Author: Mike A

Stateside newies

JIM STAFFORD: My Girl Bill (MGM M 14718).
I’m convinced . . . Jim Stafford really IS the most original, and possibly the most important, new star to emerge in recent years! For his third hit, he has made one of the funniest, most misleading, yet ultimately simplest singles ever. To a madly perky lightweight old-fashioned backing he spins a silly tale of such ambiguosity that everyone who hears it is bound to believe it’s really about what they think it’s about, a pederastic love affair. Worded with economically urbane wit, the first two verses are an incredible come-on, as Bill walks Jim home, then goes inside for a drink instead of standing by the door (“what would the neighbours think?”), then, as with shaking hand William takes his glass of wine, and his eyes meet Jim’s, they sit on the couch and face their love man to man. A cooing girlie group meanwhile has been doing a Temptations bit on “my girl, my girl” during the “my girl Bill” chorus, which is the key to the whole situation . . . for, with justa slight shift of emphasis, it suddenly changes from being a simple hymn to “my girl Bill” into a discussion about a third, and female, party. Yes, you see, “she’s MY girl, Bill, and you’re gonna have to find another, Bill”. Poor Bill has been passed over for Jim by the girl they both love! Collapse of salivating sensation seekers everywhere! And as I said, this is not just darned clever, it’s also impossibly catchy and bound to do well here. In America, it’s at 56 with a bullet in its second week on the Hot 100.

SKIP McHONEY & THE CASUALS: Your Funny Moods (DC International DCI 5003).
YA-HOOO! I know my tastes may have broadened disconcertingly for some time since the time in ’64 when Tony Secunda nicknamed me Doctor Soul, but – to paraphrase – you can indeed take the boy from Soul, yet you can’t take Soul from the boy, once it’s there. Which means that my biggest gut-reaction buzzes still come from hearing Soulful expressions in song, usually of a somewhat specialist nature. Bearing this in mind, believe me when I say that – goodness knows why – this far from perfect yawing and creaking slowie hits me as the spine-tinglingest slab of pure deep Soul I’ve heard and gotten off on so far this year. These guys HAD to get this record out of their systems, and they did just that at DB Sound Studios, Sliver Springs, Maryland . . . yeah, it’s the REAL thing. If you’re a solid Soul freak and want your mind messed up but good, want to slip and drift along in suspended animation amidst lapping waves of bitter-sweet emotion, want to forget everything and get LOST for an hour or two, then try to find this record (it hasn’t been a hit, yet) and play it over and over again like I’ve just had to do. (So that’s why your copy’s late again! – Production Ed.)

THE ELEVENTH HOUR: So Good (20th Century TC 2076).
Produced and co-penned by a re-activated Bob Crewe, arranged and conducted by Charlie Calello – so is it any wonder that these guys sound like the Four Seasons? I wonder who they are. With a squeaky lead voice, chanted back-up (which includes chix), and a sparsely arranged simple slow clomp beat, it’s straight out of the good old ‘60s and sounds like something the Newbeats might have done a decade or so ago. It’s not a hit so far, but should do well Up North if ever issued here. Continue reading “April 27, 1974: Jim Stafford, Skip McHoney & The Casuals, The Eleventh Hour, Tower Of Power, Charlie Rich”

Stateside newies

FIVE MAN ELECTRICAL BAND: Werewolf (Polydor PD 14221).
This group, originally from currently trendy Canada, scored first a while ago with their great American Teen anthem, “Signs”, which unfortunately meant absolutely nothing here. Neither did a strange record by another group, the Buoys, who sang a bubblegum beater about a guy called “Timothy”, which, on a very close hearing, proved to be about cannibalism – Tim got eaten by his fellow survivors in a mine cave-in. The link between that record and this is purely my own hunch that “Werewolf” is likely to follow “Timothy” in selling by word-of-mouth: however, that theory already has two strikes against it. “Timothy”, which outwardly gave away no secrets about its real subject, took a great many months to finally reach smash hit status, while “Werewolf” begins with the advantage of its self-explanatory title (which doesn’t actually appear during the song itself) and is already slowly but surely climbing the Chart (up six to 71 during its fourth week). So, what’s it all about? Well, in a way it’s an alternative story about that (don’t be a hero) Billy, whose Mama has misgivings about her son’s nocturnal activity. “There’s something weird about Billy, his bed wasn’t slept in at all last night,” worries Mama, but Papa blusters that he’s probably out sowing his wild oats, “and that’s all right.” “Uh-huh”, counters Mum, ‘cos she knows that the farmer down the road lost a few of his sheep last night, and she saw her Billy on the hill just howlin’ at the moon. Ooo-err! Not wanting to spoil your fun when eventually you hear the record yourselves, I’ll just add that Papa gets his little silver bell melted down in a single silver bullet, and Billy ends up like his heroic namesake. Two things further need saying though, in case you start to equate this musically with the other “Billy” record. Yes, this is a story song (and a darned sight more interesting, too), but it is treated with a chunky, jerky, rumbling backing which leaps into life on the chorus and is a long way removed from pappy Pop, and the story itself is unfolded so sinisterly that it seems a pity that the over-obvious title has to dot the “i”. Hmmmm, maybe Billy ate Timothy? It’s a thought!

LEON HAYWOOD: Keep It In The Family (20th Century TC 2065).
Up six places to 58 Pop but falling from 11 to 15 R&B without making the Soul Top Ten as expected, Leon “Mellow Moonlight” Haywood has returned to hitdom with a straight copy of the Staple Singers’ formula, complete with their distinctive bass-boosted lurching rhythm and a male version of the Mavis Staples wheezing croak. Nothing to get excited about . . . unless you’re a sucker for the Staples, of course.

THE JACKSON 5: Dancing Machine (Motown M 1286F).
Funnily enough, after their strenuous and somewhat contrived attempts to regain their former Chart prominence, the Jacksons have done just that with this unpretentious little album track from their “Get It Together” LP (released here some months ago). It’s currently at 13 with a bullet in the Pop Top 20, and rising at 8 R&B, thus being their biggest hit in a long time. The cut’s nothing special, just a mildly innocuous “get down” jittery funker with choppy lyrics and a brassy instrumental break: however, it’s in the groove so far as “boogie” dancers are concerned. Continue reading “April 20, 1974: Five Man Electrical Band, Leon Haywood, The Jackson 5, Deodato/Airto, Kathi McDonald”

Stateside newies

BILL HALEY AND HIS COMETS: (We’re Gonna) Rock Around The Clock (MCA 60025).
It’s interesting, as well as nostalgic, to note that in America the new Chart-climbing issue of this twenty-year-old classic still has its original coupling on the B-side, “Thirteen Women (And Only One Man In Town)”. Not only that, but it also retains the quaint description on the label, “Fox Trot, Vocal Chorus by Bill Haley!” An addition, however (and apart from the modern rainbow-on-black MCA label design), is the information: “Originally released as Decca 29124 on 5-10-54” . . . which translated into Queen’s English was 10th May 1954 (the Americans put their day and month figures the other way round, you see). Twenty years on from the actual recording date this week, and still going strong! It’s the string bass that does it, so it’s a pity that all Bill’s more modern Comets have used the less percussive electric variety.

CHICAGO: (I’ve Been) Searchin’ So Long; Byblos (Columbia 4-46020).
Chicago keep getting slagged by the critics, and indeed sometimes their music is vacuous enough to deserve it, but they are still capable of creating some damn nice noise. Their current US hit is kinda pretty-pretty, with effete high-flying harmonies straining over the slow strings (or synthesized strings – you can’t tell these days) and the burnished brass: it gets grittier as it goes along, ending with growling throats and threatening rumblings. As it happens, though, the point of this review is to hip you to the exquisitely beautiful flipside Latin lilter. Regular readers may know my predilection for those lovely Latin rhythms, and here the pretty acoustic guitar twiddles away like a jazz samba over plopping and tapping beats like a cooled-out Steely Dan while the lead voice is deadpan and huskily mannered, the whole becoming the quintessence of my particular taste. So, I’m happy, at least!

THE GUESS WHO: Star Baby (RCA ABP0 0217).
Burton Cummings and the Canadians can deliver the goods when they want, too: this time, they want. Their new fast-rising hit is an all-out stomper with frantic piano rocking, drums thrashing, and over all, leaping and flying guitars behind the slick ‘n’ easy lyrics. Continue reading “April 13, 1974: Bill Haley And His Comets, Chicago, The Guess Who, Dawn, Leon Russell”

Stateside newies

MARIA MULDAUR: Midnight At The Oasis (Reprise REP 1183).
“You won’t need no camel, honey, when I take you for a ride,” warbles the winsome Miss Muldaur, a dark-haired houri given to flashing her navel in the long grass. Imagine an American version of Linda Lewis singing amidst the living definition of “good music” – everything exquisitely exquisite and just “so”, with some bleached-out jazzy guitar doing the minimum needed to be a delight – and you might start to grasp the rudiments. She’s certainly a lady what takes her time, this came out five months ago and has only now made the 50.

HERBIE HANCOCK: Chameleon (Columbia 4-46002).
Jazzman Herbie having forsaken his cerebral pursuits, he’s now funking about with the best of them, creating choppy rhythms and laying down throbbing bass notes or squeaky weazlings on synthetic keyboards. The result’s a funky gas, with a whole lot more to commend it than the similar synthesizing of such as Billy Preston. No. 50 R&B/83 Pop.

J. KELLY AND THE PREMIERS: She Calls Me Baby (Roadshow 7005).
With more than a touch of the “Ooo baby babies” about not only the slow tune but also Jay’s tensile quavering Smokey-isms, this pretty little Soul smoocher starts out after a lovely instrumental intro by bringing on a Sylvia sound-alike to do the sexily imploring “baby! baby! baby!” bits. Jay probably digs Eddie Holman too, by the sound of it. 51 R&B after 10 weeks, and rising. Continue reading “April 6, 1974: Maria Muldaur, Herbie Hancock, J. Kelly & The Premiers, Billy Joel, Charlie Rich”

Stateside newies

THE NEW BIRTH: It’s Been A Long Time (RCA ABP0 0185).
Just to finish off last week’s truncated review: this, the title track from the Harvey Fuqua-created group’s new LP, starts out with the lead-singing guy sounding resignedly cool over the chix-helped slowly swaying backing, before he then very subtly turns on the heat and almost imperceptibly increases the intensity while a Hugh Masekela-pitched trumpet trills in the distance. It’s a real slow burner that’s full of raw power! Yeah!

Other Soul Vocal Group goodies (some of which have been out for a while, I must confess) include THE DRAMATICS’ lovely languid “And I Panicked” (Volt VOA 4105), on which they gradually get all tore up in that slightly Al Green-backed-by-the Temptations way but only after a dreamy flute intro, THE DELFONICS’ sprightly William Hart-penned “I Told You So” (Philly Groove PG 182), a fast plopping rhythm dancer (for a change – and it’s one that suits them), THE TEMPREES’ synthetically busy smooth stomp treatment of the old “At Last” (We Produce XPA 1812), and THE FANTASTIC FOUR’s return (with their old ‘60s sound) on the Al Kent-produced churning “I’m Falling In Love (I Feel Good All Over)” (Eastbound E 620), which for my own dancing taste is a bit too leadenly “medium” in tempo.

JACKIE MOORE: Both Ends Against The Middle (Atlantic 45-2989).
I’ve been meaning to mention this Tony Bell (brother of Thom)-arranged dancer for ages: now several others have taken it up in print, and I’ll just concur that it is absolutely MADE for Great Britain . . . if it came out here on single it would be a practically guaranteed smash. Miss Moore and her backing chix wail away mightily, yet it’s the irresistible rhythm that sells the song (OK, the beat is more Northern than London, but that does seem to be where the hits come from, huh?).

BILL AMESBURY: Virginia (Touch Me Like You Do) (Casablanca NEB 0001).
As the number suggests, this Canadian master-purchase (yet another Maple Leaf hit for the US) is the first single on the unusually decorative new label that graces the records of Neil Bogart’s latest venture. Bogart left Buddah Records to set up Casablanca as a completely commercial label which would only handle records that could be promoted with full effect in the ever more claustrophobic world of American radio, and his entire executive staff is made up of top promotion men. Sensible, of course . . . but even so, welcome to the wonderful world of music, ’74. (On which note, let it be recorded that last week, Wurlitzer stopped making juke boxes). Anyway, Bill Amesbury makes a spirited noise with much Trini Lopez-style clapping and crowd noises behind a frantically strumming tinny guitar (and some banjo for that authentic goodtimey touch), reminding me the while of what Neil Diamond might have sounded like at a hootenanny. And, indeed, it’s gradually climbing the Chart. Continue reading “March 30, 1974: The New Birth, Jackie Moore, Bill Amesbury, Sami Jo, Henry Gross”

Stateside newies

GRAND FUNK: The Locomotion (Grand Funk/Capitol 3840).
After the gold-pressed excess of “We’re An American Band”, the fearsome foursome have gone back to boring black wax (but with a new red, white and blue label design) for their Todd Rundgren-produced stab at Little Eva’s Goffin & King-penned classic. Although in giving it an echoing hand-clap beat, ragged chanting back-up and a screeching guitar break they have lost the original’s flowing dynamics, they have still kept it simple like a single should be – and the result must rank with their old “Footstompin’ Music” as their most successfully single-minded effort to date. In fact, had Little Eva not hit here again so recently, it could have been the one to break them in Britain.

JAMES BROWN: The Payback (Polydor PD 14223).
The Hit Man’s latest two-part sparsely arranged funker (title track of his new US LP) seems to be about the need for revenge when wrong has been done one . . . a disturbing topic (if I read it right), made all the more so by some occasional drily-interjected declarations by another voice (presumably Fred Wesley, Maceo Parker or Danny Ray) that “This is for Chicago” (and Atlanta, Los Angeles), “This record is strong!” (and “too much!”), “This is solid funk”, “This jam is for the people”, “This is for everybody” and “Two bits for New York!” Do these exclamations relate to the lyrics, or are they, as seems most likely, merely to cover several bases and ensure strong sales in the cities named? Equally enigmatic is the paper sleeve’s surreal painting (doubtless the same as the album’s), which depicts two pairs of disembodied hands exchanging folded banknotes, a naked lady greeting a man in a doorway, a leafless tree and the looming head of James Brown wearing a hat on which, through the shape of a cloud, is written “We got a right to the tree of life”. Kinda cryptic, but the music’s much as before!

LYN COLLINS (THE FEMALE PREACHER): Don’t Make Me Over (People PE 633).
Starting with a “Sproinngg! Sproinngg!”, Lyn’s exquisite slow reading of Bacharach & David’s old Dionne Warwick hit gets interrupted by the voice from producer James Brown’s own newie, this time drily intoning “Burn, sister, burn!” – a bit unnecessarily, even if that is what she does! Continue reading “March 23, 1974: Grand Funk, James Brown, Lyn Collins, Earth Wind & Fire, The Temptations”

Stateside newies

GUIDO SARDUCCI: A European (Speaks Up For The U.S.) (A&M 1504).
Hopefully this will be the final chapter in the continuing story of Gordon Sinclair, Byron MacGregor, Tex Ritter and “The Americans (A Canadian’s Opinion)” . . . certainly it’s the funniest. (Regular readers will know the story so far.) In a heavily laid-on Italian accent, S. Sarducci sends them all up something rotten, quoting in his own inimitable way the rabble-rousing catchphrases like “cam arrn, let’s-a hear eet” and “I was-a their, I sore eet” in connection with such topics as where else but in America can you get the same hamburger (and fries) thousands of miles apart, and where were the Canadians when those brave Chicago policemen had to beat up all those young people in 1968 all by themselves. “After this-a theeng is orl over, you should-a say ‘Nuts’ to Canada” lambasts Guido, before wading into the real clinchers which cannot be answered: “the only theeng the rest-a of the World ever gave America was the ‘flu” (you’ve heard of the Asian ‘Flu, but the Detroit ‘Flu?), and – the coup de grace – “when-a the United States had-a its Civil War, Vietnam didn’t even send-a one soldier”! Interestingly enough I see that the premise upon which Gordon Sinclair founded his original editorial was completely false – many nations actually offered money and help at the time of the San Francisco earthquake, but President Teddy Roosevelt rejected it to show that America, and especially the new Red Cross organisation, could cope with the problem on its own. And it was the US Red Cross’s bankruptcy last year which prompted Sinclair in the first place!

MFSB: TSOP (Philadelphia International ZS7 3540).
Depsite early rumours that MFSB stood for Mother-Effing Soul Band, it really stands for Mother Father Sister Brother (Gamble & Huff’s all-star house band), and “TSOP” means no more than “The Sound Of Philadelphia”. It also spells H-I-T, if not S-M-A-S-H . . . and I mean in Britain. From the schlerping “Love’s Theme” cymbals at the start to the Three Degrees’ chanting appearance at the end, this ultra-danceable instrumental clomper has every ingredient to please today’s disco-dancers, while Northern backing-track fans will be queuing for it ten deep! The San Remo Strings live! Bobby Martin arranged it, and the players include such as Norman Harris, Ronnie Baker, Don Renaldo and (probably) Leon Huff himself. GDAGWI!

BLUE SWEDE: Hooked On A Feeling (Capitol 3627, but out here imminently).
Rocketing up the US Chart, this Dutch-Swedish group’s rather reedy carbon-copy of Jonathan King’s distinctive 1971 treatment of the old B.J. Thomas hit has thrown Jo King (for once, NOT as in “You must be Jo King?”) into a much self-publicised pique. Joking aside (gerroff!) I actually admire young King, and collect his productions purely for their great throwaway B-sides, which are as good value as Phil Spector’s used to be. Thus, I’d like to bring your attention to his latest, “People Don’t Like Me” (flip to “Get Off My Cloud”, UK 61), in which to a home-recorded Dylan-esque guitar he rambles on without naming names about how not only Blue Swede but also Italy’s Titans have ripped off his original arrangements (the Titans did “Satisfaction”) without anyone crediting him. Of course, one could get picky and point out that on “Hooked On A Feeling” he himself pinched the Big Bopper’s “ooga-ooga-ooga-chukka” redskin chant from Johnny Preston’s “Running Bear”, but even so the lad is right. The whole thing smacks of the days back in the mid ‘50s when R&B record companies in America were campaigning for legislation to prevent better-established companies from making note for note cover versions with white artistes of their original arrangements. In particular, LaVern Baker springs to mind: she got onto her congressman after Georgia Gibbs had covered “Tweedle Dee” in 1955. Although much discussed, no legislation seems to have been passed to copyright original arrangements (other than in the case of those of traditional tunes in the Public Domain). If it were, it would obviously put paid to all those cheapo-cheapo “Top Pops” LPs, from a Continental one of which, I believe, this Blue Swede recording came . . . and, indeed, that type of LP has on several other occasions been the source of foreign hit versions that out-sold the originals abroad. Boo! It just isn’t British! Continue reading “March 16, 1974: Guido Sarducci, MFSB, Blue Swede, The Trammps, Jimmy Osmond”

Stateside newies

LAWRENCE PAYTON: One Woman Man; Love Makes You Human (ABC/Dunhill D 4376).
Know the name? Yes, it’s the 4 Top . . . and his solo debut reveals him to be an accomplished romantic Soul balladeer, with slight stylistic traces of the modern Stevie Wonder in the pretty lyricism that surrounds him. Gil Askey has whipped up the most beautiful arrangement imaginable, languidly building from delicately jazzy electric keyboard, guitar and plopping rhythm, while flipside the soft beat is almost samba-ish. In fact, it’s the gorgeous musical setting that made me describe Payton as “accomplished” – he actually sounds a bit ill at ease, I now realise. Still, an instrumental album like this would be a treat!

JOHNNIE TAYLOR: We’re Getting Careless With Our Love (Stax STA 0193).
Yet another hit from Johnnie’s “Taylored In Silk” album, this Soulfully-sung slowie has a thuddingly dominant beat, back-up chix, squeaky strings and hints of “Hot Buttered Soul” during the more spacious moments.

NRBQ: Get That Gasoline Blues (Kama Sutra KA 586).
One of several oil crisis hits, this nifty ‘50s blues finds NRBQ at last in the Charts along with all the other backwards-looking groups who followed them but beat them to hitdom. From their early “Stomp” and work with Carl Perkins, NRBQ have always combined the traditions of Rock ‘n Roll and early 60’s Pop with modern freakiness – thus, they now add some particularly effective woozy brass and a noisy guitar break to a Commander Cody-type good-time chanted strutter that’s 98 octane great. By the way, the gasoline-derived PVC from which discs are made is not only getting scarcer than hens’ teeth, it’s also lethal – over-exposure to the stuff can help cause Angiosarcoma, a rare but fatal liver cancer from which seven vinyl chloride workers have died so far. Record collectors, beware! Continue reading “March 9, 1974: Lawrence Payton, Johnnie Taylor, NRBQ, Three Degrees, James Gang”

Stateside newies

BYRON MacGREGOR: The British (unavailable anywhere).
Here it is – as previously exclusively reported – except that in fact, here it ISN’T! This is the Canadian star of “The Americans” doing the “British” version of his huge US hit, and no record company in Britain has the guts to release it! Phonogram have the first-refusal rights but are frightened of the obvious political implications. So, what is it that has got them and all the other companies to which it has been offered so scared? To the backing of “Land Of Hope And Glory”, dee-jay Byron proclaims in plummy tones that the three-day working week and all Britain’s other current problems have plunged the nation into more trouble than it’s ever seen: he then goes on to exhort “The British” with facts about how, by way of the Industrial Revolution, they once beat the World by being the first with every new advance . . . but reminds us that “The British don’t brag about anything – they don’t have to!” Then, after claiming “The British have never given up – and they won’t now”, he plunges into the collected quotes of Winston Churchill, using to telling effect in his argument “We shall fight on the beaches” and “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil and sweat”. No, this has not been a partly satirical broadcast on behalf of any party – it’s a heart-felt and immensely commercial call to the man in the street’s patriotism. If it had come out last week, it would have sold half-a-million, easy. Unfortunately, unless you tune in to Capital Radio at 2 o’clock this Saturday afternoon, when I hope to be able to play it on Tim Rice’s programme, you are now not likely to hear it. A pity, for as Byron concludes, “This is truly Britain’s finest hour!”

TERRY JACKS: Seasons In The Sun (out here on Bell 1344).
Well, there it is, sitting alongside at Number One! Now I discover that I have a 1964 recording of this Jacques Brel & Rod McKuen song on Capitol by the Kingston Trio, who did it in an echoing “Pop-Folk” style, using the original French “Adieu Francoise” unlike Terry’s Anglicised “Goodbye Michelle”.

Other odds & ends: that excellent Pop synthesizer instrumental from the Continent, THE PEPPERS’ “Pepper Box” (out here last October on Spark SRL 1100) is now in the R&B Chart; after all the “authentic” versions mentioned last week, I fear that the most immediately danceable version of “The Sting” is indeed by BOBBY CRUSH (out here on Philips 6006374); PAUL McCARTNEY & WINGS’ “Jet” is coupled in America by “Mamunia”, which leaves the way open for “Let Me Roll It” (our B-side) to be the follow-up; GRAND FUNK’s latest is – surprise, surprise! – Little Eva’s “The Loco-Motion” (Capitol 3840) . . . whatever will that be like?!

Oh, and in case you’ve forgotten, the mysterious MOCEDADES’ ever-rising “Eres Tu (Touch The Wind)” is a churning Spanish slowie by an Iberian Brotherhood Of Man which (I bet you HAVE forgotten!) came second in last year’s Eurovision contest (and out here on Bell 1303). Continue reading “March 2, 1974: Byron MacGregor, Terry Jacks, The Soul Children, Bobby Womack, The Intruders”

Stateside newies

JIMMY OSMOND: Give Me A Good Old Mammy Song; I’m Gonna Knock On Your Door (MGM K 14687 – that’s in America only, so far).
“Hey mums and dads, kids and grads, gather roun’ – ‘cos Jimmy’s BACK . . . in YO’ town!” Yeah, what all those frantic American dee-jays would have been shouting in the good old days: trouble is, they’re all long gone, as is the vulgar kind of music that fitted their format. Hence the Osmonds, Cassidy, Cooper, and all our home-grown noisy Popsters do better here, where Boss Radio reigns, than in the cooled-out States. Admittedly, Little Jimmy O’s “Long Haired Lover From Liverpool” was a medium-sized hitlet in America a great many months before it broke through here, but since then he’s done nothing here. In fact, his Neil Reid-covering “Mother Of Mine” B-side was the original plug-side then, and right now his newie (due out here soon) is the other way up in America, where it is obviously hoped that the Levine & Brown-penned “Mammy Song” will echo that team’s success with Dawn (who, as it certainly sounds, possibly have already recorded this). Just as I dug “Liverpool” originally, I must confess to enjoying this frantic banjo-jangling romp, complete with an Al Jolson-aping sincere recitation insert! Anyway, the British A-side is going to be Jimmy’s similar to the original version of little (at that time) Eddie Hodges’ 1961 US hit, penned by leading Presley hit-mongers of the era, publisher Aaron Schroeder & Sid Wayne, who used that same “I’m gonna knock on your door, ring on your bell, tap on your window too” set of words that have taken Aretha Franklin into our Chart right now. The song’s a gimmicky chugger (less power-packed and noisy than the consequently still stronger Hodges cut) which doubtless will be gracing our airwaves for months to come. Over and out!

SISTER JANET MEAD (SISTER OF MERCY): The Lord’s Prayer (A&M 1491, due out here imminently on A&M AMS 7103).
Gawd strewth . . . following in the footsteps of those other great Australian songbirds, Helen Reddy and Olivia Newton John (let alone – and very applicable here – Judith Durham), and in the noble tradition of such overnight classics as “The Americans”, “Ballad Of The Green Berets” and “My Old Man’s A Dustman”, here’s – hold it, quit shovin’! – an Aussie nun – get in line there! – singing ever so sweetly to a buzzing and rumbling jog-beat Rock backing a generation-bridging – hey, let that cripple through there! – version of “The Lord’s Prayer (Our Father)” – have money ready! – which has already sold over two million copies in the last ten minutes. Say, did you ever know that it was penned by one Arnold Strals? And published by Rondor Music? Oh well, maybe they’re gonna give their royalties to the Australian flood victims, or somethin’ like that.

GLADYS KNIGHT AND THE PIPS: Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me (Buddah BDA 403).
Briefly back to sanity! Also hitting for Soul Vocal Group the Persuaders, this Jim Weatherly-penned slowie is the number that I was exhorting easy-listening readers to buy when out here by Country crooner Ray Price a few months back. Our Glad does it lovely, too, in a cryingly Soulful voice over thumping and twanging backing and subdued sing-along Pips. Continue reading “February 23, 1974: Jimmy Osmond, Sister Janet Mead, Gladys Knight & The Pips, Inez Foxx, The Staple Singers.”