FIRST HOUR
FIRST HOUR
Listen To The Music (The Doobie Brothers)
(1972, US, 1974, UK) ... plenty of airplay eventually paid off to make it a Top 30 hit here, second time around
Don't Stop The Carnival (Alan Price Set)
(1968) ... surprisingly, an out of season hit in the depths of winter, but hard to resist playing on a day when we have a real, live Carnival going on in Denton
Wild World (Maxi Priest)
... a second reggae hit version of Cat Stevens' song, following in the footsteps of Jimmy Cliff, who took it into the Top 10 in 1970, soon after the original had its first airing on the album Tea For The Tillerman
Sedaka songs sung by someone else
Breaking Up Is Hard To Do (The Partridge Family)
(1972) ... the group whose TV series of the same name launched the hugely successful career of teen heart-throb David Cassidy. Their revival of Neil Sedaka's hit from the previous decade reached # 3 in the UK ~ their highest chart placing, a well chosen song which perfectly suited their style
Love Will Keep Us Together (Captain and Tenille)
(1975) ... written by Neil Sedaka (for his album The Tra La Days Are Over), it was crying out to be a hit single . The husband and wife duo's upbeat, ultra poppy version ticked all the boxes although, chartwise in the UK, #32 was its highest position. They had to wait five years before they finally made the UK Top 10 with Do That To Me One More Time.
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Bad Blood (Neil Sedaka)
(1975)... and now the man himself ~ with a single from his album Overnight Success which topped the US Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks. Bad Blood, featuring uncredited backing vocals by Elton John was released on Elton's Rocket Records label,. In America it became the most successful single of Neil's long career, but a very different story this side of the Atlantic where it flopped completely. .
Newsround Tameside: 33 years ago ~ 1988
Tears Run Rings (Marc Almond)
... an outstanding single which deserved to do much better than # 26. I would go so far as to say it was probably his finest hour since the heady heights he had scaled a few years earlier with Soft Cell
Find My Love (Fairground Attraction)
... finding a follow up to a No. 1 song is never easy at the best of times but a particularly tough call when that song is ...Perfect . Expectations were running high for the next single ~ but Fairground Attraction rose admirably to the challenge and made the Top 10
Breakfast In Bed (UB40 with Chrissie Hynde)
... three years after topping the chart with I Got You Babe, The Pretenders' singer made another guest appearance with the boys from Birmingham, this time with a song originally written for Dusty Springfield's 1969 album Dusty In Memphis. Fast forward to 2021, Chrissie has recently celebrated her 70th birthday
Don't Call Me Baby (Voice of The Beehive)
... drummer Woody Woodgate had enjoyed huge success with Madness, who had recently gone their separate ways - this Top 20 hit was included on Voice of The Beehive's debut album ~ Let It Bee. Someone's imagination must have been really buzzing to come up with that one...
With A Little Help From My Friends (Wet Wet Wet)
... chart-topping charity single by two completely contrasting music acts ~ this was the poppier and by far the most played of the two sides the other was She's Leaving Home by Billy Bragg and Car Tivey. Both tracks were included on a Childline album involving several other artists re-creating songs from the Beatles' Sgt Pepper
Way Behind Me (The Primitives)
... Coventry trio ~ singer Tracy Tracy, guitarist Paul Court and drummer Tig Williams never quite managed to repeat the success of Crash, their single earlier in the year which stormed the Top 5. Way Behind Me deserved to do as well but stalled at # 36 and subsequent releases fared no better
Domino Dancing (Pet Shop Boys)
... lead single from the duo's third studio album, Introspective adding another Top 10-er to their tally in the UK, and topping the charts in Finland, Spain and Poland
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SECOND HOUR
Needle In A Haystack (The Velvelettes)
(1964)... classic Northern soul floor filler, never a hit in the UK. The Velvelettes also recorded the original version of (He Was) Really Sayin' Something, successfully covered in the '80s by Bananarama with Fun Boy Three (played on the show a couple of weeks ago)
Glorious Day (Embrace) (2005) ... one of eighteen Top 40 hits for the biggest band to emerge from the West Yorkshire town of Brighouse since the Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band gave us the Floral Dance (1977, # 2) [ * see also Smokie, later this hour]
Take Good Care Of Yourself (The Three Degrees)
... teaser track for our next featured year from the trio at the forefront of the Philadelphia sound
Absolutely Lyricless ~ instrumental break
... from bluegrass country to bossa nova
Orange Blossom Special (The Spotnicks)
(1962) ... Swedish group apparently renowned for their ground-breaking electronic guitar sound... and the space suit costumes they wore on stage
Soul Bossa Nova (Quincy Jones)
(1962) ... instantly familiar, which is hardly surprising having been 'borrowed' as theme music or backing music by numerous TV and radio shows over the years. It was sampled / re-worked by Canadian hip hop band Dream Warriors for their 1990 hit My Definition Of A Boombastic Jazz Style
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The Incidentals (Alisha's Attic)
(1998) ... arguably the most memorable of the duo's handful of hits in the late '90s. Shelley and Karen are the daughters of Brian Poole, original frontman of The Tremeloes in the early '60s
I'm A Boy (The Who)
(1966)... matching the success of My Generation the previous year to become their joint highest placed chart hit, peaking at # 2. Amazingly, for one of the biggest bands of the '60s, they never had a #1 single
Newsround Tameside: 46 years ago ~ 1975
If You Think You Know How To Love Me (Smokie)
... having mentioned Brighouse earlier *, from just a few miles up the road in Bradford, Smokie began their run of hits through the second half of the '70s with a Top 3 song penned by the prolific Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman (successful writers for The Sweet, Mud, Suzi Quatro and others)
Hold On To Love (Peter Skellern)
... he had a distinctive style which attracted a loyal following Hold On To Love provided a second taste of chart success, three years after his debut with You're A Lady
Funky Moped (Jasper Carrott)
... Jasper - real name Bob Davis - started out as a folk club compere and singer in and around Birmingham, eventually switching to stand-up comedy. Funky Moped was a novelty song which gained plenty of airplay and went on to reach the dizzy heights of # 5 on the singles chart... although millions bought the single for the other side - a send-up of the children's TV series The Magic Roundabout - strictly for adults only
L'L'Lucy (Mud)
... having achieved huge success over the previous couple of years, Mud moved to a new record label, working with new writers and producers. L'L'Lucy, their first single after signing with Private Stock, continued their run of Top 10-ers
' Harmour Love (Syreeta)
... 'harm(our)nising nicely in the background is none other than Stevie Wonder, Syreeta's long-time friend, music mentor, and previously her 'other half'
There Goes My First Love (The Drifters)
... peaking at # 3, one of the biggest hits of their mega-successful UK revival, more than a decade after their initial success
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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
