7th January 1975

 

It’s a return to the top for Gloria Gaynor for a 2nd week at 1 presiding over my new expanded top 50 chart, and who really never can say goodbye! Quite right too! Billy Swan can still help, and he rises to 6 in gratitude, as Stevie Wonder gets his 9th Top 10 in 6 years with Boogie On Reggae Woman, but still yet to top the chart. Booooo! Angie Baby also joins the top batch for Helen Reddy, no longer declaring I Am Woman - well not just at the moment anyway. Christmas records still hang around, let’s be honest it was a novelty for me (and unheard of for the UK charts in those years) to swamp my chart with seasonal pop classics new and old. I invented it, so I’m going to sing my own praises and hang onto them well into the new year, so there!

 

With the lack of new releases there’s a lovely gap in the market for Fox to come back with a bang at 17, Only You Can having yo-yo’d around my charts wildly for months, and now starting to get BBC airplay and sales. Lulu also shoots back up to 16 with her James Bond theme, much under-rated in the real world, but that benefitted me as I got the vinyl single in a bargain bin for 15p or so and it got a big boost out of me actually being able to hear it whenever I wanted to, in all of it’s widescreen wonder. I almost certainly got in from my shopping mall indie fave record store, who kept me supplied with chart hits and non-charts in Gloucester for 2 years.

 

Harry Chapin’s brilliant Cats In The Cradle also boosts up to 19, as John Holt pops up a few reggae places, ahead of the highest new entry for Pilot, and their oh-so appropriate January, 3rd chart hit for me for them, and the big one that went all the way to top the UK charts. I still loved Just A Smile more, at the time, though, and under-appreciated just how great the single (still) is. I love it. In at 42, also having his 3rd solo hit, it’s Terry Jacks, no longer having seasons in the sun, no now he’s covering Australian vocalist Kevin Johnson’s fantastic flop story song about failed ambition, lost dreams, and love. Not a bad version, as it happens, but not a hit - though it was the spur for Jonathan King to re-release it on his own UK Records, and he got the hit he deserved! yay! Sometimes there is justice. JK was actually good at making great oldies hits after flopping in the UK, one of the reasons I was a fan of his.

 

At 43 Dana finally gets a 2nd hit, 5 years after All Kinds Of Everything winged it’s way around the world to near the top of my charts in Singapore in 1970. Please tell him that I said Hello. If you insist, though it’s lost a bit of it’s charm for me these days, as has Dana. At 44, following Alan Price’s comeback in 1974, his former singing partner Georgie Fame gets his first chart entry in 3 years, and his first solo hit for 6 years (Peaceful). Georgie was another 60’s fave though and would certainly have topped my chart with The Ballad Of Bonnie And Clyde, and come close with the absolutely gorgeous Sitting In The Park, not to mention a little bit of action from his cover of Sunny, Yeh Yeh and Get Away. Sadly his easy-pop-jazz style didn’t become popular again until 1984, so his Muhammed Ali shuffle song didn’t chart.

 

1 ( 2 ) NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE Gloria Gaynor

2 ( 3 ) GET DANCIN’ Disco Tex and The Sex-o-lettes

3 ( 5 ) HAPPY XMAS (WAR IS OVER) John & Yoko and The Plastic Ono Band with The Harlem Community Choir

4 ( 4 ) YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHIN' YET Bachman-Turner Overdrive

5 ( 1 ) JE T’AIME...MOI NON PLUS Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg

6 ( 10 ) I CAN HELP Billy Swan

7 ( 18 ) BOOGIE ON REGGAE WOMAN Stevie Wonder

8 ( 8 ) LOVE IS ALL Roger Glover and Guests (featuring Ronnie Dio)

9 ( 9 ) STARDUST David Essex

10 ( 16 ) ANGIE BABY Helen Reddy

 

11 ( 7 ) SO LONG Abba

12 ( 12 ) I WISH IT COULD BE CHRISTMAS EVERYDAY Wizzard

13 ( 14 ) ARE YOU READY TO ROCK Wizzard

14 ( 13 ) HEY MR CHRISTMAS Showaddywaddy

15 ( 11 ) WOMBLING MERRY CHRISTMAS The Wombles

16 ( 46 ) THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN Lulu

17 ( RE ) ONLY YOU CAN Fox

18 ( 17 ) SOUND YOUR FUNKY HORN KC And The Sunshine Band

19 ( 40 ) CATS IN THE CRADLE Harry Chapin

20 ( 6 ) DING DONG George Harrison

 

21 ( 22 ) DOWN DOWN Status Quo

22 ( 15 ) YOU CAN MAKE ME DANCE SING OR ANYTHING (EVEN TAKE THE DOG FOR A WALK MEND A FUSE FOLD AWAY THE IRONING BOARD OR ANY OTHER DOMESTIC SHORTCOMINGS) The Faces featuring Rod Stewart

23 ( 19 ) I HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE Marvin Gaye

24 ( 20 ) THE INBETWEENIES The Goodies

25 ( 29 ) LIFE OF THE PARTY The Jackson 5

26 ( 26 ) CANDY BABY Beano

27 ( 39 ) HELP ME MAKE IT THROUGH THE NIGHT John Holt

28 ( 31 ) LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS Elton John

29 ( 23 ) HOLD ME TIGHT Johnny Nash

30 ( 30 ) IRE FEELINGS (SKANGA) Rupie Edwards

 

 

31 ( 35 ) LONELY THIS CHRISTMAS Mud

32 ( 24 ) MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY Slade

33 ( 37 ) GET DANCIN’ PART 2 Disco Tex and The Sex-o-lettes

34 ( NEW ) JANUARY Pilot

35 ( 38 ) CRYING OVER YOU Ken Boothe

36 ( 25 ) SLEIGH RIDE The Ronettes

37 ( 21 ) FATHER CHRISTMAS DO NOT TOUCH ME The Goodies

38 ( 33 ) JUKEBOX JIVE The Rubettes

39 ( 34 ) OH YES YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL Gary Glitter

40 ( 27 ) CHRISTMAS SONG Gilbert O’Sullivan

 

 

41 ( 32 ) YOU CAN HAVE IT ALL George McRae

42 ( NEW ) ROCK ‘N’ ROLL (I GAVE YOU THE BEST YEARS OF MY LIFE) Terry Jacks

43 ( NEW ) PLEASE TELL HIM THAT I SAID HELLO Dana

44 ( NEW ) ALI SHUFFLE Georgie Fame

45 ( 42 ) THE BUMP Kenny

46 ( 36 ) EVERYBODY NEEDS A RAINBOW Ray Stevens

47 ( 28 ) CHRISTMAS (BABY PLEASE COME HOME) Darlene Love

48 ( 44 ) MY BOY Elvis Presley

49 ( 48 ) SHA LA LA LA (MAKES ME HAPPY) Al Green

50 ( 43 ) PLEASE MR POSTMAN The Carpenters

 

 

Talking of Gloucester it was just named the city (urban area, actually) at the bottom of the job creation league over the last decade (minus 12%) which on the one hand is very sad, cos I really loved Gloucester back in 1975, but on the other hand it also brings nostalgic tears to me eyes because so little has changed in 40 years I can streetview my way round the virtual roads in the area and I’m back in time. I guess that’s the problem for Gloucester - most other towns and cities of that period have changed quite a lot to create new jobs. I think I’ll go back and have a tour soon for old times sake, I know Innsworth (home) and Churchdown (school) still look much the same, and for ol farts like me that’s somehow reassuring. Hooray! Maybe they need to market it as a period-piece untouched by the 21st century and push the Roman ruins and so on.

 

In the world, Charlie Chaplin and Roger Bannister were knighted, I turned 17 and started to collect facial acne. Well, it’s a hobby. The flares on my “good morning judge” tight trousers (it was the fashion!) got so big they regularly got caught up in the platform shoes as I walked, and my hair got longer as teachers were much less inclined to wag the finger at 6th form students - they needed you to stay as opposed to shove off to technical college or the various local trainee programmes in local industry. Yes, it’s true, young people got training! Vocational!! You could opt for practical-based college courses!!! Media courses, HR courses, PR courses, Consultants, all these things were non-existent outside London. Yay! Actually media studies is very useful, I’m just jealous it didn’t exist for me when I left school....

 

On TV this week: Doctor Who (Robot), Lulu had her own show (with The Shadows singing one of their A Song For Europe candidates), Mission: Impossible with Peter Lupus fresh from his Playgirl centrefold, a first for a male (minor) celebrity actor pretty much, bar Burt Reynolds modest more-famous pose. For my birthday, still on holiday, the BBC kindly broadcast (just for me!) The Monkees, Star Trek: The Trouble With Tribbles, Crackerjack with Donny & Marie and The Rubettes, Cannon with a young David Soul, and a great old movie (now forgotten) Kiss Me Stupid, with Ray Walston, Dean Martin and Kim Novak starring in the great Billy Wilder comedy/ piss-take of the egotistical megastar. It needs to get another showing!

 

14th January 1975

 

The first new number one of 1975, and it’s Fox - Only You Can had taken months to get there, but get there it did. Australian Noosha Fox was quirkily unique, and engaging, I loved her singing style (as did a young clearly-influenced Kate Bush), and the band was largely the creation of producer/songwriter/leader Kenny Young. He wrote Under The Boardwalk, Ai No Corrida, Captain Of Your Ship, Clodagh Rodgers hit stuff, and in the future, was behind Yellow Dog. Lulu meanwhile gets her 4th Top 5 hit, since I’m A Tiger in 1968. Cats In The Cradle makes my top 10, almost 20 years ahead of the UK charts inferior Ugly Kid Joe version.

 

Highest new entry is Dave Jordan. Street Corner Music was a great pop single, very catchy, pushed by Radio Luxembourg but not pushed enough as it headed for obscurity within weeks. I’ve no idea who Dave Jordan is, but I bought the single and have liked it ever since. My copy may well be the only decent one left in existence judging by the only online presence I’ve found! Quo finally get into the 20 Down Down still going up up, Sparks album-track 1974 top 20 hit in my charts is finally released and returns at 17, Something For The Girl With Everything, and Sweet Sensation follow-up the fab Sad Sweet Dreamer with the soundalike Purely By Coincidence at 21. It’s still very nice regardless.

 

After Bryan Ferry started re-doing vintage old songs, it became a bit of a minor rage, and here’s another one, 1934 Jerome Kern song I Won’t Dance covered by many a famous name, and at least one osbcure one: John Henry did it Noel Coward stylee in much the same fashion as Gary Shearston did I Get A Kick Out Of You in 1974, and was rewarded with obscurity and a number 22 entry in my chart. I like it still anyway, and as there’s no online version I probably ought to make the effort one day myself (I bought it). There’s another by a duo, Philip and Vanessa cover Two Sleepy People, though as this one had Radio 2 and Top Of The Pops behind it, this cover of the 1938 Hoagy Carmichael song was slightly more successful. Again, covered by hordes of famous singers, recently by Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy and others) of all people (with Norah Jones who popped up in his great movie Ted)! This very MOR version was OK, I bought the album bargain bin for the single. Finally Fly Now, is the good follow-up to Pinball from Brian Protheroe at 46. I have yet to get a copy of this - let me check itunes...I’m back, no chance, of course.

 

 

 

1 ( 17 ) ONLY YOU CAN Fox

2 ( 1 ) NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE Gloria Gaynor

3 ( 2 ) GET DANCIN’ Disco Tex and The Sex-o-lettes

4 ( 16 ) THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN Lulu

5 ( 4 ) YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHIN' YET Bachman-Turner Overdrive

6 ( 3 ) HAPPY XMAS (WAR IS OVER) John & Yoko and The Plastic Ono Band with The Harlem Community Choir

7 ( 19 ) CATS IN THE CRADLE Harry Chapin

8 ( 10 ) ANGIE BABY Helen Reddy

9 ( 8 ) LOVE IS ALL Roger Glover and Guests (featuring Ronnie Dio)

10 ( 9 ) STARDUST David Essex

 

 

11 ( 5 ) JE T’AIME...MOI NON PLUS Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg

12 ( NEW ) STREET CORNER MUSIC Dave Jordan

13 ( 6 ) I CAN HELP Billy Swan

14 ( 7 ) BOOGIE ON REGGAE WOMAN Stevie Wonder

15 ( 11 ) SO LONG Abba

16 ( 21 ) DOWN DOWN Status Quo

17 ( RE ) SOMETHING FOR THE GIRL WITH EVERYTHING Sparks

18 ( 35 ) CRYING OVER YOU Ken Boothe

19 ( 27 ) HELP ME MAKE IT THROUGH THE NIGHT John Holt

20 ( 12 ) I WISH IT COULD BE CHRISTMAS EVERYDAY Wizzard

 

 

21 ( NEW ) PURELY BY COINCIDENCE Sweet Sensation

22 ( NEW ) I WON’T DANCE John Henry

23 ( 14 ) HEY MR CHRISTMAS Showaddywaddy

24 ( 13 ) ARE YOU READY TO ROCK Wizzard

25 ( 34 ) JANUARY Pilot

26 ( 22 ) YOU CAN MAKE ME DANCE SING OR ANYTHING (EVEN TAKE THE DOG FOR A WALK MEND A FUSE FOLD AWAY THE IRONING BOARD OR ANY OTHER DOMESTIC SHORTCOMINGS) The Faces featuring Rod Stewart

27 ( 20 ) DING DONG George Harrison

28 ( 31 ) LONELY THIS CHRISTMAS Mud

29 ( 33 ) GET DANCIN’ PART 2 Disco Tex and The Sex-o-lettes

30 ( 28 ) LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS Elton John

 

31 ( 18 ) SOUND YOUR FUNKY HORN KC And The Sunshine Band

32 ( 23 ) I HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE Marvin Gaye

33 ( 30 ) IRE FEELINGS (SKANGA) Rupie Edwards

34 ( 29 ) HOLD ME TIGHT Johnny Nash

35 ( NEW ) TWO SLEEPY PEOPLE Philip and Vanessa

36 ( 38 ) JUKEBOX JIVE The Rubettes

37 ( 39 ) OH YES YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL Gary Glitter

38 ( 42 ) ROCK ‘N’ ROLL (I GAVE YOU THE BEST YEARS OF MY LIFE) Terry Jacks

39 ( 25 ) LIFE OF THE PARTY The Jackson 5

40 ( 26 ) CANDY BABY Beano

 

41 ( 24 ) THE INBETWEENIES The Goodies

42 ( 15 ) WOMBLING MERRY CHRISTMAS The Wombles

43 ( 43 ) PLEASE TELL HIM THAT I SAID HELLO Dana

44 ( 44 ) ALI SHUFFLE Georgie Fame

45 ( NEW ) FLY NOW Brian Protheroe

46 ( 40 ) CHRISTMAS SONG Gilbert O’Sullivan

47 ( 46 ) EVERYBODY NEEDS A RAINBOW Ray Stevens

48 ( 37 ) FATHER CHRISTMAS DO NOT TOUCH ME The Goodies

49 ( 41 ) YOU CAN HAVE IT ALL George McRae

50 ( 32 ) MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY Slade

 

 

21st January 1975

 

Back up to number one, Gloria Gaynor’s Never Can Say Goodbye becomes the first record to go back up to 1 twice, for the 3rd week in 5, keeping ahead of the chasing pack, Cats In The Cradle and Angie Baby, both American chart-toppers and showing my tastes were getting more and more American-chart-influenced thanks to The American Forces chartshow rundown, and American (UK based) chart and pop and music encyclopedia Paul Gambaccini on Radio 1, who became the Music Industry Font of All Knowledge for decades, and someone I look up to still (I have an actual hand-written letter from him after I noted some errors in the first edition of the Guinness Book Of UK Hit Singles and wrote in with some US chart fact questions).

 

Quo get their 5th hit, as Down Down hits 6, and Dave Jordan (who?!) gets to 8. Ringo’s back with Only You, shuffling along to a new chart re-entry peak of 17, and highest new entry is the terrific Goodbye My Love from the Glitter Band, one I under-rated a bit, but gives them their 3rd hit in at 20. I just listened to it again, and it’s a great song and record, unfairly forgotten, being as it hit UK chart peak of 2 as well. At 21, Sugar Candy Kisses finally gives brother and sister Mac And Katie Kissoon a big UK hit, 4 years after scoring in the States with their version of Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep. It’s sweet as it’s title.

 

Claire Hamill seems to still be active releasing the occasional album or backing big names, but here she is with an actual chart entry of her own, here and nowhere else, with Geronimo’s Cadillac, very folk-styled in a Maria Muldaur fashion, in at 27, just ahead of a reggae-cover-version that I’ve not heard in 40 years. Jamaican Smokey 007 never made it big either, and as there’s no youtube or itunes link, it looks like I’m not going to get to hear his version of The New Seekers hit cover of Delaney & Bonnie’s Never Ending Song Of Love ever again. The New Seekers hit 1 with their version in my charts 4 years earlier, and I obviously liked this one, so it’s a huge shame I can’t hear it. Doh!

 

 

Queen follow-up 2 Freddie Mercury song chart-toppers in a row with a Brian May song, Now I’m Here. It rocks along nicely, but the drop in song standard was very noticeable to me, even though I didn’t know who was writing the songs at the time.

JImmy Ruffin’s 3rd oldie in 4 hits in 6 months is his 1967 and 1969 UK hit, I’ve Passed This Way Before - it didn’t chart in my charts in 1969, as it fell short of the top 30 just before we left for Singapore, and I really don’t recall hearing it, but it’s as fab as Jimmy Ruffin’s greatest records and his 7th chart hit here. A great singer, just like his younger brother, David Ruffin of the Temptations.

 

Finally, Iron Cross’ glamrock bubblegum gem finally enter my charts 3 years on with a record that I loved from Alan Freeman’s show in 1972 (but wasn’t eligible to chart as it failed to make the UK top 30). This really should have been a hit, though the original US number 2 from 1967 (The Music Explosion) is also pretty good - a Kasenatz-Katt (bubblegum producers) creation, which makes absolute sense, as the riffs were nicked by The Archies, the ultimate bubblegum act. The Ramones and Bruce Springsteen have covered this song, and it’s pop-punktastic.

 

1 ( 2 ) NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE Gloria Gaynor

2 ( 1 ) ONLY YOU CAN Fox

3 ( 3 ) GET DANCIN’ Disco Tex and The Sex-o-lettes

4 ( 7 ) CATS IN THE CRADLE Harry Chapin

5 ( 8 ) ANGIE BABY Helen Reddy

6 ( 16 ) DOWN DOWN Status Quo

7 ( 5 ) YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHIN' YET Bachman-Turner Overdrive

8 ( 12 ) STREET CORNER MUSIC Dave Jordan

9 ( 4 ) THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN Lulu

10 ( 6 ) HAPPY XMAS (WAR IS OVER) John & Yoko and The Plastic Ono Band with The Harlem Community Choir

 

11 ( 9 ) LOVE IS ALL Roger Glover and Guests (featuring Ronnie Dio)

12 ( 14 ) BOOGIE ON REGGAE WOMAN Stevie Wonder

13 ( 10 ) STARDUST David Essex

14 ( 17 ) SOMETHING FOR THE GIRL WITH EVERYTHING Sparks

15 ( 11 ) JE T’AIME...MOI NON PLUS Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg

16 ( 19 ) HELP ME MAKE IT THROUGH THE NIGHT John Holt

17 ( RE ) ONLY YOU Ringo Starr

18 ( 21 ) PURELY BY COINCIDENCE Sweet Sensation

19 ( 22 ) I WON’T DANCE John Henry

20 ( NEW ) GOODBYE MY LOVE The Glitter Band

 

 

21 ( NEW ) SUGAR CANDY KISSES Mac And Katie Kissoon

22 ( 18 ) CRYING OVER YOU Ken Boothe

23 ( 24 ) ARE YOU READY TO ROCK Wizzard

24 ( 13 ) I CAN HELP Billy Swan

25 ( 25 ) JANUARY Pilot

26 ( NEW ) NEVER ENDING SONG OF LOVE Smokey 007

27 ( NEW ) GERONIMO’S CADILLAC Claire Hamill

28 ( 47 ) EVERYBODY NEEDS A RAINBOW Ray Stevens

29 ( 15 ) SO LONG Abba

30 ( 20 ) I WISH IT COULD BE CHRISTMAS EVERYDAY Wizzard

 

 

31 ( 29 ) GET DANCIN’ PART 2 Disco Tex and The Sex-o-lettes

32 ( 26 ) YOU CAN MAKE ME DANCE SING OR ANYTHING (EVEN TAKE THE DOG FOR A WALK MEND A FUSE FOLD AWAY THE IRONING BOARD OR ANY OTHER DOMESTIC SHORTCOMINGS) The Faces featuring Rod Stewart

33 ( 23 ) HEY MR CHRISTMAS Showaddywaddy

34 ( 32 ) I HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE Marvin Gaye

35 ( 34 ) HOLD ME TIGHT Johnny Nash

36 ( NEW ) NOW I’M HERE Queen

37 ( NEW ) I’VE PASSED THIS WAY BEFORE Jimmy Ruffin

38 ( 35 ) TWO SLEEPY PEOPLE Philip and Vanessa

39 ( 33 ) IRE FEELINGS (SKANGA) Rupie Edwards

40 ( 31 ) SOUND YOUR FUNKY HORN KC And The Sunshine Band

 

 

41 ( 36 ) JUKEBOX JIVE The Rubettes

42 ( 27 ) DING DONG George Harrison

43 ( 38 ) ROCK ‘N’ ROLL (I GAVE YOU THE BEST YEARS OF MY LIFE) Terry Jacks

44 ( 30 ) LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS Elton John

45 ( 37 ) OH YES YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL Gary Glitter

46 ( 45 ) FLY NOW Brian Protheroe

47 ( 28 ) LONELY THIS CHRISTMAS Mud

48 ( NEW ) LITTLE BIT O’ SOUL Iron Cross

49 ( 43 ) PLEASE TELL HIM THAT I SAID HELLO Dana

50 ( 44 ) ALI SHUFFLE Georgie Fame

 

 

28th January 1975

 

A new number one, and it’s Helen Reddy’s Angie Baby, a record where the lyrics are essential to the appeal, a sort of disturbing spooky story song in a vaguely MOR setting, wholesome with a twist. Fab. Re-entering at 4 it’s The Carpenters adding another dose of wholesomeness with the very catchy cover of Please Mr Postman. The Beatles also covered it, and the Carpenters covered Ticket To Ride for a lovely circular bit of cover-versioning. Syreeta also gets her follow-up hit to Spinnin’ And Spinnin, at 19, the delicious Your Kiss Is Sweet. At 30, Love Unlimited (aka Mrs Barry White and friends) get a second Barry-White written and produced hit 3 years after Walking In The Rain With The One I Love, the smooth strings-harmony-soul delight of It May Be Winter Outside...just weather-obsessed, them!

 

Talking of oldies, I was finally getting to hear some of the missing UK hit records from my 1970 Singapore days, courtesy of Jimmy Now Then Now Then on his 5 Years Ago chartshow on Radio 1, so at least he was good for something. Don’t know what I’m ever gonna do with that Jim’ll Fix It T shirt though.... One chart entry at 49 links to that, Blue MInk’s debut hit Melting Pot finally charts at the tail end of their career instead of the much better Get Up, which would instead become a minor hit record in the summer for The Rimshots with a different title, 7654321 (Blow Your Whistle). Melting Pot is OK, well-meaning, but has some non-pc lyrics these days so it’s not likely to be covered anytime soon.

 

Highest new entry though is 1971 top tenner, Brandy, from Scott English, a heartfelt emotional ballad with a touch of class. It was reissued no doubt to catch a few sales from a much bigger hit cover by Barry Manilow - Mandy. Change the name, slow it down, go over the top, bland it up, and hey presto everyone thinks you did the original. Scott English remains the definitive (unknown) version. In at 5. In at 15, the even older Footsie, by Wigan’s Chosen Few. The Northern Soul scene was huge in Wigan, and this 1968 b-side track by The Chosen Few was basically speeded up and overdubbed with crowds and sound effects to get a dancefloor vibe groovin’. I loved it at the time, less so these days, but it’s fun, and it really boosted Northern Soul dancing and fashions in the discos down south as well as northern England.

 

 

 

The rest: Bachman-Turner Overdrive get a their lesser follow-up hit to a classic, Arrows also get a follow-up hit, the pleasant My Last Night With You - should’ve gone with I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll, really, they had two series of music shows on ITV, Joan Jett took a shine to it while touring with The Runaways, hey presto worldwide hit. This was Arrows last gasp in the charts, sadly. Back again a year on, it’s Otis’ son Dexter Redding and God Bless - I really did like that one, wish I could get hold of a copy! Sha Na Na get a second hit with a record I have no memory of at all, but as Hot Sox exists nowhere online, I can say nothing about it all. Doh!

 

Finally, at a modest 50, it’s Number 9 Dream, John Lennon’s single from his Non-Yoko year and then-girlfriend May Pang adds backing-vocals. The single amusingly peaked at number 9 in the USA, but frustratingly only hit 23 in the UK charts, both vastly under-appreciating the genius of this record, quite possibly my favourite John Lennon solo track, give or take the Xmas song charting higher than it. It came to John in a dream, and it has a dreamy, otherworldly feel to it, and that melody is a killer, the nonsense chorus is just gorgeous. It remain’s John’s unknown classic, and high-time that was changed.

 

 

1 ( 5 ) ANGIE BABY Helen Reddy

2 ( 1 ) NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE Gloria Gaynor

3 ( 4 ) CATS IN THE CRADLE Harry Chapin

4 ( RE ) PLEASE MR POSTMAN The Carpenters

5 ( NEW ) BRANDY Scott English

6 ( 3 ) GET DANCIN’ Disco Tex and The Sex-o-lettes

7 ( 8 ) STREET CORNER MUSIC Dave Jordan

8 ( 6 ) DOWN DOWN Status Quo

9 ( 2 ) ONLY YOU CAN Fox

10 ( 12 ) BOOGIE ON REGGAE WOMAN Stevie Wonder

 

 

11 ( 20 ) GOODBYE MY LOVE The Glitter Band

12 ( 21 ) SUGAR CANDY KISSES Mac And Katie Kissoon

13 ( 26 ) NEVER ENDING SONG OF LOVE Smokey 007

14 ( 14 ) SOMETHING FOR THE GIRL WITH EVERYTHING Sparks

15 ( NEW ) FOOTSIE Wigan’s Chosen Few

16 ( 7 ) YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHIN' YET Bachman-Turner Overdrive

17 ( 10 ) HAPPY XMAS (WAR IS OVER) John & Yoko and The Plastic Ono Band with The Harlem Community Choir

18 ( 11 ) LOVE IS ALL Roger Glover and Guests (featuring Ronnie Dio)

19 ( NEW ) YOUR KISS IS SWEET Syreeta

20 ( 27 ) GERONIMO’S CADILLAC Claire Hamill

 

21 ( 13 ) STARDUST David Essex

22 ( 19 ) I WON’T DANCE John Henry

23 ( 16 ) HELP ME MAKE IT THROUGH THE NIGHT John Holt

24 ( 25 ) JANUARY Pilot

25 ( 17 ) ONLY YOU Ringo Starr

26 ( 15 ) JE T’AIME...MOI NON PLUS Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg

27 ( 9 ) THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN Lulu

28 ( 28 ) EVERYBODY NEEDS A RAINBOW Ray Stevens

29 ( 18 ) PURELY BY COINCIDENCE Sweet Sensation

30 ( NEW ) IT MAY BE WINTER OUTSIDE (BUT IN MY HEART IT’S SPRING) Love Unlimited

 

 

31 ( 36 ) NOW I’M HERE Queen

32 ( 23 ) ARE YOU READY TO ROCK Wizzard

33 ( 24 ) I CAN HELP Billy Swan

34 ( 34 ) I HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE Marvin Gaye

35 ( 35 ) HOLD ME TIGHT Johnny Nash

36 ( NEW ) ROLL ON DOWN THE HIGHWAY Bachman-Turner Overdrive

37 ( NEW ) MY LAST NIGHT WITH YOU Arrows

38 ( NEW ) GOD BLESS Dexter Redding

39 ( 22 ) CRYING OVER YOU Ken Boothe

40 ( 30 ) I WISH IT COULD BE CHRISTMAS EVERYDAY Wizzard

 

41 ( 31 ) GET DANCIN’ PART 2 Disco Tex and The Sex-o-lettes

42 ( 29 ) SO LONG Abba

43 ( 32 ) YOU CAN MAKE ME DANCE SING OR ANYTHING (EVEN TAKE THE DOG FOR A WALK MEND A FUSE FOLD AWAY THE IRONING BOARD OR ANY OTHER DOMESTIC SHORTCOMINGS) The Faces featuring Rod Stewart

44 ( 33 ) HEY MR CHRISTMAS Showaddywaddy

45 ( NEW ) HOT SOX Sha Na Na

46 ( 40 ) SOUND YOUR FUNKY HORN KC And The Sunshine Band

47 ( 37 ) I’VE PASSED THIS WAY BEFORE Jimmy Ruffin

48 ( 48 ) LITTLE BIT O’ SOUL Iron Cross

49 ( NEW ) MELTING POT Blue Mink

50 ( NEW ) #9 DREAM John Lennon

 

 

 

On TV I have yet to mention TISWAS, which in these days was not a national show, just regional around the Midlands area on ITV, it was a new anarchic, slapstick, hectic, jokey Saturday morning marathon kids TV show hosted by Chris Tarrant, future DJ, TV star, and host of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, the original. Little kids loved the naughtiness and custard pies, bigger kids like me loved that Tarrant was taking the pee out of kids (without being nasty). It made a star of Lenny Henry, and Spit The Dog, had pop stars galore joining in the fun, and John Gorman ex-The Scaffold was on hand too. Eventually it spread to other regions and became a massive hit show (and even made the UK singles charts in 1980), but in 1975 I was there and a big fan ahead of the rest of the UK by quite a few years...

4th February 1975

2 weeks for Helen Reddy’s spooky Angie Baby presiding over an inrush of oldies at the top end, as The Tams 1971 UK number one (and my Top 10) reissued 1964 Hey Girl Don’t Bother Me enters at 2, outdoing it’s original chart slot, along with Brandy also from 1971 at 3. Leaving the 1968 UK hit version, my top 10, and also peaking higher second time round, the 1966 classic Motown Isley Brothers track This Old Heart Of Mine at 4. 3rd and 4th time round would be even bigger...! I think the oldies show that even though they weren’t actually THAT old (mostly less than 10 years), that’s really quite a long time ago when you’re a teenager - now of course, tracks less than 10 years old I consider recent!

 

Northern Soul fun-time at 7 for Footsie (also an oldie), and a brilliant climb up from 50 for John Lennon’s brilliant Number 9 Dream at 9 - almost as if i planned it! John of course has only ever had one flop - Cold Turkey in 1969, because I never got to hear it (it was banned!), and it’s still a bit harrowing. Love Unlimited meanwhile get a second top 20 hit, the luvverley It May be Winter at 15, as BTO replace themselves in the top 20 rolling on down the highway. Highest proper new entry is soul woman Betty Wright, finally getting her UK debut hit 4 years after scoring big in the States with Clean-Up Woman at age 18. I liked her because she said in interviews at the time that she was a comics fan. Shoorah Shoorah at 39 for Betty!

 

That leaves a 7th hit for Suzi Quatro at 41, who said quite correctly for the time, Your Mama Won’t Like Me - hard to believe loveable Suzi was remotely threatening, but wearing leather seemed to do the trick. At 47, another track I missed out on in 1970, but caught up with now, Joni Mitchell’s 4th hit Big Yellow Taxi. Bit of a famous one! Great too, great lyrics, I still agree with every word. Which just leaves The Trammps naughty Sixty Minute Man follow-up popping in (am I allowed to say that?) at 48. I mean, they talk about going on for 60 minutes as if it’s something impressive, I consider anything less than 2 hours a quickie. Hah!

 

 

1 ( 1 ) ANGIE BABY Helen Reddy

2 ( NEW ) HEY GIRL DON’T BOTHER ME The Tams

3 ( 5 ) BRANDY Scott English

4 ( NEW ) THIS OLD HEART OF MINE The Isley Brothers

5 ( 2 ) NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE Gloria Gaynor

6 ( 4 ) PLEASE MR POSTMAN The Carpenters

7 ( 15 ) FOOTSIE Wigan’s Chosen Few

8 ( 19 ) YOUR KISS IS SWEET Syreeta

9 ( 50 ) #9 DREAM John Lennon

10 ( 6 ) GET DANCIN’ Disco Tex and The Sex-o-lettes

 

 

11 ( 3 ) CATS IN THE CRADLE Harry Chapin

12 ( 10 ) BOOGIE ON REGGAE WOMAN Stevie Wonder

13 ( 13 ) NEVER ENDING SONG OF LOVE Smokey 007

14 ( 7 ) STREET CORNER MUSIC Dave Jordan

15 ( 30 ) IT MAY BE WINTER OUTSIDE (BUT IN MY HEART IT’S SPRING) Love Unlimited

16 ( 9 ) ONLY YOU CAN Fox

17 ( 20 ) GERONIMO’S CADILLAC Claire Hamill

18 ( 18 ) LOVE IS ALL Roger Glover and Guests (featuring Ronnie Dio)

19 ( 8 ) DOWN DOWN Status Quo

20 ( 36 ) ROLL ON DOWN THE HIGHWAY Bachman-Turner Overdrive

 

21 ( 14 ) SOMETHING FOR THE GIRL WITH EVERYTHING Sparks

22 ( 31 ) NOW I’M HERE Queen

23 ( 12 ) SUGAR CANDY KISSES Mac And Katie Kissoon

24 ( 38 ) GOD BLESS Dexter Redding

25 ( 22 ) I WON’T DANCE John Henry

26 ( 37 ) MY LAST NIGHT WITH YOU Arrows

27 ( 23 ) HELP ME MAKE IT THROUGH THE NIGHT John Holt

28 ( 26 ) JE T’AIME...MOI NON PLUS Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg

29 ( 16 ) YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHIN' YET Bachman-Turner Overdrive

30 ( 17 ) HAPPY XMAS (WAR IS OVER) John & Yoko and The Plastic Ono Band with The Harlem Community Choir

 

31 ( 11 ) GOODBYE MY LOVE The Glitter Band

32 ( 32 ) ARE YOU READY TO ROCK Wizzard

33 ( 33 ) I CAN HELP Billy Swan

34 ( 27 ) THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN Lulu

35 ( 24 ) JANUARY Pilot

36 ( 21 ) STARDUST David Essex

37 ( 34 ) I HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE Marvin Gaye

38 ( 35 ) HOLD ME TIGHT Johnny Nash

39 ( NEW ) SHOORAH SHOORAH Betty Wright

40 ( 28 ) EVERYBODY NEEDS A RAINBOW Ray Stevens

 

 

41 ( NEW ) YOUR MAMA WON’T LIKE ME Suzi Quatro

42 ( 49 ) MELTING POT Blue Mink

43 ( 25 ) ONLY YOU Ringo Starr

44 ( 29 ) PURELY BY COINCIDENCE Sweet Sensation

45 ( 45 ) HOT SOX Sha Na Na

46 ( 42 ) SO LONG Abba

47 ( NEW ) BIG YELLOW TAXI Joni Mitchell

48 ( NEW ) SIXTY MINUTE MAN The Trammps

49 ( 40 ) I WISH IT COULD BE CHRISTMAS EVERYDAY Wizzard

50 ( 41 ) GET DANCIN’ PART 2 Disco Tex and The Sex-o-lettes

 

 

 

In the world, it was a sad day as a certain M. Thatcher wins the ballot on 4th feb 1975 to become leader of the UK Conservative party, proving that a woman can be just as disastrous as any man for the long-term good of a nation. I’m biased. Based on events since 2008 which can be traced back to her naive belief in the rich and powerful being able to self-govern with honesty, having a concern for the general well-being of the world, and a distinct lack-of-self-interest, I’m also right. They can’t be trusted to do the right thing and need to be accountable at all times to ensure they don’t wreck the world economy. That concludes the end of the party political broadcast on behalf of the Statin’ The Bleedin’ Obvious Party. I thank you.

11th February 1975

 

3 weeks for Helen and the rest of the top 5 are oldies, which is a shame as John Lennon’s classic 9 Dream would have peaked at 4 otherwise, or 2 if you discount cover versions - yes it was the second highest rated actual only new song in the top 10, just ahead of Syreeta’s Your Kiss Is Sweet, which ironically keeps her husband’s Boogie On Reggae Woman out of the top 10. In at 9, highest new entry is Nottingham’s finest getting a 4th hit, Paper Lace covering Vanity fare’s 1970 top 5 fave of mine, Hitchin’ A Ride. Frank Ifield’s unavailable and obscure version is better though, a fave of mine when I lived in Singapore. Nottingham, happily, now has 2 actual pop stars charting in 2014 and 2015, notably Indiana who’s been solo dancing recently.

 

It’s a big top 20 climb for Suzi Quatro at 14, Your Mama Won’t Like Me giving Suzi one of her bigger chart peaks with one of her minor UK hits. Queen peak at 22 shockingly, after 2 number ones, but Brian May songs just didn’t connect with me like Freddie’s did. Ignoring Now I’m Here Queen would have had 3 consecutive number ones with Freddie songs, as the next one was an obscure little ditty called Bohemian Rhapsody which I rather loved. Betty Wright goes top 30, hoorah hoorah, just ahead of the highest actual new song at 27, Shame Shame Shame as Shirley & Co bring a bit of All Platinum fun soul disco into the charts: shame on you if you can’t dance too, indeed.

 

At 28, it’s a bona fide classic, as Cockney Rebel frontman Steve Harley gets top billing and a third chart entry from me, the track that just made the UK sales Top 40 chart for the third time in January 2015, 40 years on (though only scraping into the combined non-sales Top 75 official chart, where apparently pushing 10,000 actual sales isn’t as important as people playing the same records month after month for free and paying nothing): Make Me Smile, as Mae West said, Come Up And See Me sometime. It was ground-breaking in it’s clever use of intermittent silence, melody, and of course Steve Harley’s unique vocal style, previously brilliantly demonstrated on Judy Teen summer of ’74, a top 3 peak from me. Now I just need an excuse to chart the marvellous Sebastian, one I didn’t know at the time.

 

At 29, another 1968 track, bubblegum pop from Ohio Express that just pre-dated my charts, but which featured on our 16 Big Hits album that I played and played in Singapore in 1969/70. Yummy Yummy Yummy! At 42, bubblegum 1968 again, The Lemon Pipers fab Green Tambourine also debuting belatedly. Quo did as version of this one, so it’s a bit edgier than Ohio Express. At 41, The Hues Corporation get a third chart entry with more of a ballad this time, and hey, I’ll take a melody, too. Rupie Edwards is also back, with identikit follow-up Lego Skanga at 43, not nearly as good as Ire Feelings, but pleasant enough.

 

 

1 ( 1 ) ANGIE BABY Helen Reddy

2 ( 2 ) HEY GIRL DON’T BOTHER ME The Tams

3 ( 7 ) FOOTSIE Wigan’s Chosen Few

4 ( 4 ) THIS OLD HEART OF MINE The Isley Brothers

5 ( 3 ) BRANDY Scott English

6 ( 5 ) NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE Gloria Gaynor

7 ( 6 ) PLEASE MR POSTMAN The Carpenters

8 ( 9 ) #9 DREAM John Lennon

9 ( NEW ) HITCHIN’ A RIDE ’75 Paper Lace

10 ( 8 ) YOUR KISS IS SWEET Syreeta

 

11 ( 12 ) BOOGIE ON REGGAE WOMAN Stevie Wonder

12 ( 15 ) IT MAY BE WINTER OUTSIDE (BUT IN MY HEART IT’S SPRING) Love Unlimited

13 ( 20 ) ROLL ON DOWN THE HIGHWAY Bachman-Turner Overdrive

14 ( 41 ) YOUR MAMA WON’T LIKE ME Suzi Quatro

15 ( 10 ) GET DANCIN’ Disco Tex and The Sex-o-lettes

16 ( 16 ) ONLY YOU CAN Fox

17 ( 13 ) NEVER ENDING SONG OF LOVE Smokey 007

18 ( 21 ) SOMETHING FOR THE GIRL WITH EVERYTHING Sparks

19 ( 17 ) GERONIMO’S CADILLAC Claire Hamill

20 ( 11 ) CATS IN THE CRADLE Harry Chapin

 

 

21 ( 19 ) DOWN DOWN Status Quo

22 ( 22 ) NOW I’M HERE Queen

23 ( 18 ) LOVE IS ALL Roger Glover and Guests (featuring Ronnie Dio)

24 ( 14 ) STREET CORNER MUSIC Dave Jordan

25 ( 39 ) SHOORAH SHOORAH Betty Wright

26 ( 24 ) GOD BLESS Dexter Redding

27 ( NEW ) SHAME SHAME SHAME Shirley & Company

28 ( NEW ) MAKE ME SMILE (COME UP AND SEE ME) Steve Harley And Cockney Rebel

29 ( NEW ) YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY Ohio Express

30 ( 26 ) MY LAST NIGHT WITH YOU Arrows

 

 

31 ( 23 ) SUGAR CANDY KISSES Mac And Katie Kissoon

32 ( 25 ) I WON’T DANCE John Henry

33 ( 27 ) HELP ME MAKE IT THROUGH THE NIGHT John Holt

34 ( 40 ) EVERYBODY NEEDS A RAINBOW Ray Stevens

35 ( 29 ) YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHIN' YET Bachman-Turner Overdrive

36 ( 30 ) HAPPY XMAS (WAR IS OVER) John & Yoko and The Plastic Ono Band with The Harlem Community Choir

37 ( 28 ) JE T’AIME...MOI NON PLUS Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg

38 ( 47 ) BIG YELLOW TAXI Joni Mitchell

39 ( 42 ) MELTING POT Blue Mink

40 ( 48 ) SIXTY MINUTE MAN The Trammps

 

 

41 ( NEW ) I’LL TAKE A MELODY The Hues Corporation

42 ( NEW ) GREEN TAMBOURINE The Lemon Pipers

43 ( NEW ) LEGO SKANGA Rupie Edwards

44 ( 33 ) I CAN HELP Billy Swan

45 ( 32 ) ARE YOU READY TO ROCK Wizzard

46 ( 37 ) I HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE Marvin Gaye

47 ( 38 ) HOLD ME TIGHT Johnny Nash

48 ( 34 ) THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN Lulu

49 ( 31 ) GOODBYE MY LOVE The Glitter Band

50 ( 35 ) JANUARY Pilot

 

 

Drawing to a close on TV any week now it was Frankie Howard’s Up Pompeii special, ooh, no missus, don’t mock, no, ooh, no titter ye not...and so on. I loved Frankie, but it had actually ended in 1970 and just been repeated so much it seemed to have lasted longer. I’m probably the only one to remember his less-good follow-up series from 19730-ish Whoops Baghdad. Not likely to be repeated that one...! Also in it’s last throws The Golden Shot, Bernie The Bolt, and a show that had outstayed it’s welcome pretty much from the moment it started. At the cinema The Towering Inferno was still topping box office charts week after week, it was a blockbuster and a half relative to the overall market. Saturday was my cinema day, in Gloucester, which also gave me opportunities to continue to scour newsagents and second hand book shops like Toby’s for back DC Comics issues and hot new comics, which were back on form and normal sized after DC’s disastrous flirtation with thicker, more expensive comics, stuffed with reissued old stories as fillers to new stories. I know I felt short-changed cos I wasn’t interested (much) in old stories, they didn’t have the pizzaz of 70’s stories. Legion Of Super-Heroes of course was still in revival, looking sexy, but with a new artist in Mike Grell, who was no Dave Cockrum, though not bad. Dave Cockrum’s artwork could inspire the proposed new Warners movie of the Legion as well as it set up the X-Men (essentially the comic he took over at this point).

18th February 1975

4 weeks for Angie Baby, and 3 weeks at 2 for The Tams, leaving highest new entry being a Valentines Day record from Mud - even the picture sleeve was done as if it were a gift from me to you stylee. Lonely This Christmas was the first Mud record to fall short of the top 10 (though it would eventually go all the way), so The Secrets That You Keep puts them back in the top 5 with a gentle ballad bang, I did after all love the lads dearly. It’s also the very final Chinn-Chapman record with Mud, as like The Sweet they abandoned their writer-producers leaving them free to all go their new chart ways.

 

Shirley & Co go up to 6, as Fox go back up for the umpteenth time in 5 months, to 10, one of the most chaotic chart runs ever for me! Magpie’s Mick Robertson manages a second chart entry to follow-up his number one The Tango’s Over, at 11 with Then I Changed Hands, a reggae-prog-rock fusion and one I haven’t heard for 40 years, quite literally. Youtube comes to my rescue, and it’s rather damn fine. It’s written and produced by Richard Hewson, he of The Rah Band, and arranger of ooh, Beatles, Mary Hopkin, Cliff Richard and all some of their finest moments too. It’s safe to assume I was more Magpie than Blue Peter still, they just addressed you more as teens where Blue Peter talked as if you were about 10. Steve Harley goes up to 12, shockingly it’s chart peak first time round - I think over-saturation may have had something to do with it, and it seemed a bit novelty-ish - though like Mud’s Xmas it would be back to top the charts at a later date, hooray!

 

New at 19, it’s a 60’s veteran, Mike Berry, who gets a chart debut with a slowed-down moody version of Elvis Presley’s Don’t Be Cruel, a song which had already been top 10 for me in 1972 as covered novelty-style by The Berries (formerly The Rocking Berries 60’s hitmakers). It was also a cover version of Billy Swan’s version from his I Can Help album which would also chart after Mike Berry’s version - I didn’t realise Mike had copied Billy! Mike had to wait another 5 years to make the UK charts again, after serving time on the Are You Being Served sitcom after it was past it’s sell-by date. That was still big on UK TV in 1975, of course, as innuendo still seemed much more racy and daring than it does these in-yer-face days. Who could forget Mrs Slocombe’s poor bedraggled pussy, or Mr Humphrey’s parade of friends, including the busty attractive one who was much happier since the operation?

 

Big climbs for Hues Corporation and Rupie Edwards, and a new entry for Neil Sedaka at 29, his final ever UK hit single (stunningly considering what was to come after The Queen Of 1964, a clever amusing song about an overage groupie who once had Mick Jagger - she claimed), but in my (and the US) charts it was one of a string of hits going back 3 years chronologically, although 16 years if you count the original release date of 1972 number one Oh Carol, released in 1959 when I was 1 year old. Neil does this one in concert, and it’s great fun. As is the latest Rubettes hit at 30, making it 4 in a row with I Can Do It, a great glam pop romp, which was later murdered brutally by a football team who changed it to We Can Do It.... yes stand up and own up Liverpool FC 1977 - still one of the least-bad ever football records as sung by the squads, there’s so little good competition!

 

More debuts though: Rupert Holmes, 5 years ahead of his Pina Colada song hit debut in the UK, enters at 34 with the American National Anthem - with a difference! It’s the tune, with amusing classy lyric changes about how American guys try to get a girl to err fall for their charms, Our National Pastime. It’s gentle, witty, clever. At 41, it’s the record that shocked Bowie fans: he enters his plastic soul period backed by Luther Vandross, Young Americans was such an abrupt change from Ziggy and Aladdin many couldn’t cope, and sales dropped, but I thought it was funktastic and way better than any of his 1974 singles - though I now love Rebel Rebel. At 42 it’s another brilliant debut, Supertramp and Dreamer, a seriously unusual single, but SO damn catchy despite not really having a hook you can sing as such, as it belts along at a hectic pace. Fantastic, and still their best single.

 

At 43, another 60’s goodie, the minor fabulousness that has the same name as a DC superhero that I loved - till she was killed off in Crisis On Infinite Earths 10 or more years later, damn that DC Comics! Supergirl, that’ll be then, who just happened to be one of the Legion Of Super-Heroes as well as Superman’s cousin. I digress, it’s a great 1966 pop charmer and deserved to chart. Meanwhile at 44, The Pearls are back with their 6th chart entry, though they only really had one big UK hit (Guilty), and this non-hit was actually ahead of it’s time. 2 years ahead, give or take, as Tina Charles went on to have a big (slightly shrill) hit with it - Doctor Love.

 

 

 

1 ( 1 ) ANGIE BABY Helen Reddy

2 ( 2 ) HEY GIRL DON’T BOTHER ME The Tams

3 ( 3 ) FOOTSIE Wigan’s Chosen Few

4 ( 9 ) HITCHIN’ A RIDE ’75 Paper Lace

5 ( NEW ) THE SECRETS THAT YOU KEEP Mud

6 ( 27 ) SHAME SHAME SHAME Shirley & Company

7 ( 4 ) THIS OLD HEART OF MINE The Isley Brothers

8 ( 5 ) BRANDY Scott English

9 ( 6 ) NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE Gloria Gaynor

10 ( 16 ) ONLY YOU CAN Fox

 

 

11 ( NEW ) THEN I CHANGED HANDS Mick Robertson

12 ( 28 ) MAKE ME SMILE (COME UP AND SEE ME) Steve Harley And Cockney Rebel

13 ( 13 ) ROLL ON DOWN THE HIGHWAY Bachman-Turner Overdrive

14 ( 8 ) #9 DREAM John Lennon

15 ( 12 ) IT MAY BE WINTER OUTSIDE (BUT IN MY HEART IT’S SPRING) Love Unlimited

16 ( 7 ) PLEASE MR POSTMAN The Carpenters

17 ( 29 ) YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY Ohio Express

18 ( 14 ) YOUR MAMA WON’T LIKE ME Suzi Quatro

19 ( NEW ) DON’T BE CRUEL Mike Berry

20 ( 15 ) GET DANCIN’ Disco Tex and The Sex-o-lettes

 

 

21 ( 10 ) YOUR KISS IS SWEET Syreeta

22 ( 11 ) BOOGIE ON REGGAE WOMAN Stevie Wonder

23 ( 41 ) I’LL TAKE A MELODY The Hues Corporation

24 ( 43 ) LEGO SKANGA Rupie Edwards

25 ( 25 ) SHOORAH SHOORAH Betty Wright

26 ( 38 ) BIG YELLOW TAXI Joni Mitchell

27 ( 17 ) NEVER ENDING SONG OF LOVE Smokey 007

28 ( 30 ) MY LAST NIGHT WITH YOU Arrows

29 ( NEW ) THE QUEEN OF 1964 Neil Sedaka

30 ( NEW ) I CAN DO IT The Rubettes

 

 

31 ( 21 ) DOWN DOWN Status Quo

32 ( 18 ) SOMETHING FOR THE GIRL WITH EVERYTHING Sparks

33 ( 23 ) LOVE IS ALL Roger Glover and Guests (featuring Ronnie Dio)

34 ( NEW ) OUR NATIONAL PASTIME Rupert Holmes

35 ( 42 ) GREEN TAMBOURINE The Lemon Pipers

36 ( 26 ) GOD BLESS Dexter Redding

37 ( 19 ) GERONIMO’S CADILLAC Claire Hamill

38 ( 24 ) STREET CORNER MUSIC Dave Jordan

39 ( 22 ) NOW I’M HERE Queen

40 ( 20 ) CATS IN THE CRADLE Harry Chapin

 

 

41 ( NEW ) YOUNG AMERICANS David Bowie

42 ( NEW ) DREAMER Supertramp

43 ( NEW ) SUPERGIRL Graham Bonney

44 ( NEW ) DOCTOR LOVE The Pearls

45 ( 34 ) EVERYBODY NEEDS A RAINBOW Ray Stevens

46 ( 35 ) YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHIN' YET Bachman-Turner Overdrive

47 ( 36 ) HAPPY XMAS (WAR IS OVER) John & Yoko and The Plastic Ono Band with The Harlem Community Choir

48 ( 37 ) JE T’AIME...MOI NON PLUS Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg

49 ( 46 ) I HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE Marvin Gaye

50 ( 47 ) HOLD ME TIGHT Johnny Nash

 

 

25th February 1975

 

5 weeks on top for Helen Reddy, the longest run since Paul McCartney & Wings’ Jet, and the first to do 5 weeks in a row since Mud had Hypnosis on top summer of 73. Paper Lace go 2 places higher than the original Hitchin’ A Ride, at 2, and Shirley and Company take the greta Sylvia Robinson’s song and production into the top 5 2 years after her own sexy Pillow Talk did the same, and 5 years ahead of her Sugar Hill Records bringing rap to the world. Mike Berry just misses out on the 10, as the man who’s version he borrowed Don’t Be Cruel from, enters at 22 with the more novelty track off the album, I’m Her Fool and Billy Swan. The Rubettes and Rupert Holmes get good jumps into the 20, and Neil Sedaka’s Queen of 1964 stays ahead of highest new entry Remember The Days Of The Old School Yard as Linda Lewis gets her 3rd chart entry at 20. It’s a Cat Stevens song, but I prefer Linda’s vocals.

 

Two soul groups for the price of one at 23, as another Sylvia Robinson sweet soul act enters: Moments and Whatnauts sing about Girls - they like ‘em fat, they like ‘em pretty, they like ‘em any which way, apparently, which is a rather admirably inclusive attitude for the 70’s. Unless they are more Quagmire than is called for. Giggity. At 27, a Northern Soul classic, Dean Parrish’ I’m On My Way, and the last record ever to be played at the then-famous Wigan Casino all-nighters. Dean never really made it in the States, but his minor celebrity in the UK was good enough for Paul Weller and Steve Craddock to want to do more recent stuff with him after decades away from the music biz. Yay! Meanwhile Bowie and Supertramp go top 30, hooray!

 

At 33 Hello get a follow-up to Tell Him, Games Up, which is reasonable glam rock, and at 36 Ringo Starr’s solo career starts to wind down, rather surprisingly, given it was written for him by Elton John: Snookeroo, it must be said, isn’t either of them at their best though! No No Song, as the odd “I given up drugs” double A side, was even less commercial! In at 43, Average White Band debut sounding very American and funky, with the fab US instrumental number one Pick Up The Pieces, so influential were they in their Arif Mardin-produced “coals to Newcastle” story they ended up being the 15th most-sampled act of all-time: and they are Scottish and white! Showing it’s what’s in the grooves that counts, as they used to say. Finally Hamilton Bohannon debuts, with his very funky South African Man.

 

 

 

1 ( 1 ) ANGIE BABY Helen Reddy

2 ( 4 ) HITCHIN’ A RIDE ’75 Paper Lace

3 ( 3 ) FOOTSIE Wigan’s Chosen Few

4 ( 6 ) SHAME SHAME SHAME Shirley & Company

5 ( 5 ) THE SECRETS THAT YOU KEEP Mud

6 ( 10 ) ONLY YOU CAN Fox

7 ( 2 ) HEY GIRL DON’T BOTHER ME The Tams

8 ( 7 ) THIS OLD HEART OF MINE The Isley Brothers

9 ( 8 ) BRANDY Scott English

10 ( 11 ) THEN I CHANGE HANDS Mick Robertson

 

 

11 ( 19 ) DON’T BE CRUEL Mike Berry

12 ( 12 ) MAKE ME SMILE (COME UP AND SEE ME) Steve Harley And Cockney Rebel

13 ( 30 ) I CAN DO IT The Rubettes

14 ( 34 ) OUR NATIONAL PASTIME Rupert Holmes

15 ( 9 ) NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE Gloria Gaynor

16 ( 17 ) YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY Ohio Express

17 ( 16 ) PLEASE MR POSTMAN The Carpenters

18 ( 14 ) #9 DREAM John Lennon

19 ( 29 ) THE QUEEN OF 1964 Neil Sedaka

20 ( NEW ) REMEMBER THE DAYS OF THE OLD SCHOOL YARD Linda Lewis

 

 

21 ( 23 ) I’LL TAKE A MELODY The Hues Corporation

22 ( NEW ) I’M HER FOOL Billy Swan

23 ( NEW ) GIRLS Moments and Whatnauts

24 ( 41 ) YOUNG AMERICANS David Bowie

25 ( 15 ) IT MAY BE WINTER OUTSIDE (BUT IN MY HEART IT’S SPRING) Love Unlimited

26 ( 42 ) DREAMER Supertramp

27 ( NEW ) I’M ON MY WAY Dean Parrish

28 ( 21 ) YOUR KISS IS SWEET Syreeta

29 ( 20 ) GET DANCIN’ Disco Tex and The Sex-o-lettes

30 ( 22 ) BOOGIE ON REGGAE WOMAN Stevie Wonder

 

 

31 ( 25 ) SHOORAH SHOORAH Betty Wright

32 ( 13 ) ROLL ON DOWN THE HIGHWAY Bachman-Turner Overdrive

33 ( NEW ) GAMES UP Hello

34 ( 18 ) YOUR MAMA WON’T LIKE ME Suzi Quatro

35 ( 35 ) GREEN TAMBOURINE The Lemon Pipers

36 ( NEW ) SNOOKEROO Ringo Starr

37 ( 26 ) BIG YELLOW TAXI Joni Mitchell

38 ( 43 ) SUPERGIRL Graham Bonney

39 ( 27 ) NEVER ENDING SONG OF LOVE Smokey 007

40 ( 24 ) LEGO SKANGA Rupie Edwards

 

 

41 ( 28 ) MY LAST NIGHT WITH YOU Arrows

42 ( 44 ) DOCTOR LOVE The Pearls

43 ( NEW ) PICK UP THE PIECES The Average White Band

44 ( NEW ) SOUTH AFRICAN MAN Hamilton Bohannon

45 ( 33 ) LOVE IS ALL Roger Glover and Guests (featuring Ronnie Dio)

46 ( 31 ) DOWN DOWN Status Quo

47 ( 36 ) GOD BLESS Dexter Redding

48 ( 46 ) YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHIN' YET Bachman-Turner Overdrive

49 ( 47 ) HAPPY XMAS (WAR IS OVER) John & Yoko and The Plastic Ono Band with The Harlem Community Choir

50 ( 48 ) JE T’AIME...MOI NON PLUS Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg

4th March 1975

6th and final week for Helen Reddy’s Angie Baby on top, but who will topple her - Wigan’s Chosen Few play footsie at 2, Shirley says Shame Shame Shame at only going up to 3, and there are 2 big new entries: Gloria Gaynor follows up her big number one with a cover of a Motown classic in at 4, the Four Tops Reach Out I’ll Be There, and it’s a thumping frantic disco anthem, for me the best version apart from the original. At 5, it’s a long-missing 50’s guitar instrumental legend, Duane Eddy, who gets some help from a chorus of girl Rebelettes to twang along in the 70’s: Play Me Like Your Guitar is great, though not as great as his old classics like Peter Gunn, Rebel Rouser and Because They’re Young. Close thing, though.

 

Bowie goes top 20 with his funky Young Americans, ditto Supertramp and Moments and Whatnauts, while in at 26 it’s a 60’s Northern Soul-inspired hit for Gary Lewis And The Playboys, My Heart’s Symphony. They had a whole run of big US hits, and were notable for Gary being the son of comedian Jerry Lewis, and being pretty good pop, especially the fab This Diamond Ring, which was never a UK hit (like almost their entire career). The strings on this one add a bit of 60’s pop interest and I still love it, should have been bigger. Meanwhile Hamilton Bohannon smoothly funks his way to 28, the Average White Band do the same at 29, and Sweet return with their first self-written hit Fox On The Run, and it’s pretty good, in at 30! Giving them 4 years of hits, non-stop.

 

In at 43, it’s Barry Manilow debuting with the OTT Mandy, a cover of the much-better original sitting at 10 for Scott English - Brandy. It just came over as a bland, if mildly pleasant version of a great song, to me at the time. At 44, the Bay City Rollers ditch their songwriters and go it alone - by covering a Four Seasons non-UK-hit, Bye Bye Baby - they do it effectively, and the song wasn’t that well known in the UK, but it was the start of a loooooong list of acts getting much bigger hits than the brilliant Four Seasons originals in the UK - in the USA it was the other way round, for the most part. Which leaves Helen Reddy getting a follow-up entry as she drops off the top, Free And Easy, and Nosmo King and The Javells getting another chart entry (albeit unlikely) at 46. Finally Jim Stafford has a 3rd entry, with Your Bulldog Drinks Champagne - he certainly never was predictable!

 

 

1 ( 1 ) ANGIE BABY Helen Reddy

2 ( 3 ) FOOTSIE Wigan’s Chosen Few

3 ( 4 ) SHAME SHAME SHAME Shirley & Company

4 ( NEW ) REACH OUT I’LL BE THERE Gloria Gaynor

5 ( NEW ) PLAY ME LIKE YOU PLAY YOUR GUITAR Duane Eddy and The Rebelettes

6 ( 2 ) HITCHIN’ A RIDE ’75 Paper Lace

7 ( 6 ) ONLY YOU CAN Fox

8 ( 7 ) HEY GIRL DON’T BOTHER ME The Tams

9 ( 8 ) THIS OLD HEART OF MINE The Isley Brothers

10 ( 9 ) BRANDY Scott English

 

 

11 ( 11 ) DON’T BE CRUEL Mike Berry

12 ( 5 ) THE SECRETS THAT YOU KEEP Mud

13 ( 13 ) I CAN DO IT The Rubettes

14 ( 14 ) OUR NATIONAL PASTIME Rupert Holmes

15 ( 24 ) YOUNG AMERICANS David Bowie

16 ( 10 ) THEN I CHANGE HANDS Mick Robertson

17 ( 12 ) MAKE ME SMILE (COME UP AND SEE ME) Steve Harley And Cockney Rebel

18 ( 26 ) DREAMER Supertramp

19 ( 23 ) GIRLS Moments and Whatnauts

20 ( 18 ) #9 DREAM John Lennon

 

 

21 ( 20 ) REMEMBER THE DAYS OF THE OLD SCHOOL YARD Linda Lewis

22 ( 36 ) SNOOKEROO Ringo Starr

23 ( 17 ) PLEASE MR POSTMAN The Carpenters

24 ( 16 ) YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY Ohio Express

25 ( 15 ) NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE Gloria Gaynor

26 ( NEW ) MY HEART’S SYMPHONY Gary Lewis And The Playboys

27 ( 27 ) I’M ON MY WAY Dean Parrish

28 ( 44 ) SOUTH AFRICAN MAN Hamilton Bohannon

29 ( 43 ) PICK UP THE PIECES The Average White Band

30 ( NEW ) FOX ON THE RUN Sweet

 

 

31 ( 19 ) THE QUEEN OF 1964 Neil Sedaka

32 ( 33 ) GAMES UP Hello

33 ( 21 ) I’LL TAKE A MELODY The Hues Corporation

34 ( 22 ) I’M HER FOOL Billy Swan

35 ( 25 ) IT MAY BE WINTER OUTSIDE (BUT IN MY HEART IT’S SPRING) Love Unlimited

36 ( 30 ) BOOGIE ON REGGAE WOMAN Stevie Wonder

37 ( 28 ) YOUR KISS IS SWEET Syreeta

38 ( 29 ) GET DANCIN’ Disco Tex and The Sex-o-lettes

39 ( 46 ) DOWN DOWN Status Quo

40 ( 45 ) LOVE IS ALL Roger Glover and Guests (featuring Ronnie Dio)

 

 

41 ( 31 ) SHOORAH SHOORAH Betty Wright

42 ( 32 ) ROLL ON DOWN THE HIGHWAY Bachman-Turner Overdrive

43 ( NEW ) MANDY Barry Manilow

44 ( NEW ) BYE BYE BABY The Bay City Rollers

45 ( NEW ) FREE AND EASY Helen Reddy

46 ( NEW ) LOVIN’ YOU IS EASY Nosmo King and The Javells

47 ( 40 ) LEGO SKANGA Rupie Edwards

48 ( 41 ) MY LAST NIGHT WITH YOU Arrows

49 ( 42 ) DOCTOR LOVE The Pearls

50 ( NEW ) YOUR BULLDOG DRINKS CHAMPAGNE Jim Stafford

11th March 1975

 

Gloria Gaynor gets her 2nd chart-topper in a row, Reach Out I’ll Be There getting there in 2 weeks flat, and a new disco queen arrives. Not me, no. It’s all about Gloria’s vocal, the fab percussion, the backing singers and especially the heavy drumbeat on the chorus. Excited me no end at the time, and still does. Shooting up to 2, Supertramp’s best record Dreamer, it still sounds fresh, urgent and original, well beyond the normal single format. Duane Eddy has a veteran top 3 hit when few from the 50’s were still going, bar the odd Cliff and Elvis. Bowie gets his first top 10 since Sorrow, and his 7th to date, while The Rubettes get a 3rd, cos they can do it. The Rollers rocket up to 12, rather unexpectedly, as my early love for the Rollers in 1971-73 was well on the turn to annoyance what with all the screaming pre-teen girls all over the place, and Gary Lewis gets a 9-years-late top 20 hit.

 

It’s all about the 19 new entries though, as the music scene hits overdrive and my chart has an almost 40% clearout. 19 is a new record, and is headed by an old-fashioned Eurovision-styled boy-girl singalong, and it’s fab - There’s A Whole Lot Of Loving is schmaltzy, overdoses on the backing singers and strings, and has a killer chorus...yes it’s a real guilty pleasure! The group had TV host Bruce Forsyth’s daughter in it, not to mention Thereza Bazar and David Van Day, future hit duo Dollar. Talking of Eurovision, Radio Luxembourg was busy plugging Geraldine’s English-language version (You) of her French-language entry, Toi, and here it is at 28, making it 4 years in a row that Luxembourg had charted. It’s also one place higher than the UK’s entry, the last one under the system where an established act is chosen to sing 6 songs, then the public vote - and this time Cliff’s backing band, and UK instrumental heroes The Shadows join Duane Eddy on the comeback trail and also get a debut rare vocal hit, Let Me Be The One. It’s not bad at all.

 

At 30, a dance cover of The Beatles’ George Harrison song Something, from The Miracle Workers, gives it 3 hit versions in 6 years, while a Dutch duo cover of the 60’s childhood fave of mine Swinging On A Star (by Big Dee Irwin and Little Eva, itself a 40’s Bing Crosby cover) enters at 41 for the badly-named Spooky And Sue. An actual 60’s song I liked enters at 47 for The McCoys, Hang On Sloopy, while a 40’s styled gorgeous gentle ballad (and tribute to Fred Astaire) enters at 35 for Don McLean, his first hit in 3 years - Wonderful Baby.

 

At 32 and 33, two big US hits for two big UK-based stars, and two big UK-flops as they moved to the States and got ignored by UK record-buyers. Idiots. ELO’s Can’t Get It Out Of My Head is a touching emotive ballad, and a singles departure for the band that eventually charted 3 years later on an EP in the UK, while Olivia Newton-John was moving out of country into melodic pop ballads, and one of her best: Have You Never Been Mellow, lovely. At 34 a late glam rock entrant from Shabby Tiger (too late for the UK to chart it, but not in Europe), Slow Down is decent enough, and at 36 The Goodies get a thrid hit with a Funky Gibbon. Yes, well, hmmm, it was catchy for a couple of weeks! David Bowie’s guitarist, the legendary Mick Ronson gets a quirky solo entry at 45, Billy Porter, Alice Cooper gets 3 years of chart entries at 48, Department Of Youth. Also 3 years on, Peter Skellern gets a follow-up entry at 50, the laid-back Hold On To Love, and 2 years on ex-teacher Clifford T. Ward keeps the gentle folk ballads coming, gets a 4th entry with the delightful Jigsaw Girl at 49.

 

Phew! That leaves just the great new ones, from K.C. And The Sunshine Band, and a third hit (and a 6th song) with Get Down Tonight, as the fabulous funky dance grooves get notched a peg or two, even over chart-topper Queen Of Clubs. The basis of more than one future sampled hit, and still brilliant, and in at 37. Then there’s Elton John, with a Band attached, a new sound of Philadelphia, strings, soul, fabulousness, and a song dedicated to gay tennis player Billie-Jean King, Philadelphia Freedom. In at 42, 4 years of chartdom, and Elton had yet to miss the chart since Rocket Man hit 2, and was followed up by 2 number one’s in Crocodile Rock and Bennie And The Jets in 1972 and 1974. Elton, it should be stressed, was the biggest star in the world at this point and could do no wrong, especially in the USA, and was mightily prolific, 2 albums a year, and singles not necessarily on albums, and album tracks that should have been singles but weren’t. Phew!

 

 

1 ( 4 ) REACH OUT I’LL BE THERE Gloria Gaynor

2 ( 18 ) DREAMER Supertramp

3 ( 5 ) PLAY ME LIKE YOU PLAY YOUR GUITAR Duane Eddy and The Rebelettes

4 ( 1 ) ANGIE BABY Helen Reddy

5 ( 2 ) FOOTSIE Wigan’s Chosen Few

6 ( 3 ) SHAME SHAME SHAME Shirley & Company

7 ( 15 ) YOUNG AMERICANS David Bowie

8 ( 13 ) I CAN DO IT The Rubettes

9 ( NEW ) THERE’S A WHOLE LOT OF LOVING Guys and Dolls

10 ( 11 ) DON’T BE CRUEL Mike Berry

 

 

11 ( 6 ) HITCHIN’ A RIDE ’75 Paper Lace

12 ( 44 ) BYE BYE BABY The Bay City Rollers

13 ( 26 ) MY HEART’S SYMPHONY Gary Lewis And The Playboys

14 ( 14 ) OUR NATIONAL PASTIME Rupert Holmes

15 ( 19 ) GIRLS Moments and Whatnauts

16 ( 8 ) HEY GIRL DON’T BOTHER ME The Tams

17 ( 9 ) THIS OLD HEART OF MINE The Isley Brothers

18 ( 10 ) BRANDY Scott English

19 ( 20 ) #9 DREAM John Lennon

20 ( 7 ) ONLY YOU CAN Fox

 

 

21 ( 30 ) FOX ON THE RUN Sweet

22 ( 29 ) PICK UP THE PIECES The Average White Band

23 ( 28 ) SOUTH AFRICAN MAN Hamilton Bohannon

24 ( 22 ) SNOOKEROO Ringo Starr

25 ( 31 ) THE QUEEN OF 1964 Neil Sedaka

26 ( 12 ) THE SECRETS THAT YOU KEEP Mud

27 ( NEW ) FANCY PANTS Kenny

28 ( NEW ) YOU Geraldine

29 ( NEW ) LET ME BE THE ONE The Shadows

30 ( NEW ) SOMETHING The Miracle Workers

 

 

31 ( 32 ) GAMES UP Hello

32 ( NEW ) CAN’T GET IT OUT OF MY HEAD The Electric Light Orchestra

33 ( NEW ) HAVE YOU NEVER BEEN MELLOW Olivia Newton-John

34 ( NEW ) SLOW DOWN Shabby Tiger

35 ( NEW ) WONDERFUL BABY Don McLean

36 ( NEW ) FUNKY GIBBON The Goodies

37 ( NEW ) GET DOWN TONIGHT K.C. And The Sunshine Band

38 ( 17 ) MAKE ME SMILE (COME UP AND SEE ME) Steve Harley And Cockney Rebel

39 ( 25 ) NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE Gloria Gaynor

40 ( 23 ) PLEASE MR POSTMAN The Carpenters

 

 

41 ( NEW ) SWINGING ON A STAR Spooky And Sue

42 ( NEW ) PHILADELPHIA FREEDOM The Elton John Band

43 ( 43 ) MANDY Barry Manilow

44 ( 41 ) SHOORAH SHOORAH Betty Wright

45 ( NEW ) BILLY PORTER Mick Ronson

46 ( NEW ) SWEET MUSIC Showaddywaddy

47 ( NEW ) HANG ON SLOOPY The McCoys

48 ( NEW ) DEPARTMENT OF YOUTH Alice Cooper

49 ( NEW ) JIGSAW GIRL Clifford T. Ward

50 ( NEW ) HOLD ON TO LOVE Peter Skellern

18th March 1975

 

After the deluge of last week, only 2 new entries and Gloria Gaynor gets 2 weeks reaching out on top. The rest of the chart is busy though, Elton up 40 places to 2 outdoing all his previous singles bar 3, just lovin’ that Philadelphia Freedom. Bowie also does better here than any other chart, hitting 5 with Young Americans - Bowie fans struggled with the new “plastic soul” sound, but not me, loved it. The Sweet get an 11th Top 10 hit, Neil Sedaka stops yo-yo-ing and hits 8 for his annual top 10 hit, now allied with Elton John on his label, and ELO get a 4th top 10.

 

The 2 Eurovision songs keep pace with each other at 14 and 15, Geraldine still having the edge, while Livvy goes top 20, and Shabby Tiger slow down at 19. New at 44 it’s Polly Brown getting a second solo hit, dialling L for Love, though it’s now 5 years since she debuted with Pickettywich. Finally, at 48, The Hues Corporation have a 4th chart entry with the Love Corporation, diminishing returns but they still sound good.

 

1 ( 1 ) REACH OUT I’LL BE THERE Gloria Gaynor

2 ( 42 ) PHILADELPHIA FREEDOM The Elton John Band

3 ( 3 ) PLAY ME LIKE YOU PLAY YOUR GUITAR Duane Eddy and The Rebelettes

4 ( 2 ) DREAMER Supertramp

5 ( 7 ) YOUNG AMERICANS David Bowie

6 ( 9 ) THERE’S A WHOLE LOT OF LOVING Guys and Dolls

7 ( 21 ) FOX ON THE RUN Sweet

8 ( 25 ) THE QUEEN OF 1964 Neil Sedaka

9 ( 32 ) CAN’T GET IT OUT OF MY HEAD The Electric Light Orchestra

10 ( 4 ) ANGIE BABY Helen Reddy

 

11 ( 5 ) FOOTSIE Wigan’s Chosen Few

12 ( 6 ) SHAME SHAME SHAME Shirley & Company

13 ( 8 ) I CAN DO IT The Rubettes

14 ( 28 ) YOU Geraldine

15 ( 29 ) LET ME BE THE ONE The Shadows

16 ( 13 ) MY HEART’S SYMPHONY Gary Lewis And The Playboys

17 ( 15 ) GIRLS Moments and Whatnauts

18 ( 33 ) HAVE YOU NEVER BEEN MELLOW Olivia Newton-John

19 ( 34 ) SLOW DOWN Shabby Tiger

20 ( 10 ) DON’T BE CRUEL Mike Berry

 

 

21 ( 11 ) HITCHIN’ A RIDE ’75 Paper Lace

22 ( 19 ) #9 DREAM John Lennon

23 ( 37 ) GET DOWN TONIGHT K.C. And The Sunshine Band

24 ( 36 ) FUNKY GIBBON The Goodies

25 ( 12 ) BYE BYE BABY The Bay City Rollers

26 ( 22 ) PICK UP THE PIECES The Average White Band

27 ( 27 ) FANCY PANTS Kenny

28 ( 30 ) SOMETHING The Miracle Workers

29 ( 20 ) ONLY YOU CAN Fox

30 ( 31 ) GAMES UP Hello

 

 

31 ( 16 ) HEY GIRL DON’T BOTHER ME The Tams

32 ( 17 ) THIS OLD HEART OF MINE The Isley Brothers

33 ( 18 ) BRANDY Scott English

34 ( 23 ) SOUTH AFRICAN MAN Hamilton Bohannon

35 ( 35 ) WONDERFUL BABY Don McLean

36 ( 26 ) THE SECRETS THAT YOU KEEP Mud

37 ( 14 ) OUR NATIONAL PASTIME Rupert Holmes

38 ( 46 ) SWEET MUSIC Showaddywaddy

39 ( 39 ) NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE Gloria Gaynor

40 ( 40 ) PLEASE MR POSTMAN The Carpenters

 

 

41 ( 41 ) SWINGING ON A STAR Spooky And Sue

42 ( 45 ) BILLY PORTER Mick Ronson

43 ( 50 ) HOLD ON TO LOVE Peter Skellern

44 ( NEW ) DIAL ‘L’ FOR LOVE Polly Brown

45 ( 49 ) JIGSAW GIRL Clifford T. Ward

46 ( 47 ) HANG ON SLOOPY The McCoys

47 ( 24 ) SNOOKEROO Ringo Starr

48 ( NEW ) LOVE CORPORATION The Hues Corporation

49 ( 43 ) MANDY Barry Manilow

50 ( 38 ) MAKE ME SMILE (COME UP AND SEE ME) Steve Harley And Cockney Rebel

 

 

In Gloucester days, I was seriously buying every vinyl single I could get afford and find, and every old and new DC comic I could find. I scoured all the record shops (and there were plenty in those days) and newsagents that stocked American comics, and had a weekly Saturday bus ride, or walk of a few miles (to have extra money to spend on them) to do the rounds, especially the second-hand bookstore Toby’s which had stocks of recent DC comics printed with their name on the cover - much cheaper for me and I picked up loads I’d missed. Hooray! We also had a family ride, after some snowfall, to see our Singapore family friends the Wainwrights, after not seeing them for a year or so - I have the trip there fixed in my mind to some of the Radio 1 playlist tracks of the time, so I associate them with crisp snow and sunshine, for instance Fox On The Run and Young Americans, and especially Philadelphia Freedom. Odd the things that stick in the mind sometime. It was great seeing them all again.

25th March 1975 part 1 (Eurovision)

 

It’s a new number one, but dropping from 6 and completely out of the chart it’s Guys & Dolls with one of the shortest ever chart runs for a record that peaked at 6 - 2 weeks, peak, and out! It’s a guilty pleasure, but one that I got over quickly, until a decent amount of time had passed by (years), and then I loved it again. Anyway, new at 1 it’s Elton, yay! His 3rd number one in 4 years, a brilliant Philly soul record by a white British rock star, joining Bowie in crossing some genre boundaries, and also commenting at the time about his domination on USA radio where his singles just would not leave the chart - he wished they would stop playing them and let them leave the chart, even he was getting fed up of it! This, of course, is now how the whole music business works: overkill, monotony, and dominated by a huge few stars. Elton was also presiding over another chart invasion, though, chock full of good new singles, led by the Eurovision winner, Teach-In, at 10. Ding A Dong! Or Dinge Dong, take your pick. It was an immediate hit with me while I babysat, and my clear favourite, though the chart placing just ahead of the UK and Luxembourg might say otherwise. The Shadows did well, and Geraldine, Toi, so there’s a mini-1975 Eurovision section to enjoy. Or ‘enjoy’! The Netherlands deserved to win though, and they had clearly learnt the Abba lesson and gone uptempo pop. So here the three are...

 

 

 

 

 

 

25th March 1975 (part 2)

 

 

Back in March 1975, 25th, and K.C. is up to 3 for his 3rd successive top 3 hit, with one of the great instant instrumental funk intros, do a little dance make a little love, get down tonight! The Sweet hit 4, fox-chasing, and Olivia hits 6 with her biggest ever hit in 4 years, so she must have been feeling pretty mellow about that. The second highest new entry is the record that came 2nd in the Radio 1 All-Time Top 100 singles, as compiled in 1974 - Young Girl won it (and charted all over again) but runner-up was Bobby Goldsboro’s 1968 UK number 2, which was reissued in the UK and hit 2 again, having been 2 on the 100. A case of the 2’s if ever I heard it! The sickly-sweet sentimental tragedy song enters at 14 here. It’s both touching and OTT laughable, depending on mood. It fit in with tragic news of the death of a classmate in a motorbike accident, Martin Milliard, who’d been getting interviews with football clubs. His best mate Davvy was a mate at school, and I was shocked and sad all round for Davvy and Milli’s family. The song came up in group classroom conversation, and Davvy took it’s side, so did I.

 

In at 16, Jim Gilstrap’s lovely gospel soul shuffler Swing Your Daddy, and in at 17 another Wigan band, Wigan’s Ovation with an actual NEW recording and northern soul cover hit, the Invitations’ Skiing In The Snow. Northern Soul was cool in the working class circles. Lulu’s back with another image change at 26, this time soul funk, one style she was to return to most frequently over the years. The record? Take You Mama For A Ride, and 7 years of hits. Missing for 2 years, and it’s a welcome return for Middle Of The Road, with the flop single Hitchin’ A Ride In The Moonlight, which managed to grab a couple of plays on Radio Luxembourg, and nothing in the UK, but it gives them an 8th bubblegum chart entry for me. I haven’t heard it for decades, and it’s not on itunes, boo!

 

Ralph McTell’s back at 34 with a forgotten, non-itunes, follow-up El Progresso, not that folky, while Hot Chocolate return with new single Blue Night, in the style of Emma at 48. Pretty good, a flop, no airplay, but it had a B Side you may have heard of, a ditty called You Sexy Thing. Come back in 7 months when it gets flipped, and Blue Night is the B Side. 49, Caston And Majors, a Motown act, and a fantastic record in Child Of Love, fab song, should have been a hit. Finally, at 50, it’s another oldie reissue from the late Jim Croce, one which would have charted in 1972 had my charts allowed non-UK-chart records: Bad Bad Leroy Brown. Big US hit.

 

 

 

1 ( 2 ) PHILADELPHIA FREEDOM The Elton John Band

2 ( 1 ) REACH OUT I’LL BE THERE Gloria Gaynor

3 ( 23 ) GET DOWN TONIGHT K.C. And The Sunshine Band

4 ( 7 ) FOX ON THE RUN The Sweet

5 ( 3 ) PLAY ME LIKE YOU PLAY YOUR GUITAR Duane Eddy and The Rebelettes

6 ( 18 ) HAVE YOU NEVER BEEN MELLOW Olivia Newton-John

7 ( 9 ) CAN’T GET IT OUT OF MY HEAD The Electric Light Orchestra

8 ( 4 ) DREAMER Supertramp

9 ( 5 ) YOUNG AMERICANS David Bowie

10 ( NEW ) DING A DONG Teach-In

 

 

11 ( 15 ) LET ME BE THE ONE The Shadows

12 ( 14 ) YOU Geraldine

13 ( 16 ) MY HEART’S SYMPHONY Gary Lewis And The Playboys

14 ( NEW ) HONEY Bobby Goldsboro

15 ( 19 ) SLOW DOWN Shabby Tiger

16 ( NEW ) SWING YOUR DADDY Jim Gilstrap

17 ( NEW ) SKIING IN THE SNOW Wigan’s Ovation

18 ( 10 ) ANGIE BABY Helen Reddy

19 ( 11 ) FOOTSIE Wigan’s Chosen Few

20 ( 12 ) SHAME SHAME SHAME Shirley & Company

 

 

21 ( 28 ) SOMETHING The Miracle Workers

22 ( 8 ) THE QUEEN OF 1964 Neil Sedaka

23 ( 27 ) FANCY PANTS Kenny

24 ( 13 ) I CAN DO IT The Rubettes

25 ( 45 ) JIGSAW GIRL Clifford T. Ward

26 ( NEW ) TAKE YOUR MAMA FOR A RIDE Lulu

27 ( NEW ) HITCHIN’ A RIDE IN THE MOONLIGHT Middle Of The Road

28 ( 21 ) HITCHIN’ A RIDE ’75 Paper Lace

29 ( RE ) THEN I CHANGE HANDS Mick Robertson

30 ( 22 ) #9 DREAM John Lennon

 

31 ( 31 ) HEY GIRL DON’T BOTHER ME The Tams

32 ( 32 ) THIS OLD HEART OF MINE The Isley Brothers

33 ( 33 ) BRANDY Scott English

34 ( NEW ) EL PROGRESSO Ralph McTell

35 ( 43 ) HOLD ON TO LOVE Peter Skellern

36 ( 24 ) FUNKY GIBBON The Goodies

37 ( 35 ) WONDERFUL BABY Don McLean

38 ( 26 ) PICK UP THE PIECES The Average White Band

39 ( 34 ) SOUTH AFRICAN MAN Hamilton Bohannon

40 ( 29 ) ONLY YOU CAN Fox

 

41 ( 39 ) NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE Gloria Gaynor

42 ( 40 ) PLEASE MR POSTMAN The Carpenters

43 ( 44 ) DIAL ‘L’ FOR LOVE Polly Brown

44 ( 20 ) DON’T BE CRUEL Mike Berry

45 ( 42 ) BILLY PORTER Mick Ronson

46 ( 41 ) SWINGING ON A STAR Spooky And Sue

47 ( 48 ) LOVE CORPORATION The Hues Corporation

48 ( NEW ) BLUE NIGHT Hot Chocolate

49 ( NEW ) CHILD OF LOVE Caston And Majors

50 ( NEW ) BAD BAD LEROY BROWN Jim Croce

 

 

John, I'm very happy to see "Toi" here. It's my favourite ESC song in 1975. One from the best French language entries in all history of the contest.

 

My top 3 :

1. Geraldine - Toi (Luxembourg)

2. Sophie - Une Chanson C'est Une Lettre (Monaco)

3. Ellen Nikolaysen - Touch My Life (Norway)

 

Irish singer won for Luxembourg. It was third their win after France Gall (1965) and Vicky Leandros (1967). Geraldine

was fourth Irish woman, who won in Eurovision (after Dana, Sandie Jones, Maxi).

 

Monaco got the highest position (2nd place) for the first time in history.

 

Norway had the most successful decade and got a medal again (after 2nd place in 1971, 1972) and will be unpredictable winner in 1976 (yes, higher than real winner Brotherhood Of Man).

 

 

John, I'm very happy to see "Toi" here. It's my favourite ESC song in 1975. One from the best French language entries in all history of the contest.

 

My top 3 :

1. Geraldine - Toi (Luxembourg)

2. Sophie - Une Chanson C'est Une Lettre (Monaco)

3. Ellen Nikolaysen - Touch My Life (Norway)

 

Irish singer won for Luxembourg. It was third their win after France Gall (1965) and Vicky Leandros (1967). Geraldine

was fourth Irish woman, who won in Eurovision (after Dana, Sandie Jones, Maxi).

 

Monaco got the highest position (2nd place) for the first time in history.

 

Norway had the most successful decade and got a medal again (after 2nd place in 1971, 1972) and will be unpredictable winner in 1976 (yes, higher than real winner Brotherhood Of Man).

 

thanks Alex, I really liked Geraldine at the time, though havent heard it properly since 1975 till I looked up the youtube video! The other 1975 entrants Ive yet to hear again, except Shadows and Teach-In which I bought at the time. I liked France Gall, Vicky leandros (both) and Dana, but there's lots of other french-language ones I love too :wub:

1st April 1975

 

Another US number one tops my chart, and it’s KC’s 2nd number one the frantic, urgent, funky brilliance that is Get Down Tonight, his 3rd song to top my charts after Rock Your Baby and Queen Of Clubs in 1974. Fantastic. Keeping the dance theme going, Wigans’ Ovation ski up to 5, and Jim Gilstrap swings slowly to 7, bookending the sweet Jigsaw Girl, Clifford T. Ward’s biggest hit to date. Peter Skellern leaps to 16, crooning Hold On To Love pleasantly, while Jonathan King is back in one of his alter ego’s Nemo, returning his 1972 chart entry cover of a 1932 very British song with a now dodgy line that got a radio presenter in trouble last year. Pity about that line, cos it’s an amusing cheerful bit of British Depression-era crooning.

 

In at 24, though, it’s a properly new classic, the amazing gorgeous Lovin’ You from the stunning vocal range of Minnie Ripperton. It almost came over as a novelty song with it’s birdsong arrangement and sentimentality, certainly one I tired of quickly at the time, but which gained terrible pathos when poor Minnie died very young of Cancer a few years afterwards. I like to think of her as a precursor to Mariah Carey, only she knew how to use her range effectively for emotion rather than bluster. At 26, Swedish Sylvia’s back with a mistimed Spanish follow-up song. Ah well, hasta la vista, baby. In at 31 it’s another bonafide classic, the immortal Lady Marmalade from the futuristic silver-suited glam and sassy LaBelle belting out the soulfunk with passion, not least headed by Patti Labelle, who had already been around a while, including a joint album with the fabulous Laura Nyro. A number one record, of course, decades later for All Saints and again for a quartet of divas, neither of them a patch on the original. Not even close. It also had that naughty French line famous from sitcoms involving French characters...

 

There’s a novelty cover of actor Telly Savalas’ spoken-word cover of Bread’s fab If, a UK number one as Kojak TV cop mania swept the UK. Yin And Yan’s version was much better, amusingly taking the Michael out of an imagined version of Telly’s recording session for the song. It’s a comedy song, essentially, that works as long as you don’t hear it a lot, and it was a UK hit. Syreeta’s 1974 hit returns, and finally up to 44, and in tribute to the late great Errol Brown who died this week, Blue Night is mentioned, an attempt to repeat the success of Emma that didn’t catch on but which sold bucketloads as the B Side to You Sexy Thing when they flipped the record over later in the year. Errol was a hero, a sweet-natured man, and a talent. He never released a bad record, which is how Hot Chocolate managed 15 consecutive years of hits, despite never being an albums band, bar Greatest Hits collections which were enormously popular jewels in the crown more than once.

 

 

 

1 ( 3 ) GET DOWN TONIGHT K.C. And The Sunshine Band

2 ( 1 ) PHILADELPHIA FREEDOM The Elton John Band

3 ( 2 ) REACH OUT I’LL BE THERE Gloria Gaynor

4 ( 10 ) DING DINGE DONG Teach-In

5 ( 17 ) SKIING IN THE SNOW Wigan’s Ovation

6 ( 25 ) JIGSAW GIRL Clifford T. Ward

7 ( 16 ) SWING YOUR DADDY Jim Gilstrap

8 ( 7 ) CAN’T GET IT OUT OF MY HEAD The Electric Light Orchestra

9 ( 4 ) FOX ON THE RUN The Sweet

10 ( 6 ) HAVE YOU NEVER BEEN MELLOW Olivia Newton-John

 

11 ( 11 ) LET ME BE THE ONE The Shadows

12 ( 14 ) HONEY Bobby Goldsboro

13 ( 8 ) DREAMER Supertramp

14 ( 5 ) PLAY ME LIKE YOU PLAY YOUR GUITAR Duane Eddy and The Rebelettes

15 ( 15 ) SLOW DOWN Shabby Tiger

16 ( 35 ) HOLD ON TO LOVE Peter Skellern

17 ( 21 ) SOMETHING The Miracle Workers

18 ( NEW ) THE SUN HAS GOT HIS HAT ON Nemo (aka Jonathan King)

19 ( 12 ) YOU Geraldine

20 ( 13 ) MY HEART’S SYMPHONY Gary Lewis And The Playboys

 

21 ( 26 ) TAKE YOUR MAMA FOR A RIDE Lulu

22 ( 27 ) HITCHIN’ A RIDE IN THE MOONLIGHT Middle Of The Road

23 ( 34 ) EL PROGRESSO Ralph McTell

24 ( NEW ) LOVIN’ YOU Minnie Ripperton

25 ( 29 ) THEN I CHANGE HANDS Mick Robertson

26 ( NEW ) HASTA LA VISTA Sylvia

27 ( 9 ) YOUNG AMERICANS David Bowie

28 ( 18 ) ANGIE BABY Helen Reddy

29 ( 19 ) FOOTSIE Wigan’s Chosen Few

30 ( 20 ) SHAME SHAME SHAME Shirley & Company

 

 

31 ( NEW ) LADY MARMALADE LaBelle

32 ( 22 ) THE QUEEN OF 1964 Neil Sedaka

33 ( 28 ) HITCHIN’ A RIDE ’75 Paper Lace

34 ( 30 ) #9 DREAM John Lennon

35 ( 31 ) HEY GIRL DON’T BOTHER ME The Tams

36 ( 32 ) THIS OLD HEART OF MINE The Isley Brothers

37 ( 33 ) BRANDY Scott English

38 ( NEW ) IF Yin and Yan

39 ( NEW ) SPINNIN’ AND SPINNIN’ Syreeta

40 ( 43 ) DIAL ‘L’ FOR LOVE Polly Brown

 

 

41 ( 23 ) FANCY PANTS Kenny

42 ( 39 ) SOUTH AFRICAN MAN Hamilton Bohannon

43 ( 38 ) PICK UP THE PIECES The Average White Band

44 ( 48 ) BLUE NIGHT Hot Chocolate

45 ( 49 ) CHILD OF LOVE Caston And Majors

46 ( NEW ) EXPRESS BT Express

47 ( RE ) LOVE IS ALL Roger Glover and Guests (featuring Ronnie Dio)

48 ( 40 ) ONLY YOU CAN Fox

49 ( 41 ) NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE Gloria Gaynor

50 ( 42 ) PLEASE MR POSTMAN The Carpenters

 

 

 

John, which country have more # 1s in all history of your personal charts : UK or US ?

 

"Ding-A-Dong" is a correct title of Dutch song. :)

John, which country have more # 1s in all history of your personal charts : UK or US ?

 

"Ding-A-Dong" is a correct title of Dutch song. :)

Ta Alex yes will be the right title next time:)

 

I don't actually know who has had most toppers! I'd guess UK then USA then Sweden due to large numbers of toppers from Beatles pet shop boys and Abba:)

I don't actually know who has had most toppers! I'd guess UK then USA then Sweden due to large numbers of toppers from Beatles pet shop boys and Abba:)

 

John, just count them, it's not very hard. :)

Not 100 % sure, but near 75-80 % my # 1s were from United Kingdom, maybe even more.

US is possible on the second place, based on many # 1s from Madonna, Britney, Blondie.

 

If don't count Eurovision songs these countries have # 1s in my chart :

Netherlands (mostly Luv'), Lithuania, Canada (mostly Shania Twain), Australia (mostly Kylie), Belgium (K3, Betty, Mega Mindy), Ireland (mostly Dana), Sweden (mostly ABBA), Norway (M2M, Lene Marlin), Germany (No Angels), Russia (Julia Kova, Nataliya Vetlitzkaya), Denmark (Me & My, Aqua), France (France Gall, Mylene Farmer)

Edited May 8, 201510 yr by Sword of Justice

John, just count them, it's not very hard. :)

Not 100 % sure, but near 75-80 % my # 1s were from United Kingdom, maybe even more.

US is possible on the second place, based on many # 1s from Madonna, Britney, Blondie.

 

If don't count Eurovision songs these countries have # 1s in my chart :

Netherlands (mostly Luv'), Lithuania, Canada (mostly Shania Twain), Australia (mostly Kylie), Belgium (K3, Betty), Ireland (mostly Dana), Sweden (mostly ABBA), Norway (M2M, Lene Marlin), Germany (No Angels), Russia (Julia Kova, Nataliya Vetlitzkaya), Denmark (Me & My, Aqua), France (France Gall, Mylene Farmer)

 

I counted a few random years in the 90's and it's massively 2 to 1 UK over US and I think thats the way it was in the 70's and 80's too, so yes go for that one :lol: