Time Machine co-ordinates VIXX44791575

Today we edge ever closer to the cut-off line for Martin Era 2.0, dropping in on September 15th, 1975- one day before Motorola's Martin Cooper gets a patent for the first hand-held cell phone, and one day after the second of three nut cases (one earlier, one stab, in 1911; one later, spraying acid, in 1990) slashed up Rembrandt's The Night Watch.  AND we missed out on Elizabeth Ann Seton's canonization.  But it's a MONDAY, so whaddaya expect?

"Zounds, Eowin!  I didst know we were a group of cut-ups, but verily..."

Now, let us shift our artistry to music, as we take in a Time Machine this week in which the M10 wrestled me for all it was worth before giving me a count that set a record for the highest jump to #2- or did it?  Also Chris's 10-cent tour of the greatest lps of all time, a couple of cowboys, and an sad but ironic story at #101!  Make sure you're fully charged, and away we go!


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First up, I have our first debut.  And THIS was a battle too, as the song I originally had slated for this spot managed, during the wrestling match that was the M10 selection, to get tossed out- and so did the next one, etc, till we got to this one.  This band recently had a #1 on the Adult Alternative chart, and this one comes in on the M10 at #10- they are called The National:





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This week, Mr Paul Anka stops in to help with the Panel picks.  Greetings, and congrats on your #12 showing on our recent Biggest Hits Of Summer deal!

Oh, well thank you!  Which song put me there?

Well, more than one, including the one that one the Panel poll last week, Having My Baby!

I liked that one.  Odia was such a sweetheart.  Died far too soon.

Yes, but let's not dwell on that.  Drove the last guy right out of here talking about it last week.

I understand.  Let me see the list.  Um.  Uh-uh.  Very ni-

Um, you are supposed to READ the list aloud... Oh, and BTW, 18 contestants from 51 stations this week.

Forgive me.  a-HEM.  Let's see...

So our first contestant is At Seventeen by Janis Ian, charting on Cashbox at #3.
Neil Sedaka- say, did he make that summer list?

Just missed.

Too bad, he's a dear friend.  Anyway, his Bad Blood was at #63, but it was a new debut.
Ballroom Blitz by Sweet was at #18.
The Stylistics had already peaked at a low #57 a few weeks ago with Can't Give You Anything But Love.

We call that, "they didn't get the memo."

Hm?  What memo?

Never mind.  Go ahead.

Yes, Orleans was at #19 with Dance With Me.
Hamilton, Joe Frank, and Reynolds were at #2 with Fallin' In Love.
David Bowie was at #5 with Fame. 
Bad Company was at #11 with Feel Like Making Love.  Not the Roberta Flack song?

Not quite.

Is this right?  Sweet gets another vote, this time for Fox On The Run?

Yeah, it was on an Australian chart- wouldn't hit here until next January.

You mean January 2018?
No, I mean January 1976.  Please keep it straight.

Oh, okay.  Um... Next is Games People Play by the Spinners, climbing at #26.
KC and the Sunshine Band is at #4 with Get Down Tonight.
Johnny Rivers' cover of Help Me Rhonda comes in at - well, no, it peaked at #30 back in August as well.  Is this a memo thing?

Yep.

Okay, I got it now.  The Pointer Sisters are at #25 with How Long (Betcha Got A Chick On The Side).
John Denver is sorry... oh, oops, John Denver with I'm Sorry at #10.
Dickie Goodman's Mr Jaws was at #27 this week.  Was I on that one?

Nope, sorry.

Oh, thank God.  Glen Campbell with Rhinestone Cowboy- say, there's one of your "couple of cowboys"- is at #1.
Austin Roberts, who got mentioned last week (so say my notes), is at #21 with his Rocky.
And finally, David Geddes with Run Joey Run was at #9.  Say, this was fun!

Glad you enjoyed it!  So to narrow the focus a bit, there were four main contenders, but one ended up getting clear of the pack.  Pick from Hamilton, Joe Frank, and Reynolds; David Bowie; KC and the Sunshine Band; and Glen Campbell, and we'll get the results later on.

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So as I did the Stat Pack this week, I found it odd that while we had a Rhinestone Cowboy at #1, the UK had a "Rochdale Cowboy" at #38.  I was curious as to whether this tune by one Mike Harding- a bit of a cut up, as I read- was a take off on Campbell's hit.  Not quite...






In the rest of the SP, we have the UK #1 being Rod Stewart with Sailing, a tune that crapped out at #58 here.  The #75 in '75 was the Ohio Players with Sweet Sticky Thing- and that group will play into what passes for a 6D later on.  This tune would stop at #33 on Billboard and make #1 on the R&B chart.

I lose last week's bet- I knew 49 songs.

The tune at #101 at first blush might seem a bad taste pun- the song is called A Friend Of Mine Is Going Blind, and it's done by John Dawson Read.    But no joke this- a childhood friend had MD and was losing his sight.  It would get to #72 on Billboard.


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So our next debut, at #8, is from a band celebrating their 21st anniversary- and on their website, they quipped that they were thus coming of age.  That band- my Russian faves, Alkonost.

In celebration they have released a two sided single- one side, the a-side in Europe, translates out to Path To Spring.  The other, the a-side here, is in English and actually comes from their 2000 lp Songs Of The White Oak, but updated for 2017.  And that side is their 2nd M10 hit.





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So in researching the chart hit that got no Panel Love- the Isley Brothers' Fight The Power at #6- I found out that the lp this was from hit #1- making them the third Afro-American act to have a #1 lp, after the Ohio Players (see?) and Earth Wind and Fire.  Which got me to looking into the albums list, and from there a subject we broached once before- the Billboard all-time top 200.  As I didn't have time to do a lot of research (yep, forgot to do the 6D again), I decided to kinda do a "best of" on that greatest of all time list.  So here are Chris's highests from the Billboard all-time list:

The highest over all lp- Adele's 21 at #1, natch.

The highest I have no desire to hear:  Whitney Houston's debut at #11

Highest lp I have listened to all the way through:  Michael Jackson's Thriller at #3

Highest one I've ever owned:  Alanis Morrisette's Jagged Little Pill at #7

Highest one with an M10 single- Avril Lavigne's Let Go (from which I got I'm With You) at #58

Highest from an act I'd never heard of:  Jazz bassist Michael Henderson's Going Places, #44

Highest that I have played the most recently:  Sgt Pepper at #54.

Highest that I have the CD in the car:  Y'know, I tend to get greatest hit CDs , and thus I'm pretty sure I don't have ANY of them on CD out in the car.  I think the closest I come is August And Everything After by Counting Crows (167), from which 5 tracks are on the greatest hits package Films About Ghosts.

Stay tuned next week for a better treatment of #1 lps.


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And now, the rest of the M10:

As quick as it came up:  Phoenix's Telefono, from 10 to 5 to #9 this week.

TWO of our debuts from last week move up 2 spots each- Jana Kramer's I've Done Love from 9 to 7, Squeeze's Innocence In Paradise from 8 to 6.

Alvvays slips a notch to #5 with In Undertow.  It was SUPPOSED to go up...

The Japanese House slides- not as far as I first purposed- to #4 with Somebody You Found.

And the consummate "lobbyist" on the M10- Wayne Newton- defies gravity and holds #3 for a third week with The Letter.


Now, coming into today, the biggest jumps to #2 on the M10 looked like this:

Nothing But Thieves' Trip Switch, from #7.
Flo and Eddie's Keep It Warm; Pom Poms' 1-2-3; and Melody's Echo Chamber's I Follow You, from 8.
Eleanor Friedburger's Two Versions Of Tomorrow, from #9.
 And so it would seem that the clear new champion would be the song this week that jumps from #10 to #2... but wait.  It depends how you count it- because The Joy Formidable DEBUTED at #2 with Liana.  So you have to decide if that was a jump or a bolt from the blue.  If you want to phrase it as "within the countdown", then the record that can only be tied, never broken, belongs now to Dent May and Frankie Cosmos with Across The Multiverse, because THEY went from 10 to 2 this week.


 And that means the winnah and still champeen...

...Lucinda Williams with Six Blocks Away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And that Panel pick?  Well, Glen got 9.8%; H,JF, and R got 11.8%; and Bowie got 19.6%.  But the winner, with 25.4% of the vote...

...Harry Wayne Casey and the Sunshine Band!


Next time, it's 1976!  Be there!