There was another 'Action' early 70s glam rock song?! Only know (Piece of the) Action by The Sweet.

18 (41) BACK STABBERS - The O'Jays

Another classic I loved at the time and still bloody love even more, what a classic Philadelphia production, great lyrics, Back Stabbers is as eternally relevant as a message for a song as it has always been (in general terms, even if this is strictly about girlfriend-stealers, I have always seen it as a general message for life where some people are concerned). This hit was also the announcement of the arrival of two song-writing teams that would drop classic after soul classic in the 70's - Leon Huff of Gamble & Huff (the producers/main songwriter/owners of Philadelphia International), and Mcfadden/Whitehead who would end the decade with their own classic soul hit as artists as well as songwriters. As for The O'Jays, Gamble & Hugg rescued them from a decade of underwhelming recordings and launched them properly with Back Stabbers, the trio were among the top soul/harmony vocalists who were equally fabulous in solo vocal spots, on this record Eddie Levert and Walter Williams are basically sharing lead vocal duties with back-up from 3rd member William Powell and assorted others. William tragically died aged only 35 in 1977 from cancer. Eddie and Walter have kept on going, though sadly not as a recording act beyond the 80's - though Eddie's kids had hits as Levert. I really can't pick between Eddie and Walter's vocals here, both are amazing singers. What could be better than opening your hit career with a classic - see the late Angie Stone's sample for her great I Wish I Didn't Miss You in the early 2000's - would be to have another classic ready and waiting. No, not the follow-up, 992 Arguments (that's 123 in the list), the one that's on the album that they held back for 1973 single release. That will be popping up here, as year of release.

17 (NEW) WISHING WELL - Free

My first introduction to Free wasn't THAT record at all - I didn't get to hear All Right Now until it was a hit again in the summer of 1973, following up on this early 1973 rock classic that should be better remembered than it is. Love the message, love the riffs which gel into the production more than the showy riffs of the monster famous hit from 1970. Prior to Wishing Well came A Little Bit Of Love which sort of falls in between both All Right Now and Wishing Well, but falls short of the 100 at 202. It's good, and I'd much rather hear it than the overplayed All Right Now, after that track kept coming periodically back in the charts every few years into the the 90's - albeit that time in a Clearmountain Remix version, just as Wishing Well did when it topped my charts the same year having just missed out on a top 100 year-end slot in 1973. 50 years on and Wishing well ranks 17th of 1972, the year of release. Best thing they ever did, and the last new hit they ever had - it was break-up and Bad Company in lead singer Paul Rodgers future until he stood in as Queen vocalist following the death of Freddie Mercury in the 90's.

16 (33) STORM IN A TEACUP - The Fortunes

I loved this song in 1972, and have loved it ever since. What a tune, courtesy of Lynsey De Paul soon-to-be-hitmaker. I even did an Art piece at school at the time - design an album cover based on a song, and a storm inside a giant teacup was a no-brainer. It was the only subject I came top in at the end of school-year results. The British band The Fortunes had had some mid-60's hits including the woulda-been-a-number-one-for-me all-time fave You've Got Your Troubles, which I adore to this day from 1965 onwards, and then had another big USA hit in 1971 with the fabulous Here Comes That Rainy Day Feeling Again, mystifyingly not a UK hit, which spearheaded some more hits for the band, produced and arranged by Rogers' Cook & Greenaway - see Blue Mink, New Seekers, and multiple other hit-making songs. Lynsey De Paul popped in to see them, offered Storm In A Teacup and away it went into the charts. Lead vocalist Rod Allen had a great vocal appeal to me, possibly from memories of the Pirate Radio song Caroline, or the famous coke Jingles Things Go Better With Coke, It's The Real Thing as well as the hits, I just loved his range and emotions on the right song, Storm in A Teacup being the right song number 3. Is it a bit too middle-of-the-road pop for serious music consideration? Nah. It's fabulous. If you don't trust me, ask John Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten. He also loves it, and it still pops up on very oldies radio now and again at a time when the early 70's have gone the way of the 60's in being banished from mainstream radio bar The Famous Hits. Me, I love it more now than I even did at the time, because it gets to me emotionally.

15 (NEW) I'LL BE AROUND - The Detroit Spinners

The Detroit Spinners had been having hits in the USA for almost a decade, under the name the Spinners, but in the UK there was already a folk band using that name, so in came The Motown Spinners for 1970's It's A Shame, and then when they changed labels The Detroit Spinners for a decade of UK hits - which never included this gem. For some reason unknown I'll Be There never got picked up on in the UK, which is bizarre as the Philadelphia smooth-soul sound was starting to take off in the wake of The Delfonics and The Chi-Lites hits so this classic soul track shoulda been a shoo-in. Not only was it not a hit, but I never got to hear it even once that I recall, and it was left to Terri Wells 1984 hit dance cover to introduce me to the song. That was a very good track, but when I got to hear the original it was obvious to me that it rates right up there with another of their classics still to come. Love it. We are totally into their classic Thom Bell era at this point, with lead singer Bobby Smith's velvet-smooth vocals lending the immaculate productions a finishing touch. Soul music to me is all about emotion, and I'll Be There is about as positive and heart-warming as they come.

14 (NEW) I SAW THE LIGHT - Todd Rundgren

One of the great pities about hit singles is the many great songs and acts that never manage to get one. Todd Rundgren is one of those artists - the closest he got was I Saw The Light scraping into the UK 50 after being a big US smash, which meant this genius summery feel-good melodic diamond was excluded from my charts in the cold January of 1973, as my charts were limited to UK top 30 tracks then. A shame as it definitely would have made my year-end top 100, and time has been even-more kind, with the track recently doing well following use in an advert, meaning it's better-known than one might expect for a relative flop. Todd started off in the group Nazz in the late 60's with an early version of a song still pending on this list, but was never one to get tied down and moved over into producing other acts, having acclaimed albums, occasional US hits across the decades, and dabbling in all sorts of genres of music, not least electronic music, progrock, and powerpop. Who has he produced? Badfinger, Meat Loaf's Bat Out Of Hell, XTC, Sparks, to name-drop a few of the less-mainstream acts he chose to help-out. Todd is still working and got back together with Sparks 50 years on to produce/appear on 2022 track Your Fandango. It's as quirky as one must expect from both of them. This fabulous track, though, shows Todd could quite happily do radio-staple Gorgeous West Coast-flavoured melodic rock if he felt like it.

13 (71) COULD IT BE I'M FALLING IN LOVE - The Detroit Spinners

I'm using the word "gorgeous" a lot at this top end of the run-down, and Could It Be I'm Falling In Love is total gorge, written by 2 songwriters I've never heard of Mystro and Lyric, sounding very like a Thom Bell pseudonym on top of his production with the lush MFSB orchestra arguably giving us the first obviously-Philly-sounding Sound Of Philadelphia hit. It went top 10 for me and the UK in the spring of 1973 and ended the year as 71st in the listing, but like so many early Philly hits, they proved to have legs in the long run. It was a hit again in 1977 as part of an EP of Spinners songs, and Jaki Graham and David Grant had a top 5 UK smash cover in 1985, which was also pretty damn fine and gorgeous - but not quite topping the original. Fairly obviously, I'm well into the Spinners circa 1972/3 - later hits were good, but not quite in the same league for me, and none of them will be rated this high!

12 (16) AIN'T NO SUNSHINE - Michael Jackson

Plaintive. There's a word I might choose to use for young Michael Jackson's vocal abilities pre-puberty. Ain't No Sunshine had been a smash classic soul hit in 1971 for Bill Withers, but made no inroads in the UK and most of us (including me) were oblivious to the amazing song until Motown decided to gift a single on the UK in lieu of an inferior single off the album in the US. We got the better deal. This made a great double whammy for Bill as his Lean On Me also charted at the same time (see #23), and these days it's a toss-up which version of Ain't No Sunshine I love more - but I think it's Michael version. The Jackson 5 star was being set up for solo success before his voice broke - you never what is going to happen! - and he got hat-trick of top 10 hits in the UK in 1972, the first of them just grabbing a slot in 1971 listings by virtue of release date. Got To Be There showed a stunning range and a mature emotional ability to sing for a kid that was the same age as me - 13 - and that we'd already had hints of on Jackson 5 ballads like I'll Be There and Never Can Say Goodbye. There wasn't a chance in Hell I could hit any of those notes, then or now, and I think Michael's early stuff needs a lot more love than it gets in his huge back catalogue. Especially his performance on Ain't No Sunshine. With all due respect to modern pop or soul-based singers, let's see them try and match it, cos I'm fairly sure most would struggle to even keep up.....

11 (3) METAL GURU - T. REX

Marc Bolan was peaking when this came out, Metal Guru was irresistibly Glam-Rock-Catchy-Hook-Rifftastic top-notch T. Rex in the schools-out early summer of 1972, and I loved this track. In terms of singles they couldnt put a foot wrong from Ride A White Swan in 1970 through to the summer of 1973, and then that was it, the music scene changed and bar a few minor hits they never were quite as exciting again as they were in 1971 and 1972. So, this ends in the 1972 rundown as the top Bolan track, just as it did at the time, albeit 8 places lower and short of a Medal position. I still love it though. It's not quite as ominous as Get It On, as singalong as Hot Love or as blistering a riff as 20th Century Boy, but it remains exciting to me now as it did when I heard it for the first time as a 14-year-old.

On 19/04/2025 at 17:09, TheSnake said:

There was another 'Action' early 70s glam rock song?! Only know (Piece of the) Action by The Sweet.

There was indeed, sorry I missed the question, I was madly downloading the next song and missed it! Def Leppard covered Action , but I only know a rockabilly cover of Solid Gold Easy Action, that was an unusual choice! 😄

It's been hectic for weeks but I'm hoping I can grab a few lazy days to finish this off!

10 (29) WALKING IN THE RAIN WITH THE ONE I LOVE - Love Unlimited featuring Barry White

This one introduced me to Barry White, though I had already been a fan of his hit with Felice Taylor, I Feel Love Coming On, and his stuff with The Banana Splits musical numbers on the Hanna-Barbera show. OK I didn't know his name at the time, but his deep growl was a key part of the record, as much as his wife's lead vocal in Love Unlimited, his song, and his production. His brand of sultry soul had arrived, and I loved it, the song was atmospheric, sexy, lush and I loved the raindrops sound, it reminded me of cooling down in Singapore after stonkingly hot equatorial days and standing out in the garden getting soaked during thunderstorms as monsoon drains turned torrential. I love this track even more than I did at the time, from top 30 to top 10: it's a comforting, lovely and sedate production and performance. They would both be back in due course with more classics.

9 (17) 10538 OVERTURE - Electric Light Orchestra

It would be very fair to say I was a fan of ELO from day one - this topped my charts after a Top Of The Pops appearance, the strings (cellos especially) and that guitar riff were just fab, so terrific that Paul Weller nicked it in the 90's. Best of all though was the song, especially the dark menacing lyrics and melody. ELO was a side project of The Move as main man Roy Wood, long a fave with records such as Blackberry Way and Flowers In The Rain, joined up with new-ish fellow Brum band-mate Jeff Lynne to sort of cross orchestral pop with rock. And not in an entirely unlike-the-Beatles way. I did buy the album 4 years later, but this single edit is the highlight, still a brilliant track. Sadly, Roy & Jeff suffered immediate "musical differences" by the end of the year, so The Move bowed out with California Man, drummer Bev Bevan stayed with Jeff in ELO as they carried on the Rockorchestra vibe to end the decade second only to ABBA in terms of classic pop singles, for me. Roy set up his new Glam Rock band Wizzard, had 2 years of fabness, wrote some top notch singles and one christmas perennial, entirely self-created solo albums, especially the fab Boulders, and then more or less vanished for most of the years afterwards bar annual Christmas returns, touring, and the odd project here and there. But Roy was my number one pop hero for 1973/4!

8 (NEW) THE COLDEST DAYS OF MY LIFE (PART 1) - The Chi-Lites

I didn't know this record in 1972, but I did love The Chi-Lites and their 2 UK hits, one of which is shuffled to my 1971 run-down and the other, Oh Girl, is at 31. Oh Girl topped my charts, but this track has never charted - because it's a recent discovery! The older I get the more I find I love Eugene Record's soul creations, sentimental, beautifully-produced, sweetly-sung, and dealing with all sorts of people-related topics and social commentary. Poetic, though I can see how some might not go for the very-polished final product. This track is slow, gentle, violin-and-strings set against the sound of waves on the ocean, flute, and a long story, heavy on imagery of past-times and nostalgia. Nostalgia, of course, increases as you get older, times change, and people and places are lost to you, especially from your childhood and teen years. The album version is over 8 minutes long, but part 1 works on its own merit, it doesn't repeat itself, there's no hook, there's earnestness and mood and it's a journey led by the lead vocal from Eugene. Can he do hooks? Oh, my, yes - 1969's instrumental version of Am I The Same Girl with Barbara Acklin as co-writer was a fab hit as Soulful Strut and then got covered by Dusty Springfield, and post-Chi-Lites among many samples was the intro to Beyonce's Crazy In Love cos Eugene could do funk as well as ballads. I just love the sad ballads most of all!

7 (3) LOVE TRAIN - The O'Jays

Peak Gamble & Huff and The O'Jays greatest record. I was a huge fan of all concerned at the time, Back Stabbers already featuring on this chart at 18, but oddly Love Train was held back to be the 3rd single off the album in 1973, at which point I saved my pocket money, bought it and had it rule my charts for 6 weeks. The O'Jays were great singers, soulful (and it runs in the family, see 80's kids Levert following in dad's footsteps) and Gamble & Huff immaculate and influential in the late 60's and early 70's with the Philly Sound. Love Train is a classic "Let's all just love each other and get along" song, and was highly relevant in 1972, and is highly relevant in 2025. It's just the fashion for singing for peace and love in song was dead and buried long ago, presumably because it never happened and never will happen because people just can't get along. I still believe in it though, as an aspiration, and 15-year-old me still hadn't had the optimism knocked out of me cynical reality. So this remains a celebration to that, a top 10 fave of the year then, and now.

6 (NEW) HOW CAN I BE SURE - David Cassidy

Darlin' David's greatest moment as a solo star, and I didn't appreciate it at the time, as the pop idol solo career was eclipsing The Partridge Family records, and the hype went into overdrive as Cassidy got his first UK chart-topper at the expense of T.Rex Children Of The Revolution, which annoyed me. I also didn't really know the song, never hear the US original by The Rascals nor Dusty Springfield's UK minor hit version in 1970, both of which are great versions of a great song. The French-style accordion touches seemed a bit old-fashioned at the time, but I grew to love them over the years, and if I needed an emotional outlet from sadness, grief or stress I had a core batch of songs to sing along to, including this one. It's my favourite version of the song, I think he was a better singer than he got credit for, what with being an actor first and foremost, and I am now very glad it went to number one. It's David's 4th and highest-placed on the countdown. There is a fun video from TopPop on Youtube, but David appears to have budgie-smugglers on - the norm at the time, not so much these days.

5 (65) HELLO IT'S ME - Todd Rundgren

I loved this track in early 1974 as I turned 16 and it was climbing the US charts following a rather late release as a single. I'm guessing it wasn't chosen in early 1972 when the good Something/Anything came out as it had already been a minor hit in 1969 for Todd's previous band Nazz. Since then he had been busy doing solo stuff and working as a producer for fresh new band Sparks - aka The Mael Brothers, who I saw 2 weeks ago as I write this in July 2025, both now in their late 70's and as fresh and relevant as ever: qualities Todd had musically, always happy to try something different, including his recent collaboration with the actual Sparks again 50 years on. His most commercial and accessible stuff was in the early 70's, though, melodic, a nice vocal, touching, and fitting in with the West Coast singer-songwriter vibe. Hello It's Me remains my fave Rundgren track, but it's close - I Saw The Light is at 14 on the rundown!

4 (12) GOODBYE TO LOVE - Carpenters

By the summer of '72 I had been loving Richard and Karen for 2 years, the dirty-word to Rock journalists "Easy Listening" made no never-mind to me, I didn't care what their opinions were, I trust my own love of music to spot a classic when I hear it - and this one was a classic. Goodbye To Love outdid previous Carpenters faves with that mix of melancholy, piano, harmonies from Karen multi-tracked with Richard, and that blistering fuzz guitar solo from Tony Peluso, and Richard's last great song as songwriter (with John Bettis). Classy, sounding effortless on lead vocal, Karen was always the at the heart of the band and mood and the appeal. We were blissfully unaware of her mental struggles behind the scenes, which makes the great songs all the greater with the benefit of hindsight. This record topped my charts of the time in Autumn of 1972, and remained a favourite ever since, rising from 12th to 4th, but they also just missed the 1972 countdown at 110 with the very good I Won't Last A Day Without You, and Hurting Each Other at 120. Thing is, 50 years on, they still sound timeless, just as they never really sounded like the trendy sounds of the early 70's, they inhabit their own genre.

3 (74) LOOKIN' THROUGH THE WINDOWS - The Jackson 5

Like the Carpenters, The Jackson 5 had been faves for 2 years, including Michael's solo output during 1972 (see number 12, with The Jackson 5's follow-up cover of Doctor My Eyes at 149), but the group seemed to have been struggling while young Michael got all the attention until this Motown gem came out late in the year. They even flew over to the UK to appear on Top Of The Pops singing this, and Michael's Ben. Clifton David wrote this one, he had already written the fabulous Never Can Say Goodbye so he had form, and this got them back in the charts after a series of flops in the UK. This Hal Davis production did the business, though, harmonies, great vocal from Michael, exciting and driving at a rapid tempo, it showed there was still life left in the act - and suddenly the hits dried up for Michael and the band were back for another year in the UK, 2 years in the US. It peaked at 2 in my charts of the time, 74th of the year, but time has been kind and I think it sounds even better with age, and it's very much an under-rated gem.

2 (2) SWEET TALKING GUY - The Chiffons

1966, so what's it doing here?! Well, 1966 is a fabulous year that I've never compiled a Best Of list for so until I do, pre-1967 tracks get moved to the year were hits again in. In the case of Sweet Talking Guy it was way bigger in 1972, going top 5, as the 60's girl-group sound was still popular in Northern Soul fandom, radio oldies and at school with girls. I went mad on the tune and multiple harmonies going on, short, sweet and fabulous. I recently caught up with my cousin Yvonne who was also a fan of this one at the time, same age as me, and she also liked Don't Let Him Touch You a modern girl-group take on the genre by The Angelettes which is rated 186th. This topped my charts for 3 weeks and remains a fave. The Chiffons have more-famous hits like One Fine Day and My Sweet Lord - oops I mean He's So Fine - but this one is still my favourite, it gets into your brain it's so catchy, but has never worn out it's welcome. The Chiffons had a brief career straight from school to stars, and then as the hits dried up after 1966 they moved back into the normal working world, but left a small collection of tracks that are still remembered. In my list they were second-fave of the year....and still are 50 years later. Always the bridesmaids....

1 (59) WHY CAN'T WE LIVE TOGETHER - Timmy Thomas

A hit in the UK in 1973, this slinky, gorgeous, moving soul track remains powerful. Timmy Thomas was essentially a one-hit wonder who had some other decent soul tracks that just didn't resonate in the same way that this ode and plea to people getting along that fit into the era beautifully, and makes the second classic soul track in the top 10 to do that, but this one is more reflective, and minimal, with the striking organ sounds underpinning Timmy's passionate vocal. Another one I loved that peaked at 2 in my charts of the time, by 1990 I was well into regarding it as a major soul classic and bought it on CD along with a fabulous remix, which incorporated Martin Luthor King Jnr's I Have A Dream speech into the record, and which topped my charts for 4 weeks that year. The original is still the best, but sadly the single remix is not available anywhere except in my CD collection, I presume for copyright reasons on the MLK speech - frankly I would have thought that was part of history now and copyright free 55 years after his brutal murder - but it definitely underlined the message in the song even more. Alternative added bits are available online but they just aren't the same. There are, however, loads of other remixes, not to mention the sample borrowed by Drake, speeded up, and autotuned all over on Hotline Bling, a huge hit in 2016. I will stick with Timmy thanks, or maybe Sade's pretty good version of it on Diamond Life. I do, though, think that is fairly representative of the difference between the 70's and the 2010's and 20's - nick a song that means something as a hook to rich popstars moaning about their relationship problems. Me me me.