CG/KPOO/KCDX etcetcetc for the week of 2/25/08

[RGMike]

Casey takes us back to February 26, 1972.  Solid set so far - only new one to me being the Detroit Emeralds' "You Want It, You Got It."    Melanie had a total of 6 Top 40 hits but 3 of them show up here: We've yet to hear the former #1 "Brand New Key," but we got its follow-up on Buddah, "The Nickel Song," at 36, and at 34, on Neighborhood, "Ring the Living Bell."  Not clear on her label situation.

Actually, I played that Detroit Emeralds song for you last time you were here -- and then we heard it again that night on the way home from the Sharks game when JJ played it (JJ lurves him some Emeralds).

Melanie was on Neighborhood at that point, she had left Buddah. So "Living Bell" was Neighborhood's official follow-up to their "Key".  Buddah was trying to cash in on her new-found popularity with "Nickel Song". Sadly, both singles stalled short of being big hits.

I slept in and am sorry to have missed all that, not to mention JB, BJ (Thomas) and the Addrisis (KFRC doesn't replay the first hour), but I'll tune in tonite for the others you mentioned, plus Cher's super-fab "Way of Love", Beverly Bremers best-Lesley Gore-imitation-evah "Don't Say You Don't Remember" and Ms King's forgotten "Sweet Seasons".  And now it's time for a classic Soul Train with Brick and Sister Sledge.

[Gazoo]

Casey takes us back to February 26, 1972.  Solid set so far - only new one to me being the Detroit Emeralds' "You Want It, You Got It."    Melanie had a total of 6 Top 40 hits but 3 of them show up here: We've yet to hear the former #1 "Brand New Key," but we got its follow-up on Buddah, "The Nickel Song," at 36, and at 34, on Neighborhood, "Ring the Living Bell."  Not clear on her label situation.

Actually, I played that Detroit Emeralds song for you last time you were here -- and then we heard it again that night on the way home from the Sharks game when JJ played it (JJ lurves him some Emeralds).

Sadly, my memory, she often fails me.

Oddly, "Brand New Key" appears on the Buddah box.  Did they distribute Neighborhood, I wonder?

[RGMike]

Casey takes us back to February 26, 1972.  Solid set so far - only new one to me being the Detroit Emeralds' "You Want It, You Got It."    Melanie had a total of 6 Top 40 hits but 3 of them show up here: We've yet to hear the former #1 "Brand New Key," but we got its follow-up on Buddah, "The Nickel Song," at 36, and at 34, on Neighborhood, "Ring the Living Bell."  Not clear on her label situation.

Actually, I played that Detroit Emeralds song for you last time you were here -- and then we heard it again that night on the way home from the Sharks game when JJ played it (JJ lurves him some Emeralds).

Sadly, my memory, she often fails me.

Oddly, "Brand New Key" appears on the Buddah box.  Did they distribute Neighborhood, I wonder?

The chart that week says Neighborhood was distributed by "Famous", whoeverthehell *they* were.  Her last charted single on the 'hood was a cover of "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" in late '73. I dunno what label she was on after that; she did a lovely cover of Jim Croce's "Lover's Cross" in '74 or '75 that didn't chart. I'm guessing Buddha bought the Neighborhood stuff later on for greatest hits compilation purposes.

[RGMike]

The Iceman cometh!  Jerry Butler ain't understanding mellow! (With help from Brenda Lee Eager.)  Nice groove, reminds me of "The Sly, the Slick, and the Wicked."  And I just noticed that he had the original charting version of "(Mr.) Dream Merchant."

Brenda Lee (Eager)'s comin' on (Only the) Strong (Survive).

Flashback of the week for me: Donnie Elbert's *other* Motown cover, "Can't Help Myself". What an odd, brief '70s career (tho' his first chart hit was in the '50s!). His falsetto on this one had to have inspired Sylvester's "Band of Gold/Can't Help Myself" medley years later.

[RGMike]

Just logged on to a station in West Virginia that carries the Klassic Kasem '80s version -- it's Feb 18th, 1984 and Mr Joel's "An Innocent Man" is at #13.  Shannon's "Let the Music Play", MJ's "Thriller", Nena and Culture Club yet to come.

ETA: "Thriller" enters the Top Ten in just its second week on the Hot 100, after debuting at #20!

[RGMike]

Yikes, I'd forgotten just how sappy those Long-Distance Dedications were. At least this week's doesn't involve a dead dog

[Gazoo]

It's anything but a Hot August Night, but that doesn't stop Barry Scott from kicking off tonight's Lost 45s with "Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show."  Boggling.

[Gazoo]

Got the First Edition's Partridge Family-esque "Something's Burning."  True story: While on my way to work at Voice one day, noonish, I was walking through Washington Square Park, where I saw this gargantuan, disheveled man with headphones on, oblivious to everything around him.  I moved closer as he began to stomp his feet:

*clomp clomp*
SOMETHING'S BURNING, he bellowed.
*clomp clomp*

An indelible memory.

Soon after and new to me: "Next Plane to London," by Rose Garden.

[Gazoo]

Your body!  My body!  Michael Zager's body!  It's silly, but I don't know why some deem this a HFH.

[Gazoo]

Disco + Karen Carpenter: two great tastes that don't taste so great together.  "My Body Keeps Changing My Mind" sounds like the mood music one would see on a 1979 TV show as a camera pans a coke 'n' champagne crowd and focuses out to the balcony.