Billboard's Hot Soul Top 10 Singles, week ending May 7, 1977

OK, here's an R&B chart for this week. I picked it because it was different than what the pop top 10 chart represented that week. A few of you will be alienated by this chart, and, for those who vote, I know which one or two will get the most votes simply becauase of the majority of this forum's familiarity with them. So...

Billboard's Hot Soul Top 10 Singles, week ending May 7, 1977:

1. Got To Give It Up Pt. 1 - Marvin Gaye
2. The Pride (Part 1) - The Isley Brothers
3. Whodunit - Tavares
4. I'm Your Boogie Man - K.C. & The Sunshine Band
5. Sir Duke - Stevie Wonder
6. The Pinocchio Theory - Bootsy's Rubber Band
7. I Wanna Do It To You - Jerry Butler
8. You're Throwing A Good Love Away - Spinners
9. Your Love - Marlyn McCoo & Billy Davis, Jr.
10. It Feels So Good To Be Loved So Bad - Manhattans

Here are my obserbvations:

1. The cool thing is that Marvin never recorded this song, at least in the way it turned out. This was the creation of engineer Art Stewart. Stewart always left the tape rolling as Marvin did scratch vocals. Gaye often worked out a song in the studio, as that's where he was comfortable. At some point, Stewart decided he could create a song out of it with some creative editing and mixing, and adding party sounds. Marvin heard it and loved it.

2. Another funk-by-the-numbers jam by the Isley Brothers. It kept them on the top of the charts and maintained their funk cred. It's off their powerful "Go For Your Guns" album, but the song was by no means their best. IMO, that distinction went to "Livin' In The Life".

3. A routine soul number by the Tavares brothers. It's an OK song, but I felt that it suffered from bad EQ, like most of their materiel from this period.

4. Producers Harry Wayne Casey and and Richard Finch could do so much with so little! Anyone listening to this for the lyrics will walk away shaking their head. The secret of this repettitive R&B jam is in the musical buildup with each verse. You don't notice it when you listen to it, though. The song, like two others on this chart, hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

5. I know. Besides Marvin Gaye, this one will get the most votes.

6. I honestly don't remember this song. I just recall not liking this band very much. Just because it's funk doesn't mean i'll like it.

7. This...this song came from his one-off on Motown! Jerry Butley produced a very interesting concept album called "Suite For the Single Girl", which sounds very much like it could have been a movie soundtrack. If you find a copy of the album, check it out. It will grow on you. I liked it immediately.

8. I honestly don't know this song. I'll have to check it out. I stopped listening to the Spinners after The Rubberband Man", and didn't pick them back up until "Working My Way back To You/Forgive me Girl" in 1980.

9. This hit the top pop top 10 too. It has the then-married couple, formerly of the pop group the Fifth Dimension in top form from their debut album on ABC Records.

10. Again, I don't know this song. I'll have to check it out too.

Anyway, have at it.

 

Stevie Wonder this time even though I love the Isleys.

 

This is the correct thread, guys!

 

Marvin's the man, love that tune.

 

Grant's explanation clinched it for me: Marvin's the pick.

 

I only know half of the songs, but my choice is Marvin Gaye, especially the full 11:52 version. It was #1 for a total of 5 non-consecutive weeks on the R&B chart, interrupted for one week each by Whodunit and Sir Duke. For years, I thought that Got to Give It Up was recorded live because it was the fourth side of the double LP Live at the London Palladium. And I still have no idea what the song is actually about!

From Wikipedia:
Musicians
The song was originally recorded in a three minute version, and was edited to almost 12 and minutes for the album. Featured on the recording were Bugsy Wilcox on drums, Frankie Beverly of Maze, banging on a milk bottle with spoons and Gaye himself playing keyboards, RMI synthesizer bass, and a glass bottle filled half way with grapefruit juice. The saxophone in the song was played by Fernando Harkness with guitar played by Johnny McGhee,who was a member of the group, LTD.
—Arthur (Art) Stewart. July 7,2008.

"Got to Give It Up" was mostly sung by Gaye on both lead and background through the duration of the song especially in the second half. Marvin's brother, Frankie Gaye and Janis Hunter, who would become Gaye's second wife, provided background vocals near the end of the first half of the song.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Got_To_Give_It_Up

 

I chose Whodunnit, and I bet I will be the only one doing so...cool lyrics and good harmony, though the lyrics are obviously "dated"...which is not a bad thing, but many people use "dated" as a pejorative; I don't know the same 3 songs Grant cited, so we must have been listening to the same radio in '77! and BTW, the "then-married" couple, they are still married, 40 years strong now

 

I go with Marvin.

 

I voted for "Got To Give It Up" though I never heard it until years later. "Sir Duke" & "I'm Your Boogie Man" were the only ones on that list that were played on the radio here in Kelowna at that time.

 

It's loosely about a wallflower at a party coming out of his shell.

 

the pinnochio theory was a top tenner? how could i pssibly vote for anything else????? i played this album to death that year.

sir duke is a good one too.

 

Got To Give It Up

 

I Got To Give It Up for Marvin.

 

First choice was Marvin Gaye, but went with Stevie Wonder.

 

I went with the Isleys. One of my favorites from them, from one of my favorite Isley Brothers albums.

 

I went with the world’s funkiest sing-a-long.

 

I love that Marvin Gaye song but Sir Duke was one of my school bus songs. Marvin is a VERY close second. Your Love is third.

 

Sir Duke probably out of that list, The Pride isn't a bad song either.

 

I believe this was the last Phillipe Wynne-led single released by the group. Decent song, though not at the level of many of the earlier singles that featured Wynne. It peaked at #5 on the R&B chart and just missed the pop top 40, peaking at #43 there.

Yet I haven't heard it played on non-satellite radio in ages. Even "You Don't Have to Be a Star", which I used to hear fairly regularly, doesn't seem to get much play nowadays. Odd.


As for the others on the list, I think #2 and #5 are great, though #5 suffers a bit from overplay-fatigue for me. I'm not real crazy about #3 or #4 and I don't think I'm familiar with #7 or #10. I'd love to go with "Pinocchio Theory",(Grant, you're not a Bootsy fan?!) but "Got to Give it Up" gets the nod.

 

Yep, that's the hook. I loved all of those KC and the Sunshine Band singles up until the album after Part 3. A really funky band

Never cared for it. The Spinners/Thom Bell were bone-tired around this time.
Phillipe didn't sound too engaged, probably thinking of that solo career that never took off.


I voted for Jerry Butler's "I Wanna Do It To You." I remember it climbing the charts, had/have the 45, certainly still have the album it came from and it's a good one. As much as I played "The Pinocchio Theory" about ten years after its release I had no idea it was even a single.


What's not to love about "Got To Give It Up." My favorite part is Jan singing.

 

damn cool list!

 

Wynne definitely had one foot out the door by the time that one was recorded. Like I posted, I think it's ok, but I'd have to go with the consensus that "The Rubberband Man" was the group's last great moment with Wynne.

I found "I Want to Do it to You" on YouTube. Nice jam and, from what I read, the Ice Man's last single to reach the R&B top 10.

Anyone familiar with the Manhattans song?

 

Marvin's my vote as well.

 

Not the hook, but in the second chorus, the piano is slightly brought up in the mix. In the third, the horns are featured in progressive chords. In the breakdown, it's the guitar and piano. During the bridge, they all gradually build with echo applied to K.C's vocal until it all erupts into the fanale that leads us into the next song.

Now, if I can just get that image of K.C.'s bobbing head of hair and his smirk while he plays his keyboard and sings.



Never cared for it. The Spinners/Thom Bell were bone-tired around this time.
Phillipe didn't sound too engaged, probably thinking of that solo career that never took off.

I had never heard the song back in the day. It wasn't until about seven years ago that I even discovered the album. I wouldn't call it a classic Jerry Butler album, but it was a nice concept. Still, I recommend it for anyone looking for soul music in the late 70s. It's on the same level as Bill Withers' "Menagere" album from 1978.

 

I listened to it last night. It's nothing more than the typical disco-fused crap that was becoming common by veteran soul artists. They could do better than that song.