We’re definitely entering the era of “death records” now aren’t we?

'Forget Me Not' by Vera is on the retro chart thing right now and sounds quite nice. *14 pages late* :kink:

'Forget Me Not' by Vera is on the retro chart thing right now and sounds quite nice. *14 pages late* :kink:

Hehe well hopefully the thread can be used as a reference point for people in future. :)

Another gap in keeping up with this thread.

 

I loved Little White Bull as a child. It's one of the few singles my Dad bought so we heard it rather a lot and chanted Little White Bull along with the children on the record :lol:

 

Deck Of Cards is the epitome of sentimental tripe (until No Charge came along many years later).

 

Ray Stevens did the best version of Misty for me. He was also responsible for the terrible The Streak which has nothing to do with Running Bear / Bare.

 

The best version of My Bonnie I know was by The Beatles and Billy Preston.

My dad is a huge fan of Jim Reeves and it was nice to tell him that his debut was coming up in my crazy project when I went home for Easter. I don't promise to always give him glowing reviews but "He'll Have To Go" is wonderful. It was the "I'm Yours" or "Let It Go" of its day with a monstrous 30 weeks in the Top 40 but never climbing higher than #12.

 

9 Jim Reeves He'll Have To Go Epic chart run for this - his first hit and it's a great but quite simple ballad brilliantly delivered with his deep crystal clear voice

8 Adam Faith Someone Else's Baby A runner up hit very similar in style to the 2 chart toppers that preceeded it, but this is my favourite of his songs - brilliant tune

8 The Everly Brothers Cathy's Clown 101st #1 and the 24th biggest seller of the decade: it's a great record but I don't personally love it as much as their previous #1

7 Elvis Presley Stuck On You A very vintage mid tempo Elvis number with honky tonk piano and plenty of "uh huh huh" - very nice

6 Paul Anka Puppy Love The original of this here and I'll never exactly love the song but can confirm it started out life as a very decent ballad

5 Ronnie Carroll Footsteps The original of this is coming up - this is a perfectly decent cover but lacks a spark and doesn't really do anything with it

4 Cliff Richard And The Shadows Fall In Love With You We're getting into slightly cloying Cliff territory now - still a well written ballad but it is a bit saccharine

4 Anthony Newley Do You Mind? It's the 100th #1: I do mind a bit that this rather flaccid ballad has taken that accolade but there we are - it's less drippy than "Why"

3 Johnny Mathis You Are Beautiful He sounds great as ever and it has a nice atmosphere but it's such a slow ballad and I can't really discern a tune

3 Shaye Cogan Mean To Me The only hit for this American singer and actress and it's OK but quite whiny and doesn't really go anywhere

3 The King Brothers Standing On The Corner I've said I'll avoid making moral judgements but this is literally about how much fun wolf whistling is - tune's a bit raucous but OK

2 Lonnie Donegan My Old Man's A Dustman 99th #1: I'm sure it made people smile but I really don't like this song even before you add in the bad jokes and canned laughter

2 Shirley Bassey With These Hands Dirge of the day from Shirley - one of those that no matter how many times you hear it you won't remember how it goes

2 Bobby Darin Clementine A very strange mangling of this folksong in which Clementine is reimagined as an obese woman - I don't get it at all

 

 

1960 Group 6 (passing over the re-release of "Heartbeat"):

 

#1140 16/04/1960 Neil Sedaka Stairway To Heaven 8 35-29-26-20-24-17-12-13-9-{8}-11-17-16-23-37->15

#1141 16/04/1960 Michael Holliday Skylark 39 50-{39}-40->3

#1142 23/04/1960 Steve Lawrence Footsteps 4 20-15-10-9-8-{4}-6-8-10-13-23-31-26->13

#1143 23/04/1960 Ella Fitzgerald Mack The Knife 19 35-30-26-28-{19}-22-23-42-41->9

#1144 23/04/1960 Johnny Preston Cradle Of Love 2 42-23-18-11-9-{2}-2-2-5-4-5-12-17-30-45-26->16

#1145 30/04/1960 Duane Eddy Shazam! 4 21-16-7-7-8-9-{4}-7-7-18-13-25-34->13

#1146 30/04/1960 Jacqueline Boyer Tom Pillibi 33 {33}-33->2

30/04/1960 Buddy Holly Heartbeat {1960} 30 35-{30}-35->3

#1147 30/04/1960 The Four Lads Standing On The Corner 34 36-{34}-49-38->4

#1148 30/04/1960 Cliff Adams Orchestra The Lonely Man Theme 39 {39}-50->2

#1149 30/04/1960 Craig Douglas Heart Of A Teenage Girl 10 41-27-20-12-{10}-10-16-23-20->9

#1150 30/04/1960 Frankie Avalon Don't Throw Away All Those Teardrops 37 46-{37}-43-50->4

#1151 30/04/1960 John Barry Orchestra Beat For Beatniks 40 49-{40}->2

#1152 07/05/1960 Lance Fortune This Love I Have For You 26 32-30-{26}-29-39->5

#1153 07/05/1960 Edward Byrnes And Connie Stevens Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb) 27 42-{27}-28-37-29-34-40-44->8

 

 

 

Another gap in keeping up with this thread.

 

I loved Little White Bull as a child. It's one of the few singles my Dad bought so we heard it rather a lot and chanted Little White Bull along with the children on the record :lol:

 

Deck Of Cards is the epitome of sentimental tripe (until No Charge came along many years later).

 

Ray Stevens did the best version of Misty for me. He was also responsible for the terrible The Streak which has nothing to do with Running Bear / Bare.

 

The best version of My Bonnie I know was by The Beatles and Billy Preston.

 

Yay Little White Bull fans everywhere (well, 3 of us anyway) :D Sadly my dad bought Deck Of Cards when I'd have preferred Little White Bull!

 

Misty, so yes. Ray Stevens should not be judged on The Streak (Running Bare arf) not even close to being one of his better novelty hits. Ah yes, The Beatles early version of My Bonnie was bunged out after they signed to EMI and actually charted!

My mum and dad both adored Jim Reeves, as did my grandma - she gave me all her vinyl albums a few years before she died - so no argument from me about He'll Have To Go, Jim had a voice honey sweet but authoritative - and he was still charting a decade after his death. Love Someone Else's Baby too, and Cathy's Clown is my fave Everlys track.

 

Stuck On You is decent but not special, Puppy Love I will take Donny's cover - it might be an unpopular opinion but it makes more sense for a pre-pubescent to sing it than an 18-year-old. Footsteps, yes either the original version please, or the Showaddywaddy cover. Or even better, a Pet Shop Boys song of the same name which is the boys at their most sweet and tender and deserves to be known. Cliff's track is OK, Lonnie's I loved when I was a kid, but not so much these days, I dont even have nostalgic fondness for it the way I do most kiddie songs of the 60's. The rest, meh...

The proper version of "Footsteps" just wins today, though nice that the French language Eurovision winning song was a hit.

 

8 Steve Lawrence Footsteps The only Top 40 here for this American singer and a great little pop song; very contemporary sounding with the plucked strings

8 Jacqueline Boyer Tom Pillibi The French Eurovision winner - she loves him even though he's such a liar is the theme; very lovely indeed and better than ours

7 Johnny Preston Cradle Of Love Not quite as great as "Running Bear" but a really good follow up; great tune well sung with backing singers as the wind

7 Duane Eddy Shazam! Shazam means wizard apparently; another great one from Duane with the usual guitar, sax and background whooping

7 Michael Holliday Skylark Surprisingly very enjoyable - the bird is represented by whistling and wind instruments and overall a really sweet jazzy ballad

6 Neil Sedaka Stairway To Heaven No relation to the glam rock song - this is a very solid 1960 style pop song from young heartthrob Neil

6 Cliff Adams Orchestra The Lonely Man Theme Cliff was a member of the Stargazers but not holding that against him - this is a really nice gentle Mantovani style instrumental

6 John Barry Orchestra Beat For Beatniks Not sure if this was also a TV theme like "Hit And Miss" but another very good instrumental that sounds quite Bond-esque

5 Ella Fitzgerald Mack The Knife "We haven't heard a girl sing it" - this is live from a Berlin concert and she forgot the words so improvised; iconic but don't love it

4 Lance Fortune This Love I Have For You More nice plucky strings in the background - similar in style to "Be Mine" but nowhere near as good and a little whiny

3 The Four Lads Standing On The Corner Another similar version of the wolf whistler's song - maybe slightly prefer the vocals here to The King Brothers' but still not great

2 Frankie Avalon Don't Throw Away All Those Teardrops I find this a very plodding and dreary ballad with no memorable tune - only redeeming element a bit of nice Spanish style guitar

2 Craig Douglas Heart Of A Teenage Girl Another of these "she's passed it when she's 20" songs with menacing counting "18, 19" in the background - not a fan

1 Edward Byrnes And Connie Stevens Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb) Based on Byrnes' character from the TV series "77 Sunset Strip" apparently, but to me just a very irritating mostly spoken song

 

 

1960 Group 7:

 

#1154 07/05/1960 Marv Johnson I Love The Way You Love 35 44-39-{35}->3

#1155 07/05/1960 Connie Stevens Sixteen Reasons 9 45-45-22-15-17-19-11-17-11-18-{9}-45R(3)->12

#1156 07/05/1960 Keith Kelly Tease Me 27 46-{27}R(2)-35-34->4

#1157 14/05/1960 Eddie Cochran Three Steps To Heaven 1 32-15-11-3-3-2-{1}-1-2-5-8-17-19-20-33->15

#1158 14/05/1960 Stan Freberg And Jesse White The Old Payola Roll Blues 40 {40}->1

#1159 14/05/1960 Edith Piaf Milord 24 41-44-45-50-35R(22)-26-27-25-25-26-26-{24}-25-27-49->15

#1160 21/05/1960 The Fabulous Flee-Rakkers Green Jeans 23 29-31-28-{23}-33-37-35-33-38-32-38-35-36->13

#1161 21/05/1960 Connie Francis Mama/Robot Man 2 34-20-15-7-4-{2}-3-4-3-7-15-7-14-14-18-25-25-25-38->19

#1162 21/05/1960 Billy Bland Let The Little Girl Dance 15 39-19-21-20-16-{15}-20-27-35-46->10

#1163 21/05/1960 Russ Conway Lucky Five 14 42-36-19-{14}-17-23-28-28-48->9

#1164 21/05/1960 Freddy Cannon The Urge 18 43-27-26-{18}-19-24-24-29-43-41->10

#1165 21/05/1960 Dave Sampson Sweet Dreams 29 48-46R(2)-{29}-30-36-29->6

#1166 28/05/1960 Nat 'King' Cole That's You 10 25-25-24-13-{10}-26-37-30->8

#1167 28/05/1960 Lonnie Donegan I Wanna Go Home 5 28-18-6-6-{5}-6-14-14-9-6-14-17-22-24-27-29-33->17

 

 

 

 

Stairway To Heaven is my fave here, but Footsteps is also good. Not that familiar with the rest, but The Lonely Man Theme is nice - not sure about Cliff Adams version though, The Cliff Adams Singers haunted chartfans for decades as the chart show ended (which was broadcast on both non-FM whistling and fading in and out Radio 1 and pristine FM Radio 2) on Radio 2 it morphed into Sing Something Simple in which the Cliff Adams mob turned endless numbers of archive songs into bland, characterless dross. I loathed it with a passion and rushed to turn the radio off immediately and play back the ones I'd just recorded off the chart show.

 

77 Sunset Strip was a fave TV show of mine at the time. and I bet that record helped with the charm to toddlers - I can remember the theme tune way better though. "sevenny-seeeeven, SUNSET STRIP". Theme tunes last the longest in the memory :lol:

A very odd chart run for Sixteen Reasons in this next batch!

Just been playing catch up - 'Theme From A Summer Place' is my favourite song to appear in the thread so far, very pleased it got a perfect score from you :wub:

My mum and dad both adored Jim Reeves, as did my grandma - she gave me all her vinyl albums a few years before she died - so no argument from me about He'll Have To Go, Jim had a voice honey sweet but authoritative - and he was still charting a decade after his death. Love Someone Else's Baby too, and Cathy's Clown is my fave Everlys track.

 

Stuck On You is decent but not special, Puppy Love I will take Donny's cover - it might be an unpopular opinion but it makes more sense for a pre-pubescent to sing it than an 18-year-old. Footsteps, yes either the original version please, or the Showaddywaddy cover. Or even better, a Pet Shop Boys song of the same name which is the boys at their most sweet and tender and deserves to be known. Cliff's track is OK, Lonnie's I loved when I was a kid, but not so much these days, I dont even have nostalgic fondness for it the way I do most kiddie songs of the 60's. The rest, meh...

Donny Osmond's Puppy Love was rather saccharine but I'd agree that it makes more sense from such a young singer. I remember going on a school trip to France and returning to find Puppy Love was number one :lol: Lonnie Donegan recorded some great songs but Dustman isn't one of them.

I'm amazed that this is Edith Piaf's only UK hit. Fortunately it's a barnstormer of a song, which just nabs the win today.

 

8 Edith Piaf Milord This is a bit of an epic 4.5 minutes of tempo changes and drama, with exquisite French singing - a unique hit

8 Connie Francis Mama/Robot Man "Robot Man" is a brilliant bouncy energetic track; Mama is a ballad sung in Italian which I think she does pretty well - great overall

8 Freddy Cannon The Urge Great from Freddy again - the big instrumentation and the "hey hey" give this a lavish feel and the performance is great as ever

7 Marv Johnson I Love The Way You Love From the breezy piano intro this is really a feel-good smile on the face soul song - so much better than "You Got What It Takes"

7 Dave Sampson Sweet Dreams A British artist, again with only one hit, and it's a lovely little quite sad break-up ballad with some gentle guitar parts enhancing it

7 Keith Kelly Tease Me Only Top 40 for this member of the John Barry Seven - a great grumpy little song with a grudging twangy accompaniment

6 Billy Bland Let The Little Girl Dance Only hit for this American soul singer, and it's a very nice catchy number with rhythmic chirupping from the backing singers

6 Russ Conway Lucky Five An even luckier 6 for this - the usual chirpy and trilly piano lines and a very pleasant couple of minutes but nothing essential

5 Lonnie Donegan I Wanna Go Home Lonnie's version of the "Sloop John B" folksong - much better than "My Old Man's A Dustman" but not one I'd rush to hear again

5 Nat 'King' Cole That's You Not one of Nat's best and doesn't quite have the majestic charm that many of his have, but a very decent Big Band style number

4 Eddie Cochran Three Steps To Heaven 102nd #1: I'm not fond of this and prefer every other song by Eddie that I've heard - it's a bit drab and also I totally failed on Step 1

3 Connie Stevens Sixteen Reasons This gradually climbed up to #9 and was out of the Top 50 next week - very odd as Jim said; find it a slightly dull and twee ballad

3 The Fabulous Flee-Rakkers Green Jeans It's the "Greensleeves" theme again; all done on honking saxophones - good chart run but doesn't do much for me

2 Stan Freberg And Jesse White The Old Payola Roll Blues A spoof about rock 'n' roll being all money and no talent and it's 9 minutes long and very stop-start, but with some funny moments

 

 

1960 Group 8:

 

#1168 28/05/1960 Buddy Holly True Love Ways 25 32-33-27-{25}-34-31-35->7

#1169 28/05/1960 Billy Fury And The Four Jays That's Love 19 33-27-21-20-26-{19}-24-19-25-35-37->11

#1170 28/05/1960 The Four Preps Got A Girl 28 38-44-{28}-36-29-33-47R(2)->7

#1171 28/05/1960 Emile Ford And The Checkmates You'll Never Know What You're Missin' 'Til You Try 12 39-22-{12}-12-22-27-26-21-38->9

#1172 28/05/1960 Bob Azzam And His Orchestra Mustapha 23 40-37-49-35-27-38-{23}-32-44-46-46-27-40-48->14

#1173 28/05/1960 The Crickets Baby My Heart 33 47-38-{33}-44->4

#1174 28/05/1960 Anita Bryant Paper Roses 24 49-45R(5)-{24}R(2)-48->4

#1175 28/05/1960 Tommy Bruce And The Bruisers Ain't Misbehavin' 3 50-47-35-21-9-4-7-4-{3}-9-5-10-21-19-21-32->16

#1176 04/06/1960 Jerry Lordan Sing Like An Angel 36 {36}-46->2

#1177 04/06/1960 Jack Scott Burning Bridges 32 40-{32}->2

#1178 04/06/1960 Maureen Evans Paper Roses 40 43-{40}-48-50-46->5

#1179 11/06/1960 Michael Cox Angela Jones 7 36-31-14-10-11-{7}-10-13-11-18-19-38-38->13

#1180 11/06/1960 Sammy Masters Rockin' Red Wing 36 38-38-38-37-{36}->5

#1181 11/06/1960 Dick Jordan Little Christine 39 44-49-{39}->3

 

Footsteps isn't familiar at all but it's a pretty good song.

A low score for Three Steps To Heaven is a shock :o

A low score for Three Steps To Heaven is a shock :o

Sorry - it irritates me a bit, especially the lyrics. :mellow:

Never realised there was a Top 40 hit with "Payola" in the title!

Milord was a surprise, I was about to say Ive never heard it till I played the link - and it's very very well known to me, I just never knew what it was called! Love it, Piaf was amazing. Robot Man is decent, and I just remembered I saw Marv Johnson in the 80's on a Motown tour - but I still dont recall this one. None of the rest ring a bell (though that might not be accurate based on Milord!), bar 2 and one obvious Three Steps To Heaven - Eddie had just been killed in a car accident near Swindon, Dave Dee of future Dozy beaky etc was in attendance as a policeman, and the song seemed sad and literal at the time. It still had pathos when Showaddywaddy did a great cover in 1975 and set them up as a huge Rock'n'Roll covers band for the next 5 years - their first 4 singles were originals.

 

I Wanna Go Home is OK, but Beach Boys Sloop John is the definitive, anyone else need not bother. Copyright free I'd guess. Greensleeves was also copyright free even in 1960, so more cash for the artist :D Stan Freberg was a well-known comic at the time, and core Rock'n'Roll DJ Alan Freed had been done for playing records for cash so that must have led to the record. Of course I'm sure payola is a thing of tha past these days. You just have to agree to do PA's to help get radio plays, and streaming companies use whatever rules they have invented for deciding what goes on which playlist to make the charts and which gets ignored and flops... :teresa:

"True Love Ways" is my favourite Buddy Holly song that I've heard I think; just gorgeous. Like "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" it was recorded at the last session before he died. An inferior cover of this will be a much bigger hit in a few years.

 

9 Buddy Holly True Love Ways A heartbreakingly beautiful ballad, almost whispered, with the most gorgeous and tender sax and violin lines

8 Bob Azzam And His Orchestra Mustapha An Egyptian song written for a film and done in French here but very much retaining the Eastern vibes; it's brilliantly catchy

8 Sammy Masters Rockin' Red Wing Only hit for this American rockabilly singer - he has a lovely clear deep voice and it's a great bouncy song with an inspired sax part

7 Tommy Bruce And The Bruisers Ain't Misbehavin' Originally a hit for Johnnie Ray in 1956 but this version was much bigger, and it's a very good cover - reminds me of The Big Bopper

7 Jerry Lordan Sing Like An Angel 3rd and final hit for him and this is by far my favourite - he has a lovely sincere sounding voice and this is a very good upbeat tune

7 The Crickets Baby My Heart This is the usual Crickets style - a good tune done mid-tempo with harmonies, honky tonk piano and a guitar interlude

6 Billy Fury And The Four Jays That's Love Very Elvis-esque - "tha-at's love" is even the same tune as Elvis's signature "uh-huh-huh", but a good rock ballad done with swag

6 Dick Jordan Little Christine Only Top 40 for this British singer and can't find much info about him, but again a good tune well complemented by guitar and violin

5 Emile Ford And The Checkmates You'll Never Know What You're Missin' 'Til You Try Third hit for this group and it's unmistakebly them, and the song is decent but doesn't quite match up to the other bigger hits

4 Michael Cox Angela Jones Only Top 40 for this Liverpudlian singer and it's quite catchy but a bit lighweight and there seem to be more "do dos" than lyrics

4 The Four Preps Got A Girl An odd song about a girlfriend who has crushes on a long list of famous men which is repeated several times; quite fun I guess

3 Jack Scott Burning Bridges This has lovely instrumentation and a rich backing chorus but the song itself is something of a melancholy dirge

2 Anita Bryant Paper Roses 3 versions of this charting and it's a very of its time song anyway but I don't think these versions help it come to life

2 Maureen Evans Paper Roses Slightly prefer the more stately tempo and richer production on the Anita Bryant version but not much in it

 

 

1960 Group 9:

 

#1182 18/06/1960 Johnny And The Hurricanes Down Yonder 8 26-16-14-{8}-13-20-21-23-41-37-33->11

#1183 18/06/1960 Frank Sinatra River, Stay 'Way From My Door 18 27-28-22-19-{18}-24-32-32-39->9

#1184 18/06/1960 Jimmy Jones Good Timin' 1 34-18-2-{1}-1-1-2-2-5-10-9-16-21-22-34->15

#1185 18/06/1960 Gene Vincent Pistol Packin' Mama 15 42-30-16-22-{15}-18-22-21-25->9

#1186 18/06/1960 Johnny Kidd And The Pirates Shakin' All Over 1 45-40-15-10-10-4-3-{1}-2-3-5-7-6-14-12-17-21-35-37->19

#1187 25/06/1960 Tommy Steele What A Mouth (What A North And South) 5 42-13-{5}-8-6-10-17-15-15-25-33->11

#1188 25/06/1960 Pat Boone Walking The Floor Over You 39 43-40-46R(2)-{39}R(3)-48->5

#1189 25/06/1960 Teresa Brewer How Do You Know It's Love 21 45-30-{21}-27-29-37-34-37-26-36-44->11

#1190 25/06/1960 The Beverley Sisters Green Fields 29 48-39R(2)-{29}->3

#1191 25/06/1960 The Brothers Four Green Fields 40 49-{40}R(2)->2

#1192 02/07/1960 Adam Faith When Johnny Comes Marching Home/Made You 5 8-15-6-{5}-8-10-16-17-21-26-33-38-42->13

#1193 02/07/1960 Cliff Richard And The Shadows Please Don't Tease 1 21-6-2-2-{1}-3-1-1-2-2-4-4-7-8-18-19-25-29->18

#1194 02/07/1960 Bobby Darin Bill Bailey 34 36-{34}R(2)->2

#1195 02/07/1960 Jess Conrad Cherry Pie 39 {39}->1

 

Brilliant to see 'Milord' coming out on top for you! I discovered it via Strictly Come Dancing a couple of years ago, where it soundtracked a very fun charleston.

 

'Tom Pillibi' is a solid Eurovision winner but apparently Norway was my favourite from that contest (the song in question: Nora Brockstedt - 'Voi Voi')