Here we are in November 16th, 1967- and back to the plane crashes...
Not this plane (because basically there was nothing left of the one in question by the time of its notoriety), but a similar one serving as Aeroflot flight 2230 from Yekaterinburg to Tashkent crashed today. Investigation showed that first, the plane had one engine catch fire, the prop wouldn't feather (move out of the way of the airflow) which made it bank and go up- and then the artificial horizon failed, and the pilots aimed it right into a plowed field. 107 people died in this one.
**********************************
But happier times are on the horizon, as here comes Time Machine! the Beach Boys in town, another big list, another new debut, a Panelist you may know if you are from around here, and details on the Beauty Contest and another quick approaching anniversary! Strap in, no need for flight insurance!
**************************************************
So first off, I cheated a little bit this week and went to the much easier to manipulate Cashbox year-end chart for our Label contest, and while Atlantic bagged the most hits with 8, there was no contest as to our position winner:
Yes, Capitol for a third straight week! This time they got there on two Beatles hits (All You Need Is Love at 43 and Penny Lane at 45), plus Bobbie Gentry's Ode To Billie Joe at 4 and Aretha Franklin and Respect at 11. As far as overall hits, Capitol is up at 56 so far, followed by Columbia at 48, RCA (who got shut out this week) at 45, MGM at 44, and Mercury well back at 30.
************************************************
This week, Carl Wilson of the Beach Boys joins us! How are ya, Carl?
Groovy! So, like, Dennis came last time, right?
Yes, and he was stoned, and got the munchies and left. Didn't really do much of the show...
Yeah, he's kinda like that. So how come me?
Well, you did sing Good Vibrations, which was the winner last week... and, well, Brian...
Yeah, gotcha. So like, let's do this!
Okay, this week we have 32 contestants from 89 stations...
Wow, man, that's a lot. Can I like, go get a soda and come back for the big finish?
Sigh. Really? All right, but could you please manage to make it back in time?
Will do, buddy. See you in a couple...
I have a bad feeling about this... anyway, here's the one-vote wonders:
A studio outfit called Le Cirque- and virtually all I know about them is that Leon Russel was PROBABLY in on the recording- with a song called Land Of Oz, a no-charter.
Next up is actually our #67 in '67- a band called the Sunshine Company out of LA, who would eventually crack the top 40 with Back On The Street Again. They were supposed to release as their first single Up Up And Away- but the Fifth Dimension beat them to it.
Vicki Carr was at #5 with It Must Be Him.
Cher was at #59 with You Better Sit Down Kids. You too, Sonny!
Another offbeat band called the Last Word peaked last month at #81 with Can't Stop Loving You.
George Hamilton IV (not the tan guy) peaked at #6 Country with HIS version of a song called Break My Mind. Also getting a vote was another version by singer/writer Bobby Wood, a session man best known for writing Talking In Your Sleep and Half The Way for Crystal Gayle.
Next one I'm going to throw in because I KNOW I know this song, and this version somehow- but it never charted, and the hit version never cracked the top 50- but it got a vote and I love it! This is the lead singer from Music Explosion, Jamie Lyons, with...
Another non-charter this week was producer Bobby Patterson and the Mustangs with Let Them Talk.
Small Faces were just starting at #95 with Itchykoo Park.
Robert Knight with a song I always swore was Stevie Wonder, Everlasting Love, at #15.
Guess what? Our big mover of the week gets a vote too! The Fantastic Johnny C with Boogaloo Down Broadway, another song I haven't heard in so long I forgot I knew it, was at 39, leaping 29 spots from #68.
Procol Harum's Homburg was at #37.
Human Beinz with Nobody But Me was at #97.
Crap! Al Martino is back, p.o.ed because we couldn't find his song last week, with More Than The Eye Can See, a #54 peak in October.
The Soul Survivors get a vote for Expressway To Your Heart at #7.
The Temptations are at#16 with It's You That I Need.
AND Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys round out the OVWs with Different Drum at #91.
In the also receiving votes category, we have:
With 5 votes apiece, Engelbert Humerdinck with The Last Waltz at #21, and Bobby Vinton's Please Love Me Forever at 8.
With 4 votes, Dionne Warwick with I say A Little Prayer at #23.
3 votes go to the Who's I Can See For Miles (17), The Bee Gees with their new debut Massachusetts (64), Gladys Knight and Der Pipsters with I Heard It Through The Grapevine (45).
And getting 2 votes were the Association with Never My Love (20), Michigan garage act the Soulbenders with Hey Joe (DNC), and Sam and Dave's Soul Man (the #1, for crying out loud).
Nardole, any sign of Carl?
Ummm... not yet...
Okay, well we'll give him a little time and come back to our big four contestants.
*******************************************
Next up, because it's the time of year I finally start compiling the Beauty Contest list, I also decided, let me go back even further and see just how many POTM elections we have had. Are you ready for this? We are at election #94! Which means that right in the middle of our holiday hijinks, we'll be hitting the 100th POTM! 94 elections, 93 different songs (the Monkees won twice with I'm A Believer), and 77 acts have been awarded the Laurels. That means, of course, we've had several multiple winners:
Our current winner the Beach Boys, along with Johnny Horton, the Fleetwoods, Elton John, the aforementioned Monkees, Bobby Vinton, and the Bee Gees have all won twice...
The Rolling Stones, the Everly Brothers, and Elvis have won three times...
And, not surprisingly, the Beatles have bagged FIVE POTMs...
 |
| Y'know, that Jagger guy was right last week about the Beatles... |
Nardole...
No...
Sigh.
************************************************
Because of Frankie Valli's solo contract, there were a handful of Four Seasons songs on which the Four Seasons were not credited. One of them was one of my faves, The Proud One, which was credited to Frankie alone- and peaked at #68 for him. Or them. At the other extreme of our 6D this week, we have a song that was credited to a group- when it was the lead singer recording solo! And at the far end of the whole thing, we have two people on a song that was actually credited as two people! Here's how we get there...
The Proud One was covered by the Osmonds, and it was their last top 40. Earlier, they did a song called Love Me For A Reason, and when it peaked at #10, it was their last time in the top ten. It was co-written by one Johnny Bristol, who was best known for his Barry White-ish sing Hang On In There Baby, which made it to #8. He was also the writer of Someday We'll Be Together, the last #1 of the 60's, and the last credited to Diana Ross and the Supremes. The Supremes, as was often the case, were actually nowhere near the studio when this song was recorded, though.
Johnny B had actually recorded that song first- as Johnny and Jackey with duet partner Jackey Beavers- but it didn't chart and he got involved in the writing and production end of things. One song he produced, along with partner Harvey Fuqua- was our 6D victim- Marvin and Tammy with Your Precious Love, at #6 without Panel Love...
***********************************
All right, let me get to the M10 debut of the...
Hey, man, I'm back! I better make it quick, though- I think that Balogna Casserole was rancid or something...
Oh, jeez, here, read fast...
Okay! You get to pick from The Cowsills and The Rain The Park and Other Things at #4- Strawberry Alarm Clock and Incense and Peppermints at #2- The Monkees and Daydream Believer debuting at #56- and (uuurp) Lulu and To Sir With... where's the bathroom?
Nardole!!!
Come along, Mr Wilson, step lively...
As he was saying, the fourth contestant is Lulu's To Sir With Love at #3. And now, our debut at #10, from the lovely ladies of Lucius...
*********************************
Let's kick off our stat pack with a real oddity- Ft Wayne's own WOWO was a Panelist this week! Here is WOWO's top ten:
10- The Last Waltz
9- Just Loving You, Anita Harris
8- Peaches and Herb, Love Is Strange
7- Elvis, Big Boss Man...
6- The Doors, People Are Strange
5- Spanky and Our Gang, Lazy Day
4- Neil Diamond, Kentucky Woman
3- The Rain The Park And Other Things
2- To Sir With Love
And FTW's #1...
...Bobby Vinton's Please Love Me Forever!!!
In other statsy stuff, the UK top fifty included Panelists The Last Waltz (5), I Can See For Miles (10), Daydream Believer (42), Soul Man (25), Massachusetts (2), and Homburg (14). And their #1 was the Foundations with Baby Now That I Found You. I knew 17 on their list, and 42 on ours (go ME!) And thanks to so many of our stat categories being IN the Panel Picks, all I have left is the #101 was Tony Bennett covering For Once In My Life.
*********************************************
The M10 remainders:
A lot of "moving up one notch" this week, including Elvis Costello's Burnt Sugar Is So Bitter (9), The Derev's Research Cognitivity (8), Bad Wolves' Remember When (5), Alkonost's Paporotnik (4), and Blackberry Smoke's You Got Lucky (3).
Moving down were seven weeker Frankie Cosmos and Apathy (3 to 6), and last week's top dog, ELO's Surrender (to #2).
One song stayed in place- Anna Burch's 9-week charter What I Want (7).
Which means we have a new #1- and a new BC contestant-
...Roseanne Cash with Not Many Miles To Go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And the Panel win... yes, Nardole?
Sir, a Mister Love is wondering, "Just what the hell you did to my cousin?"
Tell Elvis to handle it. He makes that crap. Don't know why these idiots keep eating it...
I believe he pays them five quid a plate...
Wow, less than $7 American to go through hell. Any way...
If you took the Monkees, you got 7.8% of the vote...
If you took Lulu, you got just shy of 9%...
The Cowsills netted you 11.2%...
And the winner, with 15.7%...
...the Strawberry Alarm Clock with Incense and Peppermints!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Be here next... yes, Nardole?
I thought I should inform you that Ms Cash was already a contestant...
Drat. Oh well, maybe we'll hit #80 next week in 1968!
1967 was an okay year I guess. I don't remember much about it because I was on a sort of automatic pilot through my high school years. What I remember most is the music. I clearly remember all those songs you've listed.
ReplyDeleteStrawberry Alarm Clock's psychedelic classic was one of many songs that inspired me to start looking in different musical directions for new and interesting sounds.
Roseanne Cash has been one of my favorites for many years now. I still enjoy CD's of hers that I first obtained many years ago. The music holds up well.
Arlee Bird
Tossing It Out
I remember asking for her second lp so much that 2 family members got it for me! I almost hung the second one as a poster.
DeleteChris:
ReplyDelete---Leave it to the Russkies to take a normal flight and muck it up.
---Figured Capitol was the label to beat,. Had a slew of their 45s.
---Can't say I ever recall Jamie Lyons, but I DO remember their song A LITTLE BIT O' SOUL...good tune.
---Also remember Johnny C and Boogaloo Down Broadway (betcha get arrested today for doing that in NYC...lol).
---Didn't recall many after that until multiple vote songs on your list. THOSE I do know.
---The Beauty Contest this year should prove revealing (NO, not in THAT way).
---Geez...THAT many POTM winners?
Didn't think we were closing in on 100 yet. Wow.
---Interesting 6D, too.
---Bologna casserole? Cripes, I'll bet it had peanut butter and bananas in it, too.
---Lucius...not a bad song.
---Stat pack - HA! - figures WOWO would pick Bobby Vinton (mom woulda loved that).
---Roseanne Cash makes the top spot! YES!
(and I JUST missed the panel pick. Went with the Monkees (as 31) and chose Strawberry Alarm Clock as my 2nd pick...(ARGH!).
Anyway, another very good ride this week.
(hope Nardole doesn't have TOO big a cleanup).
Keep those hits comin' up there, brother.
-I honestly didn't think we were that close either.
Delete-"Not in that way"? Remember Elvis and Mac in the Reverse contest?
- Laurie hit the winner and stunned herself.
-If you think 94 POTMS is a big number, wait'll we get to what I have planned for next TM!