319 Hello Evelyn "Champagne" King - Shame

Chart  entered : 13  May  1978

Chart  peak : 39

Number  of  hits : 10

Evelyn is  the  first  artist  to  feature  here  who  was  born  in  the  sixties. She  was  born  in  The  Bronx  in  July  1960. Her  father  was  a  resident  backing  vocalist  at  Harlem's  Apollo  Theatre. The  story  goes  that  she  was  working  as  an  office  cleaner  at  P.I.R. and  a  producer, Theodore  Life,  heard  her  singing  in  a  washroom. He  took  her  to  RCA. The  "Champagne"  came  from  her  infant  nickname  of  "Bubbles".

This  was  the  first*  single  from  her  album  "Smooth  Talk ".  The  17  year  old  Evelyn  sings  of   embarassment  at  her  teenage  lust  while   the  backing  boys  whip  up  a  disco  storm  behind  her.  It's  probably  best  remembered  for  its  still  fairly  unique  chart  history. The  chart  had  just  been  expanded  to  a  Top  75  and  this  spent  23 weeks  in  it  without  getting  higher  than  number  39. What  probably  accounted  for  this  was  the  release  of  a  12inch  extended  version  by  disco  remixers  Al  Garrison  and  David  Todd  emphasising  the  handclapped  beat. Evelyn's   untrained  deep  voice  threatens  to  drop  into  a  subsonic  murmur  throughout  the  track. That  and  the  lack  of  a  strong  melodic  hook  in  the  chorus  meant  the  7  inch  version  didn't  really  work  on  radio  but  in  the  clubs  the  groove  was  all  that  mattered.





* Some  sources  state  that  "Dancin  Dancin  Dancin"  was  her  first  single  but  as  far  as  I  can  determine  that  was  only  the  B-side  to  this  one.

318 Hello Foreigner - Feels Like The First Time

Chart  entered  : 6  May  1978

Chart  peak  : 39

Number  of  hits  : 11

Foreigner  bear  the  torch  here  for  a  whole  genre. None  of  their  AOR  peers  that  dominated  the  American  charts  at  the  turn  of  the  decade  - Styx, Toto, Journey, REO  Speedwagon et  al - mustered  even  half  a  dozen  hits  here . Even  Chicago  don't  get  over  the  line. Perhaps  the  fact  that  half  of  Foreigner  were  British  gave  these  guys  an  advantage.

They'd  certainly  been  around  the  block  a  bit. Main  man  Mick  Jones  was  33  and  first  appeared  as  a  replacement  guitarist  in  the  instrumental  outfit  Nero  and  the  Gladiators  in  1963.  This  was  after  their  two  hit  singles  and  they  don't  appear  to  have  recorded  anything  while  he  was  in  the  line  up. Mick  went  to  France  where  he  worked  as  a  session  musician  and  songwriter  for  artists  such  as  Johnny  Hallyday. He  became  friendly  with  the  Beatles  when  they  toured  with  Hallyday  in  France  in  1964.

He  returned  to  England  at  the  start  of the  seventies  and  hooked  up  with Gary Wright  ex-lead  singer  of  the  hard  rock  band  Spooky  Tooth. He  played  on  Wright's  second  solo  album  "Footprint"  and  became  part  of  his  backing  band  Wonderwheel.  Two  singles  were  subsequently  released  as  Gary  Wright's  Wonderwheel , the  hard-rocking "I  Know"  which  is  instantly  forgettable  and  "Ring  of  Changes  which  I  haven't  heard. Wright  then  took  Mick  with  him  into  a  re-formed  Spooky  Tooth. Mick  played  on  three  albums  with  the  re-formed  band  though  he  had  only  a  minor  part  in  the  songwriting  with  credits  on  just  four  tracks  across  the  three. Although  commercial  success  continued  to  elude  them, their  keyboard-heavy  hard  rock  sound  is  a  clear  template  for  Foreigner.

When  the  band  dissolved  again  in  1975  Mick  moved  to  the  USA  for  a  temporary  team-up  with  Mountain  singer  and  guitarist  Leslie  West. His  tenure  in  The  Leslie  West  Band  lasted  for  one  album  of  the  same  name. There  was  one  single , released  in  the  US  only, a  hard -rocking  update  of  The  Animals  classic  "We  Gotta  Get  Out  Of  This  Place" . The  band  disintegrated  soon  after  and  West's  manager  Bud  Prager  advised  Mick  to  put  his  own  band  together.

His  first  recruit  was  keyboardist  Al  Greenwood , a  24  year  old   from  Chicago  who  had  recently  been  in  Storm, an  offshoot  band  from  prog-rockers  Flash  that  failed  to  get  off  the  ground. After  jamming  with  some  other  guys  Mick  met  another  English  ex-pat  Ian  McDonald  at  a  session  and  recruited  him  into  the  band.

Ian  was  30  and  an  original  member  of  prog  rock  legends  King  Crimson  after  serving  as  a  bandsman  in  the  army. He  played  a  variety  of  instruments  on  their  epochal  debut  LP  "In  the  Court  of  The  Crimson  King"  in  1969  and  had  a  hand  in  writing  every  track. He  wrote  all  the  music  on  the  tracks"I  Talk  To  The  Wind"  and  "The  Court  of  the  Crimson  King" in  conjunction  with  his  lyricist  friend  Pete Sinfield  whom  he  introduced  to  the  band. By  the  time  of  their  American  tour  later  that  year  it  had  become  clear  that  Robert  Fripp  wanted  to  take  the  band  in  a  darker,  more  adventurous  direction  than  he  and  drummer  Michael  Giles  were  comfortable  with  and  after  some  discussion they  made  a  very  civilised  departure  at  the  end  of  the  tour.

After  a  year  in  the  studio  "McDonald  and  Giles"  was  released  in  January  1971. It  sounds  like  King  Crimson  with  some  of  the  abrasive  edges  filed  off  With  two  of  the  tracks,  multi-part  epics - "Birdman"  lasts  over  21  minutes  there  were  no  singles. Despite  the  Crimson   connection  it  didn't  sell ; that  both  their  surnames  had  unfortunate  rustic  connotations  perhaps  didn't  help. The  duo  split  with  Giles  becoming  a  busy  session  musician. Ian  was  lined  up  to  rejoin  King  Crimson  in  1974  when  Fripp  announced  the  end  of  the  band.  Instead  he  headed  for  the  States.

Shortly  after  recruiting  Ian , Mick  met  another  ex-pat  , 25  year  old  drummer  Dennis  Elliott  from  Peckham, at  an  Ian  Hunter  session. After  a  brief spell  in  his  brother's  band  The  Tea  Set in  the mid-sixties   he  joined  Ferris  Wheel  fronted  by  Linda  Lewis  in  1969  and  played  on  their  eponymous  second  album.  Their  music  isn't  easily  found  but  I  did  catch  the  single  "Can't  Stop  Now"  which  is  interesting , with  Lewis's  instantly  recognisable  vocal  atop  folk  rock  backing  somewhere  between  Jethro  Tull  and  Shocking  Blue.  The  baffling  jazzy  break  probably  stymied  its  chances.

Dennis  had  already  left  to  join  IF  , a  prolific  jazz  rock  outfit  led  by  saxophonist  Dick  Morrrisey.  Something  of  a  British  answer  to  Chicago  and  Blood , Sweat  and  Tears  they released  four  albums  in  two  years  and  maintained  a  punishing  tour  schedule.  They  were  a  respected  live  act  and  the  first  three  albums  made  a  minor  showing  on  the  US  chart  but  they  were  unable  to  get  to  the  next  level. In  1972  Morrissey's  health  gave  way  and  he had  to  go   into  hospital. The  original  band , Dennis  included, dispersed. He  too  made  his  way  over  to  the  US  session  scene.

Finding  a  singer  proved  more  problematical. After  multiple  auditions  Mick  decided  to  call  up  a  guy  he'd  met  while  on  tour  with  Spooky  Tooth. Louis  Grammaticco  was  a  26  year  old  New  Yorker  from  a  musical family . After  performing  in  local  bands  in  his  teens  he  became  front  man  for  a  band  called  Black  Sheep. Chrysalis  signed  them  for  the  single  "Stick  Around" , an  unsavoury  hard  rock  tune  about  being  caught  with  a  fifteen  year  old  which  owes  rather  a  lot  to  All  Right  Now.  When  it  failed  to  make  any  waves  they  were  free  to  sign  with  Capitol  and  released  an  eponymous  album  in  1975  which  wastes  his  vocal  talents  on  some  very  uninspiring  tunes. The  dreary  plodding  "Broken  Promises"  was  lined  up  as  a  single  but  it  was  never  released.  A  second  album  "Encouraging  Words "  was  released  at  the  end  of  the  year  and  is  similarly  devoid  of  good  songs  and  in  thrall  to  Free. The  band  went  out  on  tour  as  support  to  Kiss  but  suffered  a  disaster  on  Christmas  Eve  when  their  equipment  van  was  involved  in  a  destructive  accident  on  an  icy  road. Before  they  could  get things  back  together  their  lead  singer  had  been  poached.

The  line-up  was  completed  by  another  New  Yorker, 24  year  old  Ed  Gagliardi  on  bass.

At  first  they  were  called  Trigger  but on  hearing  of  another  band  using  the  name  they  changed  to  Foreigner.  Their  eponymous  debut  album  was  released  in  March  1977.

"Feels  Like  The  First Time"  is  the  opening  track  and  first  single  released  a  month  after  the  LP.  Mick  Jones  wrote  the  song   about  finding  a  new  love  when  mature  , as  befitted  his  years. The  song  is  a  modern  rock  juggernaut  with  a  glossy  production  which  highlights  the  glitzy  synth  flourishes  and  soft  harmonies. This  can't  quite  disguise  that  the  stomping  chorus  isn't  very  interesting  but  it  was  effective  enough  to  launch  the  band. The  song  struck  a  chord  with  rock  fans  entering  their  thirties  who  propelled  it  to  number  4  in  the  US  charts. It  wasn't  a  hit  in  the  UK  on  first  release,  nor  was  the  follow -up  "Cold  As  Ice" ( number  6  in  the  US ). The  following  year  all  three  singles  from  the  album  were  packaged  together  as  a  maxi-single  to  promote  their  UK  tour   with  this  as  the  lead  track  and  they  chalked  up  their  first  hit  here.    
  

317 Hello Squeeze - Take Me I'm Yours

Chart  entered : 8  April  1978

Chart  peak : 19

Number  of  hits : 21

Well  here  we  are. This  is  the  first  single  covered  here  that  I  possess.  It  was  bought  some  20  years  later  from  the  antiques  shop  in  Ramsbottom  but  never  mind. By  the  beginning  of  1980  I  was  giving  Squeeze  as  the  answer  to  who  my  favourite  band  was, an  enthusiasm  that  no  one  seemed  to  share. They'd  like  individual  songs   but  I  never  met  anyone  else  who  championed  them  as  a  group. This  not  easily  explicable  failure  to  build  a  loyal  fanbase  of  any  size  would  dog  their  entire  career.

Squeeze  started  coming  together  in  1974  when  Chris  Difford  , a  19  year  old  from Greenwich , put  an  ad  in  a  newsagents  for  a  guitarist  to  join  his  non-existent  band. The  only  respondent  was  16-year  old  guitarist  Glenn  Tilbrook  so  it  was  lucky  they  got  on  and  started  writing  songs  together. They  recruited  16  year  old  pianist  Julian  "Jools"  Holland   and  a  drummer  called  Paul  Gunn  and  started  playing  the  pub  circuit  around  Deptford. After  trying  out  a  few  names  they  settled  on  "Squeeze"  in  ironic  tribute  to  the  little-loved  final  Velvet  Underground  album  ( missing  all  the  original  members ).

Gunn  quit  in  1976  and  the  band  advertised  in  Melody  Maker  for  a  replacement. The  lucky  respondent  was  the  hefty  Gilson  Lavis  from  Bedford.  The  25  year  old  had  been  active  in  the  Rock  and  Roll  revival  backing  both  Chuck  Berry  and  Jerry  Lee  Lewis  on  their  UK  tours. Around  the  same  time  Chris  relinquished  the  bass  duties  to  Harry  Kakoulli   who'd  been  in  the   unrecorded  band  England's  Glory  with future  Only  Ones  singer  Peter  Perrett.

At  the  end of  1976  they  were  signed  to  Miles  Copeland's  BTM  label  and  "Take  Me  I'm  Yours"  was  lined  up  as  their  first  single  in  January  1977   but  it  never  got  released  due  to  the  label's  financial  situation. Copeland  set  up  another  , Deptford  Fun  City,  to  release  their  debut  EP  "Packet  of  Three"  produced  by  John  Cale.  As  the  title  suggests  it  contains  three  songs. "Cat  On  A  Wall"  is  the  best  regarded  with  its  tuneful  chorus  introducing  the  distinctive  vocal  sound  of  Glenn  and  Chris  harmonising  with  the  airy  tones  of  the  former  an  octave  above  the  gutteral   growl  of  the  latter. Glenn's  snarly  vocal  on  the  verses  merely  reflects  the  times  as  does  the  punk-metal  "Night  Ride"  about  a  lusty  biker . I'm  not  exactly  sure  who's  singing  on  that  one  ( Harry ?) ."Back  Track "  is  pretty  similar  with  a  Glenn  doing  a  Subterranean  Homesick  Blues  semi-rap  vocal  to  leave  room  for  a  Jools  Holland  pub  piano  break. It's  a  fair  introduction  to  their  range  but  you  wouldn't  put  any  of  these  songs  among  their  best.  John  Peel  liked  it  but  lost  interest  in  the  band  thereafter.

They  signed  for  A & M  at  the  end  of  1977  and  went  in  the  studio  with  John  Cale  to  record  their  debut  LP. Cale  took  advantage  of  their  youth  and  inexperience  and  persuaded  them  to  write  new  songs  under  his  direction. Fortunately  the  label  didn't  like  this  material  much  and  chose  the  two  songs  the  bands  had  already  recorded  without  him  for  the  singles  , the  first  of  which  was  "Take  Me  I'm  Yours".

With  this  single  Squeeze  became  the  first  punk / new  wave  act  to  integrate  a  synthesiser  into  their  sound. The  primitive  drum  machine  keeping  the  beat  while  Gilson  tattoos  and  the  fuzzy  Moog  bass  line  gave  it  a  strikingly  original  sound  while  the  lyric  is  full  of  mystery  and  intrigue. Is   the  "me"  heroin   or  is  this   just  the  account  of  some  modern-day  Odysseus  returning  to  his  Penelope  ?   ( Chris  has  said  it  was  inspired  by  the  Copeland  family's  travels  in  Egypt ).  Chris's  sepulchral vocal  added  to  the  sinister  aura  of  the  song, slightly  dispelled  by  their  odd  appearance  on  Top  of  the  Pops   where  co-ordinating  their  wardrobe  clearly  hadn't  been  a  priority . It  quickly  became  my  favourite  record  in  the  charts  and  I  was  disappointed  it  didn't  climb  a  bit  higher.

316 Hello The Attractions* - ( I Don't Want To Go To ) Chelsea

(*  Elvis  Costello  and.....)

Chart  entered  : 11  March  1978

Chart  peak  : 16

Number  of  hits : 25  ( all  with  Elvis  Costello. At  least  in  the  16th  edition  Guinness  seriously  under-credits  the  Attractions , listing  many  of  the  hits  as  Costello  solo  records. )

After  recording  "My  Aim  Is  True"  with  Clover, Elvis Costello  made  getting  his  own  band  together  a  priority. He  already  had  a  keyboard  player  Steve  Nason  on  board  by  the  time  of "Watching  The  Detectives". Steve  was  a  19 year  old  alumni  of  the  Royal  College  of  Music  and  was  christened  Steve  "Nieve"  (sic)  after  allegedly  asking  Ian  Dury  what  a  groupie  was.

The  rhythm  section  were  considerably  more  experienced. Bassist  Bruce  Thomas   was  pushing  thirty  and  had  been  musically  active  since  the  mid-sixties  when  he  was  in  a  band  in  his  native  north  east  called  the  Roadrunners  with  a  pre-Free  Paul  Rodgers  and  future  Whitesnake  guitarist  Mick  Moody. They  changed  their  name  to  The  Wildflowers  and  moved  to  London  in  1966  but  didn't  find  success  and  split. Bruce  stayed  in  the  capital  and  had  a  brief  spell  in  Steve  Howe's  Bodast  but  first  found  his  feet  in  the  band  Quiver  with  Tim  Renwick. They  provided  much  of  the  backing  for  Al  Stewart's   album  "Orange"  in  1972  although  Bruce  isn't  the  only  bassist  credited  on  the  sleeve.  This  was  quickly  followed  by  the  only  single  bearing  Quiver's  name  alone. "Green  Tree"  is  a  pleasant  folksy  effort  driven  by  Bruce's  melodic  bassline  and  coloured  by  flute  warblings  but  lacks  punch.  Nevertheless  it  attracted  the  attention  of  folk  duo  The  Sutherland  Brothers  who  suggested  they  join  forces  although  both  groups  kept  their  seperate  names  in  the  merger.

The  brothers  were  contracted  to  Island  and  the  amalgamation  had  its  first  hit  straight  away  when  "You  Got  Me  Anyway  "  reached  number  48  in  the  US. I  think  I  mentioned  in  the  Goodbye  Herman's  Hermits  post  that  this  was  an  early  favourite  of  mine  as  it  got  considerable  play  on  Radio  One  ( to  no  avail  here ).  The  lyrics  aren't  too  precise  but  seem  to  be  about  the  disappointment  of  youthful  dreams  and  dissatisfaction  with  your  current  lot  but  it  has  a  dark  doomy  feel  somewhat  ahead  of  its  time, Quiver  add  the  musical  muscle  which  makes  it  sound  like  a  meeting  of  The  Levellers  and  Tom  Petty  and  the  Heartbreakers.

The  single  and  three other  new  tracks  were  spliced  into  a  repackaging  of  the  previous  LP  "Lifeboat"  which  was  then  credited  to  "The  Sutherland  Brothers  and  Quiver"  despite  the  latter  not  being  on  the  majority  of  the  tracks.Bruce's  only  LP  with  the  band  was  1973's  "Dream  Kid"  which  straddles  the  folk / soft  rock  split  competently  enough  but  isn't  quite  immediate  enough. The  title  track  - by  far  the  best , with  Bruce's  bass  carrying  the  melody -  was  released  as  a  single  in  January  1974  but  did  nothing.

Two  months  later  Bruce  was  out. In  a  portent  of  quarrels  to  come  he  had  repeated  clashes  with  singer  and  main  songwriter  Iain  Sutherland  and  was  told  to  sling  his  hook  during  a  European  tour. He  moved  on  to  Moonrider , the  new  vehicle  for  Teenage  Opera  man  Keith  West. I've  only  managed  to  hear  a  single  track - "Gold-digger"   from  their  eponymous  album  but  it  is  quite  good, deploying  that  mid-seventies  rock  sound  heard  on  Cliff's  Devil  Woman  with  some  great  guitar  work  from  John  Weider  ( ex-Eric  Burdon  and  the  Animals ). The  next  stop  for  Bruce  was  the  Attractions.

Giant  drummer  Pete Thomas  was  born  in  Sheffield  in  1954. He  was  picked  up  by  the  folk  duo  Martin  Stone  and  Phil  Lithman   who  were   trading  under  the  memorably  stupid  name  of  Chili  Willi  and  the  Red  Hot  Peppers  and  needed  a  full  band  to  play  on  the  pub  rock  scene. Pete  played  on  one  LP  "Bongos  Over  Balham"  which  is  rather  bewildering. The  single  "Breathe  A  Little"  sounds  more  like  Manhattan  Transfer  than  Dr  Feelgood  and  opening  track  "Choo  Choo  Boogie"  is  a  Louis  Jordan  cover  that  sounds  like  eighties  horrors  Matt  Bianco. "We  Get  Along"  on  the  other  hand  sounds  more  like  The  Eagles  and  "Desert  Island  Woman"  like  America  ( that's  a  compliment; it's  an  excellent  track ). It  should  be  said  that  Pete's  drumming  on  all  these  tracks  is  excellent, switching  from  jazz  brushes  to  rock  sticks  with  equal  aplomb. The  album  failed  to  sell  and  the  band  split.

"( I  Don't  Want  To  Go  To )  Chelsea "  is, if  anything  even  more  tightly  wound  than  "Watching  The  Detectives"  and  all  Elvis's  new  pals  make  their  mark. It  kicks  off  with  a  crisp  solo  from  Pete  before  Bruce's  lurching  reggae-inflected  bass  line  starts  dictating  the  momentum  of  the  song. Elvis  throws  in  a  spindly  riff  nicked  , by  his  own  admission, from  The  Pioneers. Steve's  queasy  organ  starts  adding  to  the  churning  unease  at  the  heart  of  the  song  as  Elvis  starts  taking  potshots  at  the  London  fashion  scene, exploitative  photographers  and  God  knows  what  else. The  precise  meaning  of  it  all  is  elusive  but  there's  no  mistaking  the  concentrated  venom  in  Elvis's  delivery  and  his  band  delivers  the  perfect  musical  setting i.e  knife  edge  tension,  for  it. This  record  defines  the  "new  wave"  sound  and  would  spawn  scores  of  imitators, perhaps  the  main  reason  Elvis  didn't  stick  with  it  for  long,  more's  the  pity.

315 Hello Pete Shelley* - What Do I Get ?

(* as  part  of  Buzzcocks )

Chart  entered : 18  February  1978

Chart peak : 37

Number  of  hits : 10  ( 9 with  Buzzcocks, 1  solo )

A  couple  of   tenuous  personal  connections  here. Steve  Diggle  and  I  have  a  mutual  friend  , Stuart  Dawson  who  was  at  art  college  with  his  brother  Phil  and  designed  the  sleeve  for  at  least  one  of  the  singles  of  his  eighties  band  Flag  of  Convenience. Even  more  tenuous , back  in  1984  I  committed  some  of  my  own  warblings  to  tape   ( mercifully  lost  by  work  colleagues  in  the  early  nineties ) and  was  told  I  sounded  just  like  Pete  Shelley. I  couldn't  hear  it  myself  and  didn't  take  it  as   a  compliment.

Pete  was  born  Peter  McNeish  in  Leigh  in  1955  ( he  turns  60  next  week ).  His  dad  worked  at  a  nearby  colliery.  In  the  early  seventies  he  embarked  on  a  humanities  course  at  Bolton  Institute  of  Technology  ( which  now  masquerades  as  a  university ) . Musically  he  was  playing  guitar  in  heavy  metal  bands  while  experimenting  with  a  home-made  oscillator  in  his  bedroom. He  made  a  mini-LP  "Sky  Yen"  in  1974  which  was  released  in  1980; comprising  20  minutes  of  electronic  droning , it's  good  for  clearing  parties  but  not  much  else. In  1975  he  answered  an  ad  by  another  , slightly  older,   student  Howard  Trafford   looking  to  form  a  band  with  someone  of  similar  tastes. They  christened  their  embryonic  duo  "Buzzcocks"  from  a  phrase  in  the  infamous  Rock  Follies.  

In  February  1976  they  rode  down  to  London  to  check  out  the  Sex  Pistols  after  reading  about  them   in  the  NME. They  came  back  inspired  to  make  their  own  band  more  of  a  reality  and  to  get  the  Pistols  up  to  Manchester, helping  to  arrange  the  first  gig  at  the  Lesser  Free  Trade  Hall  in  June. Buzzcocks  were  supposed  to  support  them  but  the  duo  couldn't  get  a  band  together  in  time. They  did  pick  up  a  bass  player  Steve  Diggle  at  the  gig  and  by  the  time  the  second  one  came  round  six  weeks  later  they  had  a  schoolboy  drummer  John  Maher  on  board  and  were  able  to  play  their  first  gig.  Howard  became  Howard  Devoto  and  Pete  adopted  the  stage  surname  "Shelley"  as  a  tribute  to  his  parents'   wish  for  a  girl  despite  the  risk  of  confusion  with  the  singer-songwriter  Peter  Shelley  who'd  been  in  the  charts  little  more  than  a  year  earlier. The  band  played  at  the  100  Club  Punk  Festival  in  London  in  September  but  otherwise  honed  their  craft  in  the  north. Their  next  move  would  change  the  music  scene  for  the  rest  of  the  century  if  not  beyond.

Believing  that  the  record  companies  would  not  bother  to  send  A & R  men  up  north  with  such  a  scene  happening  on  their  own  London  doorsteps,  the  group  decided  to  release  their  first  record  themselves  and  distribute  it  by  mail  order. The  whole  indie  scene  was  born   in  January  1977  when  "Spiral  Scratch"  was  released  on  the "label" New  Hormones ; without  it  we  could  well  have  missed  out  on  Joy  Division, Smiths, Stone  Roses, Depeche  Mode, Oasis, Primal  Scream..... where  do  you  stop ?  Regardless  of  any  musical  qualities  it's  one  of  the  most  significant  pop  records  of  all  time.

"Spiral  Scratch"  is  an  EP  of  four  songs  written  by  Pete  and  Howard  produced  by  Martin  Zero  ( later  to  be  more  famous  as  Martin  Hannett ).  Musically  it's  a  bit  rough  and  tuneless  compared  to  their  hits  and  Howard's  voice  is  little  more  than  a  needling  sneer  but  there's  an  intelligence  in  the  lyrics  . "Breakdown" hints  at  mental  illness, "Time's  Up"  gives  a  preview  of  Pete's  later  preoccupation  with  relationships  gone  awry  and  "Friends  of  Mine"  surgically  dissects  a  set  that  you  hope  for  Howard's  sake   was  fictional. The  best-realised  song  is  of  course  "Boredom", Howard's  already-felt  dissatisfaction with  the  punk  scene  and  accurate  prediction  that  his  time  would  soon  be  up  - "I  just  came  from  nowhere  and  I'm  going  straight  back  there "-  topped  up  with  Pete's  famous  two-note  guitar  solo  that  deliberately  doesn't  go  anywhere. It  was  a  minor  hit  - almost  their  last -  when  reissued  three  years  later.

Almost  as  soon  as  it  was  in  the  shops  Devoto  announced  his  departure  in  a  pretentious  letter  to  the  music  press  dismissing  the  punk  scene  as  "clean  old  hat".  The  reality  was  more  mundane; he  was  being  threatened  with  ejection  from  his  course  and  he  stayed  around to  help  manage  the  band  for  the  next  few  months. Pete  co-wrote  the    debut  single  "Shot  By  Both  Sides"  for  his  new  band  Magazine  early  in  1978. Devoto's  rabbit-in-the-headlights   non-performance  of  the  song  on  Top  of  the  Pops  has   been  widely  but  probably  unfairly  blamed   for  scuppering  their  career. In  truth  I  don't  think  their  angular  music  topped  off  with  his  wooden  tones  ( not  to  mention  the  receding  hairline  )  was  ever  going  to  crack  the  big  time  and  he  quickly  became  a  marginal  figure  while  his  bandmates  cropped  up  in  groups  as  varied  as  Visage, Siouxsie  and  the  Banshees  and  Swing  Out  Sister.

Pete  actually  welcomed  his  departure  , assuming  the  roles  of  singer  and  main  songwriter  himself  while  Steve  became  the  principal  guitarist. A  new  bassist  Garth Davies  was  recruited  and  played   on  their   Peel  session   in  September  1977 . They  ostentatiously  signed  with  United  Artists  at  Manchester's  Electric  Circus  the  same  month

It's  still  hard  to  credit  that  the  label  sanctioned  the  release  of  "Orgasm  Addict"  as  their  second  single  in  November  1977. Perhaps  they  reckoned , in  the  wake  of  God  Save  the  Queen ,  that  controversy  alone  would  be  enough  for  a  high  chart  placing.  The  lyrics  are  Devoto's  and  coruscate  a  teenaged  compulsive  masturbator. The  music  is  still  pretty  rough despite  Martin  Rushent's  production  and  seems  to  rush  to  the  hook  too  soon  but  maybe  that's  part  of  the  concept. Pete  now  says  he's  embarrassed  by  it   saying  "It's  the  only  one  I  listen  to.... and  shudder" , perhaps  an  unfortunate  choice  of  words.  Shortly  afterwards Davies  was  fired  after  one  too  many  drunken  incidents  and  replaced by  Steve  Garvey.

"What  Do  I  Get ?" 's  release  was  delayed  by  a  couple  of  weeks  due  to  disquiet  at  the  record  pressing  plant  over  the  B-side  being  titled  "Oh  Shit". These  were  the  first  Shelley  solo  compositions  to  be  released.  In  many  ways  "What  Do  I  Get"  is  the  quintessential  Pete  Shelley  song , a  self-pitying  cry  of  despair  from  one  unlucky  in  love  delivered  in  that  unmistakable,  camp  but  abrasive  Northern  whine  that  I  guess  was  always  going  to  put  a  limit  on  his  time  in  the  sun. The  twin-guitar  thrash  is  still  there  and  Maher  tries  to  fill  every  micro-second  with  something  but  they're  now  controlled, at  the  service  of  the  melody. Chart  success  followed.

314 Hello Blondie - Denis

Chart  entered  : 18  February  1978

Chart  peak  : 2

Number  of  hits  : 16

If  Kate  Bush  really  didn't  want  to  be  perceived  as  a  sex  kitten - and  the  jury's  still  out  on  that  - her  timing  couldn't  have  been  better , for  the  following  week  another  female  entered  the  charts  who  would  take  that  entire  "burden"  off  her  shoulders.

Mind  you  it's  a  bit  of  a  stretch  to  describe  Deborah  Harry  as  a "kitten"  as  she  was  approaching  33  at  the  time. She  was  born  in  Florida  but  was  adopted  by  a  couple  in  New  Jersey. She  graduated  from  a  liberal  arts  college  in  1965  then  disappeared  into  low  paid  work  in  New  York  as  a  secretary, waitress, dancer  and  Playboy  bunny.  In  1967  she  joined  the  seven piece  psychedelic / folk  group  "The  Wind  In  The  Willows"  as  second  vocalist. She  didn't  get  a  lead  on  any  of  the  tracks  on  their  eponymous  album  of  1968  which  is  a  bewildering , occasionally  impressive, sometimes  laughable  ( "There  Is  But  One  Truth  Daddy"  is  priceless )  showcase for  every  current  style  with  The  Monkees, Barrett-era  Floyd, Seekers, Lovin  Spoonful  and  the  Mamas  and  Papas  all  going  into  the  mixer. The  single  "Moments  Spent"  sounds  like  they'd  been  listening  to  Lee  Hazlewood  and  Nancy  Sinatra  rather  a  lot  but  it's  not  without  some  period  charm. They  are  said  to  have  recorded  a  second  album  with  Debbie  more  prominent  but  it's  never  been  released  and  the  group  broke  up  at  the  end  of  the  sixties.

Debbie  dropped  out  of  the  public  eye once  again  and  survived  the  early  seventies  despite  both  heroin  and,  she  claims, a  ride  with   notorious  serial  killer  Ted  Bundy. In  October  1973  she  joined  a  new  band  The  Stilettos  as  part  of  a  three  front  women  line  up  with  a  fairly  raw  garage  punk  sound. Guitarist  Chris  Stein ( born  1950 ) joined  shortly  after  Debbie.  They  never got  a  deal  at  the  time  but  a  few  tracks  have  emerged  since  which  sound  pretty  rough.  In  August  1974  Debbie  quit  and  took  the  boys  with  her  in  a  new  band. They  played  their  first  gigs  at  C.B.G.B's  under  the  name  Angel  and  the  Snakes  but  soon  became  Blondie. The  line  up  was  in  a  constant  state  of  flux- future  Television  man  Fred  Smith  was  one of  the  short  lived  guitarists.  In  May  1975   drummer  Clem  Burke  ( born  1955 )  joined   after  years  on  the  pub  circuit  in  his  home  town  of  Bayonne, New  Jersey  doing  covers. He  suggested  his  friend  Gary  Valentine  fill  the  vacancy  for  bass  player  and  keyboard  player  Jimmy  Destri  ( born  1954 ) joined  shortly  afterwards. Jimmy  had  auditioned for  the  band  Milk  and  Cookies   but  wasn't  engaged.

With  the  line  up  stabilised  the  band  soon  attracted  record  company  interest.  Early  in  1976  they  signed  with  Private  Stock  and  released  their  eponymous  debut  LP  that  December. I was  expecting  "Blondie"  to  be  rather  rough   but  their  new  wave  pop  sound  with  echoes  of  sixties  girl  groups   already  seems  fully  formed , helped  by  Richard  Gottehrer's  shiny  production.   The  trailer  single  "X-Offender"  ( re-titled  from  "Sex  Offender"  at  the  record  company's  insistence )  is  a  clear  cousin  of  future  successes  like  "Union  City  Bluie"  and  "Dreaming".  The  lush  follow-up  "In  The Flesh"  was   almost  a  homage  to Lesley  Gore  and  the  Shangri-las ( when  asked  about  their  influence  on  younger  bands  Mary  Weiss  would pithily  point  out  that  she  was  two  years  younger  than  Debs ) . It  became  their  first  international  hit  when  it  made  number  2  in  Australia.  The  third  single  "Rip Her  To  Shreds"  , is  harder  edged  with  Debbie  half-drawling  her  way  through  the  brickbats  she  expected  to  draw  from  the  rock  press  while  Jimmy  adds  synthy  textures  to  his  Farfisa  playing.

In  the  summer  of  1977  Valentine  left  the  band  as  Private  Stock  ran  into  financial  problems. Chrysalis  were  quite  happy  to  buy  the  band's  contract  and  they  went  in  to  record  their  next  album  as  a  four  piece . Clem  invited  another  friend  Frank  Infante  to  the  sessions  to  help  with  the  bass  duties  although  he  was  not  admitted  to  the  band  as  a  full  member  until  after  the  album's  release.  His  talents  on  guitar  persuaded  them  that  they  should  recruit  another  bassist  so  Englishman  Nigel  Harrison   was  recruited  though  he's  not  on  the  album.

"Denis"  was  the  first  single  from  "Plastic  Letters". It  was  a  cover  of  the  1963  hit  "Denise"  by  forgotten  doo-wop  group  Randi  and  the  Rainbows  ( Four  Seasons  clones )  with  an  appropriate  change  of  gender.  Blondie's  energetic  cover  is  suffused  with  New York  brashness  although  Debbie's  vocal  is  laconic  and  cool, slipping  into  pigeon  French  later  in  the  song  with  typical  insouciance.  The  stomping  backbeat  of  the  original  is  replicated  by  overdubbed  handclaps  which , as  Clem  likes  to  point  out, are  not  quite  in  time  with  the  beat. The  single  has  one  foot  back  in  glam  - they  would  turn to  Mike  Chapman  to  produce  their  next  album - so  it's  not  too  surprising  that  Radio  One  played  it  to  death. An  appearance  on  Top  of  the Pops  meant  that  only  Kate  and  the  Lowry-lauding  Brian  and  Michael  kept  it  off  the  top.

313 Hello Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights

Chart  entered :  11  February  1978

Chart  peak : 1

Number  of  hits : 28

Another  artist  breaking  through  who  had  no  connection  to  punk  and  is  still  going  strong  although  I  think  you  could  fairly  say  Kate  is  held  in  somewhat  wider  affection  than  Geddy  and  the  boys.

Everyone  has  their  own  ideas  about  what  was  pop's  best  era  and  I  suspect  those  who  say  it  depends  more  on  your  age  than  the  quality  of  the  music  may  have  a  point. Still  for  what  it's  worth  my  "Golden  Age"  begins  with  this  record  reaching  number  one  and  ends  just  over  three  years  later   when  Ghost  Town  was  dethroned  by  Green  Door  and  the  chart  filled  up with  terrible  medley  records. It  does  rather  coincide  with  the  happiest  time  of  my  life  but  there  again  the  quality  of  the  music  around   was  a  part  of  that.

Kate  Bush  was  born  in  Kent  in  1958  into  an  impeccably  middle  class  family. Her  older  brothers  were  involved  in  the  local  folk  music  scene. She  began  writing  songs  at  her  piano  in  her  early  teens. At  16  she  made  a  demo  tape  which  came  to  the  attention  of  Pink  Floyd's  David  Gilmour  through  a  mutual  family  friend. He  liked  it  and  paid  for  some  of  the  tracks  to  be  recorded  more  professionally.  This  - or  possibly  Gilmour's  patronage -  got  her  a  deal  with  EMI  who , in  a  move  unthinkable  today  - allowed  her  a  two  year  nurture   period   to   finish  her  school  work  and  perfect   her  songs  and  presentation.  Towards  the  end  of  this  period  she  formed  a  band  the  K.T. Bush  Band  to  perform  some  of  her  songs  at  local  pubs.

EMI  persuaded  her  to  use  session  musicians  rather  than  her  mates   for  her  debut  album  "The  Kick  Inside  ".  It  was  completed  towards  the  end  of  1977. The  record  company  wanted  "James  and  the  Cold  Gun"  to  be  the  first  single  but  Kate  insisted  on  "Wuthering  Heights"  instead. It  was  originally  scheduled  for  release  in  November  1977  and  received  some  radio  play  as  a  result  but  then  got  postponed  as  EMI  coped  with  the  demand  for  Mull  of   Kintyre.  With  Kate  possessing  the  highly-prized  combination  of  big  breasts  and  a  slim  frame , the  single  was  promoted  by  the  famous  pink  leotard  shot  which  caused  numerous  minor  collisions  on  the  London  Underground.

Here's  the  Popular  take   Kate Bush

312 Hello Rush - Closer To The Heart

First  charted : 11  February  1978

Chart peak : 36

Number  of  hits : 12

This  lot  were  so  popular  amongst  my  peers in  the  late  seventies / early  eighties  that  I'd   have expected  them  to  have  made  a  bigger  mark  on  the  singles  chart  than  a  solitary  Top  20  hit  thirty-five  years  ago. But  as  with  Floyd, singles  tell  you  only  a  small  part  of  their  story; the  fact  that  their  albums  still  chart  here  in  respectable  positions  tells  you  that  they  are  a  cult  that  endures.

This  is  another  little  milestone  for  the  blog, the  first  group  who  are  still  going  with  exactly  the  same  line  up.

The  band can  trace  their  roots  back  to  1963; guitarist  Alex  Lifeson   , the  son  of  Serbian  immigrants , was  barely  10  when  he  formed  a  band  with  original  drummer  John  Rutsey  in  Toronto. The  name  Rush  was  first  used  in  1968  and  shortly  afterwards  his  schoolfriend    Gary  Weinrib  better  known  as  Geddy  Lee ,  the  son  of  Holocaust  survivors  from  Poland ,  joined  the  band. He  was  actually  asked  to  leave  a  year  later  and  the  band  broke  into  two  factions  with  new  names  but  they  reconvened  as  Rush  in  1971. At  this  point  they  were  mainly  a  weekend  band  playing  covers  of  British  rock  songs  but  they  did  begin  writing  their  own  material. As  their  popularity  in  Canada  grew  they  got  some  prestigious  support  slots  when  bands  came  to  Toronto  but  still  found  it  difficult  to  interest  record  companies.

In 1973  they  formed  their  own  Moon  records  to  release  their  first  single, a  cover  of  Buddy  Holly's  "Not  Fade  Away".  It  would  sound  like  Mungo  Jerry  were  it  not  for  those  instantly  recognizable  vocals. Geddy  Lee  perpetually  sounds  like  he's  been  recorded  at  the  wrong  speed   or  he's  just  taken  a  swig  of  helium  and  I  suspect  that's  always  been  a  barrier  to  their  gaining  wider  acceptance. There's  a  similarity  to  Jon  Anderson  but  somehow  the  Yes  man  doesn't  have  the  same  irritant  quality.

They  persevered  and  recorded  a  full  eponymous  album  with  no  covers  released  in  March  1974.  Though  they're  now  regarded  as  a  prog-rock  outfit  they  were  actually  quite  late  to  that  party  and  at  this  point  they  were   a  solid  hard  rock  outfit  in  thrall  to  British  bands  like  Led  Zeppelin , Humble  Pie  and  Black  Sabbath. The  album  failed  to  sell  in  an  quantity  until  it  was  picked  up  by    Donna  Halper  a  DJ  across  the  border  in  Cleveland.  The  Sabbath-like  grind  of  "Working  Man", by  far  the  best  track,   struck  a  chord  with  the  station's  blue  collar  audience  and  suddenly  record  companies  were  interested. Mercury  bought  the  rights  to  the  album  and  it  made  105  in  the  US  charts. Unwilling  to  trim  the  lengthy  instrumental  passage  in  "Working  Man"  to  single  length  they  instead  released  the  Zeppelin- esque  "Finding  My  Way"  where  Geddy  tries  to  imitate  Robert  Plant  to  amusing  effect  and    the  more  concise  "In  The  Mood"  which  has  more  of  a Faces / Stones  groove. Neither  of  them  are  particularly  melodic  and  neither  were  hits.

By  this  point  Rutsey  had   pulled  out  as  his  diabetic  condition  made  touring  difficult   and  the  band  auditioned  for  replacements  eventually  choosing  the  Hamilton-born  Neil  Peart  in  July  1974.  The  line  up  that  endures  to  this  day  was  complete. In  addition  to  his  drumming  duties  Neil , an  avid  reader, volunteered  to  become  the  band's  primary  lyricist. At  the  end  of  the  year  they  were  ready  to  record  their  second  album, "Fly  By  Night".

Now  they  started  to  become  a  prog  act  particularly  on  the  eight-and-a-half  minute  epic  "By-Tor  and  the  Snow  Dog" . The  opening "Anthem"  was  inspired  by  a  novella  by  libertarian  philosopher  and  novelist  Ayn  Rand  and  "Rivendell"  by  the  Elven  sanctuary  in  Lord  of  the  Rings.  I  don't  know  if  this  comparison  has  been  made  before  but  the  combination  of  verbose  lyrics  , hard  rock  attack   and  yelping  vocals  reminds  me  of   early  Manic  Street  Preachers . In  small  doses  it  can  be  quite  impressive  but   there  isn't  a  memorable  tune  on  the  album  and  the  gentler  stuff  on  side  two  is  seriously  dreary  and  boring.  The  only  single  was  "Fly  By  Night"  about  Neil's  brief  sojourn  in  London, which  packs  in  a  number  of  time  signature  changes  into  little  more  than  three  minutes. There  was  a  video  with  it  so  you  can  marvel  at  Neil's  ferocious  hand  speed  and  how  much  Geddy  looks  like  Katrin  Cartlidge.

The  third  album  "Caress  of  Steel"  in  September  1975  is  more  of  the  same  with  added  pretension; the  whole  of  the  second  side  is  one  track  "The  Fountain  of  Lamneth" . There  are  however  signs  of  a  groping  towards  melody  on  some  parts  of  the  long  tracks  and  the  mellow, touching   single  about  Neil's  youth    "Lakeside  Park"  , lyrically  a  companion  to  Echo  Beach.  

The  album  sold  less  than  its  predecessors  and   Mercury  pressed  them  to  come  up  with  more  commercial  material. They  compromised  slightly  with  five  shorter  songs  on  Side  Two   of  "2112"  although  Side  One  is  the  seven  part  title  track , again  inspired  by  Rand's  Anthem  for  which  she  is  credited  on  the  sleeve. That  dystopian  fantasy  about  a  rebel  finding  a  forbidden  guitar  is  one  for  the  converted  but  some  of  the  snappier  stuff  on  Side  Two,  like  the  single  "The  Twilight  Zone" and  the  drug  tale  "A  Passage  To  Bangkok"  is  quite  palatable. The  final  track  "Something  For  Nothing"  is  brilliantly  bonkers  as  if  some  deranged  chipmunk  had  attended  one  of  Sir  Keith  Joseph's  I.E.A.  lectures  and  joined  a  rock  band  to  spread  the  message.  It  was  their  first  album  to  crack  the  US  Top  100  and  a  respectable  placing  in  Sweden  indicated  they  were  making  inroads  into  Europe  as  well.

Despite being  crticised  for  their self-absorption  and  lack  of  stage  prsence, their  next  move  was  a  double  live  LP  "All  The  World's  A  Stage" released  just  a  few  months  later.  It  reached  number  40  in  the  US  and  the  double  A-side  "Fly  By  Night/In  The  Mood"  became  their  first  hit  outside  Canada  when  it  peaked  at  88  in  the  US.

The  band  came  to  Rockfield  in  Wales  to  record  their  next  studio  album  "A  Farewell  To  Kings"  released  in  September  1977. They  restricted  themselves  to  two  epics  at  just  over  10  minutes  each - the  closing  "Cygnus  X-1 Book 1 : the  Voyage"  doesn't  exactly  leave  me  breathless  for  Book  2 - and  added  synthesisers  to  the  sound  for  texture  but  otherwise  it's  business  as  usual. However  on  the  back  of  their  UK  tour  in  June  it  reached  number  22  here.

"Closer  To  The  Heart", the  third  track  was  released  as  a  single  in  the  US  in  October 1977  reaching  number  76. Mercury  decided  to  release  it  as  their  first   single  here   just  ahead  of  the  first  UK  dates  on   the  tour.  It  does  sound  like  they  were  trying  to  write  something  with  a  wider  commercial  appeal  as  it  comes  in  under  three  minutes  and  is  softened  with  bells  and  glockenspiels  but  repetition  of  the  title  alone  doesn't  constitute  a  memorable  hook  and  the  portentous  lyrics  about  destiny  shapers  and  abrasive  guitar  solo  in  the  middle  kill  its  crossover  potential. I  certainly  don't  recall  hearing  it  on  the  radio.