Time Machine co-ordinates VICXXII602121374

Well, if you come to Time Machine just for the lead ins, you are in for a hurtin'.  We are in December 13th, 1974, and our list of events includes:  Malta changing its constitution to become a republic;  George Harrison meeting with President Ford; and the morning after Jimmy Carter opened his presidential campaign...

Oh, and he brought Ravi Shankar, too...

...so not a lot of depth here.  This week, though, we have two M10 debuts, the Spotify list of what I listened to most this year, Laurie and I channeling Siskel and Ebert, and Elton John!  But FIRST...


NEXT WEEK:  The long-awaited, rumored but not believed, Christmas with Bill Haley Show, including this year's Time Machine 9th Annual Beauty Contest!  Join myself, Bill, and Wayne Newton for this warped extravaganza!

THE FOLLOWING TWO WEEKS:  Some manner of M10 update, combined with my top 20 for the year -yet to be decided if I will go straight by points or fiddle with it a bit.

JANUARY 10TH- the normal buffoonery re-commences with... whoever wins this week!

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Let me start right off with this week's first debut, a brand new single from Maybird....







Maybird's third time in the M10 starts us off at #10....

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Welcome in Elton John, everybody!

Glad to be back... I suppose...

So this is your third time winning POTM, and your third different song to do it.  But they are really widely gapped appearances... one might say they were " so spaced out..."

Uggh.  Perhaps you should leave the comedy to Elvis...

Easy, Spangles, easy...

Uh, let's be chill, 'tis the season, guys.  So you have been apprised of the new modus operandi here, right?

EJ: Yes, your lawyer is quite the... proper gent, isn't he?

EP:  S'okay, you kin say 'stuffed shirt'..."

EJ:  I feel as though I met him before.  Didn't he used to work with Apple Records?

EP:  Yeah, 'n they dumped him on US.

HB:  You say that as if it is a negative...

GENtlemen, let's adjourn to the task at hand, please...

EP:  An' Chris kin git stuffy too...

Here is your list, Sir Elton... there were 13 songs across 41 stations this week...

EJ:  All right, let me adjust my spectacles...

EP:  Heck, I thought those were cheaters!

EJ:  No, I assure you they may be gaudy, but they are necessary.  A grand total of 8 contestants were of the one-vote wonder variety, including:

Australian votes for Ernie Sigley and Denise Drysdale doing a cover of Hey Paula, and Daryl Braithwaite doing the song popularized elsewhere by Helen Reddy, You're My World...

Myself with Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, charting at #10 on Cashbox, along with my good friend David Bowie with Changes at #73...

And the Doobie Brothers with Black Water, which snuck in a vote despite not entering the national chart until next March...

And in the interests of actually having four contestants on this week's rather lop-sided chart, I stop here with the note that Miss Reddy got two votes of her own for Angie Baby at #2.

And with that, we roll merrily along to the final four, for your perusal...

Choose please from:

Billy Swan, I Can Help, at #4...
The Three Degrees, When Will I See You Again at # 5...
Carl Douglas with Kung Fu Fighting at #1...
and Bobby Vinton with My Melody Of Love at #14.

EP:  Nice job, Rhinestone!

EJ:  How about you, 'get back, Honky Cat'?

Perhaps YOU should leave the comedy to Elvis!

EP:  Wait!  I don' git it...

Anyways, thanks for playing along with us today, Sir Elton, you're a great sport!  Next up...

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Last time, I mentioned that Spotify came up with a new deal where it made lists of the songs you played the most over the past decade.  There were definitely some surprises in the lists, and I thought this week I would share with you what I played the most this year!

10- Amazingly, this went to a song that got just 4 weeks on the M10, peaking at #5... but waited on the shuffle quite a while to get in!  And that would be Piroshka with Everlastingly Yours.

9- Not nearly so surprising is the first of 6 M10 #1s on the list- M.A.G.S. with Drugs.

8- One of 2 for The Dig- You're Not Alone.

7- Saint Asonia cracks the list with The Hunted...





*NOTE* Beware the ending...!

6-  The last non-#1 on the list, Moon Taxi's Now's the Time.

5- First of 2 for King Leg- Running Scared.

4- Star Kendrick and Geowulf, He's 31.

3- The Orwells, Last Days In August.

2-  Again with The Dig, Moonlight baby.

1- And to no great surprise, King Leg's Seeing You Tonight!!!!!!!!!!!!


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So one of the things we've been doing here lately is looking at the seemingly odd covers on each week's chart, and after I did those instant reviews last week, I thought it might be fun to do a "Siskel and Ebert" with Laurie on them!  And here's this week's crop.  NOTE:  I don't include fairly popular covers here, so that's why You're No Good didn't make the list, Linda Ronstadt...

First:  Ringo Starr, Only You:  We both thought this fast version was okay, though the original was better.  Two thumbs up.
Second: Willie And The Hand Jive, Eric Clapton:  Laurie: "If you could hear this version without having heard the original, it was good."  Chris:  "I was hoping for a big Slowhand instrumental break to save it- and it never happened." Laurie up, Chris down.
Third: She's Gone, Tavares: The best thing about this was the YouTube comment war between those who knew this was a Hall and Oates cover and those who didn't.  Two thumbs down.
Fourth: Ruby Ruby, Billy "Crash" Craddock:  A pretty faithful cover that made me tap along.  Two thumbs up.
Fifth:  If, Telly Savales:  Yes, Telly Savales.  Laurie:  "When you take a slow song and slow it down more, and you're like, 'c'mon, speed back up' .."  Chris: "Monotone spoken word, really?" ALL FOUR DOWN.

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Yes, the constellation, but there was a band Ursa Major that you never prolly heard of- and it was one of the first bands Billy Joel was in, although he left "for personal reasons" before they got off the ground.  Another member who stuck around was guitarist Dick Wagner, who later shared stage with Steve Hunter in Alice Cooper's Welcome To My Nightmare-era band.  On one early project, Steve was faced with an unusual task on a song by producer Bob Ezrin- first he was asked to play a 12-string guitar on a track, but as he didn't really know the instrument that well, he played it acoustic instead- and did it three times, which then all three where aligned together.  Also on the track, drummer Allan Schwartzburg was told to play with a shaker in one hand, and the with the other use a drumstick on a TELEPHONE BOOK.  This track became our 6D victim, the only #1 for Harry Chapin, Cat's In The Cradle- at #3 this week without Panel Love.


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Sta Pack:  Big mover this week were the Eagles with Best Of My Love, flying up 21 spots from 72 to 51; debuts included the Ohio Players' Fire at 100, ELO's Can't Get It Out Of My Head at 85, Lady by Styx at 80, and Grand Funk Railroad's Some Kind Of Wonderful at 77.  And in the UK, the top spot went to Barry White with You're My First My Last My Everything.

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Did you think I forgot the other debut on the M10?  This is a combination of two acts.  The first is new to the M10, the other a veteran.  The new act is a band of eclectic tastes who take their name from the Thai word for "fly" or "airplane"- Khuarngbin. ("We're from Texas, we pronounce it 'Krung-Bin.") The second is the multi talented vocalist Leon Bridges.  They collaborated on a new EP, and here's the title track, coming in at #7 with a big bullet:





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The rest of the M10:

Falling to 9 is Jeff Lynne's ELO and Down Came The Rain.
Up one to 8 is Criminal Hygiene's Mississippi Belle; their Incompletely rises a spot to #3.
Tennis danced up 4 to #6 with Runner; Saint Asonia stayed just ahead, moving up 3 to #5 with This August Day.
Brooke Annibale slides down 2 to #4 in her 8th week with the three-time #1, Collided.
The Derevs move into the #2 spot with It's The Love.

And for a second week at the top...

Carroll... with Fern!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And the POTM pick?

Well, as Elton said, it wasn't real close.  If you took Bobby Vinton, you got 7.3%...
Billy Swan got you only a little better with 9.75%.  Some help!
The Three Degrees, which would have been my #1 this week, also netted 9.75%.







But the winner, with 48.8 %.......

..........Carl Douglas and Kung Fu Fighting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All right, that's a wrap!  Next week is the year end party of the ages here on Time Machine, so DON'T MISS IT!  Come back next year to see Carl chop through the Panel picks!