153 Hello Smokey Robinson - Going To A Go-Go

( This  single  was  just  credited  to  The  Miracles  but  Smokey  was  in  the  line-up )

Chart  entered : 24  February  1966

Chart  peak : 44

Number  of  hits : 12

I'm sure the man behind this blog will correct me, but I can't think there will be many (if any) other American artists who had to wait so long to crack the charts here after their initial breakthrough at home: the Miracles had released their first single in 1959, getting into the top end of the charts a year later with "Shop Around" - the first big hit for the fledging Motown label.

William "Smokey" Robinson, the group's leader, had formed what became the Miracles ( initially the Matadors) in Detroit with friends Pete Moore and Ronald White. Various other members came and went siblings Bobby and Claudette Rogers completed the line up. The inclusion of Claudette - who Robinson would later marry - necessitated a name change, and the Miracles was chosen.

After a failed audition with a small local label, the band were approached by one of the panel - one Berry Gordy, a Korean War veteran and successful songwriter, with Jackie Wilson's "Reet Petite" amongst his successes. Gordy was impressed by Robinson's voice, and further taken when he discovered the youngster was a promising songwriter. With his encouragement, Gordy borrowed money to form Tamla Motown.

Amongst the Miracles' early work are plenty of mighty singles, and it's a mystery that none were a hit in the UK - especially since the likes of the Beatles were covering them: "You Really Got a Hold On Me" featured on their second LP "With the Beatles", while the original had been a top 10 smash in America.

Robinson frequently wrote with the rest of the band, as well as guitarist Marv Taplin, essentially the sixth member of the band. They were at their best when Smokey was in heartache mode, such as "What's So Good About Goodbye?" (1961) and the beyond-wonderful "Ooo Baby Baby", which sounds like the prelude to the end of the world, such is the pain in Robinson's voice. One of their earliest b-sides "You Can Depend On Me" may well by this writer's ultimate 3am slow-burner, for those romantic moments.

Amongst the quality, there were some duff moments: "Mickey's Monkey" and "Come On Do the Jerk" are more than unfortunately named. But Robinson may have been stretched - as well as his work with the Miracles, he was writing and producing for many other acts on the label, most notably the Temptations (as already noted on their entry here), Mary Wells and Marvin Gaye.

By 1965, he'd also taken a place as Executive President of Motown, and it is in this period he and the Miracles make their entry, albeit with a small hit. Perhaps it meant more to Americans who knew exactly what a "Go-Go" was - it reached #11 on the Billboard Pop chart. All the same, it's a cheery number with Smokey sounding in a good mood, helped by some driving drumming and the usual quality work from the Funk Brothers. It's the kind of song that you imagine would open a Miracles gig around the time, but I have to confess it wouldn't make my top 10 of their material.

It was clearly liked by some, that said, as the Rolling Stones covered it on stage and got a top 30 hit on both sides of the Atlantic when it was taken from their 1981 live album.

D.C Harrison

152 Hello Stevie Wonder - Uptight ( Everything's Alright )

Chart  entered  : 5  February  1966

Chart  peak : 14

Number  of  hits  : 56

Stevie  is  our  first  artist  to  be  born  in  the  1950s; he's  one  of  those  celebrities  who's  always  going to  be  a  bit  younger  than  you  think  he  is.

Stevie  was  born  Stevland  Morris  in  1950  in  Michigan. He  was  six  weeks  premature  and  his  sight  never  developed. Technically  he  isn't  fully  blind  but  has  no  functional  sight. He  moved  to  Detroit  at  an  early  age  when  his  parents  split  up  and  soon  became  a  young  prodigy  on  harmonica ,  keyboards, drums  and  bass. In  1961  his  mother  brought  him  to  the  attention  of   Ronnie  White  of The  Miracles  who  heard  him  sing  his  own  song  "Lonely  Boy". Duly  impressed  White  took  him  to  Berry  Gordy  who  signed  him  to  Tamla  on  a  five  year  deal  where  his  royalties  would  be   put  in  trust  until  he  turned  21.

He  was  put  to  work  with  producer Clarence  Paul  who  came  up  with  the  name  "Little  Stevie Wonder"  for  his  recordings. He  was  barely  12  when  he  released  his  first  single  in  1962, the  Berry Gordy / Clarence  Paul  song "I  Call  It  Pretty Music  But  The  Old  People  Call  It  The  Blues"  on  both sides. The  A-side  is  straight  early  Motown  pop   ( with  Marvin  Gaye  supplying  the  backbeat )  while the  B-side  is  a  bluesier  take. Both  feature  Stevie's  unbroken  voice  and  a  generous  helping  of harmonica. Stevie's  youth  meant  the  record  got  a  fair  bit  of  attention  and  it  just  missed  out  on  the US  charts.

Stevie's  next  release  was  an  instrumental  album  "The  Jazz  Soul  Of  Little  Stevie  Wonder"  which was largely  written  by  others  and  didn't  sell  but  does  feature  the  original  version  of  "Fingertips".  His   next  single  in  October  1962   was  a  duet  with  Clarence  Paul  on  the  latter's  song  "Little  Water  Boy" . Ostensibly  a  financial  haggle  between  a  grown  man  and  a  young  boy  over  fetching  water, there's  a  decidedly  queasy  feel  to  the  song  which  the  intermittent  grunts  do  nothing  to  assuage. It's not  surprising  it  wasn't  a  hit.  Tamla  then  rushed  out  another  album ( recorded  the  previous  year ) , the  rather  tawdry  "Tribute  To  Uncle  Ray". It  was  mainly  comprised  of  Ray  Charles  covers and  did nothing  to  enhance  his  reputation.

His  third  single  in  December  1962 "Contract  On  Love",  written  by  Holland, Dozier  and  erm Bradford ( ?) ,  is  a  neat  Four  Seasons  pastiche  featuring  future  Temptation  Eddie  Kendricks  but  its chances  were  scuppered  by  a  very  rough  production  from  Holland  and  Dozier  that  sounds  like  it was  recorded  in  a  garden  shed.

However  Stevie  had  already  recorded  the  song  that  was  to  change  his  fortunes. In  June  1962,  he joined  the  Motortown  Revue  and  his  set  at  Chicago's  Regal  Theatre  had  been  recorded.  The harmonica-led , ( mainly )  instrumental  "Fingertips "  from  his  first  LP  was  performed  twice  and   released  as  a single  in  May  1963  with  the   performances  labelled  Parts  1  and  2   and  placed  each   side  of  the disc. The  song  is  heavily  influenced  by  Charles  but  the  raw  excitement  is  well  captured   and  it  stormed  to  number  one  in  the  US  charts  making  him  the  youngest  performer  to  get  there. It was  his  first  UK  release  but  didn't  catch  here. The  whole  set  was  then  released  as  the  album "Recorded  Live : The 12 Year Old  Genius"   which  likewise  shot  to  the  number  one  spot  despite  its  brief  running  time ( less  than  25  minutes ).
 
Stevie's  career  longevity  was  by  no  means  assured  at  this  point. Over  the  next  couple  of  years  it seemed  quite  possible  that  he  would  go  down  as  a  novelty  act  who  couldn't  cross  over  to  adult success.  His  next  single  "Workout Stevie, Workout"  in  September  1963  is  a  studio  recording  and  a rather  flimsy  song  ( like  "Fingertips"  written  by  Paul  and  Henry  Cosby" )  played  too  fast.  It  peaked at  number  33.  He  was  then  put  in  the  studio  to  work  on  an  album  of  standards  "With  A  Song  In  My  Heart". Released  at  the  end  of  the  year  with  the  "Little"  tag  dropped  it  made  a  minor  showing  on  the  R & B  chart  and  missed  out  on  the  main  chart  altogether.

His  first  single  of  1964  with  the  "Little"  reinstated,  probably  by  mistake, heralded  Tamla's  next  mis-step, a  bizarre  attempt  to  link  Stevie  to   the  surf  craze. "Castles  In  The  Sand"  is  a  nicely-arranged string-driven  ballad  in  the  Drifters  vein  rendered  virtually   unlistenable  by  Stevie's  vocal. His  voice was  breaking  and  he  sounds  horribly  off-key  throughout. It  was  lucky  to  get  as  high  as  52. The next  single  in  May  "Hey  Harmonica  Man"  avoided  the  problem  by  giving  him  little to  do  vocally  . Eddie  Kendricks  and  Melvin  Franklin  handle  most  of  the  vocals  on  a  song  that  betrays  an awareness  of  the  English  Invasion  bands  particularly  the  Stones. It  halted  Stevie's  downwards  trajectory  by  peaking  at  number  29. The  album  that  followed,  "Stevie  At  The  Beach"  confused  everyone  and  shoe-horning  him  into  two  cheap beach  movies  didn't  do  him  any  favours  either. The  third  single  from  it    "Happy  Street" , a  vacuous  bit  of  R &  B  didn't  register.

Neither did  "Kiss  Me  Baby"  in  March  1965 , the  first  single  to  bear  his  name  on  the  writing  credits  ( along  with  Paul )  but  otherwise  an  unexceptional  harmonica  workout.  Stevie  was  touring  Europe  ( including  some  dates  with  The  Stones ) at  the  time  and  with  Tamla  reluctant  to  invest  in  another  album  he  badly  needed  another  hit. He  managed  it  with  a  version  of  "Hi-Heel Sneakers"  recorded  live  in  Paris  in  April  1965  and  released  in  August. It's  an  energetic  though   undistinguished  version  but  it  did  the  job  and  got  to  number  59.

This  one  came  next  in  November  1965  and  turned  his  fortunes  around. Henry  Cosby  and  Sylvia  Moy  wrote  the  song  based  around  Stevie's  driving  riff  apparently  influenced  by  the  Stones' Satisfaction.  The  lyrics  express  the  joy  of  a  poor  man  whose  rich  girlfriend  can  see  past  his  trappings  to  the  man  inside. Melodically  it's  a  bit  one-dimensional, that  relentless  pounding  beat  and  simple  punctuating  brass  fanfare  are  the  hooks  along  with  Stevie's  now  adult,  elastic  vocal. Though  less  of  a  hit  here  than  in  the  States  where  it  reached  number  three; it  has  made  the  top  here  when  re-written, lyrically  as  Billy  Joel's   Uptown  Girl  and  musically  as  Wham's  I'm  Your  Man.     

    

151 Hello Nancy Sinatra - These Boots Are Made For Walking

Chart  entered  :  27  January  1966

Chart  peak : 1

Number  of  hits : 10

Nancy  was  the  first  second  generation  pop  star  to  top  the  charts  and  the  first  person  to  get  over the  line  here  due  to  hits  this  side  of  the  Millennium.

Nancy  was  born  in  1940  in  New  Jersey  to  a  quite  popular  singer  and  his  first  wife, also  called  Nancy. Her  first  brush  with  pop  music  was  pre-chart  as  the  subject  of  Frank's 1945  song, Nancy ( With The Laughing  Face ) . She  studied  music , dance  and  voice  at  the  University  of  California  but  dropped  out  after  a  year  to  get  married  to  Tommy  Sands. Her  first  public  exposure  was  on  a  TV  special  made  by  her  father  to  celebrate  Elvis's  return  from  the  army  in  1960. She  welcomed  him  at  the  airport  and  later  did  a  duet  with  her  dad,

To  no  one's  surprise  she  got  a  deal  with  his  record  company  Reprise in  1961. She  released  her  first  single  "Cuff  Links  And  A  Tie  Clip"  that  year, a  typical  piece  of  teen  fluff  save  for  Nancy's  cool  dry  vocal  placing  her  outside  the  song. It  didn't  register  anywhere. The  following  January  she  released  her  version  of  Phil  Spector's  "To  Know  Him  Is  To  Love  Him". It's  an  inexpert  reading  which  deserved  to  fail  but  Nancy  was  in  luck  when  the  Italians  picked  up  on  the  B-side, Bob  Manning's  "Like  I  Do"  ( a  number  three UK  hit  for  Maureen  Evans  later  that  year )  and  took  it  to  number  2  in  their  chart. Nancy's  vocal  is  perfectly  suited  to  the  arch  girl-pop  but  apparently  she  hates  it.

"June, July  and  August"   released  in  the  middle  month  of  that  trio  is  a  drowsy  ballad  with  eerie  undertones  that  seems  like  it  should  be  on  a  David  Lynch  soundtrack  with  Nancy  sounding  not  unlike  Julee  Cruse.  The  same  goes  for  "You  Can  Have  Any  Boy"  with  its  Jolene- style  message  though  Nancy's  languid  vocal  suggests  cool  curiosity  rather  than  desperation.

"I  See  The  Moon"  from  February  1963  is  a  straight  Brill  Building  version  of  the  Stargazers'  1954  chart-topper, competent  and  pleasant  but  rather  disappointing." Cruel  War"  is  much  more  interesting. The  song  originates  at  least  as  far  back  as  the  American  Civil  War but  the  lyrics have  been  adapted  through  the  years  and  Nancy  was  covering  the  Peter  Paul  and  Mary  version  which  took  the  point  of  view  of  a  war  bride  wanting  to  join  up  herself  to stay with  her  Johnny. Their  version is  a  textbook  example  of  worthy  but  murderously dull  folksiness; Nancy's  single  is  more  interesting because  the  arrangement  has  more  ideas  and  Nancy's  close-miked  vocal  gives  the  verse  about  cross-dressing  and  the  death  wish  sentiments  of  the  final  verse  more of  a  frisson  than  Mary  Travers's  pure  tones.

The  admonitory  "Thanks  To  You"  from  November  1963  anticipates  the  sound  of  The  Shangri-las   with  its  slow building  drama  and  spoken  phrases. By  1964  Nancy  was  moving  into  films  , albeit  superficial teen  movies, and  might  have  given  up  on  pop  had  these  singles  not  been  selling  steadily  in  Japan. "Where  Do  The  Lonely  Go"  sounds  like  a  lesser  Burt  Bacharach  number ( it  isn't ). "This  Love  Of  Mine"  which  Nancy  had  a  hand  in  writing   is  really  odd  with  a  scratchy,  almost  funk,  rhythm  guitar  running  through  the  song  but  seemingly  unconnected   to  the  wan  teen  pop   Nancy  is  singing. Towards  the  end  it  seems  to  fall  out  of  time  and  becomes  an  amateur-ish  mess.

By  1965  it  was  time  for  taking  stock. Nancy's  marriage  had  crumbled  and  Reprise  were  on  the  point  of  risking  the  big  man's  wrath  by  dropping  her. Nevertheless  they  teamed  her  up  with  a  new  producer  Jimmy  Bowen  who  produced  her   Spectoresque  version  of  Cole  Porter's  "True  Love"  which  was  released  as  a  single  in  January. It's  not  very  good  with  Nancy  sounding  barely  interested  but  Bowen  had  an  ace  up  his  sleeve. He  lived  next  door  to  Lee  Hazelwood  , writer  of  Duane  Eddy's  Rebel  Rouser   and  persuaded  him  to come  on  board  and  work  with  Nancy. He  in  turn  brought  in  an  experienced  arranger  in   Billy  Strange.

Their  first  collaboration  was  "So  Long  Babe",   a  Hazelwood   song  about  moving  on  to  pastures  new  with  some  melodic  similarity  to  When  You  Walk  In  The  Room. Nancy  was  persuaded  to  sing  in  a  lower  register  and  though  she  doesn't  sound  entirely  in  tune  , the  single  finally  gave  her  a  foothold  in  the  US  charts  peaking  at  86. It  was  also  her  last  single  as  a  winsome  brunette; an  image  makeover  turned  her  into  a  blonde  bombshell.  Nancy  later  allowed  her  earlier  singles  to  be  unsentimentally  compiled  under  the  title  Bubblegum  Girl  which  is  something of  a  slight  on  an  interesting  body  of  work.

Her  next  single  was  this  one. Here's  the  Popular  linkNancy S, the  first  time  it's  really  worth  the  effort.

150 Goodbye Connie Francis - Jealous Heart

Chart  entered  :  20  January  1966

Chart  peak : 44

Another  fifties  survivor  now  makes  her  exit  and  it  had  been  coming, this  one  being  the  last  of  only three  small  hits  since  the  arrival  of  the  Beatles.

"Jealous  Heart "  was  already  a  country  and  western  classic, written  in  1944  by  Jenny  Lou  Carson  but  popularised  by  Tex  Ritter. Since  then  there  had  been  numerous  versions  but  the  only  one  to  make  the  UK  charts  ( just )  was  by  an  obscure  Irish  girl  group, Eileen  Reed  and  the  Cadets, just  six  months  before  Connie's  version. It  was  the  title  track  of  a  forthcoming  album  of  standards, a  retro  move  after  her  attempts  to  update  her  sound  had  made  scant  impact. There's  not  too  much  wrong  with  it. Connie's   in  fine  double-tracked  voice  and  the  lush  arrangement  from  Ernie  Freeman  swings. It's  perhaps  a  little  over-produced  but  I  suspect  the  real  problem  was  it  just  didn't  sound  like  1966.

 Sadly "Jealous  Heart"  marked  a  series  of  "lasts"  for  Connie. Not  only  was  it  her  last  UK  hit, it  was  her  last  to  make  the  US  Top  50 ( number 47 )  and  the  album  was  her  last  to  chart  in  the  US  ( 78 ).

 Her  next  single  was  released  while  "Jealous  Heart"  was  still  in  the  charts. "The  Phoenix Love  Theme  ( Senza  Fine )"  was  featured  in  the  popular  film  The  Flight  Of  The  Phoenix. The  song  was  written  by  Gino  Paoli   and  the  melody  is  reprised  at  numerous   points  in  the  film. Connie's  reading  of  the  song  is  exquisite but  Italian  language  hits  were  thin  on  the  ground  and  it  didn't  make  it.

After  that  she  returned  to  working  with  Tony  Hatch  and  her  next  single  in  March  was  his  song  "Love  |Is  Me  Love  Is  You"  which  I  haven't  heard. It  got  to  66  in  the US. In  June  she  did  "Somewhere  My  Love"  from  Doctor  Zhivago  but  lost  out  to  a  rival  version  by  the  Mike  Sammes  Singers  which  hung  around  the  charts  for  nearly a  year. Connie's  version  is  rather  sporific. Its  parent  album  , the  self-explanatory  "Movie  Songs  of  the  60s"  didn't  do  any  better.

In  November  she  released  "Spanish  Nights  And  You"  a  lush  flamenco  ballad  with   a  double-tracked  Connie  emoting  amongst  the  strings. it  scraped  to  99  in  the  States. March  1967  saw  "Another  Page"  a  translation  of  an  Italian  song  as  Connie  sought  to  consolidate  her  enduring  popularity  in  Latin  territories. In  July  "Time  Alone  Will  Tell" was  more  of  the  same  given  a  big  production  number  by  Joe  Sherman. It  got  to  94  in  the  US. With  "My  Heart  Cries  For  You"  (  a  million  seller  for  Guy  Mitchell  in  1950 )  in  November  she  turned  to  France.

In  March   1968  she  returned  to  her  old  friends  Neil  Sedaka  and  Howard  Greenfield  for  the deeply  poignant  "My  World  Is  Slipping  Away". I  know  nothing  about  her  next  single  "Why  Say  Goodbye" beyond  its  release  in  May. November's  "Somebody  Else  Is  Taking  My  Place"  was  written  in  1941  and  had  been  covered  by  Benny  Goodman, Jerry  Vale  and  Al  Martino.

In  March  1969  "The  Wedding  Cake"  became  her  last  US  hit  peaking  at  91. Written  by  Margaret  Lewis  and  Myra  Smith  it's  a  fatalistic  country  ballad  about  the  trials  of  marriage  with  melodic  similarities  to  Gentle  On  My  Mind . The  sob  in  Connie's  voice  suits  the  material  and  the  Spanish  guitar  and  electric  piano  spice  up  the  arrangement.

Connie's  next  release  in  the  UK  was  a reissue  of  her  last  major  hit  "Vacation"  but  she  had  one  more  new  single  to  come  before  the  sixties  closed. "Mr  Love"  was  from  her  album  "Connie  Francis  Sings  The  Songs of  Les  Reed"  recorded  in  London.  I  could  have  sworn  it  was  a  mid- sixties   Sandie  Shaw  singing  it.

It  marked  the  end  of  her  fourteen  year  contract  with  M-G-M  and  the  worn-out  31  year  old  was anxious  for  a  break. For  the  first  three  years  of  the  seventies  she  did  very  little  beyond  the  odd  TV  appearance  apart  from  one  flop  single  "Don't  Turn  Around "  ( another  Sedaka-Greenfield  number )  in  1971  which  wasn't  even  released  in  the UK. In  1973  she  returned  to  the  studio  to  record  an  answer  song  to  Dawn's  monster hit Tie  A  Yellow  Ribbon  Round  the  Old  Oak  Tree ( my  gran's  favourite  record ). "(Should  I)  Tie  A  Yellow  Ribbon Round  The  Old  Oak  Tree"  uses  the  same  melody  and  arrangement  ( save  for  a  weeping  guitar  solo ) and  while  Connie's  voice  remains  in  fine  fettle  you  wonder  why  she  chose  such  a  tacky  vehicle  for  a  comeback.

Connie  had  suffered  a  miscarriage  that  year  and  as  a  therapeutic  exercise  her  husband encouraged  Connie  to  tour  in  1974. This  ended  in  disaster  in  November   when  she  was  raped, robbed  and  nearly  killed  in  a  New  York  Motel. The  assailant  was  never  caught; Connie  reckons  he  might  have  spared  her  life  because  the pursuit  would  have  been  more  vigorous  if  he'd  killed  someone  famous. She  later  successfully  sued  the  motel  chain  for  its  inadequate  security. The  motel  owner  suggested she  was  making  it  up  and  the  strain  broke  up  her  marriage.

In  1977  she  had  nasal  surgery   which  drastically  affected  her  voice  and  she  needed  singing  lessons  to  recover. Connie  didn't  return  to  the  recording  studios  until  1978  to  record  the  album "Who's  Happy  Now ? " for  United  Artists. The   first  single  was a  discofied  version  of  her  1961  hit  "Where  The  Boys  Are"  which  is  just  hideous. Connie's  vocal  isn't  too  bad  - she  sounds  like  Nena - but  producer  Ken  Barnes  keeps  interrupting  the  flow  of  the  song  to  throw  in  another  disco  cliche. The  B  side  was  a  version   of  the  Eurovision  winner  "A Ba Ni Bi"  ( or  "I  wanna  be  a  polar  bear"  as  we  sang  in  the  playground ).   The  second  was  "My  Mother's  Eyes". Connie's  reluctance  to  do  much  promotion  torpedoed  their  chances.

Interspersed  with  these  were  a  couple  of  singles  on  Polydor  "Burning  Bridges"  and  "Three  Good Reasons"  which  actually  dated  from  1969  but  hadn't  previously  been  issued. The  latter's  a  slow ballad  that  sounds  more  like  Ruby  Murray i.e  a  decade  out  of  date  even  when  it  was  first recorded. After  that  her  only  UK  singles  were  reissues  of  her  hits.    

In  1980  she  re-emerged on  MGM  ( though  now  part  of  Polydor )  with  "I'm Me  Again" . It  was  the  title  track  to  a "new"  album  the  following  year. There  was  only  one  other  newly  recorded  song  on  the  album  which  was  otherwise  made  up  of  unreleased  material  from  the  50s  and  60s. Not  surprisingly  it  failed  to  garner  much  interest  but  it  did  get  her  out  on  the  road  again  despite  the  death  of  her  brother  in  an  apparent  Mafia  hit.

She  had  a  minor  country  hit  with  the  ironic  "There's  Still  A  Few  Good  Songs  Left  In  Me"  in  1983  but  by  that  time  she  had  been  diagnosed  with  manic  depression. Sporadic  further  recordings  were  made  in  between  hospital  stays  but  no  one  felt  inclined  to  release  them. Connie's  condition  didn't  stop  , in  fact  may  have  given  her  the  time  to  write  her  autobiography  inevitably  titled  "Who's  Sorry  Now"  which  was  published  in  1984  and  went  to  the  top  of  the  book  charts. She  also  headed  a  task  fore  on  violent  crime  for  Ronald  Reagan  and  became  a  prominent  spokesperson  for  victims'  rights.

By  1989  she  was  well  enough  to  resume  performing  and  recorded  "Where  The  Hits  Are"  a  double  album  of  re-recordings  of  her  biggies  plus  a  handful  of  classics  such  as  "Are  You  Lonesome  Tonight". In  1992  a  German  producer  placed  a   medley  of  her  German  hits  on  the  charts  there  as  "Jive, Connie"  ( no  prizes  for  guessing  the  inspiration  there ). A  somewhat  overweight  but  otherwise  well-preserved  Connie  appeared  on  German  TV  to  promote  it. She  went  on  to  do  a  couple  of  duets  with  Peter  Kraus  but  her  new  German-language  album  was  never  released. In  1996  she  released  a  Buddy  Holly  tribute  album  "With  Love  To  Buddy"  which  is  her  last  widespread  release  to  date  though  subsequent  recordings  have  sporadically  been  issued in  small  quantities  on  her  own  Concetta  label.

At  the  turn  of  the  millennium  she  started  working  with  Gloria  Estefan  on  an  autobiographical  film  in  which  the  Cuban  singer  would  play  her. The  project  was  eventually  cancelled   in  2009  after  the  women  could  not  agree  on  the  writer.  She's  also  been  involved  in  litigation  against  UMG  firstly  for  allegedly  taking  advantage  of  her  condition  to  delay  royalty  payments  and  then  for  licensing  her  music  to  sexually  explicit  films. She  didn't  succeed  in  either  suit.

Now  75  , Connie  hasn't  yet  retired  from  performing  although  a  series  of  Botox  injections  haven't  done  her  voice  any  favours  and  a  youtube  video  of  a  concert  posted  last  year  is  unwatchable; the  poster  must  really  hate  her.

149 Hello Barbra Streisand - Second Hand Rose

Chart  entered  :  20  January  1966

Chart  peak : 14

Number  of  hits  : 18

On  into 1966  and straightaway  we  start  encountering  artists  who'd  make their  fullest  impact  in  the  subsequent  decade. This  was  an  outlier  hit , a  full  five  years  before  her  next  one, one  of  the  longest  gaps  in  chart  history  between  a  first  and  second  hit.

Barbara  was  born  in  New  York  to  second  generation  Jewish  immigrants in  1942  and lived  in straitened  circumstances  after  her  father's  death  when  she  was  a  baby. She  was  a  singer  from  an early  age  and  made  her  first  demos  at  13. She  became  a  nightclub  singer  while  still  in  her  teens and  also  acted  in  theatre. She's  also  to  be  found  in  a  porn  film; she's  always  denied  this  but  it's clearly  her. From  1961  she  started  appearing  on  TV  and  after  a  string  of  appearances  on  a  show called  PM East / PM West  she  was  signed  by  Columbia  despite  their  President's  dislike  of  her showboating  style.

Babs  negotiated  her  own  contract  particularly  a  clause  that  gave  her  control  over  what  material  she recorded. Her  first  single  released  in  March  1962  was  a  version  of  Milton  Ager's  "Happy  Days Are Here  Again"  written  in  1929  and  quickly  appropriated  by  the  Democrats  for  FDR's  election campaign. Barbara  deconstructs  the  song  and  comes  up  with  an  ironic  torch  ballad. From  a  low- key  beginning , her  vocal  attack  is  almost  overpowering  by  the  song's  end. It  wasn't  a  hit ; in  fact only  500  copies  were  pressed  for  the  New  York  market. In  November  she  released  "My   Colouring  Book"  which  is  equally  full-on  before  her  first LP  the  following  March, the  Grammy -winning  "The  Barbra  Streisand  Album"  comprised  of  Broadway  standards  rather  than  contemporary songs. Her  imaginatively titled  "The  Second  Barbra  Streisand  Album"  came  out  just  six  months  later without  any  singles  and  reached  number  2.

In  January  1964  she  released  two  contemporary  songs  from  her  soon-to-open  Broadway  musical  Funny  Girl . " I  Am  Woman" ( no relation  to  the  Helen  Reddy  song )  was  the  nominal  A  side  but  was  ignored  in  favour  of  "People"  which  rose  to  number  5  and  became  her  signature  song.  The  song's  hit  status  cemented  its  place  in  the  musical  after  the  producers  had  evinced   a  dislike  of  it. It's  noticeable  how  much  more  controlled  her  vocal  is  than  on  the  previous singles.

Barbara  also  had  time  to  release  "The  Third  Album"  before  the  show  opened.  Again  there  were  no  singles. Six  months  later  she  released  her  fourth  "People"  ( her  first  number  one ) . The  title  track  was  the  only  song  from  the  musical  but  the  opening track  "Absent  Minded  Me"  was by  the  same  writers  and  that  was  released  as  a  single  in  August  1964. Once  again  people  preferred  the  B-side  "Funny  Girl" which  hadn't  actually  been  used  in  the  musical. It  made  number 44  despite  being  as  dull  as  ditch water.

Her  next  single  was  in  March  1965  "Why  Did  I  Choose  You"  yet  another  torch  ballad  from  a  musical  called  The  Yearling. It  reached  number  77. It  also  featured  on  her  next  album  "My  Name  Is  Barbra" released  in  May  just  after  her  Emmy-winning  TV  special  of  the  same  title. The  final  track  "My  Man"  was  originally  recorded  by  the  subject  of  "Funny  Girl"  , Fanny  Brice  in  1921  and  was  released  as  the  next  single  in  June.  It  wasn't  in  the  musical  but  Barbra  got  to  perform  it  in  the  film  version. It  got  to  number  79  but  sounds  tuneless  and  over-the-top  to  me.

In  September  came  "He  Touched  Me" , another barnstorming  ballad  from  a  musical  called  Drat ! The Cat ! . It  reached  number  53  and  became  the  opening  track  on  her  next  album  "My  Name  Is  Barbra Two"  released  in  October. The  sixth  track  and  next  single  is  this  one.

"Second  Hand  Rose"  was  another  song  that  Fanny  Brice  had  recorded  and  like  "My  Man"  would  be  incorporated  in  the  film version.  Breaking  away  from  the  ballads, it's  a  Tin  Pan  Alley jazz  tune  about  having  to  settle  for  hand-me-downs  which  Barbra  performs  in  character  with  exaggerated  New  York-isms  - "piana", "nive" (nerve) ," befaww"  and  so  on. Why  this  particular  tune  should  be  the  only  one  to  tickle  the  fancy  of  the  UK  singles  buyer   from  her  first  eight  years  of  recording  is  difficult  to  fathom.

148 Hello Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick And Tich - You Make It Move

Chart  entered : 23  December  1965

Chart  peak : 26

Number  of  hits : 13 ( Dave  Dee  had  one  solo  hit  and  the  others  had  one  without  him  as  D.B.M & T).

This  lot  arrived  in  the  charts  dated  on  my  first  birthday  and  hung  around  for  the  rest  of  the decade.

We've  already  encountered  the  perma-grinning  Dave  Dee ( actually  Harman )  as  the  unlikely  beneficiary  of  Eddie  Cochran's  fatal  accident. A  couple  of  years  later  he  quit  the  police  and  formed  his  own  band,  Dave  Dee  and  the  Bostons  with  fellow  denizens  of  Wiltshire,  Trevor  Ward-  Davies  ( Dozy ) on  bass, John  Dymond  ( Beaky ) on  guitar, Ian  Amey ( Titch ) on  guitar  and  Michael  Wilson ( Mick,  imaginatively  enough ) on  drums. Dee  handled  lead  vocals.

The  band  honed  their  craft  in  Hamburg  and  like  The  Barron  Knights  developed  a  comedy  routine  in  their  act  but  failed  to  get  signed  in  the  wake  of  the  Beatles. They  were  playing  summer  season  at  a  holiday  camp  in  1964  when  they  got  their  lucky  break  with  a  chance  to  support  temporary  sensations  The  Honeycombs  who  had  just  hit  number  one  with  Have  I  The  Right. Their  managers  Ken  Howard  and  Alan  Blaikley, two  songwriting  polymaths,  liked  them  and  got  them  a  deal  with  Fontana. They  decided  on  the  band's  name  change  in  a  not  entirely  successful  bid  to  emphasise  the  members'  individual  personalities  by  publicising  their  nicknames ; a  group  of  girls  would  have  rather  more  success  with  this  tactic  thirty  years  later. Their  first  recording  sessions  were  with  Joe  Meek   but  they  weren't  able to  play  at  half  speed  as  he  required; Meek  threw  one  of  his  hissy  fits,  stormed  out  and  the  session  came  to  an  end.

 They  recorded  their  first  single  "No  Time"  elsewhere  and  it  was  released  in  January 1965. It's  a  beat  heavy  pop  number  somewhat  reminiscent  of  the  Dave  Clark  Five . There's  an   interesting  acid  guitar  line  that  pops  up  every  now  and  then  but  it's  lacking  a  strong  chorus. It  got  them  onto  Ready  Steady  Go  but  no  further.

"All  I  Want"  followed  in  June  and  is  a  competent  Hollies  impersonation  that  sounds  a  bit  tinny  and  primitive  given  what  else  was  around  at  the  time. Dave  Dee  later  said  the  band  were  at  the  point  of  breaking  up  when  it  flopped.

They  gave  it  one  more  shot  with  "You Make  It  Move"  another  Howard - Blaikley  song. Blessed with  a  sledgehammer  beat,  a  generous-helping  of  Satisfaction -style  fuzz  guitar  and  harmonies  that sound  pretty  similar  to  Get Off  Of  My  Cloud , it  did  the  trick  despite  a  confused  middle  eight where  the  keyboard  player  appears  to  be  playing  a  different  song. Like  Hot  Chocolate  in  the following  decade  they  were  never  destined  for  critical  plaudits  but  maintained  their  position  by assimilating  current  sounds  as  here.

147 Hello Otis Redding - My Girl

Chart  entered : 25  November  1965

Chart  peak : 11

Number  of  hits  : 15

Another  black  legend  here  but  it's  something  of  a  surprise  to  me  that  he  racked  up  15  hits  even   if  most  of  them  were  relatively  small.

Otis  was  born  in  Georgia  in  1941  to  a  farmer  of  the  same  name  who  was  also  a  gospel  singer. The  younger  Otis  could  sing  and  play  from  a  young  age  but  as  a  teenager  grew  up  on  Sam Cooke  and  Little  Richard. Leaving  school  at  15  Otis  worked  in  some  dead  end  jobs  as  well  as playing  piano  behind  local  performers. In  1958  he  won  a  talent  contest  and  gradually  built  his reputation  as  a  singer  with  various  bands  including  a  short  stint  with  Little  Richard's  backing  band   after  he  abandoned rock and  roll.

In  1962  Otis  signed  with  the  small  Confederate  label  and  recorded  his  first  single  the less  than sensitive  "Fat  Gal" backed by  his  friend  Johnny  Jenkins' band,  The  Pinetoppers. It  was  an  original Otis  composition  but  betrays his  love  for  Little  Richard  both  in  the  singing  and  playing  and  it's  rock and  roll  sound  is  antique for  1962. It  had  to  be  re-issued  on  another  label Orbit  because  R & B stations  wouldn't  play  a  disc  with  a  Confederate  flag  design  on  the  label.

Later  that  year  Otis   drove  Jenkins  to  a  recording  session  in  Memphis and  got  the  chance  to  sing   a  couple  of  self-penned  numbers  when  Jenkins  finished  early. Studio  chief  Jim  Stewart  was   impressed  by  the  second  song  "These  Arms  Of  Mine"  and  signed  him  up. It's  a  rolling  piano  ballad featuring  Jenkins  on  the  keys  and  some  interesting  guitar  work  from  Steve  Cropper. Otis  is  finding his  own  style,  less dependent  on  Cooke  and  Richard  but  there's  a  bit  too  much  syllable-stretching for  my  tastes. Nevertheless  it  created  enough  ripples  to  become  a  minor U.S. hit  the  following March.

"That's  What  My  Heart  Needs"  was  released  in  June  1963. It  was  a  hit  on  the  R & B  chart  only  and  suffers  a  little  from  its  similarity  to  Bring  It  On  Home  To  Me.  It  does  however  have  some  good  clipped  guitar  from  Cropper, some  timely  brass  interventions  and  in  the  last  half  minute  the  gospel  screams   from  our  man  that  influenced  everyone  from  Joe  Cocker  to  David  McAlmont.

That  November  he  scored  his  biggest  hit  to  date  with  "Pain  In  My  Heart"  written  by  Allen   Toussaint  under  the  contract-dodging  pseudonym  "Naomi  Neville"  and  previously  recorded  by  Irma Thomas  as  "Ruler  Of  My  Heart" . It  establishes  the  classic  Stax  sound, a  simple  piano  riff, impassioned  singing,  inventive  rhythm  guitar  and  sympathetic  swelling  horns. Rob  Bowman's description  from  Soulsville  USA : The  Story  of  Stax  Records  is  worth  quoting " Otis's  dynamic   control  is  front  and  center  as  he  uses  his  voice  as  a  horn, swelling  and  decreasing  in  volume  , swallowing  syllables  and  worrying  the  word  "heart "". It  was  his  first  release  in  the  UK  on  London.

It  became  the  title  track  to  his  debut  LP  released  at  the  beginning  of  1964. It  made  a  minor  impact  on  the  Billboard  chart. His  next  single  "Come  To  Me"  a  co-write  with  Phil  Walden  wasn't  on  the  album   and  is  another  deep  soul  ballad  with  understated  organ  replacing  the  horns. He  then  went  back  to  the  album  for  another  single  "Security" which  is  more  uptempo  but  has  melodic  similarities  to  Stand  By  Me. It  barely  made  the  charts.

His  next  single  was  "Chained  And  Bound"  with  Cropper  producing  as well  as  playing  lead  guitar on  another  wracked  ballad. A  local  disc  jockey  characterised  his  style  with  the  epithet  "Mr  Pitiful"  upon  which  Otis  and  Cropper  promptly  came  up  with  a  song  of  that  name  released  in  January  1965. It's  a  sprightlier  affair  with  a  self-justifying  lyric  and  a  punchy  horn  arrangement  and  became  his  biggest  hit  to  date  in  the  US. His  modestly-titled  second   album "The  Great  Otis  Redding  Sings  Soul  Ballads"  followed  on  its  heels  and  outsold  its  predecessor  though  not in  the  UK.

 In  April  1965  he  released  "I've  Been  Loving  You  Too  Long" co-written  with  Jerry  Butler  of  The  Impressions. It's  probably  the  quintessential  Otis  Redding  ballad  and  the  first  to  crack  the  US  Top  30. It  was  almost  immediately  covered  by  The  Rolling  Stones  on  their  LP  Got  Live  If  You  Want  It   (  although  it  was  a  studio  track  with  dubbed  audience  noise )  which  raised  his  profile  with  white  audiences. Otis  later  covered  "Satisfaction"  in  gratitude.

He  followed  it  up  with  "Respect", the  song  soon  to  be  immortalised  by  Arethra  Franklin. Otis's version  lacks  the  barnstorming  spelling  out  of  the  title  which  was  Franklin's  own  innovation  and  is more  of  a  plea  for  sex  from  his  spouse  than  an  empowerment  anthem.

The  latter  three  tracks  mentioned  all  featured  on  Otis's  next  album  "Otis  Blue"  released  in  September  1965 . At  this  point  Atlantic  who  had  taken  over  Otis's  licensing  in  the  UK  diverged  from  the  US  release  schedule  and  picked  his  cover  of  "My  Girl"  for  a  single  release  because  The Temptations  version  had  been  so  minor  a  hit.

Otis's  arrangement  isn't  radically  different  from  the  original. The  brass  is  more  in  your  face  and Otis's  vocal   is  much  more  ragged  than  David  Ruffin's. There's  an  obvious  question  whether  Otis's  style  is  suited  to  a  song  of  sweet  contentment  but  I  guess  if  you're  a  glass  is  half  empty  person  you'd  plump  for  this  version. Otis  knows  such  joys  are  fleeting , perhaps  have  already  passed  by.