Every UK #1 Single Of 1974 Discussion Thread

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Randoms, Jul 10, 2018.

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  1. Bobby Morrow

    Bobby Morrow Senior Member

    Another record for your dad!

    I can honestly say my pocket money was safe with She. I didn’t hate it, but just accepted it was number one with grace. After only watching the charts for a year I was already used to its quirks! I don’t recall the TV show it was from.
     
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  2. W.B.

    W.B. The Collector's Collector

    Location:
    New York, NY, USA
    As I said some posts above, this was issued in the States on RCA . . .
    [​IMG] [​IMG]
    . . . most pressings, however, were done on a contract basis by Capitol with their 360 interlocking serrations and 3.3125" center labels (as opposed to 3.625" as here). This would have been an RCA Hollywood pressing; never seen one from Indianapolis.

    But there was also a U.S. export pressing of the Barclay issue (no doubt to the massive fuel shortages in Britain at the time), which apparently RCA Indianapolis did press:
    [​IMG] [​IMG]
     
  3. Mulderre

    Mulderre 60s and 70s Music Lover

    How to say it... if Slade's The Bangin' Man or The Sweet's The Six Teens (or Wings' Band On The Run!) are being held from the top spot because of this, it's a synonym that something is wrong with glam and the charts. Don't get me wrong, it is a pleasant slab of French pop, and Aznavour had an earlier hit in '73 (The Old Fashioned Way). But, yes, the Top of The Pops strike led to that period of comatose activity. To be fair, it started to have more and more pap (not pop, pap) in the upper echelons. Wait until Stephanie de Sykes is at number two...
     
  4. Randoms

    Randoms Aerie Faerie Nonsense Thread Starter

    Location:
    UK
  5. Bobby Morrow

    Bobby Morrow Senior Member

    Didn’t have one of those singles! This dry spell in 1974 is baffling to me now.

    My mum did buy that Paul Da Vinci single. She liked it and it was in the bargain bin for 25p so she couldn’t resist.

    Have 16 of the albums (now).
     
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  6. Mulderre

    Mulderre 60s and 70s Music Lover

    Let me explain the Top 10, because it is one of the oddest:

    French pap, an oldies group re-nascent, a soulster which hit both in the US and in UK (I like it, great slab of American soul!), the best song every created by McCartney, Slade's magic diminishing, a re-iussue from 1968 (!), another re-issue from 1971 (!!), The Wombles (!!!), Terry Jack's follow-up (If You Thankful Away?!?!) and the last great glam number one.

    Yes, The Sweet didn't get a Top 10 because of Gary Puckett. Let that sink in. Worse was to follow, they weren't number one because of the Bay City Rollers...

    Edit: Why on Earth Bowie (or RCA) decided to issue Diamond Dogs? It was 6 long minutes, and it was a medium flop. Oh, and by that time T. Rex issued Light Of Love, its last Top 30 hit until the following year. Those were hard times...
     
  7. Randoms

    Randoms Aerie Faerie Nonsense Thread Starter

    Location:
    UK
    The eleven year old me would have been horrified by She, and probably taken aback after the great run of number ones that the UK had offered in 1974.

    The Drifters at number 2, was far more fun!
     
  8. Bobby Morrow

    Bobby Morrow Senior Member

    Diamond Dogs isn’t exactly rife with single material. I can see why RCA went with the title track to follow Rebel Rebel.. It’s one of the more commercial tracks. Which isn’t saying much!
     
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  9. Mulderre

    Mulderre 60s and 70s Music Lover

    Rebel Rebel was followed by Rock And Roll Suicide, which was from Ziggy Stardust! (odd, I know) and then Diamond Dogs (I don't know, perhaps too risky for Bowie). The next time he was in the charts, he was knockin' on wood. Ziggy had died, long live Bowie.
     
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  10. duggan

    duggan Senior Member

    Location:
    sydney
    Brilliant single by the Isleys from the even more wonderful 3+3 album, a true classic.
     
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  11. duggan

    duggan Senior Member

    Location:
    sydney
    Rather like using an exclamation mark at the end of a supposedly witty comment!
     
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  12. Alf.

    Alf. Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Charles Aznavour (or HasNoVoice as we wags at school called him) released his first record in 1948, and has kept on and on and on.......releasing his most current album in 2015. He's 94, and STILL touring, with Australian, and French, concert dates for later this year!!!

    She is somewhat Tin Pan Alley, but I quite like CA's original; Costello's is better.

     
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  13. W.B.

    W.B. The Collector's Collector

    Location:
    New York, NY, USA
    Of this, the 45's I have are #1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 13, 15 (which would be a big comeback hit for him earlier the next year in the States), 17 (which I'll mention at the proper time), 24, 28 - 31 and 39; the LP's, #1, 15, 20, 21, 30 and 36; the U.S. Soul, #2 - 5, 7 (which should be "Machine Gun" - the mistitling of Mr. Jacks' record wasn't their only error), 9 and 10; and the "Breakers," "Beautiful Sunday, the said Flack song, "Drift Away," "I Shot The Sheriff," and "Sundown." As for that Everlys' record . . . do you suppose in their spelling the typesetters had a certain Ms. Quatro on the brain when typing that chart?
     
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  14. Victor/Victrola

    Victor/Victrola Makng shure its write

    I confess - never heard that original version of She before and had to abandon the video at about 1:30. I did get all the way through the Elvis Costello cover - it just shows what an incredible vocalist EC is. He may not always hit the notes perfectly, but there's something magical about his delivery, no matter what kind of music he sings.
     
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  15. RudolphS

    RudolphS Forum Resident

    Location:
    Rio de Janeiro
    Okay, the Ray Stevens Streak song is a bit naff, but as a young teenager I thought the whole streaking fad was awesome, hah. You saw streakers everywhere, during rush hour in the centre of Amsterdam, at sports events, even the 1974 Oscars ceremony was not safe from streakers invading the stage. And the kids, they of course loved it:

     
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  16. RudolphS

    RudolphS Forum Resident

    Location:
    Rio de Janeiro
    Always Yours, after hearing it now the song sounds actually better than I remembered. Anyway, despite the nice dutch picture sleeve Always Yours didn't do much in the Netherlands. By 1974 dutch homegrown glamrock acts like Catapult and Lemming had sprung up, rivalling their overseas counterparts on the dutch hitlists. If I remember well, while Gary topped the British charts, Catapult was #1 in the Netherlands with Let Your Hair Hang Down, the kind of noisy footstomper which some of our american friends likely would describe as a tuneless romp:

     
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  17. RudolphS

    RudolphS Forum Resident

    Location:
    Rio de Janeiro
    I think you guys are worrying too much. I'm not sure it's fair to compare these british threads to the US #1 thread, keeping in mind that 80% of the users of this forum are american, so it's logical that one has a much higher turn-out. But every one of these UK #1 threads are running over 50 pages, so I think we're doing fine. Having said that, really folks, with three threads going on at the same time you're over-egging it a bit. Damn, I got blisters on my fingers from trying to keep up.
     
    Last edited: Aug 2, 2018
  18. Black Thumb

    Black Thumb Yah Mo B There

    Location:
    Reno, NV
    Gallic crooners are one of the few terrain I haven't much tread, but I can easily see myself digging a bit deeper into Shallz' catalogue. Very pleasing to the ears, "She" is.

    His most well-known song over here is "Yesterday When I Was Young", which Roy Clark had a hit with.

    Speaking of young girls, it's amusing to see Gary Puckett and the Union Gap back in the top 10 with their skeevy signature song.
     
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  19. cut to the chase

    cut to the chase Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
    I don't mind 'She' but I agree that that Drifters song is much better!

     
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  20. W.B.

    W.B. The Collector's Collector

    Location:
    New York, NY, USA
    Now there was a group that had about as much lives as a cat . . .
     
  21. Randoms

    Randoms Aerie Faerie Nonsense Thread Starter

    Location:
    UK
    But what cool cats they were.
     
  22. W.B.

    W.B. The Collector's Collector

    Location:
    New York, NY, USA
    Oh, I'm not doubting that. But I was talking about their history, the revolving-door personnel, the massive ups and downs of their career . . .
     
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  23. johnnyyen

    johnnyyen Senior Member

    Location:
    Scotland
    I could never understand that either (Diamond Dogs). I thought 1984 was the obvious single from the album.
     
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  24. Randoms

    Randoms Aerie Faerie Nonsense Thread Starter

    Location:
    UK
    In 1974, I wasn't aware of their history, and they were new to me. Even though as an eleven year old it wasn't really my genre, I still thought they were excellent.
     
  25. W.B.

    W.B. The Collector's Collector

    Location:
    New York, NY, USA
    As British chartmakers, yes, this was new. You probably know now it was because of them that the instrumental guitar group had to change their name to The Shadows. . . .
     
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