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

Canadian songs that made the Top 40 in 1975:
1975’s Biggest Canadian Hits

 

After 1974 had been such a strong year for Canadian artists south of the border, in 1975 only nine songs by Canadian acts made the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 (compared to 21 the previous year). More than half were by two acts, Paul Anka and Bachman-Turner Overdrive, who were the only two Canadian acts who managed to get a song higher than #24 (compared to twelve different acts the previous year):

One Man Woman, One Woman Man-Paul Anka 7
I Don’t Like to Sleep Alone-Paul Anka 8
Roll on Down the Highway-Bachman-Turner Overdrive 14
I Believe There’s Nothing Stronger-Paul Anka 15
Hey You-Bachman-Turner Overdrive 21
Big Yellow Taxi (Live Version)-Joni Mitchell 24
Rainy Day People-Gordon Lightfoot 26
Dancin’ Fool-The Guess Who 28
Hit the Road Jack-The Stampeders 40

 

176. LOVING YOU BABY
by WEDNESDAY
SKYLINE SKY 003X
Highest ranking for 4 weeks: February 14 (14), 21 (12), 28 (6) and March 6 (6), 1976




​

Oh, happy day! Finally I get a chance to talk about Oshawa's second-best band to be led by a guy with the name Mike O'Neil(l)!

After one album and six singles on Ampex, Wednesday moved to the newly-created Skyline Records, a move rather less radical than it might seem: producer, manager and fellow Oshawan John Driscoll had brought them to Ampex in the first place, and while working at Ampex, Driscoll set up Skyline as a music publishing firm. Then, when Ampex itself when belly-up, Driscoll took Wednesday and formed a new label, distributed by Quality.

Driscoll had a definite vision for Wednesday: cover song on the a-side, original on the b-side. Every member of the band composed songs, and they must have been mighty frustrated at the way their songs got stuffed in the trunk behind remakes of oldies. Taking this concept to the absolute extreme, their first album Last Kiss featured a side A that was entirely covers and a side B that was entirely originals.

This is the stage of Wednesday's career where they realised they needed to shake things up, moving from cover versions of syrupy early-sixties songs to cover versions of syrupy late-sixties songs that sound like they could have been composed in the early sixties. Their first two singles for second album Loving You Baby were of a more recent vintage: Dutch group Teach-In released "Fly Away" in 1974, and English/Cypriot folk duo Stella and Bambos released "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow" in... well, I'm not sure that this duo actually released "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow" at all, unless it's an Engish translation of one of the Greek-language songs they sang. Its copyright date is 1973, though.

And then they dug up this particular candidate in the most unlikely of places: Elton John's long-forgotten first solo single, which was only released in the UK and Portugal, which bombed entirely and which was taken out of distribution. Now, April Wine had gotten some mileage out of an Elton John excavation, but of course by 1976 Elton John was one of the biggest performers in the world. I wonder what he thought of this Canadian act exhuming a forgotten (and out-of-print) early ditty of his.

Though the song, like every 1970s Elton John song, is credited to Elton John and Bernie Taupin, John claims he wrote the song himself and just put his cowriter's name on to get him a cut of the royalties. It's plausible since there's nothing particularly noteworthy about the words; they merely prop up the expressive vocal melody. It's a very nice song, proof that Elton's melodic talents were not developed over time but were innate from the get-go. The only problem with the song, reflected both in the Elton John original and the Wednesday cover, is that it goes on too long, taking one or two trips too many through its chorus.

As surprising as this might sound, the fact is that Wednesday's version is richer and far better produced than Elton John's. Elton's version, released under the slightly different title "I've Been Loving You", has a definite demo quality to it. The drums are all over the place, and the strings sound completely synthetic. But even here on his début single, Elton John's voice is a wonder: filled with character and charm and entirely engaging in a way that Mike O'Neil's simply isn't. But the drums and srings are, in contrast, very much highlights of Wednesday's version, as is a pleasant lead-guitar line that kicks the song off.

All in all, though this was and would be Wednesday's biggest hit, it remains further proof of a band with a tragic lack of direction and vision - or perhaps it would be more accurate to say a band whose producer had a tragic lack of direction and vision given that he had a band full of songwriters whose contributions he seemed to undervalue. The b-side of this particular single, as an example, is a scrappy and fun original, no masterpiece but perfectly competent all the same.

One more cover-on-the-a-side, original-on-the-b-side followed, "Doing the Best That I Can", written by Driscoll associate Eric Baragar. After that, apparently, the boys insisted on more creative control. This new direction was signalled by... a change in the spelling of the band name. Apparently because progressive singer-songwriters spell words fonetiklee, Wednesday became Wenzday and put out one final album on Skyline, with Driscoll still helming the mixing board. Nonetheless, of nine tunes, five were self-composed (and this time, all five by the same band member, Paul Andrew Smith). Four singles were pulled from this third and final album, and three of them were covers. It's no surprise the band fell apart soon thereafter.

Skyline Records, which was toast by 1980, was distributed by Quality. Remember that doomed Quality / Private Stock attempt to move into the American market? Though nothing came of that, it seems Quality wanted to keep trying, using the name Celebration (which had been a minor Canadian sublabel for a few years now) to put out a handful of singles distributed by Buddah. It seems there were only seven of these, none of them were hits down south, and - if you believe discogs (and I don't) - not a single one was released commercially, all being just radio promos. In any case, CE 1001 was "Loving You Baby". No other country got this single, and no picture sleeves were to be found.

 

​

#7 in Hamilton (CKOC), #17 at CHUM. Seems to have been an Ontario-centric hit, which explains why I never heard it back then. The B-side "Don't Let Me Wait Too Long" was from the first LP



Loving You Baby would also be the album title



Elton's version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oj0XSMvZ4zs

A cover from 1968 by someone called Edwin Bee (apparently his real name is Terry Hill and he moved to Nova Scotia in the 1970s)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4J_G5_yXBA

Another cover from 1968, by New Zealand group The Quincy Conserve
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCWmqkso2-I

 

Got stumped at a CanCon music trivia night question, I forgot the band name Wednesday... still feel the shame, it was for Last Kiss

 

The MontBlanc 146 adds a classy touch to the album cover.

 

"#7 in Hamilton (CKOC), #17 at CHUM. Seems to have been an Ontario-centric hit, which explains why I never heard it back then. The B-side "Don't Let Me Wait Too Long" was from the first LP"

Maybe Jason Roberts and Gord James took too much of a shine to Wednesday?

 

And here's the proof in the puddin':


The type used for the label design seemed reminiscent of an early '70's U.S. label called Birth:

. . . though of course, it wasn't the same font.

Buddah itself would go into a tailspin not long afterward (not long after its parent since 1968, Viewlex Inc., declared bankruptcy, with its three owned pressing plants ending up in the hands of a company called ElectroSound Group), but not before a hit "down south" with "More, More, More" by the Andrea True Connection. It entered into a distribution agreement with RCA which, by all accounts, was an utter disaster. By 1977, they agreed to be distributed by Arista.

 

Where does one sign up for CanCon music trivia night?

 

many years ago in Hamilton, Ontario while I was undergrad at Mac.

You could do your own? I'd join in the fun

used to go to rock trivia events all the time

my favourite entry level question was to name 3 Beatles song with the word "rain" in them, you have 20 seconds or get lost

 

Oh, and if 45cat is to be believed, only two US Celebration singles were issued commercially, with a proper A/B side combo. We'll probably get to those.

 

Over the next little while, it will be my intention to post a daily 'catch-up' song. That is, every day I will be catching up to one song that has previously been discussed but for which the audio of the actual song has not yet been posted.

For today's catch-up song, let's go all the way back to November 28, 1966, and "Magic" by Jeff Hewitson & The Fugitives, which Hewitson wrote himself:



I do not actually own a copy of this record, but someone has it listed for sale on Ebay (for US$45.00) with a link to a dub of the record. So thank you to whoever you are for the dub. (There are two copies for sale on discogs - one for $200.00 and one for $300.00).

 

At # 61 for the week of February 14, 1976, Charity Brown with "Saving All My Love". It reached the Top 30 in Vancouver (#13 for two weeks at CKLG, #24 at CFUN) and Windsor (#28 at CKLW)



The B-side "Family Man", both sides were from her first album
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASt7vbPM_K8

 

At #62 the week of February 21, "Come And See My Man" b/w "Rock Back To Me" by C.B. Victoria (#19 at CHUM, #26 at CKLG)





C.B. Victoria was not Elton John under a pseudonym, but Edwin Guy Coppard recently o the piano lounges of Victoria, B.C. (C.B. Victoria-get it?).
I Don't Believe In Miracles by C.B. Victoria - 1976 Hit Song - Vancouver Pop Music Signature Sounds

Somebody Help Me by The Shockers - 1967 Hit Song - Vancouver Pop Music Signature Sounds

The B-side was a cover of "I Can't Make It" by The Small Faces (both sides at the link)
Shockers - Somebody Help Me b/w I Can't Make It

 

The Shockers on CBC Vancouver's Let's Go (December 1, 1967). That's Eddie on keyboards. The go-go dancer was named Barbara Skeet.



Somebody Help Me by The Shockers - 1967 Hit Song - Vancouver Pop Music Signature Sounds

I Don't Believe In Miracles by C.B. Victoria - 1976 Hit Song - Vancouver Pop Music Signature Sounds

Trilogy released a single on Polydor, "Think It Over" b/w "Flowing" in November of 1969 (both sides at the link)
Trilogy - Think it Over b/w Flowing




Triology, Vancouver, BC (68-70)

C.B. will chart again

 

At #37 for the first of two weeks, "Roll You Over" b/w "By The River" by Marty Simon on Island Records (week of February 28). Neither side is on Youtube.



Marty Simon was born and raised in Montreal
Marty Simon - Wikitia

His first record was as drummer of the local band The Scene with "Scenes (From Another World)" b/w "You're In A Bad Way" on B.T. Puppy in 1967.





He then joined another Montreal band, Life, who hit it big with "Hands Of The Clock"
Every RPM Canadian Content #1 single discussion thread 1964-2000
Every RPM Canadian Content #1 single discussion thread 1964-2000
Every RPM Canadian Content #1 single discussion thread 1964-2000



After Life ended, he and J-P. Lauzon would join Mylon Lefevre's backing band Holy Smoke for two albums

 

Marty Simon then went to England
Marty Simon - Wikitia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-A35YD6HzEs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0R1FdJj4TkE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jb2HfNJMq3w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC9Rb8G03es

Simon wasn't the only Canuck on Here Come The Warm Jets, Victoria B.C.'s Paul Rudolph (Hydro Elecric Street Car, Deviants, Pink Fairies) played on "Baby's On Fire" and the title track.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nItuhuY1U04

And so on and so on...
Marty Simon - Wikitia
Marty Simon - Wikitia
Marty Simon - Wikitia
Marty Simon - Wikitia

 

At #67 the week of February 28, "Feelin' Better" by Hammersmith (top twenty at Hamilton's CKOC)



B-side "Funky As She Goes"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLdUdHQqrrw



Picking up the story, the band known as Painter was dropped from Elektra records and was now with Mercury. Their label mate Randy Bachman as well as the label suggested they needed a new name to convey their "heaviness", so Hammersmith was born. A self-titled album was released in September of 1975.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9hxVDhLJIo



Painter Turns to Hammersmith - It's Psychedelic Baby Magazine

Mercury press release
Painter Turns to Hammersmith - It's Psychedelic Baby Magazine

Hammersmith would chart once more.
Canadian Bands.com - Hammersmith

 

At #69 the same week of February 28, Sonora with "Lady Lay" b/w "See Me Run" (both songs at link)
Sonora - See Me Run b/w Lady Lay



The record came from Montreal on Leon Aronson's WAM Records, Aronson co-produced it with Barry Cape and Dixon Van Winkle (the same team responsible for Basic Black and Pearl). "Lady Lay" was a cover of a song from France, "See Me Run" was written by Jack Winters, ex of Tapestry, no other indication of who Sonora was. Sonora would have one more single, "Sing Me" b/w "Sweet Magnolia Trees" which would chart at #52 for two weeks (September 18 and 25, 1976). The b-side was written by someone named Larry Gillman. Neither side is on Youtube.

 

Come and See My Man : Rather dated even for 1976. It sounds like something Elton John would have recorded during the Empty Sky or self-titled album sessions.

 

At #43 the week of March 6, "Having A Party" by the Crescent Street Stompers, #28 at CHUM



B-side, a cover of "Louie Louie"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BM_modZXeTo



It had a picture sleeve in Germany



Their earlier hit was covered in this earlier post, it will be the last release under that name.
Every RPM Canadian Content #1 single discussion thread 1964-2000

 

At #86 the same week for the first of two weeks, "You Can't Catch Me" by Bim, Top Ten (#9) at Ottawa's CFGO.



From 2012:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHvlYNCeCek

B-side "Morning Mail"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2H5RSj-d9Y



Both songs were on his debut album Kid Full Of Dreams on Casino Records, produced by Claire Lawrence at Little Mountain Studios with help from Terry Frewer, Doug Edwards, Tom Baird, Kat Hendrikse and Susan Jacks. It reached #72 for two weeks in February of 1976.



Roy "Bim" Forbes was from Dawson Creek, B.C., got his start with his high school band The Crystal Ship. Here's an mp3 of them playing in the big city, Fort St. John, in November of 1969
Wayback Machine



Forbes would head to Vancouver at the age of 18 in the summer of 1971, just a kid full of dreams. His first big break seemingly came when he opened for Rita Coolidge at Vancouver's Queen Elizabeth Theatre in November of 1971. "'Huck Finn' Bim steals the show" read the headline of the Vancouver Sun's review of the show. Manager Roger Schiffer booked the teen for a showcase gig at L.A.'s Troubadour soon after, but it did not go well for a kid full of dreams, and the two ended their association. Claire Lawrence, as producer of the CBC-Radio show The Great Canadian Gold Rush, booked Bim for the show. The response was very positive, and he was signed to Casino Records, with the album coming out in September of 1975. The debut single was "Me And My Baby" b/w "Morning Mail"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yO44BgeGZyI

A promo-only single, "Don't Try To Get To Sleep" would follow after "You Can't Catch Me"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HC0iK31bio

 

His first single for his next LP would be "Fly Back North" b/w "Right After My Heart" (#19 at CKLG in Vancouver)



His second album on Casino came out in December of 1976, Raincheck On Misery. Again it was produced by Claire Lawrence, with backing by Lawrence's Hometown Band (Doug Edwards, Geoff Eyre, Robbie King, Shari Ulrich, plus Terry Frewer). It had, according to RPM, "one of the most expensive record jackets ever created for a Canadian recording act." It spent eight weeks on the chart, peaking at #59 on March 26.



The second single from it got a lot of airplay here in Kelowna, "So Close To Home" (it would be covered by a German band called Highway).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxIcN7Ln0pY

 

For Bim's third album, he would be signed to Elektra, and would be released outside of Canada for the first time (the U.S. and Germany). Thistles would be recorded in Los Angeles over eight months with help from the likes of David Foster and Jeff Pocaro, produced by Emitt Rhodes, whose only other outside credit was "Up Your Nose" by Gabriel Kaplan. The only single was "Tender Lullaby", one of three songs from previous albums re-recorded for the LP.





It would be his only release on a major label. His next album came out in 1982 on Stony Plain in Canada only, Anything You Want (produced once again by Claire Lawrence), his last under the name Bim.



Since then he has recorded several albums as Roy Forbes on his own AKA label, and as a member of the group UHF with Shari Ulrich and Bill Henderson.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BeR9vh66oM

Canadian Bands.com - Roy Forbes