Concluding.
20 - "I Gotcha," Joe Tex
19 - "Troglodyte (Cave Man)," The Jimmy Castor Bunch
18 - "I Saw the Light," Todd Rundgren
17 - "Outa-Space," Billy Preston
16 - "Diary," Bread
We start this part with the return of Joe Tex and his sexual demands. You thought he didn't see ya now, didja? Well, he did. Sorry about that.
Then it's funk jokesters The Jimmy Castor Bunch, taking us back to man's earliest origins and the mating rituals of our primitive ancestors. Apparently, even at the dawn of history, people used phrases like "sock it to me," and "right on!" Silly, stupid fun.
Next is Todd Rundgren with his first post-Runt hit. This is just bouncy, piano-driven pop-rock perfection. You can't listen to this without smiling and feeling warm in the heart. Deny it at your peril.
Then it's Billy Preston with a funky instrumental that we encountered in the first few weeks of BGC. Yes, things are really starting to come back around. And as I said before, I have plans for that. You'll just have to wait and see.
The group ends with Bread's David Gates finding his lover's journal under a tree. Of course, the bastard reads it. And he finds out that she's in love with someone else. Presumably someone who has respect for a woman's privacy. Serves you right, Davey boy.
15 - "It's Going to Take Some Time," The Carpenters
14 - "Walking in the Rain with the One I Love," Love Unlimited
13 - "Little Bitty Pretty One," The Jackson 5
12 - "Song Sung Blue," Neil Diamond
11 - "(Last Night) I Didn't Get to Sleep at All," The 5th Dimension
Karen and Richard kick us off with a Carole King number about learning about love from the only reliable teacher, experience. It's big, it's warm, it's another winner.
Next are the R&B vocal trio Love Unlimited, who enjoy taking strolls in downpours with the right company. It's a big, joyful ballad that sounds older than it is, but that's a good thing. It stood out. And near the end, there's a phone call segment, and I think you'll recognize the voice at the other end. Ohhh baby.
Then the Jackson 5 show up with a cover of a 1957 hit by Thurston Harris that I'm sure you've heard (it opens "Mmmmmm Mmmmmm mmm mmm mm mmmm," Well, it's hard to get across, but you probably know it.). Anyway, it's a decent version, but the boys rotate on lead vocals on the verses, and the relative dearth of Michael may have been what kept this out of the Top Ten
Neil Diamond makes yet another appearance here with the mellowest song about singing the blues I've ever heard. He may say that "you can sing it with a cry in your voice," but I hear no trace of it here. Oh well, he ain't perfect, he's our Neil.
And we finish with the 5th Dimension, singing about an insomnia that could not be cured even with a sleeping pill. I believe the diagnosis would be "restless heart syndrome." Yeah, I'm not sure about that one either.
Ten remain:
10 - "Look What You Done For Me," Al Green
The good Reverend again, singing appreciatively about a special lady. You know what? Al and Barry should have done an album together. Side one could have been Al telling a woman how much he loves her and how wonderful she is, and then side two would be Barry letting her know all the sexy things he wants to do to her wonderful-ass self. I'm telling you, no bachelor pad would have felt complete without a copy.
9 - "Hot Rod Lincoln," Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen
This country-rock band made a big first impression on pop with this cover of a 50s rockabilly song about a race in which the singer's Model A chases down a Cadillac, only to get pulled over by the cops. There were high hopes for this group, but unfortunately, they will go down as one-hit wonders. I don't know enough of their stuff to say "too bad." But I'll bet it is.
8 - "Nice to Be With You," Gallery
This is another song that I really don't get. From the passionless title to the generic pop delivery, it's close to wallpaper. But I guess the singer has a bit of an edge to his voice, and it was produced by ex-Motown Funk Brother Dennis Coffey. So maybe it's appeal is explicable. But for me, a big meh.
7 - "Tumbling Dice," The Rolling Stones
Last week we came across Linda Ronstadt's cover of this, and I told you that I though it was missing the appropriate grit and grime. Well, this week we've got the original classic from Exile on Main Street, and hearing it more than reinforces my point. There's a certain way to sing lines like "there's fever in the funk house now." Mick Jagger knows that way. Linda doesn't. And that's the difference.
6 - "Morning Has Broken," Cat Stevens
Cat again, singing about birds and dew and sunlight and all that stuff. As I've said before, this is the side of Stevens that I can only take in small doses. His is a catalog I can cherry-pick, but not get too involved in.
5 - "Sylvia's Mother," Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show
Before they recorded author/poet/cartoonist/songwriter Shel Silverstein's "Cover of the Rolling Stone," the good Dr. and his band scored their first hit with a more serious Silverstein song, in which the narrator is trying to say one last goodbye to an old lover who's leaving to marry "a fella down Galveston way," only to be thwarted by the girl's protective mother. It's a heartbreaker, made especially poignant by the off-hinged way the singer delivers the lines about the operator asking for more money to be deposited "for the next...three...minutes." Unquestionably a classic.
4 - "The Candy Man," Sammy Davis Jr.
The showbiz trailblazer and Rat Packer had his only #1 single with this frothy cover of a song from the 1971 film version of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. His backup singers are our old, bland buddies the Mike Curb Congregation. Probably not the song a legend like Sammy ought to be best known for, but I don't think it's too embarrassing.
3 - "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face," Roberta Flack
Robeta was coming off a whopping six-week run at the top with this sultry Ewan MacColl cover. Sex on a stick, this is. Romantic, meaningful sex, but sex nonetheless.
2 - "Oh Girl," The Chi-Lites
Named after their Windy City hometown, and led by the awesomely named Eugene Record, this vocal group followed up the #3 "Have You Seen Her" by topping the pop chart with this simple yet fantastic plea for his woman not to leave him. It has you right from that sad harmonica at the beginning. They'd only have a couple more minor pop hits, but this is more than enough to make them legend.
And leading this particular pop parade was...
1 - "I'll Take You There," The Staple Singers
Pops Staples and his children hit the heights of popularity with this simple, horn-adorned invitation to come to a place where "ain't nobody cryin', ain't nobody worried." And of course, you want to go. And as long as this song lasts, you're there.
The NotCaseys were "Layla" by Derek and the Dominos, "Take it Easy" by the Eagles, and "Beautiful Sunday" by Daniel Boone.
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