Various Artists - Billboard Top Album Rock Hits, 1982 (1997)

The second volume of a four disc series from Rhino Records covering the years 1981-84, which just so happen to coincide with the years in which your humble blogger attended high school. The track selection speaks for itself but I'm very disappointed in the lack of liner notes detailing each track. However, there was a "Rock Quiz" included in the CD insert if you're up to the challenge.

More from the CD insert:

The "Joel" mentioned above is the late Joel Whitburn, renowned documentarian of popular music charts and founder of Record Research. More from the aforementioned Rock Tracks book in a bit, but for more on the origins of Billboard's Rock charts on March 21, 1981, click here or the image below:

Also, I put together a list of all the songs that hit #1 on the Top Tracks chart in 1982. That's available here: List of Billboard #1 Rock Tracks of 1982.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks: All but three have already appeared on this blog.

1. Shake It Up - The Cars (#2 Rock, #4 Pop)
   Also on Anthology: Just What I Needed, Original Album Series, and The Absolute Best Totally 80's.
2. Heat Of The Moment - Asia (#1 Rock, #4 Pop)
   Also on Asia, Fantasia: Live In Tokyo (live version), and 80s Hits Stripped (acoustic version).
3. 867-5309/Jenny - Tommy Tutone (#1 Rock, #4 Pop)
   Also on Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Hits of the '80s, Vol. 5, I Love Rock & Roll: Hits of the 80's, Vol 4, and 80s Hits Stripped (acoustic version).
4. Hold Me - Fleetwood Mac (#3 Rock, #4 Pop)
   Also on Greatest Hits.
5. No One Like You - Scorpions (#1 Rock, #65 Pop)
   Also on Hear The Light, Vol. 1.
6. Keep The Fire Burnin' - REO Speedwagon (#2 Rock, #7 Pop)
   I'm not the biggest REO Speedwagon fan, usually calling them OREO Chuckwagon or some such mockery. The group's slower tunes were normally overwrought and overplayed, but this cut is a upbeat rocker with a tasty little organ solo. I can take it or leave it (I prefer the very similar Roll With The Changes), but at least it ain't a power ballad.
7. Everybody Wants You - Billy Squier (#1 Rock, #32 Pop)
   One of the best songs on the disc and one the best things Squier ever released.
8. Caught Up In You - .38 Special (#1 Rock, #10 Pop)
   Also on The Very Best of the A&M Years.
9. Think I'm In Love - Eddie Money (#1 Rock, #16 Pop)
   The lack of Eddie Money tunes in my CD collection is downright embarrassing. Anyway, this plea from a man to his woman has a great groove and incessant beat.
10. Working For The Weekend - Loverboy (#2 Rock, #29 Pop)
    Also on Classics: Their Greatest Hits.

According to my 1995 edition of Record Research's Rock Tracks book, the following tunes were the top 40 rock tracks of the year. All ten CD cuts are present and accounted for:

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Shake It Up and Heat Of The Moment are special to me as they come from the first and second albums I ever heard on the emerging personal stereo technology. During my sophomore year in high school in the fall of 1981, I was in either science or health class and a friend named Mark had a Shake It Up cassette and a new Sony Walkman 2. I gave it a listen (during class, of course) and couldn't believe I was able to hear the music that loudly while the teacher couldn't hear a thing. Not too long after - probably January 1982 - a new acquaintance let me borrow his blue Panasonic personal stereo. He introduced me to Asia and and then went on to hip me to synth pop and New Wave. Personal stereos were a big deal and forever changed my listening habits. My first Walkman was a WM-10 either purchased with graduation money in 1984 or received as a gift from my parents the previous Christmas.

The back of the CD insert encourages CD buyers to "Visit Rocky's Swingin' Pad at www.rhino.com" which looked like this in 1997:

Previously revisited for the blog:
Billboard Top Album Rock Hits, 1984
Billboard Top Album Rock Hits, 1981

Various Artists - Billboard Top Dance Hits 1977 (1992)

Truth in advertising from the good folks over at Rhino: ten top dance tunes from 1977, and half of those hit #1 on the Billboard Dance chart. After purchasing, I discovered many tracks with which I was unfamiliar. CD liner notes here.

One in a series of ten covering the years 1976-1985, not to be confused with either The Disco Years or Special Editions Disco series, also issued by Rhino.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks, with chart peaks. Extended mixes marked with an asterisk, others are 7" single versions:

	Song	Artist	Time	Dance	Hot 100	R&B
1	Overture*	D.C. LaRue	5:08	2
2	Quiet Village*	The Ritchie Family	3:09	1
3	Rumour Has It	Donna Summer	3:37	1	53	21
4	Girl Don't Make Me Wait*	Pattie Brooks	10:52	2
5	San Francisco (You've Got Me)	Village People	3:31	1	102
6	Slowdown	John Miles	4:21	2	34
7	I Feel Love	Donna Summer	5:57	3	6	9
8	Hold Tight	Vicki Sue Robinson	5:58	1	67
9	Got To Give It Up (Pt.1)	Marvin Gaye	4:12	1	1	1
10	Do What You Wanna Do	T-Connection	3:27	1	46	15

Nothing to skip - a great mix of the familiar and previously unfamiliar. The Summer and Gaye tracks are disco classics and continue to get much play around these parts. Of the new-to-me tracks (and there were quite a few: 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, & 10), my favorites are Overture, Girl Don't Make Me Wait, Do What You Wanna Do, and Hold Tight (written by David Gates and originally released by Bread earlier in 1977). The Village People track bears quite a resemblance to their latter hit, Macho Man.

I Feel Love certainly deserves more recognition as a groundbreaking song. With none of the typical disco strings and high-hat cymbal, the backing tracks are all electronic, save for the bass drum (more on the recording over at Wikipedia). Pretty gutsy for 1977, but the song set the blueprint for dance music in the '80s and beyond. People may argue that Kraftwerk was the pioneer in electronic music and there's certainly some truth to that, but there's no denying Kraftwerk didn't get nearly the same amount of radio airplay as I Feel Love.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:

Billboard Top Dance Hits 1976 (1992)	Billboard Top Dance Hits 1980 (1992)
Billboard Top Dance Hits 1978 (1992)	Billboard Top Dance Hits 1985 (1998)
Billboard Top Dance Hits 1979 (1992)

Various Artists - Billboard Top Album Rock Hits, 1981 (1997)

The first volume of a very short-lived, 4 disc series from Joel Whitburn and Rhino Records covering the years 1981-84, which just so happen to coincide with the years in which your humble blogger attended high school. The track selection speaks for itself but I'm very disappointed in the lack of liner notes detailing each track. However, there was a "Rock Quiz" included in the CD insert if you are up to the challenge.

More from the CD insert:

For more on the origins of Billboard's Rock charts on March 21, 1981, click here or the image below:

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks: Half have already appeared on this blog, but since we're here...

1. Waiting For A Girl Like You - Foreigner (#1 Rock, #2 Pop)
   Also on Foreigner 4, Complete Greatest Hits, and the Footloose soundtrack.
2. Hold On Loosely - .38 Special (#3 Rock, #27 Pop)
   Also on The Very Best of the A&M Years (1977-1988) and Class Reunion '81: Greatest Hits Of 1981.
3. The Voice - The Moody Blues (#1 Rock, #15 Pop)
   Also on Long Distance Voyager and The Best Of The Moody Blues.
4. Burnin' For You - Blue Öyster Cult (#1 Rock, #40 Pop)
   I'm surprised this only charted at 40 on the Hot 100 because 1) I sure heard it a lot back in 1981, and 2) licks, riffs, and hooks abound. 
5. Fire And Ice - Pat Benatar (#2 Rock, #17 Pop)
   I'm not a huge Benatar fan, but in my book, this is one of her better releases. It won the Grammy award in the now-defunct category of Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.
6. Hold On Tight - ELO (#2 Rock, #10 Pop)
   Also on Time.
7. This Little Girl - Gary U.S. Bonds (#5 Rock, #11 Pop)
   Written by Springsteen with sax solo by Clarence Clemons but Bonds completely owns this old school rocker. According to Casey Kasem during the June 20, 1981 edition of AT40, the song was written after the Bonds and Bruce spent a few hours together commiserating about their stalled careers. And how great a stage name is Gary U.S. Bonds?
8. Find Your Way Back - Jefferson Starship (#3 Rock, #29 Pop)
   Of all the incarnations of this band, the "Jefferson Starship" years (1974-1984) are my favorite because they were putting out good stuff like this.
9. A Life Of Illusion - Joe Walsh (#1 Rock, #34 Pop)
   I have no idea why I wasn't listening to more Joe Walsh during my high school days. I should have become a fan after hearing Life's Been Good or even Funk #49.
10. The Stroke - Billy Squier (#3 Rock, #17 Pop)
    Also on Don't Say No.

Missing is the biggest rock hit of 1981, Start Me Up by The Rolling Stones, which spent 13 weeks atop the rock track chart beginning September 5 of that year.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Lots, but here's one I've mentioned before. Around the time these songs were popular, all the "cool senior boys" at my high school would back their mid-70's Ford or Chevy pick-up trucks into parking spots next to the football stadium about 15 minutes before school began, stereos blaring. In addition to the driver, the truck cab would normally seat the driver's current girlfriend. Tradition held that the truck have bench seating and the girl would sit as close to her boyfriend as physically possible without actually climbing into his lap (this was a few years before wearing seatbelts was mandatory in Texas, not as if that would make any difference to young lovers). Trucks entered the school's parking lot at the slowest rate of speed possible with windows down and loud rock music testing the limits of stock speakers. These tracks were just a few of those heard throughout the neighborhood surrounding the school that year.

Back in '81, our high school campus had a student smoking area and no minimum age to buy tobacco plus the legal drinking age was 19 with no open container law, so there was most likely plenty of other stuff going on in those truck cabs. I was but a naïve, sheltered 14/15 year old, so I was just a spectator at that point in time.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Billboard Top Album Rock Hits, 1984

Various Artists - Billboard Top Dance Hits 1985 (1998)

Truth in advertising from the good folks over at Rhino: ten dance tunes from 1985, all but one hit #1 on the Billboard Dance chart. Lots of extended versions and with a total disc running time of an hour. One in a series of ten covering the years 1976-1985, not to be confused with either The Disco Years or Special Editions Disco series, also issued by Rhino. I never planned on buying all ten discs in this Top Dance Hits series, but they keep popping up in used bins so ya never know.

Some of the songs were released in late 1984 but all peaked on the dance chart in 1985. The compilation is slanted towards the first half of the year, with 8 of the 10 tracks peaking during that time with the other two tracks peaking in July (19) and August (Freeway Of Love).

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks:

Song	Artist	Time	Dance	Hot 100	R&B
New Attitude (Extended Version)	Patti LaBelle	6:13	1	17	3
Point Of No Return (Extended Version)	Exposé	6:07	1	*
Fresh (Remix)	Kool & The Gang	5:51	1	9	1
19 (Extended Version)	Paul Hardcastle	5:16	1	15	8
Freeway Of Love (Rock Mix)	Aretha Franklin	4:53	1	3	1
Loveride	Nuance feat. Vikki Love	6:44	1		34
Everybody Wants To Rule The World (Extended Version)	Tears For Fears	5:43	1	1
Loverboy (Extended Club Remix)	Billy Ocean	8:06	1	2	20
We Are The Young (Club Version)	Dan Hartman	6:56	1	25	58
Turn Your Back On Me	Kaja	4:00	2

*a re-recorded version of the song hit #5 on the Hot 100 in 1987.

Mostly familiar tunes here given the typical '80s extended treatment: drums pushed up in the mix, longer intro, dance break or drum breakdown in the middle, lots of production tricks, and a repetitive final two minutes. My recently rekindled love affair with Kool & The Gang continues unabated, but the two remixes that I enjoy more with every spin of this disc are the guitar-heavy Rock Mix of Freeway of Love and Everybody Wants To Rule The World. Best I can recall, two innocuous tracks were new to me when I purchased this disc: Loveride and Turn Your Back On Me. They don't send me scrambling to push the skip button, but neither does much for me.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Nothing in particular, but I'm immediately swept back to my first year in college. Back when I matriculated, the name of the school was East Texas State University. In 1996, it became part of the Texas A&M System and renamed Texas A&M - Commerce. However, just last month it was renamed yet again to East Texas A&M University, the school's seventh name in its 135 year history. Go Lions.

1985 logo of ETSU,
nicknamed the "flaming snail"

Previously revisited for the blog:
Billboard Top Dance Hits 1976 (1992)
Billboard Top Dance Hits 1978 (1992)
Billboard Top Dance Hits 1979 (1992)
Billboard Top Dance Hits 1980 (1992)

Various Artists - Billboard Top Dance Hits 1978 (1992)

Truth in advertising from the good folks over at Rhino: ten dance tunes from 1978, all but two hit #1 on the Billboard Dance chart. Great cuts, lots of them, and with a running time of nearly an hour, one of the longer discs in this series. Case in point: the magnificent MacArthur Park Suite is included in its entirety, including not only the Jimmy Webb classic, but also the original songs One Of A Kind and Heaven Knows. Overall, a fantastic compilation with the just the right blend of the often-heard and rarely-heard.

One in a series of ten covering the years 1976-1985, not to be confused with either The Disco Years or Special Editions Disco series, also issued by Rhino.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks, with chart peaks and links to previous appearances on this blog. Extended mixes marked with an asterisk, others are 7" single versions:

Song	Artist	Time	Dance	Hot 100	R&B	Prev.
Shake Your Groove Thing	Peaches & Herb	3:25	2	5	4	1,2
MacArthur Park Suite*	Donna Summer	17:47	1	†	†	1
You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)	Sylvester	3:45	1	36	20	1
Come Into My Heart*	USA-European Connection	7:57	1
From East To West	Voyage	3:27	1		85	1
After Dark*	Pattie Brooks	7:52	1			1
If My Friends Could See Me Now	Linda Clifford	3:47	1	54	68	1
Boogie Oogie Oogie	A Taste Of Honey	3:37	1	1	1	1,2
Y.M.C.A.	Village People	4:00	2	2	32	1,2,3
Last Dance††	Donna Summer	3:19	1	3	5	1,2

^†The single version of MacArthur Park peaked at #1 pop and #8 R&B while the single version of Heaven Knows (a duet with Joe "Bean" Esposito of Brooklyn Dreams) peaked at #4 pop and #10 R&B.

^††In later CD pressings, Le Freak by Chic is substituted for Last Dance as track 10 in the compilation.

The only new-to-me cut is Come Into My Heart which, to my ears, is the weakest cut on the disc - not terrible but could use some catchier hooks and a more prominent bass line. But man-oh-man those cuts from Donna Summer and Sylvester are top shelf; they never fail to get me moving.

Exclusive CD longbox photo courtesy of
Dirk Digglinator of the Hambonian Archives.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:
Billboard Top Dance Hits 1976 (1992)
Billboard Top Dance Hits 1979 (1992)
Billboard Top Dance Hits 1980 (1992)

Various Artists - Billboard Top Soft Rock Hits 1973 (1997)

Billboard Top Soft Rock Hits is a series of compilation albums released by Rhino Records in 1997, each featuring ten soft rock hit recordings from a specific year in the 1970s. Five albums in the series were released, one each for the years 1970 through 1974. In addition to the individual availability of each volume, the series was also issued in box set. The Easy Listening chart was renamed Adult Contemporary in 1979 and the latter label is usually the nomenclature we use around here.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks:

1. You're So Vain - Carly Simon
   Previously heard on The Absolute Best Soft Rock of the 1970's; here's what I wrote then: "A great song...I'm hooked from that immediately recognizable bass line. Who is the song about? I couldn't care less. As a young tot, I never understood why she was singing about "grounds in my coffee." ;-)" Nominated for a Grammy in the categories of Record Of The Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female, eventually losing to Killing Me Softly With His Song by Roberta Flack in both categories.
2. The Most Beautiful Girl - Charlie Rich
   Getting jilted never sounded so good. So many hooks in the chorus that the songs starts off with it. I'm not much for country music, but there's no denying this is a stone cold country classic.
3. We May Never Pass This Way (Again) - Seals & Crofts
   The follow-up single to Diamond Girl, the duo writes and delivers another hit. The verse ain't much, but the pre-chorus builds into a sing-along chorus, complete over some high-flying strings. Then there's the bridge that's so white-boy-funky they play it twice. The older I get, the more I relate to the lyrical content.
4. My Maria - B.W. Stevenson
   Previously heard on Greatest Hits of the 70s, Volume One and Super Hits of the '70s: Have a Nice Day, Vol. 11 where I wrote that "The liner notes call this single 'likeable but unremarkable.' I concur, but the chorus sure is fun to wail along with."
5. Shambala - Three Dog Night
   A feel-good hippie anthem about a Buddist mythical kingdom - a literal heaven on earth. Love the bass line and, again, the chorus sure is fun to wail along with.
6. Time In A Bottle - Jim Croce
   I didn't appreciate this looping ballad in '73 but it's a whole different thing these days. And when the song switches from minor to major at the chorus -- perfect. Previously heard on Photographs & Memories: His Greatest Hits.
7. Don't Expect Me To Be Your Friend - Lobo
   This one doesn't do much for me. It's not bad, but I don't think it ever gets to where it needs to go. But it did quite well on the charts so what do I know?
8. And I Love You So - Perry Como
   In which a legendary crooner takes on a country-folk song written by Don McLean with full orchestration. My ear is always drawn to the marimba part which shouldn't work but does. Nominated for a Grammy in the category of Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male, eventually losing to You Are The Sunshine Of My Life by Stevie Wonder.
9. Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress) - Helen Reddy
   The follow-up to Delta Dawn mines the same lyrical content as the earlier hit, but there's no doubt that chorus is catchy as hell and I audiated it often back when I was working. Watch below for maximum '70s:
   
   
10. Dueling Banjos - Eric Weissberg & Steve Mandell
    Previously heard on Super Hits of the '70s: Have a Nice Day, Vol. 11; here's what I wrote then: "To be fair, this isn't a bad little bluegrass tune and it is performed expertly. Because of its use in the movie Deliverance, it has been overplayed and mocked so much that it has become a parody of itself." Winner of a Grammy award in the category of Best Country Instrumental Performance.

Charts, we got charts:

Song	Hot 100	AC	Country
You're So Vain	1	1
The Most Beautiful Girl	1	1	1
We May Never Pass This Way (Again)	21	2
My Maria	9	1
Shambala	3	3
Time In A Bottle	1	1
Don't Expect Me To Be Your Friend	8	1
And I Love You So	29	1
Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress)	3	1
Dueling Banjos	2	1	5

In 1973, a total of 26 singles topped the Easy Listening/Adult Contemporary charts; a listing of those 26 are available over at Wikipedia.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I have no designs on trying to complete the 5 disc set, but if they just keep popping up in used bins, we'll see what happens. Please, no wagering.

Various Artists - Billboard Top Rock'n'Roll Hits 1963 (1993)

Not sure about rock'n'roll hits, but there's healthy helping of R&B plus a couple of surf rock classics. Or maybe that simply illustrates how much rock'n'roll owes to rhythm and blues. This CD ("compiled" by Joel Whitburn and released by Rhino) is first-rate; my only complaint is the 24 minute running time.

This disc is part of a 20 CD compilation series spanning 1955 to 1974, with one 10-track album for year; each track made the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. All the Billboard Top Rock'n'Roll Hits discs for years 1960 through 1969 were originally released in 1988 or 1989, and rereleased in 1993 with revised track listings, due to licensing restrictions. This 1993 reissue replaced Fingertips Pt. 2 by Little Stevie Wonder with If You Wanna Be Happy, and Walk Like A Man by The Four Seasons with Deep Purple.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks, including Billboard chart peaks:

Title	Artist	Pop	R&B
Sugar Shack	Jimmy Gilmer & The Fireballs	1	1
Surf City	Jan & Dean	1	3
He's So Fine	The Chiffons	1	1
It's My Party	Lesley Gore	1	1
If You Wanna Be Happy	Jimmy Soul	1	1
Louie Louie	The Kingsmen	2	1
Easier Said Than Done	The Essex	1	1
Deep Purple	Nino Tempo & April Stevens	1	4
My Boyfriend's Back	The Angels	1	2
Surfin' U.S.A.	The Beach Boys	3	20

Several of the tracks are new to my CD shelves but not new to my ears. Since I was born in 1966, these tunes have always been around, right? All ten cuts are fantastic.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Except for The Beatles and Stones, I wasn't much for '60s tunes until my college years (1984-88), but then I was in deep and have never looked back.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Billboard Top Rock'n'Roll Hits 1968
Billboard Top Rock'n'Roll Hits 1962

Various Artists - Billboard Top Rock'n'Roll Hits 1962 (1993)

Not sure about rock'n'roll hits, but there are some fun pop hits along with a healthy helping of R&B. This CD (compiled by Joel Whitburn and released by Rhino) is first-rate; my only complaint is the 24 minute running time.

This disc is part of a 20 CD compilation series spanning 1955 to 1974, with one 10-track album for year; each track made the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. All the Billboard Top Rock'n'Roll Hits discs for years 1960 through 1969 were originally released in 1988 or 1989, and rereleased in 1993 with revised track listings, due to licensing restrictions. This 1993 reissue replaces Big Girls Don't Cry by The Four Seasons with Green Onions.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks, including Billboard Hot 100 chart peak:

Title	Artist	Pop
Green Onions	Booker T. & The MG's	3
Duke Of Earl	Gene Chandler	1
Soldier Boy	The Shirelles	1
Sheila	Tommy Roe	1
Peppermint Twist, Pt. 1	Joey Dee & The Starlighters	1
The Loco-motion	Little Eva	1
The Wanderer	Dion	2
Breaking Up Is Hard To Do	Neil Sedaka	1
Johnny Angel	Shelley Fabares	1
Palisades Park	Freddy Cannon	3

8 out of the 10 tracks are new to my CD shelves but not new to my ears. Since I was born in 1966, these tunes have always been around. Of the ten, my favorite cuts are Green Onions, Duke Of Earl, Breaking Up Is Hard To Do, and Johnny Angel.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I'm getting flashbacks of singing Duke Of Earl with friends around 1977. If memory serves, we sang it at a tempo far faster than the Chandler version. 

Previously revisited for the blog:
Billboard Top Rock'n'Roll Hits 1968

Various Artists - Billboard Top Dance Hits 1976 (1992)

Truth in advertising from the good folks over at Rhino: ten tunes from 1976, all but one hit #1 on the Billboard Dance chart. Pro: great tunes and lots of them. Con: with a total playing time of only 37 minutes, we got some edits here that would make K-Tel blush. We got plenty of room on this disc for some extended dance/album versions.

One in a series of ten covering the years 1976-1985, not to be confused with The Disco Years series, also issued by Rhino.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks, with chart peaks and links to previous appearances on this blog:

Song	Artist	Time	Dance	Hot 100	R&B	Prev.
Don't Leave Me This Way	Thelma Houston	3:43	1	1	1	1, 2, 3, 4
Spring Affair	Donna Summer	3:38	1	47	24	1
Midnight Love Affair	Carol Douglas	4:21	1	102
Down To Love Town	The Originals	2:56	1	47	93	1
You Should Be Dancing	Bee Gees	4:16	1	1	4	1, 2
Try Me, I Know We Can Make It	Donna Summer	4:16	1	80	35	1
More, More, More (Pt. 1)	Andrea True Connection	3:01	1	4	23	1, 2, 3
Love Hangover	Diana Ross	3:48	1	1	1	1, 2, 3
I'm Gonna Let My Heart Do The Walking	The Supremes	3:10	3	40	25
Mighty High	Mighty Clouds Of Joy	3:35	1	69	22

Why does Donna Summer get 2 tracks? Because she's the undisputed Queen of Disco, that's why. The overall #1 year-end dance song for 1976, according to Billboard, was That's Where The Happy People Go by The Trammps, released in December 1975. However, the incomparable Don't Leave Me This Way was Billboard magazine's #1 dance tune for 1977, released in November 1976. Like Billboard, I also once declared Don't Leave Me This Way as my favorite song of 1977 and I stand by that today. And then there's Love Hangover which has one of the best transitions in disco music. And then there's that funky keyboard riff from More, More, More. And then there's... I could go on and on - heck, I recently declared disco music to be "the most joyous music ever produced." I love this stuff.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I had no designs on trying to complete the 10 disc set, but they just keep popping up in used bins so we'll see what happens. Please, no wagering.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Billboard Top Dance Hits 1979 (1992)
Billboard Top Dance Hits 1980 (1992)

Various Artists - Billboard Top Dance Hits 1980 (1992)

Truth in advertising from the good folks over at Rhino: ten tunes from 1980, all but two hit #1 on the Billboard Dance chart. Pro: great tunes. Con: only 3 of the 10 tracks are extended dance mixes, all others are single versions. (Extended versions marked below with an asterisk.) Oddly, two of the alleged "extended dance mixes" - by Kano and Geraldine Hunt - clock in well under four minutes.

One in a series of ten covering the years 1976-1985, not to be confused with The Disco Years series, also issued by Rhino.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks, with chart peaks and links to previous appearances on this blog:

Song	Artist	Dance	Hot 100	R&B	Prev.
Call Me	Blondie	2	1	33	1,2,3
Fame	Irene Cara	1	4		1,2
Shoot Your Best Shot	Linda Clifford	1		43
It's A War*	Kano	2
Vertigo/Relight My Fire*	Dan Hartman	1	104		1
Stomp!	The Brothers Johnson	1	7	1	1,2
Can't Fake The Feeling*	Geraldine Hunt	1		58
Funkytown	Lipps, Inc.	1	1	2	1,2,3,4
Upside Down	Diana Ross	1	1	1	1,2,3
Celebration	Kool & The Gang	1	1	1	1,2,3,4,5,6

The overall #1 year-end dance song for 1980, according to Billboard? A Lover's Holiday by Change. I guess Rhino was saving that particular gem for The Disco Years, Volume 4.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None. This was a recent clearance bin pickup.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Billboard Top Dance Hits 1979 (1992)

Various Artists - Billboard Top Hits 1976 (1991)

I'll own up to buying this Rhino disc solely for the Theme From S.W.A.T.. The 45 of that discofied TV theme was the first single I ever purchased with my allowance money back in early '76, so that made this used CD deal $3 well spent.

Except for S.W.A.T. and Don't Go Breaking My Heart, I have these tunes on other CDs, most notably Rhino's Super Hits of the '70s: Have a Nice Day, Vol. 18 as well as that label's The Disco Box. I guess once you license a tune, you want to use it as much as possible? Can't really blame 'em.

Curiously, the track listing on the front cover doesn't match the actual track listing.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks:

1. Don't Go Breaking My Heart - Elton John & Kiki Dee (#1 pop, #1 AC, #3 disco)
   I can't believe I didn't have this great tune on CD before the purchase of this disc. After all, I once named this duet as the best tune of the year. It's a helluva an album opener as I am already up and dancing. Credit where credit is due: it's the arrangement by James Newton Howard that makes this thing a winner.
2. Dream Weaver - Gary Wright (#2 pop, #14 AC)
   While I prefer Our Love Is Alive, this perfectly titled single is certainly dreamy with its combination of electric piano and synths supported by that upward moving bass line. Also on Super Hits of the '70s: Have a Nice Day, Vol. 18. When my boys were young, we often went to the home games of the Houston Astros. At that time, they had a between innings ad they would run selling their hot dogs. They used this tune but changed the lyrics from "dream weaver" to "steamed wieners." So bad it was comical.
3. Love Machine (Pt. 1) - The Miracles (#1 pop, #5 R&B, #20 disco)
   And I'm up and dancing again to this perfect melding of disco and R&B, courtesy of some amazing falsetto vocals and Freddie Perren's production prowess. Hooks galore. Previously on the blog: 1, 2, & 3
4. Let Your Love Flow - The Bellamy Brothers (#1 pop, #2 AC)
   This country rock sure goes down easy. I still hear it often and have yet to meet anyone my age who doesn't have some childhood memory attached to it. And they're still touring! I just had some friends see them last week in El Campo and they'll be near my place in two weeks. More power to 'em. Also on Super Hits of the '70s: Have a Nice Day, Vol. 18
5. Play That Funky Music - Wild Cherry (#1 pop, #1 R&B, #12 disco)
   I sure did play this funky music back in '76. Previously on the blog: 1, 2, 3, & 4
6. Saturday Night - Bay City Rollers (#1 pop)
   '50s style pop but tweaked for a teen idol bubblegum boy band. I loved it back in '76, but I'm no longer much of a fan of this infectious earworm. The band burned bright with six Top 40 hits '76 - '77, but by the time my family moved to Bay City, Texas in 1978, it was taboo to even acknowledge the group's existence much less speak their name. And yes, I'm aware that the Scottish band took its name from the "other" Bay City, the one in Michigan. To its credit, Bay City MI actually is much closer to Saginaw Bay than Bay City TX is to Matagorda Bay, but I digress. Also on Super Hits of the '70s: Have a Nice Day, Vol. 15
7. Fooled Around And Fell In Love - Elvin Bishop (#3 pop)
   I always liked this bluesy ballad. Bishop isn't the singer, that's Mickey Thomas of Jefferson Starship. But it's not like Bishop takes a back seat to anyone: as an original member of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (2015). Also on Super Hits of the '70s: Have a Nice Day, Vol. 18
8. I'd Really Love To See You Tonight - England Dan & John Ford Coley (#2 pop, #1 AC)
   This was the biggest of the duo's six Top 40 hits; I like all six. A song about a booty call decades before that term entered the lexicon. Good soft country rock from good Texas boys. Previously on the blog: 1 & 2
9. All By Myself - Eric Carmen (#2 pop, #6 AC)
   Liberally borrowing from Rachmaninoff and his own previous work, Carmen put together a hit ballad. Lots of strings, muted guitar, and piano. Sure, it's plagiarized, but it's catchy as all get out. Also on The Absolute Best Soft Rock of the 1970's
10. Theme From S.W.A.T. - Rhythm Heritage (#1 pop, #6 AC, #11 R&B)
    I remember exactly what drew me to this tune back in '76: it's that funky bass line on the breakdown section underneath the sirens and squealing tires. Then there's that opening with the hi-hat and wah wah/Boomerang pedal guitar lick. Never seen one episode of the series, oddly enough. I was more into half-hour sitcoms and variety shows in '76, I suppose. Even more odd, though, is the fact that the single version (above) clocks in at 4:07 while the album version is 3:21 and, on some promo copies, there's a 2:47 "short version" and that's the version on this CD.

All 10 tracks were top 5 hits and all placed on the Billboard year-end list:

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: All tunes guaranteed heard on my Radio Shack transistor radio:

Click here for more memories of 1976, paricularly Bicentennial celebrations.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Billboard Top Hits 1980 - 1984 (1992)