1970

I credit this year with being the time I got serious in my record collecting. I was at school. 13 years old, at the beginning of the year. Being a teenager is the time a lot of your opinions on pretty much everything, are put into place. Some stronger than others. My favourite music, apart from the Beatles, of course, is set in the first 6 years of the seventies.

The first top three of the year was, a holdover from the sixties, naturally. I remember we had those 3 records and they indicated some of the diversity that the seventies was going to contain. The Archies:Sugar, Sugar; Kenny Rogers: Ruby, Don`t Take Your Love To Town;Rolf Harris:Two Little Boys. So, a cartoon group, a country music legend and a, now disgraced, kid`s entertainer. The rest of that first chart is full of 60`s icons. The Beatles, Cliff Richard, Englebert Humperdinck, Tom Jones, Dave Clark Five, Creedence Clearwater Revival. No sign, yet, of glam rock or heavy metal or punk. Some sign of classic reggae, though. The wonderful sound that is The Liquidator by Harry J. Allstars. Played at every football match in the UK. Every band of supporters could shoehorn their team`s name into it.  Speaking of football, or should that be writing of football?

This was World Cup year. England were defending champions. They still had a lot of the world cup winning team of 1966. Mexico was calling. Colour TV had settled in since the last tournament. It was looking like it would be a glamorous occasion. The scene was set for one of the first football recordings. Still one of the best, Back Home was huge. It was uplifting and gave hope for the future. It was not to be. A poor half time substitution against West Germany, let them back in the game. I couldn`t watch the final minutes and went out in the back yard, fuming with Alf Ramsey. Sir Alf by then. I don`t think I`ve ever been that passionate about the game since. I still get a buzz, hearing the record, but when it comes to the 1970 competition, I concentrate on the glorious Brazil, showing the world how it should be done. I even had a super 8 reel of film of the final. Brazil 4:1 Italy.
A few weeks into the year came one of the biggest bubble gum records ever. Love Grows [Where My Rosemary Goes] by Edison Lighthouse. A fake band put together by the writers to back Tony Burrows, a legendary session singer and lead vocalist on a whole bunch of one hit wonder non-bands. So this was the first real number one of the seventies
A whole bunch of my music listening was done on Sunday afternoons, at my nan and grandad`s house on the Beechdale Estate, Walsall. They had an old red transistor radio and we would have the chart show on every Sunday tea time. Alan "Fluff" Freeman was the presenter and the voice of the charts back then. Very warm feelings from that small living room on Gurney Road. Very happy days. A small English salad for tea. That`s where my dislike of celery, radishes and salad cream came from. I did not enjoy those salads, but the music was wonderful. Nan and Grandad were both heavy smokers and that smell stays with me when I think of that time. Nan got my first guitar by saving Embassy coupons from the cigarette packets. I have no memory of what happened to that guitar. How great was it that they let us listen to the charts? They were real old school, but so loving and a lot of fun.

The big worldwide hit of this year was Mungo Jerry`s In The Summertime. A starting point for me collecting all Ray Dorset`s music. I can still remember that track blaring out of the school 6th form common room, on a hot sunny day, while playing coats-for-goalposts football [soccer], on the grass outside. There were no official goalposts at Queen Mary`s, Walsall. It was, and still is, a cricket and rugby school, primarily. The record was unusual, in that it had a picture sleeve and was played at 33 1/3 rpm, to allow extra tracks. Mungo Jerry did this a lot, back then. They called them mini albums. Not EPs. Later in the year, I found one of my other favourites.
Although I had several records of my own already, I Hear You Knocking is when I became a real 70`s fanboy. Dave Edmunds` incredible cover of an old Smiley Lewis track started me off collecting Dave `s stuff amongst many others. Such an atmospheric production, great guitar, amazing echo, wonderful vocals. I had no idea for a long time, that it was a cover version. Although I loved music, I was not that well informed. It puts a picture in my mind of the living room at number 9, mum and dad`s place.
The Beatles had broken up. Paul officially announced it, early on in the year. John had already had a couple of singles out and when he blasted into the chart at number 7, in its first week, Instant Karma was an instant success [groan]. It would be 1971 before the rest of the boys got their acts together [or, more precisely, apart] in the singles charts. I would continue to buy their product, singles, albums, whatever. Still doing it now.

As The Beatles, they still had one success up their sleeve. Let It Be got to number one as an album but not the
single. The single was kept at number two by one of those quirky hits that make me love the seventies so much. Lee Marvin`s wonderful Wand`rin` Star. Not the last material they made, but it was the last official album released. I was too young to be aware that there was little love for the album. I loved it and still do. Most bands would give anything for their 11th proper album release to be anywhere near as good as that.
One of the great things about the singles chart in the seventies, was the distinct sounds of so many recordings. That red transistor radio, at nan`s house, was behind the distinctiveness of so much 70` music. If your record didn`t play well on a tatty little radio, it would not be successful. You really had to make your record stand out. So many one-offs with memorable production, lyrics and melodies. One such beast snuck in low on the charts, in its first week. That`s how things were done back then. You got on to the chart and worked your way up. Spirit In The Sky by Norman Greenbaum was another one hit wonder, but such an anthem for the early seventies. It seemed to be everywhere and still plays well today. How did people make such great records, then no others?
Creedence Clearwater Revival were still having
hits. Another fanboy thing. I still listen to John Fogerty.
I had my first real crush on Clodagh Rogers, pictured left. Hot pants and cheekbones. And she could pump out a decent pop song too. Another of my long term favourites are Status Quo and they had stuff out this year. Down The Dustpipe was a great pop song and showed some signs of their rockier boogie sound that they would use later on. A band called Hotlegs released a weird sounding single, called Neanderthal Man. I loved it, but thought these guys won`t do much. Technically it was a one hit wonder as Hotlegs did not have another hit. They changed their name and became 10CC one of the greatest pop bands ever. That was to be a couple of years later, though.
I started out on a Sunday job, selling stretch covers for 3 piece suites. Warwick market. I learned about Simon and Garfunkel from the guy who drove the van. Bridge Over Troubled Water was my first album purchase. I got it for 32 shillings off Walsall

market. Later on, I worked on Bilston market every Saturday and eventually the main stall on Walsall market every Saturday. The boss got me in to Cat Stevens, just by having his albums playing whenever I was at their house. Music was coming at me from all angles. I keep going back to the Beechdale and nan and grandad`s house and the little red transistor. There were times when I would have to take it upstairs and listen in the tiny back bedroom. Usually other people had turned up. Some aunt or uncle, so the adults would want to talk. It`s funny how some records make you think of different rooms. Tears of A Clown by Smokey Robinson and Voodoo Chile by Jimi Hendrix both put me in that back bedroom. Just enough room for a single bed and a sideboard. On the sideboard were two toy soldiers, I made, from kits, with a little help from mum. The smell of the paint, glue and plastic, oh my.

So many long standing artists I cottoned on to this year. Some new , some old, some cool, some not. I became a fan of Andy Williams because of his fantastic TV show. I loved the cookie bear. "No cookies. Not now, not ever, NEVER!" Then he releases one of the best singles of the decade. Home Lovin` Man stood out from the crowd. Andy`s angelic voice with a great song and such a great production. So atmospheric. His show was so good. I loved that you were never sure if something funny was going to happen during one of his songs. He was so straight, which made it even funnier. But that voice was wonderful.


It was in this year that some of the great seventies bands started to make a dent. Marmalade and Deep Purple, both synonymous with this decade. Two completely different styles. Marmalade`s biggest hit was in the sixties, but they made some great stuff in the 70`s and that`s how I think of them. Deep Purple were much heavier, but that was the beauty of the singles charts then. Everyone had a chance. One of the greatest singles of all time is Paranoid by Black Sabbath. Ozzy`s voice is one of the greatest rock voices. Paranoid flows along so smoothly. Sabbath and Purple released some great singles but were really album and live bands. I didn`t get into the album stuff until much later. In the same week as Paranoid you have Montego Bay by Bobby Bloom, a reggae style number. Band of Gold by Freda Payne was another huge number one record.

I have a very vivid memory of being at nan and grandad`s. The old black and white TV was still in use. A young man sat at a piano, wearing shorts and a flat cap. Looking very odd and singing a strange hypnotic little song. Nothing Rhymed by Gilbert O`Sullivan is a wonderful example of seventies` records being so different from anything else. I bought everything he released, enjoyed all the B sides and he was the first artist, whose albums I bought, the week they came out.
When it came to Christmas, the craze for Christmas records had not yet taken hold. The closest to a seasonal release, this year, was The Man From Nazareth by John Paul Joans. If you play that after playing Neanderthal Man, you may notice similarities. It`s pretty much the same crew and almost stops Hotlegs from being one-hit wonders.
So many other wonderful singles this year. The Carpenters got Close To You. Gasoline Alley Bred by The Hollies, showed them moving on from the 60`s. The Witch by The Rattles. A huge European hit. I could just list a whole bunch of records, but I won`t. For many weeks of 1970, I would have all the top ten singles in my room. I loved pretty much everything, although, when I look back, I had not heard of a lot of stuff. I kept going back and finding other gems. 1970. So young. So innocent.