4 hours ago, Popchartfreak said:

I have to admit I was also surprised to see Evelyn Thomas in the chart, I'd totally forgotten she came back bigger in the 80's after a brief chart hit in 76 - I tend to remember her 80's stuff and havent heard Weak Spot since the 70's!

Weak Spot was great but didn't make T20 iirc.

2nd March 1976

It's another new chart-topper as Tina Charles outdoes her stint with 5,000 Volts and Biddu outdoes Summer Of Love as disco hits the top spot, I Love To Love grabbing the top spot from the Four Seasons. Status Quo meanwhile make it a 5th top 10 as Rain is up to 7. Harpo, Swedish pop star, is back again with Movie Star his non-hit of 1975 which went top 5 for me with ABBA's Frida on backing vocals giving her two for one this week. Manhattan Transfer give the first half of the 20th century a song slot as Tuxedo Junction goes top 10. A good song is a good song, no matter how old it is...

As was the habit in those days, record labels shove out EP's of recent hits as reissued singles - and as Harvest, the label, had departed I guess someone was making hay while the sunshine had fallen into their lap and Roy Wood and Wizzard were not getting hits anymore, so out come their 3 1973 hits on one disc, and in at 11, 12, and 13. See My Baby Jive and Angel Fingers had already topped my charts. Cliff gets his first top 20 in 3 years with the fabulous Miss You Nights, and Guys & Dolls make it a trio of charting with a cover of Dusty Springfield's 1966 ballad classic, You Don't Have To Say You Love Me. It's better than Elvis' cover but, they ain't no Dusty! In at 20.

Billy Ocean gets his first chart entry under his own name, with the Motown-referencing and still-popular Love Really Hurts Without You new at 25 - but he had already gone top 5 as Scorched Earth in 1974 on two chart runs for the fab On The Run. Another 1973 re-issue is back at 26 for Deodata and that jazzy version of the 2001: A Space Odyssey borrow. The Fatback Band jump in at 27 with Do The Spanish Hustle, as Van McCoy's shadow hangs over dance and funk tracks, with two versions of Let's Do The Latin Hustle at 49 and 50. I think Eddie Drennan is the original and the M & O Band a competing cover that stole some sales from Eddie. The cover is at 49, Eddie 50.

John Denver's back for a 4th chart appearance at 29, Fly Away, which is 3 more than he got in the UK charts, I was always partial to his more melodic wistful wide-screen spectacles. Randy Edelman debuts with a decent cover of Unit 4 Plus 2's Concrete and Clay, another 60's revamp in at 39, and The Stylistics keep their run going with Funky Weekend, their best single since their UK chart-topper last summer, at 40. Talking of 60's covers, Linda Ronstadt has Tracks Of My Tears at 43, but Smokey Robinson's original had already charted for me, and her version just ain't in the same league! Sadly her best material was in the 60's and early 70's with the Stone Poneys-era, at least 2 genuine classics still obscure in the UK.

Harold Melvin & Teddy Pendergrass are back again for a 4th year of sweet soul, this time on the socially aware Wake Up Everybody at 44. Kevin Ayres gets a second chart entry with Falling In Love Again, one I don't remember where I do recall the good After The Show from 1974. This is at 46, one ahead of Lynsey De Paul's Love Bomb on her 5th year of hitting my rundown. Not heard that in decades either, but I know I liked it. That's 17 new entries, phew, over one-third of last week's chart has been kicked out including all the christmas songs.

1 ( 2 ) I LOVE TO LOVE Tina Charles

2 ( 1 ) DECEMBER ’63 (OH WHAT A NIGHT) The Four Seasons featuring Frankie Valli

3 ( 5 ) IT SHOULD’VE BEEN ME Yvonne Fair

4 ( 4 ) CONVOY C.W. McCall

5 ( 3 ) NIGHTS IN WHITE SATIN The Moody Blues

6 ( 6 ) MAMMA MIA ABBA

7 ( 11 ) RAIN Status Quo

8 ( NEW ) MOVIE STAR Harpo featuring Frida

9 ( 7 ) LOVE MACHINE The Miracles

10 ( 14 ) TUXEDO JUNCTION Manhattan Transfer

11 ( NEW ) SEE MY BABY JIVE Wizzard

12 ( NEW ) ANGEL FINGERS Wizzard

13 ( NEW ) BALL PARK INCIDENT Wizzard

14 ( 9 ) (IF PARADISE WAS) HALF AS NICE Amen Corner

15 ( 10 ) DAT Pluto Shervington

16 ( 28 ) MISS YOU NIGHTS Cliff Richard

17 ( 17 ) RIDERS OF THE STORM The Doors

18 ( 8 ) ROCK A DOODLE DO Linda Lewis

19 ( 13 ) I LOVE MUSIC The O’Jays

20 ( NEW ) YOU DON’T HAVE TO SAY YOU LOVE ME Guys & Dolls

21 ( 20 ) WEAK SPOT Evelyn Thomas

22 ( 40 ) YOUR MAGIC PUT A SPELL ON ME L.J. Johnson

23 ( 12 ) ANSWER ME Barbara Dickson

24 ( 41 ) FALLING APART AT THE SEAMS Marmalade

25 ( NEW ) LOVE REALLY HURTS WITHOUT YOU Billy Ocean

26 ( NEW ) ALSO SPRACH ZARATHUSTRA (2001) Deodata

27 ( NEW ) DO THE SPANISH HUSTLE The Fatback Band

28 ( 15 ) SOMETHING’S BEEN MAKING ME BLUE Smokie

29 ( NEW ) FLY AWAY John Denver

30 ( 45 ) BEST OF MY LOVE/ TAKE IT TO THE LIMIT Eagles

31 ( 25 ) BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY Queen

32 ( 19 ) EVIL WOMAN Electric Light Orchestra

33 ( 48 ) THE OTHER SIDE OF ME Andy Williams

34 ( 16 ) LET’S CALL IT QUITS Slade

35 ( 18 ) BABY FACE Wing & A Prayer, Fife & Drum Corps

36 ( 24 ) ON HORSEBACK Mike Oldfield

37 ( 37 ) LA BOOGA ROOGA The Surprise Sisters

38 ( 21 ) WALK AWAY FROM LOVE David Ruffin

39 ( NEW ) CONCRETE AND CLAY Randy Edelman

40 ( NEW ) FUNKY WEEKEND The Stylistics

41 ( 26 ) HELLO MUDDAH HELLO FADDAH Allan Sherman

42 ( 27 ) MIDNIGHT RIDER Paul Davidson

43 ( NEW ) TRACKS OF MY TEARS Linda Ronstadt

44 ( NEW ) WAKE UP EVERYBODY Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes

45 ( 22 ) LOW RIDER War

46 ( NEW ) FALLING IN LOVE AGAIN Kevin Ayres

47 ( NEW ) LOVE BOMB Lynsey De Paul

48 ( 49 ) PEOPLE LIKE YOU PEOPLE LIKE ME The Glitter Band

49 ( NEW ) LET’S DO THE LATIN HUSTLE The M & O Band

50 ( NEW ) LET’S DO THE LATIN HUSTLE Eddie Drennan & B.B.S. Unlimited