse. Robert Christgau called them the “Kings of Oversing,” a criticism that would have raised Engelbert Humperdinck’s eyebrows, and comes off today as something of an oversling, shall we say, amid our digitally-enhanced emoting.
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“Never Been to Spain” appeared as the opening track for their <i>Harmony</i> LP, and it called on Cory Wells to do lead duties for the trio of similar-sounding singers. The album tends to hold a fond place in TDN fans’ hearts for its variety and structural integrity, with standout tracks such as Moby Grape’s “Murder in My Heart for the Judge” and Joni Mitchell’s “Night in the City.” The 45, a bookend job, showcased the <i>Harmony</i> album’s opener on side A (“Never Been to Spain”) and closer (“Peace of Mind”) on side B. <br><br>
About the B side: Former New Christy Minstrel Nick Woods had composed “Peace of Mind,” and Nina Simone and Nancy Wilson both recorded striking versions of it in 1968. In contrast to those, Three Dog Night gave it a spare and reverent rendering with only Jimmy Greenspoon’s piano and Chuck Negron’s voice. It also tacked on an introductory Negron recitation of a poem called “Mistakes and Illusions” written by his wife Paula, who received credit on the album packaging but none on the 45 label. In short order this recording would serve as an elegy for Woods, who died of an accidental drug overdose at the home of his friend, the arranger and producer Kirby Johnson, on February 17, 1972, at the age of 33. (Source: <i>San Diego Union</i>, Feb 23, 1972, B-3)</i> <br><br>
As for subject matter, “Never Been to Spain” catalogs places the singer has never been, including Spain and England (whose Beatles he kinda likes). The last verse focuses on songwriter Axton’s home state of Oklahoma, which he at first seems to equate with heaven. He actually played some football at Oklahoma State University, where the marching band now blasts “Never Been to Spain” during the 4th quarter. If you listen to Axton’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vj905cRMgHo" target="_blank">original 1971 recording</a> of the song, though, you’ll hear him sing “from Oklahoma, born in a coma,” a somewhat less glowing declaration that mostly brings the concussive football connection into sharper focus. (Three Dog Night changed it to “Oklahoma, not Arizona.”) The group would bring one more single (“Family of Man”) from <i>Harmony</i> into the Top 40 before pumping out a new album in March 1972. (The image above is what the picture sleeve looked like in Spain.)<br><br>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Side A: "Never Been to Spain"</b><br />
<embed height="35" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AywQegBaKho?" type="text/html"></embed><br />
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<b>Side B: "Peace of Mind"</b><br />
<embed height="35" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gfGkzdOjBDM?" type="text/html"></embed></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628083921981318027.post-1937856393506885532022-02-17T12:59:00.040-08:002023-05-24T14:21:53.150-07:00Top 40 Entry 1/1/72: Elton John - "Levon"<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjrjJX_nSbyj9lsBNtH43CQFd1XuunaLlhNOAeteq39pWe6J8KRrzbhkpCiynUOvBowRcY-rlZ0PbDNGStUvLhMRMnZYVhAivG4r2192LcURmF1ULsaDl_JS892eKmWSKa86-WV7gbguQJbCpeixeOX-HmTp5bsrx2HDIElZ8UwirBJ9H3WjRSIG95y0g=s600" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="390" data-original-width="390" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjrjJX_nSbyj9lsBNtH43CQFd1XuunaLlhNOAeteq39pWe6J8KRrzbhkpCiynUOvBowRcY-rlZ0PbDNGStUvLhMRMnZYVhAivG4r2192LcURmF1ULsaDl_JS892eKmWSKa86-WV7gbguQJbCpeixeOX-HmTp5bsrx2HDIElZ8UwirBJ9H3WjRSIG95y0g=s320"/></a></div><br>
<b>Elton John — “Levon”</b>. Uni 55314. Top 40 debut: 1/1/72. Peak date: 2/5/72.
Written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin. Produced by Gus Dudgeon. B-side: “Goodbye.” LP:
<i>Madman Across the Water</i>. Charts: <i>Billboard</i> Hot 100 (#24).<br><br>
The Elton John we saw before us at the end of 1971 was a complex case: An explosive live performer devoid of leading man looks; a demonstrative pianist whose pop chart track record showcased reflective ballads; a musical purveyor of earth-toned frontier Americana while dressing up for gigs in tights, gold lamé and battery-powered accessories. Those are just a few of his contradictions, and there’s more, but all of them only strengthened the popular appetite for him.
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The fruitful collaboration between John and his lyricist Bernie Taupin kept consumers well fed. The music poured out, filling up three studio albums, a soundtrack LP, numerous non-album tracks, and a live album all between 1969 and 1971. The <i>Madman Across the Water</i> album, with its title implication, blue denim cover and the antique photos in the gatefold booklet, kept the Americana vibe alive, as did “Levon,” its leadoff single. It was a song about a war vet, son of one Alvin Tostig, who kept the lucrative family balloon business going, and whose quirkily named son Jesus, a rocket man at heart, fantasized about breaking free and flying to Venus. <br><br>
Although lyricist Bernie Taupin told <i>Rolling Stone</i> magazine that he’d only intended to tell the story of a “guy who wants to get away from his father’s hold over him,” he was underselling the richness of meaning in the symbols he chose. “War wounds” evoked Vietnam and so much more, “Jesus” tapped into one of pop music’s favorite preoccupations of the day, and the balloons signified the escapism and whimsey of childhood, another of the era's topical biggies. So yes, there was a generation gap meaning at heart, but one rife with the metaphorical tools of independent interpretation. (Taupin and John had previously treated that dad theme in a number called “In My Old Man’s Shoes,” the UK B-side for “Your Song.”)<br><br>
My favorite personal reading of "Levon" involves the transformative nature of Jesus as a concept, His flexibility as an icon in different parties’ hands. This gets fuel from the lyrical bit about the <i>New York Times</i> declaring “God is dead,” because many listeners, in fact, from the standpoint of the early seventies Jesus revival, remembered the provocative 1966 <i>Time</i> magazine cover asking, “Is God dead?” People can get a tad testy about this sort of thing, which is certainly why Taupin attempted to clear the air. <br><br>
As for the song title, Taupin surely latched on to the contemporary Americanism of The Band’s southern-drawled singer-vocalist Levon Helm. His given name was memorable enough (or perhaps he was just so vain) that he thought the song was about him. One word in “Levon” glares, though, and that’s John’s first-syllable British emphasis in “garage,” but only because it disclosed his non-American pedigree, which no one really begrudged. Listen to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0wIo2VPzxs" target="_blank">Mary McCready’s 1974 version</a> of the song, though (one that John had declared to be better than his own), and you’ll hear her singing that word like a proper American. Come to think of it, perhaps the two songwriters didn’t realize that naming your kid “Jesus,” as in <i>hay-SOOS</i>, was more of a <i>Mexican</i>-American thing, and maybe John misappropriated that one too. <br><br>
Musically, “Levon” surged with additional invitations to give it meaning, namely Elton John’s elegaic piano and the movie magic orchestration by Paul Buckmaster. The <i>Madman Across the Water</i> album, in fact, laid those solemn cinematics thick by leading off with “Tiny Dancer” and following right up with “Levon.” These were two sister songs that stirred one’s soul in similar ways. “Tiny Dancer,” dedicated to Bernie Taupin’s girlfriend Maxine Feibelman, likely fell short of the top 40 (peaking at #41) as the follow-up 45 due to its perceived over-familiarity. Both songs would enjoy long lives, though, as FM album rock staples, with "Tiny Dancer" racking up bonuses for its singalong sequence in <i>Almost Famous</i> (2000). In his autobiography, John explains why so few of his future albums swelled with the strings of Paul Buckmaster: He washed his hands of rock’s favorite arranger when he spilled an inkpot on a stack of notations just before the <i>Madman</i> sessions were to begin. “An expensive mistake,” writes Sir Elton.<br><br>
The <i>Madman Across the Water</i> album is notable for two more things worth mentioning here: 1) It contained a song called “All the Nasties,” in which concerns about the artist in question's sexuality get assessed out in the open; and 2) so distinct was the album chart position discrepancy between the UK (#41) and the US (#8), that Elton John decided to base himself in the US—and to focus his efforts there—for good. “Levon” was the surging singer-songwriter’s third Top 40 hit, after “Your Song” (#8) and “Friends” (#34). “Rocket Man” was next, so the way from here was up. <br><br>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Side A: "Levon"</b><br />
<embed height="35" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SEgEmTgAEUk?" type="text/html"></embed><br />
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<b>Side B: "Goodbye"</b><br />
<embed height="35" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bTuyqOQIYcE?" type="text/html"></embed></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628083921981318027.post-16881934368054356612022-02-17T12:21:00.016-08:002022-02-24T11:59:00.997-08:00Top 40 Entry 1/1/72: The Partridge Family —“It’s One of Those Nights (Yes Love)”<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEisBbbmZPiG1rtH7Ps-NNZeHlekTrj37TaoiF0npUS8H_D2p_C1ETMltH_Uyw3A56q5cNZ6A7dEzhA-cwVQWa6SjjCS_KsIJ-nOJFLIo1fU9RtIwaoy3PMv_b-EoK63rVydikCqEjKUrHxObx0HEUz0vfTRMRSNLVK3_FJNmaX4Ta0PQ-nffK_N1bZA0w=s600" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="390" data-original-width="390" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEisBbbmZPiG1rtH7Ps-NNZeHlekTrj37TaoiF0npUS8H_D2p_C1ETMltH_Uyw3A56q5cNZ6A7dEzhA-cwVQWa6SjjCS_KsIJ-nOJFLIo1fU9RtIwaoy3PMv_b-EoK63rVydikCqEjKUrHxObx0HEUz0vfTRMRSNLVK3_FJNmaX4Ta0PQ-nffK_N1bZA0w=s320"/></a></div>
<b>The Partridge Family Featuring Shirley Jones Starring David Cassidy —“It’s One of Those Nights (Yes Love)”</b>. Bell 45160. Top 40 debut: 1/1/72. Peak date: 1/29/72. Written by Tony Romeo. Produced by Wes Farrell. B-side: “One Night Stand.” LP: <i>Shopping Bag</i>. Charts: <i>Billboard</i> Hot 100 (#24), Easy Listening (#2).<br><br>
Strangely enough, the Partridge Family’s “It’s One of Those Nights (Yes Love)” came and went—peaking in late January ‘72—before its supporting album ever reached stores in March. It was in March, too, when the episode featuring the TV family’s single finally aired (“The Partridge Papers,” about sister Laurie’s stolen diary). It seems like a better synchronized push might have helped it.
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What’s significant about this song, though, is that it peaked at #20 on the pop charts, but climbed to #2 on the easy listening charts. This was their most lopsided and therefore most revealing teenage vs. adult audience ratio yet. In spite of David Cassidy and company's so-called bubblegum appeal, the music, in sound and sales tactics, never wavered from targeting the buying power of the mom and dad demographic. None of their music really raged with the kind of adolescent libido that even the Osmonds could summon, and the chart performance of “It’s One of Those Nights” puts this reality into sharp focus. You always wondered why only adults seemed to attend their TV supper club music segments, right? <br><br>
Partridge staff writer Tony Romeo gets sole credit for “It’s One of Those Nights,” which tapdanced around the essential chord structure of Frank and Nancy Sinatra’s “Somethin’ Stupid” (#1, 1966—itself a descendant of “Tea for Two”), from the pantheon of grandparent-friendly hits. Keeping with their tradition of the concept package, the supporting <i>Shopping Bag</i> album—the group’s fourth—included an actual plastic tote decorated with the album cover’s blue, yellow, and bubblegum-pink swirls, along wth the duotone faces of each member.
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Also consistent with their recorded products, <i>Shopping Bag</i>’s full billing appeared on labels as “The Partridge Family Starring Shirley Jones Featuring David Cassidy,” and featured the production of future Tina Sinatra hubby Wes Farrell. Along with “It’s One of Those Nights,” the album included one more glaring template song in “Hello Hello,” which nabbed its title, various hooks, and arrangement ideas from Sopwith Camel, whose original “Hello Hello” reached #26 in 1967. <br><br>
<i>Shopping Bag</i> offered up just one additional single for Hot 100 consideration a few months later, Irwin Levine and Russell Brown’s “Am I Losing You,” which stopped short at #59. Low memorability was as much to blame as was competition from David Cassidy’s second solo album. The still-viable TV group would be back in the Top 40 one more time before the year of ‘72 was over, though, with their version of Neil Sedaka’s “Breaking Up is Hard to Do” from a new album.<br><br>
The "One Night Stand" b-side came from their previous album, <i>The Partridge Family Sound Magazine</i>, but didn't show up on an episode until March '73 ("Diary of a Mad Millionaire," featuring John "Gomez Addams" Astin as an eccentric, Howard Hughes type). The song's lyrics emphasized the traveling band aspect of the title phrase more than the bedroom one.<br><br>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Side A: "It's One of Those Nights (Yes Love)"</b><br />
<embed height="35" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Gqk9u0M36YQ?" type="text/html"></embed><br />
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<b>Side B: "One Night Stand"</b><br />
<embed height="35" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/t3luXLk20es?" type="text/html"></embed></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628083921981318027.post-65491664095685826052022-02-17T04:15:00.016-08:002022-03-11T11:08:47.246-08:00Top 40 Entry 1/1/72: Carly Simon - "Anticipation"<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhEZY-UKR3u9S5IkNOjjoU8vZN7A0yrb19ruUDGSN3mqAc_F9WrS8qD4OaCqm2A4SIojo3K9O1W9odRdFUmfWQNG0M3pQvNjmp0xXmb94OCtlxQ7rhM_d-aQzYzNCaM_9R2xAqX5WXli5pMENQWFfu84BRAS3k4sYByjvLCZAVa79UiuOaseJ3aa6NBYQ=s600" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="390" data-original-width="390" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhEZY-UKR3u9S5IkNOjjoU8vZN7A0yrb19ruUDGSN3mqAc_F9WrS8qD4OaCqm2A4SIojo3K9O1W9odRdFUmfWQNG0M3pQvNjmp0xXmb94OCtlxQ7rhM_d-aQzYzNCaM_9R2xAqX5WXli5pMENQWFfu84BRAS3k4sYByjvLCZAVa79UiuOaseJ3aa6NBYQ=s320"/></a></div><br>
<b>Carly Simon — “Anticipation” (#13)</b>. Elektra 45759. Top 40 debut: 1/1/72. Peak date: 2/12/72. Written by Carly Simon. Produced by Paul Samwell-Smith. B-side: “The Garden.” LP: <i>Anticipation</i>. Charts: <i>Billboard</i> Hot 100 (#13), Easy Listening (#3).<br><br>
Carly Simon’s debut single (“That’s the Way I Always Heard It Should Be, #10 in 1971), a quiet ballad with a big, Bacharach-style chorus, broke new ground for pop songs by looking at relationships from a psychoanalytical perspective. Fittingly, its sophisticated musical roadmap also offered rewards to those listeners with grown-up attention spans. The record practically demanded, on its own, the creation of a radio format to be known as “adult contemporary."
Simon’s next single, “Anticipation,” which led off her second album, gave it its title, and did almost as well, peaking at #13. It followed the lead of "That's the Way" by reinforcing her reputation as pop music’s star reporter in the trenches of modern romance. She had lots of material, and you can read about it in her <i>Boys in the Trees</i> (2015) memoir. <br><br>
Here’s one tidbit: “Anticipation” came from a date night with Cat Stevens, with whom she’d often shared the stage and also a producer in former Yardbird Paul Samwell-Smith. She had cooked dinner, but because the <i>Teaser and the Firecat</i> album icon took his time getting there, she at least got a song written while she waited. Such a well-crafted result, which became one of the quintessential radio hits for the singer-songwriter era, says as much about her creative skills as it does about right place/right time factors. (Stevens would sing background vocals on the album’s “Julie Through the Glass.”) The radio heyday of “Anticipation” coincided with Simon winning the Best New Artist Grammy for 1971, a ceremony that also handed Carole King the Record of the Year (“It’s Too Late”) and Song of the Year (“You’ve Got a Friend”). A golden age for women singer songwriters was evidently underway.<br><br>
“Anticipation,” though—and this is not in Simon’s memoir—would become best known as a Heinz ketchup TV commercial theme from 1973 well into the eighties. In the present day, hit songs rent themselves out for commercial usage as standard practice. In the sixties and seventies, it tended to go the other way around, with popular commercial themes turning into jingle singles for radio. Simon’s record, then, anticipated a whole new era in pop music marketing.<br><br>
The only other single from the <i>Anticipation</i> album, “Legend in Your Own Time,” missed the Top 40, peaking at #50. That song was almost universally understood, especially in light of her next big hit “You’re So Vain,” as a takedown of some male subject in a “legend in your own mind” kind of way. Her memoir, though, makes clear that she wrote it, with tenderness to boot, about future husband James Taylor, whom she had met when they were much younger and whose mother, apparently, didn’t have a music career in mind for her boy. He would become a legend, then, according to his own timetable.<br><br>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Side A: "Anticipation"</b><br />
<embed height="35" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/V4FEkAohqvY?" type="text/html"></embed><br />
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<b>Side B: "The Garden"</b><br />
<embed height="35" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/i6EkRSYpPNo?" type="text/html"></embed></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628083921981318027.post-3130301919808364262022-02-05T10:57:00.036-08:002022-02-21T13:28:19.324-08:00Top 40 Entry 1/1/72: "Once You Understand" (1971) - Think<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh5q86iqTcdA5t_PuxkAxk12cLyyjEnOOahnMBqhj_hgTalYxvvvHPPwwHk1ubj6Cpb_JX_YIUy50WvoRrdVtF2LLLyeSjsx5geaDaVCpcaYMVvWjjZTUXFQenLSFz1gZ6BSlaMRpc4JBbfRD3vSyGtnpUZXMfe9kz5O2AQvxTpURPRP86c38gDRc4UdA=s500" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="390" data-original-width="390" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh5q86iqTcdA5t_PuxkAxk12cLyyjEnOOahnMBqhj_hgTalYxvvvHPPwwHk1ubj6Cpb_JX_YIUy50WvoRrdVtF2LLLyeSjsx5geaDaVCpcaYMVvWjjZTUXFQenLSFz1gZ6BSlaMRpc4JBbfRD3vSyGtnpUZXMfe9kz5O2AQvxTpURPRP86c38gDRc4UdA=s320"/></a></div>
<b>"Once You Understand" (1971) - Think</b> * Written and produced by Lou Stallman and Bobby Susser * 45: "Once You Understand" / "Gather" * LP: <em>Encounter</em> * Label: Laurie * Charts: <em>Billboard </em>(Hot 100, #23 in 1972; #53 in 1974)<br><br>
Even before Nixon officially declared war on drugs in the summer of 1971, nervous record industry voices were sounding off with self-policing CYA initiatives in the pages of <i>Billboard</i> and other trades. Mike Curb at MGM, for one, took attention-getting steps, sending anti-drug promo materials to record stores and dropping eighteen “hard drug” artists from the label. Pop culture reflected parental anxiety in films on teen addiction such as <i>Joe</i> (1970) and <i>The People Next Door</i> (1970) and the best-selling book <i>Go Ask Alice</i> (1971), while a single by Bloodrock called "D.O.A." (also 1971) managed to crack the Top 40 by leading listeners through a dreary musical O.D.<br><br>
Those who remember “Once You Understand,” a topical novelty record by Think, tend to place it in the hysteria-mongering camp, but it actually attempted to strike a balance by censuring parents, who were the likeliest hysterics. It's a generation gap record, part of the lineage of Victor Lundberg's "Letter to My Teenage Son" (1967). Producers Lou Stallman and Bobby Susser (an early Tico and Triumphs-era cohort of Paul Simon) were the names behind the Think alias, crafting a series of exchanges between exasperated teenagers and their reactionary, hard-nosed folks. Dad tells son to get a haircut or live somewhere else. Mom tells daughter to get home by ten or to not come home at all. Mom tells daughter not to mix with kids from the wrong neighborhood. Dad tells son there’s more to life than playing guitar in a band. Behind all this, a growing chorus of voices repeat the simplistic, Coke commercial-worthy refrain of “things get a little easier once you understand.”<br><br>
In sound and effect, it feels like a Jesus-rock singalong and a mantra, two forms very much in vogue. Eventually the chorus stops, and an officer tells the father that his son has died of a drug overdose. A lone voice then concludes the refrain behind the father’s sobs. KQV Pittsburgh and WIXY Cleveland are two stations credited with breaking the single, but its window-rattling popularity and frankness spooked enough stations elsewhere to blacklist it, thereby preventing it from climbing higher than #23. In 1974, the Big Tree label would re-release it and watch it take another ride up the charts to #54, proving that it still had work to be done and thoughtless parents to agitate.<br><br>
Stallman and Susser’s accompanying Think album is a timepiece called <em>Encounter</em>, worth giving a listen for its unscripted field recordings of parents and teenagers (the last one focusing excusively on drugs) that appear between compostions with simple arrangements and positive messages. Come to think of it, it's the music that's most curio-esque. The spoken recordings actually lead one to wonder if parent-teenager relations have changed at all since then. A <a href="https://songidblog.com/2022/02/once-you-understand-1971-think.html" target="_blank">soul version of “Once You Understand”</a> appeared in 1972 on the Spectrum label by Lily Fields and the Family and it provides a notable perspective shift, with music that really cooks and parent-teenager banter coming off as far more slice-of-life. The ending is also less severe, with the kid merely winding up at the police station.<br><br>
Biz Markie sampled the chorus of Fields' “Once You Understand” for his 1989 “Things Get a Little Easier,” while a London duo called 4hero got good mileage out of the officer’s utterance (in the Think version) of “Mr. Kirk?” and the parent’s “Yes?” for their “Mr. Kirk’s Nightmare." And you thought it was a <em>Star Trek</em> tribute. (A close listening of the source indicates that the parent’s name is actually “Mr. Cook.”) Stallman and Susser would go on to work with educational and children’s recordings.<br><br>
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<b>Side A: "Once You Understand"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "Gather"</b><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628083921981318027.post-77275444249905166372020-08-10T12:19:00.051-07:002022-05-12T00:04:57.588-07:00The Osmonds (Plus Donny, Marie, and Jimmy): The Early ‘70s Charting Singles and More<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The Osmond family from Ogden, Utah, played a high-profile but somewhat complex role in the story of early '70s pop. This is because, in aggregate, they made waves in all five of the era's commercial hit radio categories: Top 40, album rock, easy listening, soul, and country. The brothers Alan, Wayne, Merrill and little Jay, with the eventual addition of even littler Donny, had already become a well-known collective entity to viewers of the <i>Andy Williams Show </i>during the '60s. That show and the boys' long-standing presence as a Disneyland attraction gave them early recognition and formidable skills as entertainers. (This 1970 <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=vrv28d8ZtPk" target="_blank"><i>Disney Showtime</i> episode</a> shows how polished the brothers' rock and roll act had become, and how they hadn't necessarily sprung out of the earth, as their 1971 MGM album cover suggested<i style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "open sans", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">, </i>with no warning.)<br />
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Here are two interesting pre-1970s field reports: The Lennon Sisters, in their <i>Same Song-Different Voices </i>book, tell of an unannounced appearance at the <i>Lawrence Welk Show </i>darlings' doorstep by the very-driven Osmond family, with Donny in diapers, asking for advice in their earliest family-band incarnation; and veteran family-bander Billy Cowsill, in a 1995 edition of <i>Vancouver Magazine, </i>reports of catching them in their much later teenage era at Disneyland, after which he gave MGM head Mike Curb, who had taken the label's reins in 1969, his strongest recommendation. (See more about Cowsill's connections with them below.) By early 1971 the Osmonds had released "One Bad Apple," a lovable Jackson 5 soundalike featuring Donny in the Michael Jackson role of prepubescent energizer. Enter Osmondmania, the conquest of <i>Tiger Beat </i>and <i>16 </i>magazines, an animated cartoon, and a multi-format pop chart odyssey including sister Marie and<i style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "open sans", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">—</i>as the record labels would bill him<i style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "open sans", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">—</i>Little Jimmy Osmond.</div>
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Osmondmania emphasized a curious early '70s entertainment fascination with large families, preceded in the late '60s by the Cowsills and the Jackson 5, followed by the DeFrancos and Five Stairsteps, among others, and accompanied by made-for-TV clans such as the Partridges, Bradys and Waltons. This trend possibly reflected a collective yearning for old-fashioned home life at a time when, as I wrote in <i>Early '70s Radio, </i>traditional super-sized families became more of a scarcity with working mothers and single-parent households on the rise. In 1992, the British band Denim depicted the dichotomy in song: "In the '70s there were Osmonds, there were lots of Osmonds, there were lots of little Osmonds, everywhere, everywhere, everywhere." </div>
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The Osmonds also stood out for being openly devoted to their Mormon faith, known for a moral strictness that had virtually no known precedence for compatibility with pop music stardom. This undoubtedly intensified the fishbowl consciousness they lived with, but it also gave them the benefit of the doubt when they dabbled, as all pop stars will do, in double-entendre. Aside from that they were a well-run, well-behaved force to be reckoned with, and no examination of hit music in the early '70s holds up without giving them a good look and listen. </div>
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<b>The Osmonds - </b><b>"One Bad Apple"</b></div>
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Written by George Jackson * Produced by Rick Hall * 45: "One Bad Apple" / "He Ain't Heavy...He's My Brother" * LP: <i>The Osmonds </i>* Label: MGM * Charts: <i>Billboard </i>(Hot 100, #1) (soul, #6) (easy listening, #37) * Entered: 1971-01-02 (Hot 100), 1971-02-06 (soul), 1971-01-30 (easy listening)</div>
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In his <i>Soul Country: Making Music and Making Race in the American South</i> (pp. 118-124), Charles L. Hughes writes that the Osmonds’ “One Bad Apple” was as “controversial as any piece of US popular culture.” This was because its successful mimicry of the Jackson 5 sound came off to some as participation “in the white rip-off of black cultural resources.” Its inclusion in soul station playlists, too, seemed to fly in the face of “soul’s extramusical meaning.” Songwriter George Jackson did, in fact, write the song for the Jackson 5, only to have it turned down by the Motown label's Berry Gordy, Jr.</div>
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Hughes points out that the single can also be seen as a model specimen for the “racial and stylistic crisscrossing” going on at the FAME studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama.
The record was, after all, the product of a white producer (Rick Hall) and a black songwriter (George Jackson) who had been recommended to Hall by another white producer (Billy Sherrill). The record’s multiracial Fame Gang studio musicians backed five white young men singing in a black idiom for a label run by a conservative white man (Mike Curb). And yes, more than a few radio listeners who had first gotten familiar with "One Bad Apple" were likely surprised to connect it with the image of the five living Mattel dolls on the album cover. </div>
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In spite of any controversy, the song would launch ongoing successes for everyone involved, and lives on as a cheerful signifier of seventies youth. An Osmonds cartoon created in 1972 used the song for its opening sequence. The "apple" symbol, intentional or not, invites thoughts of the Book of Genesis's tree of knowledge of good and evil and the brothers' religiousness. Side B is a version of "He Ain't Heavy...He's My Brother" (written by Bobby Scott and Bob Russell), a concurrent #7 hit for the Hollies that became a lifelong concert staple for the Osmonds. Lead singer Merrill gets the full spotlight out front, with no Donny tradeoffs. </div>
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The Osmonds' debut album would be the only one to get reviewed by <i>Rolling Stone, </i>where Lester Bangs, whose tongue flopped in and out of cheek when it came to pre-teen market products, praised its "earthiness." The album in fact maintains the strongest soul-country Muscle Shoals vibe out of anything else they recorded, and also wears its time stamp most proudly. "Think," with its steel guitar and tasteful strings, angled with minimum winces toward the Merle Haggard "freedom isn't free" sentiment; "Motown Special" memorialized their stage routine in which they paid tribute to their chief rivals' label; and "Catch Me Baby" was a downcast seducer. <i>The Osmonds, </i>if anything, was an apt and respectable indicator of the format-o-rama approach the family would thenceforth pursue.</div>
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<b>Side A: "One Bad Apple"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "He Ain't Heavy...He's My Brother"</b><br />
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<b>The Osmond Brothers - </b><b>"I Can't Stop"</b></div>
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Written by Jerry Goldstein and Wes Farrell * Produced by Jerry Goldstein * 45: "I Can't Stop" / "Flower Music" * Label: Uni * Charts: <i>Billboard </i>(Hot 100, #96), UK (#12) * Entered: 1971-03-13 (Hot 100), 1974-04-20 (UK)</div>
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Before the Osmonds signed with MGM, they'd already had a history with the label, having released their first five albums as young barbershop prodigies on <i>The Andy Williams Show. </i>After this first tenure, a popularity surge in Japan had them releasing two albums out there (<i>The Wonderful World of the Osmond Brothers </i>on CBS and <i>Hello! The Osmond Brothers </i>on Denon) sprinkled with songs in the tongue of the rising sun. One of the highlights on <i>Wonderful World </i>was a version of Bill Cowsill's own "Make the Music Flow," which perhaps they played for him as an unreported part of the anecdote above. (In Donny's <i>Life Is Just What You Make It, </i>he mentions working directly with Cowsill for their "I've Got Loving on My Mind" single, a report that doesn't seem to hold up. Maybe he was thinking of "Make the Music Flow." He also mistakenly refers to Bill, the oldest Cowsill brother, as the family's father.)</div>
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Just before the release of those two albums, though, the five brothers recorded a single with former Strangelove and McCoys manager Jerry Goldstein on the Uni label (owned by MCA). McCoys singer and guitarist Rick Derringer did his first freelance session work on the two songs, and recalls in a 2002 book called <i>Gallagher, Marriott, Derringer and Trower </i>how Goldstein warned him to watch his language because the brothers were "gentlemanly" and "very religious." Both sides of the record<i style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "open sans", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">—</i>the A-side "I Can't Stop" with its catchy Donny-centric "stop" hook, and the B-side "Flower Music"<i style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "open sans", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">—</i>feature the lead vocals of brother Alan, which sound a bit strained in comparison with the soon-to-be familiar rasp of Merrill. Although the record went nowhere in '67, it made a quick dent at #96 in <i>Billboard </i>as an early '71 cash-in after "One Bad Apple" took off. In Osmond-friendly England, though, it would reach #12 as a 1974 reissue.<br />
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"Flower Music," co-written by Goldstein and the British hipster DJ Lord Tim Hudson along with Russ Regan, happened shortly after the same team had a go with "The Flower Children," a single showcasing Marcia Strassman (<i>Welcome Back Kotter'</i>s "Julie") that bubbled under at #105. Perhaps other "flower" offerings by those writers exist somewhere.</div>
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<b>Side A: "I Can't Stop"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "Flower Music"</b><br />
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<b>Donny Osmond - </b><b>"Sweet and Innocent"</b></div>
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Written by Billy Sherrill and Rick Hall * Produced by Rick Hall * 45: "Sweet and Innocent" / "Flirtin'" * LP: <i>The Donny Osmond Album </i>* Label: MGM * Charts: <i>Billboard </i>(Hot 100, #7) * Entered: 1971-03-27</div>
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One song on the Osmond's Fame Studios debut LP sounds a bit out of place, and that's "Sweet and Innocent," a showcase for 13-year-old Donny Osmond. Its wood flute hook signified childlike hits such as Vanity Fare's "Hitchin' a Ride" and Ms. Abrams' "Mill Valley," and the whole record sounded sweet and innocent through and through. </div>
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Osmond, in his 1999 autobiography, writes of Rick Hall not getting a positive response from the older brothers about the song, then proposing a parallel recording career for Donny's "audience within an audience" with an alternate song strategy. "Sweet and Innocent," then, would launch this dual initiative, appearing on both the brothers' and Donny's debut LPs (with a slightly different mix including an extra guitar for Donny's). The upshot was that Osmonds concerts would need to cater to both audiences, to whatever secret chagrin the brothers may have harbored. The single climbed to #7, and disk jockey Jeff McKee has claimed credit for breaking it while at WRIT in Milwaukee.</div>
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The song first appeared as a laconic 1958 B-side for a different Big-O<i style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "open sans", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">—</i>Roy Orbison, before he became a regular chart institution<i style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "open sans", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">—</i>with different verse lyrics and a "Teenager in Love" feel. In the mouth of Osmond, the sentiment of passing on a girl because she's too "sweet and innocent" for the grizzled likes of him sound both cute and absurd, having the appeal of a child pretending to be an adult. But this was an appeal that enabled such bubblegum treats to cross over into easy listening chart territory, which most of Donny's future hits would do. The B-side, songwriter Kenny ("I Like Dreamin'") Nolan's "Flirtin'," was a brother-heavy track taken directly from the <i>Osmonds </i>LP featuring the line "I'm gonna get a rope and tie you down."<br />
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Here's a helpful key for you to compare the <i>Sweet and Innocent </i>album's versions with their originators (if a song's not here, then Donny or his brothers were the first to record it): "Sweet and Innocent" (Roy Orbison, 1958); "I'm Your Puppet" (James and Bobby Purify, 1966); "Hey Little Girl" (Dee Clark, 1959); "Don't Say No" (David and the Giants, 1970); "Lollipops, Lace and Lipstick" (Jimmy Gilreath, 1963, Jimmy Hughes also did it as a Fame label B-side for "Steal Away" in 1964, which got it on producer Rick Hall's radar); "Burning Bridges" (1970, The Mike Curb Congregation); and "Wake Up Little Susie" (Everly Brothers, 1957).</div>
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<b>Side A: "Sweet and Innocent"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "Flirtin'"</b><br />
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<b>The Osmonds - </b><b>"Double Lovin'"</b></div>
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Written by George Jackson and Mickey Buckins * Produced by Rick Hall * 45: "Double Lovin'" / "Chilly Winds" * Label: MGM * Charts: <i>Billboard</i> (Hot 100, #14) * Entered: 1971-05-15</div>
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Co-written by "One Bad Apple" George Jackson, "Double Lovin'" also sounded like an ideal Jackson 5 offering, and followed a bubblegum trend of sexual double-entendre (cf. "Yummy Yummy Yummy," "Jam Up and Jelly Tight") disguised in chime-bell innocence. "I've got a double stroke of lovin' I've been dyin' to use on you," they sing, while elsewhere on the <i>Homemade </i>album ("The Honey Bee Song" written by Mickey Buckins) they use "King Bee" Slim Harpo metaphors ("if you want a taste of honey, you gotta get next to the bee"). A track off the <i>Osmonds </i>debut, "Find 'Em, Fool 'Em, Forget 'Em," anticipated this naughtiness by celebrating the traditional rock 'n' roll one night stand. Such messaging, however unintentional, indicated the perils of washing clean feet in dirty water. </div>
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As is written in the Book of Donny, pg. 82: "...there weren't a few songs in our repertoire you could read something into if you were so inclined." He also says "my parents and my older brothers trusted Mike Curb to make decisions about our recordings," and the B-side of "Double Lovin'" demonstrates how far that trust could stretch. In some alternate timeline (<i>Star Trek</i> foreshadowing alert), the Osmonds’ “Chilly Winds,” with its folky arrangement, philosophical lyrics and gorgeous vocals (possibly their finest on record) would have been a stage show staple, right up there with “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother.” In the less pleasant timeline we inhabit, though, the song is an embarrassing poison pill in the famous Mormon family’s history, something they were likely tricked into doing and have quite plausibly striven to block from memory.</div>
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Written by Lalo Schifrin and the pseudonymous conservative Curb (as M. Charles), it appeared as the theme for Roger Vadim’s 1971 movie <i>Pretty Maids All in a Row</i>, accompanying an opening sequence where a teenager (John David Carson) ogles his schoolmates. Cynically salacious, even by sexual revolution standards, the film barely escaped the era's qualifications for an X rating, depicting Rock Hudson as a high school counselor who has his way with female students (minors) before murdering them. Along the way, Angie Dickinson seduces Carson (a minor), while a pre-<i>Kojak</i> Telly Salavas, James Doohan (<i>Star Trek'</i>s Scotty), and William Campbell (<i>Star Trek</i> character actor alumnus) do hapless police investigations.<br />
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The whole thing glows with inviting, vibrant <i>Star Trek</i> colors and associations, with production and screenplay credited to none other than Gene Roddenberry. John David Carson would later appear as the lead role in the Mormon church-funded short film <i>John Baker’s Last Race</i> (1976), contributing yet another bizarre angle to this nightmarish, mixed-moral matrix. An alternate, more upbeat version of the song plays during the closing credits, and Merrill's vocal feels wolfishly complicit in the events just witnessed. (He touches upon it in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMXS5xXfQWY" target="_blank">this 2015 video</a>, indicating that he's made a sort of peace with the situation. It's wonderful to see and hear him singing it along with the audience.) </div>
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On the <i>Homemade </i>LP the bubblegum-cum-country-soul method carries over, but with more seams showing. "Carrie," written by Merrill and Wayne, as well as Paul Williams's "She Makes Me Warm" do the era's Caribbean pop trend justice, while Alan and Merrill's "If You're Gonna Leave Me" sails with steel guitar poignancy. "Sho Would Be Nice" and "The Promised Land," though, tend to make the Muscle Shoals mandate feel problematic. Otherwise, the front and back cover images of streams, mountain farms, berry cake, and milk cows (the back of <i>The</i> <i>Donny Osmond Album</i> featured some of these, too) make an American heartlander's heart sing. They also express a certain solidarity with official dairy spokespeople the Cowsills. </div>
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<b>Side A: "Double Lovin'"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "Chilly Winds"</b><br />
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<b>Donny Osmond - </b><b>"Go Away Little Girl"</b></div>
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Written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King * Produced by Rick Hall * 45: "Go Away Little Girl" / "The Wild Rover (Time to Ride)" * LP: <i>To You With Love, Donny </i>* Label: MGM * Charts: <i>Billboard </i>(Hot 100, #1) (easy listening, #14) * Entered: 1971-08-07 (Hot 100); 1971-08-14 (easy listening)</div>
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In his <i>Life Is Just What You Make It </i>book, Donny Osmond tells of Elvis Presley regularly phoning Osmond matriarch Olive, whom he had seen as a surrogate mother figure. Another thing the family had in common with the King was costume designer Bill Belew, who first started working with Presley on his 1968 TV special and dressed him in the tricked out jumpsuits that the Osmonds would also adopt. Donny sports a first-rate one of these on his second LP, <i>To You With Love, Donny, </i>which also contained his biggest hit, "Go Away Little Girl." </div>
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Written by the redoubtable team of Gerry Goffin and Carole King, the song had already hit the top of the charts in 1963 in the double-tracked voice of Steve Lawrence, then made an encore at #12 in '66 by the Happenings. The song presented Donny in gentler croon mode, which was more than his legions of never-going-away little girls could resist. It would be the first song ever to top the charts twice by different artists (only eight more would do the same), and would be Donny's first to reach the easy listening charts. After this success, the tactic of reviving pre-Beatle teen idol fare, whose innocence spoke to pre-teen girls and whose nostalgia factors pleased parents, would calcify as a Donny Osmond given. </div>
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Side B was not a version of the old Irish folk song, but an original track by Hal David and M. Charles (the Mike Curb pseudonym) asking listeners to envision 13-year-old Donny as a mysterious, renegade biker and smuggler of women. It also called for young Donny, surprisingly, to sing higher than his normal range, which was saying something.<br />
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Originator key for <i>To You With Love, Donny: "</i>I Knew You When" (Billy Joe Royal, 1965), "Go Away Little Girl" (Steve Lawrence, 1962), "Sit Down, I Think I Love You" (Buffalo Springfield, 1967), "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" (The Monkees, 1967), "Bye Bye Love" (Everly Brothers, 1957), "I'm Into Something Good" (Herman's Hermits, 1964).</div>
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<b>Side A: "Go Away Little Girl"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "The Wild Rover (Time to Ride)"</b><br />
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<b>The Osmonds - </b><b>"Yo-Yo"</b></div>
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Written by Joe South * Produced by Rick Hall * 45: "Yo-Yo" / "Keep on My Side" * LP: <i>Phase III</i> * Label: MGM * Charts: <i>Billboard </i>(Hot 100, #3) * Entered: 1971-09-11</div>
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"Yo-Yo" is primo Osmonds and one of early '70s radio's giddiest delights. Written by Joe South (in his book, Donny credits it to Joe Simon, which is an honest ballpark mistake), the song first charted in 1966 for Billy Joe Royal, bubbling under at #117. The Osmonds' treatment would be the last charting hit by the brothers act to be produced by Rick Hall, who manufactured a seamless combo of country-soul and bubblegum vibes for it, then decorated it with human-voice calliopes. Those vocal arrangements, especially the Merrill-to-Donny vocal interplay, are at the quintessential level here, as are the horn arrangements by the Fame Gang's Harrison Calloway, Jr. Watching the brothers do it with their elastic dance moves on <i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlA-z0du1Pg" target="_blank">The Flip Wilson Show</a></i> will help you get a sense of their appeal. (The animators of the 1972 Rankin/Bass Osmonds <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KFGYpCIMYw" target="_blank">cartoon intro</a> definitely watched that clip closely.) </div>
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Someone<i style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "open sans", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">—</i>possibly Donny himself?<i style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "open sans", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">—</i>felt an understandable inclination toward puppet-on-a-string metaphors such as "Yo-Yo." He'd recorded a rendition of James and Bobby Purify's "I'm Your Puppet" for his debut LP, then did the Chairmen of the Board's "You've Got Me Dangling from a String" in 1977. The B-side contained a bouncy non-album track called "Keep on My Side" that wouldn't have harmed their strong, forthcoming <i>Phase III </i>album at all. Joe South recorded his own gritty version of "Yo-Yo" for his 1971 <i>Joe South </i>album, a collection of his takes on songs he'd written but that others had made famous.</div>
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<b>Side A: "Yo-Yo"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "Keep on My Side"</b><br />
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<b>Donny Osmond - </b><b>"Hey Girl"</b></div>
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Written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King * Produced by Rick Hall * 45: "Hey Girl" / "I Knew You When" * LP: <i>Portrait of Donny </i>* Label: MGM * Charts: <i>Billboard </i>(Hot 100, #9) (easy listening, #21) * Entered: 1971-11-27 (Hot 100); 1971-12-04 (easy listening)</div>
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<b>Donny Osmond - </b><b>"I Knew You When"</b></div>
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Written by Joe South * Produced by Rick Hall * 45: "Hey Girl" / "I Knew You When" * LP: <i>To You With Love, Donny </i>* Label: MGM * Charts: <i>Billboard </i>(Hot 100, #9) * Entered: 1971-11-27</div>
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Donny Osmond's third hit single came off as a tribute to the songwriters who brought them their most recent successes. "Hey Girl," like "Go Away Little Girl," was a top ten hit from 1963 written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King (peaking at #10 for Freddie Scott), while "I Knew You When" showcased the pen of Joe South, whose "Yo-Yo" had gone up to #3 for the brothers act. <i>Billboard </i>policy, at this time, listed both sides of a record in the <i>Hot 100</i>, like a two-for-one, if they were both receiving significant airplay.</div>
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"Hey Girl" is the more memorable of the two tracks, a sultry ballad that could work well as a medley with the Turtles' "You Showed Me," Three Dog Night's "Easy to Be Hard," and Dusty Springfield's "All Cried Out." "I Knew You When," which first appeared as a B-side on Billy Joe Royal's 1965 version of Jimmy Hughes' "Steal Away," then on songwriter Joe South's 1969 <i>Games People Play</i> album, used an arrangement that sounded much more '63 than '71, which suits the song considering its inspirational debt to Bacharach and David's "Anyone Who Had a Heart" (or Ben E. King's "I (Who Have Nothing)," also '63). The single would be Donny's last chart offering to feature the production work of Rick Hall. </div>
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<b>Side A: "Hey Girl"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "I Knew You When"</b><br />
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<b>The Osmonds - </b><b>"Down By the Lazy River"</b></div>
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Written by Alan Osmond and Merrill Osmond * Produced by Alan Osmond and Michael Lloyd * 45: "Down By the Lazy River" / "He's the Light of the World" * LP: <i>Phase III </i>* Label: MGM * Charts: <i>Billboard</i> (Hot 100, #4) UK (#40) * Entered: 1972-01-22 (Hot 100), 1972-03-25 (UK)</div>
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While <i>Crazy Horses </i>or <i>The Plan</i> vie for supremacy among O-Bros listeners, <i>Phase III </i>makes a forceful argument for being their pinnacle. This is because it functions as a fantasy rock and roll concert lineup with no Donny ballads, Little Jimmy intrusions, Merrill on banjo, or cornball banter. It's not a live album, but its cover images and energy encourage you to approach it like one, thereby putting in perspective just how much their variety show approach to concerts (as heard developing on their next album, <i>Osmonds Live</i>) compromised what might have been more of a rock fan's wince-free evening. </div>
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"Down By the Lazy River," written by Alan and Merrill, opens the album and rivals "Yo-Yo" for being one of the era's most joyous pop singles. It spoke well of Alan, Wayne and Merrill's production smarts, as did "Business," "Don't Panic" (with the great "come on in, Merrill" fadeout), and Jay's "My Drum." In my <i>Early 70's Radio </i>book, I referred to that last song as a masturbation metaphor, which I apologize for on one hand, but remind you on the other that pop music is a dirty-minded medium, and its chroniclers can be the worst of the bunch. (Chuck Eddy's "Cactus-doing-Funkadelic" summation of "My Drum" in his <i>Stairway to Hell </i>book should otherwise suffice.) </div>
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The ballad "In the Rest of My Life," with its true-to-life bridge ("everywhere I go I meet a million pretty women all wanting to be loved by me"), is a track by Doug Thaler, who played keyboards with Ronnie James Dio in his pre-Black Sabbath group Elf, and who would later manage Mötley Crüe. (The New York band Wool did a worthwhile <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cryu962drNU" target="_blank">version of the song</a> in 1972.) Rick Hall's production on "Yo-Yo" and "A Taste of Rhythm and Blues" stand side by side as his final productions with the family. The Osmonds would thank him for his services after this and wave goodbye to Muscle Shoals, Alabama.<br />
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The song "He's the Light of the World," written by Kay and Helen Lewis, comes from a 1971 rock opera called <i>Truth of Truths, </i>in the vein of <i>Jesus Christ Superstar. </i>This ambitious double album was headed up by Ray Ruff (who also co-produced the Osmonds' revamped version) and it tackled the Old and New Testaments. It also featured the voice, perhaps too recognizable for the role, of Jim "Mr. Magoo" Backus as God. (Donnie "Mission Bell" Brooks is the guest vocalist on the original "He's the Light of the World.")<br />
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<b>Side A: "Down By the Lazy River"</b></div>
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<b>Side B: "He's the Light of the World"</b><br />
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<b>Donny Osmond - </b><b>"Puppy Love"</b></div>
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Written by Paul Anka * Produced by Don Costa and Mike Curb * 45: "Puppy Love" / "Let My People Go" * LP: <i>Portrait of Donny </i>* Label: MGM/Kolob * Charts: <i>Billboard </i>(Hot 100, #3) UK (#1) * Entered: 1971-03-27 (Hot 100), 1972-06-17 (UK)</div>
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<i>Portrait of Donny</i>, his highest charting LP on <i>Billboard</i> at #6, gave fans of the Osmond family's charmed seventh son nothing less than what they wanted: A gorgeous cover, bonus <a href="https://www.discogs.com/Donny-Osmond-Portrait-Of-Donny/release/1549751#images/23178574" target="_blank">photo inserts</a>, and ballads that yearned, with the gentle musical touch of simpler times, for the attentions of young, romance-minded girls. </div>
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"Puppy Love," the leadoff single, revived Paul Anka's 1960 hit and became a signature song for Donny, expressing his listeners' exact sentiments. The track would anathematize rock fans of the day, who would never understand the heartstring effect the acapella words "someone help me, help me, help me, please" had on the pop idol's people. It peaked at #3, just like Paul Anka's did, which is another little numerological tidbit that reminds us that <i>Billboard</i>'s charts were not self-determining entities, but depended on editors. Along those lines, too, it's interesting that the highly nostalgic "Puppy Love" didn't make the easy listening charts at all.</div>
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At this stage, the team of Don Costa and Mike Curb were a standard presence at all of Donny's recording sessions and would also oversee Jimmy's. Costa was already a legendary music industry name, credited with discovering Paul Anka and producing classics for him such as "Diana," "Put Your Head on My Shoulder," "Lonely Boy" and more (but not "Puppy Love"!). He also did production and arrangement for Frank Sinatra, including <i>Sinatra and Strings </i>and <i>My Way, </i>with its famous title track. Curb and Costa's work with Donny as well as Sammy Davis Jr.'s "The Candy Man," that quintessential, emblematic and most metaphoric of early '70s pop hits, earned them <i>Billboard</i>'s 1973 "producer of the year" honors. </div>
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The "Puppy Love" single's B-side is the only non-romance song from the album, another Lewis Sisters Bible rock song from the <i>Truth of Truths </i>rock opera (the brothers had done "He's the Light of the World" for <i>Phase III</i>), which cast Donny as the Old Testament's Moses, foretelling his future tenure as the star of <i>Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat. </i>The opera's creator Ray Ruff was brought in to co-produce this track the same way he had for the brothers' "He's the Light of the World."<br />
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The other out-of-sync track on <i>Portrait of Donny</i> was Alan, Merrill, and Michael Lloyd's "Love Me," which envisioned him singing for Chicago. The rest of the tracks, for better or worse, all fell into line. The record would be the first to appear on the family's new MGM subsidiary Kolob, with its distinctive hand-full-of-clay logo. The word comes from the Latter-Day Saint book of scripture <i>The Pearl of Great Price, </i>which references Kolob as a star nearest to the "residence of God."</div>
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Originator key: "Puppy Love" (Paul Anka, 1960), "Hey Girl" (Freddie Scott, 1963), "Going Going Gone (To Somebody Else)" (Storm, 1971 - Donny's version may of preceded this, but it was produced the same year by songwriter Larry Weiss), "All I Have to Do Is Dream" (Everly Brothers, 1958), "Hey There Lonely Girl" (Eddie Holman, 1969), "Big Man" (The Four Preps, 1958), and "This Guy's in Love with You" (Herb Alpert, 1968).</div>
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<b>Side A: "Puppy Love"</b></div>
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<b>Side B: "Let My People Go"</b><br />
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<b>Little Jimmy Osmond with the </b><b>Mike Curb Congregation - </b><b>"Long Haired Lover from Liverpool"</b></div>
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Written by Christopher Kingsley * Produced by Mike Curb and Perry Botkin, Jr. * 45: "Long Haired Lover from Liverpool" / "Mother of Mine" * LP: <i>Killer Joe </i>* Label: MGM/Kolob * Charts: <i>Billboard </i>(Hot 100, #38), UK (#1) * Entered: 1972-04-22 (Hot 100); 1972-11-25 (UK)</div>
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<b>Little Jimmy Osmond - </b><b>"Mother of Mine"</b></div>
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Written by Bill Parkinson * Produced by Alan Osmond, Mike Curb and Don Costa * 45: "Long Haired Lover from Liverpool" / "Mother of Mine" * LP: <i>Killer Joe </i>* Label: MGM/Kolob * Charts: <i>Billboard </i>(Hot 100, #101) UK (#1) * Entered: 1972-04-15 (Hot 100)</div>
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Children's voices populated early '70s more than in any other era, as did childhood topics. This had to do with American post-sixties cultural realignment and its reassessments of what "traditional family life" meant, which also helped explain, to some degree, the era's persistent pull of nostalgia. Jimmy Osmond, whose appeal had none of the romantic aspects of older brother Donny, found spotlight time in this new milieu simply by looking and sounding like a little kid. Donny reports that mother Olive had heard the song "Long Haired Lover from Liverpool" on the radio (KMPC, no doubt, if it happened in LA) and thought it would be an ideal song for her youngest boy to record, proving her to have reliable show biz instincts.</div>
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"Long Haired Lover from Liverpool," in fact, had ties to Mike Curb, the man to whom the Osmond family had entrusted so many of their repertoire selections. The Texas songwriter Christopher Kingsley had released the song sometime around 1968 on the small California label Winro, and listed Mike Curb Music Corp. as co-publisher. By 1970, Curb's music business activities had expanded far beyond publishing to label management (at MGM) and recording. This was the year the Mike Curb Congregation, essentially a chorus tailor-made for the cheerful singsong sounds post-sixties pop audiences consented to, had their first hit ("Burning Bridges," #34) as a tie in for the WWII all-star-cast film <i>Kelly's Heroes. </i><br />
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After "Burning Bridges," the Mike Curb Congregation would bubble under with the maddeningly catchy song "Sweet Gingerbread Man" (#108, easy listening #16) from the teen sexploitation film <i>The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart</i>, starring a young Don Johnson. In a year's time, this would be the first of two films Curb participated in that barely escaped an X-rating. The other was Roger Vadim's <i>Pretty Maids All in a Row, </i>for which the Congregation had test-run "Chilly Winds" before his Osmond protégés got the nod. On the B-side of the 1970 "Gingerbread" single was the Congregation's own version of "Long Haired Lover from Liverpool," which may well have been the version Mrs. Osmond had heard on the radio. (For completeness' sake: Mike Curb would co-produce and sing on Sammy Davis Jr.'s 1972 "Candy Man" single, which was written by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley. Newley had recently starred in the film <i>Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? </i>(1969), which did not escape an X-rating.) </div>
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Released in March 1972 and barely reaching the US Top 40, Jimmy's rendition of "Long Haired Lover from Liverpool" found its way later in the year to UK radio, which went bonkers for it. Sounding as it did like an old Drury Hill music hall standard, it sat atop the singles chart for five weeks and gained the distinction of being the year's Christmas #1 (that's a sentimental thing over there). It also gave Jimmy the crown of youngest singer (age 9) to ever top the British singles chart. Billed to "Little Jimmy Osmond featuring the Mike Curb Congregation," the record's success ensured a lifetime spot for both Jimmy and "Long Haired Lover from Liverpool" in the live Osmond family cabaret. </div>
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Side B of the record actually preceded "Long Haired Lover" on the US charts. It was a maudlin rendering, with double-tracked voice, of a song called "Mother of Mine," and it certainly nabbed the most eager airplay in anticipation of Mother's Day. The differences in the two songs, in any case, gave the product an aura of repentance, with randiness on one side and reverence on the other. To fully understand the appeal of "Mother of Mine," you'll need to hear it as sung by Scottish 12-year-old "Wee" Neil Reed, whose <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fc4wewtsxQ">1971 performance of it</a> on the TV talent show <i>Opportunity Knocks </i>is a British cultural touchstone. Reid happens to be the youngest singer to ever top the UK album charts.<br />
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<i>Killer Joe </i>originator key: "Killer Joe" (The Rocky Fellers, 1963), "My Girl" (The Temptations, 1964), "(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear" (Elvis Presley, 1957), "Long Haired Lover from Liverpool" (Christopher Kingsley, 1968), "Tweedlee Dee" (LaVern Baker, 1954), "Mother of Mine" (Neil Reed, 1971), "Rubber Ball" (Bobby Vee, 1960).</div>
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<b>Side A: "Long Haired Lover from Liverpool"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "Mother of Mine"</b><br />
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<b>Donny Osmond - </b><b>"Too Young"</b></div>
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Written by Sid Lippmann and Sylvia Dee * Produced by Mike Curb and Don Costa * 45: "Too Young" / "Love Me" * LP: <i>Too Young </i>* Label: MGM/Kolob * Charts: <i>Billboard </i>(Hot 100, #13) (easy listening, #23) UK (#5) * Entered: 1972-06-10 (Hot 100), 1972-06-24 (easy listening), 1972-09-16 (UK)</div>
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The production team of Mike Curb and Don Costa knew what Donny Osmond's audience needed from him, and they saw that those needs got met. Song selections tilted toward the familiar regions of the 1950s and early 1960s (8 out of 10 on this one), which early 1970s ears had a predilection for. Arrangements kept just shy of the melodrama line and Donny never sounded insincere. His audiences were his for life, and cynical assessments of him as a commercial object tend not to take his inherent star power and ability to deliver the goods into account.</div>
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"Too Young" had been a hit for Nat King Cole in 1951 and it found an apropos second life in the Donny Osmond repertoire. Side B of the single contained the track "Love Me," from <i>Portrait of Donny, </i>which still sounded like an errant venture into horn rock (blood, sweat, tears and sugar).<br />
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<i>Too Young </i>originator key: "Donna" (Ritchie Valens, 1958), "Too Young" (Nat King Cole, 1951), "Pretty Blue Eyes" (Steve Lawrence, 1959), "Teenager in Love" (Dion and the Belmonts, 1959), "Lonely Boy" (Paul Anka, 1958), "Why" (Frankie Avalon, 1958), "Run to Him" (Bobby Vee, 1961), "Take Good Care of My Baby" (Bobby Vee, 1961).</div>
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<b>Side A: "Too Young"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "Love Me"</b><br />
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<b>The Osmonds - </b><b>"Hold Her Tight"</b></div>
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Written by Alan Osmond, Merrill Osmond, and Wayne Osmond * Produced by Alan Osmond and Michael Lloyd * 45: "Hold Her Tight" / "Love Is" * LP: <i>Crazy Horses </i>* Label: MGM/Kolob * Charts: <i>Billboard </i>(Hot 100, #14) * Entered: 1972-07-01</div>
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According to Jay Osmond in his memoir <i>Stages</i> (2013), Led Zeppelin dropped in on the Osmond family at a London date during the height of Osmondmania. A "Stairway to Heaven" jam of some sort, according to Jay, took place. No footage apparently survives, nor does any clarification of whether it was a mid-concert happening or a backstage scenario. But <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Spsil65EaVo" target="_blank">a promo clip</a> of the Osmonds doing "Hold Her Tight" helps to demonstrate the brothers' admiration for Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song," with its memorable tribal drum rhythms-on-guitars intro.<br />
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"Hold Her Tight" was refreshingly heavy, with rumbling amps, bruising drums by Jay, and rasping caterwauls by Merrill. Horn arranger Jim Horn, too, had been given carte blanche. "Hold her like a baby," they wailed alongside fuzz and wah wah lead lines. The single came out in July and promised much loudness for the forthcoming <i>Crazy Horses </i>album in September. Co-producer Michael Lloyd, formerly of the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, worked on <i>Phase III </i>and previous Donny sessions, and would help Alan shape the big sounds on the upcoming album. </div>
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Alan, Wayne and Merrill's conversely un-noisy "Love Is" B-side, which was also part of the <i>Phase III </i>track list, builds on the type of sentiments making the cultural rounds thanks to the <i>Love Story </i>movie and a popular comic strip featuring two nude cherubs by Kim Casali. The brothers gave all of this a generous harps-and-oboes musical backdrop. </div>
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<b>Side A: "Hold Her Tight"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "Love Is"</b><br />
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<b>Donny Osmond - </b><b>"Why"</b></div>
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Written by Peter De Angelis and Robert P. Marcucci * Produced by Mike Curb and Don Costa * 45: "Why" / "Lonely Boy" LP: <i>Too Young</i> * Label: MGM/Kolob * Charts: <i>Billboard</i> (Hot 100, #13) (easy listening, #19) UK (#3) * Entered: 1972-08-26 (Hot 100), 1972-09-23 (easy listening), 1972-09-11 (UK)</div>
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<b>Donny Osmond - </b><b>"Lonely Boy"</b></div>
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Written by Paul Anka * Produced by Mike Curb and Don Costa * 45: "Why" / "Lonely Boy" * Label: MGM/Kolob * LP: <i>Too Young * </i>Charts: <i>Billboard </i>(Hot 100, #13) * Entered: 1972-09-16</div>
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"Why" was a chart-topper with an eminently hummable melody for teen idol Frankie Avalon in 1959, and it made for perfectly marketable material circa 1972. Shortly after release it was clear that the A side's easy going nature had a rival in the dynamic and more urgent B side, a version of Paul Anka's "Lonely Boy," which was also a chart-topper from 1959. Three weeks after it first entered the Hot 100, then, <i>Billboard </i>started treating the record as a double A side, finally peaking at #13. With this one, co-producer Don Costa was given the opportunity to produce two hit versions of the same song, having overseen Anka's original "Lonely Boy."</div>
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<b>Side A: "Why"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "Lonely Boy"</b><br />
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<b>Steve and Eydie Featuring the Osmonds - </b><b>"We Can Make It Together"</b></div>
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Written by Alan Osmond, Merrill Osmond and Wayne Osmond * Produced by Don Costa and Mike Curb * 45: "We Can Make It Together" / "E Fini" * LP: <i>The World of Steve and Eydie * </i>Label: MGM * Charts: <i>Billboard </i>(Hot 100, #68) (easy listening, #7) * Entered: 1972-09-16 (Hot 100), 1972-08-26 (easy listening)<br />
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Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme married in 1957, then carried on making records and show appearances as solo artists and as a duet. In all incarnations, they scored their biggest hits in the early '60s: Steve with the future Donny staple "Go Away Little Girl" (#1, 1962), Eydie with "Blame It on the Bossa Nova" (#7, 1963), and as a duet with "I Want to Stay" (#28, 1963; like "Go Away Little Girl," this was another Goffin-King track).<br />
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Throughout the rest of the '60s and into the '70s they kept a steady presence on both the easy listening charts and variety show TV. Eydie had a special knack with foreign language material, being able to maintain an aura of imprecise ethnicity. (Her father was Italian, her mother was Turkish, and they were both Sephardic Jews.) As signees to Mike Curb's MGM in the early '70s, they demonstrated this versatility on the couple's <i>The World of Steve and Eydie, </i>on which seven of its ten tracks feature a different foreign language (Italian, French, Spanish, Hebrew, Portuguese, Japanese, and German). Decidedly less exotic than Gorme, Jimmy Osmond can be commended for following a similar course with his own future multilingual career.<br />
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Among the three English-only offerings, the Osmond Brothers deserve kudos for composing and participating on "We Can Make It Together," the album's radio single and most contemporary-sounding one of the bunch. It showcases Alan, Wayne, and Merrill nearing the top of their songwriting game. This would be Steve and Eydie's last Hot 100 hit (#68, easy listening #7). The B-side, the Italian "E Fini," is a Mike Curb and Don Zarilli original not to be confused with Eydie's 1953 hit "Fini" (where she sings "we're fini! we're fini!" and which should have been covered by Nancy Sinatra.)</div>
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<b>Side A: "We Can Make It Together"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "E Fini" </b><br />
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<b>The Osmonds - </b><b>"Crazy Horses"</b></div>
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Written by Alan Osmond, Merrill Osmond, and Wayne Osmond * Produced by Alan Osmond and Michael Lloyd * 45: "Crazy Horses" / "That's My Girl" * Label: MGM/Kolob * Charts: <i>Billboard </i>(Hot 100, #7) UK (#2) * Entered: 1972-10-21 (Hot 100), 1972-11-07 (UK)</div>
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The Osmonds' <i>Crazy Horses</i> was their heaviest album and least controversial to rock audiences. The pre-teen voice contributions by Donny at this point were a thing of the past while the doctrinizings of <i>The Plan </i>were yet to make themselves manifest. It also had their best album cover, which Chuck Eddy, in his <i>Stairway to Hell: The 500 Best Heavy Metal Albums in the Universe </i>(1991) described as "drug-crazed <i>Electric Company </i>rejects." Yes, the graphics did resemble the hip PBS show for preteens (which debuted in 1971) and also elements of the <i>Yellow Submarine </i>film (the Rankin/Bass <i>Osmonds </i>cartoon, incidentally, debuted the same month as <i>Crazy Horses</i>). Eddy ranks the album at #66.6 and (as translated and paraphrased from his papyrus's advanced rockpressperanto) expresses disbelief that a Utah Mormon family could rock so convincingly.<br />
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"Crazy Horses" was their wildest-sounding track to date (and, arguably, ever), with the kind of militant multi-guitar charge that sounded more like future Judas Priest than Jimmy Page. Jay's lead vocals and jungle drums betray a certain venting effect, a possible sense of redirected aggression that gives the record power. Its chart stampede peaked at #7 in the US and #2 in the UK, with its "cra-zy hor-ses" chant and simulated whinnies becoming instant soundbites.<br />
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The song joined the chorus of early '70s pop songs that expressed concern for the ecology. Back when Republicans pretended, at least, to care for such things, the Nixon Administration created the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970, the same year that Earth Day became an official annual happening. "There's a message floating in the air, crazy horses riding everywhere," the Osmonds sang of these portentous, apocalyptic Book of Revelation figures. "There they go, what a show, smoking up the sky... If they keep on moving then it's all our fault." It was a strange time in which environmentally-conscious pop stars could also play a pro-GOP fundraiser the way they would do in October 1972. (MGM's Mike Curb was a budding right wing politico, and the Osmonds, with their upbringing in patriarchal authority, were the type of Utah Mormons who rooted for Republicanism as incontrovertibly as Bostonians rooted for the Red Sox.)<br />
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Co-produced by Alan Osmond and rock veteran Michael Lloyd, the <i>Crazy Horses </i>album demonstrates the brothers' proclivity for the Beatle brand of songcraft, the valuation of melody and flavor varieties that fueled the nascent power pop movement (Raspberries, Hudson Brothers, etc.). The album's rockers ("Utah," "Hold Her Tight," "Crazy Horses," "Hey Mr. Taxi," the Black Sabbath-like "Life Is Hard Enough Without Goodbyes"), its ballads ("Julie," "What Could It Be," "And You Love Me," and Alan's "Crazy Horses" B-side "That's My Girl"), and wild cards ("Girl," "We All Fall Down," and "The Big Finish") all cohere, nonetheless, in the language of a single rock band, a sense of unity that we'd only hear again on <i>The Plan. </i>One got the sense while listening that these time-strapped brothers somehow had all the time in the world, or at least permission, to experiment and grow within their own studio walls. It's clear that the post-<i>Plan </i>Osmonds went lacking in such time, freedom, or something else.<br />
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Always adored in the United Kingdom (the land of their family roots) more than anywhere else, the Osmonds would see a version of "Crazy Horses," remixed by the aptly-named British electronic group Utah Saints, chart at #50 over there in 1995, then resurface at #34 in 1999, thanks to its inclusion in a Virgin Atlantic Airlines ad campaign. </div>
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<b>Side A: "Crazy Horses"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "That's My Girl"</b><br />
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<b>Little Jimmy Osmond - </b><b>"Tweedlee Dee"</b></div>
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Written by Winfield Scott * Produced by Mike Curb and Don Costa * 45: "Tweedlee Dee" / "Mama'd Know What to Do" * LP: <i>Killer Joe</i> * Label: MGM/Kolob * Charts: <i>Billboard </i>(Hot 100, #59) UK (#4) * Entered: 1973-01-13 (Hot 100); 1973-03-31 (UK)</div>
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Little Jimmy Osmond's <i>Killer Joe</i> album took its title from a sassy 1963 hit by a young Filipino quartet called the Rocky Fellers. Having been taken under the wing of Scepter Records, their disc had a New York street sound and subject, which was influential dance instructor "Killer Joe" Piro. Fluteness and cuteness dominate Jimmy's version, and the album generally follows suit. Five of the ten songs update well-known 50s/60s tunes, three are about Mom (2) and Dad (1), with the other two being his UK smash "Long Haired Lover from Liverpool" and a supposition that "Little Girls Are Fun." </div>
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His followup single to "Liverpool" was a version of LaVern Baker's classic 1954 hit "Tweedlee Dee," written by Winfield Scott (a frequent collaborator with Otis Blackwell). Scott must have liked the song "Brazil," the 1939 composition from the eponymous South American country that Americans began humming after it appeared in the 1942 Disney film <i>Saludos Amigos. </i>The bouncy rhythms, silly words, and gruff, commanding delivery by Baker made for an irresistible candidate for airplay. (Texas radio personality Cactus Pryor did <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLVP_6bFZgo" target="_blank">a parody in 1955</a>.) </div>
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Jimmy's "Tweedlee Dee" underperformed in the US at #59, but in Osmond-crazy England it bobbled up to #4. Flutes led the charge on this one too, with Mike Curb's Congregation on background chaperone duty while young Osmond Number Nine hammed it up with memorable growls. Its aural congeniality shimmered with the same cinematic surrealism as "The Candy Man." As with the previous single, a "mother" song does penance on side B for the crazy horseplay on side A. Written by Don Costa associate Phil Zeller, its R&B-vibe title mismatches its Italian Festival ballad sound and "Fly Me to the Moon" chord changes. After this, Jimmy's US chart days were done, but he'd reach the UK charts twice more in '74.<br />
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<b>Side A: "Tweedlee Dee"</b></div>
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<b>Side B: "Mama'd Know What to Do"</b><br />
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<b>Donny Osmond - </b><b>"The Twelfth of Never"</b></div>
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Written by Jerry Livingston and Paul Francis Webster * Produced by Mike Curb and Don Costa * 45: "The Twelfth of Never" / "Life Is Just What You Make It" * LP: <i>Alone Together </i>* Label: MGM/Kolob * Charts: <i>Billboard </i>(Hot 100, #8) (easy listening, #7) UK (#1) * Entered: 1973-03-03 (Hot 100), 1973-03-17 (easy listening), 1973-03-10 (UK)</div>
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By March 1973, 15-year-old Donny's voice change was a done deal, and he weathered the changes smoothly, professional that he was. Keys were adjusted accordingly for the <i>Alone Together </i>album, which had the highest ratio yet of original material. Only three of its ten songs had been heard elsewhere first, with five of them written by combinations of Alan, Wayne and Merrill, who were on a creative roll between '72 and '74. The leadoff single, though, was a version of Johnny Mathis's 1957 Top Ten ballad "The Twelfth of Never," the Great American Songbook-level standard by Jerry Livingston and Paul Francis Webster.<br />
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Side B contained a bouncy Alan and Merrill cut, produced by Alan, that also served as a worthy album opener. Donny would borrow the title for his 1999 autobiography. It's a clear standout, next to Alan's Nilsson-esque "It's Hard to Say Goodbye."<br />
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<b>Side A: "The Twelfth of Never" </b><br />
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<b>Side B: "Life Is Just What You Make It"</b><br />
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<b>The Osmonds - </b><b>"Goin' Home"</b></div>
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Written by Alan Osmond, Merrill Osmond, and Wayne Osmond * Produced by Alan Osmond * 45: "Goin' Home" / "Are You Up There?" * LP: <i>The Plan </i>* Label: MGM/Kolob * Charts: <i>Billboard </i>(Hot 100, #36), UK (#4)* Entered: 1973-06-16 (Hot 100), 1973-07-14 (UK)<br />
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In the God-rock era of "Spirit in the Sky," <i>Jesus Christ Superstar, "</i>My Sweet Lord" and Larry Norman, it was inevitable that the maturing pop idol Osmonds would get in the game. Their membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, with its tight moral standards, was a persistent enough press topic that the brothers felt it time to roll out a concept album touching upon their core beliefs. They had also developed enough skill and confidence in their own song- and studiocraft to do such a project justice. Alan's original <i>Plan </i>album plan burned up in a Memphis hotel fire in July 1972 (along with their full array of jumpsuits), which gave the brothers' redraft effort an added sense of must-do.<br />
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The Osmond family's Mormon roots ran deep. The grandfather of Osmond patriarch George Osmond, also named George, converted to the religion as one of the church's earliest proselytes in England. He then migrated to the US, with no uncertain personal sacrifice, and involved himself for the rest of his life in church leadership. Such blood memory has a powerful effect on Mormon families and the Osmonds were no exception. That the brothers chose the summer of '73 to unveil an album that would pay tribute to their fathers' faith was fortuitous in that they were at their most adept, most confident, and least distracted by new marriage and family scenarios that would characterize their immediate future.<br />
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Considering tendencies in the context of their entire catalog, <i>The Plan </i>was a miracle of self-assured understatement. The cover, against a plain white backdrop, depicted their visages in pencil-drawn elegance, minus any Bill Belew costumes. The gatefold included an overleaf with lyrics on one side and, on the other, a montage of moody illustrations depicting the stages of a family-centered life. At the top right appeared the phrase "As man is, God once was<i style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "open sans", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">—</i>as God is, man may become," which were familiar words to Latter-Day Saints written by church president Lorenzo Snow (d. 1901) as a paraphrase of doctrines taught by church founder Joseph Smith. The back cover showed the clay-in-hand logo of their Kolob subsidiary label, confirming its symbolic import.<br />
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Being in the spotlight as they were, the Osmonds had a firm clay-in-hand grasp on the basic message of their religion, which was what Mormons knew as the "plan of salvation." This was the process of "going home"<i style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "open sans", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">—</i>living life on earth in a way that gives us humans knowledge and credentials to progress and get back to our heavenly, god-like origins. It was, in essence, the introductory message given by LDS missionaries, with explorations of what constituted proper "knowledge" to come later. To followers of any religious creed, the Osmonds' message was entirely palatable and not unrecognizable.<br />
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Considering their exposure to the praise-God musical pageantry of rock operas like Ray Ruff's <i>Truth of Truths, </i>from which the family covered two tracks ("He's the Light of the World" and "Let My People Go," co-produced by Ruff himself), the Osmonds might have mimicked such stagey musical idioms. Instead, they pursued their own studio-bound vision of a rock concept album. It starts with the "War in Heaven," which fades in with mystical twinkles and the words of Jesus ("let me take care of you and keep an eye on you") and Satan ("gonna tame you, make you mind"), then progresses into the pensive "Before the Beginning," which features that most Mormon of all sounds: the crying of a baby. These openers reflect the twist on John Milton's depiction of the two key figures in <i>Paradise Lost</i> that's more in line with the Book of Moses from <i>The Pearl of Great Price</i> (the same volume that references Kolob), wherein Satan's rebelliousness is clarified as a power-hungry hostility toward free agency.<br />
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After this, <i>The Plan </i>is all about the importance of choosing correctly. Although we will struggle with confusion (as heard in the heavy "Traffic in My Mind," the central soliloquy "Are You Up There," and in "One Way Ticket to Anywhere"), and suffer consequences (the disturbing "Mr. Kite" tribute "Movie Man," "Mirror Mirror," and the apocalyptic "The Last Days," wherein the US Constitution is given implication as a scriptural factor), we will, happily, also maintain the ability to get access to God ("Let Me In", "It's Alright," and "Darlin'"). For this last category, they treated God in the lyrical form of a romantic interest, but so did St. John of the Cross and Kabir.<br />
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The music traveled, as concept albums will do, through a variety of styles, from ballads to Beatle quotes and quirks to big heavy rock. (They'd never, in fact, rock so hard again after "The Last Days," except for on <i>Brainstorm's </i>"Gotta Get Love" (1976).) Segues kept the journey notion in mind, with the most memorable being a boldly unfashionable Eagles refutation: "Don't take it too easy." The album's first single was also its closer, a track that's as hopeful and sugary as the best bubblegum from both Super K and Circle K. But as it fades out, the Osmonds leave us with a replay of that most sobering of segues: Don't take it too easy. None of the era's jean patches or bumper stickers ever bore those words.<br />
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Critical weigh-ins were impressed, as they should have been with an album of such tonal consistency. The <i>New Musical Express </i>in the UK floated it as the "Osmonds' <i>Sgt. Pepper</i>" and <i>Billboard </i>praised it as a "spectacular production" with "songs questioning and analyzing one's life" that were strengthened by "sterling sweetening." The hip American rock press mostly ignored it. <i>Zoo World'</i>s Toby Mamis, though, a <i>Phase III-</i>ist who didn't like <i>The Plan </i>or its "propagandistic" nature<i> </i>(pointing to <i>Live </i>as evidence that their shows<i style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "open sans", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">—</i>their bread and butter<i style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "open sans", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">—</i>were "among the best in rock 'n' roll history"), declared they had nonetheless "earned their stripes" and deserved critical leeway to experiment and grow. Some LDS church authorities revealed discomfort, with one of them, as Michael Hicks tells us in <i>Mormonism and Music </i>(1989), summing up the album as "celestial truths in terrestrial garb." Donny, whose participation in it is surprisingly hard to discern, writes that as far as his family is concerned, <i>The Plan </i>was the "project that still means the most to all of us."<br />
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Donny also admits that they likely "miscalculated" their audience's readiness for a "serious" album from them "on any subject." It was, indeed, their only album during the Osmondmania years not to earn a gold record, and the <i>Billboard </i>singles chart waved the red flag on both "Goin' Home" and "Let Me In" at #36, even though they both went Top 5 in the UK.<br />
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Side B of the "Goin' Home" single contained "Are You Up There?" which, as the album's midpoint, is possibly its keynote moment. The brothers would turn the song into a poignant closer for their live shows as a medley with "I Believe" (see Donny's "When I Fall in Love" below), with all five of them singing Merrill's lead line together. Although a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2AzQ2JbvE0" target="_blank">promo clip of this recording</a>, as done in the mid-70s, exists, an official release of the recording apparently does not.<br />
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<b>Side A: "Goin' Home"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "Are You Up There?"</b><br />
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<b>Donny Osmond - </b><b>"Young Love"</b></div>
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Written by Carole Joyner and Ric Cartey * Produced by Mike Curb and Don Costa * 45: "Young Love" / "A Million to One" * LP: <i>Alone Together </i>* Label: MGM/Kolob * Charts: <i>Billboard </i>(Hot 100, #25) (easy listening, #26) * Entered: 1973-07-14 (Hot 100), 1973-07-21 (easy listening), 1973-08-18 (UK)</div>
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<b>Donny Osmond - </b><b>"A Million to One"</b></div>
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Written by Phil Medley * Produced by Mike Curb and Don Costa * 45: "Young Love" / "A Million to One" * LP: <i>A Time for Us </i>* Label: MGM/Kolob * Charts: <i>Billboard </i>(Hot 100, #23) * Entered: 1973-07-21<br />
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"Young Love" was first recorded by co-writer Ric Cartey with his group the Jiva-Tones in 1956. Later that year Sonny James released a version that would become a number one country hit, soon to be superseded by teen idol Tab Hunter, who took it to number one on the pop charts as his first charting single. It was a happy-go-lucky, hooky song that was hard to go wrong with, and quite a few other versions came out before Donny, who had included it on his <i>Alone Together </i>album, turned it into a 1973 Top 40 hit. (The Crew-Cuts raced with Hunter in early '57 but conked out at #17. Lesley Gore, Connie Smith, and Nat Stuckey, to name a few, also did versions later on.) Sonny James, incidentally, was working with Marie Osmond, at that moment, on her forthcoming debut album.<br />
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Radio interest in the B-side turned the "Young Love" record into a double A-side. "A Million to One" had been a piano-triplet sock-hop hit for Jimmy Charles and the Revelletts that reached #5 in 1960, and for the nostalgic American public, who would soon be graced in the late summer by the <i>American Graffiti </i>film<i>, </i>the song had a welcome slot on radio playlists. <i>Billboard </i>had gone back to listing double-A sides separately at that point, so the B-side outpaced "Young Love" by two notches.<br />
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<b>Side A: "Young Love"</b></div>
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<b>Side B: "A Million to One"</b><br />
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<b>The Osmonds - </b><b>"Let Me In"</b></div>
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Written by Alan Osmond, Merrill Osmond, and Wayne Osmond * Produced by Alan Osmond * 45: "Let Me In" / "One Way Ticket to Anywhere" * LP: <i>The Plan </i>* Label: MGM/Kolob * Charts: <i>Billboard </i>(Hot 100, #36),(easy listening, #4), UK (#2) * Entered: 1973-09-08 (Hot 100), 1973-09-15 (easy listening), 1973-10-27 (UK)<br />
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The Osmond brothers' "Let Me In" served as both a romantic radio ballad and a religious devotional that fit the conceptual arc of the <i>Plan </i>album. Its prominent horn parts likely served as audio signifiers to many an LDS listener, given to visual representations of angels<i style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "open sans", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">—</i>such as the one on the spire of the Salt Lake City temple<i style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "open sans", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">—</i>as figures bearing fanfare trumpets. Although the track barely cracked the US Top 40, easy listening stations ate it up as did British radio. "One Way Ticket to Anywhere," on side B, featured a lead vocal by drummer Jay and framed the album's free agency angle in refreshingly joyous terms. It could easily have flown as an A side.<br />
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<i>The Plan </i>would mark the end of a distinct era for the Osmonds. Many factors in their professional world would be changing and putting the squeeze, especially, on the brother act's creative pursuits. </div>
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<b>Side A: "Let Me In"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "One Way Ticket to Anywhere"</b><br />
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<b>Marie Osmond - </b><b>"Paper Roses"</b></div>
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Written by Fred Speilman and Janice Torre * Produced by Sonny James * 45: "Paper Roses" / "Least of All You" * Label: MGM/Kolob * Charts: <i>Billboard </i>(Hot 100, #5) (Country, #1) (easy listening, #1) (UK, #2) * Entered: 1973-09-15 (Hot 100 and easy listening) 1973-09-29 (country) 1973-11-17 (UK)</div>
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Marie Osmond, the sole sister of eight brothers, launched her recording career last of all, at age fourteen. Her taste for country made the marketing strategy in that direction an easy decision. Sonny James, who had scored sixteen straight country number ones as an artist between 1967 and 1971, stepped forward as her debut album's producer and oversaw her entry into the country arena.<br />
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The album, with a cover image of her looking unperturbed<i style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "open sans", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">—</i> even unimpressed, as one might have expected the young sister of a brother circus to appear<i style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "open sans", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">—</i>contained five out of ten songs previously done by James himself. "Paper Roses," the biggest hit song for Anita Bryant (#5 in 1960), was chosen as Marie's lead off single. Although her vocal performance on the track can't be described as dynamic, it became her signature song, a smash hit at #5 on the pop charts that also gave her the distinction as the youngest female singer to debut at #1 on the country charts. (It also helped her snag two Grammys, for Best New Artist and Best Country Vocal Performance, Female.) After this, Marie not only assured herself a spot in the family's ever-expanding act, but also launched herself, unintimidated, into a lifetime in the limelight.<br />
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Side B of the single, "Least of All You," was a non-charting song co-written, and previously recorded in 1964, by producer Sonny James, joining Rick Hall as another benevolent Alabaman in the Osmond family saga.<br />
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<b>Side A: "Paper Roses"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "Least of All You"</b><br />
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<b>Donny Osmond - </b><b>"When I Fall in Love"</b></div>
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Written by Edward Heyman and Victor Young * Produced by Mike Curb and Don Costa * Arranged by Don Costa * 45: "Are You Lonesome Tonight" / "When I Fall in Love" * LP: <i>A Time for Us </i>* Label: MGM/Kolob * Charts: <i>Billboard </i>(Hot 100, #55) (easy listening, #31) UK (#4) * Entered: 1973-11-24 (Hot 100) 1972-12-08 (easy listening) 1973-11-10 (UK) </div>
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<b>Donny Osmond - </b><b>"Are You Lonesome Tonight"</b></div>
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Written by Lou Handman and Roy Turk * Produced by Mike Curb and Don Costa * Arranged by Don Costa * 45: "Are You Lonesome Tonight" / "When I Fall in Love" * LP: <i>A Time for Us </i>* Label: MGM/Kolob * Charts: <i>Billboard </i>(Hot 100, #14) (easy listening, #31) * Entered: 1973-11-24 (Hot 100) 1973-12-08 (easy listening)</div>
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Because the Donny Osmond album factory abided very little downtime, it manufactured a sixth album for his hungry audience by November 1973. It presented him in a field of daisies that were lovely and numerous, but nowhere near as numerous as those who loved him worldwide. "A Million to One" had already taken flight on the radio during the summer (as the "Young Love" B-side), so up next was another double-sided hit. Side A contained his iteration<i style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "open sans", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">—</i> with full middle recitation<i style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "open sans", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">—</i> of the Elvis classic "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" (which actually goes back to the crackly shellac days of 1926). The lower-charting tagalong B-side was "When I Fall in Love," which dated back to 1952 and had been done by numerous artists, including fellow LDS chart makers the Lettermen in 1961. (On the easy listening charts and in the UK, however, "When I Fall in Love" was treated as the A-side.)<br />
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Strangely, no Osmond brothers contributed a song to <i>A Time for Us, </i>which was a strict ballads-only affair. Don Costa's easy listening arrangements indicated zero concern for pop radio, and it would be his lowest-as-yet album charter at #58 (a 32-notch drop from <i>Alone Together</i>). Only one song, the Costa-Gloria Caldwell co-write "A Boy Is Waiting" appeared here as a first timer.<br />
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Here's a quick origin rundown of the others: "A Time for Us" (young Romeo sings the <i>Romeo and Juliet </i>theme with revamped lyrics made famous by Johnny Mathis and family mentor Andy Williams); "Hawaiian Wedding Song" (an old 1926 piece made famous as a 1958 hit by Williams, and also recorded by family friend Elvis); "I Believe" (a 1953 Frankie Laine Korean War hit usually done by the brothers act as a medley with "Are You Up There?" and likely an inspiration for the song in the <i>Book of Mormon </i>musical); <i>"</i>Guess Who" (Jesse Belvin, 1959); "Young and in Love" (Dick and Dee Dee, 1963); and "Unchained Melody" (a 1952 movie theme for <i>Unchained, </i>then<i> </i>recorded by everyone but most closely associated with the 1965 Righteous Brothers). </div>
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<b>Side A: "Are You Lonesome Tonight"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "When I Fall in Love"</b><br />
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<b>Jimmy Osmond - </b><b>"I'm Gonna Knock on Your Door"</b></div>
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Written by Aaron Schroder and Sid Wayne * Produced by Mike Curb and Don Costa * Arranged by Don Costa * 45: "I'm Gonna Knock on Your Door" / "Give Me a Good Ole Mammy Song" * LP: <i>Little Arrows </i>* Label: MGM/Kolob * Charts: UK (#11) * Entered: 1974-03-23<br />
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Although a new Jimmy Osmond album wouldn't turn up until 1975, two singles during 1974 satisfied his fans, the majority of which were over in England. "I'm Gonna Knock on Your Door" made sense as a cover choice since it had been a 1961 hit (#12) for 14-year-old Eddie Hodges (of the <i>Adventures of Huckleberry Finn </i>movie and <i>The Music Man, </i>for which he was a soundtrack LP cast member). The Isley Brothers had introduced the song in 1959, and both of those earlier versions relied on the noisemaking possibilities of door-knocking and bell-ringing. Curiously, Jimmy's record ignored such novelties, letting the Wurlitzer piano see him through. A non-charter in the US, it performed respectably in the UK at #11.<br />
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According to the tradition of his previous two singles, Jimmy devoted side B to Mother, with the "Mammy" title toying uncomfortably with Al Jolson blackface territory. But that word and the Vaudevillian sound is as close as it ever got. Pop culture's hunger for nostalgia had been stretching out to the pre-1950s, with music in films such as <i>Paper Moon </i>and <i>The Sting </i>(both 1973) catching the public's ear. Even before their TV variety show took off, Tony Orlando and Dawn relied heavily on the hat-and-cane vibes of yesteryear, and "Give Me a Good Old Mammy Song" seemed to have the <i>New Ragtime Follies </i>trio's names all over it. It literally did, actually, as part of the tracklist on their 1974 <i>Prime Time </i>album<i>. </i>The song<i> </i>came from the songwriting imaginations of Irwin Levine and L. Russell Brown, who'd also conjured up the American schlager offerings "Knock Three Times" (another noisy knock-knock song) and "Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Ole Oak Tree." </div>
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<b>Side A: "I'm Gonna Knock on Your Door"</b><br />
<embed height="35" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RkxJcgSiMdI?" type="text/html"></embed><br />
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<b>Side B: "Give Me a Good Old Mammy Song"</b><br />
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<b>Donny and Marie Osmond - </b><b>"I'm Leaving It All Up to You"</b></div>
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Written by Dewey Terry, Jr. and Don Harris * Produced by Mike Curb * 45: "I'm Leaving It (All) Up to You" / "The Umbrella Song" * LP: <i>I'm Leaving It All Up to You * </i>Label: MGM/Kolob * Charts: <i>Billboard </i>(Hot 100, #7) (easy listening, #1) (country, #17), UK (#2) * Entered: 1974-07-06 (Hot 100), 1974-08-31 (country) 1974-07-24 (easy listening), 1974-08-03 (UK)</div>
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Before <i>Donny and Marie</i>: The ABC-TV Variety Show, there was Donny and Marie: The Brother-Sister Recording Act. With only so much time reserved to enjoy the success of her "Paper Roses," Marie found herself back in the studio to give a duet with Donny a try, wherein Marie could hit those high parts that Donny once managed. The well-blended sound and appealing visual presentation of the two heartthrob siblings proved impossible not to pursue. The experiment resulted in handsome record sales and a crossover radio bonanza involving pop, easy listening, and country.</div>
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Their leadoff single, which would be their biggest as a duo, had been a 1963 number one with a distinctive Louisiana vibe: "I'm Leaving It Up to You" by Dale (Houston) and Grace (Broussard). Those two were not a brother-sister act, but a professional one that parted ways in 1965. Donny and Marie's version of the song would sensibly add "all" to the title (sometimes in parentheses<span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "open sans" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">)</span> to the version that would justify their forthcoming advance as an American '70s entertainment institution, one that would overshadow all previous Osmond projects.<br />
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As the television fixtures they would become in 1975, Donny and Marie would have the unique duty of delivering romance-heavy material, often looking deeply into each other's eyes, while viewers had the unique duty of remembering they were actually just brother and sister. Were there any brother and sister acts as dominant as these two? Nino Tempo and April Stevens (who had done an early '60s version of "Deep Purple") came close, but nowhere near.</div>
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Side B contained "The Umbrella Song," a ballad by Michael Lloyd, frequent co-producer of previous Osmond projects, about economically mismatched lovers, the same topic on Donny and Marie's "Morning Side of the Mountain." As a member of the short lived studio rock band The Smoke, Lloyd had also done a song called "Umbrella," but it wasn't the same one. Four songs on the <i>I'm Leaving It All Up to You </i>album were first-timers: Mike Curb's "Take Me Back Again" and "A Day Late and a Dollar Short" (co-written by Mack David and sounding like something Jim Reeves could have done), "Everything Good Reminds Me of You" (by Harley Hatcher, who had scored a 1968 film called <i>Satan's Sadists </i>starring Russ Tamblyn, who'd grown up LDS), and "The Umbrella Song" (see above). No Osmond brother compositions made an appearance.</div>
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The rest originated as follows: "Gone" (Ferlin Husky, a 1957 #1; also a #24 single by Joey Heatherton in 1972); "Morning Side of the Mountain" (Tommy Edwards with two charting versions in 1951 and 1957 and also Merv Griffin with a 1951 non-charter); "True Love" (a Cole Porter song introduced by Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly in <i>High Society </i>(1956)); "It Takes Two" (Marvin Gaye and Kim Weston, 1966); and "Let It Be Me" (Gilbert Bécaud in 1955 as "Je t'appartiens," later popularized by the Everly Brothers in English in 1959 (#7), Betty Everett and Jerry Butler in 1964 (#4), and many others.)</div>
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<b>Side A: "I'm Leaving It All Up to You"</b><br />
<embed height="35" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vOX8jj3TbJ8?" type="text/html"></embed><br />
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<b>Side B: "The Umbrella Song"</b><br />
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<b>The Osmonds - </b><b>"Love Me for a Reason"</b></div>
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Written by Johnny Bristol, Wade Brown, Jr., and David Jones, Jr. * Produced by Mike Curb * LP: <i>Love Me for a Reason </i>* 45: "Love Me for a Reason" / "Fever" * Label: MGM/Kolob * Charts: <i>Billboard </i>(Hot 100, #10) (easy listening, #2) UK (#1) * Entered: 1974-08-31 (Hot 100), 1974-09-07 (easy listening), 1974-08-24 (UK)<br />
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The <i>Love Me for a Reason </i>album marked a new era for the Osmond brothers, one characterized by a drop in creative ambition and ebbing popularity. The cover image seemed to say "so much for <i>The Plan, </i>it's time for <i>The Mack,</i>" and the sight of them dressed up in those incongruous Bill Belew pimp outfits so soon after they seemed to have gotten comfortable with who they were exuded a certain sadness. <i>The Plan, </i>though, had peaked at a disappointing #58 on the <i>Billboard </i>album charts, which undoubtedly yanked the commercial-anxiety lever. That said, the new album's focus on contemporary soul sounds was hardly a liability, and they were in good hands with arranger H.B. Barnum.<br />
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Only one song out of the new album's eleven, their "Sun, Sun, Sun" (which featured a growling Jay Osmond monster voice possibly inspired by Bread's "I Don't Love You") came from the Alan, Merrill and Wayne songwriting division. They also rolled the producer's chair over to Mike Curb, so he could take the commercial heat this time around. Curb, whose Congregation act once sang "Nixon Now (More Than Ever)" for the recently resigned U.S. President, also faced a new phase. With MGM now under the ownership of Polygram, he was refocusing his attentions on his Curb label, providing less direct guidance over the Osmond family save for a number of returns as producer.<br />
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Marriage and family distractions also factored, most likely, into this album's too many cooks nature and the brothers' future course. Merrill married in September 1973, Alan in June 1974, and Wayne was on the docket for December 1974. These realities would influence their eventual surrender to the demands of the <i>Donny and Marie </i>show and, later in the decade, the family's surprising decision to raise up a TV studio in the middle of Utah farm country.<br />
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The <i>Love Me for a Reason </i>album placed higher than <i>The Plan, </i>but only just, peaking at #47. The title track, though, made it to #10 on the singles chart and #1 in the UK, which was more like what they'd been used to. The song was co-written by fellow MGM artist Johnny Bristol, who also included his own version of it on his <i>Hang On In There Baby </i>debut LP<i>, </i>released around the same time as the Osmonds' <i>Love Me for a Reason</i>. It was an ideal ballad for the Osmonds to do on stage in that five-in-a-row soul vocal group style so much in fashion. The song, too, sounded like something the Stylistics could have done. (It might be the only pop song with "facsimile" in its lyrics, a word that figures prominently in the <i>Pearl of Great Price</i>'s Book of Abraham, which contains a "Detail of Facsimile No. 2" wherein the star of Kolob, that great celestial Easter egg, appears.)<br />
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The year of 1974 was a big one for the album's arranger H.B. Barnum, who also co-wrote three memorable songs on the album: "Havin' a Party" (a #28 hit for them in 1975) depicting a bash as harmless as the one in Sam Cooke's "Having a Party," but most assuredly with no Cokes in the icebox, and one which finds our young adult heroes, some of them even married, still worried about getting busted by their folks; "The Girl I Love," which sounded like lost Rare Earth material; and the Garden of Eden-centered "Peace." In addition, Barnum served as arranger on that Johnny Bristol <i>Hang on In There Baby</i> album (its title track sounding like something Barry White would have approved of) and it reached #8. Because "Love Me for a Reason" appeared on both albums, Barnum had the unique position of having done two arrangements for versions of the same song released concurrently.<br />
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Compared to the previous two Osmonds records, <i>Love Me for a Reason </i>involved the voice of Donny, especially, as well as the others', a bit more prominently. A good example was the lead off single's B-side "Fever," written by veteran songwriter Denny Randell and future "Get Dancin'" Sex-o-Lette Letty Jo Randell. Other songs on the album included the following: a worthwhile redo of the Temptations' "I Can't Get Next to You," which had been part of the earlier "Motown Medley" (they all sing their hearts out); a previously unknown song by Solomon Burke called "Send a Little Love," which was recorded by his offspring act Sons and Daughters of Solomon for MGM but never issued, and which jumps out on the Osmonds record sounding every bit as hit-worthy as Three Dog Night's "Joy to the World"; "Gabrielle," a Four Tops "Bernadette" knock-off also written by the Randells; "Ballin' the Jack," a party dance revamp of the 1913 <i>Ziegfeld Follies </i>song; and a number by Gary Dalton and Kent Dubarri (of the duo Dalton and Dubarri) called "I Can See Love in You and Me," which sounds like an order placed via the Spinners catalog.<br />
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To hear and see how a good portion of the songs on the <i>Love Me for a Reason </i>came alive for the Osmonds and cohered with their onstage family cabaret, including H.B. Barnum himself as conductor, watch their series of five simultaneous <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRuUXEtYL7U" target="_blank">UK television specials</a> from August 1974. <br />
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Included here as a special bonus is the 1975 UK single for "Havin' a Party." While the A-side had appeared on <i>Love Me for a Reason, </i>the B-side was a song called "Wanted," which has never appeared on any album<i style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "open sans", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">—</i> or anywhere else in the US<i style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "open sans", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">—</i> and which had a 1975 copyright. It's a song sung by Wayne and guess what? It's one of their best. It moves back and forth between "Crazy Horses" rock and mid-seventies dreaminess and has a sublime-sounding guitar solo. Considering songs like "Wanted" that Wayne had more prominence in, and seeing his role as lead guitarist in various videos, it appears that he took quite a few, maybe more than we realize, for the team.<br><br>
The difference between this strong track and the weak 1975 <i>Proud One </i>album is staggering. The "Crazy Wayne" joke-teller stage role he filled for the rest of their years possibly masked a frustrated penchant for interesting musical expression. The scene in the bio drama <i>Inside the Osmonds </i>(2001)<i>, </i>where the otherwise quiet soldier Wayne, dressed as a crab for the <i>Donny and Marie </i>show, tells Merrill that his chances for a legitimate recording career had officially been dashed, might be one of its truest moments. If the family's perception of commercial expediency buried additional tracks like this, that's a very sad thing. <br />
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<b>Side A: "Love Me for a Reason"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "Fever"</b><br />
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<b>Side A: "Havin' a Party"</b><br />
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<b>Side B (UK): "Wanted"</b><br />
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<b>Marie Osmond - </b><b>"In My Little Corner of the World"</b></div>
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Written by Bob Hilliard and Lee Pockriss * Produced by Sonny James * 45: "In My Little Corner of the World" / "It's Just the Other Way Around" * LP: <i>In My Little Corner of the World </i>* Label: MGM/Kolob * Charts: <i>Billboard </i>(Hot 100, #102) (country, #33) * Entered: 1974-09-21 (Hot 100) 1974-09-28 (county)<br />
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Sonny James's approach for Marie Osmond's second album was to choose another Anita Bryant hit for her to cover as the leadoff single. "My Little Corner of the World," a 1960 pop top ten for Bryant, with the otherworldly orchestration unique to that era and featuring a particularly disciplined and confident vocal by her, got the nod. Marie's late '74 version, as a single and album title track, contained an additional "In" up front and a vocal less assured than Bryant's. Osmond saturation probably didn't help its chances much and, in spite of its appealing contemporary country arrangement, it underperformed, stalling at #33 in country and only bubbling under in pop. Two more things: 1) Yo La Tengo would give "My Little Corner of the World" the introverted indie treatment in 1997, thumbing their noses at vocal assuredness; and 2) three years after Marie's record, Bryant would emerge as the notoriously outspoken anti-gay activist that would becloud her musical reputation.<br />
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Other tracks on the album include two by James ("Big Hurts Can Come (From Little White Lies)" and "True Love's a Blessing") and the country classics "Crazy Arms" (Ray Price), "I Love You Because" (Leon Payne), "Singing the Blues" (Marty Robbins), "I Love You So Much It Hurts" (Floyd Tilman), and "Invisible Tears" (Ned Miller). Rounding them off were a new song by Harry Seeberg and Ronald C. Meyers called "It's Just the Other Way Around" (also the single's B side) and a version of Connie Francis's 1960 "Everybody's Somebody's Fool" minus baseball game organ. Francis would be the emulatee for Osmond's third, even lower performing, and final album with James, <i>Who's Sorry Now </i>(1975). Marie's chart performances would get progressively lower and lower and, in spite of her high TV exposure, she'd fade from them altogether from 1977 to 1982. Her country career, though, would get a strong reboot in 1985. </div>
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<b>Side A: "In My Little Corner of the World"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "It's Just the Other Way Around"</b><br />
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<b>Jimmy Osmond - </b><b>"Little Arrows" (UK Bonus)</b></div>
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Written by Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood * Produced by Mike Curb and Michael Lloyd * 45: "Little Arrows" / "Don't You Remember" * LP: <i>Little Arrows </i>(1975) * Label: MGM/Kolob * Charts: UK (#54) * Entered: 1974-11-02? (UK)<br />
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Eleven-year-old Jimmy Osmond (minus Little at this juncture) released his second single of 1974, "Little Arrows," in November. This borderline novelty song, co-written by Albert Hammond ("It Never Rains in Southern California"), had been a 1968 #16 hit for British one-hit wonder Leapy Lee. Jimmy's version bypasses that record's main hook and gimmick, which is Leapy's voice jumping up an octave for the words "you're falling in love again," probably because the Jimmy bird already perched on that upper branch.<br />
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Side B contained a jaunty schoolboy crush track by Alan, Wayne and Merrill (co-produced by Alan and Michael Lloyd) driven by a chipper wooden flute, the kind of thing Davy Jones would have done the Charleston-lite to. Songs like this should be intolerable but it maintains its charm. Not all British chart archives list "Little Arrows," but since the ones that do agree on position and entry date, it's here. This would be it for Jimmy on the US and UK singles charts, and the 1975 <i>Little Arrows </i>album would sail past the target's outer ring. As a teenager, though, he'd pursue a resourceful multilingual recording career, with Japan as his main sushi and soba.<br />
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<b>Side A: "Little Arrows"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "Don't You Remember"</b><br />
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<b>Donny Osmond - </b><b>"Where Did All the Good Times Go" (UK Bonus)</b></div>
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Written by Michael Lloyd * Produced by Mike Curb and Don Costa * Arranged by Mike Costa * 45: "Where Did All the Good Times Go" / "I'm Dyin" * LP: <i>Donny</i> * Label: MGM/Kolob * Charts: UK (#18) * Entered: 1974-11-09 (UK)<br />
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<b>Donny Osmond - </b><b>"I Have a Dream" (US 1975 Bonus)</b></div>
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Written by Solomon Burke * Produced by Mike Curb and Don Costa * Arranged by Don Costa * 45: "I Have a Dream" / "I'm Dyin'" * LP: <i>Donny </i>* Label: MGM/Kolob * Charts: <i>Billboard </i>(Hot 100, #50) (easy listening, #45) * Entered: 1975-02-15 (Hot 100), 1975-03-01 (easy listening)</div>
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The 1975 <i>Donny </i>album lists "The Osmonds" as executive producers, possibly indicating Mike Curb's fading attentions. One of two standout tracks here is "I'm Dyin'" (pronounced as "dyun'," Utah style — hear that regional "ing" quirk in "The Proud One" and many others), written by Alan, Merrill and Wayne and produced by Alan and Michael Lloyd. As the album's 8th track (out of ten), it feels like a lightened load, devoid of sweeping orchestral intros and the doubled-up vocal leads. It wasn't fair to Donny for Curb and Costa to do that to his voice so often, and this song shows why.<br />
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The other keeper on the album is the closer, his version of Solomon Burke's "I Have a Dream," the kind of stirring track everybody should try. (Burke's record includes sound bites from Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous speech; the track created for Donny here is one that '70s Elvis would have adored.) This would be Donny's U.S. single from the album, reaching #50 on the Hot 100 and #45 on easy listening. The U.K. single would be Michael Lloyd's stab at the era's en vogue "Seasons in the Sun"-style Euro chanson balladry called "Where Did All the Good Times Go," which went to #18 and would be, surprisingly, Donny's last charting single out there until 1987. Both singles contained "I'm Dyin'" as the B-side.<br />
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The others: "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" (Hank Williams, 1949); What's He Doing in My World" (Eddy Arnold, 1965); "Sixteen Candles" (The Crests, 1962); "Mona Lisa" (Nat King Cole, 1950); and "This Time" (Troy Shondel, 1961, a rockabilly ballad with a classic quirky vocal). Also included were two filler tracks co-written by Mike Curb: "If Someone Ever Breaks Your Heart" (with Mack David) and "Ours" (as M. Charles).<br />
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It's possible that Donny's core record-buying audience was outgrowing his vinyl merchandise, if not his posters, and that the economic strategy of selling orchestrated paeans from the days of Howdy Doody was starting to wear thin because it only made it to #57. After this it was <i>Disco Train </i>(1976)<i>, </i>with its ill-boding cover art, featuring four original songs from the three elder brethren. The "disco" elements on that record got at their most aggravating on side 2. Side 1 was quite a bit of fun, with the title track sounding more like Gary US Bonds’s “New Orleans” than what it implied. Although that oncoming engine on the cover did crash our Donny into the album chart swamp at #145, it also flung his lively cover of the 4 Seasons' "C'mon Marianne" into the Top 40. <br />
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<b>Side A: "Where Did All the Good Times Go" (UK)</b><br />
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<b>Side A: "I Have a Dream" (US)</b><br />
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<b><b>Side B: "I'm Dyin'"</b></b>
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<b>Donny and Marie Osmond - </b><b>"Morning Side of the Mountain"</b></div>
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Written by Dick Manning and Larry Stock * Produced by Mike Curb * 45: "Morning Side of the Mountain" / "One of These Days" * Label: MGM/Kolob * Charts: <i>Billboard</i> (Hot 100, #8) (easy listening, #1) (UK, #5) * Entered: 1974-11-16 (Hot 100), 1974-11-30 (easy listening), 1974-12-14 (UK)<br />
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"Morning Side of the Mountain," with that "there was a girl, there was a boy" intro, was an inevitable cover choice for Donny and Marie. Their chaste rendering sounds like something from <i>Oklahoma, </i>making the original versions by Tommy Edwards (1951 and redone in 1958) seem like Ray Charles. Then again, it could also have fit into the <i>Grease</i> stage show, popular on Broadway since 1972, ringing as it did with the sweet nostalgia mid-'70s audiences had an ear for. After "I'm Leaving It All Up to You" and "Morning Side of the Mountain," future singles by the duo would dwindle, with only "Deep Purple" (1975) reaching the Hot 100's Top 20.<br />
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Side B contained a teaser track by Alan, Wayne and Merrill with a "Lay Lady Lay" guitar intro that was slated for their forthcoming <i>Make the World Go Away </i>album. It reinforced the expectation that the in-house tracks on Donny and Marie albums would be the most interesting and worthwhile.<br />
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By 1975 it would be all about the TV show for the Osmond family, with the records seeming more and more like afterthoughts, or mere accessories. In future decades, though, their powers of reinvention as showbiz entities and their ongoing marketability would prove to be remarkable, as evidenced by Donny and Marie in Las Vegas and on TV outlets galore. And Donny, it should be said, has never left any doubt that the pursuit of musical expression means everything to him. But those Osmondmania years were quite something, back when the radio was what put them all in perspective.</div>
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<b>Side A: "Morning Side of the Mountain"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "One of These Days"</b><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628083921981318027.post-90446586070227532552019-09-13T20:41:00.003-07:002022-02-23T01:28:36.889-08:00Chart Song Cinema: Ryan's Daughter (1970)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Robert Mitchum's facial expression on the movie poster, a bit more puzzlement than dismay, sums up the critical reaction to <i>Ryan's Daughter </i>and probably those of most viewers. The otherwise celebrated British director David Lean asked for over three hours of audiences' time to tell this generally unhappy tale set in a nationalist village on the Irish coast circa 1917, where idle, slow-evolving citizens dwell. More spirited than any of them is a publican's daughter named Rosy (Sarah Miles), who marries the low-key teacher, a widower who is oddly cast but played admirably by Mitchum.<br />
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Rosy's bubbling youth finds more age-appropriate physical release in a shell-shocked British soldier played by Christopher Jones (<i>Wild in the Streets</i>), who is an eerie, android-like character that makes maybe twenty short utterances. Word about the affair gets out, local outrage simmers, and when an effort by the villagers to aid a band of Irish gunrunners goes awry, Rosy becomes their scapegoat and they mob her, shaving her head and tearing off her clothes. After this, Mitchum nonetheless finds it in his heart to forgive his humiliated wife. His goodness serves, ostensibly, as the film's moral center. Or maybe it's the common-sense humanity of Father Collins (Trevor Howard), or the impressionable classroom children, or the ever-beautiful Irish landscape.<br />
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Much legendry exists about Jones's unpleasant experiences shooting this film (getting drugged by Lean and Miles; a resulting auto accident; impatience and friction with Lean; having his voice dubbed; and grieving over news of Sharon Tate's murder) which prompted him to quit show business entirely. Director Lean almost did too, waiting fourteen more years before directing another feature film (<i>A Passage to India </i>in 1984).<br />
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Among the themes locating <i>Ryan's Daughter</i> at the turn of the decade were political complexity and frustration, sexual liberation and frustration, and<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span>perhaps a bit more below the surface<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span>the innocence of children and their subjection to the dramas of adults. The classroom scenes with Mitchum and his pupils are few, but they linger because they lift your spirits, however moderately, the way few other scenes in the production do. They also give insight into the character of Rosy, who had fallen for Mitchum's character as one of his former students.<br />
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The music in <i>Ryan's Daughter</i><i> </i>is what makes me, especially, pull Mitchum's poster face. David Lean had apparently requested that composer Maurice Jarre, who'd also done the scores for Lean's <i>Lawrence of Arabia </i>(1962) and <i>Doctor Zhivago </i>(1965), bring forth no overtly Irish musical signifiers. (Was this an effort to distance the project emotionally from the real-life tensions simmering in Northern Ireland at the time?) The theme Jarre delivered, then, feels like continental schlager, in the vein of "Mack the Knife" or "Those Were the Days," lending a musical incongruence that discourages any melancholic sympathy.<br />
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A 1971 album by the Mike Curb Congregation called <i>Burning Bridges and Other Great Motion Picture Themes </i>included two selections from <i>Ryan's Daughter </i>with a fresh set of lyrics written by Curb and Mack David. The film's main title appeared as "It Was a Good Time (Rosy's Theme)" along with "Where Was I When the Parade Went By? (The Major)." The former played well as a new popular vocal standard<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif;">. </span>Although Eydie Gorme, a <i>Billboard </i>chart regular since 1953, had the only <i>Billboard </i>charting version (Easy Listening #23 in 1971), Liza Minnelli gave it prominent airtime in her 1972 TV special <i>Liza with a Z. </i><br />
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<b>"It Was a Good Time (Rosy's Theme)" (1970) - </b><b>Eydie Gormé</b><br />
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Written by Maurice Jarre (music), Mike Curb (lyrics), and Mack David (lyrics) * Produced by Don Costa * LP: <i>It Was a Good Time </i>* 45: "It Was a Good Time (Rosy's Theme)" / "Rosy's Theme" (Don Costa) * Label: MGM * Charts: <i>Billboard </i>Easy Listening (#23)<br />
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"It Was a Good Time" made an easy argument for its suitability in any cabaret with its Italian <i>musica leggera </i>vibe and can-can cadence. (The seagulls and tide during the intro are the only elements acknowledging <i>Ryan's Daughter</i>'s Irish coastal setting.) Gormé stayed in the spirit for her follow-up single, a non-charting version of Danyel Gerard's popular schlager singalong "Butterfly." The 45 flipside for "It Was a Good Time" contained a rare, vinyl-only instrumental version, titled "Rosy's Theme" and credited to producer Don Costa.<br />
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Gormé would reprise the song in a different version with her husband Steve Lawrence for their <i>World of Steve and Eydie </i>album in 1972. Here they would sing songwriter Hubert Ithier's French lyrics as "Rose D'Irlande" before singing it through as "It Was a Good Time" in English.<br />
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<b>"It Was a Good Time (Rosy's Theme)"</b><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628083921981318027.post-38999841248655555472019-09-01T11:37:00.001-07:002022-02-23T01:34:40.822-08:00Chart Song Cinema: Bless the Beasts and the Children (1971)<div style="text-align: left;">
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The biggest musical curiosity in <i>Bless the Beasts and the Children, </i>Stanley Kramer's film version of a novel by Glendon Swarthout, is an early appearance of what came to be known as "Nadia's Theme." Listed as "Cotton's Theme" on the soundtrack, that hypnotic melody gives the proceedings a dusky pathos, even playing in an uptempo arrangement to accompany a buffalo stampede. The movie depicts six adolescent misfits, victims of short-sighted parenting who become known as the humiliation-prone "bedwetters" at an Arizona boys camp. After witnessing a population-control buffalo shoot, they sneak out in the night on an adventure to set the beasts free, with tragedy lurking near the end in proper bummer film-era fashion.<br />
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Although <i>Bless the Beasts and the Children </i>resonates loudest as a general study in societal ills, a clearer-cut anti-war moral does struggle to emerge. The boys journey like a rag-tag military cavalry on horseback and also in a rusty jeep, with an angst-ridden ringleader named Cotton who wears an army helmet and addresses them as "men." (<i>Lost in Space</i>-vet Billy Mumy is the coolest of these kids, with his deadpan, mistrustful gaze; Miles Chapin seems based on the 1969 <i>Hardy Boys </i>cartoon character "Chubby," even appearing at one point wearing an ascot.) The Vietnam War looms largest as a parallel, with the boys aiming to rescue a weaker ally in spite of unforeseen complexity. Mere absurdity, too, functions reliably as an allegorical ingredient.<br />
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The Carpenters' theme song, written by Barry DeVorzon and Perry Botkin, Jr., is a solid entry in the early '70s hit parade of childhood awareness, a glaring counterpoint during the early upsurge of Me Generation cultural behavior. "The world can never be the world they see," go the lyrics, with musical accompaniment that sounds clearly elegiac, if not funereal. (You can read more about the era's pronounced interest in childhood in chapter 1 of my book, <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Early-70s-Radio-American-Revolution/dp/0826461336" target="_blank">Early '70s Radio</a></i>.) By the time this song had appeared as the B-side of their "Superstar" single, the Carpenters had become well-established sovereigns in the new realm of soft-rock, where the young adult expressions and concerns of the post-sixties could foster and abide. This sort of balladry had long-reaching influence. Listen to how the melody resolves at the end of each verse in "Bless the Beasts and the Children" and see how it reminds you of Lionel Richie and Diana Ross's "Endless Love," which came out a full decade later.<br />
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"Bless the Beasts and the Children" found enough radio traction to peak at #67 on the <i>Billboard </i>Hot 100, riding on the fumes of its movie placement and its hit A-side, which peaked at #2. The soundtrack album included a version with a vibraphone intro, which is different from the oboe intro on the versions the Carpenters would otherwise release on 45 and LP. The vibraphone version, with its blurry, tear-in-the-eye sound, has the more emotional effect.</div>
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<b>"Bless the Beasts and the Children" (1971)</b></div>
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<b>The Carpenters</b></div>
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Written by Barry DeVorzon and Perry Botkin, Jr. * Produced by Jack Daugherty * Arranged by Richard Carpenter * 45: "Superstar" / "Bless the Beasts and the Children" * LP: <i>Bless the Beasts and the Children </i>(soundtrack)<i>; A Song for You </i>(1972) * <i>Billboard</i> charts: Hot 100 (#67), Easy Listening (#26) * Entered: 1971-11-27 (peaked in 1972)<br />
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<b>"Bless the Beasts and the Children"</b><br />
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<b>"Bless the Beasts and the Children" (soundtrack version)</b><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628083921981318027.post-44242282176755805432018-12-28T16:52:00.006-08:002022-02-23T01:38:57.828-08:00Chart Song Cinema: The Last American Hero (1973)<div style="text-align: left;">
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Songwriters Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox, at the early stages of prolific careers, had no idea they were writing the epilogue for singer-songwriter Jim Croce, a man who generally manufactured his own music and lyrics. But his performance of their "I Got a Name" on record sounded like something he'd have come up with eventually, and it ended up being the last song he'd perform on this earth, at a concert in Natchitoches (NACK-itosh), Louisiana, after which his charter plane would crash during takeoff on September 20, 1973.</div>
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"I Got a Name" was scheduled for release as a single one week after that sad day and had already been assigned as the opening and closing title theme for a movie called <i>The Last American Hero. </i>In spite of its big title, this was a fairly easy-going film starring Jeff Bridges as a charismatic and resilient Junior Johnson-style moonshiner-turned-stock car racer, the type Croce sang about on his 1972 <i>You Don't Mess Around with Jim </i>album ("Rapid Roy (The Stock Car Boy)").</div>
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Although its down-home footage of dirt track racing will give gearheads from any era a nice cinematic buzz, nothing in the film packs enough of a dramatic wallop to call for the emotional gravitas in "I Got a Name," a recording that dresses up its rural lyrical and musical components in orchestral lace. Both the film title and theme song could have worked better in some other film with a more heart-wrenching premise. (But here's a line worth remembering, spoken by the Bridges character's repentant bootlegger dad: "The damn foolishness of one person is the breath of life to another.")</div>
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"I Got a Name" would be Croce's fifth charting single, with six more posthumous ones to come between 1973 and 1976, including the career/genre/era-apotheosis piece "Time in a Bottle." Quentin Tarrantino grabbed "I Got a Name" for one of his crazy-quilt soundtracks in 2012 (<i>Django Unchained</i>). Side B merged lyrics evoking the blue collar south to etude-like music that seemed suited for harpsichord.</div>
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<b><br /></b><b>"I Got a Name" (1973) - </b><b>Jim Croce</b></div>
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Written by Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox * Produced by Terry Cashman and Tommy West * 45: "I Got a Name" / "Alabama Rain" * LP: <i>I Got a Name</i> * <i>Billboard</i> charts: Hot 100 (#10), Easy Listening (#4) * Entered: 1973-10-06<br />
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<b>Side A: "I Got a Name"</b></center>
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<embed height="35" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cadvn16N188?" type="text/html"></embed>
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<b>Side B: "Alabama Rain"</b><br />
<embed height="35" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kio002YGGUE?" type="text/html"></embed>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628083921981318027.post-87372402273649541902018-08-27T12:26:00.002-07:002022-02-23T01:43:47.881-08:00Della Reese: The Early '70s Chart Single<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Della Reese (R.I.P. November 19, 2017) emerged from Detroit in the late '50s as a true glamour figure, delivering her distinctly enunciated vocals to opulent tracks evoking velvet gloves and crystal chandeliers. The pop production team of Hugo and Luigi handled her biggest hit, "Don't You Know" (built on a theme from Puccini's <i>La Boheme</i>), and although that song's momentum also pushed it to #1 on <i>Billboard'</i>s R&B chart, Reese's name only ever appeared in the lower regions of the pop singles chart after 1960. Her absence from the R&B/soul charts is indeed a curious aspect of her musical history.<br />
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A ten-month run as a TV variety show host (<i>The Della Reese Show, </i>June 1969 to March 1970) helped promote her <i>Black Is Beautiful </i>album, which had reunited her with producers Hugo and Luigi and wound up being her final pop effort. The reason why nothing even on this album could register on <i>Billboard</i>'s soul chart is a mystery. Future Reese albums would aim toward jazz or gospel audiences, while her TV presence would eventually supersede her musical reputation in later years. From 1993 to 2005, she appeared as the central cast member on <i>Touched By an Angel </i>during its entire nine-season run, several decades after her final charting single ("Compared to What" / "Games People Play") bubbled under the <i>Billboard </i>Hot 100 in early 1970. (The ad above ran in <i>Billboard </i>on Dec. 13, 1969, p. 61.)<br />
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<b>"Compared to What" (1969) - </b><b>Della Reese</b></div>
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Written by Gene McDaniels * Produced by Hugo and Luigi * 45: "Compared to What" / "Games People Play" * LP: <i>Black Is Beautiful</i> * <i>Billboard</i> charts: Bubbling under (#128) * Entered: 1970-01-03<br />
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<b>"Games People Play" (1969) - </b><b>Della Reese</b></div>
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Written by Joe South * Produced by Hugo and Luigi * 45: "Compared to What" / "Games People Play" * LP: <i>Black Is Beautiful</i> * <i>Billboard</i> charts: Bubbling under (#121) * Entered: 1970-01-10<br />
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"Compared to What" helped the singer Gene McDaniels transition from an on-stage vocal career to an off-stage songwriting career. His three biggest records as a vocalist ("A Hundred Pounds of Clay," "Tower of Strength," and "Chip Chip")—each of them top ten hits—all happened in 1961. In 1966 he'd written "Compared to What" while thinking, according to an online interview, about the "right wing push toward globalization [and] privatization" that alienated "the normal people of the world."<br />
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He wrote the tune with jazz pianist Les McCann in mind, whose trio McDaniels sang with in nightclubs until label quirks in his emerging pop career complicated the two men's relationship. "Compared to What," then, not only mended fences between the two, but re-joined them at the hip when a 1969 live recording by McCann (who'd done a studio version in '66) became a #85 pop hit—a surprising development for a track on a jazz album. The song's message resonated and cover versions proliferated. Della Reese's version from her <i>Black Is Beautiful </i>album, paired with Joe South's "Games People Play" for a strong, socially-conscious single, did nothing more than bubble under the pop charts and made no R&B showing.<br />
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Reese returned to her gospel roots for her version of Joe South's "Games People Play" and gave it a definitive, show-stopping rendition. Those who give this record a listen will feel its message in their bones. Although it charted slightly higher than its intended A-side, one still wonders if anyone ever really heard it. Who played piano? The <i>Black Is Beautiful </i>album's musicians receive no credit despite the gatefold cover's <a href="https://www.discogs.com/Della-Reese-Black-Is-Beautiful/release/2642417" target="_blank">ample real estate</a>. Although a shorter, three-minute-plus version appeared on later compilations, the full five-minute-plus track appeared on both the original album and 45.<br />
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<b>Side A: "Compared to What"</b><br />
<embed height="35" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/t5Q50LcPQJM?" type="text/html"></embed>
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<b>Side B: "Games People Play"</b><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628083921981318027.post-24182749806209946122017-11-22T13:57:00.000-08:002020-08-11T02:49:12.030-07:00Willie Hightower - "Walk a Mile in My Shoes" (1970)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>"Walk a Mile in My Shoes" (1970) - </b><b>Willie Hightower</b></div>
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Written by Joe South * Produced by Rick Hall * 45: "Walk a Mile in My Shoes" / "You Used Me Baby" * <i>Billboard </i>charts: Bubbling under (#107), soul (#26) * Entered: 1970-04-25 (soul), 1970-05-30 (bubbling under)<br />
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Without fail, the voice of Alabama soul singer Willie Hightower stuns listeners for its expressive power and for the low number of records it actually appears on (especially when considering that he performs live to this day). At least three must-hear singles are his 1966 version of "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87-iVIizHqU" target="_blank">If I Had a Hammer</a>," his 1969 soul hit "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_DzDEAikOU" target="_blank">It's a Miracle</a>," and his 1970 Fame label take on Joe South's "Walk a Mile in My Shoes." Sounding like what writer <a href="http://www.contactmusic.com/pages/williehightowerx18x10x04" target="_blank">Tim Tooher describes</a> as a "cross between Sam Cooke and Little Richard," Hightower brings out even more dimensions of poignance and humanity from the song. The final paragraph of the Tooher piece mentions producer and Fame label head Rick Hall's success with the Osmonds as being a potential factor in the label's decision to drop soul singers like Hightower and Clarence Carter, and you can't help but wonder how much that might have hurt Hightower's long range momentum. The track "You Used Me Baby" on side B is another grade A vocal showcase and credits Hightower as the sole writer.<br />
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<b>Side A: "Walk a Mile in My Shoes"</b><br />
<embed height="35" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ynKhTyG2iDo?" type="text/html"></embed>
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<b>Side B: "You Used Me Baby"</b><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628083921981318027.post-82920445397593275922017-11-10T14:19:00.007-08:002022-02-23T02:00:35.048-08:00Joe South: The Early '70s Charting Singles<br />
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Listening to Joe South's late '60s and early '70s records, especially the ones espousing brotherhood and tolerance, can be a rejuvenating exercise. The Georgia singer-songwriter made a name for himself in the music biz as the writer of "Down in the Boondocks," a #9 hit for Billy Joe Royal in 1965, and also as a session guitarist (Bob Dylan's <i>Blonde on Blonde </i>and the prominent tremolo guitar on Aretha Franklin's "Chain of Fools" are just a few of his contributions). His own amiable singing voice became familiar to radio listeners with his #12 hit "Games People Play," a 1969 electric sitar-enhanced song possibly inspired by a 1964 self-help book by Eric Berne. "Don't It Make You Want to Go Home" (#41), his next hit, imagined an irresistible rural homeland that South (a stage surname for the man born as Joseph Souter) gauzed with a blurry guitar to signify fantasy. The guitar effects in both of those records, in fact, made for appropriate accompaniment for the 3D image—with its counterbalancing suggestions of illusion versus truth—on his 1970 greatest hits album.<br />
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The Joe South of the early seventies was even more successful as a songwriter for others. Aside from his own humanist hit "Walk a Mile in My Shoes," he wrote the career-defining Lynn Anderson smash "Rose Garden" and saw the Osmonds go Top 5 with his "Yo Yo." Unfortunately, the melancholy he advised against in "Rose Garden" became a palpable component in South's own music career, which had stalled by the mid-seventies. The slowdown coincided with the 1971 suicide of his brother Tommy, who was the drummer with South's band The Believers, but it's worth remembering that Joe South, who passed away in 2012, lived an ostensibly happy life well past whatever challenges he'd gone through in the '70s. Musically, we can keep honoring him as a man who, in "Games People Play," gave us one catchphrase in particular to live by: "To hell with hate!"<br />
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Here are all the tracks (with B-sides) sung by Joe South to appear on a <i>Billboard </i>music chart in the early '70s. A list of charting songs written by him but sung by different artists follows.<br />
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<b>"Walk a Mile in My Shoes" (1969) - </b><b>Joe South and the Believers</b></div>
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Written and produced by Joe South * 45: "Walk a Mile in My Shoes" / "Shelter" * LP: <i>Don't It Make You Want to Go Home? </i>* Label: Capitol * <i>Billboard </i>charts: Hot 100 (#12), easy listening (#3) * Entered: 1970-01-03 (Hot 100), 1970-01-10 (easy listening)<br />
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Released in 1969, Joe South's "Walk a Mile in My Shoes" entered the charts in early 1970 as a quintessential track for the times, sounding out from radio speakers like a Sunday broadcast from a new kind of southern church, one that adds the law of karma to its tenets. Handclaps and gospel choruses merged with organ and guitar to support words in favor of awareness for those "in the reservations and the ghetto" and the need to "get inside each other's minds" before we "criticize and accuse."<br />
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Elvis Presley included the song as part of his <i>On Stage February, 1970 </i>album and gave his apparent fondness for the title phrase added traction. (Doyle, Mieder and Shapiro's 2012 <i>Dictionary of Modern Proverbs </i>traces the phrase back to 1930, noting the occasional exchange of "shoes" with "mocassins" and attributions that have alternated between Native American tradition and Confucius). The labels on this 45 and the one before it ("Don't It Make You Want to Go Home") listed the artist as "Joe South and the Believers," who included his brother Tommy South on drums, Tommy's wife Barbara on keyboards and backup vocals, and John Mulkey on bass and backup vocals. The B side, advocating for letting "love be your shelter" with the help of additional church choir voices, kept the new humanist gospel vibe afloat.<br />
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<b>Side A: "Walk a Mile in My Shoes"</b><br />
<embed height="35" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/In4UDYxxqVU?" type="text/html"></embed>
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<b>Side B: "Shelter"</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-4FBQyMkdivE2J4eCHnBqgaY-Md-w9aOBmMa8b_624ESH2-gLmbnPigdWUQnnpojAWOi69_F5cSx-mfHe4DR3MQ1brfGmp3U8SpWiVyCqp-_NCqzKqTN8XQSRkH-SRyiRcduaWN-CnvkC/s1600/513lBrKs47L._SX355_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="353" data-original-width="355" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-4FBQyMkdivE2J4eCHnBqgaY-Md-w9aOBmMa8b_624ESH2-gLmbnPigdWUQnnpojAWOi69_F5cSx-mfHe4DR3MQ1brfGmp3U8SpWiVyCqp-_NCqzKqTN8XQSRkH-SRyiRcduaWN-CnvkC/s320/513lBrKs47L._SX355_.jpg" style="margin: 0px 20px;" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>"Children" (1969) - </b><b>Joe South</b></div>
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Written and produced by Joe South * 45: "Children" / "Clock Up on the Wall" * LP: <i>Don't It Make You Want to Go Home </i>* Label: Capitol * <i>Billboard </i>charts: Hot 100 (#51), easy listening (#32) * Entered: 1970-03-21 (Hot 100), 1970-04-11 (easy listening)<br />
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Children were one of early '70s radio's prevailing themes, so hearing Joe South singing about them and adding in signal sounds, such as recorders and the "na-na boo-boo," seems only natural. From South's "get real" perspective though, the take home message is that all children eventually have to leave their "world of make believe" someday. For side B, South toys with the theme further in the context of lost romance, asking "what does true love mean to a kid acting smart?" Its tick-tock sounds are there to accentuate the record's lost-time motif, but they also manage to give it a kid-friendly appeal.<br />
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<b>Side A: "Children"</b><br />
<embed height="35" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zzO0t0aeS7I?" type="text/html"></embed>
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<b>Side B: "Clock Up on the Wall"</b><br />
<embed height="35" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rgjjsIRL4l0?" type="text/html"></embed></center>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdanmYXapSCELiaiSw7eqZoXC1GSj17LUOyrjkXu2gcUVL5GizqqvMKeUX7UXhv1wBFWGTtEQIHkDH73LjeNc8xyp6Rj0-pm07DaOqCk71Lced1REz05n8ohT0ijuxm_dsf89EHLNPl1rK/s1600/joe-south-be-a-believer-1970.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="651" data-original-width="651" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdanmYXapSCELiaiSw7eqZoXC1GSj17LUOyrjkXu2gcUVL5GizqqvMKeUX7UXhv1wBFWGTtEQIHkDH73LjeNc8xyp6Rj0-pm07DaOqCk71Lced1REz05n8ohT0ijuxm_dsf89EHLNPl1rK/s320/joe-south-be-a-believer-1970.jpg" style="margin: 0px 20px;" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>"Why Does a Man Do What He Has to Do" (1970)</b></div>
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<b>Joe South</b></div>
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Written by Don Randi and Bob Silver * Produced by Joe South * 45: "Why Does a Man Do What He Has to Do" / "Be a Believer" * Label: Capitol * <i>Billboard </i>charts: Bubbling under (#118) * Entered: 1970-10-03</div>
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In his 2015 memoir <i>You've Heard These Hands,</i> the keyboardist and composer Don Randi (a regular with the legendary "Wrecking Crew" studio players in LA) recounts the unlikely scenario of getting Joe South to do someone else's song. "Why Does a Man Do What He Has to Do" was written for an Alan Sidaris documentary called <i>The Racing Scene </i>about the actor James Garner's Formula One racing activities. Randi reports it as a co-write between him and his friends Bob Silver and (the uncredited) Pete Willcox. Because South was Garner's "favorite artist," he asked Randi to work his publishing contacts (while handing him five hundred bucks) to see what he could do. Although the ultimate landing place for the cash is unknown, it resulted in a phone call from South who treated Randi to a freshly adrenalized playback of the re-recorded tune that eventually did appear in the film and bubbled under <i>Billboard's</i> Hot 100. The electric guitar quotient (handled, we can assume, by the man himself) might be highest on this track then on any other Joe South recording. The song plays at the end of Garner's easy-going film, a gearhead's joy ride that he narrates and also features Dick Smothers as an avocational race car driver. (Who knew?)<br />
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Side B contains a track from South's 1969 <i>Don't It Make You Want to Go Home,</i> with a generous serving of that album's echoey strings and choruses. Entitled "Be a Believer," it was a fitting bit of output from the man who would credit his work as "A Positive Production" on label stickers.<br />
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<b>Side A: "Why Does a Man Do What He Has to Do"</b><br />
<embed height="35" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/S6MKvnhu9Gs?" type="text/html"></embed>
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<b>Side B: "Be a Believer"</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWnwvEXsA89gbQkwnvSulo8L09GlfSyQTVbLeGvjvXYK14FAL4MwfH0TcEYLy5C_AQWmWoWcKIrmorBErYxpMG95oPQH9iZAj_2UyJsbBN03vsF6Jatn1Ef7tiBTXEEhzldE_cHPVLtNPc/s1600/R-2049281-1444944704-3468.jpeg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWnwvEXsA89gbQkwnvSulo8L09GlfSyQTVbLeGvjvXYK14FAL4MwfH0TcEYLy5C_AQWmWoWcKIrmorBErYxpMG95oPQH9iZAj_2UyJsbBN03vsF6Jatn1Ef7tiBTXEEhzldE_cHPVLtNPc/s320/R-2049281-1444944704-3468.jpeg.jpg" style="margin: 0px 20px;" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>"Fool Me" (1971)</b></div>
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<b>Joe South</b></div>
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Written by Joe South * Produced by Buddy Buie and Bill Lowery * 45: "Fool Me" / "Devil May Care" * LP: <i>Joe South </i>* Label: Capitol * <i>Billboard </i>charts: Hot 100 (#78) * Entered: 1971-11-06<br />
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Joe South's 1971 self-titled album rounded up some of his own versions of songs that had been done—or would soon be done—by artists with greater success. In the case of "Fool Me," South's own interpretation, with his pained vocals, was the greater artistic success, while Lynn Anderson's too-perky version in 1972 reaped the commercial rewards. Her willing romantic dupe in "Fool Me" seemed like some sort of self-rebuke for coming off as such a strong woman in "Rose Garden."<br />
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The hurt in South's voice likely had as much to do with the sad reality of his brother Tommy's suicide in 1970, which darkened what were otherwise his most fruitful years as a songwriter. He'd release three more albums in the '70s, none of which produced any hits. On side B is "Devil May Care," one of the album's lesser products that was produced, like the A side, by two Georgia music business legends—songwriter Buddy Buie and publisher Bill Lowery. <br />
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<b>Side A: "Fool Me"</b><br />
<embed height="35" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/660GJQD4dfU?" type="text/html"></embed>
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<b>Side B: "Devil May Care"</b><br />
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Early '70s chart songs written by Joe South but performed by others:<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.early70sradio.com/2018/08/della-reese-early-70s-charting-singles.html" target="_blank">Della Reese - "Games People Play" (1/10/70, #121)</a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.early70sradio.com/2015/08/the-early-70s-radio-hits-of-brook-benton.html" target="_blank">Brook Benton - "Don't It Make You Want to Go Home" (5/30/70, #45)</a></span></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.early70sradio.com/2017/11/willie-hightower-walk-mile-in-my-shoes.html" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">Willie Hightower - "Walk a Mile in My Shoes" (5/30/70, #107)</a><br />
<a href="http://www.early70sradio.com/2015/08/lynn-andersons-early-70s-pop-chart.html#rosegarden" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">Lynn Anderson - "Rose Garden" (11/28/70, #3)</a><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.early70sradio.com/2015/08/lynn-andersons-early-70s-pop-chart.html#howcaniunloveyou" style="font-size: 14.6667px;" target="_blank">Lynn Anderson - "How Can I Unlove You" (8/21/71, #63)</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.early70sradio.com/2020/08/the-osmonds-plus-donny-marie-and-jimmy.html#yoyo" target="_blank">The Osmonds - "Yo Yo" (9/11/71, #3)</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.early70sradio.com/2012/08/a-soul-country-playlist.html" target="_blank">Joe Simon - "All My Hard Times" (9/25/71, #93)</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.early70sradio.com/2020/08/the-osmonds-plus-donny-marie-and-jimmy.html#iknewyouwhen" target="_blank">Donny Osmond - "I Knew You When" (11/27/71, #9 flip)</a></span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.early70sradio.com/2015/08/lynn-andersons-early-70s-pop-chart.html#foolme" target="_blank">Lynn Anderson - "Fool Me" (11/18/72, #101)</a></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628083921981318027.post-87772698922007646602017-11-03T13:28:00.004-07:002020-08-11T03:19:53.419-07:00The Cannonball Adderley Quintet - "Country Preacher" (1970)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_bXMiL0oChgE4f4h1M9U7LJmtMTB5lj12IH5-JkZUVI0WIbxiqY_QKhMIeiY3dUSad4e26UUYFN36v0r58H9pBw5WVmfTceXP6fK0VCB0QxFkHBTmj1L7XJdbZYftl7jQGaQTmoGoutAG/s1600/adderley.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="538" data-original-width="549" height="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_bXMiL0oChgE4f4h1M9U7LJmtMTB5lj12IH5-JkZUVI0WIbxiqY_QKhMIeiY3dUSad4e26UUYFN36v0r58H9pBw5WVmfTceXP6fK0VCB0QxFkHBTmj1L7XJdbZYftl7jQGaQTmoGoutAG/s320/adderley.png" style="margin: 0px 20px;" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>"Country Preacher" (1970) - </b><b>The Cannonball Adderley Quintet</b></div>
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Written by Josef Zawinul * 45: "Country Preacher" / "Hummin'" * LP: <i>Country Preacher: "Live" at Operation Breadbasket </i>* Label: Capitol * <i>Billboard </i>charts: Hot 100 (#86), soul (#29) * Entered: 1970-01-18 (Hot 100), 1970-01-31 (soul)<br />
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A swirl of sociological energy accompanied the release of alto sax man Cannonball Adderley and his quintet's <i>Country Preacher </i>album, which was recorded at one of Reverend Jesse Jackson's Operation Breadbasket meetings at a church in Chicago. These were gatherings for ministers, musicians, and political figures—an initiative that had been launched by Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.—at a time when, as jazz writer Chris Sheridan puts it in his 2000 <i>Dis Here: A Bio-Discography of Julian "Cannonball" Adderley</i>, "the battle for political rights was over, but that for economic equality had just begun."<br />
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Other strong components in the narrative surrounding <i>Country Preacher </i>had to do with the pros and cons of commercial acceptance for jazz and the record's reliance on blues, gospel, and a "racial memory" of the South, as Lorenzo Thomas calls it (in reference to Adderley) in his <i>Don't Deny My Name: Words and Music and the Black Intellectual Tradition </i>(2008)<i>. </i>The album's title track was written as a tribute to Jackson by Josef Zawinul, the Austrian musician who sits conspicuously white behind his Wurlitzer on the album's back cover and reminds us visually to get over the race thing and just listen to the music, which is where the real energy is. (Zawinul, who aided and abetted in Adderley's attempts to find widespread acceptance for quality jazz in spite of criticism, would later continue to do so with his own band, Weather Report.)<br />
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On "Country Preacher," as with Adderley's 1967 radio hit "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy," the audience interaction with the music is crucial to the recording's appeal—at two specific points it sounds like the intensity will boil over, but then it stops dead... and then continues all dialed back, cool and collected, much to the room's pleasure and approval. It's a musical approximation of a skillful, hypothetical country preacher's cadences, bringing forth the same kind of congregational responses. The 45 version doesn't include Adderley's spoken introduction of the number from the album; the B side includes a rare studio take of "Hummin'" (written by Cannonball's brother Nat, the band's cornet player) rather than the live version that leads off the album. This would be the last chart appearance for Cannonball Adderley, who died of a brain hemorrhage in 1975.<br />
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<b>Side A: "Country Preacher"</b><br />
<embed height="35" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WmxyZNFBNig?t=26s?" type="text/html"></embed>
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<b>Side B: "Hummin'"</b><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628083921981318027.post-74341072016831701932017-10-28T14:08:00.000-07:002020-08-11T03:20:23.576-07:00Green Lyte Sunday featuring Susan Darby - "Chelsea Morning" (1970)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg24pjNhY3b558iV_hJdyH-caNX0BadaAVUH35Uv8USiM9ogsmkY51aAFcozLTvmRNTmvwbJMEiIBJ4ReIMq9_xIqT0D5ScES-zXsi8msxFEizrgDru1KSmsguouNVt8f1-CbVwBD47Lb_/s1600/greenlyte.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="559" data-original-width="558" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg24pjNhY3b558iV_hJdyH-caNX0BadaAVUH35Uv8USiM9ogsmkY51aAFcozLTvmRNTmvwbJMEiIBJ4ReIMq9_xIqT0D5ScES-zXsi8msxFEizrgDru1KSmsguouNVt8f1-CbVwBD47Lb_/s320/greenlyte.png" style="margin: 0px 20px;" width="319" /></a></div>
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<b>"Chelsea Morning" (1970) - </b><b>Green Lyte Sunday </b><b>feat. Susan Darby</b></div>
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Written by Joni Mitchell * Produced by Peter Shelton * 45: "Chelsea Morning" / "Emmie" * LP: <i>Green Lyte Sunday </i>* Label: RCA Victor * <i>Billboard </i>charts: Easy listening (#19) * Entered: 1970-07-25</div>
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From Dayton, Ohio, Green Lyte Sunday formed around the nucleus of Mike Losenkamp, formerly of the Cyrkle, and Susan Darby, a former bandmate of his from the Mark V. (Pop history annals indicate that this was a popular band name used by multiple parties, so research carefully.) The group caught a break when they came to the attention of British ex-pat <a href="http://www.manchesterbeat.com/mystory/petershelton/petershelton.php" target="_blank">Peter Shelton</a>, who'd played with Ohio's Outsiders and worked as tour manager for Chicago's Buckinghams. He helped the band land a contract with RCA Victor and wound up producing their self-titled album. With their jazz-rock inclinations, the group transitioned easily to the tastes of MOR radio. </div>
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Their version of Joni Mitchell's "Chelsea Morning," billed on the 45 label to "Green Lyte Sunday Featuring Susan Darby," had an airy, flutes-and-vibes mood and a gentle groove that may have conceivably informed a later iteration by Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66. (That band's <i>Stillness </i>album came out late in the year, even though its leadoff single "For What Its Worth" had been released in August.) Side B of the single covered Laura Nyro's "Emmie," also from the album, which mostly featured original songs by Losekamp.<br />
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After this one-off LP, Green Lyte Sunday continued as a popular local attraction. One brief mention of Susan Darby in a 1979 <i>Billboard </i>(February 3) reports her signing to Umbrella Inc. for exclusive representation. Various online hearsay reports locate her as a Vegas club singer before falling off the music biz radar. An earlier single by her as "Sue Darby" doing the Randall-Linzer tune "Can't Get Enough of You Baby"—and giving Evie Sands a run for her money—can be heard <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PzWZhoPJ_g" target="_blank">on YouTube</a>.<br />
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<b>Side A: "Chelsea Morning"</b><br />
<embed height="35" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/k9NxPuyuhQY?" type="text/html"></embed>
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<b>Side B: "Emmie"</b><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628083921981318027.post-43259896005179136192017-10-27T13:54:00.000-07:002020-08-11T03:20:52.868-07:00Chart Song Cinema: Cool Breeze (1972)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjyHTOGkgRIlQXP4cryG6JLwVuNZePPjiSdr3fAIwNtg63yFJgMSYC7nXi_667lA3HN5bYdDa9duxiZooMgn28fPetPNZUB_kpu3Gzzk2l9xIxM7pUbjeQAD1J6JQU36C4HPxABsDYZWN5/s1600/R-789097-1189676287.jpeg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjyHTOGkgRIlQXP4cryG6JLwVuNZePPjiSdr3fAIwNtg63yFJgMSYC7nXi_667lA3HN5bYdDa9duxiZooMgn28fPetPNZUB_kpu3Gzzk2l9xIxM7pUbjeQAD1J6JQU36C4HPxABsDYZWN5/s320/R-789097-1189676287.jpeg.jpg" style="margin: 0px 20px;" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>"Love's Street and Fool's Road" (1972) - </b><b>Solomon Burke</b></div>
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Written and produced by Solomon Burke * 45: "Love's Street and Fool's Road" / "I Got to Tell It" * LP: <i>Cool Breeze </i>* Label: MGM * <i>Billboard </i>charts: Hot 100 (#89), soul (#13) * Entered: 1972-04-15 (Hot 100), 1972-04-22 (soul)</div>
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Directed by Barry Pollack, <i>Cool Breeze </i>did whatever it could to live up to the term "blaxploitation." On display most prominently were the era's favorite caricaturizations of urban blackness and, as a dreary bonus, an unwavering commitment to chauvinism. Its biggest mishap, though, was closing credits that stunned viewers by even being there. Their first line should have read, "we didn't know what else to do, and we're out of money, so we're just gonna end this." Even so, <i>Cool Breeze </i>does have the makings of a cult movie (which it's becoming) due to its funny dialogue and time capsule visuals, such as scenes where Thalmus Rasulala's assembled gang of diamond thieves wear Nixon and Agnew masks.</div>
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The choice of influential R&B singer Solomon Burke—whose chart success was on the wane after a busy 1960s—as the movie's soundtrack man is apropos because he, like one of <i>Cool Breeze</i>'s characters, had something of a world-tainted preacher aura. As his obituary in the <i>New York Times </i>reports, Burke was known in his youth as a "wonder boy" at the pulpit whose competing love for life's temporal pleasures led him toward a music career that made them all available. (As the "king of rock and soul," he would appear on stage wearing a crown and robe.) In the film, a preacher who's also a safe cracker joins the heist squad, and one scene shows three of his cohorts awkwardly discussing business on a church pew, surrounded by elders and children who are trying to worship. It's a scene full of inner angel-devil conflict that Burke probably appreciated.</div>
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After the soul chart (and minor Hot 100) success of "Love's Street and Fool's Road," which features the kind of spoken interjections he was known for, Burke had only one more Hot 100 appearance and two more on the soul chart. In 2002, though (eight years before his death), he'd release the rally-round comeback album <i>Don't Give Up on Me, </i>full of songs by contemporary songwriting icons.<br />
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Side B previewed a song, written by J.W. Alexander and Willie Hutch, that would later show up on Burke's <i>We're Almost Home </i>LP the same year<i>.</i> <br />
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<b>Side A: "Love's Street and Fool's Road"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "I Got to Tell It"</b><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628083921981318027.post-23801952943461965472017-10-22T05:00:00.000-07:002020-08-11T03:23:12.225-07:00Jackie Wilson: The Early '70s Charting Singles<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Jackie Wilson was one of the entertainment world's lightning bolts, a singer with boundless expressive range, a dancer envied by James Brown and idolized by Michael Jackson, and a stage performer who may as well have invented the concept. He first made a name for himself as a member of Billy Ward and His Dominoes (replacing Clyde McPhatter), after which, as a solo act from 1957 onward, he became a steady radio and chart presence with songs like "Reet Petite," "Lonely Teardrops," "Baby Workout," and "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher."<br />
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That last song was a 1967 smash recorded with the Motown studio's Funk Brothers and Andantes as an expression of gratitude from Berry Gordy (a co-writer of "Reet Petite," the first hit for both men). It tends to be remembered as Wilson's farewell song, his "Dock of the Bay," but the ensuing Jackie Wilson radio songs of the early seventies form a distinct and final career era worth exploring. Even for the man known as Mr. Excitement, whose off-stage life seemed destined to shudder from extreme ups and downs, these were difficult years. In September 1970, his sixteen-year-old son Jackie Jr. was gunned down in Detroit, which cast a pall over his efforts to revitalize his career. In 1975, Wilson would suffer a heart attack on stage at the "Dick Clark Good Ole Rock 'N Roll Revue," after which he'd spend the rest of his life in a semi-comatose state until his death in 1984 at the age of 49. His headstone in Wayne, Michigan, says "No More Lonely Teardrops" and "Jackie - The Complete Entertainer."<br />
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All of the following singles, except for a few bonuses thrown in for context, made <i>Billboard</i> chart appearances between 1970 and 1975. (The album image above comes from the Spain edition of <i>It's All a Part of Love, </i>which contained no charting singles.)<br />
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<b>"Let This Be a Letter </b><b>(To My Baby)" (1970) - </b><b>Jackie Wilson</b></div>
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Written by Eugene Record * Johnny Moore and Jack Daniels * Produced by Carl Davis and Eugene Record * 45: "Let This Be a Letter (To My Baby)" / "Didn't I" * LP: <i>This Love Is Real * </i>Label: Brunswick * <i>Billboard </i>charts: Soul (#34), Hot 100 (#91) * Entered: 1970-05-09 (soul), 1970-05-16 (Hot 100)</div>
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Jackie Wilson started out the decade with a big, bursting love hymn featuring solo female-in-a-cloud operatics for the intro. It's an arrangement tactic, though, that inevitably suggests angels receiving a departing spirit, so knowledge of where the song placed in Wilson's catalog—the first charting song for his final decade as a hitmaker—can make you hear it with a sense of foreboding. It was written by chief Chi-Lite (and Brunswick label mate) Eugene Record, who would write another letter song ("A Letter to Myself") as the title track for one of his group's 1973 albums.</div>
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The Chi-Lites' voices can be heard accompanying Wilson on the flipside "Didn't I," which also appeared on the <i>This Love Is Real </i>album (released at the end of the year). It credits Jack Daniels and Bonnie Thompson as composers; Daniels was a frequent collaborator with Johnny Moore (not to be confused with the one in the Drifters or the Three Blazers). The unheralded Chicago songwriter and vocalist Moore had gotten into the habit of occasionally gifting songwriter credits to his girlfriend Thompson, the way he'd earlier done for Syl Johnson's "We Did It" and Tyrone Davis's "Turn Back the Hands of Time." Grapevine Records released a compilation of Moore's vocal recordings in 2003 called <i><a href="https://www.allmusic.com/album/lonely-heart-in-the-city-mw0000411930" target="_blank">Lonely Heart in the City</a>.</i><br />
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All of Wilson's early '70s singles were recorded in Chicago, with a rhythm section Carl Davis identifies in his 2011 memoir <i>The Man Behind the Music </i>as including bassist Bernard Reed, Floyd Morris on keyboards, and Quinton Joseph on drums ("the first and last drummer that I ever saw who played standing up").</div>
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<b>Side A: "Let This Be a Letter (To My Baby)"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "Didn't I"</b><br />
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<b>"(I Can Feel Those Vibrations) </b><b>This Love Is Real" (1970) - </b><b>Jackie Wilson</b></div>
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Written by Johnny Moore and Jack Daniels * Produced by Carl Davis * Arranged by Sonny Henderson * 45: "(I Can Feel those Vibrations) This Love Is Real" / "Love Uprising" * LP: <i>This Love Is Real</i> * Label: Brunswick * <i>Billboard </i>charts: Hot 100 (#49), soul (#9) * Entered: 1970-12-12 (soul), 1970-12-19 (Hot 100)<br />
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This top ten soul chart hit, which featured Wilson's famous octave leaps in the choruses, payed general tribute to the Temptations' "The Way You Do the Things You Do," while in the intro and at the 1:42 mark (thanks to arranger Sonny Henderson), it payed specific tribute to "Danny Boy," which Wilson had taken to the charts in 1965. Songwriting credits went to Johnny Moore and Jack Daniels, who had also written "Didn't I" for the previous single. On the B side was "Love Uprising," written by Eugene Record, who happened to write the A side of the previous single.<br />
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<b>Side A: "(I Can Feel Those Vibrations) This Love Is Real"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "Love Uprising"</b><br />
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<b>"Love Is Funny That Way" (1971) - </b><b>Jackie Wilson</b></div>
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Written by Floyd Smith and Ritchie Tufano * Produced by Carl Davs * 45: "Love Is Funny That Way" / "Try It Again" * LP: <i>You Got Me Walking </i>* Label: Brunswick * <i>Billboard </i>charts: Soul (#18), Hot 100 (#95) * Entered: 1971-11-13 (soul), 1971-11-27 (Hot 100)</div>
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Chicago songwriters Floyd Smith (Loleatta Holloway's husband) and Rich Tufo (a frequent keyboardist for Curtis Mayfield credited here as Ritchie Tufano) gave Jackie Wilson his leadoff single for his <i>You Got Me Walking </i>album. Its main melodic hook comes directly from the Temptations' "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybBs9Uv5k8c" target="_blank">I Wish It Would Rain</a>." The B side pumps with an increased dose of vintage Jackie Wilson vivaciousness; it's a song called "Try It Again" written by Ronnie Shannon, the man who'd also written "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)" and "Baby I Love You" for Aretha Franklin.</div>
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<b>Side A: "Love Is Funny That Way"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "Try It Again"</b><br />
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<b>"You Got Me Walking" (1971) - </b><b>Jackie Wilson</b></div>
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Written by Eugene Record * Produced by Carl Davis * 45: "You Got Me Walking" / "The Fountain" * LP: <i>You Got Me Walking</i> * Label: Brunswick * <i>Billboard </i>charts: Soul (#22), Hot 100 (#93) * Entered: 1972-02-19 (soul), 1972-02-26 (Hot 100)<br />
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The title track to Jackie Wilson's <i>You Got Me Walkin' </i>album ended up being his final Hot 100 appearance in <i>Billboard. </i>Written by label mate Eugene Record, as were many of Wilson's early '70s recordings, it suffered from a confusing lyrical gimmick, which had his woman being so good to him that he was reacting negatively—"walking" floors, "talking" to himself, and "knocking" on wrong doors (emphasized by snare drum raps). On side B, he checked in with a social-issues litany, also written by Record, that had him seeking a mysterious "fountain" later revealed to be one of faith, hope, love, and money.<br />
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<b>Side A: "You Got Me Walkin'"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "The Fountain"</b><br />
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<b>"The Girl Turned Me On" (1972) - </b><b>Jackie Wilson</b></div>
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Written by Leo Graham and Dennis Miller * Produced by Carl Davis and Willie Henderson * 45: "The Girl Turned Me On" / "Forever and a Day" * LP: <i>You Got Me Walking </i>* <i>Billboard </i>charts: Soul (#44) * Entered: 1972-05-14<br />
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Wilson would manage to get three more songs to the lower regions of <i>Billboard</i>'s soul charts before his career as an active recording artist came to an end in 1975. "The Girl Turned Me On"—written by Chicagoans Leo Graham and Dennis Miller—is one of Wilson's lost dance floor classics, boosted by majestic horns and a moody piano break at 2:03. "Forever and a Day," by Daniels and Moore, follows B side etiquette by not upstaging the A side in any way, although it does play a trick by borrowing the title of a minor hit Wilson had in 1962, which was a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JsoB7H8Rdw" target="_blank">dramatic tuxedo chanson</a> that seemed light years away from this. Speaking of chansons, it bears mentioning that Wilson's <i>You Got Me Walking </i>album contained a version of "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6z7LwMjtSM" target="_blank">My Way</a>," the French melody given new lyrics by Paul Anka for Frank Sinatra as an intended swan song. Sinatra ended up having more years to give, but that doesn't preclude the song's ominous, fate-tempting elements.<br />
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<b>Side A: "The Girl Turned Me On"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "Forever and a Day"</b><br />
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<b>"I Get the Sweetest Feeling" (1968) - </b><b>Jackie Wilson</b></div>
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Written by Alicia Evan and Van McCoy * Produced by Carl Davis * 45: "I Get the Sweetest Feeling" / "Soul Galore" * LP: <i>I Get the Sweetest Feeling </i>* Label (UK reissue): MCA * Charts (UK reissue): UK #9<br />
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In mid-1972, a reissue of Jackie Wilson's sublime sunshine-soul "I Get the Sweetest Feeling" (1968) zoomed up to #9 on the British singles chart, where it had never registered the first time around (but reached #34 in the US). Among the reasons for its success might have been the fact that Wilson had royalty status in burgeoning "northern soul" dance halls where soul obscurities from yesteryear ruled, and where a song like his previous "The Girl Turned Me On" would eventually be treated like a Top 5 hit.<br />
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Another possible helper might have been the release of Van Morrison's "Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile)," a song that didn't end up charting at all in the UK—and came out only two weeks before the Wilson reissue—but had a high enough profile to possibly get some ripples in motion. (An early 1982 cover by Dexy's Midnight Runners would hit #5 over there.) Coincidentally, "I Get the Sweetest Feeling" is a Wilson song that has a "smile" component ("when you turn on your smile / I feel my heart go wild"). Another dance-friendly Wilson track from 1966 called "Soul Galore" written by Eugene Hamilton appeared on the B side.<br />
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In the late eighties, three more Jackie Wilson reissues would storm the UK chart: "Reet Petite" (#1 in 1986), "I Get the Sweetest Feeling" again (#3 in 1987), and "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher" (#15 in 1987).<br />
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<b>Side A: "I Get the Sweetest Feeling"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "Soul Galore"</b><br />
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<b>"Because of You" (1973) - </b><b>Jackie Wilson</b></div>
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Written by Edward E. Little Jr. and Jeffrey Perry * Produced by Carl Davis and William Sanders * 45: "Because of You" / "Go Away" * LP: <i>Beautiful Day </i>* <i>Billboard </i>charts: Soul (#45) * Entered: 1973-05-12<br />
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One of the identifying characteristics of Jackie Wilson's <i>Beautiful Day </i>album, aside from the scenic cover, is the participation of Jeffrey Perry as a co-composer on every song. He was one of five Chicago Perry brothers (with Greg, Zachary, Leonard and Dennis) all of whom worked as songwriters. He'd later record one album of his own in 1979 as "Jeffree" Palmer, and videos of him singing on <i>Soul Train </i>can be found on YouTube. The flipside "Go Away" is a co-write between Jeff and his brother Zachary with a soaring vocal by Wilson that might have served as a stronger plug side than "Because of You."<br />
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<b>Side A: "Because of You"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "Go Away"</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRuFbgJkBnjCitpSP8gDxC8Sp2koHOJSz93jq4zQD0YpRFQ3FlhMmYUoPoxoq-86sYOci4Zh2jzzSLzjg331RH29TRJmOrfGjzap9cQ8DY1CIZSx3OP4yxlaD0_98V58uWw8KsCbRXWWp9/s1600/R-2120421-1385217611-3455.jpeg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="481" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRuFbgJkBnjCitpSP8gDxC8Sp2koHOJSz93jq4zQD0YpRFQ3FlhMmYUoPoxoq-86sYOci4Zh2jzzSLzjg331RH29TRJmOrfGjzap9cQ8DY1CIZSx3OP4yxlaD0_98V58uWw8KsCbRXWWp9/s320/R-2120421-1385217611-3455.jpeg.jpg" style="margin: 0px 20px;" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>"Sing a Little Song" (1973)</b> - <b style="text-align: left;">Jackie Wilson</b></center>
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Written by Desmond Dacres * Produced by Bob Mersey * 45: "Sing a Little Song" / "No More Goodbyes" * Label: Brunswick * <i>Billboard</i> charts: Soul (#94) * Entered: 1973-07-28<br />
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On "Sing a Little Song," Jackie Wilson broke away momentarily from Carl Davis with producer Bob Mersey, a longtime CBS music director with abundant easy listening credentials (and who had worked with Wilson in 1961 as the arranger for "My Heart Belongs to You"). The new song came from Desmond Dacres, aka Desmond Dekker, who was at the forefront of the early seventies surge in Caribbean sounds with his late sixties US top ten song "Israelites" (along with contributions to the soundtrack for the Jamaican film <i>The Harder They Come</i>). On this single, which never appeared on an album, Jackie Wilson provided a swingier (and stringier) take on a tune Dekker had released the same year with a decidedly <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JloLletXMzU" target="_blank">more reggae rhythm</a>. In 1975, though, Dekker would put out a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f89MPry3s6k" target="_blank">spruced up redo</a> more informed by Wilson's interpretation. (Where Wilson's version used a steel pan drum, though, Dekker's would use a piano.) Side B contained a lush track called "No More Goodbyes," co-written by Mersey and Harold Orenstein and sprinkled with Philly soul orchestra glitter.<br />
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<b>Side A: "Sing a Little Song"</b><br />
<embed height="35" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XYS7GNF_ZBY?" type="text/html"></embed>
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<b>Side B: "No More Goodbyes"</b><br />
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*1975 Bonus* </center>
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<b>"Don't Burn No Bridges" (1975)</b> - <b>Jackie Wilson and the Chi-Lites</b></center>
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<span style="text-align: left;">Written by Romaine Anderson * Produced by Carl Davis and Sonny Sanders * 45: "Don't Burn No Bridges" / "Don't Burn No Bridges (Instrumental)" * LP: </span><i style="text-align: left;">Nobody But You </i><span style="text-align: left;">(1976) * Label: Brunswick * </span><i style="text-align: left;">Billboard </i><span style="text-align: left;">charts: Soul (#91) * Entered: 1975-11-15</span></div>
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Jackie Wilson's career-ending heart attack occurred on September 29, 1975, while at the Latin Casino in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. He was performing as the headliner and collapsed during a performance of "Lonely Teardrops," with its "my heart is crying" refrain. Although Wilson's well-known demonstrative nature onstage made it hard for anyone to discern if it was just an act, Cornell Gunter of the Coasters was able to act fast enough to resuscitate him, but not enough to prevent him from slipping into a comatose state, where he remained until his death in 1984. Another dark coda for the year 1975 involved Wilson's longtime label Brunswick, whose head Nat Tarnopol faced federal charges of financial misconduct, including unpaid royalties of one million dollars for Wilson (which, evidently, were never paid).<br />
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That year, Wilson had been readying a new album with Carl Davis, back in his familiar role as producer and with participation from Eugene Record and the Chi-Lites. The single "Don't Burn Bridges," backed by an instrumental version, came out two months after Wilson's heart attack. It had a Temptations flair, with its minor-key vocal trade-offs and a reference to the "month of December" that reminded listeners of the "third of September" opener of "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone." If Wilson and the Chi-Lites merely borrowed a vibe from the Temptations, the Trammps would record a song for their 1977 <i>Disco Inferno</i> album that bordered on plagiarism. It was also called "Don't Burn No Bridges" and sounded similar enough to be considered an interpretation, but it credited two different writers: Allan Felder and Ronald Tyson. Maybe they had made a deal with the mysterious Romaine Anderson.<br />
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The picture sleeve presented here comes from the Spain release. It's too good not to include.</div>
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<b>"Don't Burn No Bridges"</b><br />
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*Non-Charting Bonus*</center>
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<b>"Nobody But You" (1975) - </b><b>Jackie Wilson</b></center>
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<span style="text-align: left;">Written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil * Produced by Carl Davis and Sonny Sanders * 45: "Nobody But You" / "I've Learned About Life" * LP: </span><i style="text-align: left;">Nobody But You </i><span style="text-align: left;">(1976) * Label: Brunswick * </span><i style="text-align: left;">Billboard </i><span style="text-align: left;">charts: —</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">Jackie Wilson's final album was called </span><i style="text-align: left;">Nobody But You, </i><span style="text-align: left;">and it saw release in 1976, the year after the heart attack that brought his career as Mr. Excitement to a close. The record was a more-than-worthy final statement, with a Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil title track (previously recorded in 1975 by the Righteous Brothers) that could function as a thank you to his audience, leading that same audience to wonder how they could repay a man who generated so much happiness in so short a time.</span></div>
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<b>"Nobody But You"</b><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628083921981318027.post-60822732872101978322017-10-19T14:13:00.004-07:002022-02-23T02:18:29.668-08:00The Original Caste: The Early '70s Charting Singles<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdE_ZfazTcavH6vMAFw8bdImO95fyUU_97ta7JscW2fLY0zV4YX9fvEcqBAa8DJcRYmzlW98EMAGuymmQPBg1U_TKlL7oG5arR9TgHuPjxY_IDmXxzpc2ztd21ZTnMD8pes5kBI203ZSlO/s1600/R-3502919-1333243582.jpeg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="602" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdE_ZfazTcavH6vMAFw8bdImO95fyUU_97ta7JscW2fLY0zV4YX9fvEcqBAa8DJcRYmzlW98EMAGuymmQPBg1U_TKlL7oG5arR9TgHuPjxY_IDmXxzpc2ztd21ZTnMD8pes5kBI203ZSlO/s320/R-3502919-1333243582.jpeg.jpg" style="margin: 0px 20px;" width="318" /></a></div>
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Before the <i><a href="http://www.early70sradio.com/2016/05/chart-song-cinema-billy-jack-1971.html" target="_blank">Billy Jack</a> </i>movie ever existed, the Original Caste reached the US Top 40 with "One Tin Soldier." After the early Dennis Lambert-Brian Potter composition with a "peace on earth" moral had run its course for them, though, the Calgary band could only manage to get three more songs to "bubble under" in 1970. The group who had been called the North Country Singers until 1968 would ultimately prove to have more traction in its homeland of Canada and in Japan.<br />
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After their flurry of early '70s success, the Original Caste managed to reconfigure off-and-on throughout the following decades under the ongoing leadership of Bruce Innes (who split up with his lead vocalist wife Dixie Lee in 1980). He's remained musically active since the sixties into the 2010s, having sung backup on the hit recording of John Denver's "Rocky Mountain High" along the way. Here are the Original Caste's four <i>Billboard</i> singles, including "One Tin Soldier, which entered the US charts in late 1969 but peaked in early 1970.<br />
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<b>"One Tin Soldier" (1969)</b> - <b>The Original Caste</b></div>
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Written and produced by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter * Arranged by Artie Butler * 45: "One Tin Soldier" / "Live for Tomorrow" * LP: <i>One Tin Soldier * </i>Label: T.A. * <i>Billboard </i>charts: Hot 100 (#34) * Entered: 1969-11-15<br />
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After signing to Bell subsidiary label TA, the Original Caste released this single written by their producers Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter. Guitarist <a href="https://www.classicbands.com/OriginalCasteInterview.html" target="_blank">Bruce Innes reports</a> not having any inkling that the song had actual hit potential until Chicago's WLS put it in hourly rotation. It seems strange that <i>Billy Jack </i>film composer Mundell Lowe opted to record a new version of a recent hit rather than licensing this one, but maybe the now-legendary shoestring budget of the film (one million dollars) demanded it. There was also the problem of TA/Bell Records being a division of Columbia Pictures, while <i>Billy Jack </i>was a project for Warner Bros., its competitor.<br />
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<b>"One Tin Soldier"</b><br />
<embed height="35" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6itauSnrSZA?" type="text/html"></embed></center>
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<b>"Mr. Monday" (1970) - </b><b>The Original Caste</b></div>
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Written and produced by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter * Arranged by Artie Butler * 45: "Mr. Monday" / "Highway" * LP: <i>One Tin Soldier </i>* Label: TA * <i>Billboard </i>charts: Bubbling under (#119) * Entered: 1970-04-25<b></b><br />
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"Mr. Monday"—another Lambert-Pottter track—had a similar Pachelbel's Canon chord sequence as "One Tin Soldier" in the verses. A mystical piano hook, though, reminiscent of the one at the beginning of Pink Floyd's <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBC86e5cT5U" target="_blank">"Remember a Day"</a> (1968), closes out the choruses. "Mr. Monday" would be the Original Caste's highest charting Canadian hit, reaching #4 and also selling thousands of copies in Japan. "Highway" on side B is a Bruce Innes track sung by Dixie Lee that can easily strike listeners as a more diverting bit of songcraft than "Mr. Monday." (The picture sleeve comes from the German edition.)<br />
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<b>Side A: "Mr. Monday"</b><br />
<embed height="35" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BeL25qZhAko?" type="text/html"></embed>
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<b>Side B: "Highway"</b><br />
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<b>"Nothing Can Touch Me </b><b>(Don't Worry Baby, It's Alright)" (1969) - </b><b>The Original Caste</b></div>
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Written and produced by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter * Arranged by Artie Butler * 45: "Nothing Can Touch Me (Don't Worry Baby, It's Alright)" / "Country Song" * LP: <i>One Tin Soldier </i>* Label: TA * <i>Billboard </i>charts: Bubbling under (#114) * Entered: 1970-07-11</div>
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All of the Original Caste's US charting singles were Lambert-Potter compositions. "Nothing Can Touch Me" focused on the power of imagination (or some other unnamed power) to help you "sit and get high" when the "pressures of the day" get too heavy. In Canada, though, the flipside is the one radio stations spun and sent to #29 in <i>RPM Weekly</i> (Canada's chart authority until 2000).<br />
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Written and sung by Bruce Innes, "Country Song" is a Class A hippie social-crit anthem with weird and wise lyrics every bit as subversive—if not more so—than "One Toke Over the Line" or "Signs." Innes, channeling the melody and structure of "The Weight" by his countrymen the Band, sings of interactions with a warmongering "unknown soldier," cops "mowing down" kids for "passing their stuff around," and the "beer cans and swill" in public waters. There's no question this song inspired Five Man Electrical Band's Les Emmerson (from Ottawa) with its mood and attitude to write "Signs." Where Innes sings "I took off my boot and did a salute," Emmerson sings "I took off my hat and said 'Imagine that!" And the money line in the "Country Song" chorus is one every Canadian child of the seventies knows: "My neighbor Fred said God is dead, but I think he just moved away." US radio listeners definitely lost out on this one.<br />
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<b>Side A: "Nothing Can Touch Me (Don't Worry Baby, It's Alright)"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "Country Song"</b><br />
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<b>"Ain't That Tellin' You People" (1970) - </b><b>The Original Caste</b></div>
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Written and produced by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter * Arranged by Artie Butler * 45: "Ain't That Tellin' You People" / "Sweet Chicago" * Label: TA * <i>Billboard </i>charts: Bubbling under (#117) * Entered: 1970-10-30<br />
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Lambert and Potter's "Ain't That Tellin' You People" had a "whole world needs some changin'" chorus that walked in step with the Five Stairsteps' "O-o-h Child" or the Brotherhood of Man's "United We Stand" (both from earlier in the year), and it did especially well on Canadian MOR stations, peaking at #2 on <i>RPM Weekly</i>'s "MOR Playlist" chart. It becomes clear, when listening to the Original Caste's singles, though, that all the songs Bruce Innes wrote are especially worth paying attention to. His B-side "Sweet Chicago," a youth movement think piece about recent Chicago violence (e.g., the 1968 Democratic Convention) and gun control in general, taps into the pensive musical atmosphere of Brook Benton's "Rainy Night in Georgia," a late 1969/early 1970 hit. Which came first? Although the "One Tin Soldier" single came out in late '69, I'm pretty sure its album, which also included "Sweet Chicago," didn't roll out until spring 1970 or so. <br />
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<b>Side A: "Ain't That Tellin' You People"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "Sweet Chicago"</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr1_IPeuE9rLbi0ktrQGrylq0l6Z4pOzfDcIUxGW-eDFmxPW6ZOfKTOiG6MAItMY_4NDaYBHwTpQqG3pIdkxjB0iiNRz5CFhdgbjBGzjR80X4T-njGbz5CxKY1Xi-ghiuCYTFUdQ6dEQ5s/s1600/the-original-caste-sault-ste-marie-ta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr1_IPeuE9rLbi0ktrQGrylq0l6Z4pOzfDcIUxGW-eDFmxPW6ZOfKTOiG6MAItMY_4NDaYBHwTpQqG3pIdkxjB0iiNRz5CFhdgbjBGzjR80X4T-njGbz5CxKY1Xi-ghiuCYTFUdQ6dEQ5s/s1600/the-original-caste-sault-ste-marie-ta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="698" data-original-width="700" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr1_IPeuE9rLbi0ktrQGrylq0l6Z4pOzfDcIUxGW-eDFmxPW6ZOfKTOiG6MAItMY_4NDaYBHwTpQqG3pIdkxjB0iiNRz5CFhdgbjBGzjR80X4T-njGbz5CxKY1Xi-ghiuCYTFUdQ6dEQ5s/s320/the-original-caste-sault-ste-marie-ta.jpg" style="margin: 0px 20px;" width="320" /></a></div>
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*Canadian chart bonus*</div>
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<b>"Sault Ste. Marie" (1971) - </b><b>The Original Caste</b></div>
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Written and arranged by Bruce Innes * Produced by Roger Nichols * 45: "Sault Ste. Marie" / "When Love Is Near" * <i>Billboard </i>charts: <span id="docs-internal-guid-644767c0-3844-9973-74eb-58e974f54985" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">—</span></div>
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By 1971, Dennis Lambert, Brian Potter, and arranger Artie Butler had parted ways with the Original Caste and, shortly before the TA subsidiary of Bell would shut down altogether, the group released one more single. This time around, it was Roger Nichols, the songwriting partner of Paul Williams, who sat in the producer's chair. And although an ad appeared in the March 20, 1971 issue of <i>RPM Weekly</i> clearly designating the Williams-Nichols composition "When Love Is Near" as the proper A side, the following week's issue showed the B side listed on the RPM 100, the Country 50 and the MOR Playlist charts. In that same issue, a young Terry David Mulligan plugged the song in a column and the magazine's singles review section panned the intended A side with a "WHO CARES??????" while praising "Sault Ste. Marie" as the "big side" and declaring it to be "about time the very talented and highly creative leader of this Canadian group received some recognition." And they were right about "Sault Ste. Marie," a rockin' Canada-centric road song with another classic line in the chorus: "I'm just trying to make it to Montreal / I do believe I'm going to hell." In truth, they were on their way to Japan for some touring, then into the studio, eventually, for a 1974 album on the Century II label, but no more rides up any pop charts.</div>
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<b>"Sault Ste. Marie"</b><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628083921981318027.post-5892732987053355142017-10-16T09:59:00.003-07:002020-08-11T03:25:17.421-07:00Cleveland Regional Breakout HitsThe following two singles are the only ones to be listed in <i>Billboard </i>between 1970-1974 as regional breakout hits in Cleveland and never to have moved any higher.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOS-hMGQbR-4J86gCgpvJt8DkSMc0-1cKffI24gXrjRUxoTT4EE9llfWDgxn-zj54WFcZDhIsUjNpMHx5aHE3iaIxdX3rZwWCUvHH2u0AyaRJa3Ucq7UDjHi71d-sIAGzNuc-RZEp_hD1M/s1600/Front+Cover+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="”_blank”"><img border="0" data-original-height="991" data-original-width="997" height="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOS-hMGQbR-4J86gCgpvJt8DkSMc0-1cKffI24gXrjRUxoTT4EE9llfWDgxn-zj54WFcZDhIsUjNpMHx5aHE3iaIxdX3rZwWCUvHH2u0AyaRJa3Ucq7UDjHi71d-sIAGzNuc-RZEp_hD1M/s320/Front+Cover+copy.jpg" style="margin: 0px 20px 20px 0px;" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>"Roxanna </b><b>(Thank You for Getting Me High)" (1970) - </b><b>Wild Butter</b></div>
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Written by John Senné * Produced by Eric Stevens * 45: "Roxanna (Thank You for Getting Me High)" / "Terribly Blind" * LP: <i>Wild Butter </i>* Label: United Artists * <i>Billboard </i>charts: Regional breakout—Cleveland * Entered: 1970-08-22<br />
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"Roxanna" will strike most listeners as a lost proto-power pop gem to be filed alongside Big Star or the American Dream, with its Beatle allegiances, airy melodicism, and odd refrain ("Naked heart and naked mind / Thank you Roxanna for getting me high"). The most available story about Akron's Wild Butter is that drummer/vocalist Rick Garen and keyboardist Jerry Buckner (who, alongside a man named Garcia, would later enrich contemporary society with "Pac Man Fever") scored a record deal with United Artists before having a full band. Their songwriter-guitarist friend John Senné, along with bassist Steve Price, then joined up to help get an album in the can. Most of the songs, including "Roxanna," are Senné's, but Price and Buckner also contribute alongside cover versions of the Bee Gees, Neil Young, and the Moody Blues. (The flipside "Terribly Blind" is a Senné/Price track.) Garen's lead vocal has a British affectation that's not uncommon for the era, but then it may remind you of Guided By Voices singer Robert Pollard (of Dayton), leading you to wonder if that's an Ohio thing.<br />
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An August 1970 issue of <i>Record World </i>mentions Cleveland's popular WIXY as a station giving "Roxanna" heavy rotation, which is no surprise because the record's producer and the band's manager was former WIXY program director Eric Stevens, who knew a thing or two about the radio biz and his city's musical tastes. He'd also produce and manage local heavy rockers the Damnation of Adam Blessing and—his biggest success—Brownsville Station. Stevens is quoted in a book called <i>Cleveland Rock and Roll Memories </i>as being frustrated with United Artists who didn't seem to know much about "bringing the record home," ignoring the pre-installed roadblocks of Wild Butter's overt "getting high" references.<br />
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<b>Side A: "Roxanna (Thank You for Getting Me High)"</b><br />
<embed height="35" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hVELPL31Prg?" type="text/html"></embed>
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<b>Side B: "Terribly Blind"</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggakv11vDi3Oqoa2dmPsnCBpzOGa60gF_Z2qsaVip6MEaH5KkDe4I5e9iIUzmML_rtqBnm69hPhxu-_aTuWoJz60qm8bpJEjXsjl9MZUeBuGRnhJNfhgRN8h1kZN9L8_VqANBxnGnwI0bN/s1600/bevan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="“_blank”"><img border="0" data-original-height="403" data-original-width="397" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggakv11vDi3Oqoa2dmPsnCBpzOGa60gF_Z2qsaVip6MEaH5KkDe4I5e9iIUzmML_rtqBnm69hPhxu-_aTuWoJz60qm8bpJEjXsjl9MZUeBuGRnhJNfhgRN8h1kZN9L8_VqANBxnGnwI0bN/s320/bevan.jpg" style="margin: 0px 20px;" width="315" /></a></div>
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<b>"Linda's Song" (1971) - </b><b>Alex Bevan</b></div>
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Written by Alex Bevan * Produced by Eric Stevens * 45: "Linda's Song" / "Brady Street Hotel" * LP: <i>No Truth to Sell </i>* Label: Big Tree * <i>Billboard </i>charts: Regional breakout—Cleveland * Entered: 1971-10-23<br />
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Like Wild Butter, singer-songwriter Alex Bevan was from Akron and had his first record produced by former WIXY program director Eric Stevens. Fans of be-denimed early seventies singer-songwriters should add Bevan's <i>No Truth to Sell </i>to their search lists. The two tracks on his "Linda's Song" 45, especially, have a haunted aura with their journeyman lyrics and echo chamber strings. For the rest of his career, though, Bevan would settle in as Cleveland's good time troubadour-in-residence, appearing regularly on WNCR and WMMS, doing commercials for the Cleveland Browns, and performing the local anthem and signature song "Skinny" that he'd written and recorded in 1976 ("I'm a skinny little boy from Cleveland, Ohio / Come to chase your women and to drink your beer"). In 2017, Bevan released <a href="http://www.alexbevan.com/" target="_blank">his 25th album</a>.<br />
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<b>Side A: "Linda's Song"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "Brady Street Hotel"</b><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628083921981318027.post-20337162459033846942017-10-03T15:03:00.001-07:002020-07-24T03:06:20.578-07:00WMEX (Boston): Top 40<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWA1Uin_46KxIDVnLbsik86upx1PH_ht_-Ttvw3BhtfkbDuCgo0uPdC6kSNfA_6gNzO4DMpgEgrpN5YwV8RtZoyPkDUTp6Hzq8cUd7Vtvq4ZSBN3ptKGlPw55ODKk2ogAlZgIj5foWFzYi/s1600/wmex.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="199" data-original-width="256" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWA1Uin_46KxIDVnLbsik86upx1PH_ht_-Ttvw3BhtfkbDuCgo0uPdC6kSNfA_6gNzO4DMpgEgrpN5YwV8RtZoyPkDUTp6Hzq8cUd7Vtvq4ZSBN3ptKGlPw55ODKk2ogAlZgIj5foWFzYi/s320/wmex.png" width="320" /></a></div>
One of Boston radio history's fabled Top 40 stations is WMEX (1510 AM), whose star disk jockey Arnie "Woo Woo" Ginsburg held court noisily from 1957 to 1967. His departure brought in Dick Summer, a man with a psychology degree that matched him up well with a radio industry getting increasingly preoccupied with demographics and audience behavior. Pursuing his concept of the "human thing" in radio, Summer launched his "Lovin' Touch" program, in which he'd wax poetic in the manner of Ken "Word Jazz" Nordine. A 1972 <i>Rolling Stone </i>article wisecracked that Summer's sensitive shtick "would have made Rod McKuen look callous beside him." Summer's experiment, though, fell in line with radio trends such as Brother John Rydgren's syndicated "Love format" on ABC radio (from 1968 to 1970) and the forthcoming "feminine" formats.<br />
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In 1970, the station became a quintessential early seventies outlet with the arrival of music director John H. Garabedian, whose aggressive playlist-crafting and phone monitoring boosted the station's ratings, at one point, past WRKO, its higher-powered competitor. Among his winning programming strategies were a heavy reliance on album tracks and a willingness to test drive records before conducting any lengthy research. The above mentioned <i>Rolling Stone </i>article, "<a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/boston-tests-new-music-flunks-out-19720120" target="_blank">Boston Tests New Music and Flunks Out</a>," by Timothy Crouse, mentions such songs as "Do You Know What I Mean" (Lee Michaels), "Maggie May" (Rod Stewart), "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" (Paul and Linda McCartney), "Sunshine" (Jonathan Edwards), and "Looking for a Love" (J. Geils Band) as being direct beneficiaries of Garabedian's attentions.<br />
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Although new ownership in late 1971 would send Garabedian and his "John H." show packing, WMEX—although never to be the ratings success it once was—maintained an album track-inflected approach and a sufficiently influential ability to "break" records. Disk jockey Jim "JC" Connors reportedly earned gold records for "My Ding a Ling" (Chuck Berry), "How Do You Do" (Mouth and MacNeal), "Daddy Don't You Walk So Fast" (Wayne Newton), and "Power of Love" (Joe Simon), among others, in gratitude for his perceived role in popularizing the tracks. (Connors was also the acknowledged inspiration for Harry Chapin's "WOLD.") In 1975, the station would switch formats to easy listening, bringing its distinctive early seventies Top 40 run to a close.<br />
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A 1972 promotional charity album exists for WMEX, which you can perhaps search for at Boston thrift stores. It was one of the many cookie cutter records manufactured by Variety Club of Indianapolis for use by radio stations all over the US. They all sported duplicate covers and track lists but made space for personalized images of a station's airstaff in the gatefold. Coincidentally, one of the songs on this <i>Solid Gold </i>compilation is the Irish Rovers' "Unicorn Song," which Garabedian happens to ridicule <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRWw0T_mnVY" target="_blank">in a 1970 aircheck (at 13:25)</a>. The deejays in the photos are Bill Lawrence, Connors, J. Michael Wilson, King Arthur Knight, and Tom Allen. (I copied these images from an eBay seller, so I can't tell who's in the obscured one. It could possibly be Dan Donovan or Jerry Gordon, but it also appears to say "Program Director" at the bottom. I thought Connors was the PD at that time, so I'm stumped.)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTYvkBmGj7izLO4O-hJ4aLzRpxnVjz7GC56mPFYY-_BvoqSUvX02kQuT86nfHU_qWNDw32hpsipkD0DuCioCWwDhTWwf7kP2EaVju9S8r3QvakdastMyRDiMCAw1F4soz2f3s5U70LJNDI/s1600/solidgold1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="921" data-original-width="929" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTYvkBmGj7izLO4O-hJ4aLzRpxnVjz7GC56mPFYY-_BvoqSUvX02kQuT86nfHU_qWNDw32hpsipkD0DuCioCWwDhTWwf7kP2EaVju9S8r3QvakdastMyRDiMCAw1F4soz2f3s5U70LJNDI/s200/solidgold1.png" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtvB7VQy50aEmkkzzjulc0QWy9Ns8TdP-8Qnn9vMj5LTYSvMtS5kx6RSPp2eSnqXelmdx4q27qHLWGVogfbV23lmomqi5rLPIdeldK3lIaIBkN4gSLrZBbudXrqbs511QNDsdRcKM5hbRn/s1600/solidgold3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="933" data-original-width="925" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtvB7VQy50aEmkkzzjulc0QWy9Ns8TdP-8Qnn9vMj5LTYSvMtS5kx6RSPp2eSnqXelmdx4q27qHLWGVogfbV23lmomqi5rLPIdeldK3lIaIBkN4gSLrZBbudXrqbs511QNDsdRcKM5hbRn/s200/solidgold3.png" width="197" /></a></div>
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Most radio surveys for WMEX between 1971 and 1974 (nothing for 1970) are available at the Airheads Radio Survey Guide. They reveal, after a scan-through, the following songs to be among the station's unique airplay additions that never charted nationally:<br />
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Mike D'Abo - "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ijXIJRMhKE" target="_blank">King Herod's Song</a>"<br />
McGuinness Flint - "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fv6xNKio4vo" target="_blank">Friends of Mine</a>"<br />
Lodi - "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_xuSzhpRCg" target="_blank">Happiness</a>"<br />
The Move - "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIR9iq4Ar0s" target="_blank">Tonight</a>"<br />
Three Dog Night - "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdrUY63r2jM" target="_blank">You</a>"<br />
Beach Boys - "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNatmWFhhuI" target="_blank">Student Demonstration Time</a>"<br />
Grand Funk Railroad - "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m97Qh-1B1EQ" target="_blank">People Let's Stop the War</a>"<br />
Jake Jones - "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGDK50Gyi18" target="_blank">Trippin' Down a Country Road</a>"<br />
Judee Sill - "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTAesI73E1U" target="_blank">Jesus Was a Crossmaker</a>"<br />
CCS - "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOOpbqs5myI" target="_blank">Tap Turns on the Water</a>"<br />
Lighthouse - "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVcYItbbyxs" target="_blank">Take It Slow</a>"<br />
The Rascals - "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUZ3uVgLDOc" target="_blank">Lucky Day</a>"<br />
Poco - "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh0tM2IOrlo" target="_blank">Railroad Days</a>"<br />
Steve Martin (of the Left Banke) - "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wYzf43tbGk" target="_blank">Two By Two</a>"<br />
Colin Blunstone - "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfYjsgc66X4" target="_blank">Caroline Goodbye</a>"<br />
Newport News - "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQupSz3eb-Y" target="_blank">When the Bell Rings</a>"<br />
Tranquility - "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsQxQdViyp8" target="_blank">Thank You</a>"<br />
Paul Williams - "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsayA_R013M" target="_blank">My Love and I</a>"<br />
Robin and Jo - "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWDpit6tPKQ" target="_blank">Chapel of Love</a>"<br />
John Kongos - "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbWI5Gf9rv8" target="_blank">Jubilee Cloud</a>"<br />
John Stewart - "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D466rMeN94Y" target="_blank">Arkansas Breakout</a>"<br />
Sugar Bus - "Tramp"<br />
The Eagles - "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4Vvl9dHNwg" target="_blank">Train Leaves Here This Morning</a>"<br />
Michael Holm - "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_h47mlbhqkU" target="_blank">I Will Return</a>"<br />
Brewer and Shipley - "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIue2OG-JZE" target="_blank">Yankee Lady</a>"<br />
Buckwheat - "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h75gBEWBgKY" target="_blank">Hey Little Girl</a>"<br />
Spyder's Gang - "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u216UqV97h0" target="_blank">Waiting in Line</a>"<br />
Sha Na Na - "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7nQtuWuY9Y" target="_blank">Bounce in Your Buggy</a>"<br />
Tom Paxton - "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oplc7RSMq1U" target="_blank">Jesus Christ S.R.O.</a>"<br />
The Lorelei - "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxhdhy5tmZI" target="_blank">S.T.O.P. (Stop)</a>"<br />
Peter Sarstedt - "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pv4bjtqB7Eg" target="_blank">You're a Lady</a>"<br />
Eric - "Wonder Where My Friend Could Be"<br />
Barrabas - "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2yocE5UE2I" target="_blank">Boogie Rock</a>"<br />
Livingston Taylor - "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkONdOWX0mo" target="_blank">Over the Rainbow</a>"<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628083921981318027.post-45614455567783121292017-09-26T11:55:00.001-07:002020-11-19T02:48:24.671-08:00Andy Williams: The Early '70s Charting SinglesThe 1960s were Andy Williams's big decade, where his reassuring grin charmed TV cameras and his fail-safe croon comforted the generation gap's parental wing. His signature song "Moon River," from the 1961 <i>Breakfast at Tiffany's </i>film, became the theme song for his <i>Andy Williams Show</i>, which ran on NBC from 1962 to 1971 and helped create the template for the variety show format that dominated television throughout the following decade. Among Williams's early seventies highlights as one of easy listening radio's most reliable voices were definitive versions of the <i>Love Story </i>and <i>Godfather </i>movie themes, although his presence on the <i>Billboard </i>charts would fade by 1976 (not counting the now perennial Christmas reissue appearances.)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKvuylbQWIGY7wuj5RAk9r906ipn8VpSOBxDlzvR66uU8HMycrPjmkkBSxBga6w8TGpzblhjNAx-yRr7UyeWiq4qTn16TP1NvkxBBWH8CwmpbHrdCo3r9GphQGUOasrXLSuh8tVEqwtRMW/s1600/R-1527525-1352238491-7550.jpeg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKvuylbQWIGY7wuj5RAk9r906ipn8VpSOBxDlzvR66uU8HMycrPjmkkBSxBga6w8TGpzblhjNAx-yRr7UyeWiq4qTn16TP1NvkxBBWH8CwmpbHrdCo3r9GphQGUOasrXLSuh8tVEqwtRMW/s1600/R-1527525-1352238491-7550.jpeg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a><br />
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<b>"Can't Help Falling in Love" (1970) - </b><b>Andy Williams</b></div>
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Written by George David Weiss, Hugo Peretti, and Luigi Creatore * Produced by Dick Glasser * Arranged by Al Capps * 45: "Can't Help Falling in Love" / "Sweet Memories" * Label: Columbia * <i>Billboard </i>charts: Hot 100 (#88); easy listening (#28) * Entered: 1970-02-28 (Hot 100/easy listening)<br />
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In the late sixties Columbia record executives determined that the way to keep their classic voices like Andy Williams and Tony Bennett commercially viable was through movie themes and contemporary hit covers. (Clive Davis, in his 1975 autobiography, reports Bennett as being none too happy about the strategy, favoring Great American Songbook standards.) Williams's first chart entry takes Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling in Love" and straps it onto a bolting horse; the heights to which arranger Al Capps pushes Williams's vocal make him sound like a jockey trying not to lose control. This was a single-only release in the US, with a flipside called "Sweet Memories" taken from his 1969 <i>Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head </i>album. Written by Mickey Newbury, that song seemed to have all sorts of natural, unappreciated hit potential. It featured a melodic hook in the verses later used by John Denver in "Sunshine on My Shoulders," while the choruses allowed Williams to sing falsetto and (unlike the A-side) to glide with grace.<br />
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<b>Side A: "Can't Help Falling in Love"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "Sweet Memories"</b><br />
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<b>"One Day of Your Life" (1970) - </b><b>Andy Williams</b></div>
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Written by Howard Greenfield and Neil Sedaka * Produced by Dick Glasser * Arranged by Al Capps * 45: "One Day of Your Life" / "Long Time Blues" * Label: Columbia * <i>Billboard </i>charts: Hot 100 (#77); easy listening (#2) * Entered: 1970-06-06 (easy listening); 1970-06-27 (Hot 100)<br />
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<i>The Andy Williams Show </i>ran on NBC from 1962-1971 and had served as a convenient springboard for the popular easy listening crooner's record releases. For eight episodes during the summer of 1970, the program morphed into <i>Andy Williams Presents Ray Stevens. </i>This was an apparent trial run for the comedy country singer who had scored a surprise #1 earlier in the year with the earnest "Everything Is Beautiful." A June episode of the show featured a Williams guest turn where (in addition to wrangling with the show's ever-present "Cookie Bear") he performed this hyper-arranged Neil Sedaka-Howard Greenfield number, which sounded made to order for a Kodak commercial. (It also seemed poised to merge into a medley, at any moment, with Gary Puckett's "Young Girl.") Although the A-side was a single-only release, the rural B-side "Long Time Blues," written by "Classical Gas" guitarist/comedy writer Mason Williams (no relation), had shown up previously on the 1969 <i>Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head </i>album<i>.</i><br />
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<b>Side A: "One Day of Your Life"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "Long Time Blues"</b><br />
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<b>"Joanne" (1970) - </b><b>Andy Williams</b></div>
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Written by Michael Nesmith * Produced by Mike Post * LP: <i>The Andy Williams Show</i> * Label: Columbia * <i>Billboard </i>charts: —<br />
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The <i>Andy Williams Show</i> LP, released in the fall of 1970, gathered up a handful of his previously recorded covers from the late sixties and added six freshly recorded ones ("Joanne," "Make It With You," "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life," "Close to You," "El Condor Pasa," and "Snowbird"), then added applause tracks and segue music. Produced by Mike Post, the album presented a more scaled-down band sound as opposed to the big, orchestral approach more typically found on an Andy Williams record, and sold respectably in the US while going top ten in the UK. "Joanne" is Williams's steel-guitar countrypolitan version of ex-Monkee Michael Nesmith's #21 hit from earlier in the year. The song's baying vocal hook is perhaps what got the dog on the cover participating. In 1971, the album appeared on one of the rare surviving playlists of Los Angeles MOR station KMPC, which justifies inclusion here.
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<b>"Joanne"</b><br />
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<b>"Home Lovin' Man" (1970) - </b><b>Andy Williams</b></div>
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Written by Roger Greenaway, Roger Cook, and Tony Macaulay * Produced by Dick Glasser * Arranged by Artie Butler * 45: "Home Lovin' Man" / "Whistling in the Dark" * LP: <i>Alone Again (Naturally) </i>(1972, two years later) * Label: Columbia * <i>Billboard </i>charts: Easy listening (#10-1970; #27-1972) * Entered: 1970-10-24 and 1972-11-04<br />
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The three British songwriters Roger Greenaway, Roger Cook, and Tony Macaulay were late-sixties/early-seventies zeitgeist-crafting VIPs, generating between them such era-defining hits as "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing," "Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress," "Gimme Dat Ding," and "Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)." Their evocative, seafaring "Home Lovin' Man," though, which featured a "Whiter Shade of Pale" organ intro and an uncredited pianist sounding very much like Nicky Hopkins, had all the earmarks of a big hit in Britain, where Andy Williams's recording of it peaked at #7. (According to Williams, in his <i>Moon River and Me </i>memoir, the song had originally been intended for actor-singer Richard Harris, who was "irate" over the interception.) In the US, though, it only managed to go top ten on the easy listening chart. The flipside contained a big, Al Capps-orchestrated version of Henry Mancini's "Whistling Away in the Dark," from the <i>Darling Lili </i>film (starring Julie Andrews). Both sides were non-album tracks, reflecting a possible short-term effort on Columbia's part to keep Williams's singles and albums as separate marketing entities.<br />
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In 1972, "Home Lovin' Man" would reappear on the <i>Alone Again (Naturally) </i>album, with a reissue of the track as a single maxing out at #27 on the <i>Billboard </i>easy listening chart. Although the album itself bore the title of a Gilbert O'Sullivan song, the O'Sullivan-penned flipside for the "Home Lovin' Man" single reissue did not make the cut. Entitled "Who Was It," the recording had appeared on O'Sullivan's UK chart-topping LP <i>Back to Front </i>and charted in the US the following year in the distinctive voice of Hurricane Smith. Williams's version, though, features an unsettling, double-tracked lead vocal.<br />
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<b>Side A: "Home Lovin' Man"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "Who Was It"</b><br />
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<b>"(Where Do I Begin) Love Story" (1971) - </b><b>Andy Williams</b></div>
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Written by Carl Sigman and Francis Lai * Produced by Dick Glasser * Arranged by Richard P. Hazard * 45: "(Where Do I Begin) Love Story"/"Something" * LP: <i>Love Story</i> * Label: Columbia * <i>Billboard </i>charts: Hot 100 (#9); easy listening (#1) * Entered: 1971-02-06 (both charts)<br />
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Although Erich Segal's <i>Love Story</i> was enough of a bummer to fit early seventies film trends, it also had a sentimental, tearjerker quality, rife with images of two lovers (played by Ryan O'Neal and Ali MacGraw) frolicking in the snow, to function as an effective cultural escape. The pervasive title theme (which contained no vocalized manifestations on the soundtrack) was among the last of the big multiple-version hits, although the <i>Godfather </i>theme tried to keep the tradition alive the following year. Out of the five charting recordings of this song, all of which competed with each other in early 1971, the crescendo-heavy Andy Williams version climbed highest at #9. Columbia label-mate Tony Bennett would enter the charts with an equally dramatic iteration a week later, but wouldn't be able to contend with a Williams single that had already caught fire. Side B contains a comparatively soothing interpretation of George Harrison's "Something," which alternates between cheerful horns and moody strings.<br />
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<b>Side A: "Where Do I Begin (Love Story)"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "Something"</b><br />
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<b>"A Song for You" (1971) - </b><b>Andy Williams</b></div>
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Written by Leon Russell * Produced by Dick Glasser * Arranged by Ernie Freeman * 45: "A Song for You" / "You've Got a Friend" * LP: <i>You've Got a Friend</i> * Label: Columbia * <i>Billboard </i>charts: Hot 100 (#82); easy listening (#29) * Entered: 1971-08-21 (Hot 100); 1971-08-28 (easy listening)<br />
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Oklahoma songwriter/musician Leon Russell had long established himself as an in-demand LA session player and side man by the time he recorded his first solo album, <i>A Song for You,</i> in 1970. With its sophisticated structure and expressive melody, the title track became a favorite cover tune for big voices. Andy Williams was among the first to interpret it, adding it to his <i>You've Got a Friend </i>album, which rounded up eleven versions of contemporary hits. With its opening chord sequence mirroring the first two chords from "Love Story," among more general similarities in mood throughout, it sounded like a suitable follow-up. An Al Capps-arranged show band version of "You've Got a Friend" appears on the B-side, while the back cover depicts a <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3zCF3W6izaiLZSw-vjyN1uKz6nszvlUwSdEZH2BMJzO7uXVjwZH3zDlLCoZlfZOhSgYidePDQJ-Ktp8NyLbTRCZqMaofnFzU016_ebm7ohOKEN9ILhsuiNtNnjkQ4iHXjCo7LKY7LLN9u/s1600/Andy+Williams+You've+got+a+friend++Back.jpg" target="_blank">flashy Elton John look</a>.<br />
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<b>Side A: "A Song for You"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "You've Got a Friend"</b><br />
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<b>"Love Is All" (1971) - </b><b>Andy Williams</b></div>
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Written by Jack Elliott and Norman Gimbel * Produced by Dick Glasser * Arranged by Dick Hazard * 45: "Love Is All" / "Help Me Make It Through the Night" * <i>Billboard </i>charts: Easy listening (#29) * Entered: 1971-12-04<br />
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"Love Is All" was part three in Andy Williams's early seventies run of minor-key <i>chansons nouvelles, </i>the idea clearly being to replicate the success of "Love Story." This was another vocalized version of an instrumental movie theme, this time for Herbert Ross's bummer film <i>T.R. Baskin</i>, about a newly-independent young runaway (Candice Bergen) struggling to get a footing in Chicago. The era's preoccupations with the cold muddle of modern life are on full display along with ripe thematic offerings for timely feminist cultural critique. Disadvantaged by the film's poor reviews and box office receipts, though, "Love Is All" only managed an easy listening chart appearance before vanishing, never even showing up on an album. In 1973, Engelbert Humperdinck would barely dent the Hot 100 with the song. Side B of Williams's single is a version of Kris Kristofferson's "Help Me Make It Through the Night," about a lonely one night stand, and in spite of Ernie Freeman's atmospheric string arrangement, it comes off as a cruel swipe at Bergman's sexually vulnerable film character.<br />
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<b>Side A: "Love Is All"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "Help Me Make It Through the Night"</b><br />
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<b><b>"Music from Across the Way" (1972) - </b></b><b>Andy Williams</b></div>
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Written by James Last and Carl Sigman * Produced by Dick Glasser * Arranged by Ernie Freeman * 45: "Music from Across the Way" / "The Last Time I Saw Her" * LP: <i>Love Theme from "The Godfather"</i> * Label: Columbia * <i>Billboard </i>charts: Easy listening (#30) * Entered: 1972-01-29<br />
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Like William's previous three singles, "Music from Across the Way" sailed the same melodramatic, minor-key waters as "Love Story." That song's Carl Sigman even provided lyrics for it, with German show band maestro James Last handling the music. Last's own version, sung by an anonymous choral group, outperformed Williams's, reaching the Hot 100 at #84 around the same time. After a brief easy listening chart appearance, the track would eventually turn up on Williams's forthcoming <i>Love Theme from "The Godfather" </i>album. For the opening piano line, arranger Ernie Freeman borrows from the Carpenters's "For All We Know" refrain. On side B of the single is a treatment of Gordon Lightfoot's 1968 track "The Last Time I Saw Her," which Glen Campbell had turned into a charting crossover single in 1971.<br />
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<b>Side A: "Music from Across the Way"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "The Last Time I Saw Her"</b><br />
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<b>"Speak Softly Love (Love Theme from The Godfather)" (1972) - </b><b>Andy Williams</b></div>
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Written by Nino Rota and Larry Kusik * Produced by Dick Glasser * Arranged by Al Capps * 45: "Speak Softly Love (Love Theme from 'The Godfather')" / "Home for Thee" * LP: <i>Love Theme from "The Godfather"</i> * Label: Columbia * <i>Billboard </i>charts: Hot 100 (# 34); Easy listening (#7) * Entered: 1970-04-08 (both charts)<br />
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Francis Ford Coppola's <i>The Godfather </i>turned Mario Puzo's best-selling mafia novel into the highest grossing film of 1972, demonstrating that the early seventies cinematic penchant for downbeat themes had blockbuster potential. Critical success accompanied it too, with many of its scenes and performances turning into cultural touchstones. Among the era's preoccupations playing out on screen were the plight of the antihero, a fascination with family and tradition at a time when both underwent unprecedented redefinition, and a "going back" instinct that reached toward ethnicity and roots.<br />
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In spite of this, Andy Williams, one of pop music's WASP-iest singers, ended up with the biggest hit version of the theme song, but he was primed and ready, having charted the previous four times with similarly sophisticated and stormy minor-key offerings. Composed for the soundtrack by the classically-oriented Nino Rota, veteran lyricist Larry Kusik then turned the theme into the vocal-friendly "Speak Softly Love." As Andrew J. Edelstein and Kevin McDonough said about the film in their <i>The Seventies: From Hot Pants to Hot Tubs </i>(1990), the record came off as "high art disguised as pop entertainment."<br />
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Aside from Williams, who had his final Top 40 appearance with the song, the only other singer to chart with it (#80) would be Al Martino, who had played washed up pop star Johnny Fontaine in the film. Instrumental versions by Roger Williams (#116), Carlo Savina (#66, from the soundtrack album), and Ferrante and Teicher (easy listening #28) also made chart showings. <i> </i>Side B of "Speak Softly Love" contained the 45-only track "Home for Thee," written by Paul Parrish. (Final tangential tidbit: Lyricist Larry Kusik was the uncle of the musician and music writer Lenny Kaye, for whom Kusik had once written and produced a record called "Crazy Like a Fox," on which Kaye used the pseudonym "Link Cromwell.")<br />
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<b>Side A: "Speak Softly Love (Love Theme from The Godfather)"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "Home for Thee"</b><br />
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<b>"MacArthur Park" (1972) - </b><b>Andy Williams</b></div>
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Written by Jimmy Webb * Produced by Dick Glasser * Arranged by Artie Butler * 45: "MacArthur Park" / "Amazing Grace" * LP: <i>Love Theme from "The Godfather"</i> * Label: Columbia * <i>Billboard </i>charts: Bubbling under (#102) * Entered: 1972-08-05<br />
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Its high angst levels, epic length and "cake in the rain" lyrics have always invited critics to call it overbaked, but Jimmy Webb's "MacArthur Park" nonetheless touched some sort of psychological nerve in its time. Between 1968 and 1972, the actor Richard Harris (in the voice and persona of a mad Renaissance courtier), Waylon Jennings (with Grammy-winning dourness), the Four Tops, and Andy Williams all showed up on various <i>Billboard </i>charts with their own personalized recipes for it. No one did as well as Harris, who'd reached #2, but of the four, Williams served up the most palatable entry.<br />
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With an intro that hints at Burt Bacharach's "Trains and Boats and Plains" or the Bee Gees' "Words," the Artie Butler arrangement for this version bumps the severe minor-key verse section to the end while allowing the major-key bridge—in which Williams shames Harris on the high notes—to take precedence. In 1978 Donna Summer would elevate "MacArthur Park" to pop heaven, with a 45 that managed to clock in under four minutes and still seem grandiose. (She'd make an eighteen-minute behemoth available for discotheques.) The flipside of Williams's single was his contribution to Jesus Rock—a version of "Amazing Grace." This had previously appeared on his <i>Alone Again (Naturally) </i>album with an Al Capps arrangement taking cues from Judy Collins's acapella hit from early 1971.<br />
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<b>Side A: "MacArthur Park"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "Amazing Grace"</b><br />
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<b>"Solitaire" (1973) - </b><b>Andy Williams</b></div>
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Written by Neil Sedaka and Phil Cody * Produced by Richard Perry * 45: "Solitaire" / "My Love" * LP: <i>Solitaire</i> * <i>Billboard </i>charts: Easy listening (#23) * Entered: 1973-10-06<br />
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With his <i>Solitaire </i>LP, Andy Williams shook things up by getting in the studio with producer Richard Perry, who had been on a hot streak with hit albums by Carly Simon, Harry Nilsson, and Ringo Starr, among others. The song selection included deeper album tracks along with the usual hit covers, while Williams's vocal sound now popped with slapback echo. Neil Sedaka's original 1972 recording of the album's title track had included more card metaphors in the chorus, which Williams and Perry had altered to Sedaka's apparent chagrin (as reported in Williams's <i>Moon River and Me</i>). After the song reached #4 in the UK and then became a Top 40 hit for the Carpenters, Sedaka likely set his grievances aside. The closing section of "Solitaire" transported listeners directly to the closing section of Nilsson's "Without You," a #1 hit for Perry in 1972. The <i>Solitaire </i>version of Paul McCartney's "My Love," with an uncomfortable rendering of its "whoah whoahs," takes up the B side. Another song from the album—a satisfying interpretation of "Getting Over You" by the British singer-songwriter Tony Hazzard—rose to #35 in England.<br />
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<b>Side A: "Solitaire"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "My Love"</b><br />
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<b>UK chart bonus: "Getting Over You"</b><br />
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<b>"Remember" (1974) - </b><b>Andy Williams and Noelle</b></div>
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Written by Harry Nilsson * Produced by Richard Perry * 45: "Remember" / "Walk Right Back" (Andy Williams) * LP: <i>Solitaire</i> * Label: Columbia * <i>Billboard </i>charts: Easy listening (#30) * Entered: 1974-01-05<br />
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Seventies TV had a thing for variety shows, in which hosts would guide viewers through a bevy of skits and musical numbers. A standard Christmas device brought audiences into a celebrity's "home," as Andy Williams had done every year since 1962. Although his show had run its course by 1971, he was back on air in 1973 for a December 13 Christmas special, which treated viewers to songs by Andy, his own brothers, his teen idol nephews the Williams Brothers, and his then-wife Claudine Longet. In one segment, Williams sings Harry Nilsson's "Remember Christmas" to Noelle, his ten-year-old daughter. This prompted Columbia to release a 45 of the song—which had also appeared on his recently released <i>Solitaire </i>album—with added dialogue and a verse sung by Noelle. The album version, thankfully, is free of these intrusions. A product of the '73 Christmas season, the record made its first chart appearance in January 1974. (Neither the 45 nor the album version of the song use Nilsson's full title of "Remember Christmas.") The venerable British session man Nicky Hopkins handled the gorgeous piano part, as he had done on the original 1972 recording by Nilsson, while the ever-reliable Gene Page worked his magic on the string arrangement. An unembarrassing iteration of the Everly Brothers' "Walk Right Back" from <i>Solitaire, </i>with tasteful Jimmy Calvert guitar lines, appears on the flipside.<br />
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<b>Side A: "Remember"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "Walk Right Back"</b><br />
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<b>"Love's Theme" (1974) - </b><b>Andy Williams </b></div>
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Written by Aaron Schroeder and Barry White * Produced by Mike Curb * Arranged by Don Costa * 45: "Love's Theme" / "You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me" * LP: <i>The Way We Were</i> * Label: Columbia * <i>Billboard </i>charts: Easy listening (#16) * Entered: 1974-06-08<br />
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After Andy Williams's flirtation with contemporary album artistry on <i>Solitaire, </i>he appeared to drift back into easy listening assembly-line mode for his follow-up, <i>The Way We Were. </i>Every song but one—a Mike Curb-Alan Osmond variation on "O Holy Night" (listen to the bridge) called "If I Could Only Go Back Again"—paid tribute to established hits. Even so, Williams's vocal version of the Love Unlimited Orchestra's "Love's Theme" went down like a sweet disco ambrosia. Love Unlimited, the vocal trio on whose <i>Under the Influence of Love </i>album Barry White's instrumental first appeared, did their own vocalized take, also using Aaron Schroeder's lyrics, for their late 1974 <i>In Heat </i>album.<br />
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MGM mogul Mike Curb's involvement in the Columbia album as producer is a curiosity that perhaps had to do with some inter-label tit for tat. In 1966, MGM had released the soundtrack to the Columbia film <i>Born Free, </i>which may well have set the table for a deal like this. Williams's side-B easy listening performance of Jim Weatherly's "Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me" (with an added "You're" in the title), demonstrates the song's crossover elasticity—Gladys Knight had recently topped the soul chart with it while Ray Price did the same thing on the country chart, and both records appeared on the Hot 100 (Gladys Knight #3, Ray Price #82).<br />
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<b>Side A: "Love's Theme"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me"</b><br />
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<b>Bonus: "If I Could Only Go Back Again"</b><br />
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<b>"Another Lonely Song" (1974) - </b><b>Andy Williams</b></div>
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Written by Billy Sherrill, Norro Wilson, and Tammy Wynette * Produced by Billy Sherrill * 45: "Another Lonely Song" / "A Mi Esposa con Amor" * LP: <i>You Lay So Easy on My Mind</i> * Label: Columbia * <i>Billboard </i>charts: Easy listening (#29) * Entered: 1974-09-21<br />
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With country music going through such aggressive crossover experimentation in the early seventies, it wasn't any kind of stretch for Andy Williams to "go country" for one album. All he needed was some denim for the cover, a judicious steel guitarist, a Nashville producer, and a roundup of ten hits that already sounded like candidates for the easy listening charts. Tammy Wynette's 1973 chart-topping "Another Lonely Song" got the nod as the lead off single for Williams's <i>You Lay So Easy on My Mind </i>album, produced by countrypolitan king Billy Sherrill. An interpretation of acquired-taste vocalist Sonny James's 1973 country hit "A Mi Esposa con Amor (To My Wife with Love)" appears on side B.<br />
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<b>Side A: "Another Lonely Song"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "A Mi Esposa con Amor"</b><br />
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<b>"Love Said Goodbye" (1974) - </b><b>Andy Williams</b></div>
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Written by Nino Rota and Larry Kusik * Produced and arranged by Marty and David Paich * 45: "Love Said Goodbye" / "One More Time" * Label: Columbia * <i>Billboard </i>charts: Easy listening (#24) * Entered: 1975-01-11<br />
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The December 1974 release of the second acclaimed <i>Godfather </i>film, complete with a new theme song by Nino Rota, called for another Andy Williams rendition. "Love Said Goodbye" was a similar-sounding but less-memorable track with lyrics again provided by Larry Kusik, and it greeted the market late in the year as a non-album one-off. The record signaled early success for future Toto member David Paich, son of veteran arranger/producer Marty, who'd already won an Emmy with his father in May 1974 for a piece the two had composed for the <i>Ironsides </i>TV show. Side B of the <i>Godfather Part II </i>single included David's song "One More Time," which was unavailable on any albums until it showed up as a bonus track on the 2002 CD reissue of the 1976 <i>Andy </i>album.<br />
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<b>Side A: "Love Said Goodbye"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "One More Time"</b><br />
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<b>"Cry Softly" (1974) - </b><b>Andy Williams</b></div>
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Written by Buddy Killen, Billy Sherrill, and Glen Sutton * Produced by Billy Sherrill * 45: "Cry Softly" / "You Lay So Easy on My Mind" * LP: <i>You Lay So Easy on My Mind</i> * Label: Columbia * <i>Billboard </i>charts: Easy listening (#20) * Entered: 1975-04-12<br />
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In 1966, before the names Buddy Killen, Billy Sherrill, or Glen Sutton became such country industry fixtures, Nancy Ames crept into the Hot 100 (#95) with "Cry Softly"—a schlager welding-job the three men had done on the Franz Liszt melody "Liebestraum." Andy Williams's 1974 recording of the song gathered up enough momentum on MOR radio for it to see release as a single, which entered the <i>Billboard </i>easy listening chart in April 1975. Although Sherrill is listed as a songwriter on the label, he had only appeared as a co-producer on the 1966 Ames single for some reason. (The closing musical phrase in the verses drove me crazy for a long time because it reminded me of something else, which turned out to be the chorus endings of Cass Elliot's "One Way Ticket.")<br />
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One of the more memorable songs on the <i>You Lay So Easy on My Mind </i>album was the title track, which also served as the B-side of "Cry Softly." It took Bobby G. Rice's
1973 sexual revolution double entendre hit and traded its honky tonk
gait and underwater guitar for crying lap steel and even more emphasis
on the chorus's falsetto. Not released as a single in the US, it reached
#32 in the UK. Only two more songs (in 1975 and 1976) would chart for Willliams in the US and UK until 1998, when TV commercials by Peugeot ("Can't Take My Eyes Off of You") and Fiat ("Music to Watch Girls By") would spark a UK revival. <b> </b>[And thanks to the commenter who has pointed out the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Williams_discography#%22It's_the_Most_Wonderful_Time_of_the_Year%22" target="_blank">rejuvenated chart power</a> of "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year."]<br />
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<b>Side A: "Cry Softly"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "You Lay So Easy on My Mind"</b> <br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628083921981318027.post-35066748718908239522017-09-12T07:56:00.000-07:002020-08-11T03:29:02.350-07:00Chart Song Cinema: Sometimes a Great Notion (1970)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>"All His Children" (1971) - </b><b>Charley Pride with Henry Mancini</b></div>
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Written by Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman, and Henry Mancini * Producer: Jack Clement * 45: "All His Children" / "You'll Still Be the One" * LP: <i>Sometimes a Great Notion</i> (soundtrack) * Label: Decca (LP); RCA (45) * Charts: <i>Billboard</i> Hot 100 (#92); <i>Billboard</i> country (#2) * Entered: 1972-04-01 (Hot 100); 1972-02-19 (country)<br />
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The 1971 Paul Newman film <i>Sometimes a Great Notion</i> (which had the much better overseas title of <i>Never Give an Inch</i>) put Ken Kesey's Oregon logging novel, with its gorgeous fir trees and coastal scenery, to the big screen. If early seventies media tended to splash its feet in post-sixties cultural bewilderment, this film submerged itself, with every development—all the way to the closing credits—feeling like a gasping lunge through political and interpersonal complexity. Charley Pride's theme song, written by composers who excelled in memorability, was surprisingly forgettable, and the odd paired billing of Pride and Mancini (who also gave his arrangement scoopfuls of stock background vocals) only added to the entire project's murkiness. What makes "All His Children" special, though, is Pride's final note, which sputters with knowing exasperation. A Johnny Duncan composition from <i>Charley Pride Sings Heart Songs </i>(1971) appears on the B-side.<br />
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<b>Side A: "All His Children"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "You'll Still Be the One"</b><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628083921981318027.post-38405215663479223112016-11-30T16:17:00.017-08:002021-05-26T20:00:36.864-07:00Tom Jones: The Early '70s Charting Singles<span style="text-align: left;">So many of the sub-chapters in early '70s pop music history involve artists whose radio strategies from the '60s ran into complications. Sir Tom Jones, the Welsh emblem of libido in a tuxedo with the mastodon voice, whose Vegas persona found solid appeal with the youth market's mothers, was no exception. He shared manager Gordon Mills with Engelbert Humperdinck, a singer who perhaps embraced that unhip, bread-and-butter demographic more hungrily than did the more soulful Jones. His early '70s singles—which included a hit even bigger than "It's Not Usual," "What's New Pussycat," or "Green Green Grass of Home"—plot a course to mid-'70s pop chart oblivion, which forced a late '70s re-route to country radio, followed by a dance re-branding in 1988. Such is the very bigness of Tom Jones, though. Space has gotta be made somewhere for it.</span><br />
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<b>"Without Love (There Is Nothing)" (1969) - </b><b>Tom Jones</b></div>
<b><br /></b>Written by Danny Small * Produced by Peter Sullivan * 45: "Without Love (There Is Nothing)" / "The Man Who Knows Too Much" * LP: <i>Tom</i> * Label: Parrot * <i>Billboard</i> charts: Hot 100 (#5); easy listening (#1) * Entered: 1969-12-27 (Hot 100); 1970-01-03 (easy listening)<br />
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In his <i>Over the Top and Back </i>(2015), a regretful Tom Jones reveals that his excitement to record a version of "Without Love (There Is Nothing)" by his idol Clyde McPhatter caused him to reject a song called "The Long and Winding Road" that Paul McCartney had offered exclusively to him. His first choice paid off nicely, though, going Top 5 and giving him the chance to further demonstrate the R&B roots that differentiated him from his rival Engelbert Humperdinck. It featured a unique, out-of-fashion spoken intro he was eager to include against the wishes of in-house Decca producer Peter Sullivan, which Jones believed someone could only "pull off if there's belief in what you're saying." (The 1957 McPhatter track included no such intro.) James Luck and John Szego's "The Man Who Knows Too Much" sounded like a lost James Bond theme and leapt out as a 45-only B side.<br />
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<b>Side A: "Without Love (There Is Nothing)"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "The Man Who Knows Too Much"</b><br />
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<b><b>"Daughter of Darkness" (1970) - </b></b><b>Tom Jones</b></div>
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Written by Geoff Stephens and Les Reed * Produced by Peter Sullivan * 45: "Daughter of Darkness" / "Tupelo Mississippi Flash" * LP: <i>I (Who Have Nothing)</i> *Label: Parrot * <i>Billboard</i> charts: Hot 100 (#13); easy listening (#1) * Entered: 1970-05-02 (both charts)<br />
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The disembodied female voice in the intro hinted at impending doom, which might be understood now as Jones's forthcoming loss of chart momentum. (An accompanying steel guitar is chosen over theremin.) The darkness soon scatters, though, because Jones can't help but ham it up (climaxing at 2:58, when he yells "why did you feel so good!"—or something). His version of Jerry Reed's 1967 country hit "Tupelo Mississippi Flash" on side B showcased Jones's stylistic versatility, which made his recording gameplan as much of a challenge as it made his stage show so dynamic. The Welshman Jones did a good US southerner, although his enunciation of the "e" in Tupelo gave him away.<br />
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<b>Side A: "Daughter of Darkness"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "Tupelo Mississippi Flash"</b><br />
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<b><b>"I (Who Have Nothing)" (1970) - </b></b><b>Tom Jones</b></div>
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Written by Jeff Leiber and Mike Stoller * Produced by Peter Sullivan * 45: "I (Who Have Nothing)" / "Stop Breaking My Heart" * LP: <i>I (Who Have Nothing) * </i>Label: Parrot * <i>Billboard</i> charts: Hot 100 (#14); easy listening (#2) * Entered: 1970-08-22 (both charts)<br />
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Tom Jones released his 45 of "I (Who Have Nothing)" (covering former Drifter Ben E. King) within a year of releasing "Without Love (There Is Nothing)" (covering former Drifter Clyde McPhatter). The two "nothing" songs were quite something though, reaching #14 and #5, respectively. "I (Who Have Nothing)" had first been an Italian hit in 1961 for Joe Sentieri called "Uno Dei Tanti" as composed by Carlo Donida and Giulio "Mogol" Rapetti. Its lovelorn angst evokes the male-vocal Neopolitan song tradition that also brought forth such familiar melodies as "O Sole Mio" and "Santa Lucia." The English lyrics Jones used for his version—the highest charting one in the US—had been concocted by the rock 'n' roll songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller for the Ben E. King record.<br />
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Side B sported a fine track called "Stop Breaking My Heart," written by Jones manager Gordon Mills along with his arranger and perpetual-motion band conductor Johnny Harris. With its Motown vibe, it came from an underappreciated single Jones had put out in 1966. The album's "Wales: The Land of Song" <a href="http://www.audiopreservationfund.org/graphics/acquisitions/COL_00019/Back%20Covers/Big/COL_00019_02577.jpg" target="_blank">image on the back</a> could be the front cover for a theme album Jones might still conceivably record.<br />
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<b>Side A: "I (Who Have Nothing)"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "Stop Breaking My Heart"</b><br />
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<b>"Can't Stop Loving You" (1970) - </b><b>Tom Jones</b></div>
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Written by Tony Waddington and Wayne Bickerton * Produced by Gordon Mills * 45: "Can't Stop Loving You" / "Never Give Away Love" * LPs: <i>Tom; </i><i>I (Who Have Nothing) </i>* Label: Parrot * <i>Billboard</i> charts: Hot 100 (#25); easy listening (#3) * Entered: 1970-11-21 (Hot 100); 1970-11-28 (easy listening)<br />
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This is not to be confused with "<i>I</i> Can't Stop Loving You," the Don Gibson-penned Ray Charles weeper that Jones had included on his essential <i>Live at the Talk of the Town </i>LP. It's an altogether different song written by Waddington-Bickerton, the team that would soon provide star-making hits for the UK's Rubettes. Originally included on the April 1970 <i>Tom </i>album, the track found an encore spot on the US edition of the November 1970 <i>I (Who Have Nothing) </i>album thanks to airplay action. "Never Give Away Love," one of Jones's buried treasures (written by manager Gordon Mills), hailed from the same forgotten 1966 single as "Stop Breaking My Heart" on the flipside of his previous one.<br />
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<b>Side A: "Can't Stop Loving You"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "Never Give Away Love"</b><br />
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<b>"Puppet Man" (1971) - </b><b>Tom Jones</b></div>
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Written by Howard Greenfield and Neil Sedaka * Produced by Gordon Mills * 45: "Puppet Man" / "Resurrection Shuffle" * LP: <i>Tom Jones Sings She's a Lady * </i>Label: Parrot * <i>Billboard</i> charts: Hot 100 (#26) * Entered: 1971-05-22<br />
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<b>"Resurrection Shuffle" (1971) - </b><b>Tom Jones</b></div>
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Written by Tony Ashton * Produced by Gordon Mills * 45: "Puppet Man" / "Resurrection Shuffle" * LP: <i>Tom Jones Sings She's a Lady</i> * Label: Parrot * <i>Billboard</i> charts: Hot 100 (#38) * Entered: 1971-07-03<br />
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For its first six weeks on the <i>Billboard </i>Hot 100, "Puppet Man" appeared as a single with the emotive Ben Peters song "Every Mile" on the B side. A reissue with "Resurrection Shuffle" as the new B side, though, possibly to consolidate conflicting radio attention, took its place and enjoyed a run as a double A side. Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield's "Puppet Man," which attempted to muscle in on James and Bobby Purify's metaphorical turf, came off badly from any angle, with its payoff line being "If you want to see me do my thing, pull my string." It hadn't worked any better as a female-perspective 5th Dimension single. "Resurrection Shuffle," though, was a cheeky wink at the Jesus-rock craze that the British trio Ashton, Gardner and Dyke had a minor hit with in 1970, and it's one of Jones's best recordings from this era.<br />
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<b>Side A: "Puppet Man"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "Resurrection Shuffle"</b><br />
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<b>"She's a Lady" (1971) - </b><b>Tom Jones</b></div>
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Written by Paul Anka * Produced by Gordon Mills * 45: "She's a Lady" / "My Way" (Parrot) * LP: <i>Tom Jones Sings She's a Lady </i>(Parrot) * <i>Billboard </i>charts: Hot 100 (#2); easy listening (#4) * Entered: 1971-02-06 (both charts)<br />
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Tom Jones's biggest hit of the early seventies distinguished itself by serving up the phrases "she always knows her place" and "she's never in the way" during an era otherwise known for heightened feminist awareness. Even so, its high ranking on the easy listening charts indicated that the minor-key sizzler had a sizable female listenership. Or did that ranking reflect older generation values?<br />
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Composer Paul Anka apparently regretted it. Jones says the following in his <i>Over the Top and Back: The Autobiography </i>(2015), p. 298: "Paul Anka wrote ['She's a Lady'] especially for me, scribbling the lyrics on the back of a TWA menu, somewhere between New York and London, and adding the tune in an hour and a half at a piano later. Afterwards he'll declare that he hates the song<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span>will claim that it's his least favorite number of any that he wrote and that he thinks it's chauvinistic. Maybe he's right. Actually, definitely he's right. But it was a hit for me<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span>a dance floor number in the earliest days of disco and the last significant hit I would have in America for a number of years."<br />
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In his <i>My Way: An Autobiography </i>(2014), Anka expressed his view this way: "I dislike 'She's a Lady' more than anything else I've written. I'm not saying I don't have a chauvinistic side, but not like that. Still, I wanted to make it as realistic as possible, and Tom Jones is swaggering and brash as a Welsh coal miner in a pub on Saturday night."<br />
<i><br /></i>The 2013 Paul Anka <i>Duets </i>album includes a version of the song with Jones, featuring a remodeled first verse sung by Anka. Instead of<br />
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Well, she's all you'd ever want<br />
She's the kind I like to flaunt and take to dinner<br />
But she always knows her place<br />
She's got style, she's got grace, she's a winner<br />
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he sings<br />
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Oh she knows what love's about<br />
She turns me inside out, that's not easy<br />
She loves me through and through<br />
She knows what to do and how to tease me.<br />
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Verse two, though, about never being "in the way" gets a faithful, unaltered delivery by Jones. The original single's otherwise context-vacant cover of "My Way" on the B-side frames the product as a Paul Anka tribute. (Lyrics by Paul Anka ©1971 and ©2013, Chrysalis Standards, Inc.)<br />
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<b>Side A: "She's a Lady"<br />
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<b>Side B: "My Way"<br />
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<b>"Till" (1971) - </b><b>Tom Jones</b></div>
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Written by Carl Sigman, Carla Gaiano, and Charles Danvers * Produced by Gordon Mills * 45: "Till" / "The Sun Died" * Label: Parrot * <i>Billboard</i> charts: Hot 100 (#41); easy listening (#4) * Entered: 1971-10-30 (both charts)<br />
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For his follow up to "She's a Lady," Jones abandoned the discotheque for the ballroom, changing into his tuxedo as he ran. "Till" had been a 1956 hit in France (as "Prière Sans Espoir") for the operatic singer Lucien Lupi. Other famous renditions were done by Percy Faith (as a 1957 instrumental), Jane Morgan (who sung the Carl Sigman English lyrics for the first time in 1958), and Caterina Valente (as a 1960 hit sung in Italian except for the refrain and title). Many versions down the road, Tom Jones gave it the brash ballad treatment (true to its original European incarnation) and reached #2 on the UK singles chart. For the flipside, Jones reached again into the <i>variété française </i>pantry and chose the dramatic "Il est Mort le Soleil," a 1967 hit for Nicoletta written by Pierre Delanoe and Hubert Giraud, given new English words (as "The Sun Died") by Ann Gregory and Ray Charles, who unveiled it on his 1968 <i>Portrait of Ray </i>album. Neither side of this 45 appeared on any album.<br />
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<b>Side A: "Till"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "The Sun Died"</b><br />
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<b>"The Young New Mexican Puppeteer" (1972) - </b><b>Tom Jones</b></div>
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Written by Earl Schuman and Leon Carr * Produced by Gordon Mills * 45: "The Young New Mexican Puppeteer" / "All That I Need Is Some Time" * LP: <i>Close Up</i> * Label: Parrot * <i>Billboard</i> charts: Easy listening (#14); Hot 100 (#80) * Entered: 1972-04-22 (easy listening); 1972-04-29 (Hot 100)<br />
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Something in Tom Jones's subconscious (or conscious) mind gave him the urge to express puppet metaphors. "The Young New Mexican Puppeteer" was either heavily symbolic or merely detailed, telling of a boy in Albuquerque who found a means of generating "peace and joy." The Wikipedia entry for this song reports, with no sources, that the chorus melody comes from <i>Pinocchio. </i>This is not invalid: If you listen to the Tom Jones chorus at :51, then listen to the segment at :05 - :11 of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oyxywZJsIs" target="_blank">"When You Wish Upon a Star"</a> from the soundtrack, you'll hear a similarity. A non-album Carpenters-style ballad by Jones's arranger Johnnie Spence appears as the B side. Notice on the album cover for <i>Close Up </i>how the ring wear looks as if the wind is blowing a crater into young Sir Tom's coif.<br />
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<b>Side A: "The Young New Mexican Puppeteer"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "All That I Need Is Some Time"</b><br />
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<b>"Letter to Lucille" (1973) - </b><b>Tom Jones</b></div>
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Written by Tony Macaulay * Produced by Gordon Mills * 45: "Letter to Lucille" / "Thank the Lord" * LP: <i>The Body and Soul of Tom Jones</i> * Label: <i>Parrot </i>* <i>Billboard</i> charts: Hot 100 (#60); easy listening (#11) * Entered: 1973-05-12 (both charts)<br />
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You detect a familiar early '70s bubblegum sound in "Letter to Lucille" because it comes from Tony Macaulay, who wrote such era pop quintessentials as "Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)" and "Smile a Little Smile for Me." A complementary song called "Thank the Lord" by Australian songwriter Tony Cole appeared on the flipside but not on the album, all of which otherwise stays true to the "She's a Lady" sound. Shel Starkman, who did the cover art for <i>The Body and Soul of Tom Jones, </i>also did one apiece for each of manager Gordon Mills's other star clients: Engelbert Humperdinck (<i><a href="https://img.discogs.com/16crqn5RVerV9py4ep6nBZwOcCo=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/R-1223984-1331003870.jpeg.jpg" target="_blank">In Time</a></i>) and Gilbert O'Sullivan (<i><a href="https://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_500/MI0001/918/MI0001918111.jpg?partner=allrovi.com" target="_blank">I'm a Writer Not a Fighter</a></i>).<br />
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<b>Side A: "Letter to Lucille"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "Thank You Lord"</b><br />
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<b>"Somethin' 'Bout You Baby I Like" (1974) - </b><b>Tom Jones</b></div>
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Written by Tony Macaulay * Produced by Gordon Mills * 45: "<span style="text-align: center;">Somethin' 'Bout You Baby I Like</span>" / "Keep A-Talkin' 'Bout Love" * LP:
<span style="text-align: center;"><i>Somethin' 'Bout You Baby I Like</i></span> * Label: <i>Parrot</i>* <i>Billboard</i> charts: Easy listening (#23) * Entered: 1974-10-05 (easy listening)<br />
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After "Letter to Lucille," Tom Jones went through a Hot 100 cold spell, breaking through only one more time (with 1977's "Say You'll Stay Until Tomorrow") until 1988 (the year he covered Prince's "Kiss"). Two more of his early '70s singles did make it to the easy listening charts, though, the first one being a song by Richard Supa (formerly of the group Man) called "Somethin' 'Bout You Baby I Like." This was a bouncy number that would have fit easily in the Leo Sayer catalog; curiously enough, British hard rock institution Status Quo would rework it as a Top Ten UK in 1980.<br />
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Jones kept the non-album B side tradition alive with another " 'Bout" song called "Keep A-Talking 'Bout Love," a welcome contribution to the early '70s Jesus-and-brotherhood spirit by US songwriter Ben Peters, who would soon be enjoying massive success with Freddy Fender's "Before the Next Teardrop Falls."<br />
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<b>Side A: "Somethin' 'Bout You Baby I Like"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "Keep A-Talkin' 'Bout Love"</b><br />
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<b>"Pledging My Love" (1974) - </b><b>Tom Jones</b></div>
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Written by Don Robey and Ferdinand Washington * Produced by Gordon Mills * 45: "Pledging My Love" / "Too Far Gone (To Turn Around)" * LP: <i>Somethin' 'Bout You Baby I Like</i> * Label: <i>Parrot </i>* <i>Billboard</i> charts: Easy listening (#23) * Entered: 1974-10-05 (easy listening)<br />
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The non-album "Pledging My Love," a countrypolitan interpretation of Johnny Ace a la Charlie Rich, indicated which direction Jones would take from the late '70s to the late '80s. The versatile singer never was and never would be a one-genre guy, but the newly built format structures in the demographic-smitten radio and music industries demanded compliance. By 1977, then—the year his first U.S. country chart entry ("Say You'll Stay Until Tomorrow") went #1—Jones the Voice would call country home until 1986.<br />
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Side B of "Pledging My Love" contained another hidden non-album nugget, a pared-down, rocked-up rip-through of J.R. Bailey's "I'm Too Far Gone (To Turn Around)," a song that Bailey, Bobby Bland, Joe Simon, and Freddie Scott had all done before him with downcast demeanor.<br />
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<b> Side A: "Pledging My Love"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "I'm Too Far Gone (To Turn Around)"</b><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628083921981318027.post-11026511576277606492016-10-03T13:32:00.000-07:002018-08-21T13:50:28.184-07:00WQXI (Atlanta): Top 40<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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With its nickname "the Quixie in Dixie," 790 WQXI launched itself as a Top 40 vehicle sometime in 1960, then shape-shifted according to subsequent eras' conceptions of the format until the mid-80s. In 1974, the station's FM signal became its mothership, billing itself as "94 QXI-FM," then becoming "94 Q" by 1977.<br />
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The rare <i>Southern Gold</i> promo LP images shown here (thanks to radio station vinyl resource <a href="http://radiouseonly.com/" target="_blank">Radio Use Only</a>) come from 1973, during the station's final glory days as a classic AM entity that loomed large in reputation (if not wattage) throughout the Southern US. A typical umbrella format hodgepodge, the album does showcase a "New South" attitude with Charlie Daniels' "Uneasy Rider" and leads off with "Brother Louie," one of the era's quintessential black/white issue hits.<br />
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Among the disk jockeys who spun records for WQXI during the early seventies were longtime morning man Gary McKee, Dr. Don Rose (who left in 1972 and became a San Francisco institution), Scott Shannon, John Leader, and J.J. Jackson (who was neither the MTV personality nor the singer included on side 2 of the <i>Southern Gold </i>album). The station's long time general manager Jerry Blum <a href="https://classictvhistory.wordpress.com/2012/11/21/turkeys-away-an-oral-history/" target="_blank">became an inspiration</a> for the character of Arthur Carlson on <i>WKRP in Cincinnati, </i>having once pulled, in real life, the turkey stunt that inspired the show's most famous episode.<br />
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I'm hoping that a clearer album image [see update below] of the jocks in front of the Peachtree Street sign eventually turns up. Clockwise from the top: Dave Smith, Dave Weiss, Ron Parker, Tomm Rivers, John Leader, Lee Logan, Barry Chaser, and Gary McKee. (You can hear a full Gary McKee morning show from 1972 at <a href="http://airchexx.com/2013/07/31/gary-mckee-on-79-wqxi-atlanta-full-morning-show-1972/" target="_blank">Airchexx</a>.)<br />
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<b>Update 8/21/18: </b>My hopes for a clearer image were fulfilled by none other than Ron Parker (top right), the weekend man during WQXI's heyday, who currently does the afternoon show for WLS-FM in Chicago. I asked Ron about his radio adventures and I'm posting it here to energize radio hopefuls, radio vets, and radio historians alike:<br />
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"I started at WQXI when I was 20 years old and worked there for over 3 years while attending The University Of Georgia. WQXI was the WABC of the South!... Just one of those stations you wanted to work at while in High School. I was hired by Program Director John Leader [front row, second to rar right] and Corporate Program Director Bill Sherard. Yes, I picked a career in radio majoring in journalism - radio - TV.<br />
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"After programming changes at WQXI, I moved over for awhile to Z 93 FM Atlanta which became the huge TOP 40 winner. Upon graduation from college I landed afternoons at the legendary WLCY Tampa Bay. My career has taken me to great places: Miami, Houston, Phoenix, Dallas, San Francisco, New York City at WCBS FM, and currently I hold down the afternoon show at WLS FM Chicago. I also have done work for SIRIUS XM for the past 10 years.<br />
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"Yep, I wanted to do radio and have done everything from Program Director, Mornings, Afternoons, and whatever with successful ratings.<br />
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"Trust me, this is something I've always wanted to do and would have never changed anything!"<br />
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Side 1:<br />
Stories - "Brother Louie"<br />
Climax - "Precious and Few"<br />
Isley Brothers - "It's Your Thing"<br />
Gallery - "Nice to Be with You"<br />
Charlie Daniels Band - "Uneasy Rider"<br />
Lobo - "Me and You and a Dog Named Boo"<br />
Sylvia - "Pillow Talk"<br />
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Side 2:<br />
Curtis Mayfield - "Superfly"<br />
Melanie - "Brand New Key"<br />
Freda Payne - "Band of Gold"<br />
Focus - "Hocus Pocus"<br />
J.J. Jackson - "But It's Alright"<br />
Five Man Electrical Band - "Signs"<br />
Sugarloaf - "Green Eyed Lady"Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628083921981318027.post-47121370591818622042016-09-26T13:59:00.002-07:002020-08-11T03:32:00.174-07:00Chart Song Cinema: Norwood (1970)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Like <i>True Grit</i>, <i>Norwood </i>featured Glen Campbell (on screen and in the soundtrack) with Kim Darby and used a Glen Portis novel as source material. Unlike <i>True Grit, </i>an esteemed classic, <i>Norwood </i>comes off as a trifle. It tells the story of hayseed guitar picker Campbell who's come back home to Ralph, Texas, from the Marine Corps, and is fixated on getting a spot on the <i>Louisiana Hayride</i> radio show (which had actually stopped airing by 1969.)<br />
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A post-<i>Midnight Cowboy </i>rube-in-New York subplot plays itself out (Portis's novel, by the way, predated <i>Midnight Cowboy </i>by three years), while quirky characters come and go. Campbell, along the way, carries around a fancy Ovation with no case (Campbell was one of the carbon fiber guitar model's first endorsers) and serenades his co-stars to fully orchestrated soundtracks. Joe Namath, the Pennsylvania native who took his New York Jets to a 1969 Super Bowl victory, plays a marine buddy of Campbell who throws a football around at a fish fry and imitates the southern accents he heard as a college player at Alabama.<br />
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Of most interest here is the transitional bigger-picture awkwardness of the sixties turning into the seventies and of the old, isolated South morphing into a newer, mainstream version. Glen Campbell was a poster child for this process, hosting his <i>Goodtime Hour </i>on TV from 1969 to 1972, playing with the Beach Boys and the Wrecking Crew in the sixties, popularizing a more sophisticated brand of country song ("Gentle on My Mind," "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," and "Wichita Lineman"), wearing a peace symbol on his album with Bobbie Gentry, covering the black gospel song "Oh Happy Day," and endorsing non-standard acoustic guitars.<br />
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Equally awkward, but typical of 1970, are the real world complexities that—in a film that attempts to come off as a Disney live action film for adults—serve as glaring sexual revolution signifiers<i>. </i>Campbell's sister has shacked up with the effeminate moocher Dom DeLuise, Campbell racks up a shameless one night stand with his Big Apple host, and his eventual "right girl" Kim Darby, who dresses like the Flying Nun, is pregnant with another marine's child—a non-issue compared to Campbell getting to the <i>Hayride</i>.<br />
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Director Jack Haley, Jr. was the son of the same Jack Haley who played the Tin Man in <i>The Wizard of Oz </i>(and who appears in <i>Norwood, </i>in his final role, as Joe Namath's dad). Haley Jr.'s best loved movie moment came in 1974 when he put together the Hollywood musical retrospective <i>That's Entertainment</i>. (The other <i>Wizard of Oz </i>connection: he was married to Liza Minneli, daughter of Judy Garland, from 1974 to 1979.)<br />
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Two songs from <i>Norwood </i>made the charts thanks to their appearance in the film:<br />
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<b>"Everything a Man Could Ever Need" (1970) - </b><b>Glen Campbell</b></div>
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Written by Mac Davis * 45: "Everything a Man Could Ever Need" / "Norwood (Me and My Guitar)" * LP: <i>Norwood</i> * Produced by Neely Plumb * Label: Capitol * <i>Billboard </i>charts: Hot 100 (#54); country (#5) * Entered: 1970-07-04 (Hot 100)<br />
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Written by future country-pop crossover star Mac Davis, Glen Campbell's "Everything a Man Could Ever Need," from the <i>Norwood</i> soundtrack, runs on "Gentle on My Mind" fumes, using that song's opening root to root-major7 sequence, which borrowed from Bob Lind's "Elusive Butterfly" (1966). Bobby Goldsboro's "Honey" also used it in 1968, as did Nilsson's "Everybody's Talkin' " in 1969, giving <i>Norwood</i> another small connection to <i>Midnight Cowboy</i> (see above). That chord sequence became a familiar late sixties/early seventies sound on the radio, usually accompanying itinerant male self-analysis. "Everything a Man Could Ever Need" included Campbell's fellow Wrecking Crew alumnus Al DeLory as a co-arranger, who helped make the already too-crafty song sound even less likely to have stood a chance on the real <i>Louisiana Hayride</i>. Another Mac Davis composition from the soundtrack appears on the B-side.<br />
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<b>Side A: "Everything a Man Could Ever Need"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "Norwood (Me and My Guitar)"</b><br />
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<b>"I'll Paint You a Song" (1970) - </b><b>Mac Davis</b></div>
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Written by Mac Davis * 45: "I'll Paint You a Song" / "Closest I Ever Came" (Columbia) * Produced by Jimmy Bowen * Arranged by Artie Butler * LP: <i>Song Painter </i>(Columbia) * <i>Billboard </i>charts: Bubbling under (#110); country (#68) * Entered: 1970-07-18 (Bubbling under)<br />
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Mac Davis's second charting single as a vocalist was his own version of a song he'd written for Glen Campbell to sing on <i>Norwood</i> in a train car scene in the middle of the night—fully orchestrated but somehow waking no one. "I'll Paint You a Song," with its rainbows and bluebirds, featured a comparable easy listening backdrop arranged by Artie Butler that laid the groundwork for Davis's forthcoming stream of crossover MOR-country hits. By 1972, his "Baby Don't Get Hooked on Me" would turn him into a multi-media figure in the mold of Campbell. The <i>Song Painter </i>album was Mac Davis's debut and presented itself as a full-fledged "Meet Mac Davis-the-artist" affair, with numerous musical interludes. His "Babies' Butts" series might have inspired Tom T. Hall to write "I Love." It's not implausible. (A 1974 reissue of this album had an <a href="https://www.discogs.com/Mac-Davis-Song-Painter/release/3531287#images/39284608" target="_blank">alternate cover</a>.)<br />
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<b>Side A: "I'll Paint You a Song"</b><br />
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<b>Side B: "Closest I Ever Came"</b><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7628083921981318027.post-62895659657765809542016-09-09T11:18:00.000-07:002020-08-11T03:32:23.481-07:00Jack Jones - "Get Together" (1970)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>"Get Together" (1970) - </b><b>Jack Jones</b></div>
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Written by Chet Powers * Produced by Ernie Altschuler * LP: <i>Jack Jones in Person at the Sands, Las Vegas * </i>Label: RCA Victor * <i>Billboard </i>charts: —<br />
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Jack Jones, with his silky-bourbon voice, was born to sing in Vegas, so it's surprising that this is the first live album he'd ever record. He'd gotten his start as a kid, in fact, singing with his dad, the actor Allan Jones, at the Thunderbird Hotel and Casino. <i>In Person at the Sands, </i>which appeared on a <a href="http://www.early70sradio.com/2016/06/a-kmpc-virtual-playlist-1971.html" target="_blank">1970 playlist</a> of the high-powered Los Angeles MOR station KMPC, contains renditions of Jones signature songs like "Wives and Lovers" and "Lollipops and Moonbeams," but it also includes 1970 "brotherhood" songs like the Youngbloods' "Get Together," John Sebastian's "I Had a Dream," and Joe South's "Games People Play." (In spite of these well-meaning motions, Jones takes a few minutes at the beginning of side two to ridicule Cubans and gays.) Joe Kloess directs the orchestra and would do the same for many of Jones's future seventies LPs.<br />
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Although Jones never charted in <i>Billboard</i>'s Hot 100 after 1968, he'd appear with regularity on the easy listening/adult contemporary charts all the way up until 1980, the year his "Love Boat Theme" barged into our collective consciousness.<br />
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<b>"Get Together"</b><br />
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See also: <a href="http://www.early70sradio.com/2016/06/a-kmpc-virtual-playlist-1971.html" target="_blank">A KMPC Playlist circa 1971</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0