Every UK #1 Single Of 1973 Discussion Thread

Wonderful number 2 from.... Faces.

Cindy Incidentally had the lilt of You Wear It Well , a subdued charmer.

Apparently, the title derived from their "Word of the Day" which was "Incidentally". Thank goodness it wasn't "silver", "orange" or "gavotte".

 

I was half joking; clearly Smokie took a hint or two from the sound and chords of the way Rod’s Maggie May (which was a Faces single in Rod’s name, I think).
Smokie had quite a nice string of hits but proved to be a one trick pony. Even as a kid I found ‘Living Next Door To Alice’ a soppy tune.

 

As much as I like James Taylor, I'd have to agree with that assessment of "One Man Dog". It's my least favorite JT album - I always called it "One Man's Dog". I wasn't even aware that "A Morning In May" was a single. I'm not all that fond of "Walking Man" either, and just about gave up on JT after it was released. But then "Gorilla" happened and I was a fan again.

 

Nailed it!

Bit more sober though!

 

Another good description.

 

Re. the review of the James Brown/Lyn Collins single: ". . . the due complement each other . . . "?

 

In the U.S., the main single from that LP was "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight."

 

JT was so big in Australia they played One Man Dog right through.on AM radio when it came out. I taped it and don't remember ever listening to it.

 

It was in a pile of records my tutor lent me 35 years ago. It was one of the only ones I didn’t tape.

 

James Taylor, Sweet Baby James and Mud Slide Slim are masterpieces. The wheels must have fallen off between LPs.

 

Round this time, "Living Next Door To Alice" had some chart run as by another group, New World. In the U.S., this was the penultimate single release on the RAK label prior to the end of its distribution deal with CBS Records (and Mickie Most arranging to have Bell issue RAK product in the States):

 

Well, for starters he married Carly Simon . . .

 

Hot Cakes was a step down from No Secrets as well

 

It has been said marriage takes the edge off for both . . .

 

Same here, must have mellowed with age! I always liked Lay Back In The Arms Of Someone and Don't Play Your Rock 'n' Roll To Me, and they did a good cover of Needles And Pins.

Maybe the sound of the singles is a little samey, but they are a good listen. They always seemed to be on TOTPs.

 

I assuming this is the same group who had hits with Sister Jane and Tom-Tom Turnaround here?

 

Yes.

They and Mike Chapman are Australians.

 

I came in with ‘If You Think You Know How To Love Me’. Bought it from the Co-op in the city centre. A marvellous song. Now they've been mentioned a few times I realise I have to hit Amazon for a best-of.

 

There is one which has Chris Norman re-records, not the original singles: from memory I think it has a plain sleeve.

EDIT It's the other way around, not Chris Norman on some tracks.

 

I remember going to school and people were talking about the new T.Rex single and about how it was there best in ages. I must have missed hearing it on the radio and I was gutted they heard it before I did.
I didn't, and still dont, get how people didn't like Children Of The Revolution as much as the others, I thought it was one of their best singles
None the less it was now apparent even to me that T.Rex were no longer the kings of the charts. This was their third single not to reach No1, in fact it was their lowest charting single so far, no 3.
I thought the previous two singles not getting to no 1 was just a blip and bad timing, that damn novelty record.

But no, all the signs were now there, high new entry in the charts but not climbing the following week, plus not hanging around the charts for long. Classic signs that it is mostly only your loyal fanbase buying your records.
But still for now T.Rex were still big, but unfortunately for Bolan his old pal and rival David Bowie was now taking off like a rocket, just like he himself had done two years previous....

 

It’s sad when our pop heroes start to fall and we’re still hanging on hoping for a reversal of fortunes.

It’s true that 20th Century Boy was the end of T.Rex’s incredible run of hits. ..It’s also true (IMO) that 20th Century Boy was the last of their singles that deserved to be number one...

20th Century Boy entered the charts at #3. It spent 2 more weeks in that position before falling to #5 and being overtaken by Donny’s The Twelfth Of Never, Gilbert’s Get Down and even Cliff’s Power To All Our Friends!

This was bad news for the soon to be released Tanx album which would feature none of Marc’s last 3 big hits. The writing was indeed on the wall..

 

The dreaded re-records. Like anyone would be pleased to get those!

I’d thought of picking up Smokie’s Midnight Cafe CD from Amazon..It has bonus tracks and is only £5.99.

 

Issued in the U.S. to the sound of crickets chirping on, of all places, the Sire label. On the Cliff Richard thread was a cornucopia of labels (about 10 or so) his product was put out on in the States. Even on a predominantly country label, for a time, one famous for the likes of Roy Orbison, Boots Randolph, and Kris Kristofferson.

 

The only T. Rex singles that were really bad were Zip Gun Boogie, Truck On (Tyke) and Celebrate Summer. The others all have redeeming features.

 

Believe it or not, I have the U.S. ish of "Tom Tom Turnaround" as well; the main part is that the A side on my copy was from a British-made metal part . . .