Music ads for 1981 releases

Music ads for 1980 releases

MFD Random Five #50

In which I shuffle through some music files and listen to the first five songs from the years 1976-85 that randomly pop up.

---

1. "No Matter What I Do" by The Dishes (1985, Underwhere)
   When the album Hot Diggety Dog was featured on this blog in 2016, I wrote that this tune reminded me of Nick Lowe. I'm not hearing that so much today, but it's a fun, brief power pop tune with just the right amount of Farfisa organ.


2. "Magic Man" by Herb Alpert (1981, A&M)
   Alpert still trying to reproduce the sound (and success) of "Rise." The melody here is a bit repetitive and that probably hurt sales, but most likely the reason this didn't succeed was the fall of disco and the rise of New Wave on the pop charts in '81. This tune, which incorporates some of Alpert's Tijuana Brass tropes in the bridge, only reached #79 on the pop charts, but climbed to #22 on the Adult Contemporary chart.


3. "How Much I Feel" by Ambrosia (1978, Warner Bros.)
   I once ranked this as the 26th best single of 1978 and now I'm reconsidering that ranking as too low. Catchy melody, smooth background vocals, tasty piano and string arrangements - it's like a soft rock blueprint. This band put out some great singles in '78 and '80. I hear this thing and I'm immediately back in 7th grade.


4. "Private Eyes" by Daryl Hall & John Oates (1981, RCA)
   Number one in 1981. Ubiquitous almost 40 years later. And deservedly so. As overplayed as it is, I'll be dadgummed if it still doesn't sound fantastic.


5. "A Song from Under the Floorboards" by Magazine (1980, Virgin)
   I don't recognize this post-punk tune, but that doesn't necessarily mean I haven't heard it before although I can guarantee you I wasn't listening to post-punk in 1980. I don't hate it, but I wouldn't seek it out to hear. My files of this tune come from Left of the Dial: Dispatches from the '80s Underground, a 4 CD compilation set released in 2004 by Rhino.

Counting down my Top 79 of '79: Singles #10 - 1

A breakdown of my top singles from 1979

---

Minute by Minute

The Doobie Brothers

Weeks in Hot 100: 14

Peaked: June 23

Album: Minute by Minute (Warner Bros.)

U.S. Billboard charts:
Hot 100	14
Adult Contemporary	13

Heck, this thing might have cracked the top ten even if the entire single was only the electric piano intro on repeat for three minutes, but then the smooth groove hits and Michael McDonald's vocals and man-oh-man, I just can't help but sing along. It's the title track to a great album, but it's not even the best cut on the album (see below).

---

Good Times

Chic

Weeks in Hot 100: 19

Peaked: August 18

Album: Risqué (Atlantic)

U.S. charts:
Hot 100	1
Adult Contemporary	28
R&B	1
Disco	3

And there it is. That bass line. One of the most important, most sampled, most imitated bass lines of all time (see Bowie's "Let's Dance," Queen's "Another One Bites The Dust,' and, of course, "Rapper's Delight"). But then add Nile Rodgers' guitar scratching, soaring strings, and precise vocals and, baby, you got a stew goin'. Ranked #229 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

---

My Sharona

The Knack
Weeks in Hot 100: 22

Peaked: August 25

Album: Get the Knack (Capitol)

U.S. charts:
Hot 100	1

According to Billboard, this was the #1 song of 1979, but #8 was the best I could do for it. New wave power pop like nothing I'd ever heard before. The Knack got more out of a one note bass line than any other.  The first New Wave #1? Could be. I like to tell people that my wife's nickname is Sharona and that the song was written about her. Apparently, the real Sharona is a real estate agent in L.A.

---

Got to be Real

Cheryl Lynn

Weeks in Hot 100: 18

Peaked: February 17

Album: Cheryl Lynn (Columbia)

U.S. charts:
Hot 100	12
R&B	1
Disco	11

There's absolutely nothing in this song that doesn't work: the bass and horns intro to the funky groove to the countermelody to the key change to the backing vocals, more horns, great vocals, and did I mention that groove. Never fails to get me moving. Written by Lynn, David Foster, and Toto keyboardist David Paich.

During the 1997-98 school year, I taught 8th grade English (holycowwasthatreally21yearsago?? Those kids are now in their mid 30s. Sheesh.). Not being much for classroom management, my classes were always a little loose (but test scores were fantastic - my administrators never could quite wrap their head around the dichotomy of noisy learning). One day, out of the blue, a student named Nick sang the intro to this song and, within seconds, the whole class joined in the singing, including myself. (It was probably just a few students and myself, but "whole class" makes for a better story.) That scene in room 104 always comes to mind when I hear this song now. (End of parentheticals).

---

Rise

Herb Alpert

Weeks in Hot 100: 25

Peaked: October 20

Album: Rise (A&M)

U.S. charts:
Hot 100	1
Adult Contemporary	1
R&B	4
Disco	17

If there's such a thing as a laid back disco tune, this is it.  This song became popular as I was learning to play trumpet and I was hooked immediately. I even bought the sheet music so I could play along with Herb.  It came with the lyrics which I've never heard sung other than by myself:

Of all the songs here in the top ten, this record was the first I purchased. Heck, I had lawn mowing earnings burning a hole in my pocket, so why not?

---

I Want You to Want Me

Cheap Trick

Weeks in Hot 100: 19

Peaked: July 21

Album: Cheap Trick at Budokan (Epic)

U.S. charts:
Hot 100	7

One of the great live singles and great love song to boot. A power pop song that rocks so hard that it needs two guitar solos, a drum break, and a live version that is miles ahead of the studio version.  This song reminds me of my childhood friend Robert - we rode our bikes and threw the Frisbee a lot in the summer of '79.

---

Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough

Michael Jackson

Weeks in Hot 100: 21

Peaked: October 13

Album: Off the Wall (Epic)

U.S. charts:
Hot 100	1
R&B	1
Disco	2

One of the great album openers. Check your pulse if you can sit still during this one because the force got a lot of power. Just when you think it can't get any better, an instrumental bridge kicks in at 2:40  with a guitar solo over horns and there's so much going on I don't know what to listen to and it doesn't really matter. Just listening to the syncopated cowbell part gets me going.

---

What a Fool Believes

The Doobie Brothers

Weeks in Hot 100: 20

Peaked: April 14

Album: Minute by Minute (Warner Bros.)

U.S. charts:
Hot 100	1
Adult Contemporary	22
Disco	40

According to the creators of the term "yacht rock," this is the ultimate yacht rock song, scoring a perfect 100 on their Yachtski Scale. All that is well and good, but this had quite the pedigree before that. In addition to topping the charts, it won three Grammy awards, including two top awards at the end of the broadcast:

1. Record of the Year 
2. Song of the Year
3. Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocals 

Never heard the Jim Burgess 12" disco remix? Treat yo self:

I have tickets to see Michael McDonald in July and if he doesn't play both this song and "Minute by Minute" I can't be held responsible for my actions.

---

We are Family

Sister Sledge

Weeks in Hot 100: 19

Peaked: June 16

Album: We are Family (Cotillion)

U.S. charts:
Hot 100	2
Adult Contemporary	30
R&B	1
Disco	1

I always call this song "the best Chic single of all-time" and that's tongue-in-cheek but it's really not, is it? The single version gets me dancing every time, but the 8:20 full version is spectacular because Bernard Edwards lays down a great bass solo. How could bass playing be both understated and funky at the same time?  Check out his work at the break about 3:55 into the title track. It's one of the few overplayed '70s tunes that could be played every hour and it probably wouldn't bother me. To that short list, please add...

---

September

Earth, Wind & Fire

Weeks in Hot 100: 17

Peaked: February 10

Album: The Best of Earth, Wind & Fire, Vol. 1 (Columbia)

U.S. charts:
Hot 100	8
Adult Contemporary	41
R&B	1

Not only the best song of 1979, this is one of the all-time greats. I gave it a grade of A+ a few years back and that seems low.

---

All chart positions are peak positions from Billboard charts. These are my personal top 79 singles of those that peaked on the Billboard charts in 1979. The list is solely my opinion. Using Joel Whitburn's book, Pop Annual 1955-1999, I started with the 475 singles that peaked on Billboard Magazine's Hot 100 chart in 1979. An initial pass through that list narrowed it down to 105 tunes, then listening, ranking, and editing began. The top 79 are presented here, in order.

MFD Random Five #33⅓

In which I click the shuffle icon on the iTunes app and listen to the first five album cuts (no singles) that pop up from the years 1976-85.

---

1. "Latin Medley (Frenesi / Bahia / Moliendo Cafe / Porompompero)" by Herb Alpert (1982, A&M)
   Side 2, track 6 on Fandango. A cross between Alpert's Rise-era disco tunes and his Tijuana Brass 'Ameriachi' arrangements. This cut doesn't work on either level, but Alpert picked some good tunes for the medley.


2. "Queen of Sheba" by Nick Lowe (1982, Columbia)
   Side 1, track 4 of Nick the Knife. Typical Nick Lowe (and that's a good thing. Very good.). This entire album is fantastic. While this cut isn't the best tune (that would be "Heart"), this ain't bad with a tasty chord change in the chorus when it switches from a laid back, half-time feel to straight fours.


3. "There Will Always be a You" by Donna Summer (1979, Casablanca)
   Side 3, track 2 of Bad Girls. Quite frankly, I don't listen to Donna Summer for ballads. Not that Summer can't belt one out, it's just that I'd rather hear a Giorgio Moroder disco tune at 120 bpm.


4. "Just Friends" by Carole Bayer Sager (1981, Boardwalk)
   Side 1, track 3 of Sometimes Late at Night. Written by Burt Bacharach, Sager, and Peter Allen, produced by Bacharach and Michael Jackson. That's some big names there. (Sager and Bacharach would later marry in 1982). Even with all that star power, there's nothing here that grabs me. It's pleasant enough, but I gotta have a hook a some point.


5. "Mutual Feeling" by Eric Tagg (1977, Poker)
   Side 2, track 2 of Rendez Vous. This is scratching me right where I itch. Light and breezy Latin-tinged West Coast number with Tagg's spectacular vocals all over it. Ah, that middle eight. All that's missing is a Lee Ritenour guitar solo. Never released in the US, I didn't hear this album until 35 years after it's release. Sad!  This hasn't been the strongest Random Five, but this tune is the clear winner of the bunch with the Lowe tune coming in second.

MFD Random Five #31

In which I click the shuffle icon on the iTunes app and listen to the first five songs that pop up from the years 1976-85.

---

1. "Oriental Eyes" by Herb Alpert (1983, A&M)
   The title wasn't politically incorrect in '83 because there was no such as "political correctness" back in 1983. This trite tune, however, offends my ears as much today as it did back then. Pass.


2. "Hooked on Classics" by  Louis Clark and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (1981, K-Tel/RCA)
   Oh-fer-two. "Classical Disco Medley" is a genre that should never have been conceived; it's embarrassing for our country that this thing charted at #10 pop and #4 AC. Another pass.


3. "Me and The Boys" by Dave Edmunds (1982, Columbia)
   Ah, that's better. A hard-driving NRBQ cover that we've already posted about on this blog and over at The CD Project.


4. "Beyond the Sea (La Mer)" by George Benson (1985, Warner Bros.)
   In the middle of a mid-80's synth-pop album, this big band arrangement of a 1945 standard sticks out like a sore thumb, but it might be the highlight of the album. We're treated to one of those classic, characteristic Benson solos where he sings along with what he's playing on the guitar; a talent that never ceases to amaze me. Bonus points for Joe Sample's piano work.


5. "Take the L" by The Motels (1982, Capitol)
   I think singer Martha Davis has a great voice for pop music, but if Hallmark made a card for breaking up with a significant other, it might use lyrics from the chorus of this song: "Take the L out of lover and it's over." That's a clever sentiment (I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of it, though) and it is sung with such earnestness that it makes me chuckle. Not a fan of the minor-key heartbreak, but I dig the part about two and half minutes in with the chunky guitar and piano. If you ever receive a mixtape with this on it, you kinda know where things are headed.

Promo posters as seen on "WKRP in Cincinnati" #9

Albums: Herb Alpert - Rise (A&M, 1979), Foreigner - Head Games (Atlantic, 1979)
Episode:  Season 2, Episode 21/22, "Filthy Pictures"
Original air date: Monday, March 3, 1980