Saturday, March 28, 2015

"Missing You" by Dan Fogelberg

Song#:  1209
Date:  10/09/1982
Debut:  72
Peak:  23
Weeks:  16
Genre:  Soft Rock, Adult Contemporary



Pop Bits:  After Fogelberg's LP "The Innocent Age" spawned four chart hits that including three Top 10's, he had the task of trying to follow up that highly successful album. With a few other hits to his credit, the time seemed right to push out a compilation and he did so with "Greatest Hits." The LP contained eight of his chart hits plus two brand new songs. The first of the new songs was spun off into this single that couldn't quit make it into the Top 20. It was more successful at AC where it reached #6.

ReduxReview:  This is a pretty good tune, but it wouldn't make my list of favorite Fogelberg songs. It's a bit rockier than the singles he put forth from "The Innocent Age." The song doesn't have "hit" written all over it, but I think it did pretty well for what it was. These days it is pretty much forgotten.

ReduxRating:  6/10

Trivia:  Fogelberg's name is Swedish (his paternal great-grandfather was from Sweden). It originates from "Vogelberg," which means "mountain bird." This seemed quite appropriate when Fogelberg built a ranch in the Colorado Rockies. Of course he called it Mountain Bird Ranch.

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Friday, March 27, 2015

"Be My Lady" by Jefferson Starship

Song#:  1209
Date:  10/09/1982
Debut:  73
Peak:  28
Weeks:  16
Genre:  Rock



Pop Bits:  The Starship's latest LP, "Winds of Change," closely mimicked the results of their previous album "Modern Times." Both albums would peak at #26 and go gold with the first single from each reaching the Top 30.  "Modern Times" had "Find Your Way Back," which peaked at #29, while "Winds of Change" led off with this single which got one notch higher to #28. Although they were not blowing the doors off of any chart, they were keeping a steady pace that lead to filled seats at their concert stops.

ReduxReview:  I'd have to say (and some critics agree) that this album was Jefferson Starship's low point. The material was just not there. Plus, their inner struggles didn't help things. While not awful, this bland single just sounds lazy. Honestly, I've heard this song many times but when the title pops up somewhere, I have to try and remember what the dang thing sounded like. That's not good.

ReduxRating:  4/10

Trivia:  The band's lead guitarist, Craig Chaquico, became a full-time member of Jefferson Starship in 1974 and remained with them as they transitioned to just Starship in the mid-80s. In the 90s, Chaquico expanded his musical horizons and branched out into new age music. His 1994 album, "Acoustic Planet," garnered a Grammy nod for Best New Age Album.

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Thursday, March 26, 2015

"The Only Way Out" by Cliff Richard

Song#:  1208
Date:  10/09/1982
Debut:  74
Peak:  64
Weeks:  7
Genre:  Pop, Contemporary Christian



Pop Bits:  As Richard's peak period in the US began to ebb, he suddenly made a left turn and veered into Christian rock territory. While not overtly religious, several of the songs that made up his album "Now You See Me...Now You Don't," had Christian overtones within the lyrics including this first single. Unfortunately, it's low peak signaled that Richard's US downslide was still in progress.

ReduxReview:  This song is not too far away from the pop he had been releasing in the years prior. However, it's just not quite as strong as songs like "Dreamin'," so the result is the lower peak. It's not an outstanding song, but I find it another enjoyable tune from this period in his career.

ReduxRating:  6/10

Trivia:  Richard has said in an interview that he didn't inform anyone about this being a gospel album. He simply turned it in to his label and they didn't bat an eye. The album was set for release and marketed just like any other of Richard's releases. No marketing to the Christian/gospel market was done. The album did well in the UK reaching #4 and going gold thanks to this single hitting #10 and the #11 peak of the Christmas-timed release of "Little Town," an updated version of the carol "O, Little Town of Bethlehem."

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Wednesday, March 25, 2015

"She's Tight" by Cheap Trick

Song#:  1207
Date:  10/09/1982
Debut:  81
Peak:  65
Weeks:  7
Genre:  Rock



Pop Bits:  Cheap Trick's LP "One on One" had a lackluster start thanks to the #45 peak of its first single "If You Want My Love." This second single didn't do much better and peaked twenty spots lower. The lack of single support didn't hinder sales of the album too much as it was another gold-seller for the band.

ReduxReview:  The beginning of this song sounds like a lost ELO rave-up. That's about as far as that comparison goes though. This isn't too bad of a rock tune, but I think the album had some better choices for single contention. Still, there was nothing on the LP that would make it a major hit. They've done better.

ReduxRating:  5/10

Trivia:  Cheap Trick's drummer Bun E. Carlos later participated in a side project called Tinted Windows. The band was sort of a supergroup that consisted of Carlos, Taylor Hanson (Hanson brothers), James Iha (Smashing Pumpkins) and Adam Schlesinger (Fountains of Wayne). Their self-titled debut came out in 2009 and reached #59 on the album chart.

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Tuesday, March 24, 2015

"Shakin'" by Eddie Money

Song#:  1206
Date:  10/09/1982
Debut:  83
Peak:  63
Weeks:  9
Genre:  Rock



Pop Bits:  Money got his second biggest hit to-date with "I Think I'm in Love" (#16 pop, #1 Mainstream Rock) from his album "No Control." This second single was another rock hit reaching #9, but pop radio wasn't so keen on the song and it lingered around the bottom third of the chart for a couple months.

ReduxReview:  In the late 80s, I was a DJ at a roller rink. This song was popular with a group of kids that came in. I'd play it, but never really liked the song. It had kind of a sleazy stripper-song feel to it that I just wasn't into. It's still not a favorite, but I can tolerate it better now.

ReduxRating:  5/10

Trivia:  Actress and model Patricia Kotero appeared in the video for this song. She became more well-known when she won the lead female role in Prince's film "Purple Rain." By that time she was known as Apollonia, which was her middle name. She also headed up the Prince protégé trio Apollonia 6 who would get one entry on the pop chart with 1984's "Sex Shooter" (#84 pop, #7 R&B). The song was featured in "Purple Rain."

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Monday, March 23, 2015

"You and I" by Eddie Rabbitt with Crystal Gayle

Top 10 Alert!
Song#:  1205
Date:  10/09/1982
Debut:  90
Peak:  7
Weeks:  29
Genre:  Country Crossover, Adult Contemporary



Pop Bits:  Rabbitt's previous two albums hit #1 at country and pushed him to superstar status thanks to four #1 country singles, three of which hit the pop Top 10. For his next album, "Radio Romance", Rabbitt recorded this duet with his labelmate Crystal Gayle. It rose quickly to #1 on the country chart where it spent four weeks. However, it was a bit of a slow starter on the pop chart. The single took its time and finally found its way into the Top 10. For Gayle, it would be her first Top 10 since 1979's "Half the Way" (#9). The song was also a major hit at AC where it would reach #2.

ReduxReview:  This is such a pretty song. I've always liked it. And Gayle was the perfect voice to duet with Rabbitt. Frankly, her silky tone could enhance most anyone's song. It kind of amazes me that this didn't generate a Grammy nod. It should have. Great tune and excellent performances.

ReduxRating:  8/10

Trivia:  This song also became popular with fans of the soap opera "All My Children." It was used as the love song for the characters Jenny and Greg. Four years later, Rabbitt would do the reverse and take a song featured in a soap opera and turn it into a country hit. Rabbit and duet partner Juice Newton reached #1 with their version of "Both to Each Other (Friends and Lovers)." That song was used in the soap "Days of Our Lives" and it turned into a #1 pop song for one of the soap's stars, Gloria Loring, and singer Carl Anderson (titled just as "Friends and Lovers").

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Sunday, March 22, 2015

"777-9311" by The Time

Song#:  1204
Date:  10/9/1982
Debut:  92
Peak:  88
Weeks:  3
Genre:  R&B



Pop Bits:  This Prince-protégé band had solid success with their self-titled debut album that hit #7 on the R&B album chart. It featured two R&B Top 10's including the #7 "Cool," which sneaked onto the pop chart at #90. Their follow-up LP did even better reaching #2 thanks to this single that also managed to reach #2. Once again, like their debut LP, Prince wrote, produced, and played most everything on the album without any participation from The Time except for lead singer Morris Day. The formula seemed to be working well and the band was killing it on stage on Prince's tour, but they were not breaking through to the masses.

ReduxReview:  This one has Prince written all over it. Now, it is Morris Day singing, but it seems Prince did his best to direct Day to imitate him. This vanity project was basically an excuse to keep writing and recording songs and he strokes his ego quite well with the extended guitar solo on the album version (above). It's a good song but if Prince was looking to score multiple format hits with The Time, something like this was not going to do it. However, it does sound like a warm-up to the work he would do with The Revolution.

ReduxRating:  6/10

Trivia:  Although the phone number used for this song was not nearly has bothersome as the one from "867-5309 Jenny," it did cause a bit of a headache for one person in particular. It seems that when he wrote this song, Prince used the phone number of his band's guitarist, Dez Dickerson. Apparently Dickerson was not happy about his number being used and things got worse when he started to get random phone calls to his number. Eventually, he had to get the number changed.

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