Toppermost of the Poppermost - UK Number Ones : part 2 - The 1960s

[Johnboy]

i love the Last Time and it's a cinch to play on the guitar

new page big tongue

[daf]

Britain's No. 1 vocal group?, it's . . .

191.  Unit Four Plus Two - Concrete & Clay



From : 4 – 10 April 1965
Weeks : 1
Flip side : When I Fall In Love    
Bonus : At The Barbican

In 1962, Brian Parker, then the guitar player and songwriter with The Hunters, decided to form his own vocal harmony group. He asked his friend David 'Buster' Meikle to join him. They asked singer Tommy Moeller and Peter Moules, who were at school together, to join their group which they called Unit 4.

Unit 4 was later joined by Russ Ballard on guitar and Robert 'Bob' Henrit on drums (forming the + 2) for a six piece, four-part vocal harmony group. Moeller was lead singer and frontman, from the first show as the Unit 4 vocal group to the last show as Unit 4 + 2 as vocal group with instruments.

Due to ill-health and a dislike of performing live, Brian Parker left the band, but remained involved as co-songwriter with Tommy Moeller for all of the band's original recordings. His place at live performances was taken by Howard 'Lem' Lubin. In around 1967 when they recorded their second album, Rodney Garwood replaced Peter Moules on bass (who had taken up bass when the band changed from a vocal group to a pop band) and Hugh Halliday replaced Bob Henrit.



As Unit 4 + 2, they issued their debut single, on Decca Records called "The Green Fields" - which included the only performance with the band of banjo player Nigel Snook - (b/w "Swing Down Chariot"), which reached #48 in the UK in February 1964.

Despite their wildly optimistic claim to be "Britain's No. 1 vocal group", nobody was buying it, and their second single "Sorrow And Pain" (b/w "The Lonely Valley") failed to crack the charts in October 1964.

 

But they bounced back in February 1965 with with their third single - "Concrete And Clay" - which shot to the Toppermost Spottermost of the Poppermost in the UK in April 1965.

The song became a big hit reportedly thanks to exposure on pirate radio stations, most notably 'Wonderful' Radio London. The radio station's music director, Tony Windsor, later recalled in an interview that he had initially rejected the song for the station's playlist, but was persuaded to change his mind by DJ Kenny Everett.

To cash in on the hit, Decca released a hastily put together album, enigmatically entitled '1st Album'.

 

In May 1965, they released the Top 14 single "You've Never Been In Love Like This Before" (b/w "Tell Somebody You Know"), and a four track EP - featuring three songs from the first album : "Wild Is The Wind"  /  "Cotton Fields"  /  "Cross A Million Mountains"  /  plus a new song "To Be Redeemed"

 

The next two singles : "Hark" and "You've Got To Be Cruel To Be Kind", released in August and December 1965, both failed to chart.

1966's first single "Baby Never Say Goodbye" (b/w "Rainy Day") proved to be their final chart nibble - collapsing in a heap at #49. Their next two singles "For A Moment" and  "I Was Only Playing Games" released in May and October 1966 tanked.

In 1967, Russ Ballard joined the band full-time, having already played some of the guitar work with Brian Parker on the original recording for "Concrete and Clay", and Hugh Halliday replaced Bob Henrit for the second and final album in 1967 on Fontana Records.

Despite the new line up, the singles released in 1967 - "Too Fast Too Slow" in May  / "Butterfly" in June /  and "Loving Takes A Little Understanding" in December - all stiffed.

 

With Ballard and Henrit on board as full-time members, the Unit 4 + 2 sound had gelled, but their next single in May 1968, a cover of Bob Dylan's "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere", was outsold by The Byrds version.

"3:30", backed with the totally brilliant "I Will" - (I mean, listen to guitar riff intro - isn't it absolutely fantastic!!) - released in January 1969, proved to be their final release, and again failed to trouble the charts. with next album, Unit 4 + 2, also failing to chart, the group broke up in 1970.

They briefly resurfaced for a tour of U.K. clubs during 1970 with Tommy Moeller remaining as front-man, but with an entirely new backing band. This was made up of Glyn Havard (bass and vocals), Allan Price (drums and vocals), Iain Hines (keyboards and vocals and Tony Duhig (guitar). The band only existed for approximately two months and then disbanded again. Havard, Duhig and Price went on to play in avante-guarde progressive group, "Jade Warrior".

Russ Ballard later joined Argent and became and remains a successful songwriter and performer. Bob Henrit replaced the long-serving drummer of the Kinks, Mick Avory, after Avory's departure in 1984.

Brian Parker died whilst playing tennis on 17 February 2001.

"Concrete and Clay" was written by Unit 4 plus 2 group members Tommy Moeller and Brian Parker.

Recorded with the help of session musicians and featuring ("+2") Russ Ballard and Bob Henrit, the arrangement has a pronounced Latin influence, using acoustic guitars and a 'baion' beat.



American record producer Bob Crewe, best known for his work with the Four Seasons, had heard the Unit 4 + 2 hit version of "Concrete and Clay" while on a trip to the UK. As a result, Crewe had a cover version of "Concrete and Clay" cut by Eddie Rambeau, a staff writer at Crewe's music publishing firm, which was the inaugural release for Crewe's own DynoVoice Records.

Although the Rambeau version's release pre-dated the US release of the Unit 4 + 2 version by one week, both singles debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 dated 8 May 1965; Unit 4 + 2 at No. 96 and Rambeau at No. 98, with both singles making a similar chart ascent over the next four weeks. The original eventually peaked at No. 28 while Rambeau's version reached No. 35.



Other Versions include :  Gary Lewis & The Playboys (1965)  /  "Tunti vain" by Johnny & The Sounds (1965)  /  "Comment fait-elle?" by Richard Anthony (1965)  /  Cliff Richard (1966)  /  Lee Kings (1966)  /  Darren Burn (1973)  /  Randy Edelman (1975)  /  Pickwick's Top of the Poppers (1976)  /  Rainbow (1977)  /  Martin Plaza (1986)  (Christ - those frigging drums!) /  Kevin Rowland (1999)  /  Baccara 2000 (2009)  /  Danny McEvoy (2011)  /  They Might Be Giants (2012)  /  The Weekend Jammers (2013)  /  4 robots plus 2 (2016)

On This Day  :

4 April : Robert Downey Jr, actor, born in NYC, New York
6 April : Intelsat 1 ("Early Bird") 1st commercial geosynchronous communications satellite launched
6 April : Black Francis / Frank Black, (Pixies), born Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV in Boston, Massachusetts
7 April : Alison Lapper, artist, born in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! :

     

[purlieu]

Meh.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Peppy. Nice cowbell and triangle work. 6/10.

[Gulftastic]

Three Times One Minus One...

[Satchmo Distel]

Going back to 151b on page 18 above:

John Lennon: "Do You Want To Hold A Penis" (Rubber Soul session tape: "Think For Yourself" vocal overdub session, 1965.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUJp7XVp4ZU

[grassbath]

I always feel a bit sorry for these also-ran '60s beat and harmony groups who few people remember. History probably makes the odds seem more stacked against them, now that the 'winners' have gone down in legend, but things like the rushed-out, optimistically titled '1st Album,' and its cover, just make me wince.

'Concrete and Clay' is pretty bloody lame, I'm surprised it got to number one. I'm not a fan of that last Stones tune, but at least you have to admit they were capturing something raw and exciting.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

I always feel a bit sorry for these also-ran '60s beat and harmony groups who few people remember. History probably makes the odds seem more stacked against them, now that the 'winners' have gone down in legend, but things like the rushed-out, optimistically titled '1st Album,' and its cover, just make me wince.

'Concrete and Clay' is pretty bloody lame, I'm surprised it got to number one. I'm not a fan of that last Stones tune, but at least you have to admit they were capturing something raw and exciting.

Me too. I think it's a nice enough '60s pop tune, a catchy bit of fluff, but I don't understand why so many people rushed out to buy it. At least we can blame the mums, dads and grannies (granddads don't buy records) for The Seekers or whoever, but Concrete and Clay isn't really aimed at them, is it?

I suppose it nestles halfway between beat music for The Kids and Palladium-friendly pop for The Grown-Ups. Maybe that's why it succeeded. We'll never know.

Earlier I asked my Mum, who was a groovy teenager in the '60s, what she thought about this record. She said, "It's alright, a wee bit corny. I haven't thought about it in years." That says it all, probably.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

I've rarely been able to take Jagger seriously.

I don't think Mick Jagger has ever taken himself remotely seriously either, to be fair.

[Satchmo Distel]

Jagger is an example of a celebrity whose self seems to be entirely performative. There's no evidence of a hinterland: self-reflection, conscience. But he was the perfect frontman for what Keith Richards and Brian Jones wanted to do with the band.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Which is why it was always so startling whenever he wrote an atypically heartfelt song such as Wild Horses. That lyric gives you some rare insight into what the human being known as Mick Jagger actually feels. A rare dropping of the guard.

That said, Mick insists that the song isn't about Marianne Faithfull, a woman he drove to the verge of suicide. It fucking is about her, Mick, you selfish, disingenuous prick.

He's not actually reading this, I know.

[kalowski]

I have such a soft spot for Concrete and Clay. I'm not sure why, but perhaps because it's used so well in Rushmore.

[machotrouts]

"Unit 4 + 2" might be the worst name of a band ever to hit #1. "Why are you called Unit 4 + 2 then?" "Ah, well, we have 4 members, see, and then, in addition to that, we also have 2 members." What? Dogshit name. And what even is their name? In that post alone, they're "Unit 4 + 2", "Unit Four Plus Two", "Unit 4+2", "Unit 4 Plus 2", "Unit Four + 2", "UNIT 4 plus 2", and "The Unit Four Plus Two". When I was looking them up on Spotify I even saw a "Unit 42". Have they NO consideration for those of us with Last.fm profiles? (I assume we had those in 1965, seems more plausible than still having one in 2019 anyway.)

And as for the song... it's nice. Sounds like one of those barely-pre-Beatles-'n'-Stones #1s when the 1960s were quite happy just skipping about being unassumingly pretty. I like the way the vocals sounds like they're in a fight for attention with the busy two-songs-playing-at-once instrumental. Perhaps that's why they divvy up the members in the band name? Unit 4 vs 2.

[daf]

I have such a soft spot for Concrete and Clay. I'm not sure why

I first heard about the song about thirty years ago from an interview about The Dukes of Stratosphear Psonic Psunspot LP :

Andy: "Colin wrote 'The Affiliated' for our next album but wanted to do it quick before we got bored with it, so changed the character of it to be slightly more Ray Davies. The middle section was an attempt to be like Unit 4+2's 'Concrete And Clay' percussion, acoustic guitars, a slightly latin feel."

I don't think I ever heard the original till this week when I was compiling all the links!

[daf]

Yeah Bossa-Nova!, it's . . .

192.  Cliff Richard - The Minute You're Gone



From : 11 – 17 April 1965
Weeks : 1
Flip side : Just Another Guy

It had been over two years since Cliff had topped the charts with Summer Holiday back in February 1963. As with the other existing rock acts in Britain, Richard's career was affected by the advent of The Beatles, The Dave Clark Five and The Brumbeats, but he continued to be popular - with all his singles for 1963 and 1964 scoring Top Ten positions.

"Lucky Lips" (#4 in May 1963)  and  "It's All In The Game" (#2 in August 1963) were both included on the four track "Cliff's Lucky Lips" EP along with their respective B-sides "I Wonder" and "Your Eyes Tell On You"

In November 1963 he released the "Love Songs" EP consisting of : "I'm In The Mood For Love"  /  "Secret Love"  /  "Love Letters"  /  and "I Only Have Eyes For You"

 

In September 1963, with The Shadows, he had released the album "When in Spain" - which was recorded in Barcelona and consisted of Spanish standards. The highlights from the sessions were also released as two EPs for the Spanish market :

Un Saludo De Cliff, featuring : "Maria No Mas"  /  "Quizas, Quizas, Quizas"  /  "La Cancion De Orfeo"  /  and "Me Lo Dijo Adela"
A Mis Amigos De Espana, featuring : "Amor"  /  "Frenesi"  /  "Vaya Con Dios"  /  and "Quien Sera"

 

In February 1964, he released a companion French language EP, "When in France", which included : "La Mer"  /  "Boum"  /  "J'Attendrai"  /  and "C'est Si Bon"

 

His next single "I'm The Lonely One" marked a slight dip in his fortunes - peaking at #8 in February - his lowest chart placing since 1959. He bounced back in May with "Constantly" climbing to #4 in the charts.

In March 1964 "Don't Talk To Him" (#2 in November 1963) and the B-side "Say You're Mine" were included on another EP "Cliff Richard Sings Don't Talk To Him" - along with three other songs : "Spanish Harlem"  /  "Who Are We To Say"  /  and "Falling In Love With Love "

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

July 1964 saw the arrival of Cliff's next film - Wonderful Life (retitled "Swingers' Paradise" in the US). Written by Peter Myers and Ronald Cass, directed by Sidney J. Furie, choreographed by Gillian Lynne, it also starred Susan Hampshire, Una Stubbs, Melvyn Hayes, Richard O'Sullivan, Gerald Harper and The Shadows.

The movie was filmed in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria city in Spain, and the "desert" scenes shot on Maspalomas sand dunes on Gran Canaria island, Canary Islands.

 

The soundtrack album reached number 2 in the UK Albums Chart, spending 8 weeks in the top 3 and 23 weeks on in the top 20, however, this was a marked decline from their previous soundtrack album for 'Summer Holiday' - which had spent 14 weeks at number 1.

The album had two lead singles, the first being the instrumental "Theme for Young Lovers" from the Shadows (#12 in March 1965), followed by "On the Beach" - despite it definitely being his best single ever, it only reached #7 in July 1964.

Curiously, some of the recordings on the album are not the same as in the film, including the title song. The vocal takes are different and in some cases the orchestrations are also altered slightly, with the recordings on the album being generally more polished. The Shadows recording line-up included Brian Locking on bass guitar although by the time filming commenced John Rostill had replaced him.

The songs from the film were also released as a three EPs - the first, Wonderful Life, featured : "Wonderful Life"  /  "Do You Remember"  /  "What've I Gotta Do"  /  and "Walkin"

 

The second, cryptically entitled Wonderful Life (No. 2), Included : "A Matter Of Moments"  /  "A Girl In Every Port"  /  "A Little Imagination"  /  and "In The Stars".

 

The third, "Hits From Wonderful Life" included : "On The Beach" /  "We Love A Movie"  /  "Home"  /  "All Kinds Of People"

 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Although baptised as an Anglican, Richard did not practice the faith in his early years, but in 1964 he faced a crisis when the totally brilliant 'On The Beach' (mono mix) failed to reach the Top Spot (. . . probably?), this travesty clearly unhinged his lid, and searching for answers, he turned to flippin' Jesus and became a born again nuisance active Christian.

Standing up publicly as a Christian affected his career in several ways. Initially, he believed that he should quit rock 'n' roll, feeling he could no longer be the rocker who had been called a "crude exhibitionist" and "too sexy for TV". Richard intended at first to "reform his ways" and become a teacher, but Christian friends advised him not to abandon his career just because he had become a swivel-eyed god-bothering loon active Christian. Soon after, Richard re-emerged, performing with Christian groups and recording some Christian material.

In October 1964, "The Twelfth Of Never" reached #8, and he rounded off the year with the Top 6 hit "I Could Easily Fall (In Love With You)" in December while starring in the pantomime, "Aladdin And His Wonderful Lamp".

In March 1965, selections from the show were released on the "Cliff's Hits From Aladdin And His Wonderful Lamp" EP - including : "Havin' Fun"  /  "Evening Comes"  /  and "Friends"
   
 

In June 1965, Cliff's next single, "On My Word" charted at #12 - thus ending a run of 23 consecutive top ten UK hits between "A Voice in the Wilderness" in 1960 to "The Minute You're Gone" in 1965, which, to date, is still a record number of consecutive top ten UK hits for a male artist.

"The Minute You're Gone" was written by Jimmy Gateley, a Nashville based fiddle player and singer. Recorded by Sonny James, the song made No. 95 in the US charts and No. 9 in the country charts in 1963.

Cliff Richard recorded it in 1965 and his single spent a week at number one in the UK Singles Chart in April 1965.



Cliff's recording of the song had come about with the involvement of his American label Epic Records, which wanted to present him in the US with more American songs. Bob Morgan, executive A&R producer from Epic met with producer Norrie Paramor and Cliff to map out recording plans and brought 50 songs of US origin for them to screen.

About 15 songs were selected and plans were made to record in New York, Nashville and Chicago according to the different styles of the songs selected, which ranged from pop-country, pure country, ballad and medium tempo. In Nashville, Richard recorded the singles "The Minute You're Gone", "Wind Me Up (Let Me Go)" and "On My Word" with Billy Sherrill producing with backing by Nashville session musicians together with the Anita Kerr Singers.

Arranged and conducted by by Stan Applebaum, "The Minute You're Gone" provided Richard with his eighth UK number one single. It was also his first UK chart topper he had recorded without The Shadows backing. However, at the corresponding time in the US, Epic curiously chose to release the soft ballad "Again" (another of his Nashville recorded tracks) as a single with "The Minute You're Gone" as the B-side - and the single promptly sank without trace.

Cliff : "This is a real hidden gem in many ways because, although it reached No. 1 in Britain, it wasn't even released in America. At that time, The Beatles were taking off in the States and anyone who had a No. 1 here was guaranteed a top five there, including The Bachelors, who weren't rock artists as such but had a huge hit. I thought it was my big chance but the US record company said it wasn't right for their market. Hello? What wasn't right? It was No. 1 in many countries."

Other Versions include :  Loretta Lynn (1963)  /  Eddy Arnold (1964)  /  Ronnie Dove (1965)  / "Es könnte schon morgen sein" by Cliff Richard (1965)  /  Wayne Newton (1966)  /  Al Martino (1966)  /  Hank Locklin (1968)  /  Daniel O'Donnell (1988)  /  tonyshad (2010)  /  Danny McEvoy (2011)  /  a robot (2017)

On This Day  :

15 April : Sydney Chaplin, Charlie Chaplin's brother & business manager, dies at 80
15 April : Linda Perry, (4 Non Blondes), born in Springfield, Massachusetts
16 April : Test flight of heavy Saturn S-1C rocket

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! :

[purlieu]

Shit.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

This song, even by Cliff's usual drippy ballad standards, is painfully boring. How the fuck did he get back to the top of the charts with that? It's as if the mums and grannies were buying any old MOR arsewash in those days, just to combat the horrifying rise of the Kinks and their hairy pals.

CULTURE WAR IN ACTION.

[daf]

Was amused by the slightly chippy entry for 1964 on his official website :

Cliff starred in another film, "Wonderful Life", which was filmed in north-west Africa, the soundtrack reached No. 2. He appeared on a number of TV shows in the U.K. and Europe and starred in a one-hour TV special for ATV with Liza Minelli. He had five Top 10 hits in the UK singles charts (compared to the Beatles' three) and although it was The Beatles who made the headlines, Cliff held his own as a British pop star. He ended the year by starring in a pantomime, "Aladdin And His Wonderful Lamp".

Still nursing a grudge after all these years - let it go Cliff, you'll give yourself a hernia!

[Cardenio I]

It's 1965, the fuck is this doing here.

[Gulftastic]

I always enjoy how big a mark for himself Cliff is.

[Satchmo Distel]

LOL at Cliff being in a film called "Swingers' Paradise" in the US.

[famethrowa]

Well done to Cliff for getting the panto, I heard he'd been trying to get A lad in for a while!

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Cliff must be the ultimate 'artist who started naff and remained naff.' Okay, so Move It was the first British rock 'n' roll record, that wasn't naff, and he's released some decent singles over the years (daf is correct, On the Beach is corking), but Cliff, the actual man himself, Cliff the corporeal being, has always been naffness personified.

For fuck's sake, he was still appearing in panto in 1965.

[Chriddof]

"Unit 4 + 2" might be the worst name of a band ever to hit #1. "Why are you called Unit 4 + 2 then?" "Ah, well, we have 4 members, see, and then, in addition to that, we also have 2 members." What? Dogshit name.

For me, "Unit 4 + 2" feels more like it should have been the name of a very arch Devo / Residents-inspired new wave band, or a demented No Wave act from New York circa the turn of the 80s, or a random synth group from Sheffield. To my mind it has this deliberately awkward blankness that fits right in with some sort of obscure arty band that existed at some point between 1978 - 1982. Maybe the type that either only released their stuff on self-duplicated cassettes, or put out a sole 7" EP where they listed the recording studio and the pressing plant costs on the back. It's wasted on this lot, though the cover of 1st Album does attempt some kind of mid-60s "white heat of technology" thing.

As for Cliff, at least when he dies we'll never have to listen to him ever again. Although great swathes of The Young Ones (the sitcom) will be cut from Dave repeats...

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

For me, "Unit 4 + 2" feels more like it should have been the name of a very arch Devo / Residents-inspired new wave band, or a demented No Wave act from New York circa the turn of the 80s, or a random synth group from Sheffield. To my mind it has this deliberately awkward blankness that fits right in with some sort of obscure arty band that existed at some point between 1978 - 1982. Maybe the type that either only released their stuff on self-duplicated cassettes, or put out a sole 7" EP where they listed the recording studio and the pressing plant costs on the back. It's wasted on this lot, though the cover of 1st Album does attempt some kind of mid-60s "white heat of technology" thing.

This is great. And true. Thank you for typing it out.

That sounds sarcastic, but it's not.

[machotrouts]

What an embarrassing spectacle he makes of himself in these lyrics. You leave his house and within 60 seconds, he's crying, praying, and dead on the floor. Is this what anyone wants from a boyfriend? To not be able to pop out for milk without him dying of loneliness? Pathetic. Just get a cat or something Cliff. A hot water bottle, anything.

Cliff's first #1 without the Shadows, and it's abundantly clear how big a role they played in elevating his previous material to occasional sort-of-adequacy. We're still 35 years away from his last #1, and he already sounds outstandingly archaic here. Christian as all fuck.

[grassbath]

I love the cover of Cliff's hits compilation that provides the visual for this.

A screaming yellow plastic melted Cliff trying to extricate himself from his own music.

[purlieu]

The phrase Cliff's Lucky Lips is haunting me.

[Satchmo Distel]

Well done to Cliff for getting the panto, I heard he'd been trying to get A lad in for a while!

"In a lad" surely?

[Satchmo Distel]

Cliff must be the ultimate 'artist who started naff and remained naff.' Okay, so Move It was the first British rock 'n' roll record, that wasn't naff, and he's released some decent singles over the years (daf is correct, On the Beach is corking), but Cliff, the actual man himself, Cliff the corporeal being, has always been naffness personified.

For fuck's sake, he was still appearing in panto in 1965.

By contrast, The Beatles turned down an Xmas show in Xmas '65, and their Xmas shows of 1963 and 1964* had been concerts with skits rather than scripted panto:

http://mentalfloss.com/article/29388/beatles-bizarre-christmas-shows-1963-64

*And probably an example of Epstein being too old-fashioned to move the boys away from that stuff quickly enough. Xmas 1963 you can understand (contracts done before their absolute commercial peak) but roping them into a 1964 reprise seems odd when they had conquered the US at that point (unlike Cliff!).