vern nicholson

You don't need me to tell you that we suddenly find ourselves living in extraordinary, unprecedented times due to the spread of COVID-19. I've certainly never experienced anything like this, and I've been around a while.

A few weeks back, I was basking in my usual spring ritual: listening to the first baseball games of spring training and eagerly awaiting the regular season, which was due to start on March 26. As of March 13, all spring training activity has ceased and MLB rather optimistically says that opening day will be "delayed." As far as I know, this is the first non-labour suspension of baseball since World War II.

For years now, I've been hoping to pull off a week-long visit to Florida for spring training. (I may be the only Canadian who's never been to Florida.) Thank God I didn't have the means to do it this year, or I'd be stuck in the Sunshine State with no games to see and a 14-day quarantine awaiting me upon return. I'm still quite excited about the trip, which has progressed well beyond dreaming into planning, but my enthusiasm is now tempered. Even if I can afford it, who knows if in a year's time anyone will be able to travel anywhere?

Nevertheless, let's envision a world where COVID-19 has done its business, moved on, and a modicum of normalcy has been reestablished. If I could take in spring training, what might that look like?

The Blue Jays train in Dunedin, a small city in the Tampa-St. Pete-Clearwater metro area. A flight from Toronto to Tampa would get me there in under three hours, and I'd be all set, right? Yes, but I dislike flying, the biggest reason for my disdain being that it's like teleportation. You don't get to see what's between here and there, and to me that's the whole point of travelling.

I don't drive, but I toyed with the idea of simulating the well-worn trek down I-75 popular with snowbirds on Greyhound. Like the road-tripper brigade, I'd take it slow and stop along the way, roughly at the end of a day's drive. I even mapped out a six-day itinerary: Toronto-Detroit-Cincinnati-Chattanooga-Macon-Orlando-Tampa. And for variety, a different route back over five days: Tampa-Jacksonville-Raleigh-Baltimore-Albany-Toronto. All well and good but for one consideration—safety. Greyhound's bus depots are often in spotty if not outright scary parts of town, and I soon realized that my fantasy of walking several blocks, in the dark, to the nearest hotel could result in a mugging or worse. And even if I made it to said inner-city hotel, it might not be the kind of place where I'd want to bed down for a night.

Plan B, which didn't last long, is the no-bed-required option, a continuous 41-hour trip on three Greyhound buses, again getting there one way (Toronto-New York-Orlando-Tampa) and returning another (Tampa-Tallahassee-Cincinnati-Detroit). The way there wasn't too severe in terms of layovers, but on the return trip a five-hour layover in Cincinnati (9:00 p.m-2:00 a.m.) didn't exactly thrill me. In any case, I've done this before, 20 years ago, when I took the Greyhound to San Francisco and back. That trip was even longer, and when I straggled back home I vowed I'd never again sleep on a bus ... because I can't sleep on a bus.

I've now landed on Plan C: Amtrak, the USA's passenger rail system. This entails one compromise: I'd have to return the same way I came, and checking the Silver Star timetable, the same part of the country (NC, SC, GA) is in darkness both ways. Boo, hiss! Also, a continuous trip from Toronto isn't possible by rail; the schedules simply don't hook up. I'd have to take the Maple Leaf to New York, stay overnight, then board the Silver Star in the morning. On the plus side, I'd have only one sleep on the train which, though not a proper bed, is far better than the bus. And if I had the cash, I could splurge for a roomette.

As for getting around the Tampa area, public transit will do the trick, though I can see from researching schedules that PSTA and HART aren't exactly the TTC. But with careful planning, one can make it from A to B. It's also dirt cheap. And lucky me, I'd have three teams' games to choose from in the metro area, with the Phillies training in Clearwater and the Yankees in Tampa proper.

The rather pokey way I like to get to and visit new places now has a name: slow travel. I'm not sure I subscribe to or follow all its tenets, but in both my preferred transportation modes and sightseeing predilections (offbeat, weird stuff), I qualify. Anyway, once COVID-19 has run its course and I've saved up sufficiently, I look forward to getting to know Amtrak, seeing a bit of Florida, and taking in some spring training baseball—something any serious fan really should do at least once in their lives.

Well, I've had a month and a half to get acquainted with the Zoom R24, and have two covers completed so far. Recording these has enabled me to appreciate the unit's features, come to terms with its quirks and learn a lot in the process. Once I've done about 12 or so covers, I'll post them as a free mp3 album and you can hear the results for yourselves.

First, the pleasant surprises:

• The R24 allows for unlimited virtual tracks (as many as your memory card can store).
• Its built-in mics are excellent and very convenient. I've recorded acoustic guitar and mandolin with them so far, and they sound better than my Apex 430 condenser (which admittedly isn't the crème de la crème of condenser microphones).
• The R24 has separate outs and volume controls for headphones and studio monitors.
• You can adjust the ratio of click track to song with the turn of a knob ... without having to dive into sub-menus.
• Files (tracks, loops, entire songs) can be backed up to a USB key: no computer required!
• The percussion loops included on the USB stick are high-quality samples that can easily be time-stretched to fit your project's tempo. Adjust the tempo, drop them in, and presto: it's like having your own Ray Cooper in your hip pocket. Very, very handy.
• You can loop any piece of audio and drop it into your song at various points. If, like me, you find it hard enough to play a part in time once, well, you only have to nail it once. And it doesn't matter where in the song you do that: you record your part to the click and it can be dropped in anywhere. Now, in conventional rock music, consider how many instruments play repetitive parts, though they may vary between sections. So far I've looped backing vocals, guitars, bass, individual drums, even a tin whistle. I can't fingerpick to save my life, yet I created two fingerstyle acoustic guitar parts by looping one chord at a time.
• My sampled Roland TD-11K drum kit sounds great, and by using a simple workaround I can set things up with, e.g., the snare on three adjacent pads for a better playing experience and more realistic feel. Judicious use of the quantize function helps keep my beats on the beat. Also, using the sampled kit instead of the built-in sounds allows for greater control and flexibility. Because each drum is on its own track, levels can be set independently and each piece of the kit can be panned, EQ'd and processed separately.
• I've not exhaustively auditioned the unit's effects yet, but some of the patches are terrific, and every patch is editable. (Some aren't so terrific ... see below.) Most of the send reverbs are quite good, and the "clean" section has some tasty guitar effects. A few of the mic preamp effects do wonders for vocals and acoustic instruments.
• The bounce function allows you to use a multitude of pre- and post-effects over the course of a song, and the unlimited virtual track feature means you can keep the dry tracks if you later decide to reprint the effects. Bounce is also great for stitching together composite parts to form a whole, which I do a lot of.
• Both hours/minutes/seconds/hundredths and bars/beats/ticks are shown on the display, unlike some units that force you to pick one or the other. And the "mark" function enables you to scroll to strategic points in the song, while the "stop/rewind" shortcut quickly gets you back to the start. Navigating through your tune is quick, easy and painless.
• The manual is surprisingly readable and useful, though the layout is a bit weird. I ended up creating a customized how-to-do-what index to help me find things more efficiently.

Now, some sources of vexation:

• Editing, trimming and silencing audio on the R24 is difficult and in some cases, impossible. It's easier to trim silence at the start or end of a song than, say, a stutter in your guitar solo two minutes in. There may be a way of doing that, but it's by no means obvious. I've figured out how to erase, e.g., unwanted amp hum before the guitar enters by recording "nothing" in that spot using the auto-punch feature. It works, but it's awfully cumbersome.
• You can't normalize the level of your mix using the R24. Nor can you measure peak amplitude, see what the overall waveform looks like, and so on. A crude waveform view is available by using, for instance, File->Divide, but all told it's easier and more accurate to import the audio into Audacity and examine it there.
• Trying to assign the same sample to multiple pads results in an "Already Exist!" error message. I had to "fool" the R24 into placing the same sample onto adjacent pads by creating duplicates and triplicates. So, I now have SNARE.WAV, SNARE1.WAV, SNARE2.WAV in my sample library, all of which are the same sound. It's a doable workaround and indeed, a necessary one; without it, I couldn't really "play" the drums like a real drummer would. But it's a pain to have to go to such lengths.
• The built-in drum sounds aren't studio quality. A few were barely passable; the rest sounded like my first drum machine from 1982. If you're going for that retro crappola-drum-machine sound, great! There are only 10 (lousy) kits, not customizable, and you can't mix and match. Worse, the drums are assigned to a stereo pair of tracks, and you can only EQ, pan, level and process the entire kit, not individual drums. This again limits their utility.
• Many effects aren't usable in their current form. The "distortion" section in particular makes your guitar sound like it's turned up not to 11 but 111. If you're some speed-metal shred-head, the distortion effects are your wet dream, I suppose. But for the rest of us who want just a touch of fuzz on our guitars, they're woeful. Deep editing, which I've yet to do, may yet salvage some of them.
• Some of the effects are gimmicky and fall into the who-would-ever-use-this category, like the vocal preset "Hangul" which the manual says "makes Japanese sound like Korean."
• If you want to apply simple stomp-box effects—delay, tremolo, phaser, wah-wah or compressor, for instance—they do exist, but you have to disentangle them from some patch that uses them in combination. It's hard to find them in isolation. Some quite useful effects, like a Leslie speaker emulation, are missing entirely.
• The mastering presets are disappointing. They're subtle as a sledgehammer, and 90% of them are useless. See, mastering is supposed to do two things: bring the level of your mix to a professional standard and and give it a glossy sheen by sparingly applying EQ and compression, kind of like the icing on a cake. The R24's presets alter the sound of your mix beyond recognition. I've achieved reasonable results by editing the "Maximzr" preset, which in its pure form adds 7,000 tonnes of compression, to saner levels, but even that has been massively frustrating. Sure, you can edit the parameters, but it's complete trial and error because you don't know what you're editing. Case in point: the aforementioned preset has parameters like "Sense Hi" which the manual says "adjusts high-range compressor sensitivity." Meaning what? Threshold? Ratio? Gain? We'll never know, and there's no way to adjust the compressor via these standard parameters. Similarly, that preset's three-band EQ lets me adjust bass, middle and treble. What specific frequencies I'd be adjusting and at what bandwidth, no idea.

My bottom line? With a modicum of additional equipment and a dash of savvy and patience, you can produce high-quality recordings with the Zoom R24. You'll be the judge when I unveil my "covers" album, but two songs in I'm quite happy with the results. And I haven't yet explored integrating the Zoom with a DAW, specifically the included Cubase LE. I'm about to transition to a new computer and am unsure which one I want to install it on, so I've held off on the download for now. Presumably this will further extend the unit's capabilities once I navigate Cubase's learning curve.

Just a quick wrap-up (for now) on my Woodstock obsession. When we last rapped, man, our hero had compiled a nearly complete set of recordings from the Woodstock Festival, thanks to WPXN's radio broadcast over the 50th anniversary weekend, XPNstock.

As you'll recall, two songs were missing from the Jimi Hendrix set. They weren't broadcast by WXPN because they're not on the 38-CD box, and they're not on the box because the Hendrix Estate won't authorize their release. Enter the good folks at "non-label" (i.e., bootleggers) who've put out a double CD of Hendrix's entire Woodstock set. I took the plunge and now have the missing songs: "Mastermind" and "Gypsy Woman/Aware of Love," both sung by rhythm guitarist Larry Lee. Though the official release's booklet dismisses them as "slow, haggard filler" they sound fine to these ears, and it's a treat to hear Hendrix as an accompanist.

The bootleg brought another pleasant surprise: in addition to the Larry Lee songs, it contains 20 minutes of material absent from Live at Woodstock and the 38-CD box. Much of this consists of Lee solos that were inexplicably cut from the official version. Of course, it is a bootleg, so the sound is somewhat muddy and boxy. But if you tune your ears to it, so to speak, it's perfectly acceptable, and I'm grateful to now have every single note played by Hendrix and his band at Woodstock.

So, what am I still missing? What everyone else is, apparently: the one-and-a-half Sha Na Na songs that weren't recorded back in 1969. I wonder if audience tapes exist, or perhaps the fabled mono soundboard reel that was used as backup when things went awry. In any event, I'm sure that geeks greater than me are on the case, and if there's anything floating around out there it'll turn up someday. When it does, I'll be first in line.

Over the past two years, I've been saving my loonies and toonies to get my home studio up to scratch and start recording my next album. Linden Tree near the Water was recorded entirely in Audacity on a creaky Dell desktop running Windows XP. That desktop has since died, and my current computer lacks the firepower needed to run a DAW (digital audio workstation). So, I've gone old school and bought a standalone 24-track recorder. Ladies and gentlemen, I present the Zoom R24.
 

I say "standalone," but really, it's only so if you want it to be. The R24 is also a sampler, drum machine, DAW control surface (a Cubase LE download is included) and computer audio interface. It comes with built-in condenser mics, a metronome and a chromatic tuner. Oh, and it's a powerful effects processor to boot. And did I mention the included USB stick and its 1.5GB of drum loops? That's an incredible array of features packed into a unit that's maybe 15 inches across.

I'd been researching multi-track recorders for well over a year, and I chose the R24 for a few reasons: one, its staggering versatility; two, the number and variety of onboard effects (267, with room for 123 custom patches); and three, I've sampled the Roland TD-11K drums I used for my last project and can play and record this kit on the R24. No other recorder will let me do that save for the Zoom R8, my unit's bare-bones cousin.

As many of you know, my beloved cat Muswell had been ill with kidney disease for nearly a year, and sadly, he lost his battle on October 23. A memorial service was held on Thursday, November 28 at St. George's Chapel, St. James Cathedral, Toronto, and this is the eulogy I gave:

I'd like to start with a short poem by Christopher Smart that was sung by the Cathedral Choir on Trinity Sunday this year: "For I will consider my cat Jeoffry. For he is the servant of the living God, duly and daily serving him. For at the first glance of the glory of God in the East he worships in his way. For this is done by wreathing his body seven times round with elegant quickness. For he knows that God is his Saviour. For God has bless'd him in the variety of his movements. For there is nothing sweeter than his peace when at rest. For I am possessed of a cat, surpassing in beauty, from whom I take occasion to bless Almighty God."

Welcome, and thank you all for taking time out of your busy schedules to be here for Muswell and me, and a special thanks to Reverend Andrew and everyone at the cathedral for making this service happen. We're here to honour and celebrate the life of my beloved Muswell, an extraordinary cat and the best friend I've ever had.

In the winter of 2006, I adopted a cute little stray cat. Or more likely, he adopted me. Over the next 13 years, we grew closer through good times and bad, forming a bond that was deep, loving and profoundly healing for us both. He was my boy and I was his human. Muswell was like a dog in a cat's body. He'd follow me around everywhere. When I came home from work he'd greet me at the door, hop onto my desk and lick my face. At night, my furry friend would snuggle into bed with me. I only encountered the term "emotional support animal" recently, but Muswell fit that description perfectly. In short, he brought joy, warmth and comfort to my often challenging life.

As befits a companion like me, Muswell was a quirky boy. When I'd shower, he'd sit at the foot of the tub, meowing and scratching till I emerged safe and sound. Most cats hate getting wet, so I can only assume he wanted to spare his pop this dreadful fate. And when I'd towel off, he'd climb up beside me and stroke me with his paw—always on my left side, never my right. In Muswell's world, pop had a proper side and an improper side. Once he'd gotten situated on my proper side he'd groom himself, as if he were trying to show me the better way to cleanliness.

Muswell was a beautiful soul, inside and out. His orange coat was luxurious, and he had a little crown on his head and light orange stripes that cascaded down his back. The boy was skittish around anyone other than me, but the few lucky people who did interact with him all agree that he was gorgeous, gentle, affectionate and adorable.

It's been said that we grieve because we love, and it follows that the bigger the love, the bigger the grief. Muswell taught me so much about unconditional love, giving and receiving. I mourn so deeply because I've lost so much, because he selflessly gave so much. I used to joke with Muswell that I must be his pet human, because at times it was hard to tell who was taking care of whom.

In my grief, I remind myself that I'm experiencing a temporary separation from Muswell. I truly believe we will be reunited someday. So, where do pets go when they die? I'm no theologian, but what I'm about to present is one possibility that's been circulating since at least the 1980s. I can't tell you that I know this is real, but it sure sounds like the kind of place that a God of infinite love, mercy and compassion would create.

"Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge. When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable. All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigour; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing: they each miss someone very special to them who had to be left behind. They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; his eager body quivers. Suddenly, he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster. You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, gone so long from your life but never absent from your heart. Then you cross Rainbow Bridge, together."

Little buddy, you are forever loved and so profoundly missed. What a bright light you were. Your pop is blessed to have known you, and someday I'll see you at the Rainbow Bridge. Until then, eat, play and scamper, healthy and pain-free, and enjoy the company of your blessed animal friends. This is not goodbye, boy. This is till we meet again.

An audio recording of the full service is available on Muswell's page.

This August marked the 50th anniversary of the iconic Woodstock Festival, and though the proposed commemorative concert failed to materialize, Rhino Records put out a nearly complete chronicle of the original this summer.

And I, noted Woodstock obsessive, couldn't afford it. And only 1,969 were made. And it sold out within weeks. And they're not making more. Ever. As stagehand Muskrat intoned on the original triple album, "Hmm. Bummer, bummer!" Want to weep along with me? Here's a glowing review of that 38-CD set.

But! The good Lord intervened just in time. First, I discovered a geeky forum replete with fellow obsessives: some who'd bought the box, others who wished they had. And a few days before the anniversary, some kind soul posted this magic sentence: "Full Woodstock recording to air on WXPN at exact time of original festival."

Like many FM stations, WXPN streams live, 24/7—one of the advantages of living in 2019, not 1969. The advance notice gave me a few days to figure out how to connect my Zoom H1, laptop and speakers. I also did a test to make sure my Zoom would record without shutting off for eight hours, because some sets would be broadcast while I was asleep. I was in it to win it. And on Thursday, August 15, 2019 at 5:07 p.m. EDT, 50 years to the second, my three and a half days of recording began with Richie Havens' opener, "From the Prison."

Variously dubbed "Woodstock as It Happened: 50 Years On" and "XPNstock," the extravaganza preempted much of WXPN's regular programming; they broadcast 37 of the 38 discs. (Disc 38 contains no music, consisting of stage announcements and other ephemera that the producers couldn't place in chronological sequence.) And thanks to WXPN, Rhino Records and whoever else conspired to create this wondrous occurrence, I captured it all. Yes, it's a compressed radio stream, not quite the pristine audio found on the CDs, but for zero dollars, I'll take it. Happily.

Little did I know that my raw recordings would be but the start of my odyssey. At a bare minimum I had to clean up the start and end of each set, having hit "record" early and "stop" late to ensure I got everything. I also brightened the sound a touch with some judicious EQ while rolling off some murk on the bottom end. The stream went down only once, during Arlo Guthrie's "Wheel of Fortune" on Day 1. Thankfully, I was able to patch that song in from my copy of the 40th anniversary box set. There were also numerous instances of stream stutter to fix. No audio was missing, but occasional gaps of silence, lasting anywhere from a tenth of a second to three seconds, needed repair. I stitched these gaps together in Audacity, which took a lot of patience and diligent listening.

Being a good citizen—and wanting to maintain their licence—WXPN silenced any profanity found within the 37 discs. To create an accurate facsimile of the box set, I had to find ways of patching in the dirty words whenever possible. In two instances, this meant finding missing songs: both Country Joe McDonald (solo) and Country Joe & the Fish did the infamous "Fish Cheer," and neither was broadcast on WXPN. (For the uninitiated, the word they spell isn't "fish" but another four-letter word beginning with F.) In addition, I wanted to excise the many station IDs and promos from my recordings, some of which obliterated the first or final few notes of a song. Deleting the IDs/promos was easy, but again, I had to patch in the missing material from other sources. Finally, perhaps because it's such a ramshackle performance, WXPN didn't broadcast Tim Hardin's 16-minute "Snow White Lady." I patched that in from YouTube.

You'll recall that off the top, I said "nearly complete." So, what's missing from the 38-CD box and, by extension, XPNstock? Three and a half songs. Half of Sha Na Na's "Little Darlin'" and all of "Teenager in Love" were not recorded in 1969. Yep, after almost four sleepless days, Eddie Kramer and his onsite team finally screwed up and let the tape run out, and if there's any Woodstock act for which that's forgivable, Sha Na Na gets my vote.

The other two missing songs are from Jimi Hendrix's set. Sung by rhythm guitarist Larry Lee, the Hendrix estate refuses to sanction their release "for aesthetic reasons." Now, I'm not one to lead you into the dark underworld of unauthorized recordings, but if you google "larry lee gypsy woman soundcloud," you might stumble on the rarest Woodstock recording of all. And were you to figure out a way to record that audio, you too would be in possession of a song absent from the 38-CD box. (I'm still hunting for "Mastermind," the other Larry Lee song.)

Words cannot express how grateful I am to WXPN for taking three and a half days out of their regular schedule to give us the gift of XPNstock. Kudos are also, of course, due the box set's producers/engineers Andy Zax, Brian Kehew, Dave Schultz for their yeoman's restoration of the entire festival. The deep dives these boys took knew no bounds: for instance, they sifted through photographic evidence to ensure that their instrument placement in the stereo field was accurate. Much of the music performed at Woodstock was magnificent, and thanks to Messrs. Zax, Kehew and Schultz, it has never sounded better.

In interviews, Andy Zax revealed that some audio material was salvaged by technical marvels that have only recently come into existence. Ever heard of de-mixing? How about polyphonic tuning? Me neither, but the former was used to create a stereo mix of Ravi Shankar's performance from a gritty mono soundboard reel. The latter helped Zax and crew take Blood, Sweat & Tears' horns, which were out of tune in different directions, and "nudge the tonality of the horns to get them back into a sound range that the human ear would prefer to hear." In both cases, the results are miraculous. Or as Zax said, "To me, this is like magic science fiction stuff. It's like the Great Gazoo descended down, waved a magic wand, and suddenly here's this remarkable thing!"

Oh, and while he was at it, the Great Gazoo, or God if you prefer, gave us XPNstock, enabling me to construct a poor man's version of Woodstock – Back to the Garden: The Definitive 50th Anniversary Archive. I still wish I'd splurged for the box. But with copies now going for close to $3,500 US, that ship has sailed and in the end, I think I've ended up with something more worthwhile—tasty, cleaned-up recordings that I had a hand in creating. I like to think of my painstaking audio editing as a microcosm of the producers' stellar work.

Now that my work is done, I can sit back and enjoy Woodstock as a listening experience. I know I've babbled on a bit and not discussed the music much. Suffice it to say that the vast majority of these artists were at or near their peak in 1969, and most of this music is great. Some is truly staggering. I point to one stretch from late Saturday night into Sunday afternoon that's jaw-dropping when heard in sequence. Creedence Clearwater Revival, Janis Joplin, Sly & the Family Stone, The Who, Jefferson Airplane and Joe Cocker not only wowed those lucky attendees in 1969, but gave us some of the most iconic moments in rock history. I heartily recommend you seek out their full sets; all but The Who have been officially released (beyond the now-unavailable 38-CD set).

As many of you know, my beloved cat Muswell was diagnosed with kidney disease last November. He was in rough shape then and was put on a regimen of pills, powders and injections. With loving care and extensive veterinary treatment, his condition has stabilized and he's maintaining an excellent quality of life. We have truly kept Muswell well. But this treatment is expensive, and that's why I'm fundraising for Muswell's care.
 

Muswell is 15 years old, and he's an adorable, affectionate orange tabby. I've often said that he's a puppy in a cat's body. I have come to realize that he's more to me than a beloved pet. Muswell is my emotional support animal. He brings joy, warmth and comfort to my often challenging life. I aim to keep him well, and you can help. Any amount makes a difference. $5 buys a month of amlodipine, his blood pressure medication. For $10, you can give Muswell a month's supply of antacid and laxative. $20 pays for two weeks of mirtazapine, the appetite stimulant that ensures he keeps eating.

To learn more and give a gift of any amount to keep Muswell well, visit our campaign page: https://www.gofundme.com/f/keep-muswell-well. GoFundMe is secure, easy to use and accepts credit and debit card donations. If you'd rather donate by PayPal, cash or cheque, let me know and we'll make arrangements. All donations will go directly to Muswell's vet and medical bills. You will give a precious animal the gift of health and provide much-needed comfort and peace of mind to his human companion. Thank you!

"I listen to CHUM."

In the early '70s, my local Top 40 outlet had a contest whereby if you answered your phone in this way and they were the caller, you'd win $1,000. It struck me as ill-mannered to say anything other than "hello" when picking up the phone, and anyway, CHUM never called. But despite my reluctance to give them free advertising whenever the phone rang, I certainly spent 1972 listening to CHUM. So, for the final instalment in the music-of-my-youth trilogy, I present my Top 100 of 1972, the last great year of the Top 40 era. And as good as 1972 is, intimations of the decay to come were already festering. To be blunt, the goop was overtaking the gold, and things would only get worse from here.

Now, I'll be the first to admit that the charts of 1973—and to a lesser extent, '74 and '75—contain many great songs. However, the goop-to-gold ratio had definitively tipped in the wrong direction, and by 1976 my Top 40 party was over. "Soft rock," an oxymoron if ever there was one, now dominated the airwaves, making them unbearably saccharine. If I recall, the last 45 I ever bought was "Afternoon Delight" by the Starland Vocal Band and I recall giving it a spin and asking, "Why did I buy this?" Sadder still, the dynamite, socially conscious soul and funk of the early '70s had now devolved into disco, which managed to dumb down the groove and the words. I suppose by then I had moved on in other ways, too. Like any self-respecting teenager in the mid-'70s, I'd discovered album rock and FM radio. Which, from this distance—scouring my collection for the Foreigner albums I parted with long ago—was no better than the Top 40; just a different flavour of slick, soppy pablum. All these years later, to paraphrase Mr. Johnny Nash, I can see clearly now why punk had to happen. That, though, is another post for another day.

If you've read this far, you may have noticed several number-one songs missing from my Top 100 of 1970, '71 and '72. I have nothing against chart-toppers as such, but especially then it seemed that the dreck rose to the top far too often. Countless killer songs stalled at #2 because The Osmonds, Tony Orlando & Dawn, The Bee Gees, Bread and their ilk hogged the top spot. When CHUM played any of these (and boy, they did), I changed the station, and you won't find them within miles of my Top 100. Anyway, for what it's worth, this time out I've bunched together five of 1972's number-one songs on my Top 100 below to give you a sense of what CHUM considered the crème de la crème, non-Osmond genus.

The songs are in no particular order, other than what makes sense to me as a playlist. Several singles released in 1972 didn't chart until 1973 on CHUM, and some very late in that year, too. Regardless, they properly belong to 1972 and so are included here. In brackets is the date the song debuted on the CHUM chart, followed by its peak chart position. Chart-topping songs are in bold. A few worthy songs didn't make the CHUM chart, but I heard them somehow. They may have charted on other regional stations I listened to. As for the rest, they're worthy tunes I encountered later that deserved a better fate. Explore, discover and enjoy the very best of 1972!

1. Joy - Apollo 100 (1/15/72, #6)
2. You Wear It Well - Rod Stewart (9/23/72, #11)
3. Sweet Seasons - Carole King (1/29/72, #12)
4. Doctor, My Eyes - Jackson Browne (4/8/72, #2)
5. Treetrunk - The Doors (did not chart)
6. Black and White - Three Dog Night (8/19/72, #1)
7. I Believe in Music - Gallery (10/14/72, #12)
8. Roundabout - Yes (3/18/72, #5)
9. I Gotcha - Joe Tex (3/4/72, #7)
10. You're Still a Young Man - Tower of Power (7/15/72, #17)
11. I'm Still in Love with You - Al Green (8/5/72, #12)
12. Hold Your Head Up - Argent (8/5/72, #6)
13. Me and Julio down by the Schoolyard - Paul Simon (5/13/72, #19)
14. Hello It's Me - Todd Rundgren (11/17/73, #7)
15. Do It Again - Steely Dan (1/27/73, #7)
16. Cousin Mary - Fludd (11/3/73, #19)
17. Operator (That's Not the Way It Feels) - Jim Croce (12/2/72, #18)
18. Old Man - Neil Young (5/6/72, #11)
19. Ventura Highway - America (11/25/72, #5)
20. Go All the Way - Raspberries  (8/12/72, #9)
21. How Do You Do - Mouth & MacNeal (6/3/72, #3)
22. Saturday in the Park - Chicago (8/5/72, #2)
23. Walk on the Wild Side - Lou Reed (4/14/73, #9)
24. School's Out - Alice Cooper (7/29/72, #1)
25. Smoke on the Water - Deep Purple (6/30/73, #5)
26. Long John Silver - Jefferson Airplane (did not chart)
27. We've Got to Get It on Again - The Addrisi Brothers (1/22/72, #5)
28. Superstition - Stevie Wonder (12/30/72, #3)
29. Oh Girl - The Chi-Lites (4/15/72, #1)
30. Could It Be I'm Falling in Love - The Spinners (2/3/73, #8)
31. Too Late to Turn Back Now - Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose (6/10/72, #5)
32. Listen to the Music - The Doobie Brothers (10/21/72, #6)
33. Bad Side of the Moon - April Wine (7/8/72, #16)
34. Beautiful Sunday - Daniel Boone (7/15/72, #2)
35. Changes - David Bowie (did not chart)
36. Conquistador - Procol Harum (6/3/72, #7)
37. Clean Up Woman - Betty Wright (1/1/72, #4)
38. Superfly - Curtis Mayfield (did not chart)
39. Let's Stay Together - Al Green (1/1/72, #2)
40. Backstabbers - The O'Jays (8/19/72, #4)
41. The Cisco Kid - War (4/14/73, #4)
42. I'll Take You There - The Staple Singers (4/29/72, #10)
43. Take It Easy - The Eagles (6/10/72, #12)
44. Dunrobin's Gone - Brave Belt (7/1/72, #23)
45. Guns, Guns, Guns - The Guess Who (did not chart)
46. The Family of Man - Three Dog Night (3/25/72, #2)
47. Someday Never Comes - Creedence Clearwater Revival (5/13/72, #15)
48. Long Cool Woman - The Hollies (6/24/72, #3)
49. The Lion Sleeps Tonight - Robert John (1/22/72, #3)
50. Summer Breeze - Seals & Crofts (10/28/72, #1)
51. Precious and Few - Climax (1/15/72, #1)
52. I'm Gonna Love You Too - Terry Jacks (12/16/72, #12)
53. Masquerade - Edward Bear (6/3/72, #14)
54. (Make Me Do) Anything You Want - A Foot in Coldwater (7/1/72, #21)
55. Rock and Roll Song - Valdy (10/21/72, #21)
56. Sun Goes By - Dr. Music (7/8/72, #17)
57. Day by Day - Godspell (7/8/72, #8)
58. Time in a Bottle - Jim Croce (12/15/73, #8)
59. Goodbye to Love - Carpenters (8/5/72, #6)
60. The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face - Roberta Flack (3/18/72, #1)
61. Betcha by Golly Wow - The Stylistics (3/18/72, #6)
62. Bang a Gong (Get It On) - T. Rex (2/5/72, #8)
63. Get Up, Get Out, Move On - Fludd (4/8/72, #18)
64. Rocket Man - Elton John (6/24/72, #7)
65. Beautiful - Gordon Lightfoot (5/27/72, #17)
66. Suavecito - Malo (3/18/72, #8)
67. If You Don't Know Me by Now - Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes (11/18/72, #4)
68. You Ought to Be with Me - Al Green (12/9/72, #20)
69. Lean on Me - Bill Withers (6/17/72, #1)
70. Why Can't We Live Together - Timmy Thomas (1/6/73, #1)
71. Heart of Gold - Neil Young (2/12/72, #1)
72. Alone Again (Naturally) - Gilbert O'Sullivan (6/24/72, #1)
73. I Can See Clearly Now - Johnny Nash (10/14/72, #1) 
74. Sylvia's Mother - Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show (4/15/72, #2)
75. Brandy (You're a Fine Girl) - Looking Glass (6/10/72, #3)
76. I Saw the Light - Todd Rundgren (5/6/72, #18)
77. Baby Blue - Badfinger (4/1/72, #12)
78. Drowning in the Sea of Love - Joe Simon (1/8/72, #17)
79. Get on the Good Foot - James Brown (did not chart)
80. Troglodyte (Cave Man) - The Jimmy Castor Bunch (5/27/72, #3)
81. Runnin' Away - Sly & the Family Stone (2/19/72, #19)
82. Take the Blindness - Joey Gregorash (11/11/72, #17)
83. One More Chance - Ocean (9/16/72, #15)
84. Cotton Jenny - Anne Murray (2/12/72, #18)
85. Daytime Nighttime - Keith Hampshire (11/18/72, #6)
86. Runnin' Back to Saskatoon - The Guess Who (9/23/72, #5)
87. City of New Orleans - Arlo Guthrie (10/14/72, #6)
88. Use Me - Bill Withers (9/23/72, #9)
89. Everybody Plays the Fool - The Main Ingredient (8/26/72, #6)
90. Tumbling Dice - The Rolling Stones (4/22/72, #11)
91. You Could Have Been a Lady - April Wine (3/11/72, #6)
92. Mother and Child Reunion - Paul Simon (2/12/72, #4)
93. America - Yes (did not chart)
94. Isn't Life Strange - The Moody Blues (4/29/72, #17)
95. Never Been to Spain - Three Dog Night (1/1/72, #4)
96. Look What You Done for Me - Al Green (4/29/72, #19)
97. Freddie's Dead - Curtis Mayfield (11/11/72, #17)
98. Papa Was a Rollin' Stone - The Temptations (11/25/72, #1)
99. Vincent - Don McLean (4/22/72, #5)
100. Amazing Grace - The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (5/20/72, #1)

In my previous post on 1970, I mentioned that the transistor radio I received at Christmas was nothing short of a revelation. By 1971, the artists were my prophets and local Top 40 outlet CHUM and its charts, my bible. Perhaps because 1971 was my first full year of tuning in and turning on, I run out of superlatives to describe this extraordinary year in the annals of popular music.

And yeah, I know: everyone believes the music of their youth is the greatest music ever made. Fair enough, but dip into the hundred awesome songs below and tell me I'm wrong. If you're still unconvinced, David Hepworth's Never a Dull Moment: 1971—Rock's Golden Year might sway you. I mean, come on: what other year in rock history has its own book? Now, Hepworth's 1971 is, on the surface, not much like mine. He's a Brit, and as a 21-year-old then, his album-oriented listening overlapped little with that of a nine-year-old Canadian kid grooving to Top 40 radio. Still, we agree that in his words, "1971 saw an unrepeatable surge of musical creativity, technological innovation, naked ambition and outrageous good fortune that combined to produce music that still crackles with relevance today." Right on, brother.

In a more esoteric way, you know a year is special when three distinct songs named "Superstar" hit the charts within seven months. Of course, I couldn't resist placing them back-to-back-to-back on my Top 100, for they showcase the diversity and raw creativity that exemplifies 1971. And locally at least, the introduction of Canadian content regulations (CanCon) that January was to influence the CHUM charts in 1971 and beyond. Canadian radio now had to play at least 30% homegrown music, and as a result a few fabulous obscurities charted, if just barely. (Example: "You're Gonna Miss Me" by Toronto band Wishbone, which should have been a bigger hit and not just in Canada.) In tribute, I've sprinkled my Top 100 with a few CanCon clumps.

As is customary for the early '70s, 1971's charts are graced with some spectacular one-hit wonders. Say hello/goodbye to Ashton, Gardner & Dyke, King Floyd, The Beginning of the End, Wadsworth Mansion, The 8th Day, The Glass Bottle and Daddy Dewdrop. And as someone who heard King Floyd long before Pink Floyd, I should note that at this point I still hadn't heard The Beatles. Fortunately, the music that came in their immediate wake was so stunning that had I known about them, I'd not have missed them much. Nor would I have fretted over hearing Richie Havens' "Here Comes the Sun" (April 1971, #8 on CHUM) well before encountering the original on Abbey Road. Regardless, the individual Beatles arguably peaked as solo artists this year as well, and you'll find all four in their very own John, Paul, George and Ringo section of my Top 100 of 1971.

The songs are in no particular order, other than what makes sense to me as a playlist. A few songs released in 1971 didn't chart until early 1972 on CHUM. Regardless, they properly belong to 1971 and so are included here. For similar reasons, "Your Song," released in late 1970, has been bumped into 1971. In brackets is the date the song debuted on the CHUM chart, followed by its peak chart position. Chart-topping songs are in bold. A few worthy songs didn't make the CHUM chart, but I heard them somehow. Some were double-A sides; others probably charted on regional Top 40 stations I listened to. Come explore, discover and enjoy the sweet sounds of rock's golden year, 1971!

1. Sweet Hitch-Hiker - Creedence Clearwater Revival (7/17/71, #8)
2. Joy to the World - Three Dog Night (4/3/71, #1)
3. Brown Sugar - The Rolling Stones (5/1/71, #1)
4. You're Gonna Miss Me - Wishbone (6/5/71, #22)
5. Broken - The Guess Who (did not chart)
6. Woodstock - Matthews' Southern Comfort (3/20/71, #4)
7. Draggin' the Line - Tommy James (6/19/71, #2)
8. Theme from Shaft - Isaac Hayes (10/2/71, #2)
9. For All We Know - Carpenters (2/27/71, #7)
10. Sunshine - Jonathan Edwards (11/20/71, #2)
11. Ain't No Sunshine - Bill Withers (7/31/71, #6)
12. Here Comes the Sun - Richie Havens (4/21/71, #8)
13. Morning Has Broken - Cat Stevens (4/22/72, #2)
14. Don't Pull Your Love - Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds (6/12/71, #1)
15. Groove Me - King Floyd (1/2/71, #5)
16. Want Ads - Honey Cone (5/1/71, #4)
17. Rock Steady - Aretha Franklin (11/6/71, #4)
18. Funky Nassau (Pt. 1) - The Beginning of the End (5/15/71, #8)
19. Get It On - Chase (7/3/71, #16)
20. Resurrection Shuffle - Ashton, Gardner & Dyke (7/10/71, #7)
21. Everybody's Everything - Santana (10/30/71, #10)
22. It's Too Late - Carole King (5/22/71, #5)
23. Anticipation - Carly Simon (12/18/71, #7)
24. You've Got a Friend - James Taylor (6/26/71, #2)
25. Signs - Five Man Electrical Band (5/29/71, #3)
26. I'd Love to Change the World - Ten Years After (10/9/71, #4)
27. Sweet Mary - Wadsworth Mansion (1/9/71, #2)
28. Hey Big Brother - Rare Earth (12/11/71, #8)
29. (For God's Sake) Give More Power to the People - The Chi-Lites (5/29/71, #12)
30. Imagine - John Lennon (9/11/71, #3)
31. Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey - Paul & Linda McCartney (7/17/71, #1)
32. What Is Life - George Harrison (2/27/71, #5)
33. It Don't Come Easy - Ringo Starr (5/8/71, #5)
34. Albert Flasher - The Guess Who (4/24/71, #5)
35. An Old Fashioned Love Song - Three Dog Night (10/30/71, #5)
36. Me and You and a Dog Named Boo - Lobo (4/24/71, #7)
37. What's Going On - Marvin Gaye (3/13/71, #10)
38. Respect Yourself - The Staple Singers (11/20/71, #12)
39. Turned 21 - Fludd (11/27/71, #16)
40. Lovin' You Ain't Easy - Pagliaro (11/6/71, #9)
41. Ain't It a Sad Thing - R. Dean Taylor (1/30/71, #21)
42. Carry Me - The Stampeders (3/6/71, #10)
43. Amos Moses - Jerry Reed (1/23/71, #5)
44. It's a Cryin' Shame - Gayle McCormick (11/13/71, #22)
45. Stay with Me - Faces (12/25/71, #7)
46. One Fine Morning - Lighthouse (9/4/71, #13)
47. Family Affair - Sly & the Family Stone (11/13/71, #8)
48. If You Really Love Me - Stevie Wonder (9/4/71, #4)
49. She's Not Just Another Woman - The 8th Day (6/19/71, #14)
50. Treat Her Like a Lady - Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose (4/24/71, #13)
51. She's a Lady - Tom Jones (2/13/71, #1)
52. Love Her Madly - The Doors (4/17/71, #7)
53. Two Divided by Love - The Grass Roots (10/2/71, #3)
54. The Story in Your Eyes - The Moody Blues (8/28/71, #14)
55. Day After Day - Badfinger (12/4/71, #3)
56. So Far Away - Carole King (9/4/71, #12)
57. Fly Across the Sea - Edward Bear (12/25/71, #22)
58. Carey - Joni Mitchell (did not chart)
59. Fast Train - April Wine (6/12/71, #23)
60. Rain Dance - The Guess Who (8/7/71, #3)
61. Indian Reservation - Raiders (5/29/71, #1)
62. Do You Know What I Mean - Lee Michaels (8/21/71, #7)
63. Superstar - Carpenters (9/4/71, #3)
64. Superstar - Murray Head (5/8/71, #1)
65. Superstar - The Temptations (12/4/71, #13)
66. Mr. Bojangles - Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (1/23/71, #10)
67. One Toke over the Line - Brewer & Shipley (2/27/71, #11)
68. Moonshadow - Cat Stevens (8/7/71, #23)
69. Chick-A-Boom (Don't Ya Jes' Love It) - Daddy Dewdrop (4/3/71, #3)
70. Trapped by a Thing Called Love - Denise LaSalle (10/9/71, #21)
71. Have You Seen Her - The Chi-Lites (11/13/71, #1)
72. Proud Mary - Ike & Tina Turner (2/27/71, #3)
73. If You Could Read My Mind - Gordon Lightfoot (1/2/71, #6)
74. Jodie - Joey Gregorash (4/10/71, #11)
75. Absolutely Right - Five Man Electrical Band (10/9/71, #6)
76. Oh What a Feeling - Crowbar (3/27/71, #14)
77. I Ain't Got Time Anymore - The Glass Bottle (8/14/71, #17)
78. Maggie May - Rod Stewart (8/21/71, #1)
79. I Just Want to Celebrate - Rare Earth (8/7/71, #13)
80. Sweet City Woman - The Stampeders (7/10/71, #1)
81. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down - Joan Baez (8/21/71, #2)
82. Wild Night - Van Morrison (10/30/71, #17)
83. Your Song - Elton John (12/26/70, #4)
84. Sour Suite - The Guess Who (10/30/71, #7)
85. Liar - Three Dog Night (7/10/71, #4)
86. Peace Train - Cat Stevens (10/9/71, #7)
87. Tired of Being Alone - Al Green (10/2/71, #8)
88. Won't Get Fooled Again - The Who (8/21/71, #6)
89. Lucky Man - Emerson, Lake & Palmer (5/8/71, #7)
90. American Pie - Don McLean (11/27/71, #1)
91. I Feel the Earth Move - Carole King (did not chart)
92. Heavy Makes You Happy - The Staple Singers (3/6/71, #19)
93. You Are Everything - The Stylistics (12/25/71, #4)
94. Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me) - The Temptations (2/20/71, #13)
95. Smiling Faces Sometimes - The Undisputed Truth (7/31/71, #4)
96. Slippin' into Darkness - War (4/15/72, #4)
97. Riders on the Storm - The Doors (7/24/71, #1)
98. Put Your Hand in the Hand - Ocean (1/23/71, #1)
99. One More Mountain to Climb - Dr. Music (did not chart)
100. Wedding Song (There Is Love) - Paul Stookey (9/18/71, #7)

On Christmas Day, 1970, I received a Westinghouse transistor radio as a gift from my grandparents. I was nine years old, and little did they know what they were about to unleash. I inserted the supplied AA batteries, turned it on and tuned in 1050 CHUM, Toronto's Top 40 powerhouse. I discovered rock 'n' roll, and my life would never be the same.

What I heard that afternoon was probably something like this J. Michael Wilson aircheck from December 23. And if perchance CHUM was playing something drippy like The Partridge Family, four alternatives were on offer: 790 CHIC (Brampton), 1150 CKOC (Hamilton), 1280 CHAM (Hamilton) and 1430 CKFH (Toronto).

Fast forward 49 years and with the help of the CHUM Tribute site, I'm rediscovering the music of my youth, creating my personal Top 100 for 1970, 1971 and 1972. I consider these the prime years. From 1973 onward, the music grew increasingly saccharine. Then came disco. Regardless, I just downloaded every CHUM chart from January 3, 1970 till they stopped publishing them in mid-1975. I consider them pure gold: touchstones of my youth that I never expected to see again. I've been scouring the charts, especially their lower reaches, for obscurities I missed when I first assembled my playlists for the big three years, and I found some gems that fleshed out my Top 100.

So ... what can I say about 1970? I feel rather unqualified to discuss the year as a whole because I only signed up in the last week. I'm in the strange position of having heard The Beatles' debut solo singles before I'd heard of The Beatles. I remember thinking, sometime in 1973 maybe, "You mean John, Paul, George and Ringo were all in the same band once? Wow. I should check them out." And that, of course, sent me on another wonderful journey. Certainly, the breakup of The Beatles is the single biggest musical story of the year, followed by the deaths of Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. But 1970 is, as you'll discover below, so much more than that. Here you'll find pile-driving rockers, bubblegum classics, killer pop songs and the first stirrings of soul mutating into funk, not to mention a few oddball novelties. This was a time when white and black musics sat side by side on the charts in their many guises: soul, funk, rock, gospel, pop, folk, country and more. Music wasn't segregated and segmented as it is now. From fuzzed-out guitars to funky grooves to lush orchestral passages, 1970 has it all.

My Top 100 is in no particular order, other than what makes sense to me as a playlist. The nine songs that kick it off are among the first I ever heard, which is why I've given them prominence. A few songs released in 1970 didn't chart until early or even mid-1971 on CHUM. Regardless, they properly belong to 1970 and so are included here. In brackets is the date the song debuted on the CHUM chart, followed by its peak chart position. Chart-topping songs are in bold. You'll note that a few songs in my Top 100 didn't chart at all. Some may have charted on the other Top 40 stations mentioned above; as for the rest, they're worthy tunes I encountered later that deserved a better fate.

But enough rambling—here's my Top 100 of 1970. Explore, discover, and enjoy the great sounds of a terrific year!

1. Games - Redeye (12/12/70, #10)
2. Love the One You're With - Stephen Stills (12/19/70, #1)
3. My Sweet Lord - George Harrison (11/28/70, #1)
4. Born to Wander - Rare Earth (1/9/71, #8)
5. I'm Eighteen - Alice Cooper (3/27/71, #6)
6. Express Yourself - Charles Wright and the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band (9/26/70, #15)
7. Stoney End - Barbra Streisand (12/12/70, #6)
8. Hey Tonight - Creedence Clearwater Revival (did not chart)
9. We Gotta Get You a Woman - Runt (12/19/70, #7)
10. Evil Ways - Santana (2/7/70, #5)
11. Are You Ready - Pacific Gas & Electric (5/30/70, #24)
12. Celebrate - Three Dog Night (3/7/70, #16)
13. Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine - James Brown (did not chart)
14. Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes) - Edison Lighthouse (2/21/70, #3)
15. Make Me Smile - Chicago (4/18/70, #5)
16. Bus Rider - The Guess Who (did not chart)
17. Spirit in the Sky - Norman Greenbaum (2/28/70, #4)
18. The Witch's Promise - Jethro Tull (did not chart)
19. Do What You Wanna Do - Five Flights Up (10/10/70, #22)
20. Turn Back the Hands of Time - Tyrone Davis (4/4/70, #11)
21. Tears of a Clown - Smokey Robinson & the Miracles (10/24/70, #3)
22. Blue Money - Van Morrison (2/27/71, #16)
23. Who'll Stop the Rain - Creedence Clearwater Revival (1/31/70, #1)
24. Ohio - Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (7/25/70, #6)
25. Hitchin' a Ride - Vanity Fare (5/2/70, #4)
26. As the Years Go By - Mashmakan (7/4/70, #1)
27. We've Only Just Begun - Carpenters (9/26/70, #2)
28. Black Magic Woman - Santana (11/14/70, #2)
29. Cecilia - Simon & Garfunkel (4/25/70, #2)
30. Big Yellow Taxi - Joni Mitchell (6/27/70, #3)
31. In the Summertime - Mungo Jerry (7/18/70, #4)
32. ABC - The Jackson 5 (3/21/70, #3)
33. Somebody's Been Sleeping - 100 Proof Aged in Soul (11/14/70, #12)
34. Give Me Just a Little More Time - The Chairmen of the Board (1/24/70, #5)
35. Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours - Stevie Wonder (7/11/70, #14)
36. Mr. Monday - The Original Caste (4/25/70, #3)
37. No Time - The Guess Who (1/3/70, #9)
38. One Man Band - Three Dog Night (1/2/71, #20)
39. Travelin' Band - Creedence Clearwater Revival (1/31/70, #1)
40. Who Needs Ya - Steppenwolf (1/16/71, #17)
41. Mexico - Jefferson Airplane (did not chart)
42. You, Me and Mexico - Edward Bear (3/14/70, #3)
43. Temptation Eyes - The Grass Roots (2/20/71, #7)
44. My Baby Loves Lovin' - White Plains (4/11/70, #2)
45. 25 or 6 to 4 - Chicago (8/8/70, #1)
46. The Letter - Joe Cocker (5/2/70, #2)
47. Tighter, Tighter - Alive and Kicking (6/20/70, #6)
48. Corrina, Corrina - King Biscuit Boy & Crowbar (9/12/70, #23)
49. Band Bandit - Tundra (did not chart)
50. Yellow River - Christie (7/25/70, #5)
51. Wild World - Cat Stevens (did not chart)
52. All Right Now - Free (9/12/70, #2)
53. You're the One - Little Sister (4/11/70, #12)
54. Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) - Sly & the Family Stone (1/24/70, #1)
55. The Long and Winding Road - The Beatles (5/23/70, #1)
56. No Sugar Tonight - The Guess Who (3/21/70, #1)
57. Reflections of My Life - The Marmalade (3/14/70, #7)
58. Question - The Moody Blues (5/9/70, #7)
59. Come Saturday Morning - The Sandpipers (5/2/70, #16)
60. Come Running - Van Morrison (4/4/70, #8)
61. Up Around the Bend - Creedence Clearwater Revival (5/2/70, #1)
62. Fire and Rain - James Taylor (10/3/70, #6)
63. Love on a Two-Way Street - The Moments (5/16/70, #3)
64. Ball of Confusion - The Temptations (5/30/70, #7)
65. I'll Be There - The Jackson 5 (9/26/70, #1)
66. O-o-h Child - The Five Stairsteps (6/28/70, #9)
67. Mama Told Me (Not to Come) - Three Dog Night (5/30/70, #2)
68. American Woman - The Guess Who (3/21/70, #1)
69. Vehicle - The Ides of March (3/28/70, #2)
70. Lucretia MacEvil - Blood, Sweat & Tears (10/24/70, #11)
71. Up the Ladder to the Roof - The Supremes (3/14/70, #13)
72. Go Back - Crabby Appleton (8/15/70, #10)
73. Lola - The Kinks (10/3/70, #2)
74. Ride Captain Ride - Blues Image (5/9/70, #8)
75. Teach Your Children - Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (6/13/70, #5)
76. Oye Como Va - Santana (3/13/71, #19)
77. No Matter What - Badfinger (11/21/70, #3)
78. Indiana Wants Me - R. Dean Taylor (7/25/70, #4)
79. Joanne - Michael Nesmith and the First National Band (8/15/70, #6)
80. I Hear You Knocking - Dave Edmunds (1/16/71, #3)
81. Instant Karma! - John Lennon (2/28/70, #1)
82. Me and Bobby McGee - Janis Joplin (2/20/71, #9)
83. Immigrant Song - Led Zeppelin (12/5/70, #2)
84. (They Long to Be) Close to You - Carpenters (6/28/70, #1)
85. Hand Me Down World - The Guess Who (7/11/70, #3)
86. Out in the Country - Three Dog Night (9/12/70, #11)
87. Spill the Wine - Eric Burdon & War (7/4/70, #4)
88. Neanderthal Man - Hotlegs (9/5/70, #18)
89. Hey Lawdy Mama - Steppenwolf (did not chart)
90. Venus - The Shocking Blue (1/3/70, #1)
91. If I Were Your Woman - Gladys Knight & the Pips (12/26/70, #6)
92. 5-10-15-20 (25-30 Years of Love) - The Presidents (11/28/70, #7)
93. Colour My World - Chicago (7/7/71, #3)
94. One Tin Soldier - The Original Caste (1/3/70, #1)
95. War - Edwin Starr (7/18/70, #1)
96. Have You Ever Seen the Rain - Creedence Clearwater Revival (2/20/71, #16)
97. Domino - Van Morrison (11/21/70, #4)
98. Bridge over Troubled Water - Simon & Garfunkel (2/7/70, #1)
99. Share the Land - The Guess Who (10/17/70, #3)
100. Let It Be - The Beatles (3/21/70, #1)