FIRST HOUR
Heaven Must Have Sent You (The Elgins)
(1966, US, 1971, UK) ... Motown toe-tapper which finally took off over here on the Northern Soul scene
Delta Lady (Joe Cocker)
(1969)... Top 10 single for the Sheffield- born singer, from his second album co-produced by Leon Russell, who also wrote Delta Lady, on which he played piano, organ and guitar
Overjoyed (Stevie Wonder)
... single taken from the album In Square Circle, in the first of today's featured years. The sleeve note for Overjoyed mentions the 'environmental percussion' sounds that can be heard on the track, including 'crickets, nightingale and additional bird sounds, an ocean, pebbles in a pond and crushing leaves' (Source: Wikipedia)
Out-of-season hits inspiring thoughts of summer ~ and simple pleasures
Day Trip To Bangor (Fiddler's Dram)
(1979-80) ... one-off Top 3 sing-a-long for a group of musicians and singers who met through the University of Kent and the local folk scene
On The Beach (Cliff Richard & The Shadows)
(1964) ... upbeat, feelgood song from the soundtrack of Wonderful Life. On The Beach was undoubtedly one of the high points of Cliff & The Shads' third film musical following the success of The Young Ones and Summer Holiday
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Grey Seal (Elton John)
(1973) ... much played track on the double album Goodbye Yellow Road. I always thought it deserved to be a single, but with such an abundance of riches to choose from, the likes of Candle In The Wind, Bennie And The Jets and not least, the title track, Grey Seal was never likely to be a contender. This was actually its second incarnation ~ an earlier version had been the B-side of a non-charting 1970 single Rock and Roll Madonna and was later included on the album Lady Samantha, a compilation of rare EJ recordings from the vaults
Pleasant Valley Sunday (Carole King)
(1966) ... officially listed as a 'demo version' * of the song co-written with her then husband Gerry Goffin which later became a hit for The Monkees. The title was inspired by a street named Pleasant Valley Way, in West Orange, New Jersey where they were living at the time. According to Wikipedia, 'the lyrics were a social commentary on status symbols, creature comforts, life in suburbia and keeping up with the Joneses. ( * included on the 2012 compilation, The Legendary Demos). We'll dip into the Goffin & King songbook again later on.....
Newsround Tameside: 35 years ago ~ 1986
Bad Boys (Miami Sound Machine)
... featuring lead singer Gloria Estefan, who was set to become a mega-successful solo artist by the end of the decade
Hounds of Love (Kate Bush)
... Top 20 single - title track of Kate's fifth studio album released the previous year which had already supplied two sizeable hits Running Up That Hill and Cloudbusting
Just Say No (Grange Hill cast)
... the BBC's long running children's series hit the headlines when one of its most popular characters, Zammo McGuire began experimenting with drugs and became addicted to heroin. The controversial storyline sent out a powerful anti-drugs message to young viewers, echoed by the song Just Say No, which was released as a single and made it into the Top 10
Digging Your Scene (Blow Monkeys)
... Top 20 hit here and in America for the 'new wave sophisti-pop' band led by 'Dr Robert' - aka Robert Howard
Sheep (The Housemartins)
... the lads from Hull were awaiting their big breakthrough when their second single Sheep made the lower reaches of the chart in the early spring of '86. Within weeks, they finally struck gold third time lucky when Happy Hour made the Top 3. By the end of the year, Caravan of Love had taken them all the way to the top
Borderline (Madonna)
... second time around for the song which had been only a minor hit on its original release in the UK. Fast forward two years, Madonna had become one of the biggest stars on the planet, and Borderline had no trouble at all making it into the Top 3 as a re-issue
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SECOND HOUR
Fun Fun Fun (The Beach Boys)
(1964)... reached # 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 but missed out in the UK where they were still to enjoy their first major success. It's fairly typical early Beach Boys surf pop, about teenagers having fun, loving every minute, seemingly without a care in the world. Here the main character 'takes her daddy's car and with the radio blasting goes cruising as fast she can...' until, inevitably, Daddy finds out and takes his T-Bird (Ford Thunderbird) away
There She Goes (Sixpence None The Richer)
(1999) ... the original by Liverpool group The La's had been a minor hit in the late '80s, but finally made the Top 20 as a reissue in 1990. Sixpence None The Richer gave it a much gentler, stripped back acoustic feel
No Regrets (The Walker Brothers)
... teaser track for our second featured year when the unrelated trio of ‘brothers’ reunited and scored their first UK Top 10-er in almost a decade
Absolutely Lyricless ~ the instrumental break
... completely contrasting '50s tunes ~ from 'PG' to 'PB'
Peter Gunn theme (Duane Eddy)
(1959)... Henry Mancini's theme tune for the American TV show of the same name.UK Top 10-er bolstered by that famous trademark twangy guitar sound, Fast forward to the mid '80s. an updated version by Art of Noise featuring Duane Eddy reached # 8, almost equaling the success of the '59 original
Puffin' Billy (Melodi Light Orchestra)
(1952) ... theme tune of Children's Favourites, BBC radio's long running record request show for younger listeners on the Light Programme, the popular music station which split into Radio 1 and Radio 2 in 1967. Puffin' Billy has also been heard on countless steam train nostalgia shows and documentaries, as a constant reminder of its original title
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One Fine Day (Carole King)
(1980)... continuing the thread of thought from earlier ~ here Carole revisits the song she and Gerry Goffin had written in 1963 for The Chiffons
The Letter (The Box Tops)
(1967).., by far the biggest of the Boxtops' handful of hits, a US # 1 and UK # 5, signed, sealed and delivered post haste in less than two minutes
Reflections: 45 years ago ~ 1976
Ships In The Night (Be Bop Deluxe)
...band from Wakefield who had been gigging for years on the pub rock circuit ~ sadly chart success was short lived, The band split amid high hopes of solo success for charismatic front man and songwriter Bill Nelson, but sadly it wasn't to be
Love Really Hurts Without You (Billy Ocean)
... much played Motown-esque crowd pleaser which just missed out on a No. 1 ~ further successes followed but the top spot eluded him for ten years ~ he finally got there with When The Going Gets Tough (The Tough Get Going) in '86
Kippers For Tea (Bob Williamson)
... Bolton 'folk comedian' who made regular appearances on Granada TV in the '70s ~ sending up Brotherhood of Man's chart-topping Eurovision winner Save Your Kisses For Me
I Love To Love (But My Baby Loves To Dance) (Tina Charles)
... three weeks at # 1, a well deserved success in her own right for the long-time session singer
Jolene (Dolly Parton)
,,, finally became a hit here three years after topping the US country chart. Dolly is on record as saying that Jolene was inspired by a red-headed bank clerk who flirted with her husband Carl Dean at his local bank branch around the time they were newly married (Source: Wikipedia)
Girls Girls Girls (Sailor)
...feisty Top 10 follow up to A Glass of Champagne which sounded as though it could have been from a film or stage musical ~ fun from start to finish
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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.
