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An Alternative History of "Pop" Music

Started by jamiefairlie, August 15, 2020, 09:27:00 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

daf

Keith Chegwin ‎– Put Your Head On My Shoulder



Released in November 1977 - did not chart

QuoteKeith Chegwin had a career as a singer, releasing singles on the Cherub and Pye record labels, including 'I'll Take You Back' in 1973 and "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" in 1977, but turned down an offer to front the band Kenny.

 

He appeared in the pilot episode of Open All Hours in 1973. After that he had parts in BBC's The Liver Birds, The Adventures of Black Beauty, Z-Cars in 1974, ITV's The Wackers and The Tomorrow People in 1975.

 

His last major acting role was the title role in the film Robin Hood Junior in 1975, although he had two small roles with Tom Courtenay in the Chester Mystery Cycle in 1976. He also appeared in TV ads for Pepsi, Ready Brek, Toffos and Tizer.

Brundle-Fly

Don't You Know - Jan Hammer Group. Released on Nemperor in 1977.





Christ, I love this beyond belief!  This is proto- Air, no?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7oilg2Satg

Ballad of Ballard Berkley


daf

John Davis & The Monster Orchestra - Up Jumped The Devil



Released in May 1977 - did not chart

QuoteJohn Davis and the Monster Orchestra were an American disco band, led by producer John "the Monster" Davis. The ensemble released their first album, Night and Day, in 1976. The album featured six disco-pimped covers of Cole Porter standards such as 'I've Got You Under My Skin, and 'It's D'lovely', plus a couple of originals.


   

They followed it up in 1977 with their second album, 'Up Jumped the Devil', which contained a strong set of all-original songs penned by Davis. Most of the musicians that played on the albums were also members of The Salsoul Orchestra.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Jerry Reed - East Bound and Down



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOgUaFkpS3Y

Written for the first Smokey & The Bandit film and weirdly never used as the theme tune for the American sitcom of the same name.

QuoteJerry Reed was an American country music singer, guitarist and songwriter, as well as an actor who appeared in more than a dozen films. His signature songs included Guitar Man, U.S. Male, A Thing Called Love, Alabama Wild Man, Amos Moses, When You're Hot, You're Hot (which garnered a Grammy Award for Best Country Vocal Performance, Male), Ko-Ko Joe, Lord, Mr. Ford, East Bound and Down, The Bird, and She Got the Goldmine (I Got the Shaft).

daf

Bruce Johnston - Pipeline



Reached #33 in the UK charts in August 1977

QuoteBenjamin Baldwin was adopted by William and Irene Johnston of Chicago and grew up on the West side of Los Angeles in Brentwood and Bel-Air as Bruce Arthur Johnston. In 1959, while still in high school, Johnston arranged and played on his first hit record, "Teen Beat" by Sandy Nelson. The single reached the Billboard Top Ten. The same year, Johnston made his first single under his own name, "Take This Pearl" on Arwin Records as part of the Bruce & Jerry duo (Jerry Cooper was a high school friend of Bruce's).

In 1963 came the first collaboration with his friend Terry Melcher (Doris Day's son), a mostly instrumental covers album credited to the Hot Doggers. Johnston and Melcher were now working at Columbia Records, Hollywood, and produced and sang on the million-selling "Hey Little Cobra" by The Rip Chords, a knock-off of the Beach Boys car song vocal style. On April 9, 1965, Johnston joined the Beach Boys in New Orleans, replacing Glen Campbell, who briefly filled in as a touring member for Brian Wilson, and had declined an offer to officially join the band.

   

Johnston left the Beach Boys in 1972, and embarked on a solo career. During this period he wrote the song "I Write the Songs", which became a number one hit by Barry Manilow. In 1977 Johnston released his solo album 'Going Public', which included among its tracks Johnston's own recording of "I Write the Songs" as well as a disco remake of the Chantays' hit "Pipeline".

daf

Page Three - Hold On To Love



Released in July 1977 - did not chart

Quote from: 45cat commentrecordman46 : "Left to right: Stephanie Mariann, Claire Russell, Felicity Burski. Warner Bros., had NO trouble arranging interviews with regional radio stations ! SM was also in Love patrol with two other Page 3 models, CR became a plugger for CBS and FB later made some solo records."

daf

The Rebel Force Band ‎– Chewie The Rookie Wookie



Released as a single in 1977 - did not chart

Just spotted a plug for 'A Respirator for Darth Vader' from the LP on the sleeve - the film had only been out a couple of months, and people were already taking the piss! #RIP DaveProwse

daf

Contempt – Money Is A Girl's Best Friend



Released in April 1977 - despite a memorable performance of Top of the Pops, with the singer dressed as a bowler-hatted businessman in his suit and tie - did not chart

Quote from: 45cat commentrubyrazzmatazz : "The bass player (Nick Pallett) is my dad and has always insisted he'd performed on TOTP: little did we believe him until we saw it with our own eyes on Thursday! In They were invited to perform as an introductory act, as this single was to be released the following morning. However, due in part to poor distribution by Polydor, the single never became popular and the band found themselves back to square one and returned to playing university gigs.

Meanwhile my dad lent the master tapes of the entire album to the manager, John Scott, who never returned them. One night a few months later my dad and Howard Paul, the front man, came to blows backstage at a gig over (amongst other things) Howard's repeated boasting about their TOTP appearance."

daf


jamiefairlie

#2020
Buzzcocks - Boredom

https://youtu.be/QoYiQ8Qsozk



Buzzcocks were formed in 1976 by students Pete Shelley (McNeish) and Howard Devoto (Trafford)  after, yes you guessed it, they saw the Sex Pistols in February 1976. They arranged for the Sex Pistols to come and perform at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester, in July 1976, where they also made their own debut. Also present at this gig were Morrissey, Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, Ian Curtis, Paul Morley, Mark E.Smith, Tony Wilson and Mick Hucknall.

Buzzcocks recorded and released a four-track EP, Spiral Scratch (Produced by Martin Hannett,) on their own New Hormones label, making them one of the first punk groups to establish an independent record label, and effectively kicking of the whole Indie scene as we know it. 

Devoto left the band in early 1977. Pete Shelley died in 2018,

Brundle-Fly

#2021
The Shuffle - Van McCoy. Released on H & L in 1977.





His semi-skimmed follow-up and some might say cynical retread to the1975 smash hit, 'The Hustle.'  Charming enough, though.

American solo artist, singer, songwriter, arranger, and producer. Co-founder of the Vando label. Often thought of as a disco producer because of his work in the 1970s. Van Allen Cinton McCoy was born on January 16, 1940. He died of a heart attack at age 39 on July 6, 1979.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO5NZMwfTDg&feature=emb_logo

daf

Kenny Everett & Mike Vickers ‎– Captain Kremmen (Retribution)



Released in November 1977 - reached #32 in the UK chart

QuoteCaptain Elvis Brandenburg Kremmen was born in Liverpool on Christmas Day in 1950. Graduating from the Space Academy, Kremmen went on to become the world's most fabulous man, as well as a captain for Star Corps. He also has bionic veins, and a bionic left foot with a detachable big toe that converts into a space cannon. The science fiction radio serial set in the early 21st Century was written and performed for Capital Radio by the DJ Kenny Everett, and was also broadcast on Liverpool's Radio City and Nottingham's Radio Trent.

In 1977, a comic book, 'Captain Kremmen and the Krells', was released by Corgi, explaining Kremmen's time before he became a space hero. In his earlier years, Kremmen was more of an anti-hero, offering to allow the Krells to destroy Birmingham instead of his hometown of Liverpool. The story was quite surreal, and portrayed Kremmen as a womaniser as well as a control freak. A single "Captain Kremmen (Retribution)" by Kenny Everett and Mike Vickers was released in 1977.

   

The series became an animated cartoon in The Kenny Everett Video Show, animated by Graham Kennedy, and produced by Cosgrove Hall Films. A cartoon strip apppeared in the Evening Standard in 1978, and an LP 'The Greatest Adventure Yet From Captain Kremmen' in 1980.

 

daf

Ripple - The Beat Goes On And On



Released in the US in 1977 - though not an 'official' hit in the UK, it reached #24 on the NME chart in April 1978.

QuoteRipple were an American funk band from Michigan. The group was signed to GRC Records and Salsoul Records in the 1970s, and scored several hit singles, the biggest of which were "I Don't Know What It Is, But It Sure Is Funky", and "The Beat Goes On And On", the latter on Salsoul Records, joined by The Salsoul Orchestra.

daf

Peter Blake - Lipsmackin' Rock 'N Rollin'



Released in August 1977 - reached #40 in the UK charts

QuotePeter Blake was born John Beattie Dempsey in Selkirk, Scotland. Probably best known as the character Kirk St Moritz in the BBC sitcom Dear John, by John Sullivan, his other high-profile moments came through his playing of a 'Fonz'-type character in Pepsi-Cola commercials which led to a hit record in 1977 "Lipsmakin' Rock 'n' Rollin", Andy Evol the disc-jockey in Agony with Maureen Lipman for LWT and in an episode of Taggart as Sgt. Bill Kent. He also had a long association with The Rocky Horror Show playing Frank-N-Furter over a thousand times between 1975 and 1994.

daf

Santa Esmeralda - Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood



Released in October 1977 - peaked at #41 in the UK in November 1977

QuoteSanta Esmeralda were formed in 1977 by French songwriters  Nicolas Skorsky and Jean Manuel de Scarano, who had launched their own label with the aim of producing artists who would record their compositions. Upon meeting singer Leroy Gómez in Paris, the duo recruited him for the group's first record, "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" which debuted on the independent French label, Fauves Puma. A sudden success in Europe, the record was picked up for worldwide distribution by Casablanca Records.

Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood was originally written in 1964 for Nina Simone, the song was picked up by rock group The Animals the following year. The song became a hit all over again, first topping the U.S. Disco chart and #15 on the Billboard Hot 100. Despite the success of the record, Gomez did not record any subsequent record with Santa Esmeralda's original production team.

 

After the band's first album, singer Jimmy Goings was brought in to replace Leroy Gomez. In late 1977 Santa Esmeralda scored a top 20 disco hit with a dance version of another song made famous by The Animals, "The House of the Rising Sun".

daf

Rags – Promises Promises



Released in April 1977 - did not chart

QuotePromises, Promises was a contender to represent the UK at the 1977 Eurovision Song Contest but was eventually placed 4th from 12 entries at the 'A Song For Europe' national selection show held on March 9th at the New London Theatre hosted by Terry Wogan.

   

Due to a strike, the contest was never shown on TV, but it was broadcast on the radio. Rags did however get to perform the song on Top Of The Pops on 28th April as Radio One DJ Noel Edmonds had just chosen it as his 'Record Of The Week' but it still never became a hit. The winning song Rock Bottom by Lynsey De Paul and Mike Moran was chosen by the votes of 14 regional juries.

jamiefairlie

Penetration - Don't dictate

https://youtu.be/OIj5sR91alo



Formed in County Durham in 1976, this is their debut single. They went on to release another four singles as well as two albums before calling it a day in 1979.

daf


Idris Muhammad - Could Heaven Ever Be Like This



Jazz drummer and percussionist Idris Muhammad (born Leo Morris) released a jazz-funk/disco crossover album in 1977, of which this is the eight-and-a-half minute opener.

https://youtu.be/0skigTyA4NE

Mirrors - Shirley



https://youtu.be/ENw6co2BUc4

This single from Cleveland, Ohio band Mirrors was the first non-Pere Ubu record released by Pere Ubu's own Hearthan record label, in 1977, although it was recorded back in 1975. A Velvet Underground-esque proto-punk tale of a lost lover, the best bit is the coda with its guitar noise and droney organ.

I only heard of this a week or two ago, when Lambchop released a cover version on their recent album TRIP (band members each brought in their own choice of song).

daf

Twiggy - Ronald The Rat



Featured on the album 'Captain Beaky & His Band' released in 1977

Quote'Captain Beaky & His Band' is the title of two albums of poetry by Jeremy Lloyd set to music by Jim Parker and recited by various British celebrities. The albums generated two books of poetry, BBC television shows, a West End musical, and a pantomime. The first album was released on vinyl in 1977 and the second in 1980.

Captain Beaky's band consist of Timid Toad, Reckless Rat, Artful Owl and Batty Bat. The title track from the first album, "Captain Beaky", sung by Keith Michell, was released as a 7 inch single by Polydor in 1980, peaking at #5 in the UK Singles Chart.

   

The character of Hissing Sid is a snake, mentioned in both "Captain Beaky" on the first album and "The Trial of Hissing Sid" on the second. The slogan "Hissing Sid is Innocent!" became a popular catch phrase, appearing everywhere including as a graffito on walls on badges, and on car stickers.

jobotic

Chrome - Chromosome Damage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdBQFlDOv0s&list=PL99DD6F0D254C13B6&index=1



Amazing band, brilliant record (from 1977 not 78 as it says).

if you don't know Helios Creed and Damon Edge's band you should. I will always remember a friend of a friend playing me Read Only Memory, their EP from 1978 when I was a youth - turned out he'd played it at 33 instead of 45 and it scared the shit out of me. It's better at that speed.


Brundle-Fly

The Band Who Wouldn't Die - Little Ladies. Released on Polydor in 1977.





Before Little Mix there was the Little Ladies.

Rock Follies (together with its sequel, Rock Follies of '77) is a musical drama shown on British television in the 1970s. The storyline followed the ups and downs of a fictional female rock band called the "Little Ladies", as they struggled for recognition and success. The series starred Rula Lenska, Charlotte Cornwell and Julie Covington as the Little Ladies, with support from Emlyn Price, Beth Porter, Sue Jones-Davies, Bob Hoskins, Stephen Moore, Derek Thompson, Denis Lawson and Little Nell among others. The series was made with a very low budget for Thames Television, with a style inspired by fringe theatre and was based on an original idea by Annabel Leventon, Diane Langton and Gaye Brown.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmadGiNWkp4

daf

Joy Sarney - Angling for a Kiss



Released in November 1977 - did not chart

QuoteFlorence Joy Crabtree was born in Liverpool and started out as a folk/comedy performer in the Liverpool trio, The Crabtrees, in the mid-1960s, with her brother Hal and Derek Marsden. The Crabtrees performed in venues all over Merseyside, and their act embraced traditional, contemporary and humorous songs.

In the 1970s, as Joy Sarney, she sang with the Mickey Jupp Band, and launched a solo career. She had a Top 26 hit with "Naughty Naughty Naughty" in May 1977. The novelty love song was memorably performed live on Top of the Pops as a duet between the singer and the disgraced violent offender Mr Punch.

 

A follow-up single, "Angling for a Kiss", was released in November 1977, but failed to make the chart, and Sarney remains one of the greatest one-hit wonders of all time.

daf

Celi Bee & The Buzzy Bunch - One Love



Featured on the album 'Celi Bee & The Buzzy Bunch' released in 1977

QuoteCelida Ines Camacho is a New York-born singer of Puerto Rican Parents. Born in New York, she initially relocated back to Puerto Rico with her parents. There she met Pepe Luis Soto in the 1960s and they began making sweet sweet music together. In 1972, she won a festival called Festival De La Voz y La Cancion, with the song, "Yo Quiero Un Pincel".

In 1977 she signed a recording contract with TK Records, whilst Soto wrote a song called "Superman". The song, credited to Celi Bee and the Buzzy Bunch, became a hit, reaching #41 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album, Celi Bee and the Buzzy Bunch, an extended six track set, reached #169 on the main Billboard 200 album chart and included "One Love".

Brundle-Fly

Tenderly - Dr. Teeth & The Electric Mayhem. Released on Pye in 1977.





Genius.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGXd4ekmp1w

daf

Silver Convention - The Boys From Liverpool



Non-album single released in November 1977 - did not chart

QuoteOriginally named Silver Bird Convention, the group was formed in Munich by producers and songwriters Sylvester Levay and Michael Kunze. The group was named after Levay, "Silver" being Levay's nickname. Kunze had in the late 1960s been a pop lyricist who wrote protest songs in German; when these tunes went out of style, he began producing pop records and commercials. Levay had developed a taste for American music while growing up in Yugoslavia, eventually becoming a music arranger and lyricist.

Using female session vocalists Gitta Walther, Lucy Neale, Betsy Allen, Roberta Kelly, and Jackie Carter for their first recordings, they scored a successful single in the United Kingdom in 1975 with the song "Save Me", which peaked at #30. As they were a studio group; Levay and Kunze realized then that they would need to find professional entertainers for presentation to the public. Penny McLean, Ramona Wulf and Linda G. Thompson became the public face of Silver Convention.

     

They scored two major US and Canadian hit singles. "Fly, Robin, Fly", maintained three weeks at #1 in late November and early December 1975, and "Get Up and Boogie", which hit #1 in Canada, and peaked at #7 in the UK, in May 1976.

daf

Fox - My Old Man's Away



Released in May 1977 - did not chart

QuoteFox were a British-based pop band, led by American songwriter and record producer Kenny Young, who had composed the song "Under the Boardwalk" for the Drifters in 1964, and "Captain of Your Ship" for Reparata and the Delrons in 1968. Young had worked off and on with the Australian singer Susan Traynor on his solo album, 'Last Stage For Silverworld', where she was listed as 'Amanda'. Young then discovered Northern Irish singer Clodagh Rodgers on a television show, and produced several of her hit singles over a three-year period.

Meanwhile, Traynor was in a folk group called Wooden Horse, which released two albums before breaking up. After his success with Rogers, Young founded Fox with Irish singer Herbie Armstrong, recruiting Traynor as lead singer. She adopted the stage name 'Noosha', a scrambled version of her own name, and a glamorous image inspired by Marlene Dietrich, wearing elegant dresses to contrast with the scruffy look of the rest of the group. Their first single "Only You Can" reached #3 in the UK charts in February 1975. The follow-up, "Imagine Me, Imagine You" peaked at #14 in May 1975. The band returned to the charts in April 1976 when "S-S-S-Single Bed" was a Top 4 UK hit and topped the Australian chart.

   

Noosha Fox left the band after the 1977 album Blue Hotel. Armstrong and Young continued to work together in the band Yellow Dog. After a short period of success, Herbie Armstrong went on to work with Ringworm hit-maker Van Morrison, and Pete Solley later joined Procol Harum. Noosha launched a solo career, and her first single, "Georgina Bailey", written and produced by Young, reached number 31 in 1977.

jamiefairlie

Wire - Mannequin

https://youtu.be/oEJSe8vutnM



formed in London in October 1976, Wire were of, but separate to, the first wave punk scene, going on to set the template, both sonically and aesthetically, for the post-punk wave to follow.

This is their debut single and they went on to release three seminal albums and six singles before splitting in late 1979. They reformed in 1984, producing a stellar run of albums and singles and are still active today.