Last
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This
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Presented
by Chris Denning
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Week
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Week
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2
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1
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Get Away | Georgie Fame & the Blue Flames |
15
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2
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I Couldn't Live Without Your Love | Petula Clark |
12
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3
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Out Of Time | Chris Farlowe |
13
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4
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Black Is Black | Los Bravos |
17
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5
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The More I See You | Chris Montez |
3
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6
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Sittin' On A Fence | Twice As Much |
1
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7
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Bus Stop | Hollies |
6
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8
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Nobody Needs Your Love | Gene Pitney |
21
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9
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You Gave Me Somebody To Love | Manfred Mann |
14
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10
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This Door Swings Both Ways | Herman's Hermits |
26
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11
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A House In The Country | Pretty Things |
24
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12
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Goin' Back | Dusty Springfield |
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13
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Love Letters | Elvis Presley |
11
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14
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The Music Goes Round | Jeeps |
20
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15
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No One Will Ever Know | Frank Ifield |
5
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16
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Paperback Writer | Beatles |
40
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17
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Nothing In The World | Geneveve |
18
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18
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Lovers Of The World Unite | David & Jonathan |
25
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19
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Oops | Neil Christian |
40
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20
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Midnight Mary | Rockin' Berries |
7
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21
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I Need You (EP) | Walker Brothers |
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22
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(Baby) You Don't Have To Tell Me | Walker Brothers |
4
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23
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It's A Man's Man's Man's World | James Brown & the Famous Flames |
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24
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I Love How You Love Me | Paul & Barry Ryan |
30
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25
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Friday Night | Red Hawkes |
8
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26
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Hideaway | Dave Dee Dozy Beaky Mick & Tich |
38
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27
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Something's Going On In There Behind My Back | Dick Jordan |
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28
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Mama | Dave Berry |
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29
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Summer In The City | Lovin' Spoonful |
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29
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Lil' Red Riding Hood | Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs |
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30
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Sweet Pea | Tommy Roe |
10
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31
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River Deep Mountain High | Ike & Tina Turner |
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32
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With A Girl Like You | Troggs |
16
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33
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Sunny Afternoon | Kinks |
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34
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No 1 In Your Heart | Herbie Goins & the Night-Timers |
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35
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Counting | Marianne Faithfull |
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36
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Hi-Lili Hi-Lo | Alan Price Set |
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37
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Happy Summer Days | Ronnie Dove |
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37
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Don't Come Running To Me | Madeline Bell |
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38
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Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever | Four Tops |
33
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39
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It's That Time Of The Year | Len Barry |
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40
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32nd Floor | Washington D.C.'s |
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40
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How Long Is Time | Odyssey |
Both sides of the Washington DC's single were co-written by Sylvan Whittingham. Sylvan, aka Sylvan Mason, is renowned as 'The Caroline Stowaway', who hid in the loo so that she could spend the weekend aboard the Mi Amigo when visiting the ship in September '65. Sylvan was promoting her Romeo and Juliet-themed (and BBC-banned) single, We Don't Belong, which spent four weeks in the Caroline Sounds of 65 chart. (Above) The singer/songwriter views a promo for We Don't Belong, during the Offshore 50 reunion, 2017. |
(Above) The Washington D.C.'s single was issued in a picture sleeve in Germany
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Very little is known about Odyssey. The sleevenotes for Strike Records' 'Best of Strike' compilation imply
that the band's vocalist was Brindley D Spender, aka Ken Smart,
but whether the singer's
real identity was Brindley, Ken or another name altogether, the CD notes admit that this information has vanished somewhere in the vinyl vaults. Ken Smart did write How Long is Time and its B-side Beware and he also had a solo Strike single, The Company I Keep – its writer named as B
D Spender. That song was also released in the UK in 1968 on the Domain label under the name of Brindley D Spender, but in Germany as -you've guessed it - Ken Smart! There is also a rarity from 1968 called The Company I Keep. One of only 2 pictures of Odyssey that we have been able to track down is on an EP sleeve issued in France on the Zag label (below left) where Beware (the UK B-side) is being promoted as the main track. This is assuming that the photo genuinely is Odyssey. Several instances have shown that the wrong photos were sometimes sent out by record companies or were mixed up with those of other groups at the printers. Although the sleeve gives the impression that the EP features four songs by Odyssey, the French website Vinyl Vidi Vici reveals that the only other Odyssey track is How Long is Time and that the other two cuts are Love Me Right and I Can Go Down, both by Jimmy Powell and the Dimensions. At least we can be pretty certain that the band shown on the sleeve isn't Jimmy Powell and the Dimensions, as there are six of them and only four guys in this photo! The photo on the right could well be the same four guys, looking moody (and who can blame them?) in a patch of stinging nettles. The same photo appears on the German picture sleeve. Many thanks to Claude Picard for allowing us to reproduce the EP photo from his site. Claude is the webmaster of Vinyl Vidi Vici an interesting encyclopaedia of singles and EPs released in France between 1960 and 1975 – both French and overseas pressings. |
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37
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Happy Summer Days | Ronnie Dove | Stateside SS524 |
Virtually unknown in the UK, although he released 18 singles here, Baltimore's Ronnie Dove enjoyed 21 US chart entries between 1964 and 69. Happy Summer Days reached #27. In 1965, he won Billboard Awards as Top Singles Artist and Top Selling Easy Listening Artist, plus Cashbox Awards for Best Singles Male Vocalist and Best LP Male Vocalist. In the same year, he also won awards as diverse as Top Easy Listening Artist (Billboard) and Best R&B Male Vocalist and Best R&B records (Cashbox). 2015, marked Ronni'se 60th year in music. He had planned to retire in 2014, but continued to performe after seeing an improvement in health problems. His personal website is here.
Aboard
the Galaxy this week
July
11th
My signature tune and all-time favourite song, Along Comes
Mary had reached #7 in the Fab for 26th June 66, although it never touched
the Nationals. On July 11th, Kenny Everett
persuaded Dave Dennis to come into the
studio during his show to read the lyrics written by Tandyn
Almer for the edification of Big L listeners. After the performance,
Kenny announced, "That was Along Comes Mary, ladies and gentlemen, as
Dave Dennis crawls out of the studio on his knees."
Many thanks to Willy from the Netherlands for the scan of the pic sleeve
The song is generally regarded as being about marijuana and according to the Songfacts website, the Association had a long and troubled 'association' with drugs. Their bass player Brian Cole overdosed on heroin in 1972. It was many years before I realised that Along Comes Mary might have drug connotations although the lyrics can be interpreted however the listener chooses. The song and many interesting comments about it can be found on the Songfacts website, where one contributor writes that Tandyn Almer stated in an interview that he "sat on the sidewalk on Sunset Strip in Hollywood, stoned, and wrote 419 verses to this song. It had nothing to do with religion but was solely about the perspective that marijuana gave him about the people who passed by and the events taking place at the time." How he managed to narrow down the 419 verses to 6, is unknown.
Also on July 11th, TW expressed some doubts about having chosen Hanky Panky as his climber, even though as he told his audience, it was top in the US "as I speak". Tony explained that his reservations were because the Hanky Panky was a dance craze that had yet to arrive in the UK, but he had been won over by the sound and felt the single would be successful in the UK. It did enter the Nationals on July 21st and stayed for seven weeks, peaking at #38. However, there must have been a missing 's' somewhere along the way, as Tony was announcing the band as Tommy James and the 'Hondells'.
Norm St John's first Big L climber was singing shipmate Tony Blackburn's
third single, Green Light.
DJ Climbers: | ||
Barefootin' | Robert Parker | Tony Blackburn |
Sh-Boom Sh-Boom | Diane Ferraz & Nicky Scott | Chris Denning |
It's So Hard | Honeycombs | Dave Dennis |
Tell Her I'm Not Home | Ike & Tina Turner | Kenny Everett |
When The Sun Comes Out | Force West | Bill Hearne |
Let Me Tell You Babe | Nat King Cole | Duncan Johnson |
Hi Hi Hazel | Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band | Paul Kaye |
Doctor Love | Bobby Sheen | Mike Lennox |
High On Love | Knickerbockers | Mark Roman |
Not A One Girl Guy | Barry Benson | Keith Skues |
Little Girl | Syndicate Of Sound | Ed Stewart |
Green Light | Tony Blackburn | Norman St John |
Hanky Panky | Tommy James & the Shondells | Tony Windsor |
Hanky Panky | Tommy James & the Shondells | Roulette RK7000 |
Alan Hardy:
I always thought in 1966 that Tommy James and the Shondells’ ‘Hanky Panky’ sounded as if it came from a different era. It did – it was recorded in 1963. In 1966 a Pittsburgh ‘club’ DJ found a copy in a secondhand record shop and played it at one of his dances. The kids loved it and inundated local radio stations with requests to play it. A bootlegger then pressed up 80,000 copies and it went to number one in the city. Tommy found out only after being asked to make live appearances, when he had to recruit a new batch of Shondells! He then took the original master to Roulette Records in New York who issued it legally and it kicked off his career for real.
Climbers: | |
On The Good Ship Lollipop | Wonder Who |
Light Of The Charge Brigade | Viv Prince |
I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water | Johnny Rivers |
Ninety Nine And A Half (Won't Do) | Wilson Pickett |
Singing The Blues | Jason Eddy & The Centremen |
God Only Knows | Tony Rivers & the Castaways |
Past, Present And Future | Shangri-Las |
The Man Who Took The Valise Off The Floor Of Grand Central Station At Noon | She Trinity |
Disc of the Week: | |
Visions | Cliff Richard |
Album of the Week: | |
Would You Believe | Hollies |
Although Alan Field did not hear Singing the Blues announced as a climber, it has been added to this week's playlist because a recording exists of TW from 11th July – the day after the Fab Forty countdown – playing the track up to the 11.30 news. Singing the Blues was a Joe Meek-produced reworking of the old Guy Mitchell/Tommy Steele hit. Jason Eddy was the stage name adopted by Billy Fury's brother, Albie Wycherley. Available on the CD Joe Meek: The Alchemist of Pop - Home Made Hits and Rarities 1958-1966, which features several other obscure Fab Forty tracks. Like most rare Meek releases, the original vinyl is highly collectable, with a pristine copy valued at around £125.
Infamous as the worst-behaved member of those Kings of Unruliness, the Pretty Things, drummer Viv Prince quit the band in 1965. As he had played with the somewhat-less-controversial Carter-Lewis and the Southerners prior to joining the Pretties, John Carter agreed to co-produce Light Of The Charge Brigade, Prince's one solo instrumental release. Mint copies can command around £40. (Click on the picture for an Amazon link to more information about the Record Collector Rare Record Price Guide.) |
The red additions 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 them 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
Tune in next week for another Field's Fab Forty!