#1 at KRUX/Phoenix: “Without You” by acclaimed songwriter (Harry) Nilsson — but this one is a Badfinger cover — from the great Nilsson Schmilsson album. Badfinger themselves are at #10 with “Day After Day,” produced by George Harrison, who also played slide guitar on the track. Harrison himself has the #3 album, The Concert For Bangladesh, a fund-raising project featuring a variety of artists including Bob Dylan, which won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year.
Highest debut is “Bang A Gong” (#20) by T.Rex. Debuting at #23 is “Everything I Own” by Bread. Did you know that Bread member Larry Knechtel lived in Phoenix during the early ’60s when he played bass and guitar in Duane Eddy’s band, the Rebels. He later became a very successful studio musician, playing and arranging that distinctive piano accompaniment on Simon & Garfunkel’s 1970 chart-topper “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and performing on dozens and dozens of other hits — before, during and after Bread.
Leaping from #25 to #15 is “Hurting Each Other” by the Carpenters, which will be #1 in a couple of weeks.
Among songs that would become mainstays on classic hits and classic rock radio in the future are:
- “Let’s Stay Together” (#4) by Al Green, a national #1 song;
- “American Pie” (#7), the epic former #1 song by Don McLean from this week’s #1 album of the same name;
- “Family Affair” (21), the super-cool former #1 hit by Sly & The Family Stone;
- “Stay With Me” (#25) by the Faces featuring Rod Stewart on vocals and future Rolling Stone guitarist Ron Wood, from the #4 album, A Nod Is As Good As A Wink… To A Blind Horse;
- “Black Dog” (#26) by Led Zeppelin (you know, the one that starts “hey hey mama…”) from the #7 album, Led Zeppelin 4;
- “Sunshine” (#16), a one-hit wonder by Jonathan Edwards.
Two songs on this week’s chart were familiar to TV viewers: Carly Simon’s “Anticipation” (#14) later became a well-known Heinz ketchup commercial; and “I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing” (#12) by the New Seekers is a cover of a song used in a famous Coke commercial.
Elton John has the #6 album, Madman Across The Water, featuring the brilliant title track, which had lots of airplay on progressive rock radio at the time.
And finally, there’s Three Dog Night’s rendition of Hoyt Axton’s “Never Been To Spain” (#3), from the #9 album Harmony, whose lyrics include the line, “In Oklahoma, not Arizona, what does it matter?” Indeed.