FIRST HOUR
Love On A Mountain Top (Robert Knight)
(1973-74) ... his biggest hit as a singer in his own right, reaching the Top 10, having already enjoyed huge success as the writer of the much covered, ever popular Everlasting Love, a UK # 1 for Love Affair
Say You Don't Mind (Colin Blunstone)
(1972) ... first of two solo hits within the space of a few months - I Don't Believe In Miracles was the follow-up - by the singer who had first found fame in the mid '60s with The Zombies
Where Is The Love (Mica Paris & Will Downing)
... from the first of today's featured years ~ a song that had previously been a hit for a different duo in a different decade ~ Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway ( 1972, # 29)
An unlikely underwater connection:
She'd Rather Be With Me (The Turtles)
(1967) ... the highest placed (# 4) in a hat-trick of hits for the American band. Fair to say, though, the other two are probably just as well known, Happy Together (1967, # 12) and Elenore (1968, # 7)
Octopus's Garden (The Beatles)
(1969) ... written and sung by Ringo for the Abbey Road album, continuing the sub-aqua theme of the Fab Four's animated film adventure, Yellow Submarine
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You're Moving Out Today (Carole Bayer Sager)
(1977) having been a prolific songwriter * this was Carole's only chart success as a singer, co-written with Bette Midler and Bruce Roberts * One of her best known songs, A Groovy Kind of Love has been massively successful in different decades for The Mindbenders and Phil Collins
Love The One You're With (Stephen Stills)
(1971)... lead single from his debut self-titled studio album in November 1970. The title was Inspired by a comment from musician Billy Preston, It became his biggest hit single in the US, peaking at # 14 on the Billboard Hot 100. David Crosby and Graham Nash, his bandmates from Crosby, Stills & Nash added background vocals . The song has also been covered by artists ranging from The Isley Brothers to Bucks Fizz to Luther Vandross.(Source: Wikipedia
Newsround Tameside: 32 years ago ~ 1989
I Beg Your Pardon (Kon Kan)
... Canadian synth-pop duo with a cleverly constructed single which takes a cutting from Rose Garden - a country-pop crossover hit for Lynn Anderson way back in 1971 - and, tongue firmly in cheek. plants it in a completely different kind of song. Award yourself several bonus points if you also recognised Kon Kan's 'borrowed' title from the lyrics of Rose Garden
Beauty Is Only Skin Deep (Aswad)
... a year on from the chart-topping Don't Turn Around, Aswad deserved to do much better than a # 31 with this '60s toe tapper which had previously been a '60s hit for The Temptations
Hit The Ground (The Darling Buds)
... band from Newport, South Wales who created melodic, hook-driven, short-duration singles. They were considered part of the short lived "blonde" movement - indie rock band fronted by blonde female singer with all other members being dark-haired males - others of similar inclination included The Primitives and Transvision Vamp (Source: Wikipedia)
Help! (Bananarama / Lananeeneenoonoo)
... Comic Relief charity single released ahead of the second Red Nose Day in March '89. Lananeeneenoonoo?! You'll know them better as...French & Saunders. Like the other Bananarama hits in the late '80s era, Help! was a Stock Aitken Waterman production
The Beat(en) Generation (The The)
... one of the strangest group names ever to grace the Top 20. The The had an ever-changing line-up, with several well known names making one-off or occasional guest appearances
Celebrate The World (Womack & Womack)
... single from the duo's fourth album Conscience which had previously given us Teardrops, a Top 3 hit the year before
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SECOND HOUR
Substitute (Clout)
(1978)... power ballad by a all-girl group from South Africa, 'giving it some welly' – which might explain their choice of name?!
Big Sur (The Thrills)
(2003) ... band from Ireland who sounded a bit like The Beach Boys, name-checking The Monkees in a song named after a coastal region of California
Move Over Darling (Doris Day)
... teaser track for our second featured year ~ title song of the film in which she starred with James Garner. Very nearly 20 years later, Tracey Ullman matched the original's chart success, reaching the same peak of # 8
Absolutely Lyricless ~ the instrumental break ... thinking outside the box - or possibly in it...
Pepper Box (The Peppers)
(1974) ... one hit wonder from France, crossed the channel and made our Top 20
Music Box Dancer (Frank Mills)
(1978) ... Canadian piano player with a worldwide hit ~ much played in the UK but never charted, despite being chosen as the BBC's theme music for the '78 World Cup in Argentina
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It's A Sin (Years and Years)
(2021)... poignant re-imagining of the Pet Shop Boys classic, stripped back to just piano and the voice of Olly Alexander, who played the main character in the Channel 4 series of the same name
Mr and Mrs Regards (The Factotums)
(1969)... group from our own area ** who built up a loyal following in the mid '60s and eventually landed a record deal. The Factotums released a succession of singles which were well received, sold in modest quantities regionally but sadly failed to break through on to the national chart. This was one of their final recordings - a song written by a then unknown Ray - soon to be 'Gilbert' - O'Sullivan (** All four members of The Factotums hailed from Audenshaw and Droylsden - and met at Audenshaw Grammar School).
You can read more on the excellent Manchester Beat website: https://www.manchesterbeat.com/index.php/groups1/factotums-audenshaw-droylsden
Reflections: 57 years ago ~ 1964
Not Fade Away (The Rolling Stones)
... The Stones' third chart single but the first to reach the Top 10 ~ their version of a song co-written by Buddy Holly (under his real name Charles Hardin Holly) and Norman Petty, released as the B side of Oh Boy! (1957-58, # 3)
Viva Las Vegas (Elvis Presley with The Jordanaires)
... from the film of the same name, widely considered to be one of Elvis's best big screen appearances. ZZ Top successfully revitalised the song in the early '90s
Anyone Who Had A Heart (Cilla Black)
... Burt Bacharach and Hal David song which gave Cilla her first of two # 1s just a few months apart ~ You're My World was the follow up. Anyone Who Had A Heart had recently been a US Top 10-er for Dionne Warwick who was about to make her UK debut with a different Bacharach and David song, coming up shortly...
Baby Can I Take You Home (The Animals) 2.17
... first time on the chart for the North East-based rock / rhythm and blues band ~ just one release away from one of THE classic singles of the '60s, still much played, the # 1 House of The Rising Sun
Walk On By (Dionne Warwick)
... in America it was her Top 10 follow-up to Anyone Who Had A Heart.and fared just as well here. Over the years Walk On By has been covered by The Stranglers, Average White Band, Sybil, Gabrielle and a few more besides
Mockingbird Hill (The Migil Five) 2.42
... the 'Five' started out in North London as the backing group of club singer Lennie Peters, who, nearly a decade later, went on to win TV's Opportunity Knocks and top the charts as the male half of Peters & Lee who had a # 1 in 1973, Welcome Home
I Think of You (The Merseybeats) 2.24
... their million-selling biggest hit (# 5). Within a year, The Merseybeats had gone their separate ways but founder members Tony Crane and Billy Kinsley continued as a duo ~ adopting the shorter name The Merseys and beating their previous best placing with Sorrow (1966, # 4)
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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
