American Top 40 Flashback - Gladys Knight & the Pips

I wasn’t a huge fan of this song when it was first released, and my excuse for that is that I was in the 8th grade and not old enough to know better.

The recorded performance is stronger than this live performance – there’s just something about the Pips that border on camp. And left to her own devices, Gladys could turn up the histrionics to the point where one could be forgiven for thinking they were watching “Star Search.”

But as far as the record goes, almost 40 years later, there’s not much to say except that it’s about as close to perfection as a pop single can be.

“Midnight Train to Georgia,” Gladys Knight & the Pips, the #1 song this week in 1973.