Some exciting new acts arriving here but it's The Kinks at the top with their 3rd 9 in a row - I don't think any other act has 3 9s from me for their first 3 hits.

 

9 The Kinks Tired Of Waiting For You 187th #1: brilliant again from The Kinks with a slightly softer style and some tender moments but still a relentless driving beat

8 Them Baby, Please Don't Go First hit for the band that launched Van Morrison and originally a blues song, but it works brilliantly and sounds very progressive

8 The Righteous Brothers You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' 186th #1: shocked to find out this is their only Top 10 hit aside from you know what in 1990; a huge heartbreak classic of course

7 The Seekers  I'll Never Find Another You 188th #1: another debut hit and it's very sweet; I love their sound and Judith's voice is glorious, but there's better to come

7 Del Shannon Keep Searchin Yes he's still going and this is his best in ages, with a catchy hook and well used falsetto, a lovely bit of organ and dramatic backing

7 Dodie West Goin' Out Of My Head Only hit for this American country singer and I don't think it's well remembered but it's lovely and her voice is beautifully clear

6 Betty Everett Getting Mighty Crowded This US soul singer will have 2 hits and the other is better known: this is classy and a nice song but the market is getting crowded

6 Billy Fury I'm Lost Without You A reflective heartbreak ballad from Billy - not the most memorable melody but a captivating performance and great orchestration

5 The Beach Boys Dance, Dance, Dance They're still struggling to get big hits unsurprisingly: although this has good harmonies and is well sung there's something missing

5 Manfred Mann Come Tomorrow Another gentle ballad here - no "do wah" or "sha la" from them this time and perhaps it slightly lacks individuality but it's very pleasant

4 Chuck Berry The Promised Land This is very much a typical Chuck Berry song with honky tonk piano and twanging and a frenzied tempo; just doesn't stand out

3 The Dave Clark Five Everybody Knows 1st of 2 hits by them with the same title: the harmonies are interesting and effective on this but the melody isn't catchy enough

2 Cilla Black You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' Unlike with Dionne's "Anyone Who Had A Heart" she didn't sink the original this time; this has very little merit compared to that

2 Val Doonican The Special Years "The Special Years" are basically adolescence, not something to wax that lyrical about in my view and the song itself is a dirge too

1 The Shangri-Las Leader Of The Pack Oh it's another death song and I really find the "vroom vroom" motorcycle interruptions on this make for a highly unpleasant listen

 

 

1965 Group 2:

 

#2261 23/01/1965 The Rockin' Berries What In The World's Come Over You 23 42-33-{23}-23-28-38-41->7

#2262 23/01/1965 The Cheetahs Soldier Boy 39 43-{39}-43->3

#2263 23/01/1965 The Supremes Come See About Me 27 46-32-29-{27}-33-47->6

#2264 23/01/1965 Sue Thompson Paper Tiger 30 50-37R(3)-36-34-{30}-35-46->7

#2265 30/01/1965 The Hollies Yes I Will 9 36-25-22-15-12-14-10-{9}-11-17-27-31-47->13

#2266 06/02/1965 Wayne Fontana And The Mindbenders Game Of Love 2 27-14-5-{2}-3-5-10-14-21-44-50->11

#2267 06/02/1965 The Animals Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood 3 33-13-6-{3}-5-8-12-19-30->9

#2268 06/02/1965 The Ivy League Funny How Love Can Be 8 39-19-9-9-{8}-11-17-26-46->9

#2269 06/02/1965 Jimmy Radcliffe Long After Tonight Is All Over 40 {40}-49->2

#2270 06/02/1965 Jim Reeves It Hurts So Much 8 41-20-11-{8}-12-17-16-29-42-41->10

#2271 13/02/1965 Adam Faith Stop Feeling Sorry For Yourself 23 33-32-24-{23}-28-50->6

#2272 13/02/1965 The Shadows Mary Anne 17 35-25-20-{17}-18-20-27-43-46-49->10

#2273 13/02/1965 Roy Orbison Goodnight 14 36-17-{14}-15-14-14-21-31-48->9

#2274 13/02/1965 Tom Jones It's Not Unusual 1 39-19-10-2-{1}-2-2-3-7-13-18-22-28-36->14

#2275 13/02/1965 Ronnie Hilton A Windmill In Old Amsterdam 23 40-30-29-24-{23}-24-25-34-40-34-36-37-42->13

Edited December 9, 20231 yr by Jingle Jules

You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' by The Righteous Brothers would be a 10 for me, the best song so far.

You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' is also my favourite of that batch, although Tired Of Waiting For You is also a great #1.

 

I'm not the biggest fan of Leader Of The Pack either, but it has a huge legacy and is surely one of the most famous death songs of its time.

Maybe I did under-score "You've Lost That Loving Feelin'" - perhaps it's lost its shine a bit over time.

 

No doubt about the winner today and dare I say that this is my favourite Animals song? There I've said it.

 

9 The Animals Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood Originally a Nina Simone song but this works gloriously from the dark opening riff and plaintive opening line to the wailing chorus

8 The Shadows Mary Anne Not sure how The Shadows came to do a "sung" song but it has that mesmerising quality of many of their earlier instrumentals

7 Sue Thompson Paper Tiger Only Top 40 for this US country singer and it's delightfully quirky with great harmonica use and very cute lyrics and melody

7 Tom Jones It's Not Unusual 189th #1: first hit for Tom and it's a really strong catchy and upbeat song - not a big fan generally but his voice is undeniably super

7 Roy Orbison Goodnight Not absolutely top tier Roy but still lovely - has the usual driving rhythm, emotional build and guitar and violin backing combination

6 The Rockin' Berries What In The World's Come Over You The follow up to "He's In Town"; not quite as good but still has a strong melody and well controlled falsetto, Frankie Valli style

6 Jimmy Radcliffe Long After Tonight Is All Over Only hit for this short lived US singer and it's a Bacharach song so unsurprisingly very well crafted with a strong dramatic chorus

6 The Hollies Yes I Will 5th straight Top 10 for them: this like a lot of their hits is good but doesn't really stand out from the Merseybeat style of the time

5 The Ivy League Funny How Love Can Be First hit for this English trio - again a close harmony style with the top part using falsetto; a very sweet but unremarkable song

5 Jim Reeves It Hurts So Much His 5th Top 10 and 2nd posthumous one; again this is a slightly droopy song in itself but Jim manages to make it fairly engaging

5 Ronnie Hilton A Windmill In Old Amsterdam Last of 18 hits for Ronnie with very silly nursery rhyme style lyrics and mice squeaking: this goes on the so bad it's good pile

4 The Supremes Come See About Me Follow up to "Baby Love" and it's nice enough but a similar sound to their others and quite bland; can see why it was a relative flop

3 Wayne Fontana And The Mindbenders Game Of Love I find the opening lyrics really offputting which is a shame as the rest of the track isn't bad with some quite interesting rhythms

2 Adam Faith Stop Feeling Sorry For Yourself You get the feeling that Adam needs to be put out of his misery at this point in his career - this indeed sounds rather sorry for itself

1 The Cheetahs Soldier Boy Seems to have the original Shirelles chorus interspersed with some really bad singing from the Cheetahs in the verses - awful

 

 

1965 Group 3:

 

#2276 20/02/1965 Gene Pitney I Must Be Seeing Things 6 24-11-{6}-9-7-9-13-21-27-42->10

#2277 20/02/1965 Marianne Faithfull Come And Stay With Me 4 26-15-9-7-5-{4}-8-8-20-21-25-34-49->13

#2278 20/02/1965 Dusty Springfield Your Hurtin' Kind Of Love 37 {37}-45-37-45->4

#2279 20/02/1965 Herman's Hermits Silhouettes 3 41-13-4-{3}-3-3-9-9-21-22-29-47->12

#2280 20/02/1965 Sandie Shaw I'll Stop At Nothing 4 44-17-11-{4}-8-7-11-20-25-32-44->11

#2281 20/02/1965 The Who I Can't Explain 8 45-40-33-26-23-15-12-10-{8}-15-18-21-29->13

#2282 27/02/1965 Twinkle Golden Lights 21 31-22-{21}-28-30->5

#2283 27/02/1965 The Pretty Things Honey I Need 13 32-21-19-{13}-18-25-23-37-28-45->10

#2284 27/02/1965 P.J. Proby I Apologise 11 33-18-16-{11}-12-20-29-42->8

#2285 27/02/1965 Goldie And The Gingerbreads Can't You Hear My Heart Beat 25 36-{25}-31-34-47->5

#2286 27/02/1965 Dobie Gray The 'In' Crowd 25 41-28-{25}-27-34-39-43->7

#2287 27/02/1965 Unit Four Plus Two Concrete And Clay 1 48-35-27-18-8-2-{1}-2-4-8-13-19-25-38-50->15

#2288 06/03/1965 The Rolling Stones The Last Time 1 31-6-{1}-1-1-2-6-9-12-19-24-28-48->13

#2289 06/03/1965 Georgie Fame And The Blue Flames In The Meantime 22 34-24-{22}-24-28-30-48-48->8

#2290 06/03/1965 The Searchers Goodbye My Love 4 44-13-6-5-{4}-11-18-23-32-41-50->11

Edited September 26, 20231 yr by JulianT

'You've Lost That Lovin Feeling' is a classic record!

 

'Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood' is also excellent too so a great top pick there!

 

and... 'It's Not Unusual' is fine too I guess lol.

A few very nice ones here but it's the ear-worm that's been stuck in my head for hours that wins.

 

8 Unit Four Plus Two Concrete And Clay 191st #1: only big hit for this English group and it's jsuch a great distinctive tune with acoustic guitars and a Brazilian Baião beat

8 The Searchers Goodbye My Love One of their very best: the "goodbye-ay-ay" has bittersweet emotion and the harmonies and rich production give a lovely intimacy

8 The Who I Can't Explain Debut hit for the British rock group with a clear Kinks influence; a great rock song with an effective call and response format

7 The Rolling Stones The Last Time 190th #1 and 3rd in a row for them: their best is still very much to come but this is their first original hit and it's a really good song

7 Marianne Faithfull Come And Stay With Me Her highest peaking hit and another very lovely one from her with a warm twinkly accompaniment; feels like a big musical hug

7 Sandie Shaw I'll Stop At Nothing Her 3rd straight Top 5 hit; a very good pop song with a catchy offbeat riff and she conveys the desperation very effectively

6 Goldie And The Gingerbreads Can't You Hear My Heart Beat Unusually an all female rock band with their only hit here; it's a Herman's Hermits cover and it's a really strong vocal performance

6 Georgie Fame And The Blue Flames In The Meantime Has the same cheeky and bouncy style as "Yeh, Yeh" though not quite as infectious and maybe a little too similar to that; still good

5 The Pretty Things Honey I Need Has an effective driving rhythm and the guitar solo is great but overall it feels like a fairly run of the mill rock song of the time

5 Dusty Springfield Your Hurtin' Kind Of Love Not her most brilliant song but nice grand orchestration Dusty still makes it interesting with her angst ridden performance

4 Gene Pitney I Must Be Seeing Things The 1st of Gene's that I haven't liked so much: dramatic as ever but find the lyrics slightly aggressive and not keen on the melody

4 Twinkle Golden Lights 2nd and final hit for her; vocals still aren't to my taste but I actually think this has more to it than "Terry", a relative flop though

3 Dobie Gray The 'In' Crowd Only hit for this American soul singer - this is fine and well performed but seems quite generic melodically and lyrically to me

3 Herman's Hermits Silhouettes 2nd big hit for them and a cover of a doo wop song - this doesn't do that much for me and seems quite simple and lightweight

2 P.J. Proby I Apologise A slow ballad which turns into a mess of wailing and howling finishing with some rather unpleasant falsetto - not to my taste

 

 

1965 Group 4:

 

#2291 06/03/1965 The Nashville Teens Find My Way Back Home 34 46-{34}-42-42-45-45->6

#2292 06/03/1965 Kathy Kirby I Belong 36 48-39-{36}->3

#2293 06/03/1965 The Moody Blues I Don't Want To Go On Without You 33 50-37-{33}-33-38-36-41-41-48->9

#2294 13/03/1965 Petula Clark I Know A Place 17 30-21-{17}-18-22-28-30-38->8

#2295 13/03/1965 Elvis Presley Do The Clam 19 32-{19}-20-22-25-30-33-50->8

#2296 13/03/1965 Cliff Richard The Minute You're Gone 1 38-26-10-6-4-{1}-3-2-7-9-17-21-31-42->14

#2297 13/03/1965 The Dave Clark Five Reelin' And Rockin' 24 44-30-28-27-{24}-29-39-47->8

#2298 20/03/1965 Keely Smith You're Breakin' My Heart 14 31-23-16-{14}-16-14-16-23-27-37->10

#2299 20/03/1965 The Yardbirds For Your Love 3 32-13-5-{3}-3-7-11-18-23-31-42-49->12

#2300 20/03/1965 Roger Miller King Of The Road 1 35-35-35-26-14-8-4-2-{1}-4-5-9-16-25-30->15

#2301 20/03/1965 Bo Diddley Hey, Good Lookin' 39 {39}-45-44-47->4

#2302 20/03/1965 Del Shannon Stranger In Town 40 {40}-46->2

#2303 27/03/1965 Donovan Catch The Wind 4 22-7-5-{4}-6-9-9-14-16-30-37-41-48->13

#2304 27/03/1965 Gerry And The Pacemakers I'll Be There 15 31-19-16-{15}-16-21-25-35-46->9

#2305 27/03/1965 Them Here Comes The Night 2 32-14-6-5-{2}-3-3-6-19-25-40-48->12

Edited September 26, 20231 yr by JulianT

Much love for 'Tired Of Waiting For You' and 'Concrete + Clay', the latter in particular is so unique. 'Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood' is also a solid favourite, I do love the Nina and Lana versions but cool to have a male take on it too. 'The Last Time' has really grown on me over time.

 

Judith Durham is one of my favourite female vocalists but agreed that song quality-wise The Seekers have better to come.

 

Brutal for 'Leader Of The Pack' and to a lesser extent 'Come See About Me'!

Sorry been on holiday day tours of Dorset - OK not far to travel, but I got to see the filming site of Star Wars Andor and lots of exercise walking clifftops and sides. :D

 

Batch the 1:

 

Ooh controversial! Righteous Brothers would be at the top of almost any group of songs for me. The greatest vocal performance by a male duo of all time. It's not even close, the gap to the next contender is a chasm the size of the Grand Canyon! :D Each time it charted it increased in my esteem - so that'll be 1969, 1975, in the 80's and finally in 1990.

 

next up would be Shangri-Las, the greatest teen death disc ever, if you're going to do it, do it with style and commitment - and Leader Of The Pack is the tops.

 

The Seekers', a great record and so too val Doonican's The Special Years has a lot of nostalgia appeal to me, classy. Goin' Out Of My Head is a song I adore, and totally takes me back to the 60's - but not this version which means nothing to me! Little Anthony & The Imperials' version is wonderful, and the version I knew best at the time was by Cilla Black, a way better record than her awful version of You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'.

 

The Kinks' wistful Tired Of waiting is pleasant but not one I noticed at the time, Them's Baby Please Don't Go ditto passed me by but I grew to like it in later years, Keep Searchin' is one I've come across in more recent years and it's a great little record.

 

Dance Dance Dance is OK Beach Boys, the Manfreds' Come Tomorrow is quite pleasant but I preferred their later stuff and have seen them live more times than Ive seen The Beach Boys. Promised Land is known to me from the Elvis version, one of The King's better mid 70's hits, but Chuck's is decent enough.

 

And finally, Dave Clark 5's Everybody Knows is not to be confused with their 1967 song of the same name, which is a fabulous tune. This is mundane, but at least it's well under 2 minutes so not too much of an ordeal. :D

batch 2:

 

It's Not Unusual is almost my top tune, loved it as a kid and through the years into it's 80's revival. Bet Sandie Shaw wishes she'd said yes to it - but it wouldn't have been as classic without Tom's vocals. Come See About Me wasn't one of The Supremes best-known songs, though it was huge in the USA, but thanks to Shaky's cover I completely did an about-turn on it. I love it more than It's Not Unusual these days, I prefer it to Baby Love, it has a more sophisticated melody, subtle, I think.

 

Funny How Love Can be was also a minor fave of the time, and still has a great melody. A Windmill In Old Amsterdam was totally my fave record of the time and beloved of me for a long time - these days its mostly fondness, though there is another version that gets played in my fave bar in Gran Canaria if you walk in with white socks on. "w*n**r with white socks on" is not quite as charming, but is a lot funnier if you're not the one wearing the white socks. I was till I learned the rule :lol:

 

The Animals' is a goodie, and I'll go along with the "my fave Animals song" too, though House Of The Rising Sun is up there too. Paper Tiger is one I recall liking but haven't heard it barely at all since - playing it now and it's quite quirky. I like it! Yes I Will is decent, Game Of Love OK. The rest I don't know.

batch 3:

 

Concrete and Clay was indeed a catchy tune, one I liked, and then got reminded of in 1976 when Randy Edelman covered it to lesser effect. Goodbye My Love is my 2nd fave Searchers song, great hook and a minor fave of the time. I Can't Explain I don't remember as being around then, but I liked it in the 70's when it started popping up on radio. The Last Time, I do vaguely recall, and it's one that dated well for me, rate it these days and my pick of the week. Marianne's didn't ring a bell when I came across it a decade later, but it's quite nice.

 

I'll Stop At Nothing was on my Greatest Hits album, so got to know it in the mid-70's and still like it. Dusty's is a goodie, and a tune I knew is Silhouettes - another Hermans' Hermits winner for me, tuneful and pretty, and then it got little airplay till Cliff did a version, and I in the interim bought HH Greatest Hits and it all came flooding back to me as a forgotten song I liked a lot. The doowop original is still the one to go to, but still like this one.

 

The 'In' Crowd is an odd one, it's mid-60's soul cool, but the Ramsey Lewis instrumental is the big hit version, and then suddenly in 1974 Bryan Ferry covered the vocal version with a blistering Glam Rock production which is by far the definitive - and Dobie Gray made a chart return with Drift Away in 1974 too. The rest I dont know, though I know the Herman's Hermits version of Hearbeat.

Another quite tough group to rank with several that are quite close, but giving the win to the record I find most interesting.

 

8 The Yardbirds For Your Love 1st of 4 straight Top 3s for this English rock band and this really stands out; love the use of harpsichord and the changes of tempo

8 Them Here Comes The Night 2nd and final hit for Them as a band which reached #2 - a great declamatory riff complemented by guitar and fun offbeat sections

8 Donovan Catch The Wind A remarkably Dylan-esque sounding debut from this Scottish folk singer - gorgeous little ballad with just guitar and harmonica

7 Roger Miller King Of The Road 194th #1: first hit for this US country singer and it's a really simple song but lovely and elevated by an interesting lyrical story

7 The Nashville Teens Find My Way Back Home Much less successful than their first 2 hits but it's still really good - love the opening riff and the close harmonies are very effective

7 Gerry And The Pacemakers I'll Be There A really sweet and tender ballad with a really warm and rich orchestral production - interesting how their style has matured

6 Bo Diddley Hey, Good Lookin' 2nd and final hit for Bo in his own right though he inspired many other artists - has a great drum rhythm and romps along nicely

6 The Dave Clark Five Reelin' And Rockin' This feels like a late 50s style early rock 'n' roll song with the honky tonk piano and the a capella leads - it's good fun though

5 The Moody Blues I Don't Want To Go On Without You A Drifters cover which charted surprisingly poorly after "Go Now" - the song doesn't stand out but has a nice dance-like quality

5 Kathy Kirby I Belong Last hit for Kathy and another Eurovision runner up: she very exuberantly declares that she belongs and it's quite a nice song

4 Petula Clark I Know A Place I'd hoped for a bit more as the follow up to "Downtown": it's fine and also has that slightly jazzy style but doesn't really hit the spot

4 Del Shannon Stranger In Town He's had a good run but this is finally the final hit for Del - not bad but sounds rather like a lesser version of "Keep Searchin'"

3 Keely Smith You're Breakin' My Heart Only hit for this US jazz singer - this sounds quite old to me and indeed was first published in 1948; OK but a bit out of place

3 Cliff Richard The Minute You're Gone 192nd #1: a fairly pleasant little ballad with some nice backing vocals, but as often with Cliff it feels comfortable and not agonising

2 Elvis Presley Do The Clam A really naff one from Elvis here - yes it has bongos as he's keen to point out but the lyrics are silly and it's all very lightweight

 

 

1965 Group 5:

 

#2306 27/03/1965 Bob Dylan The Times They Are A-Changin' 9 36-15-13-{9}-13-13-16-20-22-36-48->11

#2307 27/03/1965 Dave Berry Little Things 5 37-26-17-12-{5}-6-10-15-24-23-43-46->12

#2308 27/03/1965 Jewel Akens The Birds And The Bees 29 39-40-33-36-{29}-34-38-48->8

#2309 27/03/1965 Matt Monro Without You (I Cannot Live) 37 40-{37}-42-44->4

#2310 27/03/1965 Francoise Hardy All Over The World 16 41-33-28-23-27-20-20-21-18-17-{16}-25-27-41-40->15

#2311 27/03/1965 Julie Rogers Hawaiian Wedding Song 31 43-41-{31}-33-40-49->6

#2312 27/03/1965 The Supremes Stop! In The Name Of Love 7 44-23-12-{7}-12-10-12-16-21-34-44-49->12

#2313 27/03/1965 The Barron Knights With Duke D'Mond Pop Go The Workers 5 49-32-19-10-10-{5}-6-8-10-15-25-29-50->13

#2314 27/03/1965 The Kinks Everybody's Gonna Be Happy 17 50-29-18-22-{17}-23-30-42->8

#2315 03/04/1965 Martha And The Vandellas Nowhere To Run 26 36-32-{26}-31-33-31-37-38->8

#2316 03/04/1965 Dionne Warwick You Can Have Him 37 48-{37}-47-45-46->5

#2317 03/04/1965 The Bachelors True Love For Ever More 34 50-35-38-{34}-42-50->6

#2318 10/04/1965 The Animals Bring It On Home To Me 7 34-17-11-{7}-8-7-12-16-20-30-45->11

#2319 10/04/1965 Peter And Gordon True Love Ways 2 39-24-20-14-5-4-{2}-3-4-13-15-18-34-45-50->15

#2320 10/04/1965 Val Doonican I'm Gonna Get There Somehow 25 49-32-{25}-28-37->5

Edited September 26, 20231 yr by JulianT

For Your Love was written by 18-year-old Graham Gouldman, hit songwriter of the late 60's and future mainstay of 10CC, still touring. I like the track, very psychedelic, and Clapton on the way to being a guitar legend. Here Comes The Night is also a goodie. But my heart is more for Donovan's debut, Catch The Wind, gentle folky sweetness. I rated Donovan a lot in the 60's.

 

King Of The Road is a classic of it's genre, Roger Miller was a great singer, and popped up in Disney animation movies from time to time. It's also the one I knew best at the time, of this batch, apart from Petula's I Know A Place - that's my record of the month, love it, Tony Hatch could do no wrong for me in the 60's. That leaves Cliff's dull ballad.

 

The rest I don't know, as per usual, though Chuck berry had a live hit in '72 with Reelin' & Rockin' and it def predates Dave Clark 5's version.

Easy choice of winner today and after all the rock bands the guitar and harmonica combination is very welcome.

 

9 Bob Dylan The Times They Are A-Changin' His debut hit, lyrically rooted in the Civil Rights Movement; after the guitar band domination this feels like a signiificant moment

8 Dave Berry Little Things A cover of a Bobby Goldsboro song that wasn't a hit here - it's a beautiful ballad with a tender guitar riff and great production

8 The Supremes Stop! In The Name Of Love Their 4th hit and 3rd that's a classic - I like that this has a more punchy feel than their others to date and the emotion is credible

7 Martha And The Vandellas Nowhere To Run Another Motown classic from them that underperformed here - the relay between the lead and backing vocals works really well

7 Dionne Warwick You Can Have Him A very effective one from Dionne here with a punchy rhythm and beat: almost aggressive but tempered by the brass bit at the end

7 The Animals Bring It On Home To Me A Sam Cooke cover and a tribute to him following his death - the organ gives it the Animals touch and it's a lovely performance

6 Francoise Hardy All Over The World Last hit for her here though she will have a very long career - this is a very sweet ballad delivered in her enchanting breathy style

6 The Kinks Everybody's Gonna Be Happy A come down both in chart performance and quality after their incredible 1st 3 hits, but still very nice with a driving rhythm

5 The Barron Knights With Duke D'Mond Pop Go The Workers Another medley of parodies of current hits; like "Call Up The Groups" it's genuinely funny and well performed and put together

5 Val Doonican I'm Gonna Get There Somehow This was a relative flop but is more enjoyable than his previous big hits: the "doo doo"s in the background and the hook are catchy

4 Peter And Gordon True Love Ways I adore Buddy's version and this reached #2 but isn't great: having 2 voices somehow lessens the emotion and overall it doesn't hit

4 Matt Monro Without You (I Cannot Live) Has a big orchestral production like many of his, and the song plods a little but the violins and piano in the background are lovely

3 Julie Rogers Hawaiian Wedding Song I enjoyed her last one much more than expected but this is rather more turgid, with big vocals but nothing engaging to back it up

3 The Bachelors True Love For Ever More Not a bad song performed quite sweetly and has a pulse unlike some of theirs - the vocals and Irish rolled rs are still a little grating

2 Jewel Akens The Birds And The Bees Only hit for this US soul singer and was big in America - the lyrics are terribly childlike and it's all rather ploddy unfortunately

 

 

1965 Group 6:

 

#2321 10/04/1965 The Drifters At The Club/Saturday Night At The Movies 35 50-{35}-50-41-36-40-50->7

#2322 17/04/1965 The Beatles Ticket To Ride 1 11-{1}-1-1-2-3-7-10-14-24-32-50->12

#2323 17/04/1965 Jim Reeves Not Until The Next Time 13 39-37-30-27-18-15-14-{13}-18-22-43-48->12

#2324 17/04/1965 Manfred Mann Oh No Not My Baby 11 40-26-17-{11}-12-11-13-27-39-41->10

#2325 17/04/1965 The Seekers A World Of Our Own 3 43-19-15-4-{3}-5-4-3-3-8-12-14-18-26-31-34-42-46->18

#2326 24/04/1965 Jackie Trent Where Are You Now (My Love) 1 35-24-15-5-{1}-2-2-9-18-24-49->11

#2327 24/04/1965 Freddie And The Dreamers A Little You 26 37-27-{26}-34-40->5

#2328 24/04/1965 Cilla Black I've Been Wrong Before 17 43-31-24-{17}-20-27-34-43->8

#2329 01/05/1965 Herman's Hermits Wonderful World 7 26-14-11-{7}-11-15-19-35-46->9

#2330 01/05/1965 Bob Dylan Subterranean Homesick Blues 9 35-17-10-{9}-9-12-20-26-39->9

#2331 01/05/1965 The Walker Brothers Love Her 20 36-33-31-30-32-28-26-{20}-21-37-39-43-46->13

#2332 01/05/1965 The Honeycombs Something Better Beginning 39 {39}-48-44-44->4

#2333 01/05/1965 The Drifters Come On Over To My Place 40 {40}-43-46-42-41->5

#2334 08/05/1965 The Ivy League That's Why I'm Crying 22 29-{22}-23-31-30-38-49-48->8

#2335 08/05/1965 Tom Jones Once Upon A Time 32 {32}-32-34-49->4

 

The "doo doo's" in the Val song are so catchy that they even featured as advert music, discovered that song via this when I was younger:

 

 

elsewhere, great to see the The Supremes back in quick succession, really like 'Stop! In The Name Of Love' too ^_^

Stop In The Name Of Love is a new peak for The Supremes, love it and my record of the batch, just ahead of Nowhere To Run. I don;t associate either of them with 1965, more 1970 and 80's respectively, but both classic Motown. Bob Dylan's sounded like an old folk song when it was new and I had no idea it was him but his songs were creeping into pop culture, and Times They Are A Changing is a bonafide moment and one of his greatest records.

 

Little Things is not bad, The Animals' I didn't know it was always a Sam Cooke oldie for me, I think I know the Francoise Hardy tune but need a refresher, Peter & Gordon's is a decent cover of a classic, and I quite like Birds & The Bees, so it's just down to Val - again it's one I def knew from his TV shows and liked a lot. That Smyths advert never seen before, Jade, but it's cute :) If I could have seen that in 1965 I would have had my mind blown from over-excitement :lol: Val did a lot of kiddie novelty songs that werent hits but were known widely, like Delaney's Donkey, Paddy McGintey's Goat, Rafferty's Motor Car, all very Oirish-themed.

I may have been slightly tough on the fab 4 as I haven’t wanted to show bias, so this is only their 4th win and Indo think this one’s deserved.

 

9 The Beatles Ticket To Ride 193rd #1: this feels like another step forward for them in maturity: the swirling guitar riff is lush and the harmonies really punchy

8 Bob Dylan Subterranean Homesick Blues A 2nd #9 hit in quick succession for him: fabulous video but also a unique track with its one note stream of consciousness

8 The Drifters At The Club/Saturday Night At The Movies The 2nd side is a joyous classic but the 1st is also a very jolly soulful number about Friday night; gorgeous orchestration on both

8 Jackie Trent Where Are You Now (My Love) 195th #1: her only big hit and this has a lovely dreamy atmosphere to it from the opening las, and then the chorus erupts painfully

7 The Ivy League That's Why I'm Crying A much smaller hit than their debut but I much prefer it - like the use of organ and the harmonies tell the story beautifully

7 The Walker Brothers Love Her This is quite subtle and most of the heavy lifting is done by the instruments, but there's a hushed beauty to the atmosphere of it

7 The Seekers A World Of Our Own Similar thoughts really to "I'll Never Find Another You" - very sweet and charming and beautifully performed but quite a safe song

6 Cilla Black I've Been Wrong Before A small hit but I love the enchanting piano part on this and it's quite a lovely haunting ballad - can almost overlook the vocals

6 Manfred Mann Oh No Not My Baby A good tune here and the intentionally repetitive 5 word chorus effectively creates the drama; the xylophone is a very nice touch

5 The Drifters Come On Over To My Place First time in ages that the same artist has appeared twice in a batch: another nice party song but more ordinary than the double A

5 The Honeycombs Something Better Beginning Another minor hit for them and it has a very nice brass riff and is nicely sung, but is missing the punchy drama of their debut

4 Freddie And The Dreamers A Little You Last hit for these guys who started very well but seemed to lose their way - this has a nice pulsating intro but then falls a bit flat

4 Jim Reeves Not Until The Next Time This would probably be a 2 done by most other singers as it's quite a pedestrian song, but his performance makes it a decent listen

3 Tom Jones Once Upon A Time A bouncy little track that's not that bad and I know he'll have much duller ones to come, but I find the biblical lyrics terribly silly

2 Herman's Hermits Wonderful World As usual I have the knives out for covers of songs I love that are not only inferior but don't even attempt to build on the original

 

 

1965 Group 7:

 

#2336 08/05/1965 The Everly Brothers That'll Be The Day 30 35-{30}-41-47->4

#2337 08/05/1965 Marianne Faithfull This Little Bird 6 39-13-{6}-6-6-8-12-15-32-40-49->11

#2338 08/05/1965 Shirley Ellis The Clapping Song (Clap Pat Clap Slap) 6 40-25-14-10-7-7-7-{6}-8-16-21-26-43->13

#2339 08/05/1965 Tony Bennett If I Ruled The World 40 45-43-43-{40}-47->5

#2340 08/05/1965 Joan Baez We Shall Overcome 26 46-41-{26}-29-29-37-39-36-38-41->10

#2341 15/05/1965 The Rockin' Berries Poor Man's Son 5 28-13-8-{5}-5-6-8-17-22-39-45->11

#2342 15/05/1965 Sandie Shaw Long Live Love 1 33-8-{1}-1-1-3-7-7-15-17-25-33-43-41->14

#2343 15/05/1965 Unit Four Plus Two You've Never Been In Love Like This Before 14 38-32-22-18-15-16-{14}-18-25-32-43->11

#2344 15/05/1965 The Dixie Cups Iko Iko 23 39-36-26-24-{23}-34-31-45->8

#2345 22/05/1965 Burt Bacharach Trains And Boats And Planes 4 27-12-8-6-5-{4}-6-12-22-29-44->11

#2346 22/05/1965 The Everly Brothers The Price Of Love 2 29-19-11-4-{2}-3-3-6-9-15-20-32-39-49->14

#2347 22/05/1965 Billy J Kramer With The Dakotas Trains And Boats And Planes 12 35-20-19-{12}-14-23-26-42->8

#2348 22/05/1965 The Bachelors Marie 9 39-18-17-11-{9}-11-16-21-30-36-48-48->12

#2349 22/05/1965 Shirley Bassey No Regrets 39 47-43-{39}-47->4

#2350 22/05/1965 The Nashville Teens The Little Bird 38 49-39-{38}-44->4

Edited September 26, 20231 yr by JulianT

Glad you chose The Beatles as your top pick again as 'Ticket To Ride' is easily my favourite of their songs to appear so far :heart: I find the Help! album quite underrated in discourse about their discography, it's probably within my top 5 of their albums - many fab songs like 'Ticket To Ride', the title track, 'Yesterday', 'You've Got To Hide Your Love Away' etc.

 

That Jackie Trent chart topper is great too! Agreed that it has quite an impactful structure.

Given he composed so many great hit songs and this is his only performance credit, it feels right that it should get the win.

 

8 Burt Bacharach Trains And Boats And Planes Only hit directly credited to Bert but featuing uncredited vocals from The Breakaways; this has such a beautiful mood to it

8 The Dixie Cups Iko Iko A song about a collision between 2 tribes of Indians originally done in the 50s but this version is fabulously effective and catchy

7 Shirley Ellis The Clapping Song (Clap Pat Clap Slap) Only hit for this US soul singer but a remarkably catchy one in the choreographed dance style with nonsense lyrics - good fun

7 Unit Four Plus Two You've Never Been In Love Like This Before Their only other Top 40 after their chart topper and this underperformed but it's lovely and the stompy chorus very heartfelt

7 The Everly Brothers The Price Of Love Finally they've scored another big hit and it's their best song for a while with a relentless hook and some crazy harmonica playing

6 The Nashville Teens The Little Bird 2 quite different versions of this song here; both really nice but slightly prefer this more mysterious one with close harmonies

6 Marianne Faithfull This Little Bird Really nice again from Marianne with her incredibly sweet voice and the mesmerising accompaniment with harp and violins

5 The Rockin' Berries Poor Man's Son This took them back into the Top 5 - it's a catchy well put together pop song but I can't see anything really distinctive about it

5 Sandie Shaw Long Live Love 196th #1: this is catchy and has many similar elements to her others but I do find it rather lightweight and not so engaging

4 Shirley Bassey No Regrets An Edith Piaf cover - I enjoy the orchestral build up on this and the vocal climax is impressive, but overall can take or leave it

4 The Bachelors Marie One of their more interesting hits, helped by some nice orchestration - still feels a little laboured but all in all not a bad listen

3 Billy J Kramer With The Dakotas Trains And Boats And Planes Last hit for Billy and band; I just can't see the point of this cover at all - similar to the original but less elegant and atmospheric

3 The Everly Brothers That'll Be The Day I guess this does have some different features but I certainly don't think they've improved it - find it fairly dull and pedestrian

2 Tony Bennett If I Ruled The World A cover of this showtune done by Harry Secombe - I prefer Tony's voice but this still very much plods and I can't really get into it

1 Joan Baez We Shall Overcome First hit for this US singer and activist and a version of this gospel protest song, which I'm not a fan of anyway but this really drags

 

 

1965 Group 8:

 

#2351 29/05/1965 Elvis Presley Crying In The Chapel 1 24-14-2-{1}-2-1-2-5-6-14-14-19-28-37-46->15

#2352 29/05/1965 The Dave Clark Five Come Home 16 33-21-22-19-{16}-20-29-37->8

#2353 29/05/1965 The Who Anyway Anyhow Anywhere 10 35-26-24-11-13-{10}-11-12-14-27-31-44->12

#2354 29/05/1965 The Kinks Set Me Free 9 37-22-17-13-{9}-9-14-20-27-46-50->11

#2355 29/05/1965 The Hollies I'm Alive 1 44-23-10-4-{1}-2-1-1-4-7-10-18-30-36->14

#2356 29/05/1965 Tony Bennett (I Left My Heart) In San Francisco 25 46-46-46R(17)-43-40-40-43-40R(6)-31-{25}-25-25-31-37->14

#2357 05/06/1965 Donovan Colours 4 32-21-10-5-{4}-7-11-12-26-30-45-43->12

#2358 05/06/1965 The Beach Boys Help Me Rhonda 27 33-31-30-28-33-{27}-29-30-38-36->10

#2359 05/06/1965 Johnny Cash It Ain't Me Babe 28 35-34-{28}-34-35-30-47-49->8

#2360 05/06/1965 Roger Miller Engine Engine #9 33 36-35-{33}-42-41->5

#2361 12/06/1965 The Shadows Stingray 19 27-23-{19}-27-31-40-50->7

#2362 12/06/1965 Gene Pitney Looking Through The Eyes Of Love 3 28-17-10-5-{3}-4-7-13-17-31-38-50->12

#2363 12/06/1965 Cliff Richard On My Word 12 32-21-17-{12}-17-13-20-23-37-42->10

#2364 12/06/1965 The Moody Blues From The Bottom Of My Heart 22 33-29-{22}-24-26-25-32-42-46->9

#2365 12/06/1965 Connie Francis My Child 26 36-31-{26}-30-35-46->6

Edited September 26, 20231 yr by JulianT

Group the 6:

 

Ticket To Ride, no question, audibly getting increasingly sophisticated with each single, and I agree with Jade about Help! Fabulous album to a fun film I saw at the local pictures in actual Scouseland. memories of Saturday morning ABC kids movie shorts like The Magic Boomerang, sterilised milk, and "mind yer cahr mistah!" cash for kids on Anfield match days. It was a sort of veiled mafia threat: "you wouldnt like something to happen to the paintwork parking in front of our houses". But we did make sure no-one stole the car or broke in...

 

Bob's Blues I didn't come across until the late 80's when it cropped up on TV amongst classic rock videos, it's not bad, and the 3 Drifters tracks were all top 10 hits in 1972 and forever part of Glam Rock era to me. At the time I preferred At The Club, these days more Saturday Night At The Movies. All good though. Jackie Trent was on my 20 Number One's album purchase in late 1973, so that's when I associate it, but a typically tuneful fab Tony Hatch/Jackie Trent song courtesy of the tunemaster's missus, prob my 2nd fave of the batch. The Seekers, agree on it being sweet charming and pleasantly not groundbreaking.

 

Cilla's I've Been Wrong is a more restrained vocal, classy but not memorable for the most part. I like it a lot though. Manfred Mann's version of the Goffin/King goodie is OK, but again I'm back in 1973 and Rod Stewart's hit version - that's the definitive version, one of those rare moments when Rod did a cover that improved on what had gone before. Very rare! Herman's Hermits cover of Sam Cooke's song was OK, it had an innocent schoolboy charm (Peter Noone was very young and young-looking and he's still singing out the old hits).

 

My lack of knowledge of the rest, and my lack of association with pop music of the time is prob down to us living with my grandma while dad was abroad in Aden, and them choosing what we watched on TV or listened to - not necessarily what I wanted to watch or listen to!

 

 

 

 

Batch 7:

 

Trains And Boats And Plains was def a fave of the time, loved and love Bacharach melodies, but I don't remember Burt's version from 1965, more later in the decade, it was all about Billy J. Kramer for me at the time. Burt ironically was vocally not even on a par with Bob Dylan, but his finest moment was getting Dusty to sing most of his song A House Is Not A Home live on a 1970 TV special. She was flawless, he groaned his way through the intro, but happily stuck to piano after that.

 

Iko Iko was a well-known catchy song beloved of school playgrounds, But I was never that much of a fan in any hit version, Natasha's 1982 hit is prob the best one. The Clapping Song was another kiddie nursery rhyme thing, but I guess I was growing up then as I still can't stand it, though the original is the least annoying version.

 

Price Of Love is an unexpected late Everly's romp, known better to me as lead track on 1976's Bryan Ferry EP - and that's the best version, but this is very good. This Little Bird is sweet, Poor Man's Son is The Rockin' Berries finest moment, though not the record of theirs I bought - that was the 1971 novelty song impression comedy cover of Elvis' Don't Be Cruel - un-broadcast-able these days thanks to the Saville & Rolf Harris impressions. We Shall Overcome shows none of the brilliance of her later Band cover The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, and sadly hippies didn't overcome, but they influenced kids like me.

 

Long Live Love is my top record of the batch though. Sandie was fab, Chris Andrews banged out the hit songs and I loved them all, so effortlessly cool and catchy, and the embodiment of Swinging 60's London which we were still living in (The Help! film was still a few months away) on weekend trips from Chesham.