Just a few more things....

Still finding neat info in Joel Whitburn & BILLBOARD's TOP POP SINGLES 1955-2002, tho I think it & I R both about Xhausted, so this'll likely B the last list of Great Lost Singles chart info....

* Tracy Chapman's "Talkin' Bout a Revolution" peaked at #75 in Fall 1988.
* Mac Davis's "It's Hard to be Humble," #43, Spring '80.
* The Wackers' "I Hardly Know Her Name" failed to reach BILLBOARD's "Hot 100."
* Love: "My Little Red Book," #52, Spring '66.
* Manfred Mann: "My Little Red Book" "bubbled under" at #124 in '65.
* Pratt and McClain's "When My Ship Comes In" failed 2 reach the Hot 100, early '74.
* Monaco: "What Do You Want from Me?," #61 on the Airplay chart, Summer '97.
* Bette Midler: "You're Moving Out Today," #42, Spring '77.
* Creedence Clearwater Revival: "I Put a Spell On You," #58, Winter '68; "I Heard it Through the Grapevine" (edited), #43, Winter '76.
* Marshall Crenshaw's "Whenever You Are On My Mind" failed to reach the Hot 100, Summer '82.
* Buddy Miles: "Them Changes," #62, Summer '71.
* John Miles: "Highfly," #68, Spring '76.
* Mrs. Miller: "Downtown," #82, Spring '66. (A funny tone-deaf cover of Petula Clark's big hit....)
* Steve Miller: "Living in the USA," #94, Winter '68/#49, Spring '74.
* Frank Mills: "Love Me Love Me Love," #46, Winter '72. (Kinda creepy....)
* Beatles: "I'm Down," #101, Summer '65. (Hilarious B-side of "Help!")
* Monkees: "Porpoise Song," #62, Fall '68; "Listen to the Band," #63, Summer '69; "Goin' Down," #104, Winter '67; "As We Go Along," #106, Fall '68.
* Moody Blues: "Ride My See-Saw," #61, Fall '68; "Never Comes the Day," #91, Summer '69; "Blue World," #62, Winter '83.
* Motels: "Take the 'L'," #52, Fall '82.
* Records: "Starry Eyes," #56, Fall '79. "Teenarama" failed 2 reach the Hot 100 -- not really a suprise....
* Mouth & MacNeal: "Hey You Love," #87, Fall '72.
* Graham Nash & David Crosby: "Southbound Train," #99, Summer '72.
* Van Morrison: "Wavelength," #42, Fall '78; "Moondance," #92, Fall '77.
* National Lampoon: "Deteriorata," #91, Fall '72.
* New England: "Hello Hello Hello," #69, Fall '79.
* Randy Newman: "It's Money That Matters," #60, Winter '88; "I Love L.A." failed 2 reach the Hot 100.
* Nilsson: "Remember (Christmas)," #53, Winter '72.
* Nirvana: "All Apologies," #45 on Airplay chart, Winter '94; "You Know You're Right," #45, Fall 2002.
* O'Jays: "992 Arguments," #57, Winter '72.
* Alan Parsons Project: "Days are Numbers (The Traveler)," #71, Spring '85; "You Don't Believe," #54, Winter '83; "Psychobabble," #57, Winter '82; "The Raven," #80, Fall '76.
* Pretenders: "Stop Your Sobbing," #65, Summer '80.
* Prince: "Anotherloverholeinyohead," #63, Summer '86.
* Donald Fagen: "New Frontier," #70, Winter '83.
* Jose Feliciano: "Feliz Navidad," recorded 1970, #70 on Airplay chart, Winter '98.
* 13th Floor Elevators: "You're Gonna Miss Me," #55, Summer '66.
* Austin Roberts: "How Can I Tell You?," failed 2 reach the Hot 100, Spring '73.
* The Who: "The Kids Are Alright," #106, Summer '66.

One last bash....

OK, here's 1 last pile of intresting chart info, great forgotten singles & other cool stuff from Joel Whitburn & BILLBOARD's TOP POP SINGLES 1955-2002, after which we will B moving on 2 something new....

* Cheech & Chong's "Santa Claus and His Old Lady" peaked at #3 on the Christmas chart, Dec. 1971.
* Roy Orbison's "Ooby Dooby" peaked at #59, Summer 1956.
* Neil Young: "Rust Never Sleeps (Hey Hey My My/Into the Black)," #79, Fall '79; "Cinnamon Girl," #55, Summer '70.
* Jeff Lynne: "Lift Me Up" & "Every Little Thing" both failed to reach BILLBOARD's Hot 100 Singles chart, 1990.
* Beach Boys: "409," #76, Fall '62; "Add Some Music to Your Day," #64, Spring '70; "Long Promised Road," #89, Fall '71; "California Saga," #84, Summer '73.
* Sevral classic Beach Boys songs were released as the B-sides of singles: "She Knows Me Too Well" reached #101 as the B-side of "When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)." The gorgeous "Kiss Me Baby" was the B-side to "Help Me, Rhonda." "Let Him Run Wild" was the B-side to "California Girls." Their great remake of Phil Spector & The Ronettes' "There's No Other (Like My Baby)" was the B-side to "The Little Girl I Once Knew." "Girl Don't Tell Me" was the B-side to "Barbara Ann." "Here Today" was the B-side to "Darlin'." "Please Let Me Wonder" hit #52 as the B-side to "Do You Wanna Dance?"....
* Bare Naked Ladies: "Brian Wilson," #68, Winter '97.
* Abba: "Money Money Money," #56, Winter '77; "Voulez-Vous," #80, Fall '79; "Super Trouper," #45, Spring '81; "On and On and On," #90, Summer '81.
* AC/DC: "Highway to Hell," #47, Fall '79.
* Joe Cocker: "With a Little Help From My Friends," #68, Winter '68.
* Floyd Cramer's classic piano instrumental "Sweetie Baby" was the B-side to his 1960 #2 hit "Last Date"....
* Beatles: "I Should Have Known Better," #53, Summer '64; "If I Fell," #53, Summer '64; "I'm Happy Just to Dance With You," #95, Summer '64; "I Am the Walrus," #56, Winter '67.
* Big Country: "Fields of Fire," #52, Spring '84.
* Meredith Brooks: "What Would Happen?," #46, Spring '98.
* Jackson Browne: "Rock Me on the Water," #48, Summer '72; "The Pretender," #58, Summer '77.
* The Captain and Tennille: "Come in From the Rain," #61, Summer '77; "Lady Bug," the most amazing thing they ever did, failed to reach the Hot 100.
* Deep Purple: "Woman from Tokyo," #60, Fall '73; "Highway Star" failed to reach the Hot 100.
* Fleetwood Mac: "Fireflies," #60, Spring '81; "Sisters of the Moon," #86, Summer '80; "The Farmer's Daughter" failed to reach the Hot 100.
* Def Leppard: "Bringin' on the Heartbreak," #61, Summer '84.
* Carpenters: "Bless the Beasts and Children," #67, Winter '71.
* Mary-Chapin Carpenter, "Shut Up and Kiss Me," #90, Fall '94.
* Wynonna Judd: "Tell Me Why," #77, Summer '93; "No One Else On Earth," #83, Fall '92.
* Neil Diamond: "Solitary Man," #55, Summer '66; "Brooklyn Roads," #58, Summer '68; "Done Too Soon," #65, Summer '71.
* Dire Straits: "Lady Writer," #45, Summer '79; "Skateaway," #58, Winter '80; "Solid Rock," #56 on the Rock Tracks chart, Winter '80; "Industrial Disease," #75, Winter '83; "Romeo and Juliet" failed to reach the Hot 100....
* Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show: "Life Ain't Easy" b/w "The Wonderful Soup Stone," #68, Fall '73.
* Doobie Brothers: "Eyes of Silver," #52, Summer '74; "I Cheat the Hangman," #60, Winter '75.
* Doors: "Roadhouse Blues," #50, Spring '70.
* ELO: "Roll Over Beethoven," #42, Spring '73; "Showdown," #53, Winter '73/#59, Summer '76; "It's Over," #75, Fall '78;
* ELP: "Lucky Man," #48, Spring '71; "Nutrocker," #70, Spring '72.
* Greg Lake: "I Believe in Father Christmas," #95, Winter '75; "C'est La Vie," #91, Fall '77.
* Led Zep: "Rock and Roll," #47, Spring '72.
* Rod Stewart: "Twisting the Night Away," #59, Summer '73; "Oh! No, Not My Baby," #59, Fall '73.
* Roxy Music: "More Than This," #102, 1983.
* Travis Tritt: "T-R-O-U-B-L-E," #72, Summer '93.
* Joe Walsh: "Meadows," #89, Spring '74.
* Tammy Wynette: "D-I-V-O-R-C-E," #63, Summer '68; "Singing My Song," #75, Spring '69; "My Elusive Dreams" (with David Houston), #89, Summer '67.
* Dwight Yoakam: "Ain't That Lonely Yet," #58, Summer '93 -- b/w "A Thousand Miles From Nowhere," #2 on the Country & Western chart, Summer '93; "Fast as You," #70, Winter '93.
* Frank Zappa: "Dancin' Fool," #45, Spring '79.
* Zebra: "Who's Behind the Door?" #61, Summer '83.
* Saga: "The Flyer," #79, Winter '83; "Wind Him Up," #64, Spring '83.
* Sad Cafe: "Run Home Girl," #71, Winter '79.
* Guess Who: "Follow Your Daughter Home," #61, Spring '73.
* Arlo Guthrie: "Coming into Los Angeles," B-side to "Alice's Restaurant," Winter '69.
* Hagood Hardy: "The Homecoming," #41, Winter '75.
* Sophie B. Hawkins: "Right Beside You," #56, Fall '94.
* Outfield: "Everytime You Cry," #66, Fall '86.
* INXS: "Bitter Tears," #46, Spring '91; "Don't Change," #80, Summer '83; "This Time," #81, Winter '85.
* Roger Hodgson: "Had a Dream (Sleeping With the Enemy)," #48, Fall '84.
* Scandal: "Goodbye to You," #65, Winter '82; "Love's Got a Line on You," #59, Spring '83.
* Toad the Wet Sprocket: "Come Down," #51 on Album Tracks chart, Summer '97.
* Dave Edmunds: "Information" failed to reach the Hot 100, Summer '83.
* The Graces: "Lay Down Your Arms," #56, Summer '89.
* Glass Moon: "On a Carousel," #50, Spring '82.
* Sky: "Toccata," #83, Winter '81.
* Cheap Trick: "Surrender," #62, Summer '78.

What I'm on about....

Good Lord, where did you all go? Readership is WAY DOWN here at the Back-Up Plan, as of the past week or so. Did you all get swept away by the torrential downpours that have hit Western Washington over the past couple nites? Did you all get turned-off by those 100+ "classic rock" songs that I was hatin' on a coupla posts ago? Maybe you're tired of or just not that intrested in those Great Lost Singles I've been posting stats about 4 the past week?
Oh, wait: Maybe you all have Real Lives 2 tend 2? Maybe that's it....

As 4 the Great Lost Singles -- well, I wouldn't have posted those chart numbers if I didn't think the songs themselves were worth tracking down. At least SOME of them are. A few I just tossed in 4 the silliness of it. But it's not like I spent a whole lotta time Dscribing 2 many of them 4 you, so you may not know Xactly what you'd B getting in2, or what all I was on about.
Thing is, I've written about quite a few of those Great Lost Singles B4, even tho it may have bn a year or more back. I just figure if you've bn reading here 4 awhile you know what my obsessions R -- or you can use those post-label-tags over at the right 2 track down more.
& I do hate 2 repeat myself most of the time. But if you wanna know what I'm on about, here's a few Xamples:
* Kracker: "Because of You (The Sun Don't Set)," Winter 1973. Played 1/2adozen times on Seattle's KJR-AM, this rocker has a driving lead guitar, great group vocals, a catchy repeating keyboard riff, & a closing circular vocal chorus that descends in2 anarchy & the return of that driving gtr. This single never made BILLBOARD's Hot 100, & tho Kracker apparently cut 1 album 4 Rolling Stones Records in '73, the resta their career has bn a mystery. After lotsa looking, I now have a copy of their album with the single on the way 2 me, & we'll C if it passes the Great Lost Singles' Acid Test: Does the song sound as good in Reality as it did in my Memory?
* Billy Lee Riley: "I've Got a Thing About You, Baby," #93, early Winter 1972. A classic rocker from the '50s, 1nce signed 2 the legendary Sun label, Riley was previously knocked for sounding "too Black for Whites, and too White for Blacks." Whatever that means. This single, released on CBS's Entrance label, sounds like your nice rockabilly next-door neighbor sits down on your front porch & picks out a friendly little tune about The Love Of His Life on his acoustic guitar, smiling all the way thru. It's got a lotta soul & a nice little bounce, tho it mighta bn a little simple 4 '72....
* Brenda and the Tabulations: "One Girl Too Late." Classic "Girl Group"-style pop, could just as easily have bn recorded in 1965 as the early '70s. My memory sez I 1st heard this in Spring '72 -- on-line searches indicate it was released on Epic in Spring '73. Can still quote a verse or 2 & the chorus & would love 2 hear it again -- but I'm not quite ready 2 spend $30 on a 45-rpm single, no matter how rare it is....
* Junior Walker and the All-Stars: "Take Me Girl, I'm Ready." #51, Summer '71. Junior Walker played that squealing sax solo on Foreigner's "Urgent," the only part of that song worth hearing. Junior & the All-Stars also hadda string of mostly-instrumental hits on Motown's subsidiary Soul label; the biggest was "Shotgun," which hit #4 in 1965. This is 1 of the few on which Junior sings -- & it's classic up-tempo early-'70s R&B with killer singalong choruses. I don't remember any sax playing in it, but my memory could B failing me here -- haven't heard this since '71....
* Johnathan King: "A Tall Order for a Short Guy," Summer '72. King discovered Genesis & 10 c.c., was a columnist 4 British pop weeklies, recorded silly pop songs under a number of noms-du-disc, & even had a flower-power hit of his own with "Everyone's Gone to the Moon," #17, Fall '65. This song is more of a joke: A short guy talks about how his Intended is gonna B a big challenge 2 get close 2. Hilarious, silly lyrics, very upbeat, spectacularly innocent, & you can tell King is smiling & laffing all thru it. Again, probly a little 2 squeaky-clean 4 the sophisticated early '70s. Charming, tho....
* Tim Moore: "Second Avenue," #58, Fall '74. Very nice poetic broken-hearted lovesong, Art Garfunkel had a bigger hit with it later. I liked the singing & production, which still sounds better in my memory than it does in Reality. I found a copy of this a few years back & it was pleasant enuf, but not as melodramatic as I'd remembered, & it failed the Acid Test.
* Andy Pratt: "Pistol Packin' Melody," Fall '74. Can't find this 1, it's like it never Xisted. Pratt was a Piano Man (like a minor-league Elton John or Billy Joel) & most critics hated him, but this catchy, repetitive number with the great singalong choruses got a lotta airplay on Boise, Idaho's KFXD-AM in the Fall of '74. The lyrics R about how hard it is 2 write a catchy, memorable, unforgettable song -- Pratt did it, & it sank without a trace.
* The Road Home: "Keep it in the Family," Summer '71. I think they were on ABC/Dunhill. Great group vocals, & lyrics about love & family ties. I can still recite most of it, but the single never broke thru & there was never a follow-up.
* Heaven Bound: "Five Hundred Miles," #79, Winter '71. Gorgeous female group vocals on an old folk standard, produced (I think) by Wes Farrell, who hadda thing about group-vocal blends. Played 1/2adozen times on Tacoma, Wash.'s old KTAC-AM B4 it disappeared. Far as I know, there was never an album 2 follow it.

...These R just a few Xamples. My point is: If you can track it down, this stuff could Change Your Life. It certainly left its mark on me....

PS: The Launderettes' "Red River" -- which I've mentioned briefly here B4 -- is the 1st 45-rpm single I've bought in YEARS. It sounds great, tho mayB a little 2 retro 4 most current radio play. & I love the choruses. The group vocals are GREAT.
So, see there, I really DO buy stuff that's current. Even tho it sounds like it coulda come outta the '60s or '70s....

Mostly oddities and leftovers....

Thanx 4 putting-up with my ranting in the last post. Fri nite's music-during-work was WAY better. At 1 point, I had Five Man Electrical Band's "Signs" cranked-up LOUD & during an instrumental break I put-on my DJ voice & "announced" 2 1 of R nighttime Regulars:
"Takin' you back to the summer of 1971...."
& he nailed me with:
"I don't think you ever LEFT the summer of '71!"
So there you go. That'll probly B written on my tombstone....

...I think I've gotten about all the new & worthwhile info I can get outta Joel Whitburn & BILLBOARD's TOP POP SINGLES bible -- which means there'll probly B a couple more lists of trivia here & that'll B about it. 4 me, the book is well worth the $$$. I've learned a lot. There R still a few Great Lost Singles out there I can't track down, but Joel's helped me quite a bit with that, or at least confirmed 4 me that they actually Xist.
Here's another batch of I-thot-intresting chart info:

The Beatles' "There's a Place" peaked at #74 in Spring 1964. "All My Loving" peaked at #45 in Spring '64.
Bachman-Turner Overdrive's "Blue Collar" peaked at #68, Winter '73.
Albert Hammond: "Names, Tags, Numbers and Labels" failed 2 reach the Hot 100, Spring '74.
Junior Walker and the All-Stars: "Take Me Girl, I'm Ready," #50, Summer '71. (Great early-'70s R&B....)
The Who: "Love, Reign O'er Me," #76, Winter '73; "The Real Me," #92, Spring '74; "Long Live Rock," #54, Summer '79; "Eminence Front," #68, Winter '82.
Tim Moore: "Charmer," #91, Spring '75.
Rod Stewart: "Handbags and Gladrags," #42, Spring '72.
Blue Mink: "By the Devil I Was Tempted," failed 2 reach the Hot 100, Spring '73.
Boomtown Rats: "I Don't Like Mondays," #73, Spring '80.
David Bowie: "Changes," #66, Summer '72/#41, Winter '74. "TVC 15," #64, Summer '76. "Suffragette City" was released only as the B-side to "Starman," #65, Summer '72. (What were they THINKING?)
John Denver: "I'd Rather Be a Cowboy," #62, Summer '73; "Farewell Andromeda (Welcome to My Morning)," #89, Fall '73.
Cars: "It's All I Can Do," #41, Fall '79; "Since You're Gone," #41, Spring '82.
Al Stewart: "On the Border," #42, Spring '77.
Tower of Power: "Down to the Nightclub," #66, Fall '72.
Detroit Emeralds: "Feel the Need in Me," #110, Winter '72; #90, Summer '77. (Xcellent early-'70s soul....)
Ventures: "The 2,000-Pound Bee," #91, Winter '62.
Tracey Ullman: "Break-A-Way," #70, Summer '84. (Xcellent fake-"Girl-Group" pop....)
Ashton, Gardner & Dyke: "Resurrection Shuffle," #40, Summer '71.
Tom Jones: "Resurrection Shuffle," #38, Summer '71.
Bob Dylan: "On a Night Like This," #44, Spring '74.
The Band: "The Weight," #63, Fall '68.
Evie Sands: "You Brought the Woman Out of Me," #50, Spring '75.
Smokie: "If You Think You Know How to Love Me," #96, Summer '75.
Jefferson Airplane: "Crown of Creation," #64, Winter '68. "Volunteers," #65, Winter '69.
Tears for Fears: "Change," #73, Summer '83.
Kenny Loggins: "Conviction of the Heart," #65, Fall '91.
Firefall: "Livin' Ain't Livin'," #42, Summer '76.
Joan Armatrading: "Drop the Pilot," #78, Summer '83 (her only Hot 100 entry....)
Bananarama: "Robert DeNiro's Waiting," #95, Summer '84.
Black Sabbath: "Paranoid," #61, Winter '70; "Iron Man," #52, Spring '72.
Deodato: "Rhapsody in Blue," #41, Fall '73.
Manfred Mann's Earth Band: "You Angel You," #58, Summer '79. (Their version of Bruce Springsteen's "For You" failed 2 reach the Hot 100....)
Pete Townshend: "A Little is Enough" (edited), #72, Fall '80; "Rough Boys," #89, Winter '80.
U2: "I Will Follow" (live), #81, Winter '84; "New Year's Day," #53, Spring '83.
Spirit: "1984," #69, Spring '70; "Animal Zoo," #97, Fall '70; "Mr. Skin," #92, Fall '73.
Jimmy Barnes: "Working Class Man" (from the movie GUNG HO), #74, Spring '86.
Police: "Secret Journey," #46, Spring '82.
Wendy and Lisa: "The Closing of the Year (Main Theme from TOYS)," #53 on the Airplay chart, Winter '92. (Gorgeous choral vocals....)
Banana Splits: "The Tra La La Song," #96 (charted for 1 week), Winter '69.
Donna Summer: "State of Independence," #41, Fall '82.
Nik Kershaw: "Wouldn't it be Good?," #46, Spring '84.
Mary-Chapin Carpenter: "Passionate Kisses," #57, Spring '93.
Wall of Voodoo: "Mexican Radio," #58, Spring '83.
Indigo Girls: "Closer to Fine," #52, Summer '89.
Bare Naked Ladies: "It's All Been Done," #44, Winter '98.

More not-quite-so-lost singles

Still mining info outta Joel Whitburn's & BILLBOARD's TOP POP SINGLES 1955-2002 -- worth it if you're a chart fiend like me or just wonder what happened 2 some of those songs you heard on the radio back when you were 12 years old & haven't heard since....
Also intresting how many rock songs we've come 2 accept as "classics" that didn't really do that great sales-wise, officially. We all know they're classics, so that's what they became. I guess. 2 bad it doesn't work that way 4 all Good Stuff....
Anyway, here's another list, with some pretty-well-known stuff included, along with summa my Olde Faves & the usual oddities...

Freda Payne: "You Brought the Joy," #52, Fall 1971.
Peter, Paul & Mary: "A'Soalin'," #15 on the Christmas chart, Dec '63; "Settle Down," #56, Winter '63.
Plimsouls: "A Million Miles Away," #82, Summer '83; #11 on the Album Rock chart, Summer '82.
Poppy Family: "Where Evil Grows," #45, Summer '71.
Edgar Winter's White Trash: "Keep Playing That Rock 'N' Roll," #70, Winter '71.
Billy Preston: "That's the Way God Planned It," #65, Summer '72; #62, Summer '69.
Queen: "It's Late," #74, Summer '78; "Need Your Loving Tonight," #44, Winter '80; "The Show Must Go On," #40 on the Rock Tracks chart, Spring '92.
Pink Floyd: "Run Like Hell," #53, Summer '80; an edited version of "Comfortably Numb" failed to reach the Hot 100.
Ramones: "Sheena is a Punk Rocker," #81, Summer '77; "Rockaway Beach," #66, Winter '77; "Do You Wanna Dance?," #86, Spring '78.
Leon Redbone: "Seduced," #72, Spring '81.
Helen Reddy: "Crazy Love," #51, Summer '71.
Miss Abrams & the Strawberry Point School Third Grade Class: "Mill Valley," #90, Summer '70.
America: "Muskrat Love," #67, Summer '73 (The Captain & Tennille's inferior version made #4 in Fall '76); "Only in Your Heart," #62, Spring '73; "Woman Tonight," #44, Winter '75.
Buffalo Springfield: "Bluebird" b/w "Mr. Soul," #58, Summer '67; "Rock and Roll Woman," #44, Fall '67; "Expecting to Fly," #98, Winter '68; "On the Way Home," #82, Fall '68. "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing" failed to make the Hot 100, possibly because the lyric included the word "damn" (!).
Bulldog: "No," #44, Fall '72.
Kate Bush: "The Man With the Child in His Eyes," #85, Spring '79.
Byrds: "5D (Fifth Dimension)," #44, Summer '66; "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better," #103, Summer '65; "Ballad of Easy Rider," #97, Winter '70. "Chestnut Mare" failed to make the Hot 100.
Cream: "I Feel Free," #116, 1967; "Badge," #60, Spring '69.
Adam Ant: "Desperate But Not Serious," #66, Spring '83.
Billy Squier: "My Kinda Lover," #45, Winter '81.
Rush: "Closer to the Heart," #76, Winter '77.
James Gang: "Walk Away," #51, Summer '71.
Elton John: "Tiny Dancer," #41, Spring '72.
Journey: "Wheel in the Sky," #57, Spring '78; "Anytime," #83, Summer '78; "Lights," #68, Summer '78; "Just the Same Way," #58, Spring '79.
Kinks: "Victoria," #62, Winter '70; "Dead-End Street," #73, Winter '67.
REO Speedwagon: "Roll With the Changes," #58, Summer '78; "Time for Me to Fly," #56, Summer '78.
Triumph: "Magic Power," #51, Fall '81.
Bob Seger: "Rock and Roll Never Forgets," #41, Summer '77; "Katmandu," #43, Summer '75.
Rolling Stones: "Street Fighting Man," #48, Fall '68; "You Can't Always Get What You Want" (edited), #42, Spring '73.
Linda Ronstadt: "Someone to Lay Down Beside Me," #42, Winter '76.
Grateful Dead: "Uncle John's Band," #69, Summer '70.
Flying Lizards: "Money (That's What I Want)," #50, Winter '79.
Bob Dylan: "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat," #81, Summer '67. (& of course we know Dylan's brilliant "One of Us Must Know," also from BLONDE ON BLONDE, failed to make any known chart, one of the great injustices of the mid-'60s....)
Eric Clapton: "Let it Rain," #48, Fall '72; "Bell Bottom Blues," #91, Spring '71/#78, Spring '73; "Another Ticket," #78, Summer '81. "Let it Grow" failed to make the Hot 100 despite lots of airplay as the follow-up to "I Shot the Sheriff"....

...That's all 4 2nite. More of this likely coming soon....

Found: More Great Lost Singles

Joel Whitburn & BILLBOARD's TOP POP SINGLES 1955-2002 -- which I reviewed here a few days back -- is a treasure trove of proof that I didn't hallucinate 1/2 of what I heard on the radio 40 years ago while I was busy growing up. It just SEEMS that way sometimes.
As I look thru this huge book, songs I haven't thot about 4 YEARS just suddenly jump out at me -- like Simon Stokes' trippy "Captain Howdy," which I added 2 the end of that last list of overlooked greats this book has helped me rediscover. I hadn't heard THAT song in 37 years, & yet there it was suddenly staring me in the face. I can still sing the choruses 4 you, if you like....
Mainly what I like about this book is that it reaffirms 4 me that at least some of the off-the-wall songs I remember from my youth were getting played on the radio in OTHER parts of the country, 2. Maybe not for LONG, but some1 other than me heard them.
Now all we gotta do is figure out why the Great Listening Public didn't appropriately reward these musical geniuses....
Here's another list of off-the-wall stuff I've mined from Whitburn's work. I'll add merely that a lotta these would B worth yer trouble 2 track down....

Genesis: "You Own Special Way," #62, Spring 1977; "You Might Recall," Rock Tracks #40, Summer '82.
Lindsey Buckingham: "Holiday Road," #82, Summer '83.
Jethro Tull: "The Whistler," #59, Spring '77.
Kansas: "Reason to Be," #52, Fall '79.
Fleetwood Mac: "Oh Well (Part 1)," #55, Fall '70.
Allman Brothers Band: "Jessica," #65, Winter '74.
Aerosmith: "Dream On," #59, Fall '73.
Move: "Do Ya?," #93, Fall '72.
Eagles: "Outlaw Man," #59, Fall '73; "James Dean," #77, Fall '74.
Doobie Brothers: "Nobody," #58, Winter '74.
John Fogerty: "Almost Saturday Night," #78, Winter '75.
Four Preps: "The Big Draft (Military Medley)," #61, Spring '62.
Four Tops: "Simple Game," #90, Spring '72.
King Crimson: "In the Court of the Crimson King (Part 1)," #80, Winter '70.
Norman Greenbaum: "California Earthquake," #93, Summer '71.
Roxy Music: "Dance Away," #44, Spring '79; "Over You," #80, Fall '80.
Dave Edmunds: "Girls Talk," #65, Fall '79.
Tim Moore: "Second Avenue," #58, Fall '74.
Van Morrison: "Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile)," #61, Fall '72.
Bill Withers: "Grandma's Hands," #42, Fall '71.
Raiders: "Powder Blue Mercedes Queen," #54, Summer '72.
Danyel Gerard: "Butterfly," #78, Summer '72.
Turtles: "Grim Reaper of Love," #81, Summer '66; "Sound Asleep," #57, Spring '68; "Lady-O," #78, Winter '69.
Lindisfarne: "Lady Eleanor," #82, Fall '72.
Shoes: "Too Late," #75, Winter '79.
Slade: "Mama Weer All Crazee Now," #76, Winter '72.
Patti Smith Group: "Frederick," #90, Summer '79.
Boz Scaggs: "Dinah Flo," #86, Fall '72.
Joni Mitchell: "Raised on Robbery," #65, Winter '73.
Records: "Starry Eyes," #56, Fall '79.
Sweet: "Co-Co," #99, Fall '71.
Tarney/Spencer Band: "No Time to Lose," #84, Spring '79; #74, Fall '81.
Ray Stevens: "Bridget the Midget," #50, Winter '70.
Sugar Bears: "You Are the One," #57, Spring '72.
Michael Bolton (!): "Fools Game," #82, Spring '83. (It's actually good....)
Nigel Olsson: "Only One Woman," #91, Spring '75.
Royal Guardsmen: "Snoopy's Christmas," #1 on the Christmas chart, Dec '67.
Flash Cadillac and the Continental Kids: "Dancin' on a Saturday Night," #93, Summer '74.
NRBQ: "Get That Gasoline Blues," #70, Spring '74. (Still timely ... & hilarious!)
Steve Winwood: "Still in the Game," #47, Summer '82; "Valerie," #70, Winter '82.
Hues Corporation: "Freedom for the Stallion," #63, Summer '73.
Robert John: "Lonely Eyes," #41, Winter '79.
Casey Kelly: "Poor Boy," #52, Fall '72.
It's a Beautiful Day: "White Bird," #118, 1969.
Gordon Lightfoot: "Summer Side of Life," #98, Fall '71; "Beautiful," #58, Spring '72.
Vicki Lawrence: "He Did With Me," #75, Summer '73. (Her underplayed follow-up 2 the hideous "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia," which seemingly will NEVER die....)
John Lennon: "Happy Xmas (War is Over)," #3 on the Christmas chart, Dec '71.

Not reaching the Hot 100 or "bubbling under" the top 100 singles were: Fleetwood Mac's "The Green Manalishi," "Hypnotized," "Why?" & "Dissatisfied;" Kiki Dee's "Amoureuse;" Gordon Lightfoot's "Don Quixote;" Guess Who's "Road Food;" Loggins & Messina's "Angry Eyes" (the best thing they ever did, used as the B-side 2 a coupla minor L&M hits)....

...There will likely B at least 1 more of these lists coming.... In the meantime, go track some of these songs down. They're good 4 what ails ya. Some of them are, at least....

....& I'd love 2 hear from anyone who remembers any of these songs, or any of the other off-the-wall songs or acts I sometimes write about. It's been awhile since anyone Out There has commented, & I could use the feedback.
I know you're reading a lot here, you folks from Thailand & Russia & England & Germany & Denmark & Canada & Colombia. & who's that person from Ireland who's been reading so much stuff? You guys can come out of the woodwork at any time. I don't bite ... too much ....

Joel Whitburn answers MOST of my questions....

After that attack of chartmania I had a month ago, I took the plunge & grabbed a cheap copy of Joel Whitburn & BILLBOARD's TOP POP SINGLES 1955-2002 -- mostly cos I wanted 2 track down more info on songs I heard while I was growing up & haven't heard since. I wanted 2 know if I hallucinated them, or if they really did briefly Xsist.
Whitburn & his team of record researchers answered most of the questions my 13-year-old self had, tho there R still a few mysteries I'll probly never know the answer 2.... I already knew Whitburn & his folks were reliable with their chart data -- an old marked-up copy of their mid-'80s TOP 40 HITS book is propping up this laptop right now.
As 4 TOP POP SINGLES -- well, it's massive. 1,000 pgs. It weighs 3 pounds. It hurts 2 hold up. But there's a lotta good stuff in it if you're an old charts/nostalgia fiend like me.
I was mainly intrested in stuff that DIDN'T make the Top 40 -- some of those old shoulda-been-hits that I wrote-up as "Great Lost Singles" awhile back. & I found most of them. But not all. & I've found lots more intresting stuff in the few days I've had 2 look over this massive book that I could easily get lost in 4 weeks.
Here's a few dozen Xamples -- I can vouch 4 the fact that most of the list below is Worth Tracking Down. Some of them I even did my part 4 the economy by BUYING back in the day....

* The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's "Some Of Shelley's Blues" peaked at #64 in Fall 1971. Their great stomping version of Kenny Loggins's "House at Pooh Corner" reached #53 in Spring '71.
* Billy Lee Riley's "I Got a Thing About You Baby" peaked at #93 in Winter '72.
* 10 c.c.'s "Rubber Bullets" hit #73 in Fall '73.
* The Hollies' "Magic Woman Touch," #60, Spring '73; "Sandy (4th of July, Asbury Park)," #85, Spring '75.
* Billy Joel's "Travelin' Prayer," #77,  Fall '74.
* Paul Revere & the Raiders' "Do Unto Others" "bubbled under" at #102 in Winter of '67; "Song Seller," #96, Fall '72; "Country Wine," #51, Winter '72.
* El Chicano's "Brown-Eyed Girl," #45, Summer '72.
* Chris Hodge's "We're On Our Way," #44, Summer '72.
* John Kongos's "He's Gonna Step On You Again," #70, Summer '71.
* Steely Dan's "My Old School," #63, Winter '73; "Pretzel Logic," #57, Fall '74.
* Manfred Mann's Earth Band: "Living Without You," #69, Spring '72.
* Todd Rundgren: "Couldn't I Just Tell You?" #93, Summer '72; "Real Man," #83, Spring '75; "A Dream Goes On Forever," #69, Spring '74; Rundgren & Utopia's "The Very Last Time," #76, Summer '80.
* Carolyne Mas: "Stillsane," #71, Fall '79. Her equally great "Sadie Says" didn't make the Hot 100.
* The Left Banke: "Desiree," #98, Fall '67.
* Ike & Tina Turner: "River Deep, Mountain High," #88, Summer '66.
* Lighthouse: "Pretty Lady," #53, Winter '73.
* Kinks: "Apeman," #45, Winter '71.
* Nazareth's hilarious "Holiday," #87, Spring '80.
* Zep's "Over the Hills and Far Away," #51, Summer '73.
* Albert Hammond's "Free Electric Band," #48, Spring '73.
* Spirit's "Nature's Way," #111, Fall '73.
* Love's "Alone Again Or," #99, Fall '70.
* The Headboys' "The Shape of Things to Come," #67, Winter '79.
* Uriah Heep's "Stealin'," #91, Fall '73.
* Raspberries' "Tonight," #69, Fall '73. "Ecstacy" didn't make the Top 100.
* Sutherland Brothers & Quiver's "You Got Me Anyway," #48, Fall '73; "Arms of Mary," #81, Spring '76.
* The Rip Chords' great acapella "Here I Stand," #51, Spring '63; "Gone," #88, Summer '63.
* Heaven Bound's gorgeous "Five Hundred Miles," #79, Winter '71.
* Gladstone's "A Piece of Paper," #45, Summer '72.
* Cozy Powell's "Dance With the Devil," #49, Spring '74.
* Modern English's "I Melt With You," #78, Spring '83.
* Giorgio Moroder's cute & catchy "Son of My Father," #46, Spring '72.
* The Pop Tops' "Mammy Blue," #57, Fall '71.
* Los Bravos' "Bring a Little Lovin'," #51, Summer '68.
* Simon Stokes: "Captain Howdy," #90, Summer '74.

* Not reaching the Hot 100 & not mentioned as "bubbling under" are: Johnathan King's "A Tall Order for a Short Guy;" 10 c.c.'s "Wall Street Shuffle;" Poco's "Here We Go Again" & "A Good Feeling to Know;" Andy Pratt's "Pistol Packin' Melody;" Kracker's "Because of You (The Sun Don't Set);" ELP's "Still ... You Turn Me On;" Stories' "Love is in Motion;" Nicolette Larson's "Radioland;" Rickie Lee Jones' "We Belong Together;" Rare Bird's "Birdman, Part 2;" The Road Home's "Keep it in the Family;" Austin Roberts' "One Word;" Mal's singalong "Mighty Mighty and Roly Poly;" Matthew Fisher's "Interlude;" The Wackers' "I Hardly Know Her Name;" Brenda & the Tabulations' "One Girl Too Late"....

...I could go on. Actually, I did, but this list is 2 long already & I'm probly 4getting a few dozen things. A couple Xtra items:
    
* Nektar's "Astral Man" actually reached #91 on BILLBOARD's Hot 100 Singles chart in Summer '75. I woulda chose "Fidgety Queen" as a single myself, but still....
*...& just 2 show how outta touch I am: Mariah Carey has more than 15 #1 hits ... & I can recognize Xactly 1 of them: "I'll Be There" -- mainly Bcos it sounds almost Xactly like the Jackson 5's original.... The rest of her career is a mystery 2 me....

...Now then. About most of the above list: Look at all that musical genius that went unrewarded. What were people THINKING...?

Return of the Great Lost Singles!

I thot I was done w/ these, but apparently they Rn't done w/ me yet. Bsides, some quick research shows me there R quite a few items I've missed that have bn shamefully overlooked. (Further research shows me that sevral items I had onna list 2 B used in this post have already bn written-up at my old site, so I won't bore U with them here.) Summa this stuff may also have bn touched-on in reviews of the albums they Nded up on, but I'll try not 2 B 2 redundant. Now, on w/ the show!
* Renaissance: "Northern Lights" (1978) -- Probly 1 of the sweetest, folkiest things they ever did, under 4 mins, w/ great hooky choruses & lotsa group vocal harmonies. Made the Top 10 in Britain at the height of punk -- bet the Brits were shocked! Sire issued it as a single in America where it sank w/o a trace -- probly 2 square & sweet 2 ever get played here.
* The Turtles: "We'll Meet Again" (1969?) -- The B-side of some later Turtles single, this mournful '40s-era # (Vera Lynn's original runs at the Nd of the paranoid '60s atomic-war flick DR. STRANGELOVE) is here trans4med by Flo & Eddie & the boys in2 a bouncy, joyous farewell. They've sure got no regrets, & U'll B singing along w/ it after the 1st chorus. Shoulda bn a HUGE hit. (& their version of Judee Sill's "Lady-O" is a freakin 4got10 classic 2....)
* Yes: "Wonderous Stories" (1977) -- 1 of the best trax off GOING FOR THE ONE, & a radio-friendly 3 mins 2 boot, like every Yes single Btween "Roundabout" & "Owner of a Lonely Heart," it sank w/o a trace. (Xamples: The brutal 4-min edit of the original 10-min "America"; "Into the Lens (I Am a Camera)"; they even released part of "Gates of Delirium" as a single....) An accessible bit of Yes's softer, more lyrical side w/ nice keybs & gtr & Xcellent vocal harmonies, I thot this was enuf like "Your Move" 2 actually get some airplay. & I was wrong. Did better in England, I've read.... (& from earlier in their career, "Looking Around" & "Sweet Dreams" were both Great Lost Singles. Even "Time and a Word"....)
* Pretenders: "Kid" (1979), *"Message of Love" (1981), *"Talk of the Town" (1981) -- Always loved these guys. "Kid" was the track that pulled me in2 their 1st album (WAY more compelling than "Brass in Pocket"), w/ Chrissie Hynde's heartbroken vocals & James Honeyman-Scott's great retro-'60s guitar. "Message of Love" had the driving gtr & Hynde's strong vocals, & the lyrics were no slouch either -- mayB the high point Xcept 4 the opening gtr riff was that soaring-thru-the-clouds Nding w/ Chrissie repeating "Talk to me Darlin...." "Talk of the Town" was a gorgeous bittersweet lovesong, brutally cut short on PRETENDERS II.
* Carolyne Mas: "Stillsane," *"Sadie Says" (both 1980) -- Marketed as sorta a female Bruce Springsteen, Mas had some talent, & these 2 punchy trax led-off her 1st album, copies of which I haven't Cn in YRS....
* Shoes: "Too Late"/"Now and Then" (1980) -- Gorgeous breathy lovesongs w/ strong gtr from their album PRESENT TENSE (which has at least 3 other classics on it: "In My Arms Again," "Every Girl," "Tomorrow Night"). Elektra couldn't give copies of the album away, the single got zero airplay, & when MTV FINALLY started playing videos of these guys a yr later, by then their albums had probly bn melted-down 2 make Cars records....
* The Records: "Teenarama," *"Starry Eyes" (both 1979) -- 1nce had the picture-sleeves these singles came in, but foolishly traded them away when I bot their 1st album. "Teenarama" is hilarious & catchy but ... the subject would B considered a bit risky these days: Hanging around w/ an underage girl 4 a week, 2 Xperience "all that melodrama," the rotten sugar-filled diet ("You're so skinny, you're so sweet"), etc. Right. Tell that 2 yr probation officer, boys. Speaking of legalities, "Starry Eyes" is another sweet, catchy # about mgmt/career legal woes, & the boys make it sound more fun than I'll bet it was 2 Xperience. Very nice gtr work here. Will Birch & John Wicks were pretty great songwriters.
* Public Image Ltd.: "Rise" (1986?) -- Well, I liked it. After "God Save the Queen," the best thing Johnny Rotten/Lydon ever did, I think, but I'm sure no Xpert. Here surrounded by studio pros, Lydon's anger Cms 2 kinda make sense.
* Spider: "Shady Lady" (1980), "New Romance (It's a Mystery)" (#39/80) -- Peter Coleman's punchy production helps add Xcitement, keyboardist/main songwriter Holly Knight knew her hooks even then, & Amanda Blue's vocal whoops were kinda cool. "New Romance" got some airplay 4 a few wks. The marvelous "Shady Lady" was the B-side of a stiffed single that was 2 boring & normal 2 get much airplay. I liked these guys & thot they hadda future. But no. Holly Knight grew up 2 B a "song doctor."
* New England: "Don't Ever Wanna Lose 'Ya," *"Hello Hello Hello" (both 1979) -- LOTSA keyboards, lotsa gtr, singer/songwriter/gtrist John Fannon's kinda thin voice, & Paul Stanley's punchy production -- another band I thot hadda shot. "Don't Ever Wanna Lose 'Ya" is pure melodrama, nearly 5 mins worth. "Hello" is a cool album-opener that lays-out their tricks. They released 3 albums but had no hits....
* Justin Hayward & John Lodge: "When You Wake Up" (1975) -- The B-side of their overrated & 4gettable "Blue Guitar" single, this # closed their BLUE JAYS album & Dserved 2: a gorgeous, chiming anthem the whole world could sing along w/ & sway back&4th in time 2....
* Jethro Tull: "The Whistler" (1977) -- 1st heard this in 1 of my fave pizza hangouts in the summer of '77; great gtr, snappy choruses, great hooks. Why wasn't this a hit? It was sure WAY better than "Bungle in the Jungle"....
* Stories: "Love is in Motion" (1974) -- Probly the sweetest song on their Xcellent ABOUT US album, got LOTSA airplay on Boise, Idaho's KFXD-AM 580, but somehow couldn't break thru like their previous hit "Brother Louie" did. Why not? Could it have bn Ian Lloyd's voice? I think it's pretty cool, the harmonies R gorgeous, & Michael Brown's keyboards R perfect. But....
* Pete Townshend: "Slit Skirts" (1982) -- A Pete Classic. Wasn't a hit Bcos avg radio audiences back then didn't care about some guy's mid-life crisis? 2 bad. Note: The video version features killer gtr that isn't in the version on his CHINESE EYES album....
+ Kansas: "Reason to Be" (1980) -- Kansas meets Styx, sorta, & U can still stand 2 listen 2 it. Buried at the Nd of their album MONOLITH, this got almost no airplay, & yet it's almost a perfect, simple miniature, sorta low-key & modest. Course, I liked them a lotta the time.... This isn't even on their best-of's.... (I'm also a sucker 4 "Back Door," another low-key # buried at the Nd of Kansas's AUDIO VISIONS album....)
* ELO: "Twilight" & *"The Way Life's Meant to Be" (both 1980), +"Confusion" (1979) -- "Twilight" is the ear-opener that led-off TIME -- I thot it was the best ELO single in 2 yrs, & it peaked at #40. "The Way Life's Meant to Be" is an almost-perfect Jeff Lynne ballad, which failed 2 make NE known chart. "Confusion" is ELO's more-usual messing-about from this period, but I've always hadda soft spot 4 it.
* The Move: "Tonite" (1972) -- Speaking of which.... I think this is some of Roy Wood's best work, w/ great fun vocals & a hilarious chorus ("I'll be over tonite/If you say you might...."). Made the Top 20 in England....
* Alan Parsons Project: "The Gold Bug" (1980) -- The B-side of "Time," this is worth it just 4 the sax, which is likely played by 4mer King Crimson & Camel member Mel Collins. There's also some nice keyboards. The only version of this I've got is on THE INSTRUMENTAL WORKS, which oddly does not include musician's credits....
* Kenny Loggins: "Conviction of the Heart" (1991) -- I was a sucker 4 a few of his singles ("Don't Fight It," "Welcome to Heartlight," "I'm Alright"), but this is amazing. It's hard not 2 agree w/ the sentiments Xpressed, & tho the steadily-building arrangement & the choir might Cm a little obvious, this packs a real punch. But then I love my musical drama....
* Steve Winwood: "Still in the Game" (1983) -- Gorgeous song about taking chances, w/ help on the choruses from Steve's then-wife -- her vocal support really makes this song work, I think. She's not credited on the album.
* Gordon Lightfoot: "Summer Side of Life," "Ten Degrees and Getting Colder" (both 1971) -- Have I mentioned that I love this guy? Could also add "Seven Islands Suite," "Beautiful," "The Circle is Small," "High and Dry," "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" & a few others. "Summer Side of Life" Cms 2 B about the importance of love getting U thru tough times. "Ten Degrees" is a sentimental folksong that is almost perfect in its brevity & has 2 lines that Always Get Me: "I don't remember when/I had a better friend."
Until I find some more....

Cleaning Out My Closet....

This is probly gonna B more like a dumping ground. A coupla mo's back I made this huge list of 4got10 & overlooked singles I wanted 2 write about (after I ran outta stuff rattling around inside my head, AMAZING what Research can do), & after looking at it recently & doing some other research on-line, I'm afraid I haven't got much that's 2 Shocking or Suprising left. But there IS a lotta stuff left on this list, so this'll B an effort 2 get it all down. & away we go....
* Cream: "Badge" ('69) -- An album-rock classic, but really, Xcept 4 "Layla," did Eric Clapton ever play another guitar figure as gorgeous as the 1 that opens up the middle of this song? I've read the lyrics (by Clapton & George Harrison) Bing Dscribed as "nonsense," but I think they fit perfectly w/ the dramatic & jagged music, & the singing's great. Why couldn't something this great break the Top 40? It did in England....
* Fleetwood Mac: "The Farmer's Daughter" ('81), *"Monday Morning (live)" ('81) -- Both from the Mac's 1st 2-disc LIVE album, released back-2-back on a single. "Farmer's Daughter" is a brief, gorgeous breathy remake of an old Beach Boys #, & was the best thing on the Ntire 2-disc set. "Monday Morning" led-off the album, & beats the studio original 2 death.
* The Who: "Relay" (#39, '73), +"Call Me Lightning" (#40, '68), +"Let's See Action" ('70), *"The Kids Are Alright" ('65), +"Disguises" ('66), +"Dogs" ('67), +"I'm the Face" ('65) -- Jeez, these guys shoulda made the Top 10 about a dozen times. & they didn't. "Relay" is a leftover from Pete Townshend's LIFEHOUSE project, spooky & driving, w/ an Xcellent Roger Daltrey vocal. "Call Me Lightning" is infectious silliness w/ a great chorus. "Let's See Action" is the best of the 'Oo's immediate-post-TOMMY singles (circa '69-'70), w/ great choruses & a nice build. "Kids Are Alright" is my fave early Who single, almost gentle, wistful; no suprise they didn't do much stuff like this. "Disguises" has great gtr (of course) & more of that sneering Daltrey vocal like he used on "I Can See for Miles." "Dogs" is more British silliness, charming but of course it ain't rock&roll.... "I'm the Face" was their 1st single ever & has hilarious mock-macho posing. All these R on their 4-CD best-of box, THIRTY YEARS OF MAXIMUM R&B.
* Buffalo Springfield: "On My Way Home" ('68), *Bluebird ('67), *Mr. Soul ('67), +Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing ('66) -- I've raved about the Springfields B4, & U can get all these songs on NE Dcent best-of collection. Thin period production hurts summa these songs, but they're great nevertheless -- all Xcept "Bluebird" were written by Neil Young. "On My Way Home" has an Xcellent Richie Furay lead-vocal & nice horn fanfares 2 highlite Neil's kiss-off 2 the resta the band; produced by Jim Messina in the band's final days when they were no longer speaking-2 each other. Stephen Stills' "Bluebird" has great stinging gtr & cryptic lyrics; the single edit's great if 2 short, longer versions bore me. Speaking of cryptic, "Mr. Soul" is mayB Neil's 1st grappling w/ his own weirdness; it includes more great gtr. "Clancy" is the single BS released B4 "For What It's Worth" -- it was banned from airplay 4 use of the word "damn." Furay's vocal is again Xcellent, the lyrics R twisted, & Dspite the thin production it gains some real in10sity at the Nd. & I wonder if the whole thing's an impotence metaphor; that's just the way my mind works....
* Procol Harum: "Shine On Brightly" ('68) -- Right up there w/ "Wreck of the Hesperus," "Whiter Shade of Pale," "A Salty Dog" & the last 1/2 of the live "In Held T'was in I" among their very best. Just a poetic Dscription of what a crazy guy thinks about, w/ great Robin Trower gtr!
* Byrds: "Chestnut Mare" ('70) -- Country-rock epic, great vocals by Roger McGuinn, beautiful choruses, everything clear & precise as an Ansel Adams photo. Byrds fans probly loved it, but 5+ mins of this was probly 2 much 4 radio back then.
* Genesis: "Afterglow" ('76), *"Your Own Special Way" ('76) -- From my favrite period 4 these guys, after Peter Gabriel but B4 superstardom -- they did a lotta beautiful mushy stuff in this period. Keyboardist Tony Banks' "Afterglow" is almost perfect, w/ Xcellent choruses & building 2 some real drama at the Nd. Bassist Mike Rutherford's "Your Own Special Way" is lighter & takes awhile 2 get where it's going, but the choruses R BEAUTIFUL. But again, 6 mins of this (& it don't move 2 fast) was probly 2 much 4 disco-era radio....
* Chicago: "In Terms of Two" ('73), +"Critic's Choice" ('73) -- From CHICAGO VI. Bassist Peter Cetera's "In Terms of Two" is a nice bouncy sorta-country-rock # that takes off from "Oh Susannah" & turns in2 a sorta railroad-workers' folksong, I guess. Got lotsa radio airplay, shoulda bn a hit. Pianist Robert Lamm's "Critic's Choice" led-off the album & is DEFinitely a response 2 critics who slagged the band back in the day -- Lamm's singing is the perfect mix of sincerity & weariness 4 the song, & the lyrics R clever & funny but shouldn't B taken seriously, especially when the song fades-out in2 the lame Top 5 hit "Just You 'N Me."
* John Denver: "I Think I'd Rather Be a Cowboy" ('73), *"Farewell Andromeda (Welcome to My Morning)" ('73) -- Why R U laffing? "Cowboy" almost ROCKS, w/ great LOUD gtrs & a pissed-off mood from ol' Goodtime John, but as the B-side of "Sunshine on My Shoulders" it got almost no radio airplay.... "Andromeda" is a lot more like usual, as JD continues the Xploration of the cosmos he started w/ his earlier hit "Rocky Mountain High." That should B all U needta know....
* John Stewart: "Midnight Wind" (#28, '79) -- Best thing he ever sang, a dark & haunted love song disguised as breezy SoCal pop. & if this does NEthing 4 U, U should check-out the very dark Side 2 of his album DREAM BABIES GO HOLLYWOOD....
+ Ronnie Dyson: "One Man Band" (#28, '73) -- Just a nice modest little # about the comforts of self-sufficiency, w/ great choruses.
+ Chi Coltrane: "Thunder and Lightning" (#17, '72) -- Haven't heard this in yrs, but Ms. Coltrane got pretty wild on the vocals as I remember. OK piano 2. Her only hit.
+ Starz: "Cherry Baby" (#33, '77) -- Rep as a minor-league Kiss, I thot their only hit was kinda cool, power-poppy w/ nice choruses....
+ Tubes: "Love's A Mystery (I Don't Understand)" ('79) -- Big ballad, heavy dramatic production by Todd Rundgren. This is like a blueprint 4 their later ballad hit "I Don't Want to Wait Anymore" (#35, '81). From the underrated TV-obsession concept-album REMOTE CONTROL, which also features 4got10 classics like "I Want it All Now" & "Prime Time."
+ Alice Cooper: "Teenage Lament '74" ('74) -- Well, I liked it. MayB not a classic on the level of "No More Mr. Nice Guy" (#25, '73) or "Elected" (#26, '72), but well above Alice's later hits like "You and Me" & "How You Gonna See Me Now."
+ Henry Gross: "Come On and Say It" ('75) -- The prequel 2 Gross's 1976 No. 6 hit "Shannon." Very pleasant, sunny & bouncy, w/ Xcellent choruses. Haven't heard it in 35 yrs. Got lotsa airplay on Boise, Idaho's then-fairly-adventurous all-automated KBBK-FM.
+ Atlanta Rhythm Section: "Doraville" (#35, '74) -- Just some laid-back Southern boys singin about their hometown, a suburb of Atlanta. Nice gtrs & pretty good vocals....
= Korgis: "Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime" (#18, '80) -- About my only success as Singles Maven back in my Record Store Daze was helping get local radio 2 play this repetitive, synthesizer-wash early-'80s-style breathy love ballad. Coupla guys from eccentric English group Stackridge teamed-up 2 record this. Has NEbody out there ever HEARD Stackridge?
+ Icehouse: "Big Southern Land" & "Icehouse," "We Can Be Together," "Can't Help Myself" (all '80) -- Icehouse was an Australian new-wave band led by singer-songwriter Iva Davies, who sounded like a more-human David Bowie w/ more rhythm. The last 3 songs listed here (all on the band's 1st album) have a distant almost-icyness 2 them, but Davies got warmer as he went: "Big Southern Land" is sorta an epic, & he & the band made the Top 15 w/ "Electric Blue" & "Crazy."
* Gary Numan: "Are Friends Electric?" ('79), +"I Die You Die" ('80) -- Well, if U could handle Icehouse, Gary Numan'd B no problem. "Friends" was Numan's 1st single & topped the charts in Britain; it's sorta an icy Krautrock synth-epic w/ Bowie-esque vocals but some real in10sity. "I Die You Die" continues the drama w/o as many hooks.
= Rupert Holmes: "Nearsighted" ('79) -- From the guy who (Ghod help us) gave us "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)." THIS is an AMAZING Barry Manilow impersonation, that somehow sounds XACTLY like Manilow -- w/o getting all gloppy. Bet Barry wishes he'd written it....
= Cat Stevens: "Two Fine People" (#33, '75) -- Probly the very last of Yusef Islam's really pleasant pop hits, w/ his characteristic lite touch, Xcellent choruses & a nice catchy Nding.
= Smokie: "If You Think You Know How to Love Me" ('75) -- Mushy British pop w/ memrable choruses, heavy on the group vocals that I'm a sucker 4.
= Evie Sands: "You Brought the Woman Out of Me" ('76?) -- Haven't heard this in YRS, might strike me now as Mbarrassing. Among the ranks of Fanny's "Charity Ball" & Kiki Dee's "Amoureuse" as Bing just a little 2 sensual 4 its time....
= Beginning of the End: "Funky Nassau" (#15, '71) -- Great horns & a Dclaring vocal highlite this not-quite-reggae #.
= Bulldog: "No" ('71) -- 4mer members of the Rascals teamed-up 4 this silly pop not-quite-hit. The sleazy hippie lines & falsetto vocals were probly just a little 2 much, tho it's catchy.

Previous Great Lost Singles....

Here's a shockingly long list of previously-reviewed Great Lost Singles, reviews of which U can still find over at my other blog, at http://www.tadsweirdassmusicandbooks.co.cc/, where U'll find them broken down in2 batches of 15 2 20 singles per post. Feel free 2 skim thru this stuff & let me know how I reminded U of some song U haven't heard since 1972 -- I'd love 2 hear from U. (& BTW, I promise 2 cut all this list stuff & just relax & WRITE something soon, but I'm still trying 2 get all my basics down here in my new home, don't ya know....)
* Addrisi Bros. -- We've Got to Get it on Again (#25, '72)
* Alive & Kicking -- Tighter Tighter (#7, '70)
* Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass -- Monday Monday ('68), +A Beautiful Friend ('68)
+ America -- Sandman ('72)
+ Adam Ant -- Goody Two Shoes (#12, '82), +Antmusic ('80), =Stand and Deliver ('82)
+ Apollo 100 -- Exercise in A Minor ('72)
+ April Wine -- You Could Have Been a Lady (#32, '72)
+ Assembled Multitude -- Overture from "Tommy" (#16, '70)
+ Bachman-Turner Overdrive -- Blue Collar ('73), +Tramp ('74)
+ George Baker Selection -- Little Green Bag (#21, '70)
* Bay City Rollers -- Rock and Roll Love Letter (#28, '76)
+ Blue Mink -- By the Devil I Was Tempted ('73), +Randy ('72?)
+ Blue Ridge Rangers (John Fogerty) -- Hearts of Stone (#37, '73)
* Boston -- Used to Bad News ('78)
* Lindsey Buckingham & Stevie Nicks -- Without a Leg to Stand On ('73), *Crying in the Night ('73/'78)
* Bullet -- White Lies Blue Eyes (#28, '71)
+ Brenda & the Tabulations -- One Girl Too Late ('72)
* Brewer & Shipley -- Witchi-Tai-To ('69)
+ Bubble Puppy -- Hot Smoke and Sassafrass (#14, '69)
= Buchanan Bros -- Medicine Man (#22, '69)
* Eric Burdon -- Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood/Nina's School ('74)
+ Cashman & West -- American City Suite (#27, '72)
* Cheap Trick -- Surrender ('78)
* Cheech & Chong -- Santa Claus and His Old Lady ('71)
* Chicago -- Questions 67 & 68 (#24, '71)
* The Church -- Under the Milky Way (#24, '88), *Reptile ('88)
* Eric Clapton -- Let it Rain (#48, '72), *Let it Grow ('74), *Bell Bottom Blues ('71), +Another Ticket ('81)
+ Climax -- Life and Breath ('72)
* Clique -- Superman ('69), +Sugar on Sunday (#22, '69)
* Clout -- Substitute ('78)
* Crabby Appleton -- Go Back (#36, '70)
* Crack the Sky -- Lighten Up McGraw (live) ('78)
* Cross Country -- In the Midnight Hour (#30, '73)
+ Cymarron -- Rings (#17, '71)
+ Chris DeBurgh -- Don't Pay the Ferryman (#34, '83)
* Kiki Dee -- Amoureuse ('74)
* Neil Diamond -- Walk on Water (#17, '72), *Soolaimon (#30, '70), *Shilo (#24, '70), *Solitary Man (#21, '70)
* Dion -- Daddy Rollin' (In Your Arms) ('68)
= Donovan -- Life Goes On ('73)
* Doobie Bros. -- Nobody ('71/'74)
* Dramatics -- Whatcha See is Whatcha Get (#9, '71)
* Bob Dylan -- One of Us Must Know ('66)
* Eagles -- Outlaw Man (#59, '73), *James Dean ('74), *Seven Bridges Road ('80)
* Easybeats -- Friday on My Mind (#16, '67)
* Edward Bear -- Close Your Eyes (#37, '73)
* Dave Edmunds -- Creature from the Black Lagoon ('79), *Information ('83), +Slipping Away (#39, '83)
* El Chicano -- Brown Eyed Girl ('72)
* English Congregation -- Softly Whispering I Love You (#29, '72)
* Fanny -- Charity Ball (#40, '71), +Butter Boy (#29, '75)
+ Firefall -- Livin' Ain't Livin' ('76)
* First Class -- Beach Baby (#4, '74)
+ Matthew Fisher -- Interlude ('73)
+ Five Man Electrical Band -- Julianna ('71), =I'm a Stranger Here ('72), +Werewolf ('74)
+ Flash Cadillac & the Continental Kids -- Dancin' on a Saturday Night ('74)
* Fleetwood Mac -- Silver Springs ('77)
+ John Fogerty -- Almost Saturday Night ('75), +Rockin' All Over the World (#27, '75)
* Genesis -- Vancouver ('78), *Inside and Out ('77)
+ Giorgio (Moroder) -- Son of My Father ('72)
+ Gladstone -- A Piece of Paper ('72)
+ Glass Bottle -- I Ain't Got Time Anymore (#36, '71)
+ Bobby Goldsboro -- Pledge of Love ('68), +Love Arrestor ('68)
+ Grateful Dead -- Uncle John's Band (#69, '70)
* Grand Funk Railroad -- Rock and Roll Soul (#29, '72), *Closer to Home (#22, '70)
+ Norman Greenbaum -- California Earthquake ('71)
* Hall and Oates -- How Does it Feel to Be Back? (#30, '80)
* Albert Hammond -- Free Electric Band ('73), *I'm a Train (#31, '74), +Names Tags Numbers and Labels ('74)
* Hawks -- Let Me In ('80)
* Heaven Bound -- 500 Miles ('71)
* Chris Hodge -- We're On Our Way ('72)
* Hollies -- Magic Woman Touch ('73), *Long Dark Road (#26, '72)
+ Hudson Bros. -- So You Are a Star (#21, '74), +Rendezvous (#26, '75)
+ Hues Corp. -- Freedom for the Stallion ('73)
* Janis Ian -- When the Party's Over ('75)
* Icicle Works -- Whisper to a Scream (Birds Fly) (#37, '84)
* Jackson 5 -- Maybe Tomorrow (#20, '71)
+ Joe Jackson -- One to One ('80)
+ Michael Jackson -- I Wanna Be Where You Are (#16, '72)
* Tommy James & the Shondells -- Ball of Fire (#19, '69), =Baby Baby I Can't Take it No More ('67)
* Billy Joel -- The Entertainer (#34, '74), *All for Leyna ('80), +Travelin' Prayer ('73)
* Elton John -- Ego ('78), *Step Into Christmas ('73), *Friends (#34, '71), *Tiny Dancer (#41, '71), *Levon (#24, '71)
* Robert John -- Lonely Eyes ('79)
* Casey Kelly -- Poor Boy ('71)
+ Andy Kim -- Fire Baby I'm on Fire (#28, '74)
* Johnathan King -- A Tall Order for a Short Guy ('72)
* Kingston Trio -- Greenback Dollar (#21, '63)
+ Kinks -- Apeman ('71)
+ John Kongos -- He's Gonna Step on You Again ('71)
* Kracker -- Because of You (The Sun Don't Set) ('73)
* Nicolette Larson -- Radioland ('81)
* Left Banke -- Desiree (#99, '66)
+ Lighthouse -- Sunny Days (#34, '72), *Hey Pretty Lady ('73)
* Little Sister -- Somebody's Watching You (#32, '71)
= Lobo -- A California Kid and Reemo ('71)
+ Los Bravos -- Bring a Little Lovin' ('66)
* Love -- Alone Again Or ('67)
* Mal -- Mighty Mighty and Roly Poly ('72)
+ Manfred Mann's Earth Band -- Living Without You ('72)
+ Manhattan Transfer -- Birdland ('80)
= Mashmakhan -- As the Years Go By (#31, '70)
* Mike McGear -- Leave It ('74)
+ McGuinn, Clark & Hillman -- Don't You Write Her Off (#33, '79)
* Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes -- Bad Luck (#15, '75)
+ Buddy Miles -- Them Changes (#62, '71)
* John Miles -- Highfly ('76)
* Joni Mitchell -- Raised on Robbery ('72), *Coyote ('75)
* Mojo Men -- Sit Down I Think I Love You (#36, '67)
* Monkees -- Take a Giant Step ('66), *The Girl I Knew Somewhere (#39, '67), *Tapioca Tundra (#34, '68)
= Tim Moore -- Second Avenue ('74)
* Van Morrison -- Into the Mystic ('71), *Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile) ('71), *Wild Night ('71)
* Mott the Hoople -- All the Young Dudes (#37, '72), +Honaloochie Boogie ('73), +All the Way from Memphis ('73), +Violence ('73)
* The Move -- Do Ya ('72), *Message from the Country ('72)
* Michael Murphey -- Carolina in the Pines (#21, '75)
* New Order -- True Faith (#32, '87), *Regret, +Blue Monday
+ Olivia Newton-John -- If Not for You (#25, '71)
* The Nice -- America ('68)
* Nitty Gritty Dirt Band -- Some of Shelley's Blues ('71), *House at Pooh Corner ('71)
* Billy Ocean -- Love Really Hurts Without You (#22, '76)
* Nigel Olsson -- Only One Woman ('75)
* Original Caste -- One Tin Soldier (#34, '70)
* Outlaws -- I Can't Stop Loving You ('81)
* Freda Payne -- You Brought the Joy ('71)
+ Wilson Pickett -- Don't Knock My Love (#13, '71), +Fire and Water (#24, '72)
* Poco -- A Good Feelin' to Know ('72), *Here We Go Again ('73)
* The Pop -- Go! ('79)
+ Poppy Family -- Where Evil Grows ('71)
+ Cozy Powell -- Dance With the Devil ('73)
* Andy Pratt -- Pistol Packin' Melody ('74)
* Pratt & McClain -- When My Ship Comes In ('74)
* Prelude -- After the Gold Rush (#22, '74)
+ Billy Preston -- That's the Way God Planned It ('69)
+ Procol Harum -- A Salty Dog ('69), +Wreck of the Hesperus ('69)
+ Raiders -- Do Unto Others ('67), +Country Wine ('72), +Song Seller ('72)
* Righteous Bros. -- Dream On (#32, '74)
* Billy Lee Riley -- I've Got a Thing About You Baby ('72)
* Road Apples(?)/Road Home(?) -- Keep it in the Family ('71)
* Austin Roberts -- One Word ('73), +Something's Wrong with Me (#12, '72), =How Can I Tell You ('73)
* Rolling Stones -- Happy (#22, '72)
* Linda Ronstadt -- I Can't Let Go (#31, '80), *Someone to Lay Down Beside Me (#42, '76), *Long Long Time (#25, '70), +Poor Poor Pitiful Me (#31, '78)
* Royal Guardsmen -- Snoopy's Christmas ('67)
+ Rubettes -- Sugar Baby Love (#37, '74)
* Todd Rundgren -- Real Man ('75), *A Dream Goes on Forever ('74), *Couldn't I Just Tell You? ('72), *Saving Grace ('72)
+ Bobby Russell -- Saturday Morning Confusion (#28, '71)
= Larry Santos -- We Can't Hide it Anymore (#36, '76)
* Boz Scaggs -- Dinah Flo ('72)
* Del Shannon -- So Long Baby ('61), =The Answer to Everything (#28, '61)
+ Paul Simon -- American Tune (#35, '73)
+ Slade -- Mama Weer All Crazee Now ('72)
* Patti Smith -- Frederick ('79)
* Souther-Hillman-Furay Band -- Fallin' in Love (#27, '74)
* Spinners -- I'm Coming Home (#18, '74)
* Billy Squier -- My Kinda Lover ('81)
* Jim Stafford -- Swamp Witch (#39, '73)
+ Stampeders -- Sweet City Woman (#8, '71), +Wild Eyes ('72)
+ Stealer's Wheel -- Star (#29, '74)
+ Ray Stevens -- Bridget the Midget (#42, '71), *Misty (#14, '75)
* Rod Stewart -- Handbags and Gladrags (#42, '71)
* Paul Stookey -- Wedding Song (There is Love) (#24, '71)
= Sugar Bears -- You Are the One ('72?)
+ Sunshine Company -- Back on the Street Again (#36, '67)
* Sutherland Bros & Quiver -- (I Don't Wanna Love You But) You've Got Me Anyway ('73), *Arms of Mary ('76)
* Donna Summer -- I Love You (#37, '78), +Heaven Knows (#4, '79), +State of Independence ('82)
= Sweathog -- Hallelujah (#33, '71)
* Sweet -- Action (#20, '76)
* Bram Tchaikovsky -- Let's Dance ('80)
+ Teegarden & VanWinkle -- God Love and Rock and Roll (#22, '70)
* 10 C.C. -- Rubber Bullets ('73), +Wall Street Shuffle ('74)
* B.J. Thomas -- Rock and Roll Lullabye (#15, '72), +No Love at All (#16, '71), +Mighty Clouds of Joy (#34, '71)
+ Ian Thomas -- Painted Ladies (#34, '73)
* Thunderclap Newman -- Something in the Air (#37, '69)
* 'Til Tuesday -- Maybe Monday ('84), *Don't Watch Me Bleed ('84)
+ Tin Tin -- Toast and Marmalade for Tea (#20, '71)
+ Tower of Power -- So Very Hard to Go (#17, '73), +You're Still a Young Man (#29, '72), +Down to the Nightclub (Bump City) ('73)
* Ike & Tina Turner -- Nutbush City Limits (#22, '73), +River Deep Mountain High ('66)
* 20/20 -- A Girl Like You ('81), *American Dream ('81)
* Dwight Twilley Band -- I'm on Fire (#16, '75)
* Uriah Heep -- Easy Livin' (#39, '72), *Stealin' ('73)
* The Wackers -- I Hardly Know Her Name ('71)
+ Loudon Wainwright III -- Dead Skunk (#16, '73)
* Junior Walker & the All-Stars -- Take Me Girl I'm Ready (#50, '71)
= Travis Wammack -- Whatever Turns You On ('72)
+ Edgar Winter -- River's Risin' (#33, '74), +Keep Playin' That Rock and Roll ('72)
* Stevie Wonder -- Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing (#16, '74)

More Great Lost Singles, Part 987

Ah, why not blog about some more Great Lost Singles while I'm waiting 4 something else worth writing-about 2 smack me upside the head?
At my old website (http://www.tadsweirdassmusicandbooks.co.cc/) -- which still works, at least as of 2 am this morning -- I've posted a long series of reviews of great lost singles from the '60s & '70s, songs that got played a few times on the radio & then were apparently 4got10. But thanx 2 recent researches at sites like the Airheads' Radio Survey Archive (http://las-solanas.com/arsa/stations) & The Year in Music 1963-1988 (http://theyearinmusic.wordpress.com/), what I've discovered is that summa those Great Lost Singles I loved actually got played A LOT in a LOTTA diffrent places. & THEN they got 4got10.
Problem is, after writing almost a dozen installments of Great Lost Singles, I'm not sure I have NEthing 2 suprising left....
* Blue Oyster Cult: "Astronomy" (1988). From their album IMAGINOS. This is WAY better, much more dramatic & better produced than BOC's original version released on their 3rd album SECRET TREATIES. The original version bores me; it's not heavy enuf. This is more like the best, creepiest, most dramatic, most in10se Stephen King horror novel ever put on vinyl. All their mysterioso atmosphere & slick gloomy creepiness peaks here. I'm tempted 2 call it their best ever. Great guitars, great vocals, great drama. Jeez, words fail me....
* Rickie Lee Jones: "We Belong Together" ('81). The lead track on her PIRATES album, a gorgeous, hushed, dramatic, almost whispered vocal coupled w/ Jones' beautiful piano playing. Jones Cms 2 mumble a tragic story of love, violence, Btrayal & tragedy on those ugly Jersey streets. & I don't even care. Crashingly dramatic, great stuff. & her "On Saturday Afternoons in 1963" on her 1st album is pretty amazing 2, tho I couldn't tell U what it's about other than the passage of time, which is a Heavy Enuf subject 4 NE pop song....
* Graham Nash & David Crosby: "Immigration Man" (#36/'72) -- The best mix of Nash & Crosby's harmonies outsida CSN&Y. The lyrics R apparently a Dscription of Nash's frustrations & struggles 2 get in2 the US, but they're funny, & the song is a little more in10se than summa CSN&Y's stuff. (Don't get me wrong, I LIKE a lotta their stuff). The instrumentation has a lot more in10sity 2, especially the guitars. But Nash could make the most mundane subjects sound in10se & life-changing -- ever hear his "Helicopter Song"? GREAT!
* Donovan: "Season of the Witch," +"Wear Your Love Like Heaven" (#23, '67) -- Yeah, & I like "Atlantis" 2. OK, so I'm a sucker 4 this guy. "Love Like Heaven" is almost unbearably sweet, & was actually turned in2 a cosmetics commercial themesong a coupla decades back. "Season of the Witch" is a perfect Halloween song, in10se & brooding but also silly & self-mocking. Donovan has a lotta fun w/ it, especially on lines like "Beatniks are out to make it rich." & his backing musicians -- the best in Britain at the time, betcha Jimmy Page & John Paul Jones R in there -- really wail away at it. A classic. Crank it up!
* Jimmy Buffett: "Chanson Pour Le Petite Enfants" ('79) -- The best, prettiest song on his VOLCANO album. Just a beautiful fantasy lullabye 4 very young kids, w/ great singalong choruses & an Nding that aspires 2 pure gorgeousness. If U think Buffett's only about cool drinks under the palms of Key West, U needta hear this....
* Golden Earring: "Snot Love in Spain" ('79) -- OK, mayB this wasn't a single, but it sure as hell SHOULDA bn. From the guys who brot U the hits "Radar Love" & "Twilight Zone," just a nice little paranoid song about getting drunk w/ the natives & other tourists on the coast of Spain, & about how quickly 1 comment can turn the Good Times in2 Something Ugly. Drunken layabout Barry Hay's vocals R hysterical, & the choruses have the nicest little vocal harmonies, + great sleazy harmonica! The whole thing is an amazing travelogue that'd probly make a great movie. It's also hilarious.
* Beach Boys: "Kiss Me Baby" ('65), "Here Today" ('66), "There's No Other (Like My Baby)" ('65), "Let Him Run Wild" ('65) -- B-side mania Bgins here. The BB's threw away a lotta great stuff on B-sides. "Kiss Me Baby" was the B-side of "Help Me Rhonda" & is 1 of the most dreamy & anguished breakup songs ever -- it's freaking GORGEOUS (a word I use WAY 2 much). "Here Today" was the B-side of the hit "Darlin'," but originally appeared in the middle of Side 2 of PET SOUNDS, where it sorta anchored that side in something like Normality. The lyrics R sorta cliched (a little wordplay on "Here today, gone tomorrow"), but it's bright & direct & Xcellent NEway. "There's No Other" was the B-side of the failed single "The Little Girl I Once Knew" (sorta a preview of PET SOUNDS, very pleasant, but w/ 2 many stops & starts & 2 much dead air 4 '65 radio); "There's No Other" was a remake of an old Phil Spector/Ronettes #, included on BEACH BOYS PARTY!, where the Boys sang it absolutely straight -- obviously cos they realized how great it is. "Let Him Run Wild" was the B-side 2 "California Girls," & something about the song apparently bugs Brian Wilson -- he reportedly wouldn't let it B included on the Boys' best-of box set. 2 bad, cos it's great, w/ as-usual great vocals & marvelous falsetto vocal flights by Brian. How could they just throw away stuff like this?
* Byrds: "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better" ('65) -- The B-side of their lame version of Bob Dylan's equally-lame "All I Really Want to Do." This is infinitely better -- great guitars (of course), marvelous group vocals, & Gene Clark's clever, elusive lyric that refuses 2 spell-out just what the other 1/2 of this relationship did wrong....
* Joe Cocker: "Feelin' Alright" (#33, '72) -- This is sorta an album-rock classic, but we otta hear it more often, it still sounds great. It's also about the only Cocker song I can actually STAND. Part of it I'm sure is Bcos of the GREAT piano that rolls around all thru it, which I assume was played by Leon Russell or Chris Stainton or Nicky Hopkins, somebody like that. Cocker's vocal is pretty good 2 -- not 2 much sweaty drama. Dave Mason wrote the song. It shoulda bn a bigger hit.
* Bob Seger -- "Rock and Roll Never Forgets" ('77), "Mainstreet" (#24, '77), "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" (#17, '69), "Feel Like a Number" ('78). This guy doesn't get enuf Respect. These R all album-rock classics, but it's AMAZING how many great songs Seger's put out w/o having MORE huge hits. "Rock and Roll Never Forgets" & "Feel Like a Number" didn't even make the Top 40. Hard 2 understand. Especially since the 1st of these means more & more 2 me as the yrs fly by.... "Hollywood Nights," "Even Now" & "Roll Me Away" still sound great 2....
* Tom Petty: "Even the Losers" ('79) -- 4 me, this is the 1 time Petty put it all 2gether. This sounds like THE song he was MEANT 2 sing. It's not whiny, it's ABOUT something, & it paints a perfect picture of a time & place he misses. + there's a great hook-chorus. But he's never followed it up. The rest of his career has bn pleasant-but-whiny & Not That Impressive.
* Genesis: "You Might Recall...." ('82) -- From the studio side of their album THREE SIDES LIVE. This, "Paperlate" & Phil Collins' ferocious vocals on the live version of "In the Cage" were about the only reasons 2 buy the album. "You Might Recall" is perfect music 4 a summer's evening, w/ the tune "bubbling away" (in the words of an Indianapolis DJ) as the sun slowly disappears in2 dusk. Very nice brokenhearted love song -- the verses R vivid, & the long choruses really build-up 2 the bubbly instrumental breaks. Probly about the last really good thing they did....
* The Rascals: "See" (#27, '69) -- This is an absolute blowout, Felix Cavaliere & the guys just screamin & poundin away, & there's a great organ fadeout & return at the Nd. But these guys were already going outta style (why?) & turning towards jazz (again, why?). 2 yrs earlier it probly woulda bn a bigger hit.
* Tracey Chapman: "Talkin' Bout a Revolution" ('88) -- THIS wasn't a hit? WAY better than the Grammy-winning "Fast Car," the lead track on her 1st album, EZ 2 get caught-up in & no problem 2 relate-2, played 2 death by radio & it wasn't a hit? OK, so it sounds a little 2 much like Joan Armatrading, so...?
* Bee Gees: "Spirits (Having Flown)" ('79), +"First of May" (#37, '69) -- "Spirits" is from the album of the same name, & tho "Tragedy" & "Love You Inside Out" were the big hits off that album, "Spirits" got lotsa airplay on my fave radio station, KFXD-AM 580. "Spirits" is sorta a cross Btween the BGs' falsetto-voiced disco hits & a sorta lilting Caribbean waltz, w/ dramatic choruses added. & it's marvelous, probly the best thing they ever did. "First of May" is a close 2nd -- a dramatic, precise tearjerker, in the same vein as "Lonely Days" & "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart," only simpler. It's the simplicity that makes it work. If U're a sucker 4 melodrama (like me), U've gotta hear this....
+ Phil Collins: "Droned/Hand in Hand" ('81) -- Dspite the presence of "In the Air Tonight" & "I Missed Again," this was the best, catchiest song on Phil's 1st solo album, FACE VALUE. It's also probly the closest 2 old Genesis, starting w/ a sorta-directionless percussion-heavy backing track w/lotsa thumb-piano&woodblock stuff, then suddenly transforms in2 a bouncy, sorta driving riff led by the Tower of Power horns, then a kids' choir joins 4 wordless vocals that sound like the sun breaking thru the clouds. The thumb-piano&woodblock returns at the Nd, sounding moody & unresolved. Instrumental mood music, sure, but....
+ Pop Tops: "Mammy Blue" ('71) -- Sorta dark, downbeat, haunting bluesy # about a guy apparently telling his troubles 2 his Mammy. Well, I liked it.... Got lotsa airplay but couldn't break in2 the Top 40.
+ Mouth and MacNeal: "Hey, You Love" ('72) -- Just as obnoxious & much less catchy than Mouth & MacNeal's 1st (& only) Top 40 hit "How Do You Do" (which I actually bot back in '72). I don't know, I'm a sucker 4 the choruses. & tho they were obnoxious, this couple made a good team.
+ Rick Astley: "But is it Commercial?" ('89) -- OK, I heard this on the radio 1nce, so it musta bn a single, right? This guy was pretty useless, but here's a song that shows he was in on The Joke. After asking the title question, Astley sings (? croons?) "If it ain't got a hook, it ain't got a hope." That's good enuf 4 me, but apparently it wasn't good enuf 4 his fans(?). Hey folks, a cheap laff's better than no laff at all....
= Frank Mills: "Love Me Love Me Love" ('72) -- From the guy who brot U "Music Box Dancer." This is a morbid, downbeat, sorta creepy ballad about lost love that never broke in2 the Top 40 but actually reached #9 on my favrite radio station, Boise, Idaho's KFXD-AM 580, back in March of '72 (Thanx, ARSA). In a lotta ways it reminds me of....
+ Jud Strunk: "Daisy A Day" (#14, '73) -- Sorta a touching country-folk ballad about Love & Death, a 1-hit-wonder 4 Strunk, who I wanta say was a regular on TV's "Hee Haw" or something. (W/ a name like that he SHOULDA bn.) I actually heard a solo-gtr-&-vocals guy per4m this song at an awards dinner a few yrs back, while people were EATING. Well, it's not offensive....
I hereby promise at some future time (probly 2morrow or soon as I can manage it) 2 print a list of all the previous Great Lost Singles I've written about at my old website, & will then go in2 shock when I realize how many of them there really R....
I also promise 2 do some more Research & get some more shockingly overlooked singles posted here.... (If possible. Initial investigations indicate I might B "singled out." Like the writer said, U can't learn much from stuff U already know....)