Chart History

Strap in, we're going back half a century to the Top 20 UK singles chart on 20th January 1974.

Most of the songs had been released at the tail end of 1973, there was still a bit of a Christmas hangover with lingering hits from Slade, Wizzard and Steeleye Span but a couple of crowd pleasers had smashed their way into the top 10 the previous week, securing the top 2 on this day.

Trawling my collection, I found I conveniently had 10 of the 20 songs so here, in countdown style, is my selection in descending order to the #1 hit on 20th January 1974. Some real corkers, right from the opening bars of Mott The Hoople's Roll Away The Stone to the final pair of glam rock stompers at the end.

Most of these will have appeared in my parents' modest collection of K-Tel and Ronco compilations, played constantly (by me) when I was a kid, so a lot of them bring back very happy memories. I'd forgotten how leftfield David Essex singles could be! And nice to be reminded of time when I only knew Leo Sayer as performer of a few great pop songs rather than the monumental twit that he revealed himself to be in later years. And no, I don't consider The New Seekers to be a blip in this selection!

The above comics are from my collection. Though snapped many years ago and unread for even longer, they are still there boxed safely at home. I'd like to say I got them as a discerning 3-year old, but who got 16p pocket money a week back then? 

 

I got both of these (and pretty much the whole run of Dracula Lives and Planet Of The Apes in one go) from a comic mart in Bath in the late 1980s, when I was a Marvel-obsessed teen. But a Marvel-obsessed teen with a job, so I had disposable income to fritter away. Very little value was placed on Marvel UK comics as they were essentially reprints of the original US issues so I managed to amass a collection with bulk purchases, mostly at or less than the original cover price.

 

Much as I enjoyed Spider-Man, The Hulk and The Fantastic Four, Dracula Lives and Planet Of The Apes were just completely bonkers in respect of content, story and art and I enjoyed reading and re-reading them for many years. 

 

However, I'm at an age where I'm chilled at the thought of a possible house move and having to shift dozens of boxes of comics again. There's no "inheritance" - Lady K enjoys manga but little interest in super-heroes and why should she? - so maybe time for one last flick through before selling them on....?

Blimey, that brought the mood down! Let's stick the music on and lift those spirits again...!

 

1) Roll Away The Stone: Mott The Hoople (#18)

2) Lamplight: David Essex (#15)

3) Pool Hall Richard: Faces (#11)

4) Radar Love (Album Version): Golden Earring (#7)

5) My Coo-Ca-Choo: Alvin Stardust (#6)

6) You Won't Find Another Fool Like Me: The New Seekers (#5)

7) Dance With The Devil: Cozy Powell (#4)

8) The Show Must Go On: Leo Sayer (#3)

9) Teenage Rampage (Single Version): The Sweet (#2)

10) Tiger Feet: Mud (#1)

 

Chart History (36:07) (KF) (Mega)

I Think The Melody On The Box Will Explain

It's Friday and time to take a trip back to 1973 and (a smidge over) half an hour of pop, rock, funk and soul for all you hell raisers and all you natural born ravers!

 

Many of these I grew up with, others I discovered as a keen record-buying adult, the rest found in the last decade and a half thanks to all you wonderful people out in the blogosphere. 

Only my opinion but all killer, no filler? I think so.

Bring on the weekend!

1) If I Were Only A Child Again: Curtis Mayfield

2) Lend A Hand: Bobby Hutton

3) Hell Raiser (Single Version): The Sweet

4) Angel (Album Version): Aretha Franklin

5) Skin I'm In: Sly & The Family Stone

6) The Love I Lost (Part 1) (Single Version): Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes 

7) I Won't Step On Your Shoes: Barnaby Bye

8) Watch That Man: David Bowie

9) I Want To Be Free: Hot Chocolate

10) Hercules (Single Version): Aaron Neville

Melody On The Box (32:43) (Box) (Mega)

That Weren't No DJ, That Was Hazy Cosmic Jive

On another nostalgia trip today, back half a century to the UK singles Top 20 on 27th July 1972. Largely ignoring the first five, that's a pretty great run of singles

1) Puppy Love: Donny Osmond

2) Sylvia’s Mother: Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show

3) Rock And Roll Parts 1 & 2: Gary Glitter

4) Breaking Up Is Hard To Do: The Partridge Family

5) Sea Side Shuffle: Terry Dactyl & The Dinosaurs

6) School’s Out: Alice Cooper

7) I Can See Clearly Now: Johnny Nash

8) Circles: The New Seekers

9) Mad About You: Bruce Ruffin

10) Starman: David Bowie

11) Little Willy: The Sweet

12) Silver Machine: Hawkwind

13) Join Together: The Who

14) Walkin’ In The Rain With The One I Love: Love Unlimited

15) Betcha By Golly Wow: The Stylistics

16) Take Me Back ‘One: Slade

17) Automatically Sunshine: The Supremes

18) An American Trilogy: Elvis Presley

19) Popcorn: Hot Butter 

20) My Guy: Mary Wells 

 

I'll only give Sea Side Shuffle by Terry Dactyl & The Dinosaurs the briefest of mentions for two reasons, fact fans: 

 

1) The lead singer, songwriter and accordion player would subsequently always be found in the kitchen at parties, trying to come up with a ubiquitous Christmas hit (which wasn't about Christmas and, incredibly, didn't actually make it to #1 in the UK);

 

2) One might assume that Roy Dorset and his legal team were listening with interest, given the resemblance to his summer-themed hit with Mungo Jerry a couple of years previously. Surely he sued? Or did we live in a less litigious society back then?

 

YouTube, as ever, is a treasure trove of clips, especially from Top Of The Pops, so here's a select few. Lady K's just finished for the summer - oh, how I wish I had six weeks off work to do what I like! Sadly, Alice Cooper wasn't blasting from the school PA as the masses ran from the building, whooping and hollering. Surprising, as I thought that this was a legal requirement from 1977 onwards...?

Here's Alice on TOTP in 1972. Health & Safety would never let him wave and throw a sabre around these days.

Johnny Nash next, rocking those studded leathers with what remains my favourite version of this song. The original and never bettered.

You would not believe how hard it is to find a decent clip of Starman that isn't the June 1972 TOTP performance that is used on every David Bowie, 1970s, Glam, classic rock, you-name-it TV show going. I tried, honestly, but I had to admit defeat after a while. So here it is. Bloody great, though.

The next video is dedicated to middle aged man, who reminded me what a truly great band The Sweet are, with an excellent Imaginary Compilation Album over at The Vinyl Villain a couple of months ago. If you haven't heard it, run don't walk over there now, you really need it in your life.

Love Unlimited next. Much is made of Barry White's role but it was nothing without the wonderful vocal performances by the Taylor sisters -Diane, Linda and Glodean. This is music in glorious Technicolour.

How else to finish but with The King? An American Trilogy was a cover version, originally written and recorded by Mickey Newbury in 1971, stitching together Dixie (a folk song), The Battle Hymn Of The Republic (a Civil War marching song used by the Union army) and All My Trials (a popular lullaby from The Bahamas). Elvis Presley recorded it at the start of 1972 and, interestingly, his version was bigger success in the UK (peaking at #8) than the USA (#66). This version is from his Aloho From Hawaii show in January 1973.

As a post-script, at one place below Elvis is Popcorn by Hot Butter, a song that always reminds me of a much-loved TV show which had a similar sounding theme tune. Ah, the days of TV shows presented by wonderfully bonkers professors, nylon and polyester attire, minuscule budgets and little or no special effects, not to mention protracted moments of silence...like this.