REMEMBER WHEN - This Week in 1975


1	1	Bay City Rollers	Give A Little Love
2	5	Typically Tropical	Barbados
3	2	Johnny Nash	Tears On My Pillow
4	3	Ray Stevens	Misty
5	11	David Essex	Rolling Stone
6	6	Chilites	Have You Seen Her/Oh Girl
7	4	Van McCoy	The Hustle
8	7	Pete Wingfield	Eighteen With A Bullet
9	10	Judge Dread	Je T'Aime
10	14	Bryan Hyland	Sealed With A Kiss
11	12	Bee Gees	Jive Talkin'
12	16	Tammy Wynette	D.I.V.O.R.C.E.
13	28	Linda Lewis	It's In His Kiss
14	8	10 CC	I'm Not In Love
15	9	Hamilton Bohannon	Disco Stomp
16	40	Smokey	If You Think You Know How To Love Me
17	27	Sweet	Action
18	23	David Cassidy	I Write The Songs/Get It Up For Love
19	21	Rubettes	Foe-Dee-O-Dee
20	30	T.Rex	New York City
21	17	Nazareth	My White Bicycle
22	13	Mud	Moonshine Sally
23	29	Hamilton Bohannon	Foot Stompin' Music
24	19	Goodies	Black Pudding Bertha
25	NEW	Adrian Baker	Sherry
26	18	Gary Glitter	Doing Alright With The Boys
27	15	Windsor Davies & Don Estelle	Whispering Grass
28	31	Billie Jo Spears	Blanket On The Ground
29	22	Elton John	Someone Saved My L:ife Tonight
30	35	Linda Carr & The Love Squad	Highwire
31	NEW	Sensational Alex Harvey Band	Delilah
32	36	Syreeta	Harmour Love
33	NEW	Rimshots	7-6-5-4-3-2-1 (Blow Your Whistle)
34	NEW	Moments	Dolly My Love
35	NEW	Stylistics	I Can't Give You Anything (But My Love)
36	20	Sister Sledge	Mama Never Told Me
37	NEW	George McCrae	It's Been So Long
38	25	Showaddywaddy	Three Steps To Heaven
39	NEW	Susan Cadogan	Love Me Baby
40	24	Donny And Marie Osmond	Make The World Go Away

This was the one that stopped the Bay City Rollers spending a fourth week at the top with "Give A Little Love" by managing a week at the top itself..
A Couple of years ago, Paul Kaczmarek told me that it was recorded by 2 engineers, Jeff Calvert and Max West, in their spare time betwen sessions, with a bunch of session men. Astoundingly,it was due for release by Trojan Records, but Gull came up with a better offer at the last moment.
It spent 11 weeks in the chart before the band disappeared forever, and I doubt they ever saw Barbados in their lives. It's also likely that in 1999, the Vengaboys didn't see Barbados either. So, they changed the title to "We're Going To Ibiza" (they've probably been there, apparently they'll let anyone in, not just riff raff), and also spent a week at number one.

This was Johnny's first hit single in almost three years, and also his only number one (one week at the top). Fifteen years later, Kylie Minogue took a song with the same title to number one and I got very annoyed at the time with the way so many inept reviewers (in both the music press and national newspapers) wrote that Kylie had covered this Johnny Nash hit, when she had in fact covered an entirely different song that had previously been recorded by Little Anthony And The Imperials.

Good single from David that peaked at number five this week, before slipping back to 11. I remember hearing it at number five while sitting on the Beach at Rhyl. I do not (or don't want to) remember what I was doing in that God forsaken place. Rhyl is the most popular coastal resort in North Wales and is situated approx 35 miles from Wrexham. While in the Junior school, most of the school trips that didn't involve Chester Zoo, would involve a few hours in Rhyl on the way home from somewhere else. The Annual British Legion Day trips would always involve 6-8 double decker buses, a bottle of pop and a packet of crisps for every kid, a stop near the Nant-Y-Garth pass for toilet duties, and a final destination of Rhyl. Walking around Rhyl you would recognise almost everyone that you passed because almost the whole bloody village was there. I grew to hate that place with a passion. Three years ago I emulated one of those school trips by calling there on the way home from Portmerion. My wife didn't think it was too bad, but in my opinion it's even worse than I remember it. But come to think of it, the other North Wales coastal resorts aren't much better.

The Chilites had been having a good run of hit singles and so it was decided to re-release their biggest hit "Have You Seen Her" (number 3 in 1972), and put the original follow up "Oh Girl" (number 14 in 1972) on the flip side. This time around it went to number five, and this was the time I bought it. It is actually one of 2 singles that I bought from Woolworths in Stratford that day. We had already looked around Anne Hathaway's cottage (she wasn't home !), before going into Stratford itself. After looking around the Shakespeare theatre (terribly exciting for some), we were given around two hours to ourselves to look around before meeting at the Cobweb cafe for a meal. I managed to lose the three pupils that I was told to stay with as there was only one kind of thing I wanted to look for. Yes, I looked for record stores, but only found Woolworths. I met up with everyone else outside the 'Cobweb'. Once sat down inside, we were informed by the Music Teacher (Beryl something I believe) that she had arranged that we all have a salad and a cake and would have to pay a pound. A pound ?????
I could have bought another two singles for that, and Fish and Chips would have been a lot cheaper (about 50p tops). Kids do not like Salad woman !!!!!!!
Anyway, I reluctantly paid up and was given a lettuce leaf, half a tomato, two thin slices of cucumber, a small piece of cheese and a slice of ham (I loathe Ham). There wasn't even any brown sauce ! That was followed by a very small cake that looked like a Mr. Kipling Viennese slice (but not as tasty), and a cup of tea (I didn't like tea then). Two of the boys did a runner out of the cafe and went to a chip shop instead, but were forgiven by the teacher on the way home when they told her that they didn't have a pound. When setting off home, we discovered that the back window of the bus had been taken out and put in the front to replace the pane smashed on the way there, so it was quite a cold journey home. Not the best of days all round, especially as eight years later I lent the Chilites single to a lady called Rita from Shotton, Deeside and didn't get it back (actually, I lent her 5 Chilites singles and got none back). I haven't seen her since the autumn of 1983, Have You Seen Her ?
(I should have resisted asking that shouldn't I ?)

This bloke looked like Peter Wyngarde (played Jason King in Department S), and sounded like Mickey Mouse. My sister and I used to howl with laughter at him. He sang about how he was 18 with a bullet and how his finger was on the trigger and he was going to pull it. He peaked at number seven, and never actually stood at number 18. This was quite surprising. Not the fact that he was never at #18, but that he peaked at number seven. Modern day chart watchers won't have a clue what I'm talking about, but back in the days of real charts, a new entry at number 15 was very impressive. Not only that, but a new entry at number 15 stood a decent chance of becoming the following week's number one. Even more impressive was the fact that this was his very first hit, and only one act made their top 40 debut higher than this during the whole of 1975 (and THAT was a novelty record by Japer Carrott). Actually this was the highest chart debut by an act since Stephanie De Sykes had debuted at number 14 in the previous July (thanks to a TV tie in and TOTP being off air). So I wonder why it entered so high, and why after entering so high it didn't go further than number seven (apart from it not being very good). Pete had been a highly respected blues pianist in the late 60's, and had his own band called Jellybread, who were stablemates of Fleetwood Mac and Chicken Shack on Blue Horizon. He had no more solo hits, but re-appeared as part of the Olympic Runners in 1978. He later went on to be a major session player and producer.

This was the first hit in two years for the Judge and as was par for the course it was not placed on the radio one playlist. It used the music from the original "Je T'Aime" but placed Judge in a nightclub where he was chatted up by a 'lady'. But when he tried his luck, discovered 'she' was really a transvestite. What a pity that Paul Burnett didn't accidentally play it during that bus journey to Stratford, the look on the English teacher's face would have been priceless. It peaked at number nine and I hear that the 'lady' from the song moved to Israel and entered the Eurovision song contest in the late '90s! *JK*

This also reminds me of sitting on the Beach at Rhyl that summer. It was the first hit for the Gibb brothers since 1972, and also the beginning of their involvement in disco music. It later spent two weeks at number five. The song was taken to number seven in 1987 when it was covered by Boogie Box High. It was rumoured that George Michael was the vocalist on that version, but no record books that I've read confirm this to be fact, and neither has George, so I assume it wasn't him. Nick Heyward however was involved.

Speaking of Tammy, I had the feeling she was spying on me during 1975 (either that or the whole world exists for my benefit, or inconvenience as the case may be). As I mentioned earlier, my parents were going through Divorce proceedings, so I found this song even more distasteful than "Stand By Your Man". I could feel all eyes on me as it was played on that bus journey. Anyway, it reached number twelve, but it wouldn't be the last that we'd hear of this song during 1975. Now will someone please bury all those expired domestic animals !

Linda was back after two years away with her finest moment. The biggest hit version of this song was the one that was taken to number one by Cher in 1991 but for me (even after hearing the Betty Everett version) this is the definitive version of this song. Linda was such an under-rated singer who had nowhere near as much success as she deserved. The last I heard of her, she was presenting a kids TV show in 1979. Her sister Shirley had a stab at success in the late 80s with "You Used To Be Romantic", worked with Arthur Baker, and was one of Sting's backing singers at his 1997 Glastonbury appearance. Somewhere in my mind there's the notion that Shirley married one of the Bros Boys, but don't take that as fact.

The Classic single by 10CC, but still a surprisingly high new entry at number 8 on it's release, for a band who were always deemed only as good as their latest single (or album). It spent two weks at the top, and it fell from the summit during the chart rundown that was broadcast while we were travelling to Stratford on what turned out to be an expensive school trip (The prices at the Cobweb Cafe anyone ?). The bus driver was kind enough to tune into Radio One for us, so we didn't miss it. I clearly remember Dorothy Big T**s teasing a girl named Jill about the fact that her favourite song was no longer at number one (I think that this was shortly before a large concrete block fell off the back of a lorry and smashed the windscreen of our bus). Now, only the most mind boggingly clever pupils in the school were allowed to go on this particular trip, but Jill was still a cut above most on the bus when it came to the old brain box. Add to this, the fact that Jill also wore glasses (a big no no for the boys when you're that age), and it was no surprise that Jill was often the target of cruel taunts. It's a shame because she was a nice friendly girl and I always liked her. But I wouldn't mind betting that Jill eventually had the last laugh on her tormenters and is a real beauty in adulthood.
The song itself has often come out on top in polls of the best song of all time. In fact for many years, when such polls were held by Radio One, the number one would always be this, "Bohemian Rhapsody" or "Stairway To Heaven". These type of polls have gotten quite silly over the last ten years or so , when the number one is usually the latest single by Oasis, Take That, Bros or whoever is flavour of the month at the time (Ok, I know Massive Attack were top on one of the recent polls, and I wouldn't begrudge them if the poll applied purely to the 90's, it is one of the few classy songs from the evil decade after all).

Hamilton had spent seven weeks inside the top 40 earlier in the year with the number 22 peaking "South African Man". I didn't find that single particularly exciting, but this was much better. It became his biggest hit peaking at number six. Not only that, but six months later Hello's hit "New York Groove" had a VERY similar melody. Most of the songs from the 70's, I still like now as much as then, there are even some that I wasn't keen on then but do like now. But every now and then I'll hear something, and it just doesn't have the same impact on me as it used to. This is one such record. It now seems empty, there seems nothing nothing there at all, a very hollow song.

The very first hit for Smokie. This eventual number three hit is another one of those 'sound of summer' hits for me. I'm pretty sure we had a Summer in 1975 that could be favourably compared to the scorcher of the following year. There were two new ice lollies on the market, the 'Lolly Gobble Choc Bomb' which contained a bar of chocolate inside (similar to today's Feast), and the 'Super Sticky Swishoo'. I mention that fact because I remember sitting in a playground eating them with this song playing in my head. Again I say how strange it is the things we remember.

"Have you ever seen a woman coming out of New York City with a frog in her hand ?"
That's what Marc Bolan asked at the beginning of this number 15 peaking single. I and many others like the music of T.Rex, but I can't for the life of me explain why. Marc Bolan wrote some of the worst and most childish lyrics to ever appear on vinyl. What Morrissey was to the '80s, and Oasis were to the '90s, that's what Marc Bolan was to the seventies as far as lyrics are concerned. I just can't understand how he got away with it for so long. Let's face it, us '70s kids were far more sensible than the '90s kids. Take a look around at the 13-21 year olds that you know, then cast your mind back to how you were at that age. Clinches it doesn't it ?
We weren't 'Wicked' (sic), we were bleeding great (and we respected our parents etc etc etc etc)
The failure of the previous single "Zip Gun Boogie" to get past number 41 had stopped this becoming the band's 16th straight top 40 hit.

Nazareth had released some exceptional singles over the previous two years, but this sadly didn't follow the trend. It was a cover of a song previously recorded by 'Tomorrow', and not only did it have awful lyrics, but they were screeched by Dan McCafferty as though he was chewing a wasp. It rose to number 14 before Dan was put out of his misery.
And what of 'Tomorrow' ?
I doubt that they even knew what day it was anyway, and they're probably still up in the clouds somewhere.

Mud had peaked at number ten, which may have been considered a disappointment after all their recent successes. But Mud were already on their way to the Private Stock company having left RAK records, so this was just a cash in. All the same, this is oneof my favourite Mud tracks, and I first heard it when I asked the nice lady in Boots to play it for me on the day of the West Ham V Fulham F.A. Cup Final. Well, would you want to watch a Cup Final involving those two ?

This was Adrian's only hit under his own name, and this (quite poor) cover of the Four Seasons' number 8 hit from 1962, actually reached number ten. A few years later he became Gidea Park (or was it a real band, not sure ?). Gidea Park released a single called "The Boogie Romance" that did absolutely nothing. But then in 1981 came the Medley craze, and Gidea Park revived Adrian's cover of Sherry as part of a Four Seasons medley that reached number 28 in the chart. But 2 months previous to that, Gidea Park had a bigger hit with the number 11 peaking medley "Beach Boy Gold". Adrian must have impressed the Beach Boys themselves, as in the early 1990s, he actually became a member of the Beach Boys.

This was one of two singles that I bought in Stratford On Avon (well, there was sod all else to for a 13 year old to buy in Stratford). The schools 'David Watts' character Neil Edwards (then boyfriend of future International Footballer Mark Hughes' sister) asked to have a look at it and dropped it, but he didn't do it on purpose, and it didn't break anyway. It became Gary's 11th consecutive top ten single by peaking at number six, but was also his last top tenner for over nine years. This was a typical GG stomper with a typically good B Side entitled "Good For No Good", and that would have given me the perfect opportunity to say something really witty had England not beaten Germany the night before I typed this.

AAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH !!!!!
Go into any pub in the UK that hasn't discovered the curse of Karaoke, and if they're having a sing-a-long type of evening, some woman between the age of 40-60 will inevitably get up and sing this. A lady who worked under me when I managed the Sports Complex in Wrexham (1985 - 1993) fancied herself as a Country and Western singer, and had many gigs in pubs around the area. She would of course sing this and sit on men's laps while singing it. Now, she was quite a big woman (not terribly overweight though), and would dress quite sexily as she performed, so I'm glad I never attended any of her gigs. She often used to let me know when she was due to sing in a pub near to where I lived. But there was no way I would go because I just knew she would pick on me, and how could I have gone into work the next day if an embarrassing situation had arisen (no pun intended) ?
Anyway I heard a tape of her and that was enough for me, I just don't like that kind of music.
Anyway, Billie Jo peaked at number six, but still wouldn't leave us alone. She returned a year later with another song that 'my friend' liked to sing.
A little confession though: I quite liked "Blanket On The Ground" when it came out !

The very first week in the chart for Alex, and he reached a peak of number seven.
'Sensational' is not my description of the band or Alex. They were in fact very average as far as I was concerned. True, "Delilah" was a great cover, but I prefer to forget the rest (at least as far as their singles go). I can't speak knowledgeably about their albums, having only heard a few duff tracks.
When I originally made the above remarks (in 1997), someone (a person who has given me lots of extra info over the years) was not impressed and replied thus,
"Aaaarrrrggggghhhhhh!!!! Choke! splutter!
And you were doing sooo well.
Force this man to listen to 'Faith Healer' with head strapped to many millions of watts of speakers, then follow it up with 'Next', and we'll come back to this :-)"
Well, I still haven't heard any of them, and the budget priced compilation that included some interesting looking covers now seems to be temporarily out of circulation.
But, I have heard a few other tracks :-(
Those tracks have not changed my opinion, but we'll keep the jury out for a little longer.
Alex was said to a heavy drinker and it took it's toll when he died of a heart attack on tour in 1982, the day before his 47th birthday. But did anyone take heed of that warning about alcohol ?

Another of those hits from the much hyped 'All Platinum' label. There were two versions of this song out at that time. If my memory serves me correctly, the other one was by 'Gary Toms Empire' . But this was the only one to chart and it peaked at number 26. I believe that this went down a storm in the discos of the day, and I did rather like it, very catchy. But there were no more hits for the Rimshots (who were possibly session musicians anyway, anyone know any different ?).

George had given disco music a major boost when he had the first disco number one in the UK with "Rock Your Baby" in 1974. He followed that with three singles that each peaked lower than the previous one. Then just as it looked as though we had heard the lot from George, he released this gem. More of a real song and much more catchy than his biggest hit, this wasn't just a great disco record, but a perfect pop song too. It can only be a matter of time before some untalented git (who ought to stick to playing the discs) makes a mess of it. This original hit number four during it's ten week chart run.

When this single made it's chart debut. it was the highest new entry of the week at number 13. It was also the highest that Showaddywaddy ever debuted inside the top 40. This was also the first cover version hit single of Showaddywaddy's career, and it was such a success reaching number two, that when they later stopped having big hits with their own original songs (Trocadero-Take Me In Your Arms) they went back to the covers and re-activated their hit career. Eddie Cochran had spent two weeks at number one with this song in June of 1960.

This was what seemed to be a swift follow up to "Hurt So Good", but there was actually three months between the releases. It was more of the same with that lovely echo effect again. It's another one that I remember hearing on the Luxembourg chart. This could be where my confusion arrises. With most songs from the Seventies and early Eighties, as soon as I hear them, their peak chart position pops into my head. With this one, number 16 pops into my head, yet that's where we have a problem. It's peak postion was number 22 (for 2 weeks). Maybe it reached number 16 in the Lux chart and that's what I'm remembering.
Whatever, it deserved to be top ten and it's your fault for not buying it ;-)
Speaking of chart shows, Jeffrey Vagg has a great site all about Radio One's Sunday chart show through the years. The BBC's Sunday afternoon chart show can be found at http://listen.to/uktopforty, and even includes wav files from the show from way back.

I have never made any secret of the fact that if I like something I'll admit it. I'm not narrow minded when it comes to music and I could very easily have CDs by Black Sabbath, Grandmaster Flash, The Clash, The Small Faces and New Seekers all in my CD player at the same time on Shuffle Play. I don't have a problem with it, so I don't see why anyone else should either. So I feel no shame in admitting I liked Donny & Marie's 2 previous hits. But this, no no no, I thought then and still think now, bloody awful. A very poor cover of Eddie Arnold's song that only reached number 18, and was the last of 20 top 20 hits to come from the Osmond family. I still think that Marie was gorgeous though :-)

More next week including these new entries,
A whistler from Kenya who (in hindsight) told us a blatant lie.
A Hitler lookalike who, together with his brother, sang about playground equipment.
A French band describing a female MTV presenter on holiday in Spain (no, not the nice Geordie one, but it could apply to a present and recent Radio One DJ too).
The return of a Eurovision winner daring to have a third hit.

Disclaimer All comments concerning the quality of the songs in this and any other chart, are purely my opinion and not a statement of fact. I believe that we are all equal when it comes to deciding what makes a good song. I do not believe that good songs have to be serious or dull. I am of the opinion that if a single sells many copies, then many people like it, so it must be good whether I like it or not. Good music is everything YOU like, and it's also everything I like.