5-5-8-9
I like "Higher Ground," but I wouldn't give it a 10: I don't think it's of a piece with "Superstition," or for that matter, "Master Blaster," "If You Really Love Me" or "Signed Sealed Delivered," all of which deserve that top number.
This is how it works: My subconscious woke me up to remind me that TLC, not Salt 'N' Pepa, did "This Is How It Works." Carry on, move "Let's Talk About Sex" up to No. 2, and put "You Showed Me" in third.
I agree that "dead-kid lullaby" was harsh and unnecessary. But I also agree that "Tears in Heaven" is underwhelming. I empathize with Clapton's grief and feel for what he was expressing. But, as a recording, the song fails to move me. (A virtual half-decade later, I'll be writing about a different recording of his that does.) I have a feeling many here may feel similarly about a couple of upcoming, long-running No. 1's that I love. This is the very definition of YMMV.
Absolutely, "Windy" is better than a 5. I'd give it a 9. (I had thought about a 10, but the Association's 10 to me is "Never My Love." Darn close, though.
8 6 7 6 9
9* 8 7 8 9*
Really close calls on Nos. 6 and 10, but Sophie just edges out Tears for Fears and Dylan, and Jackson and Vandross team up to defeat Babyface and Cooper.
As ... forgive me ... odious as that Anka No. 1 is, Ms. Coates did at least knock out some great moments on follow-up duets with him. My favorite is "I Believe There's Nothing Stronger Than Our Love," but I wouldn't turn off "One Man Woman, One Woman Man," either. As sexist as Anka's protagonist comes across in the latter, Coates gives as good as she gets and elevates the song.
The way Billy Joel's "My Life" was sliced and diced ranks up there to me, with the pointless reworking of Don Henley's "The Heart of the Matter" not far behind.
I'd go with "Whatta Man," "This Is How It Works" and "Let's Talk About Sex" as my favorite three Salt 'N' Pepa tracks, although I like their take on "You Showed Me."
I think I've shared this before but my school's midwinter dance theme senior year (class of '81) was "Starry, Starry Night," clearly a reference to Don McLean's "Vincent." Talk about tone-deaf.
7-9-8
I'm not as fond of this remake as of the original. I think George oversings it, even as charmed as he is by Elton's appearance. Still, it's not bad.
Ticket to Ride is a classic, just there are so many Beatles 10s that I'll hold off on this one.
Mrs. Brown is probably as good as Herman's Hermits gets (although I like the non-No. 1 "I'm Into Something Good" too).
I'd go somewhere between Tom's superhot take and your reply ... I do think Elton's career was back-burnered a bit by the Rolling Stone interview (I find it hard to argue with the fact that he had back to back No. 1 album debuts prior to the revelation and then albums that went nowhere near the Top 10 after ... you can argue the quality issue, but I have to wonder how many stations and record buyers were less inclined to immediately snap up the next release, listen and then hold off on the purchase).
That's where I agree with you -- there was a distinct decline in quality in that period (and, I'd argue in the half-year before ... "Island Girl" and "Grow Some Funk of Your Own" are pretty wretched, and even the fun "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" is not really of a piece with his 1973-mid-75 run). "Bite Your Lip," "Ego," "Part-Time Love" ... hard to get too worked up over any of those singles.
So, yeah, I can support your argument. But I wonder if the truth isn't somewhere in the middle... Elton, feeling burned out by the rocket ride in the first half of the decade and internally struggling with holding back, decides to take a step out of the closet, finds a less than enthusiastic response, and feels the chill personally even as he's in the middle of a creative freeze, resulting in lackluster public response to his output.
This song didn't leave a great lasting impression with me (although I do remember liking it a lot at the time). I agree that the Kiki Dee segment of the video is a hoot!
This week, the weekend of Jan. 25/26, 1992, on my personal chart – at http://crownnote.com/charts/cstolliver/music-of-a-lifetime-top-25-668 -- an improbable third chart hit from Michael McDonald’s 1982 album “If That’s What It Takes,” all because of its inclusion on the conclusion of one of my favorite TV series of all time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4S-x9_5xKXc
(Confession: No video there, just the audio and the cover of that album, though if you’re like me, you may find it a refreshing way to spend 2 minutes and 54 seconds.)
In Billboard magazine, McDonald earned a Top 10 hit out of the box from his debut solo album in “I Keep Forgettin’ (Every Time You’re Near).” On my charts, that only got up to No. 13 for two weeks in October 1982. Follow-up “I Gotta Try” missed Billboard’s Top 40 and peaked for me at No. 24. McDonald would hit, with and without collaborators, for the rest of the decade.
Fast-forward to 1992, when the Lifetime cable channel reran ABC’s Vietnam War drama “China Beach.” The series wrapped up its four-season run in summer 1991 with a two-hour series finale, “Hello Goodbye.” As most of the cast takes a walk to the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial Wall, McDonald’s album cut “I Can Let Go Now” plays, its lyrics a perfect match for the storyline:
“It was so right, it was so wrong
Almost at the same time
The pain and ache a heart can take
No one really knows
When the memories cling and keep you there
'Til you no longer care
And you can let go now
It's wrong for me to cling to you
Somehow I just needed time
From what was to be-it's not like me
To hold somebody down
But I was tossed high by love
I almost never came down
Only to land here
Where love's no longer found
Where I'm no longer bound
And I can let go now”
Rarely had I been as touched by a television drama as I was by that. I knew I wanted that song and then realized I already had it, as I owned “If That’s What It Takes.” “I Can Let Go Now” entered my chart the next week, and as of this week in 1992 was up seven to No. 14. A few weeks later, it would peak at No. 9, becoming the biggest hit on my chart from that album.
Have a good weekend, everyone – and Happy New Year 2022.
Three 9's today.
None of the three are the 10s for their respective artists (as I said above, "Choose" is for CMB, and I'd go with "Someday We'll Be Together" or the non-No. 1 "Reflections" for the Supremes, and "Good Vibrations" for the Beach Boys). But each one is close to perfect, just not quite there.
I'd give "All 4 Love" a 9 as well. If they have a 10, it's "Choose," which Tom inexplicably left out of today's column.
BTW, on the whole discussion about "Spinning Wheel," isn't "Slow Motion" based on "Spinning Wheel"? I'd always thought that back in the day when I'd listen to it.
How I'd rank them in order today (I used to list my thoughts from then and now, but I figure people have those links to Crownnote if they really want to look at then):
1. Janet Jackson, Love Will Never Do (Without You)
2. Mariah Carey, Emotions
3. Londonbeat, I've Been Thinking About You
4. P.M. Dawn, Set Adrift on Memory Bliss
5. Amy Grant, Baby Baby
6. Roxette, Joyride
7. Gloria Estefan, Coming Out of the Dark
8. Michael Jackson, Black or White
9. Paula Abdul, The Promise of a New Day
10. C+C Music Factory's Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)
11. EMF, Unbelievable
12. Karyn White, Romantic
13. Prince, Cream
14. Whitney Houston, All The Man I Need
15. Mariah Carey, Someday
16. Extreme, More Than Words
17. Mariah Carey, I Don't Wanna Cry
18. Madonna, Justify My Love
19. Wilson Phillips, You're In Love
20. Color Me Badd, I Adore Mi Amor
21. Timmy T, One More Try
22. Paula Abdul, Rush Rush
23. Hi-Five, I Like the Way (The Kissing Game)
24. Surface, The First Time
25. Marky Mark and The Funky Bunch with Loleatta Holloway, Good Vibrations
26. Michael Bolton, When a Man Loves a Woman
27. Bryan Adams, Everything I Do (I Do it For You)
It felt more to me like payola than extortion. At the time of the Motown special, Billie Jean hadn't exploded yet -- that appearance was essential to the explosion -- and "The Girl Is Mine" is what the pop (largely white) audience was exposed to from "Thriller," so MJ may have made that calculation you're saying, but more because he needed them, not the other way around. "Thriller" exploded when "Billie Jean" did, not when its first single did.
"Who Is It?" may be my favorite MJ song, period. As full as it is of his tics, they seem to me to be serving a purpose of telling the tale of a man who is so beset with paranoia, anger and fear that singing isn't sufficient to depict all the emotion.
During this seven-week period, while Michael Jackson was awash in his version of his adult world, a hit moving up the chart at that time was a throwback to the sound of his teenage years:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytNWcB1Iydo
Tevin Campbell's "Tell Me What You Want Me to Do" takes the prodigy of "Round and Round" and starts pointing him in the direction of teen romance. In a year that brought us hits from Hi-Five, Another Bad Creation and, most notably, Boyz II Men, this might not stand out, except for the expressiveness of Tevin's voice, able to capture the yelps and the falsettos that a 15-year-old may only be able to reach for a few months more. It was a throwback to the MJ we loved between the years of “I Want You Back” and “Just a Little Bit of You,” and it worked.
This weekend, the weekend of Dec. 7/8, 1991, on my personal chart – at http://crownnote.com/charts/cstolliver/music-of-a-lifetime-top-25-660 -- “Tell Me What You Want Me to Do” was the week’s biggest mover, up 10 to No. 15. By the end of the No. 1 Billboard reign of “Black or White,” Tevin was at No. 2, just falling from the top after two weeks. The song that would replace his is the song Tom will be discussing in this space on Friday.
7-7-10
I struggled whether to give "Black Or White" a 7 or an 8. Musically, I like how audacious it sounds for a Michael Jackson song. It manages to sound very 1991, which is a neat trick given the various directions music was going at the time. But the lyrics and the (unconvincing) rap in the middle bring it down to a 7.
Mr. Tambourine Man is also a 7 to me. Pretty, yes, but something about the vocal strikes me as ho-hum.
But, oh, the Four Tops! I Can't Help Myself is undeniable, and Levi Stubbs brings the energy that maybe I'm finding lacking in the Byrds. It's an instant pick-me-up, and far and away a 10.
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