NOVEMBER 1974

"Hot Shot" did turn out to be Barry Blue's last hit as a performer but was very, very far from his last hit as a songwriter and/or producer for others. "Nosmo King" was actually songwriter Stephen Jameson, who had released the song under a different title ("Goodbye") as a B-side earlier in the year (hence its vaguely Elton John-esque feel) without success; it was then recycled and marketed by Pye to look as though it were an undiscovered Northern Soul classic. One of the backing singers is Tony Burrows. "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" made number one in twenty-two countries but here got stuck for a fortnight at number two behind the year's Christmas chart-topper. I'm not sure my feelings about "Ire Feelings (Skanga)" have substantively altered over the intervening half-century.

 

2 November

 

STEVIE WONDER: You Haven't Done Nothin'/Happier Than The Morning Sun (Tamla Motown TMG 921)

Funky and angry tirade against Nixon, with the Jackson 5 on backing vocals. Stevie is the new Beatles.

BARRY BLUE: Hot Shot/Hobo Man (Bell 1379)

He's gone mad (hooray)! Red Army Cossack choir, French horns and of course bouzoukis. If this is going to be his last hit, why not go out on such a bang?

THE HUES CORPORATION: Rockin' Soul/Go To The Poet (RCA Victor PB 10066)

Soundalike follow-up. The B-side is less interesting than its title might suggest.

THE PEPPERS: Pepper Box/Pinch Of Salt (Spark SRL 1100)

Follow-up to "Popcorn"? French electronic disco near-instrumental that has been around for a year but finally becomes a hit.

 

9 November

PILOT: Magic/Just Let Me Be (EMI 2217)

From Edinburgh and already huge in Scotland - they've even reworked the song as a jingle for Radio Clyde - this is superb, seamless pop music, worthy of Badfinger.

DIONNE WARWICK AND THE DETROIT SPINNERS: Then Came You/Just As Long As We Have Love (Atlantic K 10495)

Number one on Billboard and if British people were intelligent it would be number one here but they watch On The Buses so it won't. Slinky funk-soul pop that once again demonstrates what a phenomenal record producer Thom Bell is. The Stylistics must be feeling gloomy.

SPLINTER: Costafine Town/Elly May (Dark Horse AMS 7135)

Discovered, signed and produced by George Harrison - the boring Beatle - this earnest bearded folk duo might be thought the next Peter and Gordon. Not by me, you understand, but by grown-up people with beards. I don't think the Rollers have much to worry about.

THE CHI-LITES: Too Good To Be Forgotten/There Will Never Be Any Peace (Until God Is Seated At The Conference Table) (Brunswick BR 13)

Another uptempo bouncer for Eugene Record and his friends. Insubstantial and rendered unlistenable by those stupid Orange Lodge march flutes. The B-side is MUCH better.

LYNSEY DE PAUL: No Honestly/Central Park Arrest (Jet 747)

The A-side is the theme from an ITV situation comedy; she's still on a Spector kick. The B-side is her own version of the song she wrote for Thunderthighs and is rather more intriguing.

BARRY WHITE: You're The First, The Last, My Everything/More Than Anything, You're My Everything (20th Century Records BTC 2133)

He really has come through this year. Instantly catchy disco swayer with spoken intro and outro (if you go with the full album version, which you should). This could go all the way to the top.

 

16 November

 

JIMMY RUFFIN: Farewell Is A Lonely Sound/I Will Never Let You Get Away (Tamla Motown TMG 922)

What's this doing back? It was only a hit four years ago. Do British people have amnesia, or the memory of a goldfish?

DONNY OSMOND: Where Did All The Good Times Go/I'm Dyin' (MGM 2006 468)

Good grief - this record might be prophetic. He really sounds like he's on the way out and is probably right to think that. And he isn't even an adult yet. See what I mean? Do you want that happening to me?

THE JAVELLS FEATURING NOSMO KING: Goodbye Nothin' To Say/Nothin' To Say (Pye Disco Demand DDS 2003)

Northern Soul stomper, sung by a frightening-looking fellow wearing a Blackpool Kiss-Me-Quick hat which he probably bought for 37½p from Central Pier on a wet Wednesday. The B-side is, appropriately, the instrumental. Value for money. And my father says "Nosmo King" is the name of an old comedian. Since the singer looks about ninety he's probably right.

PAUL McCARTNEY AND WINGS: Junior's Farm/Sally G (Apple R 5999)

I've been to a farm. Or at least to a farm show at Ingliston on a school outing. A lot of tractors. The smell of iron, grass and Cresta (pineapple flavour), compressed by heat. Maybe Paul went to one of those shows, got fed up and thought oh I'll write this song instead. Rock politely in your socks.

THE RUBETTES: Juke Box Jive/When You're Falling In Love (Polydor 2058 529)

OK, they thought, we can't do the Four Seasons any more but we can at least do Showaddywaddy.

SUZI QUATRO: The Wild One/Shake My Sugar (RAK 185)

I guess she wants to be Showaddywaddy too.

23 November

 

AL GREEN: Sha-La-La (Make Me Happy)/School Days (London HLU 10470)

Lovely record, beautifully sung, played and produced. Why isn't he bigger here? It's because British people just want Tom Humperdinck shaking his crotch and crooning to the ladies with a rose in his teeth. Too classy. "I Can't Stand The Rain" by Ann Peebles, also produced by Willie Mitchell, got stuck at number 41 back in April. People here only like flimsy tat off the telly.

ELVIS PRESLEY: My Boy/Loving Arms (RCA Victor RCA 2458)

Or they want sentimental schlock like this which Richard Harris did better anyway. I can't listen to this one. The words are too painful. I see and hear them every day.

ACE: How Long/Sniffin' About (Anchor ANC 1002)

There's a lot of talk in the NME these days about "pub rock." They mention Ducks Deluxe, who get played on Luxembourg and whom I do like, and Dr Feelgood, who are apparently very good but nobody's played them up here yet. Also Ace, straight from the Hope and Anchor as I understand things (therefore the name of the label?), with this really classy and slightly threatening midtempo jazz-funk (as my father, who likes this but wanted longer solos, calls it) thing. It'll go above the heads of most British people but this is a quiet beauty.

HELLO: Tell Him/Lightning (Bell 1377)

Unlovely, brutal Glitter stampede of a sixties cover - unsurprising since Mike Leander produced it - performed by crane drivers by the look of them. Glam rock really is running out of ideas.

BACHMAN-TURNER OVERDRIVE: You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet/Free Wheelin' (Mercury 6167 025)

Canada comes to the rescue (again). Randy Bachman used to be in the Guess Who (who should have had a hit here earlier in the year with "Clap For The Wolfman," except nobody here knows who Wolfman Jack is) but this is a stuttering juggernaut of a rock-pop record - funny, catchy, everybody will be out on the dance floor in four seconds. Please note all Second Division glam rockers here; THIS is how you do it. Number one.

GARY GLITTER: Oh Yes! You're Beautiful/Thank You, Baby, For Myself (Bell 1391)

Oh dear. Another sludgy, constipated ballad. Please go away.

 

30 November

 

DISCO TEX & THE SEX-O-LETTES: Get Dancin' - Part 1/Get Dancin' - Part 2 (Chelsea 2005 013)

This is INSANE. Ridiculously infectious get-on-the-floor NOW siren of a groove with Disco Tex howling and yelling bilingually over the top of it, like Emperor Rosko being chased by the F.B.I. over what he might know about Watergate. Being played madly by Tony Prince on Luxembourg. A monster (the record, not Tony Prince).

ALVIN STARDUST: Tell Me Why/Roadie Roll On (Magnet MAG 19) 

I don't know, Alvin, you tell me why. Still, this is a welcome slowing down from his usual one record. It almost sounds like...a Peter Shelley record.

RUPIE EDWARDS: Ire Feelings (Skanga)/RUPIE EDWARDS ALL STARS: Feeling High (Cactus CT 38)

OH. MY. GOD I DID NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS! It's come out of NOWHERE! All the time in the music papers I read about this thing called dub but nobody plays it but if THIS is what it sounds like then WOW!!!!!! This record sounds like every other record ever made played backwards then sideways. There's the ghost of a song in there somewhere but you can never quite grasp it - it always skitters away into the shadows. It just turns all my assumptions about music upside down. "DO YOU BELIEVE IN GOD?" this voice jumps out at me like the barking dog of heaven. And it isn't even a comedy record - this is one of the most serious hit records I can think of. Perhaps the best pop single anybody's done since "Double Barrel."

ELTON JOHN: Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (Featuring Dr Winston O'Boogie and his Reggae Guitars)/One Day At A Time (DJM DJS 340)

It's John Lennon letting us know he knows what's going on (G.T. Moore and the Reggae Guitars - pretty hip) and it's Elton having a splendid time with one of John's old songs (old? It's only seven years ago!). Why "Whatever Gets You Through The Night" wasn't a hit here I'll never know (unless it's because people think John is a lot less cuddly than Paul or Ringo) but this should set the record straight.