FIRST HOUR
In The Middle of Nowhere (Dusty Springfield)
(1965)..... straight in with an instantly catchy chorus and hook line ~ classic '60s feelgood song with Dusty at her poppiest,
You're The Reason Why (The Rubettes)
(1976) .... a very under-rated single which deserved to do much better than a lowly # 28. Sounding more '60s than '70s, it's got a bit of the old Mersey Sound feel to it, pure pop with more of a stripped back production than previous Rubettes hits and most other chart singles around at the time.
Rock The Casbah (The Clash)
... second time around for this 1982 classic in the first of today's featured years, hot on the heels of a previous Clash reissue ~ Should I Stay or Should I Go, which had recently topped the chart
Summer, sun and Sundays - in three very short songs
Here Comes The Summer (The Undertones)
(1979)... fast and frantic Top 40 hit for the band from Derry, Northern Ireland, best known for Teenage Kicks, all-time favourite of the late John Peel. Frontman Feargal Sharkey went on to achieve a handful of hits in the '80s as a solo artist including A Good Heart (1985, # 1)
Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon (Queen)
(1976).... shortest of our 'shorts', at just over a minute long ~ another of those Freddie Mercury 'musical hall moments' like the recently played Seaside Rendezvous from the same album, A Night At The Opera
Sunshine Lollipops and Rainbows (Lesley Gore)
(1965)... cheery US hit which you might recognise from the film Ski Party released the same year, or the more recent Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs (2009). It also featured in an episode of The Simpsons. Lesley Gore had just two major hits in the UK - It's My Party (1963, # 9) and Maybe I Know (1964, # 20). Sadly, Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows missed out completely despite the involvement of two famous or eventually famous names ~ Marvin Hamlisch wrote the song and Quincy Jones was the producer
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All My Loving (Prince Buster & The All Stars)
(1968) ... Beatles cover by the iinfluential Jamaican singer, songwriter and producer credited for shaping the course of Jamaican contemporary music, creating a legacy of work that would be drawn upon later by many reggae and ska artists (Source: Wikipedia)
Newsround Tameside: 30 years ago ~ 1991
Walking Down Madison (Kirsty MacColl)
... Kirsty added the lyrics to a new song sent to her as a demo by 'Johnny Marr, just a week after The Smiths split up. Featuring a rap by Manchester DJ Aniff Akinola, it had a noticeably different feel to most of her previous work
I'm Too Sexy (Right Said Fred)
... seven weeks at # 2 during the record-breaking reign of Bryan Adams - Everything I Do (I Do It For You).which held on to the # 1 spot for a record breaking 16 weeks
Heavenly Pop Hit (The Chills)
... New Zealand band with one of the most hummable songs ever - sadly not a hit, heavenly or otherwise, in the UK despite plenty of airplay from Simon Mayo who chose it as his Record of The Week on the BBC Radio 1 breakfast show. One of New Zealand's more successful musical exports is on the playlist in the second hour of the show *
Happy Together (Jason Donovan)
... chartwise, it proved just as popular as The Turtles' original back in '67 ~ numbers-wise, it managed to go two places higher, reaching # 10
The Size Of A Cow (The Wonder Stuff)
... first time in the Top 10 after several lower placed chart entries for the band from Stourbridge, West Midlands
Footsteps Following Me (Frances Nero)
... American soul and jazz singer who had recorded for Motown in the '60s After a lengthy hiatus, in 1989, she was contacted by Ian Levine, a British record producer and promoter of Northern soul music. They recorded Footsteps Following Me, written by Levine with Ivy Jo Hunter and Steven Wagner. Her first recording for 23 years, the single reached # 17 in the UK in 1991 and was dubbed by British disc jockeys "the soul anthem of the nineties" (Source: Wikipedia)
The One I Love (REM)
... they were on a roll with no fewer than six Top 40 hits during the year. The One I Love had been their debut hit in the US back in '87
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SECOND HOUR
If You Can't Give Me Love (Suzi Quatro)
(1978).... after a bit of a lull chart-wise in the mid 70s, Suzi returned with a mellower sound, continuing her connection with writers Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, in a similar style to the hits they were currently writing for her Rak Records label mates Smokie
This Day Will Last Forever (Ocean Colour Scene]
(2005) ... radio friendly feelgood single by the band who came to prominence during the '90s Britpop era. Despite plenty of airplay, it failed to make the Top 40
Caroline (The Fortunes)
... teaser track for our second featured year ~ the theme song of Radio Caroline, which started broadcasting off the south east coast in the same year ... and went on to launch a sister station Caroline North, anchored in the Irish Sea, just off the Isle of Man
Absolutely Lyricless ~ the instrumental break
Festival Time (San Remo Golden Strings)
(1967, US, 1971-72 UK) ... from the second it starts, you can tell that this is a gold-plated Motown / Northern Soul dance floor filler. Guaranteed to get toes a tapping ~ just a fab tune by a group of musicians who played on many of the classic Motown hits of the '60s
Egyptian Reggae (Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers)
(1977) ...despite the Sahara sand-dance style and seemingly tongue-firmly-in-cheek title, it was based on a genuine Jamaican reggae tune by Earl Zero - None Shall Escape The Judgement
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Drop The Pilot (Joan Armatrading)
1983) ... singer-songwriter who was an occasional but very welcome visitor to chart land in the late '70s and early '80s. Drop The Pilot was her third Top 30 single, peaking at # 11, three years on from her then most recent, hit Me Myself I (1980) and seven years after her first ~ Love and Affection (1976)
I Got You (Split Enz) *
(1980) ... # 1 in their home country New Zealand and across the ocean in Australia. It was to be the one and only UK chart hit for Split Enz but brothers Tim and Neil Finn went on to have further success in the late '80s and through the '90s with Crowded House
Newsround pre-Tameside: 57 years ago ~ 1964
Where Did Our Love Go (The Supremes)
... one of the first Motown hits to cross the Atlantic, although it was originally released here on EMI's Stateside label. The first of many for The Supremes, a run which would continue through until the early '70s
Tobacco Road (The Nashville Teens)
.... based around one of the most stunning guitar riffs, ever! The band's ultra cool name was their only connection with Nashville ~ they were actually from Surrey
You're No Good (The Swinging Blue Jeans)
.... having made their mark with The Hippy Hippy Shake and Good Golly Miss Molly, the lads from Liverpool made it a hat-trick of hit cover versions ~ songs which had already been successful in America for the original artists
Can't Buy Me Love (The Beatles)
... The Fab Four with their fourth # 1 and third million seller which also featured in their big screen debut, A Hard Day's Night
I'll Be Back (The Beatles)
.... last track on side two of A Hard Day's Night (the album) ~ one of the songs which didn't make it into the film
My Boy Lollipop (Millie)
(1964) ... Jamaican singer Millie Small was just 16 years old when she was discovered by respected music producer and Island Records founder Chris Blackwell. My Boy Lollipop became her signature song and would claim its place in history as the first commercially successful song in the ska-bluebeat style. Millie sadly died last year, aged 72
Don't Throw Your Love Away (The Searchers)
... their third and final # 1 had started out as a fairly modest sized American hit for The Orions. The Searchers' previous chart-toppers were Needles And Pins (also in '64) and Sweets For My Sweet ('63)
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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
