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And The Stiffs Just Keep On Comin'

Debaser said:
I don't have the time to go through this entire thread. Has anyone mentioned Brandy by Richard (?) English...the original version of "Mandy," btw.
It was "Scott" English, Mr. Zukemeister... and I think it appeared somewhere in the earlier chapters of this tome, but I sure as hell won't be paging through to make sure.
 
JimPastrick said:
Debaser said:
I don't have the time to go through this entire thread. Has anyone mentioned Brandy by Richard (?) English...the original version of "Mandy," btw.
It was "Scott" English, Mr. Zukemeister... and I think it appeared somewhere in the earlier chapters of this tome, but I sure as hell won't be paging through to make sure.

If I only had that kind of time...not that I would use it to page thru the "earlier chapters of this tome" necessarily...but only if I had that kind of time...off to clean the garage now. A lengthy project in itself...

Now, from 1982, A Flock Of Seagulls - "Space Age Love Song".
 
SirRoxalot said:
After hearing the original, I think I know why "Brandy" wasn't a hit...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-zhg1BeUkQ

Yeah, but did you click on the cover version from New Zealander Bunny Walters? Sounds like a low-rent Engelbert Humperdinck/Tom Jones...hoo-boy...

...and apparently somebody thought it was a hit, the first three labels/jackets in the video were all different releases of the song, none of them the American release which was on Janus.

Now back to cleaning the garage...I just found an entire extra set of Torx screwdrivers!
 
How about 'The Power of Love' by Laura Branigan? I believe it only got as high as #25 in 1987. Of course we know Celine Dion took it to #1 in 1994.
 
qman said:
How about 'The Power of Love' by Laura Branigan? I believe it only got as high as #25 in 1987. Of course we know Celine Dion took it to #1 in 1994.

And Air Supply stunk up the joint with it first, back in 1985.

That said...for flat out spine-chilling emotion backed with stellar production, Laura Branigan wins. Turned a bad song (Air Supply) into a good one IMO. Celine only got a crack at it 'cuz Laura's version didn't get its due.
 
Ooh! Ooh! Just heard a good one on my Ipod today-
5 Man Electrical Band-Absolutely Right
and
Strawberry Alarm Clock-Tomorrow

(both follow up singles to each group's biggest hit...and both stifferoos).
 
Debaser said:
Ooh! Ooh! Just heard a good one on my Ipod today-
5 Man Electrical Band-Absolutely Right
and
Strawberry Alarm Clock-Tomorrow

(both follow up singles to each group's biggest hit...and both stifferoos).

"You're absolutely right, you've been right all along...you're absolutely right, and I'm wrong!"

Scary, isn't it...I haven't heard that since 1971. Strawberry Alarm Clock, however, is a new one. Of course I have the original 45 of "Incense And Peppermints" on Uni...and a stereo mp3 in my desktop. What would the 60's have been like without those cheesy Vox/Farfisa organs?

Now here's the stiffiloni that came after Andy Kim's biggest hit: "Fire, Baby I'm On Fire"
 
chas108 said:
Debaser said:
Ooh! Ooh! Just heard a good one on my Ipod today-
5 Man Electrical Band-Absolutely Right
and
Strawberry Alarm Clock-Tomorrow

(both follow up singles to each group's biggest hit...and both stifferoos).

"You're absolutely right, you've been right all along...you're absolutely right, and I'm wrong!"

Scary, isn't it...I haven't heard that since 1971.

If you listen to Canadian oldies stations you'll hear it in lunar rotation. As for The Strawberry Alarm Clock's follow up to Incense and Peppermints, we played it on WDRC, but I can't recall ever playing it anywhere else.
 
"As for The Strawberry Alarm Clock's follow up to Incense and Peppermints, we played it on WDRC, but I can't recall ever playing it anywhere else."

KB played "Tomorrow" briefly, IIRC, before you got there--and WBBF in Rochester was on it too, for at least a little while. Not sure how long, but I remember it. Larry White would recall, if anyone around here does, whether "Tomorrow" was a song that got a little regional traction in Rochester, or turned out to be no more than a "pick to pop" that didn't pop...
 
As long as we're in a CanCon state of mind, I submit for your nurgling and shvitzing satisfaction "One Fine Morning" by Lighthouse (not to be confused with Lifehouse). This group rivaled Chicago and BS&T in horn arrangements and sheer power.
 
JimPastrick said:
As long as we're in a CanCon state of mind, I submit for your nurgling and shvitzing satisfaction "One Fine Morning" by Lighthouse (not to be confused with Lifehouse). This group rivaled Chicago and BS&T in horn arrangements and sheer power.

Little known fact: Skip Prokop, the drummer and main songwriter for Lighthouse (who headlined KB's Music To The People concert in the Delaware Park Rose Garden, which is where I met Buffalo comedian/TV personality Airborne Eddy, a lifelong close friend), worked as a salesman and host of the religious-themed show "Between A Rock and A Hard Place"on cfny in the mid 80s.
 
JimPastrick said:
As long as we're in a CanCon state of mind, I submit for your nurgling and shvitzing satisfaction "One Fine Morning" by Lighthouse (not to be confused with Lifehouse). This group rivaled Chicago and BS&T in horn arrangements and sheer power.

I still remember "Hats Off" (To The Stranger) and even though I brought up "Pretty Lady" about 75 or so pages ago (take my math for it - and don't hold me to it 'cuz I'm not goin' back to find out!) I didn't post a link...so here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIssdqXKMEQ&a=2vhd-XiZGuo&playnext_from=ML

Here another CanCon that never got its due in the USA: Harlequin's "Innocence"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Df9Kw7S5aEM

I came across this one doing weekends at WCFR/Springfield VT in early '82. Concurrently, a blurb about Harlequin came up in...I wanna say, Rolling Stone...where Loverboy's Mike Reno or Paul Dean called them "the best band in Canada". (Guess they'd never heard of Rush...and Lighthouse was on hiatus). Guess their album "Love Crimes" was originally to be called "Crimes Of Passion" but to avoid confusion with the Pat Benatar album of the same name it was changed.

Would've been nice to see LiGHThouse achieve even half the success back-in-the-day that LiFEhouse has in this past decade ("Hanging By A Moment" was #1 song of 2001 and still plays in multiple formats including Top 40..."Halfway Gone" is their current hit)

Now, a couple more stiffs: Climax - "Rock & Roll Heaven" (promo ad predicted it would break out of Hawaii and then Buffalo just the way "Precious And Few" did...famous last words!) which everyone remembers as covered a year later by the Righteous Brothers - extensively rewritten to salute Jim Croce and Bobby Darin, both of whom had died after the Climax original was released.

Annnd....you may want to go wash after hearing this one - "Judy Mae" by Boomer Castleman.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFsO6Mnnoko

This was an actual hit on 13Q/Pittsburgh during Jack Armstrong's final days there...and I think I remember hearing it on WCFL/Chicago as well.
 
Paper Sun by Traffic just came up on my iPod. Another song that we played at WDRC in Hartford, which had a 60(!) record current playlist, which meant when I was listening as a kid I was exposed to a lot of music that today is considered for this category, and certainly for two other threads on this page. I also give 'DRC credit for my like of exposing music first as well as exposing local and regional acts. Pretty good for a top 40 station.
 
nitro99 said:
Crazy Horses by the Osmonds.

After pop hits like "One Bad Apple", this one sounded like they were experimenting with magic mushrooms.

That was during their rock period...I assume looking to be taken a little more seriously. "Down By The Lazy River" was the first and biggest hit from this period, Donny was relegated to background. "Hold Her Tight" came next...the opening riff ripped off from Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song". Then "Crazy Horses", "Goin' Home"...then a new softer direction.

It seems to happen with virtually all acts who take up that bubblegum mantle...the point where you feel more grown up and want to be taken seriously, and instead you become The Butt Of The Joke. Watch Miley Cyrus for a current example.
 
chas108 said:
nitro99 said:
Crazy Horses by the Osmonds.

After pop hits like "One Bad Apple", this one sounded like they were experimenting with magic mushrooms.


I can remember playing Crazy Horses on WPHD (and I know David Marsden played it on CHUM fm). I just never announced who the song was by.
 


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