Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

This was the second single off the album of the same name. This single is regarded as one of Elton's best ever songs, it was released in September 1973 and amongst the Glam Rock hits in the charts at that time, managed to get to number 6. Written by Elton and Bernie Taupin, the lyrics of the song are about Bernie wanting to get back to having a normal life and leaving Elton to live the rock n roll lifestyle! He still sings the song live at all his show but as the years go on, Elton has to drop the key of the song down as he can no longer reach the notes of the original song.

The album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is about to get a re-release as a deluxe box set and should bring a lot of interest back in the album and Elton too! Here's the single

Sweet - The Ballroom Blitz

Let's start 2014 with a huge worldwide hit and a great power single

Sweet released this single in September 1973 after having huge success in the year with Blockbuster and Hellraiser. 1973 and 1974 were to be the band's biggest years and made some great singles in these years. Glam rock was in full force and there was no stopping the band, or maybe there was!

The track was partly influenced by an incident where the band were playing a gig in a ballroom in Scotland (the birth place of Brian Connolly, the lead singer) and were forced off stage due to bottle throwing from fans. Ballrooms and club were what venues were around in those days (a throwback from the 50's & 60's pre rock n roll days). Sweet didn't help the fact that they used to piss the fans off by not playing early hits as Sweet wanted to be a rock band not a bubblegum band they were more know for. The single was never featured on any album release in the UK (except Greatest Hits) but was featured on the US version of Desolation Boulevard

The single peaked at number 2 in the UK, a position that Sweet were used to but was really annoying as a lot of Sweet singles stuck at number 2 and was only Blockbuster that got to the top. Here is the single in all it's glory!

Queen - Seven Seas Of Rhye

At the height of Glam Rock, Queen's second single, Seven Seas Of Rhye was rushed released after the band's first ever appearance on Top Of The Pops and pushed the band into the spotlight and captured the public imagination. After the disappointment of the first single, Keep Yourself Alive not being a hit (not picked up by radio as they thought the intro was too long), this single was released in February 1974 came from the band's second album Queen II and climbed to number 10 in the UK charts.

Originally it started life at the end of the debut album Queen as a minute long instrumental but the band must have thought the track has a lot going for it and they developed it for the new album they were recording. Produced by Roy Thomas Baker and recorded in August of 1973 it set the group up to become one of the worlds biggest bands.

I can remember seeing them on Top Of The Pops and thought it was a great single, to me at that time they reminded me of the direction that Sweet were trying to go. All of a sudden Freddie and they boys were in all the music papers and people began to notice that Freddie was to become a fantastic frontman. To me, Queen have always been around and I have grown up with Queen as one of my fave bands, so it is really hard to think that this single is 40 years old next year! Here's the single

Abba - Waterloo

Probably Eurovision's biggest success ever via Sweden. In 1974 Abba took part in the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on the 6th of April in Brighton with a catchy little ditty called Waterloo. Influence by the Glam Rock scene of the UK and dressed in the latest fashions of the time (remember folks this is mid 1970's) they performed the song in English and won the contest with just 24 points. They had previously tried for Eurovision in 1973 with Ring Ring but failed to get chosen by the Swedish broadcasters. So this time they knew what they had to do to win a place, but for them it was a small step in the band's idea of making the big time.

The single got to number 1 in the UK and also the top of the charts in several European countries too. Also it hit the charts in Australia and America too where Eurovision wasn't really that well known. Apparently the band have said that Waterloo is roughly based and influenced by Wizzard's single See My Baby Jive (a hit in 1973) which I never thought about until now, but there is a similar sound. Although they released another couple of singles in the UK they all flopped here until S.O.S was released in 1975 which got into the top 10 and the rest is history. This was the beginning of the Abba story, from this one contest that would shoot them into superstardom and worldwide stars.

Tonight's Eurovision Song Contest is to take place in Sweden, 39 years after Abba's triumph win, the band split up in 1982 and vowed they would never sing together again. There are a lot of rumours that they might appear tonight to sing Waterloo, seeing that the band have opened this year a museum in Sweden celebrating the bands career and that Agnetha Fältskog has just released a new album, have all helped to fuel the rumours. It would be nice to think they might get back together but it is doubtful! Here is the original single, plus a picture disc version of the single that was released here to celebrate the 30th anniversary.

Mott The Hoople - Roll Away The Stone

Mott The Hoople were on a roll after the hit single All The Young Dudes from 1972. Before the single was released, the band were about to break up when David Bowie offered them that track, success finally came fast. After several other singles hitting various places in the charts, the band released this classic single written by Ian Hunter and released in November 1973 at the height of Glam Rock and climbed to number 8 in the charts. Over the next couple of years the band continued to have success here and in America but the band imploded by 1975 after constant line up changes and Ian Hunter finally walking out of the band to go solo. At least they left us with some great tracks. Here's the single!

Slade - Merry Christmas Everybody

IT'S CHRISTMAS! A line towards the end of the song that Noddy shouts to us all in this, my all time favourite Christmas song. The track was released in 1973 and went straight to number 1, the bands third single to enter the charts at number 1, a feat that only the Beatles had achieved earlier! The demand for the single was such that Polydor had to have copies pressed up in Germany and America (which is where my copy came from), with half a million copies sold within the first week of the singles release!

It was recorded in America in September 1973 and the track was a mixture of odd bits of songs Noddy Holder and Jim Lea had written over the years. It was about a normal family enjoy the festive period while being optimistic about the future, with everyone having been through a bad time during the year (economy, strikes, a bad year for everyone!) The track stayed at number 1 for 5 weeks and stayed in the top 40 for 9 weeks in total. The track is always one that gets played the most with (according to Wikipedia) 42% of the worlds population has heard this track! Along with Wizzard, the single is always hitting the charts every year and even hitting the top 40 this year on downloads alone and they don't even sing the title anywhere in the song! For more of a read about the track, have a look on Wikipedia for an interesting story of the making of the single!

So here it is, the scan of the single in all it's beaten and worn glory, the American vinyl is slightly different with it being more of a solid feel, less flexible than a UK piece of vinyl!

On that note, I would like to wish all the people who visit my Blog a Merry Christmas Everybody! Please continue to visit the Blog and hope you enjoy the singles that I post up on here!

Wizzard - I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday

This feel good Christmas song originally was released in 1973 and reached number 4 for 4 weeks, Slade has taken the coveted number 1 spot with their single and Elton John's Step Into Christmas stalled at a lower number 24 with his Xmas offering.

Wizzard's track was written and produced by Roy Wood and originally had been recorded in the hot summer of 1973, with Roy and the engineer making a Christmassy theme feeling in the studio to create the right mood for the song. School children from Birmingham were brought down to London for the recording of the choir. When the band performed the song on Top Of The Pops, the school kids were to sing on the track, but were replaced with school children from a London stage school instead. There was also a video for the single with Roy's daughter featured in the video.

The single was released in a mock Christmas card picture cover and although the single came on Harvest records (owned by EMI) the promo copies were released on Warner Brothers records as the band had signed to them when it was discovered that EMI were still owed a single, so they released it.

Here is my copy of the single, released in 1981 which managed to get to number 41. Over the years it has managed to get onto the single charts and even in the years of downloads only still manages a placing on the charts. To me it is one of the best Christmas songs ever, a Christmas card turned into song!

Gary Glitter - I'm The Leader Of The Gang (I Am)

Controversally I put this one on here, more to highlight that even your heroes can let you down. In 1973 when I was an 8 year old lad, Gary Glitter could do no wrong. He had a massive following since Rock N Roll Parts 1&2, his debut hit as Gary Glitter (he had recorded under various names but had no chart hits) was released in 1972 he was very much amongst the big glam acts of the early 70's. This single was to be his first number 1 and another two were to follow. After this he became known by his fans as the Leader plus the sound and the beat of the music was known as the Glitter stomp. The song like nearly all the Gary Gliiter tracks were recorded by him and his producer Mike Leander playing all instruments and producing the tracks. Gary had the Glitter band but they were more for live gigs and TV performances.

I still think this is a really good record, still good to hear and still got a lot of power there and even live (I saw him live in 1985) it still was a good track. During the mid 70's Glitter's success began to fade and with a drug addiction he went into tax exile for a couple of years but didn't stop him going bankrupt. It was the mid 80's before he had the comeback he really wanted with a couple of hits in the 80's and well recieved concerts, epecially his Christmas shows proved he was on his way back.

In 1999 he was convicted of child pornography and did 4 months in prison, when he got out he left the UK and ended up in Vietnam where in 2005 he was arrested again for under age sex with 2 girls and jailed. He was released from prison in 2008 and had to come back to the UK. I remember my sister waiting to find out if he was to plead guilty or deny the charges in 1999. When he pleaded guilty she took all the singles she had of his and smashed them against the garden wall.

His name is cropping up again with the news about Jimmy Saville (who was another childhood hero) who has allegedly raped young girls for 6 decades and the latest alleged rumours and that Jimmy and Gary both had under age girls in Jimmy's dressing room.

It is sad but when I listen to his singles however good they are, these titles, do they all have a second meaning? Leader of The Gang, which gang is this? Do You Wanna Touch Me, was that his was of getting the girls? Do I need to go on, but it is so sad! Here is the single!

T Rex - Metal Guru

On Sunday the 30th of September will be the birthday of Marc Bolan and I thought it would be nice to put this on as a little Happy Birthday nod to him. He was killed in September 1977 a few days before his 30th birthday and the music world lost a true genius.

Metal Guru was released in May 1972 and got to number 1 for 4 weeks. This was the last chart topper T Rex would have although several singles would crack the top 10. It never charted in America and I think really, Marc was only a British superstar but they were the first band to send all the fans into a frenzy, or as it was known T Rextasy since the Beatles!

Here is the single, on his own label given to him by EMI, the sign of a true superstar. Put a liitle Marc in your heart R.I.P

A Little More About Me!

As long as I can remember music and records have always been around me, my Parents are into rock n roll, my Aunt always played the Beatles and the Rolling Stones records. Mother tells the story that I actually learnt to read by reading record labels! But it was my big sister that really got me into music, in the early 70's she was really into Glam rock and had a crush on the Sweet & Marc Bolan. The music then was amazing, exciting and shocking (well to the adults) especially when Bowie hit the scene wearing make up and Elton John dressed, welll like he always did so OTT!

My sister always wrote the top 20 charts out every week and I used to visit her and we'd spend a Sunday listening to the radio or she'd play the previous weeks top 40 she'd recorded onto cassette off the radio. So I did the same, I'd listen to the charts, record the songs I liked and bought singles when I had pocket money. So it was Glam rock I first really got into, Sweet being my faves of that period followed by T Rex, Slade and Queen. After the Punk explosion which I didn't really get into till after event really but I loved a lot of the new wave bands that were coming into the charts, Blondie, The Police & Ian Dury. The end of the seventies came New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (Or NWOBHM as it was refered to in the music papers) which brought bands such as Judas Priest, Iron Maiden & Motorhead, I found heavy metal to be just so full of energy and it was exciting like I found Glam rock to be!

The beginning of the eighties was Electronic music, the sound of the synths and the alien sounds that came with the tracks at that time. Gary Numan, Human League and Kraftwerk were big names connected with the music. Which led to the New Romantics who were around from 80-83 with electronic sounds and stylish clothes to match the music who brought us Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran, Soft Cell and ABC.

To me after around 1985 I think music started to go downhill, there wasn't anything exciting for me, it seemed to turn into safe pop music or Club hits or even R&B and Rap (which I hate, I've tried to listen Rap & R&B but apart from the odd track it's just not my scene man)! Then towards the late 90's came dance music and Trance which I really love listening to which brings back all the electronic music I'd always liked and pulsating beats of trance music brings me up to date!

Here is a photo of a very small part of my 7'' vinyl collection, I'm still sorting it all out, it takes time but I'll get it done then it will be the start of the albums!

Sweet - Blockbuster

Up to this release, Sweet had been known more for their growing number of bubblegum hit singles but the group were almost like 2 bands in one, with poppy A sides but the B sides showed the band were more of a rock group (which confused the band's fans). Glam Rock had hit the UK in the early 70's and 1973 was Glam's biggest year. Written by Nicky Chinn & Mike Chapman who penned hits for many a band in the 70's (in fact I guess they were the 1970's version of Stock Aitken & Waterman) this was their first number 1 and Sweet's first and only UK number 1. Blockbuster starts with a police siren, and a guitar riff that is similar to Bowie's Jean Jeanie and is a real rock record for the band and for the next 3 and a half minutes is a camped up rocker that was at the top of the charts for 5 weeks.