The Weekly Top 10-December 5, 1970

Hello all,

Yeah, I missed last week, but I misplaced my book. Sorry! But, I found it, so here it is, plucked randomly, here is this week's chart.

December 5, 1970.

Some of you may not think so, but I really like this chart! It was a great time in my life, and there was lots of good music around. I was nine years old at the time, and like most kids, they were counting down the days until school let out for Christmas vacation. Anyway, the #1 song was pop fluff, but it was good fluff, played by some of the top L.A. studio sidemen around including Hal Blaine.
The #2 hit was actually recorded in 1967, for Smokey Robinson & The Miracles' "Make It Happen" LP, and was stuck on as the last track, forgotten, until 1970, when a DJ, looking for something different, decided to play the last track on that album. Well the song took off, and Berry Gordy ordered up a dedicated mono mix to release as a single. The single sounds substantially different than the stereo mix, and I understand there are two of those!

Hmmm...my sister bought the single "We've Only Just Begun", but I liked it so much, I played it constantly until she broke the record in two. Little did I know that this was the start of a trend. Every time I got a record and played it a lot, my sister would break it, or throw it away without my knowing. I lost some good Three Dog Night singles that way!

We didn't own "I'll be There", and I didn't get the song until the next year. I used to go to the corner snack store named Meadors, where the kids and teens hung out and played pinball and pool. They had a Wurlitzer (sp?) juke box and I would play the song there.

I like and have all of the songs on this chart, but at the time I had never heard "Heaven Help Us All". In fact, I didn't really hear any Stevie Wonder music during this time period. At the time, I was still groovin' to his earlier 60s sides like "Blowin' In The Wind", "Shoo Be Doo Be Doo Da Day", and other single I personally owned at the time. (To this day, Stevie is reportedly upset about them getting the title wrong. It's actually "Shoo Be Doo Be Do DON day"!)

I think Bryan Hyland's cover of the Impressions' "Gypsy Woman" was classy, and is right up there with Curtis Mayfield's original composition in quality. But, no one can beat Mayfield's sweet vocal delivery. Does this track exist in stereo?

Back in the day, I didn't have much memory of hearing "Fire And Rain" or "Share The Land", or the excellent "No Matter What".

The Biggest mover of that week was "My Sweet Lord"/"Isn't It A Pity" by George Harrison from 72-13. I LOVE that song. It's my favorite Harrison solo record ever, and I heard it on the radio constantly while we spent out Christmas in Southern California. At the same time, I heard The Temptations' "Ball Of Confusion"/"It's Summer" and, would you believe, "I Want You Back"/Who's Lovin' You" by the Jackson 5 for the first time that I could remember? My cousin gave my sister these two singles while we were in Carson. Oh, I did hear the two Jackson five tunes when they first came out, but I don't remember them in 1969. My other sister had the LP. I remember everything else from that album except that! Oh well...

Billboard Top 10, Week ending December 5, 1970:

1. I Think I Love You............................The Partridge Family
2. The Tears Of A Clown.....Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
3. Gypsy Woman...........................................Brian Hyland
4. I'll be There..............................................The Jackson 5
5. We've Only Just Begun..................................Carpenters
6. Fire And Rain.............................................James Taylor
7. One Less bell To Answer......................The 5th Dimension
8. No Matter What..............................................Badfinger
9. Heaven Help Us All...................................Stevie Wonder
10. Share The Land......................................The Guess Who

Have at it!

 

#10 is my fave (I'm biased....Canadian band!) Great harmonies on that song!

 

My favorite is #1. It's not even a guilty pleasure, just a classic pop song, beautifully written, impeccably played and recorded, with just enough over-the-top in David Cassidy's lead to make it a bit cheesy (but in a nice way). Can you tell I was perched in front of the TV every Friday night at 7:30 to catch the latest adventures of my favorite fake family rock band? The B-side, "Somebody Wants to Love You," is good too.

OK, nostalgia's taking over...time to dig out my Bell 45 of this and stare at the picture sleeve (the Partridges, in their crushed velvet suits, in front of the bus) while I spin both sides.

 

All of these are classics.

 

Mayfield made it a centerpiece of his live set after Hyland's hit. Check out the version on Curtis Live!; he plays it like he's trying to reclaim it.

 

WOW! Such positive responses, so far! oh, but Ed's writing his book, I see...

 

I've always liked Tears of a Clown.

Is that mono mix on any CD?

Joe

 

I like all of these songs with the exception of We've Only Just Begun (never cared for them but I do concede that their records were well crafted). I have yet to hear the Stevie Wonder songs.

 

I mean Stevie Wonder song.

 

That's a pretty solid Billboard list.

"The Tears Of A Clown" is my favorite but I must to admit to really diggin' "I Think I Love You" despite never liking the Partridge Family television program.

 

Great chart, Grant - and a major flashback to Christmas 1970, where my dad (on behalf of Santa) purchased 3 albums for me: The Carpenters' "Close To You," Joan Baez's "The First 10 Years" (before she drove that ole dixie down), and "The Partridge Family Album." And to prove I wasn't totally white-bread, I pouted and cajoled for a 4th album: The Jackson Five's "Third Album", but that came after the holiday.

 

I like all of these songs with the exception of #8, which I confess I don't recognize by reading its title. Perhaps I would recognize it if I heard it. The ones I remember hearing the most as a kid (I was also 9 years old at the time of this chart) were #1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 10.

 

Well, he had a hand in writing "Tears of a Clown," so you were hearing more Stevie than you realized!

 

Of this list, I have #1, 2, 5, 6, 7, and 8. I would've had #9 in my "official" collection, except I have yet to find a relatively good copy pressed by Columbia's Pitman, NJ plant (and I know copies from there exist, as I have a beat-up one). Oh, and I did hear #9 once or twice.

As for #2, I much prefer the mix as on this 45, compared to that on . . . Make It Happen (which, upon the success of the single, was retitled to match that top-seller). It also seems they poured additional instrumentation over the original, not unlike the "electrification" of Simon & Garfunkel's "The Sounds of Silence." In the case of the Smokey/Miracles record, the newer instrumentation makes it sound more alive (I.M.H.O.), as opposed to what sounds like a "by-the-numbers" quality that seems apparent on the original 1967 album from whence this emerged -- especially insofar as bassist James Jamerson[?] was concerned. (B.T.W., I prefer the mono 45 mix of "The Sounds of Silence," as well.)

In terms of #3, there's something of an irony here. Is it my imagination, or did any or all of the labels where Mr. Hyland had hits end up in the clutches -- er, hands of what is now Universal Music Group? ("Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" = Leader/Kapp; "Sealed With a Kiss" = ABC-Paramount; and then "Gypsy Woman" = UNI.) And also, this version produced by Del Shannon, this a decade after his own run on the charts ("Runaway," anyone?)

And good ol' #1 . . . it is likely the earliest Bell 45 to have been pressed by Columbia (I have yet to see a Columbia-made copy of Dawn's "Candida"). Funny, the single is mono, but "I Think I Love You," on the Columbia-pressed copies, has an "-S" suffix affixed to the matrix number on the label (whereas the flip, "Somebody Wants To Love You," has none).

 

No matter what you are
I will always be with you
Doesn't matter what you do girl
Ooh girl, with you

No matter what you do
I will always be around
Won't you tell me what you found girl
Ooh girl, won't you

 

Impressions version is THE version - hands down...

 

I love the Badfinger, Guess Who and James Taylor tracks. I find it ironic that my least favorite (by far) is the one at the top of the chart

 

yes. It's on the first Motown Hitsville USA box, and on the Smokey Robinson & The Miracles' box set. It may also be on the 1995 two-CD Anthology.

 

Oh, I know that. He wrote, produced, and played on it. He also did the same for the Spinners' "It's A Shame" from a couple of months before this chart. I was referring to his own stuff he was doing at the time.

 

I never doubted that you knew it, Grant. But did you know it in 1970? I didn't.

Wouldn't you love to hear a CD of Stevie singing the songs he wrote for others? "Tears of a Clown," "It's a Shame," "Tell Me Something Good," "Let's Get Serious," and "Now That We've Ended as Lovers" would be a nice start.

 

Excellent, Grant! Every record a memorable one. Even guilty pleasure #1.
Now what about that disco era chart you promised?

 

Eh, next week!

 

No, I was only nine years old. TBO, I was into the Archies more than anything at that time.

It would be cool to hear his take on them, but I don't think he would put the funk into them today.

 

I've heard 2,3,5 & 9. Needless to say 2 is an all time favourite...