Can-Con 45 Of The Day - April 16

Can-Con 45 Of The Day - April 16

Postby radiofan » Sun Apr 15, 2018 9:00 pm

Today's Can-Con 45 is from 1973 .. One of several early 70's hits for the Five Man Electrical Band ... "I'm A Stranger Here" ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUHXXai0Drg

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Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who couldn't hear the music.
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Re: Can-Con 45 Of The Day - April 16

Postby Richard Skelly » Mon Apr 16, 2018 1:53 am

Never dismiss as a typo what may be an intriguing bit of musical trivia.

For years, I thought Billboard chart statistician Joel Whitburn and other survey historians simply erred in listing Lionel and Lion Records as the label for early ‘70s Canadian hitmakers Five Man Electrical Band.

Not so. The band’s biggest hits Signs and Absolutely Right—both written by Les Emmerson—were released on Lionel. Later, less successful 45s such as I’m A Stranger Here were issued on Lion.

So what gives? Well, it turns out Lionel was a short lived venture hatched by already-legendary tunesmith Jimmy Webb and his producer pal Dallas Smith. It was Smith who produced Five Man’s main hits. A joint venture with MGM Records, Lionel also signed Winnipeg-based Joey Gregorash, Joey Scarbury and the Hudson Brothers when they called themselves Hudson. In 1972 Webb and Smith dissolved their label with Five Man’s Julianna b/w Friends & Family single the final release. MGM opted to keep certain artists. Five Man Electrical Band were then assigned to revived MGM subsidiary Lion Records.

I’m A Stranger Here only made it into the mid 70s on Billboard’s Hot 100. But it was Emmerson & Co.’s biggest Canadian hit, peaking at #2 on RPM Magazine’s Top 100 and being selected #28 on the 1973 best-of-year compilation, Quite possibly its general lack of US success meant that future graveyard-hours broadcaster Art Bell never heard it. With sci-fi lyrics, it would’ve been a wholly appropriate addition to the 1990s spooky bumper-music list for (just-deceased) Mr. Bell’s Coast to Coast show.
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