Time Machine co-ordinates VICXXX6102759

Today we go to February 7th, 1958... and right to another couple of plane crashes, one literal, one figurative.  The literal one killed 8 members of the Manchester United soccer team on their way home from a tourney in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.  The second was the formation of the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), to develop the tech we needed to go into space more rapidly.  Though it is called a 'direct result of the launching of Sputnik by the Soviets', it took 4 months and 3 days from liftoff to come up with it...

Welcome to this week's fun with music known as Time Machine, where we will sit down (in our imaginations, of course) with Sonny James, and a crazy M10 that includes, as I have just reconnoitered, two bands who haven't had a hot 100 single since 1991, one act that has had just one since 1991, and one who hasn't been in the top 40 since 1991- and that includes two M10 debuts!  Along with that, a runaway Panel winner, and quite possibly one of my 'live' 6Ds!   Prepare for launch!


*********************************************

Let's kick things off with this 1991 thing, shall we?  In addition to the Pet Shop Boys, whose i don't wanna is at #6 (up one spot) and haven't had a US chart hit since 1991, the last hot 100 appearance for the band debuting at #10 was also back in 1991!  This band is Yes, who in 2011 recorded an lp they weren't real happy with, called Fly From Here.  This past year, they decided to 'do it right', and the result came out right around Christmas, Fly From Here: Return Trip.  All that time, this one has lazily drifted along in my shuffle, and this week I finally give it a peak inside...





***************************************

Hey, Sonny, how ya doing?

I'm doing just fine, yourself?

Good, good.  I was just reading your bio, and I see you were playing the mandolin at three years old?

Well,  I used to play around on a broom.  That’s when Pop decided, ‘Well, I’ll give him something that he can at least play around on.’ That’s when he cut the molasses bucket in half and used the bottom of it and put a neck on it and then reversed it. It became the top of a little banjo, but it was tuned like a mandolin- So then I graduated to a mandolin and long about that time -I must have been about three or something – I began singing.    (***From an interview with Dave Samuelsson on Sonny's website***)

Wow, that's pretty incredible.  But you were from a musical family.

Yeah, we played all over the south for years, until Thelma and Ruby- my sisters- got hitched in a double wedding, around Christmas back in '49.  Then I got hooked up with Slim Whitman for a while, and it just kinda went from there.

Last week, Dean Martin kinda razzed you for not being a huge crossover act.  But on the country charts, from 1964-72, you had 21 #1 country songs and nothing lower than a #3 the whole time!

I did?  I mean, I do?

Oops, kinda left the cat outta the bag there... someone will be hitting the memory station on the way out..

Nice job, boss!  Looks like someone needs to hit the memory-FIXING station..

S: Well, hello, Elvis, How's your ma doing?

E:  Well, that's kind of a funny question, seein's as I work here an' all...

S:  Yeah, I know what you mean... I think.  This time-travel stuff kind of addles the brain...

E:  Why ya think Chris is the way he is?

S:  Why, how IS Chris?

OKAY, time to move right along to the Panel picks.  14 contestants from 26 stations, so we're growing bit by bit...

S: I see Elvis has THREE songs on the list...

E: Yeah, but all of 'em are one-vote wonders- Baby I Don't Care, Don't, and I Beg Of You...

Well, nine out of 14 WERE one-voters- our winner this week got almost 38.5%...

E: Son, you're about set to give everything away this week, ain't ya?

Sigh, yeah, I better just let Sonny get on with the finalists...

S:  All right, then, here are your finalists...

Perry Como's Catch A Falling Star was #22 in the Cashbox chart...
Danny and the Juniors have been #1 ALL year so far with At The Hop...
The Silhouettes are at #3 with Get A Job...
...and the Royal Teens were at #24 with Short Shorts.

E:  Kinda makes ya think it was a two-horse race, eh, Sonny?

Looks can be deceiving though... so we'll revisit this at the end.  Good to have you on board, Sonny!

Thanks for having me.  Say... you don't suppose I could get a peek at what else happened to me, music wise...

E: Sonny, c'mon with me.  You don't wanna know no more, it just makes it harder to erase...

S:  ERASE???

**************************************************************

Let me cue up our second debut.  This act has charted as late as 2007... but only twice in 1991 before that, everything else earlier... it's his first lp in 10 years, and he has a boatload of guests on the upcoming disc, including Elton John on this one!  At #9... Ozzy Osbourne...








********************************************

Well, we didn't have so much crazy covers as a lot of songs that would be covered famously (or not) later.  So Laurie and I got out the thumbs for a few of them...

Roy Hamilton's version of Don't Let Go, #14 on this week's chart, was covered by Isaac Hayes in 1979, where it made top 20 in a disco-esque version.

L: Roy wins this.  I can't understand Hayes.
C:  Yeah, Isaac mumbles it.  Roy for me.
 Moments later, we stumbled on to the fact that the Manhattan Transfer did a cover of it as well.  So...
L:  Still Roy.  I don't like the vocals.
C: I thought it was the best of both worlds, fast paced without mumbling.  But Roy by a whisker yet.

Billy Vaughn did an orchestral of Sail Along Silvery Moon at #7 this week.  The original recording was by Bing Crosby with Lani McIntyre and the Hawaiians as the orchestra.  He did his version way back in 1937.

L: Once again, singing versus orchestral is apples to oranges.  Might have been better if there was a better recording of Bing's.
C: Well, it was a 33 1/3rd, so... Anyway, I liked Bing, but I thought the Hawaiians sucked weren't the best choice for the song.  Billy easily for me...

The Rays were dropping at #54 with Silhouettes.  I played it for Laurie, who of course said, "Wasn't this done more recently?", which of course it was by Herman's Hermits in '65.

L:  The Hermits, better singing.
C: I started to go Silhouettes, since I love old Doo Wop, but the Hermits are so good, I have to give my first sideways thumb.

Finally, one of my all time favorite songs, My Special Angel.  Bobby Helms was falling out of the survey this week; the Vogues would do it 9 years later.  One was my #1 song of the 50's; the other was a top ten in the 60's list I did.  Both peaked at #7 on Billboard.

L: The Vogues.  The vocals were better.
C:  Bobby.  What the Vogues did with 4 voices, he did with ONE.

**********************************************************

The 6D victim would have been the Diamonds with The Stroll.  It was at #2 on Cashbox's chart without a Panel vote.
 Elvis dominated the Big Mover category this week.  His Don't went from 36 to 8 this week, a 24 spot rise.  However, the b-side, I Beg Of You, went up 26, from 41 to 15...

Kinda makes up for the one-vote wonder thing, dontcha think?

Sure does, bud!  Not to mention, you also had the top of the UK charts this week, with Jailhouse Rock!

Wee-hoo!  And the Beatles are nowhere to be seen...

Well, at this point in time, the "Beatles" are a couple of 16-year olds, and George Harrison is waiting on a second audition...

Why you gotta pee in my corn flakes like that?

UGGH!  on that note....


***************************************

The remaining 1991 story on the M10 is Huey Lewis and the News, who last hit the top 40 in- you guessed it, 1991!  They sit at #5 for a second week with While We're Young.  And now that the chart is totally perforated, here's the rest of the list:

In The Afternoon by MGMT slides from 4 to 8 in week #8.
Nada Surf and Pet Shop Boys actually flipped positions, with So Much Love moving down one to #7. 
Our three week #1- Tennis with Runner- slips to #4.

And the big surprise is, that White Reaper, after three weeks stuck at #8, moves up to #3 with Might Be Right.  I see that it is also #2 on this week's Billboard Alternative chart.  I also see that money-grubbing Billboard is now putting their charts behind a paywall, not just their archives.  Well, that much less press for you here, fellas...

Caroline Rose moves up into the #2 slot with Feel The Way I Want, which means that, claiming her third M10 #1 is...

....Agnes Obel and Broken Sleep!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*************************************

And that brings us to the Panel pick.  And unless you are the winner, you got 7.6% of the vote.  So step aside, Perry, Danny, and Teens, the winner is....

...The Silhouettes and Get A Job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next week, God willing, 1959- and no more plane crashes!