46. SUGAR SUGAR - The Archies (1969)

 

 

OK, hands up, I bloody love this record, it was definitely one of my all-time fave records by 1974. I loved The Archies, I used to tape songs off their TV show onto reel-to-reel tape using a tinny-sounding hand-held microphone. This was in Singapore 1970/1971, I was 12, I cut the cardboard/plastic vinyl records off the back of US cereal boxes which featured Archies songs, the first EP I ever bought was Sugar Sugar (a 4-track with US hit Bang Shang A Lang and the TV show theme on it), the first album I ever bought with my own money was The Archies, also Sugar Sugar and other faves from the TV show, and I have since bought a box set of one of the series. It's bloody terrible! I didn't notice how bad it was at the time, so much, as I really loved the songs. But Archie Comics were fun, and have led to dark cult show Riverdale as well as a music-TV cartoon show. They were created after Don Kirshner got his nose put out of joint by the members of The Monkees taking control over their own music, so he opted for a band that didn't exist except as cartoons to avoid future conflict. Happily for him he also brought in top US hitmakers like Jeff Barry and 1974 Rock Me Gently hitmaker Andy Kim, who wrote Sugar Sugar, Toni Wine on backing or co-lead vocals (see A Groovy Kind Of Love) and Ron Dante on lead vocal, who also had hits as The Cufflinks. The bubblegum music was often much better than you might expect for music aimed at little kids, not least with this global smash, which has spent the last 50-odd-years infuriating serious music critics, DJ's, and people generally by refusing to go away and stop selling, eventually passing the million mark in the 21st century (I'm talking actual paid-for sales, not fake repeat-listens on Spotify). It is what it is - and what it is is simple, catchy, nicely-produced-and-sung pop, which is why it outsold The Beatles, Elvis & assorted other music legends in 1969. So in the words of kids at the time, naah, nah, na-na naaahh!

45. RUBY, DON'T TAKE YOUR LOVE TO TOWN - Kenny Rogers & The First Edition (1969)

 

 

The late Kenny was never finer that on his big breakthrough smash, this post-Viet-Nam story-song of a wife looking for physical love as her war-injured disabled husband can no longer assist in that direction. It's short, sad, and touching, but stays the right side of taste and avoids veering in the mawkish OTT territory of some of his later story-song smashes like the laughable Lucille (his heroes always seem to marry the wrong woman) or stereotyping Coward Of The County. The follow-up Something's Burning was also pretty good though, his First Edition days are much more satisfyingly decent overall, even though he will now always be remembered for Islands In The Stream, a Bee Gees gift to him and Dolly. The Brothers Gibb have one on the rundown, too, which is only fair....

44. OLD SHEP - Elvis Presley (1956)

 

 

His penultimate entry on the countdown, and it's a sad story of shooting dead a beloved pet dog, guaranteed to make grown, hardened men get all sentimental and tearful. I've seen it. Admittedly it was still beloved of people from the 50's, and sometimes their kids. I liked it as a kid, but happily it wasn't on the radio enough to get annoyed by it, and is these days utterly forgotten with the passing years. Quite bloody rightly. It's mawkish, turgid, and unpleasant in these times. Don't get me wrong, I love animals, always have, and can't abide cruelty or suffering, but this is so @£$%& depressing!

 

 

 

 

43. KELLY - Del Shannon (1963)

 

 

OK, Match-fixing alert!!! Something well-dodgy here, and I think as a result of a fan-club campaign to get a fandom fave onto the list. I'd never heard of this minor non-hit from Del Shannon when this was played on the rundown, unlike his other gem mystifyingly lower down, and I've never heard it since until I played it for reviewing purposes. It's mildly pleasant but one radio play every 40 years or so doesn't ring out "classic". I'm guessing Del was touring the UK around about the time of the voting and a collective effort was made by all who'd had a good night out...but even so, it's less memorable than Woody Harrelson singing a different Kelly song on sitcom Cheers to his girlfriend. The lyrics went "kelly kelly kelly kelly kelly kelly kelly kelly...." etc.

42. HAVE I THE RIGHT? - The Honeycombs (1964)

 

 

This Joe Meek production was jolly and is on the rundown even though I'd never heard of it until it popped up on a K-Tel various artist album I bought in 1973 (I wanted In The Year 2525 most all, a track I worshipped, and which is not on the list). It's striking a blow for women's rights to do anything they want to do (in this case be the drummer in a band) and it has an appealing stomping beat a la Dave Clark 5 (not on the list, not even Glad All Over) but, y'know, Joe Meek, the man behind ground-breaking Telstar (which I knew intimately, and adored) the global instrumental smash for The Tornadoes (also not on the list), and John Leyton's wonderful haunting chart-topper Johnny Remember Me (also not on the list), which I adored as a kid and into the 70's - and this makes the rundown. Shomething fishy methinks - or else the TV advertising for the album I bought reminded people who actually liked it 10 years earlier to vote for it. I was listening to pop music in 1964 and it just sort of passed me by entirely. Any way, The Dead End kids covered it in 1977 and brought it back into the charts, so it must have been liked more than I rate it. I DO like it, but it''s not by any stretch of the imagination one of the top 100 tracks of the 60's.

41. (And The Lights All Went Down In) MASSACHUSSETS - The Bee Gees (1967)

 

 

Love this record, love The Bee Gees, love 60's-era Bee Gees most of all, and my mum loved this record. Dad bought 12 Big Hits in Singapore in 1969 and it had this one on it, so played it lots and lots growing up, with memories of The Summer Of Love (OK this in the autumn, but it applies) living on an RAF camp on the Isle Of Anglesey in North Wales, beaches, puffins, walks to school along country lanes and teachers who spoke Welsh to each other so you couldnt understand what they were saying out of lessons. Massachussets was an attempt by the brothers Gibb to ape the flower-power peace and love songs that were around, but flipping it to the East Coast, with Robin's plaintive lead vocal setting the right mood for a great ballad. These days? Their 70's disco-era songs would dominate any polls and the 60's stuff might turn up as cover versions, but I think they are under-rated as recordings in their own right, I'll nominate World, First Of May, I Started A Joke, Lonely Days or How Can You Mend A Broken Heart as being worthy of being on a rundown of the era, and most of their other hit singles (including Robin's solo Saved By The Bell) being only slightly-less fabulous, despite some of them being bigger hits for other acts (Only One Woman, Words, To Love Somebody).

Loving this countdown. Thanks for sharing!

Same here, love the Archies track. And ‘Massachusetts’ what a amazing song and melody, a sign of the genius to come!

Hi John. Ruby is okay but I much prefer Lucille and evwn more so Coward Of The County, Kenny's 2 UK No.1's.

44. OLD SHEP - Elvis Presley (1956)

 

 

His penultimate entry on the countdown, and it's a sad story of shooting dead a beloved pet dog, guaranteed to make grown, hardened men get all sentimental and tearful. I've seen it. Admittedly it was still beloved of people from the 50's, and sometimes their kids. I liked it as a kid, but happily it wasn't on the radio enough to get annoyed by it, and is these days utterly forgotten with the passing years. Quite bloody rightly. It's mawkish, turgid, and unpleasant in these times. Don't get me wrong, I love animals, always have, and can't abide cruelty or suffering, but this is so @£$%& depressing!

 

 

My late cousin's favourite song of all time. He was a huge dog and music lover but sadly died aged 20. Old Shep should have been a big hit single but in a way it's best known as an Elvis cult classic.

Loving this countdown. Thanks for sharing!

 

Thanks muchly SL3, I'm hoping to restart the top 40 shortly :)

Same here, love the Archies track. And ‘Massachusetts’ what a amazing song and melody, a sign of the genius to come!

:cheer: :)

My late cousin's favourite song of all time. He was a huge dog and music lover but sadly died aged 20. Old Shep should have been a big hit single but in a way it's best known as an Elvis cult classic.

 

My mum, dad, uncles all loved Old Shep. I liked it as a kid, but it was just too sad to love. Re Kenny, mum and dad loved any Kenny actually too, though I think mum loved Ruby more than the others, and so do I, still. :wub:

It's been a long wait, sorry about that, life difficulties to deal with, but hoping to do some more of this rundown now.

 

40. WALK ON BY - Dionne Warwick (1964)

 

 

Utter classic alert! Bacharach & David's greatest song of many great songs, quite probably, and sung by their go-to artist, the eternally cool, smooth and effortless Dionne. One of the greatest records ever made, immaculate heartbreak love song with a melody to die for, this is the one I turned to the first time I got dumped, and it helps clear away the sadness and self-pity with a good old wallow. I grew up on Bacharach/David songs, and I loved them as a child and loved them as a teen, and loved them ever since, and Dionne's back-catalogue is rich thanks largely to Burt & Hal. This track peaked at 6 in the US charts and 9 in the UK charts, which is a bit of a shame as it clearly should have topped both charts - but Beatlemania/British Invasion was a thing and Easy Listening had to struggle to get a look-in at that time. Much-covered, it's a song that is hard to do badly, witness good hit versions from The Stranglers, Isaac Hayes, Sybil and many others, but none as perfect as the original. Deserves to be regarded as one of the 40 greatest recordings of all-time, so yay for it getting voted as such in 1974!

39. OUT OF TIME - Chris Farlowe (1966)

 

 

A Rolling Stones song (Jagger/Richard) from their 1966 album Aftermath, and pretty good too, an obvious single missed out on - but they instead produced and donated it to Chris Farlowe with additional strings, a sort of Blue-Eyed Soul track in the tradition of The Righteous Brothers, if more upbeat and bluesy. It's a great record, though not top of the list of 60's classics these days which is a shame as Farlowe injects passion and the arrangement is pretty fine - so fine that the year after it came 39th in this poll it was involved in a 3-way chart battle, as it re-charted in competition with Dan McCafferty's cover (Nazereth lead singer) and also with a Rolling Stones version that took the Farlowe backing track and added it onto the Stones' original. All 3 versions made the UK top 50, and none of them made the top 30. I'm sure collectively they sold enough to go top 10 though....

38. MAKE IT WITH YOU - Bread (1970)

 

 

Tagged with the same "uncool" Easy Listening bulls-eye target that the Carpenters had from Rock critics in 1970, Bread (via singer/songwriter David Gates) specialised in gorgeous romantic ballads that appealed to music fans not fussed about what was hip and cool, and this effortlessly lovely song was their first big hit. How good were Bread? I think numerous number one hit covers in the UK, in reggae, spoken-actor versions and other hit versions says a lot about the song quality: Everything I Own, If, The Guitar Man and Baby I'm A Want You among others are all fab songs and records. This is the touchstone track, though, another song it's hard to ruin (Let Loose did a terrific cover in the 90's) and no doubt the romantic teens and 20's girls were voting for this in big numbers. I'd actually missed it at the time (due to being out the country) but by 1974 I knew how good it was, and I pretty much rated it as one of the best records of 1970. Still do.

37. DEDICATED TO THE ONE I LOVE - The Mamas & The Papas (1967)

 

 

The only Mamas & Papas track on the countdown - shockingly, California Dreamin' never made the list, and amazingly that genuine 60's classic wasn't a big UK top 10 hit until 1997. In the UK it wasn't as big as Monday Monday or this one, which peaked at 2 in the charts and was the one that spurred my huge love the band and for Mama Cass. I adored this record, I loved the melodies and the way the girls and boys alternated lead and harmonised together generally, a lost art in the 21st century. I'm guessing that's why this one isn't as revered today as it was in 1974, cos it was certainly revered by me in 1974 along with their back catalogue which I'd bought on 2 budget Hits collections, and my number one record in my personal charts: Mama Cass was in the UK promoting her wonderful new (flop) single If You're Gonna Break Another Heart, and I was so enamoured of her I taped her reviewing the records on Rosko's Roundtable on Radio 1. She loved The Hues Corporation Rock The Boat, thought Mud's Elvis impression on Rocket was better than any Presley single in years, and much much more. And then she was suddenly dead from a heart attack at 32. My first brush with feeling bereft at the early death of a fave pop star. Not the last one, sadly. I still love this 1957 5 Royales record cover, and it's sad to think 3 of the 4 are now gone, just Michelle Phillips left - though her daughter with John Phillips Chynna got her own hit run in 1990 onwards with Hold On and other hits.

36. LOVE ME TENDER - Elvis Presley (1957)

 

 

It's that man again, and we finally reach peak Elvis - yes it's the most-voted-for Presley track on the countdown, an early ballad for the then-rock'n'roller. I can vouch Elvis fans still loved it in 1974. And every year since his death a mere 3 years later, the second shock pop star death in my young life, cos I was very much an Elvis fan in 1977 - albeit largely for his older recordings and the gospel comeback. Elvis was still hitting the UK top 10 with great oldies like Suspicion and Girl Of My Best Friend, setting a posthumous template ahead of the game, but his new material was distinctly dodgy by 1974, and stayed that way until his final record, Way Down, which was at least rockin' fun. Here we get to see Young Elvis, though on an adaptation of a Civil War ballad - possibly why I find it very dreary. Oddly, it peaked at 11 in the UK, though was a US chart-topper, and has been covered zillions of times by many a great, so what do I know? I'll take Way Down any day over this one, though.

 

 

35. LET IT BE ME - The Everley Brothers (1959)

 

 

The first of two soppy love songs from the vocal harmony brothers, we recently just also lost Don, and this plaintive ballad is quite sweetly sad, and the influential harmonies of Don & Phil are still great. But. I think their fan club was out in force voting for the less thrilling of their back catalogue. No Cathy's Clown. No Price Of Love. No All I Have To Do Is Dream. All a bit puzzling really, that this English-language cover of a French 1955 Gilbert Becaud song should feature at all, no matter how nice it is. Again, another track that didn't even go top 10 in the UK. Gilbert had the last laugh though, he had a UK hit the following year (1975) with his delightfully quirky Love & Understanding, and The Everley Brothers had to wait for Paul McCartney to write them a minor comeback hit in the 80's - though Phil did go top 10 with Cliff Richard in 1983, as the brothers kept on squabbling and sabotaging their own career.

 

 

34. BAND OF GOLD - Freda Payne (1970)

 

 

A soul corker here - and one I missed entirely again (out the country, living in Singapore etc) until it popped up in the countdown at 34, at which point I liked it, then liked it again in 1975 when it got some 5-years-ago radio plays and I managed to tape it and liked it even more. As the years have gone by I've recognised it more and more for the classic it is, a heartbreaking story of a woman who marries a man that isn't able to satisfy her needs. What a trusting soul ol Freda was not having a test drive before buying the car, and what a selfish hubbie for not being honest and upfront. Gay, is the implication! Ahead of it's time and then some. Band Of Gold is the gem in the post-Motown career of writer/producers Holland-Dozier-Holland, who had left after differences of opinion with Berry Gordy & the company to set up their own Invictus label. On backing vocals on this track we have the 2 ladies from Dawn - I mention them cos you ain't gonna get Tie A Yellow Ribbon on the countdown (too recent) and Knock Three Times didn't make the grade - and Ray Parker Jr on lead guitar 14 years before his Halloween immortality, Ghostbusters!Freda had some minor UK hits, and quite a few US hits some of them pretty good, but this remains her claim to fame.