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Post by wonderwall on May 3, 2021 9:44:21 GMT 1
This was a bit of a departure for Queen. I note it doesn't appear on any of Queen's hits albums. Probably because it's unlistenable sh*t. Hot space the worst album queen ever made its horrible
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Good Old Days
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Post by Good Old Days on May 6, 2021 11:59:44 GMT 1
Swinging Erudites - Walk With An Erection
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Post by onehitwonder on May 6, 2021 12:10:44 GMT 1
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on May 20, 2021 0:18:18 GMT 1
Gene Krupa made his name as the drummer with Benny Goodman's band in the thirties and in 1938 he left to form his own combo. The band broke up in '43 after Krupa was imprisoned on a drug charge that turned out to be a set-up - narcotics agents got one of Krupa's assistants to swear that Krupa had asked him to buy marijuana, because they were convinced that all jazz drummers must be on something (seriously; that was the prosecution's submission), in return for which he would not be drafted.
Krupa was formally acquitted on appeal in 1944, by which time he had gone back to Goodman (who had continued to support Krupa, almost uniquely in the music business) pro tem, before rebuilding his orchestra - just in time for the big band sound to fall off the charts. Krupa however is reckoned to be second only to Buddy Rich in the big band drum stakes. One good thing incidentally came out of his 90 days inside. He had just gone through an expensive divorce, but his ex-wife kept in contact, offered to return her share of the estate, and, a couple of years later, they re-married.
This single was not a hit. Maybe being a tribute to General Douglas MacArthur was too out there for the milquetoast public even during the war.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on May 22, 2021 17:54:38 GMT 1
Not that bizarre, but given it is Eurovision weekend it's appropriate to put this up. A minor hit in the EP charts, it is simply Matt Monro singing the six songs from which the BBC would go on to choose (pun unavoidable) the Eurovision entry for 1964. This particular one was penned by Lionel Bart; others were written by Leslie Bricusse, Mitch Murray, and Tony Hatch - the latter's song being the eventual entry.
Given Parlophone's small success with this one, Decca repeated the trick for Kathy Kirby in 1965, Pye for Sandie Shaw in 1967, and EMI for Cliff Richard in 1973. Shaw's EP - Tell The Boys - did not include the winning "Puppet On A String", which was tabbed instead for a single release, and Cliff's contained the songs that came 3rd to 6th in the ranking, as the first and second were saved for a single.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Jun 1, 2021 8:04:20 GMT 1
Rupert Holmes is best-known for his Pina Colada song. Less well known is that he wrote a song about cannibalism. When The Buoys began to have a US hit with it, panicked radio station executives tried to claim Timothy was a donkey. Holmes wasn't having it.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Jun 9, 2021 21:19:59 GMT 1
Thread needs more Karl Denver.
His surreal and octave-defying take on "Wimoweh" would be enough to qualify him for this thread. But three decades later came one of those collaborations that comes right out of leftfield. Like when Nicholas Parsons teamed up with Rik 'n' Ade.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Jun 11, 2021 15:05:47 GMT 1
Your fact of the day was that Anita Dobson was NOT the first person to record a version of the EastEnders theme with lyrics.
She was beaten to it by a year. By the extremely unlikely pioneers from Dunfermline Athletic.
And this actually did get a proper bona fide single release, on local label Rebel Records, the pretext being that it was the Pars' centenary year.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Jun 18, 2021 22:58:00 GMT 1
If Fairport Convention want a guest vocalist on their tracks, who better than the wrestler Brian "Goldbelt" Maxine?
Resulted in an album, and a single that's not on the 'tube.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Jul 2, 2021 9:37:36 GMT 1
Jerry Engler, an Elvis soundalike, and supposedly the first rock & roll singer from Rochester (NY rather than Kent), was thinking about Sputnik one lunchtime, and a song suddenly came to him. He grabbed a local doo-wop group to do the backing vocals and managed to get a DJ friend to finagle a record deal. The novelty got him some attention from rock & roll shows and he recorded a demo in 1958 - with a certain Buddy Holly helping out on guitar...
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Jul 17, 2021 8:23:34 GMT 1
RIP Robert Sacchi. Whose uncanny resemblance to Humphrey Bogart, coupled with decent acting skills, gave him a surprisingly long and varied acting career. Including in the "Bill" Collins video "I Wish It Would Rain Down".
He also had a top 20 hit in France in 1983. Co-written with Des Dyer and Clive Scott of Jigsaw fame.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Aug 6, 2021 0:27:09 GMT 1
A prime example of the quantum fluctuations of the early charts. For the week ending 17 December 1953, Diana Decker was listed at no. 2 in the NME charts with this one. Really it was no. 3, there was a joint number one (Frankie Laine with "Answer Me" and David Whitfield with, er, "Answer Me").
The next week, it was outside the chart entirely. And for the next fortnight as well, albeit one was a repeat chart week.
Three weeks after dropping out, it re-entered at no. 5.
It was not the only record to have something of a weird run. Another David Whitfield single, "Rags To Riches", had entered at no. 12 for 17 December 1953, then vanished, and re-entered at no. 3 the same week as Decker re-entered.
And Ray Anthony and Joan Regan had both re-entered the charts, after 4 and 3 weeks missing respectively.
On the other hand, during those three missing weeks for Decker and Whitfield, Ray Martin's "Swedish Rhapsody" had been at no. 4 - and it only spent four weeks on chart in toto (one at no. 10 two weeks before its top 5 sojourn).
I do wonder whether there was a mistake here; Decker and Martin were both on Columbia with similar catalogue numbers, so perhaps there was confusion. Or maybe the NME's sampling had 2 weeks of a different choice of shops.
Anyway, Decker goes down as a one-hit wonder, never charting again. But her main pigeon was actress (Barefoot Contessa, Lolita). She got her life the wrong way around - born in Hollywood CA and moved to England when she was 4.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Sept 5, 2021 16:36:22 GMT 1
Following on from the music-hall jollity of "Ebenezer Goode" was the more serious sociological lecture from drug freedom campaigner Terence McKenna (who once called for tea-breaks to be replaced by pot breaks), that The Shamen put music to, added to Boss Drum, and then released as a single. No idea what the thinking was behind so doing, unless they were pulling off a KLFesque Situationist prank. It only spent 2 weeks in the chart - in that era something unusual for a top 40 hit.
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Post by Robin on Sept 5, 2021 22:33:19 GMT 1
I’m pretty sure Re:evolution was a limited edition single release, hence its quick descent down the charts.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Sept 19, 2021 0:09:09 GMT 1
Makes sense. Shamen were too big to have such a flop at that time.
Here's one that's interesting from a technological perspective...
...if you're that bothered about the artist, it's Frank C Stanley, with Henry Burr harmonizing as the tenor. The interesting thing is the size of the hole for the spindle. Three inches. The largest spindle for any record company. The company concerned is Aretino Records, a Chicago outfit that lasted from 1907 to 1914, and whose model was to sell a phonograph cheaply, but the records expensively.
Aretino also offered adapters so you could play its discs on other proprietary models which followed a similar model. To add to the cheap nature of the company, Aretino did not release any fresh recordings itself - every one of its releases was leased from another label. The size of that hole though meant the "label" was scarcely big enough to identify the contents...
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Robbie
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Post by Robbie on Sept 21, 2021 8:37:38 GMT 1
Yes, 'Re:Evolution' was a limited edition release.
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Good Old Days
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Post by Good Old Days on Sept 23, 2021 11:58:08 GMT 1
I discovered "The World's Worst Records" blog, some records are very weird even for such fans of "Hot Problems" and "No Way No Way" like me. Gloria Balsam - Fluffy
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Mark
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Post by Mark on Oct 12, 2021 0:20:56 GMT 1
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Oct 25, 2021 15:27:15 GMT 1
The Barron Knights made their name by doing parody versions of contemporary hits. I had no idea that The Four Preps had beaten them to it. The Preps' output was mostly milquetoast doo-wop but, like other later sixties groups like The Fortunes, they incorporated comedy in their performances. This is a bit different to the BKs, as it's more about the groups they are parodying, rather than fitting a series of songs to a theme.
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Good Old Days
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Post by Good Old Days on Oct 27, 2021 9:07:10 GMT 1
Mylo - Destroy Rock'n'Roll
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