Tony also did the chart from two weeks previous in 1987 last year. I remember commenting on quite a few of the songs featured at the time. Do they even bother to check this?

Nice to see my comments re Bucks Fizz created a little bit of a debate. I'd like to think that My Camera Never Lies is better remembered than I think, but I stick by my view that anyone who wasn't a fan would struggle to name any of their songs other than Making Your Mind Up.

Just had the misfortune of listening to Pump Up The Bitter by Starturn on 45 Pints, from May 1988. If I wasn't mistaken it features a few segments from Tony himself!, saying something on the lines of " do you think this is garbage", or words to that effect. We know Tony had a couple of singles, his best being So Much Love in 1968, although his Chop Chop never did much as he so often reminds us!

When POTP featured 1976 on one occasion, they played the much later version of the Wurzels Combine Harvester featuring Tony Blackburn. This has now got me wondering how many other tracks, if any, has Tony "featured" on?

It's a very little known fact, almost a state secret in the industry, that Tony actually sings the vocal's on 1968's seven minute long No4 hit single MacArthur Park even though it is credited to the actor Richard Harris.

Nice to have a slight disagreement with you once every few months Ian!

I'll give you another "Oooohhh" moment when I say yes I would place Oh Julie above Beat Surrender in a list of 1982 No1 songs. Although I would place their other '82 topper A Town Called Malice above Shaky.

Paul Weller is on Jools show tomorrow night live and on Friday. I loved seeing Sparks on the show last week, just as they ever were. Infact they'd teamed up with Franz Ferdinand and styled themselves FFS (Franz Ferdinand Sparks). They did their hit This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us which mashed into Take Me Out by FF and then ended with the conclusion to This Town again.

Okay I was just kidding!

Indeed Rich!

I always felt 'Oh Julie' was one of Shaky's weaker singles although I bought it at the time. If memory serves me correctly, Shaky wrote it!

The Jam's 'Bitterest Pill....' (their penultimate single) was another cracking song for me.

Would loved to have caught The Sparks. Must check if it's on Catchup/Iplayer.

Always nice to have some Bucks Fizz chat. I would say quite a lot of people would remember 'The Land of Make Believe'.

Bucks Fizz had some great songs in their relatively short time. I have a 'Best of..' and I hardly skip any of the tracks when listening.

Next you'll be telling me Bob Holness played Sax on 'Baker Street'!!

Wow! He was busy in 1968 then. You are probably right, as he has said before when he reads out birthday texts and emails about don't leave the cake out in the rain!

Pump Up The Bitter is a genuinely great record.


Have the Star Turn scratchers arrived?

Must admit to being a huge Bucks Fizz fan.
Personal favourite was 1983's 'When We Were Young' and closely followed by 1984's 'Talking In Your Sleep' which was a cover of The Romantics song.

I thought that after the initial success of 'Making Your Mind Up' and the mediocre success of the two follow ups that they may slowly disappear and then 'The Land Of Make Believe' really cemented their 80's chart success.

Just a shame that they fell out and now, although three of the original members still appear together they are unable to use the name.

Ian, can I refer you back to post #5030.

Haha, I ain't THAT gullible Rich! It is hard though to sometimes convey when you are joking with posters that you don't actually know, or know what they look like, and their humour level. Mine is actually very high, and it's obvious yours is! That's what we want!

Pleased to hear it Ian. A little more humour and a little less po-faced opinion here and there never does any harm.

What kind of cake would actually last best if left out in the rain I wonder?

One of these maybe?

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3028705/rainbow-cake

Some songs to comment on in the 1987 chart that weren't played last year:

May 9 1987

17 LIL' DEVIL - THE CULT - I didn't recall this at all, although I'm sure I will have heard it before. I thought it was quite good, though certainly not up there with their classic She Sells Sanctuary.
16 BACK AND FORTH - CAMEO - Okay I suppose, by not as iconic as Word Up with the famous cod piece!
13 BIG LOVE - FLEETWOOD MAC - I prefer their other hits from around this period, like Little Lies and Everywhere.
10 TO BE WITH YOU AGAIN - LEVEL 42 - I like most of Level 42 hits, the ballads and uptempo ones, but this is one of theirs that I forget about.
08 APRIL SKIES - THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN - Lol at Tony calling them Jesus... and Mary Chain, as if they were a duo! Another one from this chart that I didn't remember, and wasn't expecting to like it much, but didn't think it was too bad once it got going,
07 (SOMETHING INSIDE) SO STRONG - LABI SIFFRE - While I totally appreciate the song and its sentiment, it would never be one that I'd seek out to play myself.
04 A BOY FROM NOWHERE - TOM JONES - Do love this one. Tom's voice is fantastic, on it and he really makes you believe it what he's singing.
19 SPEAR OF DESTINY - By coincidence I reached Spear Of Destiny's entry in a book I'm currently reading - James Masterton's excellent Top 40 Annual 1988 - so know a bit more about them than I did yesterday! Only vaguely recalled this one, so youtubed it. Not the sort of thing I was into at the time, but I enjoyed hearing it now - good lyric and very dramatic.
15 SHEILA TAKE A BOW - THE SMITHS - Don't mind this, but wasn't that bothered it was skipped. I would've been gutted had it been their hit from later in 1987, the excellent Girlfriend In A Coma.
14 DIMOND LIGHTS - GLENN AND CHRIS - Oh, Tony should definitely have played this! I can never tire of watching their TOTP performance where Glenn is really going for it, and Chris is just stood there looking really embarrassed. Not sure why they weren't billed as Hoddle and Waddle, though.

On this date Tony will be playing the charts from 1970 and 1980.

This weekend Tony will be playing the charts from 1959 and 1967.

Here are the original BBC charts from back in the day. Several tied positions including the number ones in 1959.

16 th May 1959

1. It Doesn't Matter Anymore - Buddy Holly
1. A Fool Such As I/I Need Your Love So Bad - Elvis Presley
3. Sidesaddle - Russ Conway
4. Donna - Marty Wilde
5. It's Late / Never Be Anyone Else But You - Ricky Nelson
6. Petite Fleur - Chris Barber
7 . Come Softly To Me - The Fleetwoods
8. Charlie Brown - The Coasters
8. I've Waited So Long - Anthony Newley
10. I Go Ape - Neil Sedaka
11. Come Softly To Me - Frankie Vaughan and the Kaye Sisters
12. Mean Streak/Never Mind - Cliff Richard and The Drifters
13. Fort Worth Jail - Lonnie Donegan
14. C'Mon Lets Go - Eddie Cochrane
15 - Smoke Gets In Your Eyes - The Platters
16 . Guitar Boogie Shuffle - Bert Weedon
17. Where We're You On Our Wedding Day - Lloyd Price
18. Idol On Parade EP - Anthony Newley
19. Venus - Frankie Avalon
19. May You Always - McGuire Sisters


17 th May 1967

1. Silence Is Golden - Tremeloes
2. Dedicated To The One I Love - Mamas and Papas
3. Puppet On A String - Sandie Shaw
4. Pictures of Lily - The Who
5.Somethin Stupid - Nancy and Frank Sinatra
6. The Boat That I Row - Lulu
7. Waterloo Sunset - Kinks
8. Seven Drunken Nights - Dubliners
9. Funny Familiar Forgotten Feelings - Tom Jones
10. A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You - The Monkees
11. Then I Kissed Her - Beachboys
12. Purple Haze - Jimi Hendrix
13. The Wind Cries Mary - Jimi Hendrix
14. I Can Hear The Grass Grow - The Move
15. Hi Ho Silver Lining - Jeff Beck
16. New York Mining Disaster 1941 - Bee Gees
17. Ha Ha Said The Clown - Manfredd Mann
18. Release Me - Englebert Humperdinck
19. Sweet Soul Music - Arthur Conley
20. Happy Together - Turtles.


Two fabulous charts !!!!! Enjoy.

No disrespect to you, but it really annoys me when people feel the need to reproduce the relevant chart. Sort of spoils the enjoyment.

Looking forward to these two charts very much, although I reckon the posts for next week will be few and far between with the two charts being pre-1976. They never seem to drum up too much enthusiasm. ( unfortunately ).

The point is these are NOT the charts Tony will be using. They are the charts David Jacobs used in 1959 and Alan Freeman in 1967.

The 1959 chart in particular is very different from the one Tony will play.

I doubt that the charts are that much different, but that's not the point. There is a tendency on social media to give the game away, unintenionally or not.

Thanks for posting that.

The game was given away years ago.

The 1959 chart is very different. The NME chart that Tony will use lists both sides of the double A sided records seperatly where the BBC Chart combines them. There were three such singles in the top twenty. Strangely the Elvis titles are listed together on Tony's chart but Ricky Nelson and Cliff are listed seperatly.

The weird way the NME treated double A sides was reason enough for their chart not to have become the one that is used on POTP today. (The main obvious reason is that POTP should use the original POTP chart.)

I would love them to use the BBC Charts, it would add so much more authenticity to the older decades. I wonder what the "official" reason is that POTP ( or Unique) no longer chooses to use them?