'Glad All Over' is quite good!

I’m not a massive fan of Glad All Over - I’d probably go for From Russia With Love in fact

Glad All Over was def my fave at the time and its still foot-stomping fun. Older me would prob rather hear From Russia With Love or If I Ruled The World, both are tunes. Harry's version of the latter is still the most powerful, though Tony Bennett's was good, but a shout-out to the late Andy Hallet, Lorne in the series Angel (Buffy spin-off) and his version in the final very dark episode of the show.

28th November - 4th December 1963

 

29. Stay - The Hollies https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GynWfSa3Abg A wild, fast paced cover of the Maurice Williams US number 1 from 1960. A lot of singers have had a go at the song so I know the tune well.

31. Money - Bern Elliott and The Fenmen

The Beatles have just done a cover of this which was part of my album review last week and now comes another version from the Kent band. They've done a reasonably good job with it.

32. Hungry For Love - Johnny Kidd and The Pirates https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yued-JfoUSE This will be the last of the group's six top 40 hits and it didn't impress me. Johnny lost his life in a car accident just three years later.

40. Yesterday's Gone - Chad Stuart and Jeremy Clyde

A pleasant song with acoustic guitars. The addition of strings and then brass kept it interesting. Peaking at number 37, it will be the English duo's only hit but they will do much better in America where they will have eleven top 100 singles.

 

Record of the week : 25. I Only Want To Be With You - Dusty Springfield

 

There's a clear winner this week with a song we all know. As well as a great vocal and melody, there is also the attempt to match the Spector wall of sound with the orchestra and big drum sound. Dusty and her team were looking for the right song to start her solo career and they found it with this one. It will spend three weeks at number 4, the same peak position achieved by the Bay City Rollers and The Tourists with their later cover versions.

 

 

 

Dusty was in a bit of a league of her own in the charts at that point.

Dusty any day for me, icon, and a massive tune that was a hit again twice in the 70's, and again in the 80's, none of the covers any good, bar The Tourists' decent cover aka Annie Lennox & Dave Stewart (& co).

 

Stay is a decent cover, but prefer Jackson Browne's 1978 hit. Money, it's The Beatles for me, always has been, Hungry For Love never heard in my life (that I recall). It's no Shakin' All Over. Chad & Jeremy never caught my attention in the 60's till they turned up on Batman (!) circa 1967 in the UK. If any act was proof that the US had gone Britpop-mad and would buy any old piece of tat that looked Swinging 60's London, it's them. That and the 2 godawful music hall oldies Herman's Hermits monster number ones that didnt even get a UK release they were so bad. I'm lookin' at you I'm Henry The VIIIth I Am, I Am! And that was very much part of the 60's music scene in the UK even though it wasnt a single. Went down well on The Good Old Days TV show, I expect.

5th - 11th December 1963

 

10. I Want To Hold Your Hand - The Beatles

This is the first Beatles single not to win my ROTW award. I still like it but there's something better this week. It's the first song by them recorded using four-track equipment and you can tell, the production is better adding to what is already a well written pop song. It will spend five weeks at number 1 and also launch the group in America.

24. Dominique - The Singing Nun

An interesting acoustic guitar song from the Belgian nun, her only hit. It contains six verses and six choruses with the backing nuns doing most of the work on each chorus. Reaching number 7 here, it will be an unlikely US number 1.

28. Geronimo - The Shadows https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyQkFOPuMbI This is well put together with strings, brass and backing vocals as well as the familiar guitar sound. It will be the first single by them to miss the top 10.

34. Steptoe and Son At Buckingham Palace (Parts 1 & 2) - Wilfrid Brambell and Harry H Corbett

A recording of their eleven minute sketch at the Royal Variety Performance. Albert has gone to the Palace to collect some rag and bones. I don't think the BBC sitcom it was based on was a particular favourite of my parents as I don't remember seeing much of it. This sketch wasn't that funny but the audience sound like they enjoyed it.

35. Swinging On A Star - Big Dee Irwin

I've heard this a few times a long time ago so I'm guessing it was played a bit on Junior Choice in the 70s. It's a fun song (originally from a 1944 Hollywood film) aiming for the Christmas market like many of this week's new entries. Little Eva makes an uncredited contribution.

36. I Can Dance - Brian Poole and The Tremeloes

One for the dancefloor now with plenty of energy. While their first two singles reached the top 5, this will only get to number 31.

37. All I Want For Christmas Is A Beatle - Dora Bryan

A terrible novelty record by the English actress putting on a comedy accent.

38. Country Boy - Heinz

I like the stretched out guitar sound at the start but the rest of the song didn't live up to that promise.

 

Record of the week : 33. Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa - Gene Pitney

 

I'm choosing this classic by Gene Pitney, written by Bacharach and David. It's a story of a man who is one day away from home and decides he prefers a girl he meets outside a motel to the girl he is driving home to and will never go home again. There's great use of the strings, piano and brass instruments here. The single will peak at number 5 in January.

 

Ooh yes I do still love I Want To Hold Your Hand, but Gene just pipped The Beatles in mine too. :wub:

 

Love Dominique as well.

Ooh very close for me - dad bought I want To Hold Your Hand so it's part of my childhood, but so was 24 Hours From Tulsa, and Gene was fabulous. Gene edges it, I think, and a shout-out to This Boy B side of Hand, in my current charts cos it's never charted before and it's added to 62-66 Red album.

 

Dominique is lovely, great tune, tragic story of The Singing Nun. Geronimo isn;t one the Shads classics, Steptoe & Son were never funny and I had to sit through them. Swinging On a Star is delightful, one I liked as a kid. Dora Bryan was a 60's fave, but yeah not great here. The Trems sounding suspiciously exactly like Do You Love Me. Oh dear. Heinz also a disappointment, it's no Just Like Eddie. that backing dur dur vocal was a mistake. Surely if its about country boys it should be done in a Cornish accent..

12th - 18th December 1963

 

Record of the week : 30. Not Too Little, Not Too Much - Chris Sandford

 

With all those new entries last week, there is little room for anything else and this is the only new song to make it in. Chris Sandford was an actor in Coronation Street. His character, Walter Potts, had a storyline where he was snapped up by a talent agency and this was the single he released. It was a hit in the storyline and now it's a hit in the real world, peaking at number 17, so it's an 'Every Loser Wins' for the 1960s. His vocal range is limited and the song is fairly basic but the chorus is one that will stay in my head for a while. Unlike Nick Berry, Chris Sandford had no further hits. He now writes books on fly fishing so he's a real life J R Hartley.

 

How bizarre! They had actual future pop star Davy Jones in Corrie (Ena Sharples grandson) who could actually sing - exhibit one, Daydream Believer - and didn't bother with him!

19th - 25th December 1963

 

25. Kiss Me Quick - Elvis Presley

This has already been available as an album track for 18 months so I'm not sure why it's been released as a single now. There's a good rhythm to the song but nothing else noteworthy.

35. We Are In Love - Adam Faith and The Roulettes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UTQE9sl33g Adam's second release with his new backing band and they've given him a more contemporary sound, this was OK.

37. Walking Alone - Richard Anthony

A first hit for the French singer. Recorded at Abbey Road, there's a big scale to it with the strings and a siren like backing vocal. The second best of today's batch.

38. What To Do - Buddy Holly

What To Do was already a hit in 1961 but this is a new version. There were some neat guitar licks.

39. Run Rudolph Run - Chuck Berry

An original Christmas song which has been covered by many artists since. Recorded in 1958, it sounds a lot like Johnny B Goode or Roll Over Beethoven.

 

Record of the week : 27. Hippy Hippy Shake - The Swinging Blue Jeans

 

A lively Merseybeat song gets the award this week. The singer puts everything into his vocal and there's a great guitar interlude. The group's second top 40 hit will go as high as number 2. The song was written and first recorded by the 17 year old American, Chan Romero in 1959.

 

A grand pick there!

Hippy Hippy Shake is an energetic obvious pick for me here too, but I dont really know the rest much so here we go playing 'em:

 

Kiss Me Quick, ah film soundtrack Elvis, it's OK but like most of his film songs, disposable fluff. Adam's never heard that I recall, and yes obviously moving into Merseybeat-inspired sounds, but the song is formula copycat without the energy or class.

 

Never heard of Richard Anthony, nice production, but fairly unmemorable. No idea which version I'm listening to for the Buddy Holly hit, but this is an album track or B side being flattered to keep the hits coming. Run Rudolph in the actual charts this week thanks to streaming playlist positioning and people leaving them on for longer than they usually would in the run-up to Christmas. It sounds much like the usual Chuck Berry sound, but not quite as good. he was probably on tour in the UK with The Beatles or something.

26th December 1963 - 1st January 1964

 

39. From Russia With Love - John Barry Orchestra

Matt Monro's vocal version is still in the top 40 and now we have the instrumental version which was used on the opening credits. It's not the most memorable of Bond themes. This is John Barry's eighth top 40 hit in four years, we will have to wait another eight years for the last one.

 

Record of the week : 35. Kansas City - Trini Lopez

 

I can tell from the crowd noises that this is a live version of the song. It's a decent rhythm and blues tune with the harmonica combining well with the guitars in the instrumental break. The more well known covers are by The Beatles (on their fourth album) and Wilbert Harrison (a US number 1). The original from 1952 was by Little Willie Littlefield. I don't think I know any of those so the song was unfamiliar to me. Trini Lopez's last single reached the top 5 but this one will peak at number 35.

 

Co-incidentally I was watching The Dirty Dozen yesterday and hadn't realised Trini Lopez was in it! If I Had A Hammer is fab, but this cover isnt one I warm to, never been a fan of the song. John Barry for me. Though not as much as The Persuaders obv :)

2nd - 8th January 1964

 

32. I'm In Love - The Fourmost

A second hit for the Merseybeat group and, like the first, it's a Lennon/McCartney composition. The whole song is sung in harmony by the group and they make a good job of it but there's nothing exceptional here.

 

Record of the week : 37. Do You Really Love Me Too (Fool's Errand) - Billy Fury

 

It's still that time of year in which we get just a few new entries and this is the best of today's pair. Billy puts in a good vocal, supported by the backing singers, strings, drums and a repeated guitar riff. The song was first recorded by the American singer, Barbara Chandler, a few months ago. Billy's version will get to number 13.

 

 

 

I turned 6 and have no memories of ever hearing either of these :D

 

I can see why Paul & John gifted that song, and Billy has the edge, nice strings and twangy guitar though the song is nothing exceptional.

9th - 15th January 1964

 

29. As Usual - Brenda Lee

A sad ballad about not getting over someone leaving which she sings well, accompanied by piano and strings. It will be her fourth top five single.

37. There! I've Said It Again - Bobby Vinton

Another well sung ballad with a xylophone and harpsicord amongst many instruments being used. The original version is from the 1940s. It's his second hit, reaching number 34 here but going all the way to number 1 in the US. We will have to wait another 27 years for the third one.

38. Don't Blame Me - Frank Ifield

A country style ballad with effective use of the harmonica. This one goes even further back, to the early 1930s. It will give Frank his sixth and final top 10 hit.

 

Record of the week : 40. Baby, I Love You - The Ronettes

 

Hot on the heels of Phil Spector's Christmas album comes the second hit single for the Ronettes. It's another excellently produced recording with the Wrecking Crew making a great contribution. Only the lead singer, Ronnie Bennett, was present so Sonny & Cher and Darlene Love all help out on backing vocals. I'm most familiar with the Ramones' cover (also a Phil Spector production) from 1980 which got to number 8. At the time, I didn't know it was a cover. I don't think I've heard the Ronettes' original before. It will spend twelve weeks in the top 40, peaking at number 11.

 

Yes, The Ronettes for me too, over Brenda Lee which is sweet. The other two I also quite like. Baby I Love You topped my chart in a very Spector-y self-produced cover from Dave Edmunds in early 1973, so I love the song already, though The Ramones (spector-produced) cover was a tad too fun-cartoony for me, I liked the emotion of the earlier versions.