First up, 1976 ... where Paul McCartney has THREE of the Top 13 singles this week!
"Silly Love Songs" is on its way down the charts, falling from #3 to #4 this week ... while his follow-up single, "Let 'em In" makes a huge leap from #20 to #9.
But the biggest surprise is this week's #13 Hit ... it's the re-release of The Beatles' track "Got To Get You Into My Life", a single pulled from their new "Rock And Roll Music" album.
Although the track peaked at #7 on The Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles Chart, it would climb to #1 in several local markets (including here in Chicago) ... and sounded every bit as good in 1976 as it did when it was recorded for the "Revolver" album ten years earlier. The Beatles had only been apart six years and they were already winning over a brand new audience. (Ironically The Beach Boys are also charting this week with THEIR remake of the Chuck Berry classic, "Rock And Roll Music", a track The Beatles did to pure perfection on their "Beatles For Sale" LP in late 1964.)
Country Music seemed to have a pretty good hold on this 1976 Denver Chart ... Eddie Rabbitt's got the #7 Hit with "Rocky Mountain Music", a song that would score well on Billboard's Country Singles Chart but only reach #76 on the pop side. The Bellamy Brothers also have a Top 40 Pop Hit on a chart that features disco (The Andrea True Connection, Silver Convention and Diana Ross), pop (The Starland Vocal Band, Elton John and Kiki Dee and Starbuck), soul (The Manhattans, War and Brothers Johnson), novelty (Cheech and Chong!!!) and rock (Queen, Thin Lizzy and Gary Wright) ... back in the day when you could play ALL of these different genres of music side by side and nobody found anything wrong with it!
In addition, America's "Today's The Day" and Chicago's "Another Rainy Day In New York City" both fare better here on this Denver chart than they did nationally.
We haven't featured a chart from 1968 in a while either ... Gary Puckett and the Union Gap have the #1 Single in Lincoln, Nebraska, this week in 1968. In fact, MOST of the Top Ten this week is taken up with tracks that scored very well all over the country ... with TWO exceptions ...
What the heck are "All's Quiet On West 23rd" by Julie Budd and "Sally Had A Party" by Flavor?!?! The Julie Budd single never even charted on Billboard's Hot 100 Pop Singles Chart ... and "Sally Had A Party' only climbed as high as #95!!! Yet here in Lincoln, BOTH records are Top Ten Hits! (Joel Whitburn's book refers to "Sally Had A Party" as sounding very similar to the Spencer Davis Group hit "Gimme Some Lovin'" ... so I had to check that one out for myself!)
>>>Julie recorded the song "All's Quiet On West 23rd" at age 13 for MGM and was dubbed the "Young Barbra Streisand" at the time. The 45 came with a pic sleeve. To me, the male version of the song, by the Jet Stream, is a much better version, even tho her record was huge in Lincoln. Flavor was a DC group who did well with the song "Sally Had A Party", but their followup, "Heart-Teaser" (also a pic sleeve 45), was much better, IMO.
-- Clark Besch
The Monkees sit just outside The Top Ten with their last big two-sided hit "D.W. Washburn" / "It's Nice To Be With You" ... and, speaking of The Monkees, The Stone Poneys must have been thinking "Why mess with success?" when they cut "Some Of Shelly's Blues", another tune written by Michael Nesmith (which was also covered by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band). It followed their successful take on Nesmith's "Different Drum" from a few months before.
Look how well The Buckinghams' single "Back In Love Again" did in Lincoln, Nebraska ... it's down from #12 to #27 ... while The New Colony Six are slowly creeping up the chart with THEIR latest, "Can't You See Me Cry".
And finally, another 1967 Chart from KYA in San Francisco where "Purple Haze" by The Jimi Hendrix Experience grabs the #1 Spot.
It's funny to see "Ode To Billie Joe", "Fakin' It" and "Heroes And Villains" show up on this week's chart as KYA Premiers ... as all three records were charting (and doing quite well) on the 1967 chart we featured last week.
Lastly, give a listen to my favorite Stevie Wonder song of the '60's, "I Was Made To Love Her".
