Casey Kasem American Top 40

[RGMike]

Belatedly noting: Nice commentary this week.  I was a bit too occupied to post when listening.

thanks, bub -- this week's '74 looks like a proto-'70s mash-up of the Good, The Bad and the Cheezy.  Bring the snark!

[RGMike]

this week's '74 looks like a proto-'70s mash-up of the Good, The Bad and the Cheezy.  Bring the snark!

and indeed we start with Wednesday  -- one of 6 Canadian acts this week -- and their unnecessary cover of one of the most horrid songs ever: "Last Kiss". WOS1, eh?.

VHM BB, who likes to live the love. BOS1 Lamont Dozier, who's tryin' to hold on.

Double Denver: we just heard John doing "Sunshine on my Shoulders"; here's actor Cliff DeYoung (from the TV move Sunshine that used Denver's songs) covering "My Sweet Lady". One of my fave Denver songs of that early period, even if DeYoung can't exactly, y'know, sing. Proxy of GazWOS.

BOS2 and best Cheeze-for-Breakfast candidate: Mocedades' "Eres Tu", just shy of being Charo-esque but quite lovely.

AAACK! Gordon Sinclair (who wrote it) with one of 2 versions of "The Americans" on the chart; Casey will announce but not play the Byron MacGregor version at #6.

More Canucks: Tony DeFranco screeches "Abra-ca-dabra", another proxy-of-GazWOS.

BOS3 the Natural Four's wonderfully smooth "Can This Be Real"

WOS2 another unnecessary remake from Carly & JT.

[RGMike]

BOS4 smooth Smokey's "Baby Come Close". WOS3 Black Oak Arkansas. Go, Jim Dandy. No, seriously -- GO.

More smooth soul: the Moments "Sexy Mama" gets a VHM. "Go ahead and let your jones get good and fonky" -- er, wha?

"How ya doin' out there? Ever seem to have one of those days when it seems like you're being forced to listen to Brownsville Station?" To get caught with Shirley'd be the death of us all.

VHM Cher, rescuing us with some prime '70s cheeze. And at midnight, Greg Allman will ride 'er.

BOS5 Ms Murray's lovely Loggins cover -- I figured with 6 Canadian acts, she'd be one of 'em.  VHM Miss Ross doing her best Helen Reddy imitation.

Tom T Hall loves little baby ducks. And I love Tom T Hall. Therefore: VHM.

[RGMike]

Gladys/Pips use they 'maginations; O'Jays put they hands togetha!

I'd completely forgotten that Lobo produced "Spiders & Snakes". That's too many animals in one sentence.

Always a BOS for ReeRee-does-Stevie.

Babs is #1 -- like buttah!

[RGMike]

Survivor leads off with one of their few tolerable songs, "High on You"; Eric Carmen gets a VHMFRA for the long-forgotten "I Wanna Hear it From Your Lips". And talk about forgotten: Ms Benatar's "ooh-ooh Song" at #38.  BOSFRA.  And BJ keeps the faith with the 6th Top 40 hit from Innocent Man.

John Parr's "Naughty Naughty" is more liike "creepy creepy". Get yer hands off mah stockings!

Frankie say "Relax". I say VHM. And Journey arrive with one of *their* few bearable tunes, "Only the Young"

And another forgotten one: Culture Club's lovely "Mistake #3". BOS2 -- and (of course!) BOS3 Lady T with "Lovergirl"

Ray Parker's "Jamie" has to have it every night. VHM.

BOS4 Tina's "Private Dancer"; wish she'd recorded "Your Latest Trick" too.

Damn, this is a fine mid-'80s chart. BOS5 Ms Lauper's great Brains cover "Money Changes Everything"

WOS Jack Wagner's shameless Peter Cetera imitation; BOS6 and proxy-of-Alicat, The Time's "Jungle Love". Come on, baby, where's ya guts?

Stevie's lovelight's in flight -- with fuel-injection passion! VHM. And Ray Parker reappears to produce New Edition's "Mr Telephone Man". VHM for extreme cuteness.

oh Miss Lead! She married Mr Wood and they had a houseful of little pencils. (sorry -- last time I'll get to use that line for another year)

The only Steve Perry vocal I'll ever BOS, 'cause it's his only good one: BOS7 the sublime "Foolish Heart".

Loved Casey's anecdote about Giuffria: they auditioned 116 lead singers because they knew "exactly what we were looking for". And the winner was... a guy doing a bad Steve Perry imitation?  WOS2.

Best pseudonym of set: Alexander Nevermind (aka Prince), writing & producing Sheena's fabulously cheezy "Sugar Walls". BOS8. Come inside!

VHM DLR, diggin' the gurls; BOS9 Ashford & Simpson's "Solid", which *IS*.

WOS3 Glenn Frey. And as I have to exit, BOS10-in-absentia to H&O's "Method of Modern Love".

[SFGuy]

The LDD on the 80s show "Those Were the Days" by Mark Hopkins was AWFUL. This does not stand the test of time. Hit #2 in 1968/

BTW, Mike remember if you want to listen to the final hour.

http://www.1027jackfm.com/mediaplayer/  at about 8 PM PT/11 ET

or http://radiotime.com/WebTuner.aspx?StationId=32919&  at Midnight PT (show starts at 8 PM PT)

[RGMike]

This week That '70s Casey is from Feb 15th 1975:

http://www.charismusicgroup.com/Cue%20Sheets/02-15-75.pdf

and Casey's '80s is from Feb 16th 1980:

http://www.charismusicgroup.com/Cue%20Sheets/02-16-80.pdf

[RGMike]

We did '75 just recently, no? A sledgehammery period for me.

VHM David Gates' first solo hit; BOS1 and proxy of Gaz "Sad Sweet Dreamer" -- oo-wah-wah-oo-wah-wah-oo!

Miss Riperton debuts with her signature tune; the Manhattans show up with a forgotten gem, their first top 40 pop single - making it 4 first-timers so far.

Ah, yes, I know we just heard Jim Stafford's "Bulldog" tune a few weeks ago.

Joe Cocker's not beautiful. But his cover of Billy Preston's song is. VHM. 

There was a girl. There was a boy. There was a WOS (again) to Donny & Marie's "Morning Side..."  And sorry, but I prefer Richard Harris' take on "My Boy" to Elvis'.

Mamma Mia! Al Martino gets BOS2 for his fabulously old-school-MOR "To The Door of the Sun" alle porte del sol!

VHM BadCo, headin' for the Golden Gate on their way to SFO. Musta scored last nite with some rich bitch from Marin.

BOS3 Polly Brown's delightful "Up in a Puff of Smoke".

BOS4 Glodean and the girls with the lovely "I Belong To You".

[Gazoo]

BOS to Sad Sweet Sensation and Elvis's "Boy."  All over the place in this countdown - and that's a good thing.  I'm off to see a John Lennon exhibit at the Paley Center for Media, so I'll miss his "#9 Dream" at #10.

[RGMike]

They paved paradise and made Joni re-record "Big Yellow Taxi".

Touch-tone phones were new in '75, so Casey has to explain what the "beeping noises" are on Sugarloaf's "Don't Call Us..."!

VHM BTO, "RODTH". Voulez-vous VHM LaBelle? mais oui!

BOS5 Ms Muldaur's "I'm a Woman".

"At long last, sir... have you never been mellow??"

WOS2 Disc-O-Texx; BOS6 Carol Douglas. uber-BOS7 Tony O & Dawn's criminally underrated "Look In My Eyes Pretty Woman"

VHM Frankie V's "Blue Eyes in Georgia" "My Eyes Adored You"

[RGMike]

1980 begins with Bonnie Pointer's discofied "Can't Help Myself", which I barely remember from the time. No surprise that it's similar to the "Heaven Musta Sent You" arrangement.

Nicolette Larson's "Let Me Go" is completely forgotten, and sadly suffers from McDonald-itis. VHM Ray Goodman & Brown.

More forgotten adult-contempo: Chuck Mangione gives it all he's got for the Winter Olympics.

Wow: John Stewart's follow-up to "Gold", "Lost Her in the Sun". VHMFRA.

Why me? Why do I have to hear "Why Me?" WOS Styx.

First-hour Extra: "What I Like About You", one of the few extras they've played that never actually made the Top 40, but became popular in later years.

[RGMike]

Hour2: VHM Toto's ode to Barbara Feldon.

Dame Cliff don't talk; Prince wanna be yo'... LOV-ah!

Aw shucks! I think I BOSed Isaac Hayes' "Don't Let Go" a month ago. And I think his production of Dionne W was back-to-back with him then too -- "Deja Vu" indeed.

BOS1 Rupert Holmes' "Him" -- a fine bit of songwriting that got overshadowed by "Escape", which we'll hear in about 15 minutes.  Rupert was once called "the thinking man's Barry Manilow, and here's Mr M with "When I Wanted You". VHM.

BOS2 Ms Ronstadt with one of her rare non-oldies, the rockin' "How Do I Make You?"

VHM Shalimar; ditto Neil D's "September Morn", one of his nicest from this period. BOS3 the Spinners' fine 4 Seasons reboot.

voila! Ms Ronstadt reappears, with the NGDB. And BOS4 Anne Murray, doing a fine job with an oldie I'll bet Linda wishes she'd thought of covering herself, "Daydream Believer"

WOS2 Kenny Loggins' "This is It", one of 2 songs on this chart that were thought to be about the Iran Hostage crisis, even tho' both were written before it took place.  (the other is "Coward of the County")

[RGMike]

This week That '70s Casey is from Feb 27th 1971:

http://www.charismusicgroup.com/Cue%20Sheets/02-27-71.pdf

And Casey's '80s is from Feb 27th 1988:

http://www.charismusicgroup.com/Cue%20Sheets/02-27-88.pdf

[SFGuy]

This week That '70s Casey is from Feb 27th 1971:

http://www.charismusicgroup.com/Cue%20Sheets/02-27-71.pdf

And Casey's '80s is from Feb 27th 1988:

http://www.charismusicgroup.com/Cue%20Sheets/02-27-88.pdf

Mike, technically the show date is Feb 20th, 1971.

[RGMike]

This week That '70s Casey is from Feb 27th 1971:

http://www.charismusicgroup.com/Cue%20Sheets/02-27-71.pdf

And Casey's '80s is from Feb 27th 1988:

http://www.charismusicgroup.com/Cue%20Sheets/02-27-88.pdf

Mike, technically the show date is Feb 20th, 1971.

And Gaz will be happy to know this is one of those 3-versions-of-"Love Story" charts, and we also get "Jody Got Yo' Girl and Gone", which more than offsets the appearance of the execrable "D.O.A" by Bloodrock.