Top 100 7" Singles

I am very tired of futzing with html table tags, so I went with the simplest code and yet it still looks like crap. Anyway those who can count will note that the list has grown to 104. Yes there are four ties and I cannot bring myself to edit the list further so it is what is is.

A few rules were applied in making these choices. The single had to be released on vinyl in either the USA or UK. If the B-side was different in one country, I went with the version from the country in which the artist was resident at the time of the release. Promo or canceled releases are prohibited.

As far as the subjectivity of the choices, this is a list of my favorite singles, not favorite songs. Hence [#3] may be a better song than [#1] but based on my singles critera [#1] wins out. The criteria for a great single include
(a) the song must be instantly recognizable within two seconds
(b) the introduction must have that "wow" factor
(c) the quicker the tempo the better
(d) generally the run time should be less than three minutes (obviously [#3] and [#100] are massive exceptions
(e) the production must be either extravagant[#8] or bare bones [#9]
(f) clever lyrics are more important than the actual meaning of the words. Again, this is about what makes a great single, not necessarily a great song
(g) as my interest begins with the British Invasion, nothing pre-Beatles is included

Extra points for odd instrumentation such as glockenspiel, tubular bells, saxophone, tympani, strings, harpsichord. Additional extra points for lovely melody, vocal harmonies, and general "hookiness".

Songs further down the list may be lacking in one or more of these areas but have enough of the right stuff to earn their spot. So without further ado, here is Mister Pleasant's top 100 singles list.

Rank	A-Side	B-Side	Artist	Year
1	Lady Madonna	The Inner Light	The Beatles	1968
2	I Can See For Miles	Mary Anne With The Shaky Hands	The Who	1967
3	Hey Jude	Revolution	The Beatles	1968
4	Fire Brigade	Walk Upon The Water	Move	1968
5	Tonight	Hard To Get Over A Heartbreak	Raspberries	1973
6	Instant Karma	Who Has Seen the Wind?	John Lennon	1970
7	Waterloo Sunset	Two Sisters	Kinks	1967
8	Born To Run	Meeting Across the River	Bruce Springsteen	1975
9	Honky Tonk Women	You Can't Always Get What You Want	Rolling Stones	1969
10	This Town Ain't Big Enough for the Both of Us	Barbecutie	Sparks	1974
10	Itchycoo Park	I’m Only Dreaming	Small Faces	1967
11	Friday on My Mind	Made My Bed, Gonna Lie in It	Easybeats	1966
12	Desiree	I've Got Something on My Mind	Left Banke	1967
12	Accidents Will Happen	Sunday's Best	Elvis Costello	1979
13	Strawberry Fields Forever	Penny Lane	The Beatles	1967
14	Starry Eyes	Paint Her Face	The Records	1979
15	Do Ya	No Time	The Move	1972
16	Talkin' About The Good Times	Walking Through My Dreams	The Pretty Things	1968
17	Pictures of Lily	Doctor Doctor	The Who	1967
18	Bus Stop	Don't Run and Hide	Hollies	1966
18	Wichita Lineman	Back In The Race	Glen Campbell	1968
19	Brown Sugar	Bitch	Rolling Stones	1971
20	Wouldn´t It Be Nice	God Only Knows	Beach Boys	1966
21	Time Of The Season	Friends Of Mine	Zombies	1968
22	They Don't Know	You Broke My Heart in 17 Places	Tracey Ullman	1984
23	Rebel Rebel (US phased version)	Queen Bitch	David Bowie	1974
24	Junior's Farm	Sally G	Wings	1974
25	This Is The Story Of My Love (Baby)	Nixture	Wizzard	1974
26	Lady Friend	Old John Robertson	The Byrds	1967
27	Jumping Jack Flash	Child Of The Moon	Rolling Stones	1968
28	7 and 7 Is	No. Fourteen	Love	1967
29	I Can't Let Go	I've Got a Way of My Own	Hollies	1966
30	Hello Goodbye	I Am The Walrus	The Beatles	1967
31	I'm On Fire	Did You See What Happened?	Dwight Twilley Band	1975
32	Something For the Girl with Everything	Marry Me	Sparks	1974
33	Overnight Sensation	Hands On You	Raspberries	1974
34	Message In A Bottle	Landlord	Police	1979
35	Be Stiff	Social Fools	Devo	1978
36	I Will Follow	Boy/Girl	U2	1980
37	Sunny Afternoon	I'm Not Like Everybody Else	Kinks	1966
38	Pleasant Valley Sunday	Words	Monkees	1967
39	Pretty Ballerina	Lazy Day	Left Banke	1966
40	Autumn Almanac	David Watts	Kinks	1967
41	Everyone's Agreed That Everything Will Turn Out Fine	Next To Me	Stealers Wheel	1973
42	Whenever You're Ready	I Love You	Zombies	1965
43	A Whiter Shade Of Pale	Lime Street Blues	Procol Harum	1967
44	See My Baby Jive	Bend Over Beethoven	Wizzard	1973
45	All The Way From Memphis	Ballad of Mott The Hoople	Mott the Hoople	1973
46	Waterloo	Watch Out	Abba	1974
47	Eight Miles High	Why	The Byrds	1966
48	Goin' Back	Change Is Now	The Byrds	1967
49	If You Want My Love	Four Letter Word	Cheap Trick	1982
50	Mister Pleasant	Harry Rag	Kinks	1967
51	Carrie Anne	Signs That Will Never Change	Hollies	1967
52	Open My Eyes	Hello It's Me	Nazz	1968
53	Star	What More Could You Want	Stealers Wheel	1973
54	I'm A Boy	In The City	The Who	1966
55	Cecilia	The Only Living Boy In New York	Simon and Garfunkel	1970
56	Sail On Sailor	Only With You	Beach Boys	1973
57	Baby Blue	Flying	Badfinger	1972
58	Walking In the Rain	How Does It Feel?	The Ronettes	1964
59	Hand Me Down World	Runnin Down The Street	The Guess Who	1970
60	Dogs	Call Me Lightning	Who	1968
61	When I Grow Up (to Be a Man)	She Knows Me Too Well	Beach Boys	1964
62	Wedding Bell Blues	Lovin' Stew	Fifth Dimension	1968
63	Lola	Mindless Child of Motherhood	Kinks	1970
64	Valleri	Tapioca Tundra	Monkees	1968
65	Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing	Blame It On the Sun	Stevie Wonder	1974
66	Fight The Power (Part I)	Fight The Power (Part II)	Isley Brothers	1975
67	Blackberry Way	Something	The Move	1968
68	Message Of Love	Porcelain	Pretenders	1981
69	Mother and Child Reunion	Paranoia Blues	Paul Simon	1972
70	Paper Cup	Poor Side Of Town	Fifth Dimension	1967
71	Drive In Saturday	Round and Round	David Bowie	1973
72	Back on the Chain Gang	My City Was Gone	Pretenders	1982
73	The Kids Are Alright	The Ox	The Who	1966
74	Tell Her No	What More Can I Do?	Zombies	1964
75	Porpoise Song (Theme from Head)	As We Go Along	Monkees	1968
76	I Saw The Light	Marlene	Todd Rundgren	1972
77	Live and Let Die	I Lie Around	Wings	1973
78	Break Away	Celebrate The News	Beach Boys	1969
79	Albert Flasher	Broken	The Guess Who	1971
80	Care of Cell 44	Beechwood Park	Zombies	1967
81	Hot Smoke and Sasafrass	Lonely	Bubble Puppy	1968
82	Sunrise	My Girl	Eric Carmen	1976
83	Superstition	You've Got It Bad Girl	Stevie Wonder	1972
84	Middle Of The Road	2000 Miles	Pretenders	1983
85	Paperback Writer	Rain	The Beatles	1966
86	Jet	Let Me Roll It	Wings	1973
87	John I'm Only Dancing	Hang On To Yourself	David Bowie	1972
88	Ticket To Ride	Yes It Is	The Beatles	1964
89	Leave Me Alone	Takin' the Long Way Home	Peggy March	1964
90	Couldn't I Just Tell You	Couldn't I Just Tell You	Todd Rundgren	1972
91	She's Not There	You Make Me Feel Good	Zombies	1964
92	I Feel Fine	She's A Woman	The Beatles	1964
93	Talk of The Town	Cuban Slide	Pretenders	1980
94	All I Know	Mary Was an Only Child	Art Garfunkel	1973
95	No Matter What	Better Days	Badfinger	1971
96	You Got the Love	Rags to Rufus	Rufus	1974
97	Indication	How We Were Before	Zombies	1966
98	Join Together	Baby Don't You Do It	The Who	1972
99	Avenging Annie	So Fine (It's Frightening)	Andy Pratt	1973
100	MacArthur Park	Didn't We	Richard Harris	1968
100	Bridge Over Troubled Waters	Keep the Customer Satisfied	Simon and Garfunkel	1970

Sneak peek at number **** five

The Pleasant Valley Sunday Top 100 Singles list is prepped and ready for the press sometime this week. I must warn anyone brave enough to continue here that I have some really oddball interests. For instance, I am one of the world's biggest Jimmy Webb fans, so you know what that means - MacArthur Park - you betch'ya. I also get all jiggly inside when I hear those massive bass lines in 70's funk, so the Isley Brothers are on the list too. Seventies acts with songs that sound like the Beatles are here, though maybe not the songs you would expect. For instance Stealer's Wheel makes the list twice, but Stuck In The Middle With You is not one of them.

The Raspberries are another band that carried the Beatle's torch into the 70's. Eric Carmen's lyrics are the band's weak spot, but I give him credit for writing songs that are so hook-filled that I scarcely notice the words. Way, way up on the singles list is a song that did not even crack the top 40. A look at some of the top 15 singles that year leaves me scratching my head:

1. Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree, Tony Orlando and Dawn
2. Bad, Bad Leroy Brown, Jim Croce
5. My Love, Paul McCartney and Wings
6. Why Me, Kris Kristofferson
7. Crocodile Rock, Elton John
11. The Night the Lights Went Out In Georgia, Vicki Lawrence
12. Playground In My Mind, Clint Holmes
14. Delta Dawn, Helen Reddy
15. Me and Mrs. Jones, Billy Paul

So why did Tonight fail to register on the top 40 charts that year? Can I blame it on the Nixon presidency, or perhaps the Vietnam War? All I know is that Mr. Carmen produced perhaps his finest work, and Wally Bryson anointed it with power chords from heaven. Bryson also layered the song throughout with contrapuntal goodness. Gorgeous lead guitar arpeggios, leading tones, grace notes. Recently Steve Simels at PowerPop listed it at numero uno in his post Best Use of Power Chords. It doesn't get any better than this, folks.

99 + 1 = 103?

Someday soon I plan to post the complete Pleasant Valley Sunday top 100 singles. The list has been in existence for a while and other than a few minor alterations, the list has remained fairly constant over time. There are a few ties, but I cheat by not skipping the next position. So in actuality there are 103 singles on the list.

Last October I wrote about three Beatles' singles in Teenage Angst. Turns out that one of those is in my top spot, another is #3, and the third is #29. Not to spoil the unveiling party, I won't disclose which is which just yet. But since #1 and #3 have already been covered here, let me introduce #2, the first Who entry here at PVS - I Can See For Miles. Not sure what I can say it that has not already been said. This is a pinnacle, one of the most powerful, amazing, unrepeatable artifacts of what rock'n'roll is all about. Townshend's lyrics about a young man with (possibly imaginary) super powered vision to spy on his cheating lover are cut from the same cloth as many of the other Who diamonds from those pre-Tommy years.

Due to the complexity of the song, it was rarely performed live during Keith Moon's lifetime. There are a gaggle of lip synced video performances, but many are from a few years later when the band took on a different persona and it just does not work for me. I need to see the Oooo in frilly shirts and Roger Daltrey with his page boy haircut to really appreciate this song. Probably the best lip synced version is available here, but alas no embedding. So instead here is an arty black and white video which consists mostly of jump cut face shots.

Uncontrollable

Generally I am a studio album kinda listener. Live performances are great if I am in the audience, but on live recordings I keep listening for the studio effects that are not there. But every once in a while I come across a performance that for various reasons becomes the de facto version. In the case of today's post the performance is so hair raising that it has haunted me since discovering it.

In the early eighties I became a fan of New Order. That eventually led me to check out the band's previous incarnation as Joy Division. I bought the two cassette (remember those?) release of Still. The recording is of terrible quality and frankly I listened a few times then put it away. Later I discovered the 45 single Love Will Tear Us Apart - their most famous song - years after the fact and made a note to go back and check out their few studio releases. Well I never did. Then one day I came across a live 1979 performance of She's Lost Control. The video is not well synchronized and is herky-jerky, the sound quality is poor, and yet it is a fascinating and surreal performance. So much so that it refuses to leave my brain after viewing.

Lead singer Ian Curtis was afflicted with epilepsy, and his performance here includes a disturbring St. Vitus dance that only accentuates the lyrics and their description of a girl who suffers from the same malady. At :50 seconds in the main guitar riff rears its massive head. The bass line sometimes follows, sometimes mirrors the riff, all the while the drums keep an ominous unstoppable beat that reminds me of those early industrial revolution machines in David Lynch's The Elephant Man. This performance is both powerful and frightening.

And she turned to me and took me by the hand and said,
I've lost control again.
And how I'll never know just why or understand,
She said I've lost control again.
And she screamed out kicking on her side and said,
I've lost control again.
And seized up on the floor, I thought she'd die.
She said I've lost control.

She Had Tears In Her Eyes

In 1968 The Pretty Things released a couple of singles that were totally out of left field. Their previous R&B incaranation was gone, never to return. In its place came a band totally immersed in the psychedelic movement, in no small part thanks to producer Norman Smith. Smith previously was the recording engineer for the Beatles up through Rubber Soul, and upon his promotion to producer he became the sound steward for the Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd.

The first of these singles, Defecting Grey b/w Mr. Evasion is a groovy trip through hallucinogenic fields. All sorts of odd instruments and sound were used, included phased vocals, early synthesizers, and tons of guitar feedback. As far as I can tell the single sold about five copies in the UK. Undaunted the band released another pair of gems in the same vein - Talkin' About the Good Times b/w Walking Through My Dreams. The A side kicks off with jangly guitar which is almost immediately overridden by an electric guitar riff that sounds almost like a rooster crowing. Then the chorus comes in - oddly before the verse - with all sorts of Beatle-ish goodness. Mellotron, lovely harmonies, crazy stilted martial drumming, I could go on forever. Yeah its just my opinion, but this is probably in the top five finest psychedelic 45s ever released. And of course it disappeared without a trace upon release.

She has sun in her face
Her lips kiss the sun, caress the sun, arrest the sun, fields of light we found the place
She has sun in her eyes
The clouds cross the sun, without the sun, the evening shadows in her eyes

Rise Up, Mutants

What do Iggy Pop, Artie - the strongest man in the world, and mutants have in common? Well someone has spliced together a set of clips from The Adventures of Pete and Pete and set it to the music of Devo. I was way past the age for the target audience of Pete and Pete, but regardless it was a guilty pleasure for me. I could not get enough of the surreal suburban adventures of the brothers who shared a first name. The show had a bevy of cool guest actors and often used music by a variety of great indy rock artists. When Nickelodeon pulled the plug on the show I felt like a part of my inner child had departed.

But my main point for posting this embedded video is that this seems to be the only available video which uses the original 1978 "Stiff Records" recording of Be Stiff, Devo's third single in the UK. I am unapologetic about my enthusiasm for Devo, at least up through the first four or five LPs. Musically this song stands apart from their more off-the-wall social sarcrasms and synth-driven songs. Underneath the nerdy veneer they were one hell of a rock'n'roll band. And this song has the goods. From the opening telegraphing guitar riff you know you are in for a roller coaster ride. The lyrics use the same sophmoric syntax of many of Devo's songs, obsessed with all things sexual.

Be stiff my b-abies be stiff
Fruit ooze is wetly lewd
Stay dry in rubber boots
and cucumbers ripe and rude

I have always been fascinated that "babies" is plural, making me wonder exactly who they are singing to. The mid-song guitar solo is a miracle, so simple yet powerful. And like any great single, it says what it has to say and is over in less than three minutes.

Devo - Be Stiff (The Adventures of Pete & Pete) from IO1011 on Vimeo.

Rocking in Stumptown

The Portland indy music scene is wild and wooley, and given their longevity, Quasi has become somewhat of a godparent to the younger bands. In the olden days Sam Coomes was in Heatmiser with Elliot Smith, and Janet Weiss worked the drum skins in Sleater Kinney in parallel with her work with Quasi, which formed in 1993 as a duo. Long before the White Stripes Sam and Janet experimented within the boundaries of a two person band. A couple of years ago Joanna Bolme (Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks) joined, adding a big fat bass sound to the mix.

Quasi has gone through several transformations in sound, from the first proggy/pop album, to the middle period noted for heart wrenching lyrics sugar coated with some of the hookiest pop melodies in recent history, to the current incarnation with a heavier emphasis on Sam's pyschedelic guitar workouts and Janet's take-no-prisoners Bonham inspired drumming.

Some old fans disappeared with the release of Hot Shit in 2003, although for me it may be their finest record. I am not such a big fan of their last release, but based on the buzz from their recent New Year's Eve all Who-cover set, their upcoming release American Gong might be just what the doctor ordered. Here is the white hot first track - Repulsion.