Thanks for the shout! It kills me that they call that band that is out there touring, Jefferson Starship. Ick. No wonder Paul looks so, um, happy. At least with Starship featuring Mickey Thomas, you get the original wuss voice behind the hits, and an extra set of hands to flip burgers at the cookout.
Out of all of the Wings stuff, I definitely like "With A Little Luck." There's other stuff in the Macca catalog - "My Love" "Silly Love Songs," and probably every other song with "Love" in the title recorded in the late 70s/80s that I just can't find any sort of place in my heart for...
Good stuff!!
jefito
· 6 months ago
"At least with Starship featuring Mickey Thomas, you get the original wuss voice behind the hits, and an extra set of hands to flip burgers at the cookout." Bwaaaaaaaahahahahahaha!
David_E
· 6 months ago
Paul Katner at 2:03 is the funniest thing I have seen all month.
He looks like he's having a mid-verse bowel movement.
Beau
· 6 months ago
I have had it with your Atlanta Rhythm Section-bashing, young man.
I know Jefferson Starship well, having seen MTV for the first time just as "Find Your Way Back" -- a good song -- was in heavy rotation. But I don't remember that one.
jefito
· 6 months ago
...the comments for this week's Chart Attack! are shaping up to be almost as gut-bustingly funny as the post itself.
jasonhare
· 6 months ago
While I agree, I can't help but think you're just sucking up to the readers so they don't send you birthday poo.
jefito
· 6 months ago
I listened to "Ice on Fire" and "Leather Jackets" this morning. I don't fear poop.
That's not totally true, but the rest of someecards are far too sentimental.
Happy Birthday!
jefito
· 6 months ago
Thanks, Elaine!
Michael
· 6 months ago
I did not know about chart attack (or maybe I forgot), but I love it. This is absolutely right up my alley. I drive around on weekends listening to old 'American Top 40s' from the late 70's and early 80's, so these songs are all in my 'heavy rotation', if you will. That clip of "Count on Me' and the look on Kantner's face made me laugh out loud. I watched it 5 times. So dead on about the chemistry between Travolta and ONJ. I can't even talk about Olivia. She is my girl. That live clip is fantastic. So much fun to see that perform that song after all these years (and they even did that little dance step from the film where they came down the steps). On the flip side, I couldn't make it more than :30 into the Olivia-Donny Osmond clip. Donny remains the winner of the "I still am unaware what a gay blade people think I am" award. Love all the Bee Gees songs - "Night Fever", "Shadow Dancing", "If I Can't Have You". Also love "Feels So Good". Our company has a feature with Paul Shaffer and just yesterday I was saying how Chuck Mangione and Herb Alpert should have been the same artist. I learned so much reading this top ten. The commentary is dead-on. Only thing is I really love "Imaginary Lover". There's a groove in there (do people say that anymore? Should I have said 'hook'?) that makes me feel like sliding down the windows and cruising around in the BMW convertible I don't own. Is there a way for me to look back at previous top ten entries? Love this site.
jasonhare
· 6 months ago
Glad you found us, Michael -- and thank you for introducing "gay blade" into my vocabulary.
(Half of the YouTube clips are probably broken, but you still get the same lame-ass commentary.)
Matt
· 6 months ago
Jason,
Thanks for that - you've now made sure that Michael won't call me for at least a month. I owe ya one!
The next six pack is on me! Unfortunately it comes with a CD of Schmit demos attached.
Timbo
· 6 months ago
I remember that if you played the LP version (33 rpm) at 45 rpm, it sounded like Stevie Nicks with Fleetwood Mac.
Timbo
· 6 months ago
Er, that would be "Imaginary Lovers"... D'Oh!
Matt
· 6 months ago
After watching that Jefferson Starship video again, I think I can accurately predict that the audience in attendance on that particular evening had MANY thoughts running through their collective minds about all of the things that they could have done with their evening. But instead, they chose this drek. And to play the game "geriatric roadie," or Starship member?
Seriously, what's the dead pool over/under on the dude holding the tambourine? Eek!
RLB
· 6 months ago
Like Jefferson Starship, I too plan on using my Aunt Gladys as a guitar tech on my next world tour..
Beau
· 6 months ago
I was a little shocked to poke around online and learn that the guy's David Freiburg, who's been in various incarnations of Jefferson Air Transit since 1972.
Dude's 70 years old. Why is he handing Balin a guitar?
jim
· 6 months ago
god i was eighteen that year, thank the aforementioned i was into television, elvis, the clash and patty smith by that time. i am sure i would not have survived
JonCummings
· 6 months ago
Macca had this knack for putting together singles that just got under your skin. To hear "With a Little Luck" or even "Silly Love Songs" once or twice is to be impressed with the craftsmanship but otherwise underwhelmed with the songwriting. But as I remember it, hearing "With a Little Luck" every four hours on pop radio was like a drug.
It wasn't til after I became intimately familiar with Abbey Road, later in my teens, that I came to view most of Macca's best singles (and some not-so-greats) -- "With a Little Luck," "Silly Love Songs," "Let 'Em In," "Band on the Run," "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" and even (ick) "Goodnight Tonight" -- as his attempts to distill the magic of the Side Two medley into a single song.
Does anybody else remember when you could judge the coolness of a radio station by whether it played the long or short version of "With a Little Luck" (or "She's Gone," or "While You See a Chance")? I can't bear to hear the edits in the short version of "Luck." Of course, the other way to tell if a station was cool was by whether it played the "shit" or "kicks" version of "Jet Airliner."
"You're the One that I Want" was #11 on my personal Popdose 100 list (right below "O.P.P."). What was the matter with the rest of you people?
One more thing: Marty Balin sounds like he's channeling Bob Dylan doing a joke rendition of "Count on Me." Which immediately led me to imagine the infomercial for a "Bob Dylan Sings the Classics" album. Of course, as with most things, I'm hardly the first person to have had that idea. So, in case you've never seen it:
I was 10 when this chart happened. Comparing it to my 10-year-old's current music is kind of mindblowing.
There's just not much to hate here, is there. Yvonne Elliman's live voice is surprisingly strong, I'm wondering how much hatred you've got for Mangione, and "Imaginary Lover" would have been great it were retitled and the lyrics were a real love song, but that just wasn't the way they rolled in 1978. Because the music is kind of awesome. Oh, and Donny Osmond sure was flouncy.
DwDunphy
· 6 months ago
It's hard to imagine "Imaginary Lover" retitled anything not remotely close to "Palm Sauce".
Elaine
· 6 months ago
eh, maybe you're right. Can a song be completely separated from its lyrics and put back together successfully with new ones? The only new titles I can think of sound like novelty tunes. I still like the way "Imaginary Lover" sounds though.
MichaelFortes
· 6 months ago
Jason, I agree -- "The Closer I Get To You" is awesome. But how could you not mention that it was from the pen of James "Mtume" Forman and Reggie Lucas? Those guys totally ripped shit up with Miles Davis and wrote all of Stephanie Mills' best songs too. And "Mtume" is just a cool name.
DwDunphy
· 6 months ago
"Das ist not Mtume."
DwDunphy
· 6 months ago
I hate when you put up songs that I probably shouldn't like, but do. It forces me to admit that the weird crosseyed chick with the David Lynch haircut is actually kinda hot.
orville
· 6 months ago
Which clip would this be?
(Myself, I'm creeming over the woman standing to the left of Marty Balin in the Jefferson Starship video. Who cares about David Freiberg and Paul Kantner with HER around?)
Beau
· 6 months ago
I also have to point out that I had no idea more than one band was staking out Hayseed Dixie territory. Not sure how I feel about that.
Gigi
· 6 months ago
1. "Jane" is in heavy rotation on my iPod. 2. "If I Can't Have You" (Elliman version) is a song I can barely listen to in public, it gets me so emotional. 3. Am I the only person who feels that the Fugees kind of ruined "Killing Me Softly"? I know, we weren't talking about that song, but I just get so upset every time I think about the fact that an entire generation thinks of Lauryn Hill as the vocalist on that song instead of Roberta Flack. Conversely, I think Johnny Cash's cover of "The First Time Ever..." is completely awesome, and I'm sure Ms. Flack is proud.
Sharon
· 6 months ago
This is yet another one of my favorite Popdose posts I look forward to. As a Bee Gees fan, I absolutely love this week's post and I also love (I'm so full of love, or something) the duets.
(My trip down Gibb memory lane) I remember seeing Andy Gibb in Hawaii in the summer of 1978, the arena was only half full, it was sad (of course it was Hawaii). And just as sad, I don't really remember his performance, then again he probably didn't remember it when it ended either. Conversely, I saw the Bee Gees at Dodger Stadium in '79 and Andy sang with them, which was awesome. Like having two Barry Gibbs.
Jeff
· 6 months ago
Save for Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway, this entire Chart Attack is pretty much one big bag of poo.
George
· 6 months ago
During "Shadow Dancing" the handsome man in the crowd with the mustache at least seems to be having a moderately good time.
George
· 6 months ago
Oops, forgot to mention he's at about the 1:07 mark.
Mark
· 6 months ago
Isn't Imaginary Lover the song that, if you sped it up from 33 to 45 rpm, sounds weirdly and remarkably like Fleetwood Mac?
Richard
· 3 weeks ago
The best clip is the one of DONNY OSMOND and OLIVIA NEWTON JOHN!!! He is amazing today at almost 52! The very best!
All Comments
Out of all of the Wings stuff, I definitely like "With A Little Luck." There's other stuff in the Macca catalog - "My Love" "Silly Love Songs," and probably every other song with "Love" in the title recorded in the late 70s/80s that I just can't find any sort of place in my heart for...
Good stuff!!
He looks like he's having a mid-verse bowel movement.
I know Jefferson Starship well, having seen MTV for the first time just as "Find Your Way Back" -- a good song -- was in heavy rotation. But I don't remember that one.
That's not totally true, but the rest of someecards are far too sentimental.
Happy Birthday!
The Popdose Chart Attack! archives are here: http://popdose.com/category/music/chart-attack/ , where you can find entries by myself and other authors from January '08 - present.
You can read another 40-something entries at my previous site: http://jasonhare.com/category/chart-attack/ .
(Half of the YouTube clips are probably broken, but you still get the same lame-ass commentary.)
Thanks for that - you've now made sure that Michael won't call me for at least a month. I owe ya one!
The next six pack is on me! Unfortunately it comes with a CD of Schmit demos attached.
Seriously, what's the dead pool over/under on the dude holding the tambourine? Eek!
Dude's 70 years old. Why is he handing Balin a guitar?
It wasn't til after I became intimately familiar with Abbey Road, later in my teens, that I came to view most of Macca's best singles (and some not-so-greats) -- "With a Little Luck," "Silly Love Songs," "Let 'Em In," "Band on the Run," "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" and even (ick) "Goodnight Tonight" -- as his attempts to distill the magic of the Side Two medley into a single song.
Does anybody else remember when you could judge the coolness of a radio station by whether it played the long or short version of "With a Little Luck" (or "She's Gone," or "While You See a Chance")? I can't bear to hear the edits in the short version of "Luck." Of course, the other way to tell if a station was cool was by whether it played the "shit" or "kicks" version of "Jet Airliner."
"You're the One that I Want" was #11 on my personal Popdose 100 list (right below "O.P.P."). What was the matter with the rest of you people?
One more thing: Marty Balin sounds like he's channeling Bob Dylan doing a joke rendition of "Count on Me." Which immediately led me to imagine the infomercial for a "Bob Dylan Sings the Classics" album. Of course, as with most things, I'm hardly the first person to have had that idea. So, in case you've never seen it:
http://www.jokeroo.com/video/funny/bob-dylan-no...
There's just not much to hate here, is there. Yvonne Elliman's live voice is surprisingly strong, I'm wondering how much hatred you've got for Mangione, and "Imaginary Lover" would have been great it were retitled and the lyrics were a real love song, but that just wasn't the way they rolled in 1978. Because the music is kind of awesome. Oh, and Donny Osmond sure was flouncy.
(Myself, I'm creeming over the woman standing to the left of Marty Balin in the Jefferson Starship video. Who cares about David Freiberg and Paul Kantner with HER around?)
2. "If I Can't Have You" (Elliman version) is a song I can barely listen to in public, it gets me so emotional.
3. Am I the only person who feels that the Fugees kind of ruined "Killing Me Softly"? I know, we weren't talking about that song, but I just get so upset every time I think about the fact that an entire generation thinks of Lauryn Hill as the vocalist on that song instead of Roberta Flack. Conversely, I think Johnny Cash's cover of "The First Time Ever..." is completely awesome, and I'm sure Ms. Flack is proud.
(My trip down Gibb memory lane) I remember seeing Andy Gibb in Hawaii in the summer of 1978, the arena was only half full, it was sad (of course it was Hawaii). And just as sad, I don't really remember his performance, then again he probably didn't remember it when it ended either. Conversely, I saw the Bee Gees at Dodger Stadium in '79 and Andy sang with them, which was awesome. Like having two Barry Gibbs.