Great cut. Still, I feel like this was a pretty dismal time on the pop charts compared to the prior 5 years. Albums were where it was really at if you wanted to hear powerful, original work.
These are my favorite hits of 1970: 1 Bridge over Troubled Water Simon & Garfunkel 2 (They Long to Be) Close to You The Carpenters 3 American Woman The Guess Who 4 Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head B.J. Thomas 5 War Edwin Starr 6 Ain’t No Mountain High Enough Diana Ross 7 I’ll Be There The Jackson 5 9 Let It Be The Beatles 10 Band of Gold Freda Payne 11 Mama Told Me (Not to Come) Three Dog Night 12 Everything Is Beautiful Ray Stevens 13 Make It with You Bread 14 Hitchin’ a Ride Vanity Fare 16 The Love You Save The Jackson 5 17 Cracklin’ Rosie Neil Diamond 18 Candida Dawn 19 Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) Sly & the Family Stone 20 Spill the Wine Eric Burdon & War 21 O-o-h Child Five Stairsteps 23 Lay Down (Candles in the Rain) Melanie 24 Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World Is Today) The Temptations 25 Love on a Two-Way Street The Moments 26 Which Way You Goin’ Billy? The Poppy Family 27 All Right Now Free 28 I Want You Back The Jackson 5 29 Julie, Do Ya Love Me Bobby Sherman 32 Ride Captain Ride Blues Image 33 Venus Shocking Blue 34 Instant Karma! John Lennon 36 Lookin’ out My Back Door Creedence Clearwater Revival 37 Rainy Night in Georgia Brook Benton 39 Give Me Just a Little More Time Chairmen of the Board 40 Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes) Edison Lighthouse 41 The Long and Winding Road The Beatles 43 Reflections of My Life Marmalade 45 The Rapper The Jaggerz 47 Tighter, Tighter Alive N Kickin’ 48 Come and Get It Badfinger 49 Cecilia Simon & Garfunkel 52 Lola The Kinks 54 Indiana Wants Me R. Dean Taylor 56 Easy Come, Easy Go Bobby Sherman 59 Make Me Smile Chicago 61 25 or 6 to 4 Chicago 62 My Baby Loves Lovin’ White Plains 63 Love or Let Me Be Lonely The Friends of Distinction 64 United We Stand The Brotherhood of Man 65 We’ve Only Just Begun The Carpenters 67 Fire and Rain James Taylor 69 Evil Ways Santana 70 No Time The Guess Who 73 Up Around the Bend Creedence Clearwater Revival 76 It’s a Shame The Spinners 77 For the Love of Him Bobbi Martin 81 Ma Belle Amie Tee Set 82 The Bells The Originals 84 Somebody’s Been Sleeping 100 Proof (Aged in Soul) 85 Vehicle The Ides of March 86 Gimme Dat Ding The Pipkins 87 Lay a Little Lovin’ On Me Robin McNamara 88 Up the Ladder to the Roof The Supremes 91 Psychedelic Shack The Temptations 92 Without Love (There Is Nothing) Tom Jones 94 Woodstock Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young 95 I’ll Never Fall in Love Again Dionne Warwick 100 Call Me Aretha Franklin [/QUOTE]
Really? I feel like 1970 was one of the most iconic year for hit singles, just look at what was making the pop charts. The 70's arrived MARVELLOUSLY.
The Australian (Go Set) end of year chart for 1970 1. LET IT BE The Beatles 2. BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER Simon And Garfunkel 3. KNOCK KNOCK, WHO'S THERE? Liv Maesson 4. IN THE SUMMERTIME The Mixtures 5. EL CONDOR PASA Simon And Garfunkel 6. SPIRIT IN THE SKY Norman Greenbaum 7. CLOSE TO YOU The Carpenters 8. RAINDROPS KEEP FALING ON MY HEAD Johnny Farnham 9. THE WONDER OF YOU Elvis Presley 10. LAY DOWN Melanie with The Edwin Hawkins Singers 11. THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD The Beatles 12. UP AROUND THE BEND/RUN THROUGH THE JUNGLE Creedence Clearwater Revival 13. TWO LITTLE BOYS Rolf Harris 14. OLD MAN EMU JohnWilliamson 15. COTTON FIELDS Beach Boys 16. AIRPORT LOVE THEME Vincent Bell 17. LITTLE GREEN BAG George Baker 18. WHOLE LOTTA LOVE Led Zeppelin 19. YELLOW RIVER Jigsaw/Christie/Autumn 20. TENNESSEE BIRDWALK Jack Blanchard And Misty Morgan 21. TRAVELLIN' BAND/WHO'LL STOP THE RAIN Creedence Clearwater Revival 22. MELTING POT Blue Mink 23. RHYTHM OF LIFE The Supremes And The Temptations 24. VENUS Shocking Blue 25. BOOM SHA LA LA LO Hans Poulsen 26. ABC Jackson Five 27. LOVE GROWS (WHERE MY ROSEMARY GOES) Edison Lighthouse 28. SPILL THE WINE Eric Burdon And War 29. A SONG OF JOY Miguel Rios 30. CECILIA Simon And Garfunkel 31. SMILEY Ronnie Burns 32. ALL I HAVE TO DO IS DREAM Bobby Gentry And Glen Campbell 33. I THANK YOU Lionel Rose 34. TURN UP YOUR RADIO Masters Apprentices 35. EVERYTHING IS BEAUTIFUL Ray Stevens 36. LOOKING OUT MY BACK DOOR/LONG AS I CAN SEE THE LIGHT Creedence Clearwater Revival 37. WOODSTOCK Crosby, Stills, Nash And Young 38. HE AIN'T HEAVY, HE'S MY BROTHER The Hollies 39. BIG YELLOW TAXI Joni Mitchell 40. WANDERIN' STAR Lee Marvin
It was a comeback as far as I was concerned. I hadn't heard much of Smokey on pop radio, and he hadn't had many (any?) Top 20 hits in about, what, 8 years? I think there were some great singles - "Bridge" for example - which are iconic, but I also feel like the year is something of a low-energy mess. It's clear the '60s were over, and half the songs seem to be lamenting that while the other half seem somewhat, I dunno, uninspired and directionless. They just feel dumber than what we'd gotten the previous 5 years. Still lots of great stuff, but...
I feel like more of the #1 hits this year have lived on compared to most years of the 60's though. IMO of course. ABC, I'll Be There, They Long To Be (Close To You), Let It Be, Bridge Over Troubled Water, Ain't No Mountain High Enough, My Sweet Lord, Venus etc. I mean all these songs are stone cold classics. And that's just the #1 hits, songs like 'In The Summertime', 'Signed Sealed Delivered' and 'Ooh Child' never hit the summit but are just as classic and endearing as the rest. I honestly don't think that any decade came in stronger than the 70's on the charts.
The Bee Gees would score their biggest hit yet in the US with this gem, released November 6, 1970.... a preview of the enormous success to come in the decade.
I like that very much now. But I was not ever aware of it back then, and only became clued in thanks to the KLF.
94 Woodstock Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young I thought Mathews Southern Comfort had the chart hit of this song this year and CSNY had the FM album track? No?
These are the singles from the powerful original works. Sly, Zep, Free, Kinks, Beatles, CCR, and S&G will all lead you to some powerful legendary albums if you care to look. It's an amazing year for album rock meets am pop with Green Eyed Lady, Ride Captain Ride, Yellow River rocking right along side of the heavy weight album artists. Reflections of my Life played on the radio sounding really great after Let it Be. It's all so clear to me now I could never forget. I had most of these 45s but could not afford the albums just yet.
Some copies of "Vehicle" were on the older Warner Bros.-Seven Arts labels, despite the label name changed back to Warner Bros. (and the "shield" logo returned to its rightful place) by that point, to wit: As for "Traveling Band," props also go to its flip - "Who'll Stop The Rain." The Poppy Family number took a long time to peak, given it was released in the U.S. on Sept. 30, 1969. But all that, and I've never in all my years of record collecting, ever seen a CBS Pitman of it. Otherwise I'd've had it. The 5th Dimension number had quite a few label variants, it being on Bell; here's the first-pressing CP; One of the first artists to record this one, in 1967 on Atlantic, was Keely Smith (this, as her marriage to former '50's teen idol turned record producer for Reprise, Jimmy Bowen, was crumbling; it would end in divorce by '68).
He and The Miracles had a few here and there - "I Second That Emotion," "Special Occasion," and an out-of-left-field Top 10 in early 1969, "Baby, Baby Don't Cry." But still, compared with some other top-shelf Motown acts . . .
CSNY's version (being buffeted by their actually having performed at Woodstock - unlike its writer, Joni Mitchell) peaked at #11 on the Hot 100; Matthews' Southern Comfort's could only aspire to #23 there, the next year in 1971. And it had a hard time getting even there (buffeted only by something called "Can-Con"), after its November 1970 release where, initially, it could only "bubble under" and disappear before floating back to the surface.
And there were 15 records that made #1 in Cash Box and/or Record World that were not #1 in Billboard: The Rapper - The Jaggerz (2 wks in RW) Spirit in The Sky - Norman Greenbaum (2 wks in both CB & RW) Turn Back The Hands Of Time - Tyrone Davis (2 wks in RW) Cecilia - Simon & Garfunkel (1 wk in both CB & RW) Ball Of Confusion - The Temptations (1 wk in CB) Band Of Gold - Freda Payne (1 wk in RW) Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours - Stevie Wonder (1 wk in both CB & RW) Spill The Wine - Eric Burdon & War (1 wk in both CB & RW) In The Summertime - Mungo Jerry (1 wk in RW) Patches - Clarence Carter (1 wk in CB) Lookin' Out My Back Door - Creedence Clearwater Revival (1 wk in both CB & RW) Julie, Do Ya Love Me - Bobby Sherman (1 wk in RW) Candida - Dawn (1 wk in CB) We've Only Just Begun - Carpenters (1 wk in both CB & RW) Indiana Wants Me - R. Dean Taylor (1 wk in CB)
Like I said, though, I heard his 70s music on Soul Train. Unless you watched that show, or listened to Black radio, it makes sense you wouldn't have heard his music throughout most of the 70s.
I far, far prefer "Who'll Stop The Rain" to "Traveling Band". In fact it might be my favorite CCR track, although there are many strong candidates for that title...
Agree. There seems to be a slipping in terms of quality of chart singles. However, I don't hate the 70s. There are some bright spots. My most-listened to channels on Sirius-XM (in order) are -60s on 6, -70s on 7 -50s on 5/ (tied), 80s on 8 (tied), I actually like some of the 80s more than I did in the past (like many, I considered it a nasty music decade, compared to what came before. However, whenever Michael Jackson, Madonna or any song that sounds so 80-ish, or MTV-ish, I usually change the station.
There were as many -- if not more -- 1960s hits that hold up even better than the Jackson 5 or Carpenters songs. Many of those you mentioned were likely recorded in late 1969, so technically, originated out of that great decade.
Traveling Band sounds more like a Little Richard song, from the late 1950s, in terms of beat. I like the flip better too.
I'm not slagging on the '70s in general. I'm specifically criticising the top pop singles of 1970 in comparison to the top singles of the preceding 5-6 years. They aren't awful, but to me as a group they're lacking something compared to their immediate predecessors.
