for
Sunday 7th May 1967
(the week Big L got the Sgt
Pepper's exclusive)
Last |
This |
Presented
by Tony Blackburn |
|
Week |
Week |
||
2 |
1 |
Pictures Of Lily | Who |
12 |
2 |
Then I Kissed Her | Beach Boys |
3 |
3 |
Silence Is Golden | Tremeloes |
5 |
4 |
New York Mining Disaster 1941 | Bee Gees |
6 |
5 |
The First Cut Is The Deepest | P P Arnold |
11 |
6 |
Little Games | Yardbirds |
19 |
7 |
Shake A Tail Feather | James & Bobby Purify |
|
8 |
Waterloo Sunset | Kinks |
31 |
9 |
24 Sycamore | Wayne Fontana |
4 |
10 |
Birds And Bees | Warm Sounds |
20 |
11 |
Say You Don't Mind | Denny Laine |
26 |
12 |
Get Me To The World On Time | Electric Prunes |
25 |
13 |
The Wind Cries Mary | Jimi Hendrix Experience |
17 |
14 |
Children | Pretty Things |
7 |
15 |
Show Me | Joe Tex |
|
16 |
You Gotta Stop / The Love Machine | Elvis Presley |
29 |
17 |
Take Me In Your Arms And Love Me | Gladys Knight & the Pips |
1 |
18 |
The Boat That I Row | Lulu |
8 |
19 |
Gonna Give Her All The Love I've Got | Jimmy Ruffin |
10 |
20 |
I Got Rhythm | Happenings |
27 |
21 |
Tears Tears Tears | Ben E King |
|
22 |
Finchley Central | New Vaudeville Band |
|
23 |
My Old Car | Lee Dorsey |
13 |
24 |
Peanuts And Chewy Macs | Cymbaline |
|
25 |
The Happening | Supremes |
16 |
26 |
Girl I Need You | Artistics |
40 |
27 |
The Moving Finger Writes | Len Barry |
35 |
28 |
A Certain Misunderstanding | David Garrick |
39 |
29 |
Funny 'Cos Neither Could I | Shotgun Express |
|
30 |
Two Streets | Val Doonican |
38 |
31 |
Bowling Green | Everly Brothers |
37 |
32 |
Jonathan Wotsit | Vic Richards |
14 |
33 |
I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You) | Aretha Franklin |
30 |
34 |
Bless My Soul (I've Been And Gone And Done It) | Studio Six |
|
35 |
Groovin' | Young Rascals |
|
36 |
Roll With The Punches | Garnet Mimms |
|
37 |
Yesterday's Papers | Chris Farlowe |
|
38 |
I Can't Turn Back Time | Vince Edwards |
|
39 |
Day Time, Night Time | Simon Dupree & the Big Sound |
|
40 |
Fly Me High | Moody Blues |
DJ Climbers: | ||
My Babe | Ronnie Dove | Tony Blackburn |
It's All In The Game | James Royal | Chuck Blair |
Too Fast, Too Slow | Unit 4 + 2 | Tony Brandon |
My Back Pages | Byrds | Pete Drummond |
Let Me Be | Turtles | Paul Kaye |
My Lady | Troggs | Lorne King |
Somebody To Love | Jefferson Airplane | John Peel |
Love Eyes | Nancy Sinatra | Mark Roman |
Tabatha Twitchit | Dave Clark Five | Keith Skues |
Walking In The Rain | Walker Brothers | Ed Stewart |
Use Me | Cliff Bennett & the Rebel Rousers | John Yorke |
My Lady | Troggs | POF 022 |
Alan Field points out:
The Troggs' record, My Lady, (b/w Girl in Black) was immediately withdrawn by Page One and replaced by Night
Of The Long Grass, with the same B-side and exactly the same catalogue number. The replacement
became a climber for the following two weeks, 14th and 21st May.
Webmaster note: Both A-sides were penned by Reg Presley. Copies of My Lady are naturally scarce and therefore highly collectable; they can change hands for £100 or more. Jat Harris released a cover of the song in July, which was picked as John Peel's climber and appeared in the Fab Forty
Friday, May 12th
Radio London's biggest scoop ever! The station was the first in the
UK (and everywhere else in the world) to play the eagerly-awaited Sgt Pepper's
Lonely Hearts Club Band LP in full. Big L beat the BBC Light Programme by
eight days – and the Beatles were reported to have been very pleased about it.
The story of how this exclusive came about and how it moved John Peel to tears, is here.
Climbers: | |
My One Chance To Make It | Beatstalkers |
The Wedding Of Ramona Blair | Mirage |
On My Life | Bob & Carol |
Day After Day After Day | Jeannie Lambe |
I Love Everything About You | Bobby Hebb |
Cuttin' In | Timi Yuro |
Samantha's Mine | Spectrum |
Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat | Bob Dylan |
Don't Come Back To Me | Bunch (*) |
Take The Time | Shangri-Las |
Baby I'm Your Man | Dickie Rock |
Just One More Chance | Outer Limits |
Gypsy Fred | Koobas |
Disc of the Week: | |
Okay! | Dave Dee Dozy Beaky Mick & Tich |
Album of the Week: | |
Puppet On A String | Sandie Shaw |
A French picture sleeve of Don't Come Back To Me by 'Les Bunch' and an advert promoting the Koobas' Gypsy Fred. |
Samantha's Mine | Spectrum | RCA 1589 (Released 28/04/67) |
According to various sources, Spectrum was a group created as a tie-in with Gerry & Sylvia Anderson's 1967 Supermarionation series, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons – the follow-up to his fantastically-successful Thunderbirds. 'Spectrum' was the name of the Earth's security organisation, i.e. 'the goodies' who fought the Martian Mysterons i.e. 'the baddies' from their Cloudbase HQ. Not surprisingly for an outfit called Spectrum, the agents were all named after colours and the indestructible Captain Scarlet was the hottest of the hues.
A now-defunct site called 'Scarlet Fever – everything you ever wanted to know about Captain Scarlet', said:
"Composer Barry Gray's original version of the Captain Scarlet theme tune was replaced by a version [with lyrics] performed by The Spectrum, a five-piece London-based group who had been manufactured by RCA Victor to compete with the success of the American manufactured band The Monkees. Gerry Anderson signed them to a £100,000 contract and promoted them in tandem with the launch of Captain Scarlet."
On stage, the band wore uniforms like those worn by the Spectrum puppets, but despite the puppets becoming cult TV heroes, there is no sign of the band ever having enjoyed any anticipated Monkee-type adulation. Something must have gone wrong with the deal, because it appears that the vocal version of the Captain Scarlet theme never achieved release as a single.
Spectrum members were Tony Atkins (ld gtr), Colin Forsey (vocals), Bill Chambers (kbds), Tony Judd (bs) and Keith Forsey (drms). Keith remained with the band through three line-ups and went on to became a producer for Billy Idol. He produced film soundtracks for Flashdance, Beverly Hills Cop II and The Breakfast Club and co-wrote the Simple Minds track Don't You Forget About Me.
It is unclear how the group's Captain Scarlet connection ties in with what seems to have been a completely separate and already-established pop career. Spectrum released either two or three singles* – including this one – well before the Anderson's TV programme premiered in September 1967. Which begs the question, was this really a manufactured band, or did an existing outfit called Spectrum sign a contract with Gerry Anderson?
Career-wise Spectrum was yet another British group that became more popular abroad than at home. They enjoyed #1 hits in Spain with Samantha's Mine and Headin' For A Heatwave (their third 1967 UK release), and hit the top spot in Germany, with their cover of the Beatles' Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (their second 1968 UK release).
Their follow-up to Samantha's Mine, Portobello Road, became a great Radio London favourite and proved popular when revived during recent offshore recreations. As happened with many 'might have been hits', unfortunate timing meant that the single lost out on vital airplay by being released during Big L's final weeks.
* With Samantha's Mine generally regarded as the band's first single, it may be that Little Girl – the first of the releases on the Record Collector Rare Record Price Guide Spectrum list – may have been recorded by a completely different band of the same name. A possible clue is that Little Girl (1965) was on the Columbia label, whereas all the other Spectrum singles up until 1969, were on RCA.
Surprisingly, the Spectrum's recording of the Captain Scarlet theme tune is omitted from the Price Guide list of their recordings, which would indicate that it was never released by RCA. This was a strange decision, considering the intended promotion of the band alongside the TV series and the alleged £100,000 contract. Moreover, another incentive for release was that the theme to an earlier Anderson creation, Fireball XL5, had already become a minor hit for Don Spencer in 1963.
Was there more than one Spectrum and why wasn't the Scarlet theme released? It's what you might call a 'Mysteron mystery'.
Spectrum's vocal version of the Scarlet theme song was heard on the end credits of episodes 7, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20 and 22-32 of the popular series.
Scarlet fans can visit Spectrum Headquarters – Chris Bishop's unofficial Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons website – where there's a photo of the band wearing their colourful uniforms alongside their puppet counterparts. The Beeb also has pages devoted to the cult series.
Another version of the theme tune was recorded by Manfred Mann's Mike Vickers.
In 2005, a new Gerry Anderson computer-generated series appeared, called New Captain Scarlet.
Green additions to the climbers indicate singles sourced from 'Monty's Diary'. (See Fab Forty for 010167). In addition to the two new climbers, Just One More Chance and Gypsy Fred, Monty has noted that Take The Time, and Baby I'm Your Mancontinue to be on the list for a second week.
Alan Field did not hear the records sourced from Monty's Diary played or announced as climbers.
(*) Brian Long does not have a comprehensive climber list for 7th May. Alan's list doesn't include the record by the Bunch,
but Wolfgang Buchholz notes hearing it played as a climber this week, as does Monty.
The Caroline 'Countdown Sixty' chart (south ship) for this week is here
Tune in next week for another Field's Fab Forty