Casey Kasem American Top 40

[SFGuy]

I was a little bored so I put in a DVD I taped of the 2/12/83 AT 40 from XM Radio when Directv had that audio package. Someone wrote in a question "What recording act has had the most #1 singles without having #1 album?" He mentioned Michael Jackson and Frankie Valli. That trivia answer became incorrect 2 weeks later as Thriller hit #1.

[RGMike]

Babs leads off with a song from her musical about Jewish vegetarians, Lentl.

History-in-the-making: Madonna debuts with her first Top 40 hit -- a "Holiday" indeed!

[RGMike]

I was a little bored so I put in a DVD I taped of the 2/12/83 AT 40 from XM Radio when Directv had that audio package. Someone wrote in a question "What recording act has had the most #1 singles without having #1 album?" He mentioned Michael Jackson and Frankie Valli. That trivia answer became incorrect 2 weeks later as Thriller hit #1.

TANC: Casey answers a question about former Miss Americas hitting the charts -- at that point there had been none (Anita Bryant was a pageant runner-up). Vanessa Williams would change all that.

aaack! WOS1 Asia.

VHM the Stray Cats' forgotten ballad, "I Won't Stand In Your Way", the last Top 40 entry of their brief career. BOS1 to some good "Karma" as The Boy and his Club show they know how to sell a contradiction.

I cringe whenever I hear Roberta & Peabo trying to rhyne "climbing" with "diamonds". Nice try, kids.

BOS2 the audacity of Ray Parker, ripping off "Every Breath You Take" so blatantly it's comical.

[RGMike]

WOS2 .38 Special; WOS-in-perpetuity the Motels.

VVHM the unholy alliance of Barry Manilow and Jim Steinman, which works better than anyone would've guessed. I'd rather hear Barry sing this than, say, Mr Loaf.

TANC, after we discussed them last week, BOS3 DeBarge's creamy-dreamy "Time Will Reveal"

it's a Steinman-fest! Ms Tyler "Eclipse"s Barry, chart-wise.

Kudos to Premiere for playing the German version of "99 Luftballoons" as an extra.

BOS4 Matthew Wilder, in a row boat to China.

And as I prepare to exit: always a BOS to the glorious "Church of the Poison Mind"

[sundaygal]

TANC, after we discussed them last week, BOS3 DeBarge's creamy-dreamy "Time Will Reveal"

it's a Steinman-fest! Ms Tyler "Eclipse"s Barry, chart-wise.

 

Funny, these 2 songs were the first 45s I've ever bought and they are vocally antithetical to each other!   Too bad AL isn't into slow jams.

[SFGuy]

I was a little bored so I put in a DVD I taped of the 2/12/83 AT 40 from XM Radio when Directv had that audio package. Someone wrote in a question "What recording act has had the most #1 singles without having #1 album?" He mentioned Michael Jackson and Frankie Valli. That trivia answer became incorrect 2 weeks later as Thriller hit #1.

TANC: Casey answers a question about former Miss Americas hitting the charts -- at that point there had been none (Anita Bryant was a pageant runner-up). Vanessa Williams would change all that.

VVHM the unholy alliance of Barry Manilow and Jim Steinman, which works better than anyone would've guessed. I'd rather hear Barry sing this than, say, Mr Loaf.

Every week when I hear the trivia question, I always wonder if that answer has changed.

For the second one: why does every Jim Steinman written and produced song sound the same? "Read 'em and Weep", "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and "Making Love out of Nothing at All", 3 songs written and produced by Steinman during late 1983 all sound the same.

[SFGuy]

Just heard a story Casey told (played right before Bonnie Tyler's song) where someone named Guy Aoki wrote in. He would later become an AT 40 staffer (and friends with Casey). Somewhere in this thread he wrote a piece online about becoming a staffer.

[RGMike]

why does every Jim Steinman written and produced song sound the same? "Read 'em and Weep", "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and "Making Love out of Nothing at All", 3 songs written and produced by Steinman during late 1983 all sound the same.

Oh, I agree. Bombast was his shtick, and like many other producers he just shoe-horned the artists into the formula.  See also: Phil Spector, Chic, and Mr Manilow himself, who produced Dionne Warwick and made her sound like a fe-Manilow. In the case of "Read 'Em...", bombast was Barry's shtick too, which is why I think that record works so well.

[SFGuy]

why does every Jim Steinman written and produced song sound the same? "Read 'em and Weep", "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and "Making Love out of Nothing at All", 3 songs written and produced by Steinman during late 1983 all sound the same.

Oh, I agree. Bombast was his shtick, and like many other producers he just shoe-horned the artists into the formula.  See also: Phil Spector, Chic, and Mr Manilow himself, who produced Dionne Warwick and made her sound like a fe-Manilow. In the case of "Read 'Em...", bombast was Barry's shtick too, which is why I think that record works so well.

You throw in the brothers Gibb. While listening to "Islands in the Stream", I thought this sounds like a Bee Gees style record. I looked it up and it was written by the Gibbs and co-produced by Barry Gibb. I also remember a Dionne Warwick song sounding like the Bee Gees.

[RGMike]

I also remember a Dionne Warwick song sounding like the Bee Gees.

yup -- "Heartbreaker", another Gibb production (I think Dionne got jealous after Barry Gibb worked with Streisand)

[SFGuy]

Re-edited for this week.

Here are the upcoming shows:

Casey's 70's shows:

December 18-19: December 26, 1970  http://www.charismusicgroup.com/Cue%20Sheets/12-26-70.pdf
December 25-26: Top 40 of 1974       http://www.charismusicgroup.com/Cue%20Sheets/12-28-74.pdf

Casey's 80's shows:

December 18-19: December 22, 1984   http://www.charismusicgroup.com/Cue%20Sheets/12-22-84.pdf
December 25-26 and January 1-2: Top 100 of 1985    http://www.charismusicgroup.com/Cue%20Sheets/01-04-86.pdf

[RGMike]

Re-edited for this week.

Here are the upcoming shows:

Casey's 70's shows:

December 18-19: December 26, 1970  http://www.charismusicgroup.com/Cue%20Sheets/12-26-70.pdf

This one is worth it for the Flaming Ember rarity "I'm Not My Brother's Keeper" alone, but any countdown with "Stoney End" is a must-listen for me.

[RGMike]

Re-edited for this week.

Here are the upcoming shows:

Casey's 70's shows:

December 18-19: December 26, 1970  http://www.charismusicgroup.com/Cue%20Sheets/12-26-70.pdf

This one is worth it for the Flaming Ember rarity "I'm Not My Brother's Keeper" alone, but any countdown with "Stoney End" is a must-listen for me.

trivia from the geeks at the AT40 board: this week's show originally omitted the Guess Who's on-its-way-down "Share the Land" (at #30), apparently in order to make time so that Casey could play both sides of the #1, "My Sweet Lord/Isn't It a Pity". A rare instance of something like that happening.  Premiere will include "STL" as one of their extras.

[RGMike]

Instant BOS1: Todd "Runt"-gren at #40 with "We Gotta Get You a Woman"

VHM Redeye's "Games", the best CSN imitation evah.

Crapton-before-he-was-crappy lets it all hang down after midnite; Ree-Ree superbly gospelizes EJ's "Border Song". BOS2.

OMGWTF: Neil Diamond's very-little-heard "Do It". Guess the record company blew it.

JT gets bad news at the loony bin; Flaming Ember get a big BOS3 for the unjustly forgotten "Brother's Keeper"; Lynn Anderson's fantabulous hit version of Joe South's "Rose Garden" scores BOS4.

another rarity: Casey plays Elvis' "Patch it Up", the B-side of his Dusty Springfield cover. Not a terribly memorable song, but nice production/horns.

How does Stephen Stills know so much about fisting gloves? Seems that would be more Elton's territory. He sits on the roof and kicks off the moss while Percy comes (from the land of the ice'n'snow) -- bet he wishes he were in "Montego Bay".

BOS5 the BeeGees. That was quite a first hour.

[RGMike]

Hour 2 begins with Tom Jones' "Can't Stop Loving You" at it's peak of #25-- talk about a song that hasn't been heard since it charted! VHMFRA

BOS6 Gladys Smith and the Latter-Day Pips, "If I Were One Of Your Women"; BOS7 Gen'l J and the Chairmen, payin' da piper -- ass yo' MAMA!

Ain't no 2 ways about it: WOS 3DN with one of their weakest, "One Man Bah-oo"; VHM Andy Kim's more-than-passable cover of "Be My Baby" (tho' his "Baby I Love You" is better). Followed, unfortunately, by Neil D's less-than-passable recitation of "He Ain't Heavy..." VHM Perry Como, keeping old-school MOR alive with "It's Impossible".

The fact that the Supes/Tempts paint-by-numbers cover of "River Deep..." was a bigger hit than the Spector/Ike & Tina orig is one of the most shameful statistics in chart history.

BOS8 Ray Price, "For The Good Times; uber-BOS9 La Streisand's spectacular "Stoney End", a pop revelation at the time.