Casey Kasem American Top 40

[RGMike]

A few WOS candidates ("I Play and Sing" and dub in terrible canned applause...)

Yeah, the applause effect is way cheezy, and the rip-off of "Spanish Harlem" is shameless, but I'm a sucker for the homage-to-the-Brill Building groove they were stuck in at that time. A rut, undeniably, but a pleasant one, tho' it produced diminishing returns (they finally moved on after "What Are You Doing Sunday?" peaked at 39 later that year).

Am I crazy, or is Casey promoting AT40 Extras "coming up" that we're not actually hearing? Something about the first million seller in history?

This forgotten BJ Thomas hit ("No Love At All") actually got as high as #16? Completely ignored by NY radio. But here's the late great Brenda Payton and her Tabs. Gawd I love this song. "wait a minute, wait a minute!"

[RGMike]

Helen Reddy is "no lover's fool" -- she beat Whinyface to the 40 with her cover of "I Don't Know How To Love Him". (The Elliman orig would enter 2 weeks later.) And she's back-to-back on the chart with Murray Head.

It's gonna be tough to tear myself away from this to go watch fireworks. Good thing there's the KFRC version on Sunday morning.

[RGMike]

Jeezus H Christ! Bobby Vinton extends his streak, and he's not even on this chart! But we hear him for, like, the 4th week in a row, thru an AT40 Extra, "There, I've Said It Again". Coincidence?

[RGMike]

"Bubbling Under" fun fact of the week: Bobby Goldsboro debuts at #99 with Don McLean's "And I Love You So" -- 2 years before the Perry Como hit version!

[Gazoo]

A few WOS candidates ("I Play and Sing" and dub in terrible canned applause...)

Yeah, the applause effect is way cheezy, and the rip-off of "Spanish Harlem" is shameless, but I'm a sucker for the homage-to-the-Brill Building groove they were stuck in at that time. A rut, undeniably, but a pleasant one, tho' it produced diminishing returns (they finally moved on after "What Are You Doing Sunday?" peaked at 39 later that year).

Am I crazy, or is Casey promoting AT40 Extras "coming up" that we're not actually hearing? Something about the first million seller in history?

This forgotten BJ Thomas hit ("No Love At All") actually got as high as #16? Completely ignored by NY radio. But here's the late great Brenda Payton and her Tabs. Gawd I love this song. "wait a minute, wait a minute!"

The "first million seller" was "My Blue Heaven"; I forget who the artist was who sold a million of it in 1925, but Casey played Fats Domino's later cover on the edition I listened to.

"No Love at All" was NTM; I found it forgettable bubblegum that should've been passed off to Andy Kim or Robin McNamara.  (The Ray Charles was also NTM.  Deserved better, I think.)

With you on the Tabs.  Don't you understand?

[RGMike]

Am I crazy, or is Casey promoting AT40 Extras "coming up" that we're not actually hearing? Something about the first million seller in history?

The "first million seller" was "My Blue Heaven"; I forget who the artist was who sold a million of it in 1925, but Casey played Fats Domino's later cover on the edition I listened to.

wow, the Wisconsin station totally edited that out. They also delete the optional extras of then-current "bubbling under" tunes that usually play at the end of the hour, in favor of running more local commercials.  But they left in the aforementioned Bobby Vinton extra -- large Polish community in Madison, I guess.

[Gazoo]

Listening to Casey's '80s - May 1980 - where he tells the story of Boz Scaggs not licensing "Lowdown" to the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack.  Instead, he licensed it to Looking for Mr. Goodbar and made a fraction of the money.  D'oh!

[Gazoo]

Bob Seger in the Top 10 with "Fire Lake" was actually NTM.

With Billy Preston and Syreeta I'm bored again.

[RGMike]

This was the week WPIX in NYC added the Top 40 Countdown. 

I remember it vividly ...

I've mentioned before that in those days, Casey played a (non-45) cut from the #1 LP every week, and that feature seems to have disappeared from these replays. I recall hearing several deep tracks from JC Superstar, for example. He'd stopped doing it by the end of '71.

And sure enuf, Casey promo-ed as an Extra "a song from the #1 album this week" -- but we never heard it (I'm guessing it woulda been JCS). However, KFRC this morning did play that Fats Domino "My Blue Heaven", but they tacked it onto the end of the 2nd hour rather than playing it within the body of the show.

[RGMike]

Bob Seger in the Top 10 with "Fire Lake" was actually NTM.

With Billy Preston and Syreeta I'm bored again.

TANC, I heard "Fire Lake" on 'LNG the other day, but it's one that you almost NEVER hear any more. Several Iggles -- Henley, Frey, and little Timmy Schmidt (without his old man's van) -- on backing vox there.

[Wayback]

This weekend (5/16-17) Casey70's visits May 14, 1977:
http://www.whnn.com/goout.asp?u=http://www.whnn.com/Article.asp?id=583277&spid=

[RGMike]

This weekend (5/16-17) Casey70's visits May 14, 1977:
http://www.whnn.com/goout.asp?u=http://www.whnn.com/Article.asp?id=583277&spid=

always a treat to hear Tavares' "Whodunit"!

[RGMike]

Damn the timing of this chart -- we just miss (by a week) the debuts of "Ariel", "Do You Wanna Make Love", and the Sylvers' "High School Dance". Instead we get Kenny Nowwan doing "Wuv's Gwown Deep", his even-sappier follow-up to "I Wike Dweamin'".

However, there are plenty of forgotten faves nonetheless: The Addrissis' "Slow Dancin' (Don't Turn Me On)", Firefall's lovely "Cinderella", the Jacksons' great "Show You the Way to Go" (which shockingly got no higher than #28), cheezeball classic "Undercover Angel" and Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis too at their Marvin-n-Tammi-est with the overlooked "Your Love", which I always preferred to "You Don't Have to be a Tar Baby (To Be My Jim Crow)".

But I'm still trying to remember the reason that John Denver's 1971 "My Sweet Lady" was re-released as a 45 in '77.

[RGMike]

Hour 2 provides more delights: the aforementioned Tavares, MTB, Morey fave Q (TANC) dancin' at their peak position of #23, Joe Tex with a disco novelty that's actually funny, Hot's splendiferous "Angel in Your Arms", Whinyface herself with "Hello Stranger", KISS doing the recently revived "Calling Dr. Pepper Love", and Andrew Gold with one of Gaz's all-time HFHs.  Good times, good times.

Chart Fun-fact of the Week: there are 3 versions of "Gonna Fly Now" on the 5/14/77 Hot 100 -- Bill Conti's headed-for-#1 orig, cashing in on Rocky's Oscar win; Maynard Ferguson's cover (which would also make the Top 40 and peak at 28); and a disco version by a studio outfit called Current, who would only make it to #94 -- one of the few acts to chart on the short-lived Playboy Records imprint.

[RGMike]

WOS: Captain & Tenille's "Can't Stop Dancin'" -- even 30+ years later, WTF? Was this somebody's idea of disco? It sounds like a production number written for an especially awful TV variety show (or maybe a beauty pageant). A total misfire. Ray Stevens wrote this?? Jeezus.

But it's back-to-back with my BOS: "Lucille", by the original man-who-looks-like-Kenny Rogers.  Country story-songwriting don't get much better than this.

And VHM to Rose Royce's "I Wanna Get Next To You" -- the late great Norman Whitfield ripping off his own "Just My Imagination" with style.  Wonder if he had this one left-over from his Tempts days or if he wrote it fresh.