M10 show week #47

 

So one more time, I'm going to play the Spotify streaming game, with my contestants being...

...Barry Manilow and Frank Sinatra!  I chose these two because I have often called Barry "the Sinatra of my generation", and that's a fact!  However, there is one obvious- or at least it will be- detriment to putting these two legends together and it combines the level of their success with the times they starred in.  But before we get started, I have one new debut this week, and it's kinda like the situation we had with Blondie a few weeks back!  You see, Melody's Echo Chamber came out with her first lp a couple years before I started the M10, and I found it after the fact.  By the time I was playing those songs, she was recording a new lp... but she NEVER released it!  Now, the tenth anniversary of that first self-titled lp is coming up, and as a lead off to that re-release, she has finally released that 'lost' second lp, called Unfold.  From Unfold, here's an opening hit at #10, called Norfolk Hotel...

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So that obvious problem:  Barry came from a day where you became popular off the radio, and his hits were on the charts for the most part.  Frank, by the time the charts had been started in earnest, had already established himself as a superstar... and his popularity didn't depend on WHERE you heard his songs.  Many of his big hits were songs on his set lists at shows around the globe, and he never had them released.  I was in amazement as song after song on his list I found 'not released'!  But a game is a game, and even if he doesn't win by the numbers, he may have a more telling win by the 'album cuts' you know and love!  Let's start this with...

10- For Barry, his classic Could It Be Magic, which somehow only made 12 on Billboard, so 1 point.  For Frank, an opening unreleased classic, You Make Me Feel So Young, from 1956's Songs For Swingin' Lovers- and that lp will have another on our list!

9- For Barry, a little of the 'previously unreleased' of his own- a song that was released finally early this year and hit #5 on the M10 and #12 on the AC chart- Dancin' In The Aisles. Frank, his version of Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow from his 1950 Christmas lp.  Back then, Billboard had a separate holiday chart, on which it hit #45.  

8- Barry has the first of 3 #1s on the list, Looks Like We Made It. Frank counters with another I would have lost my paycheck betting he released, Come Fly With Me from the 1958 lp of the same name.  It's one of 3 tunes that Manilow covered on his his 1998 Manilow Sings Sinatra lp, and one of the others was You Make Me Feel So Young.

7- For Barry, it's the opening #1 of my original M10 of 45 years ago- Weekend In New England, a #10 on Billboard.  Frank has yet another unreleased, The Way You Look Tonight, on the 1964 Days Of Wine And Roses lp- which contained another famous (but not on the list) cover, Swinging On A Star.

6- Barry with I Write The Songs, his 2nd #1 on the list.  For Frank, the other tune from Songs For Swingin' Lovers- a Cole Porter tune made a hit later by the Four Seasons- I've Got You Under My Skin.  This is the only song from his ten on the setlist of Frank's last show on April 16th, 1994.

By the way, Barry is on what I believe to be his last tour right now, and in the reverse of Frank's, only Dancin' In The Aisles and Weekend In New England are NOT on the setlist!

5- For Barry, Even Now which peaked at #19; for Frank, he finally has one of his chart hits- the #1 Strangers In The Night (which is the third song on the list Barry covered).

4- Probably the second biggest surprise on Barry's list, the #21 Somewhere Down The Road; Frank follows up with his #4 That's Life.

If I were keeping score, Barry would be up 24-17.  For all the unreleased songs, it's not a bad race!

3- You knew Copacabana would be on here somewhere, and the #8 hit lands here.  Frank goes back to the "I can't believe this wasn't released" file with Fly Me To The Moon, from 1964's It Might As Well Be Swing with Count Basie's Orchestra.

2- Barry hits with Can't Smile Without You, a #3; Frank's runner up is his #1 duet with daughter Nancy, Something Stupid.  That's now a 35- 27 score...

Because why would I miss a chance to put Nancy up here?

And just before we get to the top, here's the rest of the M10...

9- Up one for the Scorpions and Hammersmith.

8- Down 2 for Beck and Old Man.

7- Down 3 for Built To Spill and Comes A Day.

6- Down 4 for Zach Williams' Heart Of God, which peaked at 12 on the Christian charts last week.

5- The start of an Alvvays twofer, with Belinda Says shooting up 4...

4- ...and After The Earthquake reclaiming its #4 spot.

3- Also up 4 is Brooke Annibale and Social Anxieties.

2- Lucius up 1 with The Man I'll Never Find, becoming the 4th song at #2 under the four week reign of...

1- Love On The Run by Broken Bells!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That 4 different 2s in 4 weeks is indeed an M10 record ( though we have had 2 instances of the same #2 all four weeks!)- and next up is- if it happens, and I don't doubt it will- becoming only the second song with 5 or more weeks at the top!  In the meantime, the top streamers for this week...

Barry Manilow- was there any doubt it was Mandy, that 3rd #1 I promised....

Frank Sinatra- the song is no surprise, but the chart position sure is... My Way, which peaked at #27 (yes, 27!), to make our final 45-28- and that's with only four of Frank's songs charting!  These boys left on the table...

Barry- 4 top tens, another 13 top 40s...

Frank- NINE #1s, 20 more top 5's, 33 more top tens, and 99 more top 40's!

Re-rack 'em, pretty boy, let's see if you can win the rematch!