On the radio, Jim Croce began 1973 with today's song, the one released just before he enjoyed his first #1 single, "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown".
Both songs came from his "Life and Times" LP, released on July 1st. Tragically, Croce would leave us later that year in a plane crash trying to leave a small airport in Louisiana, just a day before his record company was scheduled to release to radio the follow-up song to Leroy Brown, "I Got A Name."
Enjoy the brilliance of Jim Croce with the first song to greet you when you placed a needle onto "Life and Times".
I've left the United States, so far, exactly one time, for the better part of an hour, in June of 1983, walking across the border into, you guessed it, Tijuana, Mexico. What a culture shock. Then, back across into San Diego, and I haven't left since.
It's not that I don't want to, mind you, the opportunity really hasn't presented itself. There are a few places on my bucket list to visit:
1) Witham, England. Yes, there is a town named for our family there. My sister-in-law has visited.
2) Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It looks insanely beautiful.
3) Austraila. This is highly doubtful, as it would take a mini-miracle to get me sedated enough to travel across the Atlantic to England, much less take this trek.
Now, to today's song.
As I've mentioned previously with a Herb Alpert tune, his songs were a staple back in the day on WRVA, notably for usage to time into NBC News at the top of the hour. I got to know a lot of Herb's instrumental work through that.
This tune was definitely one of my favorites, and I ended up owning the album from which it came, "Going Places", but the reason I bought it was for another song, which we'll discuss later on. :)
For now, here's a two-plus minute trip to Tijuana!
It's fair to say that Van Halen's best commercial days were still ahead of them when they released "Fair Warning" in the Spring of 1981. But for us hard core Van Halen fans, and yes, I was one of them at nearly 14, we couldn't wait for the premiere of the first song from this new album.
And if memory serves me correctly, this song debuted on the radio on a Friday afternoon between the time school let out and the night of the great Spring Dance of 1981 at Liberty Junior High School. Man, the things you remember. Can't remember what I ate yesterday, but I remember going home and sitting by the radio for this song.....
At the opening bass, it had me. I know I was in the minority, as it never cracked the Billboard Top 100, and only peaked on the Rock chart at #15. Songs like "Jump", "Panama", and the Sammy Hagar era were all well into the future.
But my Van Halen memories, and favorite songs, were early on in their tenure. And this song is certainly one of them. Excuse me while I go jam a moment..... :) :)
The Piano Man returns to the countdown today with a tune that first appeared both on his album, "The Bridge" and on the soundtrack to the rather forgettable movie, "Ruthless People".
It peaked on the charts in the middle of the Summer of 1986, meaning I got to play it, a lot, on WUPE in Pittsfield. I feel so sorry for the next generation that actually appreciates, understands, and wants to work in radio. Where in the world do they find a place with actual human beings who can mentor them?
Thirty years ago, a small market like Pittsfield was perfect for a hungry radio newbie like me. I wanted to learn EVERYTHING. And, before I returned to Richmond, I had done two music formats, morning drive, middays, afternoon drive, evenings, overnights, filled in when there was no news director, covered City Council meetings, grabbed actualities, and even hosted two remote broadcasts back when a station used a van and a Marti unit.
Don't know what a Marti unit is? From Google. You're welcome. :)
This reminds me of the morning I was covering for the usual AM drive host, who was on vacation, and swallowed a fruit fly live on the air in the middle of a weather forecast. But I digress.
Yesterday we talked about how fun it was to jam to the Atlanta Rhythm Section....
Today, we salute one of the better "jam sessions" packed into a song of all-time, as the first of several songs from the groundbreaking 1976 debut album from Boston appears on the countdown.
My brother bought this gem, and we proceeded to almost wear the vinyl out, as it went straight into "heavy rotation" as we say in radio, on the turntable in our room. Of course, it was "More Than A Feeling" that introduced us all to the group on the radio. And, as people went out and bought the album, they discovered Boston would definitely not be a one-hit wonder.
And I suspect my brother and I weren't the only ones to discover today's tune by simply deciding to check out the flip side of the "More Than A Feeling" 45 RPM single. :)
This is truly one of the only albums I've ever owned/listened to where I enjoy every single cut. Usually, there's, at best, one or two songs I don't care about, but not here. Play the whole thing, just get up to flip from side one to side two.
And, for this LP, what a first side it was. "More Than A Feeling", then the great "Peace of Mind", followed by the suite of "Foreplay" and their second single, "Long Time".
Then, head to side two, start with Rock and Roll Band, then turn the headphones up from 90 to 100 for today's song. Go ahead, it's a Thursday, you need a nudge towards the weekend. Take five and jam! More from "Boston" to come as the countdown rolls on..... :)
"ARS", as some called them, had a fine career throughout the 1970's, though they weren't as popular as other southern-based bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Their biggest commercial success came with the release of the album "Champagne Jam" in 1978. Today's song was the second single from the LP, and it peaked at #14 in August, coming on the heels of the biggest hit from the release, "Imaginary Lover".
This is a great jam with a good message (save the suicide bit, obviously). I've never asked a bartender to pour me a double, but I have had that second ice cream sandwich or an extra Mountain Dew pre-heart attack days during those times where I was trying to forget whatever.
And musically? It's just a fun song, as many ARS songs were. I bet they had a fun concert experience.
They'll be back later on in the countdown.....much later..... :)
Today's entry, our third from Justin and the gang, was a song I played catch up with many years after its release.
As I mentioned on a post a few weeks back, when I was Operations Manager and Music Director for the former WDYL and WGGM from 1988 to 1997, I completely immersed myself into Contemporary Christian Music ("CCM"), and, for a time, both the Southern Gospel and Christian Country formats. So the only time I would hear popular music was on the radio early in the morning doing the newspaper route.
When WRVA quit playing music in 1993, that significantly lessened the amount of music I heard until late in the decade when I became a stay-at-home Dad and returned to finish my degree as I started pastoring in Prince George. Even then, it would be in the car, on the route or running errands with the then-little ones.
So, I discovered "Say It With Love" years after its release in the Summer of 1991, when I bought their "Moody Blues Anthology" double CD in the late 90's back in the days when you could still order via this system. I came out way ahead, by the way. :) :)
First gaining nationwide acclaim back in 1979 with their hit "Sultans of Swing", Dire Straits finally reached the top of the Billboard singles chart on the day I cracked open a radio microphone for the very first time, and the night I almost shattered a hand in a window, September 21, 1985.
First, my story. Billboard charts were "released", or at least "dated" on Saturdays. On 9/21/1985, I was scheduled to train on the small FM radio station that we had at the time at Berkshire Christian College in Lenox, Massachusetts. Radio was, and is, my first love, and second calling, as it were. So, getting to do radio where I could get a degree in Pastoral Studies seemed the perfect fit when I entered college in the Fall of 1985.
So, my friend Mike Poli met me at the station, which was precariously located in a raised room somewhat attached to the very nice academic building, Vannah Hall, at the college. In fact, on a Saturday night, to enter said station, you usually couldn't go through the building. You had to climb the fire escape which led to the side entrance to the studio, FROM THE OUTSIDE. Imagine doing that with a box of albums......
Well, I successfully made it through that evening of training, then, before I left the building, I checked on a few things since I had recently started working as a custodian for the building, which contained classrooms, offices and the library, to help, of course, pay for schooling. I went into one classroom, checked on a window, which apparently was either still open or stuck or something. One thing led to another, and somehow, the window decided to close before I wanted it to, and with my hand underneath.
I believe Mike was still with me, so he helped re-open the window, and I had just won my first trip to the emergency room at the hospital in the Berkshires. Yay me! Thankfully, nothing broken (or shattered!) and after wearing a cast of sorts for several days, I was AOK.
That night, this song, which dominated radio as I left Virginia for Massachusetts, hit #1, the first and only chart topper for Dire Straits. And here it is, with the video that aired on MTV wanting MTV. How exactly that worked, I still don't know..... :)
Our featured group today was a one-hit wonder in the United States, but enjoyed a pretty nice, and long, career north of the border.
Chilliwack (meaning "going back up") released its first album way back in 1970, so by the time they released "Wanna Be A Star" in 1981, they'd already logged eight albums, and had six songs hit the American singles chart, but never doing better than #67.
Then along came today's featured tune, and Chilliwack finally found the Top 40 south of their border, making it all the way to #22 in the Fall of 1981. I'm a little surprised, looking back, that it didn't at least crack the Top 20.
A unique sound, a catchy chorus, and a great opening. Now, I know this song usually found itself either in the "love it" or "hate it" category. I'm definitely in the former. :)
This song, for me, is the "kickoff" song to the very eventful Summer of 1975 that I've chronicled earlier here on our countdown, a summer that remains to me one of the best ever for music overall.
On top of that, any song that mentioned baseball cards when I was going on 8 years old, and joining the hobby with my older brother, immediately captured my attention.
"Harry Truman", which appeared earlier in our countdown and was released as a single earlier in the year just before "Old Days", was exposure to Chicago for me, but this song was the first "new" song I remember that screamed the Chicago sound. As I got older, I discovered more of their previously released music and started loving those as well.
To put the cherry on top, you really can't beat the ending to this song. Chicago was one of the best at finding ways to putting the wrap on a song, whether cold or fade.
Coming off the massive chart and radio success of his remake of the song "You Can't Hurry Love" in late 1982, Phil Collins kicked off 1983 by releasing "I Don't Care Anymore" as a single from his solo LP, "Hello, I Must Be Going".
Today's song was never destined to be a big chart hit. It only peaked at #39 on the Top 40 charts, thus meaning Casey Kasem played it, what, once? But the AOR radio stations of the day picked up on it, and played it a bunch in the late winter and early spring of 1983, right about the time my N.C. State Wolfpack were beginning their magical run to the National Championship. That airplay helped create buzz for this song that carried for decades with Collins' core fans, who made it one of their favorite songs.
And, it could be considered somewhat of a follow-up, in style and message certainly, to his 1981 hit, "In The Air Tonight".
Talk about a song one can identify with, and literally slink into, if you are at the end of a broken relationship, dealing with love that is not returned by a party that doesn't give you the time of day, or maybe you're done with a group of people that have picked on you over and over and over again.
For Phil, it was about his failed first marriage. Phil doesn't give in to the haters, he puts 'em in their place. And by the final minute of the song, it feels like he's feeling freedom for the first time in a long time.
"I don't care what you say, I don't play the same games you play.....I'll do alright by myself...."
When I posted a Genesis entry a week or so back, I spoke of the fact that they were probably the most influential group in my musical taste "in the moment" during my high school and early college years of the 1980's, say, 1981 to 1986.
Now in 2016, it's obvious who my favorite group is, and it's also obvious that another group that held much sway over me during the decade-plus where they produced hit after hit is Jeff Lynne and the gang at ELO.
They return with the second of their nine entries in the Rob Witham 500, this time their big single from the, well, interesting concept film "Xanadu" from 1980. This song was all over radio in the summer of that year as I began the countdown to Liberty Junior High School.
Xanadu. The soundtrack included Olivia Newton-John, ELO, The Tubes, and Gene Kelly. Oh, and roller skating.
Think about that. And those of you under 30, take a moment to Google "Gene Kelly". :)
Queen returns to the countdown today, this time with a "suite" of their own.
You'll recall we discussed a "suite" of music with Genesis just last week, and, yes, a look at the track listings for the album "A Night At The Opera" shows "Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon" and "I'm In Love With My Car" as two separate songs, but for as many, many times as I played that album at the Casa de Witham in Beaverdam at age nine, I look at them as peanut butter and jelly.
What a crazy masterpiece of an album "A Night At The Opera" was. Best known for "Bohemian Rhapsody", this work produced an unbelievable number of classics, from "Death On Two Legs" to the lovely ballad, "39".
It also brought us today's song(s), placed together for your enjoyment. I have to post the whole album, which isn't a bad thing. :)
Begin at 3:45 to be lazy, then immediately get ready to pledge allegiance to your car.
Before we go any further, yes, Rachel Witham is the Adam Levine lover in the family.
Correction. I think Mom's rather enamored with him, too.... :)
They both certainly enjoyed themselves at the Maroon 5 concert they attended in April, 2013 days before my heart attack. I declined to go. I saved money by watching NCIS reruns. :)
So, when the family crosses something off the bucket list with a quick weekend trip to Cincinnati in September, 2011 to see our first live NFL game (Rachel's Bengals vs. Robbie's San Francisco 49ers), Rachel is more than happy to bring her CD copy of Maroon 5's "Hands All Over".
So, Dad gives up the ol' radio for the CD player, I think usually in the mountains where radio signals struggled, and we listened to a dose of Adam and company. And wouldn't you know it? Two songs from the album, both deep tracks, neither released singles, become my favorites.
By Monday morning at 1:30am as we're finally reaching the outskirts of Richmond on our return trip, I'm asking Rachel to play these two cuts to help me push through the final few miles before we pick up Harry J at the dog-sitter and head home for a nap before a doctor's appointment.
As time has gone by, I've picked up a couple of more of their songs that I like, such as "Sunday Morning", "Won't Go Home Without You, and "Wake Up Call". But "Stutter", and one more song, make our Top 500, the other coming down the road.
And by road I mean I-64 somewhere near Beckley, West Virginia. :)
While The Go-Go's and The Bangles get most of the mentions when it comes to all-female bands of the 1980's, a word or two should be said about Bananarama.
Today, they're known mostly for their 1984 hit "Cruel Summer", which gets occasional airplay on classic hits radio. Maybe on Saturday night specialty shows you'll get their version of "Venus", and rarely, very, very rarely, you might just hear today's song.
"I Heard A Rumour" is by far my favorite Bananarama song, and, even though they'll only make this one appearance in the Rob Witham 500, I believe they deserve a shoutout for the niche they carved during, in my opinion, the greatest musical decade of them all.
So, from the late Summer of 1987, sheesh, 29 years ago, here they are! And, oh good Lord this video screams 1987.... :) :)
As 1985 closed and 1986 began, up at college on stations like 99 GFM and Fly 92, both in Albany, New York, we got our first listen of the group Baltimora, whose chart success lasted as long as the chart life of today's tune.
It's another one-hit wonder from that middle stretch of the 1980's where there seemed to be a thousand "groups" consisting of two to five guys with long hair, make-up, usually from outside the United States, playing the same style of music. People weren't able to keep up with all of them.
"Are you sure Pet Shop Boys don't sing this song?" "What about Blow Monkeys or OMD?"
That's the way it was for a few years. Luckily, out of all of it we received some good music, and "Tarzan Boy" certainly ranks as one of them. Enjoy the extended version posted below. Oh, yeah, everyone had extended or 12-inch single versions, too. To add to all the uncertainty. And the singles that were now the same size as albums. They took up more space in the already crammed office of the radio station music director. But I digress.... :) :) :)
As the great Summer of 1979 musically came to a close and I got my new notebooks and pencils together for my seventh and final year at Beaverdam Elementary School, I was introduced to Sniff 'n The Tears on my radio with what ended up as their one and only American hit.
It took the band several years to get that success, and while they only scored once on the charts, they scored very well. It's another of the "Songs of 1979" that are showing up all over The Rob Witham 500, and who also signaled a seed change in music as the new decade edged closer and closer.
Specifically, I think about the first season I covered Atlee Raiders softball in 2012, coming to their home games, and hearing this song on their warm-up CD. Head Coach John Earley allowed each team member to add a song to a compilation disc which they played as they warmed up during pre-game.
And that's the way I first was exposed to today's tune. The more I heard it, the more I liked it. Nothing crass, nice beat, and I thought, you know anyone that can rap references to Gershwin and Picasso gets two thumbs up by me. :)
A year later, after my April 8, 2013 heart attack, it needs to be noted publicly that the first get well card I received was from the Atlee Raiders softball team. I still have that card; I'll never let that one go. :)
So, let's turn two, bunt the lead runner over to second, get that rise ball to the letters, and head to Mexico. You've never had it so good. :)
I bow to the greatness of Marcel Francois Chagnon and Tony Mullins, who created this riot of a song, creating a fantastic caricature of country music, popularized by perhaps the hottest country act of a decade ago, Rascal Flatts.
First, a back story. I had a phenomenal friend at Clear Channel's ticket selling arm, Live Nation, in early 2007 who heard my plea to surprise my daughter Rachel with two tickets to see Rascal Flatts in concert for her tenth birthday.
Dee did so, so much better than two tickets. Rachel had no idea where we were going when we hit the road that Friday evening. As we approached Charlottesville, she looked at me and said, "Daddy, this is a long way to go to go out to dinner." I smiled. I had her.
We parked, walked up to John Paul Jones Arena, and, just before we entered, I handed her her ticket. I don't think I'll ever get a better or more surprised look on my baby's face than I did at that moment. Too bad we didn't have Instagram then. :)
The seats, by the way, were at the front of the stage, which I didn't even realized when I received them. Rachel was in complete awe. She's just feet away from the band, which had a "mobile stage" which took them over top of us into the middle of the arena in the air. The pageantry and showmanship that night was unreal.
And, that's impressive because I'm selective on what country music I like. Basically, it has to be before 1982 with very few exceptions. I'm very old school country. But Rascal Flatts got my props and thanks that night for great entertainment and for shocking the living daylights out of Rachel.
Now, they didn't do today's song that night, and probably for good reason. Some songs I'm sure are just hard to do on the road live, night after night.
So, you want to know what happens to you when you play a country song backwards?
If someone wanted to present the softer rock slice of the kaleidoscope of music found in the 1970's to someone in the year 2070, they should pick this song.
Dave Mason's solo career, from a popularity standpoint, wasn't long and wasn't as great as many others. But he can always stake his claim to an absolute masterpiece of this portion of the rock era.
A simple, yet sad song about the realization of a couple concerning "the end of our love song".
"So let's leave it alone, 'cuz we can't see eye to eye.
There ain't no good guy, there ain't no bad guy,
There's only you and me and we just disagree."
Heartfelt, powerful, easy to sing along to. All the ingredients for a classic. And now, 39 years later, that's exactly what this song is.
