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

[The Culture Bunker]

I've zero songs recorded by Roy Wood in my collection - closest would be the Cheap Trick cover of 'California Man' and Paul Weller's 'The Changingman", which of course rips off '10538 Overture' . Dunno, guess he's just one of those figures whose work never rarely did much for me, same as Jeff Lynne.

[daf]

I'll cover it in Wizzard's next number 1, but that story often told about Slade keeping "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" off the top spot at Christmas 1973 is a load of balls - it only reached number 4 - stuck in the festive chimney behind both Gary Glitter (groo!) and The New Seekers!

[Satchmo Distel]

Wizzard ran out of money due to recording costs, according to Wiki. It just wasn't sustainable to record in that way (they didn't have the record company budget that Brian Wilson had to just live in the studio).

I also feel there's only so far you can go with a pastiche of Brian Wilson and Phil Spector influences in the context of the pop market of 1974. Glam was simplifying into Mud and Bay City Rollers and Roy was overcomplicating the formula, a bit like Brian Wilson was accused of doing with Smile, or Spector with River Deep Mountain High. Other people pull the plug on you or the market moves on to something more dumbed down.

[daf]

331.  Suzi Quatro – Can the Can



From : 12 – 18 June 1973
Weeks : 1
B-side : Ain't Ya Somethin' Honey
Bonus 1 : Promo Video
Bonus 2 : Top of The Pops
Bonus 3 : Disco (German TV)
Bonus 4 : Live 1995
Bonus 5 : Live in Sydney 2015
Bonus 6 : Live in Leeds 2019
Bonus 7 : Suzi Quatro's The Bass Line #1 : Can The Can

The Story So Far : 

Susan Kay Quatro was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. Her paternal grandfather was an Italian immigrant to the U.S. Her family name of "Quattrocchi" ("four eyes", meaning "bespectacled") was shortened to Quatro.

Her father was a semi-professional musician and worked at General Motors. Her sister Patti joined Fanny, one of the earliest all-female rock bands to gain national attention.

Suzi Quatro : "When I saw Elvis for the first time when I was 5, I decided I wanted to be him, and it didn't occur to me that he was a guy."

Quatro received formal training in playing classical piano and percussion—her first instrument was bongos. Quatro played drums or percussion at the age of seven or eight as part of her father's jazz band, the Art Quatro Trio.

Suzi Quatro : "I was raised in a musical family – 5 girls and 1 boy – so all of us girls don't do gender. We were all made to believe that we could do anything we wanted and so we did. One of my early bands was with my sisters. I didn't really come across a lot of problems because I just didn't see it. I took myself seriously and so everyone else did too – this is my mantra."

She taught herself how to play the bass after her sister Patti asked her to learn it for The Pleasure Seekers, her all-female garage rock band, who had formed in May 1964 after seeing a television performance by The Beatles.

Suzi Quatro : "My father gave me my first bass. It's ridiculous: a 1957 Fender Precision, gold scratch plate, sunburst finish, stripe up the back of the neck and an original Fender Bassman amp. I mean, that just doesn't happen! As soon as I strapped it on, I felt like I'd come home. It was my instrument from the time I played it, you know. I found myself in that instrument. Even though I do still play the piano and drums, even on stage, I found the Suzi instrument."



Suzi Quatro : "I was called Suzi Soul, way way back when I was 14. A lot of people remember me in that band. I was the front person. My eldest sister's first husband was managing the Pleasure Seekers. I remember we were setting up the equipment, because we didn't have a roadie back then, and I remember him turning to the rest of the band and saying, "Listen, we need to put most of the lights on Suzi because she's the focal point." I kind of went, "Uh oh." I didn't say it. He said it."

As well as lead singers "Suzi Soul", and her sister "Patti Pleasure", the original lineup included Nancy Ball on drums, Mary Lou Ball on guitar, and Diane Baker on piano. After a spot at the teen night club The Hideout, they became well known in the burgeoning Detroit music community, playing concerts and teen clubs with Ted Nugent, Bob Seger and others.

The band's first record, "Never Thought You'd Leave Me", (b/w "What A Way To Die"), was released in 1965 on the Hideout label when Suzi was 15 years old.



During early 1966 Sheryl Hammerlee joined the band on rhythm guitar and Arlene Quatro replaced Baker on piano. In October that year Darline Arnone joined the band. Pami Bedford also joined in August 1967, replacing Hammerlee. They signed with Mercury Records, and in April 1968 released a second single "Light of Love" (b/w "Good Kind of Hurt").



In 1969, they changed their name to Cradle, and started writing heavier original material. The group played concerts and pop festivals throughout the US with popular bands of the day, ending with a tour of Vietnam.



In 1971, Quatro was spotted at a Cradle gig by Mickie Most, the record producer and founder Rak Records. Quatro had also been attracting attention from Elektra Records who were on the lookout for a female rock singer who could fill the void that the death of Janis Joplin had created.

Suzi Quatro : "According to the Elektra president, I could become the new Janis Joplin. Mickie Most offered to take me to England and make me the first Suzi Quatro – I didn't want to be the new anybody."

Most's attention to Quatro was drawn by "her comeliness and skills as bass guitarist, singer and chief show-off in Cradle". He had no interest in the other band members and he had no idea at that time of how he might market Quatro. She spent a year living in a hotel while being nurtured by Most, developing her skills and maturing. Most later said that the outcome was a reflection of her own personality.

Suzi Quatro : "I remember having a discussion with Mickie when I first came to London. I said, "So, what am I going to call myself?" He said, "Are you kidding me, Suzi Quatro's one of the best names I ever heard in my life." I went, "Oh, that's easy then. Isn't that great that I have a name?"."

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Released in July 1972, "Rolling Stone", Quatro's first solo single after she moved from the United States to Britain, was originally written by Phil Dennys, who did arrangements for the band Jade. The lyrics were re-written by Hot Chocolate front man Errol Brown and Quatro herself.

The B-side, "Brain Confusion (For All the Lonely People)", was written by Quatro. It was the song that Mickie Most saw Quatro perform with Cradle when he decided to sign her as a solo act. As well as Quatro on bass, the single featured Peter Frampton on guitar, Micky Waller on drums and Errol Brown on backing vocals. Though it failed to chart in the UK it went to number one in Portugal!



In 1972, Quatro embarked as a support act on a UK tour with Thin Lizzy and headliners Slade. Her new band included Len Tuckey on Guitar, Alastair McKenzie on keyboards, and Dave Neal on Drums.

It was also after this record that Most introduced her to the songwriting and production team of Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, who wrote songs specifically to accord with her image.

Suzi Quatro : "I was signed as a singer/songwriter/ musician back in 1971... and remain exactly that. I was lucky to enjoy, and still enjoy, a very close relationship with Mike Chapman, who back then was partnered with Nicky Chinn, 'the' hit writers of the day. They never wrote a song and brought it to me, they wrote a song 'for' me.. tailor made if you like. That's why it worked so well. Mike was definitely inside my head and still is."



Inspired by Elvis Presley's 1968 "Comeback Special", in 1973, Quatro began wearing her trademark leather jumpsuit.

Suzi Quatro : "I was a huge Elvis fan from the age of 6.... Roll in in years in 1968, comeback special. I decided I would also wear leather and bought my first motocycle jacket.. roll on to 1973, Can the Can was ready to be released, Mickie Most and I talked about image for the upcoming photo session, I adamantly said I wanted to wear leather, which MIckie was against as he thought it was old fashioned.. I got my way.. hooray.. and then Mickie suggest a jumpsuit . I thought this was a very 'sensible' idea, as I am a very energetic peformer and everything would stay put onstage.. it wasn't until I saw the photo's that I realized it was indeed 'sexy'.. that was a lucky accident. I still wear it now. I 'feels' so right when I zip it up and become Suzi Quatro."



Her next single "Can The Can" was released in April 1973, and became her first chart UK entry - topping the charts for a week in June 1973.



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Her debut album, 'Suzi Quatro' was released in October 1973, on the record label Rak in the UK, and Bell Records in the United States and Canada. The album was a critical and commercial success, achieving international popularity upon its release, reaching #32 in the UK album charts, #5 in the Netherlands, #4 in Germany, and #2 in Australia.



Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn wrote the opening track "48 Crash" and the side 1 closer "Primitive Love". Quatro and guitarist Len Tuckey co-wrote most of the other songs on the album, including : "Glycerine Queen", "Shine My Machine", "Official Suburbian Superman", "Sticks & Stones", "Skin Tight Skin", and "Rockin' Moonbeam", with "Get Back Mama" being a solo Quatro composition.

Suzi Quatro : "Well, I was writing songs way before them. In fact, they came to see my English band before I had success, and I was doing gigs - I was the opening act on the first Slade tour, and all my songs in the set were original. If you listen to the first album, the majority are my own songs. They heard what I was doing, what I was writing, what I was representing. I was very boogie-based, very bass-based. And they went away and wrote "Can the Can." We had the arrangement where I could write the albums, and they would write the three-minute singles."

The Elvis Presley cover "All Shook Up" was given a limited release as a single in the United States, peaking at #85 on the Billboard Chart. Quatro would later claim that Presley himself contacted her and told her that her cover of his song was "the best since [his] own". Other covers included The Beatles "I Wanna Be Your Man" and Johnny Kid and The Pirates' "Shakin' All Over"



Village Voice critic Robert Christgau said : "nothing in her own songwriting equals the one-riff rock of the two Chapman-Chinn singles, especially "48 Crash," and the last time I got off on someone dressed entirely in leather was before John Kay started repeating himself."

The album was criticised by Alan Betrock for its lack of variety, for its Quatro-written "second-rate fillers" and for her voice, described as "often too high and shrill, lacking punch or distinctive phrasing." Writing for Rolling Stone, Greg Shaw was also downbeat, saying that the album "may be a necessary beginning".

Most releases of the album outside of the UK included the hit single "Can the Can". Later UK pressings would include the single as the final song on the album.

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

Released in July 1973, her next single, "48 Crash", (b/w "Little Bitch Blue"), reached Number 1 in Australia, #2 in Switzerland and Germany, and #3 in the UK.



Writers Chinn and Chapman and never told Quatro what the song was about, but she came up with her own interpretation . . .

Suzi Quatro : "I thought it was about the male menopause. It's crazy lyrics, but to me, that makes sense. And back then, Mike used to write kind of nonsensical lyrics. But it's one of the favorites around the world. So, I say it's about the male menopause."



The non-album single "Daytona Demon" (b/w "Roman Fingers"), was released in October 1973. It reached #2 in Germany, #3 in Switzerland, #4 in Australia and #14 in the UK.

Quatro's early recorded songwriting was deliberately limited to album tracks and the B-sides of singles.

Suzi Quatro : "Album tracks are a very different story from singles. The two-minute lo-and-behold commercial single will not come out of my brain, but ain't I gonna worry about it."



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

Her next single, "Devil Gate Drive", (b/w "In the Morning"), was released in February 1974. The single peaked at Number 2 in Germany and Switzerland, and topped the charts in Australia, Ireland and the UK.



Writing in August 1974, Simon Frith spotted a problem with the formula that was working outside the US, saying that : "Suzi's facing a bit of a [commercial] crisis: Chinn and Chapman, having proved their point, are losing interest in her. She's never had their best material (they don't play many games with her) and each of her singles has been less gripping than the one before. Unless they suddenly imagine a new joke, she's in danger of petering out and she lacks the resources to fight back. None of her own musical talents has been needed and so they've been ignored (except on the throwaway B-sides) and while Sweet and Mud have their histories and themselves to draw on for support, Suzi's present has nothing to do with her past and her group was formed only to play Chinnichap music. Mud may become a top cabaret act and Sweet a respected rock group, but Suzi will only be a memory. Mickie Most's skill in the '60s was to make pop music out of British blues and R&B and folk; Chinn and Chapman's skill in the '70s has been to make pop music out of an audience. As this audience ages and changes, so will its music and Suzi Quatro will have been just an affectionate part of growing up."



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Quatro met with little success in her native United States, where she had toured as a support act for Alice Cooper. Her backing band around this period included Alastair McKenzie, Dave Neal and Len Tuckey. Tuckey's brother, Bill, acted as tour manager.



Suzi Quatro : "It was a long, long tour. It was like 80 shows, and we had done 30 in Canada by myself before that tour started. So it was forever. Although once we had a dart gun fight in one of the hotels, with the rubber darts, you know? Because we were all bored after so many gigs just getting crazy. And it sort of spilled out from one of the rooms into the hallway. And we were behind mattresses and—unbelievable, this—you know how it goes on the road, you get crazy. And I'm a very good shot. And Alice was hiding behind a television. And he stuck his face out, and he's got rather a large nose. Not too big, but you know, he's got a nose. And I went whack! And gave him a black eye. And he went out onstage that night with my T-shirt on out of respect. He always says, "The first thing you thought was 'ouch.' And then the second thing was, 'Good shot.'"



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Suzi Quatro's second album, 'Quatro' was released in October 1974 by Rak Records in the UK and by Bell Records in the United States and Canada.



"Too Big" (b/w "I Wanna Be Free"), was released as a single ahead of the album in June 1974, reaching #6 in Germany, and #14 in the UK chart.



"The Wild One" (b/w "Shake My Sugar"), was released in November 1974 and reached #2 in Australia, #5 in Germany and #7 in the UK.



"Devil Gate Drive" was omitted from the UK first pressing, while "Friday" was omitted from the original US release of the album. Other songs featured on the album included : "Keep A-Knockin'", "Klondyke Kate", "Savage Silk", "Move It", "Hit the Road Jack", "Trouble", "Shot of Rhythm and Blues", and "Cat Size".

Suzi Quatro : "There was a thing in England in the roads that was invented - these little spotlights in the road when you're on a dark road - and they were called cat's eyes. I thought, What a great idea for a song, which is what I called it. But I wanted to be clever, so I called it "Cat Size" - just to be clever."



The album achieved success in several territories, topping the Australian chart and remaining on that chart for six weeks. It also entered the US charts, reaching the top 150.

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

Her third album, 'Your Mamma Won't Like Me' was released in May 1975 by record label Rak in most countries, in the US the album was released through Arista Records instead of Bell Records which distributed Quatro's first two previous releases in that country.



This was the last album to include Alistair Mackenzie as keyboard player, with Mike Deacon replacing him thereafter. The LP marked a change in the hard rock sound from the singer's previous two albums, instead displaying a more funk-oriented rock sound.



The title track, "Your Mamma Won't Like Me" (b/w "Peter, Peter"), reached #31 on the UK singles chart in February 1975.



The album's second single, "I Bit Off More Than I Could Chew" (b/w "Red Hot Rosie"), was released in April 1975, peaking at #54 in the UK charts.



Other songs featured on the album included : "Strip Me", "Paralysed", "Prisoner of Your Imagination", "Can't Trust Love", "New Day Woman", "You Can Make Me Want You", and a cover of "Fever".

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"I May Be Too Young" (b/w "Don't Mess Around"), was released in August 1975. It peaked at #27 in New Zealand, #50 in Australia, and #60 in the UK.



The single was included on the 1975 compilation album 'The Suzi Quatro Story – 12 Golden Hits'



The album also featured the song "Michael", written by Quatro and Tuckey, which had been released as a single in the Netherlands and Australia in May 1978, where it peaked at #100 in the the Australian charts.



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

Her fourth album, 'Aggro-Phobia' was recorded in the Autumn of 1976, and released in January 1977.



The single "Tear Me Apart", (b/w "Same As I Do"), was released in February 1977, and reached No. 27 on the UK singles chart in March 1977.



Other songs featured on the album included : "Heartbreak Hotel", "Don't Break My Heart", "Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)", "What's It Like to Be Loved", "The Honky Tonk Downstairs", "Half as Much as Me", "Close the Door", "American Lady", and "Wake Up Little Susie".

It is the only one of her albums to be co-produced by Mickie Most - her previous album were produced by the album's co-producer Mike Chapman along with Nicky Chinn.

Suzi Quatro : "Mickie was very much a father figure to me; he was always giving me advice, we were very close, we were both Geminis so we both understood one another, and I just loved him."

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

"Roxy Roller" (b/w "I'll Grow On You"), was released in April 1977 but failed to chart. The song was originally recorded by the glam rock band Sweeney Todd in 1975.



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

Quatro is best known in the United States for her role as the bass player Leather Tuscadero on the television show Happy Days. The show's producer, Garry Marshall, had offered her the role without having an audition after seeing a photograph of her on his daughter's bedroom wall.

Suzi Quatro : "It was his sister, Ronny Hallin. She saw the picture of me on the cover of Rolling Stone. They were looking, I think, for about six months. They had the script. I heard all this way after I got the job, you know. They knew Pinky was leaving, and they liked the Tuscadero idea. So they tried to find a "little sister" that could come in. They were looking for somebody who could be tough and vulnerable. And, hello, here I am. If you want to describe me, I'm definitely both (laughs). Then they had the idea to make it musical, too. Then the offer came out, and they called me in Japan. I was on tour, so I went back and auditioned for the part and got it. It turned into two seasons, which was terrific."



In the show Leather, the younger sister of Fonzie's former girlfriend, hot-rod driver Carol 'Pinky' Tuscadero, fronted a rock band called The Suedes. She made her debut on 8 November 1977 in the episode 'Fonzie, Rock Entrepreneur: Part 1' performing the songs "All Shook Up" and "Heartbreak Hotel".

Suzi Quatro : "One of the best experiences of my life. When I made the decision to do the show, it gave me a new lease on life. I made some good friends - Ronnie [Howard] and Henry [Winkler]. We're still in contact to this day, all the time. I was absolutely honoured to be part of such an iconic TV show."

Quatro made six further appearances as Tuscadero between series 5 and 7. Marshall offered Quatro a Leather Tuscadero spin-off series based on the character, but she declined the offer.



Suzi Quatro : "It was such a popular show, and I wanted to do more acting - which indeed, I have - and I didn't want to be typecast for the rest of my life as Leather, so I said no. If I had done one, that's what I would be for the rest of my life. Luckily, I've done various other shows. It's hard to move away from the box once you're in it. "

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Her fifth studio album, 'If You Knew Suzi...' was released in December 1978. This was Quatro's highest-charting album in the United States, peaking at number 37 on The Billboard 200.



Released several months ahead of the album, "If You Can't Give Me Love" (b/w "Cream Dream"), reached #4 in the UK chart in March 1978.



The follow-up, "The Race Is On" (b/w "Non Citizen"), released in June 1978 blew a gasket, stalling at #43 in the UK chart.



The album also yielded Quatro's biggest US single hit, "Stumblin' In", a duet with Smokie's lead singer Chris Norman.

Suzi Quatro : "We were at an award ceremony in Germany. Mike Chapman was there too, at an after-hours VIP party. There was a band on stage. I felt like singing, as I usually do. I grabbed Chris and pulled him up. Mike thought how great we looked together and sounded together. He wrote the song that night. I was in the studio making my next album so we went in and did it. We did vocals live, face to face. It's authentic."

Backed by "A Stranger With You", it peaked at number 4 in the Billboard Hot 100, but only reached #41 in the UK in November 1978.



The US and Canadian pressing of the album omitted the Vanda and Young-penned song "Evie" and included "Stumblin' In" in its replacement.

Suzi Quatro : "My record company kept releasing my singles on different record labels, so it didn't give me that sort of home of a record label that promoted everything I did. It was always "chop and change, chop and change. I was a part of the glam rock scene, but I don't think that glam rock transferred to the USA. I had lots of radio play with "All Shook Up" and "Skin Tight Skin," and "Can The Can" got in the lower end, but my biggest hit was a country-rock record, "Stumblin' In."



Other songs featured on the album included : "Don't Change My Luck", "Tired of Waiting", "Suicide", "Breakdown", "Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo", and "Wiser Than You".

The Single :

"Can the Can" was written and produced by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman and performed by Suzi Quatro.



This was Quatro's second solo single, released after she moved from the United States to Britain.

Suzi Quatro : "I can hear a record for the first time and know whether it will be a hit. And I knew as soon as we had finished recording that we had a big hit on our hands."

Nicky Chinn : ""Can the can" means something that is pretty impossible, you can't get one can inside another if they are the same size, so we're saying you can't put your man in the can if he is out there and not willing to commit."

"Can the Can" reached number 1 in the the UK, Germany, Switzerland, and Australia, and had modest success in the US, peaking at number 56 in the Billboard charts when it was re-released in 1976.



The B-side, "Ain't Ya Somethin' Honey ", was written by Quatro, and produced by Mickie Most.

Suzi Quatro : "I always had a real unusual take on life, still do. In fact one of the first songs I recorded with Mickie in the UK was a song I wrote called 'ain't ya something honey'.. which is real strange for that time. It about a woman being totally in charge.. taking the male part if you like. I do have a very soft ballad part inside, and this often comes out too if you look at my back catalogue."

Other Versions include :  Top of the Poppers (1973)  /  Marcella Bella (1973)  /  "On ja ei" by Lea Laven (1973)  /  Anne Overath (1973)  /  Harald Winkler (1974)  /  Joy Fleming (1974)  /  Gisela Dreßler und die Electra Combo (1974)  /  The Les Humphries Singers (1975)  /  Brainwash (1986)  /  Ghost Dance (1986)  /  Chloé Mons (2006)  /  "On ja ei" Virve Rosti (2007)  /  The Rock Music Experience (2011)  /  Jasmine Thorpe with Danny McEvoy (2012)  /  Helen Hurd (2016)  /  Andreea Munteanu & Andrei Cerbu (2021)

On This Day :

12 June : Coleraine bombings: six Protestant civilians were killed by a Provisional IRA car bomb
15 June : A lunar eclipse occurs
15 June : "Let's Get It On" single released by Marvin Gaye
15 June : Neil Patrick Harris, actor, born in Albuquerque, New Mexico
16 June : Benjamin Britten's final opera, Death in Venice, receives its première
17 June : The 1973 Swedish Grand Prix motor race is won by Denny Hulme
17 June : Dolly Parton records her song "I Will Always Love You" for RCA in Nashville
17 June : Tarsila do Amaral, Brazilian artist, dies aged 86
18 June : Fritz Mahler, Austrian composer, dies aged 71
18 June : Roger Delgado, actor (Dr Who's "The Master"), dies in a road accident aged 55
18 June : Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev visits the US and President Nixon

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! :

[Egyptian Feast]

A total banger, one of the best number 1s of the year and it's not even the greatest Chinnichap single of 1973.

[gilbertharding]

Cannot lie: I had a massive crush on Suzi Quatro until I was about 8 (when I first saw Debbie Harry).

[kalowski]

I'm glad Leather Tuscadero gets a mention
Can the Can is an utter banger!!

[The Culture Bunker]

It's a good enough slice of pop, not sure I'd go much above 7/10 - the drums sound a bit too weedy for a song that's demanding some proper stomp. Technological limitations of the time, perhaps, but Suzi does well to sell it regardless.

Credit for Suzi for putting her backing band on the cover of her singles and albums - on her debut LP, I have to chuckle at yer man there swigging from his bottle of ale and apparently giving his pubes a scratch.

[daf]

I have to chuckle at yer man there swigging from his bottle of ale and apparently giving his pubes a scratch.

Think that must be the superbly named Len Tuckey - who sadly failed to release a solo album called 'Fried Chicken'!

[daf]

332.  10cc – Rubber Bullets



From : 19 – 25 June 1973
Weeks : 1
B-side : Waterfall
Bonus 1 : Album version
Bonus 2 : Top of the Pops June 1973
Bonus 3 : Disco 1973
Bonus 4 : Top of the Pops Christmas 1973
Bonus 5 : Live 1974
Bonus 6 : Live at Knebworth 1976
Bonus 7 : Later with Jools Holland 2017

The Story So Far :  Part 1

Graham Gouldman was born in Broughton, Salford, Lancashire, England. After an initial whim to be a drummer, 11-year-old Gouldman was given an acoustic guitar from a cousin returning from Spain and became hooked in an instant.

Early Gouldman bands included The High Spots, The Crevattes, The Planets and The Whirlwinds – comprising Gouldman (vocals, guitar), Maurice Sperling (vocals/drums), Bernard Basso (bass), Stephen Jacobson (guitar, bongos), Malcolm Wagner and Phil Cohen – who became the house band at the local youth club, the Jewish Lads Brigade.



It was around this time that Gouldman met Lol Creme and Kevin Godley, who were in another outfit called The Sabres.

Kevin Godley : "When I was a kid, everybody in my group of people wanted to be a musician. Initially, I started out as a guitar player, and I was really shitty. Then I tried to play bass on a guitar, and I was even shittier. A neighbour of mine had a rich dad who bought him a drum kit. He was a really shitty drummer who didn't have a sense of rhythm. He had a lovely white Premier drum kit that was wasted on him, and I used to go over there every now and then because I was fascinated by the drums and he let me try to play them. I quickly discovered that I was ten times better than he was even without having a single lesson -- I just had that independent suspension thing that one has to have, where you have four limbs doing slightly different things. That was my point of no return – I gave up the guitar and got the drums. I loved being able to sit at the back of various local bands and with bands that came through Manchester, and play. I never had a lesson – I just listened to lots and lots of records and picked stuff up. Like most things that I did, I learned by initially copying, and that turned into the way that I play."

Their first recorded collaboration was in June 1964, when The Whirlwinds recorded the Lol Creme composition "Baby Not Like You" as the B-side of their only single, "Look At Me". Following the single, three members of The Whirlwinds left the band. Gouldman, Basso & Jacobson decided to carry on, recruiting drummer Kevin Godley from the Sabres, to form The Mockingbirds.

The Mockingbirds signed with EMI's Columbia label and issued two singles, "That's How (It's Gonna Stay)" (b/w "I Never Should've Kissed You") in February 1965, and "I Can Feel We're Parting" (b/w "The Flight Of The Mockingbird") in May 1965.



Graham Gouldman : "We went down to Denmark Street and went round all the publishers trying to find a song ... we didn't get any songs that we liked or we weren't given any songs period and the Beatles had started and I thought 'well, I'm gonna really have a crack at song-writing.' I had dabbled a bit, but they were really my inspiration and gave me and I think a lot of other people the courage to actually do it. We all wanted to be like the Beatles. I wrote two songs and the record company we were with turned down one of the songs. The song they turned down was 'For Your Love', which eventually found its way to the Yardbirds."

The Mockingbirds became the warm-up band for Top Of The Pops, which at that time was recorded in Manchester, and in March 1965, The Yardbirds had a Top 3 hit with the Gouldman song "For Your Love". In June 1965, Gouldman's "Heart Full of Soul" was another hit for The Yardbirds, peaking at #2 in the UK chart.



Graham Gouldman : "There was one strange moment when the Yardbirds appeared on the show doing 'For Your Love', which was a song that I'd written. Everyone clamoured around them – and there I was just part of an anonymous group. I felt strange that night, hearing them play my song."

Gouldman signed a management agreement with Herman's Hermits manager Harvey Lisberg, and while working by day in a men's outfitters shop and playing by night with The Mockingbirds, he wrote hit songs for other artists. In October 1965, the same month that The Mockingbirds released the single "You Stole My Love", (b/w "Skit Skat"), another Gouldman song, "Evil Hearted You", recorded by The Yardbirds, reached #3 in the charts.



In September 1965, "Look Through Any Window", written by Gouldman and Charles Silverman, was a Top 4 hit for The Hollies.

Graham Gouldman : "I was on a train coming back from London up from Manchester where I used to live, with a friend of mine, and he was looking out the window. He said, "Look through any window," because we were looking as the train crept out of the station and started going through the suburbs quite slowly. We were trying to look into the houses to see what was going on. My dad used to help me with lyrics and I mentioned this to him, so he helped me with that lyric. So there was a title that just inspired the whole song."



Gouldman released his first solo single, "Stop Stop Stop (Or Honey I'll Be Gone)", (b/w "Better To Have Loved And Lost"), in February 1966. That same month, Hermans Hermits had a US Top 3 hit with his song "Listen People".



Graham Gouldman : "I am extremely grateful to Peter Noone and Herman's Hermits as I am to The Hollies and also The Yardbirds for recording my songs and I know that Graham Nash has been very kind to me in saying that The Hollies recording Bus Stop changed their lives. However, I never think of it like that, I think about the effect it has had on me whilst not thinking about the effect that my work has had on other people."

In June 1966, Gouldman's "Bus Stop" was a Top 5 hit for The Hollies.

Graham Gouldman : "One song that I'd written for The Hollies, Bus Stop – we were supporting them at Stoke Town Hall, they'd already done Look Through Any Window, and they asked me if I had any songs. So I borrowed Tony Hicks' guitar and went into the toilet with him and Graham Nash – this doesn't sound very good does it? – I played it and they said it was great. They recorded it within three weeks and it was out three weeks later. There were no videos in those days to delay everything."



The idea for the song originally came from Graham's dad, who was an amateur songwriter.

Graham Gouldman : "He'd written the beginning of "Bus Stop"... "Bus stop, wet day, she's there, I say, 'please share my umbrella.'" He gave me those words and I immediately, as I was reading them, heard the melody in my head, and it just kind of wrote itself. And then the middle part of the song I wrote - I got the melody and the words all in one chunk. I got that while I was out of the house, so I didn't have a guitar. I kept it in my head, and I couldn't wait to get it down. I knew it was going to fit perfectly and it did."

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Now signed to Decca, The Mockingbirds released their final two singles : "One By One", (b/w "Lovingly Yours"), in July 1966, and "How to Find a Lover", backed by Gouldman's "My Story", in October 1966.



Graham Gouldman : "That whole period was strange. I wanted the band I had to have hits, but looking back on it, I gave the cream of the songs away. What would you do, would you have a song with the Mockingbirds, or the Hollies?"

In October 1966, "No Milk Today" was a Top 7 hit for Herman's Hermits.

Peter Noone : "Personally I think 'No Milk Today' is Herman's Hermits' best recording, and perfectly captures the moment and the feel of Manchester terraced houses and what was the end of a British era. I recall it was made at Lansdown Studios and that we recorded a few other songs that day, probably 'There's A Kind Of Hush,' 'Dandy' and 'No Milk Today.' This was in the period where we had just stopped using The Hermits on the recordings and were using the best musicians available to us to try to keep up with what had suddenly become The British Invasion. We were supposed to deliver 48 tracks a year to MGM so we were always scrambling to catch up. I recall that John Paul Jones played bass guitars (an upright and a fender bass) on the tracks and was also responsible for the arrangements which I dare say are brilliant on all three tracks but I know he liked 'No Milk Today' and I would suggest that his arrangement turned this perfect Graham Gouldman song into a hit."



The song had originally been written by Gouldman with The Hollies in mind.

Graham Gouldman : "My dad came up with the title after visiting a friend. As he turned on the doorstep he noticed an empty milk bottle with a note in it. He came back and said to me, 'You should write a song called No Milk Today,' and I said 'What's so interesting about milk?', and he said, 'It's nothing to do with milk! There's nobody in the house, the house is empty, the love has left the house.' He helped me see it from a whole different point of view. Thanks, dad."

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Other Gouldman-penned singles included "Getting Nowhere" for Friday Browne in January 1966; "Behind the Door" for St. Louis Union in April 1966; People Passing By" for High Society, "Pamela, Pamela" by Wayne Fontana and "Behind the Door" for Cher in November 1966; "East West" by Herman's Hermits in December 1966; The Impossible Years" for Wayne Fontana; and "Tallyman" for Jeff Beck in August 1967.



Graham Gouldman : "That was one of the songs my dad helped me with the lyrics on, very much so. My dad was a writer, and I would write something and always show it to him, and he'd say, "well, that's good, but you could make it better, why don't you do this?" And sometimes he would come up with lyrics as well."

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In June 1967, Kevin Godley and Lol Creme reunited and recorded the single "Seeing Things Green" (b/w "Easy Life") under the name "The Yellow Bellow Room Boom".



As well as Godley and Creme, the short-lived band featured Stan Dulson, the lead singer and harmonica player of Manchester group The Measles on acoustic guitar and backing vocals, Stuart Sirrett from Just Four Men on bass, and Jeff Walters from The Electric Circus on flute.



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By 1967, Gouldman was signed as a writer to the American publisher Robbins Music, and started work, with future Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones and drummer Clem Cattini, on what would become his debut album, 'The Graham Gouldman Thing', originally released only in the US and Canada in 1968.



Graham Gouldman : "It was a chance to work on a big project with John Paul Jones, with whom I had worked many times before ... he is a great bass and keyboard player who had an important influence on my playing. The album was supposed to have been co-produced by Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits. The idea being that the artist produces the writer. After the first session he didn't show up again, so John and I ended up producing the album with Eddie Kramer engineering."

A single from the album, "Upstairs, Downstairs" (b/w "Chestnut") was released in the UK in February 1968, but failed to chart. Other songs featured on the album included : "The Impossible Years", "Bus Stop", "Behind the Door", "Pawnbroker", "Who are They", "My Father", "No Milk Today", "For Your Love", and "Pamela, Pamela".



In April 1969, as The Graham Gouldman Orchestra, he released "Windmills Of Your Mind" (b/w "Harvey's Theme").

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In 1969, while working as a session man at Giorgio Gomelsky's Marmalade label, Gouldman asked Godley to join him at a session. After hearing Godley's falsetto, Gomelsky immediately offered him and Crème a deal.

The duo began work on an album under the name Frabjoy & Runcible Spoon. Basic tracks were recorded Strawberry Studios with Gouldman and Eric Stewart as backing musicians for the session. They released their only single : "I'm Beside Myself", backed by "Animal Song", in September 1969.

A third song, "To Fly Away", appeared on Marmalade's '100% Proof' label sampler, which also included the Gouldman track "The Late Mr. Late". The Marmalade label got into a sticky jam and became toast shortly after this, and as a result, the Frabjoy album was abandoned.



Also released around this time was a free single only available to members of the Manchester Restaurant club Blinkers. Though no credits were included on the disc, it was reportedly written by Graham Gouldman at the request of Tom McHugh, the manager of the club, for use as a theme tune. "Hello Blinkers" features vocals from Lol Creme, while the moody flip-side "Goodbye Blinkers" was sung by Kevin Godley.



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in 1963, Eric Stewart, joined Wayne Fontana's backing band  The Mindbenders. The band initially played rhythm and blues relying on outside material, however Stewart and Fontana co-wrote several songs during that period, including : "Since You've Been Gone", the B-side of the band's April 1965 single "The Game of Love"; "One More Time" and "Long Time Comin'", the B-side of the June 1965 single "It's Just a Little Bit Too Late".



The band toured the US with Herman's Hermits in July and August 1965, producing wild scenes.

Eric Stewart : "The hotels we stayed in were under constant guard by security people and there were always girls waiting outside in the hundreds. They were always yanking off my glasses and pulling out tufts of hair, which was very, very painful."

The Mindbenders split with Fontana in late 1965 and continued with a successful UK and US No. 2 hit "A Groovy Kind of Love" in early 1966 with Stewart on vocals. Stewart was also devoting more time to songwriting having written several B-sides, including : "Love Is Good", "My New Day and Age", "Yellow Brick Road", "The Man Who Loved Trees";  and the album tracks : "You Don't Know About Love", "The Morning After", and "Rockin' Jaybee", written with band members Bob Lang and Ric Rothwell.



Stewart became disenchanted with the Mindbenders towards the end of its existence, realising the material they were playing was drifting further from the music for which they had gained chart success.

Eric Stewart : "Because of the sort of records we'd had, everyone thought of us as a sort of ballads group, but we really weren't like that at all. I think we were probably the first of the three-piece heavy groups – but the sort of music we preferred to play was totally unacceptable to the sort of people who were prepared to book the Mindbenders."

The Mindbenders were reduced to playing cabaret shows, wearing white suits and red silk shirts and telling jokes between the songs.

Eric Stewart : "There were some pretty horrid gigs. One night we were booked to appear at a working men's club in Cardiff and when we arrived there we found that the posters outside the club said that starring that night was some Welsh tenor 'plus support group' – which meant us. That really choked me, the fact that we'd reached the stage where they didn't even bother to put our names up on the posters."

After one particularly disastrous gig the band argued and Stewart angrily declared the Mindbenders were finished. He dropped the other members off at their homes after the gig : "That was the end of the Mindbenders. We never saw each other again after that."

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In July 1968 Stewart was invited by former Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas road manager Peter Tattersall to become an investor in Inner City Studios, a small recording studio located above a music shop in Stockport. Stewart, who had been recording some demos of his own songs at the studio, invested £800.

Eric Stewart : "I was infected with the idea of becoming a recording engineer and building a studio where I could develop my own ideas as to what a studio should be like."

The pair moved to larger premises at no. 3 Waterloo Road in October and Stewart, who helped with renovations and painting, renamed the studio 'Strawberry Studios' in honour of his favourite Beatles song, "Strawberry Fields Forever".

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Meanwhile, Graham Gouldman's reputation as a hit songwriter attracted the attention of bubblegum pop producers Jerry Kasenetz and Jeffry Katz of Super K Productions, who invited him to New York City to write songs for them.

Graham Gouldman : "They wanted me to write and produce for them, so I figured, why not? Nothing else was happening for me at the time. All told I worked for them for three or four periods over the course of a year, just writing and recording, and had no time for anything else. I was totally involved in the whole Kasenetz-Katz thing while I was with them. In the mornings I would go into the office and start writing and after I had finished one song in a day, which was very high output for me, they'd come up to me and say: 'Give us another song!' And I'd say 'OK' – because I'm like that. They'd keep up the pressure so that I kept on writing. I was there in their offices working like that for six or eight weeks and when I flew home to Manchester I went straight round to see my doctor. I was feeling sick and could not eat. The doctor told me: 'You are totally over-worked.' I don't think I've ever felt so depressed as I did when I came back from New York."

One of his first tasks for Super K was writing and singing lead vocals on "Sausalito (Is the Place to Go)", which was released in July 1969 under the name of the Ohio Express.



In December 1969, Gouldman convinced Kasenetz and Katz that the series of throwaway two-minute songs he was writing could all be performed and produced by him and three friends, Kevin Godley, Lol Creme and Eric Stewart at a fraction of the price of hiring outside session musicians. He proposed the quartet work at Strawberry Studios, a Stockport recording studio in which he and Stewart were financial partners.

Graham Gouldman : "It was great; it was our own space. We created our very own musical playground if you like. It really was phenomenal. I have to say that without the Strawberry Studio I don't think that 10cc would have existed. The fact that we had this complete freedom together with the other added element; Eric Stewart was an engineer as well as being in the band. So a lot of the time there were only the four of us in the studio. There was nobody else for us to ask an opinion of; it really was just down to the four of us."

Singles from the sessions included: "When He Comes" (lead vocal by Godley) by Fighter Squadron released in February 1971; "Come on Plane" (lead vocal by Godley) by Silver Fleet in May 1971; and "The Joker" by Garden Odyssy Enterprise in January 1972.



Eric Stewart : "At that point we weren't 10cc – we were just a backing group. We were doing bubblegum music for Kasenetz-Kats as well. We did anything that came along to keep the studio running."

Another of Gouldman's songs, "Susan's Tuba", was released as a single by Freddie and the Dreamers in April 1971.

Graham Gouldman : "That was supposed to be a spoof on bubblegum, but it was a big hit in France. It was like in 'The Producers "where did we go right?!'""

Further singles included : "Willie Morgan" - a tribute to the Manchester Utd footballer, backed by "Travellin Man" (lead vocal by Gouldman) by Tristar Airbus in February 1972; "Boys In Blue" backed with "Funky City" (lead vocal by Creme) by Manchester City FC in April 1972; "Today" (lead vocal by Godley) backed by "Warm Me" (lead vocal by Stewart) by Festival in October 1972; and "Da Doo Ron Ron" (lead vocal by Creme) backed with "Pig Bin An' Gone" by Grumble in June 1973.



Lol Creme : "Singles kept coming out under strange names that had really been recorded by us. I've no idea how many there were, or what happened to them all."

Kevin Godley : "We did a lot of tracks in a very short time – it was really like a machine. Twenty tracks in about two weeks – a lot of crap really – really shit. We used to do the voices, everything – it saved 'em money. We even did the female backing vocals."

Graham Gouldman : "That kind of petered out but the four of us were left thinking, 'There's something happening here.' We were involved in the studio and when the studio wasn't working we started writing songs together, just for fun, really, and recording them."

[daf]

The 10cc Story So Far :  Part 2

When the three-months production deal with Kasenetz-Katz ended, Gouldman returned to New York to work as a staff songwriter for Super K Productions while the remaining three continued to dabble in the studio.

Eric Stewart : "It was the first time we'd had a real control desk with a four-track machine and we were excited to try it all out. The whole thing was just an experiment because Kevin wanted to lay all sorts of different drum beats down that he hadn't recorded before, and there was this crazy sort of nursery rhyme that had just got into our heads. As we laid down the drum tracks, Lol was singing in the studio with Kevin keeping time – and after we'd laid four drum tracks down Lol's voice came through at a very high level, sounding like something none of us had ever heard before on a record. It really sounded very strange, so we carried on working on the number, adding little bits of piano to it."

Graham Gouldman : "We were travelling round somewhere and Lol had started chanting this thing, "I'm a Neanderthal Man," and a while later we were testing some equipment and I started playing drums as Lol sat with an acoustic guitar singing this chant. A music executive called Dick Leahy was checking out the studios and he heard it and said "That's a hit!" But before or after that version we wiped it, someone unfamiliar with the technology hit the red button, so we had to do it again. Which wasn't that difficult."

"Neanderthal Man" (b/w "You Didn't Like It, Because You Didn't Think Of It"), was released as a single under the name Hotlegs in June 1970.

Eric Stewart : "We had no name for the group, of course. But we had a girl at the studio... Kathy Gill, I think her name was, who had very, very nice legs and she used to wear these incredible hot pants. Green, leather hot pants. So we called the group Hotlegs."



There was one further hitch before the song was released: a loud metallic burst towards the end of the song blew a £1200 cutter head as the track was being mastered in the Phonogram cutting suite.

Eric Stewart : "We had a sound on that track that was something that had never been recorded before. We'd made the sound by taking a large 6 ft by 4 ft sheet of steel into the studio. It was actually a sheet we were going to fireproof one of the doors with – and then at the right moment we had hit it with a hammer. The hammer blow gave it such a shock frequency-wise that the equipment just couldn't take it. At the time this was an embarrassment to all of us, but that faded into insignificance when we found ourselves with such a massive hit on our hands."

The song reached #2 in the UK in August 1970 and remained there for two weeks, kept off the top spot by Elvis Presley's "The Wonder of You". The song also became a hit across Europe and reached Top 20 in Canada and Top 30 in US and #24 in Australia

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In August 1970, as Doctor Father, Stewart, Godley and Creme released "Umbopo", written by Godley and Creme, with Godley on lead vocals. This was an expanded reworking of "There Ain't No Umbopo", a song the trio had originally recorded in 1969 when working with Kasenetz and Katz under the name Crazy Elephant .



Despite regular airplay on Radio Northsea, "Umbopo" did not appear on the British charts and was the sole release by Doctor Father.

Kevin Godley : "When I was at college, I was hugely into Motown, Stax, and soul music, and I guess some of that might have seeped into the way I play. It was just a natural extension of my wanting to do something musically, and finding that the drums was the only thing that I could really do. I found out that I could sing a bit around then, but early on I never wanted to particularly -- it was more about drums."

The band reverted to Hotlegs, and in October 1970 were invited to tour Britain with The Moody Blues.

Graham Gouldman : "Hotlegs started, I think, when I was in New York with Kasenetz and Katz. I got involved with it because the boys had a big hit with 'Neanderthal Man' and they were going to go on the road, and they asked me to join them on tour."

Gouldman joined the band on bass, marking the gigs as the first at which the four future members of 10cc played live on stage. After just four shows, however, the tour was cancelled when John Lodge of the Moody Blues contracted a virus. Gouldman recalled that the band returned to their homes in Manchester expecting something else to turn up . . .

Graham Gouldman : "But nothing happened. It was really quite amazing. We'd opened a tour with the Moody Blues ... we were expecting offers of work to arrive, but no one asked us to do anything. The next Hotlegs records flopped and we didn't get a single offer of work. It was extraordinary. We'd had a hit record that had sold two million copies and nobody wanted us."



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Hotlegs debut album 'Thinks: School Stinks' was released in March 1971. The cover, designed by Kevin Godley and Lol Creme, depicted a scratched school desk, a concept that was also featured on Alice Cooper's 1972 album 'School's Out'.



According to Godley, the album included the songs and ideas that they had intended recording in 1969 for the abandoned Frabjoy and Runcible Spoon album.

Songs featured on the album included : "Neanderthal Man", "How Many Times", "Desperate Dan", "Take Me Back", "Um Wah, Um Woh", "Suite F.A.", "Fly Away", "Run Baby Run", and "All God's Children"



Kevin Godley : "Basically it included the songs and the ideas that we had been hoping to bring into that LP for Giorgio Gomelsky. Most of the tracks were from the Frabjoy period and it's an interesting LP."

The non-album single "Lady Sadie" (b/w "Loser"), was released in September 1971, but failed to chart.



Kevin Godley : "I'm afraid we blew the whole thing. The first thing we did was take a holiday, and because I'd never been able to afford a good holiday I flew off to Antigua. We'd been working ever since we'd left college and we were knackered, so Lol and I just bought the tickets to Antigua and off we went. We also bought cars as soon as we came back and then went into the studio to make the LP. We did the whole thing wrong. We should have stayed in England, gone on tour, made promotional appearances, given interviews to the Press and TV and so on, but we just vanished to Antigua. And when we came back Hotlegs had gone cold. The record had now gone out of the charts and no one had ever really discovered who we were. The follow-up single 'Lady Sadie' just bombed out and the album hardly sold at all – though I still say that was a bloody good album."

In December 1971, the band decided to issue a repackaged version of the album under the title 'Song' with alternate tracklisting and replacing "Neanderthal Man" and "Desperate Dan" with "Today" and "The Loser".



A compilation of all the Hotlegs tracks, titled 'You Didn't Like It Because You Didn't Think of It', was released in 1976.



[1976] Eric Stewart : "That was so different to 'Neanderthal Man' that was totally alien to what people were expecting from us. It was a good record, a little ahead of its time. It was similar to the things we are doing now. It was very melodic with chord structures that hadn't been used before – and some of the sounds that we used on that album hadn't been heard at the time."



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In 1972, Neil Sedaka embarked on a successful British tour and was introduced by Harvey Lisberg to the four future members of 10cc with whom he recorded the 'Solitaire' album at their Strawberry Studios in Stockport.



Graham Gouldman : "Our manager had met him in New York and told him about the set up we had with our own studio. Neil at the time was working at Batley Variety Club, a massive luxury working men's club up in Yorkshire, and our manager said, 'The boys are in Stockport, which isn't that far, why not do a trial recording with them and see if you like it?' Well, he did like it, so we did the whole album, then another after that. His aim was simply to do a good album. He had these great songs, and we did everything very simply in those days. I went to Leeds to sit with him, got all the chord charts, then we went in the studio and Eric would engineer, Lol and I would play guitar, Kevin would play drums, Neil would play piano and sing the lead vocal. Then afterwards, we'd go, "Right, we'll put some bass and backing vocals on, some extra guitar, maybe another keyboard, some of the tracks had strings on..." Whatever it needed."

As well as the title track, "Solitaire", it included the singles "Beautiful You" and "That's When the Music Takes Me" which reached #18 in the UK charts.

In 1973, he reconvened with the 10cc team, to record 'The Tra-La Days Are Over', which included his original version of the hit song "Love Will Keep Us Together".



Graham Gouldman : "I think everything you do seeps into everything else you do. For example, we were lucky enough to do two albums with Neil Sedaka. We did one prior to forming the band and one just after. And there's no doubt about it, that was a good example of learning from one of the masters. Just about general musicianship, the way he played and sang... it was inspirational to be with him, as well as to work with him. I think we learned a bit about songwriting craft as well. But then you learn from everyone you work with."

Graham Gouldman's solo single "Nowhere To Go" (b/w "Growing Older") was released on CBS in January 1972.

Graham Gouldman : "Our main influences were The Beatles and the Beach Boys. Then there was all the other stuff ... For me it was people like Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Jimmy Webb, Eddie Cochran, Buddy Holly and the Everly Brothers. Eric was more rock 'n' roll, the blues and R&B; while Kevin and Lol were sort of Jacques Brel, more artistic and avant-garde. It's what happened when we put all those things together that made 10cc."

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Their first single as 10cc, "Donna", was released on Jonathan King's UK records in August 1972. The single was chosen by BBC Radio 1 disc jockey Tony Blackburn as his Record of the Week, helping to launch it into the Top 30. The song peaked at No. 2 in the UK in October 1972. Backed by "Hot Sun Rock", it also reached #2 in Ireland and the Netherlands, and #4 in Belgium.



Eric Stewart : "It was Neil Sedaka who said, "Why don't you guys write some of your own stuff? Your backing tracks on my two albums 'Solitaire' and 'The Tra-La Days Are Over' are so good and your backing vocals are great – why don't you get some bloody songs written?" And that's what we did. We wrote "Waterfall" which was the first thing I'd ever written with Graham Gouldman. Godley and Creme wrote "Donna" and I took it down to Jonathan King who'd just started his own record label in Britain. I played him the two tracks. "'Waterfall' is a lovely track, Eric," he said, "But 'Donna, that's a hit!". I said, "Really?" He said, "Yes, and I'll sign you up now". We did, and the record went to #2. We took off from there."

"Donna" was originally written as as B-side for the scrapped single "Waterfall".

Graham Gouldman : "That song was going to be released on the Apple label, which we were very excited about, because any connection with the Beatles was great. We were waiting to hear whether that was going to happen and while we were waiting we thought we might as well do a b-side for it, and as Eric and I had written the a-side, Kevin and Lol wrote the b-side. As soon as we'd recorded it we knew it was more commercial than the other track. Really, all these things came together by chance. We didn't even have a name for the band and weren't bent on world domination or anything. But Donna made us sit up and notice ourselves, that we actually had something special here."

Eric Stewart : "We knew it had something. We only knew of one person who was mad enough to release it, and that was Jonathan King."

Jonathan King came up with the new band name after having a dream in which he was standing in front of the Hammersmith Odeon in London, where the header read '10cc The Best Band in the World'.

Jonathan King : "I had to give them a name ... because I'd signed the record, and I went to sleep that night and had this dream that a band of mine on my label made number one on the album and singles charts simultaneously in America, and the band was 10cc. So I gave them that name the next morning. Everybody then decided that this was apparently meant to be the amount of an average male ejaculation. Which was absolutely far from the truth ... There's a lot of apocryphal stories about names, and unfortunately, most of them are much more amusing than the ugly reality, which in this case is that the name came to me in a dream."

The confusion arose thanks to a 1973 Rolling Stone article, where Creme related the dream story. During the interview Gouldman observed that : "9 C.C. is the average ejaculation.". If the name had been deliberately chosen for the reasons cited, it would have been a misnomer: The average male ejaculation actually contains only about 3-4 cc of semen!

The band had considered releasing it under the name of Doctor Father Part Two. Band manager Harvey Lisberg said there was "a vague sort of plan at that time to keep on bringing out records under different names until they got a hit".

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Their next single "Johnny, Don't Do It!", released in December 1972, was a massive flop - failing to chart anywhere!



The B-side "4% Of Something..." was an amusing grumble at their shit royalty rate, and contained the line "Jonathan you're a prat", aimed at their greedy bastard record label boss Jonathan King.

Graham Gouldman : "There were so many influences flying around and they all found their way onto the records and we loved pastiche."

Their third single, "Rubber Bullets" (b/w "Waterfall") released in March 1973, saw them bounce back straight to the top of the UK charts.



Eric Stewart : "Rubber Bullets started as a pure twelve bar. So the verse was quite a simple chuggy, rough Chuck Berry type of thing, but having this quirky duo in the band as well, Kevin suddenly says "Well, I think you should go somewhere else in the middle". Where are we going with this? For a fact, the beat stops, someone's dancing to it, they're gonna suddenly [stomps foot] stand there and say "What are you doing? Where are we going next? Do we wait?" And we, we had this big discussion, what were we gonna do with this? But we agreed. Even though we'd cut the rhythm out, the actual speed of it was continuous. Someone very clever might continue dancing. And it worked though, it worked beautifully, we er, went and got a number One with it. We got our first sniff at the American charts with it, got us in the top 20's so we thought we were away there."

Graham Gouldman : "We were just trying to amuse ourselves, that was why it worked. The fact was we had our own recording facility, Strawberry Studios in Stockport. We actually started writing together just for a laugh, really. We weren't consciously trying to make hit records."

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In July 1973, they released their debut album, '10cc', on Jonathan King's UK Records label. The album reached #36 in the UK charts.



Graham Gouldman : "We had no A&R man breathing down our necks. We were lucky because we were completely self-contained, we had our own studio, we played and sang everything ourselves, Eric engineered as well. It all worked out that there was no outside influence for us at all. That was one of the main elements of the band, that we had complete freedom. We also had an attitude towards each other's work that was always very, very positive."



Songs featured on the album included : "Johnny, Don't Do It", "Sand in My Face", "Donna",  "The Dean and I", "Headline Hustler", "Speed Kills", "Rubber Bullets", "The Hospital Song", "Ships Don't Disappear in the Night (Do They?)", and "Fresh Air for My Mama" which was a reworking of "You Didn't Like It Because You Didn't Think of It", the B-side of 1970's Hotlegs single "Neanderthal Man".

Graham Gouldman : "Our principle was always the music, whatever's best for the song. That means if I can sing better than you on it, that's what happens. Or if Lol can play lead guitar better than you, he'll do it. Consequently we had four singers in the band, four instrumentalists and four producers, plus Eric also engineered the sessions. The other thing was whoever wrote the song, it kind of became the property of the four of us. You couldn't say, 'That song is crap, I don't want anything to do with it'. What you had to say was, 'I don't like that part of the song, but I think we could make it better by doing this'. You always had to come up with something positive. It was the combination of all four of us that made the difference, not only in the song-writing, but in the production values as well."



10cc's next single, "The Dean and I", reached #10 in the UK chart in August 1973.



Backed by "Bee In My Bonnet", the single topped the Irish charts and reached #61 in Australia. The record label included the amusing postcript under the song-title : "if you haven't yet bought the 10CC album, you should - it's fantastic, and this is on it"



Kevin Godley : "Initially it was four guys who came from different musical backgrounds: two of which came from a traditional songwriting background -- albeit in a band -- and the other two who came from an art school aesthetic. But we were so enamoured with the fact that we had access to our own studio time, and the fact that we were all trying to outdo each other, [though] not in a competitive way. We had an unconscious desire to create something that was better than what we were listening to on the radio, so the focus was always on the music. We were all – in our own way – doing something to reach that impossible point. The exciting part was when one of us, two of us, or three of us had written something, and we got to play it in its raw form to everybody else. Nine times out of ten it was like, "What the fuck is that? I don't know, but let's try recording it and see what we can turn it into.""

The Single :

"Rubber Bullets" was written by Lol Creme, Kevin Godley, and Graham Gouldman and performed by 10cc.



Eric Stewart : "I loved playing guitar on Godley and Creme songs like "Rubber Bullets"... That was a song that was written about American prisons, where you would shoot a rubber bullet to hurt — but not kill — an inmate. It came out when rubber bullets were being used in Northern Ireland. Lol could come out with lines that started the musical bent... Lol was very creative."

Graham Gouldman : "Kevin and Lol had the chorus and part of the verse but then got stuck. We all loved the chorus and realized it was a hit in itself, so we wanted to persist with it. I chipped in the line 'we've all got balls and brains, but some's got balls and chains.' One of my finer couplets."

The song features a "double-speed" guitar solo.

Eric Stewart : "That's a double track solo on that. It's, it's very, very high, of course, going through a Marshall stack, then I slowed the tape to half speed – seven and a half [inches per second] – and recorded it, and when you speed it back up you've got an octave up, but there's a screaming fuzz on the top of it, that's an octave higher than it was recorded. So it's a very unusual sound done in that way, just an experiment. Because 10cc, we love to experiment, we used to love to waste time. And having the beauty of having our own studio, we didn't have a clock in there so we weren't restricted."

"Rubber Bullets" was the band's first number one single in the UK Singles Chart, spending one week at the top in June 1973. It also reached No. 1 in Ireland and No. 3 in Australia, but it fared relatively poorly in the United States where it peaked at only No. 73, and No. 76 in Canada.



Although the title could have led some people to connect it with Northern Ireland, the lyrics, referring of a county jail, the National Guard, and a bullhorn, clearly pointed to America as the setting.

Eric Stewart : "I was amazed, but pleased that the BBC never banned the track, although they limited its airplay, because they thought it was about the ongoing Northern Ireland conflicts."

Other Versions include :  Top of the Poppers (1973)  /  Ronski & Exotic (1975)  /  "Puupaukut" by Vicky (1975)  /  "Wet Rubber Soup" by Godley & Creme (1985)  /  The Men They Couldn't Hang (1989)  /  The Vindictives (1994)  /  The Tribute Co. (2010)  /  The Buggles featuring Lol Creme (2010)  /  stetsongroup (2011)  /  Danny McEvoy (2012)  /  Cakestupid (2015)  /  Half Man Half Biscuit (2015)  /  Frontm3n (2016)  /  a robot (2019)  /  The Pirate Biker (2019)  /  Geoff Alexander (2020)  /  The Grimmer Twins (2021)  /  The Fab Few (2021) /  Firth Corsair (2021)  /  Phil McGarrick (2021)

On This Day :

19 June : "The Rocky Horror Show" stage production first opens in London
20 June : Juan Perón returns from exile to Argentina after 18 years
20 June : The Ezeiza massacre : Snipers shoot at left-wing Peronists, killing at least 13 and injuring more than 300.
21 June : Juliette Lewis, actress, born Juliette Lake Lewis in Los Angeles, California
21 June : Two British soldiers are killed by IRA booby-trap bombs on Lecky Road, Derry and in Strabane.
22 June : Skylab 2 and crew splash down in the Pacific Ocean
23 June : "Cyrano" closes at Palace Theater NYC after 49 performances
23 June : "Sugar" closes at Majestic Theater NYC after 506 performances
23 June : World Court condemns French nuclear tests in the Pacific
23 June : Fay Holden, American actress, dies aged 77
24 June : Mary Carr, American actress, dies aged 99
25 June : Erskine Hamilton Childers takes office as the 4th President of Ireland.
25 June : Jamie Redknapp, footbaler, Jamie Frank Redknapp, born in Barton on Sea, England

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! :

[The Culture Bunker]

This is much more my bag - I like that what I'd say is the main hook (the "load up, load up" bit) only get used twice, at least on the version I have on a 10cc compilation. Just a shame my favourite song of theirs ("I'm Mandy, Fly Me") somehow didn't make #1.

Leaving aside the Strawberry Studio aspect of things, and how that ties into Joy Division, for a band who had as many hits as they did, I'm not sure you could name that many pop bands who came afterwards where you could say "yeah, obviously big 10cc fans" - of course, now I'll have about five hundred examples thrown in my face. Trevor Horn was certainly influenced by their studio geek tendencies, but not so much the songwriting side of things.

And I can remember being about seven or eight and my dad and Uncle making some sort of joke about 10cc's name and both of them giving off Sid James-esque chuckles, followed by a "never you mind" response to my querying what was so funny.

[daf]

Just a shame my favourite song of theirs ("I'm Mandy, Fly Me") somehow didn't make #1.

Yes - I love that one!  Think my favourite one of theirs was Umbopo - that should have been a massive hit!

[jamiefairlie]

Suzie Q on the cover of Can The Can looks surprisingly like Louise Wener

[daf]

333.  Slade – Skweeze Me Pleeze Me



From : 26 June – 16 July 1973
Weeks : 3
B-side : Kill 'Em at the Hot Club Tonite
Bonus : Top of the Pops (Audience Dancing)

The Story So Far : 1981 - 1985

Their tenth studio album, 'Till Deaf Do Us Part', was released in November 1981 and peaked at number 68 in the UK chart. It remains Slade's heaviest sounding album to date.



An article in NME shortly after release claimed Slade were in trouble over the album cover, which featured an 'offensive' picture of a nail piercing an ear drum, and that many dealers were refusing to stock it.

Noddy Holder : "It came about because everyone always says how loud we are. We based the album around volume, all the tracks are rock and it is a loud album. The track Till Deaf Do Us Part is all about bending your ear and being deafened. We've used a lot of organ on the album. That's basically the only difference. We think that it's a much better sound than we've ever had before. It's a solid rock album from start to finish, except for the instrumental piece – which is a slowish theme, but all the others are fast and solid rock. There's no acoustic rock on the album like songs such as "Don't Waste Your Time" and "Sign of the Times," which we have had on previous LPs."

"She Brings Out the Devil in Me" developed into a song from a riff the band used to play at sound-checks. Holder then added a melody and lyrics. The album also featured "M'Hat, M'Coat" which was written by guitarist Dave Hill.

Dave Hill : "It's just something I used to play around with when we were touring Europe and Jim said we should record it. So, we were in the studio and Nod was bashing out a few chords and really Jim rearranged it. We really recorded it on the spur of the moment and I think that's why it turned out so well."



Other songs featured on the album included : "Till Deaf Do Us Part", "A Night to Remember", "It's Your Body not Your Mind", "Let the Rock Roll out of Control", "That Was no Lady that Was My Wife", and "Till Deaf Resurrected".

Dave Hill : "This album is a thumper and we want it loud. That's the direction we are heading for, like having a live show in the studio almost. It's got guts and melody. That is us really."



In March 1982, "Ruby Red", (b/w "Funk Punk And Junk"), was released as a single.



Although also available as a gatefold sleeve with a bonus single featuring the two extra live tracks "Rock And Roll Preacher" and "Tak Me Bak 'Ome", it only managed to reach #51 in the charts.



In April 1982, "Rock and Roll Preacher (Hallelujah I'm on Fire)" was released in Germany. The first Slade single to have a 12" single version, it peaked at No. 49, and became Slade's new live show opener.



Upon release, Kerrang! felt that the album showed Slade's "old habit of writing classic material rekindled", adding that it was "uncompromising entertainment guaranteed."

Melody Maker believed the band had "regained their confidence" and were "bigger and badder than ever". They concluded: "The album on the whole reaffirms Slade as one of our most enduring and uncompromising bands."

Sounds felt the album "hinged entirely on the lame pun of its title". They added: "Not only is the record boring and deliberately thick, but it doesn't even work on those terms. Slade sound dreadfully worn out, about as convincing as Alexander Haig on a peace march."



In November, the band released a new single, "(And Now the Waltz) C'est La Vie", which was aimed directly at the Christmas market. It only made number 50 in the UK, but was a hit in Poland where it reached number two.



Jim Lea : "We thought it was a ballad but when Dave Lee Travis played it, he said "That's Slade and now for a ballad" and put Lionel Ritchie on and then we realised ours wasn't a ballad at all. It came over like four idiots trying to tear their way out of the speakers."

Noddy Holder : "It looked as if it was going to be quite a big hit but unfortunately it didn't get much above #50 in the charts."

The band's version of the party track "Okey Cokey" was also re-released that year but failed to make an impact, much like the original release in 1979. "Merry Xmas Everybody" was again re-released, this time only managing to get to number 67.



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During the tour to promote the band's 1981 album 'Til Deaf Do Us Part', the band decided to record their concert at Newcastle City Hall on the RAK mobile, on 18 December 1981. Produced and mixed at Portland Studios in London, 'Slade on Stage' was released in December 1982 and reached No. 58 in the UK.



Noddy Holder : "I think we've managed to keep the excitement of the gig virtually intact. It's true we had to do a few studio bits to tart it up, but these have been kept to a minimum. You've always got to remember that somebody is gonna pay hard earned cash for this record. And, whilst every effort should be made to preserve the atmosphere of a thing, if adding a few touches to it can enhance the final sound, then I think you owe it to the punter to do just that. With Slade on Stage, though, all we've done is to make up for bits where, for example, a guitar string broke or something. Oh yeah, and we had to cut out part of the audience as well, 'cos one of the microphones in the auditorium was set up next to a loony. He kept on shouting into it "bastard!" at the top of his voice, so obviously that had to go. But, apart from those things, everything is faithful to the show."



At the time of release, reviews were overall positive. Kerrang! described the album as featuring "10 gems" and urged readers to "go out and buy it now". They added: "Watching Slade live is one of the most exhilarating experiences known to mankind. Its a completely over the top manic and raucous package, delivered at a pace that makes even Kiss seem like old men."

Sounds praised it as a "sensational album" that "goes some way towards demonstrating just why they're one of the best live rock bands in the world". Describing the album as "one of the livest you'll ever hear in your life", they concluded: "What Slade have always been about is undiluted rock 'n' roll, and this album comes nearer to capturing the feel, the excitement and the sheer energy they generate than anything they've ever attempted before."

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Although Slade enjoyed some recent minor success, RCA Records had higher expectations and sent them away to write songs to be considered for release in 1983. The idea for the melody of "My Oh My" came to Lea listening to Noddy and Dave tuning up while the band were in the dressing room prior to a concert in Wales.

Jim Lea : "It reminded me of bagpipes. I wrote the melody in my head to the drone of the strings."

A raw demo of Holder singing "My Oh My" over Lea's piano was received with particular enthusiasm by RCA. The label was delighted with the track and hired outside producer John Punter to work with the band. This was the first time the band had another producer since Chas Chandler. Punter's methods differed from those Slade were used to, in that the band recorded all their parts separately. This method eventually met with the band's approval, except for Holder, who believed this method was ruining their unique chemistry and was losing their rock & roll edge.

Dave Hill : "Although I didn't like "My Oh My" when I first heard it, by the time I started playing on it and promoting it, I discovered a certain magic and hidden power in it."

Released in November 1983, "My Oh My" (b/w "Keep Your Hands Off My Power Supply") became a UK No. 2 hit over the Christmas period.



Noddy Holder : "We thought we were going to have a Number One with My Oh My, which would have given us Christmas Number Ones ten years apart. But although it topped the charts all over Europe, in the UK we were beaten to it by The Flying Pickets. That was disappointing."

In 1985, a swing-style version of the "My Oh My" was recorded, which appeared as the B-side to the band's 1985 single "Do You Believe in Miracles". The version was recorded by the Monty Babson Big Band with Holder adding his vocals to it.

Noddy Holder : "It came about originally because a few people asked us for demos of songs to cover. A lot of people wanted to cover "My Oh My". I mean 'middle of the road' sort of people. Colin Newman actually suggested it, saying we couldn't send them our own version, because they've all heard that. Anyway, we had people like Frank Sinatra saying that we ought to do a 'swing version' of it. Well, we weren't going to do it, so we got a mate of ours - Monty Babson - to sing it on the original demo, which went out to all these 'middle of the road' people. When I heard it, I really liked it, so I said "Why don't we put my voice with Monty Babson's band?" and that's what we did. I just had a couple of drinks in the pub and went and sang with him in one take. We didn't spend any time on it or anything."

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In late 1983, Holder joined Lea in record production producing, among other things, Girlschool's cover of the T-Rex song "20th Century Boy" and the album "Play Dirty" which featured two Slade tracks, "Burning in the Heat of Love" and "High and Dry".



Toward the end of the year, American glam metal band Quiet Riot released a cover version of "Cum on Feel the Noize". It became a huge hit, peaking at number five in the Billboard charts and helping their debut album 'Metal Health' to the top, selling seven million copies on the way. As a result, Slade's original was re-released in the UK but disappointingly it only reached #98.

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Their eleventh album, 'The Amazing Kamikaze Syndrome', co-produced by Lea and Punter, was released in December 1983. The album reached No. 49 in the UK and was a success across Europe.



Noddy Holder : "I was reading the sports pages one day and there was an article on motor sport. It talked about the 'kamikaze complex' those guys who compete seem to have in putting their life on the line every time they go on the track. I think Barry Sheene was mentioned as a specific example. Anyway, it struck me that some of our songs fitted in with this idea, so the title seemed a logical choice. And let's face it, everyone has something of that complex in 'em, we all take gambles at some point in our lives."

Songs featured on the album included : "In the Doghouse", "High and Dry", "Cocky Rock Boys (Rule O.K.)", "Ready to Explode", "Cheap 'n' Nasty Luv", and "Razzle Dazzle Man".



Upon release, Kerrang! felt the album showed an "apparently effortless confidence and an untainted infectiousness". They concluded: "Slade have lost none of their old wicked touch."

Sounds commented that the album "shows conclusively that Slade are still capable of rocking harder and catchier than most bands half their age." They added: "They sound so lively and confident you can forgive them the rock 'n' roll clichés they occasionally slip into. As always it's the hell-raisin' metal-boogie stomps that really shake the timbers, and there's enough big stampers here to keep Quiet Riot in hits till 1987!"

Record Mirror described the album as "Slade's ultimate celebration", adding "it's no nonsense stuff to leave you with a throb in your pinkies and a wide smile. Breathtaking entertainment guaranteed."

Anne Lambert of Number One commented: "Slade still carry the same sound - enormous distorted guitars topped by Noddy belting it out for dear life. It will be cherished by Slade fanatics, and tolerated by everyone else."

Linda Duff of Smash Hits said: "On which Four Lads set out to make as big a racket as possible. And with drums that sound like sacks of hobnail boots being chucked down long stairways, violin solos that career dangerously in and out of tune plus steamy guitars that tend to race along, they succeed very well. I wouldn't contemplate life by it, but it's a laff, inn'it?"



In January 1984, they released the second single from the album "Run Runaway", (b/w "Two Track Stereo One Track Mind"), a Celtic-flavoured rock jig featuring the return of Lea's fiddle.



The single peaked at number 7 in the UK and was also successful in a number of other European countries.

Dave Hill : "Suddenly, CBS in Los Angeles began paying interest in us. Quiet Riot had had a hit with Cum On Feel The Noize, and it made them wonder: "What are Slade up to?" Sharon Osbourne became our manager and Run Runaway went Top 40 in the States. Americans liked its Scottishness. We thought it hilarious when interviewers asked whether the four of us really lived in the big castle that featured in its video."

The success of a Slade track in the US charts prompted CBS to sign Slade to their label and in mid-1984, released the single "Run Runaway" which peaked at number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a total of 17 weeks. It was Slade's first and only top 20 hit in the States. In August 1984, "My Oh My" was released in the US as a follow-up, and peaked at number 37.



Noddy Holder : "We all felt that there should have been a single out on the back of "Run Runaway". The album was our first big success in America, it was Top 5 all over Europe and Number 1 in Scandinavia for months. Britain was the only place it wasn't a big album. We could have, theoretically, had another single off it. It would have been a hit. There was plenty of good stuff on that album."

'The Amazing Kamikaze Syndrome' was reworked with a couple of alternative tracks and different artwork, and was released in North America as 'Keep Your Hands Off My Power Supply'. It replaced "Cocky Rock Boys (Rule O.K.)" and "Razzle Dazzle Man" with the 1983 B-Sides "Keep Your Hands Off My Power Supply" and "Can't Tame a Hurricane". The album was a success, getting to number 33 in the US and number 26 in Canada.



The final single from the album was "Slam the Hammer Down" which peaked at #92. A tour with Ozzy Osbourne was cancelled after several warm-up gigs, when Lea collapsed in the dressing room after a performance. He was later diagnosed with Hepatitis C. Coinciding with the breakdown of lead vocalist Noddy Holder's marriage, the band agreed to stop touring to allow Holder a break. This was the final time the band would tour together, although the band would continue recording and releasing new material.

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In mid-1984, Polydor released a new compilation, 'Slade's Greats', which peaked at number 89.



During the autumn a full European tour was announced to promote the album. Tickets were being sold before the band had agreed that the tour would actually take place: shortly afterwards, it was cancelled because Holder, who was facing a divorce from his first wife, was furious arrangements for the tour had gone ahead without his agreement.

Noddy Holder : "Although it was virtually me that cancelled it for the personal reasons - that tour was never confirmed. The agent and promoter started promoting it and selling the tickets, and we hadn't even confirmed that we were going to do the tour. The tickets had already been on sale for two months and nobody bothered to tell us!"

In November 1984, Slade released the single "All Join Hands" (b/w "Here's To...") to coincide with the Christmas market. It reached No. 15 in the UK and would be Slade's last Top 40 hit for seven years.

Jim Lea : ""It's another anthem. I come up with these on my way down to the chip shop. It just popped into my head while I was walking down the street. I don't have to sit down at a piano or lock myself in a cottage somewhere."



Their 1973 Christmas Chart Topper, "Merry Xmas Everybody" was also re-released, peaking at #47 in the UK charts.

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In January 1985, Slade released the single "7 Year Bitch", (b/w "Leave Them Girls Alone").



A video was filmed to promote the single, which featured the band performing the song in a large orange tent, with a group of women shown in various shots. Another segment of the video showed Slade dressed in convicts outfits, while the final scene had Slade sit down for a tea party with the women. During filming, the director suggested the band and the women have a pie fight. He secretly told the women to start whenever they like so that the band were hit in the face first. As a result, both Lea and guitarist Dave Hill suffered some cuts and some frames in the video show Lea's face covered in blood.

The single stalled at number 60 in the UK after it was banned by a number of UK broadcasters, largely due to the song's title.



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They released their twelfth studio album, 'Rogues Gallery' on 29 March 1985.



After the success of "Run Runaway" and "My Oh My", producer John Punter was hired to produce most of the album. For this release, the band set out to create an album of radio-friendly, potential hit singles.

Songs featured on the album included : "Hey Ho Wish You Well", "Walking on Water, Running on Alcohol", and "I'll Be There". Bassist Jim Lea produced the songs "Harmony", "I Win, You Lose" and "Time to Rock".

Jim Lea : "I think this record has a more rounded quality than anything we've done before. For a start, we've actually gone in and demoed the new material before recording properly. The album is still heavy, lots of guitars, five and six-minute numbers, but everything sounds much more tuneful, meaning there are lots of potential singles on it. There are no long solos but there are some great guitar parts, hot and fast breaks."

In the UK, the album reached #60, whilst in America it made number 132. The album was a big hit in Norway, peaking at #5.

Dave Hill : "I personally think it lacked something. I mean it was a good sounding LP, but maybe it had a bit too much quality. I think it lacked a certain amount of soul, or maybe guts. I think that maybe too many of the songs on Rogues Gallery sounded like pop hits, so the album began to lean too much to being regarded as a sort of 'poppy' album, and there is nothing worse than that for me."



Upon release, Sounds noted the album was made up of "high quality power pop, glorious hooks, instant singalongs, ultra-catchy terrace-style chants and anthemic, hymn-like ballads".

In America, reviews were also positive overall. Billboard recommended the album and commented: "Modern, muscular and metallic, Slade can hold their own on the present hard rock scene."

Record-Journal concluded: "The main problem with the album is getting past the first song. If you hang in, however, what follows on Rogues Gallery is some of the most enthusiastic hard rock in recent years, and some of the least annoying."

Noddy Holder : "It became a bit of a saga, it took a lot of time and eventually turned out to be a great album although I feel there was something missing - something that is the Slade trademark was missing."

In March 1985, they released the second single from the album,"Myzsterious Mizster Jones" (b/w "Mama Nature Is a Rocker"). The single marked a return for Slade's trademark of spelling titles incorrectly, which had not been done since the 1973 hit "Skweeze Me, Pleeze Me". Despite being a radio-friendly track, the single only peaked at #50 in the UK.



Noddy Holder : "It's about a friend of mine from Wolverhampton who used to be a Hell's Angel actually, but I changed his name to protect the innocent 'cause I don't think he'd like a song about him. It's not knocking him, you know, but it's a song about him."

Upon release, Marshall O'Leary for Smash Hits reviewed the single, writing: "I've never been a great lover of Slade's "orl-ta-geth-ah nah" heavy metal style. However, I found myself humming along to it. Not as good as "My Oh My" but one of their classiest singles yet."

In America they released the single "Little Sheila", which reached number 86 in the Billboard charts. It was also released in Germany and Canada, where it got to number 50.



Following the release of the band's 1985 studio album 'Rogues Gallery', the band were approached by Telstar to create a Christmas-related party album . . .

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In November 1985, Slade released a party album called 'Crackers - The Christmas Party Album' which contained Slade hits and songs that had been successful for other artists.

The album was produced by bassist Jim Lea except "All Join Hands", "Do You Believe in Miracles", "My Oh My" and "Run Runaway", which were all produced by John Punter.

Don Powell : "Well, we were a bit dubious at first, we thought that it might have been another Black Lace type of thing. When we actually recorded the cover versions though, we had a great time doing them. We just went into the studio and put them down one after the other - it was like playing live on stage."



The album included cover versions of "Let's Dance", "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town", "Hi Ho Silver Lining", "Let's Have a Party!", and "Do They Know It's Christmas?"

While recording the album, Hill discovered Victor Herman, a busker, who was playing bagpipes in Oxford Street, London. As the band were due to record their own version of "Auld Lang Syne", Hill he invited Herman to add an authentic touch to the recording. Herman agreed, and when he'd finished recording his part, Slade gave him an envelope with a sizeable sum of money in it, along with their thanks and best wishes. Two days later, the envelope was returned by post, along with a letter from Herman, saying that he'd enjoyed himself so much in the studio that he didn't want the money. Slade later invited him to their Christmas party on 18 November 1985 – the release day of the album. At the party, Slade presented Herman with one of the band's Gold Discs as a keepsake.

The band re-recorded their own past hits "Cum on Feel the Noize" and "Get Down and Get with It". The remaining eight tracks were previously recorded songs from the band's catalogue, including the new single "Do You Believe in Miracles".

Amazed at what Bob Geldof had achieved with Live Aid, Holder penned the lyrics to "Do You Believe in Miracles". Holder's lyrics reflected his thoughts on Geldof's achievement with Live Aid, while also referencing Slade's past encounter with him in the late 1970s, at a time when the band's popularity was low.

Jim Lea : "It's about Bob Geldof actually and when the group was down the nick he came to see us, and he said "How can a group that's so big be playing a little club like you're playing now". And we said "Well, we just decided to carry on, we didn't want to pack up." And he said "Oh, I couldn't do that" but he did, and then he did the Live Aid thing, and I thought it was worth writing a song about.""

Released in November 1985, the single's earnings went to charity but it only peaked at number 54 in the UK charts.



Don Powell : "It didn't do too well chartwise, but it had every radio play in the book really. I could never turn the radio on without hearing it played. We did quite a few T.V. shows to promote it - but when we recorded them, when the record first came out - all the T.V. shows centred around Christmas, so we missed out on the initial thing. If we'd have had those T.V.'s when the record was actually released, that would have helped a lot more."

Although Slade's label RCA released "Do You Believe in Miracles" as a single, a deal was struck with Telstar to include the song on 'Crackers'. It was suggested that its inclusion on the album had caused the single to tank in the charts.

Don Powell : "That could be a reason. Funnily enough, that was one of the bones of contention - Telstar said that they wanted it on the album, whereas we didn't because that would mean that it would split the sales between the single and the album. I know that if I personally like someone's single, and it's going to be on their latest album, then I'll wait and buy the album."

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The final release of the year was another re-release of "Merry Xmas Everybody" which peaked at #48 in the UK chart.

The Single :

"Skweeze Me, Pleeze Me" was written by Noddy Holder and Jim Lea, and performed by Slade.



Earlier in 1973, Slade achieved their fifth number one "Cum On Feel the Noize", which was also the band's first single to reach the number one spot in its first week. While on tour in America, the band entered A&M Studios in Los Angeles to record the follow-up single "Skweeze Me, Pleeze Me". Lea originally had the idea for the chorus after visiting the band's regular pub, The Trumpet in Bilston, where he saw local pianist Reg Kierle performing there.

Released in June 1973, the song reached the UK top spot, selling  300,000 copies in its first week of release. It remained at No. 1 for three consecutive weeks.

Upon release, Record Mirror commented on Holder's vocals as being given a "satisfactory showcase". Although they felt the song was not dissimilar to the band's previous material, they added: "that rolling rhythm pushes the whole thing along with alarming verve and gusto".

NME said: "The start is fussy, and those "whoa-whoa's" in the chorus are a drag. The beat's strong and the words in the verses are the best yet, but all around this doesn't beat "Mama Weer All Crazee Now" or "Gudbuy T'Jane"."

American magazine Cash Box listed the single as one of their "picks of the week" during November 1973. They felt the song represented "usual hard driving fare" from the band and predicted it would "give them their first major Stateside hit". While the single also reached #1 in Ireland, #3 in Germany and Norway, #4 in Finland and Swizerland, and #6 in the Netherlands, it failed to chart in the US.



During the release of the song, drummer Don Powell was involved in a near-fatal car crash in July, briefly throwing the band's existence into doubt. Despite his critical condition, Powell was able to make a recovery and the band entered the studio to record material for their next album 'Old New Borrowed and Blue' later in the year.

Due to Powell's car crash, no music video was filmed to promote the single. The band appeared twice on Top of the Pops prior to Powell's crash. Afterwards, the producers of the show would not allow Slade to perform as a three-piece band, the bastards, so future airings of the song showed the pop-crazed youngsters in the audience dancing to the song instead.



Other Versions include :  Top of the Poppers (1973)  /  James Last (1973)  /  Cy Payne & His Orchestra (1973)  /  "Sä oot pliisu" by Muska (1974)  /  Doogie White (2001)  /  The Slingsby Hornets (2008)  /  Danny McEvoy (2012)  /  The Winetasters (2014)  /  SLADY (2019)

On This Day :

25 June : Jamie Redknapp, footballer, born Jamie Frank Redknapp in Barton on Sea, Hampshire
25 June : Erskine Hamilton Childers takes office as the 4th President of Ireland.
26 June : London production of musical "Grease" premieres
26 June : On Plesetsk Cosmodrome, USSR, 9 people are killed in an explosion of a Kosmos 3-M rocket.
26 June : Amen, musician (Lordi), born Jussi Antero Sydänmaa in Espoo, Finland
26 June : Ernest Truex, American actor, dies aged 83
27 June : "Live & Let Die", 8th James Bond Film, the first to star Roger Moore, released in the US
27 June : Uruguayan president Juan Maria Bordaberry dissolves parliament in a vat of acid and heads a coup d'état
30 June : Nancy Mitford, English author, dies of cancer aged 68
1 July : The British Library is established.
1 July : "Jesus Christ Superstar" closes at Mark Hellinger, NYC, after 711 bra-wearing performances
2 July : Betty Grable, American actress, dies of lung cancer aged 56
2 July : Peter Kay, British comedian, born Peter John Kay in Bolton, Lancashire
3 July : Dave Bowie "retires" his Ziggy Stardust stage persona at the Hammersmith Odeon at the end of his British tour.
4 July : Don Powell, the drummer from Slade, is critically injured, and his 20-year-old girlfriend is killed in a car crash in Wolverhampton
4 July : Alan Ayckbourne's "Absurd Person Singular" premieres in London
5 July : The Isle of Man Post begins to issue its own postage stamps.
5 July : General Juvénal Habyarimana becomes president of Rwanda in a military coup d'état
5 July : Bengt Lagerberg, drummer (The Cardigans), born in Jönköping, Sweden
5 July : Róisín Murphy, singer (Moloko), born Róisín Marie Murphy in Arklow, Wicklow, Ireland
6 July : Joe E. Brown, American comic actor, dies after long illness aged 80
6 July : Otto Klemperer, German conductor, dies aged 88
7 July : Wimbledon Women's Tennis: Billie Jean King beats Chris Evert 6-0, 7-5
7 July : Wimbledon Men's Tennis: Czech Jan Kodeš beats Alex Metreveli of Russia 6-1, 9-8, 6-3
7 July : Veronica Lake, American actress , dies from hepatitis and acute kidney injury aged 50
10 July : Bahamas declares Independence from UK & adopts constitution
10 July : John Paul Getty III, grandson of oil tycoon J. Paul Getty, is kidnapped in Rome by Italian gangsters
12 July : Lon Chaney, Jr., American actor, dies aged 67
13 July : Debut studio album by Queen is released
14 July : Phil Everly storms off stage and declares an end to "The Everly Brothers"
15 July : Ray Davies announces his retirement from The Kinks, then attempts suicide
15 July : Clarence White, American session and country-rock guitarist, struck and killed by a drunk driver aged 29
16 July : Former White House aide Alexander Butterfield informs the United States Senate Watergate Committee that President Richard Nixon had secretly recorded potentially incriminating conversations.

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! :

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Previously :
306.  Slade – Coz I Luv You
315.  Slade – Tak Me Bak 'Ome
319.  Slade – Mama Weer All Crazee Now
323b. (NME 338.)  Slade – Gudbuy T'Jane
326.  Slade – Cum On Feel the Noize

[gilbertharding]

Leaving aside the Strawberry Studio aspect of things, and how that ties into Joy Division, for a band who had as many hits as they did, I'm not sure you could name that many pop bands who came afterwards where you could say "yeah, obviously big 10cc fans" - of course, now I'll have about five hundred examples thrown in my face. Trevor Horn was certainly influenced by their studio geek tendencies, but not so much the songwriting side of things.

Of course they weren't influenced by them, but Steely Dan are just the American 10cc, aren't they?

I really liked How Dare You? too - my big sister had it and I was always borrowing it. Between listening to Dave Bowie's Space Oddity and I'm Mandy Fly Me at a formative age, I always associate big strummy instrumental breaks with aeronautical disaster.

My favourite of theirs, which I never heard until recently (Tom Fucking Robinson played Workinonit by Dilla one Sunday), is Worst Band in the World. Cracking.

And as a garage punk freakbeat enthusiast with enough Rubble/Pebbles/Nuggets compilations, I know all about the Mindbenders and the Mockingbirds...

[The Culture Bunker]

Of course they weren't influenced by them, but Steely Dan are just the American 10cc, aren't they?

I can see the parallels in terms of the "clever bastards" angle, but the beauty of 10cc was how self-contained they were, while Becker and Fagan needed the top session players to realise whatever sounds they had in their heads.

Whether the Dan's relative lack of mainstream success over here was due to us already having the 10cc lads, I couldn't say as I wasn't around at the time! But didn't Fagan's 'The Nightfly' album (released 1982 or so, when 10cc were pretty much done) significantly out-perform any Steely Dan album in terms of UK sales?

[gilbertharding]

I can see the parallels in terms of the "clever bastards" angle, but the beauty of 10cc was how self-contained they were, while Becker and Fagan needed the top session players to realise whatever sounds they had in their heads.

Whether the Dan's relative lack of mainstream success over here was due to us already having the 10cc lads, I couldn't say as I wasn't around at the time! But didn't Fagan's 'The Nightfly' album (released 1982 or so, when 10cc were pretty much done) significantly out-perform any Steely Dan album in terms of UK sales?

TBH, the Steely Dan comparison was glib - based on the little I know about them (I thought it might make me seem cleverer than I am). They sound similar to me, anyway.

I'm Mandy Fly Me is brilliant though (I've been listening to How Dare You? all morning - never realised the first bit is taken from another of their tunes)

[The Culture Bunker]

I'm Mandy Fly Me is brilliant though (I've been listening to How Dare You? all morning - never realised the first bit is taken from another of their tunes)

I think I'm right in saying that, tellingly, the song in question was told from the perspective of a bomb on a plane.

[gilbertharding]

I think I'm right in saying that, tellingly, the song in question was told from the perspective of a bomb on a plane.

Oh wow - of course it is! Clever bleeders!!

[Satchmo Distel]

Suzi Quatro was in the first Swap Shop Supergroup:

https://www.mediastorehouse.com/memory-lane-prints/mirror/0400to0499-00449/multi-coloured-swap-shop-supergroups-21651199.html

Was "Donna" by 10cc based on "Oh Darling" by The Beatles?

[daf]

334.  Peters and Lee – Welcome Home



From : 17 – 23 July 1973
Weeks : 1
B-side : Can't Keep My Mind On The Game
Bonus 1 : The Mike and Bernie Winters' Show 1973
Bonus 2 : Top of the Pops Christmas 1973
Bonus 3 : 1989 re-recording

The Story So Far : 

Lennie Peters was born Leonard George Sargent in Islington, North London in 1931. He was blinded in one eye during a car accident when he was five years old.

At the age of sixteen, while he was sunbathing, a group of yobbos started throwing stones. He went over and told them to pack it in. He lay down again in the sun and the next thing he knew, one of them heaved half a brick at him and got him in the other eye - Yaroo!

Following two operations, the sight in his right eye was restored, but the night before he was due to go home he noticed the man in the next bed was about to fall on the floor. The sudden strain caused by running over to try to pick him up detached the retina in his eye.

Lennie Peters : "When I was blinded - a brick struck me, as it happens - I was sixteen. I had all sorts of plans. Fancied my chances as a professional boxer, for instance. Instead I had to try something quite new for me . . . and I learned piano and developed a singing style."

He learned to play the piano, developed a deep, gravelly, bluesy singing style and began singing and playing his way round the pubs in the East End of London.

Lennie Peters : "You'd go to a new club, and have to measure out, by the yard, just where I had to go Twenty-five paces to the stage, turn right, face paces front, reach out for the microphone, look straight ahead and bow. Once I misjudged the whole thing and bounced off one table, crashed into another, fell off a third and still ended up on my feet. Brought the house down, that did. They thought it was part of the act. God, if they'd only known how scared I was at the time."

He recorded two singles on the Oriole label : "And My Heart Cried" (b/w "For A Lifetime") released in November 1963, and "Love Me, Love Me" (b/w "Let The Tears Begin") in September 1964.

In April 1966 he released "Stranger In Paradise" (b/w "Behind My Smile") on Pye Records. His fourth single, "Here We Go Again" was released in March 1970 on the Gemini label.



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

In 1970, he teamed up with Sheffield actress and dancer Dianne Littlehales, who was at the time part of a dance act with her cousin Liz. Their original act was called Lennie Peters and Melody until their management, International Artists, suggested the name Peters and Lee. Their first performance was with the 'Two Little Boys' hit-maker Rolf Harris on 30 April 1970 at a concert in Bournemouth.

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

In 1973, the duo entered the TV talent show Opportunity Knocks.

The original radio version started on the BBC Light Programme in September 1949, but moved to Radio Luxembourg in the 1950s. The first TV series, produced by Associated Rediffusion, was broadcast on ITV in 1956. A second run began in July 1964 and lasted until 20 March 1978, produced first by ABC and then by Thames. Hosted by Hughie Green, with his weird transatlantic accent picked up during a couple of years in Canada, Opportunity Knocks was one of the most popular shows on British television in the 1960s and 1970s with a weekly audience of 20 million viewers.

Lennie Peters : "Funny thing is that you appear on television, as we did on Opportunity Knocks, and everybody says mmm, very good - and they think you're some kind of overnight sensation. What they don't know is the three years of hard slog that Di Lee and I had as a partnership before we really got a break."

Unlike its rival New Faces, the winning acts on Opportunity Knocks were decided not by a panel of experts but by the viewing public. In the ITV version this took the form of a postal vote, the winner of which was announced the following week. The programme was recorded the Friday before transmission, so votes had to be in by Thursday. They also, according to Green, largely to ensure fairness, had to be in "your own handwriting".

The studio audience reaction to each act was measured by a clap-o-meter, but this did not count towards the final result, with Green declaring "Remember, folks! The clap-o-meter is just for fun!". Housed in a wooden box labelled "Audience Reaction Indicator", the clap-o-meter was a complete sham, having no real sound measuring equipment at all - just a pointer that was moved up and down, based on their estimation of the audience reaction.



Peters and Lee won for a then-record seven times, with such songs as "All I Ever Need is You", and "I'm Confessin'".

Lennie Peters : "I was very reluctant to go on Hughie Green's show. After all, both before meeting up with Di, and afterwards, the reputation was building . . . and think how terrible it would have been to be beaten by a gang of upcoming kids."



Following their TV success, a record contract was soon signed with Philips Records. They were produced by Philips' A&R man Johnny Franz, who would consume copious cups of tea and cigarettes during recording sessions.

Their debut single, "Welcome Home, was released in May 1973. The single reached Number 1 in the UK, selling over 800,000 copies.



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

Their first album, 'We Can Make It' was was released in 1973. It spent two weeks at the top of the UK chart, selling over 250,000 copies. The album was produced by John Franz and the conductor was Peter Knight.



"All Change Places" and "Let It Be Me" were some of the winning songs they had performed on Opportunity Knocks in February 1973. Other songs featured on the album included : "Take To The Mountains", "Turn To Me", "There They Go", "We Can Make It", "Cryin' in the Rain", "Good Morning Freedom", "Cryin' Time", "Never My Love", and the number 1 single, "Welcome Home"



Though many assumed that Peters and Lee were a couple, Peters was a married man.

Dianne Lee : "Sylvia, Lennie's wife, and I really get on well. She runs our fan club and helps us with a lot of things, we're a great team together. When a reporter came to see us he said to Sylvia that obviously she could have torn my eyes out when she first saw me. I laughed and said jokingly that Sylvia beats me up every night, and they printed it all!"

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

Their second single, "By Your Side" (b/w "Clear In My Mind"), was released in October 1973, and reached #39 in the UK charts in November 1973.



The song was included on their second album, 'By Your Side', released in late 1973.



Other songs featured on the album included : "If", "All I Ever Need Is You", "Stars Fell On Alabama", "Raining In My Heart", "Everybody Needs A Rainbow", "United We Stand", "Until It's Time For You To Go", "Nevertheless", "She's About A Mover", "Loving Baby" and "The Old Fashioned Way" which was originally considered as a single.

Dianne Lee : "We would have liked that to be a single really, but By Your Side was already doing so well that it would have probably spoiled the chances for the both of them by releasing another single too quickly"

Lennie Peters : "I'm sure Old-Fashioned Way is one of the main reasons the LP is selling so well. It will always be a giant, especially around Christmas time, a number like that. Whenever a song puts shivers up my spine, I know it's a good one."

The duo was top of the bill at the Royal Variety Performance in 1973. They were also resident guest stars on The Des O'Connor Show, and had slots on The Golden Shot, Mike and Bernie Winters' Show, Presenting Nana Mouskouri, Seaside Special and David Nixon's show, and had a TV series of their own 'Meet Peters & Lee', which including several Christmas specials made by ATV.

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

Their third single, "Don't Stay Away Too Long" (b/w "The Old Fashioned Way") was released in April 1974, and peaked at #3 in the UK charts.



Dianne Lee : "Our new single is very important to us, so much so that we should be in the States now, but cancelled the trip as it was more important to be here [in Blackpool] these three weeks."

Their fourth single, "Rainbow" (b/w "Our Song") was released in August 1974, and reached #17 in the UK charts.



Both singles were included on their third album, 'Rainbow', released in 1974.



Other songs featured on the album included : "Vincent", "(We're Not) The Jet Set", "Seasons In The Sun", "Everloving Arms", "So Little Time", "The Sound Of Peace", "So Sad", "All I Want To Do", "But I Do", "You Belong To Me", and "Send In The Clowns".



"Closer" (b/w "When Somebody Thinks You're Wonderful") was released as a single in November 1974.

 

Lennie Peters : "We're no different now from the time when we went to Newcastle for a weekend's work for £18 between the two of us. We haven't changed at all, but the attitude of some of our friends towards us has. I don't think they consciously realise it, but it seems like they're expecting us to to be all big-time and resenting it in advance"

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

"(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song" (b/w "Oh Baby I Love You") was released in July 1975, followed by "The Crying Game" (b/w "Guess You'll Never Know"), in September 1975, both singles failed to chart.



Also released in 1975 was a three track flexi-disc, "Peters & Lee Sing Especially For "Hers" Readers", which featured : "Guess You'll Never Know", "Our Song", and "Welcome Home (Excerpt From)"



Lennie Peters : "I sometimes wonder if it's worth all the effort, the way things are going now. I'd hate to leave England for good, but really, what's it all about? My boy Stephen's sixteen, and I bought hime a pair of jeans recently. He ripped 'em up as soon as he got 'em, and stuck badges all over 'em. Cost me six quid. they did!"

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

Their fourth album, 'Favourites' was released in 1975.



Songs featured on the album included : "Mayday", "Only You (And You Alone)", "Remembering", "Wonderful Baby", "Closer", "Oh Baby I Love You", "Don't Blame Me", "Killing Me Softly With His Song", "Don't Stay Away Too Long", "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight", "Comin' Home Baby", "Guess You'll Never Know", "The Crying Game", "Our Song", "Old Fashioned Way", "Come To Me", "I'm Confessin'", "If I Fell", "The Last Happy Song", and "Welcome Home" . . . again!



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

"Hey, Mr Music Man" (b/w "Stay By My Side"), released in January 1976, was their final UK chart entry, reaching #16 in March 1976. Their next single, "The Serenade That We Played" (b/w "Guess You'll Never Know") was released in April 1976.

The single was included as the opening track on their fifth album, 'Serenade', released in 1976.



Songs featured on the album included : "I'd Love You To Want Me", "The Only Couple On The Floor", "Hi-Lili, Hi-Lo", "True Love Ways", "Something Stupid", "Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me", "Butterfly", "Here We Go Again", and "Love Will Keep Us Together".

Further singles released in 1976 included : "What Is Love" (b/w "Days Of Love") released in August 1976; and "Save Me (Feel Myself A-Fallin')" (b/w "Mary's Boy Child") released in October 1976.

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

Their sixth album, 'Invitation' was released in 1976.



The party album featured several medleys plus : "On A Slow Boat To China", "Rambling Rose", "Ma, He's Making Eyes At Me", "Passing Strangers", "Tie A Yellow Ribbon", "Mockingbird Hill", "Hey Mr Music Man", "You Make Me Feel Brand New", and "Save Your Kisses For Me".

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

"Smile", (b/w "Pretend"), was released in July 1977, followed by "Let Love Come Between Us", (b/w "Share Your Love With Me"), in November 1977. Both singles were included on their next album . . .

Their seventh album, 'Smile' was released in 1977.



Songs featured on the album included : "Bye Bye Blues", "Welcome Home (77)", "Remember When", "Can't Smile Without You", "Walk Softly", "Bye Bye Love", "Share Your Love With Me", and "I Got A Thing About You Baby".

"Song From Moulin Rouge (Where Is Your Heart)", (b/w "Don't Lay Your Head"), was released as a single in the Netherlands in 1977, and "Suspicious Minds", taken from the album, was released in January 1978. 



"Love (Loving Time)" (b/w "Country Fair") was released in September 1978. Their final single on Phillips, "People Over The World" (b/w "Treat Love Tenderly") released in March 1979.

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

Their eighth album, 'Love and Affection', was released in 1979 on Arcade Records.



Songs featured on the album included : "Love Letters", "Forever And Ever", "I Love You Because", "When I Need You", "Superstar", "Whispering", "It's All In The Game", "Cupid", "What A Wonderful World", "The More I See You", "Never Ending Song Of Love", "Waking Up To Love", "The Way We Were", "And I Love You So", "I Can't Stop Loving You", "I Love You", "Help Me Make It Through The Night", "For The Good Times", "Solitaire", and "You Light Up My Life".

"I Understand (Just How You Feel)" (b/w "Tomorrow's Here Today") was released on Pye in May 1980.

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

Their ninth album, 'The Farewell Album', was released in 1980 on Celebrity Records.



"Ocean And Blue Sky", (b/w "What Have I Got, I Got You Babe"), was released as a single from the album in November 1980.

Other songs featured on the album included : "Sing Me A Memory", "Come Softly To Me", "Can't You Hear The Song (Everybody Knows)", "The Way You Look Tonight", "Release Me / Yesterday Just Passed Away Again", "Together Again", "(Bring Back) The Punch And Judy Man", "We Love Each Other", "Twelfth Of Never", and "Don't Throw It All Away".

Their last TV appearance before their split was London Night Out in November 1980 in which they performed four songs from the album.

Dianne Lee went on to perform mainly in theatre and acting roles, whilst Lennie Peters recorded his only solo album 'Unforgettable' in 1981 and released three singles, "Record of My Love" in 1981, "Why Me" for Christmas 1982 and "Key Largo" in 1985. Peters also appeared on a few small TV slots and appeared briefly as a crime boss in the 1984 film 'The Hit'.

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

The pair reunited in 1986 with a new single, "Familiar Feeling" (b/w "Guess You'll Never Know") was released on the A.1. label.



In 1989 they released final two singles : "Isle Of Debris", (b/w "Wings On My Feet"), in June, and "Peace Must Come Again", (b/w "I Love Everything About You"), released in August 1989. Both singles were included on their 1989 comeback album, 'Peters & Lee', released on President Records.



Songs featured on the album included : "Don't Stay Away Too Long", "Send Me The Pillow That You Dream On", "Baby I Love You", "Old Folks", "Always On My Mind", "Ships", "When I Grow Too Old To Dream", "Suspicious Minds", "It Doesn't Matter Anymore", and the inevitable re-recording of "Welcome Home".

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

Their final album, 'Through All The Years' was first released in 1991 on Galaxy Music, and later in 1994 via Pickwick Records.



The opening track, was yet another recording of 'Welcome Home'. Other songs featured on the album included : "I'm Confessin'", "Let It Be Me", "Love Will Keep Us Together", "The Air That I Breathe", "Suspicious Minds", "You Make Me Feel Brand New", "Don't Stay Away Too Long", "Endless Love", "Always On My Mind", "Rainbow", "Hello", "Hey Mr. Music Man", and "Through All The Years".

Their final TV appearance was on Pebble Mill in February 1992 with a short interview and a performance of the hit "Hey Mister Music Man".

Lennie Peters died from bone cancer in 1992, aged 60. Dianne Lee went on to marry Rick Price of Wizzard and recorded a solo album Chemistry in 1994. She continues to tour with Price as a duo, performing hits and new material.

The Single :

"Welcome Home" was written by Jean Alphonse Dupre and Stanislas Beldone in French, translated into English by Bryan Blackburn, and performed by Peters and Lee.



Coming after their success in the talent show Opportunity Knocks, Peters and Lee recorded "Welcome Home". The record was produced by Johnny Franz.

Lennie Peters : "It was a French song originally. When we first heard it with English lyrics, we agreed with our recording manager Johnny Franz when he said it would be a giant. The lyrics mean a lot everywhere in the world where wars are going on or are vividly remembered."



"Welcome Home" became the duo's only number one single in the UK Singles Chart, spending a week at the top in July 1973, going on to sell over 800,000 copies in the UK. The song also reached #12 in Australia, and made a minor dent in the US, appearing on Billboard's 'Easy Listening' chart, where it peaked at #26.

Lennie Peters : "The money we're now making hasn't changed us at all really. I think in this business too many go skint. They earn a few quid and they think it's always going to come. They buy bloody great houses and Rolls Royces and then before they know where they are, they're not makingany more hit records and they're skint, We're not like that, we're not too keen on changing."



Other Versions include :  "Vivre" by Lenny Kuhr (1973)  /  Top of the Poppers (1973)  /  Alan Garrity (1973)  /  "Für dich" by Daisy Door (1973)  /  Max Bygraves (1974)  /  Alan Hawkshaw (1974)  /  Danny McEvoy (2012)  /  John McNicholl & Sandy Kelly (2014)  /  The Shardlows (2019)  /  Dave Monk (2020)  /  BirdsEyeViewOfMyUke (2020)  /  Henry Halligan (2020)  /  Paul Dean (2020)  /  Geoff Holland (2021)

On This Day :

17 July : Military coup in Afghanistan; King Mohammed Zahir Shah deposed by his cousin Mohammed Daoud Khan
18 July : Jack Hawkins, British actor, dies aged 62
19 July : Vasily Dmitriyevich Shcheglov, Russian cosmonaut, dies from lung cancer aged 33
19 July : Martin Powell, musician (Cradle of Filth), born in Sheffield, West Yorkshire
20 July : Haakon Magnus, Crown Prince of Norway, born in Oslo, Norway
20 July : Bruce Lee, Hong Kong martial artist and actor, dies from a cerebral edema aged 32
20 July : France resumes nuclear bomb tests in Mururoa Atoll, over the protests of Australia and New Zealand.
21 July : The Philippines wins its second Miss Universe title, with Margarita Moran crowned as the lovely winner.
21 July : Lillehammer affair: Israeli Mossad agents assassinate a Moroccan waiter, Ahmed Bouchiki, mistaking him for Ali Hassan Salameh, one of the leaders of Black September
21 July : Russell Hardie, American actor, dies after long illness aged 69
21 July : USSR launches Mars 4 for fly-by of red planet
22 July : Rufus Wainwright, Canadian singer, born Rufus McGarrigle Wainwright in Rhinebeck, New York
22 July : Daniel Jones, musician (Savage Garden), born in Southend-on-Sea, Essex
22 July : 60th Tour de France won by Luis Ocana of Spain
23 July : Sulking blue-chinned ghoul, President Richard Nixon refuses to release Watergate tapes of conversations in the White House
23 July : Marius-François Gaillard, French pianist, conductor and composer, dies aged 72
23 July : Monica Lewinsky, Bill Clinton noshing American White House intern, born Monica Samille Lewinsky in San Francisco, California
23 July : Fran Healy, Scottish musician (Travis), born in Francis Healy Stafford, England
23 July : USSR performs nuclear Test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
23 July : Ozark AL Flight 809 knocked out of air by lightning landing in St Louis, killing 38 of the 44 people onboard

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! :

[daf]

Apologies for the spotty youtube links - a lot of these proved untraceable.

(worst 70's number 1 so far?)

[bigfatheart]

Not sure about the worst - maybe the worst not made by a helium-voiced Mormon infant whose balls hadn't yet dropped?

[gilbertharding]

Is it true that there was a tribute act called Litres of Pee?

And that Lenny Peters insisted on all his taxi drivers being Caucasian?

[famethrowa]

And that Lenny Peters insisted on all his taxi drivers being Caucasian?

That one seems a bit dubious... it's just second hand heresay casually relayed by David Stubbs, it's oddly specific and nonsensical.

[daf]

Not sure about the worst - maybe the worst not made by a helium-voiced Mormon infant whose balls hadn't yet dropped?

Ha - yes. Forgot about the tiny Ozmeister. 

Top 3 contender maybe - that bagpipe one's got to be in the mix too I reckon!

[xxxx xxx x xxx]

Spoiler alert

We've still got Chanson D'Amour to come though

[close]

God really was determined that poor old Lennie was going to be blind, wasn't he?

[bigfatheart]

Ha - yes. Forgot about the tiny Ozmeister. 

Top 3 contender maybe - that bagpipe one's got to be in the mix too I reckon!

Amazing Grace is definitely the hardest one for a modern audience to understand, I think. For a start, if you want to hear Amazing Grace now, you just go to YouTube and you've got thousands of versions to choose from. Well OK, no YouTube, so you go to a record shop and you'd probably be able to choose from a fair few versions. But things aren't kept in print back then, so OK, you have to buy the new single release. That's fair enough.

But then there's the fact that it's Amazing Grace, and whatever its merits it's a song you've heard so many bloody times that it's hard to imagine urgently going out to buy a new single release, let alone thousands of people, especially when it's a song that for, I'd imagine, most people absolutely reeks of school assemblies. Even considering that, I could understand the appeal of a version recorded by a certain type of vocalist, a beatific rendition that would inspire the sort of reverential awe that makes your Nana think how lovely and nice that is and goes out and buys it. But it's not that - it's recorded on the bagpipes, an instrument near-universally agreed to be a skirling and unpleasant irritant.

I get that, as Chart Music often point out, the elderly had much more influence on the charts, and some of them were probably born in the Edwardian era and all that, but from the modern point of view there are so many mental leaps and exceptions you have to make to understand how it was the best-selling single in the country for five weeks. Just about everything that went into making it a hit wouldn't happen today.

Back to Welcome Home - for me, it's to 1973 what One Day At A Time is to 1979, where you've got a year with loads of great number ones, where the best and coolest artists are all having big hits, and then there's this dollop of treacle dropped on it. It's not quite as stark a contrast as One Day At A Time, because 1973 does have some other, lesser clunkers, but yeah - definitely feels like this is the Mums and Dads getting revenge on the kids for making the Sweet and Slade and Wizzard popular.

[jamiefairlie]

Lenny had an 80s perm, of course he did.