WLS Music Survey - October 23, 1976 (Part One - The Thirty-threes)

It's always a pleasure to listen to music from 1976. Today we're flashing back to October 23, 1976, and the top albums (Thirty-threes) reported that week by Chicago's own WLS. As usual, we lead off with a couple features from the station's survey sheet for the week.

We are unfamiliar with Bill Price, but a little online research yielded a few airchecks but little else. Apparently, Mr. Price was one of the voices of the station, featured in its promos and IDs until he was given an on-air slot.

Despite appearances, the 1976 Elvis Presley album pictured above is not a concert recording - it was recorded live at his home studio at Graceland. Elvis's concerts were mostly him and his band performing songs he enjoyed singing, many of them contemporary hits for other artists, in addition to songs from his catalog. Videos, setlists, and soundboard recordings of the listed Chicago shows are available with minimal searching, if you're interested.

Michael Martin Murphey had topped the WLS list of Forty-fives in June 1975 with his haunted horsey tale "Wildfire" and quickly cranked two albums out afterward, including 1976's Flowing Free Forever. It was his sixth album, giving him a nice-sized pool of songs to build his live set.

Labelle also released their sixth album (Chameleon) in 1976 and were touring behind it. From what I've read, these three ladies put on an electrifying, genre-defying, full-production show definitely worth more than the price of admission.

Heart was out behind their debut album, Dreamboat Annie, with their fourth or fifth Chicago-area appearance in five months. After peaking at Number One just before Labor Day 1976, the album was spending its sixth week at number 2 on WLS's list of Thirty-threes with single "Magic Man" up at number 13 on the Forty-fives after peaking inside the Top 10 a couple weeks prior. The album's title track was on deck as the fourth single and would be released in November 1976.

The Doobie Brothers were on the road supporting Takin' It To The Streets (their sixth album!) and, if I'm not mistaken, Best Of The Doobies was released right around the time of their concert at Chicago Stadium. Firefall was touring behind their self-titled debut album and their number 33 single on the Forty-fives list, "You Are The Woman". There were reports of the Doobies inviting Firefall back out to join them on their encore at some shows.

None of the albums on the list of Thirty-threes were on my shelf in October of 1976. I was still buying singles like every other music-obsessed fifth-grader on a $2/week allowance. The forty-fives at the BX were 79 cents each. The albums 15 Big Ones (#22) and Song of Joy (#33) would appear later in 1976 through my new RCA Music Service membership. I had access to less than half of these albums through Dad's collection, though.

I've spotlighted the albums Fleetwood Mac (#6), Silk Degrees (#7), and Hasten Down The Wind (#20) in previous WLS Thirty-threes write-ups. You can check out all of our previous WLS Music Survey posts HERE. Today, we're featuring three all-time classic albums

When it was last audited by the RIAA in 2003, Boston's eponymously titled 1976 album was certified 17x platinum. Wonder how many more millions it has sold or streamed since? It could be Double-Diamond by now. I don't recall hearing any of the album's singles on WLS, but I remember hearing them on WLRW, in stereo. And they sounded magnificent. Boston has one of the best Side 1s ever mastered, with "More Than A Feeling", "Peace Of Mind", and "Foreplay/Long Time" all lined up. It is another uplifting sermon from the Church of Rock and Roll.

Stevie Wonder's 1976 three-disc opus Songs In The Key of Life was reduced to two discs (with no cuts, it should be noted) when it was released on compact disc in 1984. The last time the RIAA audited the sales of this album in 2005, it was certified Diamond for ten million sales though because it is a double disc, each sale counts as two so its actually five million in sales but we can't deny Stevie his Diamond. Wonder how many more have been sold in the past twenty years? While I was all in on the singles "I Wish" and "Sir Duke" in 1976, the album didn't come into my life until 1983 or 1984. We've been together ever since. 

I feel like I shared my weird elementary school lurker story of how I discovered Fly Like An Eagle in a previous post, so I'll just touch on the high points: Bought the singles, heard the longer album versions blaring from a neighbor's window, and soon acquired the album. Have since purchased the album in at least eight different pressings and formats. The RIAA last audited sales of Fly Like An Eagle way, way back in 1991 and awarded it 4x platinum status. Six of my purchases occurred after 1991, so I respectfully request a recertification.

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We'll return with the second part of this WLS Music Survey, covering the week's Forty-fives, soon.