This week we go back to April Fool's Day 39 years ago. Though it was a couple months later that the year's biggest prank took place at a Washington hotel. And it would take two more years to get to the punchline.
40 - "King Heroin," James Brown
39 - "Slippin' Into Darkness," War
38 - "No One to Depend on," Santana
37 - "Could it Be Forever," David Cassidy
36 - "Family of Man," Three Dog Night
35 - "Vincent," Don McLean
34 - "Glory Bound," The Grass Roots
33 - "Hurting Each Other," The Carpenters
32 - "Suavecito," Malo
31 - "Do Your Thing," Isaac Hayes
This section is bookended by two soul legends. James Brown leads off with this week's Uneasy Rider. Essentially a spoken word piece backed by a spare, mournful ballad track, The Godfather delivers a sermon in which he describes a dream where he encountered the personification of Heroin, who recited an epic poem about how he enslaves those who experiment with him, to the point where they are riding a white horse to Hell. It's certainly more effective than anything Nancy Reagan came up with in the 80s, but not something I would have expected to have even this level of chart success. And the late great Isaac Hayes is here with a slow groover that imparts the timeless message "If it feels good, do it." Like all the rest of his non -"Shaft" singles from this era, it didn't even go Top 20. Doesn't seem fair.
There is a trio of latin-flavored numbers here. War had their first major hit with
the spooky "Slippin' Into Darkness", whose tune was heavily influneced by Bob Marley's "Get Up, Stand Up." And no, you don't have to know that beforehand to figure that out. Santana had a minor hit with a track in which Carlos' guitar is even more dominant than on their previous singles. And the Santana family's presence is felt again at 32, as Carlos' brother Jorge's band Malo are there with their biggest hit, a midtempo ballad that began as a poem the singer wrote for a girl in his algebra class, and ended up being considered by some "the Chicano National Anthem." I don't think any of the notes I passed in class had that potential, but maybe I should have saved some so I could check.
And there is always MOR. David Cassidy did his teen idol thing sans Partridges with this ballad where he wonders whether or not he's found "the one." Somehow, I don't think he did. 3DN return with something I didn't recall, but I liked it. It rocked, by their standards, plus the "rebuilding after the Apocalypse" lyrical theme reminded me of a better song, Talking Heads' "(Nothing But) Flowers." Don "American Pie" McLean is here with his second-best known song, a tribute to that artist who cut his ear off. It's pretty and poetic, but if I want to here a song about an artist, I''ll probably pick David Bowie's "Andy Warhol" most times. The Grass Roots had one of their last hits with this upbeat, inconsequential hit. Again, I care less about their Creed Bratton-less incarnation. Karen and Richard are back again, lamenting the cruelties lovers inflict on each other "without ever knowing why. Karen belongs right up there on the Mount Rushmore of musical heartbreak queens with Billie Holliday, Patsy Cline and...I'm not sure who else to put there right now.
30 - "Take a Look Around," The Temptations
29 - "Every Day of My Life," Bobby Vinton
28 - "Runnin' Away," Sly and the Family Stone
27 - "We've Got to Get it On Again," The Addrisi Brothers
26 - "Taurus," Dennis Coffey
25 - "Crazy Mama," J.J. Cale
24 - "The Day I Found Myself," The Honey Cone
23 - "Ain't Understanding Mellow," Jerry Butler and Brenda Lee Eager
22 - "Give Ireland Back to the Irish," Wings
21 - "Bang a Gong (Get it On)," T. Rex
Big 'ol batch of R&B. The Temptations have another one of their socially conscious records here, and while it's by no means the equal of "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" or "Ball of Confusion," it's definitely one to seek out. Sly and the Family Stone bring some sweet funk on this song about how one can never escape one's problems. "Look at you fooling you," Sly almost taunts. Dennis Coffey, who'd scored a Top Ten the previous year with "Scorpio," returned a year later with another astrologically-titled instrumental. It's proto-disco, with some fantastic guitar work, but unfortunately, it couldn't quite match its predecessor's success. Thus we were spared more Zodiac tunes, which is too bad. As an Aquarian, all I've got is that song from "Hair," and I got sick of that long ago. Girl-group The Honey Cone, best known for songs about pursuing men ("Want Ads," "Stick-Up") had their last hit with a song about being empowered by being dumped. A welcome change of heart. And Jerry Butler and Brenda Lee Eager again try to explain what's so mellow about understanding. Still don't quite get that. But they seem happy, so what do I know?
Not a lot of the easy stuff here, though. Bobby Vinton is here with a countryish tune about how much he loves someone. Boring. Shoulda sang a verse in Polish, Bob. Worked for "My Melody of Love." And Don and Dick Addrisi, former members of their family's Flying Addrisis acrobat act, had the first of their two hits this decade with this state-of-the-art lite-popper about rekindling their relationship. It's not a great song, but it's okay enough that I'll forgive them for writing "Never My Love," a big hit for those musical supervillains The Association.
What's left is rock. J.J. Cale, a respected singer-songwriter best known for writing the Eric Clapton hits "After Midnight" and "Cocaine," had his only hit for himself with this laid-back, bluesy trip about the unbablanced lady he can't get enough of. Paul McCartney, not as well-known for wandering into politics as some of the other members of his old band, decided to debut his new group Wings with a song, wtitten in response to the Bloody Sunday massacre, asking the British government to get out of Northern Ireland. Stepping into the mess that would be euphemistically known as "The Troubles" hardly seemed like the greatest career move, and the song was predictably banned by the BBC. But it did have success elsewhere, and the band would eventually establish itself with less controversial fare. I'd heard of this song for years, but this was the first time I'd heard it, and I've gotta say, muckraking aside, it's a catchy tune. Paul did know his way around a melody. Finally, T. Rex return from our last trip to this year with their only American hit, which set a bar for rock raunch that Grand Funk tried to clear a year later with "We're an American Band." They fell just short. Marc Bolan > Mark Farner.
Tomorrow: A Cher pair, a Donny duo, and a couple of 'tics.
No comments:
Post a Comment