303 Hello The Dooleys - Think I'm Gonna Fall In Love With You

Chart  entered : 13  August  1977

Chart  peak : 13

Number  of  hits  : 10

After  the  sordid  tale  of  the  Rollers  we  now  have  a  group  who  were  so  squeaky-clean  they  appear  to  have  scrubbed  themselves  out  of  memory. When  did  you  last  hear  one  of  The  Dooleys'  songs  on  the  radio ?  As  the  chart  was  shortly  to  expand  to  a  Top  75  we're  going  to  see  a  lot  more  acts  who  racked  up  their  total  in  a  relatively  brief  burst  of  popularity.

The  group  began  as  "The  Dooley  Family"  in  Ilford  in  the  late  sixties  consisting  of  six  Dooleys , Jim ( vocals ), John  ( guitar ), Frank ( guitar ), Anne (vocals), Kathy (vocals) and  Marie ( vocals ).  They  were  a  New  Seekers-ish  harmony  group  but  limited  to  theatre  and  hotel  bookings  because  some  of  them  were  too  young  to  perform  in  pubs. They  appeared  in  variety  shows  alongside  people  like  Bob  Monkhouse  and  Frankie  Howerd. In  1972  they  acquired  a  Mancunian  bassist  Bob  Walsh  whose  brother  ran  a  booking  agency. He  offered  them  more  lucrative  work  in  the  Northern  clubs  and  they  moved  up  to  Worsley  in  1973  without  the  pregnant  Marie  who  opted  to  remain  in  Essex . After  hard  work  they  found  a  manager  Ken  Wild  and  drummer  Alan  Bogan.

They  signed  with  Alaska  in  1974. They  recorded  a  single  "Hands  Across  The  Sea"  written  by  Ben  Findon  and  Geoff  Wilkins  then  held  it  back  when  they  realised  it  was  in  line  for  Britain's  Eurovision  entry  to  be  sung  by  Olivia  Newton-John. It's  an  ultra-saccharin  world unity  ballad  rammed  full  of  cliches  - "new  tomorrow", " open  heart"  etc. but  it  lost  out  to  the  unmemorable  Long  Live  Love. Even  with  Olivia's  vocal  skills  it  sounded  weak  so  it's  unsurprising  that  the  Dooley  Family's  version  with  Jim's  airy  tenor  out  front  made  no  impression. The  follow-up  "Sha  La  La  Lullaby "  written  by  label  boss  John  Schroeder  and  Anthony  King  is  a  magpie  melange  of  Brill  Building, Dawn  and  Carpenters  influences  and  is  entertainingly  dreadful.

They  were  so  unradical  that  the  following  year  they  were  invited  to  tour  Eastern  Europe  and  their  first  LP  was  a  live  recording  of  their  gig  in  Moscow  ( three  years  before  Elton ).  When  they  returned  they  changed  their  name  to  The  Dooleys  and  were  free  to  record  a  theme  tune  for  the  BBC's  adult  literacy  programme  On  The  Move   ( sort  of  Look  And  Read  for  adults  starring  Bob  Hoskins ). It's  a  very  catchy  bubblegum  pop  tune ( though  very  dated  for  1975 )  which  I  remember  but  have  only  just  found  out  was  by  them.  Perhaps  the  nature  of  the  programme  deterred  people  from  asking  for  the  single  in  the  shops.

The  Dooleys   continued  to  graft  in  the  clubs  and  after  noting  Findon's  success  with  Billy  Ocean  invited  him  to  come  and  see  them. He  liked  what  he  saw  and  offered  them  a  deal  with  GTO. This  was  their  first  recording  for  the  label.

"Think  I'm  Gonna  Fall In  Love  With  You"  written  by  Findon  and  someone  called  Myers  is  another  disco -flavoured  pop  tune  with  a  breezy  string  arrangement  straight  out  of the  contemporary  Martini  ads. Jim  sings  of  putting  his  wild-ish  days  behind  him  in  an  earnest  but  feather-light  tenor  and  he  and  the  girls  manage  to  navigate  the  clumsy  phrasing  of  the  chorus  hook  well  enough. It's  competent  but  woefully  unexciting  for  the  summer  of  punk  and  set  them up  for  critical  brickbats  - even  from  Smash  Hits - for  the  rest of  their  recording  career.