218 Hello Bay City Rollers - Keep On Dancing

Chart  entered : 18  September  1971

Chart  peak : 9

Number  of  hits : 12

An  early  outlier  hit  for  the  then-six  piece  Rollers   and  the  start  of  one  of  the  most  pathetic stories  in  pop  although  it's  hedged  around  with  such  seediness  that  it's  hard  to  feel  much sympathy  for  the  hapless  Scots.

The  band  dates  back  to  1966  and  was  formed  around  the  core  of  fraternal  rhythm  section   Alan  and  Derek  Longmuir  ( bass  and  drums  respectively )  and  their  school  friend  Gordon "Nobby"  Clark   in  Edinburgh .  They  were  briefly  The  Saxons  before  picking  the  name  Bay  City  Rollers  after  throwing  a  dart  at  a  world  map. By  1968  they  had  acquired  a  manager,  Tam  Paton, the  first  of  three  very  dodgy  characters  associated  with  the  band. Tam  was  a  former  big  band  leader  but  more  importantly  had  a  truck  to  drive  their  gear  around. As  an  openly  gay  man  his  interest  in  the  band  was  probably  more  sexual  than  musical  but  at  least  in  the  early  days  he  worked  hard  for  them. In  1969  a  major  overhaul  of  the  line  up  saw  David  Paton ( no  relation )  and  Billy  Lyall  join,  on  guitar  and  keyboads  respectively, who  would  actually  beat  the  Rollers  to  the  number  one  spot  as  part  of  Pilot.  A  new  guitarist  Eric  Manclark  joined  in  1970  bringing  them  up  to  a  six  piece. They  approached  Bell  Records  but  before  their  audition  David  pulled  out  of  the  line  up  and  was  replaced  by  Neil  Henderson. They  were  signed  up  in  October  1970  but  before  they  recorded  anything  Billy  left  too  and  Archie  Marr  joined.

Bell  assigned  their  new  A & R  man  Chris  Denning  to   work  with   the  group. Denning  was  one  of  the  original  line-up  of  DJs on  Radio  One. There  are  two  explanations  of  his  departure  from  the  station  in  1969. One  is  that  bosses  thought  his  new  job  in  promotions  at  Decca  created  a  conflict  of  interest. The  more  colourful  was  given  by  John  Peel  in  the  book  The  Nation's  Favourite  who  said  he  lost  his  job  because  of  the  on-air  remark  "God, I  felt  great  this  morning, I woke  up  feeling  like  a  sixteen  year  old  boy.But  where  do  you  find  a  sixteen  year  old  boy ? " A  great  story  but  I  suspect  in  1969  Denning's  remark  went  over  most  people's  heads  though  not  that  of  Peel  ( I'm  sure  there's  a  story  on  him  ready  to  go, just  waiting  for  the  green  light ). Denning  was  openly  gay  ( he  claims  to  have  been  a  teenage  rent  boy  ) but  at  Decca  he'd  been  working  with  Jonathan  King  who  was  firmly  in  the  closet.

Though  a  competent  producer  himself,  Denning  brought  in  King  to  produce  the  Rollers'  first  single  and  to  most  intents  and  purposes  "Keep  On  Dancing" is  a  Jonathan  King  single. He  chose  the  song, a  1965  US  hit   for  The  Gentrys  notable  for  a  false  fade  in  the  middle  of  the  song, followed  by  an  exact  repeat  of  what  had  gone  before.  I  suspect  it  was  this  gimmick  that  appealed  to  King. He  had  session  musicians  record  the  song  and  he  himself  supplied  the  multi-tracked  backing  vocals  so  only  Nobby  Clark  is  actually  on  the  record. At  barely  two  minutes  long  it's  over  before  it's  really  begun  and  apart  from  the  drum  fill  just  after  the  false  fade  there's  little  in  this  light  bubblegum  track  to  enthuse  over. Clark  sounds  a  bit  like  Mike  Love  of  the  Beach  Boys , King  hammers  the  title  at  you  throughout   and  then  it's  gone.