#1 at KRIZ/Phoenix: “Vincent” by Don McLean, leaping from #7 last week. The follow-up single to the megahit “American Pie,” it’s an ode to Mr. Van Gogh and his “The Starry Night” painting.
Jackson Browne holds at #2 with his first hit, “Doctor My Eyes.” New at #15: “Someday Never Comes,” the final hit in the stellar career of Creedence Clearwater Revival before they broke up.
This was an exhilarating time for Top 40 radio. The Moody Blues’ lush “Isn’t Life Strange” (#13) could coexist with the Rolling Stones’ raucous “Tumbling Dice” (#11), lead single from their classic album Exile On Main Street.
Neil Young follows up his chart-topping “Heart of Gold” with “Old Man” (#19). New at #20 is “Slipping Into Darkness,” the second hit for War (if you don’t count 1970’s #1 KRIZ hit “Spill The Wine” when they backed Eric Burdon after he left the Animals).
At this time, KRIZ listed the top 20 hits and nearly twice as many “album cuts.” Album tracks had long been a staple at KRIZ under program director Pat McMahon, who left a year earlier when the locally owned station was sold to Doubleday Broadcasting.
The new management kept the practice, sort of. Most of the album cuts listed were also released as singles at the time. Examples: Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer,” Paul Simon’s “Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard,” Harry Chapin’s “Taxi,” Mark-Almond’s “One Way Sunday,” Stephen Stills and his all-star band Manassas with “It Doesn’t Matter” and America’s “I Need You.” Guess it was hipper to call them album cuts.
However, there were indeed true album cuts listed that received substantial airplay. Among them: America’s “Sandman,” Harry Nilsson’s “Driving Along,” Neil Diamond’s “Done Too Soon,” Yes with “Long Distance Runaround” and Don McLean’s “Winterwood.” Also included is “Everybody Loves You Now” from Cold Spring Harbor — a hit in Phoenix for Billy Joel two years before he reached the big time nationally with “Piano Man.”