In mid-August 1978, I was probably just home from spending the summer with my grandparents, either in Texas or Missouri. I would have been twelve years old and about to begin seventh grade. While elementary school was a short walk from our home, junior high required a bus ride. WLS was still my station of choice. Today, we're going to take a look at the WLS Music survey for the week ending August 19, 1978.
Station production director Bill Price was featured on The Hideaway as the Jock of the Week for the survey dated October 23, 1976. In addition to his Saturday morning 6-10 shift, he filled in for other jocks as needed, though I have no memory of ever hearing him live on air.
The second date of the all-star concert series Summer Jam '78 featured opening act Pablo Cruise on their Worlds Away Tour, followed by special guest The Steve Miller Band touring behind Book of Dreams, before headliners the Eagles, who were playing hooky from the studio during the protracted sessions for The Long Run.
Jim Seals and Darrell George "Dash" Crofts released Takin' It Easy, their final album on Warner Brothers, in 1978. The album featured the duo's attempt at disco with "You're The Love", and I just might be the only guy you know who likes that track. They did a small tour in support of the album, including a night at Chicago's Auditorium Theatre.
The third date in the Summer Jam '78 series was headlined by Boston on September 2nd. Boston's Don't Look Back album was released the week this survey is dated, making the group arguably the hottest ticket of the summer. Support acts for the show at Comiskey Park included Cheap Trick and Eddie Money. Then Cheap Trick was replaced by Santana, and Sammy Hagar was added. Despite the killer lineup, the concert was ultimately cancelled due to poor ticket sales. Boston would circle back to Chicago with their Don't Look Back Tour for two dates at Chicago Stadium in March 1979.
Three albums debuted on the list of Thirty-threes for the week ending August 19, 1978, including discs from Quincy Jones, Foghat, and Shaun Cassidy.
Holding down the bottom of the countdown is Quincy Jones and his album Sounds ... and Stuff Like That! The album had actually debuted at number 33 on the August 5th survey before taking a week off and trying again this week. Then it was gone again.
This week marks the fifth of six attempts for Foghat's Stone Blue to grab some traction on the Thirty-threes. The album first debuted at number 31 the week of June 10th. It dropped to number 33 the following week and held the spot for an additional week before falling off. It "debuted" again at number 30 on July 8th but slipped off. Then it "debuted" again at number 21 on July 22nd. Stone Blue was back again at number 23 on August 5th, then returned at number 27 this week before taking a week off and returning one final week on September 2nd at number 28.
Shaun Cassidy's first two albums were big hits, but Under Wraps, despite being Cassidy's favorite record because he had a hand in writing most of the songs, underperformed by any applicable standard. Debuting at number 26 this week, the album rose to number 15 over the next two weeks before dropping, then rising again to number 16 over the following two weeks. Over the final four weeks of its nine-week run, Under Wraps fell to number 27 and then disappeared.
Moving up four to number 15 on the station's album chart is Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the star-studded soundtrack album for the star-studded film. The album debuted at number 19 the previous week and would go on to spend eight of the next nine weeks in the Top 10, peaking at number 4 for two weeks in September during a fifteen-week march up and down the list.
Saturday Night Fever drops one position to number 7. The album debuted at number 31 in January 1978, rising to Number One for twenty-three consecutive weeks before dropping off the station's albums chart in December 1978 after a total run of forty-six weeks. The Bee Gees have six tracks on Saturday Night Fever and wrote an additional two tracks performed by others. The Gibb Brothers also appear on a dozen tracks on the Sgt. Pepper soundtrack while also starring in lead roles. They were competing with themselves on the Thirty-threes chart.
Speaking of friendly competition, John Travolta's first project after Saturday Night Fever was Grease. The film's soundtrack album is enjoying the sixth of its 15 non-consecutive weeks at Number One on the Thirty-threes after debuting at number 29 in May 1978. Grease would ultimately spend forty-four weeks on the station's album chart before dropping off in April 1979.
Dropping seven spots to number 24 this week is the soundtrack to Thank God It's Friday, the first of four double-disc soundtrack albums on the list of Thirty-threes. The album featured a bonus single-sided Donna Summer 12" single, so it was actually a triple-disc set housed within an expanded sleeve. Thank God It's Friday debuted on WLS's album chart at number 30 in June 1978, before peaking at number 11 in July. The album spent a total of thirteen weeks on the Thirty-threes.
🎧🎧🎧🎧🎧🎧
In a strange yet cool coincidence, two of my favorite albums on the Thirty-threes this week have the word Stranger in their titles. Both albums also have nine tracks, and the respective album artists celebrate their birthdays within four days of each other, though they are four years apart.
Billy Joel's The Stranger debuted on the list of Thirty-threes almost exactly four months after it was released at the end of September 1977. The album peaked at number 2 behind Saturday Night Fever for eleven weeks before beginning its slow descent, finally leaving WLS's chart in April 1979 after sixty-seven weeks. Thirty years on, The Stranger has been certified Platinum twelve times; it is Billy Joel's largest-selling studio album and one of the two ten-million-selling Diamond albums in his discography. If you don't have The Stranger in your collection, there is a good chance a dozen or more people you know definitely have it on their shelf or hard drive. I'm on record elsewhere as saying the first seven songs on The Stranger are among Joel's greatest works, songs that continually reward the listener with each play.
Stranger In Town by Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band debuted on WLS's Thirty-threes chart a month after it was released in May 1978. The album peaked at number 7 in August and spent just 27 weeks on the chart before dropping off in December 1978. Currently, Stranger In Town is a certified 6x Platinum album, though it's been a while since its last sales audit. Seger has one Diamond-certified album, his Greatest Hits album from 1994. While it does not have as many great songs as The Stranger, Seger's Stranger in Town has five songs that rank among the best he's ever done, rockers and ballads alike. The two artists (Joel and Seger) and the two albums are not mutually exclusive; both provide insight into ourselves and the people we know.
No comments:
Post a Comment