97 (21) A THING CALLED LOVE - Johnny Cash

 

 

Mum and dad loved Johnny Cash, so I acquired that second-hand in the early 70's, so when this popped up as new in 1972 we all loved it. It's a tad cheesy, a tad singalong, a bit cheerful, and a mix of country twang and gospel chugging choir backing for a highly satisfying and nostalgic tune that I might well choose to sing if I was ever forced to sing public karaoke (or I was drunk enough) as I could easily manage the lyrics, the range might not stress me too much, and it may well not be a disaster for listeners that more challenging melodies might be. It topped my charts at the time and ended up rated 21st of the year, so quite a bit lower these days, but it still is a top 100 essential, and is probably my second fave Cash record, just over Ring Of Fire, and just behind his finale, the heartbreakingly shattering Hurt.

96 (NEW) DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER - Shirley Bassey

 

 

Shirley gets her second Bond theme, and it doesn't do as well in the charts as you might think, though Radio 2 was big on it at the time, and so was TV. I went to the cinema to see the film, it's probably my fave Connery Bond, though it was playing more for laughs than earlier films. The theme is still a bold, dramatic ballad that has lasted pretty well - maybe more so than Goldfinger, which I also love. Dad was a Shirley Bassey fan, so we had an album of hers we heard a lot (50's stuff), so although she became a bit too MOR for my tastes for the next decade or two, there was always another career update along the way to remind you she was still around and relevant again. Her third Bond theme is not in the same class, so she was never invited back again after that. I liked this at the time, but these days I rate it even more and in it enters at 96.

95 (6) BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO - The Partridge Family Starring Shirley Jones and featuring David Cassidy

 

 

I was huge on The Partridge Family sitcom in 1971/72, and anything they recorded with David Cassidy on lead vocal. Not that he was my fave in the show, far from it, but he had his own style when it came to singing and became an accidental pop star. Note the STAR of the show Shirley Jones, musical star of the 50's and Cassidy's step-mom, but Cassidy was setting a trend with that Featuring credit on all their records. All the rage in the 21st century obv. This was a bouncy cover of the Neil Sedaka early 60's hit, so I wasn't that familiar with the song, but it did introduce me proper to the man who would be charting soon with a re-issue of this and especially his fab 1950's tune Oh Carol, and kickstarting his new career as singer-songwriter assisted by 10CC. True fact. This was my 6th fave record of the year, very catchy singalong, but it hasn't dated well. I'm still fond of it though.

94 (57) BETCHA BY GOLLY WOW - The Stylistics

 

 

Sultry soul, this one, though Russell Tomkins Jr, lead falsetto singer, was great in small doses his voice get could get on your nerves with overplay. This is their second-best record, and I saw their early stuff as classy US soul, and no less a fan than Prince did a cover of this, and good it was too. That said I seem to have liked it better at the time than 2022, but again I think that's the "play it too often over 2 or 3 months" thing knocking it back a bit. Do not expect them in my year-end again until 1975 though! It was a downward slope by and large until the hot summer of '75, though they were huge in the UK charts and sold bucketloads of Hits compilations.

93 (49) BACK OFF BOOGALOO - Ringo Starr

 

 

This marching-rhythm guitar stomper came out of nowhere for Ringo - he'd had one hit since the Beatles split in 1971, It Don't Come Easy, and this was the belated follow-up, with a great production and a touch of the Marc Bolan's, his new mate (he was in his Born To Boogie movie). Ringo was never the greatest singer in the world, so he was always going to have to be creative in the recording department, and he hit 2 in the UK charts with it, so mission accomplished! This year he outdid the other 3 in chart positions, for the last time obv, with a little help from his friend (that'll be George Harrison, who will be back with Ringo in 1973 with one of their greatest records). It's a shame it didnt grab the top spot in the UK charts, thanks to the bagpipes, as he's the only Fab not to do that outside the Beatles. How does it sound now? It's still great, still exciting played loud, but not quite as fresh as it sounded at the time.

92 (NEW) SWEET SURRENDER - Bread

 

 

David Gates pretty much WAS Bread, as songwriter and lead singer, with the gift of bunging out blissfully mellow, romantic and gentle ballads at the drop of a hat. I'd loved Make It With You in 1970 but back in the UK, airplay was quite random for Bread - sometimes they got picked up sometimes they didn't, and the hits were fabulous to me, the flops I didn't generally get to hear until they were covered (Ken Boothe, Telly Savalas) or until I bought a vinyl copy of their Collection. One advantage Gates' songs have is the repeat-play factor, if anything they sound better the more you hear them, and they very much grow on you. Never in ya face, always subtle and charming. That said Sweet Surrender isnt among my top-rated Bread tracks, and not one I knew at the time (but they were all US hits), but it's still good enough to land a slot in the 100.

91 (63) FLOY JOY - The Supremes

 

 

The new Supremes I've already mentioned with the lower-placed Automatically Sunshine, follow-up to this slightly better and slightly bigger sweet soul-pop gem. I love the shared vocals, sultry and democratic, and the song is catchy without being annoying, smooth! In the UK we hardly ever got Motown acts on Top Of The Pops in 1972 - at least on a regular basis, more one-offs for one big hit and then record a couple of others at the same time for later broadcast if they became hits. The Supremes, sadly, were not a priority for Motown by 1972 so I bet they didn't want to fork out for the expensive airplane tickets as I certainly don't recall them appearing for Floy Joy promotion. So enjoy instead this US performance which the BBC were far too cheap to fork out to pay for until around 1974 when they managed to occasionally show some Soul Train performances. Rating: marginally less than at the time, but not too much so.

90 (NEW) CHANGES - David Bowie

 

 

Here's a new entry for a classic: David Bowie was unknown to me when this came out in January of 1972. Space Oddity didn't make it onto Singapore radio in 1969 (that I heard) and I have vague memories of this getting a couple of plays on a Saturday Radio 1 show, maybe Stuart Henry or someone like that. Not enough for me to feel like Bowie was going to be the next huge thing as a challenge to T. Rex, or feel like I needed to tape it off the radio, so it certainly didn't chart for me at the time. By 1975, as B side to the reactivated Space Oddity, I very much did like it and know it - as anything Bowie-related was getting radio play in 1973 onwards. So, as this exercise is all about putting records in the year they came out (or peaked in if it's the end of December and they run into January), I now judge this one to be 90th best of 1972, it's a great rock ballad and Bowie was robbed of a hit. First of 4 for the Glam Man.

89 (80) I AM WHAT I AM - Greyhound

 

 

One of the lost bands of the early 70's, almost no footage from Top Of The Pops or elsewhere exists of their short run of hits, all wiped out of existence - which I see as a great loss, I really loved their lively reggae covers, and they have pretty much been lost in the mists of time. They never get airplay on any radio station, but I play them, I love their singalong hits, great lead singer, well-produced British reggae. This might not be quite up with 1971 debut Black And White but it's a great song, WAY better than that famous show-tune that everyone knows but one I never liked until Aqua did a wonderful sensitive ballad version the other year. Back in 1972, this song was reasonably well-known but it had never been a hit. I just about prefer it to Bowie's Changes in this rating. I'm not saying it's BETTER than Changes, I'm saying I enjoy hearing it more, even if the song can't even scrape up a Wikipedia entry these days. And as far as radio is concerned, if it's not Bob Marley it doesn't exist. Apologies to the legendary very late Bob, but it did very much exist without him and was a big part of British pop culture in the late 60's and 70's.

88 (NEW) WHY CAN'T WE BE LOVERS - Holland-Dozier featuring Lamont Dozier

 

 

Another genre that doesn't always get the radio love is 70's soul - or at least lesser hits like this. Holland-Dozier-Holland crafted some of the greatest records of the 60's, not least The Supremes, The Four Tops and various other Motown acts, but after a falling-out with Berry Gordy they left to set up their own Invictus label and masterminded acts like Freda Payne and Chairmen Of The Board. Once in a while they dropped their own stuff though, and this forgotten soul ballad, sung well by Lamont Dozier, is a great song. Just a minor UK hit, which is why it's been largely forgotten, given that it wasn't that well-known at the time anyway, they didn't do Top Of The Pops, and it's never been covered that I can recall. Which is shame, as it's a classy track all round and deserves some belated appreciation. Maybe it's the long wait for a hook that keeps it more of a cult soul track than a popular one.

87 (NEW) WATCH ME - Labi Siffre

 

 

Labi had arrived with his classic It Must Be Love in 1971, and kept the ball rolling in 1972 with more hits, Watch Me scraping into the UK top 30 as his 3rd hit, the first two ballads being a lot to live up to, but it has a charm of it's own anyway. Labi's voice is always great, and though his brand of singer-songwriter dropped out of fashion as the 70's moved on he kept on plugging away until his 80's comeback, and is of late involved in getting some action on his back-catalogue, the other 1972 hit has just made the UK Sales chart (more on that higher up the list), and this one from a year or so ago did the same. Something of a pioneer in the folkish singer-songwriter movement of the 60's and 70's, Labi gave us 2 representations for the price of one: Black, and Gay, though the latter wasn't something one promoted at the time if you wanted to get airplay. More kudos needed.

86 (NEW) THE RIGHT THING TO DO - Carly Simon

 

 

The follow-up single in 1973 to Carly's breakthrough (more on that later), The Right Thing To Do is a bit early here as a track from her 1972 album smash, No Secrets, and it's almost as good as the big one, a lush romantic ballad with a melody to love. I rated this at the time, but it had a shorter chart run in the UK - around which I based my charts - so it never got the chart points to make the year-end 100 of 1973, but it would have if I'd just simply charted whatever new tracks I liked and allowed records that were smaller hits or flops to feature. So, Carly became iconic with t'other track and for the next 20 years, once the next single made the UK charts in 1974, there would be a new hit for Carly at 5-year intervals, and also a re-invention, from Bond in 1977 to Nile Rodgers in 1982, and back to ballads for 1987's return, before the original hit made a 90's comeback.

 

85 (4) IT'S ONE OF THOSE NIGHTS (YES LOVE) - The Partridge Family starring Shirley Jones and Featuring David Cassidy

 

 

And so on to biggest of The Partridge Family singles for me in 1972. Fresh from going mad on the TV show and especially I Think I Love You, this was a sort of belated comeback as the show was being shown on UK TV and the Cassidy buzz was growing. The same songwriter of I Think I Love You returned for this fab tune, Tony Romeo, along with quite a few other good tracks in 1970/71 for them, before the bubble burst and he had to look further afield for hit songs (Brotherhood Of Man in 1977, for example), and I was a bit of a fan of his melodies. I bought this single full-price, loved it, and stayed loving it for a few decades, so it came as a bit of a surprise when these revisits saw most Partridge Family tracks haven't weathered as well as nostalgia might have suggested. The arrangements, especially the backing vocals, just sound so MOR 50 years on. That didn't bother me at the time, as obviously great acts like the Carpenters were not enticing the music critics of the time either, so I didn't much care if they weren't cool. Still don't. Still fond of the record....but it's dropped from 4th fave of the year to 85th, along with Breaking Up Is Hard To Do dropping from 6 to 95. So at least this one hasn't dropped as quite as much!

84 (NEW) EVERYTHING I OWN - Bread

 

 

A famous song, this one, topping the UK charts in 1974 and 1987, for Ken Boothe and Boy George's reggae cover of the original reggae cover, yet this sweet ballad didn't click with UK radio and record buyers, becoming just a minor hit with two other David Gates masterpieces becoming just 2 of only 3 brilliant ballads to make the UK top 30 during their great Easy-listening hit-packed US career. That Bread havent remained in the same league as the Carpenters in terms of staying beloved by the general public is a shame. David Gates had a sweet vocal style, and once Bread finally gave up the ghost on trying for more rock-cred upbeat hits (and which may have been why they were never consistent hitmakers in the UK) and let David Gates keep the touching, low-key, sweetly-sad story or love songs coming, they built up quite the back catalogue ready for a chart-topping Hits album later in the 70's. In 1974 I preferred the Ken Boothe cover, and while I still rate that one, I think this one is more sincere and affecting. So, the second of four on the rundown, none of them getting into my top 100 of the time. It must be a maturing thing....

83 (30) THE LOCOMOTION - Little Eva

 

 

 

Famously Carole King & Gerry Goffin's babysitter while they toiled away writing pop classics, Little Eva was gifted this party gem in 1962 and grabbed a career for a few years, and then again in 1972 it was a hit all over again, which was when I became reacquainted with it. It still sounded a dancefloor filler hoot, that incessant rhythm chugged along and Eva chimed over the top better than Carole King could have - much as I adore her, Eva had a better voice for this sort of pop singalong. So why is it in my 1972 list? The chance of me getting time to thoroughly do 1962 isn't looking promising, so any pre-1967 tracks that hit in later years will get transferred over so at least the 50's and early to mid-60's get a look-in. Sadly, my kiddie fave Swinging On A Star has never had a revival so that won't be getting an official rating any time soon in my charts. The song, though, would keep on popping up in covers, not least Kylie Minogue's 1988 biggie, but none of them come close to the original. Dropping 53 places though, it sounded more of wow at the time, before later dance music really wiped out all of the 60's dance monsters, bar a few Motown classics.

82 (53) MY GUY - Mary Wells

 

 

Talking of 60's oldies, this 1964 Smokey Robinson song came in slightly behind Little Eva in 1972, but the revived cool, stylish gem sounds better 50 years on, so only drops a mere 29 places, which is pretty consistent. Mary never really had a huge career, for some reason she went elsewhere label-wise when she could have continued to have access to the astoundingly talented Motown songwriters and producers, which is a shame. My Guy is her career highlight, though, and sort of forms a companion piece to the Temptations My Girl - also a Smokey song. That didn't re-chart until the 90's though, so that will just have to retain it's year-end slot of the time as I'm unlikely to re-rate that year! It came 13th!

81 (95) YOU'RE SO VAIN - Carly Simon

 

 

Bit of a classic, this one, Carly's sort-of reality-based lyric was always a big secret as to who it was inspired by (it's Warren Beatty, then-boyfriend she confirmed recently) and this song very much cemented Carly's place in the history of rock music, along with the parent album No Secrets. Singer-songwriter folk balladeers were all the rage in 1972, and having Mick Jagger singing along (you can hear him quite clearly) didn't hurt, nor did the added strings for a bit of restrained class. Rated a little higher than follow-up The Right Thing To Do at 86, but it's pretty close in quality either way, and it's up 14 places from then-rating, as befits a classic. That said, it was a hit again in 1991 in the UK and my year-end chart had it at 45 and a number one chart-topper - but 70's nostalgia always did have an advantage over current hits in later years, and that remains true for 1991 (the song above it was Lenny Kravitz' It Ain't Over Till It's Over, which I still rate higher, and below it The Whole Of The Moon, the 1985 revival hit for The Waterboys, which I still rate slightly lower than Vain) so it's about right for a less-classic year.

80 (51) YOU WEAR IT WELL - Rod Stewart

Rod's second UK number one, and it's Maggie May part 2, but at the time I much preferred You Wear It Well. 50-odd years on and it's Maggie that has the edge, but I still love the folk feel to this one, violin included. It would chart again in later years, firstly as B side to Maggie May, notably, in 1976 and has accumulated enough chart-points to make my all-time top 1000, but it's dropped from 51st of 1972 to 80th and likely wouldn't make a top 1000 based on these re-worked charts, but would definitely make a top 1000 of the 1970's.

79 (69) I DIDN'T KNOW I LOVED YOU (TILL I SAW YOU ROCK 'N' ROLL) - Gary Glitter & The Glitter Band

Gary Glitter's follow-up to the largely-instrumental monster Glam smash, lots of 50's influences, and that double-drumming pumping from the Glitter Band (who didn't get credited at the time, but became their own chart force from 1974 onwards, so they credit from me as they were a key part of the sound of Glitter records, along with producer/writer Mike Leander). This one had a stomping answer-call-back structure that set up the laddy appeal of Paul Gadd, failed 60's popstar, for 1973 when he was unstoppable in the UK. I can vouch this one sounds great in a concert setting, being as his annual Christmas/New Years concert in Bournemouth was a must-attend back in the 80's and early 90's. Of course in those days nobody was aware of his tendencies for underage girls, and more than one jail sentence later he has been firmly erased from history as far as the media is concerned. Some of the records still sound great though, and for the sake of the Glitter Band who seem to have suffered media collateral damage for something that they were not guilty of, and despite 3 years of solo hits, and also for the sake of the great Mike Leander, ex-Beatles arranger (and I think the real brains Glitter, given the early Glitter Band records sound pretty similar despite Mr. Gadd having nothing to do with them), I am not pretending they don't exist, and in this case sound just as good as the record did in 1972.

78 (NEW) WADE IN THE WATER - Ramsey Lewis

Mid-60's jazz-blues instrumentalist Ramsey Lewis had some great hits around 1966 like The 'In' Crowd, but this bop never made the charts. The track was much-used as background filler to DJ's on Radio One at the time, so that won't have hurt its chances as a Revived-45, as they used to say, and neither would the burgeoning Northern Soul scene based around Wigan which threw all manner of hits and non-hits into the UK charts through to around 1976. I rated this track, but as it peaked just outside the UK top 30 it was ineligible for my top 20's of the time - despite liking it enough for it to easily be a top 10 fave around the Spring-time. It was nice to see it hit the charts though, and 50 years on it gets a rating it would likely get for 1966 if I ever rate that year properly. So until that happens it can stay as part of the 1972 music scene, and new in at 78 here, and ignore the 1972 date on this youtube link - it might have been released that year as a single but it dates from 1966. The original song, incidentally, dates from 1901 and is a semi-traditional African-American cover.