CG/KPOO/KCDX etcetcetc for the week of 3/31/08

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after hearing the Shirley Ellis version last week, here's Gladys gettin' down to the real Nitty Gritty. That must be where Joseph Smith buried those golden plates.

and we close the hour with Curtis/Impressions, "We're a Winner" -- and everybody knows it, too!

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Dean's CG requests must be coming from Dave via email: Here's John Kongas, Steppin' on you again.

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ooo! very young and early Stones, their version of "You Better Move On"  -- orig Solomon Burke (?) and covered in the late '70s by Mink DeVille.

and followed, non-sequitur-ishly, by Dame Cliff, "We Don't Talk Anymore".

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a sweet British lady requests and gets BJ's "Scenes From an Eye-talian Restaurant".  a couple of reds, a couple of whites, a joint or two...

"engineer boots, leather jackets and tight blue jeans" -- BJ didn't know it then, but that's gayer than anything in Pete's "Rough Boys".

ETA: it just struck me that Manilow shoulda done this song on his '70s-covers CD.

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CG's retro-countdown show, which I meant to mention is quite a gem this week: America, reminiscing about Spring '72 when "Horse With No Name"  was near the top.

Listening now, starting with some of the "bubbling under the Top 20" hits of Jan 22, 1972 -- I'd forgotten "Horse..." was a hit in the UK several months before breaking over here.  Stevie Wonder and Cher bubbling under so far. and -- TANC -- John Kongas again, with his "Step on" follow-up, "Tokoloshi Man". And Bread's "Baby, I'm a Wan Shoe".

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Oh, the Brits love their orchestral TV themes: the John Barry Orch (yes, the "James Bond theme guy") with "Theme from The Persuaders".

ah, but T.Rex's "Jeepster" is always a highlight of any day.

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Criminy! Benny Hill, with a novelty tune that was #1 for FOUR WEEKS! ("Ernie, the Fastest Milkman in the West").

and two new-to-me hits, back-to-back: Cilla Black's "Something Tells Me" and Gilbert O'Sullivan's "No Matter How I Try" (about a 5'2" guy with a 6'5" girlfriend).

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Rod goes upstairs to read his PowerPoint, and Elvis covers BJ Thomas's "I Just Can't Help Believing".

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Oh My. Congregation (they were only "The English Congregation" in the US) with "Softly Whispering I Love You". Highlight of my afternoon.

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at #2 and new to me: Neil Reid, a Donny Osmond-sounding young boy doing a syrupy, semi-operatic ballad called "Mother of Mine". And thousands of little old English ladies weep.

ETA: guess I should add that #1 was "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing". and next week: March 1988 with Rick Astley! Swoon!

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... and next week: March 1988 with Rick Astley! Swoon!

Watch out, you might get rickrolled!

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Oh My. Congregation (they were only "The English Congregation" in the US)

My guess is that in America there was risk of confusion with the Mike Curb Congregation.

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Oh My. Congregation (they were only "The English Congregation" in the US)

My guess is that in America there was risk of confusion with the Mike Curb Congregation.

I s'pose -- tho' how one could confuse "Up With People"-reject hacks like the MCC with talented Brits is a puzzlement.  You know about Curb, right? He parlayed his music-biz profile and connections into running for Lieut. Governor of CA as a right-wing Republican. (He won)

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... and next week: March 1988 with Rick Astley! Swoon!

Watch out, you might get rickrolled!

OK... I had to look it up:

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_does_it_mean_to_be_Rickrolled

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Classic country KBEC today: and they play the orig "Misty Blue" by Wilma Burgess from 1966, who later became the first openly lesbian country singer (well, after she retired from singing).