FIRST HOUR
Hold Tight (Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Titch)
(1966) ... their first major success and the start of an impressive run over the next three years
Nowhere To Run (Martha Reeves & The Vandellas)
(1965) ... one of the early Motown hits from the US to break through on to the UK chart
Just Don't Want To Be Lonely (Freddie McGregor)
.... reggae singer hitting the Top 10 in the first of today's featured years ~ easily beating the # 27 achieved by '70s soul group The Main Ingredient
Repeating, rhyming titles
Funny Funny (The Sweet)
(1971) ... most of us who were around in the '70s remember The Sweet for their run of glam rock anthems ~ Blockbuster and Ballroom Blitz are the two which immediately spring to mind but it was the lightweight frothy pop of Funny Funny which first launched their career. Other songs in similar style followed for a year or so, before they began to get a bit rockier
Honey Honey (Abba)
(1974) ,,, track on their Waterloo album covered by Sweet Dreams ~ giving the short-lived duo Polly Brown and Tony Jackson their only chart success
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In The Heat of The Morning (The Last Shadow Puppets)
(2008) ... cover of a late '60s David Bowie song, from The Age of the Understatement , debut album by The Last Shadow Puppets, the band formed as a side venture by Arctic Monkeys' singer Alex Turner
Newsround Tameside: 34 years ago ~ 1987
Somewhere Out There (Linda Ronstadt & James Ingram)
... heartwarming main theme from the film soundtrack An American Tail, the cartoon adventures of Fievel the refugee mouse and his relentless quest to be reunited with his 'lost' family
Under The Boardwalk (Bruce Willis)
... the actor best known at the time from the TV series Moonlighting but soon to become much more famous for the Die Hard films, showed a softer side in a brief spell as a recording artist. His version of the old Drifters song stormed the chart all the way to # 2, a second major hit hot on the heels of his first, a few months earlier, re-working The Staple Singers' soul classic Respect Yourself (highest position # 7)
Love In The First Degree (Bananarama)
,,,, a Scott Aitken Waterman production peaking at # 3, destined to became Bananarama's joint highest placed hit with Robert de Niro's Waiting which had reached the same position three years previously. In '89, their Comic Relief charity single Help! (with La Na Nee Nee Noo Noo, aka French and Saunders) made it three # 3s
Just To Get By (Babakoto)
... much-played on the radio but never troubled the Top 75, even after two re-releases. Drummer and songwriter Jules de Martino went on to work with other bands, finally achieving his greatest success in the '00s as one half of the duo The Ting Tings. Oh, and just for the record (hey ho!), a babakoto is a rare lemur from Madagascar (W)
My Baby Just Cares For Me (Nina Simone)
... recorded way back in the '50s, but gained a new lease of life and became a huge hit after featuring in a TV ad for a certain brand of perfume
Bow Down (The Housemartins)
... track which could easlly have been a single from the album they made at Yellow Two studios, Stockport, The People Who Grinned Themselves To Death, with backing vocals by the latest line-up of the locally based, previously chart-topping St Winifred's School choir, also featuring some rather splendid trumpet playing by Guy Barker and on piano, Pete Wingfield (top session man and 1975 hitmaker - Eighteen With A Bullet)
Twilight World (Swing Out Sister)
... taken from the first SoS album It's Better To Travel continuing in the same vein as their previous big hits Breakout and Surrender, but sadly, nowhere near as successful. Their music was often described as 'sophisti-pop' tinged with jazz and soul
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SECOND HOUR
You Haven't Done Nothin' (Stevie Wonder)
(1974) ... first single from the album Fulfillingness' First Finale, ahead of Boogie On Reggae Woman. With a funky clavinet riff to rival 1972's Superstition and a cameo guest appearance by The Jackson 5, You Haven't Done Nothin' is a pointed criticism of the US administration of President Richard Nixon ~ by no means the first time a set of lyrics by Stevie Wonder were a social commentary on the world around him .(W)
Just My Imagination (The Cranberries)
(1999) ... instantly endearing, championed by the late Terry Wogan on his Radio 2 breakfast show but sadly, missed out on a chart place in the UK. Thankfully, it was a different story beyond these shores: # 15 in Italy, # 10 in Belgium and... # 2 in Iceland
He's A Rebel (The Crystals)
... teaser track for our second featured year, first UK hit for the American girl group, written, before he was famous, by Gene Pitney
Absolutely Lyricless ~ the instrumental break
... two from the late '60s with a 'soul' connection
Soul Coaxing (Raymond Lefèvre)
(1968) ... relaxing, summery-sounding, string-driven tune much heard on Radio Luxembourg and the offshore pirate station Radio Caroline
Soul Limbo (Booker T & The MGs)
(1968) ... known to cricket fans everywhere as the Test Match Special theme... limbering (limbo-ing?) up to the wicket, maybe?
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Suddenly I See (KT Tunstall)
(2005) ... radio friendly tribute to 'female power' inspired by American musician/songwriter Patti Smith featuring a chugging rhythm with a guitar-bass focused beat... stylistically, described as a 'blues-country-pop hybrid' (W)
Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth) (George Harrison)
(1973)... lead single from the album Living In The Material World which reached # 9 in the UK and repeated the chart-topping success of My Sweet Lord in America. Give Me Love took over the top spot from My Love by Paul McCartney and Wings ~ the only time two Beatles ever held the top two chart positions in the US (W)
Newsround pre-Tameside: 59 years ago ~ 1962
Rock-a-Hula Baby (Elvis Presley)
... four Number Ones during the year to equal the previous year's total. Rock-a-Hula-Baby, a double A side with Can't Help Falling In Love, was the first of the four, from the Elvis film Blue Hawaii
Speak To Me Pretty (Brenda Lee)
... highest placed of three UK Top 10-ers in '62 - and ultimately the best showing of her chart career
Speedy Gonzales (Pat Boone)
... most of his hits were in the previous decade – but Speedy came along unashamedly as a bit of a novelty a few years later. A spoken intro sets the scene... there's a bit of a tale to tell..
The Young Ones (Cliff Richard & The Shadows)
... # 1 song from the film of the same name, featuring some particularly fine guitar work from Hank Marvin of the 'Shads'
Don't Ever Change (The Crickets)
... written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King ~ giving The Crickets their biggest UK hit (# 5) since the death of original front man Buddy Holly three years earlier. The lead vocal on Don't Ever Change is sung by Jerry Naylor (W)
Tell Me What He Said (Helen Shapiro)
(1962) ... terrific performance from Britain's top teen star at the time who was still a few months away from turning 16. After hitting the ground running with two consecutive chart toppers the previous year, Helen had to settle for # 2 this time out
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[W]: Source: Wikipedia
SHOW THEME:
Rhapsody In Blue (Rick Wakeman)
written by George Gershwin, arranged by Tony Visconti
from the album Rhapsodies (A&M Records, 1979
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.
- MW
