Time Machine co-ordinates VILXXVII52411774

Wow, dudes, as proud as I was of last week's show, this one is going to be a HUGE disaster!  I found absolutely nothing of note at target date January 17th, 1974 (excepting a pair of Norwegian deep-sea divers who died when their bathysphere rose too fast);  I haven't done a 6D because I thought I had an even better storyline- and I'm going to wear some BIG donkey ears when I tell THAT one; the Panel was another rout of epic proportions; and I FORGOT to do the label game, so we are going to try to do that LIVE (EEEK)!  If nothing else will make me humble, this debacle will!


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So let's open with one of three new debuts- and the only one that was among the four I TRIED to get you all to guess at last week!  Form 2012's compilation titled after the hit Mr Blue Sky, here is ELO at #10:





Well, we can't be TOO bad off if we lead with ELO, can we?


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Nor if we start the Panel Picks by introducing our POTM this week, Carly Simon!

How are you today?

A little cold... what's with the heat in here?

That is a very good question... NARDOLE!

N: Yes, sir? 

Could we like get the heat up to, say, room temp?

N:  It's aftereffects of the End Of Year Redundancy Transclaudication... we're still trying to synch up.

That's never caused the furnace to go out before...

N: Well, that's because you were never 13 months late paying the bill before...

Oh, fer the luvva... maybe you could get Ms Simon a jacket... and none of Harrison's or Elvis's stuff!

C:  It's all right... can we do the list?

Sure.  We have 20 contestants from 45 stations- and our winner took a third of 'em!  So I'll give you the onesie-twosie list (1 or 2 votes), and everyone... maybe that should be ANYone- left is in the final picks!

All right, let's start with the 2s... Charlie Pride's The Most Beautiful Girl was at #20 this week- and by the way, I'd just like to say I appreciate being in the Beauty Contest... 

You mighta won had I found that pic above before...

Aww... anyway, Brownsville Station was at #3 with Smoking In The Boys Room... Gotta love those bad boys!

N:  Here's a jacket, ma'am... I think it was Liberace's...

Oh, well THAT was appropriate...

Thank you, Noodle...

N:  That's Nardole, Ms Simon.  N-A-R...

That'll be all, noodle.  Go ahead, Carly.

Hmmm... Next with 2 votes is Terry Jacks and Seasons In The Sun, new on the chart at #76.

Al Wilson held the #2 slot with Show And Tell.

And Stevie Wonder was at #6 with Superstition.

Now comes the fun stuff- the one-vote wonders!

This first one is from the Netherlands- a fellow by the name of Gerard Cox.  His song you could name three ways.  You could call it by it's Dutch name- 'T Is Weer Voorbij, Die Mooie Zomer...

Well said!  At least, I think so...

...or by the English Translation- It's Over Again, That Beautiful Summer... or, you could just say, that Dutch song to the tune of City Of New Orleans, I guess...

Then we have Coven, two weeks into their second go-round on the charts with their version of One Tin Soldier, back at #87...

This one I'm afraid I don't know...

Oh, I do.  This is Canadian band Lighthouse- who had a hit here with One Fine Morning- and their beautiful follow-up, Pretty Lady.  It was a top ten in Canada (if I'm not mistaken), peaked at 53 here- and this week it was number one on KPOI, Honolulu, of all places...

Okay, then we have Perry Como who was #1 in Australia with his version of the country classic For The Good Times.

Grand Funk Railroad was at #17 with Walk Like A Man.

Love Unlimited Orchestra and Love's Theme was #9...

David Bowie was charting in the UK and at the top in South Africa with a song called Sorrow...

Having listened to this one, I don't get why they never released it here...

...and another Australian station had Sweet's Ballroom Blitz, which was 21 months from hitting here... boy, this time stuff can be handy!

Ringo Starr was at #4 with You're 16...

Olivia Newton-John was at #12 with Let Me Be There...

...and Wings were at #13 with Helen Wheels!  There you go!

Ah, but for such a beautiful guest, how about you do the finalists?

Aww, okay!  Choose from, Steve Miller's The Joker at #1...

Byron MacGregor's The Americans at #8...

Barbara Streisand with The Way We Were at #10...

And Jim Croce's Time In A Bottle at #5!

Okay, thank you very much!  There you guys go... the funny, the serious, and two songs about TIME!  Is that an omen?  Take your best shot!


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Okay, before we try the LIVE Label Game, here's the next debut at #8, coming to you from 2014... this is Animal House...







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And now, let me bring up the Cashbox top 100 for the year 1974...

So we start off with a new one right at the top, Rocky Road... then two for last time's winner Epic... then of course, Capitol and Columbia... hmm-de-hmmm...  then another each for the C-n-C guys... and another for Cap!  They're on fire!  Then a couple quick ones for MCA... and for A&M!  And MCA... and again!  There the first ones to qualify... and they have SIX already!  Capitol qualifies next, but it's gonna be hard to top the leader...  ABC is now on the board, but doesn't stand much of a chance...MCA starting to hit songs in the backstretch now, that might end up helping Capitol... and here's RCA-Victor qualified...  Now Columbia makes the board after wasting away its strong start... and MCA is now up to NINE...  Epic now does the same thing Columbia did... we have a Virgin at 75!  Apple finally gets on the list... A&M joins the party now, as does Atlantic...  From here on, they just hurt you, as Columbia and Capitol may have just found out...  Ohh, Clap For The Wolfman at 94 may have just sunk RCA Victor... Apple just got 88 AND 98...  A&M just swallowed 99... and we're done!  Time to calculate the results!

Atlantic had 5 for an average spot of 61.4...
A&M had 5 for 57.6...
Apple got 6 for 64.33...
Epic had 5 for 44.2- that's a little better...
Columbia had 5 for 44.6...
RCA-Victor got 6 for 37.16- new leader!
ABC had 5 for 41.4...
Capitol grabbed 7 for 38.4... just missed!
And MCA took 9 for 36.4!  the winner...

MCA!  Their ten songs were...

I Honestly Love You, Olivia Newton-John at 62;
Lynyrd Skynyrd and Sweet Home Alabama at 58;
Marvin Hamlisch's The Entertainer at #45;
ONJ again with If You Love Me at 31;
Cher's Dark Lady at 26;
ONJ #3 with Let Me Be There at 22;
(and here the disaster continues- I gave MCA credit for an MGM song at #15!  They still win, but the numbers have been changed above so you'll never know for sure won't have to worry about it...)
...and three from Sir Elton John- Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me at 51, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road at 21, and Benny And The Jets at #12!


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All right, let me get to the sad story of my great adventure in disaster.  You might have noted last week that I said I wanted to know what the 45 was on the Beths' video.  I knew it was (obviously) a Kama Sutra release, but where I stopped the video was so darn blurry, I couldn't make out but vague outlines of act and song.  So, after about a half hour of reading Wiki, "the Kama Sutra/Buddah Records Story", and various other places, I finally came upon the KS complete discography- but it didn't help.  So I gave up, b/c I was just starting to write last week's post, and these things take long enough as it is.

Skip ahead to a couple of nights ago my time (Tuesday your time), and I thought, "Maybe I can stop it in a different place, and it will be clearer!"  So I stopped it in a different place, and it WAS clearer- or so I thought.

It said, "Ohio Express, Turn! Turn! Turn!".

I thought, well, this ought to be interesting, so I searched the song- and found nothing.  I searched some more, and more nothing.  Not only did the Ohio Express not record on KS but on Buddah, but they seemed never have had recorded it- and nobody that ever DID record it did it for Kama Sutra!  So I assumed it was a totally made up record and that was that.  Except it wasn't.

Wednesday I said to myself at work, "Kama Sutra and Buddah are owned by the SAME company.  See if we can find where it might have cross pollinated."  And when I got home, I did.  No luck- until I got to Allmusic.com, where I saw on the discography for the Ohio Express that they listed a re-recording of the lp Yummy Yummy Yummy in 1994 on Kama Sutra!  But when I clicked the link- it was dead.  And nothing I did would find me that 1994 re-release.

Then I finally had the one brilliant idea on this entire journey of stupidity you haven't guessed at yet.  "Why not search Google images for 'Ohio Express on Kama Sutra Records'?"  And there I found this:

...a fuzzy picture of Ohio Express's big hit Yummy Yummy Yummy... and I said, "you don't suppose..."  And sure enough, I stopped the video in yet another spot and saw it plain as day-

"Yummy Yummy Yummy- Ohio Express".  A #4 hit in 1968 which I am well acquainted with.  And a song that I thought MIGHT be the culprit last week, but said, "Those aren't Ys, they are Ts- and that sure ain't an O on the artist."

God finds amazing ways to keep me humble.  Let's do the debut at #7- Liz Cooper and the Stampede:






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Stat Pack, take me away!

The Stones grabbed the big mover with one of my favorites, Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker), moving 30 spots from 72 to 42.

BB King had the #74 in '74 with I Like To Live The Love.  A #6 soul song, it would peak at #28 and be his last time in the top 40- with the not-quite exception of his joining U2 for When Love Came To Town in 1989 (got #2 mainstream rock and 6 alt) and a sampling from his song How Blue Can You Get on the Primitive Radio Gods' 1996 #1 Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in My Hand (a seriously great song, despite the title, gives me chills).

#101 was (Benny) Latimore's Stormy Monday, which got no further despite cracking the top 30 R&B.

The UK charts were represented in the Panel Picks by For The Good Times (26), Living For The City (30), Sorrow (34), and Helen Wheels (41).  The numero uno Britannia was You Won't Find Another Fool Like Me (my theme song this show) by the New Seekers, which only registered a #18 on the AC charts here (AKA you might have heard it in the Doctor's waiting room...)

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And that brings us to the remaining M10 songs...

We have 2 8-weekers in this week's show- the Beths with Future Me Hates Me falls from 4 to 9; still hanging in there is Anna Burch's 2 Cool 2 Care, slipping one to #4.

Papa Roach gets hung up at #6 for a second week with Not The Only One.

Charles Bradley moves into the top 5 with Luv Jones.

I have now heard Castlecomer twice on the radio- I heard The Noise at the gas station last week, and this (Thursday) morning I heard a out-of-range alt station playing last week's #1, She's So High!  They slip to 3 this week.

Roaring up from 10 to 2 is that group whom has an unexplainable hold on me- the Beths again, with You Wouldn't Like Me.

And that means our new top dog is the third #1 for...

...the Decemberists and Travelling On!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


And your Panel winner?  Well, if you add MacGregor, Streisand, and Croce together, you only get 20%- so the winner with 33% is...

...Steve Miller and The Joker!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Next week, God willing, is a better 1975!