MFD Random Five #54

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

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1. "Say Say Say" by Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson (1983, Columbia)
   A smash that spent 6 weeks atop the Billboard charts, most likely because Jackson had the Midas touch at the time. It's not a bad tune, but I've heard it enough for one lifetime.  Also, when I was a high school senior, my jazz band played a cheesy arrangement of Say Say Say which the world could have done without.


2. "Happy Music" by Linda Williams (1979, Arista)
   A fun little disco tune. It would be totally generic if it weren't for the outstanding synth soling all over the thing.


3. "Love's a Heartache" by Leslie Smith (1982, Elektra)
   Smooth ballad with spot on vocals from Smith. The album from which this comes is fantastic and has already been given a turn on this blog, where it earned a grade of A-.


4. "Come to Me" by Bobby Caldwell (1978, Clouds)
   Another smooth ballad. This one from Caldwell's debut album featuring his stellar vocals atop soaring orchestration. Reminds me a lot of what Boz was doing at the time.


5. "The Lone Ranger" by Dan Siegel (1982, Elektra)
   A straight-up Dave Grusin smooth-jazz-meets-movie-soundtrack knock-off, complete with orchestration. However, Larry Carlton gets the spotlight, so it's not half-bad. (I hope blogger doesn't fine me for overuse of hyphens)

Music ads for 1980 releases

MFD Random Five #48

In which I shuffle through some music files and listen to the first five songs from 1980 that randomly pop up.

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1. "Sweet Rum and Starlight" by Earl Klugh (1980, EMI)
   Tropical-meets-country in this smooth jazz tune from the acoustic guitar legend's sixth album, Dream Come True. If that sounds like a strange mix, it's because it is. Not my favorite Klugh tune, but I've always felt any Klugh is good Klugh.


2. "The Story of a Man and a Woman
   Part 1: She Thought I Was Stanley Clarke
   Part 2: A Fool Again
   Part 3: I Nearly Went Crazy (Until I Realized What Had Occurred)"
   by Stanley Clarke (1980, Epic)
   An adventurous three-part, eleven minute suite that closes out the album, Rocks, Pebbles and Sand.  Not much melody to be had in Parts 1 or 3, but Part 2 has a good groove and nice keyboard solo (Chick Corea, maybe?). Clarke's vocals are thin, but points for trying.


3. "Love Him, Love Her" by Seawind (1980, A&M)
   More jazz - 3 in a row! While this Hawaiian group is generally considered to be in the smooth jazz genre, this tune is squarely in the yacht rock category. Pauline Wilson has a great voice and the Michael McDonald-ish feel is much appreciated around this house.


4. "Have a Drink On Me" by AC/DC (1980, Atlantic)
   Now that's an abrupt change of gears. Typical tune from the Back in Black album - meaning great guitar riff, hooks a'plenty in the chorus, gravelly vocals, and the mandatory guitar solo. Great effort, but sometimes overlooked because on its place on the album immediately following both "Back in Black" and "You Shook Me All Night Long."
   
   [Note: the next 1980 song to shuffle around was Dolly Parton's "9 to 5" which previously appeared on Random Five #46.]
   


5. "Coming Up" by Paul McCartney (1980, Columbia)
   The studio version from McCartney II. I liked the live version so much, I bought the 45 single not realizing which side of the single was which. In any case, while this studio take is fine, I much prefer the live version, without the vocal manipulation. FWIW, I got this version on the UK version of McCartney's All the Best! compilation (1987).

Top Singles of June 28, 1980

Let's take a look at what was topping the various single charts on June 28, 1980.

	Billboard	CashBox	Record World
1	"Coming Up" Paul McCartney	"Funkytown" Lipps Inc.	"The Rose" Bette Midler
2	"Funkytown" Lipps Inc.	"Coming Up" Paul McCartney	"Funkytown" Lipps Inc.
3	"The Rose" Bette Midler	"The Rose" Bette Midler	"Coming Up" Paul McCartney
4	"It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" Billy Joel	"It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" Billy Joel	"Little Jeannie" Elton John
5	"Against the Wind" Bob Seger	"Little Jeannie" Elton John	"Steal Away" Robbie Dupree
6	"Little Jeannie" Elton John	"Steal Away" Robbie Dupree	"It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" Billy Joel
7	"Steal Away" Robbie Dupree	"Cars" Gary Numan	"She's Out of My Life" Michael Jackson
8	"Biggest Part of Me" Ambrosia	"Against the Wind" Bob Seger	"Cupid/I've Loved You for a Long Time" Spinners
9	"Cupid/I've Loved You for a Long Time" Spinners	"Biggest Part of Me" Ambrosia	"Against the Wind" Bob Seger
10	"She's Out of My Life" Michael Jackson	"Cupid/I've Loved You for a Long Time" Spinners	"Let Me Love You Tonight" Pure Prairie League

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Exclusive MFD meta-analysis of the above charts:

1. "Funkytown" (28 pts)
2. "Coming Up" (27 pts)
3. "The Rose" (26 pts)
4. "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" (19 pts)
5. "Little Jeannie" (18 pts)
6. "Steal Away" (15 pts)
7. "Against the Wind" (11 pts)
8. "Cupid/I've Loved You for a Long Time" (6 pts)
9. "She's Out of My Life" (5 pts)
10. "Biggest Part of Me" (5 pts)
11. "Cars" (4 pts)
12. "Let Me Love You Tonight" (1 pt)

The Top 40 hits of Paul McCartney, 1976 - 1985

Most of my memories of Paul McCartney songs seem to take place in the summer. Turns out that Sir Paul had eighteen Top 40 hits in the US from 1976-85.  This includes his solo work, his work with Wings, and duets with Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson. Here's a breakdown table, including year, peak chart position, and number of weeks on the Top 40 charts.

Year	Peak	Weeks	Title
1976	1	15	Silly Love Songs
1976	3	11	Let 'Em In
1977	10	11	Maybe I'm Amazed
1977	33	5	Girls' School
1978	1	12	With a Little Luck
1978	25	5	I've Had Enough
1978	39	2	London Town
1979	5	13	Goodnight Tonight
1979	20	6	Getting Closer
1979	29	4	Arrow Through Me
1980	1	16	Coming Up (Live at Glasgow)
1982	1	15	Ebony and Ivory
1982	10	11	Take It Away
1982	2	14	The Girl is Mine
1983	1	18	Say Say Say
1984	23	8	So Bad
1984	6	14	No More Lonely Nights
1985	7	11	Spies Like Us

Two of my favorite lesser-known hits on this list both come from the Back to the Egg album: "Getting Closer" and "Arrow Through Me."  Also, "Coming Up" has become one of those former #1 songs that never gets played on the radio anymore and that's a shame.

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McCartney singles that made the Top 100, but didn't crack the Top 40:

• "Seaside Woman" (by Suzy and the Red Stripes) - #59 in 1977 
• "Tug of War" - #53 in 1982

Wings - Silly Love Songs (1976)

 Silly Love Songs
b/w Cook of the House

Released: April 1976 (Capitol) Written by: Paul McCartney Produced by: Paul McCartney Album: Wings at the Speed of Sound

U. S. Billboard Charts:
Hot 100	1
Adult Contemporary	1

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The story goes like this: McCartney got grief from John Lennon (among others) for only writing lightweight love songs.  This song was not only McCartney's response to that, he also pokes a little fun at himself.  Not to mention its a fun little disco-ish song and a big hit, at that. In Sir Paul's own words (from Billboard):

But over the years people have said, "Aw, he sings love songs, he writes love songs, he's so soppy at times." I thought, Well, I know what they mean, but, people have been doing love songs forever. I like 'em, other people like 'em, and there's a lot of people I love -- I'm lucky enough to have that in my life. So the idea was that "you" may call them silly, but what's wrong with that?

The song was, in a way, to answer people who just accuse me of being soppy. The nice payoff now is that a lot of the people I meet who are at the age where they've just got a couple of kids and have grown up a bit, settling down, they'll say to me, "I thought you were really soppy for years, but I get it now! I see what you were doing!" [big laugh].

By the way, "Silly Love Songs" also had a good bassline and worked well live.

Musically, the song doesn't follow any traditional pop music form, which isn't surprising for McCartney who always likes to piece things together.  There's all sorts of instrumental breaks, chorus, countermelodies, varying instrumentation, and the verse only appears at the beginning and end of the song.  But it's all catchy as hell and I can't hear the song without thinking of the summer of 1976, when I spent a lot of time outside with my Radio Shack transistor radio.  The local West Texas stations played this song a lot that summer.

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