May 14, 1988 Part Two

Nothing new on the 70s front this week, so let's get straight back to the business of 1988.

20 - "My Girl," Suavé
19 - "Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car," Billy Ocean
18 - "Dreaming," Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
17 - "Together Forever," Rick Astley
16 - "Everything Your Heart Desires," Daryl Hall and John Oates

The second half begins with the only major hit for the man born Waymond Anderson, a New Jack Swing cover of the Temptations classic.  Unfortunately, Anderson's story hasn't been a happy one since.  He's currently serving a life sentence in prison for torching a crack house and killing an addict who was inside at the time, a crime he still insists he did not commit.  Well, that sucks.

Billy Ocean is back from last time, asking a woman to move from his fantasies to his automobile.  Still just okay.

Next are OMD with their last American hit, a bouncy bit of synth-pop about trying to win a woman back.  All right, but they've done much better.  And it seems kind of phoned in, which is perhaps not surprising for a new track tacked on to a greatest hits compilation.

Then it's Rick Astley with his second and last American #1.  Very similar to "Never Gonna Give You Up" both musically and lyrically, but slightly more catchy.  And I don't think it would make nearly as effective an internet meme.

This section closes with Daryl and John's last Top Ten hit.  It's a song about someone who doesn't know how good they have it, so they keep searching for something better that probably doesn't exist.  Their sound was up-to-date for '88, but still, they weren't quite fitting in.  Two years later, they'd try co-writing with Jon Bon Jovi, and while I liked the resulting #11, "So Close," it was clear that their time as radio stalwarts was passing.  But they had a hell of a run.

15 - "Prove Your Love," Taylor Dayne
14 - "Piano in the Dark," Brenda Russell featuring Joe Esposito
13 - "Two Occasions," The Deele
12 - "Wait," White Lion
11 - "Where Do Broken Hearts Go," Whitney Houston

This bunch is led off by Taylor Dayne's returning hit.  I have to say, I can't recall anything that she ever recorded that did anything for me.

Nine years after first hitting the charts with "So Good, So Right," American-born, Canadian-raised Brenda Russell had second and biggest hit with this sophisticated ballad about being seduced by a lover's nocturnal keyboard stills.  I like it more than you'd think.  And yes, that's Mr. "You're the Best Around," on backup vocals.

Next is The Deele, a Cincinnati R&B group whose membership included two future music industry heavy-hitters, Antonio "L.A." Reid and Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds.  On this, their biggest hit, Babyface waxes lyrically about the positives of love affairs in the different seasons, then declared that their are only two times when he thinks of his lover, "that's day and night."  Smooth, boys.  Smooth as a baby's...well, face, I guess.

Then it's New York hair-metallers White Lion, fronted by Dane Mike Tramp, with their first, and to my ears, best hit.  Catchy, driving hard rock about wanting a lover to stay.  There's just an appealing desperation to the way Tramp sings "There's a place inside my heart that tells me hold out...hold out...hold out!"  And the chorus is just killer.  Maybe my favorite song in the entire pop-metal genre.

This quintet is closed out by the late Whitney and the ballad that gave her a seventh straight #1 hit.  There's really not much more to say.

Top Ten's coming, hide your heart, girl.

10 - "I Don't Want to Live Without You," Foreigner
The corporate-rock machine had their last Top 40 hit with this mushy, synth-heavy MOR ballad.  Nowhere near as good as "Waiting for a Girl Like You" or "I Want to Know What Love Is."  They definitely went out with a whimper,

9 - "Electric Blue," Icehouse
The second and last American hit for these Aussies was this pop-rocker about being paralyzed by love.  Or something like that.  Not bad, but "Crazy" was way, way better.

8 - "Naughty Girls (Need Love Too)," Samantha Fox
The biggest American hit for Britain's Princess of Page 3 was this hip-hop-flavored collaboration with Full Force about a promiscuous lady discovering that she wants a relationship afterall.  Disposable, but not without charm.  And her rapping...not good.

7 - "Angel," Aerosmith
The resurrected rockers return with their biggest hit to that point.  Still earns most of its goodwill from me for not being "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing."

6 - "Always on My Mind," The Pet Shop Boys
The British synth duo originally performed this song on a TV special commemorating the tenth anniversary of Elvis Presley's death.  It was so well-received that they decided to release it, and not only did it achieve the prestige of being the Christmas #1 in the U.K., it also was the band's fifth and final American Top Ten.  The coolness of the synths make a nice contrast to the warmth of the lyrics.  My favorite version.

5 - "Pink Cadillac," Natalie Cole
This Bruce Springsteen-penned song about a car as a thinly-veiled sexual metaphor first appeared in 1984 as the B-side to "Dancing in the Dark."  Four years later, Ms. Cole gave it a lite-funk treatment, complete with car crash sound effects, and had one of her highest-charting hits ever.  I'm not sure she quite got the innuendo, but she sang it okay.  The arrangement just sucks.

4 - "One More Try," George Michael
The better half of Wham! had his third straight #1 form Faith with this lush ballad about a man who is reluctant to begin a new relationship due to past heartbreak.  In the end, however, he decides to give love another chance.  This is just solid, well-constructed pop.  George's best moment.

3 - "Wishing Well," Terence Trent D'Arby
The American soulster who found success after moving to England returns with his #1 retro-soul sensation.  He could have had many more hits than he did if he'd stayed the course, but he decided to take detours and experiment, and that often leads to commercial downturns.  I admire him for following his bliss, but I can't say I wouldn't have liked a few more pop gems like this.

2 - "Shattered Dreams," Johnny Hates Jazz
This British trio got its name because one of the group's members really had a jazz-hating brother named Johnny.  One of its other members was the son of 60s and 70s pop impresario Mickie Most.  The band had their first and by far their biggest hit with this midtempo pop ballad about being betrayed by a lover.  A fairly decent song.  If you're going to be known as a one-hit wonder, you could do worse as one hits go.

And 24 years ago, the top song in the U.S.A. was...

1 - "Anything For You," Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine
The Latin-pop ensemble, now headlined by their singer, scored their first charttopper with this ballad about being open to doing anything to make a leaving lover happy, even giving him up.  Okay song, well-sung, but not my thing.  But Gloria's voice deserved to be on top.

This week's NotCaseys were "Don't Worry, Be Happy" by Bobby McFerrin, "Look Away" by Chicago, "Bad Medicine" by Bon Jovi, and "Wild, Wild West" by The Escape Club.  And thre were two LDDs.  First, a man dedicated Survivor's "The Search is Over" to his true love, who he found right under his nose after years of looking for "the perfect girl."  And in the second, a teenage Cambodian refugee dedicated Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" to his family, who helped him survive the bloody reign of the Khmer Rouge.

Done for another week.  More to come, as those between-commercial pictures on Johnny Carson used to say.