UK Number One Singles Of 1969. Pick Your Favourites.

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So hard to find these 50 year old record players in pristine condition.

 

Thank you. I got it from a car boot sale about 5 years ago for £10. It's not in pristine condition, there's a dent to one of the corners and the white bit needs a clean (I don't know how to do this, soap and water isn't doing the job) and is split along the bottom. It looks good though, well above average, and works perfectly, which is rare. It still has the Dansette badges and tag attached and I really like the Dansette logo lighting up when it's turned on as a nice touch. I've never seen another that does that. I think the guy who was selling it rescued it from a tip.

 

eBay uk...they go for 200/300 better condition /restored. So you got a bargain I guess.

 

Get ready with the smelling salts; I voted for all of them, bar The Scaffold, and jailbird Rolf. (Even though their version of 'Ob-la-di' is a bit naff, I've always had a soft spot for Marmalade.)

 

Blackberry Way. Absolutely.

 

Albatross - Fleetwood Mac
I Heard It Through The Grapevine - Marvin Gaye
Honky Tonk Women - Rolling Stones
Bad Moon Rising - Creedence Clearwater Revival

 

My first year of pop music. Only classical before this. I have all but one of these, and voted for all but three - the three I barely know ( Marmalade, Move and Amen Corner). Very fond memories. If I was to chose just one it would be the Peter Sarstedt song.

 

Albatross!

then my next pick would be Bad Moon Rising - but Albatross tops them all.

 

Albatross
Blackberry Way
I Heard It Through The Grapevine
Get Back
Honky Tonk Women

 

Got to be Something In The Air - it's such an uplifting song and beautifully produced.

 

The Stones beat the Beatles here. Is that common on SHMF?

 

Beatles
Beatles
Tommy Roe
Stones
Archies
Marvin Gaye
Zager & Evans

 

The Beatles, the audience is seriously dwindling these days. Witness the poor performance of the 1+ package, already a bargain price on ebay, McCartney's Pure disappeared quickly, the Hollywood Bowl album pretty much flopped, Flowers In The Dirt spent one single week outside the top 40 chart.

 

Honky Tonk Women and Bad Moon Rising are among my all time favorites. Nothing else on that list tickles my fancy, though.

 

I haven heard that expression for years....

 

Voted :

Fleetwood Mac
CCR
The Archies
Stones
Beatles
Desmond Dekker
Thunderclap Newman
Marvin Gaye
Bobbie Gentry

 

Ob-La-Di-Ob-La-Da - Marmalade

Blackberry Way - The Move

(If Paradise Is) Half As Nice - Amen Corner

The Ballad Of John & Yoko - The Beatles

Bad Moon Rising - Creedence Clearwater Revival

I'll Never Fall In Love Again - Bobbie Gentry

 

I think from distant memory that the US album chart for 10 December 69 had something like the Beatles and the Stones at 1 and 2 (Abbey Road, Let It Bleed ?), Led Zep I or II, the Santana debut, Blood Sweat and Tears, Creedence debut or Green River, the Temptations Puzzle People or Psychedelic Shack, and the Easy Rider soundtrack (Steppenwolf, Byrds, Hendrix), maybe the Doors or Sly Stone. We had been through Woodstock, and Altamont closed out the decade. Rarely can there have been such a difference between the bubblegum pop of the singles chart and the rock LP market, so much new rock talent was coming through, and the singer songwriter was about to emerge in 70.

 

i am truly amazed how many of those songs i love, even the bubblegum ones....i don't think there is one record there i do not like.

 

For me, Honky Tonk Women always brings back memories of the Apollo 11 moon landing. The song had just been released a couple weeks earlier & even though I was only six years old at the time, I can still remember hearing it constantly on my big brothers radio. The song always comes to mind whenever I see clips of Neil Armstrong hopping onto the lunar surface.

 

Albatross - Fleetwood Mac

 

One of my old polls has sprung back to life.

 

Changed my vote. Only to allow The Scaffold in... Why? It's quite cool when you look into it - the subject (or subjects) of the song and boasts Graham Nash singing about Jennifer Eccles and her terrible freckles. Also features Jack Bruce on bass and Elton John on backing vocals!

I used to think it was a silly, silly song. That's not changed!! But I got curious some months ago as to what was on the b-side. Actually, it was a 'double a' side but only LtheP got played on the radio. So it was ignored. The flipside then is a haunting ballad called Buttons Of Your Mind and when I started to listen on You Tube, it reminded me so much of The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah band that I decided I needed to find a copy. So I bought a compilation CD with it on. Now I have another two comps because some have alternate stereo or mono versions and tracks not otherwise available except on singles that are otherwise somewhat expensive. The singles like Thank U Very Much (preceding Prince by around a decade ) and Lily are cheap so I got them and a couple of others too. Been playing them tons!

As an aside or three, I discovered that the bandmembers were Roger McGough (poet) John Gorman (comedian, who people in UK around my age will recall from Saturday morning tv's kids show Tiswas) and Mike McGear... he's Macca's brother but changed his name as they were both becoming known, so as not to be seen to be using the family name to steal some of the limelight. I also bought his first two solo LPs (the first called Woman) with the second simply McGear, which is really a Wings album in disguise! Kicking it off with a Roxy Music cover when they'd only made a couple of albums at that time was a great move IMO. A fantastic record (Woman has some lovely and quirky stuff too) and of course those two are not a bit like the Scaffs. The McGear and McGough 1968 album I also have to mention - many guests on that as well, including Paul (also producing) John Mayall, Dave Mason and Hendrix! Would/should have been a psychedelic classic if it hadn't appeared to be a footnote in pop music's history. Some weird and experimental things going there but engrossing and a not a hard listen at all, if you don't mind poetry! Bought the stereo Repertoire CD late last year - it's also available on Esoteric in mono and stereo versions - and never looked back. Addictive stuff.