Rep's Top Fifty Albums Of All-Time

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Re: Rep's Top Fifty Albums Of All-Time

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7. Led Zeppelin / "Physical Graffiti"
Year Of Release: 1975
Top Tracks: "Houses Of The Holy", "Night Flight", "Ten Years Gone", "Down By The Seaside", "Kashmir", "Boogie With Stu"

As we have noted before, most double albums have flaws...it's almost inevitable when you have two discs to cover with material instead of just one. What makes "Physical Graffiti" stand tall above all other double albums in the history of rock and roll is the lack of filler. The album was two years in the making, following up 1973's "Houses Of The Holy" and preceding 1976's career low point of "Presence"...with distinct sounds of both being evident in the tracks here. The single, "Trampled Under Foot", is in my opinion one of the flaws along with the Jimmy Page throwaway, "Bron-Yr-Aur". Well, now that we have the dreck out of the way, let's get to the goods. "Houses Of The Holy" was always thought of by Jim Marshall (WTCS/WFGM/WKMM) as one of those "singles that never were" and I wholeheartedly agree with him. Had ATCO released this thing as a single I believe it would have charted higher in the Top 40 instead of the "languishing it's way up to #38 this week" that "Trampled Under Foot" accomplished. It was certainly one of the most commercial things that Zep ever recorded and I have heard the theory that since the "HOTH" album already contained the commercially successful "D'yer Mak'er" and the almost as successful "Over The Hills And Far Away", that this was intentionally left off. After that, you've got "Night Flight"...which got a ton of airplay at 'TCS, even though it was not the theme song on the show of same name. I have always loved the back-to-back combo of "Boogie With Stu" and "Black Country Woman" on the last side and the meandering delicateness/powerfulness of "Down By The Seaside". But the real winners on "Physical Graffiti" are the two "centerpieces" of "Kashmir" and "Ten Years Gone". These are songs that could stand out as many a group's "best ever", yet somehow for some reason tend to get overlooked in the canon of Zeppelin greatness...with many critics and fans alike preferring the poorly recorded and badly produced dreck from their first three albums. And to top it all off, "In My Time Of Dying" was the last song played by Louie Ansline on WTCS. That should guarantee a Top Ten standing on this list right there. And as I have said before: cut this thing down a single LP and you could quite possibly have the greatest album of all time. (My choices for inclusion on that "single" LP being: Custard Pie / The Rover / Houses Of The Holy / Kashmir / Down By The Seaside / Ten Years Gone / Night Flight / Boogie With Stu / Black Country Woman / Sick Again. If you had to lop one, take you pick between the first two listed...either of them could kick off a single disc nicely).
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Re: Rep's Top Fifty Albums Of All-Time

Post by Hoosier Daddy »

Excellent choice.
I am continually impressed with the depth of your musical knowledge.
You know more about music than the collective knowledge of the entire air staff at many stations where I've worked.
I do realize there IS no air staff at most stations anymore.

Jim Marshall. There's a blast from my past.
He and I worked together in Huntington when he was a Marshall student.
A top shelf guy. I was able to re-connect with him through Facebook recently.
He's a regional manager at the WAY-FM broadcast group living in the West Palm Beach, Florida area.

Good pick on your album.

:)
Translators are a Pox on the FM radio dial.
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Re: Rep's Top Fifty Albums Of All-Time

Post by Bob Campbell »

And you didn't even mention "In The Evening", first song on side one (hope I'm right). The first time I heard that song it floored me. Bonham was awesome and I thought it was just an incredible song.
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Re: Rep's Top Fifty Albums Of All-Time

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"In The Evening" was on "In Through The Out Door". You are correct, however, in defining it as both the first song on side one and being an incredible tune...
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Re: Rep's Top Fifty Albums Of All-Time

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...in a virtually plain brown wrapper.
Aircheck? You'd make a great board op.
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Re: Rep's Top Fifty Albums Of All-Time

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6. Paul And Linda McCartney / "Ram"
Year Of Release: 1971
Top Tracks: "Eat At Home", "Smile Away", "Too Many People", "The Back Seat Of My Car", "Uncle Albert", "Monkberry Moon Delight"

Try telling someone that has only been listening to music for the past twenty years that Paul McCartney "knew what he was doing at one point in his solo career" and they might have a hard time believing you. I mean, come on! What have we had from one of the "World's Greatest Songwriters" since 1975? Dreck, dreck, more dreck and four stupendous singles whose accompanying albums paled grossly in comparison to ("I've Had Enough", "Coming Up", "My Brave Face", "Hope Of Deliverance"). But this was where it all came together for one whole album. Anchored by the #1 single ("Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey"), "Ram" was a vehicle for McCartney to let any pent up "Beatles-rage" out...from the cover to the pictures on the cover to music inside the cover. With wife Linda on vocals and keyboards and a tad bit of help from Denny Laine, "Ram" opens up with "Too Many People", which showcased the melodic flow from the acoustic-tinged opening to the bombastic ending. I have never figured out "3 Legs"...even though I quote it often ("My dog he's got three legs, your dog he got none"). The pairing of "Ram On" and "Dear Boy" are the beginning of Paul's "Lyrics For Lennon" campaign and they lead into the centerpiece of Side One. Sure, "Uncle Albert" was played on every format under the sun back in 1971, but only the truly hip stations (WCFL, WABC and...around here, at least...WCLG-FM) let the album continue to play through "Smile Away". This is "McCartney Rock" at it's finest, at least musically, with some blistering guitar. Lyrically, I guess it does take some sort of genius to be able to rock out to words describing a friend who's feet and teeth could be smelled a mile away. Side two of "Ram" continues to deliver the goods, but also contains the two pieces of fluff (the not-so-bad "Long Haired Lady" and the wimpy "Heart Of The Country"). Around all of that you get another piece of hard rock wonderment in "Monkberry Moon Delight" ("So I sat in the attic, a pillow up my nose as the wind played a dreadful cantata"), the "second single" that was only released overseas ("Eat At Home"), and the glistening finale of "The Back Seat Of My Car". Just about a year ago I was listening to "Smile Away" when I actually started paying attention to Linda's backing vocals during the opening and behind Paul on the choruses. For almost forty years I had thought she was singing something like "a bombo dobba doo bop, a bombo dobba doo bop" or some other nonsense. Well, that little light above my head lit up and it hit me that she was singing "I don't know how to do that, I don't know how to do that" the first time through alternating with "I'm learning how to do that, I'm learning how to do that" the next time through. Stuff like THAT is the beauty of rock and roll, and this is one of it's supreme long playing accomplishments. Run on down to Gaston Avenue and get your eight track copy at Tracy's today...
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Re: Rep's Top Fifty Albums Of All-Time

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5. The Velvet Underground / "The Velvet Underground & Nico"
Year Of Release: 1967
Top Tracks: "Sunday Morning", "There She Goes Again", "Heroin", "All Tomorrow's Parties", "Femme Fatale", "I'll Be Your Mirror"

Yep. Nothing like Alfie's Coffee And Record Shoppe. First time I was ever in there I did not have enough money to even THINK of buying an album, so I didn't even look. I came out with two 45's ("Another Day" and a "Space Oddity" with picture cover). Next time I went in, same story...just like the next 3-4 trips in to the store. Then, when I finally DID look at his album selection...many of which had been sitting there for the last 7-10 years...I saw it. A double gatefold cover version of "The Velvet Underground & Nico". Granted, this is not the very famous and very valuable "Peel Slowly" version...but it's the second rarest. I counted myself fortunate. Inside were the first major label recordings made by Lou Reed and his band, "Produced" by Andy Warhol. Now, granted, Lou had already recorded the legendary songs "Cycle Annie" and "The Ostrich", but this was different. This was about whips and sex and leather and drugs and parties and "Heroin" and "...The Man" and, for 1966, there had never been anything else like it recorded before. The beauty in considering this as one of the greatest albums of all time, in my opinion, lies in the fact that if there is a "clunker" or two here, they both lay at the end of the album as the last two songs ("Black Angel's Death Song", "European Son"). Leading up to that, though, are the songs that comprise an all-time greatest album in basically everybody's book. "Sunday Morning" is the opener and is song that stand out as having the most "work" put into it...even if it was not the single (it was produced by Tom Wilson...the rest of the LP by Warhol). Following that up is the gotta go buy some drugs right now anthem "I'm Waiting For The Man". Nico, whose only appearance with the band was for this album, appears for the first time on "Femme Fatale", which is followed by Reed's ode to S&M, "Venus In Furs". Lou is given another song before Nico returns ("Run Run Run") and then she sings lead on "All Tomorrow's Parties". And then it happens: side two...featuring three STELLAR songs in a row that not too many other projects can top: "Heroin". I think it was the "I feel just like Jesus' Son" line that got it banned by the FCC. No matter what, much of the world has never heard this version of the song that was the centerpiece track of Lou's solo "Rock 'n' Roll Animal" album. Follow it up with "There She Goes Again" which...had REAL music industry people been leading this parade...should have been the single. You can tell that no one that knew a whole lot was in charge here due to the fact that "Sunday Morning" was produced as the single, "All Tomorrow's Parties" WAS the single and this SHOULD HAVE BEEN the single. And finally, "I'll Be Your Mirror" sung by Nico and written by Lou at the asking of Mr. Warhol. There you have it. A blow by blow description of what many critics refer to as the "Greatest Rock Album Ever". 'N Sync sold 2.5 million albums in a week. It took this thing ten years to sell 100,000. I'm just glad I got mine when I did...
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Re: Rep's Top Fifty Albums Of All-Time

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4. The Beatles / "Beatles '65"
Year Of Release: 1964
Top Tracks: "Baby's In Black", "I Feel Fine", "I'm A Loser", "No Reply", "Mr Moonlight", "I'll Be Back", "Rock And Roll Music"

Sentiment is the biggest factor in my ranking of "Beatles '65" in the #4 position on my "Albums Of All-Time" list. I had stated earlier...somewhere around album #12, I think...that "Revolver" was The Beatles' best album and possibly the best album of the 1960's. But, as far as I am concerned, I have no personal sentiment attached to "Revolver". Plus, the difference between "Rubber Soul" and "Revolver" was more of a natural progression. The difference between what came before "Beatles '65" and it's release in December of 1964 was a MAJOR jump. Having always thought of Paul McCartney as my "favorite" Beatle, I consider this to be John Lennon's masterpiece...solo work included. Right out of the gate you get "No Reply", "I'm A Loser" and "Baby's In Black"...three of the most negatively great rock and roll songs right in a row to kick off your Christmas-season listening back in '64. If you are keeping track of "Beatles Vocal Miscues" at home, "Baby's In Black" ranks right up there with "Hold Me Tight" and "I'll Get You". Anyway, back to the music: whatever John was going through certainly fueled him enough to write and record brilliantly and he get's it all worked out by side two ("I'll Be Back"...which was originally recorded way earlier in the year for the U.K. release of "A Hard Day's Night"). On the fourth song in, however, Paul decides to turn John's musical frown upside down with his rendition of Chuck Berry's "Rock And Roll Music"...which most people now consider to be the "definitive" recording of the song, much like what happened when the Fab Four got a hold of "Twist And Shout". The plucking from the U.K. continues with Paul's "I'll Follow The Sun", seeing as how it and the first three songs on side one were all selected and rearranged by Captiol Records' Dave Dexter from the original "Beatles For Sale" release. Wrapping up side one is a song that has, over the years, consistently shown up near the top in almost all lists of "Least Favorite Beatles Songs": "Mr. Moonlight". Again, what makes this a majestic cover version (original was by Dr. Feelgood And The Interns) is the fact that it BLOWS away the original...much like almost every cover The Beatles ever did. On side two you get the lesser quality but still stellar covers of "Honey Don't" (the obligatory Ringo cut) and George's "Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby", both of which garner yearly Christmas cards sent to the remaining Fab Two from Carl Perkins' grandkids. Rounding out side two are "She's A Woman" (which most people feel is superior to it's soon to be released clone "I'm Down", whereas I have always considered "I'm Down" to be the better track) and the single pulled off the LP, the groundbreaking "I Feel Fine". Most groups try to eliminate feedback from recordings and live performances, on "I Feel Fine" it becomes the hook. Again, up until it's release in December of '64, NOTHING had been heard like that four seconds of noise at the beginning of ANY rock and roll recording, let alone a #1 hit. Again, I rank this up this high on the list for purely sentimental reasons...seeing as how there are far better overall albums in the Top 10 and even the Top 15 or so. But I also figured out that without this groundbreaking LP being released when it was, we might not have ever had some of those other albums that came along later. Plus the cover is great.
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Re: Rep's Top Fifty Albums Of All-Time

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3. The Velvet Underground / "Loaded"
Year Of Release: 1970
Top Tracks: "Sweet Jane", "Rock And Roll", "New Age", "Head Held High", "Lonesome Cowboy Bill", "I Found A Reason",
"Who Loves The Sun?"

I was amazed a few years ago when I read a quote from Lou Reed saying that if he had anything to do over again in his recording career it would be "Loaded". I had always thought it was near perfection...even given the facts that the band was breaking up, everyone was fighting, no one person was actually overseeing the final mixing/production, and they were gigging every night at Max's Kansas City. Out of that came a five star album that proved to be the final studio project from TVU (at least that featured Lou Reed...in other words, not counting "Squeeze"). Having been booted off of MGM and their subsidiaries by Mike Curb, who was trying to "clean up" MGM's acts, the Velvets found themselves without a label. In steps Atlantic Records President Ahmet Ertegun who tells them: "quit singing about sex and drugs and give me an album loaded with hits...I know you can do it". Thus, "Loaded" was born. Full of hits? Well, that's another story. It did, however, turn out to be the most "commercially appealing" of the VU albums...both in sales and on the radio. "Who Loves The Sun?" was the single and was the "brighest sounding" thing that the VU had ever recorded. That happiness spilled over into other cuts like "Cool IT Down", "Lonesome Cowboy Bill" and "Head Held High". Lou Reed still had his moments to express his personal side in the form of the "darker" cuts like "Oh, Sweet Nuthin'" and "Train 'Round The Bend" which, just like on "The Velvet Underground & Nico" were strategically placed at the end of the album. "I Found A Reason" is the album's beautiful love song and that leaves us with the three "jewels of the crown". And we're not talking just for this album, now...we are talking in rock and roll history. Every band that EVER started out in a basement in the United States between 1972 and 1989 attempted "Sweet Jane" as their first song. As for "Rock And Roll", there is NO other song...including Led Zeppelin's...that deserves the title "Rock And Roll". The beauty and power of music made with two guitarists, a bass player and a drummer has never been described in such simplistic joyous accuracy as Lou Reed has done it here. And finally there is "New Age"...which for much of my young adult life I considered to be my "All-TIme Favorite Song". Yes, "The Velvet Underground & Nico" was groundbreaking. There is no other album in the universe like "White Light/White Heat". Their third album contains songs that are still recognized as "standards" for young, inspired bands either as concert favorites or studio cover versions. But, paraphrasing lead guitarist Sterling Morrison : ""Loaded" shows what we could have been doing for the past four years". Again, another great purchase from Alfie's Coffee And Record Shoppe (along with "Live At Max's Kansas City" on the same Saturday afternoon back in '76)...
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Re: Rep's Top Fifty Albums Of All-Time

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No Pink Floyd?
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Re: Rep's Top Fifty Albums Of All-Time

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Crottinger wrote:No Pink Floyd?
There are 8734 "All-Time Greatest Albums" lists that have Pink Floyd on them. It's too easy of a thing to do....
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Re: Rep's Top Fifty Albums Of All-Time

Post by Greg Goodfellow »

If Scott says 8734, take it to the bank.
"Television is a medium because anything well done is rare."
~ Fred Allen ~

“Radio is the theater of the mind; television is the theater of the mindless”-Steve Allen
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Re: Rep's Top Fifty Albums Of All-Time

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2b. The Monkees / "Pieces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones LTD."
Year Of Release: 1967
Top Tracks: "Daily Nightly", "The Door Into Summer", "Love Is Only Sleeping", "Pleasant Valley Sunday", "She Hangs Out"

A common statement made about The Monkees is that "they weren't a band"...probably the same thought floating through the mind of Jann Wenner's that keeps them out of the "Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame". My comeback has always been that "that's what makes them great: they BECAME a band"! Well, in this instance, it's the fact that they may not have been a "real" band that keeps this album out of the #1 spot on my countdown. Their first two albums featured production by Don Kirshner, music by Glen Campbell and a bunch of other people we will never know and vocals by The Monkees. "Headquarters" was ALL The Monkees in all the departments. This album, however, was what Micky Dolenz describes as a "hybrid" album. The Monkees sang everything, played a good third to a half of the music and had many guest artists (Stephen Stills comes to mind) and session men fill out the rest. What you get is their FOURTH NUMBER ONE ALBUM IN A THIRTEEN MONTH PERIOD...which is not too shabby in whoever's book you're reading. And how can you tell that it is a great album? Even the Davy Jones songs are top notch, that's how. As a matter of fact, there is not a bad track on here anywhere (not counting "Peter Percival Patterson's Pet Pig Porky" as a song). The hit single off of the album was "Pleasant Valley Sunday" backed with "Words". Both were Billboard Top 40 hits and popular radio favorites along with...thanks to the exposure of the TV series airing in it's second year...many of the other songs on the album. Videos were shot for "Love Is Only Sleeping" (originally planned as a single) featuring Mike Nesmith on vocals and for "She Hangs Out"...which is the Davy Jones song released earlier in an inferior form in Canada that lead to Don Kirshner getting fired. The other Davy Jones songs are "Hard To Believe" (the only track from the album never featured in the TV show), Harry Nilsson's "Cuddly Toy" (an ode to a gang bang) and the rollicking "Star Collector". Ah, yes. "Star Collector". It, along with album's standout "Daily Nightly" (a Mike Nesmith song written about the inacurate reporting done by journalists covering the Sunset Strip riots) are the FIRST TWO ROCK SONGS WHERE A MOOG SYNTHESIZER WAS ACTUALLY PLAYED (The Doors had used one to process Jim Morrison's vocals on "Strange Days" but no one actually 'played' it). Other highlights on the LP include "Don't Call On Me" which features an intro recorded live from "the elegant Pump Room of the magnificent Palmer House high over Chicago asking that musical question..." and "The Door Into Summer", which is possibly the most covered song off the LP. And we haven't even gotten to the song that most musicologists believe was the very first recorded example of "country rock" (Mike Nesmith's "What Am I Doin' Hangin' 'Round?"). I, on the other hand, credit Mike Nesmith as the originator of the genre, only I would tend to go back a year earlier and cite "Papa Gene's Blues" or "Sweet Young Thing" as the first recorded examples. Finally, there is "Salesman" another Mike Nesmith song that kicks off the album and provides the perfect backdrop for the TV episode entitled "The Devil And Peter Tork". This was definitely the high water mark for The Monkees. Sure, "The Birds, The Bees And The Monkees" was to follow...along with the movie "Head" and the final three albums ("Present", "Instant Replay" and "Changes")...but this is their masterpiece. And not just THEIR masterpiece, a masterpiece of the decade in which it was released. A KROQ dj that used to debut a "new, hip song" every night on his show back in '67 told his audience that he was just going to play the song without telling the audience who it was. The song he played? "Daily Nightly". The bottom line? They were lot better and hipper than you ever thought. And they should be in the "Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame"...
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Re: Rep's Top Fifty Albums Of All-Time

Post by Bob Campbell »

Another great choice Rep.
And last week Don Kirshner gets in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Monkees are STILL not in.
Jann Wenner is a douche.
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Re: Rep's Top Fifty Albums Of All-Time

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2a. Rep's iTunes Account

In this day and age of mobile devices, iTunes, MP3's and everybody listening to their favorite music through more compression than LuLu Roman sitting on top of Paris Hilton, I now present my iTunes playlist of what would be considered "The Top 50 Songs That Have Nothing To Do With The Top 50 List Thread That You Were Already Reading". In other words, here are my favorite songs that were not included in any way, shape or form on the "Top 50 Albums" list. One hit wonders and stuff like that. Collectively I am making it "Top 50 Album #2"...just to keep that extra week of suspense in there and besides, each of these songs have specific merit on their own...

50. The Three O'Clock / "Spun Gold"
All I remember is an independent record promoter from New York (his first name was Al and I cannot remember his last name) that was pushing The Three O'Clock. I also don't remember what the lead track he was pushing off the LP was, but I knew we at TCS would just have no part of it. He kept hounding and hounding and I kept saying "no" and "no". Then one day while scanning the dial I heard this song on U-92 and said to myself, "whatever THAT is we've got to get on it"! Well, it turned out to be "Spun Gold" by The Three O'Clock. It made Al the forlorn independent promoter happy that we were at least on SOMETHING from the band and it made him estatic when it went into Heavy rotation. He also told me that the Wheeling/Pittsburgh/Fairmont-Morgantown area was the ONLY area that was on the song and NONE of the stations were playing whatever the main promoted track was. Sounds like a similar thing I experienced a few years later with the solo single of Foreigner's Mick Jones ("Everything That Comes Around")...it was only a hit in the Morgantown to Columbus area and nowhere else. Sometimes you have to wonder about these things. Also: have you ever heard a song and just vividly envisioned what the music video should look like? That's me with this song.

49. The Beau Brummels / "Don't Talk To Strangers"
No, not the Rick Springfield song. This is a great, seldom heard, Byrds-type number that was one of the "folkier" tunes from The Beau Brummels, who also brought us "Laugh Laugh" and "Just A Little". They explored the sound of this nifty single to fuller and more acclaimed effect on the "Bradley's Barn" LP a few years later. Many of us fondly remember them in cartoon form appearing as "The Beau Brummelstones" on the episode of "The Flintstones" where Fred has developed the dance called "The Frantic" and appears with them and host "Jimmy O'Neillstone" on "Shinrock!"

48. Don Dixon / "Girls L.T.D."
Upon first listen at WTCS back in '86 or whenever, the immediate thought was that this is a cross between Graham Parker and Joe Jackson with a bit more "songwriting intelligence" or "lyrical sensiblility". Sure "Praying Mantis" was the "hit" (at least on MTV and College Radio), but this was the gem of the LP. I'm sure if his label (I just remember it being red and white and the same one that The Smithereens were on. Enigma?) was in the habit of ACTUALLY releasing singles aimed at the Hot 100, this would have been the choice. One of the songs I can be found quoting on a regular basis in everyday conversation.

47. The Guess Who / "Star Baby"
Hands down my favorite song from The Guess Who. I can still remember the greatest request I have ever taken on the radio. It was a female friend that I had not talked to for YEARS and she was back in town visiting and just called up to chat and then asked me if she could make a request, and of course I said "sure". She said, "Well, I want my request to be two songs played back to back. Is that possible?" and again I said, "Yes"...all the while praying silently that the two songs that she was going to request were not going to be "Disco Duck" into "Torn Between Two Lovers". The two songs she wanted to hear back-to-back? Elvis Costello's "The Angels Wanna Wear My Red Shoes" into "Star Baby". I pray that she is a Music Director somewhere today...

46. Tommy Roe / "Jack And Jill"
Like the Major League Baseball rookie who has the great first year at the age of 28, so was the career of Tommy Roe. There was a slight break for a thing called The Beatles between Tommy's first two hits ("Sheila" and "Everybody") and his string of MONSTER hits from 1966-1970 ("Sweet Pea", "Hooray For Hazel", "Dizzy", "Jam Up And Jelly Tight"). Hidden away among those latter day hits for the ABC label was the AMAZING double sided single of "Jack And Jill"/"Tip Toe Tina"...of which I just learned that "Tip Toe Tina" was never released on any of his albums! Sure it's an update of some of his earlier stuff, but this is the catchiest of his singles when you take into account the hooks involved in both the chorus and the verses. Then "Tip Toe Tina", which I do not own a copy of and the YouTube version is REALLY rough, is just as good. You can tell that back in that era they wanted to make sure the flip side of an album's initial single was almost as strong as the A-side in case it bombed. Sure, "Sweet Pea" was the first song I ever played on a jukebox (Sixth Street Pharmacy in Fairmont, 1966), but this will always be my favorite Tommy Roe cut.

45. The Bay City Rollers / "Yesterday's Hero"
Nothing like a supremely prophetic three and half minute pop song! Ever sit around and wonder what dry cleaning establishments and car washes these guys are working in today? I find it amazing that their finest moment was their last single. Written by John Paul Young ("Love Is In The Air") and done by him in a far inferior version a year or two prior to this. Getting back to the band itself, how come none of their biggest hits are ever heard on radio? Those fifteen year old girls back then are fifty year old women now with (1). money and (2). no radio station to listen to. I think I would be aiming to please them with a format, friends, no matter what anyone else says. I sincerely believe you could topple a 50,000 watt stick with 6,000 watts playing "Him Or Me, What's It Going To Be?" into "Only Women Bleed" into "The Way I Feel Tonight".

44. Fleetwood Mac / "Eyes Of The World"
In the grand scheme of things I can think of no bigger musical wastelands than Fleetwood Mac and
Hall And Oates. This, however, I consider to be FM's three minutes and forty eight seconds of post-Bob Welch greatness. Probably could have been a Lindsey Buckingham solo record with only a hint of vocal backing from them two chicks. It has one of the most KILLER guitar solos I have ever heard It also stands out as one of the all time great flip sides. It's so great I can't even remember the A side...

43. The KLF / "Justified And Ancient"
Yes, THAT song...but not THAT version. This is the "Black Steel Vocal Version" which is the very mellow version without the Tammy Wynette vocal. We used to play this on WMQC in the early part of the morning when the "Tammy Version" was racing up the charts. Speaking of WMQC, did I ever mention the fact that at least 80% of the EBS tests we got from WVAQ were when we had the mic open? I take that as a compliment...

42b. The Old 97's / "Big Brown Eyes"
Since I left a full time radio gig in May of '02 it seems that with every road trip I take there is a song I hear on the radio that takes over the trip and at the same time makes me long to be back on the air so I could be playing it. Well, this is one of those. I was on my way to the 2009 National Hot Wheels Convention in Reston, VA when I heard this song come on the radio on some grade Z college station. It is a musical masterpiece whose highlight is stellar drumming especially on the bridges and the chorus. It is also a lyrical masterpiece whose highlight is the line, "You made a big impression for a girl of your size". Wish'd I could have wrote this one...

42a. Kids In The Kitchen / "Current Stand"
As I have stated before, and probably will again before this entry is over, the absolute BEST time to watch MTV back in the mid-1980's was late Saturday afternoon/early Saturday evening. You would see and hear songs then that you NEVER heard or saw at any other time. So it was for me with "Current Stand" from Kids In The Kitchen. I have learned since that they hailed from Australia and were kind of like an Aussie boy band with a little more rock sensibility than most U.S. boy bands. The rest of the weekend I just could not wait to get to work on Monday morning to see if the song was in a stack of new stuff that I either had not gotten to or had overlooked. Yep. Walked into the "T" that Monday morning and there it was in the "to be listened to" stack of 12"'ers. It was one of, if not THE top Add that week.

41. Chequered Past / "How Much Is Too Much?"
One of the songs that I had the hardest time in finding a digital copy of. The lone hit for Michael DesBarres singing with a band that comprised what was left of The Sex Pistols and Blondie.
This track from 1984 has a great guitar riff combined with a hooky chorus and probing lyrics. Obviously the reason it was not a bigger hit was the fact that it all made sense, and for a few decades now America has not been keen on the idea of embracing anything that makes sense.

40. The Bluebelles / "Cath"
The video accompanying this mid-80's post-New Wave classic is material enough to get the song mentioned. Imagine viewing "A Hard Day's Night" and an episode of "The Monkees" in three minutes and eighteen seconds. They sound like The Byrds had they made it into the 1980's and mated with the British band of your choice. I do need to mention here that Modern English's "I Melt With You" has become too popular over the years to be placed on this list. If I am not mistaken, it...at one time...was the only single to never hit Billboard's Top 40 to win a publishing award for having been played on the air over one million times. "Cath" never came close, but was just as good.

39. The Beach Boys / "Heroes And Villains"
Immediate radio turn off for me? Any Beach Boys song prior to "Help Me, Rhonda" coming on the air. I do not relate to surfing, hot rods, motorcycles or skateboards. I do relate to great music and this is Brian Wilson's pinnacle. It is a flawed pinnacle, of course, but a pinnacle none the less. The full version, which I had the pleasure of hearing one time on a bootleg somewhere, is around seventeen minutes and was to take up a whole side of "Smile!". Instead, what the public received, was the single version taken from the released inferior version of "Smile!" called "Smiley Smile". I have always found "Holland" ("Sail On Sailor", "The Trader", "California") to be their most listenable album and have always considered this to be their/his finest songwriting achievement. The mini soap opera features great vocals, great harmony vocals and the perfect mix of hard rocking and delicate instrumentation. Had there been a whole album of this quality, the second half of The Beach Boys recording career may have come out of the rubber room shaped a little bit differently.

38. Doll By Doll / "Chance"
This is the first of the two songs from what I refer to as the "Tim Tarleton Troika" that have made this list. Tim, who used to work at TCS and FGM, had a habit of raiding the .99 album bins at National Record Mart in Morgantown and picking out about ten albums at a time that "looked good" instead of forking over the entire ten bucks on one LP by someone that you had actually heard of. Well, one night at TCS he shows up with the "Remember" album from a group called Doll By Doll. They were a British band fronted by Jackie Leven. This song and "Sleeping Partners" became immediate favorites of mine. This is the stronger of the two songs overall with searing guitar work and passionate vocals. "Sleeping Partners" does, however, contain the line "I found a sack of dead puppies hanging from a tree". Their only U.S. album (it was on MCA and featured "Main Traveled Roads") pales in comparison to this and their other two ("Grand Passion", "Gypsy Blood"). I've always thought about this song sounding like a cross between Grand Funk and The Doobie Brothers doing some heavy acid. There are about five songs on this list that I think the most casual fans of older rock and roll should go and try to find a copy of this here internet somewhere. This is one of them.

37. Graham Parker / "Stupefaction"
Another descriptively prophetic song, this time from Graham Parker. This was a big favorite at WTCS back in the day when we still subscribed to the "Billboard Magazine Music Service" (anybody remember that?). The single came in and me and Mark Thompson previewed it and I think he played it twice that night. It was an early entry in to someone trying to musically and lyrically describe JUST HOW STUPID PEOPLE HAVE BECOME SINCE WE DO NOT HAVE TO DO ANYTHING FOR OURSELVES ANYMORE...including thinking and having original thoughts.

36. Beulah / "Gene Autry"
My buddy Mark goes to flea markets and auctions EVERY weekend. Buys CD's cheap and also buys cassettes and then digitizes them. Anyway, he came home one Friday night with about 20 or so HOMEMADE CD's he got in a big lot that he had won. When I saw what was on the CD's I asked him if I could borrow a couple of them because there were a few songs I would love to have copies of on my computer. Well, as I was listening to one of the songs I wanted, I let the CD keep playing and it went into this song that I had never heard before. WOW! I have no idea who Beulah is, but this song is FANTASTIC! Interesting lyrics and fine musical and vocal performances all around make this one of the songs that goes on EVERY mix CD that I make.

35. Rick Nelson / "That's All She Wrote"
This is where it all started for me. My first single ever owned! And what else started with this great late 1963 from Ozzie and Harriet's youngest boy? My love for "the flip side". I got the disc for the great A-side ("For You"...his last pre-Beatles hit) and once I heard this, the A-side became a thing of the past. My buddy Sacclidge was looking through a stack of 45's one time here at the house and when he got to "For You" he stopped. He looked at me and blurted out: "The other side's better, you know". See? People know. Most MD's and PD's and ALL Consultants just don't think they do. Greatest B-sides of all-time in my opinion? This is "Top Five".

34. Orchestral Manouvres In The Dark / "Maid Of Orleans"
Best song ever that begins with what sounds like an EBS test is being aired. Most American listeners are familiar with the later period OMD songs ("If You Leave", "Still In Love", "Secret", "Forever Live And Die") but there is a VAST wealth of GREAT early 80's synth music to be found within the tracks of Andy McClusky and Paul Humpreys...with this being the uppermost echelon of their early output. Sure, "Genetic Engineering", "Tesla Girls", "Locomotion" and "Enola Gay" were bigger U.K./College hits, but "Maid Of Orleans" is different. As a matter of fact, there almost is no other song like it. Rock's great synthesizer waltz, with astonishing lyrics and passionate vocals. Too high brow for Van Halen fans...

33. Midge Ure / "If I Was"
Absolutely GIGANTIC British hit from the fall '85. Midge had left Ultravox and was setting off on his own as a solo artist, having already written the largest selling single song in U.K. history (at that point and now #2). This magnificent piece of work was a #1 hit in overseas and did not even dent a single chart here in the U.S.. This is one of those songs that I wish I had written...telling your loved one all that you would do for them no matter what you were. Another of what I believe to be the most well-written songs I have ever heard.

32b. Mental As Anything / "Live It Up"
Given the state of Country music here in 2011, if I was a country artist that wanted a huge hit right off the bat, I would do a cover of this song. Huge hook, relatable lyrics and...even though it was probably considered New Wave back in 1985...this sounds like it could be THE Country hit of 2011. The allmusic.com reviewer of the LP that it comes from ("Fundamental As Anything") calls this "perfect pop"...which it almost is. Aside from the fact that I keep hearing it as a Country song on WKKW or Froggy....which tells us two things: (a). A great song can be sung in any way, shape or form and still sound great and (b). I seriously believe that I missed my calling as an A&R Director.

32a. The Trashmen / "King Of The Surf"
Blows "Surfin' Bird" out of the water...as do their other Top 40 hit ("Bird Dance Beat") and it's flip side ("A-Bone"). Our band tried to work this thing up one night. The guitar player, who is EXTREMELY good, could not even come close to touching it. Amazing...

31b. Pierce Turner / "Wicklow Hills"
It was November 1987. I had handed in my resignation at WTCS at the beginning of the previous week and was heading to WMQC and Magic 101 land. Scott Aspinall was going to take over the MD duties, but I had one week to go and one more chart to phone in to FMQB and whoever else we were reporting to. The pickin's were slim, but there was this song that I PERSONALLY loved. Knew it would never be big, but it was a GREAT song. I figured, heck, what were they going to do...fire me? Thus, Pierce Turner's "Wicklow Hills" was one of the last two songs I ever added at TCS. The other song I added? Well, we had had GREAT success with "Scorpio Rising"...a track off of the major label debut album from 10,000 Maniacs the year before. So when I saw that I could use one more song to add that last week at "The T", I threw in their new single which was the first release from their second album ("In My Tribe") which was soon to come out. The result? There's a Gold Record hanging on the wall at WTCS right now due to my last two adds while there. Sorry to say, it wasn't for "Wicklow Hills"...which is the much better song.

31a. Steppenwolf / "28"
One of those "singles that never were". Sure, "Magic Carpet Ride", "Born To Be Wild" and "Rock Me" were the most "poppy sounding" singles that Steppenwolf released, but based just on what SOUNDS like a hit, I wanna know why this thing was overlooked? Subject matter? Well, you can interpret "Magic Carpet Ride" in a few different ways, just as you can "Rock Me". Okay, so it's this guy that is with this girl who all of a sudden gets "worm in her knees" and a bunch of stuff happens over the next three days. Which brings up the fact that if I had a band and we got a recording deal, our first three album titles would be "Kick This Into Start", "On A Sunny Day Sometime" and "Next Morning, Two Nights After". Always loved it when someone would call in a birthday dedication to a female and I would ask them, "She doesn't happen to be twenty eight, does she?"...and I don't know what I would have done if they said her name was Molly. If you have ever wondered what happened during the seventy two hours following "Born To Be Wild", this song describes it...

30. Ultravox / "One Small Day"
"Reap The Wild Wind" was in rotation at WTCS for 46 freakin' weeks (longest tenure that I can remember for a song). Then this was issued as either the next single or the first single from their next LP. Even though we played it, it never made the impact that "Reap" had. Well, that was then. Over the years, I have grown to love this song and can listen to it any time. I always liked Ultravox because the thing that set them apart from most every other New Wave synth band was the GREAT GUITAR work! Midge Ure is one of my favorite lyricist/vocalists and this is the crowning achievement of his with the group that he fronted during the second half of their ten year career.

29. Jeff Beck / "Hi Ho, Silver Lining"
I really don't care about the fact that he is one of the three greatest guitar players I have ever heard (Bill Nelson and Phil Keaggy are the other two) and that most music critics consider him one of the best of all time, too. What I care about is the fact that this was his biggest hit in the world, even though few Americans have ever heard it. Yes, that great guitar work is in there...double tracked, tasteful, not over done and perfectly fit: right into the middle of a three minute pop song (something he would not record many more of over the next thirty years of his career). Released in March of 1967, the song was intended to be a preview of the upcoming "Truth" album (Beck's first solo LP after leaving The Tridents and The Yardbirds), but was not included on the original release. It did, however, make the Top 20 in numerous countries and has been adopted as Wolverhampton's theme song as the players run out onto the field for a football game. I mean soccer...

28. The Robbs / "Race With The Wind"
Wow.
That could just about sum this song up in a word.
Wow.
We used to carry Dick Bartley's "New Gold On CD" on Magic 101. It was a daily six minute show that was a :30 intro followed by their spot and then Dick playing the featured song. In case you never have experienced how they manufactured the show CD's yourself it was like this: cut one was the Monday show, cut two was the Monday show's featured song in stand alone format SO THAT YOU COULD PLAY IT ON THE AIR AND ADD IT TO YOUR LIBRARY IN CASE YOU DID NOT HAVE IT ALREADY. Really nice set up. That was the pattern for each CD from cuts 1-10. Well, one day Bob "The Real Bob" Elliott happened to actually look at the CD player (the old Sony ones where you could see all track numbers on the CD in the little 'grid') while it was playing and noticed that disc had something like EIGHTEEN tracks on it!!! That is when we discovered that when you got past the first ten tracks, there were more 'hidden' tracks you could add to your library of oldies! Of all those songs there were, of course, many I was familiar with right off the bat, many I had never heard before, and a scant few that never made the Billboard charts...this being one of them. The Robbs were basically "The Beatles Of Milwaukee" and were featured on TV a lot back in the mid-60's (I want to say on "Where The Action Is!"). This, folks, is long lost classic that should have been gigantic. Somewhere. At some time.
Wow...

27. The Clique / "Superman"
None of that whining R.E.M. cover version crap. Sure we played it at TCS, but THIS is the real deal. In case you are unfamiliar with The Clique, they were the original Athens, GA rock stars. They hit the Top 40 with the Tommy James-influenced "Sugar On Sunday" and duplicated his sound even further on the equally as great (aside from chart success) "Sparkle And Shine". This, however, is their masterpiece. Greatest B-sides of all-time in my opinion? This is "Top Five".

26. The Hudson Brothers / "Rendezvous" b/w "Medley"
As far as quantity of quality contained on a 45rpm single is concerned, this is Top Five material right here. On the "A" side you have a Top 40 hit with more hooks than Babe Winkelman. On the "B" side you have the ambitiously successful attempt to imitate side two of "Abbey Road" on the flip side of a single. The result does not fail or sound cheesy. I have always contended that had The Beatles stayed together for another ten years they would have initially sounded like Badfinger and then The Hudson Brothers. With this release, Kate's dad and uncles made one of what I consider to be the highest quality singles in rock and roll history. (I can't list the other two on here due to the fact that they were included on the "Top 50" album list in some form and I would not want to give them away). Greatest B-sides of all-time in my opinion? This is "Top Five".

25. The Alpha Band / "Interviews"
T-Bone Burnett is known for many things: being part of Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Review and later leading him to his three year or so flirtation with Christianity, marrying Leslie Phillips and changing her name to Sam, producing many hit and near hit songs, scoring movies and recording solo albums every whipstitch. But almost all T-Bone Burnett fans, historians and critics familiar with his large body of work in all field point to one singluar item as his crowning achievement...that being the song "Interviews". I may have said it before this or will say it after this, but it is certainly true here: there IS NO OTHER SONG like "Interviews" which was recorded by The Alpha Band on Arista and is another of the great "Tim Tarleton Discoveries" from him purchasing the armfuls of .99 albums out of the cutout bins at NRM in Morgantown. My video, featuring some of the most amazing lyrics you will ever hear, is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HMBpgHHGPo

24. Buster Brown / "Lost In A Dream"
How many rock artists get "auditioned" at 3pm and are in the studio within twelve hours?
Well, that's how it went down in 1960 when 48 year old limping blues harpist Buster Brown walked into Fire Records' offices and basically said "You gotta record me". The label was so impressed with the solo show he put on in their office that they booked a band to come into the studio to see if he could play with them. When the engineers and label execs heard that the band basically couldn't keep up with him, they booked studio time for 2 a.m. the next morning. Known as the "Last Of The 'Whoop' Singers", Buster was never interviewed at any stage in his career and little is known about him, even though he had Top 40 and lesser hits ("Fannie Mae", "Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby" and "The Madison Shuffle"). All they knew was he was 5'4" and born in 1911 or 1914 in Georgia. "Lost In A Dream" was the flip of "Fannie Mae"...thus guaranteeing it getting into at least a half million homes or so when it hit #1 R&B and went Top 40 Pop. Historians note that this is the purest recording of the talent that resided in Brown, who never had another hit after this...even though he recorded up until two years before his death in 1976. Greatest B-sides of all-time in my opinion? This is "Top Five".

23. The Members / "Working Girl"
A 1983 MTV favorite. Video was of the "crappy" Arista version. Search out the Albion 12" to hear the original rockin' version only released in the U.K. and probably only heard in America on WTCS! J.C. Carroll (the song's composer) and I have talked extensively about the history of this song and he verified my thought that Aristia had them re-record it in order for them to "sound more like The Police", who were exteremly hot at the time. The re-recording neutered the power of the original, which cannot be found either on their "Greatest Hits" or the original album, "Uprhythm Downbeat". You have to search out the U.K. 12" to get "the real deal".

22. Billy Vaughn / "A Swingin' Safari"
There's nothing I like better than rolling down all the windows, press the button that sends the moonroof back, plop in a CD that has Billy Vaughn's "A Swingin' Safari" as track one on it and crank the stereo up to the highest level it can go without sounding bad and drive through downtown Shinnston. Many of you remember this as the original "Theme From 'The Match Game'". Many of you realize they do not make music like this anymore.

21. Planet P Project / "Pink World"
The highlight of Tony Carey's ambitious double album recorded under the guise of Planet P, even though the initial single was "What I See". The premise of the song is the fact that even though one man knows what is going to be going down in the future, no one will believe him until they see and hear the same thing from another thousand or so or "have proof" by seeing it expounded upon by a "legitimate source" (in this case they "read it in the supermarket"). Listen between the lines and you get one of the most Spiritually prophetic secular rock songs ever recorded.

20. The Tom Robinson Band / "2-4-6-8 Motorway"
Jeff Audia and I always used to remark that this was "the CHUNKIEST guitar playing ever recorded". If I had to single out one defining moment of WHY I got into radio in the first place, it would be the day in the late summer of 1978 when I pulled into the old CB&T drive-through in downtown Fairmont. I took the left lane and when I got up closer to the booth I pulled up along side a blonde in a Mustang convertible with the top down and "2-4-6-8 Motorway" BLASTING at top volume. You could tell she was listening to WTCS because...quite frankly...no other station was smart enough to play a song like that. And sure enough, John Conrad comes on afterward and goes into "BF Goodrich news at :55". Recently when he was visiting in town, somewhere sometime after midnight, Tubby Blanston looked over at me and Jeff Audia and said: "You know guys, there has NEVER been a radio station like WTCS ANYWHERE, ANYTIME, EVER". And that story about this song just goes to prove how truthful his statement was. I did a YouTube search for videos of this and one of them turned up to be a bunch of college-age kids in England just sitting around listening to the radio. "2-4-6-8" comes on whatever station they were listening to and one of the guys remarks "that is the CHUNKIEST guitar playing ever recorded"!!! Who cares if you can't understand all of the lyrics, just sit back and enjoy the chunk...

19. Icicle Works / "Understanding Jane"
I've said it before on here that back in the mid 80's THE TIME to watch MTV was between 4-7pm on a Saturday. Why? Because, for some reason, they showed things during that time of the week that they did not show AT ANY OTHER TIME. I distinctly remember getting dressed to go out for the evening and heard this song coming from the TV and just throught to myself, "What the heck is THIS?" Turns out it was the latest release from a band most of us thought had disappeared four years previous after their big hit with "Whisper To A Scream". Instead, unbeknownst to Americans, Icicle Works had toughened up their sound and released a couple of LP's and this amazing single. Keep in mind that is not the type of thing that Alfie got in at the shop every week. I had to make a run to Jim's in Pittsburgh (Liberty Avenue in Bloomfield...across from Tessaro's and the greatest steak sandwich known to mankind) to pick it up. Perfect guitars, great melody, stellar drumming and lyrics that are heartfelt and hilarious at the same time regarding the longing for a love that once was and is no more ("One night at the pool hall, asked her if she'd hold my cue"..."I'd lose my mind and shiver in responsibility"). A perfect example of just how powerful two guitars, a bass and drums can be.

18. The Steve Gibbons Band / "Big J.C."
One of the only songs that I keep in my computer that is taken directly from vinyl. Why? Because the CD is always $40-50 when it shows up for sale and the album ("Down In The Bunker", 1979) is just so great that it's best track has to be around somewhere for me to indulge in once in a while. Comparing life to a card game, Steve Gibbons paints a vivid picture of how people are "so bent on what's to win and what's to lose" that they do not put together that Jesus has knocked on the door and entered the room...only a young boy that is waiting on the gambling table and "Big J.C." himself.
They DO NOT write songs like this anymore! The album also contains "Eddy Vortex", "No Spittin' On The Bus" and the title track. Definitely well worth searching out if you are into vinyl...

17. Death In Vegas / "Girls"
When I was drumming at the Tri-State Worship Center in Grantsville back in the early to mid 90's, we would sometimes get down to utilizing the "third string" piano player...and I LOVED it! She and I and the rest of the team would get into something that I can only refer to as "Holy Ghost-inspired filler music"...AND IT SOUNDED JUST LIKE THIS! Wreckless Eric turned me on to this song through his wonderful radio show, which...if you have never experienced it...you should. Closest thing to "Saturday Night At The 'T'" that I have ever heard. The question I would love for one of you all to answer for me is this: what kind of music is this classified as? I keep asking Conrad that question and he always gives me the same answer: "It's for heroin addicts"...

16. Albert Hammond / "The Free Electric Band"
Sure he wrote "It Never Rains In Southern California" and "The Air That I Breathe" and "Gimme Dat Ding" and was paired with Ozzy Osbourne in The Magic Lanterns and produced Johnny Cash...but many music afficianados...mostly musicians...point to this as his greatest three minutes and twenty six seconds. It's the story of a young man who gives up his parents, their desires for him, his education and his girl for "music, and the Free Electric Band". This was a K-Tel album staple around 1973-74 and probably was included on a Ronco compilation as well.

15. The The / "Uncertain Smile"
Up until it's CD release in 2002, the 12" single of this song was one of the most sought after pieces of vinyl by collectors in any genre of recordings...often selling for around $100 for a nice copy. Also keep in mind that the version of this that is commonly available from the "Soul Mining" album is a PIECE OF CRAP compared to the Sire original version. Well, anywho, here's how it came to be the song that probably defined WTCS in the early 1980's: Tubby Blanston was working at "Beach 96" in Rehobeth Beach in 1982 and would bring me stacks of wax that none of their stations would be playing so that we could play them on "The 'T'". One night he blew into town with a stack of stuff and one of the discs was the 12" of this. I waited until I felt it was "safe" to play it (after 10:30pm), since it was something brand new that no one had heard around here before. The song gets about 3/4 done and there is a knock on the door. I go out and check it and it's a guy and his girlfriend. He says he had left Fairmont to go out to California to take a government job in technology, lasted three months because he was "frightened about what he saw going on", quit the gig and started driving home. He said he was in his convertible in the "middle of the desert" on his way home, wondering if he had done the "right thing" or not, when he heard "the most fantastic song that he had ever heard" begin playing on the radio. When it was over there was no announcer telling him what it was or who it was by and he said out loud to himself that he would probably never hear it again. So what happens? He gets back to Fairmont, finally decides to go out for the first time since returning with the girlfriend that he had left behind to go to California. As they are "getting re-acquainted" with each other while listening to 'TCS, "Uncertain Smile" comes on that first time. She said that tears began to form in his eyes, his hand shot straight to the ignition, he started the car and began driving at 90 mph to the studios, "high atop Palatine Knob overlooking the beautiful Monongahela River valley ". That is where I answered the door with this guy asking me who was singing that song that was on the air. Folks, after thirty some years I really don't care what you have to say about it: stories like THAT are what radio is all about...

14. Professor Longhair / "Tipitina"
I searched out the "original" 1948-ish version to see if it sounded like his other gigantic late 40's hit that I loved ("Bald Head"). I heard it. I said, "Ehhh". THEN I found the 1980 version recorded right before his death with The Meters. THEN I understood why most people consider him to be "The Greatest Rock And Roll Pianist Of All Time". The piano playing is AMAZING and it sounds like he is singing in tongues. What an unbeatable combination! New Orleans' most famous nightspot is named after this song which, by the way, you can sing along to with your own made up lyrics every time you hear it! I vaguely remember Paul McCartney giving him some liner note love on "Venus And Mars"...

13. Nancy Sinatra / "The City Never Sleeps At Night"
Proof that not all music executives know what they are doing. This was the flip side of Nancy's first megahit, "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'" and by most accounts of fans and critics alike, this blows it away. Well, it should, seeing as how it was initially intended as the A-side and would have made a bigger splash as a "later single" than many of her later singles did. The writing of partner Lee Hazelwood is magnificent and it sports a ton of musical ingredients that are mixed perfectly: horns, strings, bells, tambourine, great riff, singable lyrics, memorable chorus hook. Darin Hudec at WMQC always thought that this would make a great single if remade by Paula Abdul back in the early 90's. "Genius? Yes, please". Greatest B-sides of all-time in my opinion? This is "Top Five".

12. The Boomtown Rats / "I Don't Like Mondays"
The finest piece of situational rock and roll songwriting ever. You've heard the story: 16 year old Brenda Spencer empties all her ammo into a San Diego playground full of kids. Her documented reason? "I Don't Like Mondays". Bob Geldof is sitting in an Atlanta radio station when the teletype machine goes bonkers. He and the band have no idea what that means and are intrigued. The jock tells them of the story coming in over the wire and he writes the song on the spot. Never a hit in the U.S. due to lack of promotion on CBS' part because of their thinking that "this thing is too close to home". A Top 10 in over 25 countries.

11. Tom Waits / "House Where Nobody Lives"
I was living in Springs, PA. No Dish. No cable. Johnstown stations off the air was about it. I turned on WJAC one night to check the news one night before going to bed and realized that it was later than I thought. Jay Leno, whom I cannot stand (best thing he ever did was his "Polyester!" cameo), was on and they were just coming back from a commercial. All I heard him say was, "Ladies and gentlemen, Mister Tom Waits". At that second...with finger on the remote between bed and destiny...I heard something actually say: "Watch this". Never a big Tom Waits fan ("He makes Bob Dylan sound like Pavarotti"), I do acknowledge that he is one of the better songwriters of our time. I watched and heard what was one of the most beautiful songs I had ever heard. From his "Mule Variations" album, this song has more of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in it than many "Christian" songs do...

10. The Vogues / "The Land Of Milk And Honey"
Best band out of Pittsburgh, PA ever. Great string of mid-1960's Top 40 hits, of which this was the lowest charting (#34 if memory serves correctly or even plays tennis at all). I have always thought that whoever wrote this thing had to be a Christian. No secular song that I have ever heard conveys the transformation from "unforgiven heathen" to "born again Christian" as succintly as this...and does it all within the scope of a non-offensive two minute and forty five second pop song. "You're The One" and "Five O'Clock World" get all the Oldies airplay these days, but this was most underrated achievement, as evidenced by the constant requests for it when they still play live around the local area.

9. Mouse & The Traps / "A Public Execution"
One thing I'm learning from constructing this list: a lot of these songs are songs of which there are NO OTHER SONGS in the world written in a comparable manner. In other words, a lot of my favorite songs are "one of a kind originals"...and this certainly is one of those! I've used lines from it in my signature on here ("You'd better find yourself a WELDER, baby!"). Many thought it was the first "electric Dylan" song. All I know is this: out of every song of rock and roll that I have ever heard in my 48+ years of listening, this is the song that I would most like to have been in the studio at the time when it was recorded. Did these guys know what they had here? Did they know that they could have taken over the world in that two minutes and fifty seconds? Ronnie Weiss is still playing with the band, even though he has undergone some health issues in the last couple of years.

8. Tonio K. / "Better Late Than Never"
Prior to his successful career as a Contemporary Christian artist, Tonio K. released the excellent LP "Life In The Foodchain", from where this song comes from. When I first walked into WTCS in 1978, the first thing that I wanted to do was go through the stacks and stacks of 45's that they were NOT playing! In one of those stacks I found a promo of this...long version on one side, short version on the other. IT IS THE GREATEST DIVORCE SONG EVER.

7. Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel / "(Come Up And See Me) Make Me Smile"
WTCS used to carry "Rock Over London" with Graham Deane every Thursday night and at some point they started throwing in one "oldie" in the middle of the show amongst all the new wave stuff that they normally aired. One week the oldie happened to be this song which...although it was close to eight years old...I had never heard before. What got my attention was the fact that it kept STOPPING and going to dead air during the song! I went back and listened to it again after the show and immediately fell in love with Steve's only U.S. Billboard singles chart entry. I told Jet Black that I always thought the reason it was never a bigger hit was the fact that it DID keep stopping. The other thing I love about this song is the fact that those are REAL violins, REAL strings, REAL vocalists...no computer generated crap here, folks! They really did make this song sound this good the old fashioned way.

6. Tommy Conwell & The Young Rumblers / "If We Never Meet Again"
I remember listening to a station in Portsmouth, OH back in 1988 at the Bunner's Ridge exit of I-79 while waiting for folks to pick me up since my Jeep had broken down. I kept listening, amazed that the station was coming in so good. Then I heard this song for the first time. I still was in good with CBS album rock promo guys and had Al Moss from Georgia snag me a CD of it. Written by the great Jules Shear, this was not Tommy's biggest chart hit but it seem to be the one that most people remember.

5. The Motors / "Forget About You"
Another one of the promo 45's that I found laying in stacks on the floor of TCS back in '78. In my opinon, this is the greatest non-Billboard Hot 100 charting song ever. Sure it kinda sounds like The Grass Roots' "Sooner Or Later"...but it is a far more well written song. The Motors were the first "pop punk" band out of England in the late '70's. They were known for their U.K. hits "Dancing The Night Away", "Airport", this and the marvelous "Love And Loneliness". The flip of this was an 8:20 medley that would make any band that had hits from 1964-1978 proud ("Picturama/The Middle Bit/Soul Surrender"). The band had a bass player that went on to score a U.S. Top 40 hit of his own (Bram Tchaikovsky's "Girl Of My Dreams" in 1979). Whenever it comes up on a CD in the car I have to do a complete intro with weather, upcoming Pirates' game liner, tomorrow morning's morning show info and then hit the post. I do it every time...

4. Prism / "Take Me To The Kaptin"
As I have stated on here before, this song is the reason I embarked into a radio career back in 1977. I know exactly where I was standing when the song came on TCS and I said out loud to know one in particular: "They never play this song enough. I gotta get a job at a radio station". First song I played in high school on WMMN while doing "The Bear Facts" with Jim Marshall. I will repost what I said in a post from last year after I went to Canada for the 1st Annual Canadian National Hot Wheels Convention: While at the Crescent Circle Flea Market in Canada (if you ever get the chance, you MUST go!), I had what I shall call a "Religious Radio Experience". I was walking down the last of the umpteen hallways of vendor booths when I heard something familiar in the distance, not knowing exactly what it was and yet knowing exactly what it was. As I got closer, I realized that the radio in one of the stalls was on and playing "Take Me To The Kaptin" by Prism. All of a sudden I was transfixed...just staring at the radio. Flashing before my eyes were event after event and experience after experience from all 32 years of radio that I have been through as I stood there listening to the one, single motivating factor of why I got into radio in the first place. That three minutes was worth the entire trip to Canada. The band says it's about "the state of the ecology". Listeners and fans think it's a sci-fi based tune that goes along with "Spaceship Superstar". It's about a guy getting fed up with his life, getting saved and dedicating his life to Jesus. Published by Corinthian Music, no less...

3. Plummet Airlines / "Silver Shirt"
Another song Wreckless Eric turned me on to, which was one of the very first Stiff Records singles (number 8 if memory serves me correctly). I have never heard such "optimistic dread" out of any voice singing any rock song ever. You would think after finally securing a recording contract you would be thrilled instead of saying "goodbye". Nobody had this available on line, anywhere so I made a video of it and posted it on YouTube. If The Saints' "Messin' With The Kid" is "The 'Free Bird' Of Punk", this is "The 'Hotel California' Of Punk". Simply a beautiful song. I have always thought that "no great rock and roll song ever came out of 1976". That was true until I heard this...

2. Toussaint McCall / "Nothing Takes The Place Of You"
Many of you may know this from the movie "Hairspray" (the original). It was a gigantic R&B hit in 1968. There are few places in the U.S. that I really want to visit at some point. Mount Washington, NH comes up first and foremost and, probably second, would be the hometown of Toussaint McCall. There is a bar there, where he sings the song every night. Most folks thought white artists had stopped ripping off black artists back in the late '50's. Chicago's "Colour My World" proves that it was still going on in the late 60's. They owes dis man some cheese...

1. The Flaming Lips / "Fight Test"
Whether it is actually my favorite song of all time, it is hard to tell...but it has to be close. Heard it on WYEP while scanning the dial while crossing over Cooper's Rock on I-68 one summer afternoon a few years ago. At the time, and still today, it is one of the most meaningful songs to my own personal life that I have ever heard. My first question when I heard it was, "What do I hear in there?" Well, the answer is Steve Miller, John Lennon and...for some reason the artist I hear the most of in there...Lobo. I had no idea that they were sued by Cat Stevens for copyright infringement ("Father And Son") and lost the case. The Flaming Lips should sue Cat Stevens for boredom.
Scott Reppert
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WTCS/WFGM/WMQC/WAIJ/WLIC/WRIJ/WKJL/WRWJ/WPCL/WWPN
Operations Manager: Hope Radio, T8WH, Palau
Production/Editor: "Believe Right" and "MFC WorldWide"
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Re: Rep's Top Fifty Albums Of All-Time

Post by Crottinger »

Scott, Roy Wood looks like he ought to be in one of the Geico caveman commercials.

If our favorite albums of all time are defined as ones we still listen to regularly, then the albums from years ago that I still listen to are Viva Terlingua from Jerry Jeff Walker, No Shortage by the Imperials, Bustin' out by Pure Prairie League, The Adventures of Panama Red by New Riders of the Purple Sage, Hoboes, Heroes and Streetcorner Clowns by Don Nix, Tryin Like the Devil by James Talley, McGuffey Lane by McGuffey Lane, the American Flyer album, Slippin Away by Chris Hillman, Southwest by Herb Pedersen, Nouveau Chapeau by Free Beer, Larry Jon Wilson's Let Me Sing my song to You, MCA Years by Nanci Griffith among others to numerous to mention.


And for all you McGuffey Lane fans, I saw them at the Bexley 4th if July at Capital Univ and they are still playing and sounding good with a new album. Here's a you tube link to a song on the latest album called it's a good day. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFI0rpsjCI4
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Re: Rep's Top Fifty Albums Of All-Time

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Crottinger wrote:The Adventures of Panama Red by New Riders of the Purple Sage, Slippin Away by Chris Hillman, MCA Years by Nanci Griffith
A true classic (NRPS) and two highly overlooked artists (Hillman and Griffith). All I remember about McGuffey Lane was that they were on Atco...
Scott Reppert
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WTCS/WFGM/WMQC/WAIJ/WLIC/WRIJ/WKJL/WRWJ/WPCL/WWPN
Operations Manager: Hope Radio, T8WH, Palau
Production/Editor: "Believe Right" and "MFC WorldWide"
"For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation"--Luke 2:30
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Re: Rep's Top Fifty Albums Of All-Time

Post by genlock »

"Rep's top fifty shoes of all time"
"Everyone Should be aware that you're just a screen grab away from infamy."
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Re: Rep's Top Fifty Albums Of All-Time

Post by Scott Reppert »

genlock wrote:"Rep's top fifty shoes of all time"
Could be in line for 2013. I'll talk to my people.

But, while you wait:

Scott Reppert
Music Director/Program Director/On-Air Personality
WTCS/WFGM/WMQC/WAIJ/WLIC/WRIJ/WKJL/WRWJ/WPCL/WWPN
Operations Manager: Hope Radio, T8WH, Palau
Production/Editor: "Believe Right" and "MFC WorldWide"
"For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation"--Luke 2:30
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Re: Rep's Top Fifty Albums Of All-Time

Post by Crottinger »

Speaking of the Monkees, I have a vinyl solo album for Michael Nesmith and it was titled something like "Pretty Much Your Standard Ranch Stash." It was a very big departure into country rock from the Monkees type style. It was pretty original for the time in the early 70's. Nesmith was friends with a female country singer named Linda Hargrove who passed away a couple years ago. I have a couple of Linda Hargrove's albums. When I listen to her albums now, she sounds very hard core country. But back then, she was not well received by country stations as they thought she wasn't country enough. She went by the nickname, the original blue jean country queen. She wrote a song called Winona that Nesmith had on this album. He also recorded the Bill Monroe song Uncle Pen on this album as I recall.

McGuffey Lane has always been a great band that continues to reinvent itself. I used to go see them at Zachariah's Saloon in Columbus. They are still playing. And they are still worth seeing.

I also have a vinyl album from an obscure group called The Side of the Road Gang. They had a song on this album called, People in Dallas got Hair! And new riders big song was Panama Red.
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