I'm not sure, but I think Palmer used to be in Crazy World of Arthur Brown albeit very beriefly. I'm guessing Tony Blackburn was the DJ?..

 

There was a connection with the Crazy World of Arthur Brown, but I was thinking more of a group called The Nice, who also pioneered "prog rock". I think it was Emerson who was a leading member of that group.

 

Not Tony Blackburn, who is still very much with us. I am afraid that this particular dj passed away a few years ago, unfortunately for the music scene. :(

It's moved to Wednesday for a few weeks while the Proms are on.

 

Ta, didn't know that!!!

Your clue confirms my suspicion that the DJ was the late great John Peel.

The Dooleys, Everly Brothers, Duran Duran. The list would be literally huge!

Duran Duran ?? I thought none of the Taylors were related!

Thanks Fiesta and Suede for the family connections, and thanks Fiesta for the extra Hot Chocolate info.

 

My own personal favourite family group, apart from the Davies led Kinks, would be The Beach Boys. Excellent group, great records, and all within the same family - in the early days, the Wilson brothers father was their manager! So truly within the family.

 

Good edition, this week, I thought. Good black music sounds from Gladys Knight And The Pips, The Detroit Emeralds, T-Connection, and that excellent number one from the aforementioned Hot Chocolate.

 

Add to that appearances by Queen, a strong instrumental from Emerson Lake And Palmer, and Cliff's best record since Devil Woman, and it all adds up to one of the better shows, in my view.

 

Trivia questions for this week - from what sixties group did Emerson Lake And Palmer evolve from, and which legendary DJ used to frequently call Emerson Lake And Palmer "the worst group of all-time" :mellow:

 

All the best. B-)

 

Yes, agree it was a good edition, many of my own "Number Ones" from the summer of 77 featured, including ELP. Beach Boys: one of the greatest bands of all-time, candidate for best American band of all time...

 

ELP at the back of my mind I think transformed from one of those forgotten late 60's acts, like The Nice, or something similar. The DJ? Well, John Peel was all punk and turned anti-prog rock around 77, so I'd guess him if it didn't sound too vitriolic (he was a great bloke). Maybe "legendary" would only leave Kenny Everett? Certainly not Fluff Freeman...:)

Yes, agree it was a good edition, many of my own "Number Ones" from the summer of 77 featured, including ELP. Beach Boys: one of the greatest bands of all-time, candidate for best American band of all time...

 

ELP at the back of my mind I think transformed from one of those forgotten late 60's acts, like The Nice, or something similar. The DJ? Well, John Peel was all punk and turned anti-prog rock around 77, so I'd guess him if it didn't sound too vitriolic (he was a great bloke). Maybe "legendary" would only leave Kenny Everett? Certainly not Fluff Freeman...:)

 

Oops I'm too late with this I just noticed - The Nice confirmed already! sorry...:)

Good input for this week, thanks to all. And yes, it was the late great John Peel who often voiced discontentment with ELP's stuff. If you want some fun, just type in something like "John Peel's reviews of Emerson Lake And Palmer" into a search engine, and see what amusing vitriol comes up!!

 

Did not quite understand his attitude towards ELP - surely there were worse acts, some of which he might even have featured in his own show! Bless him!

 

Common sense, surely you have access to BBC interactive? It is always repeated on there.

 

Let's hope the next show is a good one as well.

 

 

TOTP this week is possibly my favourite edition of the year so far. Not a single song I didn't like, even Cliff's record was quite good. And an excellent number 1 - 'So You Win Again' is one of my favourite Hot Chocolate songs.

Good input for this week, thanks to all. And yes, it was the late great John Peel who often voiced discontentment with ELP's stuff. If you want some fun, just type in something like "John Peel's reviews of Emerson Lake And Palmer" into a search engine, and see what amusing vitriol comes up!!

 

Did not quite understand his attitude towards ELP - surely there were worse acts, some of which he might even have featured in his own show! Bless him!

 

Common sense, surely you have access to BBC interactive? It is always repeated on there.

 

Let's hope the next show is a good one as well.

 

John Peel and punk generally were reacting against pompousness, ELP were great (I bought the record!) but they were a tad full of pomp. Pop music has always been a case of new acts slagging off the previous batch of well-established stars as new movements come along, so I wouldnt take it too seriously. John Peel also freely admitted in later life that his hippie dismissal of the Monkees as a non-credible band in the 60's (like most of the Rock media) was ridiculous. Time passes and the records speak for themselves if they still sound great. As John Peel noted, "Daydream Believer" sounded a lot better in the 80's than any of the hippie concept albums he was pushing at the time - and the Sex Pistols covered a Monkees song...

 

1977 TOTP get better from here on in, the year gets seriously good apart from a lul in December, before 1978 comes along with rejuvenated pop music scene and TOTP starts to look a bit more modern. Hooray!

Not as good as last week, some highlights, some lows as well! Brotherhood of Man doing their inpression of Abba was a low point for a start.

 

And Smokie were back again - did not realise that they had had that many hits during this period until these '76 and '77 programmes were shown. A novelty record from Boney M lowered the tone a bit as well, I thought.

 

Was some good stuff, though, in my view, from the Alessi Brothers - another family act! - Bob Marley And The Wailers, Hot Chocolate, and a great play out record, one of the best disco songs ever, from the late great Donna Summer, and "I Feel Love".

 

Very poignant to see Andy Gibb perform, the first well known Gibb brother to pass away.

 

So not as good as last week, but still had some worthwhile moments.

 

Trivia question for this week - well, the programme started with an instrumental from The Rah Band, and there was a strong intrumental last week from Emerson Lake And Palmer. So, how many UK chart toppining singles over the years can one name that were also instrumentals?

 

Might have to go back a a few years for some of them, but just the same I reckon that your average chart follower could name at least three or four.

 

All the best B-)

Instrumental number ones

 

Tornados Telstar (written, produced by the late great Joe Meek. First single by a British Group to top the American charts, a whole year before the Beatles did it!))

Shadows Apache , Wonderful Land

Simon Park Eye Level

Fleetwood Mac Albatross

Eddie Calvert Oh Mein papa

Doop Doop (if it counts?)

 

Of course theres also Acker Bilk Stranger On The Shore, which althouigh didnt get to no.1 on the 'official' chart reached no.1 on every other chart from the sixties.

Edited August 2, 201212 yr by fiesta

Richard A Hewson, of the RAH Band (RAH is his initials) was a well known musical arranger and producer by this point. His most famous work was probably as an arranger employed by Phil Spector to work on the 'Let It Be' album. His biggest contribution was scoring and arranging the orchestration for the track 'The Long And Winding Road'. It has been said that Paul McCartney heard what he had done to the song, by introducing those sweeping violins, and tried to get him banned from the studio! Strangely Hewson did go on to work on a McCartney album, being employed by McCartney as arranger for the orchestration for the album 'Ram'. However McCartney was unhappy with the outcome, ditched the recording (for which vocals had yet to be recorded), formed Wings and re-recorded the album in a more conventional manner. The original instrumental version of the album was eventually released in 1977 (in the same month that 'The Crunch' was released!) under the title 'Thrillington'. It's a strange album but worth a listen.

The single version (not the TOTP re-record) of The Crunch is fab, they also had a run of hits in the 80's (Rah band), and Smokie had plenty more hits to go, some of them weren't bad at all. When passing judgement on TOTP performances don't forget that many of the acts had to sing live along with the godawful (and I mean baaaad) Top Of The Pops orchestra who were more interested in getting a pint in afterwards. Which is why so many acts who had great RECORDS sounded so awful on the show. Brotherhood Of man's Angelo, while an obvious Abba Fernando clone, wasn't that bad a record. Dance records particularly sound rubbish in the studio unless they are in control (such as the brilliant Tavares performances recorded in the States and away from the TOTP orchestra)...

 

Instrumental No. 1's? Loads of Shadows (Kon Tiki frinstance), plus two offshoots from them Diamonds (Jet harris/Tony Meehan), Mouldy Old Dough was almost instrumental, The Good The Bad & The Ugly (Hugo Montenegro) only had grunts so that must count?

 

Cant offhand recall any dance instrumentals No.1 but there must have been some, surely...!?

 

cheers!

Thanks for your insights,Robbie, Fiesta and popchartfreak, interesting stuff on the Rah Band in particular.

And good points about top of the pops performances, popchartfreak.

 

I can think of one or two more instrumentals, but you have got most of them. Many instrumental artists have been very successful in the long player markets over the years, of course, Mike Oldfield the obvious name that springs to mind.

The single version (not the TOTP re-record) of The Crunch is fab, they also had a run of hits in the 80's (Rah band), and Smokie had plenty more hits to go, some of them weren't bad at all. When passing judgement on TOTP performances don't forget that many of the acts had to sing live along with the godawful (and I mean baaaad) Top Of The Pops orchestra who were more interested in getting a pint in afterwards. Which is why so many acts who had great RECORDS sounded so awful on the show. Brotherhood Of man's Angelo, while an obvious Abba Fernando clone, wasn't that bad a record. Dance records particularly sound rubbish in the studio unless they are in control (such as the brilliant Tavares performances recorded in the States and away from the TOTP orchestra)...

 

Instrumental No. 1's? Loads of Shadows (Kon Tiki frinstance), plus two offshoots from them Diamonds (Jet harris/Tony Meehan), Mouldy Old Dough was almost instrumental, The Good The Bad & The Ugly (Hugo Montenegro) only had grunts so that must count?

 

Cant offhand recall any dance instrumentals No.1 but there must have been some, surely...!?

 

cheers!

 

The awful Flat Beat by Mr Oizo

Richard A Hewson, of the RAH Band (RAH is his initials) was a well known musical arranger and producer by this point. His most famous work was probably as an arranger employed by Phil Spector to work on the 'Let It Be' album. His biggest contribution was scoring and arranging the orchestration for the track 'The Long And Winding Road'. It has been said that Paul McCartney heard what he had done to the song, by introducing those sweeping violins, and tried to get him banned from the studio! Strangely Hewson did go on to work on a McCartney album, being employed by McCartney as arranger for the orchestration for the album 'Ram'. However McCartney was unhappy with the outcome, ditched the recording (for which vocals had yet to be recorded), formed Wings and re-recorded the album in a more conventional manner. The original instrumental version of the album was eventually released in 1977 (in the same month that 'The Crunch' was released!) under the title 'Thrillington'. It's a strange album but worth a listen.

 

Hewson also later produced hits for Cliff Richard & Shakin Stevens.

B-) Useful stuff on instrumentals, thanks again people.

 

Just watched the latest edition, good records from Rita Coolidge, The Commodores, Supertramp, and some Australian punkish band I never heard of called The Saints. And that fine number one from Hot Chocolate.

 

But the most memorable performance was, of course, from The Sex Pistols with Pretty Vacant. Most welcome, especially after having to sit through a rather MOR mediocre offering from Cilla Black beforehand.

 

I was slightly too young to understand the full impact of punk the first time around, I only appreciate how revolutionary it was in retrospect, as it were. Difficult to see how music could ever have that big an impact today, even if a new revolution does come along in music. Too many other things to focus your attention on these days.

 

Trivia question for this week - please name as many Sex Pistols British hit singles as possible.

 

All the best B-)

Edited August 8, 201212 yr by blackcat

Pretty Vacant (a classic)

God Save The Queen

My Way (dreadful)

Holidays In The Sun

Anarchy In The UK (another classic)

 

 

What other programme would go from Cilla Black to the Sex Pistols without any comment? :lol:

Yes, well done Suedehead, all Sex Pistols hits.

 

A version of the group was still going even after Sid Vicious past away and even after Rotten had left, Steve Jones and Paul Cook were still involved in some projects under the Sex Pistols banner. For example, they did make a hit single - and at the same time, a banned single - with Ronnie Biggs, No One Is Innocent (A Punk Prayer), I think it was called. And there were one or two others made as well.

 

None nearly as good as Anarchy In The UK or God Save The Queen, of course.