Time Machine week 40

NOTE:  Fumble fingers actually hit "publish" instead of "Schedule", so you get this today instead of tomorrow.  OOOPS!

The day is November 2nd, 1970.  Tonight the expansion NBA team the Cleveland Cavaliers will set an NBA record.  They have openned the season 0-10, a tally that will go to 0-15 before they finally win.  But tonight in Philadelphia, they became the recipient of the biggest can ever opened on a team in league history, 141-87.  Seven Philly players including Billy Cunningham hit double figures, including one guy (Bud Ogden) who would only average 2.4 points a game for the year!  The team would follow up a 15-game losing streak with streaks of 12 (which put them at 1-27), 9, and 7 (twice) to finish at 15-67.  Ironically, the Cavs broke that record in 1991 with a 148-80 rout of Miami- which in turn was ironic because it was losing LeBron James to Miami last year that sent them on a league-record 26 game losing streak.  Funny business, basketball.

Welcome to Time Machine, and don't say you didn't have your chance.  Nobody sent in any suggestions for the Martin Hall Of Fame, so you have to put up with my picks for the MHOF class #4.  Also this week, see if you have an Elephant's Memory, The Three Little Fishies make an appearance, and a certain slowpoke song finally joins us in the top forty.  So, away we go...

First category up is the top names.  Joining the list are three acts. 
With 11 top 40 hits, seven of them top ten, including the #1s A Horse With No Name and Sister Golden Hair- America!

With 30 top 40s, 15 top tens and a whopping 9 #1s starting with How Do You Mend A Broken Heart- the Bee Gees!

and with 11 top 40s, five of them in the top ten, and a pair of #1s neither of which was their most famous hit, Bohemian Rhapsody- Queen!

This week, we have 12 songs debut in the hot 100, but only one of them gets mentioned today, the one at #95.  The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band with the classic Mr. Bojangles.  Also light this week are our birthday songs- again- with but 5 of them, all turning 30 this week.  They would be: Supertramp's It's Raining Again; Don Henley's Dirty Laundry; Marvin Gaye's Sexual Healing; Toto's Africa; and Peter Gabriel's Shock The Monkey.  Blow out the candles...

Next category is the top guys.  Again, I am adding three.  With 14 top 40s, 6 of them top tens, and the #1 Take Good Care Of My Baby- Bobby Vee!

With a smaller list of 6 top 40s, 2 top tens- but the big #1 American Pie- Don McLean!

And with 12 top fortys (but 82 on the country chart, with 12 #1s)- Johnny Cash!

Our big movers this week- and for a change, they don't include the Partridge Family! - are on the upside, the Guess Who, who move up 25 spots to 52 with Share The Land; and falling 25 to #61, Anne Murray with Snowbird.


The really good ladies are a bit harder to find.  So with 6 top fortys and the #1 Killing Me Softly- Roberta Flack!

At # 50 this week- and our Where Are They Now victim- is a group you've probably heard, but don't know by name.  They are Elephant's Memory, and they are at #50 with their biggest hit on their own, called Mongoose.  EM was an ever-changing Greenwich Village group, led by sax man Stan Bronstein and drummer Rick Franks, Jr.  Formed in 1967-8, they boasted a ranged of musicians over their short career- including for a short time, Carly Simon as vocalist.  In '69, they gained some fame with their songs Jungle Gym At The Zoo and Old Man Willow on the Midnight Cowboy soundtrack.  But their real fame came when John Lennon and Yoko Ono moved to GV and needed a backup band for some concert dates.  They picked the local boys (who became the "Plastic Ono Elephant's Memory Band" in concert), and they ended up being his band for the 1972 lp Sometime In New York City, which featured the infamously-named Woman Is The Nigger Of The World.  The band kind of drifted into obscurity by 1975.  I was unable to get anything about Franks, But Bronstein is in a bad way, nearly destitute and suffering from brain and lung cancer which has left him nearly incapacitated.  He is being aided by a musician's help group called Sweet Relief Mucicians Fund, and if you are interested in helping, you can reach them at sweetrelief.org.

Next up is the not quite rock'roll category, and I have a couple of biggies to add here.  With 229 top fortys (not a typo), 154 top tens, and 30 #1s- most famously White Christmas- Bing Crosby!

And with 54 top 40s, 15 top tens, and 3 #1s, not including the one Sherry denied him, Rambling Rose- Nat King Cole!

Our look back feature this week throws its spotlight on the Hal Kemp Orchestra.  Kemp started out with a UNC college band, the Carolina Club Band, from 1924-27.  He turned over the reins to classmate Kay Kaiser then to go pro.  From 1930-41 he charted 58 top 40s, 29 top tens, and 4 #1s including 1937s This Years Kisses.  This band was a classic case of turning a liability into a strength.  Vocalist Skinnay Ennis had problems carrying a note, so arranger JS Trotter overcame that by having him shorten the note, and filling the space with a stattacco muted trumpet that according to Johnny Mercer sounded "like a typewriter", giving them a sound unique.  The song they might be best known for came their way in 1939 when Kaiser (who had long since went pro and will be no doubt a lookback feature himself) came up with his #1 The Three Little Fishies.  Kemp's band recorded it as well and took it to #5.

In December of 1940, Kemp was seriously injured in a car accident.  In the hospital he quickly developed pneumonia, and died two days later at the age of 36.

Next up is the Chris's favorites category.  With 5 top 40s and 2 top tens- one of which, A Long December, you'll usually find on my New Year's Morning posts- Counting Crows!

And with 3 big top 40s, 2 of them top 10s, including Georgy Girl- The Seekers!

Four new top 40s to tell you about today.  Kenny Rogers and the First Edition hit at #40, up 12, with Heed The Call.  Yellow River finally makes it's top 40 appearance after 18 trudging weeks in the hot 100, moving from 50 to 39.  Elvis moves up 17 to #34 with his excellent cover of You Don't Have To Say You Love Me.  And at 32, up 10 spots, is Bryan Hyland with Gypsy Woman.

Our last category is the golden oldies, and with 33 top 40s, 11 top tens, and 3 #1s, including I Can't Stop Loving You- Ray Charles!

And there you have them- the class of Fall 2012!

Only one song joins the top 40, so only one falls- and that is Out In The Country, dropping from 9 to 25.  Also, an almost but not quite shoutout to El Condor Pasa, which peaked at 11 last week for Simon and Garfunkel, and slips to 14 this time around.

No six degrees this week, due to the MHOF and the fact that the only dropper in the top ten was the one we featured last week!

The New Seekers hold at 10 with Look What They've Done To My Song, Ma.

100 Proof Aged In Soul, a Motown quartet who featured Joe Stubbs, brother of the Four Tops' Levi Stubbs, comes from 14 to 9 with Somebody's Been Sleeping.

The Kinks remain at 8 for a second week with Lola.

Cracklin' Rosie slips from 3 to 7 this time around.

James Taylor moves up one- as do the next three songs- to #6 with Fire And Rain.

Sugarloaf moves to #5 with Green Eyed Lady.

R Dean Taylor is at 4 with Indiana Wants Me.

And the last song to actually move is All Right Now, from 4 to 3 for Free.

The runner up again this week is the Carpenters' We've Only Just Begun.

And spending their second week at #1- the Jackson 5 with I'll Be There!!!

But... rules is rules and you don't get yer picture posted for week #2.    Come back next week for more musical fun!

Step into my time machine week 77

This week on Time Machine, I have the pleasure of bringing you an new top dog on both the album and singles chart; the next class of the Martin Hall Of Fame; and the most completely stupid movie premise I have ever heard!  In addition, the dreaded #49 doom strikes for a second week in a row, and the answer to where are they now is, THEY'RE ALL DEAD! (well, not quite.)  Strap in tight, because we'll have to switch into space-travel mode as well as time this morning.

Let me open (after a swig of blueberry juice) with a snippet of the MHOF.  If you were here before, you know I divided the first three classes into categories, and the first is "Big Names".  Those honored in those first three classes were: The Beatles, the Stones, the Who, the Eagles, Chicago, the Moody Blues, the Beach Boys, the Four Seasons, the Animals, Fleetwood Mac, Elton John, and the Monkeys.  I add two to that list this time around.
With 37 top 40 singles and 3 #1s- Neil Diamond!
And, with 17 top 40s and one top dog, along with a lot of great stuff before they became "top 40 material", Genesis!

We have 8 debuts on the hot hundred this week, two worth noting- at #92, Arnold G. Dorsey- AKA Englebert Humperdink- with After The Loving.  And at 80, the man who brought us Long Tall Glasses, Leo Sayer with You Make Me Feel Like Dancing ( which I'd have to say for me, this song never did).  Happy 35th birthday, you two!  The rest of the birthday crew this week:
Turning 40, John Lennon's Imagine; Isaac Hayes' Theme From Shaft; and Bread's Baby I'm-A Want You.
Turning 45, the Loving Spoonful's Rain On The Roof.
Turning 50, the Chairman of the Board, Frank Sinatra, with I'll Be Seeing You.
And turning 55 this week, Elvis with Love Me Tender.  Isn't it amazing that we seem to have a King reference every week?  Blow out the candles...

The big dropper this week was John Handy's Hard Work, a former WATN featuree, dropping 14 spots to 76.  Rod Stewart claims the big mover this week, climbing 25 to #45 with Tonight's The Night.

And speaking of the Where Are They Now feature, once again we have a slight problem.  Newbies, I always TRY to do this to the #49 song, but I've found that picking one number (at least this one) can cause some problems, i.e. repetition.  This week we have a song that hit 49 both on the way up and on the way down- Wings with the former top dog Let 'Em In.  So for a second straight week we move down a notch to 50, and there we find the Ohio Players with Who'd She Coo? on the way down.  The Ohio Players, who eventually became a vast ensemble, were based on 4 core members.  Sax player Clarence Satchell died in 1995; Trumpet/trombone man Ralph Middlebrooks passed in 1997; vocalist Robert Ward died Christmas Day, 2008; and Marshall Jones is surviving, living in Jamestown OH.

The next MHOF category is male soloist; the first waves inducted Elvis, Barry Manilow, Roy Orbison, Paul McCartney, John Denver, and BJ Thomas.  Joining them, with 35 top 40s and 2 #1s, Rick Nelson!

We dip into our #1s of other years feature now, and we are in the sixes this week.  In 1996, Cashbox was now doing a bi-weekly chart, and was about a month away from folding.  The #1 song was Donna Lewis' I Love You Always Forever.  In 1986, the top dog this week was Janet Jackson's When I Think Of You.  1976? Wait'll the end! 1966 this week the top dog was the Four Tops' Reach Out I'll Be There; and the top dog this week in 1956 was, from the middle of Elvis' tremendous run that year, Don't Be Cruel.

Next on the MHOF is female soloists (or acts).  Last time we inducted the Supremes, Dionne Warwick, Olivia Newton-John, Petula Clark, Carole King, and the Carpenters (sorry Richard, but Karen was the voice).  This time, we add two.  With 18 top 40s and a #1, Linda Ronstadt; and with 9 top 40s (is that all?  It sure seemed a lot more) and 2 #1s, the Captain and Tenille!

Three songs enter the top 40 this week.  At 37, up 13, is Ringo Starr's A Dose Of Rock And Roll (which we featured on WATN last time); at 34, up 8, the Spinners with Rubberband Man; and at 32, up 14, another recent featuree, Barry DeVorzon and Perry Botkin Jr with Nadia's Theme, AKA the Young And The Restless Theme.

Next up on the MHOF is the Not-So-R&R category.  Past inductees under this banner included crooners Frank Sinatra and Andy Williams, as well as Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass.  This time, we veer off into the Christian realm to pick an amazing singer and amazing human being, taken far too soon from us in a 1982 plane crash.  He posted four great Christian lps- For Him Who Has Ears To Hear (voted 5th on the all time Christian album list); No Compromise;  So Ya Wanna Go Back To Egypt (which he mortgaged his house to release on his own so that he could "sell" it for free, and it sold 200,000 copies and was ranked 49th on the top 100 Christian lps list); and Songs For The Shepard, as well as a Collection lp.  With NO top 40 hits and NO #1s, Keith Green!

And now, as we finally watch Frampton Comes Alive! begin to sink into the sunset, we have a new #1 album- Stevie Wonder's Songs In The Key Of Life.  His greatest masterpiece almost did not happen.  He was so disgusted with the government in the USA, he was planning on forsaking music to go work with physically challenged kids in Ghana, a noble pursuit.  But Motown backed up an armored car to his door, along with a seven-year, full creative license deal.  And like I suspect most of these "occupy" protesters would, he decided on the greater good and went to work.  Nine months, two unforeseen delays, and free t-shirts from Motown reading "It's Almost Finished!" later, Songs debuted at #1- something only Elton John had done before, with Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy and Rock Of The Westies.  And it held that spot for 13 weeks (so, we won't be seeing another new lp profile until January!), spawning singles Another Star (with George Benson on guitar, reaching #32), As (which featured Herbie Hancock and hit #36), and the 2 #1s, I Wish and Sir Duke.  Michael Sembelo (who did the song Maniac from Flashdance) played on a few cuts, and Minnie Ripperton and Denice Williams did some background work. 

Next category in the MHOF is Personal favorites.  Past inductees here are ELO, the Guess Who, and Kiss.  This time, with 8 top 40s, Boz Scaggs, and with 13 top 40s and a #1, Bread!

Two songs enter the top ten this week, two fall out.  Dropping are Shake Your Booty (7 to 17) and Getaway (10 to 18).

Rather than break up the top ten twice, here is our last MHOF category- oldies but goodies.  Last time we inducted the Coasters, Chuck Berry, the Everly Brothers, and the fan-nominated Jimmy Dean.  This time, with 20 top 40s and 3 #1s to his credit, Neil Sedaka!  And there you have the new class of the MHOF!

Coming into the top ten in the leadoff spot, up 2, is Steve Miller and Rock'n Me.  Also up two to enter the ten at #9, Heart with Magic Man.  At #8, edging up a spot, are the Bay City Rollers with I Only Wanna Be With You.  This brings back memories of listening to WMEE's nightly top ten, because this song, along with Kiss' Beth and Detroit Rock City, were constantly battling for the top spot.  At 7, moving up one, is Hall and Oates with She's Gone, in it's 24th week on the chart.  Which reminds me that the new resident of the grandpa chair ( in a week where 8 songs have 20+ weeks on the chart, including two in the top ten) is Kiss And Say Goodbye, back at #57, with 26 weeks.  (So much for not interrupting the top ten, eh?)  The next two songs hold their spots from last week- Still The One at 6 for Orleans and Devil Woman at #5 for Cliff Richard.  Newly minted MHOFer Boz Scaggs slips to 4 this week with Lowdown.

And at #3, we have our six degrees contestant, Walter Murphy and the non-existent Big Apple Band (which was just to give the song the "vibe" of a group, until the record company found out there really was a Big Apple Band and dropped the name) and A Fifth Of Beethoven.  Murphy's first job out of high school was as an arranger for Doc Severenson and the Tonight Show Band (AKA the NBC Orchestra).  Among the many credits for Severenson (which amazingly included no involvement on anything that ever hit the top 40), was scoring the movie with what has to be the dumbest premise of all time:

That's right, Nude On The Moon, where a couple of deadbeat scientists come into an inheritance that allows them to build a rocket ship and go to the moon.  There they find that the moon is a lush tropical paradise run by a group of topless amazons.  I can't make this stuff up, folks.  Also appearing musically was one Ralph Young, who sang the theme song I'm Mooning Over You. (I told you, I can't make this up!) Young was one half of Las Vegas act (Tony) Sadler and Young.  Young retired and has since passed away, but Sadler troups on, and recorded in 2010 a tribute album to the great French singer/songwriter Jacques Brel.  You know Brel (no, you really do) from his big hit Le Moribund, which the Beach Boys toyed with translating and then gave it up to their producer Terry Jacks, who forged it into Seasons In The Sun and hit #1.  I for one will never look at the moon the same way again.

That leaves us with the top 2 this week in 1976.  At #2 is Chicago with If You Leave Me Now, up from 4. and the new #1 song:

Rick Dees and his cast of Idiots with Disco Duck!  Rick claims it "took an hour to write and three months to find anyone willing to perform it".  So with the announcement of our new top dog duck, we conclude this week's slog through the magical year 1976.  Tune in tomorrow for the great Sixties Countdown, and be back here next week.  Maybe we'll find an even dumber movie to talk about (though somehow, I'm skeptical...).

Step into my time machine week fifty

We have a big week this week as we roll inexorably towards our ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!! To celebrate, the next three weeks, we're going to be inducting the first three classes of Martin's Hall Of Fame! More on that as we roll along, but I will make this announcement up front: if anyone would like to nominate an act to be honored, put it in a comment and I guarantee I will respond. I don't guarantee the nature of the responce though; and since this is basically a family blog, you might not want me to respond to nominees like George Michael or the antichrist's favorite act, Michael Bolton.

We had 12 debuts, and I'm going to mention a bunch of them for various reasons. At 99 we have Seals and Crofts with Get Closer, a song that I still think would have been better if they would have left Carolyn Willis out of the mix. At 93, we have Love Hangover by the Fifth Dimension, which I mainly mention because of how bad it's about to be clobbered later on. At 87, we have Johnny Cash and the Tennesee Three with One Piece At A Time; at 85, a song I mention just because of how stupid the entire concept was- The Fonz Song by the Hey-ettes. At 82 is a vastly underrated tune, Boz Skaggs with It's Over. Neil Sedaka's follow-up to Bad Blood comes in at 81, Love In The Shadows. At seventy comes the 5D beat down- the reluctant miss Diana Ross with HER version of Love Hangover. And the top debut at #65, Wings and Silly Love Songs. Our high mover is well into the top 40; the big dropper is Good Hearted Woman, dropping from 45 to 76, a 31-spot drop for those mathematically lazy out there.

Okay, here's the first thing you need to know about the MHOF: Each of the three classes I induct over the next three weeks will have 6 categories: 4 of them will be the big name, long lasting acts; 2 will be male soloists; 2 will be women or female-dominated acts; one will be a not-so-rock'n'roll selection; 1 will be a personal favorite (like they all aren't); and one will be a golden oldies act for a total of 11 entrants a class.

We're on the nines in our look at #1s from other years besides where we are right now (which to the newbies is this week in 1976). 1999 had TLC at the top with No Scrubs, which I did listen to to see what it was until it began to swerve from just ignorable to annoying. 1989 was another grand disappointment: the illusory Milli Vanilli with the ironically titled Girl You Know It's True. 1979 was the Doobie Brothers and their second #1, What A Fool Believes. The Fifth Dimension get some payback for our debuts section with the #1 song this week in 1969, Aquarius/Let The Sun Shine In from Hair. And in 1959, one of my classic faves, the Fleetwoods with Come Softly To Me. And I defy you to listen to this or Mr. Blue and tell me Gretchen Christopher doesn't sound like Jane Jetson!

Five songs hit the top 40 this week. Bad Company hits with their 5th straight top 40, Young Blood, moving from 44 to 40. At 39, moving up 7, is Olivia Newton-John's 9th top 40, Come On Over. Dorothy Moore scores the first (and biggest) of her two top 40s with Misty Blue jumping 11 spots to 38. Daryl Hall and John Oates come in at 36, up six, with Sara Smile; their first hot 100, She's gone, peaked at 60 but will return to the big boys sonn after Smile makes it to the top 10. And our big mover of the week, second week in a row, is John Sebastian's Welcome Back, a theme so good that the producers of the show it was written for immediately changed the name of the show from Kotter to Welcome Back, Kotter upon hearing it. It leaps from 48 to 22, a 26 spot jump.

Our look at the #1 albums of the 70s is up to February of 1975. The day after Valentine's, Linda Ronstadt's breakthrough Heart Like A Wheel hit the top for one week. At the end of her contract with Capitol, she wanted to split off from her folk-rock past efforts and acquired Producer Peter Asher and arrainger Andrew Gold (whom you know for Lonely Boy and Thank You For Being A Friend). The result was the #1 You're No Good and the #2 (#1 on Cashbox, as longtime followers know) cover of the Everly Brothers' When Will I Be Loved. This lp also featured the pretty remake of Buddy Holly's It Doesn't Matter Anymore.

One week after both the lp and the lead single hit #1 simultaneously, they were knocked out simultaneously by AWB by the Average White Band and its sole single, Pick Up The Pieces. This album that amazed the world by showing that a Scottish band could do jazz-funk, had a one week reign on February 22. It was succeeeded by what some people say is the best Bob Dylan album ever, Blood On The Tracks. A highly personal album (or not, depending on who you interview), it contained the #31 Tangled Up In Blue, #68 on Rolling Stone's all time best songs list. It was inspired by a weekend listening to Joni Mitchell's album Blue (or not), and was highly drawn on by the much later Hootie and the Blowfish tune Only Wanna Be With You. The album also contained the AOR track Shelter From The Storm.

A almost-but-not-quite shout out to the Stampeders, the Canadian band that most Americans only know fro their big hit Sweet City Woman. Their cover of Ray Charles' Hit The Road Jack peaked at 41 last week and is on the way down. I recommend checking out the video, which featues the lead singer calling Wolfman Jack and asking for a place to crash after his girlfriend kicks him out at the start of the song, and Wolfman (after "consulting" with Ray Charles) telling him they can't help and hanging up on him at the end.

And on top of all the other garbage packed into this trip, we have 3 debuts into the top ten, which means three fall out. December 1963 (Oh What A Night) falls from 9 to 13; Dream On, now the official grandpa of the countdown at 26 weeks since You Sexy Thing finally fell off, drops from 6 to 15; and Money Honey slips from 7 to 16.

How 'bout we split the top ten and put the MHOF class #1 in between, eh? Moving up 2 to #10, amazingly, is Action by Sweet. This is a HUGE divergence from Billboard (as well as reality as I remember it) since BB peaked this song at #20. At #9, also up 2, Queen's ubiquitous hit Bohemian Rhapsody. At #8 and jumping 16 big notches are the Sylvers with Boogie Fever- I think it's going around! #7 and climbing 3 is Dr. Hook with Only Sixteen. Rufus and you-know-who slip a notch to 6 with Sweet thing. And that brings us to MHOF class #1.

From category #1: with 49 top 40s and 21 #1s, of course the Beatles. With 42 top 40s and 3 top dogs, the Rolling Stones. With 16 top 40s and (like the Stones) a Super Bowl appearance, the Who. And with 17 top 40s, five of them #1s, the Eagles.

From cat 2: with 106 top 40s and 15 #1s, the KIng, Elvis Presley. With 25 top 40s and 3 #1s, Barry Manilow.

From cat 3: with 33 top 40s and 7 top dogs, the Supremes. With 31 top 40s and 2 #1s, Dionne Warwick.

From cats 4,5, and 6: With 117 top 40s and 6 #1s, the Chairman Of the Board, Frank Sinatra. With 20 top 40s the Electric Light Orchestra. And with 8 top fortys and 1 #1, the Coasters. There you have class #1 on the Martin Hall of Fame. Now, back to our countdown.

At #5, down two, former top dog Gary Wright's Dream Weaver. Jumping from 8 to 4, the Bellamy Brothers and Let Your Love Flow. At #3, climbing one notch with a song especially written for her that she didn't want to record (she was out of music), that she tried to get an aproximately $50 lump sum for (since she didn't think royalties would amount to much) and almost became a duet with it's co-writer (but they tried him out on another song and his voice sucked), Maxine Nightengale with Right Back To Where We Started From. At #2 is last week's top dog, the captain and Tennillle's Lonely Night/Angel Face. And that means this weeks new #1 song is...



...Johnny Taylor and Disco Lady!

WOW, this took forever tody! I can't wait until Blogger gets done goofing around with the "underlying issue" on paragraphs and I don't have to do this on HTML!