You Are should've been the #1 off his debut, but it stalled at #4 behind a remarkably legendary top three in March 1983, the biggest single off the biggest album ever and the breakthrough American hits from two UK bands who'd come to define the decade. I agree with others that Truly is a lesser version of Still. I think it owes it's charttopping status to being his first official solo single (as Endless Love was a duet) and from goodwill. I much prefer the onslaught of hits from Can't Slow Down to this.
I was hoping not to jump ahead with that follow-up that stalled at #4, but that's the one they play to this day. Now, as to your "and from goodwill" - I hope you're not referring to the thrift shop chain . . .
As I recall, Richie was a writer or co-writer of at least #1 in every year from about 1978 to 1986. Was "Truly" the only one he had in 1982? (We're near the end of the year now, should be safe to answer that).
Yes, that's correct. His last #1 stretched into the first two weeks of 1986, which extended the number of years of writing/co-writing a #1 song.
Always liked "Truly", nice ballad. "You Are" was more of a take it or leave it song for me. Overplayed at the time and to this day on oldies stations. Both were #1 on the AC Chart.
Well Goodwill is definitely a place to check out if you're looking for Lionel's first three solo records on vinyl lol
As was I . I never loathed the song and still don't. I can hear why it went to #1 and just know that it's not what I like in a number one song. It strikes me how similar the early '70s were to the early '8os in that pop music didn't know where it was going in either case, so you would get wide variety of hits from different musical styles as no one knew exactly what would work or sell. In the '70s that gave us #1 hits like Sammy Davis Jr.'s "Candyman" and the Osmonds "One Bad Apple." In the '80s this took the fashion of "Truly" by Lionel Richie. I've always thought it was interesting that Lionel was "everywhere" in the early '80s then just disappeared for the most part until appearing wonderfully on the last few seasons of American Idol - he has been "truly" delightful during the first two episodes of Idol so far this season. P.S. Also find it interesting that We Are The World and Live Aid were kind of the launching pad for many (U2) that would send many careers to whole new levels of success, but was more of a swan song for Lionel.
We have several more years of hits for Lionel but he kind of took himself out of the equation by taking a seriously long break after Dancing On The Ceiling. Taking ten years off outside of a couple new songs on a Greatest Hits album will do that. He was a steady hitmaker up to 1987, so he's got plenty more time on this thread with his biggest selling album still to come
BTW he looks pretty amazing at 70, and yes I know he has had a ton of work done obviously, but still...
Great observation!! Yes! Amen to that! I actually kinda liked "You Are", although it got overplayed. At least it has a pulse. Yeah, I was gonna say this when "Truly" bobbed to the top of the toilet bowl. I didn't like his Can't Slow Down hits, and they were relentlessly overplayed, but all of them were better than this boring crap. At least I could see how they became hits.
I shelled out megabucks for this in 1983, hoping for new stereo on some favorites and filling a few holes in my then-fledgling music collection (I was 16...that's a lot of snow shoveling). Well, it turns out the personnel involved in the recordings were brought back into the studio to reminisce about the songs...and stepped right on the intros and fades to every @#$% track on the records. Except "Truly" and "Endless Love", Motown's two then-current-ish smash hits...both of which I loathed. Anyway, that's my "Truly" story. 1983 was probably the last time I suffered through it.
This was during the peak of Olivia Newton-John’s Physical era, and this influence is all over Manchester’s live performance: We take it for granted, with all of the professional choreography used by pop stars for decades now. But back then, a female pop artist owning the stage like Newton-John and Manchester were doing was pretty liberating.
At least the Partridge Bunch didn't win! LOL Yeah, the Grammys have a pretty horrible track record through the years. But it sure is fun to look back and ask, what were they thinking?
Up Where We Belong You can practically hear the credits running... This is precisely the kind of turgid, endlessly overblown ballad I can't stand. So naturally it won an Oscar. Well played, Academy! Joe Cocker deserves so much better. He was a one-of-a-kind character. The Belushi impersonation is a bit mean spirited, but still fairly accurate. When performing, Cocker looked like he was constantly about to tip over due to drink, but the results were still mesmerizing. His cover of With A Little Help From My Friends is as bombastic as it gets, but it still works and doesn't do any shame to the original. I especially love when he comes in for the second Do You Need anybody verse, and rather than even try to sing the lyric, he just screams. Inappropriate? Maybe, but still brilliant. Sometimes, you just gotta scream. He cashed in on the Beatles train a little more after that with a great cover of She Came in Through the Bathroom Window, and was the original intended recipient of Something before George came to his senses and recorded it with the Fabs. Fun aside: I was on the winning team for my company's Oscar trivia competition a few weeks ago. In one segment, the host played ten Oscar winning songs, and we had to name the artist and movie. This was one of them, and amazingly, I was the ONLY person who got it right. I'm so old. Below: Olivia, aka the cutest things to come from Australia since the koala bear, needs to slow down, I had a hard time understanding all the nominees! Also, holy crap, Buffy Sainte Marie co-wrote this song? The folk singer? Didn't know that! That's like discovering Dylan co-wrote Eye of the Tiger!
I don't think it took 40 years to become questionable. After maybe two or three years, by the early 80s, it was already apparent that the Cars and the Police were going to be a bigger deal than A Taste of Honey, and Prince was right behind them. Having said that, we are stuck in 2020, so yes, we will be looking back 40 years... Sherman, activate the WayBack machine!
I'd mentioned this before, several posts up. It's why I said this would have been the highest-charted song to her name.
Instead of lousy ballads, here is a great ballad that was released in the fall of 1982. It did not top the charts - naturally. It only reached #62, but would become more familiar in later years due to its use in movie & tv soundtracks.
Yes, I had this too but I can top that...I bought it again a couple years ago (the first copy was gone due to the big vinyl purge I did in the 90’s). I would love to meet the genius that thought putting cheesy audio captions between the songs was a good idea. Geez, at the very least, they should have let the artists just talk. Instead, we get horribly scripted lines like “ weaving a tapestry of soul and blah blah blah” and most of them are reading it so bad it sounds like they are reading! Just truly awful stuff and a huge intrusion to those tracks.
True enough. And that video is so iconic I don’t even need to see it again to recall it. I had the laserdisc video of that album. Was quite good for it’s time, and I still enjoy the album from time to time. Was able to get one of those “MCA Audiophile” versions on vinyl a few years ago.
I don’t think of the Partridge Family as such, I think of them as the Wrecking Crew and even have my divider card labeled that way. They really let those musicians run with those songs and if you like pop the first four albums are very good. You could certainly do worse for that period! David had a good voice and it was the WCrew singing the rest of the vocals, and all those iconic Wrecking Crew names were on some of the credits as well (like Tommy T on drums). Fun stuff really.
Well, in it’s defense it does go beautifully with the movie imo, and we have to remember that is what it was written for. And it was a big film, so I’m sure that influenced the voters. I think because of Joe’s vocal (and I’m a big fan of Jennifer too) it did work for what it was. Yes, it’s one heck of a big and bombastic song, that I grant you. It’s one’s thing or it isn’t. Not surprised it’s polarizing. I think had most anyone else sang on it, it would not have worked. I thought those two voices serviced the song well.
