Sunday, September 2, 2018

THE SUNDAY COMMENTS ( 09 - 02 - 18 )

A couple of big local shows announcements …

The Arcada Theatre has just booked Gladys Knight for a show on November 13th.  (We’ve been pushing for this one for about three years now … SO glad to see that it’s finally going to happen!)

And, after we caught their act at this year’s Fest For Beatles Fans last month, we suggested that SOMEBODY in town ought to consider booking Peter (Asher) and Jeremy (Clyde) for a return gig.

I am happy to announce that the duo will be returning to Chicago on November 6th for a show at The City Winery.  (Tickets go on sale this Monday, September 3rd … and they’re going to go fast … so you’ll want to jump on this right away!)

The teaming up of one half of the two most popular pop duos of The British Invasion era is pure genius … and between them, Peter and Gordon and Chad and Jeremy had a total of sixteen Top 40 American Hits with classics like “A World Without Love” (#1, 1964); “Nobody I Know” (#12, 1964); “I Don’t Want To See You Again” (#16, 1964), all three of which were written by the songwriting team of Lennon and McCartney, “I Go To Pieces” (#4, 1965); “True Love Ways” (#12, 1965); “To Know You Is To Love You” (#24, 1965); “Woman” (#12, 1966, another Paul McCartney tune written under the pseudonym of Bernard Webb); “Lady Godiva” (#5, 1966); “Knight In Rusty Armour” (#12, 1967); “Sunday For Tea” (#22) by Peter and Gordon and “Yesterday’s Gone” (#21, 1964); “A Summer Song” (#6, 1964); “Willow Weep For Me” (#15, 1964); “If I Loved You” (#17, 1965); “Before And After” (#15, 1965); “I Don’t Wanna Lose You Baby” (#33, 1965 and “Distant Shores” (#30, 1966) by Chad and Jeremy.


 
Peter and Jeremy
(with Billy J. Kramer and Me in the back row)

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Isn’t Paul McCartney a bit old to be going thru a mid-life crisis?
Hey look, I love the guy … always have and always will … but a couple of tracks on his new album (coming out this Friday, September 7th) leave me scratching my head.
First the whole premise of the “If you come on to me, then I’ll come on to you” single … and now “Fuh You”?!?!?  This is the same guy who wrote the classics “Yesterday” and “Here, There And Everywhere” … he’s written symphonies and ballets … and has never had to resort to cute, sexy little gimmicks to sell his songs …

Maybe he’s just longing for the good old days of Beatlemania, I dunno … but it really isn’t very becoming for a guy who just turned 76 years old.  (A little wink and innuendo ala his earlier work is fine … but this is just a blatant and obvious attention getter … and he doesn’t wear it well.  In fact, I’m not sure this would have worked during ANY phase of his long career … but certainly not at this stage!)



Meanwhile, the first wave of US shows have just been announced (expect several more dates to be added shortly):

2018:
10/05 – Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits
10/12 – Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits

2019:
05/27 – Raleigh, NC @ PNC Arena
05/30 – Greenville, SC @ Bon Secours Wellness Arena
06/01 – Lexington, KY @ Rupp Arena
06/06 – Madison, WI @ Kohl Center
06/11 – Moline, IL @ TaxSlayer Center
In addition, expect a TV / Media blitz in conjunction with the new album release.  Already booked are appearances on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon (September 6th) and Howard Stern’s radio show (September 5th)


FH Reader Tom Cuddy sent us this interesting link to a website spotlighting Billboard’s #1 Hot 100 Hits …

This particular link features Lou Christie’s chart-topper “Lightning Strikes” but you can scroll forward and back to catch all of the postings.


>>>Pam Pulice asked me an interesting question today, and I have NO idea what the answer is.  So, I'd like to run this by you and your wonderful and knowledgeable readership.  She asked if I could find an aircheck or YouTube video of the "Vehicle WLS Jingle" that was aired when Dick first started at "94.7 FM"?  She said that it was mentioned by Greg Brown, but she's never heard it.  Neither have I.  Anyone out there have any info?  It'd be greatly appreciated.  Thanks!  (Mike Wolstein) 
>>>I’m not familiar with it but we can certainly ask. (I just shot a quick email off to Jimbo, too, in case he has a copy in his extensive archives.)  
Meanwhile, let’s put it out to the readers … and to Jim himself … and see what we can come up with for you.  (kk)

Kent,
I don't know if the below WLS jingle is the Ides Vehicle WLS jingle Pam is looking for, but I'll throw in some more Ides goodies. 
There's a legit Pepsi commercial done BY the Ides, also a 7-Up jingle done TO the Ides music sound.  Then, a couple of jingle music beds ala the Ides 70 sounds.  How about Pandora with a silly attempt at interviewing SEVEN Ides members on Kiddie-a-Go-Go TV'er?  Finishing up with our FH'er Kris Erik Stevens playing the big Ides hit!
Clark Besch

Here are a couple of tracks that Clark mentioned ...



And it sounds like even Jim Peterik himself doesn't recall what track Pam and Mike are referring to above.  (Says he'd love to help but doesn't know what he's looking for!)

Wow, Kent. I have no recollection of this.  I’ll ask the guys.  Thanks, man!
Jim


Kent,
It sounded as if there might have been question as to whether the 1968 WCFL All-Time Selection chart was actual and from 1968.  This was a case of FH readers helping out FH readers BEFORE Forgotten Hits even existed.  I had had the yellow original hard paper original chart and then two decades ago, Stu Shea sent me the countdown of the songs (13 to 1) on a tape, not knowing (to my memory) what this was, as he got the tape from a friend of his!  The tape was radio stuff off air from probably October, 1968, judging by other songs recorded.  Anyway, here's proof in the puddin' of the all-time REQUESTS CFL chart. 


There must have been rules keeping any near current tunes out of the mix when voting, as there are only a small amount of 1968 tunes included.  When I was conversing with Barney Pip twenty years ago, he said a lot of the chart "analysis" stuff at CFL was conjecture and not always legit.  Thus, this may or may not reflect the ACTUAL song ratings as voted on by listeners. 

Interesting to hear Kingbee Ron Britain doing the countdown, as that was usually a Jim Stagg thing.  I'm guessing it ran all day and he got to make the finishing touches.  Despite WLS doing long countdowns like these often, I don't think I ever heard WCFL do such a thing besides this one.  I will forward this to Ron Britain to see if he has any response to this tape.
Clark Besch


I didn’t realize it was a listeners poll chart … again, kind of surprising in that WCFL had just gone Top 40 in 1966 and there are songs dating back to the Elvis era on the chart.  (Although based on recent emails received … and Joel Whitburn’s new Cash Box Regional Hits book from 1956, it looks like WCFL was playing Top 40 long before that … just not documenting the results.)

From what I’ve gathered over the years of doing Forgotten Hits, I think nearly every radio station Top 40 Chart was accurate for about The Top 20 only … beyond that it was pretty much pick and choose your favorites (or the ones the program director felt had the best chance of moving up the chart.)  As we’ve all learned since, payola of ANY sort also helped to influence which records (no matter obscure) made many of these charts.
It would be cool to hear the whole countdown.  I suggested to JR Russ (who operates the wcflchicago.com tribute website) that this would make for a VERY interesting programming treat if we could ever get our hands on a copy!  (kk)

And finally, Ultimate Classic Rock is reporting that Alan Parsons will release his first album of new material during the first quarter of 2019.  (Hmm … I wonder if the recent success of Jeff Lynne’s ELO had anything to do with inspiring Parsons to return to the studio?!?!)  This will be his first release in fifteen years.

A report published in “Prog” says that Parsons’ approach to this new musical venture was expected to be in keeping with the symphonic rock he explored on his earlier solo and Alan Parsons Project albums.  They also added that guest artists would be announced later.

His last studio album was released in 2004 (“A Valid Path”) and featured his old colleague David Gilmour.  (Parsons engineered Pink Floyd’s massively successful album “Dark Side Of The Moon” in 1973.) 

“I look back on that album a little bit unfavorably” he said in 2013. “I wanted to do something different and hopefully capture a younger audience. We did to a certain extent, but I think we lost our core audience in the process.”  Parsons said that he was "sorely disappointed by the sales" of the last LP. "It didn’t achieve anything like some of my previous albums.  The reason could be that people felt it was too much of a break from the tradition of what I had done previously, which was heavily orchestrated, catchy, melodic songs.”

Hopefully a tour to support the new release will follow.  (The Alan Parsons Live Project is, without question, one of the best shows we have ever seen.  It was voted our #1 Concert of the Year two years in a row in our Annual Forgotten Hits Posting.)

https://forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-alan-parsons-live-project-concert.html

https://forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com/2015/05/the-alan-parsons-live-project-2015.html