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Influential Albums: 1416-1422
Fri., Mar. 29. 2024 3:35pm EDT
J. Jackson, lead singer and lyricist for ApologetiX here again.
Here are the latest entries in the "albums that influenced me" series I started writing in May 2020.
Note: Just because an album appears on this list doesn't mean I give it a blanket endorsement. Many of the secular albums on this list are mainly there because they wound up being spoofed by ApologetiX.
1416. Soul Hits of the '70s: Didn't It Blow Your Mind! Vol. 2 - Various Artists
Soul Hits of the '70s: Didn't It Blow Your Mind! Vol. 2 featured a dozen songs that reached their chart peak in 1970 (well, technically, one did so in late November '69). This collection wasn't nearly as hits-laden — Top 10 pop and R&B — as the other volume I owned, but it had its moments. As a matter of fact, one of them was by The Moments, "Love on a Two-Way Street" (#1 R&B, #3 pop). Another with identical chart positioning was an all-time favorite of mine, "Turn Back the Hands of Time" by Tyrone Davis (#1 R&B, #3 pop). Those were the only chart toppers on Vol. 2, although there were six additional selections that made the Top 10 on one chart or the other but not both: "Band of Gold" by Freda Payne (#3 pop, #20 R&B), "Maybe" by The Three Degrees (#4 R&B, #29 pop), "The Bells" by The Originals (#4 R&B, #12 pop), "Love or Let Me Be Lonely" by The Friends of Distinction (#6 pop, #13 R&B), "O-O-H Child" by The Five Stairsteps (#8 pop, #14 R&B), and "Girls It Ain't Easy" by The Honey Cone (#8 R&B, #68 pop). Of the four remaining cuts, I preferred "Are You Ready?" by Pacific Gas & Electric (#14 pop, #49 R&B) over "Love Land" by Charles Wright & The Watts 103rd Street Band (#16 pop, #23 R&B), "Viva Tirado - Part 1" by El Chicano (#28 pop, #20 R&B), and "Compared to What" by Les McCann & Eddie Harris (#85 pop, #35 R&B), although I found them all interesting.
1417. The Rockin' '70s - Various Artists
This compilation came courtesy of Sony Music Special Products and is not to be confused with a similarly-titled earlier entry on my list, Baby Boomer Classics: Rockin' Seventies. I bought The Rockin' '70s on cassette in the early '90s when looking for potential parodies for ApologetiX. It had only 10 tracks, but we've spoofed four of them already: "Long Cool Woman (In a Black Dress)" by The Hollies in 1999, "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" by Blue Öyster Cult in 2002, "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'" by Journey in 2009, and "Come and Get Your Love" by Redbone in 2024. If I recall correctly, the version of "I Want You To Want Me" by Cheap Trick on The Rockin' '70s was the original studio version. I couldn't believe how tame it was compared to the hit live version (like Clark Kent vs. Superman), although it did make it easier for me to figure out the lyrics in the verses. The rest of the contents are all over the place as far as style: "Black Magic Woman" by Santana and "Frankenstein" by Edgar Winter Group are legitimate rockers whereas "I Can Help" by Billy Swan is not. "Cruel to Be Kind" by Nick Lowe and "Baby Hold On" by Eddie Money are somewhere in between. There seems to be some confusion as to the official title of this collection. The cover clearly says The Rock N' 70's, but the actually cassette and the spine on the case said The Rockin' '70s. I'll go with the latter, because the I find the former to be icky.
1418. Billboard Top Rock 'n' Roll Hits: 1972 - Various Artists
Seven of the 10 tracks on this collection were #1 hits: "Alone Again (Naturally)" by Gilbert O'Sullivan, "I Can See Clearly Now" by Johnny Nash, "Black and White" by Three Dog Night, "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)" by Looking Glass, "A Horse With No Name" by America, "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" by The Temptations, and "My Ding-A-Ling" by Chuck Berry. The last one on that list is the one that seems to be appear on the fewest oldies compilations. As Fred Bronson wrote in The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits, "It's one of the crazier quirks of the rock era, that 'My Ding-a-Ling,' a forgettable rude novelty song, is Chuck Berry's only number one single." That's true, although I admit I liked it when I was growing up. In case you're wondering, the next two highest-charting hits by the man known as "The Father of Rock and Roll" were "Sweet Little Sixteen" (#2 for three weeks) and "School Day" (#3 for three weeks). Other Berry biggies that are arguably more famous now didn't chart as high: "Johnny B. Goode" and "Rock and Roll Music" peaked at #8, and "Roll Over Beethoven" only went to #29. Incidentally, Berry's backing band on "My Ding-A-Ling" was Average White Band (AWB), who would score their own #1 hit in 1975 with "Pick Up the Pieces." Getting back to Billboard Top Rock 'n' Roll Hits: 1972, there were two #2 hits, too: "Long Cool Woman (In a Black Dress)" by The Hollies and "Nights in White Satin" by The Moody Blues. The final track, "Back Stabbers" by The O'Jays, went to #3. It's one of my favorites; I'm a big fan of "what they do" on that song. Although "Long Cool Woman," "Nights in White Satin," and "Back Stabbers" missed the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100, all three of them hit #1 on the rival Cash Box chart. ApologetiX spoofed "A Horse With No Name" in 2015.
1419. Super Hits of the '70s - Have a Nice Day Volume 7 - Various Artists
Shining a spotlight on singles from 1971 and 1972, Super Hits of the '70s - Have a Nice Day Volume 7 featured two of the first tunes I ever remember liking as a kid — "One Tin Soldier" by Coven (#26) and "Joy" by Apollo 100 (#6). I knew all the words to the former, and there were no words to the latter. Three additional oldies on Have a Nice Day Volume 7 that I liked as a kid (and still enjoy) were "Brand New Key" by Melanie (#1), "Precious and Few" by Climax (#3), and "Sunshine" by Jonathan Edwards (#4). As if all that weren't enough, there was also "Do You Know What I Mean" by Lee Michaels (#6), a song I sang in my last bar band (in 1987) and later spoofed in ApologetiX (in 2019). Two others that brought back fond memories were "White Lies, Blue Eyes" by Bullet (#28) and "Don't Say You Don't Remember" by Beverly Bremers (#15). Ironically, I'd forgotten all about that second one until playing this disc. Don't tell Beverly I didn't remember. My favorite new discovery on this collection was "Hallelujah" by Sweathog (#33). That single charted four years before the TV show Welcome Back, Kotter made the term Sweathog fashionable. This "Hallelujah" is not the Leonard Cohen composition that was popularized by Jeff Buckley and Rufus Wainwright. No, Sweathog's song is a legitimate Gospel rocker. The most popular of the other three selections on Have a Nice Day Volume 7 was "The Witch Queen of New Orleans" by Redbone (#21) — the group's other Top 40 hit, charting a couple years before "Come and Get Your Love," although it has a very different vibe. The remaining two tracks were "Softly Whispering I Love You" by The English Congregation (#29), and the album's only non-Top 40 hit, "Son of My Father" by Giorgio (#46). I have already lamented in an earlier entry about that song only going to #91 in '72 for Chicory. Giorgio's version was recorded first and released a week earlier. The arrangement for each is very similar, although I like Chicory's better. Giorgio is better known by his full name Giorgio Moroder (a.k.a. "The Father of Disco") and is better remembered as the producer and co-writer of such songs as "Take My Breath Away" by Berlin, "Call Me" by Blondie, and too many hits to list by Donna Summer, starting with "Love to Love You Baby" in 1976 and continuing through 1981.
1420. Super Hits of the '70s - Have a Nice Day Volume 16 - Various Artists
None of the singles featured on Super Hits of the '70s - Have a Nice Day Volume 16 hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, but all of them reached the Top 40, although one just barely made it — "I'd Love to Change the World" by Ten Years After (#40). The song that precedes it on the all-time alphabetical list of Hot 100 singles is also on this collection: "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing" by The New Seekers (#7). Too bad Rhino had already put "I'd Love You to Want Me" by Lobo (#2) on Have a Nice Day Volume 9, or we'd have three in a row from that list on Volume 16. It would have fit the era: all 12 songs on this disc are from 1970-72. But that's not it for the "I'd" songs; there's also "Vehicle" by the Ides of March (#2). ApologetiX spoofed that tune in 2014, and it's the highest-charting single here, followed by "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" by Robert John (#3), "Ride Captain Ride" by Blues Image (#4), and "Daddy Don't You Walk So Fast" by Wayne Newton (#4). Believe it or not, that last one actually went to #1 on the charts of Billboard's chief competitors, Cash Box and Record World. My friend Greg Macaluso, who has played piano/keyboards on at least 20 ApologetiX parodies, was musical director for Wayne Newton in Las Vegas and Branson for 15 years. He even made an appearance with him (and Newton mentions Greg by name) in the 1997 film National Lampoon's Vegas Vacation. The second-lowest-charting single on Have a Nice Day Volume 16 is "Small Beginnings" by the English progressive group Flash (#29), which is built upon a riff that sounds quite a bit like The Who's "Pinball Wizard." It's not the only cut straight outta Whoville on this LP; there's also "Overture from Tommy" by The Assembled Multitude (#16). The rest of the tracks all charted within the 10-20 range: "Midnight Cowboy" by Ferrante & Teicher (#10), "Never Ending Song of Love" by Delaney & Bonnie (#13), "City of New Orleans" by Arlo Guthrie, and "Toast and Marmalade for Tea" (#20) by Australian rock band Tin Tin, a strange-sounding ballad produced by Bee Gee Maurice Gibb (who also played bass) that gradually wormed its way into my heart.
1421. Super Hits of the '70s - Have a Nice Day Volume 21 - Various Artists
Decked out with a dozen ditties from '77 and '78, Super Hits of the '70s - Have a Nice Day Volume 21 offered three #1 hits, two of which I bought on 45 as a young teenager — "Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band" by Meco and "Kiss You All Over" by Exile. The other was "Baby Come Back" by Player. I was oblivious to anything indecent that might have been going on in "Kiss You All Over" until my older sister Kris attempted to enlighten me. Even then, I refused to believe it. Boy, was I naive. Another suggestive song on Have a Nice Day Volume 21 I associate with her was "Telephone Man" by Meri Wilson (#18). I didn't hear that one on the radio much, if at all, but she warned me about it in advance. Wow, I can't believe that one made it into the Top 20, even during the swinging '70s. Wilson (who really had dated a telephone man at one point) said the song was initially turned down by 17 record companies before her manager created his own label to release it. I learned that in The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders by Wayne Jancik, a book I purchased in 2001, A second controversial single by a different one-hit wonder on Have a Nice Day 21 also went to #18, "Black Betty" by Ram Jam. The song itself dates back to the 1930s and is often attributed to the American folk and blues singer Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter. Some people mistakenly assumed "Black Betty" had racist connotations, but Lead Belly was African American himself, and folk-music historians say "Black Betty" was a common term that could refer to a bottle of whiskey, a prison whip, or a penitentiary transfer wagon (a.k.a. "Black Maria"). Have a Nice Day Volume 21 featured two other artists who only had one Top 40 hit: "Magnet and Steel" (#8) by Walter Egan and "Werewolves of London" by Warren Zevon (#21). It also included a pair of #3 hits by artists who returned to the Top 10 in the '80s — "Sometimes When We Touch" by Dan Hill and "It's a Heartache" by Bonnie Tyler — plus a #1 adult contemporary hit, "Bluer Than Blue" by Michael Johnson (#12 pop). Two additional tunes were solo hits featuring former front men: "Goodbye Girl" (#15) by David Gates of Bread, and "Thunder Island" (#9) by Jay Ferguson of Spirit and Jo Jo Gunne. ApologetiX spoofed "Werewolves of London" in 2016, "Black Betty" in 2022, and "Thunder Island" in 2023.
1422. Super Hits of the '70s - Have a Nice Day Volume 23 - Various Artists
Sporting an assortment of Top 40 singles from 1973-78, Super Hits of the '70s - Have a Nice Day Volume 23 included a pair of interesting instrumentals, both of which hit the Top 10 — "Hocus Pocus" by Focus (#9) and "Tubular Bells" by Mike Oldfield (#7), prominently featured in the horror movie The Exorcist. Although that movie came out in late 1973, I didn't see it until a decade later, while I was a sophomore in college. I stayed up late watching it by myself on HBO, and when I went into the next room where my three roommates were sleeping (we had two sets of bunk beds), one of them started talking in his sleep ... backwards. Yikes! He wasn't trying to be funny, either ... the dude was sound asleep. Have a Nice Day Volume 23 also showcased a couple of frequently forgotten debut hits from '76 by artists who went on to bigger and better things — "Let Her In" by John Travolta (#10) and "Love Really Hurts Without You" by Billy Ocean (#22). Travolta wasn't the only artist associated with Saturday Night Fever with a hit from '76 on this LP; Yvonne Elliman made an appearance, too, with "Love Me" (#14). Moreover, Have a Nice Day Volume 23 had three Top 10 singles by artists who are much-better remembered for previous #1 hits: "Never My Love" (#7) by Blue Swede (six months after "Hooked on a Feeling"), "Money Honey" (#9) by The Bay City Rollers (four months after "Saturday Night"), and "This Time I'm in It for Love" (#10) by Player (four months after "Baby Come Back"). The rest of Have a Nice Day Volume 23 featured four of my favorites: "Fox on the Run" by Sweet (#5), "I've Got the Music in Me" by The Kiki Dee Band (#12), "Amie" by Pure Prairie League (#27), and "Back When My Hair Was Short" by Gunhill Road (#40). I first found that single in a box of old 45s at a flea market in Indiana PA and loved it at first listen. It's catchy, witty, and wistful. Unfortunately for Gunhill Road (and the rest of us), they never hit the Top 40 — or the Hot 100 — again.
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