Casey Kasem American Top 40

[RGMike]

BOS1 the stellar politi-pop of Graham Nash's "Chicago"; VHMs the Cat Man, leapin' & hoppin'; Dawn, milking that Brill Building soundalike thing yet again with "Summer Sand"; and Cimarron, talkin' with Tony and MAH-ree-oh.

[RGMike]

BOSes 2 & 3 to a couple of soulful covers: Roberta & Donny making "You've Got a Friend" ever more wonderful; and The Isleys giving "Love The One You're With" more oomph while somehow making it seem less sexist.

[RGMike]

VHM the late Mr Chase & Co, gettin' it on in da  mornin' -- this used to make a great segue with "Morning Much Better" by Genya Ravan & Ten Wheel Drive.

oh Mr Collins, you *are* the magnificent W-O-O-O, whateverthefuck that means.  I think it's high time you went.  Did Joe Cocker really say "don't forget the lemonade lime"?

[RGMike]

more politi-pop: BOS4 the fab Freda, bringin' 'em back alive. "Tell 'em 'bout it!"  Vietnam with Violins, as Christgau once quipped.

BOS5 Delaney & Bonnie; uber-BOS6 Gladys, who don't wanna do wrong. Methinks she will anyway. "But then again, mah dear..."

Ditto Gaz's BOS for the Fortunes. Without "Here Comes That Rainy Day Feelin", there'd be no "Cruel To Be Kind", Doo-da-bop-bop!

[RGMike]

OMGWTF Canadian "extra" of the Week: yet another Keith Hampshire obscurity, "Big-Time Operator". Damn, does he sound like David Clayton-Thomas or what?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQCVTJTPTHE

[RGMike]

Fresh from 9 weeks at #1 on the Disco Chart -- Change (early Luther Vandross) at #40 with "Lover's Holiday", sounding a lot like Chic.

I'm all out of love for Air Supply, but nice to hear Ms Ronstadt's "I Can't Let Go", the Hollies hit. One of her more inspired choices, IMHO -- the original just missed the US Top 40 back in '66.

And here's that Oak song, "King Of The Hill." -- it's like Styx without the synths. Godawful. WOS1.

[RGMike]

Ambrosia brag about their, um, biggest part. A liitle modesty, guys. VHM the NGDB makin' a little magic.

And ya gotta give Casey credit for some of his "extra" features back then that involved songs that are positively ancient now. -- "Smoke Smoke Smoke" (from 1947!) in this case. Imagine Ryan Seacrest playing "Harper Valley PTA" for his audience of tweens and thirtysomething housewives.

Dude! "Walks Like a Lady"! Talk about a forgotten Journey single.

[RGMike]

yes, kids, there was a time when songs about pimps were actually tasteful: VHM Boz's "JoJo". And another VHM Benny Mardones -- "Into the Night" on its first Top40 go-round. It'll be back again in '89. Not too many songs have charted twice and made the Top 20 both times. ("The Twist" and "Stand By Me" spring to mind -- others?)

Another VHM to Ali Thompson's delightful, forgotten "Take a Little Rhythm".

WOS2 Meco, trying to duplicate his disco-"Star Wars" success with a worthless and unmemorable "The Empire Strikes Back" hodgepodge. I'm astounded this got as high as #18.

[Tinka Cat]

Dude! "Walks Like a Lady"! Talk about a forgotten Journey single.

I remember this one, mostly because in high school some classmates were chosen to do a guest deejay hour spot on the local classic rock station, and they chose this song to play and dedicated it to one of our teachers, who was very flamboyant  (turns out he was gay after all, we found out!) .  They didn't use his name, only his initials.

[RGMike]

WOS3 the Blues Bros utterly unnecessary remake of "Gimme Some Lovin"

But VHM Kenny Rogers' "Love The World Away", one of his best '80s ballads. Ditto ELO's "I'm Alive", sounding quite nice to my ears this morning.

WOS4 CDB's jingofest "In America"

It took until the end of Hour 3, but finally some BOSes: Ms King's wonderful cover of her own "One Fine Day" (a major comeback for her at the time) and always a BOS for the OHW "Tired of Toein' the Line"

[Gazoo]

Fresh from 9 weeks at #1 on the Disco Chart -- Change (early Luther Vandross) at #40 with "Lover's Holiday", sounding a lot like Chic.

I'm all out of love for Air Supply, but nice to hear Ms Ronstadt's "I Can't Let Go", the Hollies hit. One of her more inspired choices, IMHO -- the original just missed the US Top 40 back in '66.

For a song that was such a massive hit, "Lover's Holiday" strikes me as forgettable and tedious.  But I must say, I get a special kick out of catching a song in its sole week on the survey, particularly when in the anchor position.

La Ronstadt was NTM; I kinda liked it, but I think Casey was subtly dissing her.

[Gazoo]

yes, kids, there was a time when songs about pimps were actually tasteful: VHM Boz's "JoJo". And another VHM Benny Mardones -- "Into the Night" on its first Top40 go-round. It'll be back again in '89. Not too many songs have charted twice and made the Top 20 both times. ("The Twist" and "Stand By Me" spring to mind -- others?)

The Righteous Brothers' "Unchained Melody" comes to mind.

[RGMike]

yer weekly heads-up...

the '70s version takes us to July 20th 1974:

http://www.charismusicgroup.com/Cue%20Sheets/07-20-74.pdf

and Casey's '80s is yet another '84 chart (the kids at that other message board are having fits about this; it's the 3rd '84 chart in 6 weeks). July 21st 1984:

http://www.charismusicgroup.com/Cue%20Sheets/07-21-84.pdf

[RGMike]

yes, kids, there was a time when songs about pimps were actually tasteful: VHM Boz's "JoJo". And another VHM Benny Mardones -- "Into the Night" on its first Top40 go-round. It'll be back again in '89. Not too many songs have charted twice and made the Top 20 both times. ("The Twist" and "Stand By Me" spring to mind -- others?)

The Righteous Brothers' "Unchained Melody" comes to mind.

and I can understand you blocking it from memory but there's also the 4 Seasons' "Oh What a Night"

[RGMike]

yer weekly heads-up...

the '70s version takes us to July 20th 1974:

http://www.charismusicgroup.com/Cue%20Sheets/07-20-74.pdf

looking at this chart and am excited about hearing Ms Reddy adding to Paul Williams' resuduals and of course Lamont Dozier's great "Fish Ain't Bitin'"; am also curious about #24, "This Heart" by Gene Redding -- I have absolutely no recollection of that one.