#1 This Week In 1974

In 1974 Al Wilson took his cover of Johnny Mathis' minor 1972 hit, Show And Tell, to #1 on the Billboard pop chart for one week. I consider it one of the most perfect pop records ever created. The track's loping backbeat has caused some music historians to place Show And Tell on their lists of the earliest examples of disco. (Which is probably why it was one of the few 45's that I ever had to replace due to overplaying.) Show And Tell was by far Al Wilson's biggest hit, but he scored three other Top 40 hits, included 1968's The Snake (#27) and 1974's La La Peace Song (#30). Wilson died last year of kidney failure at age 68.

TRIVIA: Peabo Bryson took his cover of Show And Tell to #1 on the R&B chart in 1989. David Cassidy covered it too on his 1998 "comeback album" Old Dog, New Trick, which I had the misfortune of trying to promote in California.