FIRST HOUR
I Wanna Stay With You (Gallagher & Lyle)
(1976) ... duo who had been around for a fair few years before finally making it on the chart with this instantly appealing, feelgood song. They had previously tasted chart success as members of McGuinness Flint (Malt & Barley Blues, When I'm Dead And Gone) back in '71
In The Midnight Hour (Wilson Pickett)
(1965) ... signature song for one of the greatest soul voices of his generation. Only one other song in his career came close to matching In The Midnight Hour's chart peak of # 12 ~ his cover of The Beatles' Hey Jude (1969, # 16)
Secret Love (The Bee Gees)
... the Gibb brothers had been conspicuous by their absence in chart land for a while before Secret Love got them back on track in the first of today's featured years. Its success meant they joined a very select handful of recording artists who have had hits in four different decades
Small steps or huge strides?
I'm Walkin' (Fats Domino)
(1957) ... original version of a classic rock 'n' roll song which was also a hit for Ricky Nelson
When You Walk In The Room (The Searchers)
(1964) .... the line-up still playing in recent years includes the group's 1959 co-founder John McNally and bass guitarist Frank Allen who joined shortly before they recorded When You Walk In The Room
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Happy Birthday (Altered Images)
(1981) ... first and highest placed (# 2) hit for the group led by Clare Grogan, around the same time she also starred in one of the top films of that era, Gregory's Girl. Only in the closing scenes does it finally become clear that her character Susan is the girl for Gregory (John Gordon Sinclair). As we somewhat belatedly mark Clare's 60th birthday (17-03-22), later on we'll focus on one of her more recent projects ~ a guest appearance on a Texas song
Newsround Tameside: 31 years ago ~ 1991
Can You Dig It (The Mock Turtles)
... surprisingly, the only chart hit for the lads from North Manchester ~ Middleton to be exact, although, to be fair, it did well twice over, returning in 2003 as a reissue
Promise Me (Beverley Craven)
... Scottish singer-songwriter with the first and by far the most successful of three hit singles from her self-titled debut album. Promise Me peaked at # 3, followed by Holding On (# 32) and Woman To Woman (# 40)
People Are Strange (Echo & The Bunnymen)
... cover versions were not really their thing, so this came as something of a surprise. The Bunnymen recorded The Doors' song for the soundtrack of the 1987 film The Lost Boys. The single was first released in '88, peaking at #29, five places higher than the '91 reissue
The Shoop Shoop Song (Cher)
... five weeks at No.1 for Cher with a song from the same era as her only previous UK chart-topper I Got You Babe (Sonny and Cher, 1965). The Shoop Shoop Song was originally a hit in '64 for Betty Everett. Cher recorded her version for Mermaids, the film in which she also starred
There's No Other Way (Blur)
... first time on the chart, three years before they secured a place in '90s music history with their legendary Parklife album
It Had To Be You (Harry Connick Jnr)
.... UK hit single two years after it was first heard on the soundtrack of the hugely successful film When Harry Met Sally. The song dates back as far as 1924 ~ of all the many versions, three of the most famous are by Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and Doris Day
Joyride (Roxette)
... first chart-topper in their home country for Swedish duo Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle, No.1 in several European countries, Australia, Canada and the US, reaching # 4 in the UK
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SECOND HOUR
Bend It! (Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich)
(1966) ... written by their regular writers Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley, the song's Greek flavour and tempo changes garnered comparisons to the famous Mikis Theodorakis tune Zorba's Dance. Though considered a departure from the 'big-beat' style of the band's previous hits, Bend It! was one of their biggest hits (# 2) and had combined sales of over a million in the UK and Europe [W]
I'd Love You To Want Me (John Holt)
(1974) ... reggae artist who made the Top 10 that same year with his re-working of Help Me Make It Through The Night, usually sung as a slow ballad. It was taken from his album of covers, 1,000 Volts of Holt ~ among the other tracks was this sprightly version of another slowie * I'd Love You To Want Me which at one point slips smoothly and seamlessly in and out of The Beatles' Let It Be ( * Lobo had the hit ~ 1974, # 5). John Holt's other main claim to mainstream fame is writing The Tide Is High ~ he recorded the original in 1967 with The Paragons, the group he was with at the time. Later it became a UK No.1 twice over, for Blondie (1980) and Atomic Kitten (2002)
Good Morning Freedom (Blue Mink)
... teaser track for our second featured year ~ a cheery tune made all the more memorable by its unusual 'b-bee-ba-pa...' hook line
Absolutely Lyricless ~ the instrumental break
Perfidia (The Ventures)
(1960) ... an already familiar tune, dating back to the Glenn Miller big band sound of the '40s, written by Mexican composer Alberto Dominguez
Pretty Blue Eyes (John Anderson Big Band)
(1989) ... the 'house band' on several mega-selling medleys by Jive Bunny & The Mastermixers. Pretty Blue Eyes was the B side of JB's second # 1, That's What I Like ~ the one where the bits of hits were linked by the Hawaii Five-O theme tune
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Look What You've Done (Texas)
(2021) ... as promised earlier, from their most recent album Hi! ~ Sharleen Spiteri duetting with Clare Grogan of Altered Images
Mockingbird (The Belle Stars)
(1982)... sandwiched in between The Clapping Song and Sign of The Times, The Belle Stars' cover of a '60s song by Inez and Charlie Foxx surprisingly, missed out on the Top 40. A version of Mockingbird by Carly Simon and James Taylor in the mid '70s was similar sized hit in the UK to the original (#34 and #33 respectively)
Newsround pre-Tameside: 52 years ago ~ 1970
Rag Mama Rag (The Band)
... only major hit for the Canadian-American combo - although lead guitarist Robbie Robertson returned to our chart in the late '80s (Somewhere Down The Crazy River, 1988, # 15). AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine described Rag Mama Rag as a "rollicking uptempo number". Musician Dr John claimed it sounded "like a cross between Memphis and New Orleans" [W]
That Same Old Feeling (Pickettywitch)
... life was on the up for singer Polly Brown and the five musicians who together formed Pickettywitch. They were attracting a growing following after appearing on the ITV talent show Opportunity Knocks. A previous single released in 1969 had flopped, but this was the first and biggest of three hits, all within 1970.
Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy (The Tams)
... made the UK Top 40 two years after it had charted in America. Another of their old songs was destined for much greater belated success this side of the pond ~ Hey Girl Don't Bother Me went all the way to the top in '71
Never Had A Dream Come True (Stevie Wonder)
... co-written by the man himself with Motown staff songwriters Henry Cosby and Sylvia Moy for the album Signed, Sealed & Delivered. The song was a modest hit in the US but received a boost in the UK, where it eventually broke into the Top 10 and reached # 6 [W]
Knock Knock Who's There (Mary Hopkin)
... UK entry for Eurovision ~ it finished second in the contest, pipped at the post by Ireland and made it to # 2 on the chart
Let's Work Together (Canned Heat)
... essentially the same song as Let's Stick Together which became a huge hit for Bryan Ferry in '76. American R&B singer and musician Wilbert Harrison wrote both sets of lyrics, recording Let's Stick... in 1962 and Let's Work... in '69. [W]
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SHOW THEME:
Rhapsody In Blue (Rick Wakeman)
written by George Gershwin, arranged by Tony Visconti
from the album Rhapsodies (A&M Records, 1979)
[W]: Source: Wikipedia
Please bear in mind: it's a live show and so, occasionally I might need to change the running order, leave a song out, or play an unplanned extra song which will not be shown in this weekly music blog.
If you missed any of the show, you can catch up online after 15:00 on Sunday 03/04/2022:
