Well, I’m going to be the bad guy. I mentioned earlier how much I despised “Seasons in the Sun.” “You’re Having My Baby” gives it a good run for the money. It’s #2 on my “All-Time Turds” list. It’s camp value is the only thing that saves it from being #1. Really awful.
“Junior’s Farm” is one of my all time favorite McCartney songs. Great rocker - the lyrics are nonsense (Laurel & Hardy, a farm, playing poker, and a shot at Nixon) but who cares?
Now we have "Can't Get Enough Of Your Love, Babe", by Barry White, #1 from September 15 - September 21, 1974.
Another 70s group who got a second wind after spending the previous year in the Hot 100 doldrums was America. Their '74 Holiday LP offered up 2 Top 10 hits in Tin Man and Lonely People. It also marked the return of producer George Martin to the upper echelons of the charts and his help would return the group to the very top the following year. This b-side to Lonely People has always been a jaunty favorite that smacks of one of McCartney's sunnier efforts.
That was the LP version / mix. The 45 sounded something more like this: Notice how the guitars are more prominent and the strings, though heard, don't overpower. I much prefer the 45 edit/mix of this one. (This was the best I could find; a clip with the domestic label was a bit goosed up in pitch.) On this post, I'd mentioned the personnel on the previous #1 coming from The Maestro. Here, we see how the budgets for his records increased as the sales started piling up, in a year that would be the apex of Barrymania. In contrast to that earlier record, the personnel on this is as follows (link courtesy here): Trumpets: Bud Brisbois, Paul Hubinon, Warren Roché French Horns: James Decker, Vincent De Rosa, David A. Duke, Robert Henderson, George Hyde, Arthur Maebe, Richard Perissi Woodwinds: Gene Cipriano, William Green, Roger Neumann, Ernie Watts Piano, Vocals (Double-Tracked): Barry White Keyboard: Michel Mention Guitars: Ray Parker, Jr., Dean Parks, "Wah Wah" Watson, David T. Walker Bass: Wilton Felder Drums: Ed Greene Percussion: Joe Clayton Vibes: Gary Coleman Harp: Gayle Levant Violins: Israel Baker, Robert Barene, Arnold Belnick, Harry Bluestone, Assa Drori, James Getzoff, William Hymanson, Alexander Koltun, Robert Konrad, Alfred Lustgarten, Nathan Ross, Henry Roth, Jack Shulman, Marshall Sosson, Tibor Zelig Violas: Alexander Neiman, Gareth Nuttycombe, Milton Thomas Cello: Jesse Ehrlich, Armand Kaproff, Edgar Lustgarten (?) - Elbert Denny, Robert Hartley, Robert Kane, P.S. Radcliffe, Howard Segurson A few of the players on this also participated in the session for this record that had preceded the other one at the top earlier in this year. One reason why Mr. White's song was called what it was, was due to a British band named Bad Company (featuring former members of Free and Mott The Hoople) putting out a record which they simply titled "Can't Get Enough" a few months before in Britain (and whose chorus shared all but the last word of the title of Barry's number), but began to take off here in the States around the same time as this (ultimately peaking at #5).
"Tin Man" had two catalogue numbers in the U.S. alone. Originally released on WB 7839 . . . . . . by the time it reached its peak position, it was renumbered WBS 8014 (another byproduct of the July singles price hike):
We already discussed this one on the other Billboard thread, and i'll say that this was one of his finest moments. On that other thread, we discussed how Barry White probably changed the title of the song to differentiate it from the Bad Company song that was out at the same time.
I like the Barry White song, but to me, he's one of those artists that took a successful formula for writing a song, and then repeating that formula over and over until he almost became a parody of himself. Which is really too bad, because he is extremely talented. I was a big fan of America's first album, but feared they had slumped into the nether lands of rock until Holiday was released. Even hearing Tin Man for the first time, I knew they were going to make a comeback, and a big one. Then, seeing that they had George Martin on board was just the icing on the cake. Welcome back, lads!
For anyone out there who is into statistics, the week Barry White sat at the top, all of the songs in the Top 5 either were or would soon be a #1 hit. That doesn't happen too often. Can't Get Enough Of Your Love Rock Me Gently I Honestly Love You Nothing From Nothing I Shot The Sheriff
Amazingly, in spite of this early string of club-driven chart toppers in '74, disco was barely getting started. It would recede a bit from the charts for a few months, before returning with a vengeance in 1975.
By this time, disco was well underway. You're right in that disco seemed to recede on the pop chart, but I argue that it happened much later in 1977, right before Saturday Night Fever hit the box office.
It certainly receded at the top of the pop charts. I haven't glanced down the Top 40 to see how it was doing on the rest of the charts, but it would catch fire in the second half of '75, to the point where I remember it making the evening news.
Yes, there are five or so #1s in the second half of '75 that pretty much qualify as disco. A couple before that straddle the line but I don't want to start any arguments.
Heaven forbid! I was going to note the same thing, by the way - a dearth of straight up disco chart toppers in the first half of '75, followed by an avalanche. Although some of those cuts in the first half would definitely have gotten club play, too. It's important to note that even the non-disco hits of the second half of the '70s often had really strong disco influences. That damn disco got into everything!
I'm not really a fan of Barry White, famously dubbed "The Walrus of Love" by humorist Dave Barry, but Can't Get Enough of Your Love is a most enjoyable song.
BeeGees Main Course album...came very close! They used an album track for the B sides of all the singles from that album, all of which did well. The B sides were so good I became a lifelong fan going forward, but I even realized then as a kid I almost had the whole album owning the 45’s.
I am loving the new vinyl Barry White compilation album! First, we finally have all of his songs sounding spectacular, unlike any of the US original albums that all sounded pathetic after all the beautiful orchestration he always did. Second, it just sounds great having all his best songs in one place. His other comps seemed to have filler mixed in but there are no bad tracks except, for the love of god, Just The Way You Are, which for me counts as three turds. Luckily they almost hide it as it’s nearly at the end of side four, so you can just bail out at that point. Why on earth did he cover that song? If there are any fans here and you do vinyl, don’t hesitate to pick up a copy! Mine was well pressed too.
It's also in CD form for those who don't do vinyl. The only real complaint I have is that there is tape damage on the intro of "Never Never Gonna Give You Up". That tape damage does not exist on the original 45.
Regarding "After The Goldrush" by Prelude: In 1976, a year or so later, I began working at a bigger radio station in Philly. This one was the prototype soft-rock sound known as Magic, started by Greater Media and syndicated to its other stations in Detroit, Boston, Central Jersey, and a station in Portland, ME. They played soft-rock hits that didn't have any "irritants" that would make old ladies in card shops switch to the beautiful music channel. So while they played Carpenters records, they always faded out "Goodbye To Love" before the guitar solo could get going. A lot of the selections came from folk-rock artists with a guitar, so you'd hear John Denver and Judy Collins and Joni Mitchell and all of their softer stuff, you wouldn't hear and harder rock and nothing with too much hard-soul. You'd hear Billy Paul's "Me And Mrs. Jones", but nothing from Ike & Tina Tina Turner. So we're talking soft. Album tracks were played if they fit the sound. So this station played "After The Goldrush". Fairly often too. And since the album it was from disappeared from stores, it gave the record stores fits, cause people would hear it on the radio over the next few years and want to buy it, but it was no longer available. I heard the story first-hand from the owner of Mad's Records in Ardmore, PA, who said he was frustrated with the number of customers coming in looking for Prelude's record.
...I can't find the original of this. st: 18967044, member: 36562"]BeeGees Main Course album...came very close! They used an album track for the B sides of all the singles from that album, all of which did well. The B sides were so good I became a lifelong fan going forward, but I even realized then as a kid I almost had the whole album owning the 45’s.[/QUOTE]
I think you are onto something. Popular music had changed radically between 1964 and 1974. Not only had the music itself evolved, the recording technology as well. As a result, a song recorded in 1964 live in the studio to a four track would have sound "old" a decade later. I have come to prefer Bob Marley's version but Clapton 's recording is fantastic in its own right and deserved to be the number 1 that it became. Instead of aping Marley's arrangement outright, Clapton turns it into something closer to swamp rock with a hint of reggae. "Jazzman" is one of those singles that give you the impression that everyone involved must have enjoyed themselves while cutting it. The backing track is tight yet relaxed and Tom Scott turns in a stellar performance on sax.
Glad to see you picked it up. How does your CD sound?? The vinyl is one of the best sounding pieces of vinyl for this kind of music I’ve purchased. The strings are beautiful! I don’t know if the actual tapes were used, and I doubt it, but here is an example of digital (and I hate digital sound in general) done properly. I’m glad they cared enough to do this right. Grant, do you have the $50 Love Unlimited comp that came out ($50 is for vinyl of course). The package is real nice. I had it in my hands but I am not familiar with that catelog and I’m buying too much vinyl that I’m playing once and then it just sits. How different is that from Barry’s stuff?
