WLS Top 40 for Week of May 11, 1970-- Part 2: "Make Me Smile"

I always go to You Tube and listen to every songs when I do a Top 40.  As they say, really takes me back.   Listening to the Fifth Dimension's "Puppet Man" right now.

35.  MAKE ME SMILE--  Chicago     #9   (D)  Horns and more horns!!  I love a good horns band.  And, from Chicago.  Originally the Chicago Transit Authority.

34.  MY BABY LOVES LOVIN'--  White Plains      #13      A great 3-minute piece of pop music if there ever was one.  That's Tony Burrows singing lead.   He also sang hits for the Pipkins, Edison Lighthouse, Brotherhood of Man (which means he had two songs in this week's Top 40) and White Plains.  A Man of Many Groups, that Tony.

33.  THE SEEKER--  Who   #44     Great guitar intro.  "I asked Bobby Dylan, I asked the Beatles."

32.  PEOPLE AND ME--  New Colony Six     Did not make Top 100.    Never heard of this song before.  But, a much heavier effort than they usually did in the Ronnie Rice era.  This was WLS pushing local talent in Chicago.

31.  LET IT BE--  Beatles      #1   Another good song for these days.  Buy, hey, they had problems back fifty years ago as well.

Name That Tune (from the above songs):  "When I Find Myself In Time of Trouble Mother Mary Comes To Me."  Answer below.  --RoadDog


"Let It Be"

Music Deaths: Marty Grebb, Member of Buckinghams and Bonnie Raitt's Band

MARTY GREBB, 73

Died January 1, 2020

Guitarist, keyboardist and touring musician.  Played with Chicago's Buckinghams (just inducted into the Illinois Rock and Roll Hall of Fame), Rick Danko, Eric Clapton, Etta James and Bonnie Raitt.

Played keyboards with the Buckinghams in their heyday in the 1960s.

WLS Top 40 for December 15, 1969-- Part 3: "And When I Die"

Fifty Years Ago.

30.  SHE--  Tommy James / Shondells     #23    Not one of their better known songs.  But repeated listenings and it grows on you.

29.  AND WHEN I DIE --  Blood, Sweat & Tears     #2    More horns,  more harmonica.  Takes me back to those good old days at NIU.  Written by Laura Nyro.   The last of three straight #2s.

28.  TAKE A LETTER MARIA--  R.B. Greaves      #2    Another defining song from the era for me.    One of the comments on the video said that he had a friend in Vietnam who dedicated it to his soon-to-be ex-girlfriend.  His biggest hit.

27.  BARBARA I LOVE YOU--  New Colony Six    #78    Slow song from one of those great 1960s Chicago bands with Ronnie Rice singing upfront.  One comment said that the Association was singing the background vocals, but I don't know.   Both WLS and WCFL really pushed our local bands.

26.  JINGLE JANGLE--  Archies     #10    Pop Music.  Bubble Gum Music?    A fun song, though.  Their second biggest hit after, of course "Sugar, Sugar."

Name That Tune (from the above songs):  "Last Night As I Got Home About A Half Past Ten."  Answer below.  --RoadDog


"Take A Letter Maria"

How Chicago Rocked the 60s-- Part 2: The Best, New Colony Six, Of Course

Bands like the Buckinghams, Shadows of Knight (Jimmy Sohns and "Gloria", New Colony Six, Ides of March, Chicago Transit Authority (later shortened to just Chicago), Cryan' Shames and American Breed often had songs on the Top 40s.

We are going to see Jimmy Sohns and the Shadows of Knight at Antioch's Taste of Summer Festival this Saturday at noon to two.  Jimmy Sohns is recovering from a strike he had last year and this will be his first show since then.  I am really looking forward to it.

I am fairly sure we'll hear "Gloria" and "Oh Yeah."

And, as I pointed out in the headline of this blog entry, my favorite of all of the Chicago groups was New Colony Six.  I saw them at Palatine High School and their version of "Mr. You're A Better Man Than I" just blew me away.

Six For Me.  --RoadDog

How Chicago Rocked the 60s-- Part 1: Rockin' the City and Suburbs With 50,000 Watts

In the previous post I wrorte that Chicago's New Colony Six band, had the #33 song on the WLS Silver Dollar Survey for July  15, 1966.

Go to You Tube and look this up full program  especially if you are not knowing about the 1960s Chicago rock scene.  Our two super stations, both pushing out 50,000 watts (and you could gear it in most of the United States at night), really pushed the local talent.

It is 27 minutes of all sorts of information and facts as well as music clips.

Those stations were WLS 890 AM and WCFL 1000 AM.  This tells you about the bands and the radio stations.

It was great growing up in the Chicago suburbs and hearing our local talent.  Plus, the groups often played high school hops, plus night clubs like the Cellar in Arlington Heights.

--RoadDog

Record Store Day Purchases-- Part 1

This past Saturday, I went to The Vinyl Frontier in McHenry, Illinois, and bought four albums and I went way back for them, all from the 1960s. //// Two were by Chicago groups: TIME & CHANGES by the Buckinghams ($4) and SUGAR & SPICE by the Cryan Shames ($2). //// The Buckinghams album featured "Don't You Care," "I'll Be Back," "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" and "Foreign Policy." Of course, part of the name Buckinghams came from the British Invasion. Buckingham sounded British, even though there is a fountain in Chicago by that name. "I'll Be Back" was written by Lennon-McCartney. //// The Cryan' Shames album featured "Sugar and Spice" and "I Wanna Meet You." Another song on it was written by George Harrison "If I Needed Someone." Of interest was the ages of the group with two at 18 and the other four at 21. Many of the songs were written by group member Jim Fairs, on of the 18-year-olds. //// One reason Chicago groups got so popular was that the Chicago radio stations (WLS and WCFL) really played a lot of their music. //// --RoadDog