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

Started by daf, August 02, 2021, 01:55:00 PM

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daf

Weird situation where there's virtually no proper info on the band - (their discography seems to be a jumble of repackaged compilations) - or why this track was even in the charts at all, let alone welded to the Top Spot for FIVE SODDING WEEKS!

Usually it's a theme from a TV show or film that kickstarts oddball nuggets like this into the popisphere, but apparently not in this case . . . In Toyah's words, It'th a Mythtery!


gilbertharding

A pointless story about what memories this song evokes in me (a boring man off the internet) you say?

Well... I was 2 and a half years old at the time, so I have no direct memory of this being a Chart Topper, but many many (7) years later I watched the film On Giant's Shoulders, about Terry Wiles, and there's a scene in that where he and his parents (Prian Pringle and Judi Dench) are driving along in their van (I guess in 1972) and Amazing Grace comes on the radio and they all sing along.

The 9 year old me was watching On Giant's Shoulders because Terry Wiles had (before I went there) been a pupil at my Junior School, and so they'd spent a day filming us at school with him. He played himself as a nine year old, in spite of being 17 - but who else were they going to get?


So, that's what Amazing Grace means to me.

kalowski

I saw a copy of The Original Version Amazing Grace in a charity shop the other day. I didn't buy it.

daf

313.  T. Rex – Metal Guru



From : 14 May – 10 June 1972
Weeks : 4
B-side 1 : Thunderwing
B-side 2 : Lady
Bonus 1 : Acoustic Demo
Bonus 2 : Top of the Pops
Bonus 3 : Live 1976

The Story So Far & Further :  1972 - 1974
QuoteOn 5 May 1972, T. Rex released the single "Metal Guru", which, as well as causing panic on the streets of London, Birmingham, Carlisle, Dublin, Dundee, and Humberside, topped the UK chart for four disco-burning weeks in the UK.



In September 1972, T. Rex released the non-album single "Children of the Revolution" which reached #2 on the Official UK chart.



The follow-up, "Solid Gold Easy Action", released in Decemeber 1972, was another standalone single, and also peaked at number 2 in the UK chart.



The B-side, "Born to Boogie", was included on their next album . . .

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

'Tanx', the fourth T. Rex album, was released on 16 March 1973.



A musical departure from previous works, 'Tanx' showed Bolan's interest for soul music, funk and gospel. Female backing singers appeared on a few tracks. New instruments such as mellotron and saxophone were featured, allowing the T. Rex sound to evolve.

The opening number "Tenement Lady" featured a mellotron and a phased effect on Bolan's vocals. "The Street and Babe Shadow", with saxophone as one of the main instruments, showed Bolan adding a funky side into his music. "Life is Strange" and "Broken Hearted Blues" were ballads closer to the old T. Rex sound, while "Shock Rock" was a boogie track.

"Left Hand Luke and the Beggar Boys" was seen by critics as a nod to gospel and featured several uncredited female backing singers, which included :  Madeline Bell, Lesley Duncan, Vicky Brown, Barry St John and Sue & Sunny.

Other songs featured on the album included : "Rapids", "Mister Mister", "Country Honey", "Electric Slim and the Factory Hen", "Mad Donna", and "Highway Knees".



Bill Legend : "We never sat down as a rhythm section and figured out what we were going to do because sometimes we didn't even know what we were going to do, we just went in and heard the song are the song. But as far as Steve and I, (we) just kind of locked in pretty big together. We were similar kind of laid back characters, quiet, and we had the feel for what Marc was doing at the time. Steve and I became really good friends, Mickey (Finn) was a lovely guy as well. It's funny. Steven, I became close in a sense because we came from the same kind of working-class background and we just liked what we did. And I mean, I listened to a lot of funky stuff and soul stuff all down through the year and I just applied everything I knew into stuff that Marc was actually recording at the time."

The album peaked at number 4 in the UK Albums chart, number 3 in the Germany, and number 5 in Norway. 'Tanx' failed to match the success of 'The Slider' in the US, reaching only No. 102 in the Billboard 200.



At the time, the album received favourable reviews in both the NME and Record Mirror. However, it was derided by Rolling Stone - Pop Expert Paul Gambaccini wrote : "This one album might have made a good EP [...] I can't see many people being truly pleased with it. But I've been wrong before."

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

Their next single, "20th Century Boy", another non-album single, was recorded on 3 December 1972 in Toshiba Recording Studios in Tokyo, Japan, and released in March 1973 - the same month as their 'Tanx' album.

The lyrics, according to Bolan, are based on quotes taken from notable celebrities such as Muhammad Ali. This can be seen through the inclusion of the line "sting like a bee", which is taken from one of Ali's 1969 speeches.



"20th Century Boy" entered in the UK Singles Chart at number 3 on 10 March 1973 and remained at that position for three weeks in a row. The B-side, "Free Angel", another non-album track, was recorded during the first session for the 'Tanx' album, between 1 and 4 August 1972.

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

Their next single, "The Groover" marked the end of the golden era in which T. Rex scored 11 singles in a row in the UK top ten. The single was in the UK Singles Chart for a total of nine weeks, peaking at Number 4 in June 1973 - making it the last T. Rex song to enter the UK top ten.

Yet another standalone single, both "The Groover" and its B-side, "Midnight" were non-album tracks.



"Truck On (Tyke)" (b/w "Sitting Here"), another non-album single, was released in November 1973.



Marc Bolan : "Truck On (Tyke) is my 14th hit record and I wouldn't be at all surprised if it didn't make number one."

Despite Bolan's optimism, the record was poorly received critically and did not perform as well in the charts as previous T. Rex singles. The single was in the UK charts for a total of eleven weeks, peaking at #12.



Later, Marc would claim the move to be deliberate, stating that its release : "was a planned thing. I wanted something not so good to happen to compare [future material]  against."



After releasing records under the 'T. Rex' name since 1970, the single "Teenage Dream", (b/w "Satisfaction Pony"), was the first release to be credited to 'Marc Bolan and T. Rex'.



Released in February 1974, the single was co-produced by Tony Visconti and Bolan, and featured Lonnie Jordan of War on piano. It spent five weeks in the UK top 40, peaking at number 13.

Ken Barnes of Rolling Stone, wrote in a 1974 article that the song "suffers from pointless, jumbled lyrics and self-conscious Dylan-styled intonations and drags on for far too long." Bolan, however, regarded "Teenage Dream" as the best lyric he had written, so up your butt with a coconut, Barnso!



Written and recorded while on tour in the United States in August 1973, the song was included on his next album . . .

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

'Zinc Alloy and the Hidden Riders of Tomorrow' was released by in February 1974. It was the first and only album to be released under the name "Marc Bolan & T. Rex".



The T. Rex band was expanded for this release, incorporating second guitarist, Jack Green, session player B.J. Cole on pedal steel, and backing vocalists 'The Cosmic Choir', a soul duo comprising Bolan's lover, Gloria Jones and Sister Pat Hall, sometimes augmented by Gloria's brother Richard Jones.

Musically, the band ventured into blue eyed soul and blended rock with funk and R & B influences. Lyrically, the album harkened back to the Tyrannosaurus Rex days with long song titles and lyrical complexity.

Songs featured on the album included : "Sound Pit", "Galaxy", "Change", "Nameless Wildness", "Liquid Gang", "Carsmile Smith & the Old One", "You've Got to Jive to Stay Alive – Spanish Midnight", "Interstellar Soul", "Painless Persuasion v. the Meathawk Immaculate", "The Avengers (Superbad)", and "The Leopards Featuring Gardenia & the Mighty Slug"

Most of the basic recordings were done at Musicland Studios in Munich in 1973 between February and June. The album was mixed later that year after the band's return from their US tour. The mixing was difficult as Bolan was often smashed out of his bonce on booze and drugs. He wanted to keep control and didn't listen to any of producer Tony Visconti's advice. Soon after the album's release, Bolan split with Visconti.

Tony Visconti : "Zinc Alloy was supposed to be "one more for the kids" – it wasn't, it wasn't really anything. There's some great songs on it, but it's not the best T. Rex album. I don't like too... I mean he's not with us... but Marc had started drinking heavily – not that I'm an angel – but in the studio it was getting ugly and even other members of the band would not be at the sessions. Bill Legend quit at the time. I had one last plea with him, and said why don't you take some time off... we had this [unreleased] album, The Children of Rarn, on tape somewhere, so I said "why don't you take a year off". Pete Townshend did it when he wrote Tommy. But no, it was "one more for the kids" which wasn't helping him with the kids, or anybody, that last album. It's not the best album. But you know, to take a year off, he looked at me like, "are you crazy? I have to make another single" Even the the last single we made together, Truck On (Tyke), didn't even make the top 30..well... it stayed there for a day! It's sad. He couldn't accept that. He had to make a better single. But you know, these things have a peak and a trough. Life's like that. But he couldn't accept that. So after that, and a couple of other issues I had with him, including payment – he tried to cut my out of my royalties all of a sudden – things just soured, it was not the best conditions to work under. One of my best friends was treating me like that, so we called it quits."

Drummer Bill Legend had stopped working with Bolan by this time, and in December 1974, percussionist Mickey Finn also left the band.



Bill Legend : "I think it was probably personal family time, you know? I had three young children at home and I never got to see them. I wasn't a money grabber. but I just feel, I kind of saw things weren't the same and other introductions coming into the whole situation. I really didn't know what was going on, but I just felt uncomfortable. I did the tracks on the Zinc Alloy album as well and was just kind of, it wasn't the same kind of comradery.  Steve carried on because he was that kind of guy. He was there, he did the job, enjoyed playing. I already had my young family at home.  I had a good job. I was financially better off doing my illustration and artwork than I was on the road at that time. So basically, it was that kind of story, it just wasn't the same, it just wasn't the same anymore. Then I think I was in Australia at the time, my last gig was Brisbane, and I was thinking, they talk about we can go whatever way you like, and then get back together and stuff like that, and I just I didn't want go any further really. I didn't really think musically it was gonna be the same. But anyway, that's just my personal feelings at the time, it was nothing to do with anyone else. I just kind of saw what I consider was the beginning of not so much the end but it wasn't the same."

Initial pressings of the album featured a multi-layered triple gatefold sleeve, a latticework image of the current cover featuring Bolan's face in a pale gold surround, meant to fold-out into the 'Creamed Cage' of the subtitle.



'Zinc Alloy' was met with bemusement by the listening public. It reportedly confused listeners and divided the band's fanbase at the time. Poorly received upon release, with "universally hostile" reviews, the British press slammed T. Rex for copying the title of the album on Dave Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, even though Bolan had spoken of releasing work under the pseudonym "Zinc Alloy" during the mid-1960s.

While contemporary reviews were universally negative, critical re-evaluation has been slightly more favourable, but it remains an oddity in the T. Rex canon due to its style incorporating funk and R&B influences. The album, released five weeks after the end of the UK Tour, peaked at number 12 in the UK Albums chart.

Tony Visconti : "I think the only mistake made was that, that audience, those girls and the few guys that adored him, grew older. And that's the way pop works. Just in a few short years, some of them were going over to the Bowie camp and other things and you know, kids do grow up. And it was crystallised in that film, Marc thought that this is the way it's always going to be. After that we made some fantastic records, I love The Slider and Tanx and all that, but we clearly lost that audience... it's ironic now that in later years, a lot of teenage kids look to that music now. But the truth is the core audience [at the time] dwindled and it did make him angry. He couldn't figure it out and was frustrated."

Unlike many of T. Rex's previous albums, it was not released domestically in North America; instead, the record company released the U.S.-only 'Light of Love' in August of the same year . . .

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

'Light of Love', released in August 1974 included three tracks : "Teenage Dream", "Explosive Mouth" and "Venus Loon", previously released in the UK on the  'Zinc Alloy and the Hidden Riders of Tomorrow' album, together with 8 new songs recorded in the Spring of 1974 at Music Recorders Inc. Studios in Hollywood.



The album was engineered by Gary Ulmer and, in the absence of Tony Visconti who had left T. Rex production duties, was produced by Bolan himself.

Despite considerable publicity and a US tour, 'Light of Love' did not chart in the US. The reasons are disputed, but it permanently ended Bolan's attempts to gain stardom in the United States' pop market. By this point, Bolan's USA record label Reprise Records had dropped him and he had much difficulty finding a new label to sign him, but eventually signed to Casablanca Records. However, Casablanca was going bankrupt around the time and resulted in this being the last album of the band's to be released in the US.

Tony Visconti : "He is one of the all time greats. It's partly Marc's fault that he isn't always recognised as such because he didn't make it in America. He didn't do well there for some reason. It overwhelmed him. I saw many of his live performances there and he did not make it with Americans for some reason. The guys with the beards and the flannel shirt were still in power over there, while Glam Rock was a totally British invention. And he was the king of Glam Rock, if you want to pick such a ridiculous title."



After its failure, he concentrated on the UK again. The eight new tracks were recycled and included on the next UK album 'Bolan's Zip Gun'.

The Single :
Quote"Metal Guru" was written by Marc Bolan, and recorded by T. Rex.



"Metal Guru", the band's fourth, and final, official number one on the UK Singles Chart, topped the chart for four weeks from May–June 1972. It was also included on the album 'The Slider', released in July 1972.

Marc Bolan : "Is a festival of life song. I relate 'Metal Guru' to all gods around. I believe in a god, but I have no religion. With 'Metal Guru', it's like someone special, it must be a godhead. I thought how god would be, he'd be all alone without a telephone. I don't answer the phone any more. I have codes where people ring me at certain times."



Despite coming only ten months after the success of "Get It On", it failed to chart in the United States. The song reached No. 45 in Canada in July 1972.

Other Versions includeTop of the Poppers (1972)  /  Električni Orgazam (1983)  /  Smashed Gladys (1985)  /  The Smiths (1987)  /  Rooney (2005)  /  T Rextasy (with Linda Lewis & Clem Burke) (2007)  /  Danny McEvoy (2012)  /  High Speed Dubbing (2012)  /  Grace Clarke (2013)  /  Moopies (2017)  /  Steve Riks (2017)  /  Nightcore (2017)  /  Calling All Astronauts (2018)  /  Randy McSorle (2018)  /  Nena (2020)  /  The Pricks (2020)  /  rrchan (2021)

On This Day :
Quote14 May : A 13 year old Catholic girl is shot dead by Loyalist paramilitaries in Ballymurphy, Belfast
15 May : Nigel Green, South African-born British character actor, dies of an accidental barbiturate overdose aged 47
15 May : "Hard Job Being God" opens at Edison Theater NYC
15 May : Bus plunges into Nile River killing 50 pilgrims in Minia, Egypt
16 May : Melvin Van Peebles' musical "Don't Play Us Cheap" opens at Barrymore Theater, NYC; runs for 164 performances
17 May : The IRA fires on workers leaving the Mackies engineering works in west Belfast
19 May : Jenny Berggren, singer (Ace of Base), born Jenny Cecilia Berggren in Gothenburg, Sweden
20 May : Busta Rhymes, rapper, born Trevor George Smith Jr. in Brooklyn, New York City
20 May : "Hard Job Being God" closes after 6 performances
20 May : Walter Winchell, American newspaper columnist, dies aged 75
21 May : The Notorious B.I.G., rapper, born Christopher George Latore Wallace in Brooklyn, New York
21 May : "Heathen!" opens & closes at Billy Rose Theater NYC after 1 performance
21 May : "Lost in the Stars" based on the novel "Cry the Beloved Country" by Alan Paton closes at Imperial Theater NYC after 39 performances
22 May : Margaret Rutherford, English actress, dies aged 80
22 May : Ceylon becomes Republic of Sri Lanka as its constitution is ratified
22 May : Over 400 women in Derry attack the offices of Official Sinn Féin in Derry, North Ireland, following the shooting of William Best by the "Official" Irish Republican Army
22 May : Cecil Day-Lewis, Irish poet, detective writer, and British Poet Laureate, dies of cancer at 68
23 May : Rubens Barrichello, Brazilian formula one driver, born Rubens Gonçalves Barrichello in São Paulo, Brazil
26 May : Alan White, drummer (Oasis), born Alan Victor White in Lewisham, London
26 May : Patsy Palmer, actress (Eastenders), born Julie Anne Harris in Bethnal Green, London
26 May : Blue-chinned ghoul US President Richard Nixon and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev sign SALT accord
26 May :  The IRA plant a bomb in Oxford Street, Belfast, killing a 64 year old woman
27 May : "Applause" closes at Palace Theater NYC after 900 performances
28 May : The Watergate burglars succeeded in their second attempt to break into the Democratic National Committee offices at the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C.,
28 May : Abdicated king Edward VIII, dies aged 77
29 May : The Official IRA announce a ceasefire
30 May : The Angry Brigade goes on trial over a series of 25 bombings throughout Britain.
1 June : Dmitri Shostakovich's 15th Symphony, Dutch premieres in West Berlin
1 June : Tswanaland becomes Bophuthatswana in South Africa
1 June : West German police arrest Red Army Faction leader Andreas Baader
1 June : Pablo Picasso completed his final painting, The Embrace, at his home in Mougins, France.
1 June : Alice Cooper released their breakout album "School's Out"
2 June : Two British soldiers die in an IRA land mine attack near Rosslea, County Fermanagh
2 June : The Passamaquoddy and Penobscot Indian tribes filed Joint Tribal Council of the Passamaquoddy Tribe v. Morton, a suit against the State of Maine
3 June : French Open Women's Tennis: American Jelly Bean King wins her only French singles title; beats Evonne "Ging-Gang" Goolagong of Australia 6-3, 6-3
6 June : Dave Bowie releases the album "The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars"
6 June : US bombs Haiphong, North-Vietnam; 1000s killed
7 June : Musical "Grease" opens at Broadhurst Theater NYC for 3,388 performances
7 June : E. M. Forster, British novelist, died aged 91
8 June : Jimmy Rushing, American blues pianist and singer, dies aged 70
9 June : Bruce Springsteen signs a record deal with Columbia
10 June : Elvis Presley records a live album at NYC's Madison Square Garden

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! :
Quote

gilbertharding

Nice to see some proper young person's pop music at number one again at long last.

#245
Quote from: daf on November 25, 2021, 04:11:30 PMWeird situation where there's virtually no proper info on the band - (their discography seems to be a jumble of repackaged compilations) - or why this track was even in the charts at all, let alone welded to the Top Spot for FIVE SODDING WEEKS!

Usually it's a theme from a TV show or film that kickstarts oddball nuggets like this into the popisphere, but apparently not in this case . . . In Toyah's words, It'th a Mythtery!



The original band dates from 1920 but was amalgamated with another one in 1971:

Original band:

https://www.discogs.com/artist/8143891-The-Pipes-And-Drums-Of-The-Royal-Scots-Dragoon-Guards-Carabiniers-And-Greys?anv=Pipes+%26amp%3B+Drums+Of+The+Royal+Scots+Dragoon+Guards+%28Carabiniers+%26amp%3B+Greys%29

Amalgamated:

https://www.discogs.com/artist/8143890-The-Military-Band-Of-The-Royal-Scots-Dragoon-Guards-Carabiniers-And-Greys?page=2

Regiment histories before amalgamation:

http://british-army-units1945on.co.uk/royal-armoured-corps/3rd-carabiniers.html

http://british-army-units1945on.co.uk/royal-armoured-corps/royal-scots-greys.html

Note the odd Noel Edmonds connection in 1980:

https://www.discogs.com/release/12599697-The-Pipes-And-Drums-And-The-Military-Band-Of-The-Royal-Scots-Dragoon-Guards-Carabiniers-And-Greys-No

There was an Omnibus documentary about them in 1969:

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm11221635/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

New Years Eve 1970:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8567272/?ref_=nm_flmg_slf_1

The piper was Tony Crease. The track had been recorded in 1971 to mark the merger of the two bands. They were stationed in Herford, Germany.

https://pipingpress.com/2021/01/05/p-m-tony-crease-royal-scots-dragoon-guards/

Daily Express report from 1972 quotes Alan Freeman:

https://pipingpress.com/2020/02/26/history-newspaper-reports-the-amazing-success-of-amazing-grace/

Tampa Bay Times 22.4.71:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FFZnBerWYAo96DU?format=jpg&name=4096x4096

daf

Good work - I thought there must have been something out there!


Found it! It was given by plugger Tommy Loftus to radio producer Ian Fenner who did Late Night Extra presented by Keith Fordyce (BBC 2, 10 pm):

QuoteThe Royal Scots Dragoon Guards had an album released for 99p. Here's where the expertise comes in. I have to put in a monthly order for the product I want and how many copies. I have to think in terms of priorities, so I look at the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards for 99p and think, who do I give this to? There was a producer on late night radio called Ian Fenner. He liked military music and had a military band slot in his late night show, so I thought I'd put Ian down for one of these. I left it for him to listen to and he picked out the Amazing Grace track. Nobody was asking me 'what's happening to that 99p album?' – they were only interesed in the full price albums. Ian phoned me and said 'Have you listened to Amazing Grace?. I said 'Ian, do you want an honest answer or a promotion man's answer? Because the promotion man's answer is 'it's sensational' and the honest man's answer is 'I haven't heard it.'! I gave him the honest man's answer. He said 'listen to it and tell me what you think.' I put it on the turntable and phoned him back. I said 'the hairs are standing up on the back of my neck.' He said 'it's incredible.' Next think I know Jack Dabbs is on the phone. 'What's this record you given to Ian Fenner that I haven't had.' Then I have to do a complete mail-out of the album to everyone. For six shillings you could buy the single and for less than £1 you could buy the album. The single was released on the response I was getting. They couldn't argue with the facts – the radio was suddenly coming alive for me.

images-1.jpg

I was like when I was at Parlophone and Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren did Goodness Gracious me. I only had to give it out. I didn't have to say anything about it. For a start it was Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren on one record, and it was a very funny record. It had to be a monster hit. So the Amazing Grace thing was created by itself. Ian Fenner has gone to that great studio in the sky now, but he should be remembered as the man who played that record because he was interested in the music. (for completeness, Amazing Grace was in the charts for 24 weeks in 1972, four of them at No.1. It also reached No.11 in the American charts)

https://vinylmemories.wordpress.com/2019/01/22/a-personal-history-of-the-british-record-industry-72-tommy-loftus-pt-2-and-conclusion/

This was the programme:

https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/3051885847274edb9d1b3aff233870f6

Another story from Peter Kerr, who produced the track:

All the American companies were setting up in the UK, instead of having licensing deals, so they were serious about building up their own catalogues. They wanted a dozen or so British ethnic albums quick. So I was told they wanted a pipe band. I'd heard the Royal Scots Grey were heading home after a stint in Germany. We went into the barracks with a portable studio, with just one day to record, and at the end we were a few minutes short. They said, We've been messing about with this Judy Collins hit. So I said, Okay, go! and they played "Amazing Grace". We put it in the can in one take. When I sent the tapes to RCA I said, Take a listen to the last track - everyone here got a buzz from it. They phoned and said, Have you gone mad up there, asking us to release a single with fucking bagpipes on it? Then the DJ Keith Fordyce played "Amazing Grace" on his military spot, and the BBC got so many calls and letters and passed them all on to RCA. The demand was so great that every plant in Europe was involved in pressing those singles. The last figures I saw, including compilations, was thirteen million copies! It shows you how much record executives know about anything ...

http://www.folkworld.eu/36/e/nshift.html

This is Kerr: https://www.facebook.com/author.peter.kerr


daf


kalowski

Love the early 70s T Rex stuff but he certainly became a kind of sweaty faced parody of himself as time went on.

daf

314.  Don McLean – Vincent



From : 11 – 24 June 1972
Weeks : 2
B-side : Castles In The Air
Bonus 1 : TV Performance 1972
Bonus 2 : Live
Bonus 3 : The story behind the song

The Story So Far : 
QuoteReleased in March 1972 as the second single from his 'American Pie' album, "Vincent" is a tribute to the 19th-century Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh. The inspiration came to McLean one morning while looking at a book about Van Gogh. As he studied a print of Van Gogh's painting 'The Starry Night', he realized that a song could be written about the artist through the painting.

Don McLean : "It was written when I was a real unknown, around 1969, when I was singing in the school system in The Berkshires (in Western Massachusetts). I was reading a book about Van Gogh, and I decided that it was an interesting idea for a song, and the idea of using the imagery of his painting, The Starry Night, to tell a story. And I thought, Oh boy, that's so pretty...it's going be so beautiful. I like beautiful things—I'm interested in beautiful lyrics and interesting ideas and beautiful melodies."



It reached number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and it proved to be a huge hit worldwide, including reaching number 1 in the UK Singles Chart.

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

His third studio album, 'Don McLean' was released in November 1972. The photo on the cover of the album was taken overlooking the Village of Cold Spring, NY.



The song "The Pride Parade" provides an insight into McLean's immediate reaction to stardom. McLean told Melody Maker in 1973 that "Tapestry was an album by someone previously concerned with external situations. American Pie combines externals with internals, and the resultant success of that album makes the third one entirely introspective."

Two singles were released from the album : "Dreidel" (b/w "Bronco Bill's Lament") in December 1972, which reached #21 on the Billboard chart; and "If We Try" (b/w "The More You Pay (The More It's Worth)") in March 1973, which reached #58.



Other songs featured on the album included : "Oh, My What a Shame", "Narcisissima", "Falling Through Time", "Birthday Song", and "On the Amazon", from the 1920s musical 'Mr. Cinders', which became an audience favourite at concerts.

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

His fourth studio album 'Playin' Favorites' was realeased in October 1974.



The album featured covers of some of McLean's favourite songs, including the Irish folk classic, "Mountains of Mourne" and Buddy Holly's "Everyday", a live rendition of which had returned McLean to the UK Singles Chart, peaking at #38 in April 1973.



Don McLean : "The last album was a study in depression whereas the new one is almost the quintessence of optimism."

Other songs featured on the album included : "Sitting on Top of the World", "Living With the Blues", "Fool's Paradise", "Love O' Love", "Bill Cheetham/Old Joe Clark", "Ancient History", "Over the Mountains", "Lovesick Blues", "New Mule Skinner Blues", and "Happy Trails".

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

His fifth studio album, 'Homeless Brother', was released in October 1974. Produced by Joel Dorn, it was McLean's final studio recording for United Artists.



The album featured fine New York session musicians, including Ralph McDonald on percussion, Hugh McCracken on guitar and a guest appearance by Yusef Lateef on flute. The Persuasions sang the background vocals on "Crying in the Chapel", and Cissy Houston provided a backing vocal on "La La Love You".



The album's title song, "Homeless Brother", was inspired by Jack Kerouac's book Lonesome Traveler, in which Kerouac tells the story of America's "homeless brothers" or hobos. The song features background vocals by Pete Seeger.

The song "The Legend of Andrew McCrew" was based on an article published in The New York Times concerning a black Dallas hobo named Anderson McCrew who was killed when he leapt from a moving train. No one claimed him, so a carnival took his body, mummified it, and toured all over the South with him, calling him "The Famous Mummy Man". McLean's song inspired radio station WGN in Chicago to tell the story and give the song airplay in order to raise money for a headstone for McCrew's grave. Their campaign was successful, and McCrew's body was exhumed and buried in the Lincoln Cemetery in Dallas.

Other songs featured on the album included : "Winter Has Me in Its Grip", "Wonderful Baby", "You Have Lived", "Great Big Man", "Tangled (Like a Spider in Her Hair)", "Did You Know", and "Sunshine Life for Me (Sail Away Raymond)", which was originally written by George Harrison for Ringo Starr's 1973 album 'Ringo'.



Joel Dorn : "Of the more than 200 studio albums I've produced in the past 40 plus years, there is a handful; maybe 15 or so that I can actually listen to from top to bottom. Homeless Brother is one of them. It accomplished everything I set out to do. And it did so because it was a true collaboration. Don brought so much to the project that all I really had to do was capture what he did, and complement it properly when necessary."

The Single :
Quote"Vincent" was written and performed by Don McLean.



McLean wrote the lyrics in 1971 after reading a book about the life of Vincent Van Gogh.

Don McLean : "In the autumn of 1970 I had a job singing in the school system, playing my guitar in classrooms. I was sitting on the veranda one morning, reading a biography of Van Gogh, and suddenly I knew I had to write a song arguing that he wasn't crazy. I always thought he was the usual cliche. He lost his mind over a woman, and of course he was high strung, because he was an artist. I understand. That's not what it was. He had an illness and the brother had it, too. So, I thought maybe I would write a song about this and set the record straight. So I sat down with a print of Starry Night and wrote the lyrics out on a paper bag. I had always known his work and I had books on him, even when I had no money. I just felt something from him. Everybody does."



Don McLean : "So I jotted an idea or two down on a piece of paper somewhere, and I started to work on this. I was singing into the tape recorder and looking at the "Starry Night" painting and it was telling me what to say. I got the wind and the circularity and the breeze and Ed Freeman, the producer, brought the strings, like wind coming in and riffling the curtains. It was very subtle. I'm not so subtle sometimes, but he was, and it was very nice. Anyway, we got the song written because I was there for a week or something, a long time it seemed like to me. I was singing for a bunch of high school students that night to pick up $50. Maybe it was $100. It was a prom or something, I don't remember. I sang this new song and they weren't paying much attention. I sang the song and they all stopped. They looked at me. When that happened, I said to myself, "Wow, this is something nice, and I'm really happy with this." I started working on it. When you hear the record, it's just me and the guitar. It's just one take."

It was originally released on McLean's 1971 'American Pie' album; the following year, the song topped the UK Singles Chart for two weeks, and peaked at No. 12 in the United States.



Other Versions includeChet Atkins (1972)  /  Barbara Fairchild (1972)  /  Lani Hall (1972)  /  "Come un anno fa" by Little Tony (1972)  /  Pino Calvi (1973)  /  Gil Ventura (1973)  /  Kamahl (1973)  /  Vince Hill (1973)  /  The Mike Sammes Singers (1974)  /  Pavel Bobek (1974)  /  Bert Weedon (1975)  /  Jane Olivor (1976)  /  Karen Knowles (1982)  /  Julie Felix (1982)  /  The King's Singers (1989)  /  Julio Iglesias (1990)  /  NOFX (1996)  /  Chuck Loeb (2001)  /  Josh Groban (2001)  /  Rick Astley (2005)  /  Ronan Keating (2009)  /  Patti Austin (2011)  /  Danny McEvoy (2011)  /  Ruthie Henshall (2013)  /  Ed Sheeran (2015)  /  Connie Talbot (2016)  /  Passenger (2017)  /  James Blake (2017)  /  Ellie Goulding (2018)  /  GOVARDO (2018)  /  Jasmine Thompson and Ryan Keen (2018)  /  Chiptune Planet (2019)  /  Bob Lyons Steel Drum (2019)  /  Sungha Jung (2019)  /  The Cat and Owl (2021)  /  VOCES8 (2021)

On This Day :
Quote11 June : Gun battle between Loyalist and Republican paramilitaries break out in the Oldpark area of Belfast
11 June : X-rated film, Deep Throat, makes its debut at the World Theatre in Manhattan.
12 June : John Lennon's political album "Sometime in NYC" released
13 June : Clyde McPhatter, American R&B singer, dies aged 39
13 June : Stephanie von Hohenlohe, German World War II spy, dies aged 80
14 June : Shaun Keaveny, British radio DJ, born Shaun William Keaveny in Leigh, Lancashire
14 June : DDT, a widely used and well-known pesticide, banned in the United States
17 June : Five men arrested after trying to bug Democratic National Committee office in Watergate Complex, Washington
18 June : 3 members of the British Army are killed by an IRA bomb in a derelict house near Lurgan, County Down
19 June : A Catholic civilian is shot dead by the Provisional IRA in the Cracked Cup Social Club, Belfast
19 June : Secretary of State for Northern Ireland William Whitelaw concedes 'political status' for paramilitary prisoners in Northern Ireland
22 June : "Man of La Mancha" opens at Beaumont Theater NYC for 140 performances
22 June : The IRA announce that it would call a ceasefire from 26 June 1972 provided that there is a "reciprocal response" from the security forces
23 June : US President Nixon & his Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman agree to use CIA to cover up Watergate
23 June : Zinédine Zidane, footballer, born Zinedine Yazid Zidane in Marseille, France
24 June : The IRA kill 3 British Army soldiers in a land mine attack near Dungiven, County Derry

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! :
Quote

The Culture Bunker

George Best's favourite song, I'm sure I read once. Great footballer, crap taste in music.

daf

315.  Slade – Tak Me Bak 'Ome



From : 25 June – 1 July 1972
Weeks : 1
B-side : Wonderin' Y
Bonus 1 : TV Performance
Bonus 2 : Live 1973

The Story So Far & Further :  1969 - 1973
QuoteIn January 1969 Ambrose Slade were in the studio recording for Philips. The material consisted of their stage act, covers and a couple of instrumentals that the band had come up with themselves.

Noddy Holder : "We recorded a couple of our own songs but mostly we played our favourite songs from our set. We were left to get on with it with an engineer. Jack would come down once a day for a few minutes to check up on us. We thought we were recording a demo but at the end of the week he announced he was going to release it as an album. We were flabbergasted. It was a right miss mash of material, not consistent at all. There was some Zappa, some Moody Blues, some Motown and some ballads. He told us nobody anywhere sounded like us, the way we played with the harmonies and intricate playing. He loved it."

Meanwhile, Jack Baverstock, head of A&R at Philips, used his connections to get them a London agent, John Gunnell, who brought his mate, Jimi Hendrix producer Chas Chandler along to see the band in the studio.

Noddy Holder : "Jack said we needed a London agent and he knew a guy called John Gunnell who worked with Robert Stigwood. Gunnell was in cahoots with Chas Chandler under the Stigwood banner and he brought Chas down to the Fontana studio to meet us and hear the album."

Chas Chandler : "I was going to take time out to take stock of things. Then John Gunnell told me about this group in the Philips studio."

Jim Lea : "I nearly shit a brick, I knew who he was... I think I was the only one in the group who actually knew his track record."

Chandler was impressed by what he heard and astonished that the group had been working in the studio without a producer to guide them.

Noddy Holder : "We recognised Chas from the moment he walked through the door, from the Animals and Hendrix. As soon as they heard our album, Beginnings, they loved it and John said straight away that he was going to be our agent and fix us up some London dates. Chas said wanted to see us play live, but at that point we had no idea why. Later we found out that Hendrix had gone back to the States and that he was looking for new acts to manage. They'd just formed an agency and a management team together, working under the Robert Stigwood flag. Chas said he wanted to see us play live, so he put us in this little club in New Bond Street called Rasputins, which was basically a disco. In those days bands would play in discos and the audience danced to the bands, not like they would in the rocky beat clubs. But in the discos they danced to the bands."



Chandler wanted to see them perform live and it was arranged by Gunnell that they would perform in Rasputin's the following night.

Chas Chandler : "I walked into the place and there was a group playing live... somehow their exhuberance was like a breath of fresh air. They were just four kids having a ball and their audience was having a great time too. They weren't trying to be the greatest musicians in the world but they were enjoying themselves and getting across to others."

Noddy Holder : "He came down half through. He was walking down the stairs, it was an underground club, in the basement of this building, and he thought the records were on when he came in. But it was us half way through our set and he walking into the club and he saw that we were on stage. But the audience were all clamouring round us. They were dancing, but they were clamouring to the stage. It was an audience participation act even in those days, which nobody was doing that in London. He was flabbergasted and he said he hadn't seen a reaction for a band in a club like that for years. And he said he sign us up the next day which he did."

After watching a couple of 45 minute sets, Chandler's mind was made up - he wanted to manage them.

Chas Chandler : "There was a certain amount of amateurism about them but the main fault was that they didn't play any of their own material. I liked the arrangements they did of other people's material and I thought that if they could do that, they must be able to write as well. I made up my mind to manage them that night."

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Ambrose Slade's debut album, 'Beginnings', was released in May 1969. The cover artwork for the original British release of the album features a photo of the band on Pouk Hill in Walsall, a local landmark which was close to lead singer Noddy Holder's home. The band didn't enjoy the photo session due to the photographer insisting that they should pose naked from the waist up in extremely cold weather. The LP back-cover text proclaimed : "So stand by for a group that will really blow your mind... Ambrose Slade is for real!"



The band spent a week in the Philips studio at Stanhope Place recording the album with engineer Roger Wake. Having thought the band's demo of "Mad Dog Cole" was great, Baverstock insisted the band write more material of their own. The three other originals, "Roach Daddy", "Pity The Mother" and "Genesis", were then written within days.

Jim Lea : "This was our first major crack at making a record, so it was all important not to let it slip. So we did "Roach Daddy", "Mad Dog Cole" and "Genesis" out of total fear. "Pity The Mother" was another one of the songs that Bavistock "forced" us to write. We wrote it in Nod's parents' kitchen, the day before we went down to do some recording in the studio. Louise [Lea's wife] was there, and she helped me and Nod write the song."

The album was a mixture of self-penned songs and cover versions including : "Everybody's Next One" and "Born to Be Wild" by Steppenwolf; Ted Nugent & The Amboy Dukes' "Journey to the Centre of Your Mind"; and "Ain't Got No Heart" by Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention

Jim Lea : "They were all numbers that we were doing live on stage at the time. We had started to move away from the Flower Power thing then, but we were still doing unusual numbers. You can see by all the writers of the songs, they are all big names now, but at the time they were unheard of. Frank Zappa – he was totally unknown, he had only recorded one album, but we recorded his "Ain't Got No Heart"."

Other covers included : The Idle Race's "Knocking Nails into My House", The Moody Blues' "Fly Me High", The Beatles' "Martha My Dear" and "If This World Were Mine" by Marvin Gaye.

In the US, it was released under the title 'Ballzy'. Upon release, reviewer Lester Bangs described the album as "a real dud".



Record Mirror, in a review of the "Genesis" single, described the album as a "fine debut" from a band of "very substantial talent".

Jim Lea : "It dropped drastically. But that wasn't the point, you see it got us the footing in London, so it was a case of mission accomplished for us. Chas Chandler took us over. We still had some time to run on our contract with Bavistock, so we released our next two singles on Fontana. There were some internal hassles between Chas and the new boss of Fontana, and the next thing that I knew was that we were out of the Fontana deal. Chas had connections with Polydor, due to when he managed Jimi Hendrix, so we signed a contract with them."

Chas Chandler : "I just told them I'd be producing the group from now on and they were very pleased ... remember I'd just produced three of the biggest albums of all time, mon. I arranged a royalty for myself without taking anything away from the royalty that the group already had."



Noddy Holder : "Chas wasn't bothered by the album's lack of success. His interest was in singles. He told us we could be kings of the short pop song. His guidance was crucial after that. We were four naive lads from the Black Country. We'd done the rounds of playing live by that point so we knew what we were doing on stage and were well versed in how to handle an audience and how to work live and to get gigs. But from the point of view of taking the next step, of becoming professional in doing an album and using a recording studio as it should be used and getting hits, that was what Chas had the experience of that he could teach us."

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Following the lack of commercial success, the band and Chandler began considering their next career move. In an attempt to get them noticed, Chas Chandler had Slade go for a new "skinhead" image complete with Doc Marten "bovver boots", braces and shaved heads.

Noddy Holder : "Chas wanted to set us apart. He said: 'There's no skinhead bands around, why don't you try that sort of image?' Because back then being a skinhead wasn't political, it was purely fashion. So we had our hair cut short. And that infuriated Dave, who was dead set against it. We had skinhead haircuts and we got the braces, the Doc Martens, the Sta-Prest and the Ben Sherman shirts. The look and everything."



At that time, skinhead gangs were getting a lot of press coverage so the idea seemed like a good one, but Dave Hill and Jim Lea were not happy with this decision. They especially hated going to the barber to get their beloved long hair shaved off!

Dave Hill : "We'd had no idea of how to get into the charts. We were going into shops and buying our own records, but that got us nowhere. Chas Chandler took us on, and among the first things he did was tell us to become skinheads. He said: "You'll make millions, you'll be stars." My reaction was: "Oh no! I love my hair." Skinheads were into ska music, and there's us playing rock with a violin player. It was never going to work."

Holder and Powell were particularly tough-looking individuals already, and the skinhead look exacerbated the disturbing effect of having "toughs" in the band.

Noddy Holder : "We got a lot of flak for being a skinhead band. Television and radio were very high- handed in those days. It wasn't an image we could sustain and get mass acceptance with. So, gradually, we changed."

Dave Hill : "Being fair to Chas, it was a good idea but all that I will say is that I was glad when he allowed us to grow our hair back."



As well as cutting their hair, Chandler suggested trimming their name down a bit.

Noddy Holder : "Nobody liked the name Ambrose Slade, so when Chas suggested simplifying it we were relieved."

As The Slade, their next single, "Wild Winds Are Blowing" (b/w "One Way Hotel"), was released in October 1969 on Fontana, but failed to chart.



In March 1970, they released a cover of "Shape Of Things To Come" (b/w "C'Mon C'Mon"), which, despite a performance on Top of the Pops, again failed to chart.



While their records were finding little success, they were building up a reputation an ear-busting live band.

Jim Lea : "We had great piles of equipment, speakers piled on top of each other. Dave is small and he sometimes couldn't reach the volume control on his amp ... it was too high on top of the two Vox speaker cabinets he had. We were terrifyingly loud, nobody slept or walked out on our act. We pinned audiences to the wall with, what Johnny Steel used to call our 'G' force."

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Chandler moved Slade to Polydor Records, believing a higher-profile label would boost sales. Lyrics were added to the instrumental "Genesis" from the band's debut album. Released in September 1970, the resulting single "Know Who You Are", (b/w "Dapple Rose"), failed to make any impression on the UK chart.



The single was featured on their second album, 'Play It Loud', released in November 1970. The album, produced by Chas Chandler, was the first to be released under the Slade name.



Most of the songs featured on the album were originals written by the band members, and included : "Raven", "See Us Here", "Pouk Hill" - written about the chilly photo session for their first album cover, "I Remember", "Dirty Joker", and "Sweet Box". Covers included "Could I and "Angelina" written by Neil Innes from the Bonzo Dog Band.

Later in 1973, the album would achieve commercial success in Canada after it was released there by Polydor, reaching #40 in the album chart.

Noddy : "Actually, Play It Loud did nothing at first. When it came out, we hadn't had any hit records, or any success, and it sold a few. It sold about ten thousand copies, something like that. But over the years, over the last four years since we've been having hits, it's still been selling slowly, slowly, and about two weeks ago, it reached a silver album."

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Chandler had been managing the band for almost two years without success when he suggested releasing a version of the Bobby Marchan song "Get Down and Get With It", originally performed by Little Richard.

Slade still enjoyed a good reputation as a live act and the song had been used in their performances for many years. Always popular, the song's lyrics demanded audience participation and it was hoped that the feeling of a live gig would be projected into the studio recording. Backed by two B-sides - "Do You Want Me" & "Gospel According To Rasputin", the song was released in May 1971, and by August it entered the top 20 in the United Kingdom, peaking at number 16.



By this point, the band had decided to drop their skinhead image.

Dave Hill : "So Chas let us re-grow our hair. That's where I got the famous fringe I had. We had been ending our gigs with the Chuck Berry-song Get Down And Get With It, and Chas said to record it. The boot-stamping helped to define our sound."

Noddy : "But even when we had our first hit with Get Down & Get With It we were still a skinhead band. After all, it was the perfect stomping record for skinheads. But eventually we grew our hair down the back, a bit like the skinhead girls – the feather-cut thing."

The band members grew their hair long and allied themselves to the glam rock movement of the early 1970s. Hill's stage costumes also became notable during this period.

Noddy : "We replaced the Doc Martens with platform boots. We became more colourful. And then it went more and more berserk, obviously. Dave went into all his mad phases – Superyob, the spacesuits and all that. It was a great laugh."

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Chandler now demanded the band write a follow-up single themselves which led to Lea and Holder writing "Coz I Luv You".

Chas Chandler : "They didn't take me seriously at first. It wasn't until a rehearsal at Studio 51 in London that they realised how serious I was. They'd been back home for two weeks supposedly writing new material and when they came down to London they had two songs. I told them to go away and write five songs that night. I had to make the point."

Noddy Holder : "Chas could be a hard taskmaster, and one day he told us: "You've got to write your own next single." We were worried that he might drop us if we didn't. We'd have done anything to avoid that happening. That was what inspired us to write. He paired Jim and I together. Jim came to my mum's house with his violin, and we knocked off Coz I Luv You in twenty minutes."

Dave Hill : "In those days we were all having a bash at writing. Don used to write with Jim. and Nod with me, .. it wasn't for some time' until Jim and Nod came together as the main writers. We all used to throw in ideas."

The song was written in half an hour and started a writing partnership which would continue throughout Slade's career. Upon hearing the track played to him acoustically, a pleased Chandler correctly predicted the song would make number one. The single also was also the first to feature a phonetically-spelt song-title - which quickly became a Slade trademark.

Noddy Holder : "I wrote Coz I Luv You on the wall. Chas Chandler saw it and said: "We'll spell it like that." It became our gimmick – Black Country slang – years before text speak. There was a huge outcry, but later on they taught it in schools to kids with learning difficulties – phonetic learning."



Dave Hill : "Chas was a very direct man, and a very knowledgeable man. He was a very good bass player, he was an excellent manager, and he was a visionary. He gave us lots of ideas, he got us to write songs, he really liked my guitar playing, and I have to tell you that not only did he love my costumes, Chas also understood me. The good thing, from our point of view is that we all understood him too. Chas was the sort of man that if he had got something in his head then he would go ahead and do it. He was not always right, but then again, none of us ever are. But, having said that, in most cases he was right with us. For Slade, Chas was the right man at the right time."

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In November 1971, the NME reported that Slade had turned down a multimillion-dollar campaign, including a television series and a heavily promoted tour of the US. "But", commented Holder, "acceptance would have meant the cancellation of many commitments here – and the last thing we want to do is to mess around the people who have put us where we are".

A second single entitled "Look Wot You Dun", (b/w "Candidate"), was released in January 1972, peaking at number 4 in the UK charts.



Capitalising on the success of the band's 1971 commercial breakthrough with the singles "Get Down and Get with It", "Coz I Luv You" and "Look Wot You Dun", the compilation album 'Coz I Luv You' was released in 1972 in Australia, Argentina, and certain European countries.

Aside from the A-Sides, the compilation features a mix of B-Sides and album tracks from the band's 1970 album 'Play It Loud'.



In Argentina, it was released under the name 'Mira Lo Que Has Hecho', which translates to "Look What You Have Done".  It reached No. 10 in the Netherlands Platform Clog chart.

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Having made their UK breakthrough with a string of successful singles, Slade decided that the best way to break into the album charts would be to capture their live sound on record.

In October 1971, the band played three consecutive nights at London's Command Theatre Studio in front of a studio audience of 300 fan-club members. The three nights cost £600 to record, with the band using most of their recorded performance from the second night.

Initially producer Chas Chandler rejected Command Studio's mix of the album, which was completed in conjunction with the band themselves. He then proceeded to remix the tapes himself, but the band then rejected that mix and went back to their own original mix. Prior to the album's release, "Hear Me Calling" was released as a promotional single in February 1972, with "Get Down With It" as the B-Side. The release was limited to 500 copies.

'Slade Alive!', was released in March 1972, and reached No. 2 on the UK Albums Chart, remaining in the chart for 58 weeks. It was Slade's first album to enter the UK charts and also the first to enter the Billboard 200 in the United States, where it reached No. 158.



"Hear Me Calling", a cover of the 1969 song by Ten Years After, was originally planned as Slade's follow-up single to their 1971 breakthrough hit "Get Down and Get With It". However, the band couldn't better the song in the studio and the idea was dropped. "In Like a Shot from My Gun" was also attempted in the studio, but was also scrapped.

Don Powell : "It was originally meant to be put down in the studio. But after we recorded it for Slade Alive!, we didn't think that we could do it any more justice by doing it in the studio - as it's basically a live number."

"Darling Be Home Soon", a cover of the 1967 song by The Lovin' Spoonful, notably features Holder burping into the microphone. He later admitted that the burp was accidental as the band had a lot to drink before performing. Holder also stated that from then on, he had to continue to do the burp whenever the song was performed otherwise the audience would be disappointed.

Other songs featured on the album included : "Keep on Rocking"; "Know Who You Are" which originally appeared on the band's 1970 album 'Play It Loud'; and the Steppenwolf song, "Born to be Wild", which Slade recorded in the studio for their 1969 debut 'Beginnings'.



In its original LP vinyl format, the album was issued in a gatefold sleeve which revealed a huge cartoon drawing on the inside. This drawing was the winning entry in a competition run in The Sun newspaper to design the album cover. In Israel and Italy, the front cover used the inner gatefold artwork instead, whilst certain editions releases in the Netherlands and France also used this design.



Upon release, Record Mirror felt the "rocking album" was a "good quality live recording". They added: "The excitement of the group and crowd has been captured well".

The NME said: "Slade Alive! is just what it implies. If you've ever been to one of their noisy gigs, you'll know exactly what I mean." The album would later be rated No. 2 in the magazine's Top 10 albums of 1972.

Melody Maker commented: "Because it was recorded in a studio proper, before an audience, they've achieved the kind of balance and sound not often heard on a live recording."


 
Two months later, the band released "Take Me Bak 'Ome". The single became Slade's second UK number one and charted in a number of other countries, including America where it reached number 97 in the Billboard singles chart.



Having achieved their second UK number one, the band soon finished recording their next studio album.

In August 1972, the lead single "Mama Weer All Crazee Now" (b/w "Man Who Speeks Evil") was released and was another UK chart topper.

The idea for the lyrics of "Mama Weer All Crazee Now" came from the band's show at the Boston Gliderdrome in Lincolnshire, where a bouncer had told them about another act who'd appeared there drunk – "crazy with whiskey".



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Their third studio album, 'Slayed?', was released in November 1972, and reached No. 1 in the UK, remaining on the chart for 34 weeks.



The album's opening track, "How D'You Ride", had originally been considered as a potential single, with producer Chas Chandler particularly keen on seeing it released as one.

In October 1972, "The Whole World's Goin' Crazee" was released as a free 7" Flexi disc with the Music Scene magazine. The B-Side was "Bonnie Charlie" by Mike Hugg.



In August 1973, "Let The Good Times Roll" was released as a single in America where it reached No. 114. In November, "Move Over" was released as a single in Japan.

Other songs featured on the album included : "Look at Last Nite", "Gudbuy Gudbuy", "I Don' Mind",  and "I Won't Let It 'appen Agen".

Don Powell : "If you listen to the start of that one you can hear somebody shout, 'Yeah!' That's me shouting, because it felt so good when we started, that I just couldn't help saying it. And it was kept."

The album was the band's most successful of the 1970s in the US, peaking at No. 69 and remaining in the charts for 26 weeks. In Australia, the album reached No. 1 and went Gold, knocking the band's live album 'Slade Alive!' to No. 2.



Upon release, Record Mirror described the album as "all pretty stomping, insistent and bawled out stuff", adding "they deliver the goods here, alright".

Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times felt that aside from some "effective moments" on side one, side two best displayed Slade's "power and direction". He concluded: "If you've been missing the solid, raunchy rock sound in recent months, get slayed and play it loud."

American rock critic Robert Christgau felt the album showcased "boot-boy anthems that are every bit as overpowering as has been reported, and also more fun. Noddy Holder can wake up the crazee in my neighborhood any time he wants."

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The final single of the year, "Gudbuy T' Jane", was released in November 1972. It peaked at number 2 in the official UK chart, and topped the NME chart for a week in December 1972. The single was a big worldwide hit but only managed to reach number 68 in the American Billboard Chart.

The idea for "Gudbuy T'Jane" came to Lea while the band was in San Diego. He completed the song on the flight home to the UK. Holder's lyrics were inspired by a woman called Jane who demonstrated a "sex machine" on a TV show on which the band appeared.



In early 1973, "Cum on Feel the Noize", (b/w "I'm Mee, I'm Now, An' That's Orl") was released and went straight to number one, he first time a single had done so since The Beatles' "Get Back" in 1969.



The band made a special effort with the Glam Rock costumes when appearing on Top of the Pops.

Noddy Holder : "People would look at us as if the aliens had landed. Dave was the most outrageous. He'd outdo anybody. We called one outfit The Metal Nun. He'd never let us see what he was going to wear."



Dave Hill : "A lot of effort went into my Top Of The Pops outfits, especially the 'metal nun'. I think Stevie Marriott nicknamed that one."

Noddy Holder : "You'd hear him rattling and rustling in the toilet and go: "Come on, H. Reveal." Then we'd be on the floor with laughter, except Jim, who'd say: "I'm not going on with him dressed like that." He actually walked off photo sessions when he saw what Dave and I were wearing."
 
Dave Hill : "My response was always the same: "You write 'em, I'll sell 'em.""

Despite being another worldwide hit for Slade, the single again failed to impress in America where it only made number 98.



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Released in June 1973, the follow-up single "Skweeze Me, Pleeze Me" (b/w "Kill 'Em At The Hot Club Tonite"), again went straight to number one.



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

Soon after the release of "Skweeze Me, Pleeze Me", on 4 July 1973, drummer Don Powell was involved in a near fatal car crash in Wolverhampton. The crash left Powell in a coma and his 20-year-old girlfriend, Angela Morris, dead.

Don Powell : "Even today I've got no memory of what happened. Your brain switches off, and that's probably a good thing. Afterwards the band had to put up with a lot from me."

The band's future was left in the balance as Slade refused to continue without their drummer although Lea's brother, Frank, covered Powell's position at the Isle of Man Festival to avoid disappointing fans.



Powell, who'd suffered breaks to both ankles and five ribs, successfully recovered after surgery and was able to rejoin the band ten weeks later in New York, where they recorded "Merry Xmas Everybody" – in the middle of a heatwave.

Dave Hill : "We responded with a song that we thought could become a moderate hit. But it took on a life of its own. I loved that Merry Xmas Everybody doesn't have jingle bells plastered across it; it's a song about family, presents and fun. That song lifted a nation."

Powell still suffers with acute short-term memory loss and sensory problems as a result of the accident.

Jim Lea : "The crash affected Don's memory. One night, leading into Skweeze Me, Pleeze Me, he said: "Jim, I don't remember how it goes." I told him to count four beats and just keep going. "



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

In September 1973, whilst Powell was recovering, and in an attempt to keep up momentum, the band released the compilation album 'Sladest',



The album contained fourteen tracks and included the band's eight hit singles up to that time, along with six other tracks, five of which pre-dated Slade's commercial breakthrough in 1971. In America, the album was released by Reprise (Warner Bros. Records), and was the band's first release on the label.

Songs featured on Side 1 included :  "Cum On Feel the Noize"  /  "Look Wot You Dun"  /  "Gudbuy T'Jane"  /  "One Way Hotel"  /  "Skweeze Me, Pleeze Me"  /  "Pouk Hill"  /  and "The Shape of Things to Come"



Songs featured on Side 2 included :  "Take Me Bak 'Ome"  /  "Coz I Luv You"  /  "Wild Winds Are Blowing"  /  "Know Who You Are"  /  "Get Down and Get with It"  /  "Look at Last Nite"  /  and "Mama Weer All Crazee Now"



The album topped the UK and Australian charts in the first week of its release, and was certified UK Silver by BPI that month. It remained in the charts for 24 weeks. In America, 'Sladest' was released by Reprise and featured a significantly different track listing. It reached No. 129 on the Billboard 200.



Upon release in America, Ken Barnes of Rolling Stone described the album as a "comprehensive collection", providing an "unimprovable perspective on their past successes, as well as some of the wildest all-stops-out rock & roll you'll ever hear". He summarised the album as being "the best rocking album of the year".

Robert Christgau felt that although 'Slayed?' was "less tuneful", he preferred the album to 'Sladest', which contained material which saw "these Anglopop phenoms [turning] into raving maniacs".

Billboard felt the album was an "extremely smart manoeuver", serving the "dual purpose of introducing them as a singles band as well as giving them an almost fresh start with the American listening public".


The Single :
Quote"Take Me Bak 'Ome" was written by lead vocalist Noddy Holder and bassist Jim Lea, and performed by Slade.



Noddy : ""Take Me Bak 'Ome" was an old song I'd had kicking around for ages. I re-vamped it a bit and nicked a phrase or two from The Beatles' "Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey". Nobody ever noticed."

During the recording of the song, Holder ab-libbed over the riff in the middle of the song. Lea suggested he change the ab-libs after the original one gave him the idea for the band's next single "Mama Weer All Crazee Now".

Shortly after the single's release, Slade played at the Great Western Festival near Lincoln. Before their performance, the band had fears over whether or not they could win over the 50,000-strong crowd. Now deemed a 'pop band', the announcement of their imminent appearance on the stage was met with outbreaks of booing from the audience. However, the band triumphed at the festival, the music press praised the performance and "Take Me Bak 'Ome" went on to reach No. 1 at the beginning of July.

Dave : "Coz I Luv You was a different kind of song, I thought that was the perfect simple song that made number one so easy, you know? Look Wot You Dun was a classic kind of song, with a clean, classy arrangement to it, but then "Tak Me Back 'Ome" was a live, earth-dirt song – I felt much more out of that than I did from all the rest, it projected more, and it wasn't just a hit record. I didn't know if that kind of song could make it, and it was great having a thick, dirty song up at number one."



Upon release, Record Mirror described the song as a "riff-based number" and commented on Holder's "strident, straight-through-a-brick-wall voice". They concluded: "Powerful and rocking - and their best yet for me".

New Musical Express said the song was a "strong rocker", showing the "power and punch the band proudly sports" in comparison to the previous two singles.

Produced by Chas Chandler, it was released in May 1972 as a non-album single. It reached No. 1 in the UK, giving the band their second number one single, and remained in the charts for thirteen weeks. In the United States, the song reached No. 97. The song would be included on the band's 1973 compilation album 'Sladest'.

Other Versions includeThe October Cherries (1972)  /  Chris Thompson (2001)  /  Danny McEvoy (2012)  /  Ricky Owen (2017)

On This Day :
Quote25 June : Jan Matulka, American painter, died aged 81
26 June : The Provisional IRA kill two British Army soldiers in separate attacks during the day
27 June : home computer Atari, Inc. founded by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney in Sunnyvale, California
29 June : USSR launches Prognoz 2 into earth orbit (549/200,000 km)
30 June : James Martin, TV chef (Saturday Kitchen), born in Malton, North Yorkshire
1 July : Stephen Sondheim's "Follies" closes at Winter Garden Theater, NYC, after 524 performances
1 July : "Hair" closes at Biltmore Theater, NYC, after 1750 performances
1 July : The first Gay Pride march in England takes place.

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! :
Quote

The Culture Bunker

I'd have this as Exhibit A of why Slade are miles better, and rock way harder, than Oasis could ever have dreamed of. 

Nigel Lythgoe is apparently one of the dancers in the TV performance, according to the comments.

The drums on that track are fabulous, really thumping.

Good news: at the end of August/early Sep 72 we will get three absolute bangers like this one in a row at No. 1.

daf

316.  Donny Osmond – Puppy Love



From : 2 July – 5 August 1972
Weeks : 5
B-side : Let My People Go
Bonus 1 : Promo film
Bonus 2 : Live on Beat Club
Bonus 3 : Ohio State Fair 1972
Bonus 4 : Live 1974
Bonus 5 : Top of the Pops 1991

The Story So Far : 
QuoteDonald Clark Osmond was born on December 9, 1957, in Ogden, Utah, the seventh son of Olive May and George Virl Osmond. Osmond was raised as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah along with his siblings.

Donny Osmond : "I am the seventh of nine children, so when I arrived, there was already Virl, 12; Tom, 10; Alan, eight; Wayne, six; Merrill, four, and Jay, two. We first lived in Ogden, Utah, in a rural area – it had plenty of fields around it and there was a cow and other animals. Both my parents were musical and enjoyed singing. We were a close-knit family. My dad had been an army sergeant and so the house ran along a definite set of rules. My mum was the loving, nurturing parent while my dad was the disciplinarian. Both my parents belonged to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the church's teachings were a strong influence on all of us."

The Osmond Brothers' career began in 1958 when Alan, Wayne, Merrill, and Jay began singing barbershop music for local audiences in and around Ogden. They originally performed to earn money to support brothers Virl and Tom, who both had severe hearing impairment since birth, in buying hearing aids and serving missions for their church.

Donny Osmond : "My maternal grandfather was the only grandfather I knew, as my paternal grandfather died when my dad was six months old. He was an amazing man, a college professor with a very brilliant mind, who died when I was about nine. Both my grandmothers lived until I was into my 20s. Overall, my dad was my mentor in life, but musically, it was people like Stevie Wonder and Andy Williams. When I was nine, we opened for Nancy Sinatra, and Frank Sinatra came to the rehearsal and then to the opening night to hear me sing. Elvis Presley was a friend of the family. What I might have missed out on in terms of a "normal" childhood and schooling experiences was more than made up for by these extraordinary musical moments."



Despite their young ages, (Alan was 9, Wayne 7, Merrill 5, and Jay 3), the boys' talent and stage presence were strong enough that their father, George Osmond, took them to audition for Lawrence Welk in California. Welk was unable to meet with them, but on the same trip, they visited Disneyland. Tommy Walker, Disneyland's Director of Entertainment and Customer Relations, found the Osmond Brothers singing with the Dapper Dans on Main Street. Walker hired the Osmonds to perform on a segment of the TV show Disneyland After Dark, which aired on in April 1962.



While The Osmond Brothers were performing on that Disney special, Andy Williams's father, Jay, saw them and was so impressed he told his son to book them for his television show. Williams initially had reservations about featuring children on the program, however, encouraged by his father to try them out.

Andy Williams : "Not too many months ago, my father, who is in the Real Estate business in Los Angeles, called me and said he had heard a vocal quartet that he thought would be good for my television show.  An audition was set up and I met, for the first time, the Osmond Brothers. The minute I saw them I realized why my father was so taken with this group.  They were four boys ranging in age from seven to twelve.  The four Osmond Brothers were about the same ages as the four Williams Brothers were when we started singing on the radio back in Des Moines, Iowa.  The resemblance was uncanny. When they finished their first song, I was still somewhere back in Iowa singing with my brothers.  In Jay I could see myself. He was the youngest and the smallest and had two teeth missing and winked a lot.  He captured me right away."

On 13 December 1962, The Osmond Brothers made their debut on The Andy Williams Show singing "Be My Little Baby Bumblebee". Bette Davis was also a guest star on this episode. The following week, they made their second appearance on the show singing "Side by Side" and "Ding Dong Daddy From Dumas".

Andy Williams : "I put them on the show that week and they were an immediate hit with the cast and the crew and the studio audience.  But I didn't know until the following week, when the mail started to come in, how much these boys had captured the hearts of the American public in only one appearance. Everybody wanted to see more of the Osmond Brothers. I thought at first that their appeal was mostly to mothers and fathers – but their clean-cut, scrubbed look and natural charm reached everyone.  After a few appearances on my show, people from all walks of life would stop me and ask if the boys were going to be on the show that week.  It could be a golf caddy, a middle-aged woman, a group of teenagers...it didn't seem to matter.  Everybody liked the Osmond Brothers and wanted to see more of them."



They proved in a short period of time to become an asset to the program, and soon became regulars on the show and gained popularity quickly. On 31 January 1963, Donny Osmond made his debut on the show at the age of five singing "Yes Sir, That's My Baby".

Donny Osmond : "We moved to California when four of my brothers, singing together as the Osmond Brothers Quartet, got a spot on The Andy Williams Show. It was a hugely exciting time for us all."

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

On 18 April 1963, they were in the recording studio recording "Kentucky Babe", "Keep Your Eye On The Girlie You Love", "Just A Song At Twilight", and "Mighty 'Lak A Rose" for their first LP, 'Songs We Sang On The Andy Williams Show', released in June 1963.



Further songs, recorded in April 1963, featured on the album included : "Bye Bye Blues", "By The Light Of The Silvery Moon", "Down Our Way", "In The Good Ole Summertime", "Aura Lee", and "Take Me Back To Babyland"

They released their first single, "Be My Little Baby Bumble Bee" (b/w "I Wouldn't Trade The Silver In My Mothers Hair") in August 1963, both songs were taken from their debut album.



Six songs from their debut album were also included on the album 'Travels of Jaimie McPheeters' - released in July 1963.



Though played by different actors in the pilot, from the second show onwards, Alan, Wayne, Merrill, and Jay were cast as the Kissel Brothers, Micah, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and Lamentations. There were a total of 30 episodes produced and the Osmond Brothers were in nine of them.

Though not featured on the promotional album, the theme song for the show, "The Travels Of Jamie McPheeters", was released as a single in September 1963.



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

On 19 August 1963, they recorded the songs "The Little Drummer Boy", "Christmas Means More Ev'ry Year", "Winter Wonderland", "Silent Night", "Deck The Halls", White Christmas, "The First Noel / O Come All Ye Faithful" for their Christmas album, 'We Sing You A Merry Christmas', released in November 1963.



Other songs featured on the album included : "Jingle Bells", "Santa No Chimney", "O Little Town of Bethlehem", and "Joy To The World" - all recorded on 12 September 1963.

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

Following a cute performance of 'You Are My Sunshine' on The Andy Williams Show in December 1963, Donny officially joined the group.

Donny Osmond : "I joined the Osmonds when I was a few days short of my sixth birthday. Marie and Jimmy came along after me and were also added to the singing roster. I think my parents did an incredible job of raising such a large family in what rapidly became a hugely successful show-business family."



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

Their third album, 'Sing The All Time Hymn Favorites', was released in May 1964.

Hymns featured on the album included : "In The Garden", "Softly Now the Light of Day", "My Task", "Come Come Ye Saints", "Lead Me Gently Home Father", "Now The Day is Over", "Whispering Hope", "Abide With Me", "Softly and Tenderly", "Oh My Father", "I Need Thee Every Hour", and "At The End of the Road"

[co-producer] Jesse Kaye : "These boys are constant churchgoers where they sing hymns regularly; consequently, it was not difficult to transfer their love and sincerity to this phonograph record...nothing was done to change their understanding of the great hymns and so, there emerged an album of hymns sung right from the hearts of these wonderful little fellows which should please old and young alike."



They released the single "Mister Sandman", (b/w "My Mom"), in October 1964, which was included on their next album . . .

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

Their fourth album, 'New Sound of the Osmond Brothers' was released in May 1965.



Subtitled 'Singing More Songs They Sang On The Andy Williams Show', songs featured on the album included : "Hello, Dolly", "Sing A Rainbow", "Ragtime Cowboy Joe", "Life is Just A Bowl of Cherries", "Downtown", "May Each Day", "Sweet and Low", "That's What I Want", and "When the Red, Red Robin Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along".

During this time, the group also toured Europe, performing with Sweden's most popular singer, Lars Lönndahl, releasing a single in October 1965, where they sang a Swedish version of "Two Dirty Little Hands". "Fem Smutsiga Sma Figrar", (b/w "A Janta A Ja"), peaked at #4 on the Swedish charts.



Further Swedish singles included : "Ovan Regenbagen" (b/w "Huldas Karin"), released in August 1966,  which reached #6 on the Swedish charts; and "Du Lasse Lasse Liten" (b/w "En Dag Fylld Av Kärlek") ["A Dog Filled With Garlic"], which was released in September, and reached #5.

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

They released the single "Flower Music" (b/w "I Can't Stop") in May 1967, and appeared in a television special, 'The Osmonds In Sweden' that they filmed while they were on tour in Sweden in July 1967.

The Andy Williams Show ended its first run in 1967, after which, the Osmond Brothers were signed to The Jerry Lewis Show, staying with that show until it was cancelled in 1969.

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

Their first album as a 5-piece featuring Donny, 'The Wonderful World of The Osmond Brothers', was released in October 1968.



Singles released from the album included : "Mary Elizabeth" (b/w "Speak Like A Child") in July 1968; I've Got Loving On My Mind" (b/w "Mollie - "A"") in October 1968; and "Taking A Chance On Love" (b'w "Groove With What You Got") in April 1969.



Other songs featured on the album included : "Make The Music Flow", "Clouds (Both Sides Now)", "Good News", "Beauty and the Sweet Talk", and "Takin' on a Big Thing"

The same month as the album was released, Alan was drafted into the army. During breaks in training, he would occasionally lead the group in song and he was often the center of attention. 

Alan : "I didn't want any special celebrity treatment. I wanted to take everything like all the other guys and just be a typical trainee. I really like almost everything we did.  It was tough, but it's an experience I wouldn't trade for anything."

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

In July 1969, The Osmond Brothers recorded "More Than Yesterday", "Good Morning Starshine", and "Aquarius / Let the Sunshine" In for the album, 'Get Together With Andy Williams'. They also continued to appear regularly on The Andy Williams Show on tv throughout the rest of the year, including his Christmas Special where Little Jimmy Osmond makes an appearance in the Christmas "Scrooge" story.

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

In July 1970 The Osmond Brothers released the single "Young Love Swing" (b/w "Sha La La"). The single was included on the Japanese-only album, 'Hello! The Osmond Brothers', released in September 1970.



Other songs featured on the album, included : "Golden Rainbow", "Open Up Your Heart", "Bridge Over Troubled Water", "My Little Darling" featuring Little Jimmmy Osmond, "Movin' Along", "Chance", "Scarborough Fair", and "Aquarius / Let the Sunshine In". Donny & Marie make their recording debut together, singing "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head".

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

In November 1970, the album 'Christmas Holiday With The Osmonds' was released in Japan.  This was the first album released using the name The Osmonds, rather than The Osmond Brothers .



Songs featured on the album, included : "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town", "Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer", "White Christmas", "Santa, No Chimney", "Silent Night, Holy Night", "This Christmas Eve", "I Hope You Have a Very Merry Christmas", "Jingle Bells", "O Come All Ye Faithful", "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus", "Blue Christmas", "Winter Wonderland", "God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman", and "The Night Before Christmas".

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

In February 1971, Donny Osmond released his debut single, "Sweet And Innocent" (b/w "Flirtin'").

Billboard Magazine's review stated:  "With the Osmonds still occupying the coveted #1 position on the Hot 100, young Donny Osmond makes his solo debut and this top performance and good material should carry  him high on the charts.  Exceptional Rick Hall production work."



The single was included on his debut album, the enigmatically titled 'The Donny Osmond Album', released in July 1971.



Songs featured on the album included : "I'm Your Puppet", "Hey Little Girl", "Don't Say No", "So Shy" "Lollipops, Lace, and Lipstick", "Burning Bridges", and "Wake Up Little Susie"

Billboard : "Donny Osmond has been riding high on the charts as part of the brothers' team and also as a solo with Sweet and Innocent included here in his first solo LP.  Along with the hit, he offers strong cuts such as Burning Bridges, Wake Up Little Susie, and Lollipops, Lace And Lipstick.  Top work by producer Rick Hall who produces both the Osmonds and Donny."



His next single, "Go Away Little Girl" (b/w "Time To Ride"), was released in July 1971, and was his first U.S. Number 1.



The single was included on his second album, 'To You With Love, Donny', released in October 1971.



Songs featured on the album included : "Little Bit", "Hey, Little Johnny", "Sit Down, I Think I Love You", "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You", "Do You Want Me (We Can Make It Together)", "Bye Bye Love", "I'm Into Something Good", and "Standing In The Need of Love".

Billboard : "There's no stopping any of the Osmonds this year and this LP by young Donny Osmond is no exception. The fine arrangements, top production work, and super performances throughout combine to make this a sure sales monster. Featuring Donny's recent #1 smash, Go Away Little Girl this dynamite package also includes Hey Little Johnny and I'm Into Something Good."

His next single, "Hey Girl" (b/w "I Knew You When"), was released in November 1971, and peaked at #9 in the US.

Billboard : "Two potent sides by this young Osmond to follow his #1 winner, Go Away Little Girl. With equal potential, both ballads, one penned by Joe South and the other by Carole King and Gerry Goffin, will put him right on top again."



In February 1972, Donny released his single Puppy Love", which shot to the top of the UK charts . . .

The Single :
Quote"Puppy Love" was written by Paul Anka and performed by Donny Osmond.



Paul Anka wrote the song in 1960 for Annette Funicello, a "Mouseketeer", whom he had a crush on. His version peaked at 2 in the US chart.

Twelve years later the song was revived by Donny Osmond. It was released on February 19, 1972, and reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 on April 1, 1972.

Billboard : "Osmond revived Go Away Little Girl right into the #1 spot on the Hot 100. The re-doing of the Paul Anka smash has all that play and sales potency."

It peaked at No. 1 in April 1972 on both the Canadian singles chart for three weeks and the UK Singles Chart for five weeks the following July.



Other Versions includeCaterina Valente (1960)  /  "Bil sem mlajši kakor ti" by Lado Leskovar (1963)  /  "Svoji lásku zatýkám" by Karel Gott (1965)  /  Top of the Poppers (1972)  /  Tony Fabian (1972)  /  "Un amour d'adolescent" by Anne Renée (1972)  /  "Ei saisi nauraa" by Cirius (1973)  /  "Sur ton visage un sourire" by Claude François (1973)  /  "Du och jag" by Flamingokvintetten (1973)  /  "Når du reiser fra en venn" by Ole Ivars (1974)  /  "Coração de Papelão" by Jairzinho & Simony (1987)  /  "Gyermek Szerelem" by Szandi (1993)  /  Lolly (2000)  /  Myra (2000)  /  Jolina Magdangal (2000)  /  Brotherhood of Man (2002)  /  S Club Juniors (2002)  /  Saint Etienne (2008)  /  Pierre Perpall (2008)  /  Jasmine Thorpe with Danny McEvoy (2012)  /  Steve Reynolds  (2017)  /  Owen Mac (2019)

On This Day :
Quote2 July : "Fiddler on the Roof" closes at Imperial Theater NYC after 3242 performances
2 July : India and Pakistan sign Simla Agreement peace accord
2 July : Two Catholic civilians are shot and killed in Belfast by Loyalist paramilitaries, probably the Ulster Defence Association
2 July : Joseph Fielding Smith Jr., 10th president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), dies aged 95
3 July : Mississippi Fred McDowell, American jazz artist, dies aged 68
4 July : William Goldsmith, American drummer (Foo Fighters), born in Seattle, Washington
5 July : Pierre Messmer appointed French premier
6 July : Lovely CaB poster famethrowa, born in the nude at the age of 0 directly over the centre of the Earth
7 July : Wimbledon Women's Tennis: Billie Jean King earns her 8th Grand Slam singles title beating Evonne Goolagong of Australia 6-3, 6-3
7 July : Secret Talks Between IRA and British Government
8 July : "Lovie" Austin, American jazz pianist and bandleader, dies aged 84
9 July : 1st tour by Paul McCartney & Wings (France)
9 July : Wimbledon Men's Tennis: American Stan Smith beats Ilie Năstase of Romania
9 July : Springhill Massacre: British snipers shoot dead five Catholic civilians and wounded two others in Springhill, Belfast
10 July : Peter Serafinowicz, comic actor, born Peter Szymon Serafinowicz in Liverpool
11 July : Chess match between world champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union, and United States champion Bobby Fischer, began in Iceland at Reykjavík
11 July : Apollo 15 astronauts David Scott, Alfred Worden and James Irwin were reprimanded for carrying 400 stamped envelopes to the Moon and back as a favour for West German stamp dealer Hermann Sieger.
13 July : British House of Commons narrowly approved the United Kingdom's entry into the European Economic Community
13 July : A series of gun-battles and shootings erupt across Belfast between the Provisional Irish Republican Army and British Army soldiers
15 July : Pioneer 10 became the first man-made object to journey through the asteroid belt.
15 July : Actress Jane Fonda posed for photographs at a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun at Hanoi
16 July : Smokey Robinson & Miracles final live performance
18 July : The 100th British soldier to die in the Northern Ireland "troubles" is shot by a sniper in Belfast
21 July : Bloody Friday: the Provisional IRA explode twenty-two bombs in Belfast; six civilians, two British Army soldiers and one UDA volunteer were killed, 130 injured
22 July : Chi Chi, London Zoo's giant panda, dies aged 14
22 July : Venera 8 makes soft landing on Venus
22 July : 59th Tour de France: Eddy Merckx of Belgium wins for the 4th time
28 July : Helen Traubel, American soprano, dies aged 73
28 July : Elizabeth Berkley, actress (Saved by the Bell), born in Farmington Hills, Michigan
29 July : Whhhhil Whhhheaton, actor (Star Trek), born Richard William Wheaton III in Burbank, California
30 July : "Ain't Supposed to Die Death" closes at Barrymore NYC after 325 performances
31 July : Operation Motorman began at 4:00 in the morning, as 13,000 British troops rolled into the "no go" areas of Belfast, Derry, Lurgan, Armagh, Portadown, Coalisland and Dungannon.
31 July : Claudy bombing: nine civilians were killed when three car bombs exploded in County Londonderry, North Ireland; no group has since claimed responsibility
1 August : 1st article exposing Watergate scandal by Bernstein and Woodward in "The Washington Post"
2 August : Brian Cole, bassist (The Association), dies of overdose aged 29
2 August : Jimmy Pop, musician (The Bloodhound Gang), born James Moyer Franks in Trappe, Pennsylvania
3 August : British premier Edward Heath proclaims emergency crisis due to dock strike
4 August : Uganda dictator Idi Amin orders the expulsion of 50,000 Asians with British passport from Uganda
5 August : Harry Hylton-Foster, Speaker of the British House of Commons dies aged 60

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! :
Quote


gilbertharding

Now. Then.

I remember seeing the Osmonds tv show (or was it Donny and Marie? Dunno) on the telly in the UK - perhaps 1977 - and seeing Donny and Marie doing their 'I'm a little bit country... and I'm a little bit Rock n Roll' schtick most weeks. I didn't pay *very* much attention.

And then, a few years later - early 80s - some channel showed what was obviously quite old reruns of The Jacksons tv show (possibly mid morning during the school holidays) and I remember one episode with Michael and Janet doing a parody of 'Country/Rock n Roll'.

Now: tell me why that isn't on YouTube.


Meanwhile - happy days when a sub editor decided the every day phrase house hunting should have inverted commas around it.


The Culture Bunker

Something just a tad sinister about some magazine giving us measurements for a 14 year old boy.

As for the song - absolute kack of the lowest order, no wish to revisit it, though I suppose the family has worse crimes to inflict on us yet.

gilbertharding

Quote from: The Culture Bunker on December 13, 2021, 05:43:45 PMSomething just a tad sinister about some magazine giving us measurements for a 14 year old boy.

It's so you could build your own scale model of Donny from balsa wood.


mothman

I love these threads. But I don't read them very often (because I don't read Oscillations much) or thank daf for them.

THANKS DAF!

But there's one thing I can't work out. Every time I've ever looked up the No. 1 on my DoB, it came up as Elvis Presley. And that's not too bad I guess, but it's always rankled that I could have had, say, the Mungo Jerry song, or the Kinks' Lola, or Smokey or Freda, but I end up with The Fucking Wonder Of Bloody You. But now here it says I've got The Tears Of A Clown. I've independently verified it, too. I just can't explain it. I guess I'm a dunce.

daf

Well,
Quote from: mothman on December 13, 2021, 08:01:34 PMI love these threads. But I don't read them very often (because I don't read Oscillations much) or thank daf for them.

THANKS DAF!

Thanks mate - much appreciated!

Quote from: mothman on December 13, 2021, 08:01:34 PMBut there's one thing I can't work out. Every time I've ever looked up the No. 1 on my DoB, it came up as Elvis Presley. And that's not too bad I guess, but it's always rankled that I could have had, say, the Mungo Jerry song, or the Kinks' Lola, or Smokey or Freda, but I end up with The Fucking Wonder Of Bloody You. But now here it says I've got The Tears Of A Clown. I've independently verified it, too. I just can't explain it. I guess I'm a dunce.

Might have been a different chart you saw?

NME
The Wonder of You : 5 August - 25 August (3 weeks)
Tears of a Clown    : 26 August - 22 September (4 weeks)
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Melody Maker :
The Wonder of You : 8 August - 11 September (5 weeks)
Tears of a Clown    : 12 September - 25 September (2 weeks)
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Record Mirror (official charts)
The Wonder of You : 1 August - 11 September (6 weeks)
Tears of a Clown    : 12 September - 18 September (1 weeks)

gilbertharding

When no-one else can understand me
When everything I do is wrong
You give me hope and consolation
You give me strength to carry on
And you're always there to lend a hand
In everything I do
That's the wonder
The wonder of Woolies.

mothman

I guess wherever I've looked it up in the past might have been based on the Record Mirror? But then which is the official "official chart"?

Pre-clicking-POST-edit-so-not-really-an-EDIT:

Ah, I've just looked again at the other threads and saw what you posted in the 1960s one:

QuoteThe Guinness Book of British Hit Singles - generally considered to be the authoritative reference source for the UK Singles Chart - used the New Musical Express (NME) chart from November 1952 to March 1960, and the Record Retailer (later Music Week) chart thereafter. It could be said that this division is misleading, since the Record Retailer chart was little known until it was adopted by the BBC in 1969 and that by adopting this chart as its standard, the editors had a non-consensual view. An example often given is the case of The Beatles' second single "Please Please Me" which was recognised as a number one hit by every other publicly available chart of the time, but not by Record Retailer and therefore not by British Hit Singles.

daf

Yes, I use the dates from the Record Mirror chart - as it's now counted as the official one. That's the spine of the thread.

The exception is when when the number 1 isn't featured on that chart - in which case I'll use either the NME or Melody Maker chart (or both in some cases).

mothman

Well now I don't know what to think! I'd sooner have Tears Of A Clown - who wouldn't? It's fantastic - but then it feels like cheating.

This is worse than when I calculated that going by time of birth and allowing for time zone differences I should probably celebrate my birthday the day after, whenever I'm in the U.K...

daf

AARGH! It looks like ALL my Record Mirror dates have been a week off!

Before I stared this, I downloaded pages from bobborst.com (which is now offline) to use as my guide, but for some unknown reason it seems they had listed all the dates a week earlier than the ones given on the wiki page! (The NME and Melody Maker dates are right - as I took those off wikipedia)

Apologies for this balls up - Everything from this point on should be correct! *

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* (Any lovely CaB poster's birthday I've accidentally put with the wrong song will be re-posted with the right one!)

daf

On closer inspection, I think what's happened is that the date given on the Wikipedia page is called the 'week ending date' - starting on the first saturday after the charts are published in the music papers earlier in the week.

The dates I've been using so far seem to be counting from the first day the single was number 1, rather than from the end of the first week (like wiki does). I don't know. This is all very confusing!

Aha! Just found this on the everyhit website. Hold on to your hats!

QuoteQ) Why do the dates listed in the 'UK Number 1s' pages appear to be Saturdays - six days after the song actually made number 1?
A) Charts are traditionally given a 'week-ending' (w/e) date. This has always been the Saturday after publication. So if you want to determine which track was top of the chart on the day on which you were born, you should consider it to be the first chart with a 'week-ending' date after your birthday.
For the record, until 1987, the chart was first made available on the Tuesday. Due to improved technology, from the beginning of October 1987 it was released on the Sunday. The convention of using Saturday as the 'week ending' has remained constant throughout. Any dates on everyhit.com refer to 'week ending' (but see the next FAQ - at the top of the next column - about 'realtime.')
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Q) What's the difference between 'week-ending' Number 1s and 'realtime' Number 1s?
A) To work out what title was Number 1 on the day on which you were born it is necessary to know when the chart was actually disclosed. The week-ending date does not help here. However, our date engine knows when each chart was unveiled. This will automatically give you an accurate answer to the real Number 1 for any given date.

So, in summary, the dates I have is from the first day the music paper was on sale. Wikipedia, and others, count the number one starting from the first saturday after that - usually 6 days later.

Just to make sure everything's ship-shape, I've checked the dates on their 'realtime' date engine to confirm I've assigned the correct single to each Lovely CaB Poster™ birthday so far . . .

The Results :
QuoteKeebleman : Tommy James & The Shondells - "Mony Mony" - confirmed!
gilbertharding : The Rolling Stones - "Honky Tonk Women" - confirmed!
Gulftastic : England World Cup Squad - "Back Home" - confirmed!
daf : Dave Edmunds - "I Hear You Knockin'" - confirmed!
Johnboy : Clive Dunn - "Grandad" - confirmed!
kalowski : The Tams - "Hey Girl Don't Bother Me" - confirmed!
famethrowa : Donny Osmond - "Puppy Love" - confirmed!

OK, panic over - I'm right, and Wikipedia is wrong!

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I don't know your exact birthday mothman, but if you type the date into the date engine, it should finally clear up the confusion on what your Number 1 birthday single is!