WLS Music Survey - May 30, 1981 (Part One: Thirty-threes)

 

We're turning back the clock 44 years today with a WLS Survey from 1981. Click HERE to see previous WLS Surveys we've featured on The Hideaway. We didn't leave Illinois until late July 1981 so I would have been listening to all of this good stuff as it was played. Warning: These fresh scans have a certain tilt to them so you may experience some dizziness.

The First Lady Of Chicago Radio is the featured Jock of the Week. I never heard her overnight shift but I'm positive I've heard her on other shifts and airchecks. Great voice and passion for the music. She left us too soon in 1991.

After four consecutive nights at Pine Knob Music Theatre in Michigan, Santana landed near Chicago at the still-new Poplar Creek Music Theater venue in support of the recently released Zebop! and the single "Winning" which debuts as an EXTRA on this week's list of Forty-fives.

Dylan was touring after recording Shot Of Love, the final album in what is considered his Christian trilogy. The album would not be released until August 1981 but he embarked on a tour some fans call his greatest ever, including a stop at Poplar Creek. He would not tour again until 1984.

David Lindley was opening for Joe Walsh on the tour behind Walsh's fifth solo album There Goes The Neighborhood, including a stop at the popular Poplar Creek venue. The album's lead single "A Life Of Illusion" was another EXTRA on this week's Forty-fives.

James Taylor and Kim Carnes were touring together in the summer of 1981, also making a stop at Poplar Creek. Taylor was touring in support of Dad Loves His Work album while Carnes was promoting her Mistaken Identity LP. Both artists can be found on this week's singles list, with Taylor at number 26 with "Her Town Too" and Carnes topping the list at Number One while also appearing at number 9 on the Thirty-threes list.

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There are two live double albums on the Thirty-threes chart dated May 30, 1981, including an all-star charity effort from 1979.

The double album Concerts for the People of Kampuchea (aka Cambodia) is at number 25. Featuring songs recorded over four days of concerts at London's legendary Hammersmith Odeon, this album is worth a listen. However, once I found out about the entirety of the set lists from the concerts performed, I felt ripped off. (Thank God for bootlegs.) I didn't see the accompanying film until late in 1988 when it became available here in America and it, like the album that preceded it, only whet my appetite for more. Sadly, this album was never released digitally - it's strictly analog for those of you who appreciate such things.

Down at number 31 on the list of Thirty-threes is Journey's Captured, a snapshot of their worldwide Departure Tour recorded across four nights and in three cities. The album peaked on the WLS survey at number 7 in March. The most excellent "The Party's Over (Hopelessly In Love)", the sole studio track on the double album, is falling off the Forty-fives at number 44 this week after peaking at number 24 in April. I had jumped on the Journey bandwagon as a fan of "Any Way You Want It" and my purchase of 1980's Departure on eight-track, which I settled for because the vinyl was sold out. I didn't pick up Captured until 1985 - you can read about that HERE.

Two acts have a pair of albums on the album list: AC/DC and REO Speedwagon. Both acts have been long-time favorites of ours and their charted albums on this week's survey have long been staples in our collection in more than two formats.

Down at number 33 on the list of Thirty-threes is REO Speedwagon's double-disc compilation A Decade of Rock and Roll 1970 to 1980. The album debuted on the station's album chart in May 1980, peaked at number 5 in August 1980, and ended up spending just over a year moving up and down the chart. Across four sides of vinyl, this album is an excellent retrospective of the band's first decade. It was almost like the band and their label knew that Hi Infidelity would be a game-changer when it was released in November 1980. Fun fact: at least one of the four live tracks at the beginning of side two of the tape is edited so that both sides of the tape are somewhat equal. I guess the only other option would have been to make it a two-cassette release. The 8-track tape also features at least one edited track, probably on Program 3, which is also where the only song "Roll With The Changes" split by the program-changing KA-CHUNK begins. On the vinyl album, the four live tracks make up the first side of the second disc and run twenty-eight minutes.

Up at number 11, is AC/DC's classic album Back In Black which ended up spending more than a year on the station's list of Thirty-threes, peaking at number 2 three different times. WLS supposedly played the two US singles (the title track and "You Shook Me All Night Long") from the album though I don't ever recall hearing them but I've heard the album in its entirety so many times it is a miracle I can recall anything. I still remember listening to the album for the very first time as my friend Robert had borrowed it without permission from his older brother one afternoon after school and we both huddled in Robert's room, listening at a moderate volume, waiting for his door to be kicked in at any time.

Up at number 4 on the Thirty-threes list is REO Speedwagon's massive-selling Hi Infidelity. The album spent over sixty weeks on WLS's chart, including 13 weeks at Number One. The station played the first three of the album's singles more than enough for some folks who are sensitive to such things. I got the album as a Christmas Gift in 1980 and played Side 1 of the album a bazillion times more than I played Side 2. Once the CD came into my life a few years later, I programmed the player to only play tracks 1,2,4,5 and 6 off the disc.

The Number One album this week on the WLS list of albums is Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. The album would spend a total of eight weeks atop the Thirty-threes in a 30-week run from April to November 1981. AC/DC's third album came out in 1976 but it wasn't released in North America until 1981, after the success of Back In Black. Out was the original cartoonish Australian cover art and running order. The 1981 International version of Dirty Deeds we got here in the US features an altered track list, songs edited for length, and a shiny new cover artwork from the fine folks at Hipgnosis, pictured above. For this fifteen-year-old horndog in 1981, the album was all kinds of fun. From the snarling vocals of Bon Scott, the barely single-entendre lyrics of "Big Balls", and the punky crunchy guitars of the Brothers Young, I fell hard for the album. Once again, I have Robert and his older brother to thank for hipping me to this album. Ride on, Robert, ride on.

Before we go, I wanted to single out one more "album" on the list, the one sitting at number 17 this week. It's not really an album but rather a 5-song EP or Extended Play though the catalog number seems to refer to it as a mini-album.  Whatever you call it, track one side one of the Pretenders' Extended Play is the exquisite "Message of Love".