🎧The 1977 HIDEAWAY 100: 30-21🎧

We're into the Top 30 with part eight of the 1977 Hideaway 100 and by my count half of today's artists and albums have already made at least one appearance on the countdown. We like what we like. You know what I like and miss? American Bandstand. Don't know why the rightsholders haven't found a way to get these episodes to us fans. At this point, the powers that be should do like they did with The Midnight Special or Soul Train when they were released: make it a compilation of performances and Dick Clark's patented introductions from the bleachers and between song interviews rather than entire episodes - cut out all the dancing which we all know was nowhere near as good as the dancing we were seeing on Soul Train. Let me go the extra mile for our benevolent corporate overlords and spec out Classic American Bandstand 1977, Volume 1 (the dates in parentheses represent the original airdate of the performance):

• Yvonne Elliman - "Love Me" (Jan. 8)
• The Commodores - "Just to Be Close to You" (Jan. 22)
• Kenny Nolan - "I Like Dreamin'" (Jan. 22)
• The Four Seasons - "December, 1963 (Oh What A Night)" (Feb. 4)
• Barry Manilow and Lady Flash - "Bandstand Boogie" (Feb. 4)
• Stephen Bishop - "On And On" (Feb. 5)
• Dr. Hook - "Only Sixteen" (Feb. 12)
• Brick - "Dazz" (Feb. 19)
• Jennifer Warnes - "Right Time of the Night" (Feb. 26)
• Thelma Houston - "Don't Leave Me This Way" (Apr. 2)
• The Rubinoos - "I Think We're Alone Now" (Apr. 2)
• Shaun Cassidy - "Da Doo Ron Ron" (Apr. 9)
• Enchantment - "Gloria" (Apr. 9)
• England Dan & John Ford Cooley - "It's Sad to Belong" (Apr. 16)
• The Sylvers - "High School Dance" and "Hotline" (Apr. 23)
• Cerrone - "Love in 'C' Minor - Pt. I" (Apr. 23)
• Andrew Gold - "Lonely Boy" (Apr. 30)
• Hot - "Angel in Your Arms" (May 7)
• The Ohio Players - "Love Rollercoaster" (May 7)

Some of these acts and songs have already appeared on the countdown. And some of them may be coming up. Here's another ten percent of the 1977 Hideaway 100. This time around it is numbers 30-21: 

30

Back at number 55, we featured "Don't Stop" written by Christine McVie. Then at number 42, we featured the Stevie Nicks composition, "Dreams". For the third and final Fleetwood Mac song on our countdown, we shine the spotlight on Lindsey Buckingham's "Go Your Own Way". As with the previous tracks, the music bed grabs our attention immediately with Lindsey's electric and acoustic guitar dubbed atop one another before Mick and John come in; Mick seemingly failing to keep time while John, as always, plays rock steady. Lindsey sounds like a tortured soul as he yelps his way through the lyrics he wrote before being joined by Stevie and Christine in a chorus of absolution. At the age of eleven, I just thought "Go Your Own Way" sounded really cool on the radio and I liked it a lot. At the age of fifty-one, I know it sounds cool and I really love it. I may have mentioned my dream jukebox once or twice during this countdown and I'd like to think the 45 of "Go Your Own Way" b/w "Silver Springs" would find a place among the hundred singles ultimately chosen. "Go Your Own Way" found its way to number 9 on WLS's Forty-fives chart while parking at number 10 in Billboard, Cashbox and Record World.

29

Until I won the first two Boston albums in late 1978, I had no idea "Long Time" had an instrumental intro titled "Foreplay" and after hearing the radio edit of "Long Timer" dozens of times on WLS and maybe another half-dozen times on Casey Kasem's American Top 40, I just wasn't expecting it. Yet after bringing the album home and spinning just a couple of times, I could never imagine hearing "Long Time" without first hearing "Foreplay" - the two songs are listed as one track on the album. A modicum of logic would have led you to believe Scholz, his management or the label would at least place "Foreplay" on the B-Side on the "Long Time" 45 but it didn't happen that way; flip "Long Time" over and you find "Let Me Take You Home Tonight". "Foreplay" wouldn't appear on a 45 until the album's third single "Peace Of Mind". And for those of you who grew up listening to Boston's glorious debut album on eight-track or cassette tape, you heard a different tracklisting than those of us listening on vinyl. "Long Time" peaked at number 22 in Billboard and Record World, number 12 in Cashbox and number 8 on WLS.

28

After finally scoring their first Top 10 hit with "Sara Smile" on RCA, Hall & Oates' previous label Atlantic re-released their Top 60 single "She's Gone" from 1974 and it also climbed up into the Top 10. Then the duo released "Rich Girl" an absolute rocker compared to the previous two ballads. Hearing it on WLS, I was smitten with the song immediately and even got into trouble at school for singing it loud enough for a teacher to hear, resulting in an hour of standing in the hall with my nose touching my locker and my hands behind my back. Bought the 45 and ordered the album Bigger Than Both Of Us as one of my initial picks for a nickel when I joined the RCA Music Service in 1978. "Rich Girl" became the first in a string of Number One songs for Hall & Oates, topping WLS's Forty-fives chart as well as the pop singles charts in Record World, Cashbox, and Billboard.

27

My 45 of "Boogie Nights" was one of a dozen 45s I would later take to our monthly junior high after-school dances as a seventh-grader in the Spring of 1979. Part of the deal if you bought your own records in to be played was you had to write your name, grade and room number on the labels. In ink. So they knew who brought what. So all mine had my name and 7-25 on them. You could sign up to be a DJ to play your records, and if you were picked, you got 15 minutes. Eighth-graders got priority but occasionally, I made the cut. You submitted your records for approval ahead of time to the music teacher who stood at the giant rolling turntable console with you at center court while you played your records. Songs were not allowed to be repeated which is why I brought along a dozen of them - in case some one else played one of my songs. So one particular time, I did not get to DJ but failed to get my records back from the music teacher before I was picked up. I thought nothing of it because my info was written - in ink - on each record. Dances were on Fridays so they were at school all weekend and I was eager to pick them up that Monday. Music class was my first class after lunch and sure enough, the teacher came over and placed a small stack of records on my desk, all with my info on them. But two records were missing and after class, I told her about them. She asked which ones were missing and I told her they were my two Heatwave 45s: "Boogie Nights" and "The Groove Line". I even described them to her: white sleeves and orange labels. The next day in class, she came to me before class began and handed me the two records with a slight smile. They did not have my info on them. Well, they had my grade and class info: 7-25 but where I had neatly printed my first and last name had been erased so that there was a white blur where they used to be. A classmate, Russell C., had written his name on them instead. I don't know the details of how, when, or why he took them or how she got them back but I still have both of them. "Boogie Nights" was Number One on WLS but got down to number 2 in Cashbox, Record World and Billboard.

26

I've gotten into the habit of leaving the radio on 24/7 here in The Audio Archives where I write The Hideaway at my custom-built standing desk. My radio station of choice used to be 98.5 The Fox, a great mix of music from the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties with no commercials and no DJs but it is solar(!) powered and shuts down about an hour after sundown most nights. (It doesn't stream, either.) Then I fell in love with the Classic American Top 40 station on iheartradio which I know is the devil incarnate but once I got copies of all the AT40 shows from the Casey Kasem years, I moved on to MOD Radio which I still listen to quite a bit but I recently discovered Bobby's B-100 app and have been digging on that off and on since June. As I started to write this and was just gonna pull up "Lido Shuffle" to listen to, Bobby's B-100 played the song but now it's over so I pulled it up and listened to it again. And then once more. Such a great tune. Fun to sing along to and another great driving song, too, with Boz sounding an awful lot like Van Morrison. A bonus for 45 buyers is the B-Side, Boz's original version of "We're All Alone" which was covered by Rita Coolidge back at number 83 in the 1977 Hideaway 100. "Lido Shuffle" made it to number 12 in Record World, 11 in Billboard, 6 in Cashbox and 2 on WLS.

25

You know the lyrics. Even as a 51-year-old with nearly three years towards a major in creative writing and a deep appreciation of poetry in all forms, I can't make hide nor hair of these lyrics. Google Translator was of no help, either. "Strawberry Letter 23", as written and first recorded by Shuggie Otis and covered by the ridiculously talented Brothers Johnson, is a stone-cold groover, so smooth it glides. The 3:39 45 edit cuts off the dream-like false start and the extended coda but I can't really hold that against it - the song is just too good and as they say a little bit is better than nada. Surprisingly, the song didn't too well on WLS, only making it up to number 24 - of course, I only have it at number 25 but that's for the whole year. "Strawberry Letter 23" wafted up to number 5 in Billboard, number 7 in Record World and number 8 in Cashbox.

24

The Endless Flight album showed up in my Easter Basket on Easter Sunday, April 10, 1977 - a little more than two weeks before my eleventh birthday - along with Best Of The Doobies. Both quickly became favorites and I'd be hard-pressed to leave either off any list of my 50 Favorite Albums even now. (What? You didn't get Easter Baskets filled with albums and candy?) The immediate draw of Endless Flight was the infectious not-too-slow disco of "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" which had been a huge hit in late 1976. The current single on WLS at the time the album showed up in the basket alongside Peanut M&M's, Snickers bars, Marathon bars, Mr. Goodbars and Super Bubble bubble gum, was "When I Need You" which is down at number 66 on the 1977 Hideaway 100. But the song I instantly fell for upon first listen was "How Much Love" buried in the middle of Side Two.  I was very happy to hear it on the radio just a few months later as the third single spun off Endless Flight. For me, it combines the lighthearted sentiment of the first single with the deeper sentiment of the second and adds a great rolling piano line and a driving rhythm with wonderful little flights of strings for punctuation. "How Much Love" climbed to number 22 in Record World, number 17 in Billboard, number 9 in Cashbox and number 5 on WLS.

23

Is anyone else a huge fan of the spacey beeping intro that opens "Jungle Love"? It has been my preferred text tone for most of the past seven years - always gets everybody's attention. But then it's kind of a let down when the rest of the song doesn't follow, you know? That's the problem I have with most text and ring tones - they build up such anticipation in just a few short seconds. Of course back in 1977, having short song snippets replace the telephone ringer wasn't even a thought. Steve Miller Band's "Jungle Love" instantly catches my ear whenever it comes on and it pairs thematically with Jay Ferguson's "Thunder Island" but it wasn't as big a hit with the Chicago listeners as I might have thought, reaching only number 24 on WLS's Forty-fives chart. "Jungle Love" peaked at number 23 in Billboard, number 20 in Record World and number 17 in Cashbox.

22

It's always been "So Into You" to me but the label plainly says "So In To You" so what are you to do? The original vinyl album from 1976 says "So In To You" but my 1991 compact disc of the same album says "So Into You" as does the album's listing on Spotify. We all know which song I'm talking about, the one with the "voodoo in the vibes". It was the first song I had ever heard by the Atlanta Rhythm Section and it probably spent a good month or so atop my list of favorite songs in February/March 1977. "So Into You" is almost too mellow with laid back keyboards, laid back vocal, and that little laid back guitar riff but man if I don't find my toe quietly tapping or my head gently bobbing when it comes on. "So Into You" was listed as "So In To You" on WLS's Forty-fives chart for its entire eighteen-week run including a two-week stay at number 8 which is where it peaked in Record World, too. The single climbed to number 7 in Billboard and number 5 in Cashbox.  

21

If you have spent any amount of time here at The Hideaway, you may have noticed that I like a lot of songs and my ears are always open; I'm not one of those "today's music sucks" guys. There's really not many songs I would rather not to listen to but Eric Carmen's "All By Myself" would certainly make that list of those No Thank You tracks. I avoided it as best as I could on the radio though Dad kept bringing albums home that had that wretched track on them, compilation albums like Ronco's I Love Music and Hit After Hit as well as K-Tel's Right On. To his credit, Dad never did buy Eric Carmen's self-titled solo debut even though I know he liked the second single "Never Gonna Fall In Love Again" and may have picked up the 45. Had one of us purchased Carmen's album, we would have been greeted with his autobiographical "That's Rock 'n Roll", the second track on the album. Someone in Shaun Cassidy's camp had definitely heard the song as it was released as the second single from his own self-titled debut album. It would be at least six or seven years before I heard Carmen's original at a girlfriend's house - it was her mother's favorite album so she grew to love it just by hearing it often. This is what I thought then and I still think now: Eric's original version has more of a bottom to it but it sounds sparser overall while Shaun's take sounds like a fuller, livelier mix but it lacks bass except for the bass drum and I could do without the sax. Shaun does a good job mimicking Eric's vocals though I think he brings more enthusiasm. Advantage: Shaun Cassidy. "That's Rock 'N' Roll" (the spelling of the title used on Cassidy's version) was a monster hit on WLS, spending a full half a year on the Forty-fives chart as "That's Rock And Roll" from August 1977 until February 1978, including one week at Number One in October. "That's Rock 'N' Roll" made it to number 4 in Cashbox and number 3 in both Billboard and Record World.

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