196 Hello Hot Chocolate - Love Is Life

Chart  entered :  15  August  1970

Chart  peak : 6

Number  of  hits : 30

Here  is  the  start  of  one  of  the  most  consistent  runs  in  chart  history, the  band  scoring  at  least  one hit  in  each  of  the  next  fourteen  years. They  first  attracted  my  attention  because  Errol  Brown  was the  first  person  I  saw  who  was  balder  than  my  dad.

The  band  came  together  in  Brixton  in  1968. Apart  from  white  drummer  Ian  King  they  all  came  from  various  parts  of  the  Caribbean  and  were  all  around  20/21 with  no  real  experience  of  the  music  industry. The  original  line-up  was  Errol  Brown ( vocals ) , Tony  Wilson ( vocals / bass ) , Franklyn  De  Allie  ( guitar ) , Patrick  Olive ( percussion ) and  King.  Keyboard  player  Larry  Ferguson joined  slightly  later. Errol  and  Tony  were  a  budding  songwriting  team  but  they  first  came  to  public  attention  with  a  cover. Errol  wanted  to  do  a  reggae  version  of  "Give  Peace  A  Chance"  with  his  own  lyrics  but  was  told  he  needed   John  Lennon's  permission. He  sent  the  tape  to  Apple  HQ  and  was  probably  lucky  that  it  came  to  Lennon's  attention. Lennon  thought  it  was  great  and  offered  to  put  it  out  on  Apple  in  October  1969. The  band  as  yet  had  no  name  so  a  secretary  came  up  with  the  decidedly  un-pc  "Hot  Chocolate  Band".

It's  hard  to  understand  Lennon's  enthusiasm  for  their  dancehall  version  which  is  raw  in  the  extreme  though  a  useful  reminder  of  Errol's  Jamaican  roots . I  don't  think  the  song's  much  cop  anyway  but  is  even  less  so  in  this  version. The  band  didn't  get  a  chance  to  record  another  single  on  Apple  due  to  the  chaos  surrounding  the  Beatles'  break-up  although  Errol  and  Tony's  song  "Think  About  The  Children"  was  later  recorded  by  Mary  Hopkin.

The  band  decided  to  look  for  a  new  label  in  the  new  year. At  this  point  Franklyn  wandered off  into  instant  obscurity. At  an  audition  for  Mickie  Most's  RAK  label  they  met  a  young session  guitarist  Harvey  Hinsley  from  Northampton   and  invited  him  to  take  Franklyn's  place. Harvey's  previous  cv  involved  joining  bands  on  their  last  legs  such  as  The  Outlaws  after Ritchie  Blackmore's  departure . He   also  had  one  UK single  to  his  credit  having  joined  The  Rebel  Rousers  following  Cliff  Bennett's  departure. He  had  a  hand  in  writing  "Should  I "  released  in September  1968. It's  a decent  R &  B  number  and  whoever's  singing  does  a  fair  Steve  Marriott impression  but  it sounds  out  of  synch  with  the  psychedelic  era  and  it  was  the  only  chance they  got. Since   then  Harvey  had  gone  into  session  work.

Signing  for  RAK  was  a  career-defining  moment  for  Hot  Chocolate  ( "Band" was  dropped  at  Most's  suggestion ). Most, the  proto-Thatcherite   bread  head , was  beyond  the  pale  for  hippie  and  ( later )  punk   alike  and  anyone  who  signed  for  RAK  always  had  an  uphill  struggle  for  critical  recognition  however  successful  they  became. Most  was  not  interested  in  reggae  and  pushed  the  band  in  a  pop  direction ;  he  also  felt  Errol's  voice  was  more  distinctive  than  Tony's  so  he  should  do  the  lion's  share  of  the  vocals, a  decision  which  eventually  led  to  Tony's  departure  in  1975. The  band  had  to  wait  a  while  to  release  their  next  single  as  Most  snaffled  their  song  "Bet  Yer  Life  I  Do"  for  his  longstanding  clients  Herman's  Hermit  ( a  hit  in  May 1970 ).

Eventually  "Love  Is  Life"  was  ready  to  go.   Most  brought  in  The  Trinidad  Singers  to  boost  the  group's  harmonies   and  added  strings  to  Larry's  keyboard  hooks. The  song  moves  along  on  a  lightly  reggae  shuffle  beat  while  Errol  sings  his  and  Tony's  lyrics  of  hope  for  better  days. It  doesn't  actually  quote  from  Martin  Luther  King's  "I  Have  A  Dream  "  speech  but  is  deliberately  couched  in  the  same  rhetorical  style.  A  profitable  partnership  between  group  and  producer  had  begun.

195 Hello Diana Ross ( solo ) - Reach out And Touch

Chart  entered : 18  July  1970

Chart  peak : 33

Number  of  hits : 59 ( not  including  any  credited to  Diana  Ross  and  the  Supremes )

Having  long  since  relegated  ( or  at  least  acquiesced  in  it )  her  bandmates  to  the  role  of  backing  vocalists  I  suppose  the  only  surprise  is  that  we'd  gone  into  the  new  decade  before  Miss  Ross   dispensed  with  them altogether.

Motown  boss  Berry  Gordy  was  planning  Diana's  solo  career  from  mid-1969  onwards , more  in  response  to  the  Supremes' declining  sales  ( more  evident  in  the  US  than  here  )  than  anything  else. Some  of  the  latter  singles  credited  to  "Diana  Ross  and  the  Supremes"  didn't  feature  Mary  Wilson  and  Cindy  Birdsong  at  all, their  parts  being  put  down  by  session  singers. This  was  true  of  "Someday  We'll  Be  Together"  which  was  meant  to  be  Diana's  first  solo  single  but  Gordy  wanted  another  number  one  for  the  Supremes   and  so  "they"  chalked  up  the  final  number  one  of  the  sixties.  He  stage  managed  a  handover  to  Jean  Terrell  at  the  end  of  Diana's  last  performance  with  the  Supremes  in  Las  Vegas  in  January  1970.

And  so  this   song  came  to  be  the  launching  pad  for  Diana's  solo  career. As  the  chart  position  would  suggest  it  didn't  quite  live  up  to  expectations  ( it  did  slightly  better  in  the  US  reaching number  20 ).  Perhaps  the  ground  had  been  prepared  too  well  and  people  thought  she  was  a  solo  performer  already  but  more  likely  the  reason  lies  in  the  record  itself. Diana  wanted  to  do  a  meaningful  song  and  Ashford  and  Simpson  came  up  with  this  one  which  puts  the  charity  begins  at  home  message  across well  enough   although  apart  from  the  neat  couplet  "If  you  see  an  old  friend  on  the  street /And  he's  down, remember  his  shoes  could  fit  your  feet",  it's  expressed  in  terms  woolly  enough  for  Brotherhood  of  Man.  The  real  problem  is  that  it's  so  boring  melodically  with  the  chorus  relying  on  a  rudimentary  "there  and  back  again" eight  note  pattern  which  kills  off  any  desire  for  hearing  it  again. Diana  tries  some  ad  libs  at  the  end  but  it's  a  wasted  effort.

Surprisingly  it  has  lasted,  with  Ashford  and  Simpson  performing  it  with  Teddy  Pendergrass  at  Live Aid  and  Diana  herself  choosing  it  to  close  the Tsunami  Aid  concert  twenty  years  later ,  but  I reckon the  record  buyers  of  1970  got  it  right.

194 Hello The Brotherhood of Man - United We Stand

Chart  entered : 14  February  1970

Chart  peak : 10

Number  of  hits : 10

Here's  two  peculiarly  seventies  tales. Firstly  it's  the  story  of  a  brand  rather  than  a  band , that  had  two  hits  with one  line  up  and  then  eight  with  a  completely  different  one. Secondly  it's  the  first  of  many  examples  coming  up  of  what  could  be  deemed  as  "lesser  lights"  of  the  sixties  getting  a  second  chance  when  the  likes  of  Floyd, Zep  and  ELP  declared  that  the  album  chart  was  the  only  place  to  be.

The  group  was  the  brainchild  of  42  year  old  British  songwriter called  Tony  Hiller  who  had  been  in  a  song  and  dance  duo  with  his  brother,  The  Hiller  Brothers,   that  trod  the  boards  in  the  UK  during  the  fifties  and  sixties.  His   previous  track  record  as  a  writer  was  modest  to  say  the  least, the  B-side  to  one  of  Lulu's  early  hits  back  in  1965.

Realising  he  was  getting  a  bit  long  in  the  tooth  to  perform  his  own  material  he  put  together  The Brotherhood  of  Man  as  a  vehicle  for  his  songs. The  original  line-up  was  made  up  of  a  producing  friend  John  Goodison ,  singer  Tony  Burrows  who  was  already  in  another  group ,White  Plains,  hitless  female  duo  Sue  and  Sunny   and  most  surprisingly  the  successful  songwriter  Roger  Greenaway  which  seems  a  bit  like  John  Lennon  joining  the  Hollies. Roger  had  a  long  association  with  Tony  Burrows  which  helps  explain  his  presence.

The  Kestrels  went  back  to  1956  when  they  formed  as  The  Hi-Fis  in  school  in  Bristol.  They  changed  their  name  because  many  of  the  American  vocal  harmony  groups  they  wished  to  emulate  had  birds'  names  eg. The  Penguins. They  first  got  the  chance  to  record  an  EP  for  Donegall  Records  in  1958  when  Roger - who  was  originally the lead  singer -   was  doing  National  Service. Their  first  real  single  was  in  November  1959  on  Pye : "There  Comes  A  Time"  was  a  cover  of  a  recent   US  hit  by  Canadian  singer  Jack  Scott,  a  sombre  ballad  of  loss  with  a  dark  undertow  that  anticipates  Roy  Orbison. It  was  followed  in  1960  by  a  straight  cover  of  a  recent  US  hit  for the  American  doo  wop  group  The  Fireflies,  "I  Can't  Say  Goodbye".

While  these  singles  didn't  chart  they  were  noted  by  the  top  artists  of  the  day  and  The  Kestrels  found  themselves  doing  backing  vocals  for  Billy  Fury, Eden  Kane  and  Benny  Hill  among  others  and  invitations  to  appear  on  TV  began  to  arrive. At  Fury's  suggestion  they  switched  to  Decca  and  recorded  their  next  single  "Sounds  Off  ( Duckworths  Chant ) "  a  musical  version  of  the  American  military  marching  chant  inspired  by  Vaughan  Monroe's  adaptation  in  1951. It's  something  of  a  novelty  item  recorded  at  the  end  of  a  session  with  Billy  Fury  which  produced  the  number  40  hit  "Don't  Worry".  At  this  point  they  were  calling  themselves  The  Four  Kestrels  and  were  credited  as  such  on  both  singles. It 's  not  one  of  Billy's  better  singles,  sounding  like  an  average  Elvis  country  ballad  done  by  an  inferior  singer,  but  it  marks  Tony  and  Roger's  first  appearance  in  the  charts  in  April  1961.  By  the  time  of  their  next  single in  September, "All  These  Things"  written  by  Les  Vandyke  they'd  reverted  to  the  original  name.

Pye  lured  them  back  in  1962  with  a  longer  term  deal  to  release  records  on  the  Piccadilly  imprint while  working  as  a  regular  backing  group  for  Lonnie  Donegan. Their  first  single  for  the  label  was  a  cover  of   Claude  King's  "Wolverton  Mountain"  which  I  haven't  heard.  In  October 1962   they  released " Don't  Want  To  Cry",  a  sumptuously  arranged  ( by  John  Keating )  old  fashioned  ballad  which  sounds  like  a  hit  but  wasn't. At  the  beginning  of  1963  they  took  on  the  folk  pop  classic  "Walk  Right  In"  but  were  squashed  by  the  original  version  by  The  Rooftop  Singers  which  reached  number  10.  In  May  1963  they  acknowledged  the  Beatles  by  covering  "There's  A  Place"   which  seems  to  straddle  the  decades  with  Roger  (  I  presume )  doing  his  best  Tony  Williams  impersonation  and  the  others  doing  very  credible  beat  group  harmonies  behind  him.  The  much-covered  "Love Me  With  All  Your  Heart"  was  the  next  single, sounding  very  like  The  Bachelors  ( who  covered  it  themselves  three  years  later ).

By  December  1963  they  had  decided  to  sound  like  a  beat  group   and  put  out  a   lively  version  of  The  Drifters'  "Dance  With  Me". The  B -side  "I  Want  You"  was  written  by  Tony  and  Roger. Another  Roger, surnamed  Cook  joined  the  line  up  in  their  final  year.

When  the  group  called  it  a  day  in  1965  the  two  Rogers  decided  to  work  together  as  songwriters  and  soon  hit  paydirt  when  The  Fortunes  reached  number  2  with  their song  "You've  Got  Your  Troubles "  and  they  were  quickly  in  demand.  They  wanted  to  perform  as  well  and  started  releasing  singles  under  the  name  "David  And  Jonathan"  . Their  first  single  "Laughing  Fit  To  Cry"  is  a  likable  energetic  pop  song  but  a  little  over-busy  and  didn't  make  it. At  the  beginning  of  1966  they  had  the  same  idea  as  The  Overlanders  to cover  The Beatles' "Michelle"  from  Rubber  Soul . It  was  semi-endorsed  by  the  Fabs  as  George  Martin  arranged  it  but  the  outsiders  won  the  chart  battle  with  the  Rogers  peaking  ten  places  lower  at  number  11. However  their  version  was  the  only  one  to  make  the  US  Top  40.

Their  next  single  in  April  1966   was  a  Clint  Ballard  song  "Speak  Her  Name"  a  big  dramatic  ballad  in  the  Walker  Brothers  vein  which  is  good  though  you  know  Scott  and  his  mates  would  have  given  it  more  oomph  in  the  vocal  department. The  next  single  was  their  biggest  hit  in  June  1966  "Lovers  Of  The  World  Unite"  which, with  some  unidentified  female  input, sounds  like  a  lost  Seekers  song  with  an  irresistible  chorus. It  reached  number  seven, after  which  their  own  records  stopped  charting  except  for  some  minor  placings  in  Australia. It's  tempting  to  think  other  people  grabbed  their  best  songs  like  "Somethings  Got  A  Hold  On  My  Heart", the  last  major  hit  for  Gene  Pitney   and  they  recorded  the  ones  no  one  wanted. The  next  single  "Ten  Storeys  High"  is  all  build  up  and  no  discernible  chorus. "Scarlet  Ribbons"  is  a  pointless  cover  of  a  fifties  hit  for  Harry  Belafonte. "The  Magic  Book "  is  a  great , lightly   psychedelic  pop  song  that  wasn't  a  hit  for  either  them  or  The  Gibsons,  a  young  Australian  band  that  covered  it  shortly  afterwards . "She's  Leaving  Home"  is  another  Beatles  cover  with  George  Martin  arranging  which  doesn't  achieve  the  heartbreaking  pathos  of  the  original.  "Softly  Whispering  I  Love  You"  reached  19  in  Australia  in  late  1967  and  would  be  a  big  UK   hit  for  The  Congregation  in  1971    but  the  original,   grandly  arranged  by  Martin  and  Mike  Vickers  didn't  do  the  trick.

"You  Ought  To  Meet  My  Baby"  was  the  last  David  and  Jonathan  single  in  June  1968  and  I  haven't  heard  it. After  that  they  announced  they  were  retiring  as  a  recording  duo  but  really  the  public  had  made  the  decision  for  them. Soon  afterwards  the  playing  core  of  what  came  to  be Blue  Mink  approached  Roger  G  to  be  their  vocalist. He  declined  but  Roger  C  was  up  for  it  and  they  continued  to  collaborate  with  one  in  the  band  and  one  out. That  might  be  another  reason  why  Roger  accepted  the  invite  to  join  The  Brotherhood  of  Man; he  had  time  on  his  hands  when  his  partner  was  out  on  the  road.

Straight  after  the  Kestrels  split  Tony  Burrows  put  out  an  album  of  standards  as  a  Bobby  Darin style  crooner, "Presenting  Tony  Bond  with  the  Keating  Sound". The  idea  was  to  associate  himself with  the  glamour  and  sophistication  of  the  Bond  movies  but  the  LP  sank  without  trace. The following  year  he  was  invited  to  replace  John  Carter ( who  continued  writing  for  the  band )  in  the Ivy  League. He  was  in  time  to  sing on  their  final  UK  hit  "Willow  Tree"  which  managed  a  single week  at  number  50  in   July  1966. It's  a  nice  piece  of  harmony  pop  in  the  style  of   the  Mamas and  Papas  or  The  Seekers  and  it  was  probably  only  the  competition  around  that  kept  it  so  low. The  follow-up  "My  World  Fell  Down"  from  October  is  an  early  psychedelic  pop  item  with complex harmonies that  borrows  from  everyone - Zombies, Beach  Boys, Mamas  and  Papas -  and  probably suffered  from  being  released  at  the  same  time  as  Good  Vibrations. It  was  a  hit  in  the  US  for   the studio  collective   Sagittarius  ( with  an  uncredited  Glen  Campbell  doing  the  lead  vocal ) the  following year. "Four  And  Twenty  Hours"  is  virtually  a  Beach  Boys  tribute  record  with  the  harmonic arrangement  and  what  sounds  very  like  the  You're  Too Good  For  Me  riff  below. 

I'm  not  quite  clear  about  the  course  of  events from  this  point. It  seems  certain  that  Tony  is  on  the  next   single  they  put  out  in  July  1967  , "Suddenly  Things"  which  uses  a  lot  of  bluster  , especially  the  drumming, to  disguise  a  pretty  weak  song. A  month  later  the  departed  Ivy  Leaguers  John  Carter  and  Ken  Lewis  put  out  "Let's  Go  To  San  Francisco" , under  the  guise  of  The  Flowerpot  Men  ( which  is  probably  where  this  fake  band  thing  got  started ) . Tony  did  some  harmonies  on the  single. The  record  was  long  derided  by  punk-era  writers  as  a  prime  example  of  cynical  bandwagon-jumping  but  has  since  been  accepted  as  a  valid  and  welcome  addition  to  the  music  of  the  period. When  it  was  a  major  hit  in  the  UK  and  Europe  there   was  a  demand  to  see  "the  band". Carter  and  Lewis  did  not  want  to  perform  again  so  invited  Tony  and  fellow  Ivy  Leaguer  Neil  Landon  to  join  a  touring  version  of  the  Flowerpot  Men  (  which  included  future  Deep  Purple  men  Jon  Lord  and  Nick  Simper ). The  remaining  man  in  the  Ivy  League , Perry  Ford   did  recruit  new  men  and  carry  on   but  it  seems  unlikely  that  he  could  have  done  this  by  October  when  the  final  single  "Thank  You  For  Loving  Me"  came  out  so  it  probably  does  feature  Tony. It's  a  Carter-Lewis  song  and  sounds  like  "Let's  Go... " slowed  down  a  bit.

The  second  Flowerpot  Men, the  epic  "A  Walk  In  The  Sky"  was  released  in  November  1967. It 's  a  riot  of  Beach  Boy  and  Beatles  influences  with  tempo  changes  and  a  kitchen  sink  production. It  bamboozled  the  British  audience  but  was  a  hit  in  Holland  and  Germany. The  third  single  in  April  1968   was  "Man  Without  A  Woman"  a  big  dramatic  ballad  with  some  cheeky  steals  from  You've  Lost  That  Loving  Feeling.  At  this  point  Deram  started  interfering  in  the  band's  affairs. First  they  decided  the  group's  name  was  now  out  of  date  and  insisted  that  the  bubblegum  follow-up  "Piccolo  Man"  be  issued  under  their   suggested   name  of  "Friends". When  that  didn't  work  they  allowed  the  name  to  revert  but  suggested  to  Tony   that  the  touring  band  record  a  Cook-Greenaway  number  "In  A  Moment  Of  Madness"  without  Carter  and  Lewis  being  involved. The  single  was  released  in  March  1969  and  is  a  terrific  late  60s  pop  song  in  the  Love  Affair  vein. When  it  failed  there  was  general  agreement  that  the  name  was  a  problem  and  they  became  White  Plains  whose  first  single  came  out  at  the  same  time  as  this one.

Details  about  the  portly  John  Goodison  are  a  bit  sketchier. He  was  it  seems  a  Coventry  tool-maker  who  fancied  a  crack  at  the  pop  business  and  released  his  first  single  "School  Is  In " as  "Johnny  B  Great  and  the  Goodmen"   in  September  1963. I  haven't  heard  that  one  but  his  next  single  was  a  rollicking  version  of  "Acapulco  1922"  also  covered  by  Kathy  Kirby  and  Kenny  Ball ( who  got  the  hit ) . John's  single  showcases  a  raw  but  rumbustious  voice  and  the  brass  work  is  great  too.

He  falls  off  the  radar  for  a  while  until  1966  when  he  appeared  in  the  British  beat  film Just  For  You,  at  a  piano  doing  a  Jerry  Lee  Lewis  take  on  "If  I  Had  A  Hammer". That  same  year  he  appeared  on  Germany's  Beat  Beat  Beat  at  the  head  of  a  10  piece  soul band , John B Great  and  the  Quotations  backing  Beryl  Marsden ( the  clips from  this  on  youtube  are  well  worth  checking  out ). Whether  this  was  a  one-off  pairing  or  a  more  permanent  arrangement  I  don't  know  nor  whether  the  new  outfit  made  any  records. In  the  late  sixties  he  pops  up  again  as  a  producer  with  credits  on  records  by  The  Gun  and  Love  Affair  amongst  others.

Sue  Glover  and  Sunny  Leslie  were  actually  sisters  Yvonne  and  Heather  Wheatman  born  in  Madras. They  came  to  England  as  children  and  made  their  first  record , a  version  of  Lesley  Gore's  "Just  Let  Me  Cry" in  1963  when  Heather  ( " Sunny" )  was  barely  12.  They  changed  their  name  to  the  Sue  and  Sunshine   and   released  "A  Little  Love  "  in  November 1964  and  "We're  In  Love  in   April  1965. They  changed  their  name  to  "Sue  and  Sunny  for  the  single  "Every  Ounce  of  Strength"  in  November. None  of  these  records  can  be  easily  found. In  1966  they  turned  professional  and    did  backing  vocals  on  Alex  Harvey's  1965  R & B  single  "Agent  00  Soul" . They  started  singing  on  the  cabaret  circuit  but  soon  grew  bored  of  appearing  before  middle-aged  audiences  and  went  to  Germany  for  a  while  to  entertain  the  squaddies. They  put  out a  couple  of  singles  in  German  while  they  were  there.

They  returned  to  London  in  1966  and  did  a  session  with  Lesley  Duncan. Although  not  yielding  any  hits  it  seemed  to  open  doors  for  them  and they  got  regular  work  as  session  singers. In  January  1967  they  tried  again  with  "You  Can't  Bypass  Love". A  year  later  they  released  "You're  Never  Gonna  Get  My  Lovin" as  The  Stocking  Tops. The  song  was  written  by  Mort  Shuman  and  Kenny  Lynch  and  sounds  like  an  over-produced  Supremes  knock-off  although  I  do  like  the  screaming  guitar  solo  at  the  end.  Lynch  wrote  their  follow-up  "I  Don't  Ever  Wanna  Get  Kicked  By  You"  which  was  arranged  by  John  Paul  Jones ; he  presumably  supplied  the  buzzing  bassline  that  underpins  it. This  one  sounds  more  like  Dusty  although  the  vocals  are  a  bit  bland.  Both  songs  became  Northern  Soul  favourites.  Also  in  1968  they  recorded  a  demonstration  disc  for  the  Bush  sound  system. At  the  end  of  the  year  they  worked  with  Joe  Cocker  and  are  on With  A  Little  Help  From  My  Friends .  Appearing  on  Top  Of  The  Pops  with  him  raised  their  profile  further.

In  June  1969  they  came  into  the  orbit  of  Hiller  and  Goodison  ( under  his  writing  alias  Peter  Simons )   when  they  covered  their  song  "Running  Round  In  Circles"  previously  recorded  by  the  pre-Burrows  Ivy  League.  Their  last  single before  going  into  Brotherhood of  Man  was   "Let  Us  Break  Bread  Together  "  is  a  communion  hymn  re-arranged  by  their  producer  Bobby  Scott  and  is  a  good  showcase  for the  gospel  style  they  were  developing.

The  first  Brotherhood  of  Man  single  was  "Love  One  Another"  written  by  Tony  Hiller  and  John.  It's  a  New  Seekers-ish  unity  anthem  and  it's  hard  not  to  smile  at  the  naive  lyrics  but  the  quintet  certainly  packed  some  vocal  power. It  didn't  chart.

"United  We  Stand"  is  another  Hiller/Symons  song  and  covers  the  same  ground  lyrically  though  it's  a   simpler  construction  jumping  into  the  huge  anthemic chorus  after  very  brief  verses  where  Sunny  and  Tony  share  the  lead  vocals. Although  the  chorus  is  obviously  multi-tracked  the  vocal  chops  of  this  line-up  can't  be  denied  and  though  the single  is  crudely  manipulative  it is  effective. Although  largely  forgotten  here  it  has  had  a  long  shelf  life  in  the  US  where  it  was  used  by  the  Democrats  during  George  McGovern's  doomed  presidential  campaign  in  1972, as  the  closing  song  for  Brady  Bunch  Hour    in  1977  and  then  was   covered  by  a  number  of  artists  in  the  wake  of  the  9/11  attacks. Seeing  the  band  doing  it  on  Top  Of  The  Pops  is  a  reminder  that  if  the forthcoming  decade  would  come  to  be  routinely  described  as  grey  and  pessimistic  it  didn't  start  out  that  way.
( You  also  notice  John's  girth, the  girls'   full  figures  and  the  19  year  old  Sunny's  heavy  hand  with  the  hair  laquer  and  eye  shadow ). The  group  also  made  a  rather  stilted  promo  film  where  they  posed  around  a  medieval  castle - I  hope  they  got  permission  to  stand  on  the  walls.

This  song  also  features  in  the  enduring  legend  (  often  repeated  at  pop  quizzes  where  most  of  the  other  players  are   around  10  years  older  than  me ) that  Tony  featured  in  three  different  bands  on  an  edition  of   Top  Of  The  Pops  performing  this, White  Plains' "My  Baby  Loves  Loving"  and  the  number  one  hit  "Love  Grows ( Where  My  Rosemary  Goes )"  by  Edison  Lighthouse   which  Tony  had  hoped  would  come  out  under  his  name  but  the  label  had  other  ideas.  It's  also  been  said  that  the  programme-makers  didn't  like  this   peep  behind  the  curtain   and  unofficially  decided  it  wouldn't  happen  again.  Tony  himself  seems  convinced  of  the  story. In  fact  he  never  appeared  more  than  twice   on  the  same  programme  and  there  was  no  such  ban. The  feat  of  doing  lead  vocals  on  four simultaneous   hits  ( Pipkins' "Gimmee  Dat  Ding " was  the  other )  is  amazing  enough  without  the embellishments.

           
  

   

193 Hello The Jackson Five - I Want You Back

Chart  entered  :  31  January  1970

Chart  peak :  2  ( 8  in  a  re-mixed  version  in  1988 )

Number  of  hits : 11  ( The  Jacksons  will  be  getting  separate  posts )

The  1970s  are  here  and  the  cast  of  my  first  encounter  with  the  charts  starts  to  assemble. Besides  being  the  first   boy  band   to  chart , four-fifths  of  them  were  the  first  artists  to  be  younger  than  the  chart  itself.

The  group's  back  story  is  pretty  well  known. Their  father  Joe  was  a  steel  worker  from  Indiana who  had  played  guitar  in  an  unsuccesful  band  The  Falcons. He  switched  his  ambitions  to  his  sons when  he  caught  the  second  eldest  Tito  with  his  guitar  and  realised  he  could  play. Jackie, the  eldest and  Jermaine  the  next  after  Tito  came  in  to  form  The  Jackson  Brothers  with  two  neighbourhood kids . The  younger  brothers  Marlon  and  Michael  were  brought  in  as  soon  as  they  were  old  enough.

In  August  1965  on  Michael's  seventh  birthday  they  became  The  Jackson  Five  Singing  Brothers  losing  the  last  two  words  shortly  afterwards. They  also  lost  the  two  non-Jacksons  who  were  replaced  by  more  competent  musicians  Johnny  Jackson  ( no  relation )  on  drums  and  Ronnie  Rancifer  on  keyboards. They  were  always  part  of  the  studio  band  and  falsely  referred  to  as  cousins  but  as  far  as  the  general  public  was  concerned  the  band  was  presented  as  a  five  piece.

The  band  went  on  a  blitz  of  talent  shows  in  1966-67  winning  them  all. They   attracted  the  attention  of  Gladys  Knight  who  took  their  demo  tape  to  Motown  but  it  was  rejected  so  in  November  1967  they  signed  with  the  local  Steeltown  Records  instead. The  first  single  in  January  1968  "Big  Boy"  gives  ample  demonstration  of  why  Motown  initially  rejected  them; the  vocals, including  9-year  old  Michael's , are  so  off-key  it's  hard  to  discern  any  melody  in  the  song  at  all  and  it's  physically  painful  to  listen  to  it.  The  uptempo  follow-up  "We  Don't  Have  To  Be  Over  21"  is  more  presentable  though  very  roughly  produced.

In  July  1968  they  went  to  Detroit  for  another Motown  audition  arranged  by  the  Singer  Bobby Taylor  who  they  had  just  supported. This  time  Berry  Gordy  liked  them  and  wanted  to  sign  them ;  Joe  haggled  until  the  early  part  of  1969  when  the  deal  was  finally  signed.  They  were  sent  to  Hollywood  to  support  Diana  Ross. In  the  meantime  Gordy  assembled  a  team  of writers  including  himself  to  work  on  material  for  them  under  the  name  The  Corporation. The  first  song  they  came  up  with  was  "I  Want You  Back  released  in  1969. By  January  1970  it  was  number  one  in  America  and  crossed  the  pond  to  become  a  big  hit  here.

Here's  Lena's  take : jackson 5   

192 Hello Kenny Rogers* - Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town

( * and  the  First  Edition )

Chart  entered : 18  October  1969

Chart  peak : 2

Number  of  hits : 10

The   last   newcomer  of  the  sixties  was  this  guy whose  10,  well  spread  out,  hits  here  were  on  5  different  labels. Kenny  was  always  a  much  bigger  deal  in  his  homeland  and  he's  a  convenient  herald  for  a  period  when the  American  and  British  charts  largely  went  their  separate  ways  until circa  1982. When  I  first  started  listening  to  Radio  One  in  1973  it  was  quite  schizophrenic  with  a  number  of   the  DJs ( Noel  Edmunds, David  Hamilton  and  Rosko )  clearly  preferring  to  play  stuff  from  the  American  charts  rather  than  our  own.

Kenny  was  born  in  Houston  in  1938. Kenny's  career  too  begins  in  the  fifties  when  he  was  the bass  player  in  a  rockabilly  group  called  The  Scholars. In  1956  they  got  a  local  record  deal  and  in July  put  out  the  raw  doo  wop  single  "Spin The  Wheel"  on  Cue  Records. They  then  changed  labels  to  Dot  who  re-released  it  in  September. I  haven't  heard  their  second  one  "Poor  Little  Doggie"  . By  June  1957  they  had  switched  to  Imperial  for  the  relatively  polished  Comets-ish rock  n  roll  of  "I  Didn't  Want  To  Do  It"  then  it  was  back  to  doo  wop  for  "Eternally  Yours"  in  October. The  group  disbanded  at  the  end  of  the  year.

Kenneth  Rogers   tried  for  solo  success  in  February  1958  with  "That  Crazy  Feeling"  which  sounds like  a  poor  imitation  of   The  Platters  doing  The  Great  Pretender.  Kenny's  young  voice  is  nothing like  the  old  man's  wheeze  on  the  hits  but  it's  not  that  impressive  either, sounding  a  bit  strained. His second, strangely  released  under  the  banner  "Kenny  Rogers  The  First"  , "For  You  Alone"  is  more  of  the  same  except  that  Kenny  wrote  it  himself.  Kenny's  next  single  on  Pearl  Records  had  to  be  released  incognito as  Lee  Harrison  -and  sung  an  uncomfortable  ocatave  deeper  -  because  he  was  still  contracted  to  Carlton. It's  dreadful.

Kenny  then  disappeared  into  a  jazz  trio  the  Bobby  Doyle  Trio  ( later  Three )   as  the  bass  player  though  he  also  wrote  and  played  for  other  singers. He's  on  their  1962  album  "In  A  Most  Unusual  Way "  and  they  made  one  single  "Don't  Feel  Rained  On"  which  Kenny's  brother  Lelan  produced  in  1964. They  split  up   in  1965  and  Kenny  tried  again  with  a  solo  single  "Here's  That  Rainy  Day" in  1966  which  I  haven't  heard.

In  1966-67  he   had  a  brief  stay  in  the  New  Christy  Minstrels , an  amorphous  folk  collective  that  had  already  launched  Barry  McGuire  and  Gene  Clark  and  he  made  up  an  illustrious  trio  of  newcomers  with  Kim  Carnes  and  soon-to-be-famous  actress  Karen  Black. However  he  didn't  stay  very  long  and  from  what  I  can  make  out  he's  not  on  any  of  their  records.

Kenny  left  the  Minstrels  in  company  with    guitarists  Mike  Settle  and  Terry  Williams  and  vocalist  Thelma  Camacho. They   added  drummer  Mickey  Jones  and  created  a  new  band , the  First  Edition. Williams's  mother  had  industry  connections  and  soon  got   them  a  deal  with  Reprise.  Their  first  single  was  Mike  Settle's  "I  Found  A  Reason"  in  October  1967. Settle  did  the rough  hewn   lead  vocal  on  this  brash  pop  number  with  Beatles- aping   brass  which  was  produced  by  Mike  Post,  later  to  become  the  master  of  the  low  key  TV  theme  tune.  It  wasn't  a  hit .

Kenny  took  the  lead  vocal  on  the  next  one  , the  psychedelic  classic  "Just  Dropped  In ( To  See What  Condition  My  Condition  Was  In ) . It  was  written  by  Mickey  Newberry  as  a  warning  against LSD  by  describing  its  effects  and  first  recorded  by  Jerry  Lee  Lewis  who  then  decided  he  didn't like  it. The  First  Edition's  version  has  a  backwards  guitar  intro  and  proto-metal  solo  both  courtesy of  Glen  Campbell  and  the  music  sounds  like  a  Zombies / Who  cross  over  in  a  good  way. Kenny's vulnerable  vocal  - more  recognisable  now  as  him - is  another  plus  giving  the  sense  of  a  man  into something  over  his  head.  After  they  appeared  on  the  Smothers  Brothers  show  with  Kenny   reclining  on  an  outsize  blue  bed  it  reached  number  5  in  the    US  charts  early  in  1968.

Unfortunately  the  band  seemed  to  take  fright  at  their  own  record  and  the  follow-up  "Only  Me"  is  a  tame  jaunty  pop  number  in  the  style  of  the  Turtles. It  wasn't  a  hit.  The  interesting-sounding    "Charlie  the  Fer' De  Lance"  and  another  Mickey  Newbury  song,  "Are  My  Thoughts  With  You ?"  were  their  next  two  singles  but  I  haven't  heard  them  and  they  didn't  chart. They  got  back  on  track  commercially   with  Settle's  song  "But  You  Know  I  Love  You"  which  got  to  number  19  but  it's  a  disappointing  song  about  having  to  go  on  the  road  and  sounds  like  the  New  Seekers.   The  flop  follow-up  "Once  Again  She's  All  Alone"  sounds  like  a  sequel  both  musically  and  lyrically   and  is  easily  forgettable.
   
Probably  the  major  reason  why  it  flopped  was  a  sudden  demand  for  the  last  track  on  their  previous  LP  to  be  released  as  a  single  following  brief  exposure  on  a  TV  documentary. Previously  the  media  had  avoided  that  reference  to  "this  crazy  Asian  war"  in  Mel  Tillis's  song  like  the  plague  but  now  "Ruby  Don't  Take  Your  Love  To  Town" was  the  hottest  thing  in  town. Someone  - I  don't  know  that  it  was  Kenny - suggested  that  putting  out  "Ruby..."  under  the  name  "Kenny  Rogers  and  the  First  Edition"  would  enable  both  records  to  be  hits, a  logic  that  I've  never  quite  followed.  In  any  case  "Ruby..."  buried  its  predecessor  , reaching  number  6  in  the  US  and  charting  worldwide. Kenny's  name  stayed  out  front  for  the  rest  of  their  career.

Here's  Lena's  take  Ruby . Seems  like  she  likes  the  song  more  than  I  do.

Next :  The  70s  and  our  first  boy  band

 

191 Hello David Bowie - Space Oddity

Chart  entered :  6  September  1969

Chart  peak : 5  ( 1  on  reissue  in  1975 )

Number  of  hits :  65

This  one  entered  the  charts  the  week  I  started  school  giving  my  early  memories  ( not  yet  of  pop ) some  structure  from   this  point  on. So  this  feels  like  a  milestone  even  before  we  consider  the  vast impact  of  the  artist. Although  fairly  sentient  at  the  time  I  have  no  recollection  of  watching  the  moon landing  at  all ; perhaps  we  were  away  in  Lytham  St  Annes  or  I  was  playing  next  door  with  my long  lost  first  love  Gillian.

There  is  absolutely  no  point  in  my  running  through  Bowie's  extensive  list  of  failed  singles  when  we  have  Chris  O  Leary's  brilliant  blog  analysing  all  his  songs.Pushing Ahead Of The Dame.

And  then  of  course  there's  a  long  Popular  entry Oddity  on  this  particular  song.

So  all  I  can  add  is  my  own  impressions. I  agree  with  Marcello's  suggestion , made  just  the  other  day  in  his  review  of  the  Ferry  compilation,  that  this  getting  to  number  one  in  late  1975  showed  just  how  torpid  the  music  scene  was  at  that  point. I  certainly  thought  this  was  the  best  record  in  the  charts  at  the  time  ( Abba's  S.O.S  being  the  only  real  competition )  and  it  was  one  I  loved  to  sing  at  the  time  ( I  had  a  good  voice  before  they  dropped ).  Also like  MC, I'm  not  a  great  Bowie  fan, preferring  many  of  the  acts  he  influenced  to  the  man  himself,  but  this  one  stands  the  test  of  time.

190 (183a) Hello Glen Campbell - Wichita LIneman

Chart  entered : 29  January  1969

Chart  peak : 7

Number  of  hits : 10

I  thought  I'd  eradicated  the  mistakes  but  obviously  not; at  least  Glen's  not  too  far  out  of  sequence.

Glen  was  nearly  33  when  this  entered  the  charts. He  was  born  in  Arkansas to  a  farmer  of  Scottish  descent  and  taught  to  play  the  guitar  by  an  uncle. He  joined  his  uncle's  band  in  1954  and  worked  in  local  TV  and  radio  until  1960  when  he  moved  to  LA  to  work  as  a  session  musician. For  about  a  year  he  played  rhythm  guitar  with  The  Champs  , most  famous  for  their  1958  hit  "Tequila". It's  not  very  clear  which  of  their  singles  he  played  on  but  probably  not  any of  their  hits.  More  significantly  he  quickly  became  part  of  a  loose  group  of  session  guys  known as  The  Wrecking  Crew.

By  the beginning  of  1961  he  had  a  publishing  deal   and  in  April  released  his  first  single  "Valley  of  Death"  a   self-written  Frankie  Laine  style  Western  song  on  Jerry  Capehart's  label.  In  May  he  signed  a  recording  deal  with  Crest  and  Capehart  became  his  manager. Capehart  wrote  his  next  single ,the  slightly  sinister  pop  ballad   "Turn  Around,  Look  at  Me "  which  got  him  his  first  US  hit  when  it  peaked  at  number  62.  Glen  also  had  two  singles  out   that  year  under  assumed  names , the  teen pop  of  "Winkie  Doll  "  under  the  nom  de  plume  Billy  Dolton  and  the  brassy  instrumental  "Buzzsaw Twist"  as  the  Gee  Cees  ( along  with  some  former  Champs ).

Glen's  next  single, a  co-write  with  Capehart  called  "The  Miracle  Of  Love"  wasn't  a  hit  probably  because  the  song  isn't  strong  enough  to  bear  the  weight  of  the  overblown  arrangement. Glen  switched  labels  to Capitiol  for  his  next  release  a  cover  of  Al   Dexter's  1944  folk  song  "Too  Late  To  Worry, Too  Blue  To  Cry"  as  a  lachrymose  country  ballad. It'  not  to  my  taste  but  gave  him  a  second  hit  peaking  at  76  in  the  summer  of  1962. "Here  I  Am"   from  October is  the  same  sort  of  thing  but  wasn't  a  hit.

His  next  move  was  to  form  a  country  trio  the  Green  River  Boys  although  he  called  the  shots  and  the  records  came  out  as  "Green  River  Boys  featuring  Glen  Campbell. The  first  single in  November  1962   was  a  cover   of  Merle  Travis's  "Kentucky  Means  Paradise"  a  hillbilly  tune  that's  so  brief  it's  over  in  the  time  it  takes  to  read  this  sentence.   He  put  them  aside  in  the  new  year  to  record  Jerry  Fuller's  "Prima  Donna"  a  pretty  Bobby  Vee -ish   pop  tune  but  it  just  missed  out  on  the  Top  100. The  second  and  final  GRB  single  was  another  Travis  song  "Dark  As  A  Dungeon"  which  plods  despite  Glen's  fancy  flourishes  on  the  guitar.

In October  1963  Glen  came  out  with  his  own  "Same  Old  Places "  a  decent  song  very  much  in  the  Gene  Pitney  vein  but  it  wasn't  a  hit.  In  April  1964  his  and  Capehart's  big  ballad  "Through  The  Eyes  Of  A  Child"  also  failed  to  make  the  chart.   I  haven't  heard  the next  one "Summer ,Winter, Spring  And  Fall  from  October.

For  the  next  few  months  he  was  preoccupied  with  being  a  temporary  Beach  Boy  as  he  substituted  for  Brian  Wilson   on  tour  which  meant  playing  bass  and  singing  falsetto  harmonies. He  would  later  play  guitar  on  Pet  Sounds. When  the  tour  finished  he  put  out  the  Roy  Orbison -style  torch  song  "Tomorrow  Never  Comes"  but  again  missed  out  on  the  charts. He  was  then  offered  a  song  by  Brian  Wilson  ( co-written  with  Russ  Titelman ) as  a  thank  you  gesture. "Guess  I'm  Dumb"  had  been  rejected  by  the  other  Beach  Boys  but  Glen  took  it  on  with  Brian  producing. You  can  hear his  presence  in  the  arrangement  but  the  song  isn't  that  strong  with  some  awkward  phrasing  for  Glen  to  negotiate.

Glen  then  scored  his  biggest  hit  to  date  with  a  jangly, uptempo  version  of  Buffy  St  Marie's  "The  Universal  Soldier"   though  he  was  at  pains  to  point  out  he  wasn't  in  sympathy  with  its   pacifist  message. It  reached  number  45  although  I  think  he  plays  it  too  fast  and  the  sudden  ending  is  very  clumsy.   He  tried  the  same  trick  with  his  next  single,  "Private  John  Q"  a  Roger  Miller  song  about  a  reluctant  draftee   which  sounds  like  one  of  Lonnie  Donegan's  hillbilly  tunes. It  didn't  work  for  a  second  time  and  the  single  wasn't  a  hit.

His  first  single  of  1966  was  a  song  he  co-wrote  with  Jerry  Fuller , the  aptly-titled  "Can't  You  See  I'm  Trying".  I  haven't  heard  his  version  but  the  song  sounds  good  in  a  Monkees-ish  version  by  The  Fireballs. By  now  Capitol  were  a  little  concerned ; if  he  hadn't  been  a  regular  on  TV  and  so  well  connected  through  his  session  work  it's  unlikely  that  they  would  have  tolerated  such  a  high  failure  rate  for  so  long. They  pushed  him  towards a  new  producer  Al  de  Lory.

Glen  and  de  Lory  first  worked  together  on  the  single  "Burning  Bridges" ,a  country  weepie  about  starting  afresh  written  by  Walter  Scott. If  it  were  by  Jim  Reeves  I'd  hate  it  but  there's  something  about  Glen's  yearning  voice  that  makes  it  appealing.  It  didn't  make  the  main  chart  but  was  a  substantial  country  hit. I  haven't  heard  the  next  one  "I  Gotta  Have  My  Baby  Back" , a  minor  country  hit  but  the  one  after  that  began  his  golden  period.  

"Gentle  On  My  Mind"  was  written  by  folk  singer  John  Hartford . It's  a  wordy  song  celebrating  escape  or  irresponsibility  according  to  taste  as  the  train-jumping  hobo  prefers  to  keep  an  untarnished  memory  of  his  girl  rather  than  settle  down  with  her. Its  release  took  Glen  by  surprise  as  de  Lory  thought  his  demo  version  couldn't  be  improved  and  released  it  while  Glen  waited  for  his  opinion.  It  reached  number  62  in  the  charts  and  quickly  attracted  scores  of  covers  including  Dean  Martin's  which  reached  number  2  in  the  UK  in  1968, the  last  hit  in  his  lifetime.

His  next  single  consolidated  the  success. "By  The  Time  I  Get  To  Phoenix"  was  an  album  track  recorded  by  Johnny  Rivers  in  1965  and  written  by  teenage  songwriter  Jimmy  Webb.  In  a  reversal  of  the  Twenty  Four  Hours  From  Tulsa  scenario  the  singer  is  driving  away  from  his  unsatisfactory  lover  but  can't  stop  thinking  about  what  she's  doing  at  each  significant  part  of  the  journey  which  completely  undermines  his  resolve. You  know  he's  going  to  turn  back. Glen's  voice  carries  all  the  hopelessness  of  the  situation   while  the  strings  sweep  him  along  in  imitation  of  the  journey.  It  reached  number  26  and  cemented  his  image   as  the  square-jawed  Everyman  balladeer  of  the  American  byways. Strangely  enough  it's  never  been  a  hit  for  anyone  in  the  UK.

After  Glen  picked  up  two  Grammys  for  each  of  his  last  two  singles,  the  ( very  good )  Roy  Orbison  impersonation  "Hey  Little  One"  became  his  third  hit  in  a  row  peaking  at  54  early  in  1968.  John  D  Loudermilk's  celebration  of  family  life  "I  Wanna  Live"  made  it  four . Mums' favourite  "Dreams  Of  The  Everyday  Housewife"   written  by  the  little  known  Chris  Gantry  continued  the  hot  streak. Capitol  then  reissued  " Gentle  On  My  Mind"  and  it  reached  39  second  time  round.

And  then  he  turned  back  to  Webb  for  this  one , reckoned  by  Mr  Maconie  to  be  "the  greatest  pop  song  ever  composed". Webb  was  driving  near  Wachita  and  observed  a  telephone  company  employee  atop  one  in  an  endless  line  of  poles  running  out  into  the  open  prairie. He  imagined  this  person  to  be  intensely  lonely  and  dreaming  of  an  absent  lover  while  he  worked. The  world  and  his  dog  have  covered  it  but  no  one  can  hold  a  candle  to  this  version. Glen's  voice  carries  all  the  ache  of  loss  and  solitude  while  carrying  on  with  the  banalities  of  a   blue  collar  working  life. In  place  of  a  third  verse  he  plays  the  melody  in  what  is  probably  the  most  well-known  bass  solo  in  pop.  De  Lory  deserves  almost  equal  credit  for  the  string  arrangement  which  tries  to  mimic  the  whining  sounds  of  the  wires  and  the  morse  code  thereby  anticipating  Kraftwerk  by  a  few  years. It's  a  brilliant  record  which  will  never  age  and  a  number  7  ( 3  in  the  US )  peak  hardly  does  it  justice.    

189 Goodbye Donovan* - Barabajagal**

( * with  the  Jeff  Beck  Group ) ( ** early  pressings  had  the  title  as  "Goo Goo Barabajagal" )

Chart  entered :  9  July  1969

Chart  peak : 12

Donovan  was  the  last  artist  whose  singles  chart  career  concluded  in  the  1960s. As  we  shall  see that  was , to  some  extent,  a  self-inflicted  wound  but  he  certainly  went  out  on  an  interesting  note with  this  one.

The  team  up  with  the  Jeff  Beck  Group  was  the  idea  of  Mickie  Most  who  produced  them  both. He  felt  that  Donovan's  music  needed  more  muscle  and  Jeff  needed  better  songs  and  hoped  they would  beneficially  influence  each  other. Jeff's  singer  Rod  Stewart  was  not  needed  so  did  not  attend  the  sessions.  "Babarajagal"  differs  markedly  from  any  of  his  previous  fey  and  acoustic  singles. It's  a  tale  of  a  charlatan  using  mystical  techniques  to  effect  a  seduction. Donovan  maintained  the  character  was  fictional  but  he  of  course  was  one  of  the  party  that  went  to  India  with  the  Beatles  in  1968 so  this  may  be  another  song  about  the  Maharishi's  more  earthy  inclinations. Donovan's  breathy  insinuating  vocals  are  a  good  fit  for  the  subject  matter  although he  slips  into  an  exaggerated  Scots  brogue  for  the  weird  spoken  section. The  music  is  a  loose-limbed  ramshackle  piano  groove  laid  down  by  Nicky  Hopkins  with  Jeff's  guitar  commenting  throughout  rather  than  waiting  for  a  solo  and  the  singers  Madeline  Bell  and  Lesley  Duncan  taking  control  so  that  you  can  hardly  hear  Donovan  at  the  back  end  of  the  song. It's  this  single  that  makes  sense  of  his  hook-up  with  the  Happy  Mondays  two  decades  later. Most  thought  it  was  a  bit  of  a  mess  but  that's  kind  of  the  point.

Apart  from  the  B-side  "Trudi" , the  rest  of  the  tracks  recorded  with  Beck  remained  unreleased  until  2005. The  album  "Babarajagal"  was  otherwise  made  up  of  material  recorded  earlier  and,  apart  from  "Superlungs  ( My  Supergirl ) "  which  would  have  made  an  excellent  follow-up, falls  into  his  usual  airy-fairy  flower  power  style  including  the  execrable  "I  Love  My  Shirt". Due  to  a  complicated  contractual  situation  the  album  could  only  be  released  in  the  States  where  it  reached  number  23  in  August  1969.

Shortly  afterwards  Donovan  parted  company  with  Most  following  a  recording  session  in  Los Angeles. Donovan  brought  friends  like  Stephen  Stills  and  Mama  Cass  along  and  when  the  dope  began  to  flow, Most  whose  drug  of  choice  was  always  hard  cash,  reminded  them  who  was  paying  for  the  session  and  chucked  them  out. An  offended  Donovan  declared  he  would  be  working  with  someone  else  but  was  in  no  hurry  to  find  them  , making  "Barabajagal"  the  last  piece  of  sixties  music  we'll  be  discussing  in  a  "Goodbye  post  ( we'll  be  going  back  to  the  sixties  in  "Hello"  posts  for  a  long  time ).

Donovan  went  away  to  Greece  to  recharge  his  batteries  for  six  months. Though  advised  by  his  agents  to  stay  away  for  longer  in  tax  exile  he  returned  to  the  UK  in  1970  to  work on  a  new  album.  For  the  first  time  he  had  a  regular  band , The  Open  Road  though  he  called  the  shots  and  the  records  came  out  under  the  name  "Donovan  and  the  Open  Road" The  single  "Ricki  Ticki  Tavi"  came  out  in  September, a   rough  semi-acoustic  number  using  the  heroic  mongoose  from  The  Jungle  Book  as  a  metaphor  for  the  vanished  certainties  of  childhood. It's  more  recognisably  him  but  there's  an  underlying  sturdiness to  the  rhythm  track  that  wasn't  there  before. It  reached  number  55  in  the  States.

The  album  "Open  Road"  is  an  interesting  document  of  the  hippy  response  to  the  new  decade  whether  that  be   physical  flight  ( " Changes "  with  its  references  to  Vietnam  and  Biafra ) , conscious  immersion  in  Gothic  fantasy  ( "Roots  Of  Oak"  and  "Celtic  Rock")  or  helpless  lamentation  ( "People  Used  To... ).  Controversy  is  courted  in  the  two  Fleetwood  Mac-ish  rock  songs  the  sensitively-titled  "Curry  Land"  and  "Poke  At  The  Pope"  where  paisley  is  swapped  for  Paisley. Two  more  optimistic  songs  "Season  Of  Farewell"   and  "New  Years's  Resovolution"  leaven  the  dose  and  reflect  his  personal  happiness; he  married   Linda  Lawrence  ( formerly  with  Brian  Jones ) shortly  after  its  release. The  album , produced  by  Donovan  and  involving  no  musicians  outside  the  four  piece  band,  reached   number  16  in  the  US  and  30  in  the  UK  though  you  suspect  its  sales  were  boosted  by  being  the  first  of  his  LPs  UK  fans  could  actually  buy  for  two  years.

Donovan  dropped  Open  Road  shortly  afterwards ; they  went  on  to  record  an  unsuccessful  LP  without  him. With  Linda  now  pregnant  he  began  work  on  a  double  album  of  children's  songs  "HMS  Donovan"  largely  popular  poems  set  to  music. It  was  recorded  at  various  times; "Homesickness"  was  recorded  with  Most. A  single  came  out  in  December  1970,  "Celia  Of  The  Seals",  celebrating  the  model  ( and  Jeff  Beck's  girlfriend )  Celia  Hammond  who  sacrificed  her  career  by  refusing  to  wear  animal  skins  and  cursing  the  seal  hunters  in  phrases  not  too  dissimilar  to  the  Smiths'  Meat  Is  Murder. Bassist  Danny  Thompson  got  a  co -credit  as  performer   on  the  label.  Its  failure  ( it  made  84  in  the  US  alone ) didn't  bode  well  for  the  album , released  in  July  1971  and  the  US  label  declined  to  release  it. It  didn't  chart  in  the  UK.

Donovan  spent  1972  as  a  tax  exile  working  in  films, acting  in  The  Pied  Piper  and  providing  part  of  the  soundtrack  to  Zeffirelli's  Brother  Sun, Sister  Moon .  With  young  mouths  to  feed  Donovan  settled  his  differences  with  Most ( now  styling  himself  Michael  Peter  Hayes )   and  got  to  work  on a  new  LP  "Cosmic  Wheels". The  album  was  released  in  March  1973  in  advance  of  any  singles. By  this  time  glam  rock  was  at  its  peak  with  Most  a  key  player ( his  new  prodigy  Suzi  Quatro  cut  her  teeth  as  a  backing  vocalist  on  one  track )  and  so  the  title  track  has  the  doomy  feel  of  Children  Of  The  Revolution  with  its  sawing  strings  and  wailing  backing  vocals  and  Donovan  himself  sounds  a  lot  like  Mr  Ferry. There  was  some  cross-pollination  with  Alice  Cooper  who  were  recording  Billion  Dollar  Babies  in  the  same studio. Donovan  shared  the  lead  vocal  on  the  title  track  and  "Sleep"  on  "Cosmic  Wheels"  sounds  very  like  them. Cozy  Powell  and  Chris  Spedding  play  on  most  of  the  tracks  though  pointedly  both  absent  themselves  from  "The  Intergalactic  Laxative"  which  I  must  admit  is  quite  funny  the  first  time  round  but  probably  should  have  been  a  B  side  only. It  reached  a  promising  number  15  in  the  UK   ( 25  in  the  States). The  singles  didn't  fare  so  well. "I  Like  You"  was  an  over-ambitious  choice  , too  diffuse  to  work  as  a  single  and  Radio  One  ignored  it. In  the  US  it  was  his  last  hit  single  peaking  at  66. The  vacuous  busking  tune  "Maria  Magenta"  sank  without  trace.

From  this  point , with  Donovan  unwilling  to  fully  get  back  on  the  promotional  treadmill , his  commercial  profile  quickly  evaporated. Wishing  to  discard  the  glam  rock  trappings  of  "Cosmic  Wheels"  he went to  Andrew  Loog  Oldham  to  produce  his  next  LP  "Essence  To  Essence"  which   had  him  dressed  in  white  robes  and  kneeling  penitently  on  the  cover. It  was  released  in   December  1973. If  he  hadn't  been  a  fading  sixties  pop  star  it's  possible  that  some  of  the  more  fragile  songs  like  "There  Is  An  Ocean"  and  the  hopeless  single  "Sailing  Homeward"  would  have  seen  him  bracketed  with  the  likes  of   Nick  Drake  and  Tim  Buckley   but  as  it  was  both  critics  and  public  ignored  him. A  residual  following  in  America  ensured  that  the  LP  and  its  two  immediate  successors  got  into  the  lower  half  of  the  Top  200  but  the  UK  was  now  deaf  to  him.

Donovan  next  tried  the  Lulu  route  of  doing  a  Bowie  cover, in  his  case  "Rock 'n 'Roll  With Me"  from  Diamond  Dogs. I  haven't  heard  it  and  it  didn't  appear on  the  next  album  perhaps  because  Oldham  produced  it  and  he  was  now  working  with  American  producers Norbert  Putnam   and  Mark  Radice. The  album  "7-Tease"  came  out  in  November  1974. I  haven't  heard  all  of  it  but  it  seems  very  variable  in  quality  from  the  pleasantly  Mott  The  Hoople-ish  single  "Rock n Roll  Souljer"  and  "The  Ordinary  Family"  a  Don  McLean-ish  ballad  of  Everyman  family  worries  to  the  insipidness  of  "Great  Song  Of  The  Sky"  which  seems  to  be  angling  for  a  New  Seekers  cover  or  the  lamest  anti-royalty  song   ever,  "How  Silly"  with  the  line  " We  hope  for  better  things  from  Charles".

Donovan  decided  to  produce  his  next  album  "Slow  Down  World"  himself, a  tacit  acknowledgement that  the  game  was  up. He  knew  Epic  would  not  be  renewing  his  contract, that  this  could  be  the last  record  he  would  make  and,  well  before  the  self-abasing  "A  Well Known  Has-Been"  opens Side Two,  he  sounds  like  a  beaten  man. Even  when  the  subject  matter  is  positive  on  songs  like  "Dark-Eyed  Blue  Jean  Angel"  the  unadorned  music  is  bleak  and  dreary.

In  fact  things  were  not  quite  as  bleak  as  he  thought. Epic  did  drop  him  as  expected  but  he  was  invited  to  support  Yes  on  their  world  tour  in  the  first  part  of  1977. He  was  also  invited  by  Most  to  record an  album  for  Rak. The  album  "Donovan"  came  out  in  August  1977  and  is  an  uncomfortable  listen. Donovan's  clearly  cheered  up  a  bit  and  Most  once  again  updates  his  sound (  at  least  to  the  extent  of  making  him  sound  like  new  labelmates  Hot  Chocolate  and  Smokie )  but  exposure  to  Jon  Anderson  has  led  him  back  towards  trippy  lyrics  and  hippie  pseudo-wisdom  on  songs  like  "Astral  Angels"  and  the  single  "The  Light".  The  problems  are  compounded  by  a  lack  of  any  catchy  tunes. The  album  bombed  and  his  association  with  Most  finally  came  to  an  end.

Donovan  retreated  to  Europe  where  he  got  involved  in  anti-nuclear  and  famine  protests. His  next  album  "Neutronica" was  only  released  in  Germany  and  France  and  ranges  from  old-style  acoustic  ballads  like  "Madrigalinda"  to  "Mee  Mee  I  Love  You"  which  sets  eight-year  old  Astrella's  lyrics  to  the  eerie  New  Wave  rock  of  Split  Enz. "Heights  Of  Alma"  is  a  Crimean  War  folk  ballad  given  a  synthesiser  makeover  while  "Neutron"  a  protest  about  the  bomb  of  the  same  name  is  an  unholy  cross  between  Don  Partridge  and  Kraftwerk.

"Love  Is  Only  Feeling"  was  the  second  album  under  the  European  contract  released  in  October  1981. All  the  synths  and  agit-pop  are  gone  and  it's  all  pastoral  acoustic  ballads  many  inspired  by  his  new  muse, the  10-year  old  Astrella   who  joins  him  -   not  mellifluously   it  has  to  be  said  -  on  the  title  track. The  flowery  "Lay  Down  Lassie"  was  released  as  a  single  in  the  UK  and  the  album  was  made  belatedly  available  in  1983.

His  next  album "Lady  Of  The  Stars"  in  1984  was  a  compromised  affair  containing  re-worked  versions  of "Sunshine  Superman"  and  "Season  Of  The  Witch"  to  ensure  a  UK  release  and  three  other  updated  songs  from  earlier  albums. The  new  tracks  are  Al  Stewart -style  soft  rock  efforts  which  are  pleasant  in  a  dated  sort  of  way  but  rather  characterless. They  were  his  last  new  recordings  for  some  years

At  the  end  of  the  decade  enjoyed  some  Janus-faced  new  attention. On  the  one  hand  the  Madchester  rave  scene  cited  "Barabajagal"  as  a  seminal  work  and  he  - and  in  particular  his  daughters  - attracted  the  attention  of  the  Happy  Mondays. On  the  other  hand  his  whole  oeuvre  was  targeted  by  The  Singing  Corner  a  so-called  comedy  duo  on  BBC1's  Going  Live  programme .  He  agreed  to  record  a  new  version  of  "Jennifer  Juniper"  with  them  which, with  a  single  week  at  number  68  in  December  1990, became  his  final  appearance  in  the  UK  charts. There  are  actually  few  jokes  on  the  record  ( a  predictably  lame  one  about  mistaking  him  for  Jason  closes  the  record ); Trevor  and  Simon  are  relying  on  their  adolescent  audience  finding  the  song  and  its  performer  ridiculous  in  themselves  which  makes  it  a  tawdry  affair  all  round.

Donovan  had  no  new  material  to  hand  to  take  advantage  of  this  interest  and  instead  released  the live  album  "Rising"  drawn  from  performances  in  1971  and  1981. His  next  "album"  "One  Night  In Time"  was  a  collection  of  rough  sketches  of  songs  released only  in  Japan  as  a  fanzine-distributed cassette  in  1993.

In  1995  he  got  the  call  from  Rick  Rubin  wanting  to  do  a  Johnny  Cash  resuscitation  on  him. The  album  "Sutras"  was  the  result. Although  Donovan  wrote  nearly  all  the  songs  it  sounds  very  similar  to  the   recordings  with  Cash  but  of  course  he  didn't  have  the  latter's  gravitas  and  iconic  status  to  win  attention  and  the  album  didn't  sell.

Donovan  spent  the  next  few  years  getting  acquainted  with  the  internet  and  writing  his  autobiography.  Only  a  couple  of  live  albums  were  released   In  the  meantime  a  record  Label  Beat  Goes  On  was  releasing  some  of  his  earlier LPs  on  CD  for  the  first  time  including  the  children's  LPs. Rhino  Records  suggested  he  might  like  to  release  another  and  2002's  "The  Pied  Piper "  (  the  first  release  on  his  own  Donovan  Discs  label )  was  the  result  although  only  three  of  the  songs  were  new as  opposed  to  re-workings. Two  years  later  his  original  demos  for  Pye  were  released  through  his  website  as  the  LP  "Sixty-Four". He  also  released  acoustic  versions  of  his  songs  for  "Brother  Sun  Sister  Moon"  through  itunes  having  failed  to  acquire rights  to  the  original  versions.

In  2004  he  released  "Beat  Cafe" .Donovan's  band  for  the  sessions  included  Danny  Thompson  and  his  upright  bass-playing  dominates   the  sound  of  these  sparse, jazz-based  tracks  which  celebrate  Donovan's  early  beatnik  heroes. It  has  the  feel  of  a  personal  project  rather  than  an  attempt  to  return  to  the   musical   mainstream.

The  following  year  his  autiobiography  "The  Hurdy-Gurdy  Man"  was  finally  published  and  he  toured  the  last  album  in  the  UK  with  the  unlikely  presence  of  Rat  Scabies  on  drums.  In  2010  he  released  the  album  "Ritual  Groove"  through  his  website  and  invited  people  to   make  videos  for  its  slow,  low-key  tracks. You  can  find  a  lot  of  results  on  youtube. Subsequent  releases  have  been  "The  Sensual  Donovan" ( 2012 ) a  short  collection  of  tracks  recorded  with  John  Phillips  in  1971  and  most  recently  the  country  album  "Shadows  Of  Blue" (2013). Doubtless  there's  more  to  come.