Last |
This |
Presented
by Ed Stewart |
|
Week |
Week |
||
34 |
1 |
This Is My Song | Petula Clark |
5 |
2 |
I'm A Man | Spencer Davis Group |
2 |
3 |
I've Been A Bad Bad Boy | Paul Jones |
21 |
4 |
Stay With Me Baby | Walker Brothers |
13 |
5 |
Snoopy Vs The Red Baron | Royal Guardsmen |
6 |
6 |
Peek-A-Boo | New Vaudeville Band |
19 |
7 |
You Only You | Rita Pavone |
1 |
8 |
Let's Spend The Night Together/Ruby Tuesday | Rolling Stones |
29 |
9 |
I've Passed This Way Before | Jimmy Ruffin |
22 |
10 |
I Won't Come In While He's There | Jim Reeves |
18 |
11 |
Here Comes My Baby | Tremeloes |
25 |
12 |
My Way Of Giving | Chris Farlowe |
28 |
13 |
Get Down With It | Little Richard |
32 |
14 |
Niki Hoeky | P J Proby |
4 |
15 |
98.6 | Keith |
_ |
16 |
There's A Kind Of Hush | Herman's Hermits |
17 |
17 |
Release Me | Engelbert Humperdinck |
26 |
18 |
Harlem Shuffle | Traits |
24 |
19 |
Backstreet Girl | Nicky Scott |
31 |
20 |
The Beat Goes On | Sonny & Cher |
_ |
21 |
Pretty Ballerina | Left Banke |
3 |
22 |
Matthew And Son | Cat Stevens |
15 |
23 |
Thank You Baby | Graham Bonney |
40 |
24 |
Michael | Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band |
_ |
25 |
Call My Name | James Royal |
8 |
26 |
It Takes Two | Marvin Gaye & Kim Weston |
_ |
27 |
Indescribably Blue | Elvis Presley |
_ |
28 |
I've Got A Lot Of Love Left In Me | Maxine Brown |
_ |
29 |
I'll Take Good Care Of You | Cliff Bennett & the Rebel Rousers |
_ |
30 |
Reach The Top | West Coast Delegation |
_ |
31 |
Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye | Casinos |
38 |
32 |
All Kinds Of People | Fingers |
_ |
33 |
Finding You, Loving You | Toni Eden |
_ |
34 |
Love, Hate, Revenge | Episode Six |
_ |
35 |
Ride Ride Ride | Brenda Lee |
_ |
36 |
A Lovely Way To Say Goodnight | Four-Evers |
39 |
37 |
Guess I'm Dumb | Johnny Wells |
_ |
38 |
Just What You Want - Just What You'll Get | John's Children |
_ |
39 |
The Ways Of A Man | Chasers |
_ |
40 |
Yo-Yo | Billy Joe Royal |
Originally from Indiana, Geno Washington came to England as a US serviceman. After his military discharge he remained in the UK, formed his soul band and generated Mod Genomania. On February 7th at Wycombe Town Hall I (Mary) attended a Geno Washington and the Ram Jam Band concert, one of several I went to in late '66/early '67. They were the current hot band to see, and were guaranteed to get the place jumping. Audience participation was an essential part of the experience; knowing the rituals of when to point, when to clap and when to chant "Gee-no! Gee-no!", was what sorted the 'in' crowd from the likes of me, who had to resort to following the lead of the Mods! Unfortunately, Geno's funky sound and stage presence seemed impossible to capture on vinyl. Studio recordings never seemed to do him full justice and even the Hand-clappin', Foot-Stompin', Funky-Butt... Live! album, (Piccadilly NPL 38026), despite being recorded at the height of his adulation, lacked that certain something. Geno remained in his adopted country and still tours regularly. After concentrating for a while on an acoustic blues set, he has returned to the sort of stomping soul for which he is famous. He still has a great voice and a funky butt! Official Facebook Page. |
Guess I'm Dumb was written by Brian Wilson and Russ Teitleman. The song was released as a single by Glen Campbell in 1965 and according to the now-defunct Naive Harmonies website, was a gift from Wilson: "In 1964, after suffering a nervous breakdown on the eve of a tour, Brian Wilson decided he could no longer participate in live performances with the Beach Boys. He would stay behind and concentrate on songwriting and production. Drafted temporarily in his place was a young LA session musician named Glen Campbell. The story goes that Guess I'm Dumb was Wilson's thank you gift to Campbell for his time of service. The song, co-written with Russ Teitelman, was originally tracked and intended for the Beach Boys' 1965 album Today! but was ultimately discarded." The following year, Shel Talmy produced a female cover of the song by actress Dani Sheridan. The producer of Johnny Wells' record was Mike Berry, (photo: Mike's personal website) who also wrote the B-side Wondering Why. As information concerning the single and its singer is almost non-existent, we asked Mike if he could fill in any gaps on the subject. He responded:
Regarding Mike's 'deal', Wondering Why was published by Pall Mall Music, Radio London's publishing company. Original Big L Programme Director Ben Toney wrote in his memoirs:
The single was given the catalogue number Parlophone R5559 and was due for release on January 27th. It may be that Johnny Wells's reticence to sign contracts led to it being withdrawn. Mike is also a Fab Forty artist, who had a climber in July and a #33 in December of 1965. Neither was associated with Pall Mall! Many thanks to Mike for his input. See his personal website for news of his latest gigs. |
DJ Climbers: | ||
Keep It Out Of Sight | Paul & Barry Ryan | Tony Blackburn |
On A Carousel | Hollies | Chuck Blair |
Peculiar Situation | Young Idea | Pete Drummond |
Is This What I Get For Loving You? | Marianne Faithfull | Kenny Everett |
Everybody Dance Now | Soul City | Paul Kaye |
I've Been Lonely Too Long | Young Rascals | Mark Roman |
Baby I Need Your Lovin' | Johnny Rivers | Keith Skues |
Lovin' You | Bobby Darin | Ed Stewart |
Georgy Girl | Seekers | Norman St John |
Aboard the Galaxy this week It was all-change for the Big L DJs. TW caught the tender to Harwich for the final time on February 7th and his show was taken over by Keith Skues. Newcomer, Lorne King, had just celebrated his twenty-fourth birthday on February 1st and had not yet been allocated his own Radio London climber when he presented his first show, nine till midnight, on the 8th of the month. Lorne joined too late to become a member of the Knees Club, which in January '67, had become an ex-club and had ceased to be. This was rectified when Lorne was finally inducted as member #388 at the First North American Offshore Reunion in Vancouver, in 2004, where he is shown flying the flag. Left and below: Big L press release and publicity photo |
Sadly, as Lorne was finishing his first Big L show at midnight, over on Shivering Sands fort, Radio City was closing down. A ten-minute home movie shot on the station by the late Leon Tipler has been posted on YouTube by Steve England. (Thanks to The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame) |
Ashore Chris Denning hosted a show at the Southend Cliffs Pavilion on the 9th; on the 10th and 11th, Dave Cash was hopefully not mooning at the Harvest Moon Club, Guildford on the 10th, and Mike Lennox and Ed Stewpot were the double-act at the Starlite Ballroom, Greenford on the 11th. (Radio City and Colex clips, courtesy of Hans Knot from the Luuk Meuwese collection.) |
Climbers: | |
Mr Hyde | Pussyfoot |
Just Like A Man | Emma Rede |
The Impossible Dream | Shirley Bassey |
I Dig You Baby | Jerry Butler |
She | Del Shannon |
Mellow Yellow | Donovan |
Give It To Me | Troggs |
Detroit City | Tom Jones |
You Got To Me | Neil Diamond |
Baby | Loot |
Four And Twenty Hours | Ivy League |
What's Wrong With The Way I Live | Twilights |
Man On The Flying Trapeze | Leapy Lee |
Goodnight Irene | Originals |
Sitting In The Rain | John Mayall's Bluesbreakers |
You've Got Me High | Science Poption |
This Just Doesn't Seem To Be My Day | Roger Denison |
Chartbuster: | |
Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever | Beatles |
Disc of the Week: | |
I'll Try Anything | Dusty Springfield |
Album of the Week: | |
Trogglodynamite | Troggs |
The single was released in a picture sleeve in the Netherlands |
The Loot single was also released in a picture sleeve in Germany. According to Badcatrecords the Loot line-up was Chris Bates, Dave Wright, Jeff Glover, Roger Pope and Bruce Turner.
Dave Wright, who penned Baby, had been a founder member of the Troggs with Reg Presley, and like the Troggs, the Loot came from Andover, Hampshire and were part of the Larry Page stable.
In the blurb for the German release, Baby Come Closer is promoted as the 'A' side (Hansa 19354 AT) rather than Baby, as is also the case with the single released in Holland (Fontana YF27876) The Record Collector Price Guide also lists Baby Come Closer as the UK 'A' and this was the side that Radio Caroline placed in the Caroline Countdown of Sound. Baby Come Closer entered the Countdown of Sound on March 4th and spent three weeks in the lower-end of the 50-single Caroline chart.
It seems that Radio London was in the minority in promoting Baby as the 'A' side, despite the Page One advertisement on the right, (courtesy of Brian Long). Perhaps Larry Page changed his mind about which was the stronger side.
For whatever reason, Radio London listed Baby as a climber for a mere two weeks, and the unfortunate Loot was heard no more on the station. Meanwhile, the teacher's pets were the other band featured in the Page One advert. Not only had the already-successful Troggs got their new single Give it to Me chosen as a Big L climber, but their album Trogglodynamite had also been picked as the Album of the Week. The Loot must have been crying in their beer when the following week (Feb 12th) they saw their stablemates crash into the Fab 40 at #11, while Barry Benson's cover of Cousin Jane (from the Trogglodynamite LP) was Radio London Club Disc of the Week.
Many thanks to Bruce Welsh in Victoria, BC author of What About Us? A Rocklopaedia Of Britain's Other Recording Groups 1962 – 1966.Working on Volume 2, What's That Sound? A Rocklopaedia Of Britain's Other Recording Groups 1967 – 1969 Bruce checked out our site, spotted this piece about the Loot and sent some pictures of their single which show that in the end, it was Baby Come Closer that was released as the A-side. Bruce also uncovered a photo of the song on EMI's Parlophone label although there seems to be no information about that release.
Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever | Beatles |
On February 3rd, Kenny Everett gave Strawberry Fields Forever its first-ever airing. Ken was so knocked
out by his Big L Beatles exclusive (presumably
given to him because of his close association with the band) that he played
it twice in a row, describing it as "The most amazing record I've ever heard."
Radio City then claimed to be first with the single, but did not play
it till February 10th, while Radio Scotland declared itself first to
place Strawberry Fields at #1. Company policy dictated that Caroline could not play the single till it hit the Nationals, so while the Fabs topped
the Fab on February 12th, the single was not on the Caroline playlist till
the 25th.
Just Like A Man | Emma Rede | Columbia DB 8126 |
Emma Rede already had a place in
the Fab Forty at #17, as a backing singer on Engelbert Humperdinck's Release Me. She had also
appeared incognito in recent Fabs, on Hendrix's Hey Joe.
Born Jacqueline Norah Flood in Dublin, she was performing on Radio Eireann
by the age of fourteen. Relocating to London's West End in the early Fifties,
she auditioned for Ronnie Aldrich, who
gave her the stage name, Jackie Lee when
he made her the lead singer with his band the Squadronnaires.
In 1959, Jackie joined the Raindrops,
(not to be confused with Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry's later US group)
a quartet formed by her future husband Len Beadle,
with Vince Hill and Johnny
Worth. They found popularity on the Light Programme's Wednesday
evening 'Parade of the Pops', performing interpretations of American hits,
some of which they recorded. The Raindrops released a number of singles, including
covers of Claudine Clark's Party Lights and the Shirelles' Will You Still Love
Me Tomorrow. Some of the recordings were credited to 'Jackie
Lee and the Raindrops'.
Jackie launched her solo career in 1965, but despite having access to strong
material, including the Bacharach and David song I Cry Alone, which was in the Fab Forty in February of that year, her recordings failed to make any impact. Emma Rede was the name chosen
for a relaunch of her career in '67.
Although success eluded her with her own singles, as a session artist, Jackie
became a chart-topper! She led two vocal collectives called the Tears
of Joy and the Jackie Lee Singers (featuring sometime member Elton John)
who enhanced several smash hits. As well as those already mentioned, Jackie
sang on Tom Jones's Green Green Grass.
Her voice was also heard on many commercials of the day.
It was animals horses and bears, specifically that finally brought
fame for Jackie. In 1968, top ten success arrived with her recording of the
theme to hit Children's TV series, White Horses, this time under the
name of Jacky. The singer reverted to
her Jackie Lee persona to score a second a hit in 1971 with another children's
TV theme. Rupert, was an animated version of the popular Daily Express
cartoon strip.
In 1973, Jackie retired from showbiz, suffering from problems with her vocal
cords. She now resides in Canada.
A complete Jackie Lee biography,
which supplied much of the above information, can be found at www.jackielee.org/Jackie_biog.htm
The blue addition to the climbers indicate singles listed in Brian Long's book 'The London Sound' based on information typed in the Curzon Street offices or other sources. Alan Field did not hear this record played or announced as a climber
Green additions to the climbers indicate singles sourced from 'Monty's Diary'. (See Fab Forty for 010167).
Alan Field did not hear the records listed in blue or green played or announced as climbers.
The Caroline 'Countdown Sixty' chart (south ship) for this week is here
This week's Radio City 'City Sixty' on the Pirate Radio Hall of Fame is here This was the final 'City Sixty' as the station closed on February 8th.
This week's Radio 270 Top 40 on the Pirate Radio Hall of Fame is here
Tune in next week for another Field's Fab Forty