That's always what I thought of this cover, put you to sleep (the organ, B.T.W., came via Rita's then brother-in-law, Booker T. Jones of Booker T. And The M.G.'s fame) . . . like I said, Ms. Coolidge seemed A&M's equivalent of Linda Ronstadt at this point, in terms of covering old hits in a "mellow" way. Dabbling in that also was James Taylor (not seen on the UK charts since his "Mockingbird" duet with then-wife Carly Simon), who in this year did a likewise snooze-inducing, likewise mellow to the point of comatose, cover of Jimmy Jones' 1960 jumper "Handy Man": His first US Columbia and UK CBS single after years with Warner Bros., this reached in #4 in US Billboard and Record World, and #2 in Cash Box and Radio & Records. (Danger Alert: On the UK Official Charts website, his discography is interlinked with that of a British group from a decade later that this guy had no involvement with whatsoever, The James Taylor Quartet. See also, The Drifters and New Edition.) No doubt their change in direction, and orientation of where they were, dovetailed with the rise of punk in the UK. Especially since they were yuuuuuuge in the U.S. Funny, changing direction in music didn't exactly hurt Rod Stewart chart-wise . . . Wasn't it Glen Matlock who was gone from the group at that point, due to his love of The Beatles - replaced with an ABBA fan and total mess, Sid Vicious? Mr. Lydon a.k.a. Rotten, I.S.T.R., remained with the group along with the two others (Cook and Jones).
And since it's been awhile that I did samples of "the other sides" of the charts, let me do so now, but with a twist: As "Silver Lady" and the next Number One did not place so on Melody Maker's charts (due to one of their own unique toppers we'll be looking at after the last of the "official" #1's of 1977 is examined), here's one that did where, at one time or another, the prior topper claimed varying durations for its stint at the top (however, on one of the charts here, there's a "spoiler alert" for one song that had been an "unofficial" #1): NME SINGLES CHART - Week Ending 08 October 1977 01 (01) - Elvis Presley - WAY DOWN 02 (02) - David Soul - SILVER LADY 03 (03) - Space - MAGIC FLY 04 (05) - La Belle Epoque - BLACK IS BLACK 05 (04) - Meri Wilson - TELEPHONE MAN 06 (07) - Emotions - BEST OF MY LOVE 07 (06) - Jean Michel Jarre - OXYGENE (PART 4) 08 (14) - Danny Mirror - I REMEMBER ELVIS PRESLEY 09 (08) - Donna Summer - DOWN DEEP INSIDE (THEME FROM THE DEEP) 10 (09) - Patsy Gallant - FROM NEW YORK TO L.A. 11 (19) - The Stranglers - NO MORE HEROES 12 (15) - Elkie Brooks - SUNSHINE AFTER THE RAIN 13 (15) - Donna Summer - I REMEMBER YESTERDAY 14 (21) - Ram Jam - BLACK BETTY 15 (10) - The Boomtown Rats - LOOKIN' AFTER NO. 1 16 (12) - Yes - WONDEROUS STORIES 17 (11) - Carly Simon - NOBODY DOES IT BETTER 18 (25) - Baccara - YES SIR, I CAN BOOGIE 19 (18) - Yvonne Elliman - I CAN'T GET YOU OUTA MY MIND 20 (26) - Giorgio - FROM HERE TO ETERNITY 21 (NEW) - Meco - STAR WARS THEME / CANTINA BAND 22 (RE) - The Dooleys - THINK I'M GONNA FALL IN LOVE WITH YOU 23 (28) - Leo Sayer - THUNDER IN MY HEART 24 (29) - Rose Royce - DO YOUR DANCE 25 (NEW) - George Benson - THE GREATEST LOVE OF ALL 26 (NEW) - The Clash - COMPLETE CONTROL 27 (NEW) - David Essex - COOL OUT TONIGHT 28 (13) - Rods - DO ANYTHING YOU WANNA DO 29 (22) - Bob Marley And The Wailers - WAITING IN VAIN 30 (27) - Dr. Feelgood - SHE'S A WINDUP MELODY MAKER SINGLES CHART - Week Ending 08 October 1977 01 (02) - Elvis Presley - WAY DOWN 02 (04) - David Soul - SILVER LADY 03 (01) - Space - MAGIC FLY 04 (09) - La Belle Epoque - BLACK IS BLACK 05 (05) - Emotions - BEST OF MY LOVE 06 (07) - Meri Wilson - TELEPHONE MAN 07 (03) - Jean Michel Jarre - OXYGENE (PART 4) 08 (10) - Patsy Gallant - FROM NEW YORK TO L.A. 09 (06) - Donna Summer - DOWN DEEP INSIDE (THEME FROM THE DEEP) 10 (20) - Danny Mirror - I REMEMBER ELVIS PRESLEY 11 (19) - The Stranglers - NO MORE HEROES 12 (14) - Ram Jam - BLACK BETTY 13 (08) - The Boomtown Rats - LOOKIN' AFTER NO. 1 14 (15) - Elkie Brooks - SUNSHINE AFTER THE RAIN 15 (16) - Donna Summer - I REMEMBER YESTERDAY 16 (11) - Carly Simon - NOBODY DOES IT BETTER 17 (13) - Yes - WONDEROUS STORIES 18 (12) - Rods - DO ANYTHING YOU WANNA DO 19 (21) - Yvonne Elliman - I CAN'T GET YOU OUTA MY MIND 20 (22) - Leo Sayer - THUNDER IN MY HEART 21 (NEW) - Baccara - YES SIR, I CAN BOOGIE 22 (30) - David Essex - COOL OUT TONIGHT 23 (NEW) - Giorgio - FROM HERE TO ETERNITY 24 (NEW) - Meco - STAR WARS THEME / CANTINA BAND 25 (NEW) - George Benson - THE GREATEST LOVE OF ALL 26 (RE) - The Dooleys - THINK I'M GONNA FALL IN LOVE WITH YOU 27 (17) - Candi Staton - NIGHTS ON BROADWAY 28 (26) - Bob Marley And The Wailers - WAITING IN VAIN 29 (RE) - The Adverts - GARY GILMORE'S EYES 30 (NEW) - The Clash - COMPLETE CONTROL
Another interesting thing about Ms. Coolidge's "Higher And Higher" tranquiliser: Its pre-title was in the past tense. By contrast, Jackie Wilson's get-up-and-go definitive take had the pre-title as (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me). You have to wonder . . .
October was a busy month for Sex Pistols records. Not only was Holidays on the singles chart, but two albums were launched! Fed up of the endless shenanigans delaying the official debut LP, someone - probably McLaren, who owned the demo rights & master tapes - released the Spunk 'bootleg'. The raw yin, to Bollocks' polished yang, Spunk consisted of demos recorded before Matlock quit. A few weeks later, Virgin finally got round to releasing the official album. Another big hoo-ha then, re the title. Police arrested the manager of Nottingham's Virgin record store, for displaying a large poster of the Bollocks record. A month later, magistrates found him 'not guilty', after hearing that the word appeared in Medieval bibles, and essentially meant 'nonsense'. John Mortimer - Rumpole Of The Old Bailey fame - was the defence lawyer! And here's Satellite, B-side to the Holidays 45:
Here's the US labels for both sides: and cover colour scheme: In this form, it made #106 in US Billboard's Top LP's And Tape the next year.
David Soul - Silver Lady Well written, sung and produced. It wasn't my thing, but somehow I seem to know the words.....
Forget genres, forget something old, something new and borrowed, there are some great songs in here that have well and truly stood the test of time. Others rate Complete Control higher than me, but The Clash had been noticed and were starting to sell more records. Sex Pistols manage to cause controversy, not with the song, but the picture sleeve. This is the original holiday brochure advert: The tourist company took a view dim when their images were used for this: and the sleeve was withdrawn. Status Quo - Rockin' All Over The world Who was the dummy on bass?? Calling Occupants, especially the full seven minute blow out is epic and the 5.1 surround mix shows off the format very well. Both the Bowie and Santana work well as single edits, but are better as the full album versions. Virginia Plain is simply Glam at it's best and better late than never, this reissue is when I bought it. .As mentioned by @Bulsara, even though Queen released as We Are The Champions as the A-side, it became common for radios to play We Will Rock You followed directly by We Are The Champions. This was also the running order of the first two tracks from News Of The World and Queen played them as encores, with We Will Rock You preceding We Are The Champions. TRB gave us a great tune, which still sounds great today.
#16 of 1977 (#414 in total) - "Yes Sir, I Can Boogie" by Baccara (#1 for 1 week - 29 October 1977) The UK single: The US single: Wikipedia entry - also NME #445 (1 week - 22 October 1977) but, as with the prior topper, got no higher than #2 in Melody Maker; in U.S., despite being played in several markets, this did not chart at all.
Week Ending 29 October 1977 07 - 03 - 01 - Baccara - YES SIR, I CAN BOOGIE 09 - 02 - 02 - La Belle Epoque - BLACK IS BLACK 03 - 04 - 03 - Rod Stewart - YOU'RE IN MY HEART 10 - 01 - 04 - David Soul - SILVER LADY 02 - 20 - 05 - ABBA - THE NAME OF THE GAME 04 - 11 - 06 - Status Quo - ROCKIN' ALL OVER THE WORLD 08 - 09 - 07 - Ram Jam - BLACK BETTY 02 - 15 - 08 - Sex Pistols - HOLIDAYS IN THE SUN 07 - 05 - 09 - Danny Mirror - I REMEMBER ELVIS PRESLEY 05 - 07 - 10 - Meco - STAR WARS THEME / CANTINA BAND 04 - 18 - 11 - Carpenters - CALLING OCCUPANTS OF INTERPLANETARY CRAFT (THE RECOGNIZED ANTHEM OF WORLD CONTACT DAY) 06 - 08 - 12 - The Stranglers - NO MORE HEROES 02 - 30 - 13 - Queen - WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS 08 - 06 - 14 - Emotions - BEST OF MY LOVE 02 - 37 - 15 - Tom Robinson Band - 2-4-6-8 MOTORWAY 06 - 14 - 16 - Donna Summer - I REMEMBER YESTERDAY 03 - 22 - 17 - Smokie - NEEDLES AND PINS 07 - 13 - 18 - Yes - WONDEROUS STORIES 12 - 10 - 19 - Elvis Presley - WAY DOWN 02 - 29 - 20 - Roxy Music - VIRGINIA PLAIN 06 - 23 - 21 - Nazareth - LOVE HURTS 12 - 19 - 22 - Yvonne Elliman - I CAN'T GET YOU OUTA MY MIND 08 - 12 - 23 - Patsy Gallant - FROM NEW YORK TO L.A. 06 - 16 - 24 - Giorgio - FROM HERE TO ETERNITY 03 - 26 - 25 - David Bowie - HEROES 03 - 38 - 26 - Dorothy Moore - I BELIEVE YOU 04 - 28 - 27 - Mary Mason - ANGEL OF THE MORNING / ANY WAY THAT YOU WANT ME 08 - 24 - 28 - Leo Sayer - THUNDER IN MY HEART 03 - 43 - 29 - Santana - SHE'S NOT THERE 06 - 27 - 30 - George Benson - THE GREATEST LOVE OF ALL 03 - 31 - 31 - Deep Purple - NEW LIVE AND RARE (EP) 05 - 34 - 32 - Pratt And McClain With Brother Love - HAPPY DAYS 10 - 17 - 33 - Meri Wilson - TELEPHONE MAN 1 - NEW - 34 - Tina Charles - LOVE BUG 12 - 21 - 35 - Space - MAGIC FLY 1 - NEW - 36 - Bee Gees - HOW DEEP IS YOUR LOVE 03 - 41 - 37 - Pete Mac Junior / Godiego - THE WATER MARGIN 04 - 40 - 38 - Commodores - BRICK HOUSE / SWEET LOVE 06 - 32 - 39 - Rose Royce - DO YOUR DANCE 03 - 45 - 40 - Barry White - IT'S ECSTASY WHEN YOU LAY DOWN NEXT TO ME 02 - 48 - 41 - Rokotto - BOOGIE ON UP 1 - NEW - 42 - The Barron Knights - LIVE IN TROUBLE 1 - NEW - 43 - Electric Light Orchestra - TURN TO STONE 02 - 46 - 44 - Stella Parton - THE DANGER OF A STRANGER 02 - 47 - 45 - Fleetwood Mac - YOU MAKE LOVING FUN 04 - 42 - 46 - Peter Blake - LIPSMACKIN' ROCK 'N ROLLIN' 1 - NEW - 47 - Boney M - BELFAST 02 - RE - 48 - Rita Coolidge - (YOUR LOVE HAS LIFTED ME) HIGHER AND HIGHER 1 - NEW - 49 - Jonathan Richman And The Modern Lovers - EGYPTIAN REGGAE 1 - NEW - 50 - Slade - MY BABY LEFT ME
This was a first: the very first Spanish artists to score a number one (before that, only Los Bravos and Miguel Ríos dared to enter the charts). Mayte and Maria's number one is Eurodisco by numbers: created by Germans, a infectious rhythm and a very danceable beat made the song irresistible all over Europe. It is one of those songs which, for Continental Europe, meant 1977. Oh, and that success even though their English was... let's say... undescifrable. 3'5/5
Now for the records in my collection from this stretch . . . This number, from a little film called Saturday Night Fever that was coming out around this time, began a 21-consecutive-week period on US Billboard's Hot 100 where the only Number Ones were those on the RSO label - a total of six records (including this), most by or associated with the Bee Gees. It was the 437th Number One of the Hot 100, for 3 weeks (24 December 1977-07 January 1978), as well as topping Cash Box' Top 100 (4 weeks - 17 December 1977-07 January 1978) and Radio & Records' chart (4 weeks - 25 November-16 December 1977); however, on Record World's Singles Chart, it could go no higher than #2. This, the first U.S. ELO single to be issued on the Jet label, peaked early the next year at #13 in US Billboard, #11 in Cash Box, #9 in Record World, and #5 in Radio & Records. And because those two were the only 'newies' for the week that saw U.S. single release, there goes that look . . . ergo, two for the price of one.
Only one week those Spanish beauties were at number one, and these are the new entries. Slade - They have changed! What's this? Dave's as bald as a coot, and where are the curls on Noddy's hair? Yes, their transformation from glam idols to rock band was completed here. And cashing on the Elvis' death, this was released. A medley of two songs which ain't that bad. It's very different from their peak, but it works. It almost went to the Top 30 (with a performance on ToTP) and maybe was a hint of a future new era for the band... but it wasn't to be. The long walk in the desert started... Jonathan Richman - He was a man of many faces: one day you see him going faster as a roadrunner, the next day is embracing the Egyptian music. A weird choice of a single, with not a single touch of rock, but a rather audacious move. It's very nice to listen a pastiche of North African music here, and a top 5 single to boot. Boney M - Perhaps the only single about the Troubles that wasn't banned at all? It takes a lot of guts to record a disco record about this touching topic. Not the disco sound you were accustomed to know from earlier singles, but a decent effort. The second and last single from the already high selling Love For Sale album. 1978 will be another matter. ELO - A modest number 18 was all it could muster. It is a different change of attitude for the band: a touch of disco sound is heard somehow in the single. One of those singles which nowadays sound more fresh and deserves more recognisition than it had in the past. A small blip on the ever great run of singles of Lynne's band. Barron Knights - They were having zero luck in the charts for a long decade... until now. The usual formula is used once more: great hits of the year in a humorous way (as we saw with Angelo). Some may find it irritating, some may find it boring... but I like it: if you success is because of this, why bother changing? Bee Gees - A long year had passed since their last success: it's funny to know they had to wait for their second wave of success in the UK. To kick off things, a taste of Saturday Night Fever. Not disco at all, it's the already trademark falsetto voices in full swing. Let's see here and check this moment of sweetness before they descend into disco heaven/hell. Tina Charles - UK disco... yuk! A year had passed and Tina was already old hat. Her latest trick is a medley of two songs: it's weak compared to everything we have listened this year, because it's more poppy than disco. It peaked at number 26, and everything hinted at a further decline.
And from the non-hit of that week's Top of the Pops, we find Smokey Robinson, who flew all the way from America to promote his new single: Theme From Big Time. It was a big flop.
Before "How Deep Is Your Love," the Bee Gees' last US Top 20 hit had been this funky piece from Children Of The World, "Boogie Child": It peaked at #12 in US Billboard, #14 in Cash Box, #25 in Record World, and #17 in Radio & Records. In the UK, this was relegated to B side status (behind the title track of said LP) and, consequently, did not chart. (The US single in-between this and "How Deep Is Your Love" - a live version of "Edge Of The Universe" - could only muster #26 in Billboard and Cash Box, and #42 in Record World.)
Baccara 'borrow' the essence of Don’t Leave Me This Way, for their tenth-rate Euro disco dreck. Egyptian Reggae has a certain naive charm, even if it does sound like a Shadows cast-off. As for Belfast.......... ‘banal platitudes’ doesn’t even begin to describe it. This one didn't chart, but I reckon it's miles better than any of the new entries:
Now, for something completely different... Spanish hard rock band Mägo de Oz plays a great cover of Belfast.
It was the older thread Bob. Yes, Stardust is a very good film - I picked it up as a double feature DVD with That'll Be The Day after the other thread.
Stardust is being shown on Talking Pictures channel (if you have Sky,) in UK this weekend. Saturday night i believe. They showed That'll Be The Day a month or so back.
A model of bassist Alan Lancaster, original member. This era really was the beginning of the end for the original Quo line-up. They'd be hugely successful 1973-77 but on this album they were more produced and continued in this way. Still hugely successful but internal relationships were going to the wall. A model was used as Lancaster had moved to Australia. Always a good move for keeping a successful band together.
