SEPTEMBER 1975

 

 

Note on the text: if much of this reads like James Hamilton wannabeism, it’s because I was unduly influenced by his weekly Record Mirror column, which had commenced in June 1975. No clever rewriting of history – this is exactly what I wrote at the time (including the Jonathan King comments) and I was eleven; it wasn’t a job application (although maybe it should have been). I just wish I were as critically sharp and instantaneously perceptive now as I was then. What went wrong?

 

The lead singer on “I’m On Fire” was an uncredited Tina Charles. The group promoted the single with another singer, Luan Peters, but when Ms Charles understandably kicked up a fuss, full credit was belatedly given and she went on to a briefly successful solo career.

 

Gary Brooker and Keith Reid had actually written “Pandora’s Box” back in 1967, but initial attempts to record the song didn’t really work out, and the band had to wait eight years to “get it right.” Produced in New York by Leiber and Stoller, no less, and the “flute” solo was indeed keyboard-generated.

 

 

6 September

 

5000 VOLTS: I’m On Fire/Still On Fire (Philips 6006 464)

 

 

 

Another Radio Luxembourg hit and an obvious smash; dynamic female vocals over Jaws strings and a rather familiar hook, like Lulu doing “Black Is Black” with Hot Butter.

 

 

 

SHOWADDYWADDY: Heartbeat/Lucy Jane (Bell 1450)

 

 

 

Hideously brutal Buddy Holly cover, completely missing the great man’s instinctive sense of lightness (“I HEARRRRR MY HEARRT BEAT!” growl the band like a mislaid Wagnerian chorus), but will attract the cursory interest of middle-aged weekend Teddy boys from twenty years ago.

 

 

 

AL MATTHEWS: Fool/Don’t Run From My Love (CBS 3429)

 

 

 

Impressive and indeed almost imperial midtempo pop-soul from a very fine singer. The kind of pop record that doesn’t need to point at itself to tell you how good it is.

 

 

 

DESMOND DEKKER: Sing A Little Song/No Place Like Home (Cactus CT 73)

 

 

 

Buoyed by the renewed interest in “Israelites,” the singer comes back with some bland and dated pop-reggae. Disappointing.

 

 

 

CHRIS SPEDDING: Motor Bikin’/Working For The Union (RAK 210)

 

 

 

Bizarre bid by Mickie Most to make a belated glam-rock star out of Roy Harper/Eno/ Westbrook/Gibbs/Wombles etc. regular Spedding but actually a pretty good and catchy semi-electronic rocker, even if as a singer he has to work to catch up with his own guitar-playing.

 

 

 

PROCOL HARUM: Pandora’s Box/The Pipers Tune (Chrysalis CHS 2073)

 

 

 

Sensational and totally unexpected chart comeback for the sixties veterans, with the usual blend of post-Dylan apocalyptic metaphors (“And even though the lifeguard’s brave/There is no one for him to save”) and Traffic/Winwood-type preaching R&B vocal/possibly synthesised flute arrangement. Great use of pauses and silence. Sinisterly catchy.

 

 

 

 

13 September

 

BAD COMPANY: Feel Like Makin’ Love/Wild Fire Women (Island WIP 6242)

 

 

 

Turgid heavy rock plod.

 

 

 

GEORGE BAKER SELECTION: Paloma Blanca/Dreamboat (Warner Bros K 16541)

 

 

 

Nothing to do with the actor George Baker – the band are from the Netherlands – this vies with “El Bimbo” as the summer’s big Continental smash and is sung bluffly but enthusiastically. How big a hit this becomes depends on how well it does next to the Jonathan King cover.

 

 

 

THE DRIFTERS: There Goes My First Love/Don’t Cry On The Weekend (Bell 1433)

 

 

 

Dull bubblegum-soul but catchy enough to give them another big hit. Prompted by The Story Of Pop, I managed to listen to their 1959 song “There Goes My Baby” and that is really extraordinary, like two records playing at once. This one will be mainly enjoyed by housewives and other David Hamilton fans.

 

 

 

JONATHAN KING: Una Paloma Blanca (White Dove)/InPraiseofuk (UK Records UK 105)

 

 

 

A lighter lead vocal and breezier arrangement than the George Baker Selection original, this is likely to win the chart battle. Under his own name for a change – does that mean he’s taking this harmless fluff seriously?

 

 

 

 

20 September

 

MAC & KATIE KISSOON: Like A Butterfly/A Beautiful Day (State Records STAT 9)

 

 

 

Adhering rigidly to the “Sugar Candy Kisses” formula except Mac does a little more work than normal. They’ll have to change if they want any more hits.

 

 

 

THE BAND OF THE BLACK WATCH: Scotch On The Rocks/Let’s Go To Jersey (Spark SRL 1128)

 

 

 

Bagpipes, brass and drums (plus tubular bells) playing a bubblegum advertising jingle. Not exactly “Amazing Grace” but the kind of souvenir you sell to gullible tourists alongside woolly pullovers and hairy wee Highlanders in a snowy bottle.

 

 

 

ART GARFUNKEL: I Only Have Eyes For You/Looking For The Right One (CBS 3575)

 

 

 

Absent from our charts for three years (and “America” was, in any case, an album track from 1968!), the other half of Simon and Garfunkel returns with a hazily opulent hotel lounge interpretation of the old thirties crooning standard. Actually I suspect Art had been listening to the phenomenal 1959 version by the Flamingos (which I discovered last year on the American Graffiti soundtrack double album) which sounds like it was recorded in a different galaxy. This is quite timid in comparison but should prove an attractive last-dance staple at discos.

 

 

 

CARL MALCOLM: Fattie Bum-Bum/SKIN, FLESH & BONES: Bum-Bum Situation (UK Records UK 108)

 

 

 

Deadly catchy Carry On pop-reggae, predictably leased out to Jonathan King in Britain. It’s rather frustrating to read about all the great reggae that’s being made now in Street Life and the NME, and all the British public seems to want is Benny Hill ooer missus knees-up fodder.

 

 

 

DAVID ESSEX: Hold Me Close/Good Ol’ Rock And Roll (Live Version) (CBS 3572)

 

 

 

Certain to give him his second number one, and likely to prove his biggest hit yet, this is effortlessly catchy and self-mocking with the over-emphasised Cockney glottal stops, and with the exception of the slightly sinister middle eight, also easily his most straightforward single.

 

 

 

 

27 September

 

THE FOUR SEASONS: Who Loves You/Who Loves You (Disco Version) (Warner Bros K 16602)

 

 

 

Valli & Co. have pulled off a major comeback this year; even the year’s biggest-selling single so far (“Bye Bye Baby”) was a Four Seasons cover. This is terrific pop, yearning and begging as only the New Jersey boys can. Flawless vocal and orchestral arrangements (the latter also reminiscent of John Parker’s Cannon theme) and brilliantly produced. I suppose this is the sort of record the Beach Boys wish they could still make, but Brian Wilson has to get better for that to happen. A richly-deserved big hit.

 

 

 

THE CHI-LITES: It’s Time For Love/The Coldest Days Of My Life (Brunswick BR 25)

 

 

 

The B-side is the strongest ballad the group have recorded since “Have You Seen Her” - indeed, it's even from the same year (1972) - and Brunswick ought to have been brave enough to make it the A-side, rather than the undistinguished Stylistics ballad impersonation that actually is the A-side.