The Fleetwoods Come Softly To Me is terrific, a fave, I first knew it by The New Seekers in 1972, they did a pretty good version of it for a Christmas hit that year, one I like more now than I did at the time, which is usually not something I can say about The New Seekers - I was a huge fan then, less so these days with some of their stuff, but fond of them all anyway.

 

Buddy Holly cant go wrong, got his greatest hits etc. Love Neil Sedaka, right from his fun teen pop songs to his mature 70's phase, I Go Ape is very much a fun ditty, It's Late is also good got the Greatest Hits ditto, Little Richard covering early 20th century standards again, not one of Elvis' better records, either side, Venus I've already tackled (I like syrup :D ), and the rest I dont know, but would be interested in The Poni-Tails and Domenico tracks.

Nothing absolutely blowing the competition away here but Cliff gets his second win, with his other one up there too. I feel like this run of praise for Cliff from me isn't going to last (he knows I have a mean streak).

 

8 Cliff Richard And The Drifters Mean Streak The guitar riff really makes this and all in all it's a really punchy rhythmic number except in the middle when the instruments let rip

7 Russ Conway Roulette 86th #1: I find it much more memorable than "Side Saddle" because the swooshing lines and the melody really have impact

7 Cliff Richard And The Drifters Never Mind Oddly this was the B side to "Mean Streak" but also released concurrently - a classic rock 'n' roll number but very catchy and fun

6 Ricky Nelson Never Be Anyone Else But You A very sweet and tender ballad with nice multi-tracked harmonies, and he really seems to mean it

6 Lloyd Price Where Were You (On Our Wedding Day)? This is a very classic feeling soul style song with a great tune and great supporting backing singers and instrumentalists

6 Bert Weedon Guitar Boogie Shuffle A very nice twangy instrumental - quite similar to Duane Eddy's style - feels like it could do with a vocal line though

5 Lonnie Donegan Fort Worth Jail No surprises here - it's a typical Lonnie skiffle hit about a random topic which builds up into a frenzy

5 Frank Sinatra Come Dance With Me (LP) Polyhex lists this "hit" as being the whole album - some classics like "Something's Gotta Give" and overall a very pleasant listen

5 Jerry Lee Lewis Lovin' Up A Storm As usual from Jerry it's a rock 'n' roll number with an energetic chorus and piano interlude - nice but nothing too special

4 The McGuire Sisters May You Always An "I Will Always Love You" have a nice life style break up ballad - it's nice and well performed but a little bit staid

4 Joan Regan May You Always Quite a similar version but with a single vocal line instead of harmonies and she sings it well but as usual I slightly prefer the latter

4 Fats Domino Margie Very much feels like Fats by numbers; a jolly well sung mid tempo jazzy number as you'd expect but not distinctive for me

3 Jane Morgan If Only I Could Live My Life Again Sounds like it should be from a musical - a rousing self improvement type ballad but it's slightly stiff and preachy

3 Anthony Newley Idle On Parade EP A whole EP about being in the army - not keen on the slapstick humour and the title track is tedious but others are more catchy

2 Ruby Wright Three Stars A mostly spoken tribute to Holly, Valens and The Big Bopper - sweet but done in an incredibly cheesy American way

 

 

Next group:

 

#949 23/05/1959 The Everly Brothers Take A Message To Mary 20 29-27R(4)-24R(2)-{20}-22-26-21-25-24-29->10

#950 23/05/1959 Pat Boone For A Penny 19 30-28-29-28R(3)-{19}-30-28-30-24->9

#951 30/05/1959 Nat 'King' Cole You Made Me Love You 22 25-{22}-30->3

#952 30/05/1959 Bobby Darin Dream Lover 1 27-16-5-3-2-{1}-1-1-1-2-2-3-2-5-8-11-11-18-25->19

#953 30/05/1959 The Everly Brothers Poor Jenny 14 29-17-20-20-21-15-{14}-18-19-22-21->11

#954 06/06/1959 Little Richard Kansas City 26 {26}-28-29-27-30->5

#955 06/06/1959 Marty Wilde A Teenager In Love 2 26-8-4-3-3-{2}-2-4-4-5-6-10-12-13-24-28-28->17

#956 06/06/1959 Ruby Murray Goodbye Jimmy Goodbye 10 28-23-16-14-14-{10}-11-11-11-14-17-15-20-26R(6)->14

#957 13/06/1959 Anthony Newley Personality 6 22-21-11-{6}-7-7-9-8-8-10-11-21->12

#958 13/06/1959 Craig Douglas A Teenager In Love 13 24-14-15-20-16-16-16-{13}-15-28-27->11

#959 13/06/1959 Lloyd Price Personality 9 26-18-12-10-{9}-12-10-20-26R(2)-25->10

#960 13/06/1959 Johnny Kidd Please Don't Touch 25 30-26-26-{25}R(3)-27->5

#961 20/06/1959 Duane Eddy Peter Gunn 6 11-10-8-{6}-6-8-9-11-12-17-27R(3)->11

#962 27/06/1959 Lonnie Donegan Battle Of New Orleans 2 7-4-3-3-{2}-3-3-2-4-4-5-8-8-14-21-22->16

#963 27/06/1959 Johnny Horton The Battle Of New Orleans 16 21-{16}-23-27->4

 

Not familiar with any of those! Apart from Ricky Nelson which was a radio staple as an oldie before the 50s were banished forever. Tuneful and sweet, just like Ricky.

Another winner that I didn't know before I did this today.

 

8 Lloyd Price Personality Very big in America - a really heartwarming song; it's sweet, cute and sincere and has a great melody and soulful feel

8 Duane Eddy Peter Gunn The guitars create quite an ominous feel on this and then the muted saxophone really lets rip and sounds in agony - excellent

7 Johnny Kidd Please Don't Touch Not dissimilar to their chart topper coming next year but it's a great rock number with a rich guitar sound and an effective hook

7 Bobby Darin Dream Lover 87th #1: a very well written and catchy pop song with effective backing vocals and rhythms; just missing the wow factor

7 Little Richard Kansas City Charted at every position from 26-30 - good as ever; particularly like the call and response chorus and the slightly lazy feel to it

6 Marty Wilde A Teenager In Love The highest charting version of this but not the original - it has good energy though and it's well performed

6 Nat 'King' Cole You Made Me Love You Not one of his best but somehow still manages to be mesmerising thanks to his star quality and the warm orchestration

5 The Everly Brothers Poor Jenny So she's in jail because someone attacked her and called the police and then he abandoned her - very strange but quite a fun track

5 Anthony Newley Personality A cover that annoyingly charted higher than the original - it's not a bad version really but lacks the smooth class of Lloyd's version

4 The Everly Brothers Take A Message To Mary This time he's in prison for shooting someone and frankly I struggle to sympathise - nice harmonies but not one of their best tunes

4 Lonnie Donegan Battle Of New Orleans War and army related songs seem to be all the rage at the moment - at least Lonnie injects some energy into it but it's not great

3 Craig Douglas A Teenager In Love First hit for Craig who almost only did covers - this one is a bit unnecessary and feels wooden compared to the other versions

3 Ruby Murray Goodbye Jimmy Goodbye Not sure why Jimmy's going away - Ruby's first Top 10 hit for 4 years but it's a bit overly sentimental and boring unfortunately

2 Pat Boone For A Penny I think like with many of Pat's songs the main problem is the glacial pace which makes it sound wooden and disengaged

2 Johnny Horton The Battle Of New Orleans Written by a history teacher as a fun way of teaching apparently, but I find it tedious and even worse without the Lonnie factor

 

 

Next group:

 

#964 27/06/1959 Dion And The Belmonts A Teenager In Love 28 {28}-28->2

#965 27/06/1959 Billy Fury Margo 28 {28}->1

#966 04/07/1959 Connie Francis Lipstick On Your Collar 3 28-17-8-7-6-5-4-{3}-5-4-6-6-10-16-19-20->16

#967 11/07/1959 Cliff Richard And The Drifters Living Doll 1 15-5-3-{1}-1-1-1-1-1-2-2-2-3-4-7-8-15-17-15-13-24-26R(2)-30R(3)->23

#968 11/07/1959 Perry Como I Know 13 24-19-16-19-15-15-{13}-14-18-17-15-18-19-21-27-24->16

#969 11/07/1959 Paul Anka Lonely Boy 3 26-26-27-16-9-7-5-{3}-3-3-3-4-7-7-17-15-27->17

#970 11/07/1959 Brook Benton Endlessly 28 {28}-28->2

#971 18/07/1959 Stonewall Jackson Waterloo 24 {24}-25->2

#972 25/07/1959 Elvis Presley A Big Hunk O' Love 4 5-5-{4}-5-7-10-12-16-27->9

#973 25/07/1959 Frankie Vaughan The Heart Of A Man 5 20-18-15-9-8-7-{5}-10-10-8-14-17-21-30->14

#974 25/07/1959 Duane Eddy Yep! 17 20-{17}-18-21-26->5

#975 25/07/1959 Tony Brent Why Should I Be Lonely? 24 {24}-26-28-29->4

#976 25/07/1959 Hugo And Luigi La Plume De Ma Tante 29 {29}-30->2

#977 25/07/1959 David Seville And The Chipmunks Ragtime Cowboy Joe 11 30-14-12-{11}-14-15-15-26->8

#978 01/08/1959 Buddy Holly Midnight Shift 26 {26}-27-27->3

 

Again no absolute stand-outs here - 1959 seems to have had a few months without many real classics. I'm afraid despite having enjoyed Cliff's records up to this point I can't be enthusiastic about "Living Doll". Nonetheless the top half dozen are all really strong solid numbers and Elvis gets his 4th win. There's also quite a helping of shockers here.

 

8 Elvis Presley A Big Hunk O' Love This is vintage Elvis for me - has the swagger but without being gimmicky and it's a great vibtrant track with honky tonk piano

8 Paul Anka Lonely Boy A lovely classic feeling track that swings along effortlessly with very effective female backing oohs in the chorus

8 Dion And The Belmonts A Teenager In Love The only hit for this trio and a small one at that, but the original and best version of this song which really brings the emotion across

7 Duane Eddy Yep! Another very effective one from Duane where the strings and sax do all the work and a chorus sings "Yep!" at various points

7 Connie Francis Lipstick On Your Collar A rookie error getting lipstick on the collar; Connie's voice is effortlessly strong and clear as ever and it's a really good pop song

7 Buddy Holly Midnight Shift Plenty of twanging on this - it's the usual Buddy style and doesn't stand out from his other tracks but still really good

6 Brook Benton Endlessly A very smooth performance from this soul singer and it's a really good tune with nice strings and backing

5 Billy Fury Margo A sweet plaintive ballad with Margo's voice echoing via a female backing chorus, but feel the performance doesn't quite connect

4 Cliff Richard And The Drifters Living Doll 88th #1: not bad, certainly compared to what's below it in this list, but it's so twee I can't like it very much - bring back Rocky Cliff

3 Frankie Vaughan The Heart Of A Man One of these rather turgid ballads with grand production but where the melody itself is indistinct and the vocals plodding

3 Perry Como I Know This had a long chart run but it's a pretty dreary ballad, the rich backing chorus and the piano and strings being the highlights

2 Tony Brent Why Should I Be Lonely? Dirge of the day here - just a terribly drippy and whiny ballad and it's impossible to care about the protagonist's sorrow

2 David Seville And The Chipmunks Ragtime Cowboy Joe Alvin the chipmunk has become a cowboy with a gun for some reason - amazed this isn't bottom but some even worse horrors here

1 Stonewall Jackson Waterloo "Everybody will meet a violent end - what will yours be?" seems to be the premise of the song; pretty grim musically and lyrically

1 Hugo And Luigi La Plume De Ma Tante The only hit for this pair of producers and it's the appalling French accents that take it from being an annoying novelty to unbearable

 

 

Next up:

 

#979 01/08/1959 Pat Boone 'Twixt Twelve And Twenty 18 29-23-{18}-20-26-25-26R(2)->7

#980 08/08/1959 Johnny Mathis Someone 6 12-13-12-10-7-{6}-6-9-6-6-13-14-22-19-28->15

#981 08/08/1959 Winifred Atwell The Summer Of The Seventeenth Doll 24 {24}-29->2

#982 08/08/1959 Craig Douglas Only Sixteen 1 26-14-6-2-2-{1}-1-1-1-2-4-7-8-13-19->15

#983 08/08/1959 Tommy Edwards My Melancholy Baby 29 {29}->1

#984 15/08/1959 Freddy Cannon Tallahassee Lassie 17 19-19-{17}-19-25-28-29-29->8

#985 15/08/1959 Tommy Steele Tallahassee Lassie 16 20-18-{16}-17-25R(3)->5

#986 15/08/1959 Sam Cooke Only Sixteen 23 {23}-30-27-24->4

#987 22/08/1959 Conway Twitty Mona Lisa 5 22-13-11-9-9-{5}-9-11-12-10-14-14-17-30->14

#988 22/08/1959 Russ Conway China Tea 5 23-8-9-{5}-5-6-8-9-14-18-30-20-21->13

#989 22/08/1959 Ronnie Hilton The Wonder Of You 22 24-{22}-22->3

#990 22/08/1959 The Impalas Sorry (I Ran All The Way Home) 28 {28}->1

#991 29/08/1959 Jerry Keller Here Comes Summer 1 19-10-4-4-3-2-{1}-2-5-6-12-14-21-28->14

#992 29/08/1959 Al Saxon Only Sixteen 24 {24}-25-27->3

#993 29/08/1959 The Platters Remember When 25 {25}-27->2

 

ooh good top 4 there with Personality, the fab Peter Gunn (what a tune! So good it hit again in the 80s revamped), Please Don't Touch (covered by Motorhead and Girlschool in the 80s), and Bobby Darin's best record Dream Lover - I have a picture disc vinyl 1979 reissue version of it, always loved that song. Agree about those covers of the Dion song and also Battle Of New Orleans, I never got that one either.

 

Dion's is the top tune in the next batch but Elvis, Paul Anka, Connie Francis are decent. Brook Benton is another great smooth soul singer, his xmas tune is one I play semi-regularly at festive-time. That leaves Living Doll - somehow never a particular fave of mine, and I reckon I've known it all my life. I think it's just too nursery rhyme-ish, prob. The Young Ones version with Cliff is amusing on first hearing though. Not the 31st hearing....

 

 

Another tricky winner decision but "Someone" is a mesmerising ballad that I find myself wanting to revisit.

 

8 Johnny Mathis Someone Such an emotionally charged song, tenderly delivered with his shimmery silky voice; could listen all day

8 Freddy Cannon Tallahassee Lassie Reminds me of Little Richard in style - delightfully coarsely voiced rocky number with claps and oohs, guitar and piano

8 Jerry Keller Here Comes Summer 90th #1: nice to be reviewing this just as it's getting lighter and it's a lovely happy and chirpy pop song from a one hit wonder

7 Sam Cooke Only Sixteen The original and by far the best version with great soulful singing and classy production

7 The Impalas Sorry (I Ran All The Way Home) A very lovely bouncy and jazzy one off hit from a doo wop group which was very big Stateside

7 Winifred Atwell The Summer Of The Seventeenth Doll One of Winifred's really good ones - an excellent summery tune and the piano interacts with the guitar very effectively on this

6 Russ Conway China Tea You could say the Chinese element is cliched with the gong and Eastern sounding opening few notes but a very nice instrumental

6 Conway Twitty Mona Lisa A good tune here with nice production and backing choir; lyrics not terribly well aged comparing a lady to artwork but hey ho

5 Tommy Edwards My Melancholy Baby Second and final hit for Tommy following up his chart topper: like that this is understated and the melody is subtle, but quite classy

5 The Platters Remember When As usual fantastic singing, and it's a very nice but the melody isn't quite strong enough to bring it all together

5 Ronnie Hilton The Wonder Of You Will be a big hit for a certain someone else of course; this is towards the better end for a Ronnie hit but I still can't get excited

4 Al Saxon Only Sixteen Slightly better than the very successful cover; Al puts some welly into it and some nice instrumentation but still feels unnecessary

4 Tommy Steele Tallahassee Lassie Tommy makes a reasonable fist of covering this but it just sounds wrong played after Freddy's; not enough grit in the vocals

3 Craig Douglas Only Sixteen 89th #1: I do actually like the tone of his voice but as soon as you've heard Sam's you realise this is a fairly flat and uninspred cover

1 Pat Boone 'Twixt Twelve And Twenty Dubious lyrics (to a 12 year old saying your teenage years will be fine if you fall in love with me); song is unappealing even for Pat

 

 

And so we will reach the 1,000th record tomorrow, which fittingly goes to one of the most prolific and greatest hitmakers of the 50s, Nat 'King' Cole! (Note that if you're reading Lonnie Readioff's chart books my 1,000th hit is his 1,005th. Where the same song had a re-release ("Serenade" by Mario Lanza) and in some cases where Polyhex counts a double A side that was initially separated as a single entry, I'm only counting 1 record for review, hence the difference. Soon we'll be diverging much more anyway as he'll be including Top 50 hits and I only Top 40s.)

 

#994 29/08/1959 Frank Sinatra High Hopes 6 28-19R(2)-17-15-12-10-10-10-9-{6}-10-8-16-26-42R(14)->15

#995 29/08/1959 Tommy Steele Give! Give! Give! 28 {28}-30->2

#996 29/08/1959 Manuel And The Music Of The Mountains The Honeymoon Song 22 30-29-27R(3)-23-25-{22}-23-27R(2)-27->9

#997 05/09/1959 Duane Eddy And The Rebels Forty Miles Of Bad Road 11 16-12-12-{11}-18-15-15-16-16->9

#998 05/09/1959 Ricky Nelson Sweeter Than You 19 {19}-22-24->3

#999 05/09/1959 Ray Peterson The Wonder Of You 23 {23}->1

#1000 05/09/1959 Nat 'King' Cole Midnight Flyer 23 27-{23}R(2)-26-28->4

#1001 12/09/1959 Lonnie Donegan Sal's Got A Sugar Lip 13 {13}-13-17-22->4

#1002 12/09/1959 Ricky Nelson Just A Little Too Much 11 14-14-13-{11}-12-11-17-20->8

#1003 12/09/1959 The Everly Brothers ('Til) I Kissed You 2 15-15-7-4-5-3-{2}-4-5-6-5-5-9-19-28->15

#1004 12/09/1959 Connie Francis Plenty Good Lovin' 18 20-20-{18}-20-23-28->6

#1005 12/09/1959 Buddy Holly Peggy Sue Got Married 13 21-22-22-{13}-20-18-19-17-25-29->10

#1006 12/09/1959 Sarah Vaughan Broken Hearted Melody 7 29-18-15-15-16-9-9-{7}-10-7-11-10-17->13

#1007 12/09/1959 Lloyd Price I'm Gonna Get Married 23 30-25-{23}-24-23->5

#1008 19/09/1959 The Browns The Three Bells 6 19-11-10-8-{6}-6-10-8-11-9-15-30-22->13

 

 

 

 

 

 

Catch-up time again. At least it's only a week this time!

 

I've always loved Buddy Holly's music. He died the day after my older sister was born but it's perfectly feasible that he could still have been alive today :( It's a real tragedy that the world never got to hear what else he had to offer. C'mon Everybody makes it a great top two for the day.

 

I don't recall hearing Mean Streak before but it sounded pretty good. Peter Gunn is usually fun in any version. I can't remember where I heard Personality before but I'm fairly familiar with it although I couldn't have said who recorded it. There have been a number of decent versions of Teenager In Love but the Dion and the Belmonts version is probably the best. Only Sixteen is another enduring classic. I agree that the Sam Cooke version is the one that should have topped the chart.

Dont know the Johnny song, doesnt he look young?! Very nice though. Freddy Cannon is always welcome, Sam Cooke is always fab, and The Wonder Of You is of course Elvis' monster ballad moment, who could compete?!

 

That said my fave is Here Comes Summer, a tune I associate with being young, one that I know but dont know when or where I got to know it, but it was way way back.

 

Simon, I think the place you will know Personality from would be Lena Zavaroni, it was her follow-up to Ma, He's making Eyes At Me and got some chart success and radio/TV play. Poor Lena, success that early probably did her in, as is so often the way. You would have been much the same age at the time...

Dont know the Johnny song, doesnt he look young?! Very nice though. Freddy Cannon is always welcome, Sam Cooke is always fab, and The Wonder Of You is of course Elvis' monster ballad moment, who could compete?!

 

That said my fave is Here Comes Summer, a tune I associate with being young, one that I know but dont know when or where I got to know it, but it was way way back.

 

Simon, I think the place you will know Personality from would be Lena Zavaroni, it was her follow-up to Ma, He's making Eyes At Me and got some chart success and radio/TV play. Poor Lena, success that early probably did her in, as is so often the way. You would have been much the same age at the time...

I'm fairly certain the version of Personality I'm familiar with had a male vocalist. I tried to ignore Lena Zavaroni at the time :lol:

And so I've passed 1,000 records! :cheer:

 

It's a strong group with no duds but another one where the winner doesn't jump out. Sarah Vaughan edges it with a great combination of song and vocals.

 

8 Sarah Vaughan Broken Hearted Melody It's her voice that makes this - so clear and warm and every note is a joy to hear, but it's a great pop / soul song as well

8 The Everly Brothers ('Til) I Kissed You The Everlys back on form here; really captures the feeling of infatuation with the lazy tempo, honky tonk piano and harmonies

8 Lloyd Price I'm Gonna Get Married A great follow up hit to "Personality"; excellently performed and has a real vintage soul feel with the backing singer interaction

7 Buddy Holly Peggy Sue Got Married A sequel to the original "Peggy Sue" used later as the title song for a film, and it's a lovely gentle acoustic style track

7 Frank Sinatra High Hopes Another film tune - I often don't enjoy songs with children but this one is a bit of a classic and really fun

7 Duane Eddy And The Rebels Forty Miles Of Bad Road Again really good from Duane; starts with the beat and then come the guitars and then the sax starts snarling at you

6 The Browns The Three Bells First verse he's born, second he marries and third he dies - quite an odd song but with a really lovely tune and harmonies

6 Tommy Steele Give! Give! Give! Quite a frenzied skiffle style number from Tommy, which fits with the urgency of the lyrics - he pulls this off well

6 Nat 'King' Cole Midnight Flyer A more uptempo R&B number than is typical from Nat's hits - very cool with strong guitar and piano parts

5 Ray Peterson The Wonder Of You Slightly prefer this to Ronnie's version as it's a more interesting performance, but it's difficult to not see it as an Elvis ballad

5 Ricky Nelson Sweeter Than You The smaller of hits here but an interesting one - a very slow ballad and yet the backing humming gives it real atmosphere

5 Connie Francis Plenty Good Lovin' Not one of her strongest songs but has a classic feel; she gives it maximum energy and the saxophone solo is great

4 Lonnie Donegan Sal's Got A Sugar Lip The usual whirlwind of energy based around a mundane theme and good fun as usual but it's all getting a bit samey for me

4 Ricky Nelson Just A Little Too Much A perfectly serviceable rock 'n' roll track but not very distinctive; misleading title as it gives you too little rather than too much

4 Manuel And The Music Of The Mountains The Honeymoon Song An film piece and it's quite a curious Spanish sounding instrumental, pleasant but so laid back it doesn't have that much impact

 

 

 

Next group:

 

#1009 19/09/1959 Frankie Vaughan Walkin' Tall 28 {28}-29R(2)->2

#1010 26/09/1959 Marty Wilde Sea Of Love 3 21-16-13-5-4-{3}-3-5-6-9-11-20->12

#1011 26/09/1959 Bobby Darin Mack The Knife 1 24-5-3-{1}-1-2-2-2-2-3-6-7-16-20-19-23-30R(2)-50R(7)->18

#1012 26/09/1959 Jack Scott The Way I Walk 30 {30}->1

#1013 03/10/1959 Miki And Griff Hold Back Tomorrow 26 {26}-30->2

#1014 03/10/1959 Dee Clark Just Keep It Up (And See What Happens) 26 {26}->1

#1015 10/10/1959 Cliff Richard And The Shadows Travellin' Light 1 14-8-2-{1}-1-1-1-1-3-3-5-8-5-9-12-19-21->17

#1016 10/10/1959 Cliff Richard And The Shadows Dynamite 16 18-{16}-21R(2)-26->4

#1017 10/10/1959 Les Compagnons De La Chanson The Three Bells (The Jimmy Brown Song) 21 27-{21}R(2)-25->3

#1018 10/10/1959 Chris Barber Featuring Monty Sunshine Lonesome (Si Tu Vois Ma Mere) 27 {27}-28->2

#1019 10/10/1959 Johnny And The Hurricanes Red River Rock 3 29-25-12-5-4-{3}-4-4-5-6-6-9-19-10-20-25->16

#1020 17/10/1959 Floyd Robinson Makin' Love 9 19-13-13-11-{9}-11-12-21-26->9

#1021 17/10/1959 Eddie Cochran Somethin' Else 22 23-{22}-25->3

#1022 17/10/1959 Fats Domino I Want To Walk You Home 14 23-29-19-{14}-22->5

#1023 17/10/1959 Santo And Johnny Sleep Walk 22 26-25-23-{22}->4

 

congrats on the 1000! Thats a lot...!

 

Dont know the Sarah Vaughan track, great singer, playing it now, very nice.

 

The Everly's is a goodie, dont know the LLoyd Price follow-up, and I actually prefer Peggy Sue Got Married to Peggy Sue.

 

High Hopes is a great record, Junior's Choice radio show staple back in the 60s and 70s, still fun. Record Of The Week for this former child :)

 

Duane is always good, the rest I dont know, but Manuel & The Music Of The Mountains (conductor Geoff Love pseudonym I think) would become more famous to chart watchers for being the shortest ever time at number one: a few hours! One Tuesday in 1976 his Rodrigo's Guitar Concerto D'Aranjuez was announced as the new UK number one - and then there was found to be a computer glitch and the chart positions were all wrong - first IT-related boo boo I can ever recall. I still have that fake chart written down somewhere I expect...

Louis Armstrong's trumpet heavy version of "Mack The Knife" was one of my daily winners back in 1956, and in fact that verision re-entered the chart as Bobby Darin's version became a hit. Bobby's version is obviously the one everyone knows, and it's really good but actually there are two instrumentals in this group that I actually prefer. This is another example of the Americans showing much better taste than us as the incredibly enchanting "Sleep Walk" was #1 there but only a minor hit here.

 

9 Santo And Johnny Sleep Walk Only Top 40 hit here for these brothers - what a fabulous sleepy instrumental which is made by the bendy steel guitar notes

8 Johnny And The Hurricanes Red River Rock A cowboy style folk song turned into a joyous rock 'n' roll instrumental featuring saxophone and organ; very clever and fun

8 Bobby Darin Mack The Knife 91st #1: obviously a classic and a really great performance but I think I enjoy Louis's trumpety 1956 version slightly more

7 Eddie Cochran Somethin' Else This has a lot of talking and not so much melody but somehow it works thanks to the infectious beat and charismatic delivery

7 Chris Barber Featuring Monty Sunshine Lonesome (Si Tu Vois Ma Mere) Another clarinet led instrumental hit from Chris and it's gorgeous again but the melody doesn't quite stick like that of "Petite Fleur"

7 Cliff Richard And The Shadows Travellin' Light 92nd #1: generally not such a fan of the ballady Cliff, but actually it's a lovely wistful one and the emotion comes across very well

6 Cliff Richard And The Shadows Dynamite DYNAMITE!!! - rocky Cliff is still great fun and this is a vintage high tempo number with plenty of twanging from the Shadows

6 Dee Clark Just Keep It Up (And See What Happens) An American soul singer but this has a bit of a country flavour to it, and it's a lovely jolly song with nice flutes and backing singing

6 Fats Domino I Want To Walk You Home An improvement on some of Fats' recent ones; this has a strong melody and a beat that really gives the sense of walking

5 Marty Wilde Sea Of Love His 4th straight Top 5 hit - it's an atmospheric ballad with harp accompaniment and rich backing chorus; just slightly plodding

5 Jack Scott The Way I Walk A very laid back rock 'n' roll number from this Canadian star with good guitar work and backing oohs, but not that distinctive

5 Frankie Vaughan Walkin' Tall He's oh so smug about finding love, but it's fun and cheeky with a big band style arrangement which works well for Frankie

4 Floyd Robinson Makin' Love The only hit for this American country artist; was quite big but the tune is quite repetitive and I find it slightly irritating

4 Les Compagnons De La Chanson The Three Bells (The Jimmy Brown Song) An interesting version of this done a capella by a male voice choir, but the very strong French accents are a little distracting

3 Miki And Griff Hold Back Tomorrow Not terrible but quite a twee ballad from this British country duo that's doesn't have enough to keep the listener interested

 

 

Next up:

 

#1024 17/10/1959 Ella Fitzgerald But Not For Me 25 28-{25}-29R(9)->3

#1025 24/10/1959 Dickie Valentine One More Sunrise (Morgen) 14 20-17-16-16-{14}-17-16-21->8

#1026 24/10/1959 Clinton Ford Old Shep 27 {27}->1

#1027 24/10/1959 Joe 'Mr Piano' Henderson Treble Chance 28 {28}->1

#1028 31/10/1959 Paul Anka Put Your Head On My Shoulder 7 11-9-8-{7}-7-7-7-7-15-17-22-22->12

#1029 31/10/1959 Emile Ford And The Checkmates What Do You Want To Make Those Eyes At Me For? 1 12-7-4-3-2-2-2-{1}-1-1-1-1-1-3-6-9-11-14-21-23-31-32-31-35-45-50->26

#1030 31/10/1959 The Coasters Poison Ivy 15 24-29-20-18-17-{15}-23->7

#1031 31/10/1959 Dickie Pride Primrose Lane 28 {28}->1

#1032 31/10/1959 Mike Preston Mr Blue 12 29-20-{12}-17-20-25-17-25->8

#1033 31/10/1959 David MacBeth Mr Blue 18 30-{18}-23-23->4

#1034 07/11/1959 Ivo Robic And The Song-Masters Morgen 23 {23}->1

#1035 07/11/1959 Sandy Nelson Teen Beat 9 28-18-16-11-10-{9}-21-19-22-18-18-25R(3)->12

#1036 07/11/1959 Gracie Fields Little Donkey 21 30-28R(2)-{21}-23-30-24->6

#1037 14/11/1959 Neil Sedaka Oh! Carol 3 13-10-5-4-4-{3}-3-4-3-3-6-7-9-20-24-27-29->17

#1038 14/11/1959 Russ Conway Snow Coach 7 24-15-14-12-9-10-{7}-8-20->9

 

I really like what I know of Johnny and the Hurricanes from trawling through 60s charts and 'Red River Rock' sounds like another good one from a quick play just now ^_^

 

Speaking of which... edging ever closer to the Swinging Sixties :dance: (but first, there are a couple in the next batch that I'm a fan of :P)

I already know Russ Conways 'Snow Coach' which is pretty cheerful albeit one that had been played at a somewhat sadder event.

 

'Dynamite' is pretty great, indeed rocky Cliff is a good thing. I heard 'I Want To Walk You Home' on the radio thing the other day and it's nice too.

I adore Sleepwalk its just gorgeous, shhh dont tell anyone but it's been on my list of potential oldies for BJSC for quite a while - just so I can test if anyone else likes it! 10/10 for me, and the video of them doing it on TV is nicely under-stated.

 

Red River Rock is great fun, I agree with you, Louis over Bobby anyday for Mack The Knife, Eddie Cochran's is a rock n roll gem given a new lease on life by what was left of the Sex Pistols in 1979 (Cook & Jones), and both sides of Cliff's record are familiar to me and both I like - I think mum and dad had this one at some time, before someone borrowed some singles never to return, I've certainly not seen it for over 50 years!

 

I don't know the Dee Clark track, sadly, as he had a disco-era comeback with Ride A Wild Horse in 1975, and I had no idea he'd been having hits for 16 years! Of the rest the only one I'd be bothered to hear would be Marty Wilde's version of Sea Of Love....

 

 

 

 

Two nine-worthy records today. Apparently Neil Sedaka was about to be dropped from his label when he wrote “Oh! Carol” and he went and purchased the Top 3 hits at the time and studied them in depth and tried to replicate them. That doesn’t sound like a strategy that ought to have worked but it clearly did as it’s a brilliant pop song in every way. And our favourite (unbracketed) 11 word titled chart topper is right up there too.

 

9 Neil Sedaka Oh! Carol Brilliantly crafted, very catchy and excellently sung - even the spoken repetition of the verse works somehow

9 Emile Ford And The Checkmates What Do You Want To Make Those Eyes At Me For? 93rd #1: a marvellous self produced hit with great melody and lyrics, and Emile's vocals work perfectly with the doo wop backing

8 Sandy Nelson Teen Beat Sandy was a drummer and what's great about this instrumental is that it's effectively the guitar accompanying the drums

8 The Coasters Poison Ivy Their last Top 40 hit and my favourite: it's an absolutely stellar tune and they make such a rich vocal sound

7 Ivo Robic And The Song-Masters Morgen Only hit for this Croatian singer sung in German, all about everything being fine and dandy tomorrow - lovely and heartwarming

7 David MacBeth Mr Blue Lovely song - 2 versions of this and think I slightly prefer this one as the backing arrangement is simpler and sounds less dated

6 Mike Preston Mr Blue Unlike David Macbeth Mike has more hits to come - his voice is great but the other version is slightly smoother overall

6 Paul Anka Put Your Head On My Shoulder 5 straight weeks at #7: he certainly knows how to write a good tune and paint interesting textures with backing vocals

6 Russ Conway Snow Coach It's nearly Christmas so the piano instrumentals come thick and fast - this is a very jolly one that does evoke travelling in snow

5 Ella Fitzgerald But Not For Me A really nice classic feel to this with quite a dreamy backing track and she sounds great, but the melody itself could be stronger

5 Dickie Pride Primrose Lane Dickie Pride became one of the 27 club sadly and this is his only hit; the whistling is slightly irritating but otherwise a sweet song

4 Dickie Valentine One More Sunrise (Morgen) The English version of "Morgen" which unfortunately was a bigger hit than Ivo's version - it's done quite nicely I suppose

3 Gracie Fields Little Donkey I love her voice but it's quite big and vulnerable, and this song needs something much more gentle for me

2 Joe 'Mr Piano' Henderson Treble Chance A piano instrumental about playing slot machines judging by the coin noises; not unpleasant but really doesn't go anywhere

1 Clinton Ford Old Shep A song about a dying dog - at best it's terribly dull and why does he think he needs to shoot the animal himself?

 

 

 

We’ll be saying goodbye to several of our favourite 50s artists in the next set:

 

#1039 14/11/1959 Frankie Laine Rawhide 6 25-21-19-13-13-8-13-{6}-8-8-11-12-13-18-18-21-26-28-43R(3)-41->20

#1040 14/11/1959 The Avons Seven Little Girls Sitting In The Back Seat 3 26-23-13-8-5-4-4-{3}-4-6-12-10-23->13

#1041 14/11/1959 Sammy Turner Always 26 30-{26}->2

#1042 21/11/1959 Adam Faith What Do You Want? 1 18-8-{1}-1-1-2-2-2-2-4-7-8-15-14-20-24R(2)-32-27-33->19

#1043 21/11/1959 The Beverley Sisters Little Donkey 14 20-23-24-{14}-15-21-16->7

#1044 21/11/1959 Russ Conway More And More Party Pops 5 25-27-28-15-8-{5}-11-15->8

#1045 21/11/1959 Anne Shelton The Village Of St Bernadette 27 {27}->1

#1046 21/11/1959 Bert Weedon Nashville Boogie 29  {29}-29->2

#1047 28/11/1959 Winifred Atwell Piano Party 10 22-14-16-{10}-13-15-29->7

#1048 28/11/1959 Paul Evans And The Curls Seven Little Girls Sitting In The Back Seat 25  {25}->1

#1049 28/11/1959 Guy Mitchell Heartaches By The Number 5 26-30-27R(2)-22-17-16-15-9-6-{5}-10-10-16-27-21-35->16

#1050 28/11/1959 Johnny Mathis The Best Of Everything 30 {30}->1

#1051 05/12/1959 Tommy Steele Little White Bull 6  18-11-12-10-10-{6}-7-8-11-10-17-19-30R(3)-37-42-34-36->17

#1052 05/12/1959 Lonnie Donegan San Miguel 19  {19}-25-23-26->4

Edited April 2, 20232 yr by JulianT

Happy to see you rating 'What Do You Want To Make Those Eyes At Me For?' as high as 9! One of many great #1s produced by Joe Meek.

 

I also quite like 'Put Your Head On My Shoulder', so random that it got a TikTok revival, as the reason 'Streets' by Doja Cat took off was a challenge that morphed between these two songs :lol:

Controversial New Seekers erasure there, Julian :)

Oh! Carol is a great record, it topped my personal charts in 1972 when it was a reissued hit and I was 14 years old. It's still the oldest chronologically-speaking to top my charts. Both Neil Sedaka and Carole King were huge again in the early 70's - the song was about fellow-Brill-Building hit songwriter Carole King (her next release Oh! Neil wasnt quite as big :lol: ). Ive seen Neil in concert a couple of times in his later years and his voice was impeccable, just him and a piano was all he needed, everything else was icing on the cake instrumentally.

 

Emile Ford's hit is a goodie, another one I became aware of in 1972/3. Teen Beat is fun, Poison Ivy is ditto fun and good - I also like The Lambrettas 1980 cover. Put Your Head On My Shoulder I never liked much - images of a Futurama episode 30 years early :lol: - until the Doja Cat sampled song. Mr Blue I vaguely know, Old Shep became famous via Elvis (and was voted one of the UK's all-time fave records in 1974 - and then never again) but I don't like it, too depressing and maudlin. That leaves early 20th century legend Gracie Fields - I hadn't realised she was still having hits as late as this, not least because she left the UK in world war II and ended up moving to Capri I think after she got slagged off for doing a runner.