FIRST HOUR
Queen of Hearts (Dave Edmunds)
(1979)... instantly likeable, radio-friendly rockabilly from the singer-guitarist who came up with a hit or two every few years during the '70s but never managed to match I Hear You Knockin', his chart-topping debut at the start of the decade
For Once In My Life (Stevie Wonder)
(1968-69)... first of three Top 5 hits in a prolific spell of success n the UK - My Cherie Amour and Yester Me- Yester You-Yesterday would follow within months
Sunglasses (Tracey Ullman)
... from the first of today's featured years ~ her fifth and final hit at a time when she was also a rising star of TV comedy with Lenny Henry and David Copperfield in Three of a Kind
Things which go together
Concrete And Clay (Unit 4 + 2)
(1965) ... intriguing choice of name ~ they started out as a band of four, and, legend has it, chose the name Unit 4 after hearing Alan 'Fluff' Freeman's weekly radio show Pick of The Pops, which he divided into four parts, known as Unit 1, 2, 3 and 4. When two more musicians joined the band, the name was altered accordingly with '+ 2' added
Needles And Pins (The Searchers)
(1964) ... song co-written by Jack Nietzsche and Sonny Bono (as in Sonny & Cher) ~ the original had been only a very lowly placed US hit for Jackie de Shannon, but The Searchers took it all the way to the top this side of the Atlantic
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Pass It On (The Coral)
(2003) ... clocking in at a mere 2 minutes 17 seconds, it surely has to be a contender for the shortest chart hit of the 2000s
Newsround Tameside: 38 years ago ~ 1984
Love Wars (Womack & Womack)
... one of the year's stand-out singles, hailed by at least one music critic as falling 'somewhere between Latin funk and tropical soul'. Another reviewer praised the songwriting of husband and wife Cecil and Linda Womack, noting that "their lyrics about loss and conflict are sharper than those about love and happiness" [W]
I Won't Let The Sun Go Down On Me (Nik Kershaw)
... Top 3 summertime smash as a reissue ~ a few months previously, as his debut chart entry, it had stalled at # 47
Each And Everyone (Everything But The Girl) ... jazzy duo Ben Watt & Tracey Thorn with a cool, laid back sound hailed by some music critics as 'sophisti-pop' (!), a description which could be applied to several other artists around at the time including Carmel, Matt Bianco... and Sade who is on our playlist a little later...
Seven Seas (Echo & The Bunnymen]
... third single from their album Ocean Rain which reached # 16 on the chart. In a retrospective review, Allmusic journalist Dave Thompson said: "Regardless of the surreal lyrics, their enigmatic meaning dovetails marvelously with the mood of this exquisite piece." [W]
Hole In My Shoe (neil) ... aka actor Nigel Planer ~ in character as Neil the hippy from The Young Ones, the anarchic BBC 2 comedy series, also starring Rik Mayall, Ade Edmondson and Christopher Ryan. His comedy cover of the Traffic classic turned out to be one of the biggest hits of the summer, just missing out on a # 1 while the headline-grabbing Frankie Goes To Hollywood maintained their grip on the top spot with Two Tribes
Your Love Is King (Sade)
... soulful lead single from the critically acclaimed, mega-successful Diamond Life album which included at least one other classic, Smooth Operator.
Locomotion (OMD)
... ultra catchy it may have been, but this Locomotion could never be confused with Little Eva's '60s dance craze song (later covered by Kylie Minogue). The OMD hit taken from the album Junk Culture reached the Top 5 in the UK, Ireland and the Netherlands and peaked at # 14 in Germany. Reviewer Paul Scott-Bates remarked: "In terms of a pop song, it borders classic – instantly recognisable from the first few seconds, a chorus that everyone knows and verses that were as memorable as the choruses..." [W]
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SECOND HOUR
Semi Detached Suburban Mr James (Manfred Mann)
(1966) ... a perfect slice of English pop in a pivotal era for the Manfreds with Mike D'Abo taking over from Paul Jones as lead singer.
Spanish Harlem (Ben E King)
(1960)... first of two US Top 10-ers after leaving The Drifters ~ a great performance but out-performed chart-wise by the follow up Stand By Me, his own composition. Spanish Harlem failed to trouble the UK chart and Stand By Me was only a modest sized hit until its much later reissue in 1987. Spanish Harlem was a UK success for Aretha Franklin (1971, # 14)
I Feel The Earth Move (Carole King)
... from the first of today's featured years ~ side one track one of one of THE classic albums of that particular decade. Its hit potential was finally realised with Martika's dance pop re-creation making the Top 10 in 1989
Absolutely Lyricless ~ the instrumental break
... Pacific island police and a south coast English city
Hawaii Five-O (The Ventures)
(1969) ... a US Top 10 hit and title track of an album released the year after the TV series first aired in the States. It was a couple of years later that it crossed the Atlantic
Portsmouth (Mike Oldfield)
(1976) ... multi instrumentalist best known for the album Tubular Bells, here with his take on a traditional English folk dance tune, which can be traced back to the early 18th Century. Leslie Penning joins him to play the recorder, as he did on the previous year's festive Top 5-er In Dulci Jubilo (the Christmas carol Good Christian Men Rejoice). Portsmouth did even better, finishing one place higher (# 3). Mike himself plays everything else ~ acoustic guitar, accordion, mandolin, ARP string synthesiser, tambourine, kettle drum and bodhran (Irish drum) Oldfield and Penning are jointly credited with the stomping of feet as the tune builds up to a sudden end [W]
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Stupid Cupid (Connie Francis)
(1958)..... written by Howard Greenfield and Neil Sedaka, a much bigger hit here than in the US, enjoying a six-week run at No.1, with Carolina Moon as its double A side
Newsround pre-Tameside: 51 years ago ~ 1971
Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey (Paul & Linda McCartney)
... one of those epic Macca album tracks which seems to be several songs rolled into one - others to be found on The Beatles' Abbey Road and Wings' Band On The Run. UA/AH is the stand-out track of the album Ram, released by pre-Wings Paul & Linda. In the US it was released as a single and topped the charts. In the UK, a different song from the album was chosen - Back Seat of My Car which only just scraped into the Top 40. UA/AH later featured in a memorable episode of one of the nation's favourite sitcoms Only Fools and Horses (He Ain't Heavy, He's My Uncle, series 7, episode 5, 1991)
Tonight (The Move)
... Roy Wood, Jeff Lynne and Bev Bevan were about to re-group as The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), but there was still unfinished business and the occasional single from The Move, for another year, at least
I'm Gonna Run Away from You (Tami Lynn)
... from the big box of vinyl in the back bedroom, a toe tapping, floor-filling Northern Soul classic which made the Top 10 several years after it was first recorded. It returned four years later as a reissue (1975, # 36)
Double Barrel (Dave & Ansell Collins)
.... one of the quirkiest, least expected '70s chart-toppers, but also one of the coolest. Now here's a thing ~ from the pairing of their names, I always imagined these two were brothers, but no... they are singer Dave Barker and keyboard player Ansell* Collins (* a name which appears to have at least three different spellings - look him up online and you will also see 'Ansel' and 'Ansil'
I'm Still Waiting (Diana Ross)
... her first UK # 1 as a solo artist, which only saw the light of day as a single after Tony Blackburn played it relentlessly as an album track on his BBC Radio 1 breakfast show. It got such a huge response from listeners that the record company Tamla Motown wisely took the hint
Don't Let It Die (Hurricane Smith)
... stepping into the spotlight as a singer- songwriter in his own right, the distinctive, gravelly voiced Norman 'Hurricane' Smith was well known as a record producer for the likes of Pink Floyd and Barclay James Harvest, having started out as an EMI sound engineer who had worked on the first few Beatles albums. Don't Let It Die won him the 1971 Ivor Novello award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically. The lyrics have an ecological theme, stressing the beauty and fragility of nature, and the human responsibility to look after it and not to 'let it die' [W]
Move On Up (Curtis Mayfield)
... much respected soul singer, musician and songwriter, with his one and only Top 40 hit in the UK
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SHOW THEME:
Rhapsody In Blue (Rick Wakeman)
written by George Gershwin, arranged by Tony Visconti
from the album Rhapsodies (A&M Records, 1979)
[W]: Source: Wikipedia
If you missed any of the show, you can catch up online after 15:00 on Sunday 03/07/2022:
