LOL

I knew exactly where I was in the week of today's 1975 chart - having a week at Pontin's Camber Sands!

Not that any of today's 1975 tunes from that weeks chart have any memory for me in any way whatsoever first hand from the time, I was just too young.

A lot of Tammy's about in this chart. Kicking off with what surprised me from Tami Lynn which I always associate with being a hit in 1971, never noticed it came back just 4 years later again. As he began '75 I actually thought it sounded like a continuation of 1964 so was not surprised when he stated that the song originated from that year.

A shame Mud had to spoil the top five singles which would otherwise have been an entire female solo artist top spots. Not sure if that has ever happened.

I think this is one of the poorer 70's charts overall, but even in the 1970's it produced classic tracks. Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons with Night is my personal stand out that I've always enjoyed hearing. Would have been nice to hear Kraftwerk's debut UK hit climbing the chart with Autobahn, which looks so out of place and ahead of time in May 1975.

I never quite understand why re-releases, such as Tami Lynn today that had been No4 in 1971, are preferred and played above actual original first time hits from the year actual year in question, especially when lower down and not in the top three so don't have to be chosen.

I missed the programme - was 'Hurt So Good' played?

The success in the UK of that single was down to the A&R man at Magnet Records, the label who released the song in the UK. A certain Peter Waterman! Part of his job then was to find acts recording on, and singles released on, small obscure labels and to then get the tracks licensed to Magnet. 'Hurt So Good' dates back to 1973 when it was released on the DIP record label in the UK. Waterman picked up on the single after hearing it being played in a record shop. After Waterman secured success with this track he then produced her follow up single.

Susan Cadogan later voiced her annoyance with the terms of her contract with Magnet which saw her get £3,000 in total while Pete Waterman was rewarded for finding the track with a present from the label of a brand new Jaguar!

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=l...man%22&f=false

May 1975, surely one of the greatest months for pop music EVER. Absolutely fantastic.

Putting Pete's alleged dodgy deals to one side, he has to be given yet more credit that he played a part in making this superb single a hit.

"One of the poorer 70s charts overall"? You may have been too young at the time but I wonder how years later you make such a massive misjudgement. Still at least you're spot on about the brilliant "The Night".

It's all relative though, from a very high standard 1970's base, that's all.

1975 often gets a bad write up but I think it has plenty to commend it.

I have commented often on the Top Of The Pops 1979 thread that 1975, and the early part of 1976, are the worst years of the seventies, in terms of the quality of music. That's not to say everything is bad of course - there are always classic songs to be found here and there, but after the intense brilliance of the early seventies period (1970-73 especially), by the end of 1974, pop was just beginning ever so slightly, to seem a little jaded. 1975 shows pop beginning to lose its impetus somewhat, certainly after the end of the glam rock period, but by the second half of 1976, one does sense, that it is on the upturn again. Classic songs, though, remain classics, whatever may be the environment they inhabit, and there are plenty to be found, in the 1975 period.

The 1970s as a whole may possibly be the best decade ever in chart music history, because on the whole, i'd say the music from this period, was more consistent than any other. I'd certainly choose 1975 over any year from the latter half of the eighties, any day. The manufactured, processed pop package, from a decade + later, really was still a world away.

I say that 1964-69 was the highest point in pop for quality of song writing, performance and production.


I agree about the early to mid seventies. They certainly were better than the punk and disco era and much better than the eighties. The 1980 s was the first period when it didn't really matter if you couldn't sing or play instruments, there was always some guy with a computer to make you sound good. This practice was perfected by SAW. How many of these manufactured packages would have sold without a slick video.

1975 was great the year I left school and a couple of years later started my mobile disco for the next twenty odd years!

I wonder why the Tami Lynn release was renamed "I'm gonna" - as per the lyrics, and Kiki Dee's excellent cover, the name of the song is "Why don;t I run away from you".

Serious point now - we now know that Tony jokes to Graham each week that he (Tony) "still hasn't been arrested", which is amusing. However, it does seem that Glitter band records are always skipped, presumably on the basis of guilt by association. Paul Burnett on the Wireless has played the Glitter band, and indeed by all accounts their main lead singer, Gerry Shephard, who died 11 years ago, was a thoroughly good egg. It's an insult to his memory never to pay his records. Applying the same logic, Tony Blackburn, having co-presented TOTP with J **vile, shouldn't be allowed to present radio programmes (I'm not advocating this of course, merely complaining that Glitter band records are being unfairly denied airplay).

The Kiki Dee record had its lyrics changed to Why Don't I Run Away From You. The fact that this wasn't a hit back in 1966 is an injustice. However in those days when each music paper had their own chart this song spent one week in the Melody Maker chart at number 30. She made some excellent records in the sixties that never sold. The same can be said of Elkie Brooks whose sixties records were better than her seventies hits IMO.

Regarding the Glitter Band. It is unfortunate that they appear to be guilty by association. In retrospect though their songs were naff IMO.

Don't think anyone's answered this yet but, yes, Hurts So Good was played.

From watching the TOTP repeats, I feel more connected to the charts 1976 plus, but I'm trying to get familiar with the 1975 charts - sort of working my way backwards. A lot of the songs I really did enjoy, though it's a shame there aren't more TOTP shows surviving from the year.

No - listen to Tami's version again and she also sings "Why don't I run away from you" - the "I'm gonna" is only in the title, not the lyrics!

If the various lyric websites are correct, then Tami does sing I'm gonna run away from you. Perhaps we are just hearing it wrongly. Having just listened again, she could be singing either of them lines! This is actually one of my favourite tracks from the 1971 era, and it took me ages to find this original version on CD, as most releases boast the original recordings where in fact they use the 1972 recording which has an awful backing singers section in it.

Yes, I originally thought she was singing the title, as that's what one assumes. But I would say it's definitely the same as Kiki sings (although I don't remember hearing the more recent cut, perhaps she does sing the title on that!)

Yes, i would tend to agree on the 1964-69 period being perhaps the best. It was undoubtedly the most innovative period, and certainly those brief five years, represented the most overwhelming musical developments, etc.

The seventies was pretty much about building on what the sixties delivered, by moving ever further along the path of what some of the musical climate of the sixties had suggested (perhaps proving more indulgent in the process, too, as well as more sophisticated). The seventies was perhaps popular music's most diverse period.

The eighties, however, would find pop's musical scope narrow rather dramatically, By around 1985, pretty much every genre, had to conform to what would develop into a typical (and often synthetically produced) eighties sound. Whatever the genre, unlike in the seventies, pop had to include certain musical characteristics, whether it was suitable with regard to the original musical inspiration, or not, in order to comply to the new pop package format. The musical experimentation, and individuality of the seventies, had most certainly taken a back seat by this period. For me, 1981-83 were to prove pop's transitional years..

I was especially pleased to hear Fox with Imagine Me Imagine You. This was actually my favourite songs of theirs, and I don't think it even made the top 20. Also, I have always preferred 10cc's Life is a Minestrone to I'm Not in Love. I know there is no accounting for taste, but I was also pleased to hear Mac & Katie Kissoon with Don't Do It Baby. Also Thanks for the Memory is one of Slade's least played songs. I actually prefer it to their more highly-rated How Does It Feel? from a few months earlier.

After 1975 was featured yesterday, 1974 will feature next week. So will 1983, just 2 weeks after 1982.

Yes. I should imagine the 1974 chart will be considerably better than the 1975 chart.

I'm not a huge fan of 'I'm Not In Love', either. 10cc, for whatever reason, have always struck me as musically a little sickly. It may be the combination of the quirkiness of the lyrics, the rich harmonies, and the occasional artiness of the musicianship, that i don't find especially appealing (maybe the group are a little too bombastic musically for my taste). That's not to say i feel an intense dislike for them, and i've always very much enjoyed 'Rubber Bullets'. 10cc were one of the most successful bands of the seventies.

Having now re-listened, I agree - bizarre, almost as if it's been deliberately sung ambiguously to fit either title! One of those pop mini-mysteries I doubt if we'll ever get to the bottom of, like the missing line in the 1972 stereo re-release of Leader of the pack. Also agree about 10cc - much prefer Rubber bullets and Dreadlock holiday to the dreary I'm not in love, couldn't understand why Capital Radio listeners voted it the all-time number 1 in a poll at the end of 1975.

I haven't heard of any differences with Leader Of The Pack. Please tell me more so that i can compare them.

Have checked this out now. Yeh that 1972 version is certainly an oddity. The reasons for them missing that line out would sure be interesting.

..for those who don't know, the stereo re-release of 1972 omits the line "one day my dad said find someone new". Ok, her dad wouldn't have put it that way, but skipping it while retaining the next line "I had to tell my Jimmy we're through" which rhymes with it makes that part of the song rather strange.

Hi all - hour 1
http://www.officialcharts.com/archiv.../1/1974-05-25/

TOTP
23-5-74: Presenter: Tony Blackburn (Wiped)

(26) BRYAN FERRY – The ‘In’ Crowd (and charts)
(23) SHOWADDYWADDY – Hey Rock And Roll
(5) PAPER LACE – The Night Chicago Died
(16) GIGLIOLA CINQUETTI – Go (Before You Break My Heart)
(45) ALAN PRICE – Jarrow Song
(28) COCKNEY REBEL – Judy Teen *
(12) THE OSMONDS – I Can’t Stop (danced to by Pan’s People)
(NEW) LENA ZAVARONI – Personality
(3) SPARKS – This Town Ain’t Big Enough For Both Of Us ®
(1) THE RUBETTES – Sugar Baby Love ®

Sounds like a good pair of charts today. Remember this point in 1983 very clearly indeed and all the hits then.

Sparks really did deserve a massive No1 with This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us. Should be grateful that it even managed to reach No2 in 1974 as it was such a leftfield sounding track, that apparently even Elton John thought was excellent but could not possibly become a big hit. It would almost sound more at home in the next chart 9 years later in 1983 to me.

Followed by the worst of the 70's, Bay Shitty Rollers. What a contrast.