Plastic Man – The Kinks-An ill-fated single that was banned by the BBC because of the lyric about “legs that go up to his plastic bum”. Never released in the US as a single, but did turn up eventually stateside on “The Great Lost Kinks Album”.
Point It Out – Smokey Robinson & The Miracles-This is fantastic and I can’t believe it wasn’t a bigger hit.
Pop Popcorn Children – Eldridge Holmes-“The Popcorn” was a short lived dance craze that yielded this odd funk number.
Presence Of The Lord – Blind Faith-The world’s first super group serving it up big time. Two thirds of Cream, One fourth of Traffic and one quarter Family. Shake well.
Pressure Drop – Toots & The Maytals-Another classic reggae song from Toots. Like “Monkey Man” this too would influence the next generation of British kids.
Proud Mary – Creedence Clearwater Revival-One of the most covered songs ever, and the tune that started CCR’s chart domination that year.
Psychedelic Shack – The Temptations-Funny how there’s not much going on here. A clumsy re-write of “Can’t Get Next To You”.
Questions 67 And 68 – Chicago Transit Authority-Before Chicago became a schmaltz-a-thon in the god forsaken ‘80’s, this is what they were about. Big-ass horns impeccably arranged, multiple lead vocalists, tunes with so many hooks it was practically unfair, and a guitar player that kicked serious ass. Jimi Hendrix himself declared Chicago’s Terry Kath his favorite axe man when interviewed back in the day.
Rag Mama Rag – The Band-From their most excellent second album, with the great Levon Helm on skins and vox.
Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head – B.J. Thomas-Written for a movie, big hit, yawn.
Rainy Night In Georgia – Brook Benton-Another shining example of how diverse the pop charts were back then.
Rattlesnake Shake – Fleetwood Mac-Between this and “Oh Well”, the greatness of Peter Green becomes more and more apparent. This version of the Mac were smoking hot.
Reflections Of My Life – Marmalade-Long struggling band stays together long enough to find an acorn. A US top ten and chart topper almost everywhere else in the world.
Return Of Django – The Upsetters-The house band for Lee “Scratch” Perry. Most of them would go on to become The Wailers.