The U.K. 70s Singles & Albums Chart General Discussion Thread.

Everything! The finger of fudge ad; Humphrey Cushion; Tales of the River Bank, 'Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)'... All inappropriate and deeply offensive to ____________ (fill in the blank as appropriate... Or inappropriate.)

 

Hence use of alleged Andy.

What the heck have Mary Jane, Coconut Airways and fly me high got to do with drugs anyway?

Ridiculous idea!

 

I finally got round to reading Elton John's Me; borrowed from the local library. It's certainly a pacy read; laced with warts & all humour. Elton's old age has brought with it a certain amount of self-awareness & reflection. At least we know where his volcanic temper came from. I enjoyed the book, yet felt sickened by the hyper-opulence & hedonistic stupidities.



I've never found him particularly endearing as a person, but he certainly put out a heap of great singles in the '70s; plus a smattering later on.

Here's my very favourite EJ single:

 

I enjoyed Me, but he left a lot out. Only really mentioned the albums that had done well or that the critics liked. Funny in spots though. I wish he’d done a more comprehensive biog, but publishers like these 3-400 page books I’m told.

Streisand’s book is over 900 pages. I think Elton’s life story could have easily matched that!

 

I refuse to believe that there was any ulterior meaning/motive to Barbados. Just a daft summer record. An extremely popular daft summer record at that.

 

Of course it was all innocent!

 

Voulez-Vous was released 45 years ago today. Parent album to five UK top five hits, including the fab title track.

 

Damn.....I can never enjoy it again now.....

 

Love that book. The beloved got me for m'birthday a few years back. Time for a re-read.

 

Re music books, the three 1970s ones I've most enjoyed are: Rock Dreams (1973); Diary Of A Rock & Roll Star (1974); The Boy Looked At Johnny (1978). Bought at the time of publication, I re-read them so much, over the ensuing years, that each of them fell apart!





Honorable mentions also for:

 

Hm... Too bad about that last sentence. I saw a recent interview, and while I love a lot of his music, I never got a real impression of what he was like as a person. He was affable enough in the interview, though I sensed a certain amount of self-absorption. Perhaps hard to avoid after a long career such as his.

His cover of "Wondering Where the Lions Are" is from the "World Radio" album. (The original is superb.) I also happen to love his contributions to the soundtrack for the vulgar cartoon feature "Missing Link". I have the DVD, and it is indeed vulgar. But also funny. The song "It Hurts Every Time But We Love It" more or less says it all.

 

The album (cassette, actually) I bought with my first week’s wages. As I’ve said before.

I didn’t especially want it, but there was nothing else much out that week.

 

Great ad from 1971.

 

Now't wrong with daft mi duck!

 

The only one of their singles that, on U.S. release, had two tracks on the flip, just as in the UK:

Of course, the two tracks were different from the UK ish', but . . . you get the idea.

 

Your 'Diary Of....' looks to be in about as good a condition as mine. Proper loved and re-read often. Always resisted buying another copy.

 

UK album chart for the final week of April 1970. Several artists hogging the chart with multiple entries, and lots of soundtracks.

1. Simon And Garfunkel Bridge Over Troubled Water
2. Andy Williams Greatest Hits
3. Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin II
4. Original Soundtrack Paint Your Wagon
5. Original Soundtrack Easy Rider
6. The Beatles Abbey Road
7. Ringo Starr Sentimental Journey
8. Tom Jones Tom
9. Chicago Chicago II
10 Motown Chartbusters Vol.3
11.Frank Zappa Hot Rats
12 Black Sabbath Black Sabbath
13 The Rolling Stones Let It Bleed
14 Elvis Presley From Memphis To Vegas
15 Simon And Garfunkel Bookends
16 Johnny Cash At San Quentin
17 Nana Mouskouri The Exquisite Nana Mouskouri
18 Glenn Miller A Memorial 1944-1969
19 Creedence Clearwater Revival Willy And The Poor Boys
20 Original Soundtrack The Sound Of Music
21 Nana Mouskouri Over And Over
22 Simon And Garfunkel Sounds Of Silence
23 The Moody Blues To Our Children's Children's Children
24 Tom Jones Live In Las Vegas
25 The Band The Band
26 Original London Cast Hair
27 John Mayall Empty Rooms
28 Leonard Cohen Songs Of Leonard Cohen
29 Chicago Chicago Transit Authority
30 The Rolling Stones Through The Past Darkly (Big Hits Vol.2)
31 Blodwyn Pig Getting To This
32 Van Morrison Moondance
33 Cream Best Of
34 Pentangle Basket Of Light
35 Seekers Best Of
36 Bob Dylan Greatest Hits
37 Fairport Convention Liege And Lief
38 King Crimson In The Court Of The Crimson King
39 The Moody Blues On The Threshold Of A Dream
40 Johnny Cash Hello I'm Johnny Cash
41 Herb Alpert And The Tijuana Brass Going Places
42 Original Soundtrack Oliver
43 Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin
44 Original Soundtrack The Jungle Book
45 The Doors Morrison Hotel
46 Jethro Tull Stand Up
47 Van Der Graaf Generator The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other
48 Simon And Garfunkel The Graduate
49 Canned Heat Cookbook
50 Family A Song For Me
51 Tyrannosaurus Rex A Beard Of Stars
52 Al Stewart Zero She Flies
53 Original Soundtrack Funny Girl
54 The Bee Gees Best Of
55 Jefferson Airplane Volunteers
56 The Jackson 5 Diana Ross Presents The Jackson Five
57 The Rolling Stones Big Hits (High Tide And Green Grass)
58 Original Soundtrack 2001 - A Space Odyssey
59 Mothers Of Invention Burnt Weeny Sandwich
60 Original Soundtrack Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Simon & Garf were obviously hugely popular back then. Their second album, Sounds Of Silence, is the one I love most.


Zappa is definitely one of those Marmite artists. I liked most of his Mothers stuff, but solo-wise his avant-jazz noodlings & juvenile sex obsessions can be irritating, to say the least. Still, I'm playing Hot Rats as I type this, so that must be a keeper!


Those Stones twin hits comps are absolutely fab; stuffed to the vinyl gills with wonderful singles. Let It Bleed is also one of their finest ever LPs.


I liked Johnny Cash, but his best prison album, IMO, is Folsom. More warmth, and better tunes, than San Quentin. Sabbath's debut was a mind-ripper!!


Motown Chartsbusters Vol 3 was the first album I ever bought. It's tremendous. I loved the Bee Gees 'back then'; their Gt Hits is a real goodie. And, although Dylan's '60s studio albums are where the real deal is, the Gt Hits comp is a fabulous truncated summary of his brilliance. CCR's Willy & The Poor Boys is fab.

 

I have (or had) a few of these, to wit: #1, 3, 6 (both UK and U.S. pressings - mold led to me having to ditch the former), 9, 13, 15, 16, 19, 20 (in mono), 22, 28 - 30, 36 (the U.S. configuration which differed somewhat from the UK ish') and 48. Once had #2 for a spell.

Now, over here is what albums Americans were buying that same week . . .

 

More from April 1970. Paul quits The Fabs. Shockwaves across Popland. Debut album released a week after the news. I really like Macca's early albums & singles; imbued with eclectic & lo-fi charm. And Linda was wonderful.

 

Don't think I could get through the Elton John book even if I tried... Rocketman did me just fine

Maybe I'll tackle the Ian Hunter one once I get through another couple of Mott albums...

 

Me is well worth a read. If you like him and his music you should enjoy it. It’s very funny in places.

 

Hey, @Thorpy, I'm a bit ashamed to say I missed the 50th anniversary of the release of Hey Rock And Roll, and of course the fifth anniversay of Showaddywaddy - Gold



Hey Rock And Roll | Official Showaddywaddy Web Site



UK Singles & Album Chart (18/05/1974) New entry at 44.



@Thorpy, as someone with more than a passing interest, do you, or do you know if Showaddywaddy ever consider, I Wonder Why a number one single, because of the NME chart?

 

What a fabulous chart, where even most of the soundtracks are rather good!

Regarding Hot Rats, I had no idea that Frank Zappa - Peaches En Regalia was the first "Pop", U.S. three inch CD single.

And now for something completely different!

 

"Hey Rock And Roll" made #1 on the Melody Maker chart that year. A shame that fate basically turned them into a "Blighty" version of Sha Na Na.

 

Sorry, MM, not NME, but still interested to know if this was of any interest to Showaddywaddy, or someone such as @Thorpy, with their involvement in the fabulous Gold compilation.

Any comparison to Sha Na Na, or anyone else for that matter, is for others to make: they were my favourite band 50 years ago and their music, in the case of Hey Rock And Roll, self-penned, has given me and a fair few others, plenty of enjoyment over the decades.

To celebrate the half century release of Hey Rock And Roll, there is a tour: Gigs (50th Anniversary Tour) | Official Showaddywaddy Web Site