Lots of anticipation for the new Gavin Report book coming from Record Research … and Paul Haney tells us that pre-orders have been brisk ...
Well, this is Great!
I remember being introduced to that light blue mimeographed record tip sheet for the first time in 1960 when while beginning my early radio career as a promising young Hot Shot DJ during my High School Years at "the" small radio station where I was doing Top 40 (well, with "limitations," as Motown would not send us promo copies and the station was to . . . ah . . . "frugal" to buy them from our local record store, if even available!) in Rapid City, South Dakota! It was also my first Music Director position and "The Gavin Report '' was an important part of my reviewing new record releases for added on-air play in that and all my future Music Director positions!
It was my first in-depth look into the Hot-Hits, and those to be, of the day! Gavin made it feel more personal than reading Billboard then. I knew what day his "tip sheet" would arrive each week and I'd seek it out immediately upon my arrival at the radio station!
Chuck Buell
Good Morning, Kent:
I enjoyed the Mid-Week Comments.
I would be getting the new Whitburn book on Gavin if Joel had decided to include a summary of the Smooth Jazz charts from Gavin. At WNUA, we relied on the rankings from Radio & Records and Gavin for so many years.
Rick
I can’t imagine that ANYBODY saved all those old sheets from back in the day …
But I SURE would like to read thru them now, with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight.
Paul Haney explains a little bit more about how hard it was to track all of this chart information down … and some of the restrictions that went along with publishing it …
Hi Kent,
Thanks for the plug on the upcoming Gavin Report book. Initial orders have been very strong … it looks like a winner!
As you know, I was pushing hard for this book for many years. I had almost given up hope when we came across a near-complete collection of Gavin Reports housed at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Library Archives. We had to pay someone to scan those charts for us and then we had to track down a few private collectors for the missing issues. Thankfully, it all came together and I spent the past several months working on the actual week-by-week research (which is fun, but very time consuming).
Meanwhile, one of Joel's final projects was going thru the charts and looking for those records that never charted in Billboard. After he compiled that list, I then had to track down bio information on all of the "new" artists so we could include them in the book.
In the introduction, I will be giving a detailed explanation of how the charts changed over the years. Yes, Gavin's comments were very fun to read. However, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame only granted us permission to compile the chart data, so any reproductions of the actual issues themselves would be prohibited at this time. Needless to say, not many of those early issues survived over the years, so we were very fortunate to find them all.
As for the Variety charts, I would love to research those someday. The biggest obstacle is tracking down all of the charts. It would require some digging and I'm simply way too busy for that at this time! If anybody out there knows where to locate a complete collection, I'd be interested.
Thanks again!
Paul Haney
Record Research
I am happy to put it out there to see what kind of Variety Pop Chart collections may be out there … and also ask Team Forgotten Hits if they have (or have access to) any of the original Gavin Reports that were sent out weekly to all the top Top 40 radio stations across the country … because I REALLY want a chance to read all of Bill Gavin’s reviews!!! (kk)
You can pre-order your (and save fifteen bucks when you do!) here:
https://www.recordresearch.com/
Hi Kent,
Great work as always!
“Bella Linda” was the follow up to “Midnight Confessions” and I remember being a little disappointed after hearing it back then as it didn’t rock out like its predecessor and had strings all over it ... but over the years, I’ve come to like it a lot. I think we sometimes forget the “follow ups” weren’t always thought out by the band that way or weren’t necessarily recorded as such but that the record company just picked the next tune that was in the can and put it out there. I’ve always wondered how much Grill, Entner and all had to do with the songs that were released by them or the albums that came out. I suspect they were more players in someone else’s game and went along with it. Some of those songs were fantastic either way.
I don’t think that I’ve seen anything about the loss of Kal David last month. So sad as he was still out there playing and recording. As you surely know, he was Chicago born and had quite few bands in the 60’s including the Exceptions (with Peter Cetera and Marty Grebb) and then the Rovin Kind with Paul Cotton on Dunwich Records! Some nice mid 60’s garage sounds. Then they went on to form Illinois Speed Press.
But my favorite period of David’s is when he went to the Woodstock, NY, area in the early 70’s and did three albums with the Fabulous Rhinestones. Long lost albums but the music holds up. There’s a special sound that David, Grebb and Harvey Brooks made that encompassed soul, rock, country and a jazz tinge. “What a Wonderful Thing We Have” is such a classy song with some great playing and great melody. It was a single but didn’t make it, but I did hear it on college radio. David’s voice was very soulful and his guitar playing was always impressive and spirited. This era of music is quite special and there’s something organic in the sounds they were making in that NY countryside.
David continued into the present day with some fine, blues-based albums and continued to perform in CA, CT and overseas where I believe he had a pretty big following. Another under-appreciated great talent has left us.
JC3
Not the way you want to end the week … but Steve Perry is suing his former Journey bandmates Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain for trying to register twenty of the band’s best-known songs with a Journey trademark. (Since Perry has cowriting credit on the majority of these, I can see why he might feel he deserves a stake in the action!)
Cain and Schon want to use the song titles and lyrics as merchandising enticements by printing them on jackets, hats, T-shirts, etc.
Perry contends that the agreement entered into when all were part of the band was that any decision like this had to be endorsed by ALL parties involved … but says that Schon and Cain went behind his back to contract for the trademark and merchandise endorsements. (I’m thinking it’ll take a little while to resolve THIS one!!!)
Steve Perry has gone out of his way to disassociate and separate himself from Journey for many years now … so this is a rather sad way to “return to the fold” as it were. (kk)
Meanwhile, the surviving members of ZZ Top have gone out of their way to emblazon their logo on a brand new Tres Hombres Bourbon!
Bob Merlis tells us …
That little ol’ band from Texas is back with another iconic release: Tres Hombres ZZ Top - A Blend of Straight Bourbon Whiskey finished in American Single Malt Casks
Rock & Roll Hall of Famers ZZ Top announced today the launch of their second in a line of limited release whiskeys, Tres Hombres Bourbon. This second expression follows its collaborative “Texas Whisky,” first released in November, 2021.
Tres Hombres Bourbon is made from three classic grains, three distinct mashbills, and three fierce years baked in the Southern heat - harkening back to classic Southern blues, amplified by the crunch of Texas rock n' roll, and saturated in the tone of American Single Malt. Here's to memories formed over a full glass with friends at your side, and the music turned up loud!
ZZ Top has been synonymous with all that is the Lone Star State for more than five decades. Named the “Official Heroes'' of the State of Texas and renowned for their signature blues-rock sound, ZZ Top’s studio albums have sold an estimated 50 million albums worldwide and continuing.
“The launch of our 2021 Texas Whisky was an overwhelming success,” said Carl Stubner, Manager of ZZ Top. “We look forward to sharing this new sweeter expression with our fans and friends to enjoy raising a glass to followers of good whisky across the country.
Tres Hombres Bourbon will be available beginning this week at select retailers in Austin, Dallas and Houston.
To learn more about ZZ Top, please visit www.ZZTop.com
Kent,
You posted that Jim Post, the male half of the songsters Friend and Lover, passed away.
In 1959 on the Crest record label, he had a record IF HE WERE IN HIS TEENS b/w WALK AWAY, both songs of which he co-wrote with Doree Post. She was credited on the record label as well. Don't know roughly who Doree Post was, probably his wife at the time, but I’m not sure. They made some five or six other records on Crest but the one I listed is the only one I have and the only one to my knowledge which made our local top 40 radio weekly survey.
Also, in 1962 on the DJB record label, he and Doree Post again, had a record HOMING PIGEON as the "A" side of the record with again WALK AWAY being the "B" side. Don't know why that song was put again on one of their records. HOMING PIGEON. I checked and HOMING PIGEON peaked at #20 in July of 1962 here in OKC. Don't know offhand if he had other records on DJB.
Larry
As I recall, Jim Post enjoyed a rather lengthy career in the folk and coffee house universe.
Not being familiar with these earlier recordings, I checked to see if any of these managed to chart nationally, but apparently they did not.
I could only find a few YouTube videos of the duo … and none were for the songs you mentioned … so charting Top 20 in Oklahoma is really quite a feat! (kk)
I couldn’t believe this when I saw it …
Rick Nelson’s twins, Matthew and Gunnar Nelson, have now turned 55!!! (They were 18 years old when their father’s plane went down in 1985.) Wow!
Still performing … and still sounding great … and yeah, their hair’s a little bit shorter now, too! (lol) kk
https://bestclassicbands.com/nelson-brothers-band-9-20-17
Yesterday we ran a link to a Harvey Kubernik piece on Elton John ... as well as part of an interview that Harvey conducted with Kim Fowley ...
I got this too late to include it, but it kind of ties these two topics together!
KIM FOWLEY: Danny Hutton of Three Dog Night used to tout Elton in 1969. Danny discovered Elton when he brought two Elton / Bernie Taupin tunes, including 'Lady Samantha' to cover when Elton, then Reg, was still working for Dick James Music. Danny in the mid-sixties was my driver. I recorded him for Challenge and Invictor Records. His mother was my landlady. Danny was, and is, cool.
In the late summer of 1970, I was living in Sweden. I was at an outdoor music festival and onstage with P.J. Proby. We followed the Move. Elton was there and playing piano with Blue Mink at the time. They followed us. Elton said to me, “I remember you when you were on Tops of the Pops, singing ‘They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!’” I was on that 1966 TV show in England, with Los Bravos and the Small Faces. I told Elton, at that 1970 festival in Sweden, “Pay attention to Danny Hutton when you come to town. He will steer you through L.A., and you will survive because of him.” I wished him luck. That was a Saturday night, and on the following Monday, he left for Hollywood.
Before
his Troubadour shows, Elton did come up to Danny’s house on Lookout
Mountain and played piano. Danny also took Elton for his first Hollywood
meal, at Billy James’s Black Rabbit Inn."
1972 ...
We've been looking back all year long as part of our long-running Fifty Year Flashback series, running a different chart from a different state (except Vermont, of course ... I still don't get what's up with that!!!) every week, effectively showing you the biggest hits from coast-to-coast.
Over the past 20+ years of doing Forgotten Hits, I have heard from many readers who have proclaimed 1972 as the last great year for Top 40 Radio. (I, myself, found 1973 and 1974 to be incredibly boring years in music ... things picked up a little bit in 1975, which was a bit encouraging ... and then disco hit ... need I say more???)
But in 1972, you had a little bit of everything ...
Power Pop like The Raspberries and Badfinger and a flat-out rocker by The Hollies with "Long Cool Woman (In A Black Dress)," Harry Nilsson's #1 Hit "Without You" (itself a Badfinger song!), a resurgence of '50's rock and roll artists like Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry and Rick Nelson all scoring Top Five Hits, brand new artists, some of whom would go on to become superstars, earning their first hits (like The Eagles, America, The Doobie Brothers, Seals and Crofts and others), crossover soul hits from The Spinners, The O'Jays, The Chi-Lites, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes and more ... and even some of our local guys like Chicago, The New Colony Six and Jamestown Massacre.
Well, tomorrow night we'll be playing them all as Phil Nee and I recap our Top 40 Favorites from 1972 on Phil's "Those Were The Days" radio program. (We'll even throw in a couple of "guilty pleasures" along the way!)
We each picked our personal Top 40 Favorites independently of one another and, believe or not, out of 80 potential tunes, we only picked NINE in common ... so that means you'll get to hear a wide variety of music.
It all kicks off at 6 pm (Central Time) and will run thru Midnight Saturday Night ... and we hope you'll tune in and join in on the fun.
You can listen live here: WRCO AM FM Radio Richland Center Wisconsin
