302 Goodbye Bay City Rollers - You Made Me Believe In Magic

Chart  entered : 30  July  1977

Chart  peak : 34

With  one  obvious  exception  there  is  no  more  tawdry  tale  to  tell  here  than  the  fall  from  grace  of  Edinburgh's  finest.

Where  to  start ? Well  it's  clear  from  the  sleeve  that  the  band  has  changed  somewhat  from  their  first  hit. Of   the  six  faces  from  the  cover  of  "Keep  On  Dancing"   only  Derek  Longmuir  is  still  there  on  the  left. After  their  second  single  "We  Can  Make  Music"  flopped   Eric  Manclark  , Archie  Marr  and  Neil  Henderson . The  first  two  disappear  into  the  shadows  immediately  but  Neil  joined  Middle  of  the  Road  in  1974  and  wrote  quite  a  lot  of  their  post-fame  material  before  they  jacked  it  in  in  1976.  They  were  replaced  by  two  new  guitarists  Eric  Faulkner  and  John  Devine  who  at  least  moved  the  musicianship  of  the  band  up  a  notch.  Still  their  singles  continued  to  flounder.

At  the  end  of  1973  they  recorded  the  Martin-Coulter  song  "Remember"  but  with  exquisitely  bad  timing  singer   Nobby  Clark   who  was  fed  up  of  touring   decided  to  quit  the  band. He  was  replaced  by  a  fresh-faced  teenager  Les  McKeown   then   John   left  to  get  married  allowing   Tam  Paton  to  replace  him  with  another  one , Stuart  Wood,  shortly  afterwards.  This  completed  the  "classic"  line -up.  Nobby  made  a  couple  of  featherweight  pop  singles  "Steady  Love"  and  "Shake  It  Down"  in  the  later  seventies  and  had  some  success  in  France  where  he  worked  on  film  soundtracks  for  a  few  years  before  returning  to  Edinburgh  and  running  a  recording  studio. He  then  retreated  into  private  life  for  a  couple  of  decades  before  his  friend  David  Paton  helped  him  make  some  CDs  in  the  noughties. In  recent  years  he  has  been  trying  to  cash  in  on  his  time  with the  Rollers  with  a  not  entirely  honest   autobiography  and  attempts  to  get  in  on  their  ongoing  legal  action  (see below ) against  the  record  company which  seem  to  have  been  rebuffed.

Despite  the  line  up  changes  the  Rollers  were  warned  by  Bell   that  "Remember" ( with  Nobby's  vocals   still  on  it  )  was  their  last  shot. Paton  had  some  postcards  printed  out  and  mailed  them  to  all  the  addresses  of  David  Cassidy  fans  he  found  in  Pop  Swap  magazine. The  ploy  worked  and  within  a  year  the  band  were  the  hottest  property  in  pop  reaching  their  peak  early  in  1976  when  "Saturday  Night"  a  re-recorded  ( despite  Nobby's  claims to  the  contrary )  version  of  an  earlier  flop  got  to  number  one  in  the  States.

Things  started  unravelling  almost  immediately  afterwards. Founding  member  Alan  Longmuir  who  at  27  always  looked  exquisitely  uncomfortable  amongst  the  screaming  and  was  drinking  heavily  agreed  with  Paton's  suggestion  that  he quit. He  was  replaced  by  17  year  old  Irish  boy   Ian  Mitchell , a  move   which , along  with  escalating  drug  and  alcohol  abuse heightened  paranoia  in  the  band. Just  weeks  later  their  painstakingly  constructed  squeaky  clean  image  was  shattered  when  Les  knocked  down  and  killed   an  elderly  woman  near  his  family   home. With  conflicting  witness  testimony  about  how  fast  he  was  driving  he  was  found  guilty  of  reckless  driving  and  fined  £150  - bear  that  in  mind  next  time  you  hear  him  complain  about  how  hard  done  by  he's  been.

It  didn't  stop  their  cover  of  Dusty's  "I  Only  Wanna  Be  With  You"  becoming  their  final  Top  10  hit  in  the  UK   that  autumn. At  the  end  of  the  year  Ian  quit  the  band  though  he  stayed  with  Paton  and  enjoyed  some  success  in  the  Far  East  with  his  new  band  Rosetta  Stone. After  breaking  with  Paton  he  had  success  in  Europe  too  with  the  Ian  Mitchell  Band  in  the  early  eighties  but  found  it  impossible  to   shake  off  the  ex-Roller  stigma  in  the  main  markets. In  recent  years  he's  toured  his  own  version  of  the  Rollers  and  like  Clarke  tried  to  get  in  on  the  legal  action.His  replacement  Pat  McGlynn  lasted  just  three  months  and  the  band  decided  to  record  their  next  album  "It's  A  Game"  as  a  quartet.  

"You  Made  Me  Believe  In  Magic"  was  the  second  single  after  the  title  track  reached  the  Top  20  in  February. It's  a  decent  disco  pop  tune  written  by  a  Len  Boone  with  a  breezy  arrangement  by  producer  Harry  Maslin  and  a  neat  guitar  solo  possibly  by  Eric  but  it's  hampered  by  a  pisspoor  vocal  performance  from  Les  who  sounds  like  he's  going  for  a  Barry  Gibb  quaver  on  the  verses  and  then  really  straining  on  the  chorus. It  makes  it  sound  like  the  sort  of  record  a  famous  70s  footballer  would  make.

The  third  single  was  "The  Way I  Feel Tonight"  a  lush  David  Soul-ish  ballad   with  an  adequate  breathy  vocal  and  rather  saucy  lyrics  - "Let  us  taste  each  other's  wine  til  the  cup  is  overflowing". When  it  flopped  in  October  1977  it  was  clear  that  as  far  as  the  UK  was  concerned  Rollermania  was  dead. As  their  commercial  stock  went  down, internal  friction  escalated  with  Les  and  Eric  the  main  antagonists; their  endless  feud  is  probably  the  main  reason  for  their  misfortune. Eric  was  jealous  of  Les  getting  all  the  attention  as lead  singer; Les  was  jealous  of  the  extra  income  stream  Eric  and  Stuart  were  getting  as  writers  on  their  albums ( 1975's   rocky  Christmas  hit  "Money  Honey"  was  the  only  one  of  their  compositions  to  be  trusted  as  a  single ).  At  the  beginning  of  1978  Alan  was  invited  back  into  the  band  to  stabilise   the  situation.

They  had  two  projects  on  the  go,  a  new  album  "Strangers  in  the  Wind"  and  a  US  TV  show  and  the  plan  was  that  one  would  promote  the  other. However  they  were  going  in  different  directions. The  album  was  aiming  at  the  mature  soft  rock  sound  of  latter-day  10cc  while  the  TV  company  wanted  a  reprise  of  their  1975  UK  show  Shang-A-Lang.  Only  one  of  the  singles  got  a  UK  release  in  October  1978,  the  dreary  Beatles-via-ELO  dirge  "All  Of  The World  Is  Falling  In  Love"    written  by  Eric  and  Stuart   with  its  parping  Penny  Lane  horns  and  embarrassingly  corny  lyrics.  The  still-traumatised  Les  could  not  get  in  the  right  frame  of  mind  for  the  show, effectively  sabotaged  it  and  quit  the  band  as  it  was  cancelled. With  a  tour  of  still-interested  Japan  coming  up  he  was  coaxed  back  in  but  hired  security  guards  to  protect  him  from  the  others. They  were  unable  to  prevent  Les  and  Eric  bringing  the  tour  to  an  abrupt  end  with  an  onstage  brawl  sparked  by  Les  trespassing  into  Eric's  spotlight.

The  rest  of  the  band  sided  with  Eric  and  Les  was  out. We'll  come  back  to  him  shortly.  Eric  finally  got  to  call  the  shots  but  it  was  a  Pyrrhic  victory. They  recruited  a  new  singer  Duncan  Faure  , truncated  their  name  to  The  Rollers  and  released  the  album  "Elevator"  in  1979  showing  off  a   US   New  Wave  sound. The  single  "Turn  On  The  Radio"  is  a  competent  enough  stab  of  Cars-like  modern  rock  but  they  were  always  to  be  handicapped  by  their  past.  The  band  blamed  Paton  for  its  failure and  their  parlous  financial  situation  and  sacked  him. Their  1980  album  "Voxx"  was  a  hodge  podge  of  out-takes, live  tracks  and  Duncan  Faure  solo  tracks  given  a  perfunctory  re-working  and  was  only  released  in  Germany  and Japan. Nevertheless  it  fulfilled  their  contract  with  Arista  and  they  were  free  to  move  on  to  Epic  in  1981  for  a  final  LP  "Ricochet". The  single  was  Faure's  over-optimistic  "Life  On  The  Radio"  which  is  all  latter-day  ELO  production  and  no  song.

In  1982  they  patched  up  their  differences  with  Les  and  reunited  though  without  Paton  who  was  in  prison  after  being  convicted  of  gross  indecency  with  a  group  of  teenage  boys  though  only  one  of  them  was  under  today's  age  of  consent.  Les  had  managed  to  keep  his  career  going  as  a  solo  artist  in  Japan  for  a  few  years  although  he  frittered  away  most  of  his  earnings  on  constantly  revising  the  elaborate  production  and  artwork  on  his  records. They  were  warmly  received  in  Japan  and  Australia  but  cold  shouldered  elsewhere. In  1983  they  appeared  at  Leeds's  post-punk  Futurama  festival  as  a  sort  of  dirty  trick  by  the  organisers  ( though  not  as  dirty  as  expecting  the  audience  to  kip  down  on  a  filthy  concrete  floor  a  few  years  earlier )  which  ended  with  Les  being  arrested  for  throwing  a  beer  can back  into  the  audience. After  a new  album  "Breakout" failed  to  live  up  to  its  title  in  1985  they  went  their  separate  ways. In  1988  Eric  tried  his  luck  with  an  entirely  new  line-up  and  a  girl  singer  and  his  "New  Rollers"  released  an  EP  on  a  tiny  label  to  minimal  interest.

While  this  was  going  on  Tam  was  building  up  a  property  empire  and  living in  a  well-guarded  mansion  with  an  entourage  of  teenage  boys. Suspicion  grew  that  he  had  helped  himself  to  more  than  his  fair  share  of  the  band's  earnings. We'll  never  know  the  truth  of  this  now  that  Paton's  dead (since  2009). He  said  that  it  was  probably  built  up  by  his  own  efforts  after  the  Rollers  era  though  that  surely  provided  the  seed  capital . On  the  other  hand  the  saner  members  of  the  band  - Derek  and  Stuart  - seem  to  have  accepted  his  protestations  that  he  too  was  in  over  his  head  and  didn't  deliberately  defraud  them. It  was  probably  easier  for  Les  and  Eric  to  blame  one  man  rather  than  try  to  get  their  heads  round  the  tangled  web  of  documents  signed  while  they  were  out  of  it.

Paton  also  suggested  in  a  lengthy  interview  that  they  were  exaggerating  their  penury  and  it  had  more  to  do  with   their  own  poor  investments  and  in  Alan's  case , a  messy  divorce  than  anything  he  did. Paton  cited  Derek  as  having  his  own  tidy  portfolio  of  properties  in  Edinburgh  and  tellingly  he  opted  out  when  Eric , Stuart  and  Alan  got  back  together  in  1990  preferring  to  pursue  a  new  career  in  nursing. They  trod  the  nostalgia  circuit  but  again  frittered  away  most  of  their  earnings  on  a  lawsuit  against  Les's  rival  outfit   which  ended  in  forcing  him  to  add  the  word  "Seventies"  to  his  group's  name. Two  years  later  they  were  working  with  him  again  after  Channel  4's  Glam  Rock  Top  Ten * became  the  first  of  a  string  of  documentaries  to  highlighted  their  plight. So  that  was  £200,000  well  spent !

Derek  declined  to  take  part  in a  final  appearance  at  Edinburgh  Castle  on  Millennium's  Eve  in  1999   but  he  hadn't  escaped  the  Roller  curse. In  2000  he  was  convicted  of  possessing  child  pornography  and  sentenced  to  300  hours  community  service. In  an  ironic  reversal  of  the  Tam  Paton  situation  most  of  the  offending  material  on  discs  at  his  home  was  actually  legal  at  the  time  it  was  made  ( i.e. featuring  16-17  year  old  models ). With  grotesque  unfairness  he  was  featured  n  the  News  of  the  World's  infamous  paedophile  gallery  the  following  year.  However  there  was  some  good  news  in  2001  when  with  great  good  sense  the  UK's  nursing  disciplinary  body  allowed  him  to  resume  his  career.

Since  then  we've  had  regular  updates  via  documentary  on  how  the  Rollers  are  doing  in  their  fight  for "their"  money.  Though  not  working  together  any  more,  the  five  ( plus  Faure   though  it  wouldn't  seem  to  have  much  to  do  with  him  )  have  managed   to  maintain  a  joint  legal  action  against  Sony  ( Arista's  legal  succcessor  ). Sony  have  said  they  pay  money  into  an  escrow  account  and  can't  make  any  disbursements  until  it's  settled  exactly  who  is  entitled  to  it  although  my  impression  is  that  that  relates  to  money  from  compilation  CDs  released  in  the  last  couple  of  decades  rather  than  the  "millions"  from  their  heyday  that  Paton  was  surely  correct  in  saying  are  long  gone.    Each  time  he  appears   Les , pop-eyed  and  jowly, has  looked  more  and  more  like  the  sort  of  guy  you  instinctively  avoid  in  a  pub.  In  the  2004  documentary Who  Got  The  Bay  City  Rollers' Millions  ?   he  showed   an  appalling  lack  of  personal  dignity  in  agreeing  to  a  staged  confrontation  with  Paton  ( who  must  have  anticipated  he'd  make  a  tit  of  himself  )   where  he  was  bawling  " Give  me  my  fucking  money ! "  like  a  sad  perversion   of  the  famous  Geldof  outburst.  Three  years  later  he  accompanied  Pat  McGlynn  to  a  police  station  when  the  latter  made   a  complaint   of  rape  against  Paton  during  his  short  stint  as  a  Roller  more  than  three  decades  earlier; Paton  dismissed  it  as  a  publicity  stunt  to  promote  Les's  new  autobiography  and  the  police  seem  to  have  agreed  as  no  charges  were  brought.  Alan, who  has  survived  two  heart  attacks  and  a  stroke  has  gone  back  to  plumbing  and  Stuart  serves  a  niche  market  making  Scottish  folk  music. Eric  seems  to  have  no  fixed  address. The  lawsuit  is  ongoing  at  the  time  of  writing.        

* They  were  of  course,  never  a  glam  act  and  their  inclusion  showed  a  basic  disrespect  for  the  genre.
 

301 Hello Tom Petty* - Anything That's Rock and Roll

( * .... and  the  Heartbreakers )

Chart  entered : 25  June  1977

Chart  peak : 36

Number  of  hits  : 14 ( including  three  as  part  of  the  Traveling  Wilburys. NB  The  Heartbreakers  are  only  credited  on  seven  of  his  hits )

Despite  a  long  hit  span  Tom's  never  had  much   more  than  a  cult  following  here. He's  the  first  artist  to  qualify  without  a  Top  10 , or  even  Top  20,  hit  to  his  name.  

Tom  was  born  in  Florida  in  1950  and  met  Elvis  when  he  was  10  as  his  uncle  worked  on  the  set  of  the  movie  Follow  That  Dream  although  like  most  American  musicians  of  his  generation  he  cites  The  Beatles  on  Ed  Sullivan  as  his  musical  epiphany. He  formed  a  band  in  the  late  sixties  called  The  Epics. In  1970  they  morphed  into  Mudcrutch  and  picked  up  guitarist  Mike  Campbell and  keyboardist  Benmont  Tench  who  would  later  be  Heartbreakers. Mudcrutch  picked  up  a  strong  local  following  and  in  1974  got  a  deal  with Shelter  Records  and  moved  to L.A. They  only  got  to  release  the  one  single  "Depot  Street"  a  pop  rock  number  with  reggae  stylings  to  please  their  patron  Denny  Cordell. Tom  ends  up  sounding  more  like  Ian  Hunter  than  Bob  Marley  and  there's  more  than  a  passing  resemblance  to  Mother  And  Child  Reunion but  it  did introduce  two  enduring  elements  to  Tom's  work with  its  tale  of  Everyman  romance  and  its  musical  economy. The  band  split  up  under  record  company  pressure  in  1975.

However  Cordell  and  Shelter  still  had  faith  in  Tom  and  encouraged  him  to  form  a  new  band  though  with  his  name  out  front.  Campbell  and  Tench  were  re-hired  and  a  new  rhythm  section  of  Ron  Blair ( bass )  and  Stan  Lynch ( drums )  were  brought  in  to  form  The  Heartbreakers. They  had  no  connection  to  car  crash  rocker  Johnny  Thunders's  band  of  the  same  name. They  released  their  eponymous  debut  album  in  November  1976.  Just  half  an  hour  long  it  had  10  short  songs  showcasing  a  wide  variety  of  influences  and  initially  had  few  takers.

Shelter  chose  different  songs  for  the  first  single  in  the  US  and  UK. In  the  former  it  was  "Breakdown"   a  downbeat  soft  rock  number  with  Eagles  harmonies   and  a  crisp  guitar  solo. We  got  "American  Girl" a Byrdsian  jangle * spinning  a  yarn  of  disappointed  dreams  which  has  become  one  of  his  most  enduring  songs. Both  failed  initially  and  were  hits  on  reissue. The  band  went  to  England  early  in  1977  initially   to  support  Nils  Lofgren  but  quickly  getting  gigs  in  their  own  right. Though  hardly  punks,  their   set  of   short  punchy  songs  chimed  with  the  times  and  this  second  single  started  to  sell  enough  to  get  them  on  Top  of  the  Pops.

"Anything  That's  Rock n Roll"  isn't  their  greatest  song  and  the  almost  exclusively  female  audience  on  Top  of  the  Pops  that  day  were  more  interested  in  waving  to  the  camera  than  listening  to  this  staccato   Southern  boogie  tune  sung  by  a  skeletal  blonde  bloke  of  whom  they'd  never  heard. The  lyric's  squarely  in  the  Chuck  Berry  tradition  of  celebrating  youthful  irresponsibility  but  it  doesn't  have   a  tune  that  sticks  in  your  head  and  the  guitar  solos  are  fairly  routine.

* Roger  McGuinn  was  quick  to  record  it  himself.

300 Hello Shalamar - Uptown Festival

Chart  entered : 14  May  1977

Chart  peak : 30

Number  of  hits : 17

Few  acts  on  here  have  made  a  less  auspicious  debut  with  a  single  that's  both  dire  and  unrepresentative.

Shalamar  was  originally  a  studio-only  vehicle  for  the  creator  of  the  Soul  Train  programme  in  the  US  Don  Cornelius  and  his  booking  agent  Dick  Griffey. The  project  was  dollar-driven; the  show  would  be  more  lucrative  for  them  if  the  studio  dancers  were  strutting  their  stuff  to  the  duo's  own  music. They  recorded  an  album  with  session  singers  with  the  leads  usually  handled  by  Gary  Mumford, the  centre  piece  of  which  was  a  near  nine  minute  medley  of  old  Motown  hits  named  "Uptown  Festival".

The  single  is  a  clumsy  four  minute  edit  featuring  discofied  snatches  of  Going  To  A Go  Go ,  I  Can't  Help  Myself , Uptight , Stop  In  The  Name  of  Love,  and  It's  The  Same  Old  Song  set  to  an  unyielding  and  monotonous  beat. It  sounds  like  a  sampler  for  one  of  those  awful  Top  of  the  Pops  albums . Nevertheless  when  aired  on  the  programme  it  was  a  big  success  and  reached  number  25  on  the  main  chart  despite  being  on  the  duo's  own  small  label. It  was  also  a  hit  internationally. The  party  medley  - dormant  since  The  Dave  Clark  Five - was  back  and  the  road  to  Starsound  and  Jive  Bunny  starts  here.

The  success  of  the  record  meant  of  course  a  demand  for  Shalamar  in  person  and  so  Don  and  Dick   drafted  in  two  of  Soul  Train's  most  photogenic  dancers  Jody  Watley  and  Jeffrey  Daniel  to  flank  ( briefly )  Gary  in   performance.  

299 Hello The Jam - In The City

Chart  entered : 7  May  1977

Chart  peak : 40  ( in  1977  and 1980, 43  in 1983; 36  in  2002 )

Number  of  hits : 18

This  record  is  surely  unique  in  chart  history. To  be  a  hit  four  times  is  remarkable  enough  but  to  achieve  such  a  consistency  in  chart  position  with  the  highest  coming  the  fourth  time  around  is  amazing.

I've  written  quite  a  lot  about  The  Jam  elsewhere  so this  will  be  short. Paul  Weller ( born  1958 )  first  put  together   a  school  band  in  1972  and  this  gradually  solidified  into  a  four  piece  of  himself  on  vocals  and  lead  guitar, Steve  Brookes  on  bass, Bruce  Foxton  ( born  1955 )   on  rhythm  guitar  and  Rick  Buckler   ( born  1955 )  on  drums .  At  this  stage  they  were  essentially  a  pub  band  playing  covers  first  of  old  rock  and  roll  songs  then  R & B  and  Motown  classics. Eventually  Brooks  got  bored  and  left  which  meant  Bruce  switched  to  bass.

Paul  started  writing  songs  which  shared  the  outlook  of  those  bands  in  the  growing  punk  movement  and  the  band's  raw  energy  on  stage  meant  they  were  accepted  as  a  "punk  "  band  by  many  despite  their  taste  for  mod  clothing  and  reverence  for  music  from  the  past. They  were  managed  by  Paul's  dad  John  and  despite  having  absolutely  zero  experience  in  the  music  business  he  managed  to  get  them  a  deal  with  Polydor  early  in  1977.

Here's  what  I  had  to say  about  the  song  four  years  ago  when  reviewing  the  parent LP :

Side  Two  begins  with  the  title  track  and  first  hit  single  which  benefits  from  the  best  production  on  the  LP  and  the  prominence  of  Foxton  who  doubles  up  on  a  lot  of  the  vocals  and  provides  that  unforgettable  descending  bassline. Weller  took  the  title  and  the  odd  melodic  phrase  from  a  Who  B-side  and  the  plectrum-scraping  sounds  from  their  early  hit  Anyway Anyhow  Anywhere  but  it's  his  own  voice  declaring  a  revolution  of  the  young   with  a  sidewipe  at  the  police  -" I  hope  they  never  have  the  right  to  kill  a  man" . We  can  smile  at  its  naivety  but  its  energy  is  undeniable. A  classic  punk  single  and  definitely  the  best  thing  on  the  LP.

298 Hello Peter Gabriel - Solsbury Hill

First  charted  : 9  April  1977

Chart  peak  : 13

Number  of  hits : 18

Another  one  where  we've  covered  most  of  the  back  story  already.  After  "I  Know  What  I  Like  In  Your  Wardrobe" Peter  recorded  one  more  album  with  Genesis  , the  concept  album  "The  Lamb  Lies  Down  On  Broadway " which  gained  a  grudging  respect  from  people  who  normally  hated  the  band  and   thereby  provided  a  good  jumping  off  point. Making  the  album  had  been  difficult  with  Peter  contributing  little  to  the  music  due  to  his  wife's  difficult  pregnancy  and  then  insisting  on  writing  nearly  all  the  lyrics. The  rest  of  the  band  were  also  beginning  to  resent  the  press  emphasis  on  his  stage  theatrics  rather  than  the  music. Peter   told  the  others  he  was  leaving  early  into  the  tour  for  the LP  but  it  wasn't  made  public  until  the  tour  finished  in  the  summer  of  1975.  His  first  solo  work  had  a  lengthy  gestation  period.

In  that  time  I  moved  up  to  secondary  school  and  fell  back  under  the  sway  of  Robert  Schofield,  a  friend  from  my  first  primary  school. Although  they  didn't  live  in  a  bigger  house  than  ours,  the  Schofields  were  always  well  turned  out, Mrs  Schofield   was   a  leading  light  of  the  Townswomen's  Guild  and  Mum  never  forgot  that  she  didn't  reciprocate  when  Robert  came  to  tea  once  circa  1973. Robert's  musical  tastes  were  completely  formed  by  his  older  brother  , a  big prog  fan  so  he  told  me  disco, punk  and  pop  were  crap  and  I  should  be  listening  to  Mike  Oldfield  and  Pink  Floyd  instead. He  also  told  me  to  listen  out  for  the  new  single  by  the  ex-lead  singer  of  Genesis  ( who  I  was   vaguely  aware  of  ) which  was  going  to  hit  the  charts.

He  was  right  on  both  counts. "Solsbury  Hill "  was  a  hit  and  it's  a  corker.  It  describes  a  walk  Peter  took  on  the  aforementioned  hill  in  Somerset  overlooking  his  home  in  Bath  during  the  period  when  he  was  mulling  over  quitting  Genesis. The  song  implies  that  he  made  the  big  decision  there  and then  though  he's  never  directly  claimed  that  and  I  don't  think  we're  supposed  to  take  the  eagle  that  instructs  him  literally. But  Peter  would  have  been  well  aware  of  the  religious  connotations  and  deliberately  frames  the  song as  an  epiphany.

There  have  been  many  songs  about  intrs-band  conflict, some  of  them  dreadful -So  Long  Frank  Lloyd Wright  comes  to  mind  - but   this  succeeds  because  it's  so  suffused  with  the  joy  of  liberation  and  the  expectation  of  better things  to  come. Peter's  voice  has  never  sounded  better  from  the  throaty  declaration of  the  first  line  to  the  ecstatic  gibberish  of  the  last  few  bars. Typically  the  music  is  complex  with  a  rarely  used  7/4  time  signature  but  the  acoustic guitar  arpeggios  and  stately  four  note  synth  motif  make  it  accessible. I'm  not  sure  he's  ever  topped  this.    

297 Hello The Jacksons - Enjoy Yourself

Chart  entered  : 9  April  1977

Chart  peak  : 42

Number  of  hits  : 15

We've  covered  the  back  story  of  these  guys  before  of  course  so  this  is  a  short  one.

"Enjoy  Yourself "  was  their  first  release  on  Epic, originally  issued  in  September  1976. It's  not  the  joyous  ska  tune  covered  by  The  Specials  but  a  pop  funk  number  written  by  Gamble  and  Huff.  It  passed  me  by  at  the  time  and  I  can  see  why. Despite  Michael's  now  matured  vocals   exhorting  a  chick  to  get  on  the  floor  there's  little  more  to  the  song  than  Tito's  jangly  guitar  riff   and  not  much  melody  at  all. Your  attention  wanders  off  after  a  minute  noting  only  Jackie's*  laboured  contribution  on  the  bridge. The  three  Jackson  sisters  contributed  barely  noticeable  backing  vocals  which  is  why  they're  on  the  sleeve  but  were  never  formally  part  of  the  group. The  single  missed  out  on  the  charts  first  time  round  but  was  re-issued  six  monhs  later  in  the  wake  of  its success  in  the  US  where  it  reached  number  6  on  the  back  of  their  weekly  variety  show. It  scraped  into  the  lower  reaches  of  the  chart; their  next  single  would  reach  number  one.

*  In  Jermaine's  absence  he  became  the  group's  second  vocalist

296 Hello The Clash - White Riot

First  charted : 2  April  1977

Chart  peak : 38

Number  of  hits : 18

I  have  to  say  I've  never  been  entirely  convinced  by  the  claims  for  this  band's  greatness  but here  goes....

The  Clash  came  together  in    early  1976  after  the  dissolution  of  a  band  called  The  London  SS. Mick  Jones  a  Londoner  born  in  1955  was  their  guitarist  having  started  out  in  a  glam  rock  band  called  The  Delinquents. They  were  managed  by  a  friend  of  Malcolm  McLaren  called  Bernie  Rhodes  and  spent  most  of  their  short  existence  auditioning  for  new  members. Most  of  the  future  Clash  members  went  through  this  process  without  being  recruited. Jones  and  Rhodes  started  putting  a  new  band  together  after  seeing  The  Sex  Pistols  in  February  and  recruited  Paul  Simonon   ( born  1955 )  even  though  he  couldn't  play  anything  at  that  point. Another  guitarist  Keith  Levene  was  recruited  and  drummer  Terry  Chimes  ( born  1956 )  began  his  on/off  relationship  with  the  band. Paul  came  up  with  the  name.

They  were  still  looking  for  a  lead  singer  and  hatched  a  plan  to  lure  away  Joe  Strummer  from  a  pub  rock  outfit  The  101ers . Joe  Strummer  was  born  John  Mellor  in  1952 the  son  of  a  high  ranking  civil  servant  in  the  Foreign  Office, He  was  educated  at  a  public  school  and  after  a  spell  at  art  college  became  part  of  a  squatting  scene  in  West  London. The  101ers  were  formed  out  of  this  in  1974  and  became  a  tight  respected  R &  B  outfit  on  the  pub  rock  scene. Though  they  played  many  covers  Joe began  to  write  songs  including  the  only  single  released  in  their  lifetime  "Keys  To  Your  Heart "  a  fast, jangly  number  that's  closer  to  early  Police  than  Dr  Feelgood.

By  the  time  Chiswick  released  it  the  band  was  already  dead. Joe  was  approached   by  Mick  and  Bernie   after  a  gig  in  April  1976   where  the  Pistols  had  been  the  support  act. This  influenced  Joe's  decision  to  jump  ship. They  played  their  first  gig  supporting  the  Pistols  in  Sheffield, largely  to  pre-empt  rivals  The  Damned, and  were  shambolic  with  Paul's  bass-playing  still  at  a  rudimentary  stage. Bernie  told  them  they  had  to  get  tighter  before  performing  again. In  August  Joe  and  Paul  attended  the  Notting  Hill  Carnival  and  observed  the  violent  clashes  between  black  youths  and  the  police, an  event  that  directly  influenced  the  lyrics  to  "White  Riot".

Shortly  afterwards  Keith  was  fired  allegedly  because  he  was  over-using  speed  but  with  Joe  also  wanting  to  play  guitar  and  Keith  not  contributing  to  the  songwriting  he  was  the  obvious  one  to  be  offloaded. In  November  Terry  who  didn't  share  Joe's  neo-Marxist  worldview  left  of  his  own  accord. The  following  month  the  punk  scene  went  overground  with  the  Grundy  incident  and  the  new  bands  were  courted  by  the  major  labels.

The  Clash  signed  with  CBS  in  February  1977  , an  event  much  criticised  by  punk  purists  such  as  Mark  Perry  of  Sniffin  Glue . Although  he  hadn't  signed  the  contract  Terry  was  drafted  back  in  to  drum  on  their  first  recordings.

"White  Riot"  was  their  first  single. I'd  be  the  first  to  admit  that  I  have  little  time  for  the  public  school  left  of  which  Mr  Strummer  was  a  shining  example  and  a  song  which  patronisingly  praises  blacks  for  throwing  bricks  and  bemoans  the  lack  of  appetite  among  white  youths  for  doing  the  same  doesn't  float  my  boat .  "Nobody  wants  to  go  to  jail"  apparently ; I wonder  why  that  might  be ? Perhaps  if  you  don't  have  any  expectation  of  a  comfortable  inheritance  from  your  parents  you'd  be  a   bit  concerned  about  your  future  job  prospects ? Musically  it's  as  basic  as  they  come,  a  sub-two  minute  Ramones  thrash  that    later  so  embarrassed  Mick  that   he  insisted  they  drop  it  from  the  set. With  its  barked  moronic  chorus  it  unwittingly  put  down  the  template  for  a  whole  slew  of  under-talented  "punk"  acts  over  the  next  few  years  from  The  UK  Subs   with  their  geriatric  lead  singer  Charlie  Harper  to  the  reviled  Oi  bands  of  the  early  eighties. The  Clash  would  of  course   go  on  to  make  much  better  records  than  this.                

295 Hello Elkie Brooks - Pearl's A Singer

Chart  entered : 2  April  1977

Chart  peak : 8

Number  of  hits :  13

In  October  1976  some  savings  certificates  that   my  father  had  invested  on  our  behalf , four  years  earlier  after  the  death  of  his  wealthy  Aunt  Nell, matured  and  my  sister bought  a  cheap  mono  record  player  from  her  interest. So  it  became  imperative  to  build  up  a  collection  quickly. One  solution  was  provided  by  Bradleys  Records  in  Rochdale; they  had  "lucky  bags"  of  five  old  singles,  bundled  in  cellophane  so  you  could  only  see  what  two  of  them  were, available  for  50p  . Obviously  they  chose  the  most  attractive,  ex-chart  singles  to  be  the  bookends  and  I  ended  up  with  some  right old  rubbish  alongside  old  Sweet  hits  when  I   bought  a  few  of  them. Anyone  know  anything  about  Kon-Tiki ( "Hot  Buttered  Kissses" ), The  Armada  Orchestra ( "Conchise" )  or  Wat  Tyler  ("Gonna  Burn The Manor  Down" )  ?  By  the  end  of  the  seventies  these  had  all  been  disposed  of  to  jumble  sales  including  one  by  a  guy  called  Eddie  Howell , "Man  From  Manhattan",  which   I  believe  is  quite  valuable  because  produced  by  Freddie  Mercury  so  someone  in  Littleborough  got  lucky. I  mention  all  this  because  another  of  the  singles  acquired  in  this  way  was  "Where  Do We  Go  From  Here"  by  Elkie  Brooks. I didn't  like  the  song  and  assumed  she  was  discarded  flotsam  like  all  these  others  but  just  a  few  weeks  later  she  popped  up  in  the  charts.

Elaine  Bookbinder  was  born  in  Salford  and  turns  70  next  week. She's  Jewish though  her  mother  was  originally  a  Catholic. Her  older  brother  Tony  was  the  drummer  in  Billy  J  Kramer  and  the  Dakotas. She  started  singing  in  clubs  from 13  and  turned professional  under  her   current  stage  name  as  soon  as  she  left  school. She  made  her  first  single  for  Decca  , a  cover  of  Etta  James's  "Something's  Got  A  Hold  On  Me"  in  June  1964  with  Cliff's  old  mucker  Ian  Samwell  producing. It's  a  decent  slice  of  pop  R & B  but  Lulu  got  there  first.

Her  second  single  "Nothing  Left  To  Do  But  Cry"  is  an  early  David  Gates  song  first  recorded  in  the  US  by  Merry  Clayton. It's  a  fully  orchestrated  big  ballad  in  the  Cilla  Black  style  on  which  Elkie  lets  rip  although  her  phrasing  is  very  clumsy  at  times, betraying  her  inexperience. Her  third  and  final  single  for  Decca  was  a  version  of  Smokey  Robinson's  "The  Way  You  Do  The  Things  You  Do "  done  as  a   girl  group  number  with  Elkie  singing  in  a  higher  register  than  usual. It  was   perhaps  a  little  dated  for  1965.

Decca  declined  to  take  things  any  further  with  her  but  she  was  an  established  live  performer  touring  with  the  Beatles  and  the  Animals  so  HMV  thought  she  was  worth  a  punt. Her  first  single  for  them  was  "He's  Gotta  Love  Me"  in  June  1965  an  uptempo   Kenny  Lynch  number  with  a  restrained  Dionne  Warwick-ish  vocal  from  Elkie. I  haven't  heard  her  version  of  Lesley  Gore's  "All  Of  My  Life". Her  last  single  for  HMV  was  "Baby  Let  Me  Love  You"  in  February  1966  , another  Kenny  Lynch  song  with  an  interesting  arrangement  from  Ivor  Raymonde.

Elkie  didn't  get  another  chance  to  record  until  1969  when  she  was  paired  up  with  Owen  Gray  and  the  Rim  Ram  Band  to  make  a  reggae  version  of  "A  Groovy  Kind  of  Love". The  single  was  marketed  with  a  black  girl  on  the  front  and  only  Elkie's  first  name  missing  the  second  e  was  used  as  part  of  the  subterfuge. It's  not  very  good  but  was  a  hit  in  the  Netherlands.

By  that  time  she  had  hooked  up  professionally  with  Pete  Gage  from  the  Ram  Jam  Band   and  he  produced  her  next  single "Come  September"  on  the  NEMS  label  with  an  arrangement  by  RAH  Band  man  Richard  Hewson. Shortly  afterwards  Gage's  wife  Pauline  was  killed  in  a  car  crash  returning  from  The  Twisted  Wheel  in  Manchester  and  he  and  Elkie  became  involved  romantically. He  persuaded  her  to  join  his  12  piece  jazz  fusion  outfit  Dada. They  released  one  very  of - its- time  eponymous  album  in  1970  on  Atlantic  but  eschewed  singles.  Soon  after  incorporating  a  friend  from  art  college  called  Robert  Palmer  into  the  band  , Gage  realised  that  the  line  up  was  unworkable and  so  slimmed  them  down  to  a  six  piece, rechristened  them  Vinegar  Joe  and  with  Ahmed  Ertegun's   agreement  took  them  over  to  Island.

Vinegar  Joe  jettisoned  the  prog  leanings  of  Dada  in  favour  of  a  lean  blues  rock  sound  close  to  contemporaries  Stone  The  Crows. They  released  three  albums  in  their  lifetime  ( 1971-74 ) taking  one  single  from  each. Their  first  single  "Never  Met  A  Dog (That  Took  To  Me )"  in  February  1972   is  a  Palmer  composition  so  he  takes  the  lead. It  sounds  like  Free  with  Ry  Cooder  standing  in  for  Kossoff  on  guitar  but  the  song's  not  really  single  material. From  the  second  album  in  November  came  the  country-flavoured  "Rock n Roll  Gypsies" with  Elkie  doing  the  lead  which  is  a  bit  drab  and  dreary  to  be  honest. Before  their  final  release  Elkie  did  the  vocal  on  a  song  called  "Dr  Love"  ( later  a  big  hit  for  Tina  Charles )  by  Electric  Dolls  , a  nom  de  plume  for  disco  producer  Biddu. The  last  Vinegar  Joe  single  was  Gage's  song  "Black  Smoke  from  the  Calumet" a  bitter  lament  for  the  decay  of  hippy  ideals  set  to  the  minor  key  soft  rock  of  the  likes  of  America  or  The  Sutherland  Brothers  with  Elkie  emoting  and  at  times  sounding  like  Clare  Torry  on  The  Great  Gig  In  The  Sky.  Again  its'  not  an  obvious  single. If   Vinegar  Joe  had  happened  a  couple  of  years  earlier  they  would  probably  have  a  string  of  hits  to  their  name  but  swimming  against  the  glam  tide  they  just  didn't  get  heard

For  a  hitless  band  there's  quite  a  few  Vinegar  Joe  performances  on  You  Tube  where  you  can  enjoy  Elkie's  full  throttled  Janis  Joplin  impersonation  , throwing  her  skinny  frame  in  flimsy  dresses  around   without  missing  a  note. What's  also  notable  is  that  even when  harmonising  Elkie  and  Bob  don't  cast  as  much  as  a  glance  in  each  other's  direction.

Elkie  reverted  to  being  a  solo  artist, releasing  her  only  solo  single  for  Island   in  February  1974   before  Vinegar  Joe  confirmed  their  dissolution. "Remember  Me"  is  an  updated  but  rather  tuneless  version  of  the  Fontella  Bass  classic. Although  not  a  cause  of  Vinegar  Joe  splitting  her  marriage  to  Gage  had  foundered  and  she  went  to  America  to do  a  tour  as  backing  vocalist  for boogie  band  Wet  Willie.

When she  returned  in  1975  she  managed, despite  her  underachieving  track  record, to  get  a  deal  with  A   &  M.  Her  first  single  was  the  aforementioned  "Where  Do  We  Go  From  Here"  in  November  1975   written  by  Elkie  herself.  It  continues  in  Vinegar  Joe's  blues  rock  vein  and  is  pretty  undistinguished. The  same  could  be  said  of  the  whole  "Rich  Man's  Woman"  album  apart  from  the  cover  which  shows  a  rather  generous  proportion  of  her  left  breast.  Elkie  herself  has  said  the  album  wasn't  very  good  and  that  producers  Kenny  Kerner  and  Richie  Wise  blanded  it  out  against  her  wishes. The  second  single, a  pointless  re-tread  of  The  Crystals'  He's  A  Rebel  also  flopped  ,despite,  or  maybe  because  of, an  undignified  ( for  a  woman  of  31 ) appearance  on  Supersonic.

Then  things  finally  got  better. Her  relationship  with  Gage  improved  to  the  extent  that  he  wrote  and  played  on  her  next  album "Two  Days  Away" . Even  more  significantly  she had  Leiber  and  Stoller   aboard  as  writers  and  producers  and  they  had  a  hand  in  writing  this  breakthrough  hit  , ironically  about  a  has-been  performer. "Pearl's  A  Singer"  is   three  quarters  a  woozy  country  ballad  with  an  irritating  but  instantly  recognisable  four  note  electric  piano  motif  then  becomes  a  bluesy  number  to  allow  Elkie  to  show  her  chops  in  that   direction. She  didn't  have  a  hand  in  writing  it  but  can't  have  failed  to  match  the  lyric  to  her  own  experiences- you  can  hear  it  in  the  sad  resignation  in  her  voice  on  the  line  "it  never  made  it." It  gave  Elkie   a  persona  that  runs  through  quite  a  few of  her  hits, the  sympathetic  older  and  wiser   woman , commiserating  with  the  heartbroken  ingenues  of  "Fool  If  You  Think  It's  Over "  and  "Don't  Cry  Out  Loud"  and  declaring  her  independence  in  "No  More  The  Fool". It  just  goes  to  show  that  punk  didn't  entirely  block  the  way  for  sixties  survivors  to  come through.

  

294 (282a) Hello Daryl Hall and John Oates - She's Gone

Chart  entered : 16  October  1976

Chart  peak : 42

Number  of  hits : 16

Damn ! Thought  I'd  cut  out  the  mistakes  but  here's  one  from  1976  that  I  missed.

These  two  guys  had  been  musically  active  since  the   mid-sixties. John  Oates  was  born  in  New  York  in  1949  but  raised   in  Philadelphia. By  16  he  had  a  group  called  The  Masters  and  wrote  and  did  the  lead  vocal  on  a  single  "I  Need  Your  Love" , a  fine  Northern  Soul  swinger  on  which  John  sounds  a  bit  like  Paul  Jones. Daryl  Hall, three  years  older  was  born  in   Philadelphia   and  started   doing  session  work  for  the  likes  of  Gamble  and  Huff  while  still  at  school. At  Temple  University  he  formed  a  vocal  harmony  group  called  The  Temptones.  They put  out  two   singles  on  Arctic  Records  "Girl  I  Love  You"  and  "Say  Those  Words  of  Love", both  of  them  skilled  impersonations  of  Smokey  Robinson  and  the  Miracles  in  uptempo  and  mellow  moods  respectively but  not  great  songs.

Both  The  Temptones  and  The  Masters  played  a  gig  at  the  Adelphi  ballroom  in  the  city  in  1967  and  the  two  soul  fans  met  in  a  service  elevator  when  both  were  fleeing  a  fight  that  had  broken  out  on  the  floor. They  started  working  together  intermittently  until  John  dropped  out. He  wasn't  involved  with  the  single  "The  Princess  and  the  Soldier"  put  out  by  Daryl  Hall  and  the  Cellar  Door  in  December  1968. I  haven't  heard  it ; I  presume it's  a  Christmas  novelty.

At  the  beginning  of  1970  Daryl  formed  a  new  band  called  Gulliver   for  which  he  began  writing, having  a  hand  in  their  first  single  on  Elektra, "Every  Day's  A  Lovely  Day"  which  isn't  a  bad  effort, a  Credence  Clearwater  Revival  boogie  with  a  gospel  chorus  but  it's  let  down  by  a  rough  production. The  follow  up  "A  Truly  Good  Song"  doesn't  live  up  to  its  title  being  a  drippy  Bread-like  piano  ballad  that  tries  to  turn  into  Hey  Jude  towards  the  end.
With  both  singles  tanking  their  eponymous  LP  didn't  do  the  required  business  and  the  group  broke  up.

John  then  returned  from  a  tour  of  Europe  and  the  duo  began  working  together  in  earnest  under  the  name  "Whole  Oats". In  early  1972  they  were  snapped  up  by  Atlantic. Their  first  single  was "Goodnight  and  Good  Morning"  in  November  1972  a  well  produced  and  pleasant  enough  Glen  Campbell -like  strum   but  lacking  in  bite. The  album  "Whole  Oats"  followed  shortly  afterwards  confusingly  now  credited  to the  duo. That  was  the  least  of  their  worries  as  the  LP  reveals  major  problems  of  quality  control  and  sequencing. The  second  side  concludes  with  four  dreary  ballads  in  a  row  and  could  tranquilise  an  elephant. Some  of  the  lyrics - Daryl's  in  particular - are  dire. "Georgie" a  supposedly  tragic  tale  of  a  teenage  drowning  is  so  clumsily  expressed  it's  laughable  while  "Lazy  Man"  , an  attack  on  a  musical  partner  not  pulling  his  weight  only  shows  that  John  has  either  a  good  sense  of  humour  or  is  completely  dense. With  songs  this  poor,  Arif  Mardin's  crystalline  production  becomes  a  negative  and  Daryl's vocals   ( superlative  throughout )  can't  rescue  the  package. Their  next  single  "I'm  Sorry"  was  the  best  choice  available ,  a  sprightly  piece  of   Neil  Sedaka -ish   piano  pop  with  some   impressive  harmonies. Justin  Hayward  would  later  cover  it  but  it  wasn't  a  hit.

"She's  Gone"  was  the  lead  single  from  their  second  album  "Abandoned  Luncheonette"  ( generally  a  big  improvement  on  its  predecessor )  and  is  a  soft  rock  classic. Developed  from  a  chorus  written  by  John , the  song  is  largely  about  Daryl's  divorce  from  his  first  wife. The  verses  spell  out  the  ennui  and  self-pity  of  the  abandoned  man, hitting  on  friends, drink  and  easy  lays  to  fill  the  hole  before  the  chorus  erupts  in  howls  of  despair. The  music  too  makes  the  jump  from  neurasthenic  soft  rock  with  that  gauzy  electric  piano  sound  ( it's  hard  to  believe  10cc  didn't  hear  this  prior  to  I'm  Not  In  Love )  to  full  Philly  soul  on  the  chorus. First  time  around  it  was  a  modest  hit  reaching  number  60  at  the  back  end  of  1973  and  their  next  few  releases  failed  to register  bringing  their  time  on  Atlantic  to  a  close. In the  meantime "She's  Gone"  earned  them  a  steady  stream  of  royalties  when  covered  by  Lou  Rawls  and  Tavares  who  topped  the  R &  B  charts  with  it. When  their  first  album  for RCA  yielded  a  big  hit  in  "Sara  Smile"  early  in  1976, Atlantic  decided  to  re-release  "She's  Gone"  and  this  time  it  got  to  number  7. The  duo  still  regarded  it  as one  of  their  best  songs  and  risked  RCA's  wrath  by   choosing  to  perform  it  when  they  appeared  on  The  Old  Grey  Whistle  Test  which  gave  them  an  early  ,though  minor,  hit  here.
   

293 Goodbye The Stylistics - $7000 and You

Chart  entered : 26  March  1977

Chart  peak : 24

It's  strange  that  we're  saying  goodbye  to  The  Stylistics  in  what  was  a  notably  good  year  for  black  acts. This  final  hit  ( which  I  don't  remember )  also  came  barely  six  months  after  they  topped  the  UK  album  chart  with  "The  Best  of  the  Stylistics  Volume  II"

The  Stylistics  peaked  when  "Can't  Give  You  Anything ( But  My  Love ) "  topped  the  UK  singles  chart  for  three  weeks  in  the  summer  of  1975. Unfortunately  I'll  always  associate  it  with  endless  trips  to  Rochdale  Swimming  Baths  to  try  and  get  me  afloat ; I  can  swim  now  but  all  efforts   during  my  youth  were  in  vain. All  their  singles  had  been  hits  since  but  the  previous  EP  had  failed  to  get  past  number 24  in  the  Christmas  chart  so  there  were  signs  their  appeal  was  on  the  wane.

"$7,000  Dollars  and  You" is  a  bit  of  a  surprise  to  me. I  was  expecting  another dozy  slice  of  soft  soul  but  instead  it  sounds  like  they  teamed  up  with  Herb  Alpert  with  its  calypso  rhythms  and  staccato  brass  arrangement. Russell  Thompkins  Junior  coos  the  song  with  his  usual  grace  but  there's  a  sting  in  the  tail  lyrically ; after  outlining  all  the  treats  his  lover  could  expect  from  escalating  amounts  of  dosh, when  it  gets  to  a  million  she's  no  longer  required  and  the  other  guys  chip  in  with  some  muscle  to  drive  the  point  home.

You  might  have  expected  that  The  Stylistics  were  on  the  cabaret  circuit  by  the  early  eighties  but  no. They  remained  recording  artists  with  a  steady  string  of  placings  on  the  US  R  &  B  charts  ( their  hit  run  on  the  Billboard   chart   had  ceased   at  the  beginning  of  1976 ) up  until  1992  but  nowhere  else. They  had  two  more  singles  out  in  the  UK  "I Plead  Guilty"  and  "Wonder  Woman" , neither  of  which  I've  heard  before  their  contract  ended  and  they  switched  to  Mercury  who  don't  seem  to  have  been  interested  in  releasing  their  records  in  the  UK. Like  The  Drifters  they  had  a  song  on  the  soundtrack  of  The  Bitch  "I  Feel  Lucky  Tonight"  but  it  did  nothing  as  a  single in  February  1980.

When  Mercury  dropped  them  that  year  James  Dunn  ,who  had  health  problems , and  James  Smith  quit. The  group  recruited  just  one  replacement  Raymond  Johnson  and  went  back  to  Thom  Bell  and  his  TSOP  label  for  their  next  two  albums. This  gave  them  a  modest  boost  as  the  first  album  "Hurry  Up  This  Way  Again"  made  a  minor  showing  on  the  chart  but  the  title  track ,  which  updates  their  sound  to the  light  R &  B  groove  of  George  Benson  and  his  ilk  did  nothing  as  a  single  that  September. Despite  Russell's  best  efforts  it's  pretty  boring.

In  1984  they  moved  on  to  Streetwise  in  the  US  and  Virgin  in  the  UK. The  single  "Give  A  Little  Love  For  Love "  was  written  by  Michael  Jonzun  and  Maurice  Starr  who  also  produced  with  Arthur  Baker. Not  surprisingly  this  sets  their  trademark  sound  against  a  modern  electro-dance  production  sheen  but  it  still  sounds  a  bit  dated  not  helped  by  the  song's  close  resemblance  to  "Stop  Look  Listen  ( To  Your  Heart)". The  follow  up  "Love Is  Not  The  Answer"  is  more  overtly  contemporary  and  by  only  using  Russell  for  the  chorus  hook  it's  much  less  identifiable  as  them. It  briefly  threatened to  chart  in  July  1985  when  it  appeared  in  the  "Bubbling  Under"  list  but  didn't  get  over  the  line. It  was  their  last  single  release  in  the  UK.

Johnson  quit  the  following  year  leaving  the  group  a  trio  of  Russell, Airrion  Love  and  Herb  Murrell. They  were without  a  label  between  1986  and  1991 when  Amherst  picked  them  up. Their  last  showing  on  the  R & B  chart  was  with  a  version  of  "Always  On  My Mind"  in  1992. It's  given  a  Whitney-esque  power  ballad  treatment  -  the  other  members are  inaudible -  with  obligatory  corny  sax  solo  and  is  ghastly.

Thereafter  they  were  just  a  touring  outfit  until  2000  when   Russell  decided  to  quit. The  other  two  recruited  a couple  of  Delfonics  and  soldiered  on. In  2003  Russell  put  out  a  solo  album  "A  Matter  of  Style"  and  when  that  didn't  sell  he  launched  his  New Stylistics  which  included  Johnson  in  the  line  up  the  following  year   so  now  there  are  rival  versions  treading  the  boards. The  two  James's  have  disappeared  into  obscurity  but  are  thought  to  be  still  alive.

292 Goodbye Glen Campbell - Southern Nights

Chart  entered :  26  March  1977

Chart  peak : 28

Glen   looked  to  have  shot  his  bolt  by  the  beginning  of  1971  as  far  as  the  UK  was  concerned  and  even  in  the  US   his   record  in  the  main  chart  was  patchy  over  the  next  four  years. Then  in  1975  the  deathless  survivors' anthem  "Rhinestone  Cowboy"  zoomed  to  number  one  in  the  States  and  was  a  hit  all  over  the  world  , reaching  number  4  here. Two  years  later  he  chalked  up  a  second US  number  one  with  this  one.

"Southern  Nights"  was  written  by  Allen  Toussaint  although  Glen  tweaked  the  lyrics  slightly  to  make  it  more  personal.  It's  an  unashamedly  nostalgic  song  with  a  Tex-Mex  flavouring  with  banjos, horns  and  harmonies   popping  up  behind  a  memorable  guitar  lick  and  Glen's  laconic  delivery. The  "ta-da-da "  hook  puts  the  icing  on  the  cake. Its  rather  modest  showing  here  may  reflect  a  general  ambivalence  towards  songs  celebrating  the  spiritual  home  of  the  Ku  Klux  Klan  but  this  is  a  great  song  with  which  to  sign  off.

It  was  the  lead  single  from  an  album  of  the  same  name. The  follow  up  was  a  sprightly  version  of  Neil  Diamond's  "Sunflower"  with  some  great  slide  guitar  and  a  whistled  refrain. It  made  number  39  in  the  US  in   1977. The  following  year  he  got  to  number  38 in  the  US  with  Michael  Smotherman's  soft  rock  ballad  "Can  You  Fool"  from  his next  album  "Basic" . Smotherman  also  wrote  the  follow  up  "I'm  Gonna  Love  You"  which  didn't  break  out  of  the  country  charts

1979's  "Highwayman"  didn't  yield  any  hits   with  the  Elvis  tribute  "Hound  Dog  Man"  missing  out  despite  a  great  bass  line. In  the  UK  Capitol  don't  seem  to  have  bothered  releasing  more  than  one  single  per  LP  by  this  point. In   July  1980  he  recorded  a  12  bar  blues   duet  of  "Somethin  Bout  You  Baby  I  Like "  with  Rita  Coolidge  which  is  pretty  average  but  got  to  number  44  in  the  US. The  follow  up  "Hollywood  Smiles"  is  Larry  Weiss's  very  obvious  attempt  to  re-write  "Rhinestone  Cowboy"  but  lightning  didn't  strike  twice. His  third single  of  the  year  was  the  theme  tune  to  the  Clint  Eastwood  movie  Any  Which  Way  You  Can, a  classy  MOR  ballad  but  perhaps  too  low  key  for  the  charts.

It  featured  on  his  last  album  for  Capitol  ""It's  The  World  Gone  Crazy" released  in  1981  and  the  next  single  Smotherman's  bar-room  ballad  "I  Don't  Wanna  Know  Your  Name"  gave  him  a  moderate  hit   reaching  number  65.  The  follow-up  was  a  duet  "Why  Don't  We  Just  Sleep  On  It  Tonight "  with  Tanya  Tucker ,  a  passable  country  pop  effort  but  an  unwise  move  as  Tucker  was  barely  out  of  her  teens. Rumours  they  were  linked  romantically  didn't  do  his  career  any  favours  and  the  single  barely  even  registered  on  the  country  charts. He  scored  his  last  hit  for  nearly  35  years  when  his  semi-novelty  tune  "I  Love  My  Truck"  from  the  soundtrack  of  The  Night  The  Lights  Went  Down  In  Georgia  in  late  1981.

Thereafter  Glen  was   confined  to  the  country  charts  releasing  a  new  album  pretty  much  every  year  but  not  raising  any  interest  outside  the  country  constituency. Even  that  deserted  him  in  the  nineties  when  he  turned  to  making  Christian  albums. Contemporary  artists  like  Chris  Isaak  and  REM  would  fete  him  without  any  recommendation  that  his  current  output  was  worth  checking  out. Glen's  recording  career  ground  to  a  halt  in  1999 , save  for  appearing  a  novelty  dance  version  of  "Rhinestone  Cowboy"  which  got  to  number  12  here  in  2002   and  there  was  a five  year  hiatus  before his  last  Christian  album  in  2004. Four  years  later  he   took the  Johnny  Cash  route   and  reunited  with  Capitol  for  2008's   "Meet  Glen  Campbell"  where  he  took  on  some  modern  rock  and  pop  classics  with  the  help  of  Cheap  Trick  and  Wendy  Melvoin. His  voice  isn't  as  shot  as  Cash's  was  but  it's  still  an  inessential  listen. Still  it  worked  to  an  extent  reaching  number  56  in  the  UK   and  making  a  minor  showing  in  the  US charts.

Glen  went  into  the  studio  to  record  a  follow  up  in  the  same  vein  in  2009  but  encountered some  problems  remembering  lyrics  and  received  a  diagnosis  of  Alzheimer's  Disease. It  was  decided  to  continue  recording  the  album  with  producer  Julian  Raymond  helping  Glen  compose  some  final  songs  and  bringing  in  a  host  of  star  collaborators  such  as  Billy  Corgan, Chris  Isaak, Teddy  Thompson, Paul  Westerberg  and  many  others. It  was  released  as  "Ghost  On  The  Canvas"  in  2011  with Glen's  condition  now  public  knowledge  to  a  generally  positive  reception  though  some  critics  thought  it  over-sentimental  in  parts. The  album  respectfully  charted  in  the  twenties  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic.

Glen  then  announced  an  enormous   worldwide  farewell  tour  running  from  August  2011  to  November  2012. Most  of  his  family  accompanied  him  on  stage. The  Australian  leg  in  August  2012 had  to  be  cancelled  but  otherwise  he  managed  to  complete  it.  A  documentary  film  "I'll  Be  Me"  was  made  and  the  title  tune  gave  him  a  final  minor  hit  in  the  US  last  year.  In  April  2014  he  was  admitted  to  a  long-term care  hospital  so  I'm  guessing  that's  the  last  we'll  hear  from  him.