#1 at KRIZ/Phoenix: “Old Fashioned Love Song” by Three Dog Night, leaping up from #8 last week. Before joining Three Dog Night, Cory Wells, who sings harmony on this hit, was based in Phoenix performing with his Cory Wells Blues Band.
The song was written by Paul Williams, who has penned lots of hits — including the Carpenters’ “Rainy Days And Mondays” and “We’ve Only Just Begun.” He wrote “Old Fashioned Love Song” for the Carpenters but Richard Carpenter rejected it. Williams also wrote Three Dog Night’s 1970 hit, “Out In The Country” as well as “Family Of Man” in 1972. In recent years, Williams wrote and sang on two songs from Random Access Memories, Daft Punk’s 2014 Grammy-winning Album of The Year. Currently, he is president and chairman of ASCAP, a leading non-profit music performance rights organization.
Falling to #2 is Isaac Hayes’ supercool “Theme From Shaft.” Zooming from #18 to #7 is another supercool tune, the future #1 hit “Family Affair” by Sly & The Family Stone. “Stones” by Neil Diamond — maybe not as cool but still a good song — moves up from #10 to #5.
Smooth vocal trio the Lettermen jump from #26 to #15 with their version of John Lennon’s “Love.”
Another group known for their harmonies, the Beach Boys, climb from #23 to #16 with “Long Promised Road” from one of their best post-surf albums, the appropriately titled Surf’s Up (as in “over.”) And if you really want to blow your mind, listen to the title track (“columnated ruins domino”), originally intended for the 1967 “lost” album Smile.
Van Morrison moves up to #19 with his original “Wild Night,” which was also a 1994 hit for John Mellencamp and Me’Shell Ndegeocello.
The Who leap from #30 to #21 with the double-sided “Behind Blue Eyes” and bassist John Entwistle’s “My Wife” from the classic Who’s Next album. The former was also a rock radio hit in 2003 for Limp Bizkit.
Rod Stewart, unofficially backed by the Faces, is at #23 with “(I Know) I’m Losing You,” a cover of the Temptations’ 1966 classic that was also a 1970 smash for Rare Earth — who enter the chart at #30 this week with “Hey Big Brother.”
Among the other debuts:
- “Have You Seen Her” (#17) by the Chi-Lites, a future KRIZ #1 (despite its sappiness);
- “Two Divided By Love” (#24), yet another hit from future classic hits radio mainstay the Grass Roots;
- “Sour Suite” (#25), one of the Guess Who’s more laid-back songs;
- “Sunshine” (#29) by Jonathan Edwards, his only big hit.
Aside from Cory Wells, two other artists with Arizona connections are on this week’s chart:
- “Baby I’m-A Want You” (#4) by Bread, whose keyboardist Larry Knechtel lived in Phoenix during the 1960s as a member of Duane Eddy’s band;
- Lou Rawls, who jumps from #20 to #12 with “A Natural Man.” During his later years, Rawls was a Valley resident until his death in 2006.