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Post by mrjukebox on Nov 24, 2010 22:11:24 GMT -5
Happy Thanksgiving!-Here's my critique of the countdown from 12/1/73 which is airing this weekend on terrestrial radio: #40-"Sweet Understanding Love"-Four Tops-One of their lesser known hits,but definitely worth a listen. #39-"Ramblin' Man"-Allman Brothers Band-The biggest chart hit overall for this Southern rock group-Great tune which features Dickey Betts on lead vocals. #38-"Nutbush City Limits"-Ike & Tina Turner-Great tune which should've been a much bigger hit. #37-"We May Never Pass This Way Again"-Seals & Crofts-Great tune. #36-"D'yer Maker"-Led Zeppelin-From their album "Houses Of The Holy"-Great tune. #35-"Half Breed"-Cher-A former #1 hit for this legendary singer & actress-Great tune. #34-"Be"-Neil Diamond-From the movie "Jonathan Livingston Seagull"-One of Neil's lesser known songs,but it's definitely worth a listen. #33-"Show & Tell"-Al Wilson-The biggest hit overall for this native of Meridian,MS who passed away in 2008-Timeless classic. #32-"Who's In The Strawberry Patch With Sally"-Tony Orlando & Dawn-One of their best songs. #31-"Why Me"-Kris Kristofferson-The second of two top forty hits for this legendary singer-songwriter-Great tune. #30-"Mind Games"-John Lennon-Outstanding song. #29-"Living For The City"-Stevie Wonder-From his album "Innervisions"-One of Stevie's greatest songs. #28-"Ooh Baby"-Gilbert O' Sullivan-One of his lesser known hits,but it's definitely worth a listen. #27-"Knockin' On Heaven's Door"-Bob Dylan-From the movie "Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid"-Great tune. #26-"My Music"-Loggins & Messina-Great tune. #25-"Come Get To This"-Marvin Gaye-Great follow up to "Let's Get It On". #24-"Rockin' Roll Baby"-Stylistics-Great tune from this Philadelphia based R&B group which featured Russell Thompkins Jr on lead vocals. #23-"All I Know"-Art Garfunkel-Great tune written by Jimmy Webb. #22-"The Joker"-Steve Miller Band-Their breakthrough hit which was headed for #1. #21-"You're A Special Part Of Me"-Marvin Gaye & Diana Ross-One of two top 40 duets for these Motown superstars-Great tune. #20-"Never Never Gonna Give You Up"-Barry White-One of his best songs. #19-"Angie"-Rolling Stones-A former #1 song which was written about Keith Richard's daughter Dandelion Angela-Another timeless classic. #18-"Time In A Bottle"-Jim Croce-A posthumous #1 hit for this singer & songwriter who perished in a plane crash on 9/20/73-Great tune. #17-"Let Me Serenade You"-Three Dog Night-Great tune which features Cory Wells on lead vocals. #16-"I Got A Name"-Jim Croce-From the movie "The Last American Hero"-Great tune. #15-"Cheaper To Keep Her"-Johnnie Taylor-Fantastic example of old school R&B. #14-"If You're Ready,Come Go With Me"-Staple Singers-Great tune. #13-"Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress)"-Helen Reddy-One of her best songs. #12-"Paper Roses"-Marie Osmond-Originally a hit for Anita Bryant in 1960,it became the first & biggest hit for this native of Ogden,UT-Another timeless classic. #11-"Hello,It's Me"-Todd Rundgren-This song has a rather interesting history-In 1968,Todd's former group Nazz released their version which peaked at #66-Four years later,Todd recorded a brand new version which appeared on his album "Something/Anything"-A year later,the new "Hello,It's Me" was released as a single & did even better the second time around-It peaked at #5-Another timeless classic. #10-"The Most Beautiful Girl"-Charlie Rich-The biggest pop chart hit overall for this country singer whose nickname was "The Silver Fox"-Great tune. #9-"Heartbeat,It's A Lovebeat"-De Franco Family-The first of three top 40 hits for this Canadian group-A bonafide guilty pleasure. #8-"The Love I Lost"-Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes-Great tune which featured the late Teddy Pendergrass on lead vocals. #7-"Midnight Train To Georgia"-Gladys Knight & The Pips-The only #1 hit on the pop chart for this legendary R&B group-Another timeless classic. #6-"Just You 'N' Me"-Chicago-One of their greatest hits. #5-"Keep On Truckin"-Eddie Kendricks-A #1 hit for this former member of The Temptations-An all-time dance floor classic. #4-"Space Race"-Billy Preston-Great instrumental which was featured on "American Bandstand". #3-"Goodbye Yellow Brick Road"-Elton John-One of EJ's greatest songs. #2-"Photograph"-Ringo Starr-The first #1 solo hit for this former Beatle-Great tune. #1-"Top Of The World"-Carpenters-In mid-1973,Lynn Anderson took her original version to #2 on the Billboard country chart-One of their greatest hits.
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Post by mrjukebox on Nov 24, 2010 22:16:37 GMT -5
By the way,"The Joker" is a bonafide rock & roll classic.
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Post by mrjukebox on Nov 24, 2010 22:21:06 GMT -5
And now a word about next week's show:The countdown will be from 12/2/1978-However,Premiere is only running the last three hours-Therefore,I'll be commenting on songs #30-#1-See you then.
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Post by bigal on Nov 25, 2010 2:49:42 GMT -5
too bad on the 12/2 show, as it would be nice to hear the obscure but great trune RUN FOR HOME again.
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Post by Hervard on Nov 27, 2010 11:35:54 GMT -5
American Top 40 - The 80s - November 27-28, 2010
This week’s presentation - November 29, 1980
D’OH!! I was wrong with my predictions, again! It’s true that I did mention 1980, but my actual predictions were the 1985 and 1986 show. Moreover, it looks like we’re not going to get the John Lennon tribute show. That is, unless Premiere pulls a 1984 on us and runs another 1980 show two weeks from now. But somehow, I don’t think so. I have a feeling we’ll have a 1985 or 1986 show over the next two weeks. Then again, I don’t know about that, especially next week, as the shows from the first weekend in December of both years have already been featured. We’ll talk more about that later on. Meanwhile, here is the commentary for this week’s show.
LW#3: THE WANDERER - DONNA SUMMER LW#2: WOMAN IN LOVE - BARBRA STREISAND LW#1: LADY - KENNY ROGERS
40: ONE TRICK PONY - PAUL SIMON (40) - Good song. Too bad it wasn’t quite as successful as “Late In The Evening”. 39: GIRLS CAN GET IT - DR. HOOK (debut) - Good song, though not quite their best. My favorite by them, of course, is “Better Love Next Time”. 38: THE TIDE IS HIGH - BLONDIE (debut) - This song is pretty good, but they’ve had several better. 37: PASSION - ROD STEWART (debut) - Good song, but I prefer many others by him. 36: TURNING JAPANESE - THE VAPORS (37) - Good song. Part of the British New Wave that was getting started about this time back in 1980. 35: SUDDENLY - OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN with CLIFF RICHARD (39) - Great song, from one of the most successful movie soundtracks of 1980! 34: ON THE ROAD AGAIN - WILLIE NELSON (34) - Great song! One of his best! 33: TELL IT LIKE IT IS - HEART (debut) - Good rendition of the Aaron Neville classic. Still, I prefer many other songs by Heart. AT40 ARCHIVES: HEY PAULA - PAUL & PAULA - Meh, this one’s kinda cheesy. OPTIONAL EXTRA: 9 TO 5 - DOLLY PARTON - Good song! One of my favorites by her! 32: CELEBRATION - KOOL & THE GANG (35) - Great song! Kind of a weak chart move for a future #1, though. 31: I BELIEVE IN YOU - DON WILLIAMS (33) - Great song! A guilty pleasure of mine. 30: THIS TIME - JOHN COUGAR (32) - Good song! This was before his chart career really took off. 29: SEQUEL - HARRY CHAPIN (36) - Good song! Pretty much a continuation of his first hit. 28: UPSIDE DOWN - DIANA ROSS (25) - Not quite my favorite by her, but better than the crap by her that we’ll hear later on, in the Top Ten. 27: IT’S MY TURN - DIANA ROSS (31) - Great song! By far my favorite of her three songs on the chart this week! LDD: YOU ARE THE SUNSHINE OF MY LIFE - STEVIE WONDER - Good song, but I prefer his 80s material. 26: THEME FROM "THE DUKES OF HAZZARD" (GOOD OL’ BOYS) - WAYLON JENNINGS (28) - Good song. I remember watching that TV show with my older brother back in the day. 25: DEEP INSIDE MY HEART - RANDY MEISSNER (29) - Good song, but my least favorite of his three Top 40 solo hits. 24: DE DO DO DO DE DA DA DA - THE POLICE (30) - Meh, not one of my favorites by them. I’d actually rather hear “Every Breath You Take”. 23: EVERYBODY’S GOTTA LEARN SOMETIME - THE KORGIS (26) - Great song! Very interesting story about the “haunted castle”. The melody of this song goes along with that, as it’s quite creepy. AT40 ARCHIVES: WALK LIKE A MAN - FOUR SEASONS - Good song. OPTIONAL EXTRA: KEEP ON LOVIN’ YOU - REO SPEEDWAGON - Great song! One of their all-time best! 22: LOVELY ONE - THE JACKSONS (12) - Meh, not a fan of this one. 21: LET ME BE YOUR ANGEL - STACY LATTISAW (21) - This one’s OK, but kinda boring. Casey mentioned how much she sounds like Michael did back when he was about 14, the age that Stacy was when this song charted. 20: WITHOUT YOUR LOVE - ROGER DALTREY (22) - Great song! I like this more than most of the songs he did with The Who. 19: EVERY WOMAN IN THE WORLD - AIR SUPPLY (24) - Good song, but one of my least favorites from them. 18: NEVER KNEW LOVE LIKE THIS BEFORE - STEPHANIE MILLS (6) - Great song! Possibly....the only song I’ve ever heard by her (You thought I was going to say “possibly my favorite from her, didn’t you?) 17: HE’S SO SHY - THE POINTER SISTERS (17) - Great song! Back when their music was good. You all know the story about 1984 and thereafter... 16: GUILTY - BARBRA STREISAND & BARRY GIBB (20) - Good song, but I prefer their other duet, “What Kind Of Fool”, which charted in 1981. 15: NEVER BE THE SAME - CHRISTOPHER CROSS (16) - Good song. One of two songs by him that hit #3 on the Radio & Records chart, yet fell short of the Top Ten on the Hot 100. 14: WHIP IT - DEVO (14) - Um, next song please... 13: HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT - PAT BENATAR (15) - Great song! One of her best, and possibly the song of hers that gets the most airplay. 12: YOU’VE LOST THAT LOVIN’ FEELING - DARYL HALL & JOHN OATES (13) - Great song! I actually prefer this over the original. AT40 ARCHIVES: OUR DAY WILL COME - RUBY & THE ROMANTICS - Great, mellow song. 11: HUNGRY HEART - BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN (18) - Great song! One of his all-time best! 10: DREAMING - CLIFF RICHARD (10) - Good song, but I prefer others by him, including “A Little In Love”. 9: LOVE ON THE ROCKS - NEIL DIAMOND (11) - Great song! Another guilty pleasure of mine! 8: (JUST LIKE) STARTING OVER - JOHN LENNON (9) - Good song. Its trip up the chart was definitely weird. Two weeks before, it moved 32-10, and from there it took baby steps up the chart. One would guess that the song would take the huge jump the week that Lennon was shot. 7: MASTER BLASTER (JAMMIN’) - STEVIE WONDER (7) - Good song, but he’s had several others that I preferred. LDD: THANK YOU FOR BEING A FRIEND - ANDREW GOLD - Great song! Both songs that Gold charted with were definitely gems. 6: MORE THAN I CAN SAY - LEO SAYER (8) - Great song! One of his best! 5: I’M COMING OUT - DIANA ROSS (5) - Ugh, this is the crap I mentioned earlier in the countdown. Definitely one of her worst! 4: ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST - QUEEN (4) - No. Just no. 3: THE WANDERER - DONNA SUMMER (3) - Good song, though I slightly preferred her other Top Ten song from earlier that year. OPTIONAL EXTRA: I LOVE A RAINY NIGHT - EDDIE RABBITT - Great song! One of his best, though I did prefer “Drivin’ My Life Away”. 2: WOMAN IN LOVE - BARBRA STREISAND (2) - Great song! My favorite of her two songs on the chart this week. 1: LADY - KENNY ROGERS (1) - Great song, and very deserving of the #1 spot!
Predictions for next week: As I said before, 1985 and 1986 are possible next week, but they already did the December 7, 1985 show, as well as December 6, 1986 - and neither of those were in 2007, the year from which the few repeats this year were. Moreover, I just read in another thread that 1985 will not be next week, so my first prediction is December 8, 1984 with December 13, 1986 as my backup prediction. Something tells me that they might be holding 1985 until the year-end show, which I assume would be the week of Christmas (not sure if they’ll do two year-enders like last year or only one).
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Post by mrjukebox on Nov 28, 2010 10:10:59 GMT -5
Hervard,you forgot to mention that "One Trick Pony" was the title song from the flop movie that Paul Simon starred in.
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Post by caseyfan100 on Nov 28, 2010 18:24:54 GMT -5
This week's countdown features some famous backround singers as well. On Randy Meisner's song you hear Kim Carnes singing backround and on Hungry Heart by Bruce Springsteen,Flo and Eddie of the Turtles sing backround vocals.
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Post by jmorgan on Nov 28, 2010 19:19:18 GMT -5
Hervard, I think you forgot what you were going to say about the "Sunshine" and "Dukes" songs in your critique.
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Post by Ponderous Man on Nov 30, 2010 18:47:31 GMT -5
39: GIRLS CAN GET IT - DR. HOOK (debut) - Good song, though not quite his best. My favorite by him, of course, is “Better Love Next Time”. Hervard, Dr. Hook is a band, not a person. Just ask the singer named Mr. Mister.
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Post by Ponderous Man on Nov 30, 2010 18:55:38 GMT -5
IT ONLY TAKES A MINUTE - TAVARES (38) - wtf did this sound like again? This was my reaction when I saw this: "Are you bleepin' kidding me?" This is a song you hear on the radio all the time on oldies stations. It's Tavares' well known & probably biggest hit. Jukebox or Jdelach will probably back me up on the biggest hit part. Hervard, I'm way younger than you, but I know "It Only Takes A Minute" by Tavares. I'm just saying.
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Post by jdelachjr2002 on Nov 30, 2010 19:00:15 GMT -5
For the record, "It Only Takes A Minute" - peaking at #10 - was Tavares' biggest hit. Second biggest was "Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel" which peaked at #15.
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Post by mrjukebox on Nov 30, 2010 22:14:37 GMT -5
Here's my critique of the countdown from 12/2/78 which is airing this weekend on terrestrial radio-As I stated last week,Premiere is only airing the final three hours-Therefore,I'll be commenting on the songs from #30-#1: #30-"I'm Every Woman"-Chaka Khan-The first solo hit for the lead singer of Rufus-Great tune which was also a hit for Whitney Houston in 1993. #29-"We've Got Tonight"-Bob Seger-The third release from the album "Stranger In Town"-Great tune which was also a hit for Kenny Rogers & Sheena Easton in 1983. #28-"Hot Child In The City"-Nick Gilder-A former #1 hit-Great tune. #27-"Part Time Love"-Elton John-One of EJ's lesser known songs,but definitely worth a listen. #26-"You Never Done It Like That"-Captain & Tennille-Written by Neil Sedaka & Howard Greenfield-A bonafide guilty pleasure. #25-"The Power Of Gold"-Dan Fogelberg & Tim Weissberg-Great tune which should've been a much bigger hit. #24-"Ooh Baby Baby"-Linda Ronstadt-This was originally a hit for Smokey Robinson & The Miracles in 1965-Thirteen years later,this native of Tucson,AZ released her version which was outstanding. #23-"Ready To Take A Chance Again"-Barry Manilow-From the movie "Foul Play"-One of Barry's best songs. #22-"How You Gonna See Me Now"-Alice Cooper-Great song which never receives recurrent airplay. #21-"Don't Want To Live Without It"-Pablo Cruise-One of the lesser known hits from this San Francisco group,but it's definitely worth a listen. #20-"Sweet Life"-Paul Davis-Great follow up to "I Go Crazy". #19-"Change Of Heart"-Eric Carmen-Great tune which never receives recurrent airplay. #18-"Hold The Line"-Toto-The debut release for this pop-rock group from Los Angeles-Great tune. #17-"Straight On"-Heart-One of their best songs. #16-"Too Much Heaven"-Bee Gees-Great tune which was headed for #1. #15-"YMCA"-Village People-The biggest pop chart hit overall for this NYC based disco group-An all-time dance floor classic. #14-"Alive Again"-Chicago-Outstanding song. #13-"You Needed Me"-Anne Murray-The biggest pop chart hit overall for this native of Nova Scotia-A timeless classic. #12-"Strange Way"-Firefall-Great tune. #11-"Our Love,Don't Throw It All Away"-Andy Gibb-Great tune. #10-"Sharing The Night Together"-Dr.Hook-One of my favorite songs from them. #9-"My Life"-Billy Joel-The initial release from his album "52nd Street"-Great tune. #8-"Time Passages"-Al Stewart-The second top forty hit for this native of Glasgow,Scotland-Great tune. #7-"I Love The Nightlife"-Alicia Bridges-The only top 40 hit for this native of Lawndale,NC-An all-time dance floor classic. #6-"Double Vision"-Foreigner-The title track from their second album-Great tune. #5-"I Just Wanna Stop"-Gino Vannelli-The second top 40 hit for this native of Montreal,Canada-Great tune. #4-"Le Freak"-Chic-The biggest hit for this NYC based disco group which was led by Nile Rodgers & Bernard Edwards-Another all-time dance floor classic. #3-"How Much I Feel"-Ambrosia-Great tune. #2-"Mac Arthur Park"-Donna Summer-In 1968,actor Richard Harris took this Jimmy Webb composition to #2-Ten years later,it went to #1 for this Boston native-Great rendition. #1-"You Don't Bring Me Flowers"-Barbra Streisand & Neil Diamond-A one-off duet for these legendary performers-Great tune.
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Post by Hervard on Dec 4, 2010 8:12:10 GMT -5
IT ONLY TAKES A MINUTE - TAVARES (38) - wtf did this sound like again? This was my reaction when I saw this: "Are you bleepin' kidding me?" This is a song you hear on the radio all the time on oldies stations. It's Tavares' well known & probably biggest hit. Jukebox or Jdelach will probably back me up on the biggest hit part. Hervard, I'm way younger than you, but I know "It Only Takes A Minute" by Tavares. I'm just saying. I'm not doubting you, ponderousman. I'm sure I've heard the song before, but I can't remember it off the top of my head. I didn't listen to the radio much back in 1975 (I was only three) and I don't listen to oldies stations - otherwise, I'm sure I'd know the song by heart.
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Post by Hervard on Dec 4, 2010 8:20:14 GMT -5
39: GIRLS CAN GET IT - DR. HOOK (debut) - Good song, though not quite his best. My favorite by him, of course, is “Better Love Next Time”. Hervard, Dr. Hook is a band, not a person. Just ask the singer named Mr. Mister. Nitpick, nitpick...
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Post by Hervard on Dec 4, 2010 8:24:27 GMT -5
Hervard, I think you forgot what you were going to say about the "Sunshine" and "Dukes" songs in your critique. Yeah, don't know what happened there. Lack of proofreading, I guess.
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