FIRST HOUR
Howzat (Sherbet)
(1976)... hugely successful band from Australia with their one and only hit here
Tainted Love (Gloria Jones)
(1964) ... classic Northern soul floor filler - the original '60s version of the song that went on to be a #.1 for Soft Cell in the early '80s. Legend has it that Marc Almond and Dave Ball first came across Gloria's record on a jukebox when they were students at Leeds Polytechnic. Later, after teaming up as Soft Cell, they set about re-working Tainted Love as an electro-pop classic for a new generation
Never Gonna Give You Up (Musical Youth)
... after debuting with the # 1 Pass The Dutchie, this was to be their only other Top 10-er ~ in the first of today's featured years
' 60s one hit wonders with a hot air balloon connection
Up Up And Away (Johnny Mann Singers)
(1967) ... American arranger, composer, conductor leading a group who had been supplying backing vocals for numerous hits by other artists since the late '50s. They achieved success in their own right in the UK when their recording of Up Up And Away managed to overtake the US hit version by Fifth Dimension to reach the Top 10
I Can't Let Maggie Go (Honeybus)
(1968) ... featured in a famous TV ad for the slimmers' bread, Nimble - the one with the hot air balloon(s)
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I'll Be Around (Detroit Spinners)
(1972) ... started out as the B-side reached # 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was No.1 for five weeks on the R&B chart with sales of over a million. It was also the start of a very fruitful working relationship with producer Thom Bell. A string of hits would follow throughout the '70s, including the likes of Could It Be I'm Falling In Love and Ghetto Child which also did well in the UK. I'll Be Around deserved to be on that list as well, but sadly never made the breakthrough this side of the pond
Newsround Tameside: 38 years ago ~ 1983
Let's Dance (David Bowie)
... # 1 single and title track of what is still his best selling album. '83 was a year when Bowie blended into the mainstream as never before, gaining a much broader fan base in the process. Produced by Nile Rodgers, the album included two further singles Modern Love and China Girl which were also hugely popular, peaking at # 2
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Rip It Up (Orange Juice)
... only time in the Top 40 for the band from Glasgow, but singer Edwyn Collins would return to the upper half of the chart a dozen years later with A Girl Like You (1995, # 4)
Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye (Bananarama)
... instantly catchy chorus worked just as well - in fact, even better - for Bananarama as it had done for one hit wonder group Steam back in 1970. Chart-wise the new version ( highest position # 5) managed to overtake the original (# 9)
Fields of Fire (400 Miles) (Big Country)
... Scottish band who struck gold with their melodic, anthemic rock, infused with traditional Celtic folk music, using guitars to re-create the sounds of bagpipes and fiddles
The House That Jack Built (Tracie)
... singer championed by Paul Weller who had recently been doing a bit of 'building' of his own, forming a new band The Style Council and launching Respond Records, an new independent record label ~ Tracie was one of its first signings
Don't Stop That Crazy Rhythm (Modern Romance)
... dance pop with elements of Afro-Cuban and mambo, featuring the distinctive trumpet and horn sounds of John Du Prez (Source: Wikipedia)
Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) (Eurythmics)
... worldwide million seller for Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox, previously of The Tourists. Their change of direction as a duo had taken a couple of years to develop fully but from this point onwards, the success of Eurythmics would be at an entirely different level
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SECOND HOUR
Sunshine Day (Osibisa)
(1976) ... band from Ghana and Nigeria bringing a blast of warmth and good cheer to the UK in the depths of winter
Lift Me Up (Geri Halliwell)
(1999) ... Ginger Spice flying solo, straight in at No.1, winning a chart battle with Baby Spice Emma Bunton's "What I Am" by 33,000 copies
I'll Never Find Another You (The Seekers)
... chart-topping UK debut for the Australian vocal group which they quickly followed up with A World Of Own (# 3) before returning with another No 1 a few months later ~ The Carnival Is Over
Absolutely Lyricless ~ the instrumental break
... with TV science and medical connections
Oxygene pt IV (Jean Michel Jarre)
(1977) .... UK chart debut for the French composer and a pioneer in the electronic, ambient and new-age genres, who became renowned for spectacular outdoor events featuring his music, vast laser displays, large projections and fireworks.(Source: Wikipedia). Oxygene Pt IV was borrowed by ITV as the theme tune of Where There's Life, an early evening series on medical matters presented by Dr Miriam Stoppard...
House of The King (Focus)
(1971, 1973)... Dutch 'prog' rockers with a track which originally appeared on their debut album. Two years later it re-surfaced as the B side of their Top 10 single Sylvia and became the theme tune of ITV's science show Don't Ask Me. Three of its regular panel of experts became household names ~ the aforementioned Miriam Stoppard handled medical matters, botanist David Bellamy answered questions on plant life and the world of nature ... but the undoubted star of the show was its resident boffin - or some might say - 'mad scientist' Magnus Pyke
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Gonna Make You An Offer You Can't Refuse (Jimmy Helms)
(1973)... Top 10 single for the American soul singer who hits you straight away with that stunning falsetto voice. Further success eluded him until the late '80s-early '90s when he re-emerged as the front man of Londonbeat. Their biggest hit I've Been Thinking About You (1990, # 2) was on the show recently
Charlemagne (Blossoms)
(2016)... can it really be five years since Stockport's finest released their debut album with the radio friendly Charlemagne as its opening track and lead single?!
Reflections: 56 years ago ~ 1965
Turn! Turn! Turn! (The Byrds)
...with words borrowed from the Bible by legendary folk singer-songwriter Pete Seeger
Girl Don't Come (Sandie Shaw)
... Top 3 single at the start of the year - by the time it ended Sandie had another four hits to her credit
Stop! In The Name of Love (The Supremes)
...their third Top 10-er following the previous year's Where Did Our Love Go (# 3) and Baby Love (# 1). Their only release to fall short in this period was the the only one which didn't have word 'love' in the title~ Come See About Me (# 21)
We Gotta Get Out Of This Place (The Animals)
... Chas Chandler - who went on to manage Jimi Hendrix and Slade - plays the distinctive, instantly recognisable bass lead. Massively popular with US Armed Forces serving in Vietnam, We Gotta... came from the American husband and wife writing partnership, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil
This Little Bird (Marianne Faithfull)
... her third hit in the Top 10, less than 12 months after debuting with As Tears Go By
Ticket To Ride (The Beatles)
....with John Lennon on lead vocal, the Fab Four's latest chart topper was soon to be included in their new film Help! and appeared on the album of the same name
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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)
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
