Sweet Soul Music Of The 70’s- “Show And Tell”- Al Wilson.
Al Wilson is kind of like the baseball journeyman player who plays in the league for years- an undistinguished career but he had his one moment in the sun when he had one big World Series that everyone remembers when they hear his name- like Al Weis in the 1969 World Series with the Mets or in the NFL Tim Smith and his big Super Bowl with the Redskins before returning to obscurity. From 1968-76 singer Al Wilson had four Top 40 hits- but the one that is remembered is a #1 from 1973 “Show And Tell.” The song was written by Jerry Fuller and first sung by Johnny Mathis in 1972. The Mathis version went to #36 on the Easy Listening singles chart- it wasn’t until the next year -with Al Wilson’s version that the song exploded. The single spent a week at #1, sold 2 million copies and was named by Cash Box as #1 single of the year.
slicethelife 
A+ in my book. I love the emotion he puts into his voice.
Yes I agree. He put everything into that one.
This one’s in my top 40 of all time. I saw Al Wilson back in the early 90s at the Tennessee state fair. The accommodations, stage, so forth were very lack luster. Tennessee doesn’t go all out for our state fair, sadly. It was pretty much a joke back then. Today it’s just a bad joke.
Anyway, Chuck Negron was the headliner. His voice was in pretty good shape, but he clearly did not want to be there. He came off depressed and embarrassed that he was working such a shoddy affair.
On the other hand Al Wilson was spectacular. He sang The Snake and a couple of other songs that I didn’t know. And then he sang Show and Tell. I got the chills. People started pouring into the rickety bleachers where we were sitting. It was just like the recording, only better. One of the best performances I’ve ever seen. Sorry to write a book. I just had to give the man his due.
That is pretty cool- to see a great performance like that- from a performer who really wasn’t a star- but was surely ON at least for that night.