57 (72) MOON RIVER - Greyhound

If there's one theme I wasn't expecting before I reviewed 1972 songs, it was how much I missed the reggae hits of the day - largely, it must be said, because radio never plays them. Never. My fave reggae group was very much Greyhound, and this cover of Henry Mancini's Moon River was always going to register with me - their previous hit is a classic to me, and this song is one of those bullet-proof songs. Audrey Hepburn started the ball rolling in Breakfast At Tiffany's, but any version will do fine for me. Such a great song. The original hit version is the one attached and sounds just fine - but it has been replaced on record with a vastly inferior annoying version with upfront girlie vocals which just make the record sound a bit cheesy and must be avoided - sadly everytime I tried to buy it on CD compilations or EP's it's always the alternate version and I've never gotten hold of a copy of this one. I don't like it when my teen years get re-written and I was constantly outraged by CD compilations in the late 80's and early 90's claiming "original" in the titles or sleeves when they were blatantly inferior cheap re-recordings by some of the original acts. I suspect Moon River might just have had an album version and a single version, but I'm not sure. Lead singer Glenroy Oakley remains an under-rated and under-appreciated vocalist even if they had just the 3 hits. I was a fan! He was still singing gigs a few years back which I was happy to read about, including one in Spain for ex-pats and tourists. This one has actually gone up on the rundown, even though it did hit 2 in my charts at the time.

56 (5) IF YOU'RE GONNA BREAK ANOTHER HEART - Cass Elliot

The fabulous Mama Cass left for a solo career after The Mamas & The Papas split in 1971, having had late 60's success already solo on top of her timelessly wonderful band career. This great ballad from hit songwriter Albert Hammond sank without trace in the USA when it came out in 1972, and wasn't even released in the UK that year. Albert started having hits, though, including one to come later and this single was dropped in the UK in the summer of 1974 as Cass came over on a promotion tour. I was a big fan, had the Greatest Hits album, recorded her reviewing new singles on the Emperor Rosko Roundtable show on Radio 1 (I met him in the 2010's) and this single hit the top of my charts. Then, out of nowhere, a couple of weeks later my mate Ian was round the house enjoying my record collection in my bedroom at RAF Innsworth and dad shouted up the stairs "Mama Cass is dead!". That came out of the blue as a shock for me, I was stunned and upset, I'd never had to react to the loss of a young pop star hero before. Sadly, Cass was just the first of many, and this track always takes me back to feeling sad as I played it a lot when I got hold of a copy soon after. So, it's year-end chart position is actually 5th in 1974, but it came out first in 1972, and so it ends up 56th overall, probably a more realistic position than my emotional response at the time.

55 (13) WIG-WAM BAM - The Sweet

The Sweet had already had a string of hits by mid 1972, mostly bubblegum pop hits like Funny Funny, Co-Co, Poppa Joe and the previous Glam-moving Little Willy, but writers/producers really hit the formula big-time when Wig-Wam Bam came out and they all moved into over-drive from this point on. Catchy, rock-bopping, and now they were going full-on Glam in the presentation - as can be seen from this rare surviving Top Of The Pops footage - including full-on Cowboy-movie Native Indian gear. Most people by this time were pro-Indian - cowboys had dominated pop culture in the US media for over 20 years as the USA tried to continuing to rewrite history (as they did at the time) and turn the cowboys into the goodies and the Indians the baddies. Errr, the white settlers were very much the (unintentional, perhaps) baddies invading and taking over a whole continent, and treating the original "land-owners" terribly overall. Indigenous rights were a topic of the day, and Soldier Blue had just come out, a pro-First Nation Hollywood movie. And then this sort of jumped on the bandwagon - it's not going to get any plays these days, obviously, but at the time it was seen as a bit of Glam fun that set up the the next big single nicely. For me, it was the first Sweet number one in my charts. Retrospectively, pretty much all the Sweet early singles have dropped a bit in my favours, and Wig-Wam Bam is no exception, but it still musters up a top 60 slot, down from 13th of the year.

54 (NEW) SILVER MACHINE - Hawkwind

Lemmy of Motorhead fame is lead singer on this Prog-Rock-ish Metal anthem, and fit in beautifully with the Glam/Goth mood of Alice Cooper and rock-Glam of much of the charts. Silver Machine was one I liked at the time, but didn't love - by 1978, when it came out again, and charted, Lemmy was in the hyperactive Motorhead and I had gone full on-board with this record being terrific. I bought it, it hit my number one (and peaked at 31st fave for 1978) and was very a much a one-off, chartwise and for Hawkwind. Part of the excitement of the track is it was recorded live, and that comes over on the recording - Hawkwind carried on for decades, minus Lemmy, but they never came close to Silver Machine in success. So, 54th is about right for an under-estimated track of 1972, and a nostalgia-inflated 31st in 1978. Somewhere in between the two.....

53 (NEW) ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH - John Denver

I didn't know much about John Denver in 1972, he'd had a hit song recorded by Peter, Paul & Mary in Leavin' On A Jet Plane and he was starting to crop up on UK TV variety shows, his laid-back folk-country ballads fitting in with the vibes of the time. Rocky Mountain High I was aware of in early 1973, but never really got to hear it properly that I recall, and Denver wouldn't really break into the UK market until 1974, though Take Me Home Country Roads would also hit - for Olivia Newton-John - in 1973. His homely blend of sweet ballads never really caught on in the UK as a singles artist, but in the US it was hit after hit, none of them bar 2 particularly favourites of mine. Half a century on, though, and his very-mid-west songs seem to have lasting resonance, Rocky Mountain High especially - Lana Del ray name-checked the song in her recent lyrics. So I've gone from barely being aware of the song, to being a big fan of it and Denver generally. Turns out his pure vocals and landscape imagery have a lasting pathos and quality. I still don't care for the more yee-ha Country Boy songs, but those ballads, Mmm-mmm.

52 (NEW) I LIKE IT THAT WAY - The Tremeloes

The Trems had had a consistent run of hits from around about 1963 through to 1970, with some great little pop gems along the way, and then the new decade caused them to re-evaluate their sound towards a less-pop more-rock basis in time with the changing sales of the time, which worked out for 2 or 3 tracks and then that was it, the End. I Like It That Way was an attempt to go back to their old likeable, catchy pop single era, and I really loved this song. Had it been a hit it would definitely have ended up in my top 20 of the year. sadly, it was very out of step with the 1972 music scene, though Alan Freeman played it a lot on his Sunday show, and I recorded it off the radio. I still say it should have been a hit, but teenagers are fickle things when it comes to pop music buying-habits (50p was a lot of money back in those days, especially when it was competing in my case with DC Comics in newsagents!) so they never did make the comeback despite a number of good attempts into the mid-70's. Chip Hawkes' son Chesney would be the one to get the next Trem-related big hit in 1991, and these days tours occasionally with them (I caught them back in the cabaret 80's) and more crucially Chesney is on his 3rd great record in a row in the current music scene, well worth digging them out.

51 (115) THE GUITAR MAN - Bread

Like John Denver, Bread had way more US success than in the UK, but also like Denver other acts jumped on the cover-version bandwagon in all sorts of genres, David Gates ballads having that quality-something that gives them the ability to not-be a gentle lush folk-ballad, even though that's when they are at their best. Bread had 4 hits, though, and this was the 3rd, and second one of 1972. Guitar Man is probably the band's darkest and most-credible-to-rock-critics due to the lyrics and guitar work, because in the early 70's what was known as Easy Listening had become unfashionable to the cool and trendy, and in their eyes deserved to be dismissed as over-produced pap. Some do undoubtedly still think that, but not me. Carpenters, Bread, Denver all proved popular because of the quality of the recordings and songs and singers, not because it was cool or uncool. David Gates, as part of that trio of linked acts, had an equally angelic vocal style. This is the 3rd of 4 1972 singles inside my top 100, and the biggest UK hit of 1972 for Bread isn't one of them as that's in my 1971 list. It almost made my year-end, but just fell short at 115. So it's fair to say Bread has risen over the years for me. Must be all that yeast in the grooves.

50 (73) SAY YOU DON'T MIND - Colin Blunstone

The 60's hitmakers The Zombies lead singer had another stab at solo success in early 1972, following his 1969 chart hit under a pseudonym, and dropped this Denny Laine cover which I instantly loved. The string arrangement wasn't remotely rock or progrock, but the song seemed familiar - it was Moody Blues/Wings' Denny Laine's solo attempt at a hit in the late sixties, but which had turned up on Singapore radio in 1971 in a chunk of recording my mum had turned on for one song and then forgot to turn off, so there were quite a few interesting tidbits like Denny's original I have on tape. Colin's voice is amazing, pure and soaring, but also warm and comfortingly emotional, and this gave him a bit of a solo career for the next 2 years or so ahead of his 80's comeback with Dave Stewart. I saved up my pocket money to buy this record before it made the top 30 in the UK for a short-ish chart run, and before I plumped for even bigger faves after it had topped my personal chart for one week. Consequently it rested at a relatively lowly 73 in the Year-end, and the review has given it a more appropriate top 50 slot. I saw Colin and Rod Argent a few years back doing a Zombies/Argent/Colin solo tour a few years back, collectively they have quite the back catalogue!

49 (35) I CAN'T HELP MYSELF (SUGAR PIE HONEY BUNCH) - Donnie Elbert

A follow-up to a number one in my charts, Donnie's cover of Where Did Our Love Go, this Four Tops cover did nearly as well hitting 2, as the Northern Soul dance rhythms and Donnie's passionate falsetto range sounded fabulous. Some falsetto can come over as semi-comical or annoying, but for me Donnie mixed it up enough with lower register to improve on the original. That's not to say Levi Stubbs can be beaten vocally - that's very rare! - but this is the version I knew first, I'd missed the early 60's mini-hit and the 1970 re-issue in the UK didn't find it's way over to Singapore, so it was just a song I vaguely had heard without noticing too much. Donnie had more success in the UK than his native USA, one of those many cases where the UK shows it's good taste, largely thanks to the Northern Soul scene which was building up in Northern clubs by this time. There's been a marginal drop since 1972, but not anything of note, it's still a top 50 fave of the year!

48 (NEW) WHERE IS THE LOVE - Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway

This gorgeous ballad duet popped into the UK top 30 for a week or two, a huge disappointment for me that it was such a minor hit, and consequently stopped it getting a long chart career, it was definitely one of my favourite songs of the year. Cool, lush soul from 2 great singers, Roberta Flack was effortlessly classy and so was the under-rated Donny Hathaway, a troubled singer with a tragic early death in 1978. He only ever had hits singing with Roberta and their next one would be posthumously in 1980, Back Together Again is a good record, but Where Is The Love has my love and charted a few years back for a much better chart run. Sadly Roberta passed away a few weeks ago as I write in March 2025, so it's doubly sad to listen to now. What a great melody and performance all round.

47 (78) THE JEAN GENIE - David Bowie

1972 was the year Glam superstar David Bowie and his alter-ego Ziggy Stardust arrived after belatedly not following up his big 1969 hit Space Oddity - 2 hit singles and culturally-defining huge album wasn't enough, though, Bowie dropped a second non-single just before Christmas and rocketed to 2 in the charts in early 1973: The Jean Genie is rifftastically exciting, though I preferred the first two hit singles at the time. This marked the moment announced his intent to totally dominate 1973 in a highly competitive Glam Rock year - at least in terms of total album and singles sales and weeks on chart as his substantial back catalogue started to get mined for hits and belated album sales. Footage of Bowie on Top Of The Pops recently turned up unexpectedly, a huge bonus for an era criminally wiped-out by the BBC when they re-used all the tapes due to cash shortages and a belief that disposable pop music was of no consequence, apart for of course where "important" appearances from old-timers long past their sell-by date, plodding about, turned up: Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Bill Haley. Hmmm, right. Anyway I bought Jean Genie in a Lincoln department store record section after it had dropped out the chart, took it home played it on the stereo record player along with Solid Gold Easy Action (T.Rex) and annoyed my dad so much that mum told me to take the Singapore hi-fi set upstairs to my bedroom, which immediately freed my life up to indulge in records in my own space and not feel on edge worrying about what dad felt about the racket. Ironically, my grandad had taken a much harder line with my dad and smashed his copy of The Goons Ying Tong Song when he could bear it no more! Mum and dad bought a stereogram instead for the front room. So I owe Jean Genie, and rate it even higher than I did at the time - even if it seems to have lessened in popularity this century compared with some of his back catalogue.

46 (103) STAY WITH ME - Blue Mink

I love Blue Mink, US co-lead singer Madeline Bell, co-lead singer and songwriter Roger Cook and bassist Herbie Flowers too. In the late 60's multi-ethnic groups became a thing in the UK, starting with The Equals, Blue Mink, Hot Chocolate and others, something I was very much in favour of as an early teen being influenced by social events, environmentalism and politics of the time. Blue Mink, though, seem to have been largely forgotten despite a 4-year run of hit singles, and an impressive pedigree: Roger Cook & Roger Greenaway (aka David & Jonathan pop stars of the 60's) were hugely successful pop songwriters of famous hit songs, Madeline had a solo career, including getting a hit in the UK ahead of a Diana Ross & The Supremes & The Temptations cover, and she worked with the greats: Dusty Springfield and so many more. Herbie Flowers was an in demand bass player, write a number one hit for Clive Dunn, and immortalised himself for a few quid coming up with Lou Reed's Walk On The Wild Side bass-line, never mind joining T.Rex just before Marc Bolan's death. So it's real shame that so many of their great (and varied) hits have fallen by the wayside in collective memory, not least this gorgeous soul ballad. Of course the afore-mentioned scrubbing of Top Of The Pops episodes won't have helped, but this poor-quality visual here is better than nothing. Stay With Me is still lovely and one I rate even higher than I did in late 1972 when it just missed the year-end top 100. I went to see Madeline do an 82nd birthday gig with choir and orchestra last year in London, her voice as impressive as ever, interviewed by DJ Paul Gambaccini, and joined on stage by Roger Cook in from Nashville - the only British songwriter in the Country Music Hall Of Fame - after Blue Mink fell apart due to record label back-scene politics in 1974, he up-sticks to the USA and a new career. Herbie joined them on stage at the end for some Blue Mink songs, overjoyed and amusing, which is now bittersweet as he passed away a few months later.

45 (100) WALK IN THE NIGHT - Junior Walker & The Allstars

Motown ruled for a decade. So many great acts and records it takes a book to do them justice. One of the lesser-know acts these days is Junior Walker, maker of both instrumental funk-soul tracks and also singing on soulful, emotional upbeat songs. Then there's this one, a bit of a combination of the two main styles, Junior Walker's sax up front on a largely instrumental, with added female chorus for the only vocals running through the record: Walk In The Night. And yet it works for me, love it. They had more essential hits (in the USA and lesser hits in the UK) prior to 1972, but they still a bit more gas in the Tamla Motown tank. In the UK Berry Gordy's record labels were combined under one logo, and that huge label was Tamla Motown. That's how we knew them until the 80's when the US name, plain old Motown, ignored stuff on Tamla and the UK was forced to move along with that. It'll always be Tamla Motown to me, that's the label and record sleeves to prize. This one ended the year at 100, and as with so many things Soul as I get older, those tend to create more nostalgia and love in me than a lot of the pop or rock hits of the time. I expect it's an age thing....

44 (97) A HORSE WITH NO NAME - America

As mentioned earlier, on Ventura Highway, this single popped it's head up just after Christmas 1971 to set up as one of the big new breakthrough's of early 1972 with it's mysterious, gentle folk-rock, sounding not a million miles away from Neil Young (Neil's own dad said to him this was one of his favourite songs of Neil's when he heard it later in the year after it broke in the USA). Tuneful and charming, the band were based in the UK on USA forces bases and broke first here, very much a case of Coals to Newcastle for that time. It wasn't unheard of American acts breaking the UK but not the USA - see The Walker Brothers - but it was a bit unexpected for folk-rock. America pretty much had a decade-long career - in the USA. In the UK this was their only big hit, which is very annoying, they released great singles well into 1982. It's not entirely surprising, of course, because the UK was about to undergo a Glam Rock behemoth which left folk-rock largely out of the singles charts, followed by disco-conquest, not to mention UK-only genres like Northern Soul, reggae and pop all competing for Top Of The Pops, so while the USA became Rock vs Mellow vs Soul-funk dominated, the UK carried on in it's own way racing through genres that left the USA unmoved, not least Synth, Punk, New Wave, Ska, Rockabilly as the decade moved on. I love the UK music scene of the 70's. As far as then vs now goes? Then: Top 100 year-end, now, almost top 40. It's a classic, no question.

43 (74) I AM A CLOWN - David Cassidy

Beware the annoying abruptly chopped edit version of this 1972 album track that came out as a belated single in the UK in 1973 as double A to Some Kind Of A Summer, the full version has a charming long spoken/piano intro which is essential to the mood of the record. While most Cassidy and especially Partridge Family songs from the Bell Records era haven't weathered well in comparison to how I felt about them at the time, there are three exceptions: I Think I Love You and another solo track yet to come. This was known as I'm A Clown in the UK, and I think it's low-key, restrained approach has meant it ha been able to retain the charm. It's gentle, it's sad, it's affecting and I love it even more than I did in 1973. Like I Think I Love You and It's One Of Those Nights it's a Tony Romeo song, unquestionably the best songwriter on the Partridge/Cassidy payroll, though sadly he didn't get much joy beyond David Cassidy's label-hop to RCA in 1975 with one notable exception: Brotherhood Of Man's Oh Boy (The Mood I'm In) in 1977, probably their best record along with Angelo. The main appeal is the melody and song-structure for me, something regarded as old-fashioned these days by and large. Darlin' David would have hits beyond 1972 in the UK but he wouldn't be this good again until 1986 when a certain George Michael stepped in to offer a hand. Up from a 1973 Year-End of 74 to a year-of-release 1972 43. There is one more Cassidy track pending on this list, though....

42 (70) JOHN I'M ONLY DANCING - David Bowie

Hot on the heels of Starman the hit single and Ziggy the album came this stand-alone single, which had a lot going for it: My name in the title; Glam-era appeal; Bowie abruptly moving from sci-fi Glam-ballad to a driving rock riffing, wailing oddity with inventiveness and that great pounding drum riff. It sounded like nothing that had come before and wasn't what you might call the usual pop single format; it had a video which my fading memory claims I def saw at the time, if not on Top Of The Pops then one of the other kids-TV music shows of the time, or Old Grey Whistle Test. If anything, I preferred it to Starman at the time, which made it my fave Bowie single until Drive-In Saturday and Life On Mars popped up in 1973. Not that well-known, though, then or now, but there have been other versions: 1979 saw RCA (always good at plugging Bowie's back catalogue when he went quiet with new material) release a double A side of an alternate 1972 version that's quite similar to the original - I think for the American market - and the radio-plugged 1975 Plastic Soul era re-recording as John I'm Only Dancing (Again). The record was a UK hit, but the original is the best, but in a pinch the alternate version will do, but very much not the 1975 rerecording which eventually started to annoy after a few weeks of play. 70th fave of the time, now just outside the top 40.

41 (NEW) BREAK - Aphrodite's Child

Greek Prog-rock band Aphrodite's Child had already broken up in 1972, having had one hit in 1968 in the UK, Rain & Tears, and not much else. Europe was more faithful to their back catalogue, which went out in a bang this year with the ambitious Prog-rock album 666 finally coming out, one track The Four Horsemen is a prog-rock classic that fell short of this top 100, and one I didn't know at the time, but Break got a fair bit of Radio 1 play from the likes of DJ Alan Freeman as the time. Haunting, sparse instrument use, but lots of echo-based sound effects around the vocals, and which I quite liked, but didn't go big on. By 1975 it was out again as a re-issue following the European success of lead singer Demis Roussos as a solo star who had yet to break the UK. So this flopped again, but I became a convert to it and it made my 1975 top 10 personal charts around the early summer-time: the laid-back vibes were perfect for those hot days spent revising for O Level exams with the radio on. I got hold of a copy of the single, to boot, in a bargain bin, some time later which only increased my rating the track. Throw in Vangelis becoming somewhat iconic in the late 70's and 80's as synth movie-soundtrack, hit-pop-star in Jon & Vangelis and beyond, and that wouldn't hurt my regard for the band - though Break doesn't feature Roussos on vocals (that's Loukas Sideras). Break, is the final track on their final album, and more than apt as a closer, but although for my chart purposes it's a "new entry" on 1972's list, really it would feature just outside the top 100 for 1975, so it's been an upwardly mobile trajectory for the song over the years. Sadly, it's still obscure, though.

40 (NEW) SATELLITE OF LOVE - Lou Reed featuring David Bowie

I liked this when it came out as a single in 1973, but it bombed unlike the first massive classic off the key-note album Transfer, aided and abetted by lots of talents, notably David Bowie, massive Velvet Underground fan - a band that had zero success, but kudos from the Andy Warhol connection. My mate Ian Galloway bought the single and I enjoyed it a lot as an oldie a couple of years later, but it grew on me with the years and it eventually topped my chart decades later courtesy of that long ountro, what a stunner, with Bowie clearly hitting those notes. That formed the groundwork of the hit 2000's remix which also toipped my charts, so this was always going to do much better than it did first-time round, now moved into the proper year: Transformer came out in 1972 as Bowie reached peak-form and popularity, anything he touched usually became a hit. But not this as a single, sadly, but time has proven that was a bit of an injustice. Top 40 of the the year for sure!

39 ( NEW) DIARY - Bread

Nobody does heart-break like David Gates when he takes an idea and twists it with a sad ending. This lovely-sounding romantic idea about reading a partner's diary, one who never expressed her love but seemed to have it all in writing - the twist being she's in love with someone else. One might say don't read diaries, but the result was bitter-sweet, he wishes her all the love in the world to go for it. Which is in itself a deep indication of love for someone, to let them go with no bitterness, despite loss to oneself. It's a sad little song, probably why it flopped in the UK and has never been covered successfully, but I find it extremely touching, and it ends the year at 39, ahead of several other great Bread songs that came out this year, but there is one more which was a 1972 hit in the UK that came out in 1971 and has been moved to that year's rundown. What's been surprising for me to find out is that there is no official Bread or David Gates Youtube presence, so I did some Wikipedia-spotting and it seems he retired from music in the 90's to take up cattle ranching with his family in Washington state, and has never gone back to it, now 84 and retired, and it seems taking no interest in his back catalogue, pushing it to new generations who might enjoy it in a Carpenters' fashion, which is a real shame. Though happiness is more important, of course.

38 (94) CRAZY HORSES - The Osmonds

Crazy Horses, to say the least, was a great rock track that came out of the blue from The Osmonds in late 1972. The Osmond Brothers had been popping up on US variety shows since the early 60's as a quartet bunch of kids, on shows like The Andy Williams Show, and then when young Donny came along as a quintet. In the USA they broke threw with the fabulous Jackson-5-a-like One Bad Apple and their own cartoon TV show, with Donny going full-on solo teen-idol before he had even hit puberty, but things were a bit behind in the UK. I'd been a fan for years, but in 1972 the inevitable break-through came with Donny Osmond's Puppy Love (129 on my 1972 list) which still has pre-voice-breaking charm, a name change to The Osmonds for the band, and a new image with a self-penned environmental song and actual instruments played, including a wailing synth, and with Donny taking a back seat. Regular under-rated singer Merrill took on the key parts of the hooks "Take a good look around, see what they've done.." and brother Jay having a stab at singing the rest of the song, lower register and rock-singer stylee, and the result was a record that was kept off the top spot of the UK charts by....little pre-teen Jimmy's novelty hit Long-Haired Lover From Liverpool. Oh, the irony that the best Osmonds record lost out to a catchy nursery rhyme of a song. I rated the track enough for it to make my top 100 of the time, but time has been very kind to it, it still rocks, and type-cast images of the wholesome disposable "boyband" teenage girl-fanbase (who were in the UK extremely histrionically keen) downplays the band records. They generally were pretty good for a 4-year period, and I still rate their harmonies and Merrill's lead vocals. This track hit again in the 90's, quite rightly, as 70's nostalgia was full-on a thing. Check out the video above and then compare with some later "boybands" across the decades. The Osmonds' come out of it smelling of roses...