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The Show That Time Forgot ~ Sunday 07/11/2021

FIRST HOUR

Five Get Over Excited (The Housemartins)
(1987) ... first of three singles from their second  album, The People Who Grinned Themselves To Death,  recorded in Stockport, at Yellow Two studios

Xanadu (Olivia Newton John & ELO)
(1980) ...  title song of a film which has been largely forgotten with the passage of time ~ most people who actually saw it would probably agree that is hardly surprising. Written and produced by Jeff Lynne, with that typical ELO sound, Xanadu [the song] was a one-off coming together which went all the way to the top

Dyna-Mite (Mud) 
... from today's first featured year ~  for those of a certain age this will take you back to Thursday nights watching Top of The Pops. At the time, it was Mud's biggest hit  to date ~ climbing to # 4, but greater glories would follow soon enough. Their next single Tiger Feet was a surefire, gold plated No.1

Early '60s songs which were already 'ages old' 

Temptation (The Everly Brothers)
(1961)... Don and Phil took Temptation to the top of the chart, nearly three decades after it first saw the light of day in the 1934 film Going Hollywood... sung by Bing Crosby who also premiered this one.... [W]

Swinging On A Star (Big Dee Irwin with Little Eva)
(1963)... Eva - best known for The Loco Motion - teamed up with Big Dee for his one and only UK chart appearance, covering an instantly familiar old song from the 1944 motion picture Going My Way [W]

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When A Woman (Gabrielle)
(2000)... poppy, uptempo follow-up to the slow and soulful Rise, which had recently topped the chart

Newsround pre-Tameside: 48 years ago ~ 1973

Helen Wheels (Paul McCartney & Wings)
... a stand-alone Top 20 single in the UK, although in America it was also included on the album Band On The Run which followed a few months later.  Helen - or 'Hell On' - Wheels was the nickname Paul and his wife Linda gave to their Land Rover. The song name-checks several places on a McCartney family journey south from their home in Scotland  [W]

Joybringer (Manfred Mann's Earth Band)
... inspired by a much-loved classical melody, Jupiter - Bringer of Jollity - from The Planets by English composer Gustav Holst. Earth Band's line-up at this point consisted of Mick Rogers (guitar and vocals), Manfred Mann (keyboards, Minimoog synthesizer and vocals), Colin Pattenden (bass guitar) and Chris Slade (drums and vocals). Joybringer was a return to the chart for Manfred after constant success during the '60s with his eponymous previous band  [W]

My Friend Stan (Slade)
...  a 'first' in their long run of hits - a song title with no deliberate mis-spellings, although, continuing their desire to be different, the 'N's in the title were written back to front on the label and the picture sleeve (seen here below). My Friend Stan followed two No.1s and just missed out on making that a hat-trick. It was just a minor blip ~ their next release saw Noddy and co back on top, straight in at No.1 with the unforgettable, much loved  Merry Xmas Everybody

Nutbush City Limits (Ike & Tina Turner)
... a bigger hit in the UK than in the US ~  Nutbush is Tina's home town, out 'in the sticks' in Haywood, Tennessee - the reference to 'city limits' purely tongue in cheek. * The song is characterized by inventive guitar sounds, a clavinet, a substantial Moog synthesizer solo by Ike and a funky brass section *  [*W]

Sorrow (David Bowie) 
...  Top 3 single from Pin Ups, Bowie's album of favourite songs by different artists. The Merseys' original peaked at # 4 in 1966

Top of The World (The Carpenters) 
...  after making their name with mostly slow ballads, hearing Karen sing something bright and breezy and uptempo was a breath of fresh air

All The Way From Memphis (Mott The Hoople)
... story in a song about a rock 'n' roller on tour whose guitar is dispatched by mistake to 'Oriole'  (in Baltimore) instead of its intended destination ~ Memphis. The owner gets half way there before he realises that it's missing and then takes a month to track it down [W]

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SECOND HOUR

La Bamba (Los Lobos) 
(1987)... old Mexican folk song, given a fresh lease of life as a rock 'n' rolling, chart-topping film theme

Just A Notion (Abba)
(2021) ....third single released ahead of the eagerly awaited comeback album ~ Just A Notion is the cheeriest cheery tune I've heard in ages so it came as no surprise whatsoever to hear that it was originally recorded in their '70s heyday for the album Voulez Vous.  For whatever reason, it failed to make the final cut. Such was the abundance of riches Abba created at the time, perhaps they were simply spoiled for choice. Fast forward to 2021, the vocals from those 1978 sessions can now be heard over a newly created backing track. It's classic Abba, more reminiscent of their upbeat early era (Waterloo, Ring Ring...) than the more introspective later years

Reach Out I'll Be There (The Four Tops)
 ... teaser track for our second featured year ~ one of Motown's greatest ever hits in the UK, three weeks at # 1

Absolutely Lyricless ~ the instrumental break
... colourful names with TV and film connections

Blue Peter (Mike Oldfield) 
(1979)... the kids show famous for John Noakes, Shep the dog and sticky back plastic, had been on our screens for just over 20 years when the BBC decided the iconic theme tune -  originally known as Barnacle Bill - should be given a makeover for the impending new decade. Mike Oldfield, having had previous chart success with quirky instrumentals  rose magnificently to the challenge  with each stage of the re-arranging and recording process being captured on camera and shown on the programme. The revamped theme was released as a single and made the Top 20 

Scarlett O' Hara (Jet Harris & Tony Meehan)
(1963) ...  one of a handful of instrumental hits for the duo who were previously with The Shadows. Bonus points for knowing Scarlett O'Hara was a character in the big screen epic Gone With The Wind

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Waterfall (The Stone Roses) 
(1992)... you don't have to be a massive fan of The Stone Roses or the '90s Madchester music scene to enjoy this superb four minute slice of jangly guitar pop which, of all their singles must surely be up there as one of the most widely appealing 

Strange Little Girl (The Stranglers)
(1982)... written in 1974, re-recorded and released as the band's last single for EMI's Liberty label. Strange Little Girl is a quirky, haunting little song and a mischievous choice by the band as EMI had initially turned them down when they submitted the original version as their 'demo' [W]

Newsround pre-Tameside: 55 years ago ~ 1966

Little Man (Sonny & Cher)
... a year on from their chart topping I Got You Babe, the duo embarked on an ambitious tour of Europe, but without a single to promote. While in London they recorded the vocals for the backing track they had brought along. The result - Little Man, a UK Top 10-er which gave them their biggest hit in Europe, its continental flavour with Greek and gypsy overtones striking an immediate chord, Its popularity was boosted by numerous television appearances. In The Netherlands, Sweden and Belgium it shot to the top of the charts in record time and stayed there for many weeks [W]

My Mind's Eye (The Small Faces)
...  fourth in their run of seven Top 10 hits through the middle years of the decade. My Mind's Eye was the follow-up to All Or Nothing which reached # 1

Morningtown Ride (The Seekers)
...   the train whistle was a blowing ~ much played on the BBC radio request show, Junior Choice, presented by the very sadly missed Ed 'Stewpot' Stewart. An instrumental version of Morningtown Ride by the pianist and band leader Stan Butcher became the show's theme tune

Dead End Street (The Kinks)
...  their third Top 5 single of the year, hot on the heels of the classic summer # 1  Sunny Afternoon

What Would I Be (Val Doonican)
...top songwriting team Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent gave the king of easy listening and Saturday night TV  his biggest chart hit, peaking at # 2

You Keep Me Hangin' On (The Supremes)
... Motown classic successfully revived 20 years later by Kim Wilde ~ one of her biggest ever hits (1986, # 2)

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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 07/11/2021:

https://www.questmedianetwork.co.uk/on-demand/

 

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