Top Ten when Carpenters Peaked

They had a single after "Fallin' in Love" called "Winners and Losers" that I really liked a lot, but sadly it didn't set the charts afire.

Then they changed their name to Hamilton, Joe Frank & Dennison (because Reynolds had been gone for some time) and released a single called "Light Up the World with Sunshine" which was a nice record too, but it also was a flop - I don't think it made the top 50 sad to say.
"Winners and Losers" was a fine record---but it stalled at #21

.

And here's "Light Up The World With Sunshine", which only made #67:

 
Here’s the Billboard Top 10 for week ending November 21st, 1970.

1. I Think I Love You - The Partridge Family.

2. We’ve Only Just Begun - Carpenters.

3. I’ll Be There - Jackson 5

4. The Tears Of a Clown - Smokey Robinson

5. Fire and Rain - James Taylor

6. Indiana Wants Me - R. Dean Taylor

7. Green-Eyed Lady - Sugarloaf

8. Somebody’s Been Sleeping - 100 Proof Aged in Soul

9. Gypsy Woman - Brian Hyland

10. Montego Bay - Bobby Bloom

Richard was smart to choose a song that could be played at weddings, parties, anything to ensure that extra emotional connection with the song all over the world. The song isn’t related to weddings, in my mind, though. I’ve always liked it just as a song. It’s another Carpenters recording that really couldn’t be improved upon.

Half of the songs on this Top 10 are forever burnt in my brain and half of them I didn’t know or had forgotten.

Like or dislike The Partridge Family, they did have a number of very catchy songs, as they would have, being a created-for-television band with a few different companies behind them. David Cassidy had a passable voice, quite pleasant, and the TV exposure ensured ongoing promotion. ‘I Think I Love You’ had the ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba vocal intro that emblazoned itself into the public’s consciousness. Sad what happened to David Cassidy at the end of his life.

‘I’ll Be There’ is an authoritative performance for a child vocalist. Michael Jackson brings emotion and sensitivity to the quieter parts of the song.

‘The Tears of a Clown’ by Smokey Robinson - a classic. What can you say? Fantastic arrangement, performance and energy. This one vies with Carpenters for best song on the Top 10, with ‘Montego Bay’ just a little bit behind.

‘Fire and Rain’ by James Taylor - I’ve never been able to recognise actual genius in James Taylor or in this song. He spent a lot of the 70s droning away in a monotone on the Hot 100, often in the Top 10. He had some quite pleasant songs - nothing too exciting. His version of ‘Fire and Rain’ never did it for me, although I did rush out and buy Marcia Hines’ soul-tinged version the minute it was released in 1975.

Speaking of Montego Bay by Bobby Bloom, that’s a song that evokes 1970 for me. Although I was only a little tacker, I was very aware of this song, at the time. For me, it’s a happy, summery song. Bobby Bloom came to a sad end in his 20s, after writing songs for a number of acts. I have his album on CD.

I only became aware of ‘We’ve Only Just Begun’ a number of years later, as I approached my teens. I don’t think it had been played on the radio much over the ensuing years - neither had ‘Superstar’ or ‘Close to You’ - at least, I’d never really noticed them - although, well before my teens, I knew all Carpenters’ other hits quite well, including smaller hits like ‘It’s Going to Take Some Time’ and ‘I Won’t Last a Day Without You’. Actually, here, ‘Superstar’ only just scratched the bottom end of the Top 40, which is probably why I didn’t know it until later.

Upon seeing this particular chart, I didn’t remember the songs from Number 6 to 9 and, upon investigating on YouTube, only ‘Gypsy Woman’ stirred any memories.

‘Indiana Wants Me’ is an average song about a man on the run. Jazz pop / rock a bit like what Carpenters explored on ‘Offering’ was still in vogue, as it would be for a few years yet. I would describe ‘Green-Eyed Woman’ as a good jazz-rock song, although I did nearly get bored and stop listening during the long intro. ‘Somebody’s Been Sleeping’ turned me off with the line suggesting that somebody’s been sleeping in his silk pyjamas. Yuck! It’s sort of got a ‘Fee Fi Fo Fum, Somebody’s been sleeping in my bed’ fairytale premise. ‘Gypsy Woman’ is light and breezy. Quite pleasant.

Some of these songs have an appealing, uncomplicated home-written-and-produced feel but don’t really sound like Top 10 material.

In this particular set of "top 10", I don't see a song that I believe should have prevented "We've Only Just Begun" from moving into the top spot. But, as someone else pointed out, this is based on sales and not "quality" (I use that term loosely, as it is, generally, a completely subjective concept when it comes to music). With that qualifier, I thing WOJB is the best song in this group of 10.
 
Well at least "We've Only Just Begun" reached the number 1 spot on the Cash Box charts which was an important music industry trade magazine during the seventies. I think I remember seeing an issue in Karen's hand during the "I Need To Be In Love" video in front of the airport terminal. The other Carpenter songs to reach the top spot in Cash Box were "Close To You", "Yesterday Once More", "Top Of The World" and "Please Mr. Postman".
 
In this particular set of "top 10", I don't see a song that I believe should have prevented "We've Only Just Begun" from moving into the top spot. But, as someone else pointed out, this is based on sales and not "quality" (I use that term loosely, as it is, generally, a completely subjective concept when it comes to music). With that qualifier, I thing WOJB is the best song in this group of 10.

Some factors to keep in mind:

*Chart positions aren’t cumulative. A song doesn’t work its way up to #1. Each week’s chart is a snapshot in time. If the Partridge Family sold one more copy that week than Carpenters, it’s number one that week.

*Sales ARE cumulative. It’s entirely possible that all those weeks at #2 added up to more sales than The Partridge Family got in their week at #1.

*The album chart is separate, but album sales are influenced by singles. The CLOSE TO YOU album sold a lot more copies during the single run of WOJB than The Partridge Family LP did.
 
Another Son:

Those of us who grew up in California will always associate "We've Only Just Begun" with weddings, because that's how we saw it---months before the Carpenters recorded and released it:




Yep, that's fellow A&M artist Paul Williams (though I think he was still under contract to Warner Bros. at the time). Crocker Bank was a California institution---founded by a major California family.

I don't know how to describe the effect that commercial had fifty years later. First of all, it was revolutionary---a commercial without a narration---just video and a song---and words on the screen for the pitch in the final seven or so seconds. That just wasn't done.

People LOVED it---wanted to hear "the whole song". Called radio stations to request that they play the commercial, just to hear the song. And of course, living in California, Richard Carpenter heard it. As Paul Williams tells the story, Richard called him and asked if there was more to the song---if so, he'd be interested in recording it. Paul said there was---and said in the interview "if there hadn't been, I would have said yes, then run to the piano and written more."



Other notes---the singles don't do James Taylor justice. As counter-intuitive as it seems, given that you're not a fan, you should listen to an album or two. He's far more diverse and upbeat than his 70s hits indicate.

"Tears of a Clown" was a filler track on a 1967 Smokey Robinson and the Miracles album. It was released in the UK in early 1970 as a single, became a hit, and then was remixed and sped up a bit for a single release in the U.S.

As for "Green-Eyed Lady", the album version is twice as long as the single that was the hit. Try the 45:



I knew the story about the commercial inspiring Richard to record the song, Michael, but didn't think of the public really getting into the actual commercial before Carpenters recorded the song. Interesting scenario!

I actually have a couple of James Taylor compilations. I do like a few isolated songs - 'Her Town Too', with JD Souther and 'Shower the People', largely because of the harmonies with Carly Simon. I like 'Handy Man' for the same reason. I don't mind 'Your Smiling Face' and 'Up on the Roof'.

The story about 'Tears of a Clown' is interesting, too. I don't think I realised it had been a hit in the UK first.
 
Interesting items, all. Let's move on to another time frame with a slightly different approach...

Here are the songs from the Billboard Top Ten during the five weeks "Hurting Each Other" was in the Top 10, plus the week it dropped to #12...

February 5, 1972
1. AMERICAN PIE Don McLean (#2 2/12) (#7 2/19) (#9 2/26)
2. LET’S STAY TOGETHER Al Green (#1 2/12) (#2 2/19) (#4 2/26) (#8 3/4)
3. BRAND NEW KEY Melanie (#9 2/12)
4. DAY AFTER DAY Badfinger (#10 2/12)
5. WITHOUT YOU Nilsson (#3 2/12) (#1 2/19) (#1 2/26) (#1 3/4) (#1 3/11) (#4 3/18)
6. NEVER BEEN TO SPAIN Three Dog Night (#5 2/12) (#5 2/19)
7. SUNSHINE Jonathan Edwards
8. PRECIOUS AND FEW Climax (#4 2/12) (#4 2/19) (#3 2/26) (#3 3/4) (#6 3/11) (#7 3/18)
9. HURTING EACH OTHER Carpenters (#6 2/12) (#3 2/19) (#2 2/26) (#2 3/4) (#8 3/11) (#12 3/18)
10. JOY Apollo featuring Tom Parker (#8 2/12) (#8 2/19) (#6 2/26)

February 12, 1972
DOWN BY THE LAZY RIVER The Osmonds (#7) (#6 2/19) (#5 2/26) (#4 3/4) (#4 3/11) (#10 3/18)

February 19, 1972
THE LION SLEEPS TONIGHT Robert John (#9) (#7 2/26) (#6 3/4) (#3 3/11) (#3 3/18)
EVERYTHING I OWN Bread (#10) (#8 2/26) (#5 3/4) (#5 3/11) (#5 3/18)

February 26, 1972
SWEET SEASONS Carole King (#10) (#9 3/4)

March 4, 1972
HEART OF GOLD Neil Young (#7) (#2 3/11) (#1 3/18)
BANG A GONG (GET IT ON) T-Rex (#10) (#10 3/11)

March 11, 1972
A HORSE WITH NO NAME America (#7) (#2 3/18)
THE WAY OF LOVE Cher (#9) (#8 3/18)

March 18, 1972
MOTHER AND CHILD REUNION Paul Simon (#6)
PUPPY LOVE Donny Osmond (#9)

So in this timeframe, it took about six weeks for the Top 10 to "turn over," with two songs ("Without You" and "Precious and Few") staying in the Top 10 throughout. The strength of Nilsson's biggest hit kept the Carpenters from another #1.

Interesting to be reminded that T-Rex made it this high into the AM charts, and to see the "ghost of CSNY" grab the brass ring with "Heart of Gold" and "A Horse with No Name". And, of course, we see the trailing shadow of "American Pie," a song that claimed lingering attention for its lyrics of lamentation and loss.
 
Brown Sugar! The only Stones song I like. Always reminds me of riding the carnival rides at the Orange County Strawberry Festival...

I'm not a fanatic Stones fan, but they produced some good rock n roll... Brown Sugar & Honky Tonk Woman were recorded when they were at their absolute best IMHO.

You have no doubt seen this, but I like this video (the boys were in their prime) of Brown Sugar. Mick is singing live but it sounds like the backing instrumentals are playing off the standard recording and the boys are miming;

 
Interesting items, all. Let's move on to another time frame with a slightly different approach...

Here are the songs from the Billboard Top Ten during the five weeks "Hurting Each Other" was in the Top 10, plus the week it dropped to #12...

February 5, 1972
1. AMERICAN PIE Don McLean (#2 2/12) (#7 2/19) (#9 2/26)
2. LET’S STAY TOGETHER Al Green (#1 2/12) (#2 2/19) (#4 2/26) (#8 3/4)
3. BRAND NEW KEY Melanie (#9 2/12)
4. DAY AFTER DAY Badfinger (#10 2/12)
5. WITHOUT YOU Nilsson (#3 2/12) (#1 2/19) (#1 2/26) (#1 3/4) (#1 3/11) (#4 3/18)
6. NEVER BEEN TO SPAIN Three Dog Night (#5 2/12) (#5 2/19)
7. SUNSHINE Jonathan Edwards
8. PRECIOUS AND FEW Climax (#4 2/12) (#4 2/19) (#3 2/26) (#3 3/4) (#6 3/11) (#7 3/18)
9. HURTING EACH OTHER Carpenters (#6 2/12) (#3 2/19) (#2 2/26) (#2 3/4) (#8 3/11) (#12 3/18)
10. JOY Apollo featuring Tom Parker (#8 2/12) (#8 2/19) (#6 2/26)

February 12, 1972
DOWN BY THE LAZY RIVER The Osmonds (#7) (#6 2/19) (#5 2/26) (#4 3/4) (#4 3/11) (#10 3/18)

February 19, 1972
THE LION SLEEPS TONIGHT Robert John (#9) (#7 2/26) (#6 3/4) (#3 3/11) (#3 3/18)
EVERYTHING I OWN Bread (#10) (#8 2/26) (#5 3/4) (#5 3/11) (#5 3/18)

February 26, 1972
SWEET SEASONS Carole King (#10) (#9 3/4)

March 4, 1972
HEART OF GOLD Neil Young (#7) (#2 3/11) (#1 3/18)
BANG A GONG (GET IT ON) T-Rex (#10) (#10 3/11)

March 11, 1972
A HORSE WITH NO NAME America (#7) (#2 3/18)
THE WAY OF LOVE Cher (#9) (#8 3/18)

March 18, 1972
MOTHER AND CHILD REUNION Paul Simon (#6)
PUPPY LOVE Donny Osmond (#9)

So in this timeframe, it took about six weeks for the Top 10 to "turn over," with two songs ("Without You" and "Precious and Few") staying in the Top 10 throughout. The strength of Nilsson's biggest hit kept the Carpenters from another #1.

Interesting to be reminded that T-Rex made it this high into the AM charts, and to see the "ghost of CSNY" grab the brass ring with "Heart of Gold" and "A Horse with No Name". And, of course, we see the trailing shadow of "American Pie," a song that claimed lingering attention for its lyrics of lamentation and loss.

Nice research Don! I think the longevity of Hurting Each Other in the Top 10 demonstrates the strength of the Carpenters product. Namely, their "staying power" on not only Billboards Hot 100 but on international charts as well. Even though they were not top heavy with #1 hits, their total record sales in the age of vinyl/cassette recordings speaks for itself.

And

Without You, written by Pete Ham & Tom Evans from one of my favorite bands, the ill-fated "Badfinger", kept my beloved Carpenters out of the top spot causes me distress :laugh:

The music of the late-60s and the 1st half of the 70s (pre-disco) was the best!
 
I'm not a fanatic Stones fan, but they produced some good rock n roll... Brown Sugar & Honky Tonk Woman were recorded when they were at their absolute best IMHO.

You have no doubt seen this, but I like this video (the boys were in their prime) of Brown Sugar. Mick is singing live but it sounds like the backing instrumentals are playing off the standard recording and the boys are miming;


Wow- never really understood all the lyrics back then...
 
Wow- never really understood all the lyrics back then...

Yes, he (Mick) pulls no punches in this live version (though he is punching the air at times :)). I don't know if the song ever charted high on the Top 40 AM format, but they played it often on the burgeoning Album-oriented FM rock stations that were getting popular at that time. It's a pretty brutal song lyrically but considering the B-side of the single released in the US was titled "Bitch", I think that this was a particularly raunchy phase the Stones were going through. Perhaps they were trying to solidify their claim of being "The World's Greatest Rock And Roll Band" as The Beatles were breaking up...
 
I don't know if the song ever charted high on the Top 40 AM format, but they played it often on the burgeoning Album-oriented FM rock stations that were getting popular at that time. It's a pretty brutal song lyrically but considering the B-side of the single released in the US was titled "Bitch", I think that this was a particularly raunchy phase the Stones were going through. Perhaps they were trying to solidify their claim of being "The World's Greatest Rock And Roll Band" as The Beatles were breaking up...

Yes, "Brown Sugar" charted very high---#1 on Billboard's Hot 100 and #1 at KHJ in Los Angeles and WLS in Chicago (I'm sure there were many others). Some AM top 40s even played "Bitch", including KCBQ in San Diego....and others that didn't play it when new (such as KFRC in San Francisco) worked it into their oldies libraries over the years.
 
Interesting items, all. Let's move on to another time frame with a slightly different approach...

Here are the songs from the Billboard Top Ten during the five weeks "Hurting Each Other" was in the Top 10, plus the week it dropped to #12...

February 5, 1972
1. AMERICAN PIE Don McLean (#2 2/12) (#7 2/19) (#9 2/26)
2. LET’S STAY TOGETHER Al Green (#1 2/12) (#2 2/19) (#4 2/26) (#8 3/4)
3. BRAND NEW KEY Melanie (#9 2/12)
4. DAY AFTER DAY Badfinger (#10 2/12)
5. WITHOUT YOU Nilsson (#3 2/12) (#1 2/19) (#1 2/26) (#1 3/4) (#1 3/11) (#4 3/18)
6. NEVER BEEN TO SPAIN Three Dog Night (#5 2/12) (#5 2/19)
7. SUNSHINE Jonathan Edwards
8. PRECIOUS AND FEW Climax (#4 2/12) (#4 2/19) (#3 2/26) (#3 3/4) (#6 3/11) (#7 3/18)
9. HURTING EACH OTHER Carpenters (#6 2/12) (#3 2/19) (#2 2/26) (#2 3/4) (#8 3/11) (#12 3/18)
10. JOY Apollo featuring Tom Parker (#8 2/12) (#8 2/19) (#6 2/26)

February 12, 1972
DOWN BY THE LAZY RIVER The Osmonds (#7) (#6 2/19) (#5 2/26) (#4 3/4) (#4 3/11) (#10 3/18)

February 19, 1972
THE LION SLEEPS TONIGHT Robert John (#9) (#7 2/26) (#6 3/4) (#3 3/11) (#3 3/18)
EVERYTHING I OWN Bread (#10) (#8 2/26) (#5 3/4) (#5 3/11) (#5 3/18)

February 26, 1972
SWEET SEASONS Carole King (#10) (#9 3/4)

March 4, 1972
HEART OF GOLD Neil Young (#7) (#2 3/11) (#1 3/18)
BANG A GONG (GET IT ON) T-Rex (#10) (#10 3/11)

March 11, 1972
A HORSE WITH NO NAME America (#7) (#2 3/18)
THE WAY OF LOVE Cher (#9) (#8 3/18)

March 18, 1972
MOTHER AND CHILD REUNION Paul Simon (#6)
PUPPY LOVE Donny Osmond (#9)

So in this timeframe, it took about six weeks for the Top 10 to "turn over," with two songs ("Without You" and "Precious and Few") staying in the Top 10 throughout. The strength of Nilsson's biggest hit kept the Carpenters from another #1.

Interesting to be reminded that T-Rex made it this high into the AM charts, and to see the "ghost of CSNY" grab the brass ring with "Heart of Gold" and "A Horse with No Name". And, of course, we see the trailing shadow of "American Pie," a song that claimed lingering attention for its lyrics of lamentation and loss.

I love 'Hurting Each Other' and it's on all my playlists (I think), but of their biggest hits of the 1970-1972 period, I think it was the "least amazing" (heh) and am a little surprised to see it hung in the top 10 as long as it did. They were so incredibly popular in the early 70's.

Nilsson's 'Living Without You' is, in my estimation, terrible, and shouldn't have kept our duo off the top...but there's that personal taste thing again.
 
So i 1977, Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft by the Carpenters was the #160 Single of the Year. (https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/image.aspx?Image=nlc008388.5502b&URLjpg=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/028020/f4/nlc008388.5502b.gif&Ecopy=nlc008388.5502b) (Interesting thing, Dorothy Moore's single I Believe You was #188 in Canada.)

Also for the week of November 26, 1977, in Canada, Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft was #10 on the Adult Oriented Playlist. Here are the other 9 for that week:

1. We're All Alone - Rita Coolidge
2. Blue Bayou - Linda Ronstadt
3. How Deep Is Your Love - Bee Gees
4. Daybreak - Barry Manilow
5. You Light up My Life - Debbie Boone
6. Your Smiling Face - James Taylor
7. Baby, What A Big Surprise - Chicago
8. Just Remember I Love You - Firefall
9. Changes In Latitude Changes in Attitude - Jimmy Buffet
10. Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft - Carpenters

https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/disco...20/f4/nlc008388.5444.gif&Ecopy=nlc008388.5444
 
They had a single after "Fallin' in Love" called "Winners and Losers" that I really liked a lot, but sadly it didn't set the charts afire.

Then they changed their name to Hamilton, Joe Frank & Dennison (because Reynolds had been gone for some time) and released a single called "Light Up the World with Sunshine" which was a nice record too, but it also was a flop - I don't think it made the top 50 sad to say.
I thought I didn’t know ‘Fallin’ in Love’ but recognised it as soon as I found it on YouTube. By the time it was a hit, I was listening to American Top 40 regularly on Saturday mornings, so it’s loot surprising I knew it, I guess.
 
Interesting items, all. Let's move on to another time frame with a slightly different approach...

Here are the songs from the Billboard Top Ten during the five weeks "Hurting Each Other" was in the Top 10, plus the week it dropped to #12...

February 5, 1972
1. AMERICAN PIE Don McLean (#2 2/12) (#7 2/19) (#9 2/26)
2. LET’S STAY TOGETHER Al Green (#1 2/12) (#2 2/19) (#4 2/26) (#8 3/4)
3. BRAND NEW KEY Melanie (#9 2/12)
4. DAY AFTER DAY Badfinger (#10 2/12)
5. WITHOUT YOU Nilsson (#3 2/12) (#1 2/19) (#1 2/26) (#1 3/4) (#1 3/11) (#4 3/18)
6. NEVER BEEN TO SPAIN Three Dog Night (#5 2/12) (#5 2/19)
7. SUNSHINE Jonathan Edwards
8. PRECIOUS AND FEW Climax (#4 2/12) (#4 2/19) (#3 2/26) (#3 3/4) (#6 3/11) (#7 3/18)
9. HURTING EACH OTHER Carpenters (#6 2/12) (#3 2/19) (#2 2/26) (#2 3/4) (#8 3/11) (#12 3/18)
10. JOY Apollo featuring Tom Parker (#8 2/12) (#8 2/19) (#6 2/26)

February 12, 1972
DOWN BY THE LAZY RIVER The Osmonds (#7) (#6 2/19) (#5 2/26) (#4 3/4) (#4 3/11) (#10 3/18)

February 19, 1972
THE LION SLEEPS TONIGHT Robert John (#9) (#7 2/26) (#6 3/4) (#3 3/11) (#3 3/18)
EVERYTHING I OWN Bread (#10) (#8 2/26) (#5 3/4) (#5 3/11) (#5 3/18)

February 26, 1972
SWEET SEASONS Carole King (#10) (#9 3/4)

March 4, 1972
HEART OF GOLD Neil Young (#7) (#2 3/11) (#1 3/18)
BANG A GONG (GET IT ON) T-Rex (#10) (#10 3/11)

March 11, 1972
A HORSE WITH NO NAME America (#7) (#2 3/18)
THE WAY OF LOVE Cher (#9) (#8 3/18)

March 18, 1972
MOTHER AND CHILD REUNION Paul Simon (#6)
PUPPY LOVE Donny Osmond (#9)

So in this timeframe, it took about six weeks for the Top 10 to "turn over," with two songs ("Without You" and "Precious and Few") staying in the Top 10 throughout. The strength of Nilsson's biggest hit kept the Carpenters from another #1.

Interesting to be reminded that T-Rex made it this high into the AM charts, and to see the "ghost of CSNY" grab the brass ring with "Heart of Gold" and "A Horse with No Name". And, of course, we see the trailing shadow of "American Pie," a song that claimed lingering attention for its lyrics of lamentation and loss.

I was several years before my teens when these songs were on the charts but I vividly remember discussing ‘Brand New Key’ and ‘American Pie’ with my older sisters at the time. We thought that ‘Brand New Key’ was a bit of a novelty song, a bit of nonsense, and had a bit of a laugh over the way Melanie sounded. We also tried to work out what the words to ‘American Pie’ meant. Our Dad had a Chevy, so that was easy, but I had no idea what a levee was - I think my sister knew. I didn’t ever become a fan of ‘American Pie’.

Even at that young age, ‘Hurting Each Other’ worked its way well into my consciousness and I liked it. Interestingly, the song I specifically remember hearing around that era and being aware it was Carpenters is ‘It’s Going to Take Some Time’. The song, a current hit, had come on the radio on the school bus and I had pricked up my ears to tune in, because I had heard the song before and liked it. As as Karen sang, ‘Just like the young trees in the winter time’, I was looking out on a winter landscape and seeing the trees rush by. A vivid memory. I would have been about eight.

‘Never Been to Spain’ is another great song by Three Dog Night. Around this time, I was more aware of Elvis’ version, because my Mum and Dad gave my sister ‘Elvis Live at Madison Square Gardens’, which she played a lot.

I was highly impressed by Nilsson’s ‘Without You’, as a child.

I wasn’t really aware of Badfinger back then but I own and like some of their albums now. Tragic story behind the band.

I liked ‘Horse With No Name’ a lot and also liked ‘Mother and Child Reunion’, ‘Sweet Seasons’ and ‘Heart of Gold’. I remember being very aware of those songs.

I didn’t really take to ‘Bang a Gong’. I also didn’t really like ‘Puppy Love’ but suspect that Donny Osmond was possibly ridiculed a bit, so that probably had an effect. I don’t think I would have liked the sound of the voice, anyway. I know I particularly disliked the Jimmy Osmond singles a couple of years later.

I think I only became aware of Bread’s ‘Everything I Own’ later, interestingly.

In the 80s, I loved Tina Turner’s version of ‘Let’s Stay Together’ and pretty much wore the record out - hundreds and hundreds of plays, I reckon.

I don’t especially remember the other songs on these charts.
 
So i 1977, Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft by the Carpenters was the #160 Single of the Year. Also for the week of November 26, 1977, in Canada, Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft was #10 on the Adult Oriented Playlist. Here are the other 9 for that week:
1. We're All Alone - Rita Coolidge
2. Blue Bayou - Linda Ronstadt
3. How Deep Is Your Love - Bee Gees
4. Daybreak - Barry Manilow
5. You Light up My Life - Debbie Boone
6. Your Smiling Face - James Taylor
7. Baby, What A Big Surprise - Chicago
8. Just Remember I Love You - Firefall
9. Changes In Latitude Changes in Attitude - Jimmy Buffet
10. Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft - Carpenters

https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/image.aspx?Image=nlc008388.5444&URLjpg=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/028020/f4/nlc008388.5444.gif&Ecopy=nlc008388.5444
As didn't happen a few years later with 'Touch Me When We're Dancing', Carpenters are right up there here with the most innovative, imaginative and currently-relevant and cool track anywhere on the Top 10, on this chart.

Although much more usual and ordinary, I like 'We're All Alone' and 'Blue Bayou'. (I bought the latter as a single at the time - prefer Roy Orbison's version, though - Linda yells in the chorus, rather than singing - you couldn't say her interpretation is exactly sensitive).

I particularly like Chicago's 'Baby What a Big Surprise' and, for some reason, can clearly remember the day it debuted on Casey Kasem's 'American Top 40'. (Can even remember where I was at that minute).

I can also remember exactly where I was standing first time Carpenters' new single, 'Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft', was played on the radio. The DJ said, "At the end, Karen sings, 'We are your friends'. Let's hope that when they come, they ARE our friends".

I don't remember 'Changes in Latitude' by Jimmy Buffet. I do remember his 'Margaritaville'.

'Just Remember I Love You' was rather doze-inducing.

I didn't mind 'Your Smiling Face' or 'Daybreak', at the time.

I heard way too much of 'You Light Up My Life' and 'How Deep Is Your Love' back then and still have an aversion to them to this day, because of this. Also, I do not like the falsetto sounds of the Bee Gees. Barry and his brothers sound very unpleasant singing like that. They do not have good falsettos at all, in my opinion. Some men have nice-sounding falsettos and some have horrible-sounding falsettos. However, I love their earlier work, where they sang in natural low, men voices - although the Gibbs weren't blessed with the best sounding voices, to my ear. I mainly like the strength of their material and the diverse range of quite imaginative subject matter in those earlier songs. I collect their albums from those earlier periods but steer clear of anything beyond 1974 or so - although 'Jive Talking', 'Nights of Broadway' , 'Fanny Be Tender' and 'You Should Be Dancing' were too good to resist.
 
Well here in Canada you also have to remember that “Calling Occupants” also hit #9 on the Top Singles pop chart, and over in Ireland it was a #1 pop hit. I don’t know the exact week that it was #9 here in Canada, so I haven’t been able to find the Top 10 songs for that week.

But of interest chart wise, Occupants was not their last Top 10 A/C hit here in Canada (even though it was their last Top 10 Pop hit, and their last Canadian Pop hit was “I Believe You” at #81), “Make Believe It’s Your First Time” would be a #2 hit on the A/C charts (but wouldn’t chart on the pop charts) in 1983!
 
Well here in Canada you also have to remember that “Calling Occupants” also hit #9 on the Top Singles pop chart, and over in Ireland it was a #1 pop hit. I don’t know the exact week that it was #9 here in Canada, so I haven’t been able to find the Top 10 songs for that week.

But of interest chart wise, Occupants was not their last Top 10 A/C hit here in Canada (even though it was their last Top 10 Pop hit, and their last Canadian Pop hit was “I Believe You” at #81), “Make Believe It’s Your First Time” would be a #2 hit on the A/C charts (but wouldn’t chart on the pop charts) in 1983!
Thank you for this note.
 
So this is from Canada's RPM for the week of April 24, 1976 on RPM's Pop Music Playlist

1. There's A Kind of Hush (All Over The World) - Carpenters
2. Dream Weaver - Cary Wright
3. Theme from S.W.A.T. - THP Orchestra
4. Let Your Love Flow - Bellamy Brothers
5. Looking For Space - John Denver
6. Come On Over - Olivia Newton-John
7. I Do, I Do, I Do - Abba
8. Only Love Is Real - Carol King
9. Right Back Where We Started From - Maxine Nightingale
10. Cupid -Tony Orlando & Dawn
 
So this is from Canada's RPM for the week of April 24, 1976 on RPM's Pop Music Playlist

1. There's A Kind of Hush (All Over The World) - Carpenters
2. Dream Weaver - Cary Wright
3. Theme from S.W.A.T. - THP Orchestra
4. Let Your Love Flow - Bellamy Brothers
5. Looking For Space - John Denver
6. Come On Over - Olivia Newton-John
7. I Do, I Do, I Do - Abba
8. Only Love Is Real - Carol King
9. Right Back Where We Started From - Maxine Nightingale
10. Cupid -Tony Orlando & Dawn

A bit of a mix of songs here. A number of these aren’t really strong, in my opinion and, unfortunately, ‘A Kind of Hush’ is one of those.

My pick for best song from this chart - far and away ‘Dream Weaver’ by Gary Wright. ‘Dream Weaver’ seemed irresistibly exciting when it was released - totally magic!

Interestingly, I think Gary Wright’s ‘I Really Want to Know You’ was on American Top 40 at the same time as ‘Touch Me When We’re Dancing’, five years later.

The next strongest songs here are Maxine Nightingale’s ‘Right Back Where We Started From’ and ABBA’s ‘I Do I Do I Do I Do I Do’.

‘Let Your Love Flow’ isn’t bad.

Next in line come a few quite mundane songs - Carpenters’ ‘A Kind of Hush’, Olivia Newton John’s ‘Come On Over’ and Carole King’s ‘Only Love is Real’. None of them are too bad - they’re quite pleasant - just not very interesting, exciting or energetic.

Unfortunately, Carpenters were definitely past their string of amazingly faultless recordings by this time. It’s a shame they couldn’t get stronger material and do it justice, like they did in their earlier years.

I don’t know the John Denver song or Tony Orlando’s version of ‘Cupid’ and I can’t remember theme from ‘SWAT’, atm.
 
A bit of a mix of songs here. A number of these aren’t really strong, in my opinion and, unfortunately, ‘A Kind of Hush’ is one of those.

My pick for best song from this chart - far and away ‘Dream Weaver’ by Gary Wright. ‘Dream Weaver’ seemed irresistibly exciting when it was released - totally magic!

Interestingly, I think Gary Wright’s ‘I Really Want to Know You’ was on American Top 40 at the same time as ‘Touch Me When We’re Dancing’, five years later.

The next strongest songs here are Maxine Nightingale’s ‘Right Back Where We Started From’ and ABBA’s ‘I Do I Do I Do I Do I Do’.

‘Let Your Love Flow’ isn’t bad.

Next in line come a few quite mundane songs - Carpenters’ ‘A Kind of Hush’, Olivia Newton John’s ‘Come On Over’ and Carole King’s ‘Only Love is Real’. None of them are too bad - they’re quite pleasant - just not very interesting, exciting or energetic.

Unfortunately, Carpenters were definitely past their string of amazingly faultless recordings by this time. It’s a shame they couldn’t get stronger material and do it justice, like they did in their earlier years.

I don’t know the John Denver song or Tony Orlando’s version of ‘Cupid’ and I can’t remember theme from ‘SWAT’, atm.
I love Hush but I have to agree with almost all you wrote!
 
I don’t know the John Denver song

"Looking For Space" was near the end of John Denver's hit-making years. It managed to get to number one on the Adult Contemporary chart and I recall it get a good bit of airplay. It followed his "Fly Away" song with Olivia Newton-John backing. He had one more number on on that Adult chart with "Like A Sad Song" and then a number two song with "How Can I Leave You Again". His fortunes on the charts faded a bit but he staged a 1982 comeback AC hit with "Shanghai Breezes".
 
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