Popchartfreak

34 (NEW) THE NIGHT - Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons Motown released this classic Northern Soul anthem in 1972 under it's MoWest label and it sank without trace even though Frankie Valli hit in 1971 with another (old) Northern Soul song, You're Ready Now. The Wigan dancefloors kept it alive, though, and it got a proper release release in 1975 to grab a cool, dark, throbbing UK dance hit ahead of their forthcoming huge comeback in the USA and UK that year. The Night remains fabulous, Soft Cell being just one of the acts to cover it in recent-ish years. The Four Seasons by 1972 were at a low commercial ebb generally, following a decade of huge hits and pop standards. How great? The long-running Jersey Boys hits musical and movie should give a clue. Numerous songs were hits for other artists across the decades, main man Bob Gaudio is the talent behind virtually all their hits, as songwriter and band member, and Frankie is the flawless singer frontman with the amazing vocal range, falsetto to ballads, not to mention a solo career outside the band. I saw him when he was in his 70's, still fabulous. Their history makes for a great show, mobsters, bankruptcy, tragedy, and this is one of their key tracks for me, huge kudos to the British Northern Soul scene keeping obscure gems alive and kicking, and making them hits. Even in 1975, The Night didn't crack my top 100 of the year though, so it's great to see longevity of this one-off for this period of their career as 34th best of 1972.

Round 1: 36 one-year out tch, and beat by the contestant well done Craig! Round 2: 33 (Busted, whoosh over my head that one) 3 in 10: 3 Cant Give You Anything, Break Up To Make Up, Rockin Roll Baby, Sing Baby Sing

15th March 1975 It's 2 weeks on top for Ray Stevens as another bumper crop of new entries brings yet another 2 chart-toppers from my original 1975 charts entering at 2 and 3, over half the top 20 have topped my charts in 1975 or later, and not all of them have this time round being as they have all collided. In at 2 it's KC & The Sunshine Band's US chart-topper Get Down Tonight, their 3rd top 3 in my retro charts, back in the day it was second personal chart for KC after Queen Of Clubs (which has also topped the retro charts) not to mention his George McCrae classic Rock Your Baby. Get Down Tonight is at the grittier and funkier end of disco. New at 3, 1968's Honey hit the number 2 spot again in the UK charts, and topped my charts due to my feeling shocked and sad at the death of a classmate in a motorbike accident, it just fit the mood. In my retro 1968 chart it peaked at 6, obviously even more chart competition than in 1975. There was a low-key new Rock musical out in 1975: the film version of the 1973 horror romp The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The film achieved cult status by 1980, as shown in the stark film Fame, people dressing up and joining in at showings at the cinema. That tradition still continues. Camp, joyous, naughty, ground-breaking, gruesome, and Tim Curry is amazing as Frank N Furter, Meatloaf rocks, Christopher Biggins has a cameo, Charles Gray, Barry Bostwick and Susan Sarandon have a laugh, and creator Richard O'Brien is huge fun as Riff Raff, pre-Crystal Maze fame. There are two especially iconic moments in the film: The Time Warp, a future hit in the 80's for Damien (but the original is the greatest) is in at 8, and Sweet Transvestite in at 33. The Rubettes get a 3rd top 10, Clifford T. Ward returns with another goodie, Jigsaw Girl flopped sadly, but it's great and a single I bought at the time and played a lot, in at 17, while the sweet Wonderful Baby is in at 18 for Don McLean, also a UK flop, but a great 40's sounding-song and low-key tasteful and melodic. A lot of ballads got lost in the Glam/Disco climate of the time. One that didn't was the delightfully French A Little Love & Understanding from French singer Gilbert Becaud, playful and engaging, in at 23. At 36 The McCoys 1966 hit Hang On Sloopy is back in the shops and being plugged in music press adverts, and in my charts of the time. Catchy and fun, and one I vaguely had heard before but never noticed. 10cc dropped the lead single off their new, much-more-serious, album The Original Soundtrack, Life Is A Minestrone though was more like an early album track, but all the food references put me off it at the time, so it under-performed compared to all previous singles. Still brilliantly-produced and witty, and in at 53, but still not a huge fave unlike the album track that will be the next single once an edit gets sorted. In the meantime the rather nice The Film Of My Love drops in lower down from the album, with Graham Gouldman on lead for a change, fitting the retro vibe nicely. I saw Graham on 10cc's final (?) tour recently, still fab, and on Radio 2 the other week with a guesting Kevin Godley. The Carpenters return with a new song that sounds like an old song, Only Yesterday is nice enough at 67, and for those that like comedy records (I'm in a minority there) there's Yin & Yan covering Telly Savalas' spoken-word reading of Bread's If - poor David Gates is the only one that didn't get a hit in the UK with that song! The song imagines a camp record-producer having a run-through in the studio with Telly as if he were TV cop Theo Kojak, just before he records the final version with backing singers. It's amusing and beautifully done, but some will hate it, and you need to have watched the show - huge in 1974/75 everywhere (eg for the lollipop references, his catchphrase from the show). That leaves Bowie's guitarist and often-creator/helper Mick Ronson's solo track Billy Porter, sounding very mid-60's quirkily British, a Chi-Lites UK single that didn't catch-on and one I don't recall ever hearing, it's not on either of their comprehensive hits CD's I have, and a European hit cover of Little Eva & Big Dee Irwin's early 60's hit, Swinging On A Star from Spooky & Sue. Not a UK hit either, but the song was a huge kiddie fave, loved it, and it was a regular on Junior's Choice radio show well into the late 70's. 1 ( 1 ) MISTY - Ray Stevens # 1 2 ( NEW ) GET DOWN TONIGHT - KC & The Sunshine Band # 2 3 ( NEW ) HONEY - Bobby Goldsboro # 3 4 ( 3 ) REACH OUT I’LL BE THERE - Gloria Gaynor # 1 5 ( 8 ) SKIING IN THE SNOW - Wigans Ovation # 5 6 ( 5 ) PHILADELPHIA FREEDOM - Elton John Band # 1 7 ( 7 ) YOU SEXY THING - Hot Chocolate # 7 8 ( NEW ) THE TIME WARP - Richard O’Brien, Patricia Quinn, Little Nell & Cast # 8 9 ( 2 ) EL BIMBO - Bimbo Jets # 2 10 ( 15 ) I CAN DO IT - The Rubettes # 10 11 ( 6 ) FOX ON THE RUN - The Sweet # 6 12 ( 9 ) ONE DAY IN YOUR LIFE - Michael Jackson # 1 13 ( 10 ) SWING YOUR DADDY - Jim Gilstrap # 4 14 ( 4 ) STAND BY ME - John Lennon # 4 15 ( 12 ) #9 DREAM - John Lennon # 1 16 ( 14 ) JACKIE BLUE - The Ozark Mountain Daredevils # 4 17 (NEW) JIGSAW GIRL - Clifford T.Ward # 17 18 (NEW) WONDERFUL BABY - Don McLean # 18 19 ( 30 ) LOVE ME LOVE MY DOG - Peter Shelley # 19 20 ( 18 ) JANUARY - Pilot # 1 21 ( 20 ) SUPERGIRL - Graham Bonney # 8 22 ( 11 ) MAKE ME SMILE (COME UP AND SEE ME) - Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel # 1 23 ( NEW ) A LITTLE LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING - Gilbert Becaud # 23 24 ( 25 ) AUTOBAHN - Kraftwerk # 18 25 ( 16 ) BLANKET ON THE GROUND - Billie Jo Spears # 8 26 ( 19 ) SAVE ME - Silver Convention # 10 27 ( 23 ) SLOW DOWN - Shabby Tiger # 23 28 ( 24 ) YOUR KISS IS SWEET - Syreeta # 5 29 ( 26 ) MY HEART’S SYMPHONY - Gary Lewis & The Playboys # 12 30 ( 39 ) BYE BYE BABY - Bay City Rollers # 30 31 ( 13 ) HAVE YOU NEVER BEEN MELLOW - Olivia Newton-John # 2 32 ( 34 ) WHERE DID OUR LOVE GO? - Diana Ross & The Supremes # 3 33 ( NEW ) SWEET TRANSVESTITE - Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon & Barry Bostwick # 33 34 ( 22 ) ROLL ON DOWN THE HIGHWAY - Bachman-Turner Overdrive # 19 35 ( 17 ) FELICITA TA TA - Raffaella Carra # 17 36 ( NEW ) HANG ON SLOOPY - The McCoys # 36 37 ( 21 ) YOUNG AMERICANS - David Bowie # 16 38 ( 27 ) LOVIN' YOU - Minnie Ripperton # 1 39 ( 32 ) WHAT AM I GONNA DO WITH YOU - Barry White # 25 40 ( 31 ) CHILD OF LOVE - Caston & Majors # 1 41 ( 35 ) SINCE I FOUND MY BABY - Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose # 15 42 ( 62 ) THAT’S THE WAY OF THE WORLD - Earth, Wind & Fire # 42 43 ( 47 ) LET ME BE THE ONE - The Shadows # 43 44 ( 36 ) GOODBYE MY LOVE - The Glitter Band # 9 45 ( 52 ) TAKE YOUR MAMA FOR A RIDE - Lulu # 45 46 ( 49 ) DON’T BE CRUEL - MIke Berry # 46 47 ( 46 ) SHINING STAR - Earth, Wind & Fire # 46 48 ( 33 ) BE MY BABY - The Ronettes # 1 49 ( 41 ) ONLY YOU AND ROCK AND ROLL - Redbone # 9 50 ( 50 ) PLAY ME LIKE YOU PLAY YOUR GUITAR - Duane Eddy & The Rebelettes # 50 51 ( 43 ) HOW DOES IT FEEL - Slade # 10 52 ( 45 ) THE ORINOCO KID - The Wombles # 15 53 ( NEW ) LIFE IS A MINESTRONE - 10cc # 53 54 ( 38 ) I’M ON MY WAY - Dean Parrish # 7 55 ( 28 ) THE SECRETS THAT YOU KEEP - Mud # 28 56 ( 61 ) THE LAST FAREWELL - Roger Whittaker # 56 57 ( 42 ) CAN’T GET IT OUT OF MY HEAD - Electric Light Orchestra # 1 58 ( 48 ) I GET A KICK OUT OF YOU - Gary Shearston # 1 59 ( 51 ) DRACULA’S DAUGHTER - Thunderthighs # 12 60 ( NEW ) IT’S ONLY ME YOU’VE LEFT BEHIND - Cliff Richard # 60 61 ( 29 ) MY ELUSIVE DREAMS - Charlie Rich # 12 62 ( 37 ) L-O-V-E (LOVE) - Al Green # 22 63 ( 56 ) NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE - Gloria Gaynor # 1 64 ( 44 ) THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN - Lulu # 7 65 ( 40 ) THE QUEEN OF 1964 - Neil Sedaka # 28 66 ( 58 ) WILDFIRE - Michael Murphy # 58 67 ( NEW ) ONLY YESTERDAY - Carpenters # 67 68 ( 66 ) REMEMBER THE DAYS OF THE OLD SCHOOL-YARD - Linda Lewis # 64 69 ( NEW ) IF - Yin & Yan # 69 70 ( 65 ) FEELINGS - Morris Albert # 65 71 ( 60 ) HOLD ON TO LOVE - Peter Skellern # 58 72 ( 70 ) SING A HAPPY SONG - George McCrae # 70 73 ( 72 ) BAD LUCK PART 1 - Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes # 72 74 ( NEW ) THE FILM OF MY LOVE - 10cc # 74 75 ( 73 ) HE DON’T LOVE YOU (LIKE I LOVE YOU) - Tony Orlando & Dawn # 73 76 ( NEW ) BILLY PORTER - Mick Ronson # 76 77 ( 68 ) SORRY DOESN’T ALWAYS MAKE IT RIGHT - Diana Ross # 68 78 ( 69 ) THINK ZINC - T.Rex # 69 79 ( NEW ) I FORGOT TO SAY I LOVE YOU TILL I’M GONE - The Chi-Lites # 79 80 ( NEW ) SWINGING ON A STAR - Spooky and Sue # 80

Jade you beat me, well done on remembering more Cast hits than me! Rollo nipping at heels too with 3 in 10. Round 1: 33 (beat me to Miss A Thing, he was fast!, Queen/May) Round 2: 39 3 in 10: Make me Smile, Judy Teen, Mr Raffles, mr Soft, Here Comes The Sun, Phantom of the opera. Makes up for the supergrass blanking.

Mindcircus not one I charted, playing it now, yeah it sounds quite nice, more of a chill-out dancefloor than pop. I only did the pop dancefloor. Fly By II is fabulous, that's a 10/10 for me number one track. System up with the top down! No, me neither, but it sounds great. I was always partial to a bit of morose Starsailor, and this was a good 7/10. Home And Dry was merely a 9/10 from me for the more acoustic new album, downbeat pretty much throughout and my least fave PSB studio album, but it's better than I Get Along, t'other single. I prob over-rated it a bit due to being PSB, I reckon an 8 is more fair these days. Loved early Savage Garden. Insatiable scrapes a 7, memory suggests a 6 though. Freek is fab, that's a 9/10, I rather enjoyed the more experimental nature of the structure and sound (for George). A Woman's Worth is worth about 4, and that's coming in a run of 4 and 5's after the big monster 9/10 Fallin'. Cassius Henry I dont remember, but Broke made my top 40, so a 7/10 then. Marilyn Manson is usually worth a 0/10 with his usual bollocks, but this one was marginally better using an actual classic song. Ruining it of course, but a 3/10 is a marked improvement on his entire career to date. That leaves Gareth Gates to go for the lowest mark this batch - which is pretty decent overall - if only for the brazen WTF of Simon Cowell opting for a song that had already been a number one 4 times, only one of which was classic, so good that trying to better it is pointless (Righteous Brothers obv) so let's just bung out something guaranteed to sell to TV fans. It was a close thing but Gareth peaked at 70 for me and Manson peaked at 71. So that gets the wooden spoon, I'm sure Manson will find a way to positively use it, virtual or real....

thanks Klumzee and Leww for the hostingness, those colours really did create an interesting basis seeing what similar colours entries were like 😎 Thanks also for Split Enz voters, it seems very odd watching the young Crowded House brothers in New Romantic mode these days 🙂 Bit of a banger for me, bought it before it was a UK hit back in the day. Happily ones I couldnt fit into the top 10 made the final, and sadly these didn't: Poor Lottie! Poor Cheiron 🥴 12 points: Q 10: Q 8: Q 7: Q 6: Lotunia ✦ GUNSHIP - When You Grow Up, Your Heart Dies 5: Q 4: Q 3: Cheiron ✦ Night In Athens - I Search For A Sign 2: Q 1: Q

35 (81) WALK ON THE WILD SIDE - Lou Reed featuring Thunderthighs Speaking of Herbie Flowers' famous bassline (see Blue Mink, 46) and Transformer (see 40) here's Lou Reed's ground-breaking single, an actual UK hit single in 1973, and not banned because the powers-that-be at the BBC didn't actually know what some of the lyrics meant, given the current jive-talk US lingo, notably "giving head". I have to admit I didn't know it was quite rude either at the time, but I do now! Regardless, the Andy Warhol-scene-related images and names are iconic now, and at least 10 years ahead of their time, some might argue 30 years. The "coloured girls" reference is of it's time - but that time was the 60's, by 1972 the polite term was "Black". Ironically it was British white girl group Thunderthighs that did the back-up vocals, soon to be on actual Top Of The Pops with Mott The Hoople in 1973, with a then-school-playground iconic hand-wave on Roll Away The Stone, and their own hit record in 1974, with Lynsey De Paul's Central Park Arrest. They also have one of the greatest obscure Halloween anthems, Dracula's Daughter, which really ought to be played each year along with Monster Mash, Ghostbusters and Thriller. Anyways, that's why they have a credit (vocals) and Bowie, Mick Ronson and Herbie Flowers don't (producers/instruments). The track itself was quite ground-breaking, singing at a minimum, more talking in tune than anything, and the Sax riffs are also great, from Ronnie Ross. As the entire record usually didn't played on the chart show then, when I recorded it onto reel-to-reel and cut off the DJ, then started recording Snoopy Vs The Red Baron immediately afterwards, a reggae version of the Royal Guardsmen 60's novelty hit by The Hotshots. I still expect it to come in before the end of the song! Bizarre...! My 81st-fave track of 1973, and slipped into 1972 here at 35, it's grown in stature with time, but not as much as the B side, Perfect Day, which would would go on to sell a million and top the UK charts in 1997 courtesy of a Children In Need BBC-created charity genre-hopping all-star ensemble led by Lou the Man himself, not to mention other hit covers. That track ends up at 148, somewhat lower than the two top 40 Lou Reed tracks here, but if I'm honest I still prefer the 1997 version.

They've not released any new music in decades that I'm aware of, but theyve been gigging throughout. I was aware they were calling it a day, and was buying tickets to a local gig a few weeks back when I realised they had already effectively split up and it sounded like a tribute act, so I didn't go. Glasto is a great reason and way to end on though! I don't imagine they will do that U2 song (arf!) but it would be nice if Don't Throw Your Love Away, Needles and Pins, and some of their other jangly beat music got a small push as they've effectively been all but forgotten by the world outside the fanbase. It might feel like another century (OK it was another century!) but it's my childhood and there's not much original left of it now, sadly! Just a few solo performers with add-ons effectively.

36 (34) ALL THE YOUNG DUDES - Mott The Hoople featuring David Bowie It's another David Bowie gift to a band he admired, Mott The Hoople were struggling to maintain a career, so in rides David with a gift of a song in All The Young Dudes, capturing the zeitgeist of 1972, the language and attitude of what it felt to be young with the older generation not happy with long-hair, glitter, androgyny and anything else up for grabs as seen on Top Of The Pops - as tends to be the case with all generations moaning about each other for time immemorable, and usually for the same reasons. Dudes is basically a David Bowie song with Ian Hunter singing the lead vocal - the backing vocal is clearly David Bowie, which is why I insist on the retrospective credits. These days you get a feature credit for accidentally blowing your nose in the background in the studio, so credit where it's due. This is more a David Bowie record than a Mott The Hoople record and in 2025 would be listed as David Bowie featuring Mott The Hoople, and it worked beautifully for both parties. Mott, and Ian Hunter on lead vocal or solo, had a great run of singles through to 1975, and Ian Hunter had a bit of career moving to the USA and getting his song Cleveland Rocks placed as the theme to sitcom The Drew Carey Show in the 90's. Bet he made more money from that than his entire Mott career! The song All The Young Dudes? It's great, loved it at the time, love it still, bit of an anthem of the time that isn't as well-known these days as it should be. Rating: drops barely 2 places, so that should count as going up really.

37 (26) ROCKET MAN - Elton John One of Elton John's iconic records, Rocket Man fit in with a batch of space/sci-fi themed hits in 1972 (see The Kinks, David Bowie, Lou Reed and others) but this one was on the darker, moodier side. Isolation and loneliness the order of the day, and Elon Musk should listen to the lyrics and stop being insane, there's only one planet we will ever be able to live on, the rest is hyperbole and self-promotion. Bernie Taupin's lyric works beautifully with Elton's composition, sprawling and haunting. Kate Bush did a cover in the early 90's and I can see the influence on her work. Your Song never really made it over to Singapore in 1971, so this was my first introduction to Elton in 1972, I pretty much became an instant fan from then on, and Rocket Man peaked at 2 in my own charts - as in the UK's charts - and a long chart run helped it to a year-end top 30 spot. Considering the extra competition 50 years later from stuff that wasn't a UK hit single at the time, Rocket Man has pretty much held it's ground in my affection. I bought Elton's 1977 EP Four From Four Eyes, which had Rocket Man as the key track, so that was its' first resurgence of many - it still remains widely-popular in Elton's enormously popular back-catalogue, and has weathered much better than the single that topped my charts at the time: Crocodile Rock! (see 162)

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...

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.

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!

My initial reaction, like last time, is "I don't know half of these". Let's test the reaction: Bjork didnt chart for me, so likely heard it either not at all or just the once. Playing it now, it's decent enough. Quite low-key nice. Tillmann actually did chart as a 6/10 so I can confirm I liked it but have forgotten it. Wrong Impression def one I liked and know, a 9/10 4th top 10 and biggest track since Torn, one of the big hits of the year. A New Day Has Come is a ditto, Celine's best record I think, has those Madonna Frozen-era vibes to it and an easy 9/10. Toxicity means nowt to me, Felon fled before they made an impression, Peran's Good Time didn't move me, Lostprophets I had the good taste to ignore. They never did anything better than a 6/10 and I recall my ex-work colleague was a big fan until the unpleasantness at which point she dumped their entire collection. Happily I never gave them money of any kind to throw away. "Somewhat obnoxious" is a great quote. Me Julie I dont need to look up, it was shite. Not even Shaggy, who I still like and am buying new tracks (see duet with Sting), could give it any charm. Warren Stacey never heard of, don't watch those sort of shows. So yes, about half of these I don't know. That leaves J-Lo to make it 4 that I like, the revamp nowhere near as good as the original latin-driven pop goodie, but at least I gave it a token 1 week on my chart at 75, where the original was a long-running top 10 career highlight for me - up there with, or better than, If You Had My Love, Love Don't Cost A Thing. Papi and On The Floor.

the 2 Sophie's are great and I still like Britney's Born To make You Happy a lot.

PNAU 1 (1 20) SAD Elton John vs Pnau 910800 2012 2 (4 19) SOLID GOLD PNAU featuring Kira Divine & Marques Toliver 661750 2019 3 (7 24) COLD HEART (PNAU REMIX) Elton John & Dua Lipa 591300 2021 4 (3 15) FOREIGN FIELDS Elton John vs Pnau 543000 2012 5 (4 17) AEIOU PNAU & Empire Of The Sun 510250 2023 6 (12 14) THE FEELING Rudimental, 1991, PNAU & AR/CO 297200 2025 7 (7 12) CHANGES Faul and Wad Ad versus Pnau 265000 2014 8 (4 7) DON’T FLY AWAY (PNAU REMIX) Elvis Presley & Pnau 234600 2022 9 (22 11) STARS PNAU, Bebe Rexha, Ozuna 142550 2023 10 ( 15 7) PHOENIX Elton John vs Pnau 141550 2012 11 ( 24 9) ALL OF US PNAU featuring Ollie Gabriel 130400 2019 12 ( 24 8) GO BANG PNAU 127600 2017 Includes significant remixes with no artist credit

my percentage scores 😄: 10% of the top 10 made my year-end 100 (APT) 8 of the 120 did too, but quite a few more made my charts. so 6.5% overall top 100 and 13% I bought with actual cash 🙂

great top 5 there! I bought them all 😎

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.

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.

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....

Doh! Thought id voted in this but didnt. Bellamy brothers would have overtaken aqualung and grandmaster melle mel clearlyahead too. I like aqualung but much prefer those 2. Kirsty epuld have grabbed 30 points or so but wouldnt stop her being last.

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.

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....

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.