American Top 40: The 70s - February 1, 2014
This week's presentation - February 1, 1975
Dropped:
KUNG FU FIGHTING - CARL DOUGLAS (38) - Good song - received renewed popularity from its use in the Geico commercials.
RIDE 'EM COWBOY - PAUL DAVIS (37)
ANGIE BABY - HELEN REDDY (36)
THE ENTERTAINER - BILLY JOEL (35) - Great song! One of his best of his earlier songs.
JUNIOR'S FARM - PAUL McCARTNEY & WINGS (17) - Wow, what a drop there! Anyway, it was a pretty good song. The flipside, "Sally G" was played as the second Optional Extra.
40: HAPPY PEOPLE – THE TEMPTATIONS (debut) - It's okies, but I generally preferred their earlier material.
39: DON’T CALL US, WE’LL CALL YOU – SUGARLOAF w/JERRY CORBETTA (debut) - Good song, though I preferred "Green-Eyed Lady".
38: DING DONG, DING DONG – GEORGE HARRISON (debut) - Wow, what's this thing that former Beatles have about bells (a year and a half later, Paul McCartney would have a song that featured Westminster chimes like this one). Anyway, this wasn't bad, but definitely not among George's best.
37: ROLL ON DOWN THE HIGHWAY – BACHMAN-TURNER OVERDRIVE (debut) - Good song. Wasn't this song recently used in a commercial?
36: LADY MARMALADE - LaBELLE (debut) - Great song! Christina Aguilera and friends did a great remake of this 26 years later.
35: ONLY YOU - RINGO STARR (27) - Good remake of this mid-fifties classic.
34: BUNGLE IN THE JUNGLE – JETHRO TULL (24) - Good song. They had a very interesting music style.
33: YOU’RE THE FIRST, THE LAST, MY EVERYTHING – BARRY WHITE (18) - This wasn't bad, considering I'm not generally a huge Barry White fan.
32: BIG YELLOW TAXI – JONI MITCHELL (40) - Good song. This one had several charted remakes in the past 20 years.
31: I BELONG TO YOU – LOVE UNLIMITED (34) - Good song - a nice, mellow R&B slow jam.
30: I’M A WOMAN – MARIA MULDAUR (39) - This was OK, but nothing special.
29: CAN’T GET IT OUT OF MY HEAD – THE ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA (33) - Great song! One of my favorites from them!
28: MY EYES ADORED YOU – FRANKIE VALLI (32) - Good song. I generally preferred him with the Four Seasons.
OPTIONAL EXTRA: I'VE BEEN THIS WAY BEFORE - NEIL DIAMOND - Kind of an unexpected extra, as this wasn't one of his biggest hits, as I recall. Anyway, it wasn't bad - pretty much his usual 70s style.
27: LADY - STYX (31) - This was so/so, but one of my least favorites from them.
26: READY – CAT STEVENS (26) - It's okies, but nothing special.
25: YOUR BULLDOG DRINKS CHAMPAGNE – JIM STAFFORD (30) - Interesting song title!
24: LONELY PEOPLE - AMERICA (29) - See my opinion for song #27.
23: NIGHTINGALE – CAROLE KING (28) - Great song! One of my favorites from her.
22: STRUTTIN’ – BILLY PRESTON (22) - This wasn't bad - that ARP synthesizer sounded odd, indeed.
21: SWEET SURRENDER - JOHN DENVER (25) - Great song! My mom used to listen to his records all the time when I was really little, so I know almost all of his songs.
20: LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS – ELTON JOHN (11) - Great song! I preferred this version over the original by the Beatles, of which Casey played a drop piece after this song, in response to a question letter.
19: FREE BIRD – LYNYRD SKYNYRD (19) - Good song. Too bad Will To Power had to go and make a discofied version of this thirteen years later.
18: LOOK IN MY EYES PRETTY WOMAN – TONY ORLANDO & DAWN (23) -
17: #9 DREAM – JOHN LENNON (21) - This was OK, but definitely not his best. Reminded me a little of bandmate George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord".
16: BLACK WATER – THE DOOBIE BROTHERS (20) - Great song! One of my favorites from them without Michael McDonald on the vocals.
15: ROCK ‘N ROLL (I GAVE YOU THE BEST YEARS OF MY LIFE) – MAC DAVIS (16) - Great song! One I've heard many times, on my Barry Scott's Lost 45s CD.
OPTIONAL EXTRA: SALLY G - PAUL McCARTNEY & WINGS - This was so/so, but I preferred the flipside, which dropped out this week.
14: ONE MAN WOMAN/ONE WOMAN MAN – PAUL ANKA WITH ODIA COATES (7) - I forgot how this one goes already, which must mean that it was nothing impressive.
13: NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE – GLORIA GAYNOR (9) - Great song! The #1 song on Billboard's very first disco chart.
12: DOCTOR’S ORDERS – CAROL DOUGLAS (13) - This song wasn't bad, but nothing special.
11: GET DANCIN’ – DISCO TEX & THE SEX-O-LETTES (14) - Meh, typical roof-raising R&B. This one kicked off the 1975 YE show that we heard about a month back.
10: SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL – GRAND FUNK (12) - Ah, the "error song" from said 1975 YE show. It's a good one, but I preferred their other big 1975 hit,
9: BEST OF MY LIFE – THE EAGLES (15) - Good song, although rather depressing.
8: MORNING SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN – DONNY & MARIE OSMOND (8) - Good song, though I prefer a few others by them.
7: MANDY – BARRY MANILOW (3) - Meh, the urban legend associated with this song sort of killed it for me.
6: PLEASE MR. POSTMAN – THE CARPENTERS (1) - Good song, though not quite their best.
5: PICK UP THE PIECES – THE AVERAGE WHITE BAND (10) - Good song. One of several instrumentals that topped the charts in 1975.
4: YOU’RE NO GOOD – LINDA RONSTADT (6) - Good song, but I prefer many others from her. Casey correctly predicted this song heading for #1.
3: BOOGIE ON REGGAE WOMAN – STEVIE WONDER (5) - This was so/so - definitely not among my favorite songs from him.
OPTIONAL EXTRA: HAVE YOU NEVER BEEN MELLOW - OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN - Great song! One of her best 1970s hits!
2: FIRE – THE OHIO PLAYERS (4) - This one was so/so, but y'all know how I feel about roof-raising R&B, right?
1: LAUGHTER IN THE RAIN – NEIL SEDAKA (2) - Great song! Definitely one of his best!
Predictions for next week: They haven't done anything from 1977 for awhile, so perhaps next week, they'll go with February 5, 1977. If not, then perhaps February 10, 1979, though I'm hoping that they hold off a few weeks for 1979, so they can play the first show with the Top 3 recap. We'll see how correct I am next week.