Wednesday, July 23, 2014

CAFFE` LATTE` 
TOP 1500 CHOICE TRACKS


#224 IF I CAN'T HAVE YOU Yvonne Elliman
"Love Me" became the breakthrough hit for Yvonne Elliman in 1976. She had just signed to Robert Stigwood's RSO label. That song had been written by Barry and Robin Gibb of The Bee Gees. The trio wrote another song for the Hawaiian singer, entitled "How Deep Is Your Love". Stigwood had asked the Gibb brothers to write material for his upcoming film project 'Saturday Night Fever'. He persuaded the Bee Gees to record "How Deep..." themselves. It became the 1st US #1 from the soundtrack album in December 1977. February 1978 saw the brothers enjoy a month-long reign with "Stayin' Alive". Their brother Andy Gibb replaced them at the top with "(Love Is) Thicker Than Water" before being knocked off the perch by The Bee Gees' "Night Fever" in mid-March. 
Elliman didn't miss out. The Gibbs penned "If I Can't Have You". They recorded it for use as the B-side of "Stayin' Alive".  Freddie Perren produced Elliman's remake which was also included on the '... Fever' soundtrack. Elliman replaced "Night Fever" at #1 in May; the 4th chart topping track lifted off the album and the 4th consecutive American #1 co-written by Barry Gibb. 
"If I Can't Have You" was a global success, reaching #1 in Canada, #4 in Britain, 5 in France, 6 in New Zealand and 9 in Australia. The follow-up single was from another film starring John Travolta-'Moment By Moment'- later that year. "Love Pains" fared better in 1979, but Elliman soon faded into obscurity. The song, on the other hand, became a worldwide hit again when covered by Kim Wilde in 1993. Elliman still works to this day and released new music in 2004.     
 
This is a list made up of the songs I enjoy the most, ranked in order of preference: the higher we go, the more I cherish them. Some were released as singles, others as album tracks. Some are obscure; others were worldwide hits or have universal appeal. They aren't always the most famous or popular, but simply a personal choice. I have excluded songs from the last few years in order to get a better idea of a song's lasting impression. I hope you find some new tracks to love, or re-discover some past favourites.
A new song is added each day.

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