Agree. I don't consider 1970-73 drek or awful. My first exposure to music, as a 10 year old, was 1971, where I heard Joy to the World, Chick-a-Boom, etc., which I liked. Today, on Sirius-XM's 70s channel, I listened to American Top 40 from this week in 1973. Was good except for these songs: -Half Breed (Cher) -Heartbeat- It's a Love Beat (The Defranco Family) No. 3 -Cheaper to Keep Her, (Johnnie Taylor) No. 19 (a song I totally don't remember) -Nutbush something, Ike & Tina Turner, which wasn't that great. Eddie Kendricks, former lead singer of The Temptations, was at No. 1 with Keep On Truckin' (another great 60s artist charting in the 70s) One of the good things about the early 70s was the emergence of Chicago (the biggest-charting U.S. group of the 70s, 2nd overall only to The Beach Boys), which, like many 70s groups, began in the late 1960s.
I do realize it's that old. For some reason, "Band of Gold" is one of the first singles I distinctly remember hearing. But I'm not sure exactly when I first heard it, though; t might not have been 1970 for me, could have been 1971. It's likely the radio station my folks listened to at that time played it a lot, and they could have played it long beyond the time it was a chart hit. I say that because as we move into 1971, there are several songs from that year I distinctly remember hearing.
Of the #2s, my personal favorite has gravitated to The Jaggerz one as the years have progressed. In my case it is probably because Donny Iris (lead singer) would be around again on the charts when I was listening to AT40 in the early '80s. I don't dislike any of the #2s, however.
Band of Gold, as often as it was played, sure sounds like a No. 1 hit. US Top 40 Singles Week Ending 25th July, 1970 TW LW TITLE –•– Artist (Label)-Weeks on Chart (Peak To Date) 1 3 (They Long To Be) CLOSE TO YOU –•– The Carpenters (A&M)-6 (1 week at #1) (1) 2 1 MAMA TOLD ME (Not To Come) –•– Three Dog Night (Dunhill)-10 (1) 3 4 BAND OF GOLD –•– Freda Payne (Invictus)-14 (3) 4 2 THE LOVE YOU SAVE / I FOUND THAT GIRL –•– Jackson 5 (Motown)-9 (1) 5 10 MAKE IT WITH YOU –•– Bread (Elektra)-7 (5) 6 5 BALL OF CONFUSION (That’s What the World Is Today) –•– The Temptations (Gordy)-10 (3) 7 6 RIDE CAPTAIN RIDE –•– Blues Image (Atco)-12 (4) 8 8 O-O-H CHILD / DEAR PRUDENCE –•– The Five Stairsteps (Buddah)-17 (8) 9 18 SIGNED, SEALED, DELIVERED I’M YOURS –•– Stevie Wonder (Tamla)-5 (9) 10 7 LAY DOWN (Candles In the Rain) –•– Melanie with the Edwin Hawkins Singers (Buddah)-14 (6) 11 12 TIGHTER, TIGHTER –•– Alive and Kicking (Roulette)-8 (11) 12 11 HITCHIN’ A RIDE –•– Vanity Fare (Page One)-19 (5) 13 9 GIMME DAT DING –•– The Pipkins (Capitol)-10 (9) 14 24 SPILL THE WINE –•– Eric Burdon and War (MGM)-10 (14) 15 15 ARE YOU READY –•– Pacific Gas and Electric (Columbia)-9 (15) 16 22 TEACH YOUR CHILDREN –•– Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young (Atlantic)-8 (16) 17 13 THE WONDER OF YOU / MAMA LIKED THE ROSES –•– Elvis Presley (RCA)-11 (9) 18 26 OHIO –•– Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young (Atlantic)-5 (18) 19 14 A SONG OF JOY –•– Miguel Rios (A&M)-7 (14) 20 30 I JUST CAN’T HELP BELIEVING –•– B.J. Thomas (Scepter)-6 (20) 21 20 THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD / FOR YOU BLUE –•– The Beatles (Apple)-10 (1) 22 19 MY BABY LOVES LOVIN’ –•– White Plains (Deram)-15 (13) 23 17 GET READY –•– Rare Earth (Rare Earth)-20 (4) 24 37 LAY A LITTLE LOVIN’ ON ME –•– Robin McNamara (Steed)-9 (24) 25 44 WAR –•– Edwin Starr (Gordy)-3 (25) 26 41 (If You Let Me Make Love To You Then) WHY CAN’T I TOUCH YOU –•– Ronnie Dyson (Columbia)-6 (26) 27 27 SAVE THE COUNTRY –•– The 5th Dimension (Bell)-7 (27) 28 29 SILVER BIRD –•– Mark Lindsay (Columbia)-7 (28) 29 25 MISSISSIPPI QUEEN –•– Mountain (Windfall)-15 (21) 30 31 WESTBOUND #9 –•– The Flaming Ember (Hot Wax)-10 (30) 31 16 LOVE LAND –•– Charles Wright and the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band (Warner Brothers)-16 (16) 32 68 IN THE SUMMERTIME –•– Mungo Jerry (Janus)-3 (32) 33 21 UNITED WE STAND –•– The Brotherhood Of Man (Deram)-15 (13) 34 28 CHECK OUT YOUR MIND –•– The Impressions (Curtom)-11 (28) 35 32 MISSISSIPPI –•– John Phillips (Dunhill)-11 (32) 36 36 GO BACK –•– Crabby Appleton (Elektra)-12 (36) 37 38 STEAL AWAY –•– Johnnie Taylor (Stax)-8 (37) 38 43 MAYBE –•– The Three Degrees (Roulette)-8 (38) 39 59 TELL IT ALL BROTHER –•– Kenny Rogers and the First Edition (Reprise)-4 (39) 40 42 TRYING TO MAKE A FOOL OF ME –•– The Delfonics (Philly Groove)-8 (40)
Do you have a link? Kidney failure, along with some other kind of organ failure, usually says death is imminent, even with dialysis. They are usually bad candidates for transplants.
I'm with ya. Who'll Stop the Rain is my favourite CCR song, edging out Lodi. Travelin' Band is my least favourite.
"Who'll Stop The Rain" was one of two hits of CCR's in the space of a year with "Rain" within the title. The next - a few #1's from here - will be "Have You Ever Seen The Rain."
There is nothing on the top 100 that I really adore, but my six favourites are these: 37 Rainy Night in Georgia Brook Benton 41 The Long and Winding Road The Beatles 81 Ma Belle Amie Tee Set 83 Yellow River Christie 90 Come Saturday Morning The Sandpipers 98 The Thrill Is Gone B.B. King Add Who'll Stop the Rain by CCR, whose almost unbearable flip is unfortunately listed on the chart. The best of the rest: 25 Love on a Two-Way Street The Moments 40 Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes) Edison Lighthouse 42 Snowbird Anne Murray 43 Reflections of My Life Marmalade 44 Hey There Lonely Girl Eddie Holman 47 Tighter, Tighter Alive N Kickin’ 48 Come and Get It Badfinger 63 Love or Let Me Be Lonely The Friends of Distinction 70 No Time The Guess Who 85 Vehicle The Ides of March 88 Up the Ladder to the Roof The Supremes One of my contenders for favourite song of the year, which I had originally heard in the spring of 1971 even though it was local but I was later informed (online by a band member, who should know) that it was '70, was a track called I'm Gonna Miss You, by Mingles, which sounds like it was named impromptu after someone's cat. Anyway it's a great slow building rocker that starts with piano, then the backing and the organ kick in, it has heavy fuzzy guitar in places and even ends with a solo. Unfortunately it's so obscure that only the band, their moms, and me remember it, and it's not on Youtube. So you'll have to take my word for it ...
Yeah, I'm kinda gobsmacked "Traveling Band" was even a hit, let alone a big hit. Because it was the A-Side did people buying the single to get "Who'll Stop The Rain" contribute to the chart success of "Traveling Band"? That would go a long way toward explaining its chart success to me. This was one of the CCR singles my uncle owned and that I loved as a kid. I always assumed "TB" was the B-Side...
He's suffering from dementia too, isn't he? Can't imagine a dementia patient being approved for a transplant.
Motown continued stretching it's boundaries in 1970 by signing Kiki Dee, and putting out one album on her "Great Expectations". It was quite good, but never took off.
What would become a huge part of the biggest group of the 70's was having continued success in her native Sweden in 1970, logging her eighth top 10 hit on the Svensktoppen chart.
"Who'll stop the rain" is just a great, great song. It's timeless, and the lyrics are fantastic. The melody perfectly matches every word - it may sound simple, but it's not. If it was, there'd be a whole lot more songs this good. I think it's CCR's high point. I do like "Traveling band," fine, but it's just kind of a raucous party song.
As we finish 1970, it's time for me to once again choose a song I would have liked to see reach #1 on the Billboard chart that didn't. To recap, so far I've chosen: 1965: Do You Believe in Magic? 1966: Walk Away Renee/California Dreamin' 1967: San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair) 1968: Jumpin' Jack Flash 1969: Get Together/Time of the Season. Here are some of my favorite songs that came out in 1970 that didn't quite make the cut (but are all deserving of consideration for the top spot!!): Vehicle (my all time favorite karaoke number - I absolutely scorched this one at my friend's birthday party! ) Band of Gold, Ball of Confusion, Spirit in the Sky, Instant Karma! (We All Shine On), Lola, I'll Never Fall in Love Again, Come Saturday Morning, Yellow River (LOVE this one), Ma Belle Amie, (If You Let Me Make Love to You Then) Why Can't I Touch You?, Didn't I Blow Your Mind This Time?, No Time, My Baby Loves Lovin', Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes), 25 or 6 to 4, Indiana Wants Me, Signed Sealed Delivered I'm Yours, Spill The Wine ("I can feel hot flames of FI-RE roaring at my back"), and Get Ready by Rare Earth. A special mention for Creedence Clearwater Revival. This is a group with literally dozens of songs I really like. But for whatever reason, I don't consider any of their songs to be among my all time favorites. So, they will be passed over again, but I want to particularly call out Traveling Band (well, I really like this one, it seems not to be a fave around here), Who'll Stop the Rain? (my second favorite of their Rain songs), Up Around the Bend, and Looking Out My Back Door. So now my choice. With all due respect to Ooh Child, which I really, really love, and which I have talked about before, my choice came down to two songs that captured the devotional and anthemic qualities that seemed to be so popular in that time. My runner-up was Reflections of My Life by Marmalade. For years, this was the "song that got away" for me. I would hear it on the radio, but wouldn't catch the artist's name. I loved it, and I remember I was in a shoe store when I finally found out the name of the song and the artist when they played it over the store's speakers. This song is intense, beautiful, and contains one of my all time favorite guitar breaks. But it was not my top choice. My top choice was Melanie with the Edwin Hawkins Singers doing Lay Down (Candles in the Rain). I suspect this will be a controversial choice, because Melanie is definitely the type of artist people either love or hate (as she once sang, "Some say I got devil/some say I got angel"). The criticism that she shouts sometimes more than sings is legit, I guess, but when she is singing the right song, her shouting can raise the hairs on the back of my neck like no other. And no song she ever did was as amazing as Lay Down. In so many ways, this is the ideal choice for 1970's missed #1. In a year when eulogies for the 60s abounded, here is a song inspired by Melanie's performance at Woodstock. Gospel sounds were big, too, and here Melanie presents the Edwin Hawkins Singers shaking the rafters along with her. I still remember hearing this one for the first time in the dorm room of a friend, and we both turned to each other and asked, "What the heck is THIS?". The second I heard it, I wanted to get her greatest hits album. Melanie Safka was born and raised in Queens. While she went to college, she moonlighted as a folk singer in coffee houses in Greenwich Village. While doing that, she got a recording contract, and though still in her early twenties, found success in Europe. Her 'Bobo's Party' reached number one in France, while 'Beautiful People' got to the top in the Netherlands. Melanie was by and large an acoustic artist at this point, although she was often augmented by outside instruments on her records. I have a couple of her early albums, and really like her style and songwriting. Beautiful People is a particular favorite of mine from her early stuff (and I'm not even Dutch!). But there is nothing in her catalog quite like Candles in the Rain. Melanie aims to make a generational statement and knocks it out of the park. She captures both the intensity of the hippie generation and their sometime naivete. I love how she varies her voice, sometimes quieting it to great effect as in the verses, only to shout out a stirring blast to make your head spin (So RAISE!!!! Candles High). The Edwin Hawkins singers add perfect counterpoint to what she is doing, elevating the entire track to the level of a secular sermon. Her words are biting and surprisingly introspective for what could have been a 'back to the garden' celebration of Woodstock: We bled inside each others' wounds We all had caught the same disease And we all sang the songs of peace Interesting that this iconic symbol of peaceful hippiedom, Woodstock, is compared to catching a disease or being hurt. Love as intense as her generation felt could be harmful to your health. My absolutely favorite part of the song is when she goes into the 'so, RAIIIIIISE candles high' bit, with the Hawkins singers answering her "RAISE!" and "UP HIGH"! I won't say this very often, but I will here: I'm moved by the sheer passion there in ways few songs or singers have ever done. I still catch my breath when I hear this part, all these years later. Here's the only clip I've ever seen of Melanie performing the song with the Edwin Hawkins Singers. It comes from a Dutch show (remember that she had already been #1 there, and this song was also a big hit). The audience is absolutely dead on arrival, but the song cannot be denied, and towards the end even the blue hairs are getting into it (clapping on the wrong beat, but what can you do?). One of my top-ten-all-time favorite clips on YouTube. We'll be seeing Melanie again shortly, but nothing she ever did after this could compare. It's one of the frankly sad aspects of her career that the song of hers that did get to #1 was so frivolous that it basically framed her as a half wit for years afterwards. She had that silly aspect to her music, too (I love her goofy song Animal Crackers, where she sings about trying a diet but stopping because she couldn't give up eating animal crackers, so she laments, 'I'm gonna stay a fatty all of my life/(but some people think that fatties are nice!)'). But I'd rather think of her as the writer of one of my favorite love generation anthems than a song about a goofy double entendre like her soon-to-be-discussed chart topper.
I've always thought that was just an incredible lyric. All this talk of the hits of 1970 prompted a couple of spins of "Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)" last week here at my place. It's kinda the ultimate hippy song, isn't it?
Did it chart locally only John, which would make it a "regional hit" as they call them. Record label?
Seconded. Not only a brilliant record, but absolutely spot-on representative of its era. Always have loved it.
Ms. Dee even put in an appearance on, of all places, The Benny Hill Show, where she performed a cover of "You've Made Me So Very Happy" on the Jan. 27, 1971 edition:
All sorts of links about this on my Facebook page. Here's one of them: David Cassidy Hospitalized in Critical Condition With Organ Failure EDIT - Now (11 AM EST Sunday) I'm seeing posts that he has passed . I'll let you find that on your own.
Agree completely. As a chart geek, I always noted how "Who'll Stop the Rain" entered the Top 40 on January 3, 1970. In my younger days, because of that precise timing, I thought it was their "state of the world" address at the end of the '60s, and issued with that in mind. It still is contentwise (and I'd imagine John Fogerty would agree). The timing, well -- I know better now -- it just happened that way, but it's still a neat coincidence.
EDIT to my earlier edit - Like Tom Petty, there were multiple (apparantly) erroneous reports of David Cassidy's death. I'd really like to edit my earlier post but I can't do so now. Sorry.
There are a number of hot songs from 1969 and 1970 that seem to refer to the changing decade with hope and conviction, and even sorrow. Candles in the Rain is such a sing. Another song not mentioned is "Tell it All Brother" which to me is one of those end of decade marches with a message. It reached top 20 of the year but this list shows it quite a bit lower. Anyone else like the song.
