This Week's Top 10 Chart

Last week's chart started some interesting discussion but then took a sort of weird turn.
One of the reasons I don't post nearly as much as I once did is the way things can get ugly and leave the arena of musical discussion for places better left for political or social debate. It isn't that I agree or disagree with the the opinions expressed but I just would like things to stay more musical in nature. In any case, I decided in the spirit of the week to move forward just two years to America's bicentenial year and see what was hot on the charts.

So, here it is. This week's chart is from July 4, 1976

Code:

 1. Silly Love Songs.....................[B]Wings[/B]
 2. Afternoon Delight....................[B]Starland Vocal Band[/B]
 3. Misty Blue...........................[B]Dorthy Moore[/B]
 4. Sara Smile...........................[B]Daryl Hall & John Oates[/B]
 5. Shop Around..........................[B]The Captain & Tennille[/B]
 6. More, More, More (Pt.1)..............[B]Andrea True Connection[/B]
 7. Get Up And Boogie (That's Right).....[B]Silver Convention[/B]
 8. I'll Be Good To You..................[B]The Brothers Johnson[/B]
 9. Kiss And Say Goodbye.................[B]The Manhattans[/B]
10. Love Is Alive........................[B]Gary Wrtight[/B]

 

I remember this week well. I was living in England, read the Time magazine cover story on the Bicentennial and I remember all these songs. Wings Over America was the hot tour of the year. As a teenager, I enjoyed the risque (for the times) concept of Afternoon Delight and More More More. Silly Love Songs was getting trashed as an example of Paul's insipid lyrics but I do and did love the bass line. If I remember correctly Wings at the Speed of Sound battled and won against the Beatles Rock and Roll Music in the charts. There was the feeling of another Beatles Renaissance in the air. A good time.

 

The only song that bugs me on this list is "Afternoon Delight". It's nice to hear every ten years.

"Love Is Alive", a great track, still gets eclipsed by the very tired, worn-out "Dream Weaver".
I'll Be Good To You" was one of the brightest debuts singles of that year, even though The Brothers Johnson were featured on "Mellow Madness", a virtual Brothers Johnson album by Quincy Jones a year before.Overall, another fun time in the 70s.

1976 had the SECOND largest number of #1 hits after 1974.

 

To some of my acquaintances, I'm known as "that 70s guy," so you know I love this stuff!!

About a year ago, I came to the horrifying realization that "Misty Blue" was absent from the Archives! The situation was rectified before 24 hrs had passed. (How the hell did Rhino do 25 or so volumes of Didn't It Blow Your Mind--Soul Hits of the 70s and leave off "Misty Blue"???)

That I have the rest of this week's Top Ten goes without saying--so I won't say it!!

 

The only song on this weeks chart that does anything for me is "Afternoon Delight" such wonderful harmony!

 

"Misty Blue" by Dorothy Moore is one of my all time favorites,too. It was a top five hit,and yet it's one of those songs that seems to fall through the cracks every time a label puts together oldies compilations. I finally found it about a year ago on a Varese Vintage compilation titled "Then 1- Totally Oldies". This CD should still be available, although some of the Varese Vintage titles seem to go out of print rather quickly.

 

I have "Misty Blue" on several CD compilations. At the time, it stood out because there was nothing else like it on the air. It was almost retro soul.

"Sara Smile" was another surprise hit. Daryl Hall at his finest! A powerful soul vocal over a sparse, very blusey track. It was so strong that the track "Do What You Wanna Do, Be What You Wanna Be" followed it up as an FM radio hit next to Atlantic Records capitalizing on "She's Gone".

Then the duo took a decidedly more pop direction.

Michael, looks like you and I are on opposite sides again!

 

I just can't relate to this one.

I was listening to a lot of music in 1976, but none of these songs appeal in any way. I think pop music was in a dark period around this time, between the end of the previous productive cycle that ended around 1974, and about to be lashed by the arrival of the punk wave in 1977.

Regards,
Geoff

 

In contrast, I think it was the last time pop music was so much fun, until around the fall of 1983. I can relate to every song up there except "Afternoon Delight". There were tons of great tunes to be heard on radio in 1976. I guess it all depends on what you like.

Jimbo, that's funny, because people call ME the "70s guy"!

 

The Dutch top 10 of that week:

1 sutherland brothers & quiver arms of mary
2 hank mizell jungle rock
3 bob bouber voor niets
4 fats domino blueberry hill
5 don mercedes rocky
6 corry konings ik krijg een heel apart gevoel van ...
7 rod stewart tonight's the night
8 peter frampton show me the way
9 anita meyer you can do it
10 fox s­s­s single bed


None of the songs in the US top where even in the dutch top 40 that week.
Silly love songs was a small hit later that year.
Kiss and say goodbye entered the Charts also later and Became one ofr the best selling singles of 1976.

 

Grant, Jimbo, my wife says I love everything from the 70s purely due to nostalgia, but I think the decade was loaded with great stuff. I was 10, almost 11, at the time of the U.S. bicentennial, and I think about everything on this list is great, with the possible exception of the Starland Vocal Band, although I liked that back then as well. Rather than the vocal harmonies, I recall that I liked the special effects of the rockets blasting off...

 

My sentiments exactly.

 

Friends,

I was 25 on our 200 birthday. I was separated from my wife of 6 years (we eventually divorced)....so many years ago! From my standpoint, a great time in music. Top 40 still meant a wide variety of music. I was never a huge Silly Love Songs fan but, I enjoy the song--great sonics, by the way. Afternoon Delight is the "throw away" for me, although it is definitely a time period piece. Sara Smile is basically elevator music today. More, More More and Get Up And Boogie (That's Right) are pure Disco tracks that really helped Disco and Dance music gain more Top 40 acceptance. The real gems for me on this chart are I'll Be Good To You and Kiss And Say Goodbye, both are Soul-oriented hits that still have a freshness about them. Love Is Alive was the follow-up to Dream Weaver as I recall.

Thanks, Dave!

Bob