256 Hello Queen- Seven Seas of Rhye

Chart  entered : 9  March  1974

Chart  peak : 10

Number  of  hits : 49

And  so  having  been  through  my  first  full  year  of  pop  we  move  into  1974, a  strange  year. The  first  half  saw  glam  apparently  triumphant  with  consecutive  number  ones  for  Mud, Suzi  and  Alvin  but  by  the  time  Gary  G  relinquished  the  top  spot  after  just  a  week  with  "Always  Yours" in  June it  was  clear  that  glam's  moment  had  passed. Its  leading  lights , Slade, Sweet  and  Mud  were  all  washing  the  glitter  off  and  re-positioning  themselves; those  who  were  fatally  slow  in  doing  so  like  Bolan  paid  the  penalty. With  nothing  quite  ready  to  replace  it  the  charts  were  unusually  open  to  all comers  so  you  had  a  parade  of  one  hit  wonders, novelty  records, singing  actors, talent  show  winners  and  European  imports -  in  no  other  year  did  the  Eurovision  Song  Contest  spawn  four  Top  20  hits. There  are  only  two goodbyes  in this  year  but  three  mega-bands  made  their  chart  debuts, the  first  of  which  they're  discussing  here.

Although  I  don't  own  any  of  their  albums I  will  always  have  a  little  soft  spot  for  Queen  because  they  represent  a  musical  rite  of  passage  for  me. They  were  the  first  band  I  read  about  in  a  music  magazine  and  wanted  to  hear. It  was  the  tail  end  of  1973  and  the  magazine  was  probably  It's  Here  And  Now  ;  it  had   a  one  page colour feature  on  this  up  and  coming  band  that  looked  a  bit  like  Sweet. I  don't  recall  if  the  article  itself  made  the  comparison. It  was  around  six  months  before  I  got  my  wish  when  this  one  entered  the  charts.

It's  generally  known  that  Queen  were  a  bunch  of  swots. Their  story  begins  at  Imperial  College, London  in  1968  where  two  students, guitarist  Brian  May  and  bassist  Tim  Stafell  ( who  actually  attended  Ealing  Art  College ) advertised   for  a  drummer  to  complete  their  blues  rock  trio  and  attracted  dental  student  Roger  Taylor.  Smile   quickly  gained  a  college  following  including  Stafell's  friend,,  the  Afro-Indian  Farrokh  Bulsara. Smile  got  a  recording  contract  with  Mercury  and  put  down  half  a  dozen  tracks  but  they  were  never  officially  released  before  Stafell  left  for  another  band  in  1970.

Farrokh  suggested  Brian  and  Roger  join  him  in  a  new  venture  called  Queen  and  rechristened  himself  Freddie  Mercury.  If  this  was  intended  to   preserve  the  deal  with  the  Mercury  label  it  didn't  work.  They  went  through  three  temporary  bassists  before  settling  on  quiet  electronics  graduate  John  Deacon  in  1971. It  took  a  while  to  interest  record  companies  but  in  1972  they  signed  a  management  deal  with  Trident  Studios  who  in  turn  got  them  signed  by  EMI.  

Three  quarters  of  the  band  first  appeared  on  record  as  Larry  Lurex. Trident's  engineer  Robin  Cable  was  experimenting  with  trying  to  re-create  Phil  Spector's  sound  on  a  couple  of  sixties  classics  "I  Can  Hear  Music "  and  "Goin  Back". He  asked  Freddie  to  do  the  vocals  which  he then  sped  up  to  sound  like  a  girl. Freddie  then  suggested  that  Brian  and  Roger  should   contribute  to  the  track  and  the  latter's  wailing  guitar  dominates  the  tail  end  of  the  track. Released  in  June  1973  with  "I  Can  Hear  Music"  as  the  A-side  it's  a  likable  curiosity  rather  than  anything  you  have  to  hear.

The  first  real  Queen  record  was  "Keep  Yourself  Alive" a  Brian  May  composition  that  the  band  had  been  working  on  since  1970. Though  highly  regarded  by  fans  of  the  band  it  does  sound  over-cooked  to  the  casual  listener  with  the  heavily-phased  guitar   licks  often  obscuring  Freddie's  vocals   and  Brian's  Everyman  lyrics. It  all  gets  a  bit  much  when  Roger's  drum  solo  kicks  in.  Radio  One  apparently  refused  to  playlist  it  because  it  "took  too  long  to  happen".

The  "Queen"  album  was  released  a   week  later  and  unlike  the  single  it  did  make  the  charts  peaking  at  number  24. It's  pretty  much  a  prog  rock  album  with  just  hints  of  their  later  glories, written  mainly  by  Freddie  and  Brian  in  roughly  equal  proportions. Tim  Stafell  gets  a  credit  for  a  reworked  Smile  song  which  has  no  doubt  given  him  a  steady  trickle  of  royalties  down  the  years  and  Roger  wrote  the  Motorhead-like  "Modern  Times  Rock n Roll". The  only  real  concession  to  pop  is  that  most  of   the  songs  are  fairly  short. After  its  release  the  band  toured  as  support  act  to  Mott  The  Hoople.

"Seven  Seas  Of  Rhye"  began  as  just  a  little  instrumental  written  by  Freddie  to  close  the  album. Encouraged  to  develop  it  as  a  full  song  for  the  second  album,  Freddie  came  up  with  some  grandiose  lyrics  about  a  Gondal-esque  world  of  his  imagination. When  EMI  wrangled  the  band  a  sudden  wild  card  spot  on  Top  of  the  Pops  in  Februrary  1974  it  was  the  only  new  song  they  had  near  completion  so  that's  what  they  performed,  with  the  single  in  the  shops  a  couple  of  days  later.

"Seven  Seas  of  Rhye"  does  betray  this  turn  of  events  somewhat. Freddie  might  have  come  up  with  a  chorus  if  he'd  had  a  bit  longer  to  work  on  it  and  the  jokey  segue  into  I  Do  Like  To  Be  Beside  The  Seaside  effectively  disguises  that  they'd  no  real  idea  how  to  wrap  up  the  very  episodic  song. Freddie's  arpeggiated  piano  figure  owes  something  to  Pinball  Wizard, the  high  pitched   backing  vocals  owe  a  lot  to  The  Sweet  and  the  band  are  clearly  in  thrall  to  Led  Zeppelin  but  it  works  as  a  calling  card  for  an  important  new  band.

255 Hello Leo Sayer - The Show Must Go On

Chart  entered :  15  December  1973

Chart  peak : 2

Number  of  hits  : 16

Reality  TV   has  exposed  him  as  an  obnoxious  prick  with  a  wildly  over  inflated  ego   but when  he  started  out  Leo  was  a  genuinely  new  talent  for  the  seventies. He  was  born  Gerard Sayer  in  Sussex   in 1948.  He  was  a  Catholic  who  sang  in  the  school  choir  before  going  on to  art  college. He dropped  out  of  the  course  after  two  years  and  flitted  between  manual  and graphics  work. In 1969  he  formed  a  band  called  Patches  with  some  mates.  In  1970  they answered  an  ad  for  a talent  contest  run  by  David  Courtney  who'd  been  Adam  Faith's drummer  and  was  looking  to set  up  a  talent  agency.  He  liked  them  and  began  a  writing partnership with  Leo.

In  perhaps  conscious imitation  of  Elton  and  Taupin, Courtney  would  work  on  the  music  in  one  room  while  Gerry  wrestled  lyrics  from  his  voluminous  notebooks  of  poetry  in  another.  After  failing  to  interest  George  Martin  in  their  demoes  Courtney  took  the  tapes  to  Adam  Faith  who  immediately  wanted  in  as  manager  and  got  Patches  a  deal  with  Warner  Brothers.

The  group's  only  single  was  "Living  In  America"   in  August  1972 , unusually  written  by  Courtney  alone  and  produced  by  him  and  Adam  . An  account  of  meeting  an  optimistic  street  prophet  it's  an  impressive  piano  rocker  somewhere  between  Elton  and  Supertramp  spat  out  in  the  constricted  yowl  that  would  characterise  a  lot  of  his  early  work, as  if  he  had  to  work  himself  into  a   frenzy  to  sing. The  single  failed  but  they  did  get  to  meet  The  Who  who  were  recording  next  door.

Shortly  afterwards  Gerry  dissolved  the  band, keeping  just  guitarist  Max  Chetwynd  and  was  re-christened  "Leo"  by  Courtney  in  reference   to  his  head  of  curls.  They  started  work  on  his  first  LP  "Silver  Bird". Some  of  the  recording  took  place  at  Roger  Daltrey's  home  studio  and  realising  they  had   a  considerable  stockpile  of  songs  he  asked  if  he  could  have  some  of  them  for  his  own  solo  album,  "Daltrey" . This  ended  up  being  released  ahead  of  Leo's  debut  and  spawned  a  major  hit  single  in  Giving  It  All  Away. 

For  Leo's  own  first  solo  single  they  selected  the  album's  final  track  "Why  Is  Everybody  Going  Home  ?"  a  very  strange  choice. It  aims  at  being  a  big  dramatic  Hunky  Dory- style  piano  ballad   but  turns  into  a  whiney  dirge. Leo's  copious  amounts  of  self-pity  in  his  lyrics  would  soon  serve  him  well  but  not  here.

By  the  time  of  this  single  Leo  had  a   startling  new  image  inspired  by  the  photos  of  a  Belgian  mime  artist   taken  by  Daltrey's  cousin,  Graham  Hughes. He  was  now  disguised  as  a  Pierrot  clown   and  as  such  went  on  tour  as  support  to  Roxy  Music.

Lena's  take  here  Leo  is  OK  but   doesn't  quite  capture  what  an  extraordinary  record  it  is, the  banjo'ed  intro  harking  back  to  George  Formby , that  deranged  scat/yodel  break  midsong  where  you  begin  to  fear  for  his  sanity  and  the  wretched  tone  of  the  final  verse. I  didn't  appreciate  it  fully  at  the  time  because  my  Mum  liked  it  but  now  I  think  it's  tremendous.

254 Goodbye Matt Monro - And You Smiled

Chart  entered : 24  November  1973

Chart  peak : 28

This  was  a  comeback  hit  for  the  MOR  crooner  who  had  been  absent  from  the  chart  since  1965.

And  it's  dreadful. This  may  have  been  the  start  of  the  wretched  trend  of  setting  trite  words  to  well-known  theme  tunes. In  this  case  it's  Eye  Level  which  had  only  vacated  the  number  one  slot  a  couple  of  months  earlier  as  performed  by  the  Simon  Park  Orchestra. The  arrangement  by  Zack  Laurence  ( who  was  part  of  Mr  Bloe )  doesn't  sound  all  that  different , the  lyrics , contributed  by  someone  called  Taggart , are  uninspiring  and  Matt's  vocal  sounds  a  bit  strained. It's  a  decent  tune  of  course  but  much  better  in  its  original  state. Apparently  it  got  a  lot  of  airplay  on  Radio  Two  so  boo  to  Terry, Jimmy  and  the  boys  for  promoting  this  rubbish.

Matt  continued  to  record  for  EMI. His  next  single  in  July  1974  "Darling  Come  Home  Soon"  is  a  well-sung  Peters  and  Lee  MOR  pop  number  with  a  nice  steel  guitar  line. "You  And  Me  Against  The  World"  ( March  1975 )  co-written  by  Carpenters  associate  Paul  Williams  is  an  affecting  ballad impeccably  delivered  by  Matt  and  arranged  by  Peter Knight  senior. "All  The  Wishing  In  The  World"  ( July  1975 )   is  a  rare  stray  away  from  romantic  matters  with  a  message  song  about  safely  anchored  in  fuzzy  Disney-isms. The  country  harmonica  conjures  up  some  vaguely  liberal  TV  movie   from  the  seventies. All  three  are  far  superior  to  "And  You  Smiled "; the  charts  are  not  always  the  place  to  go  for  musical  justice.

After  that  Matt's  releases  were  few  and  far  between  as  he  battled  alcoholism  although  it  didn't  stop  him  performing  regularly  to  a  high  standard. In  1976  he  entered  The  Priory  but  they  failed  to  crack  the  problem. In  April  1977  he  released  "If  I  Never  Sing  Another  Song"  a  dramatic  valediction  with  touches  of  Jacques  Brel  that  has  been  picked  up  by  other  cabaret  singers  since. It  might  well  be  his  best  record.

Matt's  voice  might  have  been  impervious  to  the  booze  but  his  liver  was  not  and  he  suffered  from  jaundice  attacks. In  1980  he  was  sadly  party  to  another  atrocity,  singing  Leslie  Bricusse's  lyrics  to  Richard  Adinsell's  "Warsaw  Concerto"  for  the  dreary  geriatric  ( Peck  and  Niven ) war  film  The  Sea  Wolves.  The  following  year  another  spell  in  rehab  saw  him  finally  beat  the  bottle  and  he  released  "Diana" a  dull  smoocher  that  didn't  reward his  opportunism.

In  1984  he  released  his  final  single  "You  Bring  Out  The  Best  In  Me" a  collaboration  with  Tony  Hiller. It's  odd  to  hear  his  old-fashioned  crooning  style  over  fretless  bass  and  Fairlight  orchestration  but  it  proves  his  voice  held  up  to  the  end. Soon  after  he  was  diagnosed  with  cancer  and with  his  weakened  liver  he  had  no  chance. At  the  end  he  couldn't  eat  or  drink  and  died  in  Februrary  1985.

253 Hello Kiki Dee- Amoureuse

Chart  entered : 10  November  1973

Chart  peak : 13

Number  of  hits  : 10

Kiki's  qualification  here  is  a  bit  tenuous  relying  on  two  duets  and  a  shared  single  with  a  much  bigger  star  plus  a   subsequent  single  which  had  this  song  on  the  flip  side  but  hey  ho  let's  make  her  welcome.

Kiki  was  born  in  Bradford  in  1947  as  Pauline  Matthews. She  began  singing  locally  from  the  age  of  10  following  the  usual  route  of  talent  contests  to  get  herself  noticed.After  leaving  school  at  16  she  began  singing  with  Jack  Brent's dance  band  and  was   spotted  by  an  A  &  R  man  at  a  gig  in  Leeds. That  led  to  a  contract  with  Fontana  who  put  Mitch  Murray  in  charge  of  her. He  suggested  the  name  change  and  dyeing  her  hair  from  brunette  to  red.

Her  first  single,   a   full   decade  before  her  first  hit  was  "Early  Night"  in  May  1963. The  galloping  beat  immediately  recalls  Johnny  Remember  Me  but  Joe  Meek  had  nothing  to  do  with  it. It's  a  Susan  Maugham-style  teen  pop  number  written  by  Murray  with  Kiki  showing  great  control, somewhere  between  Petula  Clark  and  Sandie  Shaw. It  made  few  ripples. Neither  did  "Don't  Put  Your  Heart  In  His  Hand"  in  October  1963, a  Sharon  Sheeley/ Jackie  DeShannon  song. It's  a  rather ponderous  doo-wop  influenced  number  which  wasn't  a  hit  for  Ral  Donner  in  the  States   either.

Kiki's  third  single  for  them  was  "Miracles"  in  February  1964  , a  cavernous  Dusty  Springfield  style  pop  number  which  subsequently  found  favour  with  the  Northern  Soul  crowd. Her  fourth  "( You  Don't  Know)  How  Glad  I  Am "   in  July   was  a  fairly  faithful  cover  of  a  big  US  hit  for  Nancy  Wilson  with  an  arrangement  by  Les Reed.  While  all  these  singles  were  failing  to  chart  Kiki  was  earning  her  corn  as  a  session  singer, most  notably  working  with  Dusty  Springfield. You  would  think  that  it  was  these  connections  that  kept  her  afloat  at  the  company  although  it  probably  didn't  help her  find  her  own  voice. "Runnin' Out  Of  Fools"  is  a  big  Dusty-esque  ballad  with  a  fine  Les  Reed  arrangement  trying  to  mask  a  dreadful, clumsily-written  song.

Her  next  release  in  February  1966  was  "Why  Don't  I  Run  Away  From  You" which  got  a  lot  of  support  from  pirate  radio. It  was  also  recorded  with  a  slightly  re-worded  title  by  Tami  Lyn  and  that  was  the  version  preferred  in  Wigan  making  it  a  big  hit  on  re-release  in  1971. Kiki  got  to  sing  it  in  the  low  budget  pop  film  Dateline  Diamonds  but  that  still  wasn't  enough  to  break  her.  A  year  later  she  tried  again  with  "I'm  Going  Out  ( The  Same  Way  I  Came  In ) "  a  wistful  Sandie  Shaw like  pop  number  with  no  immediately  obvious  weaknesses. "I" from  May  1967  is  a  slightly  over-produced  soul-pop  item  in  the  Dionne  Warwick  style. "Excuse  Me"  that  October  is  another  decent  pop  number. The  following  March  she  recorded  a  version  of  "Can't  Take  My  Eyes  Off  You"  which  found  favour  with  the  Northern  Soul  crowd  but  sounds  rather  stilted  to  my  ears. Both  it  and  her  final  single  for  Fontana, "Now  The  Flowers  Cry"  were  arranged  by  Mike  Vickers. Ironically  the  latter  is  one  of  her  best, a  breezy  lament  with  a  lovely  string  arrangement  that  could  have  come  from  Jim  Webb.

On  being  cast  adrift  by  Fontana  Kiki  sought  a  change  of  fortune  in  America  and  got  herself  signed  up  by  Motown  for  whom  she  recorded  just  one  LP, the  unfortunately  titled  "Great  Expectations". The  lead  single   was  "The  Day   Will  Come  ( Between  Sunday  and  Monday )"  in  May  1970. It's  a  good  Supremes-ish  soul  pop  number  belted  out  with  conviction  but  it  didn't  catch. The  second  single  "Love  Makes  The  World  Go  Round", a  mellower  groove  with  piercingly  loud  glockenspiel  notes ,  was  released  on  the  Rare  Earth  subsidiary  and  was  actually  a  minor  US  hit  ( number  87 )  but  that  didn't  reprieve  her.

Kiki  returned  to  the  UK  and  despite not  having  a  label  got  some  TV  work  performing   covers  on  things  like  Morecambe  and  Wise  and  Benny  Hill.  Her  big  break  came  early  in   1973  when  Elton  John  signed  her  to  the  new  Rocket  label  set  up  with  Taupin, Gus  Dudgeon  and  others. The  first  fruit  of  this  link up  was  the  single  "Lonnie  And  Josie"  in  June.  Elton  and  Taupin  wrote  the song; the  former  produced  it  with  Clive  Franks  and  plays  piano  and  mandolin  on  the  track. His  usual  crew  are  the  backing  band. It's  an  attractively  melodic  song  about  teenage  runaways  but  failed  I  think  because  it's  over-wordy  for  a  single  with  no  real  middle-eight  to  separate  the  give  the  listener  a  breather.

Then  came  this  one. Elton  only  produced  this  time. The  song  was  a  cover  of   a  1972  French  hit  for  Veronique  Sanson . Lyricist  Gary  Osborne  translated  it  to  English  although  he  altered  the  verses  so  it  contains  a   girl's  reflections  on  losing  her  virginity  , a  theme  not  present  in  the  original. Nevertheless  Sanson  recorded  the  new  version  herself  for  a  UK  single in  1972.
Kiki  - at  26,  perhaps  a  little  mature  to  be  singing  about  popping  her  cherry - performs  the  song  in  her  lower  register  and  it's  certainly  tempting  to  say  this  is  the  best  record  The  Carpenters  never  made  although  the  arrangement  is  more  Clifford  T  Ward  than  Richard  Carpenter.  Although  the  song  has  a  strong  chorus  the  real  hook  is  Kiki's  leap  into  the  next   octave  at  the  end  of  its  first  couple  of  lines. I  have  a  feeling  the  young  Kate  Bush  might  have  been  listening  as  this  isn't  a  million  miles  away  from  Wow  ( the  similarity  is  even  more  pronounced   on  Sanson's  original version ).

Kiki's  first  hit  was  hard  won . Released  at  the  end  of  August  it  had  to  fight  off  a  rival  version  by  eternal  bridesmaid  Polly  Brown   before  getting  the  "Tip  For  The  Top"  slot  on  Top  Of  The  Pops  which  did  the  trick. 

252 Hello Bryan Ferry solo - A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall

Chart  entered : 29  September  1973

Chart  peak : 10

Number  of  hits : 22

John  Lennon  released  a  couple  of  singles  with  his  Plastic  Ono  Band  before  The  Beatles' break-up  was  confirmed  but  it  was  Bryan  who  really  pioneered  the  parallel  solo  career.

Obviously  we  know  where  he  came  from. Bryan's  idea  of  doing  a  covers  album  as  a  solo  effort  largely  stemmed  from  a  desire  to  let  off  steam  after  Roxy's "For  Your  Pleasure"  album  was  swiftly  followed  by  Brian  Eno's  departure. Bryan  told  Uncut  magazine  that  it  "cleared  the  air  of  all  that  angst". Whether  Roxy  fans  really  understood  that  when  the  singer  followed  ousting  his  limelight - stealing  rival  by  releasing  an  idiosyncratic  solo  album  is  debatable. It  certainly  confused  me  at  the  time. Actually,  apart  from  Andy  McKay  who  considered  quitting  himself   in  protest  at  Eno's  departure,  all  the  other  Roxy  members  play  on  it.

While  I've  a  lot  of  time  for  Bryan  and  Roxy  I  don't  think  this  is  a  great  record. A  lot  of  that's  down  to  the  song.  It  was  originally  written  by  Bob  Dylan  for  his  second  LP  The  Freewheeling  Bob  Dylan  in  1962  although  not  in  response  to  the  Cuban  Missile  Crisis  as  the  sleevenotes  misleadingly  suggest. It's  structure  was  influenced  by  an  English  folk  ballad  Lord  Randall  in  which  a  mother  repeatedly  questions  her  son  and  elicits  that  he  has  been  poisoned. Bob's  protagonist  reels  off   a  long  litany  of  dark  and  disturbing  images  in  response.  The  title  has  often  been  taken  to  refer  to  nuclear  fall-out  but  Dylan  has  denied  such  a  specific  interpretation. The  original  is  an  unrelenting  seven  minute  grind. Yes  Bob  we  know  that  life's  a  toilet  but  a  tune  always  makes  it  a  bit  more  bearable  don't  you  think ?

Bryan's  version  spares  us  two  of  the  five  verses  which  still  leaves enough  doom  and  gloom  to  make  it  indigestible. It's  dressed  up  with  Eddie  Jobson's  scraping  strings  and  female  backing  vocals  and  Paul  Thompson  gives  it  a  fast  tempo  but  there's  still  not  much  melody  to  make  it  more  palatable. Nor  do  I  think  Bryan's  campy  vocal  is  a  plus  point, I  do  like  the  illustrative sound  effects  on  the  second  verse  but  that's  about  it.    

251 Goodbye The Jackson Five - Skywriter

Chart  entered : 8  September  1973

Chart  peak : 25

This  is  a  somewhat  artificial  goodbye  as  they  would  return - and  qualify  again- under  a  slightly  different  guise  a  few  years  hence. At  the  time  though  they  were  the  first  band  from  the  cast  of  my  first  charts  to  disappear. They  were  no  longer  in  the  pages  of  It's  Here  And  Now  and  Pop  Swap  leaving  me  wondering  where  they'd  gone.

After  their  initial  opening  blast  of  four  Top  10  singles  in  1970  their  chart  fortunes  had  been  a  bit  variable  with  two  singles  in  1972 ( when  Michael's  solo  career  began ) failing  to  chart  at  all  in  the  UK. They  were  more consistently  popular  in  the  US  but  were  slipping  enough  to  create  some  tension  between  their  father  and  Motown.

"Skywriter"  was  the  second  single  from  the  album  of  the  same  name  ( which  didn't  chart  in  the  UK ) , chosen  in  preference  to  "Corner  of  the  Sky"  which  had  been  the  lead  single  in  America. It  was  written, produced  and  arranged  by  Mel  Larson  and  Jerry  Marcelino. It's  a  decent  psychedelic  pop  soul  effort  with  a  still  squeaky  Michael  invoking  supernatural  assistance  in  getting  a  message  to  his  girl. The  uptempo  groove  is  decorated  with  harpsichord, Stevie  Wonder-ish  synth  lines  and  tight  harmonies  although  the  phasing  button  is  pressed  a  little  too  often.

For  the  next  few  years  it  was   a  case  of  their  singles  still  being  sizable  hits  in  the  US  but  not  getting  through  here. "Get  It  Together "  from  November  1973  ( U.S : 28 ) has  a  great  bassline   and  is  solidly  funky  without  having  much  of  a  tune. "The  Boogie  Man" ( unreleased  in  the  States ) from  April  1974  , is  a  great  pop  R &  B  number  although  it  suffers  from  sharing  the  lead  vocal  duties  around  the  group  and   didn't  get  much  airplay  due  to  the  playfully  sinister  subject  matter. "Dancing  Machine "  was  a  massive  hit  in  the  States  helped  by  TV  appearances  where  Michael  ( and  to  a  lesser extent  Marlon  and  Jackie )  performed  the  "Robot"  dance   during  the  instrumental  break . Stripped  of  the  visuals  it's  a  groove  without  much  of  a  song  on  which  Michael's  rapidly  maturing  voice  shines  but  not  enough  to  make  it  a  hit  here. The  next  single  in  November  1974  had  different  A -sides  in  the  UK  and  US . We  had  "Life  Of  The  Party"  which  is  a  terrific  funky  number  with  some  great  squealy  synth  sounds  while  America  took the  lumpier  "Whatever  You  Got  I  Want"  to  number  38. "I  Am  Love"  , the  last  single  from  the  "Dancing  Machine"  LP  was  an  edited  version  of   the  album track  which  starts  out  as  a  rather  dreary  soul  ballad  sung  by  Jermaine  before  a  final  minute  of  loose  funk  led  by  Michael. It  doesn't  really  work  but  still  reached  number  15  in  the  U.S.

In  May  1975  they  released  their  album  "Moving  Violation"  by  which  time  they  were  actively  planning  to  leave  Motown. The  lead  single  was  a  Supremes  cover  "Forever  Came  Today"  which  is  an  over-busy  disco  number. It  was  their  last  single  as  The  Jackson  Five  reaching  number  60  in  the  US.  The  band's  main  gripe  was  the  meagre  amount  of  performance  royalties  they  were  getting  from  the  records  and  Joe  negotiated  a  lucrative  new  deal  with  Epic  giving  them  20%. Jermaine  was  in  a  difficult  position  having  just  married  Berry  Gordy's  daughter  Hazel  and  ultimately  decided  to  stay  with  Motown. Younger  brother  Randy  who  had  been  playing  percussion  on  stage  with  the  group  for  the  past  couple  of  years  was  drafted  in  to  replace  him.  Motown  started  to  sue  them  for  breach  of contract  but  eventually  settled  for  forcing  them  to  change  their  name  which  is  where  another  story  begins.

250 Hello David Essex - Rock On

Chart  entered : 18  August  1973

Chart  peak : 3

Number  of  hits : 25

In  the  second  half  of  1973  Messrs  Cassidy  and  Osmond  suddenly  found  themselves  being  nudged  out  of  the  centre  pages   of   Jackie  and  Fab  208   by  a  home-grown  hunk. While  it's  generally  known  that  the  likes  of  Rod, Elton  and  Bowie  served  a  long  apprenticeship  in  the  sixties,  I  don't  think  so  many  realise  that's  true  of  David  as  well.

David  was  born  in  Plaistow  in  1947  to  an  East  End  docker  and  his  Irish  Traveller  wife. He  had  a  connection  with  West  Ham  United  juniors  as  a  teenager  but  was  more  interested  in  music  initially  as  a  drummer   but  then  as  a  singer . He  worked  in  a  factory  during  the  day  and  worked  in  the  clubs  at  night. In 1965  he  got  a  contract  with  Fontana who  released  his  first  four  singles. His  first  "And  The  Tears  Came  Tumbling  Down"  was  written  by  The  Ivy  League's  Perry  Ford  and  is  a  fair   Pitneyesque  pop  ballad  or  at  least  it  would  be  with  a  half  decent  vocal. David  sounds  like  a  hopeless  X-Factor  reject. I  haven't  heard  the  middle  two  "Can't  Nobody  Love  You"  and  "This  Little  Girl  of  Mine"  but  "Thigh  High"  from  July  1966 is  staggeringly  bad,  It's  a  clumsily  recorded  stab  at   a   Tom  Jones  -style  brash  pop  number  with  crudely  sexist  lyrics   and  a  wildly  theatrical  vocal  which  slips  into  an  unwarranted  cod-Jamaican  accent  for  the  final  line  of  the  chorus. It  justifies  Fontana  dropping  him  on  its  own. In  1967  he  began  a  sideline  career  in  acting  with  an  uncredited  part  in  Smashing  Time  which  I  saw  recently  but  didn't  spot  him.

He  returned  to  the  fray  nearly  two  years  later  with  "Love  Story"  on  Uni. The  song  was  written  by  Randy  Newman  and  the  single  was  produced  and  arranged  by   Mike  Leander. You  could  guess  the  writer  from  the  vaudeville  touches  and  the  cynical  lyric. Whether  intentional  or  not  David 's  vocal  sounds  like  a  Marc  Bolan  parody. Six  months  later  he  was  on  Pye  with  "Just  For  Tonight"  a  Barry  Mason/ Tony  McAulay  song. It's  a  decent  snshine  pop  number  and  David  sounds  like  he's  had  a  few  singing  lessons.

By  1969  he  was  on  Decca  working  with  the  Ammo  team  on  "That  Takes  Me  Back"  which  I  haven't  heard. His  second  single  with  them  in  September  was  "The  Day  The  Earth  Stood  Still"  which  has  nothing  to  do  with  science  fiction  but  is  a  heavily  orchestrated  Tom  Jones  style  number  which  needs  a  stronger  vocalist  to  really  do  it  justice.

David's  fortunes  really  started  to  improve  in  1971  when  he  got  the  lead  role  in  the  hit    musical  Godspell  during  its  original  London  run. This  led  on  to  his  star making  role  in  the  rock  and  roll  revival  film  That'll  Be  The  Day in  1973  for  which  he  won  a  Most  Promising  Newcomer  BAFTA. David  didn't  sing  on  the  soundtrack  which  used  all  original  recordings  so  to  take  advantage  of  the  film's  success  he  had  to  record  something  new.

David  had  become  acquainted  with  a  young  American  producer  Jeff  Wayne  who  had  composed  the  score  for  his  father's  successful  musical  Two  Cities  and  he  produced  and  arranged  "Rock  On". It's  fair  to  say  that  no  other  teen  idol   has  launched  their  hit  career  with   such  a  left field  record. David's  lyrics  are  a  loose  jumble  of  rock  and  roll  tropes  but  he  realises  that  nostalgia  is  a  dead  end  - "And  where  do  we  go  from  here, which  is  the  way  that's  clear ?" - so  he  allows  Wayne  to  take  the  music  into  the  realms  of  contemporary  urban  soul  with  a  sparse  ominous  bassline by  Herbie  Flowers  accompanied  only   by  a  clipped  percussion  motif  for  much  of  the  song.  There's  no  guitar  or  backbeat  on  the  track ; colour  is  provided  by  the  sort  of  dread-laden  strings  also  profitably  employed  on  Hot  Chocolate's  Brother  Louie.  The  song  seems  better  suited  to  a  gritty  blaxploitation  movie  than  That'll  Be  The  Day  and  it's  no  coincidence  that  it  was  David's  only  significant  hit  in  America. David's  music  would  rarely  be  this  interesting  again  so  this  is  one  to  savour.
 

249 Hello Barry White - I'm Gonna Love You Just A Little More Baby

Chart  entered  : 9  June  1973

Chart  peak : 23

Number  of  hits : 20

It's  always  difficult  to  write  about  someone  you  know  has  an  army  of  fans  but  leaves  you completely  cold. Barry  was  a   big  part  of  the  70s  chart  landscape  but  all  his  records  sounded the  same  to  me.

He  was  born  Barry  Carter  in  a  rough  area  of  Los  Angeles  in  1944  and  became  something  of  a  piano  prodigy  playing  on  Jesse  Belvin's  1956  hit  "Goodnight  My  Love"  at  the  age  of  eleven. At  16  he  went  to  jail  for  stealing  tyres  and   later  claimed  that  hearing  Elvis  on  the  radio  there  changed  his  life.

He  came  out  of  prison  determined  to  be  a  singer. He  first  recorded  as  part  of  The  Upfronts  who  released  the  dreary  doo  wop  single  " Too  Far  To  Turn  Around"  in  1960. He  started  working  on  the  LA  music  scene  as  a  session  musician  and  producer.  He  recorded  with  The  Majestics   who  put  out  the  lively  R &  B  of  "Strange  World"  and the  languid  doo  wop  soul  of  "Girl  of  My  Dreams"  in  1963  although  it's  hard  to  detect  him  on  the  former.  That  same  year  he  got  his  name  out  front  on  a  single  with  The  Atlantics,  "Tracy  ( All  I  Have  Is  You ) " , which  is  heavily  influenced  by  the  Ray  Charles  version  of  Hit  The  Road  Jack  but  is  a  pretty  good  R &  B  hip  swinger  all  the  same.

In  1966  he  recorded  a  single  for  Downey  Records  under  the  name  Lee  Barry. "A  Man  Ain't  Nothin", written  by  Barry,  is  a  competent  but  meandering  deep  soul  effort  similar  in  style  to  Otis  Redding  but  lacking  in  commercial  punch.  The  following  year  he  tried  again  on  Bronco  with  "All  In  The  Run  Of  A  Day"  as  Barry  White. It's  a  Marvin  Gaye-ish  slice  of  life  slow  builder  but  is  ruined  by  an  anticlimactic  fade  out  just  as  you're  expecting   a  big  finish.

After  these  setbacks  Barry  lost  confidence  in  himself  as  a  performer  and  settled  for  working  in  A & R  nurturing  the  careers  of  Viola  Wills, Bob  and  Earl  and  Felice  Taylor. He  sneaked  out  a  cover  of  "In  The  Ghetto"  as  Gene  West  which  gives  the  song  a  funky  makeover   although  losing  a  lot  of  the  melody  in  the  process. In  1971  he  started  working  with  the  girl  group  Love  Unlimited  who  included  his  future  wife  Glodean. He  wrote,  arranged, produced  and  had  a  cameo  part  on  their  transatlantic  hit  "Walking  In  The  Rain  With  The  One  I  Love"  in  1972.

Barry  then  made  plans  to  work  with  a  male  artist  and  cut  a  few  new  songs  on  a  demo. When  his  friend, music  mogul  Larry  Nunes  heard  them  he  insisted  that  Barry  record  them  himself  and  after  much  arm  twisting  Barry  eventually  agreed.

One  of  the  songs  was  this  one. Barry  re-recorded  it - one  of  the  guitarists  on  the  session  was  Ray  Parker  Jr  - and  it  went  to  number  3  in  the  U.S. It  set  the  formula  for  his  records; a  mid-paced  groove, a  long  "intro"  ( often  lasting  nearly  half  the  running  time )  during  which  Barry  would  growl  sweet  nothings  into  the  mike  in  his  utterly  unmistakable  voice  before  the  lushly  orchestrated   strings  swelled  up  and  Barry  sang  the  rest  of  the  song  in  a  throaty  croon. I  found  it  hard  to  tell  one  from  another - this  one's  distinguished  by  a little  harpsichord  motif - but  then  pre-pubescent  white  boys  were  not  his  intended  audience.  No  doubt  there  are  many  41-year  olds  around  who  owe  their  existence  to  this  single.  

248 Hello Suzi Quatro - Can The Can

Chart  entered : 19  May  1973

Chart  peak : 1

Number  of  hits : 16

Given  that  Grace  Slick, Sonja  Kristina  and  Janis  Joplin  barely  mustered  a  UK  hit  between  them  Suzi  is  effectively  the  first  female  rocker  we've  seen  since  Brenda  Lee. Unlike  Brenda  Suzi  strapped  on  a  bass  guitar  and  rocked  with  the  boys  and  so  is  rightly  regarded  as  an  important  role  model  for  women  in  rock.

Susan  Quatrocchio  was  born  in  Detroit  in  1950  of  Italian  stock  on  her  father's  side. She  was  inspired  by  Elvis  at  an  early  age . She  learned  a  variety  of  instruments  and  sometimes  played  percussion  in  her  father's  jazz  band  the  Art  Quatro  Trio. She  has  a  number  of  sisters  all  of  whom  are  musicians  themselves.

In  May  1964  her  older  sister  Patti  formed   a  band  in  response  to  seeing  The  Beatles  and  Suzi  joined  on  bass. They  called  themselves  The  Pleasure  Seekers  and  started  playing  Detroit  clubs  after  a  few  weeks'  practice. By  1966  sister  Arlene  had  joined  on  the  organ  and  they  released  their  first  single  "Never  Thought  You'd  Leave  Me"  on  the  Hideout  label. Although  there's  a  Shangri-las  influence  there  it  sounds  years  ahead  of  its  time ,like  a  forgotten  indie  band  from  the  John  Peel  show  circa  79/80  and  it's  a  decent  song  too. Suzi's  nifty   bassline  gets  a  couple  of  solo  spots  to  show  her  prowess.

By  1968  they  had  a  major  label  deal  with  Mercury  who  released  their  second  single  "Light  Of  Love"  which  has  much  more  of  a  Motown  R & B  feel  and  inevitably  picked  up  some  Northern  Soul  support. It  also  exposes  Suzi's  limitations  as  a   singer  , sounding  like  she's  struggling  to  keep  up  with  the  pace  of  the  song.

The  band  then  fell  out  with  Mercury  and  changed  their  name  to  Cradle  in  1969. Arlene  stopped  performing  and  was  replaced  by  another  sister,  Nancy. Cradle  toured  heavily  including  a  short  tour  of  Vietnam. In  1970  Mickie  Most  was  persuaded  to  check  them  out   while  over  in  Detroit  with  Jeff  Beck. He  liked  Suzi  rather  than  the  band  and  persuaded  her  to  come  over  to  England  and  be  groomed  as  a  star  in  her  own  right.

Suzi's  first  single  for  RAK  came  out  in  July  1972. "Rolling  Stone"  was  written  by  arranger  Phil  Dennys  and  Errol  Brown  with  some  uncredited  input  from  Suzi  herself. It's  a  dog's  dinner  of  a  single , an  underdeveloped  song  with  no  real  chorus  that  never  gets  out  of  first  gear. Bizarrely  it  got  to  number  one  in  Portugal  but  stiffed  everywhere  else. |Most  then  agreed  to  her   suggesting    a  rock  makeover  with  the  legendary  leather  catsuit  ( respected  musicologist  Simon  Frith  is  still  haunted  by  the  excited  comments  he  made  in  a  1974  review  about  her  not  wearing  underwear  beneath  it )  and  trusted  her  to  recruit  backing  musicians  for  an  upcoming  tour  with  Thin  Lizzy  and  Slade. She  chose  three  beefy  blokes  including  future  husband  Len  Tuckey  who  looked  like  a  wrestler  and  Ramone  lookalike  Alastair  McKenzie  on  keyboards.

Having  acquitted  herself  well  there  Most  put  her  with  Nicky  Chinn  and  Mike  Chapman  who  came  up  with  "Can  The  Can". Here's  the  Popular  take Suzi; a  lot  of  digression  in  the  Comments  but  the  song's  covered  well  enough.

247 Hello Nazareth - Broken Down Angel

Chart  entered :   5  May  1973

Chart  peak  : 9

Number  of  hits : 11

I  never  thought  these  lot  were  any  great  shakes, mainly  because  I  don't  like  singer  Dan  McCafferty's  strangled  cat  vocal  style  but,  unlike  say,  Free,  they  held  it  together  long  enough  to  get  over  the  line  here.

Nazareth  formed  at  the  end  of  1968  from  the  ashes  of  a  Dunfermline  pub  band  The  Shadettes  who'd  been  going  since  1961. They  were  Dan McCafferty ( vocals ), Manny  Charlton (guitar ), Pete  Agnew  ( bass )  and  Darrell  Sweet  ( drums ). They  were  named  after  the  Pennsylvania  town  mentioned  in  The  Band's  The  Weight  rather  than  the  Biblical  location. The  band  played  around  Scotland  for  a  year  before  relocating  to  London  looking  for  a  deal.  They  finally  got  one  with  Pegasus  in  1981  who  released  their  eponymous  debut  in  November  1971. It  spawned  their  first  two  unsuccessful  singles. "Dear  John"  is  a  12  bar  boogie  ( though  it's  not  the  same  song  Quo  had  a  hit  with  ten  years  later ) distinguished  by  guest  Pete  Wingfield's  rolling  piano. The  second  was  an  edit  of  their  seven  minute  version  of  "Morning  Dew"  - yes  that  song  again , never  a  hit  here  despite  the  myriad  attempts. Nazareth  don't  do  anything  very  interesting  with  it  anyway , just  play  around  Paul's  monotonous  galloping  bassline. The  rest  of  the  album  is  accessible  but turgid   to  the  non-afficianado. Dan's  restraint  is  a  welcome  surprise - he  sounds  more  like  Alex  Harvey  at  this  stage  - but  there's  no  pop  hooks  anywhere  to  snag  the  casual  listener.

They  addressed  this  with  the   ELO-ish  orchestral  rock  of  "If  You  See  My  Baby"  which  probably  suffered  from  being  beaten  to  the  punch  by  10538  Overture  though  it's  not  in  that  league.  Their  second  album  "Exercises"  recorded  with  future  Queen  producer  Roy  Thomas  Baker  is  a  showcase  for  their  versatility  with  folk  and country  influences  taking  precedence  over  rock. Baker  gets  his  chance  to  throw  the  kitchen  sink  at  the  overblown  atheist  statement  "I  Will  Not  Be  Led"  and  the  impressive  folk-pomp  of  "1692  ( Glencoe  Massacre)"  but  proves  equally  comfortable  with  acoustic  fare  such  as  "In  My  Time" . The  lyrics  could  certainly  be  improved; the  catalogue  of  pet  mortality  in  "Woke  Up  This  Morning"  reads  like  a  cack-handed  Morrissey  parody. Ignoring  a  fairly  obvious  single  in  the  McGuinness  Flint  like  "Fool  About  You"  the  label  chose  to  reissue  "Dear  John"  instead. Perhaps  this  was  because  the  band  had  just  got  a  support  slot  on  Deep  Purple's  tour  and  the  rock  route  seemed  the  most  promising.

Roger  Glover  liked  them  and  agreed  to  produce  their  third  album. This  was  the  lead  single  and  the  first  release  on  the  new  Mooncrest  label. With  Glover  on  board  they  took  a  much  narrower  musical   pathway  and  this  is  a  no-nonsense  heads  down  boogie  with  Darrell's  glam  rock  thump  and  a  moderately   tuneful  chorus  giving  it  the  commercial  kick  to  cross  over  into  the  charts. Regrettably, exposure  to  Ian  Gillan, means  Dan's  now  trying  to  squawk  the  songs  rather  than  sing  them and  that  lessens  their  appeal  to  me.  The  lyrics  are  actually  quite  sensitive, about  the  emotional  effects  of  desertion  but  you  wouldn't  pick  up  on  that  from  his  chest-beating  delivery. Only  the  Celtic  hints  in  Manny's  brief  solo  hark  back  to  the  broader  musical  canvas  explored on  the  previous  album.  This  turned  out  to  be  their  biggest  hit  in  the  UK.         

246 Goodbye The Supremes - Bad Weather

Chart  entered : 21  April  1973

Chart  peak : 37

Another  long-lasting  act  bowed  out  with  a  very  minor  hit.

The  Supremes'  days  seemed  numbered  ever  since  Miss  Ross  departed  their  ranks  at  the  beginning  of  1970. By  that  time  Cindy  Birdsong  had  already  replaced  the  erratic  and  unreliable  Florence  Ballard   and  Ross  introduced  her  own  replacement  Jean  Terrell  at  their  final  gig  in  Las  Vegas.  According  to  Mary  Wilson, Berry  Gordy   then  immediately  demanded  they  dump  Jean  in  favour  of  Syreeta  Wright  and  washed  his  hands of   the  group  when  the  others  refused. If  true  it  was  a  strange  and  tawdry  way  of   cutting  his  ties  especially  as  he'd  selected  Jean  and  she'd  already  been  working  with  the  others  in  the  studio. They  then  defied  the  sceptics  by  scoring  a  respectable  run  of  hits  in  the  early  70s. In  April  1972  Cindy  left  to  start  a  family  and  was  replaced  by  Linda  Laurence  a  former  backing  singer  for  Stevie  Wonder.

Straight  away  Linda  called  on  her  ex-employee  for  a  song  ( note  his  appearance  on  the  sleeve )  and  he  responded  with  "Bad  Weather"  a  song  he  co-wrote  with  Ira  Tucker  Junior. He  also  produced  the  record. It's  instantly  recognisable  as  a  Wonder  relationship  song  with  its  bubbling   funk  rhythms ,  brass  interjections  and  whistles. Jean  acquits  herself  well  on  the  lead  vocal  although  she  apparently  disliked  the  song.  What  hampers  the  record  is   the   lack  of  a  strong  chorus  to  grab  the  attention ; this  sound  was  on  the  radio  a  lot  and  "Bad  Weather"  just  doesn't  have  enough  to  stand  out  from  the  pack. It  only  reached  number  87  in  the  States.

The  fall  out  was  immediate. Linda  and  Jean  quit  the  group  in  quick  succession  after  realising  that  Motown  owned  the  group  name  and  thus  they  couldn't  move  to  a  new  label  as  hoped. The  former  was  replaced  by  the  returning  Cindy  and  Freda  Payne's  sister  Scherrie  was  hired  to  replace  Jean. Motown  released  their  version  of  Bobby  Lewis's  "Tossin'  And  Turnin'"  from  the  1972  album  they  made  with  Jimmy  Webb  in  1972  as  a  stopgap  single. It's  a  credible  R & B  performance  but  didn't  ignite  any  interest. They  tried  again  with  "I  Guess  I'll  Miss  The  Man", a  nicely  arranged  MOR  ballad   from  the  same  LP  but  it's  not  really  single  material  and  Motown  trying  to  revive  a  dead  album  wasn't  doing  them  any  favours. In  August  1974  a  reissue  of  "Baby  Love"  made  number  12  here.

By  August  1975  the  new  line  up  was  ready  to  go  with  "He's  My  Man"  a  disco  song  with  Mary  and  Scherrie  sharing  the  lead  vocal. It's  not  a  bad  effort  but  they  were  now  up  against  The  Three  Degrees  in  their  pomp  and  an  increasingly  disinterested  label. "Early  Morning  Love" , from  the  same  album  was  released  in  November  and  has  Mary  doing  the  lead  and  some  nasty  synth  sounds. It's  mundane.

At  the  beginning  of  1976  Cindy  quit  in  protest  at  the  management  of  Mary's  husband  Pedro  Ferrer. She  had  completed  work  on  their  new  "High  Energy"  album  but  her  replacement  Susaye  Greene  ( another  former  Wonderlove  singer )  was  dubbed  onto  two  tracks  including  the  single  "I'm  Gonna  Let  My  Heart  Do  The  Walking". The  song  was written  by  Brian  and  Eddie  Holland  and  the  single  benefited  from  hype  about  their  return to  Motown   allowing  it  to  reach  the  US  Top  40  although  in  truth  it's  another  average  disco  workout.  Susaye  provided  a  new  lead  on  the  title  track  with  some  piercingly  high  notes. Nevertheless  it  lacked  the  hooks  to  succeed  as  a  single.

A  new  album  with  Susaye  quickly  followed  , imaginatively  titled  "Mary, Scherrie  and  Susaye"  with  "You're  My  Driving  Wheel"  the  lead  single  which  gave  them  their  final  US  hit   ( number  85 )  .  "Let   Yourself  Go"  and  "Love  , I  Never  Knew  You  Could  Feel  So  Good " ( the  latter  the  first  single  released  in  Britain  since  1975  to  coincide  with  a  tour )  followed. They're  all  good  quality  disco  songs  but  they  were  working  in  a  crowded  market with  an  old  name  and  a  label  that  regarded  them  as  second  string. With  Mary  having  recently  given  birth  to  her  second  child  she  decided  to  call  it  a  day  after  a  gig  in  London  in  June  1977. Gordy's  first  instinct  was  to  bring  in  a  replacement  but  Ross  persuaded  him  that  without  an  original  member  on  board  the  name  should  be  put  to  bed  to  protect  the  legacy. Scherrie  and  Susaye  were  allowed  to  record  an  LP  of  self-written  material  "Partners"  as  a  duo  in  1979   before  being  shown  the  door.

By  this  time  Florence  was  dead. Her  story  has  been  romanticised  particularly  by  the  musical  Dreamgirls  in  1981. In   reality  she  became  difficult  to  accommodate. She  suffered  from  depression, possibly  as   a  result  of  a  rape  in  1960  and  complained  about  both  the  material  and  the  decision  to  push  Diana  out  front.  When  she  turned  to  alcohol  she  became  unreliable  missing  both  shows  ( where  she  was  sometimes  replaced  by  an  Andante )  and  recording  sessions.   From  April  1967  Gordy  plotted  to  replace  her  with  Cindy, Florence making  it  easy  by  asking  for  some  time  off  with  her  new  boyfriend.  She  was  effectively  sacked  in  July  1967  but  her  severance  deal  with  Motown  wasn't  sorted  until  the  following  February.

She  married  boyfriend  Thomas  Chapman  that  same  month  and  signed  for  ABC  records. Her  first  single  "It  Doesn't  Matter  How  I  Say  It"  came  out  in  May  1968; it's  a  likeable  piece  of  pop  soul  fluff  but  her  voice  doesn't  really  cut  through. Florence  also  realised  what  a  disadvantage  the  clause  preventing  her  mentioning  her  previous  career  in  her  promotion  was  going  to  be. The  next  single  "Love  Ain't  Love"  written  by  Van  McCoy  came  out  under  the  name  "Florence "Flo "  Ballard"  but  that  didn't  work  either  although  the  song's  a  bit  of  a  dog  anyway, just  Motown-by-numbers.  Florence  took  time  out  to  have  twin  daughters  in  the  autumn  and  performed  at  an  inaugural  ball  for  Nixon  in  February  1969. She  recorded  a  full  album  but  it  was  shelved  and  not  released  until  2002. ABC  dropped  her  in  1970.

Worse  was  to  come. Her  attorney  Leon  Braun  was  found  to  have  pocketed  a  large  chunk  of  the  Motown  severance  money. In  1971  she  sued  Motown  for  additional  royalties  but  was  beaten  off. She  gave  birth  to  another  daughter  that  year  but  financial  problems  caused  the  marriage  to  falter  and  she  and  Thomas  were  separated  and  the  family  moved  into  her  sister's  house.  She  started  applying  for  welfare. In  1974  Mary  tried  to  coax  her  back  into  The  Supremes  with  an  invitation  to  join  them  at  a  gig  in  California. Florence  turned  up  but  just  uselessly  banged  a  tambourine  and  sad  she  didn't  want  to  sing  anymore. Later  that  year  she  went  into  rehab  for  her  alcoholism.

At  the  beginning  of  1975  Florence  received  some  of  her  money  back  from  Braun's  insurers  , bought  a  new  house, reconciled  with  her  husband  and  tried  to  get  her  career  off  the  ground  again. She  performed  with  a  band  in  Detroit  in  June  and  started  doing  interviews. In  February  1976  she  was  admitted  to  hospital  with  coronary  thrombosis  and  died  within  24 hours. Diana  came  to  her  funeral  and  made  arrangements  for  her  childrens' education  though  sadly  they  have  ended  up  living  on  welfare  themselves.

We  cover  Diana  elsewhere  of  course  so  let's  move  on  to  Mary. After  a  protracted  legal  dispute  with  Motown  she  finally  got  a  deal  as  a  solo  artist  in  1979. During  that  period  she  performed  with  another  girl  called  Karen  Rageland  who's  sometimes  claimed  she  was  a  Supreme  as  a  result.  The  first  single  "Red  Hot"  came  out  in  September  1979  and  is  a  pretty  good  approximation  of  Chic  ( a  year  before  Miss  Ross  engaged  their  services  )  though  it  only  just  scraped  into  the  R &  B  charts .A  second  single  from  her  self-titled  debut  album  "Pick  Up  The  Pieces"  was  only  released  in  the  UK. It's  a  mellow  ballad  which   really  drags.  Mary  started  work  on  a  second  LP  with  producer  Gus  Dudgeon  but  after  four  tracks  had  been  recorded  she  was  informed  that  she  was  dropped  from  the  label. The  timing  suggests  that  her  solo  contract  had  only  ever  been  a  sop  to  keep  Miss  Ross  happy  and  once  her  intention  to  quit  the  label  was  known  Mary  was  history.

With  no  immediate  offers  elsewhere  Mary  went  off  to  tour  Europe  and  then  got  involved  in  musical  theatre  so  she  was  well  placed  to  observe  the  success  of  Dreamgirls.  In  1986  she  published  her  account  of  The  Supremes  up  to  Diana's  departure , "Dreamgirl : My  Life  As  A  Supreme"  and  found  herself  a  bestselling  author. The  book  is  still  one  of  the  most  popular  pop  autobiographies  of  all  time . From  being  half-forgotten  Mary  became  a  chat  show  regular  and  sought  to relaunch  her  music  career  with  appearances  in  Las  Vegas  and  a  hook-up  with  British  producer  Ian  Levine.

Levine, one  of  the  main  movers  and  shakers  in  the  Northern  Soul  scene  had  moved  on  to   the  Hi-NRG  disco  scene  and  enjoyed   success  as  a  producer  with  Evelyn  Thomas  and   Miquel  Brown  but  his  real  ambition  was  to  produce  records  for  some  of  his  Motown  idols and  Mary  was  one  of  the  first  he  approached. "Don't  Get  Mad  Get  Even"  released  on  his Nightmare  label in  1987  was  his  own  song   and  it's  a  reasonable  stab  at  a  gay  disco  anthem although  Mary's  vocal  is  a  bit  rusty; her  time  away  from  the  mike  definitely  shows. Mary  got  a  plug  for  the  book  on  the  sleeve  too.

Despite  the  record's  failure  to  chart  Levine  expanded  his  mission  to  America  and  Nightmare  became  Motorcity  Records  with  an  office  in  Detroit. Virtually  anyone  who'd  ever  recorded  on  Motown  was  invited  along; nearly  all  the  ex-Supremes  did  something  there. Mary  recorded  another  single  "Ooh  Child" in  1990  on  which  her  vocal  sounds  horribly  amateur-ish.   You  often  hear  talking  heads  blithely  asserting  that  Mar  had  the  best  voice  in  The  Supremes  - not  on  this  evidence  she  didn't ! After  that  her  relations  with  Levine  soured. Her  manager  strong-armed  him  into  paying  up front  for  Mary to  record  an  album  but  no  product  was  delivered, Mary  preferring  to  write  a  second  book  about  the  post-Ross  era  instead  of  going  into  the  studio. She  got  away  with  it  because Levine  had  more  pressing  problems. Motorcity  is  a  classic  example  of  how  a  fan's  enthusiasm  is  no  substitute  for  a  sound  business  head. Levine  made  two  crucial  errors. One  was  expecting  substantial  interest  in  America  which  never  materialised; he  was  just  wasting  his  time  with  second  rate  has  beens  as  far  as  they  were  concerned. The  other  was  taking  on  too  artists  so  that  the  music  had  to  be   quickly   produced  on  a  Fairlight  giving  all  the  records  a  Stock, Aitken  and  Waterman  feel, anathema  to  serious  soul  fans. The  label  did  score  a  decent  sized  UK  hit  with  Frances  Nero's  Footsteps  Following  Me  in  1991  ( which  Annie  Nightingale  raved  about  for  some  reason )  but  it  was  nowhere  near  enough  to  save  the  label  which  Left  Levine  virtually  bankrupt.

Mary  signed  for  CEO Records  in  1991  to  record  the  album  "Walk  The  Line"  but  the  label  went  into  liquidation  the  day  after  its  release. Three   years  later  her  son  was  killed  in  a  driving  accident; Mary  was  only  moderately  injured. She  spent  most  of  the  nineties  fighting  in  court  to  keep  control  of  the  Supremes  name  against  former  bandmates  who  were  touring  under  the  banner, with  mixed  results  but  still  managed  to  put  the  odd  single  out. Her  venture  into  hip  hop  "U"  in  1995  is  embarrassingly  bad; "Turn Around"  from  the  following    is  merely  a  dull  plodder.

In  2000  a  reunion  of  The  Supremes   tour   featuring  Diana, Mary  and  Cindy  was  planned but came  to  grief  over  money  haggles; there  are  different  versions  over  the  details. Diana  then  went  out  with  Linda  and  Scherrie  instead. The  "Return  To  Love"  tour  got  a  mixed  reception. Some  gigs  sold  out  but  it  was  generally  felt  the  tickets  were  over-priced  and  the  tour  was  cancelled  halfway  through  the  schedule. Mary  put  out  the  anonymous  electrodisco  of  "It's  Time  To  Move  On" instead, her  last  recording  for  over  a  decade.

Mary  spent  the  noughties  doing  charity  ventures , motivational  speaking, concerts, guest  spots   on  other  arttists'  records , continuing  her  "Truth  in  Music"  crusade  and  generally  being  an  ex-Supreme. Her  biggest  success   was  curating  a  travelling  exhibition  of  The  Supremes'  stage  costumes. In  2011  she  released  the  nauseating  "Life's  Been  Good  To  Me"  where  she  croaks  her  way  through  an  exercise  in  self-congratulation  including  a  back-slapping  MC  introduction  at  the  start . It  trailed  an  album  "Clarity"  which  has  yet  to  see  the  light  of  day.

The  story  of  Cindy, probably  the  most  likable  Supreme,  is  relatively   quickly   told. After  leaving  the  group  she   was  virtually  penniless  and  worked  for  a  time  as  a  nurse  under  her  married  name  before  going  to  work  as  an  assistant  for  Suzanne  de  Passe  at  Motown. In  1986  she  was  approached  by  Sherrie  to  join  the  Former  Ladies  of  the  Supremes  project   but  quit  before  it  really  got  off  the  ground. She  has  one  solo  single  to  her  name  "Dancing  Room "  which    sounds  like  Living  In  A  Box  are  the  backing  band  with  all  the  Fairlight  brass  going  off  and  is  standard  mid-80s  R &  B  fare. After  that  Cindy  retreated  into  her  church  and  eventually  became  a  minister, occasionally  giving  interviews  on  Christian  TV  shows . By  some  versions  Cindy  accepted  the  invitation  to  join  the  "Return  To  Love"  tour  but  for  whatever  reason  it  went  ahead  without  her.

Jean  also  got  religion  but  in  her  case  it  was  the  Jehovah's  Witnesses. She  eventually  resurfaced  on  A  &M  where  she  recorded  an  album  "I  Had  To  Fall  In  Love" in  1978  featuring  Lynda  on  backing  vocals  and  eighties  singer  Jeffrey  Osborne  on  percussion. She  then  refused  to  promote  it  properly  for  religious  reasons  ending  her  solo  recording  career. She  supported  herself  by  touring, often  using  Lynda  as  a  backing  singer.  Cindy  invited  her  into  the  Former  Ladies  of  the  Supremes   in  1986  and  when  Cindy  left  Jean  drafted  Linda  in  to  replace  her. This  venture  actually  had  Mary's  support. Their  first  single  in  1987  was  "We're  Back"  , an  awful  slice  of  sub-Jam  and  Lewis  production  and  no  tune  with  lyrics  unwisely  advertising  their  shopworn  pedigree. Two  years  later  they  joined the  Motorcity  project  and  did  several  tours  of  the  UK.  Their  first  single  for  Levine  "Crazy  About  The  Guy"  is  a  neat  enough  update  of  the  classic  Supremes  sound  within  the  parameters  of  the  production  problem  noted  above. The  next  one  was  a  re-recording  of  "Stoned  Love". The  third  single  "I  Want  To  Be  Loved"  actually  came  out  as  The  Supremes  in  the  UK  after  a  successful  registration  with  the  UK  Patent  Office; it's  routine  sub-SAW  pop  R &  B. Their  final  single  for  Motorcity  "Hit  and  Miss"  uses  Linda  as  lead  vocalist  and  goes  for  more  of  a  Black  Box  Eurodisco  feel  but  the  song's  undistinguished. The  girls  recorded  a  full  LP  "Bouncing  Back"  but  the  label  folded  before  it  could  be  released. When  the  label  folded  Jean  opted  to  quit  the  line-up  and  has  since  worked  out  of  the  spotlight  with  jazz  musicians, interspersed  with  the  odd  concert  of  Supremes  material.

 Linda  initially  returned  to  singing  with  Stevie  Wonder  and  appears  on  Songs  In  the  Key  of  Life.  In  1976  she  formed  the  Wilton Place  Street  Band  with  husband  Trevor  and  her  sister  Sundray   and  released  "Disco  Lucy"  a  re-working  of  the  theme  to  I Love  Lucy  in  the  style  of  The  Hustle  which  is  virtually  an  instrumental. That  same  year  she  duetted  with  Nilsson  on  his  medley  single  "Just  One  Look / Baby  I'm  Yours" . In  the  eighties  she  preceded  Mary  into  the  Hi-NRG  scene  and  released  a  string  of  singles  on  UK  labels  under  the  name  Norma  Lewis. They  were  popular  in  gay  discos  here  and  in  Europe  but  none  crossed  over  into  the  pop  charts. "The  Fight"  from  1984   is  the  best  of  them  and   I  suspect   PSB's  Chris  Lowe   was  familiar  with  it  as  the  rhythm  track  is   rather  similar  to  Always  On  My  Mind.  When  F.L.O.S.  joined  Motorcity,  Levine  recorded  a  number  of  tracks  with  Linda  alone  including  a  single  "Living  With  A  Married  Man" which  is  a  good  vehicle  for  her  voice  but  the  song  is  a  bit  generic.  Linda  stayed  with  F.L.O.S.  when  Jean  departed  , did  the  tour  with  Diana  Ross  and  still  performs  alongside  Scherrie  Payne  to  this  day.