Every RPM Canadian Content #1 single discussion thread 1964-2000

Ashford and Simpson are from the Ypsilanti Mi area and went to Willow Run HS. We had mutual friends. This had to be one of their few releases before signing to Motown.

 

Neil spelled it the way it's pronounced.


Google Image Result for https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pr5cxZq4myc/XUQTvP_SShI/AAAAAAAANok/QX1pw08jctcduv8LYXlO5mRiaaI-9XXjACLcBGAs/s1600/2nd%2BAlbum%2BBack%2BMono.jpg

I had the pleasure of meeting Randy once. We chatted a bit about his radio show and tour and he signed a Guess Who CD for me. He was very nice.

 

Though the Angelil-Dion age gap is a well-reported phenomenon, and talking about it flirts with tabloid gossip, I'll point out that Céline Dion was born three years after this picture was taken.

(Or rather three years after 1965, which is what we're talking about here; who knows exactly when this picture was taken?)

 

At #13 on the CanCon chart on September 20, Winnipeg's Jury with "Back In My World"

 

On October 4, hitting #3 (#45 on the big chart) with "Must I Tell You (I Love You)" are the Liverpool Set. Who are from Toronto, not Liverpool. One member is from Newark-on-Trent (nowhere near Liverpool, one from South Wales (closer), one from Glasgow and another from Latvia (by way of Frome, Somerset).

 

As you may have noticed from the above photo, the Liverpool Set had three guitarists. Here they are in action on the CBC program Portrait, broadcast July 15, 1965. Host is Alan Hamel (the future Mr. Suzanne Somers).

 

Reaching #5 the same week, from London (Ontario), Johnny & the Canadians with "Say Yeah!" b/w "A Million Tears Ago".

 

Columbia seems to be trying to catch up with Capitol in Canada.

 

Interestingly, according to discogs this one single is the only thing Johnny and the Canadians ever put out - but both sides of it charted.

 

There HAS to be a story there. That sort of thing happened in the US at the time and the band ended because of the draft and Nam.

 

Entering the chart the same week at #20 are Vancouver's Classics (now known as the Canadian Classics, as in the US) with "I Don't Know" b/w "Gone Away".





https://worldradiohistory.com/CANADA/RPM/60s/1965/RPM-1965-10-25.pdf

Ironically, by the time the RPM cover story appeared, the Canadian Classics were essentially no more. Lead singer Howie Vickers had left and 4/5 of the rest were now appearing as "Gary Taylor's Classic IV Featuring Tom Baird" at the Flamingos Hotel's Rusty Nail Room in beautiful downtown Whalley. Interestingly, pianist Tom Baird does not appear in the last few photos of the Canadian Classics (see above). Drummer Gary Taylor would re-emerge in February 1966 as the co-owner of the King Of Clubs (with B.C. Lions football player Neal Beaumont), the house band being the "Gary Taylor Quintet featuring Tom Baird". Also in the band was Classics bassist Glenn Miller, maybe guitarist Brian Russell (since his sister Gillian sang with the band at the King Of Clubs. As did Patty Surbey, by the way). We'll be hearing later from Vickers, Miller and Claire Lawrence (as members of the Collectors) and Brian Russell (after he moves to Toronto) and Tom Baird (as a songwriter). Gary Taylor would go to a long career as a club owner:
Vancouver Voyager: Gary Taylor's Show Lounge

 

The B-side of the Canadian Classics single, "Gone Away" also entered the chart at #20 (on November 8). Here's Howie Vickers performing it on a June 1966 episode of CBC's Let's Go.

 

On October 18, peaking at #5, are the Great Scots with "Don't Want Your Love" b/w "Give Me Lovin". This would reach #11 on the big chart. We heard from them earlier when they were known as the Canadian Beavers.

 

"Give Me Lovin'" would chart at #6 on November 1 and would be promoted as the "plug side" in the US.

 

One gimmick after another

 

On October 18, at #10 (#33 on the big chart) would be the Bradfords with "Leaning On A Lamp Post". That song is unavailable on you tube; since the group was described by RPM as "a little bit of George Formby, Lonnie Donegan and Herman's Hermits" maybe that's for the best. However, the garage-y B-side "Together We Have Stayed" is.




http://rpmimages.3345.ca/pdfs/Vol+4,+No.+5+-+Week+of+September+27th,+1965.pdf

The group was from Bradford, England originally. The article claims that member Emil K. Hardy (or Harty) was a former member of the Animals, but I can find no proof. The band moved in an even more lounge direction and opened a club called Bradfords in Minneapolis from 1968 to 1974.

 

Wow, these guys underwent a lot of name changes. The Classics, The CFUN Classics, The Canadian Classics, The Collectors, and finally... well, I won't spoil it.

 

Add the Torchlights and the Illusions.

 

It's on Youtube now



I don't believe I have ever heard this version on Canadian oldies radio, only the Herman's Hermits version.

The songs by The Bradfords, David Clayton-Thomas, The Liverpool Set, and Johnny And The Canadians were all Top 4o hits in Canada, but none have ever been released on any CD that I know of. At least one side of the Johnny And The Canadians single is scheduled to be on an upcoming SuperOldies release.

 

The only song to reach its peak on the main RPM chart during the Cancon reign of "Hey Ho" that has not yet been mentioned is Terry Black's rendition of "Only Sixteen", which peaked at #14 on September 20. Terry sings "I was a mere child of sixteen/I've aged a year since then" even though he was only sixteen at the time. When Sam Cooke, the song's composer, sang the line he was 24. And when Ray Sawyer (the guy from Dr. Hook) sang it in 1976 we was 38.

 

Perhaps the best known song written by a Canadian to become a hit in 1965 is Buffy Sainte-Marie's "Universal Soldier", which she wrote in the basement of The Purple Onion coffee house in Toronto. As our thread's host has already explained, the RPM chart listed different versions of the same song together as one listing. The versions by Donovan and by Glen Campbell peaked together on the main RPM chart at #21 on October 11. Campbell would not have his first Top 40 hit in the US until 1967.

Buffy Sainte-Marie herself has recorded the song several times. This is the original 1964 recording from the It's My Way! album:

 

During the reign of "Hey Ho" at the top of the Cancon chart, two songs moved into the top spot of the RPM country chart (then still Cancon-only) and in my humble opinion they represent country music at its best and at its worst.

On September 20, a terrific song by Montreal's Cy Anders, "My Good Life" started a three-week stay at the top. It took me years to track down this beat up copy which, from the writing on the label, appears to have been given by Mr. Anders to someone named John.

 

"My Good Life" was replaced at #1 on the RPM country chart by this maudlin monstrosity by Thessalon, Ontario's Gary Buck called "Break The News To Lisa":





Now which of these two songs to you suppose was produced by someone named Happy Wilson?

 

My worst fears were justified.