My April 1971 Charts

Me and 2 school freinds at MacRitchie Reservoir, Singapore 1971

6th April 1971

It’s still Macca on top, keeping off T.Rex back in the day. It’s telling that big pop ditties I was a fab of at 13, like Jack In A Box, Ray Stevens, and others havent done as well 50 years later in my rankings. I’m fond of them, still, but hey tastes change over time! CCR go top 10 and get their biggest track since Bad Moon Rising, The Fantastics enter with one I taped off the local Singapore radio, as does the classical revamp of Mozart from Waldo De Los Rios which I liked even more. Diana Ross’ Remember Me was one I didn’t hear till later in the year , and in comparison to I’m Still Waiting it was a bit lacklustre at the time. It grew on me though. 

Olivia Newton-John debuts a few months ahead of me seeing her debut movie Toomorrow, all cheesy flying saucers, aliens and 60’s pop group fun, and she manages to turn a Bob Dylan vocal into something sweet and charming. As Livvy was, and has remained, to be honest. 

1 ( 1 ) ANOTHER DAY – Paul McCartney
2 ( 2 ) HOT LOVE – T.Rex
3 ( 5 ) JACK IN THE BOX – Clodagh Rodgers
4 ( 7 ) BRIDGET THE MIDGET – Ray Stevens
5 ( 3 ) I THINK I LOVE YOU – The Partridge Family
6 ( 11 ) HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THE RAIN? – Creedence Clearwater Revival
7 ( 4 ) ROSE GARDEN – Lynn Anderson
8 ( 15 ) IF NOT FOR YOU – Olivia Newton-John
9 ( 8 ) SWEET CAROLINE (GOOD TIMES NEVER SEEMED SO GOOD) – Neil Diamond
10 ( 9 ) SUNNY HONEY GIRL – Cliff Richard

11 ( 6 ) THERE GOES MY EVERYTHING – Elvis Presley
12 ( 16 ) DREAM BABY (HOW LONG MUST I DREAM) – Glen Campbell
13 ( 14 ) (WHERE DO I BEGIN?) LOVE STORY – Andy Williams
14 ( 13 ) MY SWEET LORD – George Harrison
15 ( 18 ) FUNNY FUNNY – The Sweet
16 ( 20 ) DOUBLE BARREL – Dave & Ansell Collins
17 ( NEW ) SOMETHING OLD SOMETHING NEW – The Fantastics
18 ( NEW ) MOZART 40 – Waldo De Los Rios
19 ( 10 ) POWER TO THE PEOPLE – John Lennon & The Plastic Ono Band
20 ( NEW ) REMEMBER ME – Diana Ross

13th April 1971 CHARTS OF THE 70’S

So, in Singapore, Knock Three Times was a big hit – I loved the song, bouncy bubblegum pop, and dad even bought (for a laugh) a Mandarin cover version by a local duo named The Travellers on a Singapore record label. He heard it coming from Changi Market on a record stall selling non-Western-music and it tickled his fancy. I still have it, but have since found out they gave dad the wrong record sleeve for the disc, so it must have come straight off the record player into the wrong sleeve. Hey ho! 

Meanwhile back in the UK Double Barrel was shooting to the top spot, so although it’s a bit early for the charts based on when I first heard it (at Xmas), it’s interrupting the Singapore-fave singles along with The Sweet and Olivia Newton-John. Cos I did love it, taped it, and played it a lot. Ringo gets his first entry, and It Don’t Come Easy – about one hit a year in fact – but it’s pretty good and the other Fabs were happy to see him get a solo career. Rosetta puts together 2 60’s faves in Georgie Fame & Alan Price – and doesn’t reach the heights of either solo. 

1 ( NEW ) KNOCK THREE TIMES – Dawn
2 ( 1 ) ANOTHER DAY – Paul McCartney
3 ( 6 ) HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THE RAIN? – Creedence Clearwater Revival
4 ( 2 ) HOT LOVE – T.Rex
5 ( 16 ) DOUBLE BARREL – Dave & Ansell Collins
6 ( 5 ) I THINK I LOVE YOU – The Partridge Family
7 ( 3 ) JACK IN THE BOX – Clodagh Rodgers
8 ( 4 ) BRIDGET THE MIDGET – Ray Stevens
9 ( 13 ) (WHERE DO I BEGIN?) LOVE STORY – Andy Williams
10 ( 7 ) ROSE GARDEN – Lynn Anderson

11 ( 9 ) SWEET CAROLINE (GOOD TIMES NEVER SEEMED SO GOOD) – Neil Diamond
12 ( 15 ) FUNNY FUNNY – The Sweet
13 ( 17 ) SOMETHING OLD SOMETHING NEW – The Fantastics
14 ( 18 ) MOZART 40 – Waldo De Los Rios
15 ( 14 ) MY SWEET LORD – George Harrison
16 ( 11 ) THERE GOES MY EVERYTHING – Elvis Presley
17 ( 20 ) REMEMBER ME – Diana Ross
18 ( 8 ) IF NOT FOR YOU – Olivia Newton-John
19 ( NEW ) IT DON’T COME EASY – Ringo Starr
20 ( NEW ) ROSETTA – Fame & Price Together

 

20th April 1971

It’s 2 weeks on top for Dawn, making a total of 6 knocks on the ceiling as CCR get runners-up spot. The Sweet get a first top 5, but funny funnily it’ll be pretty much every Sweet single through to the end of 1974 that goes top 5. The Fantastics get a top 10, and highest new entry is the song that I woke up singing in my head one sunny morning in Singapore. And I’d never heard it before, but that hook was insistent. Switched on the radio and it was on the radio coming to the end of the song. I’m guessing someone in the house adjacent had accidentally put the radio on loud and it woke me up. Or I’m psychic and tuned into radio waves. One or the other.

Hot Choc enter with a second single, a band I would be mad for by the end of the year as I go all obsessive on the next single, and a band I never stopped loving. Still love ’em. At 19, and a Singapore radio-aired track my dad probably taped, I think, and one I rather liked in a quaint fashion, as actor Keith Michell tries to give is the Earth. Given what we’ve done to it over the last 50 years, I’d say his trust was rather over-optimistic. Nice tune though. Keith would crop up on Morecambe & Wise, various BBC drama shows, and….in the 1980 top 10 with Captain Beaky. I prefer this one.

1 ( 1 ) KNOCK THREE TIMES – Dawn
2 ( 3 ) HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THE RAIN? – Creedence Clearwater Revival
3 ( 2 ) ANOTHER DAY – Paul McCartney
4 ( 12 ) FUNNY FUNNY – The Sweet
5 ( 9 ) (WHERE DO I BEGIN?) LOVE STORY – Andy Williams
6 ( 6 ) I THINK I LOVE YOU – The Partridge Family
7 ( 4 ) HOT LOVE – T.Rex
8 ( 7 ) JACK IN THE BOX – Clodagh Rodgers
9 ( 5 ) DOUBLE BARREL – Dave & Ansell Collins
10 ( 13 ) SOMETHING OLD SOMETHING NEW – The Fantastics

11 ( 8 ) BRIDGET THE MIDGET – Ray Stevens
12 ( 14 ) MOZART 40 – Waldo De Los Rios
13 ( 10 ) ROSE GARDEN – Lynn Anderson
14 ( NEW ) MY LITTLE ONE – Marmalade
15 ( 19 ) IT DON’T COME EASY – Ringo Starr
16 ( 20 ) ROSETTA – Fame & Price Together
17 ( 16 ) THERE GOES MY EVERYTHING – Elvis Presley
18 ( NEW ) YOU COULD’VE BEEN A LADY – Hot Chocolate
19 ( NEW ) I’LL GIVE YOU YOU THE EARTH – Keith Michell
20 ( 18 ) IF NOT FOR YOU – Olivia Newton-John

27th April 1971

It’s 3 weeks on top for Dawn as Marmalade stage their biggest challenge to the top spot since Reflections Of My Life as they hit 2, and Mozart goes top 10 and Ringo goes top 10 for the first time solo. The Partridge Family replace themselves in the top 20 as Doesn’t Somebody Want To Be Wanted follows up I Think I Love You, though as the TV show was well into it’s Singapore TV run by now, my fave track was the non-single Somebody Wants To Love You. R. Dean Taylor is on the run from the law as he cries Indiana Wants Me, still a great ballad, and finally Sugar Sugar is back. In a Jonathan King cover mickey-take of Hard Rock, as he implies that it’s bubblegum as much as Bubblegum is. I prefer the original, but it’s amusing.

In Singapore the Shangri-La Hotel opened this week, future site of important political summits, while back in the UK the 1971 census was taken showing 55.5 million in the UK, give or take, and of course we missed that one not being in the country. Future historians trying to trace my whereabouts will remain puzzled until the 1981 census when it will appear as if I haven’t moved since I was born in 1958 in the same house I was registered in for 1981, yet mysteriously don’t turn up in the 1961 census (probably in Germany, or else just back in the same house) or 1971 census (Singapore). There will also be no record of my dad being in the RAF for the same reason, as he also had left the RAF by 1981. So 20 years of moving about wouldn’t even get a mention. A flawed system, I think….!

1 ( 1 ) KNOCK THREE TIMES – Dawn
2 ( 14 ) MY LITTLE ONE – Marmalade
3 ( 3 ) ANOTHER DAY – Paul McCartney
4 ( 2 ) HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THE RAIN? – Creedence Clearwater Revival
5 ( 10 ) SOMETHING OLD SOMETHING NEW – The Fantastics
6 ( 12 ) MOZART 40 – Waldo De Los Rios
7 ( 4 ) FUNNY FUNNY – The Sweet
8 ( 7 ) HOT LOVE – T.Rex
9 ( 5 ) (WHERE DO I BEGIN?) LOVE STORY – Andy Williams
10 ( 15 ) IT DON’T COME EASY – Ringo Starr

11 ( 8 ) JACK IN THE BOX – Clodagh Rodgers
12 ( 16 ) ROSETTA – Fame & Price Together
13 ( 18 ) YOU COULD’VE BEEN A LADY – Hot Chocolate
14 ( 9 ) DOUBLE BARREL – Dave & Ansell Collins
15 ( 13 ) ROSE GARDEN – Lynn Anderson
16 ( 11 ) BRIDGET THE MIDGET – Ray Stevens
17 ( NEW ) DOESN’T SOMEBODY WANT TO BE WANTED – The Partridge Family
18 ( 19 ) I’LL GIVE YOU YOU THE EARTH – Keith Michell
19 ( NEW ) INDIANA WANTS ME – R. Dean Taylor
20 ( NEW ) SUGAR SUGAR – Sakkarin

My 1980 Charts – August

5th August 1980

Abba stay on top with the classic classy The Winner Takes It All, as Nile Rodgers goes up to 2 with Diana Ross. That’s Upside Down isn’t it? ELO go top 5, and highest new entry is Olivia Newton-John’s fab moody ballad Magic – that’s just greedy, cos Xanadu from both of ‘em is still top 3! Such a shame the film wasn’t as good as the music. The Undertones tunefully marvellous Wednesday Week goes top 10, and Leo Sayer gets a top 20 for the first time in 3 years, Billy Joel his third, and Sheena Easton her first.

Roxy Music hit the top 30, Oh Yeah they do, while duetting Johnny Bristol and Amii Stewart take the old Motown classics into the 40 for a final chart time for Johnny and the last for a while for Amii. Ultravox sleepwalk into a debut top 40 entry, Racey get the last of their 4 or 5, and the Piranhas fun 50’s cover steams jollily up to 36, ooh hark at them! New in, well, 10 years late, Deep Purple’s Black Night overshadows other newer tracks, such as George Benson demanding the Night, his return after a couple of goodies in 1977 and another in 1975. Ray Gomez covers Lovin’ Spoonful’s 60‘s classic Summer In The City to lesser effect, at 50, and Don McLean covers the 50’s doowop classic Since I Don’t Have You a year after Art Garfunkel did the same, both versions sweet enough for me. Sue Wilkinson hustles in at 64, Nick Straker walks in at 69, and everything works for Cheap Trick’s 2nd hit at 72. It’s another old-sounding track, sort of punk surfer, and a spot of Summer Fun for the Barracudas, totally endearing at 73 while The Manhattans are smoothly back with Shining Star, 4 years on from Kiss And Say Goodbye.

1 ( 1 ) THE WINNER TAKES IT ALL Abba
2 ( 3 ) UPSIDE DOWN Diana Ross
3 ( 2 ) XANADU Olivia Newton-John & The Electric Light Orchestra
4 ( 4 ) BABOOSHKA Kate Bush
5 ( 6 ) ALL OVER THE WORLD E.L.O.
6 ( NEW ) MAGIC Olivia Newton-John
7 ( 9 ) A LOVER’S HOLIDAY Change
8 ( 5 ) THERE THERE MY DEAR Dexy’s Midnight Runners
9 ( 10 ) ME MYSELF I Joan Armatrading
10 ( 18 ) WEDNESDAY WEEK The Undertones

11 ( 13 ) SANCTUARY New Musik
12 ( 7 ) COULD YOU BE LOVED Bob Marley And The Wailers
13 ( 11 ) WATERFALLS Paul McCartney
14 ( 12 ) THEME FROM INVADERS Yellow Magic Orchestra
15 ( 15 ) MARIANA The Gibson Brothers
16 ( 20 ) SANTA ANA WINDS The Beach Boys
17 ( 22 ) MORE THAN I CAN SAY Leo Sayer
18 ( 8 ) 747 (STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT) Saxon
19 ( 23 ) IT’S STILL ROCK ‘N’ ROLL TO ME Billy Joel
20 ( 36 ) 9 TO 5 (MY BABY TAKES THE MORNING TRAIN) Sheena Easton

21 ( 35 ) PRIVATE LIFE Grace Jones
22 ( 16 ) EMOTIONAL RESCUE The Rolling Stones
23 ( 17 ) JUMP TO THE BEAT Stacey Lattisaw
24 ( 25 ) LIP UP FATTY Bad Manners
25 ( 24 ) LOVE WILL TEAR US APART Joy Division
26 ( 14 ) MESSAGES Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
27 ( 28 ) OOPS UPSIDE YOUR HEAD The Gap Band
28 ( 21 ) USE IT UP AND WEAR IT OUT Odyssey
29 ( 29 ) ARE YOU GETTING ENOUGH HAPPINESS Hot Chocolate
30 ( 63 ) OH YEAH Roxy Music

31 ( 33 ) NEON KNIGHTS Black Sabbath
32 ( 68 ) MY GUY/MY GIRL Amii Stewart and Johnny Bristol
33 ( 19 ) RUNNING FROM PARADISE Daryl Hall & John Oates
34 ( 46 ) SLEEPWALKING Ultravox
35 ( 47 ) REST OF YOUR LIFE Racey
36 ( 64 ) TOM HARK The Piranhas
37 ( 37 ) MY GIRL The Whispers
38 ( 40 ) DOES SHE HAVE A FRIEND Gene Chandler
39 ( 42 ) LET’S HANG ON Darts
40 ( 27 ) CRYING Don McLean

41 ( 26 ) WHOLE LOTTA ROSIE AC/DC
42 ( 31 ) CHRISTINE Siouxsie And The Banshees
43 ( 54 ) FUNKIN’ FOR JAMAICA Tom Browne
44 ( 34 ) BACK TOGETHER AGAIN Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway
45 ( 32 ) BEHIND THE GROOVE Teena Marie
46 ( 43 ) NO DOUBT ABOUT IT Hot Chocolate
47 ( NEW ) BLACK NIGHT Deep Purple
48 ( 30 ) I’M ALIVE Electric Light Orchestra
49 ( NEW ) GIVE ME THE NIGHT George Benson
50 ( NEW ) SUMMER IN THE CITY Ray Gomez

51 ( 44 ) BED’S TOO BIG WITHOUT YOU (6 PACK) The Police
52 ( 66 ) GIRLFRIEND Michael Jackson
53 ( 38 ) TWO PINTS OF LAGER AND A PACKET OF CRISPS Splodgenessabounds
54 ( 41 ) MY WAY OF THINKING UB40
55 ( 55 ) MONKEES EP (LAST TRAIN TO CLARKSVILLE/ I’M A BELIEVER/ A LITTLE BIT ME A LITTLE BIT YOU/ DAYDREAM BELIEVER) The Monkees
56 ( 51 ) SOLDIER’S SONG The Hollies
57 ( NEW ) SINCE I DON’T HAVE YOU Don McLean
58 ( 39 ) MORE LOVE Kim Carnes
59 ( 71 ) BURNING CAR John Foxx
60 ( 52 ) THEME FROM M*A*S*H The MASH

61 ( 62 ) DON’T BRING ME DOWN E.L.O.
62 ( 61 ) GET IT RIGHT NEXT TIME Gerry Rafferty
63 ( 48 ) CUPID – I’VE LOVED YOU FOR A LONG TIME The Detroit Spinners
64 ( NEW ) YOU GOTTA BE A HUSTLER Sue Wilkinson
65 ( 45 ) DIDDY WAH DIDDY (BLUES BAND EP) The Blues Band
66 ( 57 ) STEAL AWAY Robbie Dupree
67 ( 50 ) FUNKY TOWN Lipps Inc
68 ( 49 ) I DON’T WANT YOU ANYMORE Tavares
69 ( NEW ) A WALK IN THE PARK Nick Straker Band
70 ( 59 ) YOU GAVE ME LOVE Crown Heights Affair

71 ( 60 ) EASY LIFE The Bodysnatchers
72 ( NEW ) EVERYTHING WORKS Cheap Trick
73 ( NEW ) SUMMER FUN The Barracudas
74 ( 69 ) GENO Dexy’s Midnight Runners
75 ( NEW ) SHINING STAR The Manhattans

TV 26th Jul-2nd Aug

1 Olympics
2 Parkinson
3 The Phil Silvers Show
4 Soap
5 Rhoda
6 Guyana Tragedy
7 Des O’Connor
8 Taxi
9 Superstar Profile
10 The Banana Splits

12th August 1980
It’s a 3rd week at 1 for the Abba classic, and a Xanadu movie 3,4,5, as The Gibson Brothers get a 4th top 10 in a row, and New Musik make it 3 in a row. Billy Joel still thinks it Rock ‘n’ Roll to him, and grabs his first actual top 10 after 5 years of chart entries with his US chart-topper. Leaping into the 20 50’s oldie Tom Hark is revived by a fishy band, while Lip Up fatty displays Bad Manners in the top 20 for the 2nd time. Roxy, though, make it 8 years of top 20 entries, which is all of their singles to date, and most of Bryan Ferry’s solo singles. Oh Yeah!

George Benson gets his biggest chart peak since 1977, and highest new entry is veteran 60’s Brit pop star Mike Berry, starring then in sitcom Are You Being Served, in at 27 with oldie Sunshine Of Your Smile. He had previously covered a Billy Swan cover of an Elvis classic which had hit my top 10 in 1972 for The Berries (formerly Rockin’ Berries) – Don’t Be Cruel made my top 20 in 1975, and you will never ever hear the Berries cover, as it was a novelty cover featuring an impression of paedophile DJ Jimmy Savile. Not that they knew that then, as it wouldn’t have been that amusing. This song, though, was positively archaic, published in 1913 in the UK of British songwriters, covered by many from 1914 onwards, though not covered by anyone still-well-known until Frank Sinatra did it in 1941, almost 30 years later. So, this version was an amazing 67 years old, which was historical to me at that time, and I rather took to the sweet old-fashioned-ness of it.

At 28, Ray Dorset of Mungo Jerry returns a decade after In The Summertime and many others – well, at least his song returns him, as he donates it to Kelly Marie, Feels Like I’m In Love pure disco cheese, and a bit of fluff fun. Tom Browne funks into the 40, and Sheena Easton gets a 2nd top 40 with previous flop single Modern Girl entering at 35 as 9 to 5 goes up to 19. Modern Girl is better. Sue Wilkinson hustles into the 40, too, and Don McLean gets his 5th – Since I Don’t Have You does what Art Garfunkel’s did the year before. Finally Bowie is back with a bang, a hot new single and video and image, the Steve Strange-featuring New Romantic masterpiece that is Ashes To Ashes at 40.

Other new entries: The Clash at 50 with Bankrobber, all moody and dub reggae, and for me their best single to date – I was very much in the minority though, at the time, to think that. Another oldie song, Just Like Eddie, a tribute 60’s song from Heinz referencing Eddie Cochran, is covered synth-style by the Silicon Teens in a decent version at 63. Jermaine Jackson returns and he’s Burning Hot at 65 – well at least he was quite warm – and Elton is showing off his Sartorial Eloquence at 67, a decent ballad. Roger Daltrey gets his first solo entry in 3 years, and 7 years since his first outside of The Who, a song from a prison drama movie McVicar which he starred in, Free Me at 70. Girlschool debut at 73 with a cover of 60’s rock classic Race With The Devil, The Village People are back for the 4th time at 74, and a new lead singer, also from a movie of the same name: Can’t Stop The Music. I didn’t rate the record much, and the somewhat camp film (to understate the case) was directed by comic actor Nancy Walker, who I was a huge fan of in her roles in Rhoda (see my TV list she appears at 2) and McMillan & Wife. Finally, Late In The Evening, and sneaking in at 75, Paul Simon extends his run to 11 years of many classics with a jazzy mellow upbeat US hit.

1 ( 1 ) THE WINNER TAKES IT ALL Abba
2 ( 2 ) UPSIDE DOWN Diana Ross
3 ( 3 ) XANADU Olivia Newton-John & The Electric Light Orchestra
4 ( 5 ) ALL OVER THE WORLD E.L.O.
5 ( 6 ) MAGIC Olivia Newton-John
6 ( 15 ) MARIANA The Gibson Brothers
7 ( 4 ) BABOOSHKA Kate Bush
8 ( 11 ) SANCTUARY New Musik
9 ( 8 ) THERE THERE MY DEAR Dexy’s Midnight Runners
10 ( 19 ) IT’S STILL ROCK ‘N’ ROLL TO ME Billy Joel

11 ( 7 ) A LOVER’S HOLIDAY Change
12 ( 36 ) TOM HARK The Piranhas
13 ( 9 ) ME MYSELF I Joan Armatrading
14 ( 16 ) SANTA ANA WINDS The Beach Boys
15 ( 24 ) LIP UP FATTY Bad Manners
16 ( 30 ) OH YEAH Roxy Music
17 ( 10 ) WEDNESDAY WEEK The Undertones
18 ( 12 ) COULD YOU BE LOVED Bob Marley And The Wailers
19 ( 20 ) 9 TO 5 (MY BABY TAKES THE MORNING TRAIN) Sheena Easton
20 ( 21 ) PRIVATE LIFE Grace Jones

21 ( 49 ) GIVE ME THE NIGHT George Benson
22 ( 13 ) WATERFALLS Paul McCartney
23 ( 27 ) OOPS UPSIDE YOUR HEAD The Gap Band
24 ( 17 ) MORE THAN I CAN SAY Leo Sayer
25 ( 29 ) ARE YOU GETTING ENOUGH HAPPINESS Hot Chocolate
26 ( 32 ) MY GUY/MY GIRL Amii Stewart and Johnny Bristol
27 ( NEW ) SUNSHINE OF YOUR SMILE Mike Berry
28 ( NEW ) FEELS LIKE I’M IN LOVE Kelly Marie
29 ( 14 ) THEME FROM INVADERS Yellow Magic Orchestra
30 ( 18 ) 747 (STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT) Saxon

31 ( 43 ) FUNKIN’ FOR JAMAICA Tom Browne
32 ( 28 ) USE IT UP AND WEAR IT OUT Odyssey
33 ( 26 ) MESSAGES Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
34 ( 34 ) SLEEPWALKING Ultravox
35 ( NEW ) MODERN GIRL Sheena Easton
36 ( 23 ) JUMP TO THE BEAT Stacey Lattisaw
37 ( 22 ) EMOTIONAL RESCUE The Rolling Stones
38 ( 64 ) YOU GOTTA BE A HUSTLER Sue Wilkinson
39 ( 57 ) SINCE I DON’T HAVE YOU Don McLean
40 ( NEW ) ASHES TO ASHES David Bowie

41 ( 35 ) REST OF YOUR LIFE Racey
42 ( 33 ) RUNNING FROM PARADISE Daryl Hall & John Oates
43 ( 40 ) CRYING Don McLean
44 ( 25 ) LOVE WILL TEAR US APART Joy Division
45 ( 39 ) LET’S HANG ON Darts
46 ( 50 ) SUMMER IN THE CITY Ray Gomez
47 ( 47 ) BLACK NIGHT Deep Purple
48 ( 31 ) NEON KNIGHTS Black Sabbath
49 ( 46 ) NO DOUBT ABOUT IT Hot Chocolate
50 ( NEW ) BANKROBBER The Clash

51 ( 38 ) DOES SHE HAVE A FRIEND Gene Chandler
52 ( 73 ) SUMMER FUN The Barracudas
53 ( 42 ) CHRISTINE Siouxsie And The Banshees
54 ( 44 ) BACK TOGETHER AGAIN Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway
55 ( 55 ) MONKEES EP (LAST TRAIN TO CLARKSVILLE/ I’M A BELIEVER/ A LITTLE BIT ME A LITTLE BIT YOU/ DAYDREAM BELIEVER) The Monkees
56 ( 41 ) WHOLE LOTTA ROSIE AC/DC
57 ( 69 ) A WALK IN THE PARK Nick Straker Band
58 ( 51 ) BED’S TOO BIG WITHOUT YOU (6 PACK) The Police
59 ( 45 ) BEHIND THE GROOVE Teena Marie
60 ( 61 ) DON’T BRING ME DOWN E.L.O.

61 ( 62 ) GET IT RIGHT NEXT TIME Gerry Rafferty
62 ( 48 ) I’M ALIVE Electric Light Orchestra
63 ( NEW ) JUST LIKE EDDIE Silicon Teens
64 ( 56 ) SOLDIER’S SONG The Hollies
65 ( NEW ) BURNING HOT Jermaine Jackson
66 ( 53 ) TWO PINTS OF LAGER AND A PACKET OF CRISPS Splodgenessabounds
67 ( NEW ) SARTORIAL ELOQUENCE Elton John
68 ( 60 ) THEME FROM M*A*S*H The MASH
69 ( 37 ) MY GIRL The Whispers
70 ( NEW ) FREE ME Roger Daltrey

71 ( 52 ) GIRLFRIEND Michael Jackson
72 ( 72 ) EVERYTHING WORKS Cheap Trick
73 ( NEW ) RACE WITH THE DEVIL Girlschool
74 ( NEW ) CAN’T STOP THE MUSIC The Village People
75 ( NEW ) LATE IN THE EVENING Paul Simon

MY TV CHART
Aug 3- Aug 9
1 Soap
2 Rhoda
3 The Mary Tyler Moore Show
4 The New Avengers
5 Top Of The Pops
6 Doctor Who (Tues)
7 The Rockford Files
8 Taxi
9 Doctor Who (Fri)
10 The Kelly Monteith Show
11 Laverne & Shirley
12 Doctor Who (Thurs)
13 Newsnight (Fri)
14 Jupiter
15 Film Greats

On TV American sitcom heaven for me, plus some old episodes of Doctor Who featuring Lallah Ward’s debut. In my life I was getting stressed about getting nowhere in terms of deciding about career decisions, mum was improving in hospital, which was a relief, and granddad & grandma were round helping dad with a new loft-ladder, then we took them back and had tea. At the cinema to see The Black Hole, Disney’s attempt to cash-in on sci-fi blockbuster action. My review: “the good points: Roddy McDowell & the humour of the robot; some of the effects; a theoretically good cast. The bad points: the rest of it!!!” I ranted on for a while about it, but essentially concluded it was garbage. It’s not repeated much on TV these days…

I passed my time with Record Mirror, Smash Hits, and buying a load of cheap-ex-chart singles (as usual) and the new-look much-improved Top Of The Pops, and TV special on planet Jupiter, being as Voyager had amazing photos from the last year which had actually focused attention on the planet-sized Galilean moons, they were far more interesting than Jupiter, not least the tantalising ice-world Europa and it’s potential sub-surface ocean which was mind-bogglingly exciting. I also spent a whopping £19 (huge amount in those days) on a blank video to record Star Trek and The Martian Chronicles (the TV series based on my absolutely adored Ray Bradbury collection of short stories which I first read in 1970), both about to air on TV: that also meant I got to start my selective recording of pop music videos and TV clips from this day on, and re-watch fave TV shows many times. This was pure science-fiction joy!

 

19th August 1980

4 weeks on top for Abba’s classic, with ELO as so often in support at 2, from Xanadu and All Over The World. Shooting up to 3, though it’s Bowie’s Ashes To Ashes, his first top 3 since Sound And Vision in 1977, while Billy Joel hits a new peak of 7, and Tom Hark slips into the top 10. Highest new entry is an absolute stormer from New Zealand band Split-Enz, who featured among the line-up future members of Crowded House, brothers Tim Finn and Neil Finn. Split-Enz were sort of New Wave sounding and rockabilly looking, and were consistently good. I Got You remains their best record, and it’s epic and very under-rated.

Up into the 20 it’s Kelly Marie doing Mungo Jerry, and it feels like I’m in love in the summertime, George Benson demands the night, and Racey wish to be with someone for the rest of their life, a pretty decent song by Racey standards. New at 30, Cliff is back with a good Dreaming pop song that sounded like an old standard Cliff song done new-stylee, but wasn’t, while The Clash are robbin’ banks at 33 a couple of years on from fighting the law and calling London. There’s big climbs for both Roger Daltrey and Elton John into the 40, 7 years on from Giving It All Away for Rog (or 11 years on from Pinball Wizard if you count The Who records), and 9 years on for Elton from Your Song.

A measly 2 other new entries at 44, Hazel O’Connor debuting with the New Wave movie Breaking Glass soundtrack hit Eighth Day, and at 71 it’s Bow Wow Wow, fronted by 13-year-old Annabella Lwin and managed by Malcolm McLaren. Rather naughtily Malcolm nicked Adam & The Ants, minus Adam, and their drumbeat burundi sound, and took the rather young Annabella into the charts with a song pushing the latest teenage music format, the cassette, C-30 C-60 C-90 Go. Happily Adam re-grouped with new musicians and wasn’t far behind….

1 ( 1 ) THE WINNER TAKES IT ALL Abba
2 ( 4 ) ALL OVER THE WORLD E.L.O.
3 ( 40 ) ASHES TO ASHES David Bowie
4 ( 5 ) MAGIC Olivia Newton-John
5 ( 2 ) UPSIDE DOWN Diana Ross
6 ( 3 ) XANADU Olivia Newton-John & The Electric Light Orchestra
7 ( 10 ) IT’S STILL ROCK ‘N’ ROLL TO ME Billy Joel
8 ( 12 ) TOM HARK The Piranhas
9 ( 6 ) MARIANA The Gibson Brothers
10 ( 27 ) SUNSHINE OF YOUR SMILE Mike Berry

11 ( 8 ) SANCTUARY New Musik
12 ( NEW ) I GOT YOU Split-Enz
13 ( 7 ) BABOOSHKA Kate Bush
14 ( 9 ) THERE THERE MY DEAR Dexy’s Midnight Runners
15 ( 28 ) FEELS LIKE I’M IN LOVE Kelly Marie
16 ( 16 ) OH YEAH Roxy Music
17 ( 21 ) GIVE ME THE NIGHT George Benson
18 ( 15 ) LIP UP FATTY Bad Manners
19 ( 41 ) REST OF YOUR LIFE Racey
20 ( 20 ) PRIVATE LIFE Grace Jones

21 ( 35 ) MODERN GIRL Sheena Easton
22 ( 13 ) ME MYSELF I Joan Armatrading
23 ( 11 ) A LOVER’S HOLIDAY Change
24 ( 18 ) COULD YOU BE LOVED Bob Marley And The Wailers
25 ( 31 ) FUNKIN’ FOR JAMAICA Tom Browne
26 ( 38 ) YOU GOTTA BE A HUSTLER Sue Wilkinson
27 ( 17 ) WEDNESDAY WEEK The Undertones
28 ( 34 ) SLEEPWALKING Ultravox
29 ( 23 ) OOPS UPSIDE YOUR HEAD The Gap Band
30 ( NEW ) DREAMING Cliff Richard

31 ( 24 ) MORE THAN I CAN SAY Leo Sayer
32 ( 14 ) SANTA ANA WINDS The Beach Boys
33 ( 50 ) BANKROBBER The Clash
34 ( 22 ) WATERFALLS Paul McCartney
35 ( 32 ) USE IT UP AND WEAR IT OUT Odyssey
36 ( 25 ) ARE YOU GETTING ENOUGH HAPPINESS Hot Chocolate
37 ( 39 ) SINCE I DON’T HAVE YOU Don McLean
38 ( 19 ) 9 TO 5 (MY BABY TAKES THE MORNING TRAIN) Sheena Easton
39 ( 70 ) FREE ME Roger Daltrey
40 ( 67 ) SARTORIAL ELOQUENCE Elton John

41 ( 33 ) MESSAGES Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
42 ( 30 ) 747 (STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT) Saxon
43 ( 48 ) NEON KNIGHTS Black Sabbath
44 ( NEW ) EIGHTH DAY Hazel O’Connor
45 ( 29 ) THEME FROM INVADERS Yellow Magic Orchestra
46 ( 52 ) SUMMER FUN The Barracudas
47 ( 43 ) CRYING Don McLean
48 ( 63 ) JUST LIKE EDDIE Silicon Teens
49 ( 36 ) JUMP TO THE BEAT Stacey Lattisaw
50 ( 57 ) A WALK IN THE PARK Nick Straker Band

51 ( 42 ) RUNNING FROM PARADISE Daryl Hall & John Oates
52 ( 26 ) MY GUY/MY GIRL Amii Stewart and Johnny Bristol
53 ( 46 ) SUMMER IN THE CITY Ray Gomez
54 ( 49 ) NO DOUBT ABOUT IT Hot Chocolate
55 ( 55 ) MONKEES EP (LAST TRAIN TO CLARKSVILLE/ I’M A BELIEVER/ A LITTLE BIT ME A LITTLE BIT YOU/ DAYDREAM BELIEVER) The Monkees
56 ( 37 ) EMOTIONAL RESCUE The Rolling Stones
57 ( 45 ) LET’S HANG ON Darts
58 ( 75 ) LATE IN THE EVENING Paul Simon
59 ( 74 ) CAN’T STOP THE MUSIC The Village People
60 ( 44 ) LOVE WILL TEAR US APART Joy Division

61 ( 60 ) DON’T BRING ME DOWN E.L.O.
62 ( 61 ) GET IT RIGHT NEXT TIME Gerry Rafferty
63 ( 53 ) CHRISTINE Siouxsie And The Banshees
64 ( 54 ) BACK TOGETHER AGAIN Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway
65 ( 47 ) BLACK NIGHT Deep Purple
66 ( 58 ) BED’S TOO BIG WITHOUT YOU (6 PACK) The Police
67 ( 51 ) DOES SHE HAVE A FRIEND Gene Chandler
68 ( 64 ) SOLDIER’S SONG The Hollies
69 ( 59 ) BEHIND THE GROOVE Teena Marie
70 ( 62 ) I’M ALIVE Electric Light Orchestra

71 ( NEW ) C30 C60 C90 GO Bow Wow Wow
72 ( 56 ) WHOLE LOTTA ROSIE AC/DC
73 ( 73 ) RACE WITH THE DEVIL Girlschool
74 ( 68 ) THEME FROM M*A*S*H The MASH
75 ( 65 ) BURNING HOT Jermaine Jackson

MY Top TV 10th-15th Aug 1980
1 Star Trek: By Any Other Name
2 Soap
3 Top Of The Pops
4 The Martian Chronicles
5 Rhoda
6 Laverne & Shirley
7 The Mary Tyler Moore Show
8 The Outer Limits
9 The Awakening Land
10 Taxi
11 Carry On Up The Jungle
12 The Phil Silvers Show
13 Superstar Profile
14 CHIPS
15 Summer Holiday

 

26th August 1980

It’s a new number as David Bowie’s groundbreaking video for Ashes To Ashes takes him to the top of my charts for the 3rd time, 5 years since he last topped with Space Oddity. UK chart-topper Kelly Marie sneaks her Ray Dorset way into my top 10, The Clash rob da bank at 12, a new chart peak for them, for me, and Modern Girl outdoes 9 to 5 for Sheena.

Highest new entry is The Jam, and Start, in at 14 and off the back of a chart-topper, Going Underground, a great single following a fab single. Cliff is into the 20 for the umpteenth time in the week he appears on Rosko’s Roundtable to review new singles, and Bow Wow Wow’s cassette-single, a sign of the times, rockets up to 25. In at 32, Gary Numan makes it 5 top 40‘s in a row, as I Die You Die keeps him hot, a great single. In at 40, it’s the decade-old Paranoid: I’d missed the original run, out of the country, so this was like a new old gem and only the second chart hit for Black Sabbath, 2 years on from Neon Knights. Ozzy Osbourne’s biggest days, of course, still lay 25 years into the future. Who woulda thought!

New at 42, it’s Shaky’ second hit, Marie Marie, very singalongaElvis, as the Korgis lovely third hit, If It’s Alright With You Baby, pops in. At 53, The Selecter keep the short run of singles cracking out, this one The Whisper, shhhh don’t tell anyone! Best Friend, another ska hit, also keeps The Beat’s profile going at 59, and a good 4th single for Secret Affair is in at 65, Sound Of Confusion. The Skids run of hits is nearing an end as Circus Games scrapes in at 74, and Peter Gabriel’s song for South African activist Stephen Biko takes up the last new spot.

1 ( 3 ) ASHES TO ASHES David Bowie
2 ( 1 ) THE WINNER TAKES IT ALL Abba
3 ( 4 ) MAGIC Olivia Newton-John
4 ( 2 ) ALL OVER THE WORLD E.L.O.
5 ( 8 ) TOM HARK The Piranhas
6 ( 7 ) IT’S STILL ROCK ‘N’ ROLL TO ME Billy Joel
7 ( 15 ) FEELS LIKE I’M IN LOVE Kelly Marie
8 ( 6 ) XANADU Olivia Newton-John & The Electric Light Orchestra
9 ( 10 ) SUNSHINE OF YOUR SMILE Mike Berry
10 ( 5 ) UPSIDE DOWN Diana Ross

11 ( 12 ) I GOT YOU Split-Enz
12 ( 33 ) BANKROBBER The Clash
13 ( 21 ) MODERN GIRL Sheena Easton
14 ( NEW ) START The Jam
15 ( 9 ) MARIANA The Gibson Brothers
16 ( 16 ) OH YEAH Roxy Music
17 ( 20 ) PRIVATE LIFE Grace Jones
18 ( 30 ) DREAMING Cliff Richard
19 ( 14 ) THERE THERE MY DEAR Dexy’s Midnight Runners
20 ( 17 ) GIVE ME THE NIGHT George Benson

21 ( 11 ) SANCTUARY New Musik
22 ( 13 ) BABOOSHKA Kate Bush
23 ( 25 ) FUNKIN’ FOR JAMAICA Tom Browne
24 ( 28 ) SLEEPWALKING Ultravox
25 ( 71 ) C30 C60 C90 GO Bow Wow Wow
26 ( 26 ) YOU GOTTA BE A HUSTLER Sue Wilkinson
27 ( 50 ) A WALK IN THE PARK Nick Straker Band
28 ( 18 ) LIP UP FATTY Bad Manners
29 ( 22 ) ME MYSELF I Joan Armatrading
30 ( 46 ) SUMMER FUN The Barracudas

31 ( 24 ) COULD YOU BE LOVED Bob Marley And The Wailers
32 ( NEW ) I DIE YOU DIE Gary Numan
33 ( 44 ) EIGHTH DAY Hazel O’Connor
34 ( 23 ) A LOVER’S HOLIDAY Change
35 ( 29 ) OOPS UPSIDE YOUR HEAD The Gap Band
36 ( 40 ) SARTORIAL ELOQUENCE Elton John
37 ( 31 ) MORE THAN I CAN SAY Leo Sayer
38 ( 34 ) WATERFALLS Paul McCartney
39 ( 19 ) REST OF YOUR LIFE Racey
40 ( NEW ) PARANOID Black Sabbath

41 ( 32 ) SANTA ANA WINDS The Beach Boys
42 ( NEW ) MARIE MARIE Shakin’ Stevens
43 ( 41 ) MESSAGES Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
44 ( 37 ) SINCE I DON’T HAVE YOU Don McLean
45 ( 35 ) USE IT UP AND WEAR IT OUT Odyssey
46 ( 42 ) 747 (STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT) Saxon
47 ( 38 ) 9 TO 5 (MY BABY TAKES THE MORNING TRAIN) Sheena Easton
48 ( 47 ) CRYING Don McLean
49 ( 59 ) CAN’T STOP THE MUSIC The Village People
50 ( 39 ) FREE ME Roger Daltrey

51 ( NEW ) IF IT’S ALRIGHT WITH YOU BABY The Korgis
52 ( 27 ) WEDNESDAY WEEK The Undertones
53 ( NEW ) THE WHISPER The Selecter
54 ( 54 ) NO DOUBT ABOUT IT Hot Chocolate
55 ( 55 ) MONKEES EP (LAST TRAIN TO CLARKSVILLE/ I’M A BELIEVER/ A LITTLE BIT ME A LITTLE BIT YOU/ DAYDREAM BELIEVER) The Monkees
56 ( 49 ) JUMP TO THE BEAT Stacey Lattisaw
57 ( 58 ) LATE IN THE EVENING Paul Simon
58 ( 45 ) THEME FROM INVADERS Yellow Magic Orchestra
59 ( NEW ) BEST FRIEND The Beat
60 ( 51 ) RUNNING FROM PARADISE Daryl Hall & John Oates

61 ( 61 ) DON’T BRING ME DOWN E.L.O.
62 ( 62 ) GET IT RIGHT NEXT TIME Gerry Rafferty
63 ( 43 ) NEON KNIGHTS Black Sabbath
64 ( 57 ) LET’S HANG ON Darts
65 ( NEW ) SOUND OF CONFUSION Secret Affair
66 ( 48 ) JUST LIKE EDDIE Silicon Teens
67 ( 66 ) BED’S TOO BIG WITHOUT YOU (6 PACK) The Police
68 ( 63 ) CHRISTINE Siouxsie And The Banshees
69 ( 64 ) BACK TOGETHER AGAIN Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway
70 ( 56 ) EMOTIONAL RESCUE The Rolling Stones

71 ( 60 ) LOVE WILL TEAR US APART Joy Division
72 ( 53 ) SUMMER IN THE CITY Ray Gomez
73 ( 68 ) SOLDIER’S SONG The Hollies
74 ( NEW ) CIRCUS GAMES The Skids
75 ( NEW ) BIKO Peter Gabriel

TV 16th-22nd Aug

1 Star Trek: Return To Tomorrow
2 The Martian Chronicles
3 Top Of The Pops
4 Laverne & Shirley
5 The Awakening Land
6 Rhoda
7 Doctor Who (Tues)
8 The New Avengers
9 Taxi
10 Kelly Monteith
11 The Time Of Their Lives
12 The Outer Limits
13 WKRP In Cincinatti
14 Ray Bradbury Profile
15 Doctor Who (Mon)

On TV, The Martian Chronicles and Star Trek kept my sci-fi fixes going, while the writer of the brilliant sci-fi book of connected short stories The Martian Chronicles (or The Silver Locusts as I knew it), the poetic, dark, inventive, wistful and admirable Ray Bradbury gets a TV profile. There’s a great Top Of The Pops episode, and I’m into TV sitcom cheese as Laverne & Shirley get my chuckles.

My 1980 Charts – July

1st July 1980

3 weeks on top for OMD, as ELO and ONJ knock on their initialed door at 2. Not to mention PJM at 3. Macca’s 2nd of the year to go top 3, while ELO and Livvie repeat what they did in 1979, and 1978, and ELO did in 1977, 1976, 1973 and 1972 (going top 3). Splodgeness abound into the top 10 (arf!) with two pints of lager, with the Korgis snapping at their heels cos, you know, everybody’s gotta learn sometime, and a second magnificent top 10 for the lads.

Stacey Lattisaw jumps to the top 20 beat from 32, Teena Marie a little behind the groove at 18, and Queen scrape into the top 20 yet again as they continue to fall short of the 10 for 18 months-worth of singles, a far cry from 3 chart-toppers out of 4 in 1974/5. The Sex Pistols and Darts both climb with inferior covers, as Odyssey finally get cracking and Use It Up into the top 30, without wearing it out, and Saxon fly up to 28 in a 747 (feel free to groan at these links) as a bit of pop Nu-Metal agrees with me nicely. We were strangers in the night, but not anything to do with Frank Sinatra’s slightly better song. In at 38, The Blues Band take old song Diddy Wah Diddy into the 40 (not to be confused with Paul Jones Manfred Mann Do Wah Diddy Diddy, which is a better record, but fresh off Paul Jones’ Knebworth gig wot I saw), and Tavares return after a gap with I Don’t Want You Anymore for a 4th year of hits.

Daryl Hall & John Oates return running from paradise, and their first entry for 3 years, and 4 years on from the gorgeous She’s Gone. The soon-to-be solo Japanese musician Ryuichi Sakamoto debuts as the Yellow Magic Orchestra with a space invaders synth instrumental theme, which was quite catchy, but not one I’ve managed to buy yet, and proving beyond doubt that having a hit record is no guarantee you’ll be able to buy it or stream it decades down the line. New Musik are back with a 4th gem synthpop single, looking for Sanctuary at 53, Carlene Carter covers her dad’s Ring Of Fire at 55, Rupert Holmes extends his run of singles at 66 and The Detroit Spinners do the same at 68 as they cover Sam Cooke’s Cupid, and follow in Johnny Nash’s 1969 shoes in charting it. Janis Ian gets a 3rd chart entry flying too high, as per her previous entry, so much so that she reaches the other side of the sun, and very nice too, though not as memorable as 1975’s heart-breaking At Seventeen.

1 ( 1 ) MESSAGES Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
2 ( 9 ) XANADU Olivia Newton-John & The Electric Light Orchestra
3 ( 8 ) WATERFALLS Paul McCartney
4 ( 2 ) CRYING Don McLean
5 ( 3 ) BACK TOGETHER AGAIN Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway
6 ( 7 ) CHRISTINE Siouxsie And The Banshees
7 ( 4 ) BED’S TOO BIG WITHOUT YOU (6 PACK) The Police
8 ( 23 ) TWO PINTS OF LAGER AND A PACKET OF CRISPS Splodgenessabounds
9 ( 14 ) EVERYBODY’S GOT TO LEARN SOMETIME The Korgis
10 ( 5 ) THEME FROM M*A*S*H The MASH

http://youtube.com/v/7o-9_J_Cc2w

11 ( 6 ) I’M ALIVE Electric Light Orchestra
12 ( 19 ) STEAL AWAY Robbie Dupree
13 ( 20 ) ME MYSELF I Joan Armatrading
14 ( 32 ) JUMP TO THE BEAT Stacey Lattisaw
15 ( 11 ) WE ARE GLASS Gary Numan
16 ( 12 ) NO DOUBT ABOUT IT Hot Chocolate
17 ( 16 ) YOU GAVE ME LOVE Crown Heights Affair
18 ( 21 ) BEHIND THE GROOVE Teena Marie
19 ( 22 ) PLAY THE GAME Queen
20 ( 17 ) DA-A-ANCE The Lambrettas

21 ( 13 ) LET’S GET SERIOUS Jermaine Jackson
22 ( 27 ) NEW AMSTERDAM Elvis Costello
23 ( 10 ) LITTLE JEANNIE Elton John
24 ( 24 ) FUNKY TOWN Lipps Inc
25 ( 34 ) LET’S HANG ON Darts
26 ( 47 ) I’M NOT YOUR STEPPING STONE The Sex Pistols
27 ( 64 ) USE IT UP AND WEAR IT OUT Odyssey
28 ( 71 ) 747 (STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT) Saxon
29 ( 18 ) TWILIGHT ZONE/TWILIGHT TONE Manhattan Transfer
30 ( 35 ) CHINATOWN Thin Lizzy

http://youtube.com/v/BkKrUz45icE

31 ( 38 ) MY WAY OF THINKING UB40
32 ( 15 ) THEME FROM MIDNIGHT COWBOY Original Soundtrack (John Barry)
33 ( 25 ) OVER YOU Roxy Music
34 ( 36 ) LET MY LOVE OPEN THE DOOR Pete Townsend
35 ( 29 ) TO BE OR NOT TO BE B.A. Robertson
36 ( 26 ) WHO WANTS THE WORLD The Stranglers
37 ( 39 ) TRYING TO KEEP THE SUMMER ALIVE The Beach Boys
38 ( NEW ) DIDDY WAH DIDDY The Blues Band
39 ( 31 ) SHE’S OUT OF MY LIFE Michael Jackson
40 ( NEW ) I DON’T WANT YOU ANYMORE Tavares

41 ( 55 ) NEW ROMANCE (IT’S A MYSTERY) Spider
42 ( 37 ) GENO Dexy’s Midnight Runners
43 ( 42 ) MONKEES EP (LAST TRAIN TO CLARKSVILLE/ I’M A BELIEVER/ A LITTLE BIT ME A LITTLE BIT YOU/ DAYDREAM BELIEVER) The Monkees
44 ( 28 ) MIDNITE DYNAMOS Matchbox
45 ( 33 ) YOU WILL ALWAYS FIND ME IN THE iamspamspamamiAT PARTIES Jona Lewie
46 ( 44 ) LOST IN LOVE Air Supply
47 ( 56 ) LIP UP FATTY Bad Manners
48 ( NEW ) RUNNING FOR PARADISE Daryl Hall & John Oates
49 ( 40 ) BIGGEST PART OF ME Ambrosia
50 ( NEW ) THEME FROM INVADERS Yellow Magic Orchestra

http://youtube.com/v/SY-wZTMNQmQ

51 ( 45 ) RAT RACE The Specials
52 ( NEW ) SING OUT (BREAKING/ ATMOSPHERE) Voyager
53 ( NEW ) SANCTUARY New Musik
54 ( 46 ) NIGHT BOAT TO CAIRO (WORK REST & PLAY EP) Madness
55 ( NEW ) RING OF FIRE Carlene Carter
56 ( 53 ) CALL ME Blondie
57 ( 51 ) COMING UP Paul McCartney
58 ( 73 ) COULD YOU BE LOVED Bob Marley And The Wailers
59 ( 49 ) MIRROR IN THE BATHROOM The Beat
60 ( 66 ) SUNSET PEOPLE Donna Summer

http://youtube.com/v/aoFOvCZcarU

61 ( 61 ) DON’T BRING ME DOWN E.L.O.
62 ( 62 ) GET IT RIGHT NEXT TIME Gerry Rafferty
63 ( 43 ) JUST CAN’T GIVE YOU UP Mystic Merlin
64 ( 54 ) DON’T TELL ME Shona Laing
65 ( 58 ) GOING UNDERGROUND The Jam
66 ( NEW ) PARTNERS IN CRIME Rupert Holmes
67 ( 41 ) THE SCRATCH Surface Noise
68 ( NEW ) CUPID – I’VE LOVED YOU FOR A LONG TIME The Detroit Spinners
69 ( 30 ) SOLDIER’S SONG The Hollies
70 ( 65 ) ATOMIC Blondie

71 ( 52 ) SUBSTITUTE Liquid Gold
72 ( 75 ) THE KING’S CALL Phil Lynott
73 ( NEW ) THE OTHER SIDE OF THE SUN Janis Ian
74 ( 72 ) CONFUSION/ LAST TRAIN TO LONDON E.L.O.
75 ( 59 ) BREAKING THE LAW Judas Priest

TV 21st – 27th June

1 The Mary Tyler Moore Show
2 The Outer Limits
3 Wimbledon (friday)
4 Wimbledon ’79
5 Animal Olympics

In my life, in the last full week of June, I was well into watching Wimbledon on TV, Borg and McEnroe both doing well in the first week of play. It was Pete’s 22nd birthday and 2 of our gang decided Pete needed a douse in the bath to celebrate, and tried to enlist me to do some heavy-mob impressions. No amount of cajoling, threats or persuasion convinced me it was a worthy endeavor (I don’t give in to peer-group pressure) so they had a mighty struggle with Pete, who threw up afterwards, before helping the same two give Julie a thoughtful bath too. Teachers all, you know, bar one…..!

College American Studies outside examiner interview on Tuesday before the goodbye’s to other students started gradually. One of my friends got the awful news she’d failed teaching practice, and hadn’t qualified after 3 years, upset and packing to leave the next day or two. Pete’s family were going back to Germany, and he would be joining them unless he got a summer job. I noted that we’d probably never see him again, if I knew Pete (which I did, being my best mate and all at College). So it was. He eventually married a Japanese girl, and moved to Japan, had a son and then lost touch sometime in the late 80’s. TP-failing, though, turned out not so tragic as she is now a Reverend, married to a Reverend, and living in a Parish in Wales. I didn’t like all this gang-breaking-up one bit, not at all, and predicted the next few months (at least) would be very depressing. I didn’t know the half of it….

I kept myself busy writing a fiction story and printing black & white photos in the College darkroom, as everyone gathered in my room wednesday evening for hysterical laughs watching TV. As we gathered Thursday evening I taped-recorded us all chatting and mucking about – and haven’t been able to listen to it since, with my reel-to-reel player having died, it’s a major loss to me that I didn’t convert it to mp3 years ago while it was just about working. I need to find someone to do it for me so I can hear how embarrassing I was at the time.

Friday, grandma and granddad dropped by with mum and dad, on their way through Lincoln, Paul took a few of us for a pub evening, Ian, Bev, Sue, which ended on a sour note thanks to an unfortunate comment, but otherwise was fun, Saturday was snooker (yet more), more bargain bin singles purchases in town, played Ian at tennis which was great fun, he was always a laugh, sorry I’ve lost touch these days. Then team table tennis after eating before an evening at Alan & Helen’s flat, where we had an Alan-guitar singalong and laughs with most of the gang there. From here to another goodbye party at Jo and Elaine’s, but not that many in attendance, so our smaller gang (Ian, Pete, Julie, Jane) just mucked about till 1-ish, and Charades till 2. It was so not a party, it was hilarious.

8th July 1980

The first chart after my final week of College, and it’s Olivia Newton-John getting a second number one (following You’re The One That I Want) and ELO getting a 9th, leaving them behind only The Beatles and Abba for most chart-toppers, though old mucker Roy Wood also totals 9 in various guises, including one with ELO (10538 Overture). Co-incidentally Macca is at 3, and ELO themselves are also at 4 with another Xanadu single, I’m Alive. I over-rated it as I’d managed to get hold of a cut-price copy of the single and they were coming off the back of 3 chart-toppers in a row.

Joan Armatrading gets Me Myself I into the 10, her 2nd, as Stacy Lattisaw gets a jumping first. Saxon, Odyssey and The Hollies all go top 20, Odyssey’s 2nd, The Hollies 7th or so in a 12-year span. Into the top 40 go Yellow Magic Orchestra’s space invaders, Spider, Voyager, The Detroit Spinners and Bad Manners, not to mention classic Bob Marley. Lower down we find the new entries rushing in with many a classic: Kate Bush is back with the sensational video Russian babe of Babooshka, Joy Division debut with the timeless and influential Love Will Tear Us Apart, even though lead singer was already dead, having committed suicide in May. Both tracks remain brilliant. Almost as good: The Undertones bring Wednesday Week in at 74. a melodic gem and a welcome change of pace from the boys, Kim Carnes huskily covers Smokey Robinson to fabulous effect at 68 ahead of her UK breakthrough a year later with an even greater track, and Change debut with the Chic-ish delight of A Lover’s Holiday at 48.

Others: The Rolling Stones have a decent comeback with Emotional Rescue, still in disco groove mode at 57, Sad Cafe have a 5th entry with the terribly titled Nothing Left Toulouse, John Otway and Wild Willy Barrett get a second hit 3 years on from Really Free, with the abrupt-change of direction of DK 50-80, a quirky synthrock track that was ahead of it’s time, The Vapors get another entry (News At Ten) and Bill Nelson comes back without Be Bop Deluxe, 4 years after Ships In The Night hit my top 10, now dreaming in colour.

http://youtube.com/v/-yBiTNLuTeo

1 ( 2 ) XANADU Olivia Newton-John & The Electric Light Orchestra
2 ( 1 ) MESSAGES Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
3 ( 3 ) WATERFALLS Paul McCartney
4 ( 11 ) I’M ALIVE Electric Light Orchestra
5 ( 4 ) CRYING Don McLean
6 ( 6 ) CHRISTINE Siouxsie And The Banshees
7 ( 5 ) BACK TOGETHER AGAIN Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway
8 ( 8 ) TWO PINTS OF LAGER AND A PACKET OF CRISPS Splodgenessabounds
9 ( 13 ) ME MYSELF I Joan Armatrading
10 ( 14 ) JUMP TO THE BEAT Stacey Lattisaw

11 ( 9 ) EVERYBODY’S GOT TO LEARN SOMETIME The Korgis
12 ( 7 ) BED’S TOO BIG WITHOUT YOU (6 PACK) The Police
13 ( 28 ) 747 (STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT) Saxon
14 ( 10 ) THEME FROM M*A*S*H The MASH
15 ( 18 ) BEHIND THE GROOVE Teena Marie
16 ( 27 ) USE IT UP AND WEAR IT OUT Odyssey
17 ( 19 ) PLAY THE GAME Queen
18 ( 12 ) STEAL AWAY Robbie Dupree
19 ( 69 ) SOLDIER’S SONG The Hollies
20 ( 16 ) NO DOUBT ABOUT IT Hot Chocolate

21 ( 25 ) LET’S HANG ON Darts
22 ( 50 ) THEME FROM INVADERS Yellow Magic Orchestra
23 ( 31 ) MY WAY OF THINKING UB40
24 ( 26 ) I’M NOT YOUR STEPPING STONE The Sex Pistols
25 ( 35 ) TO BE OR NOT TO BE B.A. Robertson
26 ( 15 ) WE ARE GLASS Gary Numan
27 ( 34 ) LET MY LOVE OPEN THE DOOR Pete Townsend
28 ( 24 ) FUNKY TOWN Lipps Inc
29 ( 17 ) YOU GAVE ME LOVE Crown Heights Affair
30 ( 30 ) CHINATOWN Thin Lizzy

31 ( 20 ) DA-A-ANCE The Lambrettas
32 ( 41 ) NEW ROMANCE (IT’S A MYSTERY) Spider
33 ( 38 ) DIDDY WAH DIDDY The Blues Band
34 ( 52 ) SING OUT (BREAKING/ ATMOSPHERE) Voyager
35 ( 40 ) I DON’T WANT YOU ANYMORE Tavares
36 ( 68 ) CUPID – I’VE LOVED YOU FOR A LONG TIME The Detroit Spinners
37 ( 21 ) LET’S GET SERIOUS Jermaine Jackson
38 ( 47 ) LIP UP FATTY Bad Manners
39 ( 64 ) DON’T TELL ME Shona Laing
40 ( 58 ) COULD YOU BE LOVED Bob Marley And The Wailers

41 ( 48 ) RUNNING FROM PARADISE Daryl Hall & John Oates
42 ( 22 ) NEW AMSTERDAM Elvis Costello
43 ( 23 ) LITTLE JEANNIE Elton John
44 ( 43 ) MONKEES EP (LAST TRAIN TO CLARKSVILLE/ I’M A BELIEVER/ A LITTLE BIT ME A LITTLE BIT YOU/ DAYDREAM BELIEVER) The Monkees
45 ( 39 ) SHE’S OUT OF MY LIFE Michael Jackson
46 ( 42 ) GENO Dexy’s Midnight Runners
47 ( 29 ) TWILIGHT ZONE/TWILIGHT TONE Manhattan Transfer
48 ( NEW ) A LOVER’S HOLIDAY Change
49 ( 53 ) SANCTUARY New Musik
50 ( NEW ) BABOOSHKA Kate Bush

http://youtube.com/v/6xckBwPdo1c

51 ( 33 ) OVER YOU Roxy Music
52 ( 55 ) RING OF FIRE Carlene Carter
53 ( 32 ) THEME FROM MIDNIGHT COWBOY Original Soundtrack (John Barry)
54 ( 46 ) LOST IN LOVE Air Supply
55 ( NEW ) NOTHING LEFT TOULOUSE Sad Cafe
56 ( 37 ) TRYING TO KEEP THE SUMMER ALIVE The Beach Boys
57 ( NEW ) EMOTIONAL RESCUE The Rolling Stones
58 ( 60 ) SUNSET PEOPLE Donna Summer
59 ( 36 ) WHO WANTS THE WORLD The Stranglers
60 ( 66 ) PARTNERS IN CRIME Rupert Holmes

http://youtube.com/v/zuuObGsB0No

61 ( 61 ) DON’T BRING ME DOWN E.L.O.
62 ( 62 ) GET IT RIGHT NEXT TIME Gerry Rafferty
63 ( 44 ) MIDNITE DYNAMOS Matchbox
64 ( 54 ) NIGHT BOAT TO CAIRO (WORK REST & PLAY EP) Madness
65 ( NEW ) LOVE WILL TEAR US APART Joy Division
66 ( 57 ) COMING UP Paul McCartney
67 ( 56 ) CALL ME Blondie
68 ( NEW ) MORE LOVE Kim Carnes
69 ( NEW ) DK 50-80 Otway & Barrett
70 ( 45 ) YOU WILL ALWAYS FIND ME IN THE iamspamspamamiAT PARTIES Jona Lewie

http://youtube.com/v/W5ADrcHJLFg

71 ( 71 ) SUBSTITUTE Liquid Gold
72 ( 73 ) THE OTHER SIDE OF THE SUN Janis Ian
73 ( NEW ) NEWS AT TEN The Vapors
74 ( NEW ) WEDNESDAY WEEK The Undertones
75 ( NEW ) DO YOU DREAM IN COLOUR Bill Nelson

http://youtube.com/v/FswDoZKFXVc

TV June 28th – 4th July
1 Wimbledon
2 Q9
3 The Mary Tyler Moore Show
4 Mork and Mindy
5 Firecreek

On TV the striking BBC staff kept Top Of The Pops off the air for half the summer, which was a bummer, not to mention other TV shows, which, along with a week of partying hard as we all left College, meant I watched hardly any TV, unusually for me in those days. The last single I was playing to death was OMD, and the last single I bought at College was a gatefold sleeve version of Xanadu. I borrowed Julie’s camera flash and went to the Usher Art Gallery and took photos of my work on the wall, allowing myself a bit of sad ego-boosting amongst the crushing comments of the Uni examiners, then tutor Max helped me remove them and the helped shift piano’s and the like. American Studies tutor John Davies praised my writing, suggested further reading to widen my experience and gave me my marks in graph form for each year at College, rising steeply with The Immigrants, and stood up for me in the end results for marks, overall 65% (Grade 1). I always like John Davies and wish I could stayed as enthusiastic for myself as he was on my behalf!

Mum, dad, grandma & granddad dropped by with a new watch for me! I am still wearing it, a dozen batteries later, a scratched clock face, and 35 years on. I do like to take care of stuff! Ian, Sue, Paul Julie & Jane gathered, Alan came by, and off we went in a tie I borrowed from Sue for the goodbye dinner, a lecturer came over to chat to me and made a very unexpected personal comment out of the blue which I’m still not clear on what he saying but I went bright red! That left speeches from the Principal and Union Rep Mark, and then to the bar and union disco for SAVVY, College band of the day, and the final record of the disco was When Will I See You Again. How depressing. Next few days: Tennis, snooker, socialising, some exciting Wimbledon matches (Chris Lloyd beating Navratilova), and conversations on the inhumanity of man amongst all the laughs, and on the last evening we split into two groups, Sue, Bev, Pete, Julie stayed in watching TV, Ian, Jane, Paul, Dave went to a double movie feature: Saturday Night Fever (dull despite the fab music) and Grease (better than first time round) which with it’s final scenes of the ending of High School was sort of saying it all really. We gathered for a chat, and that was it, end of an era, College over, just the goodbye’s and the packing to do. I popped up to Sue’s room, she was as upset as me I think at it all ending, everyone handing in keys, and Pete disappeared in a rush without a proper goodbye. I asked Sue to say goodbye for me, because I kinda knew he wouldn’t be meeting up with the gang after college and that would be the last time I saw him, ever, and which gutted me somewhat. And so it was. Sue was the one that saw me off when Brother and dad came for me and my stuff. “See you in 6 weeks” was my goodbye, it helped knowing we were meeting up but I was fighting back tears the whole way home.

And that was the end of the good times for a decade or so…

 

15th July 1980

2 weeks for Xanadu on top, as I start my 2-years job-search, living and breathing application forms. This had such a negative effect on me that I stay with crappy jobs rather than put in a job application, just to avoid the whole sorry stressful experience. Not a good career move, overall. Music, though, was fab: Macca gets his 2nd number 2 of the year, as Saxon get their first top 10, flying up with 747, Odyssey get a second, using it up and wearing it out, and Teena Marie gets behind the groove and pops up to 9.

Joy Division go up a whopping 50 places to 15 with the classic Love Will Tear Us Apart, and Kate up 33 with a classic babooshka to 17, and classic Marley at 18 with Could You be Loved. That’s a buncha classics! Change have a holiday at 23, and New Musik make it 4 top 40’s in a row as they look for Sanctuary. The Rolling Stones take an Emotional Rescue inside the 40, a funky falsetto groove miles away from their petulant earthy blues chart debut Honky Tonk Women 11 years earlier.

In at 39, Leo Sayer seems to have given up writing his own material, and opts for a great Bobby Vee 60’s oldie, More Than I Can Say, removes the charm and slows it down. Dexy’s make it 3 in a row at 46, There There My Dear! The Whispers cover My Girl, Hot Chocolate enquire about the amount of happiness I’m getting and is it enough, which is polite of them, and to which the answer was and is “No”. A bit of a disappointment for me, though, after No Doubt About It. In at 71, AC/DC get a 3rd entry, with reactivated flop Whole Lotta Rosie, the final Bon Scott vocals hit they had, and a Punk-Metal classic for me. From here on they were more Pomp-Metal. Finally Gene Chandler gets a good soul ballad ebtry at 74, Does She Have A Friend he asks, while Billy Joel is more positive stating (quite rightly) that it’s still rock ‘n’ roll to him at 75, no matter what new name it has. Clever lyrically, tuneful and catchy, as ol’ Billy tended to be when he was in the mood, and 5 years on now from The Piano Man debut.

1 ( 1 ) XANADU Olivia Newton-John & The Electric Light Orchestra
2 ( 3 ) WATERFALLS Paul McCartney
3 ( 2 ) MESSAGES Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
4 ( 10 ) JUMP TO THE BEAT Stacey Lattisaw
5 ( 9 ) ME MYSELF I Joan Armatrading
6 ( 13 ) 747 (STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT) Saxon
7 ( 6 ) CHRISTINE Siouxsie And The Banshees
8 ( 16 ) USE IT UP AND WEAR IT OUT Odyssey
9 ( 15 ) BEHIND THE GROOVE Teena Marie
10 ( 5 ) CRYING Don McLean

11 ( 7 ) BACK TOGETHER AGAIN Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway
12 ( 4 ) I’M ALIVE Electric Light Orchestra
13 ( 8 ) TWO PINTS OF LAGER AND A PACKET OF CRISPS Splodgenessabounds
14 ( 17 ) PLAY THE GAME Queen
15 ( 65 ) LOVE WILL TEAR US APART Joy Division
16 ( 22 ) THEME FROM INVADERS Yellow Magic Orchestra
17 ( 50 ) BABOOSHKA Kate Bush
18 ( 40 ) COULD YOU BE LOVED Bob Marley And The Wailers
19 ( 21 ) LET’S HANG ON Darts
20 ( 12 ) BED’S TOO BIG WITHOUT YOU (6 PACK) The Police

http://youtube.com/v/6_5O-nUiZ_0

21 ( 11 ) EVERYBODY’S GOT TO LEARN SOMETIME The Korgis
22 ( 23 ) MY WAY OF THINKING UB40
23 ( 48 ) A LOVER’S HOLIDAY Change
24 ( 24 ) I’M NOT YOUR STEPPING STONE The Sex Pistols
25 ( 20 ) NO DOUBT ABOUT IT Hot Chocolate
26 ( 49 ) SANCTUARY New Musik
27 ( 14 ) THEME FROM M*A*S*H The MASH
28 ( 34 ) SING OUT (BREAKING/ ATMOSPHERE) Voyager
29 ( 57 ) EMOTIONAL RESCUE The Rolling Stones
30 ( 25 ) TO BE OR NOT TO BE B.A. Robertson

http://youtube.com/v/Qslqk3IcXK8

31 ( 18 ) STEAL AWAY Robbie Dupree
32 ( 19 ) SOLDIER’S SONG The Hollies
33 ( 33 ) DIDDY WAH DIDDY The Blues Band
34 ( 38 ) LIP UP FATTY Bad Manners
35 ( 36 ) CUPID – I’VE LOVED YOU FOR A LONG TIME The Detroit Spinners
36 ( 28 ) FUNKY TOWN Lipps Inc
37 ( 35 ) I DON’T WANT YOU ANYMORE Tavares
38 ( 26 ) WE ARE GLASS Gary Numan
39 ( NEW ) MORE THAN I CAN SAY Leo Sayer
40 ( 29 ) YOU GAVE ME LOVE Crown Heights Affair

41 ( 74 ) WEDNESDAY WEEK The Undertones
42 ( 55 ) NOTHING LEFT TOULOUSE Sad Cafe
43 ( 32 ) NEW ROMANCE (IT’S A MYSTERY) Spider
44 ( 27 ) LET MY LOVE OPEN THE DOOR Pete Townsend
45 ( 39 ) DON’T TELL ME Shona Laing
46 ( NEW ) THERE THERE MY DEAR Dexy’s Midnight Runners
47 ( 41 ) RUNNING FROM PARADISE Daryl Hall & John Oates
48 ( 44 ) MONKEES EP (LAST TRAIN TO CLARKSVILLE/ I’M A BELIEVER/ A LITTLE BIT ME A LITTLE BIT YOU/ DAYDREAM BELIEVER) The Monkees
49 ( 30 ) CHINATOWN Thin Lizzy
50 ( 68 ) MORE LOVE Kim Carnes

http://youtube.com/v/EJm-kG922PI

51 ( 52 ) RING OF FIRE Carlene Carter
52 ( 31 ) DA-A-ANCE The Lambrettas
53 ( 46 ) GENO Dexy’s Midnight Runners
54 ( 45 ) SHE’S OUT OF MY LIFE Michael Jackson
55 ( 56 ) TRYING TO KEEP THE SUMMER ALIVE The Beach Boys
56 ( 37 ) LET’S GET SERIOUS Jermaine Jackson
57 ( 54 ) LOST IN LOVE Air Supply
58 ( 75 ) DO YOU DREAM IN COLOUR Bill Nelson
59 ( 47 ) TWILIGHT ZONE/TWILIGHT TONE Manhattan Transfer
60 ( 60 ) PARTNERS IN CRIME Rupert Holmes

61 ( 61 ) DON’T BRING ME DOWN E.L.O.
62 ( 62 ) GET IT RIGHT NEXT TIME Gerry Rafferty
63 ( NEW ) MY GIRL The Whispers
64 ( 42 ) NEW AMSTERDAM Elvis Costello
65 ( 43 ) LITTLE JEANNIE Elton John
66 ( NEW ) ARE YOU GETTING ENOUGH HAPPINESS Hot Chocolate
67 ( 51 ) OVER YOU Roxy Music
68 ( 73 ) NEWS AT TEN The Vapors
69 ( 69 ) DK 50-80 Otway & Barrett
70 ( 64 ) NIGHT BOAT TO CAIRO (WORK REST & PLAY EP) Madness

http://youtube.com/v/H2Gwr-VrNFM

71 ( NEW ) WHOLE LOTTA ROSIE AC/DC
72 ( NEW ) FANTASY Gerard Kenny
73 ( 53 ) THEME FROM MIDNIGHT COWBOY Original Soundtrack (John Barry)
74 ( NEW ) DOES SHE HAVE A FRIEND Gene Chandler
75 ( NEW ) IT’S STILL ROCK ‘N’ ROLL TO ME Billy Joel

http://youtube.com/v/5eAQa4MOGkE

TV 5th-11th July
1 Wimbledon Final
2 Soap
3 Mork and Mindy
4 The Phil Silvers Show
5 Taxi
6 Happy Days
7 Buona Sera Mrs Campbell: film
8 The Banana Splits
9 Are You Being Served
10 Dallas

In the real world I had the delight of standing in line at the Unemployment Office for 2 and a half hours to “sign on” as we used to say, and granddad came round to do some DIY. Grandma and Grandad were moving into their new council house in Mansfield, from Clipstone, which was the end of an era for me – they had only ever lived in the school caretakers house in Clipstone, and all the immediate family in Mansfield were round to help move in and with painting, wallpapering etc. This was followed by granddad getting the news his sister had cancer and 6 months to live, not a good start to a new house.

We also badgered mum into giving in and getting our first state-of-the-art £299 videorecorder (well, dad did at any rate). Tapes £20 for 2 hours!

Rest of the week painting walls and doors at home, as a prelude to the movie of the year, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back: “A treat! I didn’t guess Darth Vader’s secret and the muppet wasn’t so bad” (as expected, that’ll be Yoda then) “MUCH better than I’d anticipated: not the uniformity of plot-ending of Star Wars, and humour less apparent, therefore not as impressive. BUT effects were brilliant as before plus much originality and the characters weren’t two-dimensional this time” I opined, it was more a series of adventures and chase than an actual plot until half-way through, and I got pissed off at having to wait 3 years for the cliff-hangar resolution, that was a long time!

My top 8 sci-fi movies of all time after viewing?

Close Encounters of The Third Kind
Star Trek
Star Wars
Alien
The Empire Strikes Back
Superman
Planet Of The Apes
2001: A Space Odyssey

That order is substantially different these days and Star Trek, Superman have dropped out of my top 100 entirely, 2001 is classic but not a fave.

22nd July 1980

3 weeks for Xanadu on top but with Abba’s brilliant, adult and sophisticated new ballad in at 2, it looks like The Winner Takes It All imminently. It signalled a new maturity after a pop disco phase, and critically as well as commercially Abba were getting appreciated. About time. Saxon at 3 give metal a boost, while at the lower end Whitesnake and Hawkwind join in. Dexy’s Midnight Runners shoot up 39 places to 7, for 3 out of 3 great singles, and are joined in the top 10 by classic Kate and brilliant Bob.

Change, New Musik, Rolling Stones, and The Sex Pistols all go top 20 but it’s The Undertones with a Wednesday Week rush to 19 who stand out with one of their best singles. Greedy ELO meanwhile get yet another Xanadu track All Over The World newly in, and while it’s not startlingly different from previous singles it ticks the pleasure box for me and drops in at 27. Diana Ross is back with a Chic-bang at 31, Upside Down in one fell swoop is her best single in 4 years, and by a long way. Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards effectively finished being pop stars with Chic, and moved over to writing and producing for bigger stars. Hey presto 35 years on and Nile Rodgers is quite rightly revered. Diana has a dozen years of chart activity, a chart veteran.

In at 30, another new single from The Beach Boys, Santa Ana Winds, pleasant enough, The Whispers go top 40 with My Girl, as Johnny Bristol enters with My Girl 6 years on since his last entry Hang On In There Baby – and it’s a mash-up with My Guy, and Amii Stewart continuing her cover version career. Both songs were conveniently written by Smokey Robinson, as was More Love nestling beautifully at 48 for Kim Carnes. The Gibson Brothers grab a 4th top 40 with Mariana at 40, keeping those fab latin rhythms going strong.

At 51, it’s a remarkable debut for model legend Grace Jones, who oozes style and attitude throughout her career, starting with a Sly & Robbie-produced cover of Chrissie Hynde’s Pretenders song Private Life. Slowed-down, half-spoken half-sung, sexy and throbbing, Chrissie gave it the compliment that Grace made it sound like she imagined it would sound. At 69, debuting with a new lead singer (John Foxx having been and gone) in the shape of Midge Ure, then of Slik and Rich Kids fame, it’s Ultravox and Sleepwalking joining the synthpop party, having been early pioneers of it. That leaves The Mo-Dettes covering the Rolling Stones Paint It Black at 70, as the Stones own Emotional Rescue is somewhat higher at 18.

1 ( 1 ) XANADU Olivia Newton-John & The Electric Light Orchestra
2 ( NEW ) THE WINNER TAKES IT ALL Abba
3 ( 6 ) 747 (STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT) Saxon
4 ( 5 ) ME MYSELF I Joan Armatrading
5 ( 2 ) WATERFALLS Paul McCartney
6 ( 3 ) MESSAGES Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
7 ( 46 ) THERE THERE MY DEAR Dexy’s Midnight Runners
8 ( 17 ) BABOOSHKA Kate Bush
9 ( 18 ) COULD YOU BE LOVED Bob Marley And The Wailers
10 ( 4 ) JUMP TO THE BEAT Stacey Lattisaw

http://youtube.com/v/3ZwWnXuB_eg

11 ( 7 ) CHRISTINE Siouxsie And The Banshees
12 ( 8 ) USE IT UP AND WEAR IT OUT Odyssey
13 ( 15 ) LOVE WILL TEAR US APART Joy Division
14 ( 9 ) BEHIND THE GROOVE Teena Marie
15 ( 23 ) A LOVER’S HOLIDAY Change
16 ( 26 ) SANCTUARY New Musik
17 ( 10 ) CRYING Don McLean
18 ( 29 ) EMOTIONAL RESCUE The Rolling Stones
19 ( 41 ) WEDNESDAY WEEK The Undertones
20 ( 24 ) I’M NOT YOUR STEPPING STONE The Sex Pistols

http://youtube.com/v/9iw_BE_X9sA

21 ( 11 ) BACK TOGETHER AGAIN Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway
22 ( 16 ) THEME FROM INVADERS Yellow Magic Orchestra
23 ( 12 ) I’M ALIVE Electric Light Orchestra
24 ( 19 ) LET’S HANG ON Darts
25 ( 13 ) TWO PINTS OF LAGER AND A PACKET OF CRISPS Splodgenessabounds
26 ( 39 ) MORE THAN I CAN SAY Leo Sayer
27 ( NEW ) ALL OVER THE WORLD E.L.O.
28 ( 34 ) LIP UP FATTY Bad Manners
29 ( 33 ) DIDDY WAH DIDDY (BLUES BAND EP) The Blues Band
30 ( NEW ) SANTA ANA WINDS The Beach Boys

http://youtube.com/v/wh3i3vWgPyk

31 ( NEW ) UPSIDE DOWN Diana Ross
32 ( 22 ) MY WAY OF THINKING UB40
33 ( 20 ) BED’S TOO BIG WITHOUT YOU (6 PACK) The Police
34 ( 14 ) PLAY THE GAME Queen
35 ( 35 ) CUPID – I’VE LOVED YOU FOR A LONG TIME The Detroit Spinners
36 ( 25 ) NO DOUBT ABOUT IT Hot Chocolate
37 ( 37 ) I DON’T WANT YOU ANYMORE Tavares
38 ( 63 ) MY GIRL The Whispers
39 ( 71 ) WHOLE LOTTA ROSIE AC/DC
40 ( NEW ) MARIANA The Gibson Brothers

http://youtube.com/v/4GtyMeEcPPE

41 ( 36 ) FUNKY TOWN Lipps Inc
42 ( 21 ) EVERYBODY’S GOT TO LEARN SOMETIME The Korgis
43 ( 27 ) THEME FROM M*A*S*H The MASH
44 ( 32 ) SOLDIER’S SONG The Hollies
45 ( 31 ) STEAL AWAY Robbie Dupree
46 ( 40 ) YOU GAVE ME LOVE Crown Heights Affair
47 ( 51 ) RING OF FIRE Carlene Carter
48 ( 50 ) MORE LOVE Kim Carnes
49 ( 30 ) TO BE OR NOT TO BE B.A. Robertson
50 ( 28 ) SING OUT (BREAKING/ ATMOSPHERE) Voyager

http://youtube.com/v/yvLn_qC7QAs

51 ( NEW ) PRIVATE LIFE Grace Jones
52 ( 48 ) MONKEES EP (LAST TRAIN TO CLARKSVILLE/ I’M A BELIEVER/ A LITTLE BIT ME A LITTLE BIT YOU/ DAYDREAM BELIEVER) The Monkees
53 ( 38 ) WE ARE GLASS Gary Numan
54 ( 74 ) DOES SHE HAVE A FRIEND Gene Chandler
55 ( 66 ) ARE YOU GETTING ENOUGH HAPPINESS Hot Chocolate
56 ( 45 ) DON’T TELL ME Shona Laing
57 ( 75 ) IT’S STILL ROCK ‘N’ ROLL TO ME Billy Joel
58 ( 47 ) RUNNING FROM PARADISE Daryl Hall & John Oates
59 ( 68 ) NEWS AT TEN The Vapors
60 ( 53 ) GENO Dexy’s Midnight Runners

61 ( 62 ) GET IT RIGHT NEXT TIME Gerry Rafferty
62 ( 61 ) DON’T BRING ME DOWN E.L.O.
63 ( 57 ) LOST IN LOVE Air Supply
64 ( 72 ) FANTASY Gerard Kenny
65 ( 55 ) TRYING TO KEEP THE SUMMER ALIVE The Beach Boys
66 ( 42 ) NOTHING LEFT TOULOUSE Sad Cafe
67 ( 58 ) DO YOU DREAM IN COLOUR Bill Nelson
68 ( 43 ) NEW ROMANCE (IT’S A MYSTERY) Spider
69 ( NEW ) SLEEPWALKING Ultravox
70 ( NEW ) PAINT IT BLACK The Mo-Dettes

71 ( NEW ) MY GUY/MY GIRL Amii Stewart and Johnny Bristol
72 ( 49 ) CHINATOWN Thin Lizzy
73 ( NEW ) READY AND WILLING Whitesnake
74 ( NEW ) SHOT DOWN IN THE NIGHT Hawkwind
75 ( 54 ) SHE’S OUT OF MY LIFE Michael Jackson

TV 12th – 18th July
1 Rhoda
2 Soap
3 The Phil Silvers Show
4 Taxi
5 The Outer Limits
6 Q9
7 The Banana Splits
8 Ancient Astronauts
9 Hong Kong Beat
10 Space 1999
11 The Pink Panther
12 Happy Days
13 Superstar Profile: Roger Moore
14 Dallas
15 What’s On Wogan

At home, I got rid of some old clothes, which saddened me actually, as it was my teen life going in the bin. Mum found out she had to go into hospital yet again, which was worrying, though I was more happy to be able to give them half my new UB40 £20 a week, and have a bit left over for some new clothes (brown cords trousers). Did my first job application: the CHAD local newspaper (Artist/Visualiser): my expectations would eventually drift downwards and more realistically. My new chart was done on Friday 18th (but is still dated 22nd July as at that time it was still the week-ending date before the new chart was announced on Tuesdays). I think the day I did my chart varied more from here on, but tended to be after Top Of The Pops broadcasts so it could be up-to-date.

 

29th July 1980

Abba get their 14th consecutive number one, and 15th in total, with the sublime The Winner Takes It All, heartbreak perfection. Only The Beatles could claim to be bigger – depending on whether you include a separate Beatles chart in 1976 as bonafide. I sorta do cos most of their career was pre-my-chart and singles and album tracks would have been just as chart-topper-y as Abba’s, who would have had considerably more chart-toppers had I allowed album tracks such as Eagle, Tiger, If It Wasn’t For The Nights and Hole In Your Soul to chart. Diana Ross meanwhile leaps upside to 3, her highest charting since 1976, and highest-charting new material since 1972. Kate Bush gets a 4th top 5, ELO keep the run of top 10 singles running to 5 years, and Change go top 10 too.

Gibson Brothers go top 20, Beach Boys blow up to 20, and Hall & Oates get a first top 20 entry four years on from the brilliant She’s Gone with Running From Paradise, up 39 places after pottering about a bit. Billy Joel adds another top 40 to his list, but it’s still rock ‘n’ roll to me, as The Gap Band turn sitting in a line on the floor into a rowing fad with Oops Upside Your Head entering at 28. Hot Choc hit the 40, Black Sabbath get a 3rd top 40 hit with Neon Knights, a decade since Paranoid premiered, and Grace Jones makes the 40 with her Private Life. Sheena easton debuts, a reality TV star, wholesome and shrill and Scottish, with a not-Dolly-Parton 9 To 5 song which went on to top the charts in the USA under it’s alternate title (in brackets here). Dolly is more famous these days, and Sheena shocked when she moved to the States and went all raunchy in the mid-80’s, but for now we had to make do with a fairly dated bland pop ditty.

Kim Carnes and Gene Chandler finally make the 40 with 2 minor gems that should have been bigger gems, and Racey return with a less chirpy pop song Rest Of Your Life at 47, it wasn’t bad, while a funk classic aiming for Jamaica is in at 54 for Tom Browne. Not the BBC singles UK Radio Chart rundown DJ Tom Browne, though. Pity! Bodysnatchers are back looking for an Easy Life, Roxy Music quip “Oh Yeah”? as they hit a new laid-back low (for me) at 63, and quirky Piranhas debut with 50’s cover, all cockernee-stylee, Tom Hark. Chirpy and catchy. Jacko gets his 5th single off Off The Wall, and it’s mate and future estranged-mate Macca’s song, Girlfriend, in at 66. Not a finest moment for either party, but pleasant enough. Finally, John Foxx joins his ex-bandmates Ultravox, in a Burning Car at 71.

http://youtube.com/v/92cwKCU8Z5c

1 ( 2 ) THE WINNER TAKES IT ALL Abba
2 ( 1 ) XANADU Olivia Newton-John & The Electric Light Orchestra
3 ( 31 ) UPSIDE DOWN Diana Ross
4 ( 8 ) BABOOSHKA Kate Bush
5 ( 7 ) THERE THERE MY DEAR Dexy’s Midnight Runners
6 ( 27 ) ALL OVER THE WORLD E.L.O.
7 ( 9 ) COULD YOU BE LOVED Bob Marley And The Wailers
8 ( 3 ) 747 (STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT) Saxon
9 ( 15 ) A LOVER’S HOLIDAY Change
10 ( 4 ) ME MYSELF I Joan Armatrading

http://youtube.com/v/Qqk_6hzbVx4

11 ( 5 ) WATERFALLS Paul McCartney
12 ( 22 ) THEME FROM INVADERS Yellow Magic Orchestra
13 ( 16 ) SANCTUARY New Musik
14 ( 6 ) MESSAGES Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
15 ( 40 ) MARIANA The Gibson Brothers
16 ( 18 ) EMOTIONAL RESCUE The Rolling Stones
17 ( 10 ) JUMP TO THE BEAT Stacey Lattisaw
18 ( 19 ) WEDNESDAY WEEK The Undertones
19 ( 58 ) RUNNING FROM PARADISE Daryl Hall & John Oates
20 ( 30 ) SANTA ANA WINDS The Beach Boys

http://youtube.com/v/4CPZa21DFA8

21 ( 12 ) USE IT UP AND WEAR IT OUT Odyssey
22 ( 26 ) MORE THAN I CAN SAY Leo Sayer
23 ( 57 ) IT’S STILL ROCK ‘N’ ROLL TO ME Billy Joel
24 ( 13 ) LOVE WILL TEAR US APART Joy Division
25 ( 28 ) LIP UP FATTY Bad Manners
26 ( 39 ) WHOLE LOTTA ROSIE AC/DC
27 ( 17 ) CRYING Don McLean
28 ( NEW ) OOPS UPSIDE YOUR HEAD The Gap Band
29 ( 55 ) ARE YOU GETTING ENOUGH HAPPINESS Hot Chocolate
30 ( 23 ) I’M ALIVE Electric Light Orchestra

31 ( 11 ) CHRISTINE Siouxsie And The Banshees
32 ( 14 ) BEHIND THE GROOVE Teena Marie
33 ( NEW ) NEON KNIGHTS Black Sabbath
34 ( 21 ) BACK TOGETHER AGAIN Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway
35 ( 51 ) PRIVATE LIFE Grace Jones
36 ( NEW ) 9 TO 5 (MY BABY TAKES THE MORNING TRAIN) Sheena Easton
37 ( 38 ) MY GIRL The Whispers
38 ( 25 ) TWO PINTS OF LAGER AND A PACKET OF CRISPS Splodgenessabounds
39 ( 48 ) MORE LOVE Kim Carnes
40 ( 54 ) DOES SHE HAVE A FRIEND Gene Chandler

http://youtube.com/v/2xwL-7fKKUE

41 ( 32 ) MY WAY OF THINKING UB40
42 ( 24 ) LET’S HANG ON Darts
43 ( 36 ) NO DOUBT ABOUT IT Hot Chocolate
44 ( 33 ) BED’S TOO BIG WITHOUT YOU (6 PACK) The Police
45 ( 29 ) DIDDY WAH DIDDY (BLUES BAND EP) The Blues Band
46 ( 69 ) SLEEPWALKING Ultravox
47 ( NEW ) REST OF YOUR LIFE Racey
48 ( 35 ) CUPID – I’VE LOVED YOU FOR A LONG TIME The Detroit Spinners
49 ( 37 ) I DON’T WANT YOU ANYMORE Tavares
50 ( 41 ) FUNKY TOWN Lipps Inc

http://youtube.com/v/ukCHU5n8Sbg

51 ( 44 ) SOLDIER’S SONG The Hollies
52 ( 43 ) THEME FROM M*A*S*H The MASH
53 ( 34 ) PLAY THE GAME Queen
54 ( NEW ) FUNKIN’ FOR JAMAICA Tom Browne
55 ( 52 ) MONKEES EP (LAST TRAIN TO CLARKSVILLE/ I’M A BELIEVER/ A LITTLE BIT ME A LITTLE BIT YOU/ DAYDREAM BELIEVER) The Monkees
56 ( 20 ) I’M NOT YOUR STEPPING STONE The Sex Pistols
57 ( 45 ) STEAL AWAY Robbie Dupree
58 ( 59 ) NEWS AT TEN The Vapors
59 ( 46 ) YOU GAVE ME LOVE Crown Heights Affair
60 ( NEW ) EASY LIFE The Bodysnatchers

61 ( 61 ) GET IT RIGHT NEXT TIME Gerry Rafferty
62 ( 62 ) DON’T BRING ME DOWN E.L.O.
63 ( NEW ) OH YEAH Roxy Music
64 ( NEW ) TOM HARK The Piranhas
65 ( 53 ) WE ARE GLASS Gary Numan
66 ( NEW ) GIRLFRIEND Michael Jackson
67 ( 67 ) DO YOU DREAM IN COLOUR Bill Nelson
68 ( 71 ) MY GUY/MY GIRL Amii Stewart and Johnny Bristol
69 ( 60 ) GENO Dexy’s Midnight Runners
70 ( 56 ) DON’T TELL ME Shona Laing

71 ( NEW ) BURNING CAR John Foxx
72 ( 70 ) PAINT IT BLACK The Mo-Dettes
73 ( 73 ) READY AND WILLING Whitesnake
74 ( 63 ) LOST IN LOVE Air Supply
75 ( 42 ) EVERYBODY’S GOT TO LEARN SOMETIME The Korgis

TV 19th-25th July
1 Fawlty Towers
2 Olympics 1980
3 Soap
4 Rhoda
5 Q9
6 Horizon: The Bermuda Triangle
7 Porridge
8 Moviola: Garbo & Gilbert
9 The Good Life
10 Moviola: Scarlett O’Hara
11 Moviola: Marilyn Monroe
12 Space: 1999
13 What’s On Wogan
14 Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em
15 Fantasy Island

That leaves TV chat – mostly 70’s sitcoms, as it happens, plus the 1980 Olympics, a batch of Hollywood Golden Age greats on Moviola TV Biog miniseries, and also a bit of Spike Milligan. In my life, dad bought me a jacket in Nottingham, I bought myself some Legion Of Super-Heroes comics (even though I couldnt afford them, I had to have them), and mum’s cousin Pauline was out of hospital OK, though family life was tense and terse as mum waited anxiously to go into hospital herself. Various relations came round to visit during the week until mum went in on Sunday, anxious about her operation. To say the least, and so was I.

In the Olympics Duncan Goodhew won gold in the swimming, Ovett vs Coe, Alan Wells, Daley Thompson, loads of UK athletes doing the biz; Peter Sellers died far too young in shock news, I wrote: “A blow, too young, top of career etc. A damn funny man – it’s never fair. No wonder older people are cynical.” As indeed I am now. ON TV show Fantasy Island guest star was Marcia Wallace, of Bob Newhart Show USA fame, who I’d watched live on The Match Game in LA a year earlier – and I had no-one to tell! No-one had heard of her, or cared. I liked her, and she eventually gained TV immortality as Mrs Krabappel in the Simpsons. So now I can tell someone.

My 1975 Charts – March

gloucester and Toby’s bookshop

buzzjack youtube 1975 links

4th March 1975

6th and final week for Helen Reddy’s Angie Baby on top, but who will topple her – Wigan’s Chosen Few play footsie at 2, Shirley says Shame Shame Shame at only going up to 3, and there are 2 big new entries: Gloria Gaynor follows up her big number one with a cover of a Motown classic in at 4, the Four Tops Reach Out I’ll Be There, and it’s a thumping frantic disco anthem, for me the best version apart from the original. At 5, it’s a long-missing 50’s guitar instrumental legend, Duane Eddy, who gets some help from a chorus of girl Rebelettes to twang along in the 70’s: Play Me Like Your Guitar is great, though not as great as his old classics like Peter Gunn, Rebel Rouser and Because They’re Young. Close thing, though.

Bowie goes top 20 with his funky Young Americans, ditto Supertramp and Moments and Whatnauts, while in at 26 it’s a 60’s Northern Soul-inspired hit for Gary Lewis And The Playboys, My Heart’s Symphony. They had a whole run of big US hits, and were notable for Gary being the son of comedian Jerry Lewis, and being pretty good pop, especially the fab This Diamond Ring, which was never a UK hit (like almost their entire career). The strings on this one add a bit of 60’s pop interest and I still love it, should have been bigger. Meanwhile Hamilton Bohannon smoothly funks his way to 28, the Average White Band do the same at 29, and Sweet return with their first self-written hit Fox On The Run, and it’s pretty good, in at 30! Giving them 4 years of hits, non-stop.

In at 43, it’s Barry Manilow debuting with the OTT Mandy, a cover of the much-better original sitting at 10 for Scott English – Brandy. It just came over as a bland, if mildly pleasant version of a great song, to me at the time. At 44, the Bay City Rollers ditch their songwriters and go it alone – by covering a Four Seasons non-UK-hit, Bye Bye Baby – they do it effectively, and the song wasn’t that well known in the UK, but it was the start of a loooooong list of acts getting much bigger hits than the brilliant Four Seasons originals in the UK – in the USA it was the other way round, for the most part. Which leaves Helen Reddy getting a follow-up entry as she drops off the top, Free And Easy, and Nosmo King and The Javells getting another chart entry (albeit unlikely) at 46. Finally Jim Stafford has a 3rd entry, with Your Bulldog Drinks Champagne – he certainly never was predictable!

1 ( 1 ) ANGIE BABY Helen Reddy
2 ( 3 ) FOOTSIE Wigan’s Chosen Few
3 ( 4 ) SHAME SHAME SHAME Shirley & Company
4 ( NEW ) REACH OUT I’LL BE THERE Gloria Gaynor
5 ( NEW ) PLAY ME LIKE YOU PLAY YOUR GUITAR Duane Eddy and The Rebelettes
6 ( 2 ) HITCHIN’ A RIDE ’75 Paper Lace
7 ( 6 ) ONLY YOU CAN Fox
8 ( 7 ) HEY GIRL DON’T BOTHER ME The Tams
9 ( 8 ) THIS OLD HEART OF MINE The Isley Brothers
10 ( 9 ) BRANDY Scott English

11 ( 11 ) DON’T BE CRUEL Mike Berry
12 ( 5 ) THE SECRETS THAT YOU KEEP Mud
13 ( 13 ) I CAN DO IT The Rubettes
14 ( 14 ) OUR NATIONAL PASTIME Rupert Holmes
15 ( 24 ) YOUNG AMERICANS David Bowie
16 ( 10 ) THEN I CHANGE HANDS Mick Robertson
17 ( 12 ) MAKE ME SMILE (COME UP AND SEE ME) Steve Harley And Cockney Rebel
18 ( 26 ) DREAMER Supertramp
19 ( 23 ) GIRLS Moments and Whatnauts
20 ( 18 ) #9 DREAM John Lennon

21 ( 20 ) REMEMBER THE DAYS OF THE OLD SCHOOL YARD Linda Lewis
22 ( 36 ) SNOOKEROO Ringo Starr
23 ( 17 ) PLEASE MR POSTMAN The Carpenters
24 ( 16 ) YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY Ohio Express
25 ( 15 ) NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE Gloria Gaynor
26 ( NEW ) MY HEART’S SYMPHONY Gary Lewis And The Playboys
27 ( 27 ) I’M ON MY WAY Dean Parrish
28 ( 44 ) SOUTH AFRICAN MAN Hamilton Bohannon
29 ( 43 ) PICK UP THE PIECES The Average White Band
30 ( NEW ) FOX ON THE RUN Sweet

31 ( 19 ) THE QUEEN OF 1964 Neil Sedaka
32 ( 33 ) GAMES UP Hello
33 ( 21 ) I’LL TAKE A MELODY The Hues Corporation
34 ( 22 ) I’M HER FOOL Billy Swan
35 ( 25 ) IT MAY BE WINTER OUTSIDE (BUT IN MY HEART IT’S SPRING) Love Unlimited
36 ( 30 ) BOOGIE ON REGGAE WOMAN Stevie Wonder
37 ( 28 ) YOUR KISS IS SWEET Syreeta
38 ( 29 ) GET DANCIN’ Disco Tex and The Sex-o-lettes
39 ( 46 ) DOWN DOWN Status Quo
40 ( 45 ) LOVE IS ALL Roger Glover and Guests (featuring Ronnie Dio)

41 ( 31 ) SHOORAH SHOORAH Betty Wright
42 ( 32 ) ROLL ON DOWN THE HIGHWAY Bachman-Turner Overdrive
43 ( NEW ) MANDY Barry Manilow
44 ( NEW ) BYE BYE BABY The Bay City Rollers
45 ( NEW ) FREE AND EASY Helen Reddy
46 ( NEW ) LOVIN’ YOU IS EASY Nosmo King and The Javells
47 ( 40 ) LEGO SKANGA Rupie Edwards
48 ( 41 ) MY LAST NIGHT WITH YOU Arrows
49 ( 42 ) DOCTOR LOVE The Pearls
50 ( NEW ) YOUR BULLDOG DRINKS CHAMPAGNE Jim Stafford

11th March 1975

Gloria Gaynor gets her 2nd chart-topper in a row, Reach Out I’ll Be There getting there in 2 weeks flat, and a new disco queen arrives. Not me, no. It’s all about Gloria’s vocal, the fab percussion, the backing singers and especially the heavy drumbeat on the chorus. Excited me no end at the time, and still does. Shooting up to 2, Supertramp’s best record Dreamer, it still sounds fresh, urgent and original, well beyond the normal single format. Duane Eddy has a veteran top 3 hit when few from the 50’s were still going, bar the odd Cliff and Elvis. Bowie gets his first top 10 since Sorrow, and his 7th to date, while The Rubettes get a 3rd, cos they can do it. The Rollers rocket up to 12, rather unexpectedly, as my early love for the Rollers in 1971-73 was well on the turn to annoyance what with all the screaming pre-teen girls all over the place, and Gary Lewis gets a 9-years-late top 20 hit.

It’s all about the 19 new entries though, as the music scene hits overdrive and my chart has an almost 40% clearout. 19 is a new record, and is headed by an old-fashioned Eurovision-styled boy-girl singalong, and it’s fab – There’s A Whole Lot Of Loving is schmaltzy, overdoses on the backing singers and strings, and has a killer chorus…yes it’s a real guilty pleasure! The group had TV host Bruce Forsyth’s daughter in it, not to mention Thereza Bazar and David Van Day, future hit duo Dollar. Talking of Eurovision, Radio Luxembourg was busy plugging Geraldine’s English-language version (You) of her French-language entry, Toi, and here it is at 28, making it 4 years in a row that Luxembourg had charted. It’s also one place higher than the UK’s entry, the last one under the system where an established act is chosen to sing 6 songs, then the public vote – and this time Cliff’s backing band, and UK instrumental heroes The Shadows join Duane Eddy on the comeback trail and also get a debut rare vocal hit, Let Me Be The One. It’s not bad at all.

At 30, a dance cover of The Beatles’ George Harrison song Something, from The Miracle Workers, gives it 3 hit versions in 6 years, while a Dutch duo cover of the 60’s childhood fave of mine Swinging On A Star (by Big Dee Irwin and Little Eva, itself a 40’s Bing Crosby cover) enters at 41 for the badly-named Spooky And Sue. An actual 60’s song I liked enters at 47 for The McCoys, Hang On Sloopy, while a 40’s styled gorgeous gentle ballad (and tribute to Fred Astaire) enters at 35 for Don McLean, his first hit in 3 years – Wonderful Baby.

At 32 and 33, two big US hits for two big UK-based stars, and two big UK-flops as they moved to the States and got ignored by UK record-buyers. Idiots. ELO’s Can’t Get It Out Of My Head is a touching emotive ballad, and a singles departure for the band that eventually charted 3 years later on an EP in the UK, while Olivia Newton-John was moving out of country into melodic pop ballads, and one of her best: Have You Never Been Mellow, lovely. At 34 a late glam rock entrant from Shabby Tiger (too late for the UK to chart it, but not in Europe), Slow Down is decent enough, and at 36 The Goodies get a thrid hit with a Funky Gibbon. Yes, well, hmmm, it was catchy for a couple of weeks! David Bowie’s guitarist, the legendary Mick Ronson gets a quirky solo entry at 45, Billy Porter, Alice Cooper gets 3 years of chart entries at 48, Department Of Youth. Also 3 years on, Peter Skellern gets a follow-up entry at 50, the laid-back Hold On To Love, and 2 years on ex-teacher Clifford T. Ward keeps the gentle folk ballads coming, gets a 4th entry with the delightful Jigsaw Girl at 49.

Phew! That leaves just the great new ones, from K.C. And The Sunshine Band, and a third hit (and a 6th song) with Get Down Tonight, as the fabulous funky dance grooves get notched a peg or two, even over chart-topper Queen Of Clubs. The basis of more than one future sampled hit, and still brilliant, and in at 37. Then there’s Elton John, with a Band attached, a new sound of Philadelphia, strings, soul, fabulousness, and a song dedicated to gay tennis player Billie-Jean King, Philadelphia Freedom. In at 42, 4 years of chartdom, and Elton had yet to miss the chart since Rocket Man hit 2, and was followed up by 2 number one’s in Crocodile Rock and Bennie And The Jets in 1972 and 1974. Elton, it should be stressed, was the biggest star in the world at this point and could do no wrong, especially in the USA, and was mightily prolific, 2 albums a year, and singles not necessarily on albums, and album tracks that should have been singles but weren’t. Phew!

1 ( 4 ) REACH OUT I’LL BE THERE Gloria Gaynor
2 ( 18 ) DREAMER Supertramp
3 ( 5 ) PLAY ME LIKE YOU PLAY YOUR GUITAR Duane Eddy and The Rebelettes
4 ( 1 ) ANGIE BABY Helen Reddy
5 ( 2 ) FOOTSIE Wigan’s Chosen Few
6 ( 3 ) SHAME SHAME SHAME Shirley & Company
7 ( 15 ) YOUNG AMERICANS David Bowie
8 ( 13 ) I CAN DO IT The Rubettes
9 ( NEW ) THERE’S A WHOLE LOT OF LOVING Guys and Dolls
10 ( 11 ) DON’T BE CRUEL Mike Berry

11 ( 6 ) HITCHIN’ A RIDE ’75 Paper Lace
12 ( 44 ) BYE BYE BABY The Bay City Rollers
13 ( 26 ) MY HEART’S SYMPHONY Gary Lewis And The Playboys
14 ( 14 ) OUR NATIONAL PASTIME Rupert Holmes
15 ( 19 ) GIRLS Moments and Whatnauts
16 ( 8 ) HEY GIRL DON’T BOTHER ME The Tams
17 ( 9 ) THIS OLD HEART OF MINE The Isley Brothers
18 ( 10 ) BRANDY Scott English
19 ( 20 ) #9 DREAM John Lennon
20 ( 7 ) ONLY YOU CAN Fox

21 ( 30 ) FOX ON THE RUN Sweet
22 ( 29 ) PICK UP THE PIECES The Average White Band
23 ( 28 ) SOUTH AFRICAN MAN Hamilton Bohannon
24 ( 22 ) SNOOKEROO Ringo Starr
25 ( 31 ) THE QUEEN OF 1964 Neil Sedaka
26 ( 12 ) THE SECRETS THAT YOU KEEP Mud
27 ( NEW ) FANCY PANTS Kenny
28 ( NEW ) YOU Geraldine
29 ( NEW ) LET ME BE THE ONE The Shadows
30 ( NEW ) SOMETHING The Miracle Workers

31 ( 32 ) GAMES UP Hello
32 ( NEW ) CAN’T GET IT OUT OF MY HEAD The Electric Light Orchestra
33 ( NEW ) HAVE YOU NEVER BEEN MELLOW Olivia Newton-John
34 ( NEW ) SLOW DOWN Shabby Tiger
35 ( NEW ) WONDERFUL BABY Don McLean
36 ( NEW ) FUNKY GIBBON The Goodies
37 ( NEW ) GET DOWN TONIGHT K.C. And The Sunshine Band
38 ( 17 ) MAKE ME SMILE (COME UP AND SEE ME) Steve Harley And Cockney Rebel
39 ( 25 ) NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE Gloria Gaynor
40 ( 23 ) PLEASE MR POSTMAN The Carpenters

41 ( NEW ) SWINGING ON A STAR Spooky And Sue
42 ( NEW ) PHILADELPHIA FREEDOM The Elton John Band
43 ( 43 ) MANDY Barry Manilow
44 ( 41 ) SHOORAH SHOORAH Betty Wright
45 ( NEW ) BILLY PORTER Mick Ronson
46 ( NEW ) SWEET MUSIC Showaddywaddy
47 ( NEW ) HANG ON SLOOPY The McCoys
48 ( NEW ) DEPARTMENT OF YOUTH Alice Cooper
49 ( NEW ) JIGSAW GIRL Clifford T. Ward
50 ( NEW ) HOLD ON TO LOVE Peter Skellern

18th March 1975

After the deluge of last week, only 2 new entries and Gloria Gaynor gets 2 weeks reaching out on top. The rest of the chart is busy though, Elton up 40 places to 2 outdoing all his previous singles bar 3, just lovin’ that Philadelphia Freedom. Bowie also does better here than any other chart, hitting 5 with Young Americans – Bowie fans struggled with the new “plastic soul” sound, but not me, loved it. The Sweet get an 11th Top 10 hit, Neil Sedaka stops yo-yo-ing and hits 8 for his annual top 10 hit, now allied with Elton John on his label, and ELO get a 4th top 10.

The 2 Eurovision songs keep pace with each other at 14 and 15, Geraldine still having the edge, while Livvy goes top 20, and Shabby Tiger slow down at 19. New at 44 it’s Polly Brown getting a second solo hit, dialling L for Love, though it’s now 5 years since she debuted with Pickettywich. Finally, at 48, The Hues Corporation have a 4th chart entry with the Love Corporation, diminishing returns but they still sound good.

1 ( 1 ) REACH OUT I’LL BE THERE Gloria Gaynor
2 ( 42 ) PHILADELPHIA FREEDOM The Elton John Band
3 ( 3 ) PLAY ME LIKE YOU PLAY YOUR GUITAR Duane Eddy and The Rebelettes
4 ( 2 ) DREAMER Supertramp
5 ( 7 ) YOUNG AMERICANS David Bowie
6 ( 9 ) THERE’S A WHOLE LOT OF LOVING Guys and Dolls
7 ( 21 ) FOX ON THE RUN Sweet
8 ( 25 ) THE QUEEN OF 1964 Neil Sedaka
9 ( 32 ) CAN’T GET IT OUT OF MY HEAD The Electric Light Orchestra
10 ( 4 ) ANGIE BABY Helen Reddy

11 ( 5 ) FOOTSIE Wigan’s Chosen Few
12 ( 6 ) SHAME SHAME SHAME Shirley & Company
13 ( 8 ) I CAN DO IT The Rubettes
14 ( 28 ) YOU Geraldine
15 ( 29 ) LET ME BE THE ONE The Shadows
16 ( 13 ) MY HEART’S SYMPHONY Gary Lewis And The Playboys
17 ( 15 ) GIRLS Moments and Whatnauts
18 ( 33 ) HAVE YOU NEVER BEEN MELLOW Olivia Newton-John
19 ( 34 ) SLOW DOWN Shabby Tiger
20 ( 10 ) DON’T BE CRUEL Mike Berry

21 ( 11 ) HITCHIN’ A RIDE ’75 Paper Lace
22 ( 19 ) #9 DREAM John Lennon
23 ( 37 ) GET DOWN TONIGHT K.C. And The Sunshine Band
24 ( 36 ) FUNKY GIBBON The Goodies
25 ( 12 ) BYE BYE BABY The Bay City Rollers
26 ( 22 ) PICK UP THE PIECES The Average White Band
27 ( 27 ) FANCY PANTS Kenny
28 ( 30 ) SOMETHING The Miracle Workers
29 ( 20 ) ONLY YOU CAN Fox
30 ( 31 ) GAMES UP Hello

31 ( 16 ) HEY GIRL DON’T BOTHER ME The Tams
32 ( 17 ) THIS OLD HEART OF MINE The Isley Brothers
33 ( 18 ) BRANDY Scott English
34 ( 23 ) SOUTH AFRICAN MAN Hamilton Bohannon
35 ( 35 ) WONDERFUL BABY Don McLean
36 ( 26 ) THE SECRETS THAT YOU KEEP Mud
37 ( 14 ) OUR NATIONAL PASTIME Rupert Holmes
38 ( 46 ) SWEET MUSIC Showaddywaddy
39 ( 39 ) NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE Gloria Gaynor
40 ( 40 ) PLEASE MR POSTMAN The Carpenters

41 ( 41 ) SWINGING ON A STAR Spooky And Sue
42 ( 45 ) BILLY PORTER Mick Ronson
43 ( 50 ) HOLD ON TO LOVE Peter Skellern
44 ( NEW ) DIAL ‘L’ FOR LOVE Polly Brown
45 ( 49 ) JIGSAW GIRL Clifford T. Ward
46 ( 47 ) HANG ON SLOOPY The McCoys
47 ( 24 ) SNOOKEROO Ringo Starr
48 ( NEW ) LOVE CORPORATION The Hues Corporation
49 ( 43 ) MANDY Barry Manilow
50 ( 38 ) MAKE ME SMILE (COME UP AND SEE ME) Steve Harley And Cockney Rebel

In Gloucester days, I was seriously buying every vinyl single I could get afford and find, and every old and new DC comic I could find. I scoured all the record shops (and there were plenty in those days) and newsagents that stocked American comics, and had a weekly Saturday bus ride, or walk of a few miles (to have extra money to spend on them) to do the rounds, especially the second-hand bookstore Toby’s which had stocks of recent DC comics printed with their name on the cover – much cheaper for me and I picked up loads I’d missed. Hooray! We also had a family ride, after some snowfall, to see our Singapore family friends the Wainwrights, after not seeing them for a year or so – I have the trip there fixed in my mind to some of the Radio 1 playlist tracks of the time, so I associate them with crisp snow and sunshine, for instance Fox On The Run and Young Americans, and especially Philadelphia Freedom. Odd the things that stick in the mind sometime. It was great seeing them all again.

25th March 1975 part 1 (Eurovision)

It’s a new number one, but dropping from 6 and completely out of the chart it’s Guys & Dolls with one of the shortest ever chart runs for a record that peaked at 6 – 2 weeks, peak, and out! It’s a guilty pleasure, but one that I got over quickly, until a decent amount of time had passed by (years), and then I loved it again. Anyway, new at 1 it’s Elton, yay! His 3rd number one in 4 years, a brilliant Philly soul record by a white British rock star, joining Bowie in crossing some genre boundaries, and also commenting at the time about his domination on USA radio where his singles just would not leave the chart – he wished they would stop playing them and let them leave the chart, even he was getting fed up of it! This, of course, is now how the whole music business works: overkill, monotony, and dominated by a huge few stars. Elton was also presiding over another chart invasion, though, chock full of good new singles, led by the Eurovision winner, Teach-In, at 10. Ding A Dong! Or Dinge Dong, take your pick. It was an immediate hit with me while I babysat, and my clear favourite, though the chart placing just ahead of the UK and Luxembourg might say otherwise. The Shadows did well, and Geraldine, Toi, so there’s a mini-1975 Eurovision section to enjoy. Or ‘enjoy’! The Netherlands deserved to win though, and they had clearly learnt the Abba lesson and gone uptempo pop. So here the three are…

25th March 1975 (part 2)

Back in March 1975, 25th, and K.C. is up to 3 for his 3rd successive top 3 hit, with one of the great instant instrumental funk intros, do a little dance make a little love, get down tonight! The Sweet hit 4, fox-chasing, and Olivia hits 6 with her biggest ever hit in 4 years, so she must have been feeling pretty mellow about that. The second highest new entry is the record that came 2nd in the Radio 1 All-Time Top 100 singles, as compiled in 1974 – Young Girl won it (and charted all over again) but runner-up was Bobby Goldsboro’s 1968 UK number 2, which was reissued in the UK and hit 2 again, having been 2 on the 100. A case of the 2’s if ever I heard it! The sickly-sweet sentimental tragedy song enters at 14 here. It’s both touching and OTT laughable, depending on mood. It fit in with tragic news of the death of a classmate in a motorbike accident, Martin Milliard, who’d been getting interviews with football clubs. His best mate Davvy was a mate at school, and I was shocked and sad all round for Davvy and Milli’s family. The song came up in group classroom conversation, and Davvy took it’s side, so did I.

In at 16, Jim Gilstrap’s lovely gospel soul shuffler Swing Your Daddy, and in at 17 another Wigan band, Wigan’s Ovation with an actual NEW recording and northern soul cover hit, the Invitations’ Skiing In The Snow. Northern Soul was cool in the working class circles. Lulu’s back with another image change at 26, this time soul funk, one style she was to return to most frequently over the years. The record? Take You Mama For A Ride, and 7 years of hits. Missing for 2 years, and it’s a welcome return for Middle Of The Road, with the flop single Hitchin’ A Ride In The Moonlight, which managed to grab a couple of plays on Radio Luxembourg, and nothing in the UK, but it gives them an 8th bubblegum chart entry for me. I haven’t heard it for decades, and it’s not on itunes, boo!

Ralph McTell’s back at 34 with a forgotten, non-itunes, follow-up El Progresso, not that folky, while Hot Chocolate return with new single Blue Night, in the style of Emma at 48. Pretty good, a flop, no airplay, but it had a B Side you may have heard of, a ditty called You Sexy Thing. Come back in 7 months when it gets flipped, and Blue Night is the B Side. 49, Caston And Majors, a Motown act, and a fantastic record in Child Of Love, fab song, should have been a hit. Finally, at 50, it’s another oldie reissue from the late Jim Croce, one which would have charted in 1972 had my charts allowed non-UK-chart records: Bad Bad Leroy Brown. Big US hit.

1 ( 2 ) PHILADELPHIA FREEDOM The Elton John Band
2 ( 1 ) REACH OUT I’LL BE THERE Gloria Gaynor
3 ( 23 ) GET DOWN TONIGHT K.C. And The Sunshine Band
4 ( 7 ) FOX ON THE RUN The Sweet
5 ( 3 ) PLAY ME LIKE YOU PLAY YOUR GUITAR Duane Eddy and The Rebelettes
6 ( 18 ) HAVE YOU NEVER BEEN MELLOW Olivia Newton-John
7 ( 9 ) CAN’T GET IT OUT OF MY HEAD The Electric Light Orchestra
8 ( 4 ) DREAMER Supertramp
9 ( 5 ) YOUNG AMERICANS David Bowie
10 ( NEW ) DING A DONG Teach-In

11 ( 15 ) LET ME BE THE ONE The Shadows
12 ( 14 ) YOU Geraldine
13 ( 16 ) MY HEART’S SYMPHONY Gary Lewis And The Playboys
14 ( NEW ) HONEY Bobby Goldsboro
15 ( 19 ) SLOW DOWN Shabby Tiger
16 ( NEW ) SWING YOUR DADDY Jim Gilstrap
17 ( NEW ) SKIING IN THE SNOW Wigan’s Ovation
18 ( 10 ) ANGIE BABY Helen Reddy
19 ( 11 ) FOOTSIE Wigan’s Chosen Few
20 ( 12 ) SHAME SHAME SHAME Shirley & Company

21 ( 28 ) SOMETHING The Miracle Workers
22 ( 8 ) THE QUEEN OF 1964 Neil Sedaka
23 ( 27 ) FANCY PANTS Kenny
24 ( 13 ) I CAN DO IT The Rubettes
25 ( 45 ) JIGSAW GIRL Clifford T. Ward
26 ( NEW ) TAKE YOUR MAMA FOR A RIDE Lulu
27 ( NEW ) HITCHIN’ A RIDE IN THE MOONLIGHT Middle Of The Road
28 ( 21 ) HITCHIN’ A RIDE ’75 Paper Lace
29 ( RE ) THEN I CHANGE HANDS Mick Robertson
30 ( 22 ) #9 DREAM John Lennon

31 ( 31 ) HEY GIRL DON’T BOTHER ME The Tams
32 ( 32 ) THIS OLD HEART OF MINE The Isley Brothers
33 ( 33 ) BRANDY Scott English
34 ( NEW ) EL PROGRESSO Ralph McTell
35 ( 43 ) HOLD ON TO LOVE Peter Skellern
36 ( 24 ) FUNKY GIBBON The Goodies
37 ( 35 ) WONDERFUL BABY Don McLean
38 ( 26 ) PICK UP THE PIECES The Average White Band
39 ( 34 ) SOUTH AFRICAN MAN Hamilton Bohannon
40 ( 29 ) ONLY YOU CAN Fox

41 ( 39 ) NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE Gloria Gaynor
42 ( 40 ) PLEASE MR POSTMAN The Carpenters
43 ( 44 ) DIAL ‘L’ FOR LOVE Polly Brown
44 ( 20 ) DON’T BE CRUEL Mike Berry
45 ( 42 ) BILLY PORTER Mick Ronson
46 ( 41 ) SWINGING ON A STAR Spooky And Sue
47 ( 48 ) LOVE CORPORATION The Hues Corporation
48 ( NEW ) BLUE NIGHT Hot Chocolate
49 ( NEW ) CHILD OF LOVE Caston And Majors
50 ( NEW ) BAD BAD LEROY BROWN Jim Croce

Olivia Newton-John Live in Bournemouth March 11th 2013

I’m the one on the left, in Singapore 1971, just before I saw a musical with spaceships in swinging London and a young Australian lead-singer in it:)

Olivia Newton-John Live in Bournemouth March 11th 2013

Olivia and I went our separate musical ways about 30 years ago, and Glee and the odd UK interview visit apart, it’s mostly been “Grease” that’s kept her popping up over the decades into the forefront of the mind. I was a Livvie lover though when I was a teenager, for a good 10 years or so, so I thought I’d take a punt as she’d been good enough to drop by Bournemouth (and boo hiss to those who stayed away thanks to the arctic weather, it wasn‘t by any means a full house!). Good call! She was fab-u-lous. I had no expectations, as I didn’t realise she’d been touring extensively for some time, but I think it’s fair to say it was polished, spot-on, entertaining, nostalgic, and impressive.

Cards-on-table I first found Olivia in 1971 in a movie shown in RAF Swinderby‘s cinema: “Toomorrow” a sci-fi musical with groovy songs in space, and Olivia was charming. I loved the reference though when  Olivia asked the audience if they knew which musical she was about to do a song from, some wag shouted “Toomorrow!” – ah if only she had done a track, but she saw the funny sideJ

Apart from me and my minority interest though, Olivia covered all parts of her musical life, early days, country days, folkie days, ballad days, pop days, Grease-days, Xanadu-days, Physical-days, Gaia-days, Charity-days, she didn’t miss anything out, not even Eurovision (when she had the misfortune to come up against the immortal Abba) which brought a right old grin onto my face, I really must download that fab slice of cheese…I may not be familiar with her recent stuff, most of it self-composed, but honestly, there was no filler. If I had a petty preference it would been to drop Jolene in favour of the lovely album track Winterwood. The crowd may have loved, obviously, Grease and Physical, and Xanadu best but I tended to prefer the earlier stuff, my first Olivia purchase “Have You Never Been Mellow”, and her best ballads (Dylan, Harrison, Denver and songs like Sam).

As for Olivia and her band and backing /co-singers: They were great. The sound was great. The singing? Well, apart from a frog-in-the-throat moment (Olivia stopped A Little More Love to take a sip and start again – bonus! We got to hear it twice) I was very impressed. I’ve always loved her singing voice, but had no idea she had such a great range: for instance when she did early -career-song Cry Me A River she really interpreted it beautifully, her voice has a mature quality to it now, she could easily do an album of standards justice. OK, I’d kind of like to see her shock everyone and do a Guetta or will.I.am guest vocal (she could handle it!) but that would be a more logical move.

OK, I’m about to do indulge myself and list my fave tracks of the night, but one more batch of compliments to go first! I’ve been to hundreds of live concerts, so kudos where it’s due, Olivia is still charming, engaging, witty, and thankfully still has Aussie-girl-next-door likeable appeal. I loved that she addressed the audience constantly, involved us, and spoke of her work for cancer charity and conservation with sincerity (all of which I whole-heartedly endorse), was spot-on-time onto the stage and did away with the now obligatory encore cliché. It wasn’t needed, the show was varied, professional and constructed just right.

I hope that’s not too gushing! I certainly wasn’t expecting to gush. Hooray, and thanks Olivia, come back again I’ll be there!

1.       Hopelessly Devoted To You
2.       Sam
3.       Have You Never Been Mellow
4.       Xanadu
5.       Magic
6.       A Little More Love
7.       If Not For You
8.       We Go Together
9.       Cry Me A River
10.   Physical
11.   What Is Life
12.   Long Live Love
13.   I Honestly Love You
14.   Summer Nights
15.   Suddenly
16.   Banks Of The Ohio
17.   Please Mr Please
18.   Make A Move On Me
19.   You’re The One That I Want
20.   Take Me Home Country Roads