REMEMBER WHEN - 22nd JANUARY 1977

1977

Week 4
WEEK ENDING 22ND JANUARY 1977

TOP 40 SINGLES

No.	LW
1	1	David Soul	Don't Give Up On Us
2	7	Julie Covington	Don't Cry For Me Argentina
3	5	Barry Biggs	Sideshow
4	8	Tina Charles	Dr. Love
5	14	Stevie Wonder	I Wish
6	6	10CC	Things We Do For Love
7	9	Mike Oldfield	Portsmouth
8	3	Abba	Money Money Money
9	11	Status Quo	Wild Side Of Life
10	10	Smokie	Living Next Door To Alice
11	18	Drifters	You're More Than A Number In My Little Red Book
12	4	Showaddywaddy	Under The Moon Of Love
13	2	Johnny Mathis	When A Child Is Born
14	12	Paul Nicholas	Grandma's Party
15	35	David Parton	Isn't She Lovely
16	21	Rose Royce	Car Wash
17	27	Steely Dan	Haitian Divorce
18	23	Boney M	Daddy Cool
19	15	Dana	Fairytale
20	24	Elvis Presley	Suspicion
21	38	Thin Lizzy	Don't Believe A Word
22	19	E.L.O.	Livin' Thing
23	22	Yvonne Elliman	Love Me
24	25	Liverpool Express	Everyman Must Have a Dream
25	NEW	Eagles	New Kid In Town
26	26	John Christie	Here's To Love
27	29	Donna Summer	Winter Melody
28	32	Pussycat	Smile
29	28	Bread	Lost Without Your Love
30	33	Jesse Green	Flip
31	17	Mud	Lean On Me
32	13	Queen	Somebody To Love
33	31	K.C. And The Sunshine Band	Keep It Comin' Love
34	NEW	Gladys Knight & The Pips	Nobody But You
35	16	Kursaal Flyers	Little Does She Know
36	NEW	Harold Melvin And The Blue Notes	Don't Leave Me This Way
37	37	Billy Ocean	Stop Me (If You've Heard It All Before)
38	36	Billy Jo Spears	Sing me A Old Fashioned Love Song
39	30	Chicago	If You Leave Me Now
40	RE	Pussycat	Mississippi

David Soul

Don't Give Up On Us

Starsky and Hutch star, David Soul spent four weeks at number one with this debut hit. It was a pleasant enough song and finished top of the pile on Music Week's official chart of the year, but I seriously doubt that it would have got anywhere near the top had it not been for David's popularity in the TV show. He was also a woman beater, so any success at all was more than the evil bastard deserved.

Julie Covington

Don't Cry For Me Argentina

After three weeks at number two, Julie Covington finally hit the top in February 1977 for just one week. This single became the best selling single ever by a female vocalist. A whole new generation was made aware of this classic song through Madonna's number three hitting cover version taken from the movie version of 'Evita' in 1996. But that isn't the only cover version of the song to chart. The Shadows reached number five with their instrumental cover of the song in February 1979, and Mike Flowers Pops reached number 30 with their 1996 cover. Good covers that have not appeared on the top 40 include one by Sinead O'Connor from 1992, Elaine Paige's version from the Evita stage cast recording, the Carpenters version from the 'Passage' album, and the one by 'Donna Summer', from her 'I'm A Rainbow' album. There was also the number three peaking single by David Essex called 'Oh What A Circus' that resembled "Argentina" a lot.

Barry Biggs

Sideshow

Barry Biggs spent three weeks at number three with this, his first hit single. When he had fallen from that position he wasn't going to go quietly and amassed a total of 14 weeks in the top 40. And that still wasn't the end of it, because almost a year later one of those BBC strikes (that always seems to disrupt Top Of The Pops more than any other show) occurred. To compensate us regular Top Of The Pops viewers (there were a lot of us in those days), the show from exactly a year ago was repeated (That's the only time I can recall the Beeb doing that), and you guessed it, "Side Show" was featured.

Tina Charles

Dr. Love

The fourth hit for Tina was extremely catchy, and I felt that it was a better song than her early 1976 number one "I Love To Love". It became her second biggest hit and peaked at number four on it's seventh week in the chart. It was all downhill after and she never made the top twenty again.

Stevie Wonder

I Wish

This was Stevie's first single to be culled from the 'Songs In The Key Of Life' album. The album is widely regarded as Stevie's best (I prefer 'Hotter Than July' myself), in much the same way as the follow up 'Journey Through The Secret Life Of Plants' is regarded as his worst. "I Wish" gave Stevie his first top five placing since December 1969.
Unfortunately, Will Smith copied it for the melody to his Summer of '99 hit "Wild Wild West".

10CC

Things We Do For Love

Fears that they wouldn't survive without the recently departed 'Kevin Godley' and 'Lol Creme' were dashed as '10.C.C.' notched up their ninth top ten single. Taken from their highest charting album "Deceptive Bends", this single reached number six.

Mike Oldfield

Portsmouth

A million miles away from "Tubular Bells" was this jolly sea shanty. Not disimilar from his previous "In Dulce Jubilo", or the later "Blue Peter", it hit number three in January after seven weeks on the chart. It is his highest charting single ever.

Abba

Money Money Money

"Money Money Money" was almost as dreadful as "The Day Before You Came". They appeared to be taking the piss out of the very people who had put them where they were, and also left themselves wide open for parodies. It failed to give them a fourth consecutive number one, but their undoubted popularity helped it to a number three peak position

Status Quo

Wild Side Of Life

Another good single by Status Quo, and their version of a Tommy Quickly song that seemed to be doing the rounds at the time. Rod Stewart had a cover of this on his then current album "A Night On The Town". It's also a very popular song on the country music scene. Quo's version is the best that I've ever heard, and it reached number nine at the end of January.

Smokie

Living Next Door To Alice

Previously recorded by Opportunity Knocks cheats 'New World', this single put Smokie in the top 5 for the first time since their debut hit "If You Think You Know How To Love Me" in the summer of '75. It reached number five and stayed in the chart for 11 weeks.
In 1995, Smokie teamed up with comedian Chubby Brown to re-record the track and it became an even bigger hit peaking at number three.

Drifters

You're More Than A Number In My Little Red Book

This was the last top 10 hit for the Drifters in their long career, and they would not even appear in the top 40 again once this had fallen out of the chart. For the record, they peaked at number five. For no apparent reason, my ten year old younger brother bought me this for Christmas in 1977.

Showaddywaddy

Under The Moon Of Love

This was quite an unfortunate hit, all things considered. This band had come onto the scene with an original composition that had reached number two in the chart. They had followed it with a further three original songs that had become top twenty hits. OK, they were playing an old style of music, but they were original songs. They then had two top ten hits with cover versions of classic rock and roll songs before going back to their own songs. They released two good singles during the summer of '76, one was called "Trocadero" and I think the other "Take Me In Your Arms". I'm not 100% certain that the latter was released as a single, as the authors of rock discography books don't deem Showaddywaddy or other major acts such as 'The Osmonds', 'Bay City Rollers', 'David Cassidy', 'Mud', 'Brotherhood Of Man' or 'Bucks Fizz' important enough to be in their publications. But they did perform it on 'Summertime Special' a few weeks after the demise of "Trocadero".
Anyway, those two (or one) 'Showaddywaddy' singles failed to chart, so they went back to the cover version with this version of "Under The Moon Of Love" which had been an American hit in 1961 for Curtis Lee. It went to number one and stayed for three weeks (it would have been six were it not for Johnny Mathis and Christmas), becoming their biggest ever hit. It didn't take them long to work out where their future lay, and they devoted the rest of their career to covering old hits. They spent the next six years hitting the chart with their (mostly woeful) covers before the British public finally decided enough was enough. But 'IF ONLY' this single had failed to capture the public's imagination, it may have been a completely different story, they may have still been having hits with their own songs even now.

Johnny Mathis

When A Child Is Born

It wasn't really a Christmas single, but is usually considered to be one. There is a story about the origins of this song, but I can't remember, maybe someone can help me out. It reached number one just in time for Christmas and spent three weeks there.
I had this song on a flexi disc that also included Johnny's versions of "Send In The Clowns" and "Ooh-Wakka-Doo-Wakka-Day" a few weeks before it hit the top.

Paul Nicholas

Grandma's Party

I liked his debut hit "Reggae Like It Used To Be", but couldn't stand this single. I think that it was actually an EP with 4 tracks, but the title track was the one that received the airplay. It peaked at number nine in January '77.

David Parton

Isn't She Lovely

David Parton peaked at number four with the song that Stevie Wonder decided not to release as a single (or he couldn't because of this version being such a big hit). Stevie had written and recorded it for his 'Songs In The Key Of Life' album, but had opted to release "I Wish" as the first single. I don't suppose Stevie worried too much, as his second single from the album was more successful than David's record anyway.
Now, I have a different opinion of this song than the one I had for almost the first 24 years after it's release. Instead of just being average sentimental slush, it's actually a very good well written song.

Rose Royce

Car Wash

Rose Royce were having the first of the seven top 40 hits they were to have over the next three years. This number nine peaking single was the title song from the supposedly very funny 'Car Wash' film. It was quite funny in places, but certainly not 'Very'. The best thing about it was the soundtrack that included more future hits from Rose Royce (I think 'Stargard' were featured too). "Car Wash" the single has since been re-issued/re-mixed and diced more times than I care to remember, the latest being near the end of 1998.

Steely Dan

Haitian Divorce

I didn't like this at first, but it slowly grew on me. It had a kind of different sound to it, something we weren't used to hearing in the UK chart. It only got to number 17, but was still the band's biggest UK hit. In actual fact, they never hit the top 40 again, but singer Donald Fagen went on to release one of the best albums of the eighties in 1983's 'The Nightfly'.

Boney M

Daddy Cool

Boney M were having their first hit and giving no warning whatsoever that they would be treating us to "Rivers Of Babylon" & "Mary's Boy Child" in 1978. "Daddy Cool" made number six and spent 12 weeks in the top 40. This was also a minor hit in the States. At the time they were regarded as just another 'Disco Group', but before long they would earn the ultimate accolade to be given to any pop band by critics. They would be described as being 'More plastic than the records themselves', and this invariably means that the act in question is getting it right and the critics are pissed off about it !

Dana

Fairytale

Dana was having her sixth and final hit with what I consider her best single. It wouldn't reach it's peak of number 13 until it's tenth week (the last chart of the year). It stayed in the 40 for a total of 15 weeks. There was a (very cheap) promo for this, and I was always fascinated by the special effect that had her face turn into a photographic negative type image.

Elvis Presley

Suspicion

Elvis Presley was having a comeback in terms of chart fortunes as "Suspicion" was the second of three top tenners in six months. This was the first time since 1972 that Elvis had managed three consecutive top ten hits. His death six months later would boost this total to five by the end of the year. "Suspicion" had originally been a track on his 1962 album 'Pot Luck'.

Thin Lizzy

Don't Believe A Word

Having made a successful comeback the previous Summer with '"The Boys Are Back In Town" and the 'Jailbreak' album, the band had returned with their seventh (officially released) album 'Johnny The Fox' just seven months after the last one. Just one single was released from that album, and this was it. It was their 11th single to be issued in the UK (including an EP), but only the fourth to chart. It reached number 12.

E.L.O.

Livin' Thing

Probably THE classic ELO single (though I don't know what the B.side was all about). It was their biggest hit up to that point (in reaching number four), and started a run of 18 consecutive hits for the band. Over in America it reached number 13.

Yvonne Elliman

Love Me

Yvonne had managed one week in the top 50 at number 47 with "I Don't Know How To Love Him" in 1972, and then nothing until now. This song had been written and recorded by the Bee Gees on their 'Children Of The World' album earlier this year. Yvonne peaked at number six, but bettered that position with another Bee Gees song "If I Can't Have You" in 1978. "Love Me" was also a Billboard chart hit and peaked at number 14.

Liverpool Express

Everyman Must Have A Dream

Liverpool Express took eight weeks to reach their high of number 17 with the second of their three top 40 hits. It was quite a nice song, but contained some very dodgy lines for the sake of rhyming. They are best known for their number 11 hit "You Are My Love" from the previous summer, a song that George Michael had obviously heard before writing his 1997 hit "You Have Been Loved".

Eagles

New Kid In Town

The Eagles couldn't get any higher than number 20 with the US number one "New Kid In Town". This was the first of three singles to be lifted from the highly successful 'Hotel California' album, and also the first to feature 'Joe Walsh' who'd recently replaced 'Bernie Leadon'. A classic single, they do't make 'em like this anymore.

John Christie

Here's To Love

This bloke on a piano was championed rather a lot by Noel Edmonds on Multi Coloured Swap Shop. I couldn't find anything exciting about him or this record. I was quite pleased to watch it drop after debuting at number 24.

Donna Summer

Winter Melody

Just when we were beginning to think that Donna had been a mere novelty and we wouldn't hear from her again, she was back with the first of 15 top 40 hits that she would have over the course of the next 37 months. This was taken from the (sort of) concept album 'The Four Seasons Of Love', the highlights of which were this track and "Spring Affair". This peaked at number 27.

Pussycat

Smile

Not bad, but easily forgettable follow up to the massive "Mississippi". It reached number 24 and they then disappeared forever.

Bread

Lost Without Your Love

We'd heard it all before, but still quite a nice song anyway. It was Bread's first hit since 1972, but they were never big in the UK anyway. Ther only time they had made the top 10 was with their very first hit "Make It With You" which had gone to number five in 1970. This one was their last ever hit over here and peaked at number 27.

Jesse Green

Flip

A song that turns up on far too many compilation albums when we consider that it only reached number 26. If it was really that good it would have been a much bigger hit, as it wasn't short of exposure on TV, Jesse seemed to be a guest on every programme possible.

Mud

Lean On Me

This was the end of the road for Mud. 15 hits in under four years, and this was the 11th to reach the top ten peaking at number seven. I liked this and thought that after the initial madness of L-L-Lucy, their Private Stock singles had been better than most of those on RAK.

Queen

Somebody To Love

At the Time, I thought that Queen deliberately put some of the feel of "Bohemian Rhapsody" into this. If they did it worked, as in going straight into the chart at number four, it became the highest new entry since October 1974. Strange then that it didn't move the following week, and then peaked at number two the week after. Thanks to this song I reached number one in the UK chart myself. I was in the crowd on the Queen/George Michael version that went to number one in 1993. Unfortunately, Guinness books have not recognised my contribution and I have yet to receive royalties.

K.C. & The Sunshine Band

Keep It Comin' Love

Always only as good as their latest hit, this very average disco song reached number 31. It would be three years before they bettered it again (see this week in 1980).

Gladys Knight And The Pips

Nobody But You

Another minor hit for Gladys with a peak of number 34. Maybe a change of sound was needed with something more uptempo, we got it the next time.

Kursaal Flyers

Little Does She Know

This band seemed to be the darlings of one of the music papers at the time, but this single always sounded like a children's playground chant to me. It was their only hit and peaked at number 14. I later came by a cassette of theirs titled "Five Live Kursaals" selling for 50p in a charity shop. In a moment of madness I bought it out of curiosity. It was awful and I didn't listen to it a second time.

Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes

Don't Leave Me This Way

Harold Melvin drew first blood in the "Don't Leave Me This Way" battle in the UK, by entering at number 36, 2 weeks before Thelma Houston entered at number 38. By then, Harold had climbed to number 14. It took Harold another three weeks to hit his peak of number five, by which time it looked as Thelma had peaked at 18 as she had fallen to number 21. But as Harold then dropped a couple, Thelmaa's single had a second wind and climbed to number 13. Both songs then descended down the chart with Thelma managing to outsell Harold just one week during her Eight week run compared to Harold's Ten weeks. It was a different story in the States though, where Thelma reached number one and the original failed to chart (possibly not released as a single). Over nine years later the battle in the UK was belatedly won by the Communards who hit number one and had the biggest selling single of 1986 with a cover that owed more to Thelma's cover than the original. Despite this, they could only reach number 40 over the water. All three stand up as fine recordings.

Billy Ocean

Stop Me (If You've heard It All Before)

Billy's third hit climbed to number 12. In truth, this lacked the excitement of "Love Really Hurts Without You" and I found it quite boring. Billy had one more hit to come before a seven year absence.

Billy Jo Spears

Sing Me An Old Fashioned Love Song

I remember liking this one much more than Billie's two big hits. I couldn't remember how it went, but was pretty sure that it did include snippets from a couple of other songs. I now have this confirmed thanks to it's inclusion on a compilation CD entitled 'A Time To Remember 1976'. It only reached number 34

Chicago

If You Leave Me Now

Chicago had achieved two top ten hits in 1970, and then nothing at all, until now. What a way to come back, three weeks at number one with one of the most wonderful songs ever recorded. This song also boasts one of the most distinguishable intros in the history of music. Despite releasing many other great singles such as "Wishing You Were Here", "Baby What A Big Surprise" & "Alive Again", they would have to wait a further six years before their next major hit. In the States it spent two weeks on top and had been their tenth top tenner from 21 hits.

Pussycat

Mississippi

Was this really necessary ?
A Dutch band singing in a countrified style about a river that they had probably not even seen a photograph of , let alone been there !
And it spent four weeks at number one !
I've voiced my concern about the Dutch before. I don't have anything against them as people. I just want to know why (with the exception of Golden Earring and Focus) they keep giving us tripe like 'Two Unlimited', 'MC Miker G', etc (add Pierre Van Hooijdonk to that list). I'm also pretty sure that 'Whigfield' must have visited Holland just prior to recording "Saturday Night", as 'Chumbawamba' no doubt did before "Tubthumping".

These songs were in the top 50 this week, but failed to reach the top 40.

Rose Royce

Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

Just four weeks after "Car Wash" entered the chart, MCA had released amother Rose Royce song from the 'Car Wash' soundtrack. But this one had vanished before the former had dropped out of the top 20 after peaking at number 44.

Undisputed Truth

You + Me = Love

I can't remember hearing this, even though I think I have it on a compilation album. It peaaked at number 43.

Bar-Kays

Shake Your Rump To the Funk

Formerly the backing band for the late Otis Redding, four of the original group were also killed in the plane crash that claimed his life in 1967. Bass player James Alexander missed the flight, while Trumpet player Ben Cauley was the sole survivor of the crash. These two put together a new band, but Ben didn't stay around for too long. They then provided backing on many recordings including Isaac Hayes' "Shaft", as well as releasing their own albums. Their UK singles success was very limited. They first hit with the number 33 peaking "Soul Finger" in the late summer of 1967, but got nowhere near the chart again until this single peaked at number 41. The only other time they got close to the chart was when "Sexomatic" got to number 51 in 1985.

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.

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Email: nige@innotts.co.uk