Toppermost of the Poppermost - UK Number Ones : part 3 - The 1970s

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335.  Gary Glitter – I'm the Leader of the Gang (I Am!)



From : 24 July – 20 August 1973
Weeks : 4
B-side : Just Fancy That
Bonus 1 : Top of the Pops 1973
Bonus 2 : Gary Glitter + Girlschool 1986
Bonus 3 : This is Your Life 1994
Bonus 4 : Children In Need 1994
Bonus 5 : Live 1995

The Story So Far :  1972 -1973

In the early 70's, Gary Glitter, backed by The Glitter Band on stage, competed with Sweet, Slade and T. Rex for domination of the charts. To reinforce his image, he reportedly owned 30 glitter suits and fifty pairs of silver platform boots.



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His debut album, 'Glitter', was released in March 1972 on Bell Records.



The album featured both Parts 1 and Part 2 of his recent Melody Maker Number 1 single "Rock and Roll" as bookends.

John Rossall : "We worked together with Paul Raven during that time. We were touring the UK quite heavily. And myself and Harvey Ellison, the other sax player in the band, we had laid some notes down on 'Rock and Roll (Part 2)' in December of 71 and we thought the record had fizzled out. Then I got a call from Mike Leander around about the beginning of June of 72. And he asked whether we'd like to re-acquaint ourselves and work with Paul Raven again with 'Rock and Roll (Part 2)'. And I thought yeah, we'll do that. We were doing quite well and had some records as the Boston Showband at that time and I did make it a condition – and I liked the idea of Mike Leander producing – I did make it a condition that we would get to do a record after a reasonable amount of time, which we did."



The album was a mix of original songs and old rock and roll covers including : Big Joe Williams' "Baby, Please Don't Go", Chuck Berry's "School Day", Ritchie Valens' "Donna", Dion DiMucci's "The Wanderer", and "The Clapping Song".



Other songs featured on the album included : "Rock On!", "Shakey Sue" and "The Famous Instigator", and "Ain't That a Shame"



Also featured on the album was his next single, "I Didn't Know I Loved You (Till I Saw You Rock And Roll)" (b/w "Hard On Me"), which reached #4 in the UK chart in September 1972.



The follow-up, "Do You Wanna Touch Me? (Oh Yeah!)" (b/w "I Would If I Could But I Can't"), reached #2 in January 1973



Rusty Egan : "Mike Leander, who created The Glitterband, was the genius there. Paul Gadd or whatever his name is was the Steve Strange of the act right, and just a frontman. The music was written and performed by Gerry Shepherd and Mike Leander. They were the band but the bloody men in suits said they needed a frontman which is where Gary Glitter came from. The Glitterband actually recorded in the studio where we mixed Visage with John Hudson. I said to John Hudson, "You did The Glitterband. How did you get that drum sound?" and he went out and came back with a couple of floor planks with some door handles, and he had knocked them together. Amazing, eh?"



His next single, "Hello! Hello! I'm Back Again" (b/w "I.O.U."), released in March 1973 again peaked at #2 in the UK chart.



Mark E. Smith : "I was really into Gary Glitter, and I used to get bad-mouthed for it. It was like 'You've got to be into David Bowie or Yes – Gary Glitter's just tripe'. And I was going 'It's fuckin' great. It's avant-garde... Well, two drummers and all that – it was really percussive. It was the only decent thing around."



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His second album, 'Touch Me' was released in June 1973, on the Bell label. It is Glitter's bestselling album, peaking at No. 2 on the UK Albums Chart.



The album features the Top 5 hits "Do You Wanna Touch Me" and "Hello, Hello, I'm Back Again".



Other songs featured on the album included : "Sidewalk Sinner", "Didn't I Do It Right", "Lonely Boy", "Hold On to What You Got", "Come On, Come In, Get On", "Happy Birthday", "To Know You Is to Love You", and "Money Honey".



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His next single, "I'm The Leader Of The Gang (I Am!)" reached Number 1 in the UK chart in July 1973 . . .

The Single :

"I'm The Leader Of The Gang (I Am!)" was written by Mike Leander and Gary Glitter and performed by Gary Glitter.



Produced by Mike Leander, "I'm The Leader Of The Gang (I Am!)" is a glam rock anthem typical of Glitter's early 1970s output, based on a simple mid-tempo rhythm (the so-called "Glitter Stomp") and loud chanted backing vocals such as "Hey!" and "Come on, come on!".



With the exception of saxophonists Harvey Ellison and John Rossall, Glitter's backing band, The Glitter Band, used for live appearances, did not participate in his recording sessions. Glitter said in interviews that he and Leander preferred to play everything themselves, since it allowed them to record the songs as they were being written.

"I'm The Leader Of The Gang (I Am!)" was Glitter's first official number-one single on the UK Singles Chart, spending four weeks at the top of the chart in July 1973.



Although Glitter's version failed to chart in the U.S., the following year, a version by Brownsville Station made the Top 30 on the Cashbox Top 100 and No. 48 on the Billboard Hot 100.

In 1986, Glitter re-recorded the song with Girlschool. In 1997, the Spice Girls covered the song for their musical comedy film Spice World.

Other Versions include :  Top of the Poppers (1973)  /  Peter and The Test Tube Babies (1982)  /  "Mahtisonni" by Aki & Turo - The Hepamamas (1988)  /  Hulk Hogan and The Wrestling Boot Trash Can Band with Green Jellÿ (1993)  /  Osmo's Cosmos (1997)  /  Party Animals (2000)  /  Phoenix Nights (2002)  /  The Methadones (2006)  /  Danny McEvoy (2012)  /  OPERA ROCK AND ROLL DANCE (2019)

On This Day :

22 July : 60th Tour de France won by Luis Ocana of Spain
22 July : Daniel Jones, Australian musician (Savage Garden), born in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England
22 July : Rufus Wainwright, Canadian musician, born Rufus McGarrigle Wainwright in Rhinebeck, New York
23 July : Marius-François Gaillard, French pianist, conductor and composer (La passion noire), dies aged 72
23 July : US President Richard Nixon refuses to release Watergate tapes
23 July : Fran Healy, Scottish musician (Travis), born rancis Healy in Stafford, England
23 July : Monica Lewinsky, American White House intern, born Monica Samille Lewinsky in San Francisco, California
25 July : USSR launches Mars 5
25 July : Dani Filth, singer (Cradle of Filth), born Daniel Lloyd Davey in Hertford, Hertfordshire, England
26 July : Peter Shaffer's musical "Equus" premieres in London
26 July : Kate Beckinsale, actress, born Kathrin Romary Beckinsale in London
27 July : Abe Cunningham, musician (Deftones), born Abraham Benjamin Cunningham in Long Beach, California
27 July : Charles, Prince of Wales, becomes a Sub-Lieutenant in the Royal Navy
28 July : "Charlie's Angels" actress Farrah Fawcett marries "The Six Million Dollar Man" actor Lee Majors at the Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles, California
28 July : Skylab 3's astronauts (Bean, Garriott & Lousma) launched
28 July : The Summer Jam at Watkins Glen, rock festival takes place at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Raceway in New York
29 July : Wanyá Morris, singer (Boyz II Men), born Wanyá Jermaine Morris in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
29 July : Stephen Dorff, actor, born Stephen Hartley Dorff Jr. in Atlanta, Georgia
29 July : Led Zeppelin has more than $200,000 in cash stolen from a safety-deposit box at the New York Hilton
29 July : Greek plebiscite chooses republic over monarchy
29 July : Eileen Percy, Irish silent film actress, dies aged 72
29 July : British driver Roger Williamson is killed in an accident witnessed live on TV during the 1973 Dutch Grand Prix
30 July : Guy Middleton, British actor, dies following a heart attack aged 66
30 July : £20 million compensation is paid to victims of Thalidomide following an 11-year court case.
31 July : Militant Unionist protesters led by Ian Paisley disrupt the first sitting of the Northern Ireland Assembly
31 July :  Delta Airlines DC-9 crashes in fog at Logan Airport, Boston, killing all but one of 89 aboard. Lone survivor dies 5 months later
1 August : Gian Francesco Malipiero, Italian composer, dies aged 91
2 August : "American Graffiti", directed by George Lucas premieres at the Locarno International Film Festival, Switzerland
4 August : Eddie Condon, American jazz guitarist, dies aged 68
5 August : Arab terrorists Black September open fire at Athens airport, killing 3 and injuring 55
5 August : USSR launches Mars 6
6 August : Memphis Minnie, American blues musician, dies aged 76
6 August : Fulgencio Batista, Cuban Dictator, dies aged 72
6 August : Stevie Wonder involved in car crash, goes into a 4 day coma
6 August : James Beck, British actor (Private Walker in Dad's Army), dies from pancreatitis aged 44
8 August : Gordon Banks announces his retirement from football, having lost the sight in one eye in a car accident in the previous year.
9 August : Donald Peers, Welsh popular singer, dies aged 65
9 August : Kevin McKidd, actor, born in Elgin, Moray, Scotland
9 August : Northern Irish guitarist Henry McCullough quits rock band Wings
9 August : USSR launches Mars 7
11 August : Hip Hop invented by DJ Kool Herc in New York City
11 August : Nigel Harman, actor, born Nigel Derek Harman in London
12 August : Perry Botkin, American jazz guitarist, dies aged 66
12 August : Karl Ziegler, German chemist and Nobel Laureate, dies aged 74
14 August : Zulfikar Ali Bhutto is sworn in as Prime Minister of Pakistan,
14 August : US ends secret bombing of Cambodia
15 August : David Storey's "Cromwell" premieres in London
16 August : Veda Ann Borg, American actress, dies of cancer aged 58
17 August : Paul Williams, singer and choreographer (The Temptations), commits suicide aged 32
17 August : Jean Barraqué, French composer, dies aged 44
18 August : Drummer Gene Krupa plays for the final time with the Benny Goodman Quartet
18 August : Victoria Coren Mitchell, television presenter, born Victoria Elizabeth Coren in Hammersmith, London.
20 August : De Temporum Fine Comoedia, the last work of Carl Orff, is given its première at the Salzburg Music Festival

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! :

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335b. (MM 292.)  Carpenters – Yesterday Once More



From :  18 August - 7 September 1973
Weeks : 3
B-side : Road Ode
Bonus 1 : Reprise
Bonus 2 : Album Medley Version
Bonus 3 : Live in Belgium February 1974
Bonus 4 : Top Pop Live 1974
Bonus 5 : Live at The Budokan 1974
Bonus 6 : 1985 Remix
Bonus 7 : 1991 Remix
Bonus 8 : With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra 2018
Bonus 9 : Britain's Biggest 70s Hits 1973 : #28

The Carpenters Story So Far : Part 1

Richard Lynn Carpenter, was born in 1946 in New Haven, Connecticut. He was a quiet child who spent most of his time at home listening to Guy Mitchell, Perry Como, Patti Page, Nat King Cole, Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, Red Nichols and Spike Jones.

Karen Anne Carpenter was born in 1950. She liked to play sports, including softball, listening to music and dancing, taking ballet and tap classes at the age of four. Karen and Richard were fans of Les Paul and Mary Ford, whose music featured multiple overdubbed voices and instruments.

Richard Carpenter : "For the most part, we were pretty close, sharing the same tastes in music, and listening to the eclectic collection of records my dad owned, and to newer releases which I would pester my folks to purchase.  By age 9, at my parents' urging, I had learned the basics of piano, and a few years later actually wanted to play, and experiment with my own little tunes."



Richard's first instrument was the accordion, but he soon abandoned that in favour of the piano. He began piano lessons aged eight, but quit after a year. From the age of 11, he had begun to teach himself to play by ear, and resumed studying with a different teacher, and would frequently practice at home. By the time he was 15, he was studying piano at Yale School of Music, and was part of a piano/bass/drums trio, playing at venues in and around New Haven.

In June 1963, the Carpenter family moved to the Los Angeles suburb of Downey hoping that it would mean better musical opportunities for Richard. He was asked to be the organist for weddings and services at the local Methodist church; instead of playing traditional hymns, he would sometimes rearrange contemporary Beatles songs in a "church" style.

Richard Carpenter : "In 1963, the family moved to Southern California where, a little over a year later, Karen became interested in playing the drums, which she could do quite well almost immediately. To a much lesser extent, and with some urging from me, Karen also tried her hand at singing." 



By late 1964 Karen was a first-year student at Downey High School and playing glockenspiel in the marching band. Inspired by the drumming ability of band mate Frankie Chavez, she went home and started adding her own rhythm accompaniments to some of her records, using a pair of chopsticks and a set of bar stools as her drum kit. Chavez persuaded her parents to buy a Ludwig drum kit, and she began lessons with local jazz players. Richard and Karen gave their first public performance together in 1965, as part of the pit band for a local production of Guys and Dolls.

In June of 1965, they formed the Richard Carpenter Trio to play jazz. The third member was Richard's classmate Wes Jacobs, who played tuba and bass. At Richard's urging, Karen would sing an occasional selection but primarily the trio was an instrumental outfit, as Karen's distinctive singing voice was just developing and she was not very happy with the sound.

By early 1966, however, Karen's voice had matured quite a bit and, through a classmate, an audition for Karen and Richard had been scheduled with West Coast studio electric bassist Joe Osborn, who had recently launched a record label, Magic Lamp, and were on a search for new talent.

Richard Carpenter : "Karen, by now, was becoming more interested in singing.  Two months earlier, she and I had met pre-eminent West Coast studio bassist, Joe Osborn.  Osborn had recently had his garage transformed into a recording studio, outfitting it with state-of-the-art gear, including a Scully 4-track recorder, 4-track console, Neumann U87 microphones and Altec 604 studio monitors.  He and a partner were also the founders of a fledgling record label, Magic Lamp.  Already on the roster were Johnny Burnette and Vince Edwards, amongst others, but Osborn was still looking for new acts to sign.  As Joe routinely worked in the studios until midnight, Karen and I did not meet him until the wee small hours of an April morning.  It was of little concern to us.  Karen sang, I provided the accompaniment and on May 9, 1966 Karen signed with Magic Lamp as an artist, and I signed two days later as a writer with the publishing arm, Light Up Music." 

Impressed with her vocal abilities, Osborn signed Karen to Magic Lamp, and Richard to his publishing arm, Lightup Music. The trio's first single, credited to just Karen Carpenter, featuring two of Richard's compositions, "Looking for Love" and "I'll Be Yours", was not a commercial success, and the label folded the next year.

Richard Carpenter : "Karen and I recorded a number of tunes in Joe's studio, but due to lack of promotion and distribution, only one single by each of the label's artists was pressed and "released" before the venture folded in late 1967."
 


In June 1966, the Richard Carpenter Trio entered the Hollywood Bowl annual Battle of the Bands competition. They played an instrumental version of "The Girl from Ipanema" and their own piece, "Iced Tea".

Richard Carpenter : "I had enrolled in California State University, Long Beach, in the fall of 1964 and with my collegiate pal, Wes Jacobs, on upright bass and tuba, Karen and I, as the Richard Carpenter Trio, won a prestigious amateur competition, the Hollywood Bowl Battle of the Bands, in June 1966. Our performances were strictly instrumental, with both selections being on the light jazz side."

Reviewing the show in the Los Angeles Times, Leonard Feather wrote: "The musical surprise of the evening was the Trio of Richard Carpenter, a remarkably original soloist who won awards as the best instrumentalist and leader of the best combo. Flanking his piano were Karen Carpenter, his talented sixteen year old sister, at the drums, and bassist Wes Jacobs who doubled amusingly and confidently on tuba."

They won the competition, and on the way to the parking lot, Neely Plumb, a prominent West Coast manager, walked over to congratulate them and inquire whether they might like to make test records.

Richard Carpenter : "I was nineteen, smug, full of myself, and we'd just won. I told him we already had a contract. He said to give him a call if things changed, and gave me his card."

Plumb said he was interested in their instrumental sound. It transpired that Plumb wanted to develop a 'rock tuba' sound by emphasizing the uniqueness of Wes Jacobs. Signed by RCA Records, they recorded eleven tracks, including The Beatles' "Every Little Thing" and Frank Sinatra's "Strangers in the Night". A committee reviewed their recordings but with psychedelia dawning, they saw no commercial potential in a jazzy trio. Richard, Karen and Wes accepted the company's offer of a few hundred dollars to end the contract. The trio split up, with Jacobs leaving to study classical music and join the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

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Karen graduated from high school in early 1967, and joined Richard at Long Beach State as a music major. Osborn let Karen and Richard continued to use his studio to record demo tapes. With unlimited studio time, Richard decided to experiment with overdubbing his and Karen's voices in order to create a large choral sound.

Richard Carpenter : "During this time my choir director at CSULB, Frank Pooler, whose knowledge in, and approach to choral singing had awakened a latent talent I turned out to possess for vocal arranging, introduced me to a Poli-Sci major with an innate ability for writing lyrics, John Bettis.  Bettis and I hit it off, started writing together and went on to work as a piano/banjo act at Disneyland in the summer of 1967." 

Richard and his college friend John Bettis were hired as musicians at 'Coke Corner' on Disneyland's 'Main Street, U.S.A.' They were expected to play turn of the 20th century songs in keeping with the shop's theme, but thanks to playing customers requests for current pop hits, the pair were fired after four months by a Disneyland supervisor, Victor Guder, for being "too radical".



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Richard and Karen then teamed up with student musicians from Long Beach State to form the band Spectrum. The group included John Bettis on guitar, who began writing lyrics to Richard's songs, guitarist Gary Sims, bassist Dan Woodhams, and vocalist Leslie "Toots" Johnston.

Richard Carpenter : "I had met John around 1966, when we were students at Long Beach State and we were both in the a cappella choir. And I was writing songs at the time...nothing all that special. I knew my lyrics were pretty corny. So when I heard some of the songs that John had done, I thought we could work well together. I would come up with a melody, and usually I would hear a title and a couple of words myself. Then I'd get together with John and I'd play it, and he would write the lyrics and toss some ideas at me, and that's how it happened. The melody and chords came right along with it, and the idea and title."

The group sent demos to various record labels around Los Angeles, with little success. Richard's friend Ed Sulzer managed to book time at United Audio Recording Studio in Santa Ana, and the group recorded several original songs including "Candy" (which later became "One Love"). Richard bought a Wurlitzer electric piano as an additional instrument to complement his acoustic piano onstage, and Spectrum performed regularly at the Whisky a Go Go nightclub in Los Angeles.



Richard Carpenter : "Even though there was some interest from a couple of record labels and we did play a night at the Whiskey A Go Go, as well as opening the show for Steppenwolf at a rock venue called the Blue Law, nothing really materialized, and by mid-1968, Spectrum was no more." 

By 1968, Spectrum had disbanded, finding it difficult to get gigs as their music was not considered "danceable" by rock and roll standards. It was during this time that Karen saw a doctor about her weight. From her early years she had been chubby and by seventeen and weighing 145 pounds, she felt she had endured it long enough. The Stillman diet was prescribed in which Karen had to drink 8 glasses of water daily, avoid all fatty foods, and take some vitamins. She lost twenty-five pounds in six months, and stayed at her new weight of around 120 pounds from then until 1973.

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As "The Dick Carpenter Trio", with new bassist Bill Sissoyev, Richard and Karen made their first television appearance on the television program 'Your All American College Show', playing a cover of "Dancing in the Street".



With Richard now believing that his arranging skills, his sister's singing style, and their overdubbed vocals were the three keys to their future, Joe Osborn suggested they return to his studio.

Richard Carpenter : "Joe had not lost faith in us and in the early morning hours or on weekends, he would get behind the console and let us record; even playing bass, gratis, on a number of tracks."

There, in mid 1968, recording all the vocals themselves, they cut three tracks, a new composition by Richard, "Don't Be Afraid", and Carpenter-Bettis compositions "Your Wonderful Parade" and the acappella "Invocation". Richard decided after three sessions. They had hit a winning groove : "Karen's sound was there. It was just a matter of the right song, and we were getting close."

The duo were asked to audition for a Ford Motor Company advertising campaign, which included $50,000 each and a brand new car. The group accepted the offer, but quickly withdrew it after receiving a formal offer from A&M Records.

In early 1969, their demo tape landed on the desk of label boss Herb Alpert. Karen's voice struck an emotional chord: reminding him of a memory of hearing Patti Page singing down to him from speakers in the trees in a garden when he was visiting Lake Arrowhead, California.

Herb Alpert : "I remember staring up at the speakers thinking Patti Page's voice was in my lap. It had so much presence. The first note I heard from this tape was Karen's voice. And I had that same feeling. My mind went back to the speaker system on that tree. It felt like her voice was on the couch, like she was sitting next to me. It was full and round, and it was ... amazing.... This voice was buzzing into my body, and it was the way they presented it."

The Carpenters tape that he heard had an impressive multi-harmony sound achieved by Richard and Karen in Osborn's garage studio. In love with the voice, the harmonies, and the arrangements, Alpert decided immediately to offer them a deal. Richard and Karen Carpenter signed to A&M Records on 22 April 1969.

Richard Carpenter : "I think back...when we signed with A&M Records, Karen was 19 and I was 22. It was remarkable to be at a major label and to record at one of the great recording studios on the planet, and do what you wanted to do. And when you heard something in an arrangement, you could hire the best musicians to play what you heard. And to work with Herb Alpert — he's not only a hell of a talented musician, he's a talented A&R man. He heard the talent, and he let us do what we wanted to do."

They were given free rein in the studio to create an album in their own style. The label recommended that Jack Daugherty should produce it, though those present have since suggested that Richard was the de facto producer.

Richard Carpenter : "After much thought, we decided to name the act "Carpenters" (No "the"; we thought it sounded hipper without it-like Buffalo Springfield or Jefferson Airplane.)"

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Their first album, 'Offering', was released in October 1969.



Most of the album's material had already been written for and performed with Spectrum : "Your Wonderful Parade" and "All I Can Do" both came from demos recorded with Joe Osborn. Osborn played bass on the album, except for "All of My Life" and "Eve" where the bass played by Karen!

Richard Carpenter : "A number of selections on "Offering" were being performed by our group Spectrum as early as 1967. At that time, Karen was not as much into singing as she later became. This explains the number of my leads on this album. We were so anxious to start recording that we recorded our existing repertoire rather than searching for, or writing new material. The drum, bass, cello, solo, keyboards, and background vocals on Bettis's and my 1967 anti-establishment song, Your Wonderful Parade are from the demo done in Joe Osborn's garage studio. Only a new lead and real strings were added. All I Can Do is the demo in its entirety. Both were recorded in 1968."

Other songs featured on the album included : "Invocation", "Someday", "Get Together", "Turn Away", "Don't Be Afraid", "What's the Use", "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing", and "Benediction".



The album also included Richard's ballad arrangement of the Beatles' 1965 hit "Ticket To Ride", which was released as a single in November 1969, and reached #54 in the US Billboard Hot 100 in April, 1970.

Richard Carpenter : "Ticket to Ride is one of our finest tracks.  Since many of The Beatles' up-tempo songs are as melodic as the ballads, they can be made, with the right approach, into ballads as well.  Not only did I slow the piece down, but changed, or added, some chord changes as well, along with the melody at the end of the choruses, with Karen resolving on a very effective major seven.  This put her in her marvelous lower register on the word "care", which sounds terrific and adds to the plangent character of the entire chart; after all Ticket To Ride is a sad lyric.  The arrangement ends with a tag of four part harmony (overdubbed, 12 voices in all) singing "Think I'm gonna be sad" that foreshadows the happier "wah" tag that I would later fashion for the ending of Close To You."

The promotional film for "Ticket To Ride" took it's inspiration from the snowbound scenes from The Beatles 1965 film 'Help!'

Richard Carpenter : "The "Ticket To Ride" video was shot on Karen's 20th birthday in Squaw Valley, California. The film crew  and post-production folks did a marvelous job of it. We had a lot of fun making the film and it was a great experience, although, even with a trailer in which to relax and the sun shining outside, the outside temperature was VERY cold. I feel it is probably the best "video" ever made of us."



The album sold only 18,000 copies on its initial run, at a loss for A&M, but after the Carpenters' subsequent breakthrough the album was repackaged and reissued internationally under the name 'Ticket to Ride' and sold 250,000 copies.



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Despite the poor showing of 'Offering', A&M retained the Carpenters and decided they should record a hit single instead.

In December 1969, they met Burt Bacharach, who was impressed by their work and invited the duo to open for him at a charity concert. Herb Alpert asked Richard to re-work the Bacharach/David song "(They Long to Be) Close to You" as part of a medley.

Richard Carpenter : "Burt Bacharach had heard our version of "Ticket To Ride" not long after its release and had mentioned to Jerry Moss that he liked it.  Jerry told Burt that the artists also recorded for A&M.  This led to our being asked by Burt to arrange a medley of some of his tunes and open the show at a benefit for which he would be performing.  The benefit performance – for the Reiss-Davis Clinic – took place on February 26 of 1970.  During the time I was selecting tunes for the medley, Herb Alpert asked me if I was familiar with a little-known Bacharach/David song named 'They Long To Be Close To You'. I was not. Herb gave me a lead sheet of the song, and after working up an arrangement, I decided against it for the medley."



Richard decided the song would work as a standalone piece, and wrote an arrangement from scratch.

Richard Carpenter : "I took the lead sheet, put it on my Wurlitzer, came up with a slow shuffle, the modulation, trumpet solo etc.  I got to the end of it, and it ended, "Just like me, they long to be close to you." I'm thinking "this needs something more". I didn't want to end just like the intro; it just wasn't strong enough. I always liked records with arrangements that had something at the end that came out of left field; just when you thought the record was over, something out of left field shows up. A perfect example is by Bacharach himself on the end of 'Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head'. That's where I got the idea of the ending for 'Close To You'; I composed the "wah" bit. The first time one heard the recording, he or she for a split second, would think it was done. But wait, there was more. Without that tag, I'm not certain 'Close To You' would have been quite the hit it was."

The duo struggled on an early recording attempt, and for the second session, Alpert suggested that seasoned session player Hal Blaine play drums instead of Karen, although Blaine stated that Karen approved of his involvement. Richard had originally written the flugelhorn solo part for Herb Alpert, but when he was unavailable, Chuck Findley was brought in.

Richard Carpenter : "Chuck didn't play it that way at first, but I worked with him and he nailed it. A lot of people thought it was Herb – Bacharach thought so, too. But it's the way Findley is playing it."



"(They Long To Be) Close To You", (b/w "I Kept On Loving You"), was released in May 1970 and became their first US Number 1 single. It also topped the Canadian and Australian charts, and reached #6 in both the UK and Ireland. It remained one of the best sellers of the year, and sold over three million copies worldwide.

Richard Carpenter : "A lot of our Carpenters songs certainly are rangy, like "Close To You." It starts with the lowest note in the melody. And Karen's voice is all out in the open—the piano's holding from the intro, and she sings, "Why do birds suddenly appear," and it was just second nature for her. There's an appeal about it. It's not only in the way she interprets it, but just in the lower, deeper sound of it."



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Their next single, "We've Only Just Begun", was a song Richard had seen in a television commercial for Crocker National Bank, written by Paul Williams and Roger Nichols.

Richard guessed correctly that Williams was the vocalist, and asked whether a full-length version was available. Although the TV commercial had only two verses and no bridge, Williams stated that there was a bridge and an additional verse.

Paul Williams : "We'd had some success with songs before, a few album cuts and some B-sides - but no singles. This was a major break, a chance to get an A-side and maybe even a hit, so we would have absolutely lied through our teeth if there wasn't a full song."

Richard Carpenter : "This song has become our signature tune.  Karen and I had met Roger Nichols and Paul Williams not long after we signed with A&M.  Already fans of their work, we came to know them – and Paul's singing, as he would occasionally stop in and sing with us while we rehearsed on the A&M sound stage.  Around the time we were recording Close To You, I took notice of a TV commercial for the Crocker Bank.  A soft-sell campaign, it featured a young couple getting married, and driving into the sunset.  The song, expressly written for the commercial was "We've Only Just Begun."  It caught my ear immediately.  As the commercial featured Paul's singing, I assumed it was a Nichols/Williams song, and spoke to Paul on the A&M lot shortly thereafter.  Paul informed me that I was correct, and that the song did have both a bridge and a third verse.  (I was curious, as the ads contained only the one or two verses.)  Upon hearing the demo, I was convinced the song was a hit, and went into the sound stage to work out the arrangement."



Released in August 1970, "We've Only Just Begun" topped the Canadian charts, and reached #2 in the US, #6 in Australia.



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Their second album, 'Close to You', was released in August 1970.



As well as the hit singles "Close to You" and "We've Only Just Begun", the album included "Love Is Surrender", a song from the Christian musical 'Tell It Like It Is'. The Carpenters' recording is one of only two tracks on the album on which Richard Carpenter performs lead vocals, the other being "I Kept On Loving You".

Original songs written by Richard and John Bettis included : "Maybe It's You" - featuring an oboe solo by Doug Strawn; "Crescent Noon"; and "Mr. Guder" - dedicated to Vic Guder, their boss at Disneyland, who fired them from "Coke Corner".

Richard Carpenter : "John Bettis and I composed this "anti-establishment" song in late 1967, following our brief stint at Disneyland.  We had been hired as the piano/banjo act at Coke Corner on Main Street, U.S.A. and, as such, were required to perform American songs written around the early 1900s. A problem had started when we honored some patrons' requests to play contemporary songs, such as "Somewhere My Love," "Yesterday," "Light My Fire," et al. Vic Guder, our talent supervisor, was understandably disgruntled about this. John and I were young and full of ourselves, and during the ensuing weeks, continued to do as we pleased.  This ultimately led to our dismissal. John and I took great umbrage at this, and wrote this song. Looking back, I feel we should have been thankful to have had the job...and adhered to policy."

"Another Song" - a suite in three movements comprising of pop, baroque, and jazz sections - opens with a short prelude based on Part I of Handel's 1742 oratorio The Messiah.

Richard Carpenter : "A perfect example of pretentious, wacky 60s musical abandon, it is complete with a recitative (lifted from Handel) and extended solo backside.  Karen's and my multi-tracked vocal break, which precedes the Borodin-inspired penultimate section, however, is still thrilling to listen to."



Covers on the album included : "Reason to Believe" by Tim Hardin, which was one of the first songs they performed together as a group; "Help!" by the "Lend Me Your Comb" hit-makers The Beatles; plus "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" and "Baby It's You" by Burt Bacharach.

Richard Carpenter : "'Baby It's You' is such a strong song, that it can be done any number of ways and successfully. Of course, the Shirelles did the original, and the group, Smith, had their take on it, which was quite different than the Shirelles. And then my arrangement was certainly different from that. I thought 'Baby It's You' could have been a hit for us as well, but 'We've Only Just Begun' and 'Close To You' were the singles off the Close To You album."

In Germany, the album was released as 'We've Only Just Begun', with an alternative cover and a slightly shuffled tracklist.



As a result of their chart success, the group made several television appearances in 1970, including The Ed Sullivan Show. They also chose Sherwin Bash as their new manager around this time, and On Thanksgiving Day, 1970, the Carpenter family moved into a new $300,000 home near the San Gabriel River.

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The duo rounded out the year with the single "Merry Christmas, Darling", released in November 1970. The song was written by Richard with lyrics by Frank Pooler.



Richard Carpenter : "At Long Beach State I was in the a cappella choir, and the director was Frank Pooler. It was in 1966, and he heard these songs that I was writing. These songs didn't sound anything like hits, but they were pretty. Frank came to me and said, "I wrote a song 20 years ago — I like the lyrics, but I never liked the melody. Would you take a crack at writing a melody to it?" I said, "Yes, of course." So he gave me the lyric, and I wrote the music and I put it together in a practice room at Long Beach State. Then years later, when Karen and I hit with "Close To You" and "We've Only Just Begun," we were getting close to the fall, and I thought we could make a record of "Merry Christmas, Darling." So we did, and then we invited Frank up to the studio and played it for him. He loved it and said, "This may be the greatest day of my life" (laughs). That's one of our favorite tracks that Karen and I did. She sings it beautifully, and the harmonies on it are really lush."

Despite their recent US chart success, the single only charted at #50 in Canada. A year later, in January 1972, the song would reach #45 in the UK.

[daf]

The Carpenters Story So Far : Part 2

The Carpenters next single, "For All We Know", was originally written for the 1970 film 'Lovers and Other Strangers' by members of the group Bread. It was performed for the film's soundtrack by Larry Meredith.



Richard Carpenter : "Karen and I were in Toronto in November, 1970 to open the show for Engelbert Humperdinck. We had one night off before opening and our manager Sherwin Bash suggested we see the film "Lovers And Other Strangers". We enjoyed the film and noticed the song "For All We Know", which we recorded upon our return home."



According to Richard, the intro was originally played on guitar by Jose Feliciano . . .

Richard Carpenter : ""For All We Know" remains one of my favourites as well. No, I didn't have oboe in mind originally. We had run into Jose Feliciano at one of our favourite restaurants- and a music business hangout- Martoni's. He really admired our records and asked if he could play on an upcoming one. It so happened to be just at the time we were rush recording "For All We Know". Karen and I were honored, answered in the affirmative and in no time we were in Studio A at A&M Studios. Jose came up with that lovely intro and played here and there on his nylon string acoustic through the rest of the recording and all ended well. Or so we thought."

The next day, Richard got a phone call from Feliciano's manager, demanding that he be removed from the recording. Richard essentially did as requested and replaced Feliciano's guitar intro with that of Earle Dumler's oboe.

Richard Carpenter : "The following day I received a call from his manager, an incredibly rude man who so much as ordered me to remove Jose from the recording. I took an instant dislike to this SOB- who did not remain Jose's manager for very long- and explained that, with all due respect to Feliciano, the Carpenters were one helluva lot hotter than Jose and in addition, it was Jose's idea to begin with. We then simply replaced the guitar intro with the oboe."

"For All We Know", (b/w "Don't Be Afraid"), released in January 1971, peaked at #3 in the US, #6 in New Zealand, #7 in Canada, and #19 in the UK.



Richard Carpenter : "It went gold, peaking at No.3 and subsequently won an Oscar for Best Song of 1970. The bass work of veteran studio musician Joe Osborn on this track should be commented upon, not only for his effortless fluidity in performing the descending bass line, but the subtle syncopations he inserts helping to make this recording as strong as it is."

Their next single, "Rainy Days and Mondays", was released in April 1971.

Richard Carpenter : "Nichols and Williams sent a demo of this song to us. Two listenings and I decided it was perfect for Karen and me. This recording remains a favorite of many Carpenters' fans. Not only is it a strong piece of writing, but I purposefully kept the arrangement rather sparse in order to showcase Karen's remarkable reading of the song. Keep in mind that Karen was a few weeks shy of turning 21 when she cut this lead, a performance that sounds way beyond her years. Though I never thought that "Rainy Days and Mondays" ever got her "down", Karen did state in an early interview that whenever she sang it she 'slipped into a different world'."

Backed by, "Saturday", written and sung by Richard, "Rainy Days and Mondays" peaked a #2 in the US, #3 in Canada, #35 in Australia, and #53 on the UK 'Breakers List'.



Richard Carpenter : "The common misconception, was that hitting the high notes was more impressive. But actually, singers can run into trouble when they sing the low notes. Karen [was special], because she could sing the lower notes wonderfully. A perfect example is the bridge to "Rainy Days and Mondays," "Funny, but it seems I always wind up here with you..." And Karen [could easily sound great in the lower range]. She was actually a contralto...not just an alto, her voice was lower."



Both singles were included on their next album  . . .

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Their third album, Carpenters, was released in May 1971. It was their most successful studio album, reaching number 2 on the Billboard 200 chart and number 12 in the UK. The A&M graphics department hired Craig Braun and Associates to design the cover. The logo was used on every Carpenters album thereafter.



All lead vocals on the album were sung by Karen, except on the tracks "Druscilla Penny", "Saturday", and the "Walk on By" segment of the 'Bacharach / David Medley', where which Richard sings lead, with Karen in the background.

Richard Carpenter : "The aforementioned Bacharach/David medley is also included, but not in its original form, which had additional songs, as well as longer versions of some that remained, and ran almost fifteen minutes. In early 1970 we were asked to guest on several nationally syndicated T.V. shows (Della Reese, Virginia Graham et al.)  They wanted the medley, but not longer than five or six minutes. This involved heavy editing as well as speeding up the remaining tunes. A year later, running out of time to record, I decided to include the shortened medley in the album. For the rhythm track, instead of studio musicians, I used Karen and our group who, after having performed it countless times on stage, got it in one take.  Karen and I then did all the vocals, which sound terrific and no doubt contributed to our winning a Grammy for "Outstanding Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus" for this album. My regret is that we didn't, I guess couldn't, take the time and record the entire medley at the proper tempos, along with an orchestration I had fashioned. What's on the album is very polished, but just too fast."

Other songs featured on the album included : "Let Me Be the One"; "(A Place To) Hideaway" written by Randy Sparks, the founder of the New Christy Minstrels, who was the opening act for Richard Carpenter at his club in Westwood in late 1967-early 1968; "One Love", composed by Richard with lyrics by John Bettis; and "Sometimes" written by Felice and Henry Mancini.

Richard Carpenter : "The "Carpenters" album also features "Hideaway", a beautiful song by Randy Sparks, who is best known for his group "The New Christy Minstrels" and another of his songs, "Today". Before Karen and I started out on our own, we were in the aforementioned group "Spectrum". Randy hired us (a very rare booking) to perform at his club Ledbetters. He opened the show and "Hideaway" was one of the songs he sang. I liked it immediately and never forgot it. "One Love" is a song John and I wrote in 1967 while we were employed at Disneyland as the piano/banjo act at "Coke Corner". Originally called "Candy", it was written for a waitress of the same name in "Coke Corner", who caught all four of our eyes.  The album closes with "Sometimes", a touching Felice Mancini lyric written for her parents and set to music by her father, Henry."



Written by Bonnie Bramlett and Leon Russell, "Groupie (Superstar)" was originally recorded and released as a B-side to the Delaney & Bonnie single "Comin' Home" in December 1969. Richard Carpenter became aware of the song after watching Bette Midler sing the song on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson in February 1971.

Richard Carpenter : "Karen and I came home from the studio relatively early one evening in early '71. She went to bed, but I tuned in "The Tonight Show". The host, Johnny Carson, was championing a then relatively unknown performer named Bette Midler. One of the songs she sang was "Superstar". It was quite a bit different than what my arrangement turned out to be, but I knew it could be a hit. As the lyric never mentions the word "Superstar", I had to quiz a few people about it to find out its name in order to get a lead sheet or recording. It turned out that Leon Russell and Bonnie Bramlett had written it for Rita Coolidge and the Joe Cocker "Mad Dogs and Englishmen" recording and tour. The album was on A&M and I owned a copy of it, but never got around to playing it. I opened the album, familiarized myself with the piece and constructed my arrangement; a perfect song for Karen and the 'Carpenters' sound'."

Released as a single in August 1971, "Superstar" was another #2 in the Billboard Hot 100, and reached #1 on the "Easy Listening" chart (which they would do with most of their singles), #3 in Canada, #9 in New Zealand, #7 in Japan, and #18 in the UK.



As the song's original subject matter was more risqué than what was typical for the Carpenters, Richard changed a lyric in the second verse from "And I can hardly wait/To sleep with you again" to the less suggestive "And I can hardly wait/To be with you again." What wound up on the finished recording was the first time Karen had ever sung the song. After only the first take, Richard claimed that her performance was "perfect" as it was, and did not need repeating.

Richard Carpenter : "On a lot of these records, we were on a hell of a schedule, because we had to be out on the road for a lot of touring. In hindsight of course, we never should have gone out and toured as much as we did. Because of the type of records we made, since I picked the material and did the arrangements, and Karen and I did all the vocals and then we mixed it...it took a lot of time. And there were times when we were in the mix room finishing up, and we had to go from the mix room to the airport to get on a plane to go out on tour. So there are certain things (in the studio) that I let go. There's certainly nothing wrong with them, but they weren't exactly the way I wanted them, due to lack of time."



Shortly after the album's release, the duo recorded a short television series, 'Make Your Own Kind of Music', which drew mixed reviews.



By mid-1971, the Carpenters were being criticized that their live shows had no focal point, as Karen was seated behind the drums. Richard and Bash tried to persuade her to sing out-front. Karen resisted at first, but was eventually persuaded to front the popular numbers and ballads, and drum for more up-tempo numbers. Consequently, Jim Anthony was hired as a touring drummer.

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"Hurting Each Other", released in December 1971, was yet another Hot 100 #2 and Easy Listening #1. It also reached #2 in Canada, #4 in Australia, and #7 in New Zealand.

The song was originally written in 1965 by Gary Geld and Peter Udell, and released as a single by Jimmy Clanton. Other versions of the song were recorded by The Walker Brothers in November 1966, and Ruby & the Romantics in 1969.



Richard Carpenter : "'Hurting Each Other' was originally released by Ruby and the Romantics, on A&M, in 1969. The Nick DeCaro arrangement combined a bossa nova rhythm in the verses, and a rhythm ballad feel in the choruses. I figured it for a hit. Wrong. Recalling the song a couple of years later, I rearranged it, and "Hurting Each Other" became our seventh single release, and sixth consecutive gold single."

"It's Going To Take Some Time" (b/w "Flat Baroque"), released in April 1972, reached #12 in the US, #13 in Canada, and #24 in Australia. Tim Weisberg played the bass flute, and the alto flute solo was played by Bob Messenger.



Original written by Carole King and Toni Stern, it appeared on King's 1971 album 'Music'. King is quoted as saying that the duo's lush, string-laden cover, including a flute solo, made her own more sparse version sound "like a demo".

Both singles were included on their fourth album, 'A Song for You', released in June 1972.



The third single from the album, "Goodbye To Love" was released in June 1972. The song was inspired by the 1940 Bing Crosby film 'Rhythm on the River'. Richard noticed that the characters kept referring to the struggling songwriter's greatest composition, "Goodbye to Love".

Richard Carpenter : "With "Goodbye to Love," there was a Bing Crosby movie called Rhythm on the River. In the movie, he plays a ghost writer for a famous songwriter who had lost his muse. The big hit that this fellow in the movie was supposed to have written, was called "Goodbye to Love." In the movie, you never hear a song called "Goodbye to Love"...they just refer to it. And as I watched the movie, I imagined what the song could be and sang, "I'll say goodbye to love, no one ever cared if I should live or die." I kept writing the melody, but my lyrics stopped right there (laughs). So I got a hold of John, and we finished it."

While the Carpenters were working on the song, Richard decided that a fuzz guitar solo should be included.

Richard Carpenter : "While constructing the arrangement I pictured a melodic fuzz guitar solo and knew the guitarist I wanted use. In '71 one of our early tours featured Mark Lindsay opening the show. His backing group was called "Instant Joy" and was led by a young guitarist named Tony Peluso, whose playing caught our ears."

Karen called guitarist Tony Peluso and asked him to play on the record.

Tony Peluso : "At first I didn't believe that it was actually Karen Carpenter on the phone but she repeated her name again. ... It was at this point that I realized it was really her and that I was speaking to one of my idols."

Peluso was a typical rock guitarist and did not read music, so Richard wrote out a chord chart for him to follow. Peluso first played something soft and sweet, but then Richard Carpenter said: "No, no, no! Play the melody for five bars and then burn it up! Soar off into the stratosphere! Go ahead! It'll be great!"

John Bettis said he cried when he first heard the song because he had never heard an electric guitar sound like that : "[Tony Peluso] had a certain almost cello sounding guitar growl that worked against the wonderful melancholia of that song. The way it growls at you, especially at the end was unbelievable."

Richard Carpenter : "The result, in my opinion, is one of the all-time great recorded guitar solos. We subsequently asked Tony to join our road group, and he was with us for many years."



"Goodbye To Love" reached #4 in Canada, #5 in New Zealand, #7 in the US, #12 in Ireland, and #25 in Australia. In the UK, the song was originally released in 1972 as the B-side to "I Won't Last a Day Without You". The sides were switched shortly after the record's release, and it reached #9 on the UK Singles Chart, becoming the duo's second top ten hit there.

Some did not appreciate the combination of a soft ballad and loud electric guitar, and sent hate mail to the Carpenters. The single was also refused airplay on some easy listening radio stations because of the solo.

Richard Carpenter : "This recording caused quite a bit of comment by people of all stripes. Our detractors heard that solo and rather bombastic ending and thought maybe we possessed a little more talent and adventure than they had previously thought. Conversely, some of our fans were outraged and thought we had "sold out". When the dust settled, however, the record became a solid hit, landing in the Top 10 in both the United States and United Kingdom."



The album's biggest hit single, "Top of the World", was not issued until over a year after the album's release. According to Richard Carpenter, who co-wrote the song with John Bettis, the reason for the song's late release in the US was that he had misjudged the song's commercial appeal. He reconsidered when the it became a hit in Japan in 1972 and Lynn Anderson's cover reached number 2 on the US country charts in 1973.



Richard Carpenter : "Karen and I and all of us, we really underrated that song & record. It was on our A Song For You album, which ended up having several hits on it. We thought "Top of the World" was a pleasant album cut, and our label thought so, too. But the public liked it more. We were hearing that people liked it, and then we ran into Lynn Anderson at an event, and she said, "Oh, so good to meet you. I've just recorded "Top Of the World." And we said, "Oh that's great." Then I heard the record, and it's a clone of ours...the arrangements were identical. She sang it very well, and it became a big country hit. And then it started to cross over. At that point, I realized that I've made a mistake, because originally I didn't pick it as a single. I had now changed my mind and wanted to release it as a single. But our record label said we had released enough singles from this album, so we shouldn't release "Top of the World.""

The song went through a few minor revisions, including a slight remix, before it was finally released as a single in the US in September 1973, backed by "Heather".

"Top of the World" topped the charts in the US, Canada and Australia. In the UK, where it peaked at #5, the B-side was "Your Wonderful Parade".



Richard Carpenter : "Then some time passed and the song kept getting cover versions...people were singing it on The Tonight Show, and we were getting inundated by letters from fans. So finally we said, "We're putting this damn thing out," even though it was 1973 and we'd already released our next album, Yesterday Once More. Also, Karen was never happy with her original lead vocals on "Top of the World," so we redid part of it. She re-sang the lead vocals, and then I changed the steel guitarist to Buddy Emmons for the intro, and we remixed it. Then it finally came out as our single, it went to number one (laughs)."

Other songs featured on the album included : "A Song for You", "Intermission", "Bless the Beasts and Children", "Piano Picker", "Crystal Lullaby", "Road Ode", and "A Song for You (reprise)".

The Carpenters' cover of the Paul Williams/Roger Nichols composition "I Won't Last a Day Without You" also got a belated single release in March 1974, reaching #7 in Canada, #11 in the US, and #32 in the UK.

Richard Carpenter : "Arguably our finest album, and not just because of the many strong songs; but the arrangements, vocal work, diversity of tunes and the presentation. After being pressed for time while making "Carpenters", I made sure enough time was set aside for its successor."

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Their next single, "Sing", was originally written by Joe Raposo in 1971 as the signature song for the children's television show Sesame Street.



The song became one of the most popular on the programme, sung in English, Spanish and sign language. Although Barbra Streisand had an easy-listening hit in 1972 with it, Karen and Richard Carpenter heard the song for the first time as guests on the ABC television special Robert Young with the Young in 1973. They loved the song and felt that it could be a hit.

Richard Carpenter : "In early 1973, Karen and I guested on an ABC television special, Robert Young With The Young.  One of the songs, featuring the cast, was 'Sing," originally written for Sesame Street.  Karen and I thought the song could be a hit (most of our associates thought we were nuts) and selected it as the debut single from our Now & Then album. It peaked at #3 and became our seventh gold single."

Released in January 1973, "Sing" reached #3 in the US, #4 in Canada, #7 in New Zealand, #24 in Australia, and #55 on the UK 'Breakers List'.



On 1 May 1973, the Carpenters performed a special concert at the White House following a state dinner for West German chancellor Willy Brandt. Though the event was overshadowed by the resignation of the White House Chief of Staff, Bob Haldeman, and assistant John Ehrlichman over the Watergate scandal, which would ultimately also lead to President Nixon's resignation.



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Their fifth studio album, 'Now & Then', was released on 1 May 1973. The title, suggested by Karen and Richard's mother Agnes, was taken from a leftover song that did not appear on the album. The car pictured on the cover was Richard's 1973 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 "Daytona".



The LP was housed in a three-panel cover that folded out, showing a panoramic view of Karen and Richard Carpenter driving past the Carpenter family home on Newville Avenue in Downey, California. Karen and Richard had bought the five-bedroom house for their parents in 1970. The property also contained an annex that served as Richard and Karen's home studio and housed their awards and certification plaques.

Richard Carpenter : "As the time approached for recording our fifth album, Karen and I once again were not left with enough time to produce it in as relaxed an atmosphere as possible, given all that was going on in our lives. I, especially, was not happy, as it was my job to audition, select and/or compose, as well as arrange, the music for our recordings. I always believed that the Carpenters were first and foremost a record act; all of the success stemmed from the popularity of the records, so management should have placed the utmost importance on the recording process, not on excessive touring."

Songs featured on the album included : "Sing", "Heather", "I Can't Make Music" and "This Masquerade".

Richard Carpenter : "'This Masquerade', we recorded it several years before George Benson had a hit with it. But our arrangement was a little over four minutes, and forget Top 40 radio if it goes over four minutes (laughs). But I always thought that song was going to be a hit, and I think it was a perfect song for Karen. It's a really good track, and she's drumming on it too."



"Jambalaya (On The Bayou)" was released as a single in February 1974, and peaked at #3 in New Zealand, and reached #12 in both the UK and Ireland. Though Karen performed all or most of the drumming on the 'Now and Then' album, top session drummer Hal Blaine played drums on this single.



Richard Carpenter : ""Jambalaya" is a magical song, fairly simple, and brilliant in it's own way. Although one would have to be from the region to understand some of the words, just the melody alone brings a smile to one's face. It's fun to listen to , and fun to sing. That's why I chose to do it. It worked very well for Karen and the Carpenters'  multi-harmony sound. The Dutch and the Japanese loved it and it "went gold" in both countries. Here in the US things work differently as to how many singles are released by an artist at approximately the same time. "Yesterday Once More" was in release at this time and on it's way to becoming a million seller, so Jambalaya remained an album cut."



Short on original material, Side B of the album features a side-long "oldies medley", which originated in the Carpenters 1972 live concerts.

Richard Carpenter : "As the limited time we had to record the album approached, it was clear to me that we had only enough material to complete one side of an LP, and even that was by completing a track we had recorded in 1972, Jambalaya. Fortunately, we had an ace up our collective sleeve, resulting in a damn good album which became a worldwide best-seller:  Karen and I introduced an oldies medley into our concert show starting in the summer of 1972, and it met with such an enthusiastic response, I decided to feature a version of it on side two of what would become 'Now And Then'."



The medley starts with the Carpenters' original song "Yesterday Once More". Tony Peluso, the Carpenters' guitarist, is heard as a radio DJ throughout the medley, which includes such songs as "Fun, Fun, Fun", "The End of the World", "Da Doo Ron Ron", "Dead Man's Curve", "Johnny Angel", "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes", "Our Day Will Come" and "One Fine Day".

The medley, which also featured Mark Rudolph, a cousin of the Carpenters, as the listener who calls in during "Guess the Golden Goodies Group Contest", closed with "Yesterday Once More (Reprise)".

Richard Carpenter : "It was around this time that certain radio stations were changing their formats to all oldies. I thought Bettis and I should write a song that would reflect this fact and also set-up the medley. Yesterday Once More was the result, and it became our biggest worldwide hit. Tony Peluso guests as a "D.J." and the medley was constructed as a Top 40 radio program."

The single version of "Yesterday Once More" was released in June 1973.



While it reached #2 on the Official UK chart, it topped the Melody Maker chart in August 1973 for three weeks . . .

The Single :

"Yesterday Once More" was written by Richard Carpenter and John Bettis, and performed by the Carpenters.



Richard wrote the song after hearing the melody in his head while driving one day. The temporary lyrics for the chorus, which he intended to change later, were kept after lyricist and former bandmate John Bettis told Richard, "This 'Sha-la-la-wo-wo-wo' stuff sounds pretty good!"

Featured on their 1973 album 'Now & Then', the song concerns reminiscing about songs of a generation gone by. It segues into a long medley, consisting of eight covers of 1960s tunes incorporated into a faux oldies radio program, which takes up the entire B-side of the album.

Richard Carpenter : "We had done an oldies medley on our Now & Then album, and I felt it needed a song to bookend it, to set the whole medley up. So I came up with "Yesterday Once More." So I wrote the lyrics, "When I was young I'd listen to the radio, waiting for my favorite song," and the hook. That's my lyric and melody. But there were certain words in the verses that didn't come to me, so I got together with John and he finished the lyric."

The single version of the song peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, the duo's fifth number 2 hit, and also peaked at number 1 on the easy listening chart, becoming their eighth number 1 on that chart in four years.

Yesterday Once More was the Carpenters' biggest-selling record worldwide and their best-selling single in the UK, peaking at number 2 on the official chart, and topping the Melody Maker chart for three weeks in August 1973.



The single also reached #1 in Canada, #5 in Japan and New Zealand, #8 in Ireland, #9 in Australia, and #21 in Germany. Richard Carpenter stated that it was his favourite of all the songs that he had written.

Richard Carpenter : "There was always ambient room noise, even in the best of studios. For example, in the beginning of "Yesterday Once More," before the drums and the bass come in, you hear some low humming going on. It's from the air conditioning in Studio C, where we recorded it. And we didn't notice it at the time."

Other Versions include :  Top of the Poppers (1973)  /  The Ventures (1973)  /  Floyd Cramer (1973)  /  "Quand j'étais un enfant" by Anne Renée (1973)  /  "Sha la la (Hier est près de moi)" by Claude François (1973)  /  "Otra vez ayer" by Silvana Di Lorenzo (1973)  /  Ray Conniff (1973)  /  Vince Hill (1973)  /  Ayshea (1974)  /  "Käy luonain eilinen" by Katri Helena (1974)  /  "Io sto bene con te" by Dori Ghezzi (1974)  /  The Shaggs (1982)  /  Richard Clayderman (1988)  /  Jam Tronik (1990)  /  Sabrina (1991)  /  Redd Kross (1994)  /  Cinerama (2001)  /  Fire-Ball (2004)  /  Cliff Richard with Daniel O' Donnell (2006)  /  Sungha Jung (2008)  /  Zooey Deschanel (2012)  /  Danny McEvoy (2012)  /  Aimee Mann (2016)  /  Daria Semikina (2016)  /  Shane Ericks (2018)  /  The Cat and Owl (2020)  /  Junko Nakayama (2020)  /  Countdown Studio Band (2020)  /  Gigi De Lana and The Gigi Vibes (2021)  /  Twinkle Dudu (2021)

On This Day :

18 August : Drummer Gene Krupa plays for the final time with the Benny Goodman Quartet
18 August : Victoria Coren Mitchell, television presenter, born Victoria Elizabeth Coren in Hammersmith, London.
20 August : De Temporum Fine Comoedia, the last work of Carl Orff, is given its première at the Salzburg Music Festival
22 August : Kosmos 580 is successfully launched by the Soviet Union as part of the Dnepropetrovsk Sputnik programme.
22 August : Kristen Wiig, comic actress, born Kristen Carroll Wiig in Canandaigua, New York
23 August : Intelsat communications satellite launched
28 August : Marvin Gaye's album "Let's Get It On" released
29 August : British submarine Pisces III sinks in the Atlantic Ocean south west of Ireland.
29 August : Stringer Davis, English actor, dies aged 74
30 August : Drummer Denny Seiwell quits rock band Wings
31 August : John Ford, American film director, dies aged 79
1 September : George Foreman knocks out Jose "King" Roman of Puerto Rico with his little fist of Blackpool rock in round 1 in Tokyo
2 September : J.R.R. Tolkien, author, dies of an ulcer aged 81
5 September : "Desert Song" opens at Uris Theater NYC
5 September : Paddy Considine, actor, born Patrick George Considine in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire
6 September : Greg Rusedski, Canadian-British tennis player, born Gregory Rusedski in Montreal, Quebec
7 September : Shannon Elizabeth, actress, born in Houston, Texas

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! :

[gilbertharding]

The first time I'd ever considered The Carpenters as anything other than a kitsch curiosity was when I went to see Sonic Youth in 1989, when they played Close to You through their amps before coming on stage.

They paid tribute many times since - Tunic (Song for Karen), and covered Superstar.

At the same time I agree with Taylor Parkes's assessment of how deeply weird they are.

[daf]

336.  Donny Osmond – Young Love



From : 21 August – 17 September 1973
Weeks : 4
B-side : A Million To One
Bonus : Top of the Pops

The Story So Far : 

In March 1973, Donny Osmond released his fifth studio album, 'Alone Together', his first since his balls dropped.



Two singles were released in support of the album, "The Twelfth of Never" and "Young Love" which reached No. 8 and No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart respectively. In the UK, "Young Love" became his third UK chart topper.



Other songs featured on the album included : "Life Is Just What You Make It", "Sunshine Rose", "Do You Want Me?", "It's Hard To Say Goodbye", "Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)", "Other Side of Me", "Tears on My Pillow", and "It Takes A Lot of Love".



Billboard Magazine : "This is Donny's first LP since his voice changed and he's singing an octave lower. The material is from two schools: veteran composers like Paul Frances Webster, Jay Livingston, Leslie Bricusse, Anthony Nowley, Neil Sadaka, and the Osmonds themselves. Donny's smooth presence sails along on a smooth course with the large orchestral backing adding depth to the sound. Best cuts: The Twelth of Never, It's Hard To Say Goodbye."

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

By 1973 The Osmonds were well-established as stars in the pop music world and as teen idols, especially Donny. The Osmonds' management convinced Marie Osmond to try her hand at singing as well, and soon she was performing with her brothers on tour, but not officially as a member. When she began to record, she took a different tack from her brothers musically - she decided to try to make it big in country music, and she was soon signed to MGM Records in Los Angeles, California.

Mike Curb, who had overseen Donny Osmond's solo hit covers of oldies used the same approach with Marie, and looked for country songs for her to record for her first album.



In August 1973 Marie Osmond released  single "Paper Roses" (b/w "Least of All You"). The single peaked at #5 on the US pop charts, and #2 on the UK charts in November 1973. It also reached #1 on the US country charts - becoming, at just 14 years old, the youngest female artist and youngest overall solo artist to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Country chart.



Billboard Magazine : "Produced by Sonny James with a Cam Mullins arrangement and is a good start for any new artist; but the girl really sings a country song. It's nice and smooth and should establish her in the country field without a doubt."

Marie Osmond : "I've always loved country music, and what a lot of people don't know is that my brothers like country music too. I suppose Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette are my favorite girl singers. Sonny James is my favorite male singer, naturally."

Her debut album, 'Paper Roses' was released in September 1973.



[Director, Country Music Division, MGM Records] Don Ovens : "How can you help being totally involved in music and the love of music when your life has been surrounded by musical parents and famous singing brothers!!  Young Marie Osmond, the only girl in the family of eight brothers, came by this debut album naturally and in her own way.  She loves most types of music, but had expressed a particular fondness for the simple beauty of country music.  One of her Nashville favorites is composer-performer Sonny James.  So, off Marie went to Nashville for a happy, love-filled week of going over song material and recording with Sonny her arranger-producer.  Sonny wrote some of the songs included here, especially for his new friend! As you will hear, Marie demonstrates her own individual style in this album and her talent clearly proves her versatility in any musical category."

Songs featured on the album included : "Louisiana Bayou", "Everything Is Beautiful", "You're the Only World I Know", "Fool No. 1", "Sweet Dreams", "Too Many Rivers", "It's Such a Pretty World Today", and "True Love Lasts Forever".



Billboard Magazine : "For a youngster of her tender years, her voice has strength and clarity, and the Sonny James production gets the right touch. The girl member of the famous family tackles some fairly difficult material and acquits herself well. With the title from her big hit single, she shows diversity in the album, erasing all doubts as to her abilities. Best cuts: Too Many Rivers, True Love Lasts Forever, You're The Only World I Know,"

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

Donny's next single, "When I Fall In Love" (b/w "Are You Lonesome Tonight") was released in November 1973, and peaked at #4 on the UK chart.



The single was included on his sixth studio album, 'A Time for Us', released in November 1973.



Songs featured on the album included : "A Time For Us", "Hawaiian Wedding Song", "When I Fall In Love", "I Believe", "Guess Who", "Young And In Love", and "Unchained Melody".



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

Marie Osmond's second album, 'In My Little Corner Of The World', was released in July 1974.



songs featured on the album included : "In My Little Corner of the World", "Big Hurts Can Come (From Little White Lies)", "Invisible Tears", "I Love You So Much It Hurts", "Everybody's Somebody's Fool", "True Love's A Blessing", "I Love You Because", "It's Just the Other Way Around", "Crazy Arms", and "Singing The Blues".

The Single :

"Young Love" was written by Ric Cartey and Carole Joyner, and performed by Donny Osmond.



The original version by Ric Cartey, released in November 1956 by Stars Records, failed to chart.

The song became a hit several times over the years with well known cover versions by Sonny James, Tab Hunter, and the Crew-Cuts - all three singles released in January 1957.

Lesley Gore recorded a version in late 1965, and released on her sixth studio album, 'Lesley Gore Sings All About Love', in January 1966.

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

In 1973, the song was revived by Donny Osmond on MGM Records. His version featured a spoken recitation on the first half of the second verse.



Produced by Mike Curb and Don Costa, Osmond's version became a hit on both sides of the Atlantic, reaching No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100, and No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart, spending four weeks at the top in August 1973.



Billboard Magazine : "Donny's lead and his brothers' supporting efforts take us back to the 1950's from this 1950-type lyric. The simpleness of the song is matched by the simpleness of the arrangement and tune is one of the briefest sung by Donny. Young Love truly flies."

Other Versions include :  Tommy Steele and The Steelmen (1957)  /  Frankie Avalon (1958)  /  "Amour, jeune amour" by Mick Micheyl (1958)  /  Connie Francis (1959)  /  Dig Richards and The R' Jays (1959)  /  Bobby Vee (1960)  /  Ray Conniff (1961)  /  Perry Como (1961)  /  The Anita Kerr Singers (1963)  /  Frank Ifield (1967)  /  Bobby Vinton (1967)  /  Mary Hopkin (1969)  /  Connie Smith and Nat Stuckey (1969)  /  Sha Na Na (1969)  /  "Nuori rakkaus" by Rauli "Badding" Somerjoki (1973)  /  Sandy Posey (1982)  /  "Amor joven" by Los Mustang (1991)  /  Foster & Allen (2002)  /  Daniel O'Donnell (2003)  /  Celtic Thunder (2008)  /  Jasmine Thorpe with Danny McEvoy (2012)  /  a robot (2015)  /  Yvan Jacques (2018)

On This Day :

22 August : Kosmos 580 is successfully launched by the Soviet Union as part of the Dnepropetrovsk Sputnik programme.
22 August : Kristen Wiig, comic actress, born Kristen Carroll Wiig in Canandaigua, New York
23 August : Intelsat communications satellite launched
28 August : Marvin Gaye's album "Let's Get It On" released
29 August : British submarine Pisces III sinks in the Atlantic Ocean south west of Ireland.
29 August : Stringer Davis, English actor, dies aged 74
30 August : Drummer Denny Seiwell quits rock band Wings
31 August : John Ford, American film director, dies aged 79
1 September : Turned out nice again : George Foreman retains his WBC & WBA heavyweight crown by knocking out Jose "King" Roman of Puerto Rico in round 1 in Tokyo
2 September : J.R.R. Tolkien, author, dies of an ulcer aged 81
5 September : "Desert Song" opens at Uris Theater NYC
5 September : Paddy Considine, actor, born Patrick George Considine in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire
6 September : Greg Rusedski, Canadian-British tennis player, born Gregory Rusedski in Montreal, Quebec
7 September : Shannon Elizabeth, actress, born in Houston, Texas
8 September : "Star Trek - Animated Series" premieres on TV
9 September : Jackie Stewart wins 3rd Formula 1 World Drivers Championship
11 September : Art Garfunkel releases his solo debut album Angel Clare
11 September : Chilean President Salvador Allende, the 1st elected Marxist president of a South America country, is deposed in a military coup led by general Augusto Pinochet
11 September : Salvador Allende commits suspected suicide by shooting himself during a military coup aged 65
13 September : Betty Field, American actress, dies of cerebral hemorrhage aged 57
14 September : Nas, rapper, born Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones in New York City
14 September : Andrew Lincoln, actor, born Andrew James Clutterbuck in London
15 September : King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden, dies aged 90
15 September : Carl XVI Gustaf becomes King of Sweden.
16 September : "Desert Song" closes at Uris Theater NYC after 15 performances
16 September : Al Sherman, Ukrainian-born US songwriter, died aged 76

[daf]

336b. (MM 294.)  Barry Blue – Dancing on a Saturday Night



From :  15 - 21 September 1973
Weeks : 1
B-side : New Day
Bonus : Top of the Pops
Bonus : Spanish TV
Bonus : German TV
Bonus : 1973 TV performance
Bonus : 1989 remix

The Story So Far :

Barry Ian Green was born in London in 1950. He made his first television appearance at the age of 13 with his school band The Dark Knights, performing on Granada TV's 'Stubby's Silver Star Show', a weekly children's talent show hosted by Stubby Kaye.

They were spotted by Tim Rice who was working as an assistant to Norrie Paramor. Together they produced "She's All Around Me", Barry's first ever song, written when he was only 13 years old. Another of his songs, 'Rainmaker Girl', became a hit for Gene Pitney in the United States.

Later he became a bassist in Spice, the precursor to the heavy rock band Uriah Heep. He followed this in 1966 with a two-year period in A&R at the Bee Gees' publishing company Abigail Music, under direction of their manager Robert Stigwood.

In 1970, Barry signed as a songwriter to ATV-Kirshner, where he joined a group of professional songwriters that included Lynsey de Paul and Ron Roker. One of their earliest songs was "Sugarloaf Hill", recorded by the reggae artist Del Davis.

Other songs co-written by Blue and de Paul included "Tip of My Tongue" for the British group "Brotherly Love", as well as female vocal trio Ellie, and "House of Cards" recorded by a number of artists including the D.J. Tony Blackburn. Another from this period included "Crossword Puzzle", also co-written with de Paul, and which led to an appearance on Top of the Pops for Irish singer Dana.



In 1972, Lynsey de Paul's "Sugar Me", co-written with de Paul, became his first UK chart hit. The song originally was written for Peter Noone, but de Paul's boyfriend at the time, Dudley Moore, suggested that she should take a demo version to manager Gordon Mills, who told her she should record it herself. The song also charted in the Netherlands, Spain, and Belgium.



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

He released his first record, 'Together', in June 1971, under his real name of Barry Green. Written by Jean-Pierre Mirouze, it featured in the French film 'Le mariage collectif'. He signed to Decca Records, and released "I Wanna Join The Cavalry", (b/w "When The Morning Returns"), in May 1971; "Alexander The Greatest", (b/w "Ole Black Five"), in July 1971; and "Papa Do", (b/w "Boomerang"), in February 1972



In 1973, a double-sided flexi was released to promote Suzuki motorcycles, featuring "Shake A Tail Suzy" by Barry Green on one side, and "Meet Barry Sheene" by Barry Sheene on the other.



He decided to adopt 'Blue' as a stage name after speaking with a record company employee who told him that green is considered an unlucky colour by circus performers, and because all the three singles released as Barry Green had been "quite unsuccessful".

Now signed to Bell Records, his first single as Barry Blue, "Dancin' (On A Saturday Night)", was released in April 1973, and soared to the top Melody Maker chart.



The follow-up, "Do You Wanna Dance?", (b/w "Don't Put Your Money On My Horse"), was released in October 1973, and reached #7 in the UK chart in November 1973.



Both hit singles were included on his debut album, 'Barry Blue', released in 1974.



Other songs featured on the album included :  "Don't Wanna Be Blue", "Ooh I Do", "Kalamazoo", "Tip Of My Tongue", "Pay At The Gate", "Queen Of Hearts", "and One Way Ticket".



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

His next single, "School Love" (b/w "Hi-Cool Woman") was released in February 1974, and reached #11 in March 1974.



"Miss Hit And Run", (b/w "Heads I Win, Tails You Lose"), was released in July 1974, and reached #26 in August 1974.



His final hit, "Hot Shot" (b/w "Hobo Man"), was released in September 1974, and reached #23 in the UK chart in October 1974



All five of his charting singles were included on 'Hot Shot', his difficult second album / greatest hits compilation, also released in 1974.



Songs featured on the album included :  "Miss Hit & Run", "Ooh I Do", "School Love", "Don't Wanna Be Blue", "Hi-Cool Woman", "Dancin' (On A Saturday Night)", "Mona", "Do You Wanna Dance?", "Rosetta Stone", "The Girl Next Door", "Pay At The Gate", "Queen Of Hearts", and "One Way Ticket (To The Blues)".

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

Singles released in 1975 included : "You Make Me Happy (When I'm Blue)" released in March 1975; "If I Show You I Can Dance" released in October 1975; and "Happy Christmas To You From Me" (b/w "Stick To You") released in November 1975 by Lynsey De Paul and Barry Blue.



Further flop singles included "Tough Kids" (b/w "The Man With No Name") released in June 1976; "Billy" (b/w "Sitting On A Corner (Of A Love Affair)") released in January 1977; and "A Lover Lovin' You" (b/w "Long Hard Road") released in April 1977.



Blue achieved a million seller in 1975 with "Kiss Me Kiss Your Baby", recorded by Brotherhood of Man. He co-wrote "Devil's Gun", also recorded by C. J. & Company, which peaked at number 36 on the Billboard Hot 100, and topped the Billboard disco chart for five weeks in 1977. The song is notable for being the first record played at the opening of Studio 54 on 26 April 1977 by DJ Richie Kaczor.

One of his major production successes was the funk/soul band Heatwave, who enjoyed hits in the UK and US with "Boogie Nights", "Always and Forever", "Mind Blowing Decisions", and "The Groove Line". Other songs produced by Blue include "Funk Theory" by Rokotto in 1978, and "Somebody Help Me Out" by Beggar and Co which reached #15 in the UK in 1981.

The Single :

"Dancin' (on a Saturday Night)" was written by Lynsey de Paul and Barry Blue, and performed by Barry Blue.



Blue's backing band of session musicians included drummer John Richardson, who later joined the Rubettes.

While "Dancin' (on a Saturday Night)" reached the number 2 on the Official UK Singles Chart, it peaked at number 1 on the Melody Maker chart for a week in September 1973. It also reached #2 in Australia, #3 in Austria, #4 in Ireland, #9 in Germany, and #11 in the Netherlands.



Other Versions include :   Top of the Poppers (1973)  /  "Tanzen macht den Sonntag erst schön" by Cliff Carpenter (1973)  /  "Tanzen macht den Sonntag erst schön" by Janosch Rosenberg (1973)  /  Lynsey De Paul (1974)  /  The Young Generation (1974)  /  Reg Guitar (1974)  /  Flash Cadillac & The Continental Kids (1974)  /  Frankie Cheah (1974)  /  Frances Yip (1974)  /  Anita Sarawak (1974)  /  Kai Warner (1974)  /  "Lauantaina kaikki tanssii" by Markku Karjalainen (1974)  /  "Tanzen macht den Sonntag erst schön" by Marty Rodgers (1974)  /  "Eu Quero Dançar Contigo" by Renato e Seus Blue Caps (1974)  /  Bond (1975)  /  La quinta faccia (1975)  /  "Lauantaina bailataan vaan" by Anja Niskanen (1984)  /  Danny McEvoy (2012)

On This Day :

15 September : King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden, dies aged 90
15 September : Carl XVI Gustaf becomes King of Sweden.
16 September : "Desert Song" closes at Uris Theater NYC after 15 performances
16 September : Al Sherman, Ukrainian-born US songwriter, died aged 76
18 September : Nora Nicholson, English actress, dies aged 80
18 September : West Germany and East Germany are admitted to the United Nations.
19 September : King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden is invested at the Hall of State of the Royal Palace of Stockholm.
19 September : Gram Parsons, musician, dies of a drug overdose aged 26
19 September : Bobby Gilbert, American actor, dies of hepatitis aged 75
20 September : Ben Webster, American tenor saxophonist, dies aged 64
20 September : Billie Jean King beats Bobby Riggs in the second 'Battle of the Sexes' tennis match
20 September : Glenn Strange, American actor, dies aged 74
20 September : Jim Croce, American singer-songwriter, dies in a plane crash aged 30
20 September : Maurice T. Muehleisen, American musician and songwriter, dies in a plane crash aged 24
21 September : Jackson Pollock's painting "Blue Poles" sold for $2,000,000
21 September : Diana Sands, actress, dies aged 39
21 September : Henry Kissinger begins his term as United States Secretary of State.

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! :

[Auntie Beryl]

This is... not one of my favourites, I can however recommend UK #43 smash Devil's Gun by CJ & Co (co-written by Barry) which is quietly amazing, best sampled in this performance video.

[famethrowa]

Meh. Seems to be a rip-off of Herman's Hermits.

[gilbertharding]

336.  Donny Osmond – Young Love

I have asked before - but one of my prime Osmonds memories is of Michael and Janet Jackson taking the piss out of 'I'm a Little Bit Country' on the Jacksons TV show... but I can't find proof this happened anywhere.

[jamiefairlie]

Strange one Barry Blue. I was seven at this time and when I later went back through the charts as a teenager, he was the act with the most chart success that I had zero awareness off. Like he had a cloaking device or memory wiper.

[daf]

Unless it's a different bloke, he's got a really weird gargoyle / sexbomb "Two Face" thing going on :

[The Culture Bunker]

Strange one Barry Blue. I was seven at this time and when I later went back through the charts as a teenager, he was the act with the most chart success that I had zero awareness off. Like he had a cloaking device or memory wiper.

I always get him mixed up, just from the names, with Bobby "Blue" Bland, which I think is doing Barry something of a massive favour.

[daf]

I liked the crackpot idea of that Suzuki promo flexi-disc - they were clearly only paired up because their names rhymed!

Other fictional motorsport-pop team-ups the panel would like to see :
James Hunt & James Blunt
Nigel Mansell & Dexter Wansel
Donald Campbell & The Bangles

[daf]

337.  Wizzard – Angel Fingers (A Teen Ballad)



From : 18 – 24 September 1973
Weeks : 1
B-side : You Got The Jump On Me
Bonus 1 : Promo Film
Bonus 2 : Top of the Pops 1973
Bonus 3 : Rusell Harty Plus

The Story So Far : 

Following their first number 1, Wizzard's next single, "Angel Fingers (A Teen Ballad)" (b/w "You Got The Jump On Me"),  released on 24 August 1973, also reached #1 in the UK chart, #7 in Ireland and #42 in Australia.



In October 1973, cellist Hugh McDowell returned to ELO to replace Colin Walker. McDowell's return was partly motivated by a desire to play more cello and less keyboards as he had done with Wizzard.



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

With two number ones in the bag, Wizzard were confident that their next single would top the charts - particularly as it was a song specifically aimed at the Christmas market.

Roy Wood : "Most Christmas records up until then had just been novelty or comedy songs. I was thinking, there hadn't been a rock 'n' roll type Christmas song since Brenda Lee's Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree all those years ago."

"I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday", (b/w "Rob Roy's Nightmare (A Bit More H.A.)") was released on 30 November 1973. At the time of the single's release, Wizzard's contract with EMI was close to expiration. Promotional copies were pressed by Warner Brothers, with whom the band had just signed for future releases. Only then was it discovered that EMI were legally entitled to the track after all, so the Warner Bros. Records pressings were halted and the record appeared on the Harvest label, but with the same picture sleeve.



The basic track for the single was recorded in August 1973, so to create a wintry feeling engineer Steve Brown decorated the studio with Christmas decorations and turned the air conditioning down to its coldest setting. Wood wore a woollen hat found in lost property.

Roy Wood : "I wrote it around May and June of 1973 and we recorded it in August when the weather was not really suitable for a wintery gem. I asked the band to turn up to the session wearing suitable clothing for the occasion. We put up some big fans which I had hired, plus some blue spotlights and left it for an hour - boy was it cold. We also put up decorations and lights and a tree in the studio control room to add to the atmosphere of jollity. So the band recorded it wearing overcoats, bobble hats, scarves and gloves. It was a really enjoyable recording session, which you can now hear plainly on the recording."

The backing vocals for the single are by "The Suedettes", augmented by the choir of Stockland Green School First Year. The original sleeve of the single credits "Miss Snob and Class 3C" with "Additional noises". The schoolchildren were brought down from the Midlands to London by bus during the autumn half-term to add their contributions. Although Wood had arranged for the members of the Stockland Green School choir to sing at the Top of the Pops television recording, their place was taken by children provided by a local London stage school.

Rick Price : "It was a blazing hot summer's day when we recorded the Kerr-ching for the opening of 'I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday'. The idea of a "Christmas Single" was brand new in 1973. Previous December hits had been things like 'Two Little Boys' by Rolf Harris and 'Ernie (the fastest milkman in the west)' by Benny Hill."

Though clearly their best single so far and an absolute cast-iorn classic, The single had the bad luck to be released at the same time as an equally brilliant single - "Merry Xmas Everybody" by Slade.

Rick Price : "When Roy first suggested a song specifically aimed at the Christmas market, we all thought it was a great and revolutionary new idea. We didn't have any idea that Noddy and Slade had got one lined up too."



Roy Wood : "Unfortunately, our record hit the shops two weeks after Slade's, which meant they had a head start. Theirs was a great song and pipped us to the post for 1973 Christmas No 1. But I didn't cry in my beer because I was pleased just having a hit."

That said, the song actually stalled at Number 4 - behind Gary Glitter's "I Love You Love Me Love You Love Me Love You Love Me" at #2 and The New Seekers' "You Won't Find Another Fool Like Me" at #3 - so even without Slade, it still wouldn't have topped the chart!

Bill Hunt : "I'm proud to be associated with it, it was a little bit of rock and roll history and I'm proud to be associated with that. I still think its better than the Slade single and I've told Dave Hill and Nodd that! I can't quite remember when we did record that one. I know Dave Hill tells me that they recorded theirs in New York in the summer and it was really really hot and they were all sweating and some of the recordings were done in corridors to get the echo effects and all these New Yorkers were walking passed looking at this British band dressed up in Christmas gear singing about Christmas and they thought it was a load of nutters. How right they were!"



In a bizzare twist, it appears the version played on the radio every Christmas might be a re-recording from the Eighties!

When it was decided to re-release the single in 1981, it was found that the original tapes had been lost. As a result, the song was allegedly completely re-recorded with a new choir from Kempsey Primary School in Worcester.

[producer] Muff Murfin : "We just panicked... It took a good few bottles of brandy before we even thought about how we would manage it."

According to Murfin, even members of the original Stockland Green choir do not know they are not the voices on the version which is played on the radio.

[producer] Muff Murfin : "That recording simply does not exist. The pupils from Kempsey are the ones on the record. The only way [the original choir] can hear themselves singing on the track is if they have a copy of the disc which was released then, in 1973."

So that's their story, however . . .

As far as I can make out, the version that eventually peaked at #41 in December 1981, credited to just "Roy Wood" on the sleeve and with "See My Baby Jive" as the B-side, was just a re-release of the original 1973 version issued in November 1978 - featuring the original credit to "The Stockland Green Bilateral School first year choir" on the record label. Also, nobody has been able to hear ANY difference between the released versions. Whatever the truth, the song would return to the charts a couple more times - reaching #23 in December 1984, and #10 in December 2007.



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

In February 1974, during the recording of their next album, keyboardist Bill Hunt left the band and was replaced by Bob Brady (from Mongrel).



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

"Rock N' Roll Winter (Loony's Tune)", their first single on the Warner Bros label, was delayed for several weeks until the end of March 1974 - so the words 'Sorry, the word 'Spring' wouldn't fit. R.W.' were added on the label after the title. Unusually for the time, this song and the B-side, "Dream of Unwin", were both recorded and released in glorious mono. The song reached #6 in the UK chart and #13 in Ireland in April 1974.



The song is dedicated to Wood's girlfriend at the time Lynsey de Paul - from Spike Milligan's nickname for her, "Looney de Small" - who repaid the honour by recording a Wizzard flavoured song "Ooh I Do" a few months later.



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

Wizzard had initially intended their second album to be a double, with one disc a set of rock and roll pastiches and the other disc jazz-rock. The label heard the rock and roll set and decided to release that as a single album, which appeared in 1974 as 'Introducing Eddy & The Falcons', which peaked at No. 19 in the UK Albums Chart



The album had a concept similar to The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper, in that the "Intro" featured the appearance on stage of fictional band Eddy & The Falcons.



All tracks were written and recorded as tributes to 1950s and early 1960s rock and roll musicians, "Eddy's Rock" being a guitar and saxophone instrumental played in the style of Duane Eddy, while "Everyday I Wonder" was similar in sound and approach to Del Shannon. "Come Back Karen" was a spin on Neil Sedaka's "Oh! Carol". A particularly clear tribute was to Elvis Presley in "I Dun Lotsa Cryin' Over You". Other songs featured on the album included : "Brand New 88", "You Got Me Runnin'", the Jerry Lee Lewis tribute "Crazy Jeans", and "We're Gonna Rock 'n' Roll Tonight".

"This Is The Story Of My Love (Baby)" (b/w "Nixture"), was released aa a single on 19 July 1974, and reached #34 in the UK chart.



Rick Price : "We recorded loads of great tracks. 'Wizzard Brew' was a bit outside the rules, but 'Eddie And The Falcons' was excellent. Thanks to Roy's writing and production all the singles were outstanding, and although it sounds corny, when we were mixing 'See My Baby Jive', we did know it was a hit."

The original release also included a fold-out poster of Roy Wood on stage.



The sleeve featured a credit 'Custard pies - D.L.T.' This referred to one of their appearances on Top of the Pops, when presenter Dave Lee Travis, had been the apparently unwitting recipient of a custard pie wielded by one of the group.



In December 1974, Wizzard released the single, "Are You Ready To Rock" (b/w "Marathon Man").



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

A tour of the US in 1974 failed to bring them any commercial success there, but after meeting Brian Wilson, some members guested on a Beach Boys session, which resulted in the eventual release of the single "It's OK" in 1976.

Rick Price : "We had done a reasonably successful tour of the USA, but we had failed to capitalise on it. There was certainly more money involved than there was for the Move tour, but although the record company had changed, the record company attitude had not. There is a lot of bullshit in the record business, but despite the record company's apparent inability to promote our records, we and especially Roy seemed to get a truly warm reception wherever we went. If Wizzard or indeed just Roy had stayed in the States for a few months, I'm sure it would have been a different story."



Wizzard was an expensive band to maintain, both because of the large line-up, in terms of recording costs, and Bill Hunt's propensity to smash the pianos of the venues they were playing at. Studio time was an even greater drain on the band's finances. A couple of tours in the UK and one tour of the US were not enough to ensure regular wages for the band. One by one the band members found other, more lucrative, things to occupy their time.

Rick Price : "By the beginning of 1975 Roy was concentrating on his own material and Wizzard was more or less finished as a going concern. A second tour of the USA had fallen through because the band members, including myself, had wanted more money. We felt we'd done the first tour on the cheap and that feeling, along with the big spending on the recordings, made us believe that someone was taking advantage. Looking back, I'd say that we could easily have negotiated a deal, but tempers were frayed and it all got a bit silly."



With the band on the point of splitting they released the single "Rattlesnake Roll", (b/w "Can't Help My Feelings"), on 17 October 1975, which failed to chart.



Rick Price : "I stayed on for a few months. Mike Burney was around too. I was helping Roy in the office and the studio with his own project, and even living in a flat over the office, two hundred miles from my family. The lack of live work meant that I had no real income. Suddenly, I was aware that I was turning into a secretary and I didn't like it much. Mike Sheridan felt so sorry for me that he created a job. The Nightriders gained a pedal steel guitarist for a few months and I got to know the wife again."



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

Their third album, 'Main Street', credited to Roy Wood & Wizzard , was initially planned to showcase the more jazz-rock-oriented, deliberately uncommercial side of the group as part of a double album that became the 1974 album 'Introducing Eddy & The Falcons'.



The first single from the album, "Indiana Rainbow" (b/w "The Thing Is This (This Is The Thing)") was released as Roy Wood's Wizzard on 5 March 1976. The single failed to make the BBC Radio 1 playlist, and as a result, Jet Records, to whom Wood was signed at the time, cancelled the album's release.



Roy Wood : "The album was probably a last attempt to retain some sort of sanity, trying to grow up, and not carry on indefinitely being just another pop group."

Songs from the album emerged in various forms : "French Perfume" was performed live by the Wizzo Band, which Wood formed the following year, on their BBC 'Sight and Sound In Concert' spot in April 1977, and "Saxmaniacs", an instrumental, was released in 1979 as the B-side to a Wood solo single. Other songs featured on the unreleased album included : "Main Street", "The Fire in His Guitar", "Take My Hand", "Don't You Feel Better", and "I Should Have Known".

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Released on 23 May 1975, the Roy Wood solo single, "Oh What A Shame", (b/w "Bengal Jig"), reached #13 in the UK chart. 



Roy Wood's second solo album, 'Mustard', was released in December 1975 by Jet Records.



A single from the album, "Looking Thru' The Eyes Of A Fool", (b/w "Strider"), was released on 28 November 1975, but failed to dent the charts.



Ray Fox-Cumming of Record Mirror & Disc said the single was "lost in the Christmas rush" and could have been more successful if Wood performed it on Top of the Pops.

Wood felt the song would have sounded "a mess" to Radio 1 listeners who did not own stereo radios and thus could not appreciate the "things whizzing about all over the place", and wished in hindsight he had "put a good Tony Blackburn mix on it".

A second single from the album, "Any Old Time Will Do", was released on 20 August 1976, but again failed to chart.



'Mustard' was recorded over a period of 18 months at De Lane Lea Studios, North West London and later Phonogram Studios in South London. The change in studios was due to a dispute at De Lane Lea, halfway through the recording of the album. The only other contributors to the album were vocalists Annie Haslam, who appears on "The Rain Came Down on Everything", and Phil Everly, who appears on "Get On Down Home", Wood's tribute to Led Zeppelin, featuring a heavy metal style and a two-minute drum solo in the style of squeaky-pedal thunderstick John Bonham. Wood produced and performed the entire album alone, in addition to painting the album cover and cartoons in the centrefold.



The opening title track "Mustard", is a 90-second jingle performed in the style of dance band-era group the Andrew Sisters, with harmonies achieved by Wood's sped-up vocal tapes and a scratchy sound quality intended to make the recording sound like a 1940s radio show, before concluding in fake applause. Wood achieved the recording of what resembles a choir by playing "a sort of musical chairs".

Roy Wood : "I hopped into one chair and sang. Then I sat in another and harmonised. I kept doing this with twenty-five chairs. Then I mixed it and got a good choir sound. I suppose I could have hired the Luton Girls, but I enjoy doing it this way."

"You Sure Got It Now" was intended by Wood to sound like "the Andrew Sisters backed by John Mayall". "Why Does Such a Pretty Girl Sing Those Sad Songs" was influenced by the Beach Boys, while "The Song" is a lengthy ballad with a string backing.

In the run-up to the release of the album, Wood fulfilled a long-time desire when he began using the bagpipes in his work, although he found the instruments difficult to maintain due to different temperatures affecting their pitch, and also punctured a set. The 85-second "Interlude" features a chanted melody that is repeated in its second half on bagpipes; Wood described the track as beginning with "Beach Boys type harmonies" before changing into "a Band of the Royal Scots type of thing".

To promote the album, Jet Records co-operated with Colman's by giving away jars of the brand's mustard in competitions. In November, Record Mirror & Disc ran a competition in which participants could win copies of Wood's albums, a Mustard T-shirt, a one-gallon jar of Colman's mustard with Wood's autograph, a stereo system and a trip to London to meet Wood.



Wood hoped to play at the Royal Festival Hall in London in Christmas 1975, playing songs from his solo albums with an orchestra, but the plan was cancelled due to a limited time-frame for planning.

In a contemporary review for Sounds, Jonh Ingham hailed Wood as "pop's lovable eccentric, answerable only to himself", and conceded that, despite minor drawbacks, Mustard largely showed "undiluted good Roy Wood, which is to say humorous, full of memorable melodies and well over the top with neat noises and effects".

Alan Betrock of Phonograph Record felt the album was "a highly respectable effort" that was perhaps indicative that Wood "may be leaving his roots behind and once again planning to create adventurous and original modern pop". He nonetheless felt some songs were too lengthy and dense with layered styles, rehashing "previously overworked territory".

Peter Harvey of Record Mirror & Disc hailed Wood's multiple talents but felt he worked too hard on Mustard, calling it "a complex mish-mash of styles and ideas which only add up to the eccentric experimenting of a studio/musical dilettante".

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

By the late 1970s, Wood was appearing less in public; commercial success faded away, and his musical experiments did not always match popular taste, but he remained productive in the studio as musician, producer and songwriter. In 1976, Wood recorded the Beatles songs "Lovely Rita" and "Polythene Pam" for the ill-fated musical documentary All This and World War II.

Another side-step was the Annie Haslam And Roy Wood single "I Never Believed In Love", (b/w "Inside My Life"), which was released on 28 October 1977.

Annie Haslam : "Just a few months before, Kiki Dee and Elton John had come out with a song so we thought, maybe, it might work for us."



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After Wizzard split in 1975, Wood formed the Wizzo Band. The line-up included former Wizzard and Move member Rick Price (pedal steel guitar), alongside Bob Wilson (trombone), Billy Paul (alto and baritone saxes), Paul Robbins (keyboards, backing vocals), Graham Gallery (bass), and Dave Donovan (drums). Their first single, "The Stroll" (b/w "Jubilee"), was released on 17 June 1977.



Their first, and only, album 'Super Active Wizzo' was released in September 1977.



The new band fulfilled Wood's ambitions to create an ensemble that was more jazz-orientated than rock or pop.

Roy Wood : "A lot of people had been doing jazz-rock stuff. There had been jazz musicians getting into the rock field, like Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke, but it's very rare that you find a band doing it the other way around a rock and roll band getting into jazz, and it's quite interesting. The rhythm section is very heavy, almost Zeppelinish, the horns are very jazzy and the songs are very commercial, so it makes for quite an interesting combination."



Songs featured on the album included : "Life Is Wonderful", "Waitin' at This Door", "Another Wrong Night", "Sneakin'", and "Earthrise".



A UK tour was scheduled for spring 1978, but was cancelled as they disbanded at around the same time. Wizzo Band had proved an uncommercial venture; the records received unenthusiastic reviews from critics who were baffled by the music, especially in the light of Wood's earlier track record as a creator of hit records with his previous bands, and they were ignored by radio programmers.

Their second single, "Dancin' At The Rainbow's End", was released on 24 February 1978, but failed to chart. It was included on Wood's next album . . .

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

Roy Wood's third solo album, 'On the Road Again' was released in the United States, Germany and the Netherlands in August 1979. The album includes guest appearances from Carl Wayne, Andy Fairweather-Low and squeaky-pedal thunderstick John Bonham.



Two singles were released from the album : "Keep Your Hands On The Wheel (Said Marie To The Driver)", in November 1978; and "(We're) On the Road Again", with Wizzard's "Saxmaniacs", an instrumental from the then-unreleased album 'Main Street', on the B-side in May 1979.



Other songs featured on the album included : "Wings over the Sea", "Colourful Lady", "Road Rocket", "Backtown Sinner", "Jimmy Lad", "Another Night", and "Way Beyond the Rain".

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

In the Early 80's he formed a new band - Helicopters, that released two singles : "Rock City", (b/w "Givin' Your Heart Away"), on 24 October 1980; and "Green Glass Windows" (b/w "The Driving Song") on 27 March 1981.

'Roy Wood's Helicopters' played some live dates with a band comprising Robin George (guitar), Terry Rowley (keyboards), Jon Camp (bass) and Tom Farnell (drums). The release of a third single, "Aerial Pictures", backed with "Airborne", was cancelled owing to the lack of chart success of its predecessors,



Further Roy Wood solo singles included : "Sing Out The Old Bring In The New", (b/w "Watch This Space"), released on 5 December 1980; "Down To Zero" (b/w "Olympic Flyer") released on 26 June 1981; and "It's Not Easy" (b/w "Moonriser") released on 29 January 1982.



"O.T.T.", the title music to the adult follow up to Tizwas with Chris Tarrant was released in April 1982. The B-side "Mystery Song" was a live version of 'California man' performed by the Wizzo Band from the BBC Sight and Sound in concert.

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

In 1983, Wood released the rock and roll medley single "We Are The Boys (Who Make All The Noise)", (b/w "Rockin' On The Stage"), with Phil Lynott, Chas Hodges and Status Quo drummer John Coghlan, credited to Rockers.



In November 1985, Wood had another go with "Sing Out The Old... ...Bring In The New", a re-recording of a 1980 single originally written for 'Darts'.



Despite featuring the sure-fire hitmakers from The Kempsey Primary School Choir on backing vocals, the single flopped . . . again!



Teaming up with Doctor And The Medics, Wood released a cover of "Waterloo", (b/w "Damaged Brains"), in November 1986.



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

Roy Wood's fourth solo album, 'Starting Up' was released in February 1987. As well as writing and producing, Wood played most of the instruments and sang most of the vocals on the album.



Two singles were released ahead of the album : "Under Fire" in May 1985, and "Raining In The City" in October 1986.



Other songs featured on the album included : "Red Cars Are After Me", "Turn Your Body to the Light", "Hot Cars", "Starting Up", "Keep It Steady", "On Top of the World", and "Ships in the Night".

His final single, a cover version of the Len Barry hit "1.2.3.", was released in July 1987.



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

In 2000 he joined forces with Mike Batt for a re-working of "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day" and The Wombles' "Wombling Merry Christmas".

Mike Batt : "It just came to me as a suitably silly idea, and I rang Roy and Noddy Holder to see if they'd like to do a three-way mash-up. Noddy wasn't having any of it, but Roy came down to my place and we got on with making it! On the first day of the time down at my house in Farnham, we just sat together and butchered the two songs together. "What about keeping this bit of mine, and then going into that bit of yours?". Roy was great to write with. He was quite prepared to jump from one chord to a totally unexpected other chord, against all the rules, which I sort of like anyway, but he was "who cares? If we do it, they'll believe it"."

The result of this Festive Frankensteining, "I Wish It Could Be A Wombling Merry Christmas Every Day", reached #22 in the UK charts in December 2000.



Mike Batt : "Such fun. He brought his own stash of vodka and Red Bull (no drugs!) – to lubricate the sessions! We just "made" the record. We were both very confident producers, and respectful of each other. Just two pals, no inhibitions. I remember him saying "I think it needs some tambourines, – grabbing two tambourines and gaffer-taping newspapers to his legs so he could go in and do a take, smashing the tambourines against his legs. He smashed them so hard I realised why he'd used wads of newspaper!"

The Single :

"Angel Fingers (A Teen Ballad)" was written and produced by Roy Wood, and performed by Wizzard.



Released on 24 August 1973, Angel Fingers (A Teen Ballad) became their second number one single, spending a week at the top of the UK Singles Chart in September 1973. It also reached #7 in Ireland and #42 in Australia.



Rick Price : "When we finished recording 'Angel Fingers' it was rumoured that we had spent more time in the studio than Paul McCartney had with the whole of the 'Band On The Run' album. Whether it was true or not, this meant that most of the record company's money was spent in studio time and that the members of the band had to rely on live touring work for their income. A couple of tours in the UK and one tour of the USA were not enough to ensure regular wages for the band. One by one the band members found other, more lucrative, things to occupy their time."

Other Versions include :  Top of the Pops (1973)  /  Danny McEvoy (2014)  /  TheSeventhFirst (2019)  /  Aaron Prest (2021)

On This Day :

18 September : Nora Nicholson, English actress, dies aged 80
18 September : Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), are admitted to the United Nations.
19 September : King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden is invested at the Hall of State of the Royal Palace of Stockholm.
19 September : Gram Parsons, musician, dies of a drug overdose aged 26
19 September : Bobby Gilbert, American actor, dies of hepatitis aged 75
20 September : Ben Webster, American tenor saxophonist, dies aged 64
20 September : Billie Jean King beats Bobby Riggs in the second 'Battle of the Sexes' tennis match
20 September : Glenn Strange, American actor, dies aged 74
20 September : Jim Croce, American singer-songwriter, dies in a plane crash aged 30
20 September : Maurice T. Muehleisen, American musician and songwriter, dies in a plane crash aged 24
21 September : Jackson Pollock's painting "Blue Poles" sold for $2,000,000
21 September : Diana Sands, actress, dies aged 39
21 September : Henry Kissinger begins his term as United States Secretary of State.
22 September : "A Little Night Music" opens at Majestic Theater on Broadway
23 September : Pablo Neruda, Chilean poet, dies aged 69
23 September : Former President of Argentina Juan Perón returns to power after 17 years in exile
24 September : Guinea-Bissau declares independence from Portugal

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! :

[daf]

337b. (NME 335.)  David Essex – Rock On



From :  19 - 25 September 1973
Weeks : 1
B-side : On and On
Bonus 1 : TV performance
Bonus 2 : Midnight Special 1974
Bonus 3 : Supersonic 1976
Bonus 4 : 'Reflections' LP version 2013

The Story So Far : 

David Albert Cook was born in Plaistow, Essex. His father, Albert, was an East End docker and his mother, Olive, was a self-taught pianist and an Irish Traveller. Essex was two years old when his parents moved out of the overcrowded home the family was sharing with relatives, to Canning Town where he grew up.

David Essex : "They were like so many in the East End; they worked hard and did their best to make ends meet. It was difficult, but they made the best of it. I didn't have a brother or sister, which was probably just as well because we lived in a one-bedroom flat. Even that changed when I was quite young because the landlord decided that he didn't want kids in his place and we had to move. We went on the list for a council house, but it took a little while to get somewhere. My dad got TB and he was in and out of hospital a fair bit which made it hard for him to find work, so it was a struggle. When we moved into a prefab in Canning Town it was much better. We loved it and we even had a garden, which was something new to me and a place to play football without having to be in the street all the time."

Essex loved playing football and did not answer any of the questions in the 'Eleven plus' exam for entry into a grammar school, so that he could ensure he attended Shipman County Secondary School where he knew they played the game. He was also a member of West Ham United Juniors for a while, and dreamed of one day being a professional player.

David Essex : "I loved my football and I was not bad at it. That's why I played for West Ham juniors when I was still at school. I had this great dream that one day I would be a professional footballer and play in the Hammers' first team, maybe even play for England. Yes, that was my dream, along with a few million other boys of course."

He then also became interested in music, and when he was 13, took a trip to the Flamingo Club, a popular R&B venue in Soho. He bought his first drum kit and started playing with local blues and rock 'n' roll bands - becoming a drummer in the semi-professional Everons.

David Essex : "It made a huge difference to me. I suddenly found that music became more important than football and I wanted to be a drummer. I bought a kit and even though the neighbours sometimes complained about the noise, I kept at it and joined a band."

He met Derek Bowman, who saw a lot of potential in the young drummer, and became his manager. In December 1964, Cook changed his name to David Essex after his band 'The China Plates' broke up.

David Essex : "Derek was brilliant. He knew exactly what was needed and saw more in what I could do than I ever did. It was really down to Derek that I became David Essex. We had moved to Marks Gate, near Romford, which was pretty good. I liked being an Essex boy. Derek advised me to join Equity but there was already a David Cook, so we decided that I needed a different stage name. Derek suggested David Essex and it sounded all right to me, so I have been Essex through and through ever since – and proud of it."

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He released his first record, "And The Tears Came Tumbling Down", (b/w "You Can't Stop Me From Loving You"), on the Fontana label in April 1965.

David Essex : "Initially, all I ever wanted to be was a blues drummer. I was in a band called Moody Indigo and then I was stuck up top and it all went from there."

He then toured with a band called 'Mood Indigo' for two years, and released further singles, including "Can't Nobody Love You", (b/w "Baby I Don't Mind"), in December 1965; "This Little Girl Of Mine", (b/w "Broken Hearted"), in March 1966; and "Thigh High", (b/w "De Boom Lay Boom"), released in August 1966.



Further singles included "She's Leaving Home", (b/w "He's A Better Man Than Me"), released as a US only single in June 1967; "Love Story", (b/w "Higher Than High"), released in May 1968; and "Just For Tonight", (b/w "Goodbye"), released in October 1968.



"That Takes Me Back", (b/w "Lost Without Linda"), was released in June 1969; and "The Day The Earth Stood Still", (b/w "Is It So Strange?"), was released in September 1969.



By the start of the seventies, he was working as a lorry driver and a window cleaner to support himself and his wife Maureen.

"Time of Our Life" (b/w "We Can Reach an Understanding") was released in 1970 credited to 'David and Rozaa'. The single featured Essex and the Detroit soul singer Rozaa Wortham. A second single by the duo, "The Spark That Lights the Flame" (b/w "Two Can Share"), was released in 1971.

On the advice of his manager, Derek Bowman, he switched to acting and after a series of minor roles received his big break in 1971, at the age of 23, when he was chosen from 6,000 young hopefuls to star in Godspell.

David Essex : "I was at a cross roads wondering whether to carry on with acting and music when my mentor and manager Derek Bowman called me to attend an audition for a new musical called 'Godspell'. I auditioned and was offered the part of Jesus. I asked the director should I grow a beard, he said no we play Jesus as a red nosed clown! Godspell for me and an ensemble cast of sparkling talent was a truly wonderful experience which turned me into an over night success."

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

In 1973, he landed the leading role in 'That'll Be The Day', playing opposite the ex-Beatle Thunderstick Ringo Starr.

David Essex : "That'll Be The Day consisted of very early mornings and very late nights, it seemed that the musical world descended on the Isle Of Wight where we filmed it for jam sessions and partying. Making the film was a great experience and lots of fun."



During the making of the film, Essex wrote "Rock On" hoping it would be the soundtrack for the film, but it was rejected as too strange. The song was recorded with producer Jeff Wayne.

David Essex : "It's funny, as in a way my first real hit, Rock On, came out of this time and partly as a complete accident. Jeff Wayne was going out with one of the understudies in Godspell and I found out he worked in a studio; mainly on jingles. I'd already been writing material and so when we spoke, I said: 'well, you produce and I'll write.' We came out with Rock On and away we went."

"Rock On" was released in July 1973. Essex's label, CBS, initally felt the more commercial B-side, "On And On", had a better chance of getting him into the charts.

Jeff Wayne : "When David wrote 'Rock On', it was the type of song that from my point of view as an arranger and producer gave me much more adventurous ideas, a concept of sound. A ballad is a ballad, whereas 'Rock On' allowed us to be a bit more off-the-wall. It was a gamble and a bit of a fight to get it through. But both David and I felt that 'Rock On' was a career-breaking record, whereas a ballad would give him a shorter-term success, it wouldn't distinguish him."



David Essex : "We did a deal with CBS and they actually wanted to push the flipside, which was a more conventional song, but I said 'No, I've had three years of people telling me what I should do.' But when 'Rock On' came out I was actually surprised it did so well. It was very sweet success because it was exactly what I wanted - the song, the production, the attitude - it's one of my favorite records, no matter whether I recorded it."

While the single reached #3 on the official UK chart, it topped the NME chart for a week. It also reached Number 1 in Canada, #5 in the US, #8 in Australia, #15 in Ireland and #44 in Germany.

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The follow-up "Lamplight", (b/w "We All Insane"), released in November 1973, reached #7 in the UK, #20 in Ireland, #53 in Australia, #55 in Canada, and #71 in the US.



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

His debut album, 'Rock On' was released in November 1973. The album reached #7 on the UK chart.



Songs featured on the album included his hit singles "Rock On" and "Lamplight, plus "Turn Me Loose", "Streetfight", "Ocean Girl", "Bring in the Sun", "For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her", "Tell Him No", and "September 15th".

The Single :

"Rock On" was written and performed by David Essex.



The lyric pays homage to early rock-and-roll and its surrounding youth subculture, and notably to 1950s rebel James Dean. This song makes reference to "Blue Suede Shoes" by Carl Perkins, and "Summertime Blues" by Eddie Cochran.

The distinctive stripped-back musical arrangement was devised by producer Jeff Wayne after hearing Essex's original vocal demo.

Jeff Wayne : "'Rock On' was demonstrated to me in the studio after finishing the jingle session. And the way David demoed it for me was he went into the studio, our engineer put on a microphone and David picked up a trashcan and started banging out this little rhythm, so there was no instruments. Because there was no instruments, the engineer put on this sort of repeat echo, and it gave an atmosphere to it, and that's what I then went away to work on. I went away and thought about the song and the attractiveness was the hollows, the absences and the mood in the lyrics as well. And so I had this idea that there would nothing on it that played a chord, so that's why there's no keyboards, there's no guitars, there's nothing that plays a chord."

Released in August 1973, "Rock On" peaked at number 3 on the Official UK Singles Chart, and #1 on the NME chart for a week in September 1973.



According to Wayne, only three session musicians played on the final backing track, and the most prominently featured was veteran session musician Herbie Flowers, whose double-tracked bass guitar was treated with a prominent "slapback" delay effect, creating a complex polyrhythmic backbeat.

Jeff Wayne : "I can recall the three musicians on the backing track for 'Rock On' all looking around in a mostly empty Advision Studios, Studio 1, wanting to know when the rest of the band were arriving! I explained there weren't any others for that track, and I was relying on them to understand my idea for the production. While the drums and percussion parts were written out, it was definitely Herbie that grasped immediately that a bass guitar playing a lead riff could fill a large part of the spatial spectrum and he took my idea and turned some basic notes of mine, into his amazing bass riff. Then to top it off, he suggested playing it again an octave higher. So you get this unusual bass sound right up front – now it couldn't have been up front if the arrangement didn't allow the air and the space to be created that way."

Flowers himself noted that, as a reward for devising the double-tracked bass line, he was paid double his normal session fee, and thus received £24 instead of the usual £12 - Result!

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

In March 1974, the single reached number 1 in Canada, and number 5 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 pop music chart - his only Billboard top 40 song.



Essex later re-recorded "Rock On" in 1988 with an updated lyric. This version, which was remixed by Shep Pettibone, appeared on Essex's 1989 album 'Touching the Ghost'. The updated version reached #93 on the UK Singles Chart.

David Essex : "I have enjoyed the success, of course, and I have enjoyed the fact that i have been able to go places, ride motorbikes and do the things I enjoy, but I have never taken myself too seriously as a pop star or anything else. If I hear myself on a radio in a shop, I am more likely to turn my collar up and pretend I am someone else."

Other Versions include :  Top of the Poppers (1973)  /  Toni Basil (1982)  /  Michael Damian (1989)  /  Heavens Gate (1990)  /  Henry Kaiser (1991)  /  Silverfish (1992)  /  The Smashing Pumpkins (2001)  /  Def Leppard (2006)  /  Collide (2009)  /  Michael Damian (2009)  /  Love Inks (2011)  /  STCM (2012)  /  Chet Faker & Nkechi Anele  (2013)  /  Regal Worm (2014)  /  Tortoise (2015)  /  The Doughboys (2016)  /  "Micah" by ApologetiX (2016)  /  Beatnikparty (2019)  /  The Cat and Owl (2020)  /  Skids (2021)

On This Day :

19 September : King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden is invested at the Hall of State of the Royal Palace of Stockholm.
19 September : Gram Parsons, musician, dies of a drug overdose aged 26
19 September : Bobby Gilbert, American actor, dies of hepatitis aged 75
20 September : Ben Webster, American tenor saxophonist, dies aged 64
20 September : Billie Jean King beats Bobby Riggs in the second 'Battle of the Sexes' tennis match
20 September : Glenn Strange, American actor, dies aged 74
20 September : Jim Croce, American singer-songwriter, dies in a plane crash aged 30
20 September : Maurice T. Muehleisen, American musician and songwriter, dies in a plane crash aged 24
21 September : Jackson Pollocks painting "Blue Poles" sold for $2,000,000
21 September : Diana Sands, actress, dies aged 39
21 September : Henry Kissinger begins his term as United States Secretary of State.
22 September : "A Little Night Music" opens at Majestic Theater on Broadway
23 September : Pablo Neruda, Chilean poet, dies aged 69
23 September : Former President of Argentina Juan Perón returns to power after 17 years in exile
24 September : Guinea-Bissau declares independence from Portugal
25 September : 3-man crew of Skylab 3 make safe splashdown in Pacific after 59 days
25 September : The main-belt asteroids 4303 Savitskij, 6682 Makarij, 3157 Novikov, 6162 Prokhorov, 5412 Rou and 8982 Oreshek are discovered by L. V. Zhuravleva at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory.

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! :

[Phoenix Lazarus]

336b. (MM 294.)  Barry Blue – Dancing on a Saturday Night



From :  15 - 21 September 1973
Weeks : 1
B-side : New Day
Bonus : Top of the Pops
Bonus : Spanish TV
Bonus : German TV
Bonus : 1973 TV performance
Bonus : 1989 remix

The Story So Far :
The Single :
On This Day :
Extra! Extra! Read all about it! :

Do You Wanna Dance was a good track, especially when interpreted by Pan's People.

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

[The Culture Bunker]

I can enjoy 'Rock On' due to Flowers' bass work and the whole atmosphere created by the sparse arrangement - but the actual song is the weakest aspect for me. It's a slight affair, not much more than a list of cliches, greatly elevated by canny production work.

[kalowski]

He bought a static home from me and tried to get money off because he didn't like the colour. I relented because he intimidates me, always has. I'm reliably informed he once tried to put a curse on Leo Sayer after an argument over the bill in an Indian restaurant. David still has the static home, but doesn't live in it. Having recently become an eBay powerseller of Japanese car parts, he uses it to keep stock in.

[daf]

Needless to say, he had the last laugh!

[daf]

338.  Simon Park Orchestra – Eye Level



From : 25 September – 22 October 1973
Weeks : 4
B-side : Distant Hills
Bonus 1 : Van de Valk Titles
Bonus 2 : Top of the Pops September 1973
Bonus 3 : Top of the Pops Christmas 1973

The Story So Far : 

Simon Park was born in 1946 in Market Harborough, England. He studied at Worcester College, Oxford where he gained a Bachelor of Arts in music.

In 1972, "Eye Level", a piece of library music recorded for De Wolfe Music was used as the theme tune to Van der Valk - a crime drama series about a detective in Amsterdam, starring Barry Foster.

The TV station was bombarded with enquiries about the theme tune, and ex-pirate Radio London DJ, and Noel Edmonds Breakfast show voice over man Duncan Johnson took the tapes to several record companies, after a few rejections, the single was eventually released by EMI on 3 November 1972.

De Wolfe Music : "Apart form Duncan, only a couple of people showed any interest. Peter Jones singles reviewer for Record Mirror said a hit, and then later Harry Walters and Peter Murray of Open House, Radio Four, said the same."

The Simon Park Orchestra spent four weeks at number one in the UK Singles Chart with the instrumental "Eye Level" in September 1973.



Columbia released two albums of the Orchestra's work, 'Something in the Air' and 'Venus Fly Trap'. However, neither achieved the success of "Eye Level".



Other works included music for the 1972 ITV mystery quiz 'Whodunnit?; Cross Country Go', a B movie made by British Movietone News in 1974; the wartime TV series Danger UXB; and the 1975 Sex-comedy classic 'Eskimo Nell'.

The Single :

"Eye Level" was written by Jan Stoeckart under the name of Jack Trombey, arranged by Simon Park, and performed by the Simon Park Orchestra.



It was produced originally for the De Wolfe Music Library, and was loosely based on a German/Dutch nursery rhyme called Jan Hinnerk (in German) or Catootje (in Dutch), which took it's inspiration from the opening bars of Non più andrai from Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro.

Dutch composer Jan Stoeckart adapted the original tune and wrote a new top line, while Simon Park arranged it for his own orchestra and conducted the recording.

Selected by Thames Television to be the theme tune for their Netherlands-based detective series Van der Valk, the tune became popular with audiences and it was issued as a single with "Distant Hills" - the theme to Granada Television's drama series Crown Court - on the B-side. The record entered the UK chart for just two weeks in late 1972.

Simon Park : "It just happened to fall into my lap to record, but then of course, once the piece was selected for Van Der Valk in '72, when it first came out it caused a bit of a stir, and EMI said we'll release it on a single. We were all very excited and I think it went to number 42 in the charts, and then ducked out again the following week."

Almost a year later, "Eye Level" record was re-issued and in September 1973 it became a hit, with four weeks at No.1 and a further 20 weeks in the top 50. Total sales were 1,005,500, gaining the award of a platinum disc and becoming one of the 12 best-selling singles of the 1970s.



In Ireland, the song was also a hit, reaching #3, and it peaked at #13 in Australia. In 1974, Stoeckart released his own version under the name Jack Trombey's Brass.

In the US, it was used as theme music in 1970s TV and radio commercials for KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. Issued as a single in the United States, it reached No. 29 on the Billboard Easy Listening chart in January 1974.

In South Africa, the tune was used as the theme music for the 1974 feature film Boland! with added Afrikaans lyrics.

A version with lyrics added by Melvyn Taggart, "And You Smiled", was released as a single by Matt Monro in November 1973.



Other Versions include :  Top of the Poppers (1973)  /  Ocarina Plus (1973)  /  Ray Martin and His Orchestra (1973)  /  John Keating Incorporated (1974)  /  "Lied van die Boland" by Acapella Koor (1974)  /  "And You Smiled" by James Pegler (1974)  /  Matt Monro   (1974)  /  The Geoff Love Mandolins (1974)  /  Mantovani and His Orchestra (1974)  /  Killer Watts (1974)  /  Norrie Paramor and His Orchestra (1974)  /  The Tony Hatch Orchestra (1974)  /  Cyril Stapleton and His Orchestra (1974)  /  The Bruce Baxter Orchestra (1977)  /  Denise Hewitt (2010)  /  Danny McEvoy (2012)  /  Square Chapel Brass Ensemble (2016)  /  NeilBonfield (2020)

On This Day :

25 September : 3-man crew of Skylab 3 make safe splashdown in Pacific after 59 days
26 September : Concorde makes its first non-stop crossing of the Atlantic (Washington, D.C. to Paris) in record-breaking time - 3 hours 33 minutes.
27 September : Soyuz 12 carries 2 cosmonauts into Earth orbit
28 September : Palestinian Terrorists hijack Austrian train
28 September : W H Auden, British/American writer, dies aged 66
29 September : Soyuz 12 returns to Earth
1 October : USSR-West Germany gas tunnel opens
2 October : Lene Nystrøm, singer (Aqua), born Lene Grawford Nystrøm in Tønsberg, Norway
2 October : Proof, American rapper (D12), born DeShaun Dupree Holton in Detroit, Michigan
3 October : Willi Stoph succeeds Walter Ulbricht as East German party leader
5 October : "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" 7th studio album by Elton John is released
6 October : Ioan Gruffudd, actor, born in Aberdare, Wales
6 October : Yom Kippur War begins as Syria & Egypt attack Israel
6 October : Dennis Price, English actor, dies aged 58
7 October : Jackie Stewart wins his 3rd Formula 1 World Drivers Championship
9 October : Sister Rosetta Tharpe, American gospel singer and guitarist, dies of a stroke aged 58
9 October : Elvis & Priscilla Presley divorce after 6 years
10 October : US Vice President Spiro Agnew resigns after admitting tax fraud
11 October : Héctor José Cámpora is elected President of Argentina
12 October : Israeli counter offensive in southern Syria
12 October : Richard Nixon nominates Gerald Ford to replace Spiro Agnew as Vice President
13 October : Jordan enters Yom Kippur war
14 October : Egyptian tanks move further into Israel
15 October : Dolly Parton releases her single "Jolene"
16 October : Gene Krupa, American Jazz drummer, dies aged 64
16 October : Israeli tanks move through Suez Canal
16 October : Henry Kissinger awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating a ceasefire in Vietnam
18 October : Walt Kelly, American cartoonist (Pogo), dies aged 60
18 October : "Raisin" opens at 46th St Theater, NYC for 847 performances
20 October : The Queen opens the Sydney Opera House
22 October : Israeli troops reconquer mountain Hermon

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! :

[famethrowa]

I just need a little clarification here, bit foggy on the source material... so Van  Der Valk is in Amsterdam, they all are Dutch people with Dutch names, but everyone there speaks English with an English accent?

[daf]

Yes that's pretty much it - a bit like a WW2 film (or 'Allo Allo') where the Nazis all talk to each other in English.

I think they also did exactly this sort of caper recently with Kenneth Branagh's version of Wallander - didn't even bother to put on an accent!

Of course, this is what it's like on Doctor Who all the time - thanks to the "gift of the TARDIS".

[daf]

Alright fellers, Lets Go-o-o-o-o-o-o!!! . . .

338b. (NME 356.)  The Sweet – The Ballroom Blitz
      +    (MM 296.)  The Sweet – The Ballroom Blitz



From :  26 September - 3 October 1973 | 29 September - 5 October 1973
Weeks : 1
B-side : Rock & Roll Disgrace
Bonus 1 : Rough Mix
Bonus 2 : Promo Clip
Bonus 3 : Top of the Pops September 1973
Bonus 4 : Silvester-Tanzparty December 1974
Bonus 5 : Andy Scott's Song of the Month

The Story So Far :

Following their first UK number 1, "Blockbuster", The Sweet's next single, "Hell Raiser" (b/w "Burning") was released in April 1973 and reached #2 in the UK chart.



Their U.S. label, Bell, released the group's first American album 'The Sweet' in July 1973.



The album consisted primarily of singles and B-sides released in the UK and Europe in 1972 and 1973, including "Wig-Wam Bam", "Hell Raiser", "Block Buster!", and "Little Willy", Sweet's first and biggest hit single in the US, which reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. Despite being stuffed full of crackers, commercially, the album was a disappointment, only reaching No. 191 in the Billboard 200.



While they had developed a large fan-base among teenagers, the band were not happy with their 'bubblegum' image. Sweet had always composed their own heavy-rock songs on the B-sides of their singles to contrast with the bubblegum A-sides which were composed by Chinn and Chapman. During this time, Sweet's live performances consisted of B-sides, album tracks, and various medleys of rock and roll classics; avoiding their older novelty hits. A 1973 performance in Kilmarnock ended in The Sweet being bottled off stage.

The incident would be immortalised in their next single, "The Ballroom Blitz", which peaked at #2 on the official UK chart, and topped both the NME and Melody Maker charts



Mike Chapman : "Up until we came along in 1971 the music since 1967 was dead, there was nothing. It was all Engelbert Humperdinck, there was nothing for the kids. Bubblegum, what did that do? It had no feeling. Didn't make you emote in any way. Then we, Slade, Gary, T. Rex, Bowie came along and all of us changed the whole pattern of the business. All the kids found out that we had something to offer them that they could laugh and express themselves with. Now we know it's there and we're leading them, we're pulling them in, we're getting more and more kids at it."

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

Their next single, "Teenage Rampage" (b/w "Own Up, Take A Look At Yourself"), released in January 1974, was another #2 hit on the official chart, and was their third and final chart topper on both the NME and Melody Maker charts.



Mike Chapman : "'Teenage Rampage' is exactly where the kids are. They are on a rampage and it is a revolutionary movement. It's not politically revolutionary, it's just a revolution of feelings. At last the kids can go and do what they've always wanted to do. Even in the Beatles days there weren't half as many kids screaming as there are now."

Nicky Chinn : "Teenagers are more to the forefront than they have been for many years and also they've got a lot more money than they've had for a long time. Some of them are a lot younger now. But the thing is they are making an impact, they're doing things that are noticed and I think it is being recognised by writers and acts. But I think they're jumping on the bandwagon a bit now."

Mike Chapman : "So we're dealing with teenage feelings and we the writers concerned are just pulling out different aspects and giving the kids the chance to recognise themselves in the songs, what they're really all about. We're just putting up a mirror where they can see themselves. Maybe we're crediting the kids with something they haven't been given credit for for a long time, like a love affair. They say 'he can't be in love at 15', but maybe he can be. You can have a nervous breakdown when you're a teenager – nobody thinks you can but you can – you can lament when you're a teenager."



By the end of 1973, the band's name evolved from "The Sweet" to "Sweet". The change would be reflected in all of their releases from 1974 onward.

Nicky Chinn : "At this moment in time they could release anything and they could have a hit purely on advance orders. They knock out 150,000 in the first week and they'll go straight into the top ten. Then the kids start to hear the record and, assuming for the sake of this argument that it's not that good, they`re not going to like it. And there's a lot of difference between 150,000 and half a million which is what we generally sell with Sweet in this country. Not nearly so many kids are going to go out and buy the single in the second, third and fourth weeks. I will admit the Sweet could release anything and have a hit – what happens with the follow-up? Deadsville!"

Mike Chapman : "I know they have this attitude and if it's their attitude that they can release anything then they'll never be hit songwriters. If we were to say to the Sweet, look, you fellers can have a hit with anything, we'll release anything, they'd be the first ones to come to us and say 'how dare you do that, it's not good enough'. This is why they'd never be hit songwriters. They're great at what they're doing but as soon as they start talking about that sort of thing they're out of their depth, they do not know. But they've got us around so fortunately they'll never be allowed to do it."

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

By 1974, Sweet had grown tired of the management team of Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, who wrote the group's major hits and cultivated the band's glam rock image. The group and producer Phil Wainman, assisted by engineer Peter Coleman, recorded the album 'Sweet Fanny Adams', which was released in April 1974.



Sweet's technical proficiency was demonstrated for the first time on self-penned hard rock tracks such as "Sweet F.A." and "Set Me Free". Sweet also adopted a more conventional hard rock sound and appearance. The album also featured compressed high-pitched backing vocal harmonies, which was a trend that continued on all of Sweet's albums.



Steve Priest : "Sweet Fanny Adams was a strange album. We did that album with Phil Wainman while Chinn and Chapman had floated off somewhere. So we decided to do it ourselves but unfortunately half away through it, Brian was attacked one night by a couple of thugs and they kicked his throat in so he couldn't sing. That's another one where I'll never truly know the why, what and how, but the timing for Sweet Fanny Adams must have been a dreadful time for Brian."

During sessions for the album, Brian Connolly was badly beaten after leaving a nightclub in Staines where he received several kicks to his throat resulting in his being unable to sing for some time and permanently losing some of his vocal range.

Steve Priest : "It was a set-up job. He'd annoyed someone. There were three guys attacking him and one of them kicked him in the throat. Brian heard him say, 'That should do the job.' The only one who knows the truth is an ex-roadie of ours, and he won't tell."



Sweet had been invited by Pete Townshend to support The Who at Charlton Athletic's football ground, The Valley, in June 1974. However, Connolly's badly bruised throat kept them from fulfilling the role.

Steve Priest : "It was awful because Pete Townshend wanted us on a big festival with him. It would've put us on the map as areal band, but because of what had happened to Brian, we couldn't do it. The press got a hold of it and were like 'it sound's like a put-up job! They didn't want to do it really!' We had to finish the album off because it was contractually due and that was why I sang 'No You Don't' for instance."



The band did not publicise the incident and told the press that subsequent cancelled shows were due to Connolly having a throat infection. This incident reportedly permanently compromised Connolly's singing ability, with his range diminished. Priest and Scott filled in on lead vocals on some tracks including : "No You Don't", "Into The Night" and "Restless". Other songs featured on the album included : "Heartbreak Today", "Rebel Rouser",  and "AC-DC".



'Sweet Fanny Adams' reached No. 27 on the UK Albums Chart, and No. 2 in the albums chart of West Germany. No previous singles appeared on the album, and none were released, except in Japan, New Zealand and Australia, where "Peppermint Twist", released by their record company without their knowledge, reached No. 1 on the Australian charts.

Andy Scott : "There wasn't a single on that album but there were a couple of people who were trying to push Heartbreak Today, but nothing happened. As you know, we even put Set Me Free as the opening track on the album. There were a couple of people in the record company together with an agent of ours who said, "you could do worse than releasing Set Me Free". However, the powers that be, the record producer and Chinn and Chapman, the song writers, simply were not having any of it."

The band resumed playing live shows nearly a full six months after Connolly's throat injury, with band and critics noting a rougher edge to his voice and a reduced range.



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

Their third album, 'Desolation Boulevard', was released in November 1974. By this stage, producer Phil Wainman had moved on and the album was produced by Mike Chapman.



The album artwork was done by art design group Hipgnosis. The background photo was shot near the entrance of a rock music club called The Central, located at 8852 Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, California. Today, it is the site of The Viper Room.

The album was recorded in a mere six days and featured a rawer "live" sound. One track, "The Man with the Golden Arm", written by Elmer Bernstein and Sylvia Fine, featured Mick Tucker performing a 6-minute drum solo. This had been a staple of the band's live performance for years.



Released in July 1974, the first single from the album was the Chinny-Chap song "The Six Teens".

Nicky Chinn : "Sweet talk a lot but they don't do quite as much as they talk. They'd love to write their own singles, I know they would. But if you actually asked them 'OK fellers, will you write the next single 'cause we ain`t got the time?' there'd be flat bloody panic. I'm serious.'"



Backed by the band's own "Burn On The Flame", arguably a stronger song than the A-side, it was a Top 9 hit in the UK, #4 in West Germany, and topped the Danish charts.



Mike Chapman : "We know better. We're aware of the market, we know of the kids far better than the Sweet do. They may think that by being on the road they're closer to the kids – honestly, we're two steps ahead of the kids out there all the time, that's why we have such big records. We are the people who give the kids what they want."

Their next single, "Turn It Down" (b/w ". . . Someone Else Will") released in November 1974, Scored the #2 spot in Denmark, but stalled at #41 in the UK. The single received minimal airplay on UK radio and was banned by some radio stations because of certain lyrical content - "God-awful sound" and "For God sakes, turn it down" - which were deemed "unsuitable for family listening."



Mike Chapman : "I don't know how long it'll last. It's weird really, you can't put it into words. We are ahead of the kids at the moment, we won't always be like it, we've gotta make the most of it. We're on a streak. We know what the kids want and will want to hear. We listen to other people's stuff an awful lot so we know we've got to be that much further advanced. We have to change the style of our acts progressively so they'll continue to appeal to the kids."

Other songs featured on the album included : "Solid Gold Brass", "Medusa", "Lady Starlight", "Fox on the Run", "Breakdown", and "My Generation".



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

In 1975 Sweet went back into the studio to re-arrange and record a more pop-oriented version of the track "Fox on the Run".

Andy Scott : "Fox started out as a demo then made it on to the first U.K. Desolation Boulevard album. Chinn and Chapman were spending more time in the USA and our label in the U.K. RCA were waiting for the next single and it was suggested that we take "Fox..." back into the studio to rework it as a single. This was my first production for the band so there was a lot riding on it. My ARP synths played a big part integrating a new layer into the band's sound and as we say the rest is history."

Sweet's first self-written and self-produced single, "Fox On The Run", (b/w "Miss Demeanour"), was released worldwide in March 1975 and became their biggest selling hit, reaching number 1 in Germany, Denmark, Australia and South Africa, #2 in the UK, Ireland, Norway and the Netherlands and #3 in Austria and Switzerland. The song reached #2 in Canada and #5 in the U.S.



The release of this track marked the end of the Chinn-Chapman working relationship and the band stressed it was now fully self-sufficient as writers and producers.

Steve Priest : "They were such prima donnas. The last single we recorded for them was 'The Six Teens' which was an excellent song actually, but at the time BBC was on strike, so we couldn't get to Top of the Pops and Top of the Pops was the magic ingredient for getting you singles played on BBC. There weren't that many other radio stations around at the time. So consequentially, the song wasn't a hit. So Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman had moved out to Los Angeles because Chapman had already bought a house there, so the band was stuck with a miss on our hands. So the band got together and said 'let's do a single.' We had already recorded 'Fox on the Run' which was on 'Desolation Boulevard' but the song was seven minutes long so we decided to rerecord it on our own. We did and it ended up being a huge hit. I remember Mike Chapman phoning me and saying 'It doesn't look like you need us anymore!' and I went 'No it doesn't, does it!' and that was the end of that."



The single version of "Fox on the Run" was featured on the US version of 'Desolation Boulevard', released by Capitol Records in July 1975. This version also included several songs from their previous album Sweet Fanny Adams plus the 1973 hit single "The Ballroom Blitz". The album peaked at #25 on the Billboard charts in October 1975.



Andy Scott : "By the time we hit America and started to come over in '75 we were no longer attached to Nicky Chinn or Mike Chapman or the record producer Phil Wainman. We were now the songwriters and the producers and things changed dramatically in that two-year period since "Little Willy" through to "Fox On The Run." "Fox On The Run" was actually our first production and A-side single that we had written and done the production on. So now we were definitely flying by the seat of our pants." 

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

Their next single, "Action" (b/w "Sweet F.A."), reached #15 on the UK chart in July 1975.



Following this, the band spent the latter half of 1975 in Musicland Studios in Munich, Germany, where they recorded the 'Give Us A Wink' album with German sound engineer Reinhold Mack. The new album release was postponed until 1976 so as not to compete with the chart success 'Desolation Boulevard' was enjoying in the US and Canada - where it peaked at #5 on the album charts.

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

With 'Give Us a Wink' being held over, in November 1975, RCA issued the double album 'Strung Up', which featured one live disc, and one disc of previously released singles.



The first disc contained seven songs recorded live during a concert at the Rainbow Theatre, London on 21 December 1973 : "Hellraiser", "Burning" / "Someone Else Will", "Rock 'n' Roll Disgrace", "Need a Lot of Lovin'", "Done Me Wrong Alright", "You're Not Wrong for Lovin' Me", and "The Man with the Golden Arm".

The second disc featured singles and B-sides recorded since 1973, including three songs that had not been released previously on any album: "Burn On The Flame", "Miss Demeanour", and the previously unreleased Chinny-Chap song "I Wanna Be Committed". The album also included a unique mix of "Action" that comes to an abrupt end, and does not include the final decaying echo of the shorter single and longer 'Give Us a Wink' album versions.



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

By this time, Sweet strove to build on their growing popularity in America with a schedule of more than fifty headline concert dates. Even though 'Give Us A Wink's release was imminent, the band's set essentially promoted the US version of 'Desolation Boulevard' plus the new US hit single "Action".

The US tour was not financially successful, with small audiences at many venues leading to the final half-dozen or so dates to be cancelled. Following the end of the tour, the band went on to Scandinavia and Germany. The band also spent a week at The Who's Ramport Studios in Battersea demoing material for a new album before abandoning that project and playing eight dates in Japan. By the end of the Japanese shows Connolly's extremely hoarse singing voice was manifest evidence of the demands of constant touring and the enduring after-effects of his 1974 assault.



At the end of the year, Andy Scott released his first solo single : a reworked version of the Desolation Boulevard track "Lady Starlight" backed by "Where D'Ya Go?".

Andy Scott : "When I wrote "Lady Starlight" for inclusion in the album "Desolation Boulevard", little did I realise that I would become the first member of Sweet to release a solo single. In fact I didn't really imagine that I would even sing it, after all Brian was the lead vocalist. Mike Chapman, our producer, immediately suggested that I sing the song after hearing a run through in the studio with an acoustic guitar. Once the album was completed, someone at RCA Records could see the potential of "Starlight" as a single but without Brian's voice it was deemed a bit radical to put it out as a Sweet single thus "Lady Starlight" by Andy Scott was the answer." 



Both songs, recorded during the 'Give Us A Wink' sessions, were written and produced by Scott and drummer Mick Tucker, and featured Scott playing all instruments except the drums. Scott made a promotional video for the track and also appeared on the ITV pop show "Supersonic".

Andy Scott : ""Where d'ya go", the B-side, was recorded at Kingsway Studios. When I played the song to Mick he urged me to let him put some drums on it and this brilliantly helped to disguise the free-time element. Getting the drums to tape took immense concentration from Mick and after a few takes, job done, he was sat behind the kit listening to playback with a towel covering his head, rather like a boxer in his corner. During all of this, Louis and I were in the control room, chatting and doodling on the guitar when suddenly as the track finished Mick yelled "Bloody shut-up!". Apparently instead of hearing his performance he had mainly heard our conversation and doodling but was too tired to say anything until the playback was over. We kept it in the final mix! I added bass and an electric guitar and there ya go." 

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

In January 1976, they released their next single, "The Lies In Your Eyes" (b/w "Cockroach"), which peaked at #5 in Germany, and #6 in Sweden, but only managed to reach #35 on the UK charts.



They released their proper fourth album, 'Give Us a Wink' in February 1976. The album artwork was designed by the American artist Joe Petagno, who had already designed the previous Sweet album Strung Up (1975). The original LP cover was released with a die-cut cover that caused the eye to wink as the sleeve was removed and placed back into the cover.



Previously they had relied on material from the songwriting team of Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, but this was the first album to be fully written and produced by the band members, and completed the group's move to the hard rock style that had always been the trademark of their self-penned B-sides. 

The European album contains two singles, "Action" and "The Lies in Your Eyes", that were recorded and released prior to rest of the album.  A third single, "4th of July", was released in Australia but failed to chart. Other songs featured on the album included : "Keep It In", "Yesterday's Rain", "White Mice", and "Healer".

The version released in the United States and Canada flipped the two sides of the LP and added "Lady Starlight" as the third track on side two, and features synthesizers that are absent from the original version included on the European release of 'Desolation Boulevard'.



Andy Scott : "In 1974 we did two albums, Sweet Fanny Adams and Desolation Boulevard. In 1976 we did Give Us A Wink, which is our Heavy Metal album that we did in Germany. We were off the leash for the first time without Chinn and Chapman and we wrote that one all ourselves with Mack engineering. I think we felt like the teachers had left the school and we were unleashed. We put out a lot of albums and toured constantly over a short period of time but we took it all in our stride."

Though the album reached #3 in Sweden, #9 in Germany and made it into the Top 20 in Norway and Australia. The album failed to chart in the UK.



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

Their fifth studio album, 'Off the Record', was released in April 1977. The album was recorded at Audio International Studios in London between October 1976 and January 1977, and was produced by the band with assistance from engineers Louis Austin and Nick Ryan.



An advance single from the album, "Lost Angels" (b/w "Funk It Up") released in October 1976, was only a hit in Germany, Austria and Sweden.



Brian Connolly : "I hated 'Funk It Up", but I knew why we recorded it and that was fine, it was calculated thing for America again. At that time, no rock band had got into disco in a big way - well, the Bee Gees had, but they weren't really rock, were they? So we thought, a rock song with a disco styling, it'd be great. Two birds with one fucking big stone. But of course, it didn't work like that!"

Other songs featured on the album included : "Midnight to Daylight", "Windy City", "Live for Today", "She Gimme Lovin'", "Laura Lee", and "Hard Times".



The next single from the album, "Fever Of Love" (b/w "A Distinct Lack Of Ancient") released in February 1977, represented the band heading in a somewhat more Europop hard rock direction, once again charting in Germany, Austria and Sweden, while reaching number 10 in South Africa.



Released in July 1977, "Stairway To The Stars", (b/w "Why Don't You Do It To Me"), reached #15 in Germany, but failed to chart elsewhere.

The single was included on the US release of 'Off the Record', along with "Fever of Love" which featured a different intro, and the 'clean version' of "Live for Today".



The band cancelled a US tour with emerging US rockers Aerosmith, did not play any live dates in support of the album and, in fact, did not play a single concert for the whole of 1977.

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

Their final album for RCA, was the greatest hits compilation, 'The Golden Greats', released in October 1977.



Side 1 features songs all written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, including : "Block Buster!", "Hellraiser", "Ballroom Blitz", "Teenage Rampage", "The Six Teens", and "Turn It Down".

Side 2 featured songs all written and produced by Sweet, including : "Fox on the Run", "Action", "Lost Angels", "The Lies in Your Eyes", "Fever of Love", and "Stairway to the Stars".

The Single :

"The Ballroom Blitz" was written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, and performed by The Sweet.



Brian Connolly : ""Ballroom Blitz" was written during the time of the ballrooms, when they were literally going berserk in this country. We had "stomp-mania." It was us and Slade. We were literally pulling gigs to bits with people just going berserk!"

In 1973, Sweet performed at the Grand Hall in Kilmarnock, Scotland, where they were driven offstage by a barrage of bottles. The disorder was attributed by some to Sweet's lipstick and eye-shadow look, and by others to the audience being unfamiliar with the concert set. 

Andy Scott : "Mike Chapman hadn't seen us play live for a while so we dragged him along to a gig in Scotland. It was mayhem. Brian and I ended up body surfing having been pulled off the stage by hordes of screaming girls with scissors in their handbags trying to cut a lock of our hair. The security was undermanned and the guys in the audience, mostly shaved heads wanted to beat us up. We managed to escape straight of stage into the limos leaving our crew to the carnage. We decided to ditch the local hotel and headed back to Glasgow to our usual haunt for sanctuary."



Mike Chapman : "We were trying to write songs that had no meaning, and 'Ballroom Blitz' was one of them. I suggested the title and we sat down and wrote a song about a guy having a horrifyingly bad dream that his latest record hadn't made it – he was in this ballroom, in a discotheque, and maybe he was on drugs because he started hallucinating. They were pretty funny words to that song, although I've forgotten the real version because I did this horrifyingly dirty version of that song."

Steve Priest : "Ballroom Blitz was one of Chapman's best . . . oh actually, when I think about it, the demo Mike Chapman gave us was abysmal, it was awful, it sounded like a watered down Marc Bolan. So we were sitting there going 'I don't know what we're going to do with this' and Phil Wainman came in at last with the Sandy Nelson type drumbeat, and he went 'I've got it!', and we went 'You've got it!', and that's when the whole song came alive, because it was abysmal before that."



The song features a memorable roll-call at the beginning of the song, where the band members introduce themselves.

Andy Scott : "Mike later came up with "Hellraiser" and "Blitz..". The drum intro was designed by Phil Wainman our producer. Mick and Phil loved the whole Sandy Nelson "Let There Be Drums" thing and the track just went from there. Weirdly on Mike's demo he says the immortal words "Are you ready Steve...Andy...Mick etc" which we obviously kept. Sweet always had interesting intros!"

"The Ballroom Blitz" peaked at #2 on the official UK chart, and topped both the NME and Melody Maker charts for a week in October 1973.



Other Versions include :  Springbok (1973)  /  James Last (1973)  /  The Les Humphries Singers (1975)  /  The Rezillos (1978)  /  The Damned (1979)  /  "Oljad Blixt" by Kenneth & The Knutters (1983)  /  Krokus (1984)  /  Nina Hagen (1985)  /  K.G.B. (1986)  /  Les Wampas (1986)  /  D.I. (1987)  /  Batmobile (1988)  /  Long Tall Texans (1989)  /  Nuclear Assault (1991)  /  Tia Carrere (1992)  /  Material Issue (1994)  /  "Ball på Blitz" by Bjelleklang (1994)  /  Razamanaz (1999)  /  Block Busters (1999)  /  The Black Sweden (1999)  /  Calibretto 13 (2000)  /  Children of the Revolution (2000)  /  Peacocks (2000)  /  Wig Wam (2005)  /  Osmo's Cosmos (2007)  /  Wasteland (2008)  /  Mission UK Remix (2008)  /  Billy Holiday (2009)  /  Déjà Vu (2011)  /  Erika Stucky (2011)  / Steve Priest's Sweet (2011)  /   Danny McEvoy (2012)  /  The Space Lady (2013)  /  "Barroom Hitz" by ApologetiX (2013)  /  "Karl-Heinz Schmitz" by Jon Flemming Olsen (2014)  /  Sandy and The Wild Wombats (2015)  /  Motion Device (2015)  /  8-Bit Universe (2017)  /  Leo Moracchioli (2018)  /  Andy Scott's Sweet (2018)  /  The Escapades (2019)  /  3TEETH (2020)  /  Pterodactyl Problems (2021)  /  Cygnus (2021)  /  Leave Those Kids Alone Band (2021)  /  The Night Owls (2021)

On This Day :

26 September : Concorde makes its first non-stop crossing of the Atlantic - from Washington D.C. to Paris - in record-breaking time (3h33m).
26 September : Anna Magnani, Italian actress, dies from pancreatic cancer aged 65
27 September : Soyuz 12 carries 2 cosmonauts into Earth orbit
28 September : The ITT Building in New York City is bombed in protest at ITT's alleged involvement in the coup d'état in Chile.
28 September : Norma Crane, American actress, dies of cancer aged 44
29 September : Soyuz 12 returns to Earth
29 September : W. H. Auden, British poet, dies aged 66
1 October : USSR-West Germany gas tunnel opens
2 October : Paul Hartman, American actor, dies aged 69
2 October : Lene Nystrøm, singer (Aqua), born Lene Grawford Nystrøm in Tønsberg, Norway
2 October : Proof, rapper (D12), born DeShaun Dupree Holton in Detroit, Michigan
3 October : Neve Campbell, actress, born Neve Adrianne Campbell in Guelph, Ontario, Canada
5 October : "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" 7th studio album by Elton John is released

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! :

[gilbertharding]

Clearly a tangent, but this:

has sent me into a Proustian reverie.

[daf]

Proustian reverie.

In session for John Peel tonight!

[gilbertharding]

So many layers. The sub-Guy Peellaert art work. The weird record cleaning arm which NEVER EVER worked. I can practically smell the dust burning on the warm valves.

[daf]

the warm valves.

In session for John Peel tonight!

[daf]

339.  David Cassidy – Daydreamer



From : October 23 – November 12 1973
Weeks : 3
Double A-side : The Puppy Song
Bonus 1 : Promo Film
Bonus 2 : Top of the Pops
Bonus 3 : TV Performance
Bonus 4 : 'Then and Now' 2001 version

The Story So Far : 

Following his first number 1, David Cassidy's next single, "Rock Me Baby", (b/w "Two Time Loser"), reached #11 in the UK charts in November 1972.



The Partridge Family's sixth studio album, 'The Partridge Family Notebook', was released in November 1972. The album cover was designed to resemble a standard school notebook.



The cover of the UK and Europe album releases featured a picture of the family in their usual red velvet suits, while Japan featured a different photo superimposed over the lined notebook paper.



The lead single, a cover of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil's "Looking Through the Eyes of Love", (b/w "Storybook Love"), peaked at #39 on Billboard's Hot 100. The single fared better in the UK, where it peaked at #9 in late February and early March 1973.



A second US single, "Friend and a Lover", was released in March 1973 but stalled at #99 on the US Hot 100. The album also featured a cover of "Walking in the Rain" which reached #10 in the UK in June 1973.



All tracks, except "Take Good Care of Her", "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place" and "Something's Wrong", were featured on the TV show. Other songs featured on the album included : "Together We're Better", "Maybe Someday", "Love Must Be the Answer", and "As Long as You're There".

 

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David Cassidy's next release was "I Am A Clown" backed with "Some Kind Of A Summer" and "Song For A Rainy Day". The three-track maxi-single reached #3 in the UK charts in March 1973.



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'Crossword Puzzle', the seventh and penultimate studio album by The Partridge Family, was released in June 1973. It was their album to chart in the US, entering Billboard's Top LP's chart in July and peaking at no. 167 in its second of just five weeks in the Top 200. The LP cover featured a crossword puzzle, with the answers given inside on one side of the dust sleeve.



All tracks, except "It's A Long Way To Heaven", "Now That You Got Me Where You Want Me" and "Let Your Love Go", were featured on the TV show (mainly from Season 3). Other songs on the album included : "One Day at a Time", "As Long As There's You", "It Means I'm in Love with You", "Come On Love", "I Got Your Love All Over Me", "It Sounds Like You're Saying Hello", and "It's You".



Bell Records, losing faith in the group after oversaturating the market with product, chose not to release a US single from the album, though "Sunshine" was released as a single in Japan.



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David Cassidy's third album, 'Dreams are Nuthin' More than Wishes' was released in October 1973.



It contains some cover versions, including John Sebastian's "Daydream", Peggy Lee's "Fever" and Harry Nilsson's "Puppy Song" — whose lyrics make up the album title. The album also included his solo version of the Partridge Family song, "Summer Days".



Other songs featured on the album included : "Intro", "Sing Me", "Bali Ha'i", "Mae", "Daydreamer", "Some Old Woman", "Can't Go Home Again", "Preyin' on My Mind", and "Hold on Me".



Unique to this album is the fold out cover and the hand-written cover notes by Cassidy commenting on why he chose each song.



The album made #1 on the UK album charts in 1973 and the top 20 in Australia in 1974 during Cassidy's hectic concert tour of the continent.



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'Bulletin Board', the eighth and final studio album by The Partridge Family, was released in October 1973. The album cover, created within only a few hours due to time constraints, featured a handwritten track listing pinned to a bulletin board, as well as a "family" photograph and a memo detailing the show's new Saturday night time slot.



Recorded between July and September 1973, 'Bulletin Board' was the first Partridge Family album to fail to chart on Billboard's Top LP's chart. While Wes Farrell is credited as producer on the album, in fact it was produced and arranged by John Bahler a member of late-1960 pop group the Love Generation and, later, the Ron Hicklin Singers, who provided backing vocals on all of the Partridge Family albums.

"Looking for a Good Time" (b/w "Money Money") was released as a single in November 1973, but failed to chart. This was the last regular U.S. Partridge Family single.



Other songs featured on the album included : "Roller Coaster", "Oh No Not My Baby", "I Wouldn't Put Nothing over on You", "Where Do We Go From Here?", "How Long Is Too Long", "I'll Never Get over You", "Alone Too Long", "I Heard You Singing Your Song", and "That's The Way It Is with You".

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As a solo artist, David Cassidy achieved far greater solo chart success in the UK than in his native America, including a cover of The Young Rascals' "How Can I Be Sure" which topped the UK charts in 1972, and a second Number 1 with the double A-side "Daydreamer" / "The Puppy Song" in 1973.



Internationally, Cassidy's solo career eclipsed the already phenomenal success of The Partridge Family. He became an instant drawing card, with sellout concert successes in major arenas around the world. These concerts produced mass hysteria, resulting in the media coining the term "Cassidymania".



His concert tours of the United Kingdom included sellout concerts at Wembley Stadium in 1973. In Australia in 1974, the mass hysteria was such that calls were made to have him deported from the country, especially after the madness at his 33,000-person audience concert at Melbourne Cricket Ground.

His next single, "If I Didn't Care", (b/w "Frozen Noses"), reached #9 in the UK chart in May 1974.



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

'Cassidy Live!' was David Cassidy's fourth solo album and final album released on Bell Records. It was released in 1974 and was recorded live in Britain.



The recording captures some of the mass hysteria that surrounded Cassidy's live performances at that time. The album peaked at #9 on the UK album charts.



"Please Please Me" (b/w "C.C. Rider Blues / Jenny Jenny") was released as single from this album, where it reached #16 on the UK singles chart. The album failed to have much of an impact in the U.S.



Other songs featured on the album included : "It's Preying On My Mind",  "Some Kind of a Summer",  "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do",  "Bali Ha'i / Mae",  "I Am a Clown",  "Delta Lady",  "Daydreamer" ,  "How Can I Be Sure",  "For What It's Worth",  plus "Rock Medley"



David Cassidy : "My concerts were events in those days. It wasn't like the music was the thing, it was the event, playing to 40,000-50,000 people. There was chaos and pandemonium and hysteria going on. It became, from a security standpoint, a very difficult thing. I was taking 36 people with me, most of it security. It got so out of control, I needed to leave it. The only way you can move on from that is to close the cover on the book and say, 'That was as good as anybody can do it.' I'm proud of what I did and I'm proud of the fact that I had such an impact, and I hope they allow me to move on and do other stuff."

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A turning point in Cassidy's live concerts was a gate stampede at a show in London's White City Stadium on 26 May 1974, when nearly 800 people were injured in a crush at the front of the stage. Thirty were taken to the hospital, and a 14-year-old girl, Bernadette Whelan, died four days later at London's Hammersmith Hospital without regaining consciousness.



The show was the penultimate date on a world tour. A deeply affected Cassidy faced the press, trying to make sense of what had happened. Out of respect for the family and to avoid turning the girl's funeral into a media circus, Cassidy did not attend the service, although he spoke to Whelan's parents and sent flowers. Cassidy stated at the time that this would haunt him until the day he died.

David Cassidy : "What happened was very unfortunate. I spoke with the parents of the girl. She didn't get crushed or anything; she had a heart condition. She got so excited about it, she just lost control and died. It can happen anywhere. She had it and her parents were very aware of it. They said to me, 'We don't blame you at all,' and I think she probably felt that would be the way she wanted to go. At least she found peace with herself."



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By this point, Cassidy had decided to quit both touring and acting in The Partridge Family, concentrating instead on recording and songwriting. International success continued, mostly in Great Britain, Germany, Japan and South Africa.

David Cassidy : "People thought that because I didn't want to go back and do it anymore that I didn't like it or I was bitter by it and I never was, I loved it. I just wanted to do other things. I never felt anything but love and respect for how good it was, for what it was."

His fifth studio album, 'The Higher They Climb the Harder They Fall', was released in July 1975.



The title of the album alludes to David Cassidy's one-time dominance of the pop charts as a teen-idol and the eventual drop of his superstar status. The album only reached the charts in the UK, where it peaked at number 22.



Cassidy became the first recording artist to have a hit with "I Write the Songs", peaking at No. 11 in the Top 40 in the UK before the song became Barry Manilow's signature tune. Cassidy co-produced the album with the song's author-composer, Bruce Johnston of The Beach Boys.



The album also features a cover of the The Beach Boys "Darlin'". Cassidy's version, backed by "This Could Be The Night", reached #16 on the UK charts in July 1974. It was a #1 hit in South Africa and was the 6th best selling single of the year in that country.



Other songs featured on the album included the Cassidy-penned "When I'm a Rock 'N' Roll Star", "Be-Bop-A-Lula", "Get It Up for Love", "Fix of Your Love", "Massacre at Park Bench" [Dialogue]", "Common Thief", "Love in Bloom", and "When I'm a Rock 'N' Roll Star (Reprise)".

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

His sixth solo studio album, 'Home Is Where the Heart Is' was released in March 1976 and was produced by Cassidy and Bruce Johnston. Although critically well received, the album did not chart in any country.



The album is noted in particular for Cassidy's recording of Paul McCartney's song "Tomorrow" which was released as a single in January 1976, reaching #57 in the UK chart.



The second single from the album, "Breakin' Down Again" (b/w "On Fire"), released in April 1976, failed to chart.



Other songs featured on the album included : "Damned If This Ain't Love", a cover of the Pilot classic "January", "A Fool in Love", "Run and Hide", "Take This Heart", "Goodbye Blues", and "Half Past Our Bedtime".



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

His next single, "Gettin' It In The Street", featuring Mick Ronson on lead guitar, was released in October 1976. The single failed to chart in the UK, but reached #105 in the US.



His next album, 'Getting It in the Street', was released in Germany and Japan in November 1976, but did not reach the album charts.



The track "Cruise To Harlem" was co-written by former Beach Boys member, Brian Wilson, and America member, Gerry Beckley. Other songs featured on the album included : "I'll Have To Go Away (Saying Goodbye)", "I Never Saw You Coming", "Rosa's Cantina", "Junked Heart Blues", "The Story of Rock and Roll", "Living a Lie", and "Love, Love The Lady"



Despite being successful and highly paid, Cassidy later stated he was broke by the 1980s.

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

In 1981, he toured in a revival of a pre-Broadway production of Little Johnny Jones, a show originally produced in 1904 with music, lyrics, and book by George M. Cohan. However, Cassidy received negative reviews, and he was replaced by his arch nemesis former teen idol, Donny Osmond, before the show reached Broadway. Cassidy, in turn, was himself a replacement for the lead in the original 1982 Broadway production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Cassidy also appeared in London's West End production of Time and returned to Broadway in Blood Brothers alongside Petula Clark and David's half-brother Shaun Cassidy.



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

He returned to pop music in February 1985 with the Top 6 UK single "The Last Kiss", featuring backing vocals by George Michael, who cited Cassidy as a major career influence and interviewed Cassidy for David Litchfield's Ritz Newspaper.



David Cassidy : "If you hear the records that come out of Britain and America, there is a sense of climate here in Britain that there isn't in America. A few things do become successful, and in this climate, it it's good, it will be successful. You don't have to invest six million dollars into an artist like you do in America, nobody is willing to do that unless it is a proven artist and consequently there are very few new artists. When "The Last Kiss" was in the top ten, I looked up and said "Thank you Jesus. I can still make it!"

The single was included on 'Romance', his seventh solo studio album, which peaked at #20 on the UK Albums Chart in June 1985.



The album was produced by Alan Tarney, who wrote or co-wrote (with Cassidy) all songs on the album with the exception of "She Knows All About Boys". Unfortunately, as with many albums recorded in the mid-eighties, it's blighted by use of the latest digital technology and, as a result, sounds bloody awful!



Two further singles were released from the album : "Romance (Let Your Heart Go)" with Basia on guest vocals, reached #54 in May 1985; and his final UK chart entry, "Someone", which reached #86 in September 1985.



Other songs featured on the album included : "Touched By Lightning", "Thin Ice", "The Letter", "Heart of Emotion", "Tenderly", and "Remember Me".



David Cassidy : "After five years, of it, maybe six, I was so fed up with it, and it got to the point where it literally did take three years before I started even thinking about missing it, and thinking what fun it would be again, but I didn't want to step back into the same situation again. I wanted to be able to have that momentary hit, and be singing and performing on stage, and having that experience again. I missed that. It becomes almost like a drug. When you go on tour, night after night, you come to expect it because it happens all the time, everywhere you go. It became the only thing I ever looked forward to, actually being on the stage. Being on the road is extremely frustrating and boring. I understand why a lot of people go completely nuts. When they walk into a hotel room, they're so fucking crazy, they end up throwing TV sets out of the window. It's just to break the monotony and boredom."

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In August 1990, he released the album 'David Cassidy', his first U.S. album released in 14 years, which reached 136 on the Billboard charts.



The album featured single, "Lyin' to Myself" (b/w "I'll Believe You Again").



David Cassidy : "I came back in the music business and began writing songs that people started covering, that's how I got signed back in '90 to do the Enigma album, which had 'Lyin' to Myself' on it. From there, it was like walking out the door and everybody goes, 'Wow! It's you, you're like cool.' And I'm like, 'I am? Oh, okay.' It literally felt like that. One day I would walk down the street and instead of being 'the guy from the '70s,' I was like this cool guy. I've always found it really amusing. But I've always felt a certain kind of responsibility about being somebody that was viewed as an idol or a role model. I always took that really seriously. The fans changed my life. If it hadn't been for them, I might be pumping gas. I don't take that lightly."

Other songs featured on the album included : "Labor of Love", "You Remember Me", "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", "Hi-Heel Sneakers", "Message to the World", "Living Without You", "Stranger in Your Heart", "Prisoner", and "All Because of You".



This was followed September 1992 by the album 'Didn't You Used to Be...'.



The album features ten tracks which are all written or co-written by Cassidy's wife, Sue Shifrin, including : "Raindrops", "For All the Lonely", "Treat Me Like You Used To", "Somebody to Love", "I'll Never Stop Loving You", "Soul Kiss", "Tell Me True", "Like Father, Like Son", "It's Over", and "One True Love".

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His next album, 'Old Trick New Dog', was released in Septmeber 1998 on his own Slamajama Records label.



In addition to new songs, it also features several remakes of songs from The Partridge Family. The single lifted from the album – "No Bridge I Wouldn't Cross" – was an Adult Contemporary Top 25 hit in the USA. The track "You Were The One" was co-written by David Cassidy and Tony Romeo who wrote many of the most popular songs for Cassidy and The Partridge Family in the 1970s.

David Cassidy : "It's the first CD, honestly, that I've made that after I was done with it and had heard it a hundred times. I put it back on a month later and I really enjoyed listening to it. I wanted to hear it. I have to honestly say never before did I do that, because I was so tired of hearing (the previous albums)."

Other songs featured on the album included : "I Think I Love You", "You Were the One", "Let Her Go", "I Can Feel Your Heartbeat", "I Woke Up In Love This Morning", "(Whatever Happened To) Peace, Love & Happiness", "Sheltered in Your Arms", "Show and Tell", and "Ricky's Tune".



David Cassidy : "I've been really fortunate that I've been successful in various things, like television, on the stage and records. I think I have, and I hope I always have, the opportunity to record. I love the process of it. It's like taking a canvas and painting."

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As the days of "Cassidymania" subsided, Cassidy regularly addressed fans at his concerts in question-and-answer sessions, and engaging with members of the community who had been fans for nearly half a century.

David Cassidy : "I am a very happy person these days. I am somebody who has taken a great journey and been dealt a phenomenal hand. And I love the fact that people who have cared about me, and I mean the fans, have always been there for me and I have tried to give them my best."



On 20 February 2017, following a performance in Agoura Hills, California, in which Cassidy had difficulty remembering the lyrics of songs he had been performing for nearly 50 years, and appeared to fall off the stage, he announced that he was living with dementia and was retiring from all further performing. He said that his mother and grandfather had also suffered from dementia at the end of their lives, and that "I was in denial, but a part of me always knew this was coming."

Later in 2017, Cassidy fell ill at a recording studio and was hospitalized. In a later phone conversation, he stated that he had liver disease, and also acknowledged that there was "no sign of [dementia] at this stage of [his] life."

David Cassidy : "[it] was complete alcohol poisoning—and the fact is, I lied about my drinking. You know, I did it to myself, man. I did it to myself to cover up the sadness and the emptiness."

On 18 November 2017, it was announced that Cassidy had been hospitalized with liver and kidney failure, and was critically ill in a medically induced coma. He died of liver failure on 21 November 2017, at the age of 67.

The Single :

"Daydreamer" was written by Terry Dempsey and performed by David Cassidy.



"Daydreamer" was Cassidy's second and final No.1 single in the UK Singles Chart, spending three weeks at the top of the chart in October and November 1973, becoming the 10th best selling single in the UK in 1973.

Other Versions include :  Lauren Copley (1973)  /  Cilla "Foghorn" Black (1974)  /  "Le mal aimé" by Claude François (1974)  /  "Le mal aimé" by Caravelli (1974)  /  Pinky and Perky (1974)  /  Gino Cunico (1976)  /  Leslie Cheung (1978)  /  René Froger (1989)  /  Brotherhood of Man (2002)  /  Danny McEvoy (2012)  /  brennanandbrennan (2020)  /  Martin Seffi (2020)  /  Kenny McKay (2021)

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

The song was released as a double-A side, with a cover version of "The Puppy Song" on the flip-side.



"The Puppy Song" was written by Harry Nilsson in 1969. Nilsson originally wrote this song at Paul McCartney's request for Mary Hopkin, an 18-year-old singer that McCartney had signed to Apple Records and whose first album, 'Post Card' would feature her version of Nilsson's song.

David Cassidy : "Most of my friends and people I grew up with didn't become popstars and famous, and in a way, I felt embarrassed about it and I've always played my wealth down. I lived in a very simple environment, I'm not a real flash person. I like to dress up and enjoy myself. When I made a lot of money, I was 21 and I was incredibly rich in those days. In America being 21 years old and a multi-millionaire that you'd made yourself – forget it. It was a joke. Nobody knew how to relate to it and didn't either."



Other Versions include :  Martine Bijl (1972)  /  "La canción del cachorro" by Los Mismos (1973)  /  Astrud Gilberto (1977)  /  Victoria Williams (1995)  /  Steve Yocum - The Multifarious All Stars (2002)  /  The Harmless Sparks (2012)  /  Heliotropes (2015)  /  Danny McEvoy (2017)

On This Day :

23 October : Paranoid crackpot President Richard Nixon agrees to turn over White House tape recordings to Judge John Sirica
24 October : Paranoid crackpot John Lennon sues US government to admit FBI is tapping his phone
24 October : Yom Kippur War ends
26 October : Wings release single "Helen Wheels"
26 October : Seth MacFarlane, American animator, producer, filmmaker and singer, born Seth Woodbury MacFarlane in Kent, Connecticut
27 October : Allan "Rocky" Lane, cowboy actor (voice of Mr Ed), dies from cancer aged 64
29 October : Heathcote Dicken Statham, English composer, dies aged 83
30 October : Ernst-Lothar von Knorr, German composer, dies aged 77
31 October : Three Provisional IRA volunteers escape from Mountjoy Prison in Dublin using a hijacked helicopter
1 November : Jerry Livingston and Mack David's musical "Molly" opens at Alvin Theater, NYC
1 November : Aishwarya Rai, actress and Miss World 1994, born in Mangaluru, Karnataka, India
3 November : Mariner 10 launched-1st Venus pics, 1st mission to Mercury
3 November : Ben Fogle, TV broadcaster, born Benjamin Myer Fogle in Westminster, London
3 November : Mick Thomson, guitarist (Slipknot), born Mickael Gordon Thomson in Des Moines, Iowa
4 November : First Car Free Sunday (The Netherlands) caused by the 1973 oil crisis.
5 November : Arab producers announce 25 percent cut in oil production
5 November : Danniella Westbrook, actress (EastEnders), born in Walthamstow, London
8 November : The Second Cod War between the United Kingdom and Iceland ends.
9 November : Ringo Starr releases album "Ringo"
11 November : Egypt and Israel sign a United States-sponsored cease-fire accord.
11 November : Jason White, guitarist (Green Day), born in North Little Rock, Arkansas
12 November : 'Last of the Summer Wine' began its first series run on BBC One, following a pilot on 4 January. It would run for 31 series.
12 November : Dmitri Shostakovich's 14th String Quartet premieres

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! :

Previously :
320.  David Cassidy – How Can I Be Sure

[daf]

339b. (NME 359.)  The Osmonds – Let Me In



From :  14 - 20 November 1973
Weeks : 1
B-side : One Way Ticket To Anywhere
Bonus : German TV

The Story So Far : 1958 - 1973

The Osmond Brothers' career began in 1958 when Alan, Wayne, Merrill, and Jay began singing barbershop music for local audiences in and around Ogden. After being spotted singing at Disneyland, they were invited to perform on The Andy Williams Show. The brothers were regulars on the show from 1962 to 1969, where they earned the nickname "one-take Osmonds".

By 1970, The Osmonds had decided they wanted to shed their variety-show image, and become a rock and roll band. The change was a difficult one for their father, who was suspicious of rock and roll, but he was persuaded and the boys began performing as a pop band.

Record producer Mike Curb signed the Osmonds to MGM Records and arranged for them to record at Muscle Shoals with R&B producer Rick Hall.

Their first single as The Osmonds, "One Bad Apple" (b/w "He Ain't Heavy...He's My Brother") was released in November 1970.

It debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 on January 2, 1971 then hit the top of the charts on 13 February 1971 and stayed there for five weeks. Written by George Jackson, it was composed in the style of the Jackson 5. The Osmond and Jackson families would eventually meet in 1972 and become friends.



The single was included on the album 'Osmonds', released in November 1970.



Other songs featured on the album, included : "Think", "Catch Me Baby", "Lonesome They Call Me, Lonesome I Am", "Motown Special", "Sweet and Innocent", "Find'em, Fool'em, Forget'em", "Most Of All", "Flirtin'"



The album sleeve featured perceptive pen-portraits of each of the members :

Merrill is the soulful lead of the group.  He has a singing quality that any lead singer would strive for.  Merrill is the bass player and probably the fastest in the business.  Merrill is a talkative person.  He can talk to anyone on just about any subject, and is always eager to learn something new each day.  He is the optimist's optimist.  If there is a half empty glass of milk, Merrill sees it as half full.  Merrill's best quality is happiness.  Anyone that meets him goes away with a little better outlook life.  He makes you happy that you are you.  Merrill is the trendsetter in fashion, dance, and song.  He loves to experiment...
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Jay is the unbelievable drummer of the group.  Offstage, Jay jokes a lot.  He is the one that has one-hundred different ideas coming all at once.  But on stage, Jay is the premier drummer in popular music today.  If there were a way to describe Jay (you really can't, Jay is Jay), you would have to list his laughter as his best quality.  When he laughs, the whole group laughs.  It must be his personality that makes him this way.  But whatever it is, the whole group is thankful for Jay.
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Donny is the youngest member of the group and is also the rage of the fans.  Donny is the pretty boy and that comes with all its consequences.  Girls write to him by the thousands, and tear after him whenever they are on tour.  It is not unusual for Donny to be rescued by policemen in his desperate moments.  Donny plays the organ in the group.  Even at his young age, he is probably one of the best organists in the field today.  Donny's best quality is his cheerfulness.  He can cheer anybody up.  Donny never has a bad thought toward anyone.  Physically and spiritually Donny is a beautiful person.
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Wayne is the quiet member of the group.  It is not that he shy, but he talks only when he feels it is necessary.  Wayne is a very spiritual person.  If anyone can make you feel wanted at times when you are not sure, Wayne is the person that can do it.  He is content that he is doing his best possible job.  Wayne's most important quality is spiritual contentment.  Wayne is always himself.  He feels the same as the other brothers, "It's just too hard to act 24 hours a day."  Wayne plays rhythm guitar and he plays it expertly.  Like the other boys, it is not unusual for Wayne to be called to do someone's studio session.
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Alan is the leader of the group.  He's very concerned about "now" things.  Like all the brothers, Alan is a very peaceful and sensitive person.  He has a place in his heart for almost anything.  He is the type of person you like to call your friend.  He's understanding, brotherly, and a warm person.  That is Alan's most important quality – warmth.  Perhaps Alan's warmth has rubbed off onto other people.  After meeting Alan and the Osmonds you must think twice before doing anything wrong.
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The Osmonds next single, "Double Lovin'" (b/w "Chilly Winds"), was released in May 1971. It peaked at #14 on the Billboard chart. The single was included on their next album, 'Homemade' released in May 1971. The album remained on the chart for 34 weeks, peaking at #22.



Other songs featured on the album included : "The Honey Bee Song", "Carrie", "Shuckin' and Jivin'", "The Promised Land", "If You're Gonna Leave Me", "We Never Said Forever", "She Makes Me Warm", and "Sho Would Be Nice"



Billboard magazine : "The Osmond's second LP for MGM cut with producer Rick Hall in Muscle Shoals, is another dynamite commercial package and it includes their single smash Double Lovin'. Other cuts that will stir play and sales are the opener, A Taste of Honey, The Promised Land, and She Makes Me Warm. Groups's in top vocal form and Hall's production is super."



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In January 1972, The Osmonds released the album 'Phase III'. The album reached number ten on the Billboard Top LPs chart on March 11, 1972.



'Phase III', their third album billed as 'The Osmonds', and tenth overall, was, as its name implied, a shift in direction for the band, after its 1960s era as variety-show child stars and the band's early breakthrough as bubblegum pop idols, much of this album featured the band moving into a hard rock sound and writing more of their own material.



Songs featured on the album included : "Business", "Love Is", "A Taste of Rhythm and Blues", "My Drum", "It's You Babe", "In The Rest of My Life", and "Don't Panic".

The first single from the album, "Yo-Yo" (b/w "Keep On My Side"), was released in August 1971, and peaked at #3 in the US.

Billboard : "The Osmonds' third release on the label, the other two were top 20's, will keep up that smash hit pace for them. Penned by Joe South, the strong rocker is given a dynamite vocal workout."



The second single, "Down By The Lazy River" (b/w "He's the Light of the World"), released in January 1972, spent 14 weeks on the Billboard chart, peaking at #4, and reached #40 on the UK chart.

Billboard : "The group kicks off '72 with a super rhythm number, an Osmond original that will put them at number 1."

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In January 1972, The Osmonds cancelled their first trip to Britain due to Wayne going into the hospital for a hernia operation. Meanwhile Tom Osmond married Lyn Heslop in the Salt Lake City Temple in Salt Lake City. In February, they launched their own recording label, Kolob, distributed through MGM records.

In May 1972, The Osmonds performed four songs before Queen Elizabeth II. Other guests of the Royal Command Performance included Liza Minnelli, Lily Tomlin and Spud from The Brumbeats. The show was a benefit for the British Olympic Team. The gala was taped and aired on television which marked the Osmonds' debut on British television.



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In May 1972, The Osmonds released their first live album, 'Live', which was recorded at a concert The Forum Los Angeles, CA, on 4 December 1971.



Songs featured on the album included : "Motown Special", "Double Lovin'", a cover of Elton John's "Your Song", "Sweet and Innocent", "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'", "Proud Mary/Free", the Donny solo spot "Go Away Little Girl", "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child/Where Could I Go But to the Lord?", "We Gotta Live Together", Little Jimmy Osmonds's solo spot "Trouble/I Got a Woman", Donny's new single "Hey Girl", plus the Osmond hits "Down by the Lazy River", "Yo-Yo", and "One Bad Apple".



Billboard : "Sensational live LP from the brothers. Recorded at their Los Angeles concert, this dynamite package should outsell even their past million-selling albums. Included are their hits, One Bad Apple, Yo Yo, Down By The Lazy River, Donny's hits, Go Away Little Girl, Jimmy's show stopper, Trouble / I Gotta Woman, and their Motown Medley which is a concert highlight and more. All sure to thrill their millions of fans. Great production and sound by Michael Lloyd and Alan Osmond."



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In June 1972, The Osmonds released the single "Hold Her Tight", which reached #14 on the US charts. In October 1972, they released their stonking masterpiece : "Crazy Horses" (b/w "That's My Girl"), which reached #2 in the UK.



Both singles were featured on their next album, 'Crazy Horses', released in October 1972.



Building upon the band's previous album, 'Crazy Horses' was the band's first really personal statement – the brothers have been quoted as saying that the title song refers to air pollution from cars, and it's instrumentation featured an even harder rock sound bordering on early heavy metal. They wrote all the songs and played all the instruments with Alan on rhythm guitar, Wayne on lead guitar, Merrill on lead vocals and bass, Jay on drums and Donny on keyboards. While Merrill was the lead singer on most songs, Jay sang the lead on "Crazy Horses".



Other songs featured on the album included : "Utah", "Girl", "What Could It Be", "We All Fall Down", "And You Love Me", "Life Is Hard Enough Without Goodbyes", "Hey Mr. Taxi", "Julie", and "Big Finish".



Billboard : "The young superstars have here a dynamite package which will out-sell even their past smash hits. The material is entirely Osmond originals including heavy sounds like the title tune (their current single), infectious numbers like Life Is Hard Enough Without Goodbyes, and Hey Mr. Taxi, and pretty ballads like And You Love Me. Also has here their recent million-seller Hold Her Tight. Top production work by Michael Lloyd and Alan Osmond."

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In early 1972, fourteen year old Donny's voice had broken, like the first morning. This was a major upset to the group's formula that had proved so successful. Not only did this eliminate Merrill's young-sounding co-lead's voice (forcing Merrill's already mature tenor voice to strain to cover most of the higher notes through the next few years), but it also ended Donny's ballads, which became so popular with fans.

With this development, Donny spent much of 1972 and then 1973 touring with his brothers but singing his old songs with his new deeper voice. By this time, the Osmonds had broken through in the UK as well. On 9 November 1972, The Osmonds performed their 2nd concert at the Rainbow Theatre in Finsbury Park.



The following is a story from a British newspaper: "Pop star Donny Osmond arrived in an ambulance, under medical supervision, for his concert in London on Thursday night.  A doctor advised 14-year old Donny's family to cancel the show because he had influenza and temperature of 103.  But Donny, idol of the weenybopper fans, insisted that the show must go on.  Wrapped in sweaters he arrived at the Rainbow Theatre in Finsbury Park to take the stage with his brothers before a capacity audience.  Donny said, 'I heard that 3,000 fans had come from all over Britain, and I just couldn't let them down.'"



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In June 1973, they released their fifth studio album, 'The Plan', a Mormon concept album with progressive rock aspirations.



Billboard : "The Osmonds' identity as a standard pop music act is hereby changed with this package. The five brothers have moved in the filed of spectacular productions far away from anything anyone has associated with them. This LP is their concept for a concept album including electronic instruments, electronic effects, a large symphonic string section, some Beatles-sounding arrangements (Movie Man) and repertoire which includes narratives. The act has been moving more and more toward this direction, and once you get past the avant-gardish opening cut, War In Heaven, you are awarded with richly produced songs of solid value. Let Me In represents the brothers at their collective finest. All the songs questioning and analyzing one's life are written by Alan, Wayne, and Merrill Osmond. Three arrangers have provided sterling sweetening: Tommy Oliver, Pete Carpenter, and Reg Powell. Best cuts: Movie Man, One Way Ticket To Anywhere, and Are You Up There."



Songs featured on the album included : "War In Heaven", "Traffic In My Mind", "Before The Beginning", "Movie Man", "It's Alright", "Mirror, Mirror", "Darlin'", and "The Last Days".



The first single from the album, "Goin' Home" (b/w "Are You Up There?"), reached #36 in the US, and peaked at #4 in the UK charts in July 1973.



The second single from the album, "Let Me In" (b/w "One Way Ticket To Anywhere"), again reached #36 in the US, but was a #2 Smash hit on the official UK chart, and topped the NME chart for a week in November 1973 . . .

The Single :

"Let Me In" was written by Alan Osmond, Merrill Osmond, and Wayne Osmond and performed by The Osmonds.



As with other songs on their crackpot concept album 'The Plan', "Let Me In" carries a dual message of secular and Mormon themes, both as a straightforward love song and as a plea to God for redemption from the singer's past abandonment of Him and a request to return to His love.

The song marked the return of the formula of Merrill and Donny Osmond alternating on lead vocals, the formula the band had used while Donny was a boy soprano; by this point, Donny's voice had lowered to the tenor/baritone range he would have in adulthood. Merrill sang on the verses, with Donny (aided by Alan and Wayne in unison) singing the chorus.



Released in September 1973, Let Me In" reached #36 on the US Billboard chart; #15 on the Canadian pop chart; #2 on the official UK Singles Chart; and #1 on the mint and skill NME chart in November 1973.

Billboard Magazine : "The Osmonds have another tailor-made hit, a lush voiced production ballad with some musical echoes of several mid-60's standards. Artistically, this is a highly respectable effort that represents the Osmonds as a fully-matured capable act. Song is a full-harmonied cry for love with lots of melodic hooks."

Other Versions include :  "Letí smích" by Karel Černoch (1975)  /  OTT (1997)  /  Danny McEvoy (2012)  /  Merrill Osmond (2020)

On This Day :

14 November : Princess Anne marries Captain Mark Phillips at Westminster Abbey
14 November : "Good Evening", featuring Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, opens at Plymouth Theater NYC
15 November : The British tanker British Mallard runs aground at Grimsnes, Norway.
16 November : John Lennon releases "Mind Games" album
16 November : Skylab 4 launched into Earth orbit
17 November : Greek regime attacks students with tanks, 100s killed
18 November : Sir Gerald Nabarro,, UK politician, dies aged 60
18 November : Arab oil ministers cancel the scheduled 5 percent cut in production for EEC
18 November : Greek regime calls emergency crisis due to mass protests
20 November : Allan Sherman, American song parodist, dies from emphysema aged 48

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! :

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Previously :
316.  Donny Osmond – Puppy Love
324.  Little Jimmy Osmond – Long Haired Lover from Liverpool
327.  Donny Osmond – The Twelfth of Never
336.  Donny Osmond – Young Love 

[daf]

340.  Gary Glitter – I Love You Love Me Love



From : 13 November – 10 December 1973
Weeks : 4
B-side : Hands Up! It's A Stick Up
Bonus 1 : Top of the Pops 15 Novenber 1973
Bonus 2 : Top of the Pops 22 November 1973
Bonus 3 : Live December 1973
Bonus 4 : Russel Harty January 1974
Bonus 5 : Disco February 1974

The Story So Far :  1973 - 1974

By the time of 'I'm The Leader Of The Gang', drummer Pete Gill decided to leave The Glittermen.  Auditions for a new drummer were soon set up with Pete Phipps on the panel for choosing his drumming partner.  Numerous drummers from up and down the UK were considered, but Pete recalls that it wasn't until the very end of the auditions that Tony Leonard walked in and demonstrated that he was the man that they had been looking for. Except for one member, this line up of musicians backed Gary until 1976, and, having showcased their talents behind Gary, the band were beginning to command their own recognition and following.

In November 1973, "I Love You Love Me Love" (b/w "Hands Up! It's A Stick Up") reached Number 1 in the UK chart.



By now, The Glittermen were expressing interest in doing their own shows and recordings; and as this received the full backing and encouragement from the management, regular producer Mike Leander arranged some studio time in December 1973.  During these sessions, at Mayfair Studios, London, the band recorded an initial version of a song that would go on to become a million seller worldwide. Guitarist Gerry Shephard and Saxophonist John Rossall (with the help of drummer Pete Phipps) had written - "Angel Face", along with "Gonna Be With You Tonight", "It's Alright Baby", and "Teenager In Love".

The Band's first gig took place on 15th February 1974 at the Aquarius Club in Lincolnshire, where they were billed as a "mystery band" The set consisted of a number of their favourite songs from the 1950's and 60's.



The first version of "Angel Face" that was recorded, with Gerry on lead vocals and Mike Leander producing, was somewhat different to the song that was eventually released, having been given some re-arrangement and lyric changes, and the full Mike Leander "Glitter-feel" production, with that distorted slide-guitar sound, the heavy snare-led drumbeat, the "heys!" and the catchy chanted chorus. All agreed that the song would make an excellent first single. It was decided that the band would be called "The Glitter Band".

Bell Records signed the Glitter Band as a new artist, and Angel Face" (b/w "You Wouldn't Leave Me Would You?" was released in March 1974. It met with instant success and reached. no.4 in the UK charts, remaining there for 10 weeks.



Without Gary, the Band made their first appearance on Top Of The Pops, on 21st March 1974. It was obvious that follow up success would be swift, and whilst they wanted to pursue their own career, they felt that it was only right to continue working with Gary, as well as doing their own thing. This often provided the management with no end of headaches in trying to organise the separate and joint diaries for the two now separate entities!

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Unlike Glitter's previous singles "Remember Me This Way" was a slow ballad that surprised many at the time. Nevertheless, it went on to peak at #3 on the UK Singles Chart in March 1974.



The single features the non-album track, "It's Not a Lot (But It's All I Got)" as its B-side.



In June 1974, he released the live album, 'Remember Me This Way'



It features live concert performances from Glitter's 1973 Christmas show at The Rainbow in London and was released in conjunction with the movie/documentary of the same name that showed Glitter preparing for the tour. The album ends with a one-minute and 39-seconds edit of the studio recording of the title song, which follows on at the end of the live recording. It was Glitter's third top ten album, reaching a peak of #5 in the UK.

The Single :

"I Love You Love Me Love" was written by Gary Glitter with Mike Leander and performed by Gary Glitter.



According to Glitter, he came up with the title for the emotional glam rock ballad when thinking about Elvis Presley's song, "I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone".

Produced by Mike Leander in mono only, "I Love You Love Me Love You Love Me Love You Love Me Love" was Glitter's second number-one single on the official UK Singles Chart, spending four weeks at the top of the chart in November 1973, and establishing itself as one of the top 10 best-selling singles of 1973 in the UK. It reached No. 2 in both Ireland and Australia.



It is Glitter's most successful entry in the UK Singles Chart - entering the chart at number-one and remaining for 14 weeks in the Top 40, earning him the first platinum record (which at the time certified sales of 1 million copies) awarded to a British artist. It has sold 1.14 million copies in the UK as of November 2012.



Other Versions include :  Top of the Poppers (1973)  /  Tommy James (1976)  /  Joan Jett and The Blackhearts (1984)  /  "Vesipatja jäätyy" by Aki & Turo - The Hepamamas (1988)  /  Psychopomps (1997)  /  Danny McEvoy (2012)

On This Day :

13 November : Elsa Schiaparelli, Italian fashion designer, dies aged 77
12 November : 'Last of the Summer Wine' began its first series run on BBC One, following a pilot on 4 January. It would run for 31 series.
12 November : Dmitri Shostakovich's 14th String Quartet premieres
13 November : Elsa Schiaparelli, Italian fashion designer, dies aged 77
14 November : Princess Anne marries Captain Mark Phillips at Westminster Abbey
14 November : "Good Evening", featuring Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, opens at Plymouth Theater NYC
15 November : The British tanker British Mallard runs aground at Grimsnes, Norway.
16 November : John Lennon releases "Mind Games" album
16 November : Skylab 4 launched into Earth orbit
17 November : Greek regime attacks students with tanks, 100s killed
18 November : Sir Gerald Nabarro, UK politician and moustache enthusiast, dies aged 60, from a surfeit of lampreys
18 November : Arab oil ministers cancel the scheduled 5 percent cut in production for EEC
18 November : Greek regime calls emergency crisis due to mass protests
20 November : Allan Sherman, American song parodist, dies from emphysema aged 48
23 November : Constance Talmadge, US silent fim comedienne, dies aged 75
25 November : Laurence Harvey, Lithuanian born British actor, dies of stomach cancer aged 45
25 November : US cuts maximum speed limit cut to 55 MPH as an energy conservation measure
25 November : Bloodless military coup ousts Greek President George Papadopoulos
26 November : John Rostill, bass player (The Shadows), electrocuted at 31
26 November : Nixon's personal secretary Rose Mary Woods, tells a federal court she "accidentally" caused part of 18½ minute gap in a key Watergate tape.
27 November : Neil Simon's play "Good Doctor" premieres in NYC
29 November : Ryan Giggs, footballer, born in St David's Hospital, Cardiff, Wales
1 December : David Ben-Gurion, 1st Prime Minister of Israel, dies of cerebral hemorrhage aged 87
1 December : Papua New Guinea gains self-government from Australia as a forerunner to independence.
2 December : Monica Seles, tennis player, born in Novi Sad, Serbia, Yugoslavia
3 December : Pioneer 10 passes Jupiter (1st fly-by of an outer planet)
3 December : Emile Christian, American jazz trombonist, dies aged 78
4 December : Kate Rusby, folk singer, born Kate Anna Rusby in Penistone, West Yorkshire
5 December : Robert Watson-Watt, Scottish physicist and developer of radar, dies aged 81
5 December : Paul McCartney & Wings release album "Band on the Run" in the US
6 December : Gerald Ford sworn-in as first unelected Vice President, succeeds Spiro Agnew who resigned over corruption allegations
7 December : Damien Rice, singer-songwriter, born Damien George Rice in Kildare, Ireland.
7 December : "Band on the Run" released in the UK
8 December : Corey Taylor, singer (Slipknot), born Corey Todd Taylor in Des Moines, Iowa
8 December : "Seesaw" closes at Uris Theater NYC after 296 performances
9 December : "Pajama Game" opens at Lunt Fontanne Theater NYC for 65 performances
9 December : Sunningdale Agreement in Northern Ireland
10 December : A partial lunar eclipse takes place.
10 December : Earle Foxe, American actor, dies aged 81

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! :