As I've forcefully argued before Come Outside for me every time :lol: A childhood obsession and I still love it, great tune. Dont know the Brubeck track but I can see the rhythm appealing in some quarters, but a tad lacking in melody this time for me. Ginny Come Lately is still sweet, Billy's is nice, I dont know the Vernon Girls songs - set up by the Pools company , so their career was a bit of a lottery :lol: Vicki Brown married Joe Brown and daughter Sam will pop up in these pages in a few years, so a real family affair. Lynn Cornell had a solo hit, and also in The Pearls in the 70's, and Joyce Baker outdid Vicki by marrying Marty Wilde, trying a solo career with preteen son Ricky, then he and dad Marty wrote and produced for Kim for 15 years of hits, and Kim, Ricky still tour and record as a family affair with Ricky's daughter Roxanne. Not sure on the Vernons Girls timelines for hits as they were a right old Sugababes-styled turnover.

 

I like Elvis' and Eden Kane's songs, and love the original Shelley fabares' version of Johnny Angel. She was a teen movies star in the USA. Cliff's version of Do You Want To Dance is OK, but then again I've never been fussed by any version of it - The Mamas & The Papas prob did the best version, radically different from this.

 

My winner for today changed several times but in the end I've gone with Joe Brown as it's just a straightforwardly lovely song. Kudos to Karl Denver though - I haven't really enjoyed any of his four Top 10 hits so far but this one (which of course was much less successful) is fabulous. And really like the Kenny Ball one too - I listened to the original song and much prefer this instrumental version.

 

8 Joe Brown And The Bruvvers A Picture Of You His biggest hit and it's more commercial and less raw than some of his earlier ones - just a beautiful rock ballad expertly done

8 Karl Denver A Little Love A Little Kiss Not liked anything from him before but this is a fabulous song - the xylophone really makes it but even the falsetto is tasteful

8 Kenny Ball And His Jazzmen The Green Leaves Of Summer An instrumental version of a Brothers Four song that didn't chart here: it's a great tune and this rendition works very well

7 Jet Harris Besame Mucho First hit for the former Shadows guitarist and it's an interesting one with busy backing vocals - the "Besame" is really catchy

7 Johnny Burnette Clown Shoes Last of his 5 hits and his scores have been up and down but think this one is really sweet - I really feel his pain at being deceived

6 The Everly Brothers How Can I Meet Her? Not one of their biggest hits but it's very good with effective mouth organ use and entertaining frustrated and bitter lyrics

6 Marty Wilde Jezebel Cover of a 50s song and it's a well performed version and the song's been given an effective dark and rocky atmosphere

5 Duane Eddy Deep In The Heart Of Texas Well all the usual elements are here - the twanging, the sax, the clapping, the humming and the shouting - just doesn't stand out

5 The Shirelles Soldier Boy A very good tune with some nice twangy accompaniment but feels to me like it's been done at too slow a tempo and lacks oomph

5 Bobby Vee Sharing You A nice heartbreak ballad with rich production including sympathetic violins, and backing ahs, but tune isn't one of his best

4 Burl Ives Funny Way Of Laughin' Similar comment to "A Little Bitty Tear" though that's a bit better - very country but an endearing vulnerability and sincerity to it

3 Richard Chamberlain Theme From 'Dr Kildare' (Three Stars Will Shine Tonight) He actually played Dr Kildare - the sweeping strings on this are lovely and his voice is good but it's a slightly faltering balled

3 Shirley Bassey Far Away This is much more tolerable for me than her last couple but not my thing; very much has that musical "you can do it" feel to it

1 Norman Vaughan Swinging In The Rain Only hit for this comedian mercifully - a tedious swing band version of the stage classic with plenty of talking and rubbish jokes

 

 

1962 Group 8:

 

#1642 09/06/1962 Sandy Nelson Drummin' Up A Storm 39 50-47-41-{39}-44-41-50-46->8

#1643 16/06/1962 Jimmy Justice Ain't That Funny 8 30-18-15-{8}-9-15-12-17-30-30-40->11

#1644 16/06/1962 Jimmie Rodgers English Country Garden 5 34-21-7-12-8-{5}-9-9-14-19-19-28-39->13

#1645 16/06/1962 The Spotnicks Orange Blossom Special 29 35-30-31-{29}-29-29-38-44-43-49->10

#1646 16/06/1962 Andy Williams Stranger On The Shore 30 36-32-{30}-31-44-47-39-36-41-46->10

#1647 16/06/1962 Ray Charles I Can't Stop Loving You 1 43-16-8-4-{1}-1-2-2-3-3-6-9-10-16-22-26-37->17

#1648 23/06/1962 Eydie Gorme Yes, My Darling Daughter 10 34-20-16-{10}-11-17-21-34-37->9

#1649 23/06/1962 Elvis Presley Follow That Dream EP 34 37-{34}->2

#1650 23/06/1962 The Crickets Don't Ever Change 5 38-29-18-14-12-8-{5}-5-9-10-18-24-35->13

#1651 23/06/1962 Brenda Lee Here Comes That Feeling 5 44-22-14-7-7-{5}-7-6-12-17-22-35->12

#1652 23/06/1962 James Darren Conscience 30 49-37-{30}-31-46-49->6

#1653 30/06/1962 Craig Douglas Our Favourite Melodies 9 35-21-16-{9}-10-12-18-28-37-47->10

#1654 30/06/1962 Walter Brennan Old Rivers 38 40-43-{38}->3

#1655 30/06/1962 Roy Orbison The Crowd 40 42-{40}-42-43->4

 

Again not an obvious winner today but Brenda deserves to get her first one with a great punchily delivered song.

 

8 Brenda Lee Here Comes That Feeling Brenda's really hit a sweet spot this year and this is a great tune with killer vocals and plenty of feeling in her delivery

8 The Spotnicks Orange Blossom Special It's like an army of guitars - a delightfully frantic frenzy of playing with multiple lines of strumming and twanging - love it

7 Elvis Presley Follow That Dream EP A good EP here - the title track is lovely and the highlight, "Angel" is a sweet ballad and the other two are decent rocky numbers

7 Eydie Gorme Yes, My Darling Daughter A 1940 song originally but a really good version which keeps the retro vibe sung very well - particularly love the vocals at the end

7 The Crickets Don't Ever Change Their last top 10 hit and a lovely and heartfelt song complemented by honky tonk piano, close harmonies and nice rythms

6 Sandy Nelson Drummin' Up A Storm Last of his 4 hits and they've all been very good - as usual a solid beat running through which is then adopted by the guitars

6 Jimmy Justice Ain't That Funny Rightly outpeaked his cover from a few months back - very good tune with an accompaniment including harpsichord and violins

6 Roy Orbison The Crowd This has the classic building tension to it like "Running Scared" and "In Dreams", but the song isn't quite up to the level of those

5 James Darren Conscience Last hit for this American actor and it's a fun one with two contrasting styles depicting the narrator's split personality

5 Ray Charles I Can't Stop Loving You 138th #1: it's classy for sure but I can't say I love it; the backing vocals are a little dated and it doesn't quite move me like it should

4 Andy Williams Stranger On The Shore It's quite hard knowing Acker's version for this vocal version not to sound horribly wrong, but it's not done badly as such

3 Craig Douglas Our Favourite Melodies I'm not keen on these songs that reference titles of various other songs in the lyrics as this does, and it's unremarkable anyway

2 Jimmie Rodgers English Country Garden Last and biggest hit for him but certainly not the best- originally a folk tune that's been popularised and it's as twee as twee can be

1 Walter Brennan Old Rivers Only hit for this already nearly 70 actor and it gives me "No Charge" vibes - entirely spoken with some backing vocals; not good

 

1962 Group 9:

 

#1656 30/06/1962 Petula Clark Ya Ya Twist 14 44-32-23-20-{14}-14-15-22-25-29-38-45R(2)-47->13

#1657 30/06/1962 Emilio Pericoli Al Di La 30 46-35-35-{30}-35-37-33-33-34-35-37-37-42-45->14

#1658 30/06/1962 Jim Reeves Adios Amigo 23 47-37-34-38-34-29-27-{23}-28-30-28-29-27-29-28-31-36-48-49-43-41->21

#1659 30/06/1962 Freddy Cannon Palisades Park 20 50-25-{20}-24-24-30-35-40-42->9

#1660 07/07/1962 Frank Ifield I Remember You 1 36-11-2-{1}-1-1-1-1-1-1-2-2-4-8-8-8-14-18-16-15-17-19-27-26-36-30-34-46->28

#1661 07/07/1962 Danny Williams Tears 22 38-25-{22}-26-32-40-42->7

#1662 07/07/1962 Louise Cordet I'm Just A Baby 13 45-30-27-23-22-16-15-16-{13}-20-28-31-41->13

#1663 07/07/1962 Bernard Cribbins Right Said Fred 10 46-21-17-15-{10}-13-21-23-32-41->10

#1664 07/07/1962 Carol Deene Johnny Get Angry 32 50-{32}-40-47->4

#1665 14/07/1962 Johnny Tillotson It Keeps Right On A-Hurtin' 31 39-33-32-{31}-31-31-36-45-45-46->10

#1666 14/07/1962 Pat Boone Speedy Gonzales 2 40-13-4-3-{2}-2-2-2-5-6-8-15-17-19-31-43-35-41-42->19

#1667 14/07/1962 Shane Fenton And The Fentones Cindy's Birthday 19 45-28-22-{19}-22-25-30-43->8

#1668 14/07/1962 Helen Shapiro Little Miss Lonely 8 48-23-13-{8}-10-10-11-11-18-26-37->11

#1669 21/07/1962 Nat 'King' Cole With George Shearing Let There Be Love 11 36-25-{11}-12-11-12-12-13-19-26-30-34-45-47->14

 

I'll go with the Joe Brown pick too, lovely tune that one, and one he still includes in his sets. I was about to say I dont recall that Kenny Ball track and checked it out first just in case. Ah, yes it's another childhood tune I know, had to be :lol: Well, I'm going to have revise my Kenny comments to include this as another good moment for Kenny as I do actually like it. Ditto Jet Harris, I was a fan of Apollo 100's version of Besame Mucho in 1973 and recently bought it - turns out they borrowed the twangy guitar bits off this, made it rockier and improved it by dropping all the vocals except for the backing choir. Decent but Apollo 100 is the definitive. Jezebel is a great song so I'd expect to like Marty's version, Deep In The Heart Of Texas I know and it's OK, Soldier Boy is sweet but maudlin, Sharing You is OK, Funny Way Of Laughing is another kiddie song I like, The Dr Kildare vocal never been a fan of, and Norman Vaughan I used to get mixed up with Norman Wisdom, but fortunately dont recall this one.

 

The Brenda track didnt ring a bell, playing it now, ah yes I do know it and it's a goodie and I can see the influence on future rock legend Suzi Quatro vocally. So clearly a fan! Don't know The Spotnicks track, I like it! The Crickets Dont Ever Change is a must, and Roy's The Crowd not quite up to his recent classics - but Grade 2 Roy is still better than most. Ray Charles though is my Record Of The Month here, loved it as a kid, my mum loved it, and I still love it - Country Soul debuts here. Playing the James Darren, quirky and likeable, and that remionds me I must get back to watching the rest of his career interview on the Shuttlepod podcast on Youtube - he has had an interesting life and career and is still engaging and amusing. Plus, I had a boycrush on him in The Time Tunnel back in 1967/8 :lol: English Country Garden was always a sweet tune, well-known back in the day, and at least there were no Morris Dancers hanging around on this one. Walter Brennan was a beloved veteran star of dozens of Westerns in our house, we all loved him. This might not be his finest hour but it's way better than No Charge :lol: Walter's finest moment for me was in the comedy western Support Your Local Sheriff. What a classic film!

I don't recall hearing Unsquare Dance before. I agree that it is good fun.

Sorry for the hiatus while I was away. Was between 2 tracks for me today and was tempting to give Freddy the win for his last hit, but actually I don't mind Frank's style of yodelling and "I Remember You" is a beautiful song. It was the biggest seller of the year.

 

8 Frank Ifield I Remember You 139th #1: the yodeling is an acquired taste but it's a lovely romantic song with the mouth organ giving a slightly folky feel

8 Freddy Cannon Palisades Park The last hit for Freddy and it's a stonking, energetic and unique sounding number with fairground effects on the guitar

7 Carol Deene Johnny Get Angry Wasn't keen on her last one "Norman" - this has aged much better; the xylophones give it a shimmery effect and it's a good tune

7 Helen Shapiro Little Miss Lonely More ballady than most of her hits - as ever she sounds fantastic and makes you believe every word, aided by teary violins

6 Petula Clark Ya Ya Twist Not entirely convinced by her French but a really fun and catchy little dance number with honky tonk piano and brass

6 Louise Cordet I'm Just A Baby Only hit for this English singer and it's composed by Jerry Lordan so unsurprisingly good - very nice tune and production

5 Nat 'King' Cole With George Shearing Let There Be Love 11-12-11-12-12-13 is a very unlucky run for this jazz standard, but for me it's lovely backing music rather than active listening

5 Jim Reeves Adios Amigo Jim can make anything sound quite captivating and his tone is so beautiful, but the song itself is a little drippy this time

4 Shane Fenton And The Fentones Cindy's Birthday Last of his 4 hits with this group and I've very much liked the other 3 but this one doesn't really grab me despite peaking highest

4 Danny Williams Tears I think Danny's style requires a very good song to not fall flat, and this has nice strings but the melody doesn't grab me at all

3 Emilio Pericoli Al Di La His only UK hit but he will compete in Eurovision next year - for me this song is a bit sedate and doesn't really go anywhere

3 Johnny Tillotson It Keeps Right On A-Hurtin' His first Top 40 since his chart topper and the contrast with that is astounding - this is a fairly dreary self pitying country number

2 Pat Boone Speedy Gonzales A decent rock tune in itself which would be one of Pat's best but the chipmunk style "la la"s and other interjections ruin it for me

2 Bernard Cribbins Right Said Fred Maybe I'm too sexy for this novelty song - the Cockney happy go lucky style and comic narrative doesn't do it for me this time

 

 

1962 Group 10:

 

#1670 21/07/1962 Neil Sedaka Breaking Up Is Hard To Do 7 37-27-25-17-13-9-8-{7}-8-7-9-14-16-23-32-43->16

#1671 21/07/1962 Bobby Darin Things 2 44-29-16-8-5-3-3-{2}-4-5-6-12-13-18-22-34-36->17

#1672 21/07/1962 Billy Fury Once Upon A Dream 7 48-31-23-11-{7}-7-7-9-11-16-20-26-41->13

#1673 28/07/1962 Mr Acker Bilk And His Paramount Jazz Band Gotta See Baby Tonight 24 43-33-28-{24}-24-24-33-33-48->9

#1674 28/07/1962 Anthony Newley That Noise 34 44-38-36-{34}-39->5

#1675 04/08/1962 The Shadows Guitar Tango 4 28-7-{4}-4-4-6-9-10-11-15-23-25-27-30-48->15

#1676 04/08/1962 Connie Francis Vacation 10 40-24-14-14-{10}-15-21-30-42->9

#1677 04/08/1962 Bobby Vinton Roses Are Red (My Love) 15 42-25-20-{15}-21-31-40-49->8

#1678 04/08/1962 Ronnie Carroll Roses Are Red (My Love) 3 43-23-8-5-6-4-{3}-4-5-11-12-16-19-22-28-49->16

#1679 04/08/1962 Brian Hyland Sealed With A Kiss 3 50-32-16-8-5-{3}-5-6-7-7-14-20-25-29-45->15

#1680 11/08/1962 Chubby Checker Dancin' Party 19 42-26-20-{19}-22-22-24-27-30-38-33-34-44->13

#1681 11/08/1962 The Clyde Valley Stompers Peter And The Wolf 25 45-35-31-{25}-26-31-34-39->8

#1682 11/08/1962 Eddie Hodges (Girls, Girls, Girls) Made To Love 37 48-44-38-{37}->4

#1683 18/08/1962 Jet Harris Main Title From 'The Man With The Golden Arm' 12 43-26-20-14-{12}-15-16-20-18-29-39->11

 

 

 

A couple of favourites for me here but it's the future Neighbours star chart topper that takes it.

 

9 Brian Hyland Sealed With A Kiss Rightly his biggest hit and I love the mysterious atmosphere it has to it - the heady feeling of love that may or may not happen

9 Bobby Darin Things I love this - a great tune sincerely delivered and it has a light touch and a real cuteness to it with the backing vocal interaction

8 Neil Sedaka Breaking Up Is Hard To Do Another great, charming and catchy song from Neil; as usual the production is very good and enhances his crystal clear vocals

7 Billy Fury Once Upon A Dream This gently draws you into his dream with its lilting rhythm and the soft and vulnerable vocals - it's subtle but very lovely

7 Mr Acker Bilk And His Paramount Jazz Band Gotta See Baby Tonight The usual style from them but one of the vocal ones - really like the tune and it's nicely interspersed with jazzy instrumentals

6 The Shadows Guitar Tango Very much does what it says on the tin and you can feel the sharp movements of the dance - some nice smoother violin parts too

6 The Clyde Valley Stompers Peter And The Wolf A jazz version of the theme to this, in the Bilk / Ball style - unusual idea but it works rather well and builds up to quite a frenzy

5 Chubby Checker Dancin' Party Well it's the usual style and I'm sure was good for a boogie at the time, but the tune doesn't hold a candle to his 2 huge hits

5 Jet Harris Main Title From 'The Man With The Golden Arm' A well known tune from a 1955 film that's already charted for Billy May - not sure why this cover is 6 years late but it's nice

4 Connie Francis Vacation More upbeat than most of her hits lately - the tune and the "V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N" is unfortunately slightly grating after a while

4 Eddie Hodges (Girls, Girls, Girls) Made To Love His 2nd of 2 hits and both reached #37 - you know how I feel about child stars but I have to admit this is a catchy tune

3 Bobby Vinton Roses Are Red (My Love) His huge hit is nearly 30 years away - meanwhile he sounds lovely on this but it's not the most inspiring of songs; a bit wet

2 Ronnie Carroll Roses Are Red (My Love) Amazing that this cover charted so highly - already a dreary song and this lacks the charming and sweet performance of Bobby's

1 Anthony Newley That Noise That noise indeed - his last Top 40 hit and he's made sure we won't miss him with this horrid sounding number with bad jokes

 

 

 

1962 Group 11:

 

18/08/1962 Lonnie Donegan Pick A Bale Of Cotton 11 47-21-15-{11}-14-14-18-24-32-49->10

18/08/1962 The Brook Brothers Welcome Home Baby 33 48-{33}-33-34-42-43->6

25/08/1962 Duane Eddy Ballad Of Paladin 10 27-17-12-{10}-13-17-23-29-34-45->10

25/08/1962 Kenny Ball And His Jazzmen So Do I 14 29-{14}-16-15-19-25-32-44->8

25/08/1962 Jimmy Justice Spanish Harlem 20 41-31-21-{20}-25-23-21-24-30-31-36->11

25/08/1962 Carol Deene Some People 25 43-27-30-27-29-28-{25}-28-28-36->10

01/09/1962 Elvis Presley She's Not You 1 34-8-{1}-1-1-2-5-6-9-10-17-22-26-43->14

01/09/1962 Mike Sarne Featuring Billie Davis Will I What 18 36-23-{18}-20-19-22-27-24-33-38->10

01/09/1962 Shirley Bassey What Now My Love 5 38-29-23-18-14-13-7-{5}-8-13-12-16-20-23-25-25-42->17

01/09/1962 Adam Faith Don't That Beat All 8 41-19-13-9-{8}-10-10-12-20-23-32->11

01/09/1962 Ricky Nelson Teenage Idol 39 48-40-44-{39}->4

01/09/1962 The Tornados Telstar 1 50-36-17-11-3-{1}-1-1-1-1-3-4-4-9-9-8-9-8-9-11-10-20-30-39-38->25

08/09/1962 Cliff Richard And The Shadows It'll Be Me 2 17-7-3-{2}-3-6-9-11-15-21-35-42->12

08/09/1962 Little Eva The Loco-Motion 2 42-25-17-13-5-{2}-2-2-3-5-7-7-10-17-23-28-44->17

 

It's been a year since I brought out the 10 paddle and I think "Telstar" deserves it for being such a one off and inspired record, as well as being delightfully low tech and recorded in Joe Meek's flat. Spare a thought though for Little Eva who would have won most days.

 

10 The Tornados Telstar 141st #1: a unique and exceptional instrumental named after a satellite with an exciting build and great use of clavioline

9 Little Eva The Loco-Motion Taking the dance craze theme and creating an outstandingly good pop song for the time, the first hit for this American singer

8 The Brook Brothers Welcome Home Baby They have some great tunes of which this is one even though it didn't chart so well - love the horn riff and the close harmonies

7 Jimmy Justice Spanish Harlem Originally a Ben E King song - it's a lovely wistful track with beautiful lyrics and Jimmy's cover does it justice (excuse the pun)

7 Elvis Presley She's Not You 140th #1: not considered one of his most iconic but I actually really like the simplicity of the story and the delivery

7 Carol Deene Some People Another tune I've really enjoyed from her - the flute section is great plus their fun choo choo effect, and it's an earworm

6 Kenny Ball And His Jazzmen So Do I An adaptation of an early French song called "Bel Ami" - it's very well done and has that comforting familiar wind band sound

6 Duane Eddy Ballad Of Paladin A wild Western theme used in a film with more orchestral presence than usual on Duane's - prefer the more twangy ones

5 Shirley Bassey What Now My Love A nice well delivered number from Shirley - the showtune vibe isn't too strong here and the sound isn't too big and operatic

5 Adam Faith Don't That Beat All The violins make this record giving it a nice folky feel and making up for the vocals being a little scratchy; not his best or worst

4 Cliff Richard And The Shadows It'll Be Me Well at least it's not another drippy ballad but I still feel it has an air of complacency about it and leaves the listener a little cold

3 Ricky Nelson Teenage Idol It's quite a nice tune but the theme about how sad and lonely it is to be rich and famous like "Lucky" by Britney - oh please

3 Lonnie Donegan Pick A Bale Of Cotton Last of Lonnie's 32 hits - shame the quality has been so much lower in the 60s, and this is an unremarkable cover of a US folk song

2 Mike Sarne Featuring Billie Davis Will I What Similar to "Come Outside" - the Cockney lady speaks her part, and plays hard to get but then changes her mind; still not keen

 

 

 

1962 Group 12:

 

#1698 08/09/1962 Tommy Roe Sheila 3 43-24-12-10-4-{3}-4-3-9-10-10-14-22-32->14

#1699 08/09/1962 Del Shannon Cry Myself To Sleep 29 44-36-36-33-{29}-34->6

#1700 08/09/1962 Jerry Lee Lewis Sweet Little Sixteen 38 46-39-{38}-46-47->5

#1701 08/09/1962 The Spotnicks Rocket Man 38 50-{38}-40-40-39-40-38-42-45->9

#1702 15/09/1962 Buddy Holly Reminiscing 17 34-21-21-18-{17}-22-21-26-31-36-43->11

#1703 15/09/1962 Kenny Lynch Puff 33 41-{33}-35-36-36-46R(2)->6

#1704 15/09/1962 Joe Brown And The Bruvvers Your Tender Look 31 45-35-32-{31}-35-40->6

#1705 15/09/1962 Ray Charles You Don't Know Me 9 47-23-12-{9}-9-10-12-14-15-17-21-40-46->13

#1706 15/09/1962 Brenda Lee It Started All Over Again 15 50-28-22-16-{15}-17-18-19-29-47-44->11

#1707 22/09/1962 Carole King It Might As Well Rain Until September 3 46-24-6-4-{3}-4-6-7-11-12-18-28-45->13

#1708 22/09/1962 Karl Denver Blue Weekend 33 47-37-{33}-39-44->5

#1709 29/09/1962 Nat 'King' Cole Ramblin' Rose 5 34-19-11-7-{5}-7-8-8-11-12-24-29-33-47->14

#1710 29/09/1962 Bobby Vee A Forever Kind Of Love 13 36-35-33-37-50-50-30-32-29-25-22-17-19-19-{13}-18-24-42-47->19

#1711 29/09/1962 Mr Acker Bilk With The Leon Young String Chorale Lonely 14 38-27-20-{14}-17-16-22-25-28-31-37->11

Sealed With A Kiss is a lovely song. I was completely unaware that there had been a git version of the Peter and The Wolf theme. It is, indeed, rather fun. We used to listeen to a more conventional version of the whole thing a lot as children.

 

Telstar is also a fantastic song, ahead of its time. No mention of the Muse connection?

Telstar is also a fantastic song, ahead of its time. No mention of the Muse connection?

I’ll make sure I mention it ins several years when I reach Knights Of Cydonia :P

'Telstar' :wub: :wub: another genius Joe Meek produced chart-topper, one more to come. Very futuristic for the early 60s, particularly when you hear it in amongst other music of the time during #1 marathons.

 

'Besame Mucho' by Jet Harris is also a big standout for me from the last couple of weeks!

A really good and interesting Top half; late '62 does seem to be delivering, but it's Carole for the win.

 

9 Carole King It Might As Well Rain Until September She wrote 61 UK chart hits and didn't have many of her own but her voice is great and unique and this is a beautiful wistful ballad

8 Tommy Roe Sheila His first hit and sounds like Buddy to me, but great performance and song and the relentless rapid drum beat is very effective

8 Kenny Lynch Puff Found this a great discovery and a huge earworm; the stop start accompaniment and soaring vocals make it really dramatic

7 The Spotnicks Rocket Man Another really good and very Shadows-esque one from them; the higher pitched middle section does sound futuristic and rockety

7 Joe Brown And The Bruvvers Your Tender Look This is lovely and has that enchanting feel that Joe always creates; the backing chorus oohs complement the strumming guitars

7 Brenda Lee It Started All Over Again Brenda was consistently great in this period - this has a lighter touch and jazzier style than some of her others but it's good fun

6 Ray Charles You Don't Know Me Very much in the style of his chart topper and it's very nice really - I just can't help wishing he'd done more like "Hit The Road Jack"

6 Bobby Vee A Forever Kind Of Love A good tune though not one of his classics; builds up nicely and the violins and backing vocals add to the cosy feeling of romance

5 Buddy Holly Reminiscing His least essential hit so far I think, though nice saxophone bits and as ever the vocals are powerful with a certain vulnerability

5 Mr Acker Bilk With The Leon Young String Chorale Lonely Acker's always good and this has some nice interplay between the orchestra and the clarinet, but it's background noise all in all

4 Del Shannon Cry Myself To Sleep "CRY-AY-AY-AY-AY-AY-AY!" - it's not bad at all but the style's been done now and the falsetto seems a bit over the top here

4 Nat 'King' Cole Ramblin' Rose His last big hit and his first in a while - great orchestration and vocals but unfortunately I find it a little pedestrian and, well, rambling

3 Jerry Lee Lewis Sweet Little Sixteen The last Top 40 hit about being 16 for more than 10 years which is a relief - as for the song it doesn't really go anywhere

2 Karl Denver Blue Weekend After his excellent last one it's back to business as usual for Karl here with really over the top yodeling and no discernable melody

 

 

1962 Group 13:

 

#1712 29/09/1962 Marty Robbins Devil Woman 5 49-40-26-21-13-12-11-12-9-{5}-8-10-10-14-16-25-27->17

#1713 06/10/1962 Mark Wynter Venus In Blue Jeans 4 41-22-11-6-{4}-6-5-6-7-14-15-23-32-50-43->15

#1714 06/10/1962 The Four Seasons Sherry 8 42-25-15-15-11-9-9-{8}-13-10-18-17-25-27-38-50->16

#1715 06/10/1962 Bobby Darin If A Man Answers 24 45-30-26-{24}-28-35->6

#1716 06/10/1962 Chris Montez Let's Dance 2 46-21-13-7-{2}-2-2-2-4-5-7-12-10-10-13-16-26-41->18

#1717 06/10/1962 Johnny Tillotson Send Me The Pillow You Dream On 21 48-37-27-26-{21}-25-28-30-36-45->10

#1718 13/10/1962 Del Shannon The Swiss Maid 2 42-19-10-8-4-3-3-{2}-3-6-8-12-11-14-20-35-50->17

#1719 13/10/1962 Susan Maughan Bobby's Girl 3 46-32-23-17-13-6-5-{3}-4-4-5-9-6-9-14-19-27-38-50->19

#1720 13/10/1962 Little Richard He Got What He Wanted (But He Lost What He Had) 38 48-43-{38}-42->4

#1721 13/10/1962 The Beatles Love Me Do 17 49-46-41-32-37-29-23-21-26-19-22-{17}-24-17-28-37-36-44->18

#1722 20/10/1962 Kenny Ball And His Jazzmen The Pay-Off (A Moi De Payer) 23 35-29-27-{23}-26-38->6

#1723 20/10/1962 Craig Douglas Oh Lonesome Me 15 41-28-24-19-19-16-{15}-23-30-45-48-47->12

#1724 20/10/1962 Helen Shapiro Keep Away From Other Girls 40 45-{40}-41-40-40-46->6

#1725 27/10/1962 Frank Ifield Lovesick Blues 1 16-5-{1}-1-1-1-1-2-3-5-3-5-4-11-20-28-46->17

 

Telstar, The Locomotion and It Might As Well Rain Until September are all classics.

I’ll make sure I mention it ins several years when I reach Knights Of Cydonia :P

:dance:

I'd forgotten that It Might As Well Rain Until September is as old as this - over 60 years. One of the next batch got a pretty poor reception in the Number Two listen through :lol:

Two that particularly stand out today though “Bobby’s Girl” is also a classic. I’ve left a bit of room for improvement for the fab four but they’ll have plenty of wins to come I’m sure.

 

9 Chris Montez Let's Dance First hit for this American in the dance craze style of other records from this year - it's brliantly catchy and love the use of organ

9 The Four Seasons Sherry Their first hit, taking falsetto to the extreme but a forerunner of its style and I love it; feels so much bigger than its #8 peak

8 Susan Maughan Bobby's Girl Only Top 40 for this English singer and a cover of a US hit for a teenage star who was also a 1 hit wonder - a fabulous catchy song

8 Marty Robbins Devil Woman Only Top 5 hit for this American star and it's a beautiful intimately performed ballad with Spanish style guitar and a lovely melody

7 The Beatles Love Me Do Being slightly harsh on their first single which is great but I do think is one of their weakest - everything about them will improve

7 Kenny Ball And His Jazzmen The Pay-Off (A Moi De Payer) Another really captivating number from them, in triple time led by clarinet but with a very different full orchestra middle section

6 Little Richard He Got What He Wanted (But He Lost What He Had) His last hit for 2 years and 2nd last overall - doesn't quite have the explosive energy of his earlier hits but still very nice and bluesy

5 Frank Ifield Lovesick Blues 142nd #1: his most yodel-rich chart topper and not as good as "I Remember You", but still I have a slight soft spot for his style

5 Helen Shapiro Keep Away From Other Girls Interesting chart run with 3 weeks at #40; the song is catchy with great vocals but the record is missing something somehow

4 Mark Wynter Venus In Blue Jeans His highest peaking hit - has a really nice production to it but the lyrics are terribly soppy and think it just sounds really dated

4 Johnny Tillotson Send Me The Pillow You Dream On This isn't bad but slightly wet and not all that engaging - a long way from the haunting brilliance of "Johnny Remember Me"

3 Craig Douglas Oh Lonesome Me Not a bad rock 'n' roll record in itself but another one that wallows in self pity - she's dumped me and I bet she's enjoying herself

3 Bobby Darin If A Man Answers The record itself isn't bad but there is a very off-putting passive aggressive, controlling and threatening flavour to the lyrics

2 Del Shannon The Swiss Maid Chuffed there's a UK chart hit with "Swiss" in the title and less chuffed about the stereotypical depiction - a naff mess of yodeling

 

 

 

1962 Group 14:

 

#1726 27/10/1962 The Everly Brothers No One Can Make My Sunshine Smile 11 30-20-14-14-13-{11}-12-20-21-43-48->11

#1727 27/10/1962 Billy Fury Because Of Love 18 37-25-{18}-24-24-37-30-28-29-45-46-42-35-50->14

#1728 27/10/1962 Rolf Harris Sun Arise 3 47-33-20-13-15-8-7-{3}-4-7-4-7-8-15-25-36->16

#1729 27/10/1962 Marty Wilde Ever Since You Said Goodbye 31 49-{31}-34-46-37-44-48->7

#1730 03/11/1962 Joe Loss Orchestra Must Be Madison 20 39-26-{20}-22-24-20-21-24-21-23-27-36-45->13

#1731 03/11/1962 Richard Chamberlain Love Me Tender 15 46-27-23-18-17-19-16-{15}-27-28-37->11

#1732 03/11/1962 John Barry Orchestra The James Bond Theme 13 47-24-21-19-16-{13}-22-16-31-43-44->11

#1733 03/11/1962 Chubby Checker Limbo Rock 32 48-42-38-35-{32}-39-47-37-33-39->10

#1734 10/11/1962 Brian Hyland Warmed Over Kisses 28 38-30-32-{28}-41-49->6

#1735 10/11/1962 Duane Eddy And The Rebelettes (Dance With The) Guitar Man 4 39-18-10-6-6-9-6-{4}-5-4-7-9-17-25-43-47->16

#1736 10/11/1962 Peter Jay And The Jaywalkers Can Can '62 31 44-37-36-33-44-35-{31}-46-36-40-49->11

#1737 10/11/1962 Stan Getz And Charlie Byrd Desafinado 11 46-27-31-27-21-13-18-{11}-18-15-23-31-37->13

#1738 10/11/1962 Jimmy Dean Little Black Book 33 47-{33}-39-38->4

#1739 10/11/1962 Matt Monro My Love And Devotion 29 49-39-34-{29}-47->5

Edited June 20, 20232 yr by JulianT

been away for the weekend oops! Quite a few to catch up on as we go full-on classic pop for me, loads of kiddie memories and more.

 

Frank Ifield's I Remember You is a goodie, his best moment, and Palisades Park is also a fun track. I used to buy DC comics in the late 60's and early 70's and they used to have free entry to Palisades Park tickets to cut out the comics and use so I was always curious where it was (it's in New Jersey). I have to skip to the lower end for my other faves - Pat Boone's least annoying record, even with the la'la'la's and Speedy Gonzales was a cartoon mouse beloved of Hannah Barbera fankiddies. Right Said Fred also a kiddie fave, great fun with a claymation video to accompany it on telly for years, so good a gay good-natured body-builder borrowed it. Peter & The Wolf was pretty well known to all kids in the 60's in the original arrangement, top tune.

 

Sealed With A Kiss a hit again in the long hot summer of 1975, which is when I associate it with, and it sounded great then despite sounding old by 1975-recording standards. Things is Bobby Darin at his best, not generally a high bar admittedly, Beyond The Sea excepted. Breaking Up Is Hard To Do is 1972 Partridge Family mania for me, but it was a familiar song and Neil at his early pop 'n' roll best. Once Upon A Dream is nice, and Guita Tango turns out to be another Shads tune I know but don't know I know - not at their best though. Dancin' Party a big Showaddywaddy cover which improves on the original, VACATION is fun enough, and never liked any version of Roses Are Red that much.

 

Tornadoes 10/10 classic and dad bought the single so the B side is almost as essential to me - Jungle Fever. The Locomotion also is classic, a hit again in late 1972 for Little Eva aka Carole King & Gerry Goffin's babysitter and a huge party record of the 60s and 70's. It remains the definitive, accept no fakes. Jimmy Justice's Spanish harlem is decent (but no Ben E King), Elvis' is OK, Paladin I knew form the TV show, La Bassey on full pelt s'OK, and Lonnie previews an Abba B Side. Yes, I'm not making it up. Abba only did one cover, ever, and it's a medley including Pick A Bale Of Cotton. And way better than Lonnie's.

 

Talking of Carole King, this was also a hit again in late 1972 following on from Tapestry, and is still my all-time fave Carole King record. Loved it as a kiddie loved it as a teen, still love it. Sounds like a Bobby Vee song because it was written for him. She was a reluctant pop star mother of 2 small children at the time which is why it took her another 7 years to feel ready to step into the limelight. Tommy Roe very much inspired by Buddy Holly, Sheila is fun enough but it was Dizzy that became my all-time fave record in 1969 (for a while) and my first-ever record that I bought with my own money. Ray Charles is a classic Ive come to appreciate more in recent years and Ramblin' Rose was always a fave tune of the time.

 

Let's dance again a hit again in 1972, and another oldie I was big on that year. Sherry was carbon-copy covered in 1975 by Adrian Baker and a fun track like most Four Seasons songs, songs we knew but didnt know were by The Four Seasons necessarily till the 70's cover-version explosion and comeback when their back catalogue suddenly became unavoidable and obviously great. Bobby's Girl - my first obsession. I sang it, I loved it forever-more, I had no idea about the gender-thing as I happily sang I Wanna be Bobby''s Girl and learned to comb mum's hair. Marty Robbins was huge with mum and dad, and Devil Woman is a good'un. Venus In Blue Jeans is another record dad bought, and my brother was even more mad on it than me cos his name is also Mark. Nice tune. I still like those teen ballad early 60's US songs, very "Grease" Beauty School Dropout and all that.

 

And then there's this little combo with a tune that eventually went top 10 - in 1982. Love Love Me Do, unassuming but catchy and this is where British Pop Music hit Ground Zero. It changed everything, inspired everything that followed into the 70's and beyond that to boot.

It has to be the Bond theme for the win today; so incredibly iconic though it only reached #13.

 

9 John Barry Orchestra The James Bond Theme What a ubiquitous instrumental - brilliant and perfect for its purpose, with a sense of creeping excitement and foreboding

8 Duane Eddy And The Rebelettes (Dance With The) Guitar Man A vocal hit from Duane unusually and a self referential one - I think it's brilliant and the style is almost soul which is ingenious

7 Rolf Harris Sun Arise Really like this record - the didgeridoo style sound really conveys blazing sunshine and all in all it's really warm and atmospheric

7 Jimmy Dean Little Black Book His 2nd, final and much smaller hit - not a fan of "Big Band John" and surprisingly love this - a stonking and uplifting folky number

6 Billy Fury Because Of Love Another really nice one from Billy but interrupted a run of big hits for him and it is a little more pedestrian than most of his I think

6 Marty Wilde Ever Since You Said Goodbye It's goodbye indeed as it's Marty's last hit; a very nice ballad convincingly delivered with a mournful twangy guitar countermelody

5 The Everly Brothers No One Can Make My Sunshine Smile Another of these wallowing in its own misery songs but has the usual tight harmonies and great instrumentation from them

5 Chubby Checker Limbo Rock It's certainly a catchy party tune again from Chubby, originally an instrumental but with vocals - it is verging on irritating though

4 Brian Hyland Warmed Over Kisses A bit of a come-down from "Sealed With A Kiss"; a rather twee number in 3 time that would work quite well round a campfire

4 Stan Getz And Charlie Byrd Desafinado A long instrumental version of this song - I definitely prefer it with vocals and this is just pleasant jazzy background music for me

3 Joe Loss Orchestra Must Be Madison Quite a long instrumental in two parts, one band led and one piano led, nothing wrong with it but doesn't really keep my attention

3 Peter Jay And The Jaywalkers Can Can '62 Only hit for this instrumental group who later supported the Beatles - a jazzy sax led version of this famous tune; it's fine

2 Richard Chamberlain Love Me Tender Already not one of my favourites from Elvis though at least it's a captivating performance - this has very little going for it

2 Matt Monro My Love And Devotion Why oh why - a cover of a Doris Day song from 10 years before; the original isn't that exciting and this is stultifyingly dreary

 

 

1962 Group 15:

 

#1740 17/11/1962 Joe Brown And The Bruvvers It Only Took A Minute 6 34-25-20-16-14-13-15-8-{6}-11-21-34-48-50R(2)->14

#1741 17/11/1962 Ronnie Carroll If Only Tomorrow 33 43-{33}-41-33->4

#1742 17/11/1962 Ray Ellington The Madison 36 44-41-43R(4)-{36}->4

#1743 17/11/1962 Hank Locklin We're Gonna Go Fishin' 18 45-49-34-35-34-27-{18}-29-32-30-39->11

#1744 17/11/1962 Pat Boone The Main Attraction 12 48-27-14-15-{12}-14-16-20-20-25-44->11

#1745 24/11/1962 Ella Fitzgerald Desafinado 38 40-47-{38}-46-41R(2)-42->6

#1746 24/11/1962 Neil Sedaka Next Door To An Angel 29 47-35-{29}-32->4

#1747 24/11/1962 The Crystals He's A Rebel 19 48-45-42-42-40-26-30-{19}-21-23-28-35-44->13

#1748 01/12/1962 Elvis Presley Return To Sender 1 26-2-{1}-1-1-2-2-3-6-8-17-23-33-45->14

#1749 01/12/1962 Brenda Lee Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree 6 30-11-11-7-{6}-12-36->7

#1750 01/12/1962 Russ Conway Always You And Me 33 46-36-{33}-50-35R(2)-49-44->7

#1751 01/12/1962 Patsy Cline Heartaches 31 48-34-{31}-35-34->5

#1752 01/12/1962 Bobby Darin Baby Face 40 49-{40}-41-47->4

#1753 01/12/1962 Maureen Evans Like I Do 3 50-31-27-20-29-19-10-5-{3}-3-5-7-14-15-24-27-37-39->18

A Christmas song on it's way to be reviewed in... June ;)

James Bond, what an iconic theme, I cant remember ever not knowing it :o

 

Totally agree about the soul sounds of Duane & The Rebelettes, they did it all over again in Disco-mad 1975 with a new hit. Sun Arise is the best thing Rolf Harris ever did, it was fresh and different.

 

And I dont know any of the others, though I know of Desafinado and I'm sure I'd know the tune if I played it.