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Sheena Easton - " Almost Over You " from the album Best Kept Secret (1983) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #25 (two weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 6 Today's song of the day is by the Scottish ingenue who got her start on a British "reality"-style program tracking her musical rise, Sheena Easton , who by 1984 had already scored a top-10 single from her fourth studio album Best Kept Secret , " Telefone (Long Distance Love Affair) ". For its follow-up Sheena released the epic break-up ballad "Almost Over You", written by Jennifer Kimball and Cindy Richardson, and the female-powered burst of emotion is lightened up considerably by the totally dated video where Sheena's love is distracted by an arcade-size video game in their apartment. But she does get the last laugh at the end.. "Almost Over You" became Sheena's fifth and final top-10 hit on the adult-contemporary chart in the US, while reaching the top-40 on the American a...

Hey gang...I'm a little behind from 4 hours sleep...but chug along with this week's eight nuggets from the 80s, and this time out I'm back to 1980, the year the Cable News Network (CNN) is launched. Air Supply - " Lost In Love " from the album Lost In Love (1980) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #3 Songwriter: Graham Russell The soft-rock group that defined the sound of the early 80s got their start with this ethereal production. (Click below to see the rest of the post)

Hey gang, it's time to roll out another 70s throwback, and this week I'm back to 1970, the year Soyuz 9 with a two-man crew was launched by Russia. Bread - " Make It With You " from the album On The Waters (1970) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 Songwriter: David Gates The first (well, only) mixtape I ever got from my first boyfriend had this as the first song. Of course, naive me thought it was because he wanted our relationship to "make it". AH, youth. (Click below to see the rest of the post)

Kenny Loggins - " Footloose "  from the album Footloose (Original Soundtrack) (1984) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (three weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 16 Today's Song of the Day is by the 80's king of the soundtrack hits, Kenny Loggins , who started out the decade with a top-10 hit from the comedy Caddyshack , " I'm Alright ". After that, Kenny released his fourth studio album, High Adventure , which spun off three non-soundtrack top-40 hits with the power-collab with Journey's Steve Perry on " Don't Fight It ", the Michael McDonald-assisted soft-rock of " Heart To Heart ", and the children's school anthem " Welcome To Heartlight ". After that, Loggins was commissioned to work on the soundtrack to the teen-angst-through-dance movie Footloose , and the first of his two contributions to the soundtrack was the title track, co-written by Loggins with Broadway star-turned-Oscar-winning songwriter Dean Pitchford. ...

Hey gang, it's time to go Down Under to check out the songs reaching the official music sales chart in Australia, as Robin Thicke spends a sixth week on top with " Blurred Lines "... Well, the Australian version of The Voice crowned a victor on Sunday, and the four finalists all show up on the chart this week with multiple entries. The singer who won, Harrison Craig (from Seal's team), comes in with the two highest debuts on the chart. At #2 is his rendering of the Righteous Brothers' classic "Unchained Melody"....um, yeah. I guess he's like the male Danielle Bradbery with a little better pitch control. (Click below to see the rest of the post)

Hey gang, it's "hump day", and time to roll out another half-dozen nuggets from the sixties. This week I'm back to 1960, the year New Zealand got their first broadcast TV station in Auckland... Percy Faith - " Theme from 'A Summer Place '" from the album Percy Faith's Greatest Hits (1961) Billboard   Hot 100 peak: #1 Songwriters: Max Steiner, Mack Discant At one time the record-holder for longest stay at #1, this remains the biggest instrumental hit of all time, by the Canadian pushing millions of records before Bieber's grandparents even met. In time for the changing of the season... (Click below to see the rest of the post)

Rockwell - " Somebody's Watching Me " from the album Somebody's Watching Me (1984) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #2 (three weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 14 Today's song of the day is by Kennedy William Gordy,  who instead of banking on my Motown chief father's name, recorded under the moniker Rockwell. However, he didn't seem to mind getting a little help in the vocal department, as none other than Michael Jackson sang the chorus on his first hit single, "Somebody's Watching Me" (Jermaine also does backup). Written by Gordy, there's no doubt that Jackson's cred help it get radio and MTV play (even though Michael isn't in the video)... "Somebody's Watching Me" spent three weeks in the runner-up spot on the US pop chart in March of 1984 (kept out by Van Halen's "Jump" and Kenny Loggins' "Footloose", no small records). It managed to top the R&B chart, while reaching #3 on the dance...