Reggae

482. The Specials – Ghost Town (1981)

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The Intro

Few number 1s have captured the zeitgeist like The Specials’ Ghost Town. This classic state of the nation address was released and climbed the charts amidst mass rioting that had spread to most cities in the UK. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s politics had resulted in rising unemployment and disaffected youth. Ghost Town was one of the finest chart-toppers of the decade and spoke volumes to Thatcher’s Britain.

Before

Following the success of their number 1 EP, Too Much Too Young – The Special A.K.A. Live!, The Specials hunkered down to record their second album, More Specials. However, it wasn’t a happy experience, as Jerry Dammers became the 2-Tone band’s leader and producer, and added Muzak sounds to the mix of pop, ska and reggae. This didn’t go down well with guitarist Roddy Radiation, who wanted to steer the group in a rockabilly direction. Singer Terry Hall also began contributing his own material. In the meantime, they released hit double A-side single Rat Race/Rude Buoys Outa Jail, which peaked at five.

More Specials was released in September 1980, and the first single, Stereotypes, reached six. The follow-up, Do Nothing/Maggie’s Farm, was their most successful single to date, reaching four.

However, the accompanying tour was fraught with the growing tensions within the band, as well as audience violence. As The Specials drove around the country, Dammers was haunted by the effects of recession. Shops were closing, unemployment was spiralling, and people were starting to riot in protest. Using ‘weird diminished chords’, as he said in a 2011 interview for The Independent, Dammers began to put his thoughts into music, working on a tune that conveyed ‘impending doom’, matched to sparse lyrics.

In March 1981, Dammers asked reggae writer and producer John Collins to produce Ghost Town, opting for a small 8-track in a house that had been recommended by bassist Horace Panter. The Specials had recorded their last album in a large 24-track professional space, with room for the whole band to play live. For Ghost Town, Collins built the song out of asking each member to perform their piece, one at a time. This didn’t help improve the general mood within the band, who recorded the three-track single over 10 days that April. Dammers, who had spent a year meticulously working out the song, stormed out of the sessions more than once. Radiation kicked a hole in the studio door, singer Neville Staple refused to do what Dammers wanted, and rhythm guitarist/vocalist Lynval Golding ran into the studio insisting the recording was going wrong.

Collins liked the idea of Ghost Town sounding like an authentic roots reggae song, and brought the Sly and Robbie-produced What a Feeling by Gregory Isaacs to the studio for drummer John Bradbury for inspiration. Collins also suggested the Hammond organ rhythm played by Dammers throughout. The shortage of tracks available to record on added to the old-school recording techniques used by Collins, who recorded every instrument in mono, then added stereo reverb over the top. The backing track was almost finished when Dammers insisted on adding a flute, played by Paul Heskett from the band King, which led to a very nervous Collins in danger of accidentally wiping the brass section (Dick Cuthell and Rico Rodriguez) from the entire recording.

Collins took the tracks away and mixed at his home for three weeks. Hall, Staple, Golding and Dammers, who had performed backing vocals, all visited Collins at various points at this time to add further vocals. All that was left was for the producer to add the synthesiser that created the ghostly whistle at the start and end of the song.

Review

Pop, art and politics combine to spellbinding effect on Ghost Town. As a song, it’s unique. As a number 1, it’s incredible. Although written in response to riots in Bristol and Brixton in 1980, it landed at number 1 the day after rioting in cities across the country. Yes, chart-toppers had summed up the public mood in song before – A Whiter Shade of Pale, for example. But that was a blissful psychedelic record in keeping with the Summer of Love. Ghost Town was the polar opposite. The only comparison at the top of the hit parade would be God Save the Queen, if you were to be controversial.

The lyrics to Ghost Town are blunt and concise. Thatcher is never mentioned, but the results of her politics are laid bare. It was six years before the Prime Minister famously said ‘There’s no such thing as society’. However, pre-Falkland War, she was immensely unpopular for plunging the country into recession, with unemployment figures reaching new highs – a 70% rise in two years. ‘All the clubs are being closed down’ was a direct reference to the Locarno in Coventry, which was often frequented by Staple and Golding. The ‘Too much fighting on the dancefloor’ was a sadly familiar sight to The Specials, whose music was popular with skinheads. Despite the 2 Tone act’s admirable attempts to urge their fans to embrace unity, race was a sadly inevitable issue in a divided Britain.

The verses are so on the ball, the chorus needs no words. The wailing that is in its place is at once scary, horrible, ridiculous and histrionic. And the brief blast of nostalgia to the good old days ‘before the Ghost Town’ is a great piece of music in itself, timed perfectly so you long for more before we’re all too quickly returned to 1981. Dammers has later claimed that it was obvious to him that Hall, Staple and Golding were planning to leave the group, and that Ghost Town is also referring to the current mood within the band. Which makes the upbeat section sounding so much like classic Specials that much sadder. The rest of the band weren’t keen on Dammers’ experiments with muzak, but it’s used to great, unsettling effect on Ghost Town – not sure I’ve heard muzakal reggae before or since. So great is this track, it makes it hard to sympathise with the rest of the band. Dammers’ ego may have taken over, but how could you argue against his genius vision here?

The video to Ghost Town is an early classic of the medium. Graphic designer Barney Bubbles filmed Panter driving the band around the deserted streets of London in a Vauxhall Cresta, which was achieved by filming in the early hours of a Sunday morning. The shots of the band miming along were enabled by a camera attached to the bonnet via a rubber sucker – which you can see fall off at 1:18. The eerily lit shots of the band at night deeply unnerved me as a child, as did Staple’s demeanour. Though now I’m older, his pointed interjections of ‘Why must the youth fight against themselves?/Government leaving the youth on the shelf’ are the soul of the song.

After

The inevitable split happened very quick. Hall, Staple and Golding announced to Dammers at their triumphant Top of the Pops appearance after reaching number 1. Soon after they formed Fun Boy Three, who became best known for their excellent collaborative covers of It Ain’t What You Do (It’s the Way That You Do It) and Really Saying Something with Bananarama in 1982.

The Specials reverted to their previous name, The Special AKA, with a revolving line-up. Their first post-Ghost Town release in 1982 couldn’t have been more different. The Boiler, credited to Rhoda with The Special AKA, was a disturbing new wave tale of date rape that only reached 35. The next single, Jungle Music, was credited to Rico and The Special AKA, and failed to chart. Neither did War Crimes or Racist Friend, their first release of 1983.

However, their 1984 LP In the Studio, featured the number nine anti-apartheid carnivalesque track Free Nelson Mandela, which was their last charting single. Following the release of What I Like Most About You Is Your Girlfriend, Dammers announced The Special AKA was disbanding.

In 1993, producer Roger Lomas was asked by Trojan Records to find a new group to back ska superstar Desmond Dekker. Lomas approached everyone from The Specials, and Radiation, Staple, Golding and Panter took up the offer. With the addition of various session musicians, the album King of Kings was credited to Desmond Dekker and The Specials. Buoyed by the experience, this version of the band went on to record two LPs, Today’s Specials in 1996 and Guilty ’til Proved Innocent! in 1998. Two more albums, Skinhead Girl (2000) and Conquering Ruler (2001) followed, but minus Golding.

In 2007, Hall and Golding teamed up for the first time since Fun Boy Three split up in 1983, to perform Specials songs with Lily Allen and Damon Albarn at the Glastonbury Festival. The following year, Hall and Golding were joined by Staple, Panter, Radiation and Bradbury to perform at Bestival, and announced they were to tour the following year to celebrate the group’s 30th anniversary. This made many a rude boy happy, but not Dammers, who was quoted saying Hall and co’s actions amounted to a takeover. In 2012 The Specials performed at the Olympic Games closing ceremony in London.

2013 saw the departure of Staple, and Radiation left the following year, to be replaced on guitar by Ocean Colour Scene’s Steve Cradock. In 2015, Bradbury died, aged 62. He was briefly replaced for live dates by Gary Powell of The Libertines, before PJ Harvey’s drummer Kenrick Rowe took over.

In 2019, Hall, Golding and Panter were joined by Cradock and Rowe and session musicians to record Encore, the first Specials release to feature Hall since Ghost Town and their first chart-topping album since 1980. Buoyed by its success, one final album, Protest Songs 1924-2012 was released in 2021.

Another album was planned, but the comeback was derailed permanently by the shock death of Hall due to pancreatic cancer in 2022. Soon after, Panter confirmed there was no point continuing without their much-loved vocalist and songwriter.

The Outro

The Specials were one of a kind. In their original incarnation, they combined pop, ska, reggae and political commentary better than the rest. Their fanbase were and are rightly devoted to them. Their live shows were legendary, and they released some of the most exciting and interesting material of the early 80s.

It’s a shame egos and differences in direction broke up that first line-up, but some acts only burn brightly for a while. Dammers may have been too weird for the group to have continued scoring mainstream pop success, but Ghost Town was mostly his doing, and what an amazing feat to accomplish. With its righteous anger, it’s one of the best pop singles of all time, let alone one of the best number 1s of the 80s. If your only issue with this 7-inch is that it doesn’t go on long enough, check out the extended version.

10 years after its initial release, Ghost Town Revisited packaged the original mix with Ghost Dub ’91, credited to Special Productions. It’s superfluous.

The Info

Written by

Jerry Dammers

Producer

John Collins

Weeks at number 1

3 (11-31 July)

Trivia

Births

14 July: Singer Lee Mead

Deaths

11 July: Liberal Party politician John Beeching Frankenburg
17 July: Footballer Sam Bartram
23 July: Welsh Labour Party MP Goronwy Roberts, Baron Goronwy-Roberts
25 July: Journalist Alice Head

Meanwhile…

11 July: More rioting – this time in Bradford, West Yorkshire.

13 July: Martin Hurson is the sixth prisoner to die in the IRA hunger strike.
Also on this day, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher announces police can use rubber bullets, water cannons and armoured vehicles on rioters.

15 July: Police battle black youths in Brixton after police raid properties in search of petrol bombs, which are never found.

16 July: Labour narrowly hold on to the Warrington seat in a by-election, fighting off former member Roy Jenkins, now with the new SDP.

17 July: The Humber Bridge is officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II. At the time, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world, and my Dad helped supply the cement that built it.

20 July: Secretary of State for the Environment Michael Heseltine tours recession-hit Merseyside to examine the area’s problems.

27 July: The British Telecommunications Act separates British Telecom from the Royal Mail, with effect from 1 October.
Also on this day, the two-month-old daughter of Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips is christened Zara Anne Elizabeth.

28 July: Margaret Thatcher blames IRA leaders for the hunger strike deaths.

29 July: The ‘fairytale’ wedding of Prince Charles II and Lady Diana Spencer takes place at St Paul’s Cathedral. More than 30 million view the event on television, making it the second highest TV audience of all time.

469. Blondie – The Tide Is High (1980)

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The Intro

Blondie’s last number 1 before their 1999 reformation was The Tide Is High, a cover of the 1967 rocksteady tune by Jamaican ska group The Paragons.

Before

The original was written by John Holt, tenor singer in The Paragons, who were a vocal trio from Kingston, Jamaica. Instrumental backing came from Tommy McCook and the Supersonic Band, with production by Duke Reid. This amiable slice of gentle ska was originally tucked away as a B-side, then released as a dub version with vocal from U-Roy in the UK in 1971.

One of the reasons Blondie were so cool was their willingness to dabble in other genres. Heart of Glass, one of the best disco and rock tracks of 1979, had been tried as a reggae song beforehand. It was singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein’s idea to cover The Tide Is High, after they heard the original on a compilation tape they picked up in London.

Perhaps in an effort to dissolve rising tensions among the band, producer Mike Chapman insisted the band record their fifth album in Los Angeles. Autoamerican took Blondie’s eclecticism to whole new levels. There was Rapture, their attempt at rap, the orchestral and electronica of opening track Europa, and their stab at The Tide Is High. Rumour has it that Harry and Stein were such fans of The Specials, they asked the Coventry ska collective to be the backing group for this cover, but they declined. Considering how some of Blondie reacted to not featuring on Call Me, that might be just as well.

Review

The late 70s and early 80s saw Blondie amass quite the collection of chart-toppers. One of the best, in fact, particularly Heart of Glass and Call Me. Keeping up that standard would be a tall order for even the greatest bands. So it is perhaps inevitable – especially as they approached the twilight of their original run – that Blondie eventually came up short.

It’s not that The Tide Is High is bad – it most certainly is not. It’s just, OK. Fair play to the band for taking a different tack, dropping down a gear or two and covering a bright and breezy forgotten ska tune, and incorporating horns and strings into their arsenal. But the song wasn’t a classic to begin with, and there’s little that Blondie and Chapman can add to it to make it any better. They change the sex around in the lyrics, casting Harry in an unlikely role – the girl who’s struggling to get the man she wants. Other than that, it’s pretty much, well, a nice enough track, I guess. Harry’s voice suits it well, as she manages to sing sweetly without putting in much effort. Nonetheless, it’s the weakest their number 1s.

The most interesting element of The Tide Is High is the frankly bizarre video. The male members of the band are stood on a sidewalk watching Harry from below. Suddenly the outside of the building is supposed to look like it’s underwater. And Darth Vader seems to be watching on too? There’s also footage of a rocket about to be launched. As the song ends, Blondie and a load of revellers meet up with Vader, but when Vader turns around, his face mask resembles a duck… the fact that Harry still looks cool and sexy while singing to Duck Vader as the video ends shows what an amazing woman she is.

After

The Tide Is High was the first single from Autoamerican, but just as it was looking like every single they released would be a number 1, their fortunes changed. Even the follow-up, and one of their most famous tunes, Rapture, stalled at five on these shores. Only one more album, The Hunter in 1982, was released before the band split for 17 years.

The Outro

Electronic duo Coldcut remixed The Tide Is High for the 1988 compilation Once More into the Bleach. Seven years later it was remixed by Pete Arden and Vinny Vero for Beautiful: The Remix Album. In 2014 Blondie re-recorded the track needlessly for Blondie 4(0) Ever.

The Tide Is High (Get the Feeling), a remake with a new bridge, became girl group Atomic Kitten’s second number 1 in 2002. Again, serviceable enough, but less so than Blondie’s version.

The Info

Written by

John Holt

Producer

Mike Chapman

Weeks at number 1

2 (15-28 November)

Trivia

Births

18 November: Actor Mathew Baynton
19 November: Businessman Andrew Copson/Actress Adele Silva

Deaths

15 November: Novelist Joan Fleming/Conservative MP Richard Law, 1st Baron Coleraine/Scottish painter Agnes Miller Parker
16 November: Actress Imogen Hassall
17 November: Neuroscientist David Marr
18 November: Artist Richard Carline
19 November: Chemist EJ Bowen/Northern Irish footballer Laurie Cumming
22 November: Painter Norah McGuinness
25 November: Trade unionist Dorothy Elliott/Crystallographer Mary Winearls Porter
26 November: Actress Rachel Roberts/Actor Hector Ross
27 November: Physicist John Hubbard
28 November: Peer Antony Lyttelton, 2nd Viscount Chandos/Filmmaker Tom Stobart

Meanwhile…

17 November: 20-year-old university student Jacqueline Hill is murdered in Headingley, Leeds. She is the final known victim of The Yorkshire Ripper.

23 November: With the UK in recession, the government announces further public spending cuts and taxation rises.

467. The Police – Don’t Stand So Close to Me (1980)

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The Intro

The bestselling single of 1980 had a controversial subject matter and was The Police’s third number 1. Don’t Stand So Close to Me – the tale of a teacher’s Lolita-like relationship with a pupil – was made all the more eyebrow-raising due to the fact that singer Sting was a teacher before he was a pop star.

Before

Following their second number 1, Walking on the Moon, re-released their fourth single So Lonely, originally issued in 1978. As a pre-fame record it had failed to chart, but this time it peaked at six. A month after its release in February 1980, The Police embarked on their first world tour, performing in countries not used to western pop stars including India and Egypt. To capitalise on their global popularity, UK label A&M released Six Pack, a package featuring their previous five singles (including their first chart-topper, Message in a Bottle), plus an alternate take of album track The Bed’s Too Big Without You.

A&M seemingly couldn’t be satisfied by their biggest group of the moment, however, because they started pressuring The Police for a third album. Recorded in four weeks that July-August, the trio later said Zenyatta Mondatta was too rushed. Nonetheless, it was scheduled for an October release, to be preceded by lead single Don’t Stand So Close to Me on 19 September.

Before he was Sting, Gordon Sumner had taught English at St Paul’s First School in Cramlington, Northumberland. Sting has always understandably stated that Don’t Stand So Close to Me was not about him, but whether it came from experience of a scandal of a colleague, or was just inspired by his teaching career, we don’t know. Anyone who might think a handsome man like Sting may have had no shortage of schoolgirl fans might be right, but nobody has ever claimed the singer has also walked on the moon or been stranded on a desert island.

Review

Opening with a dark and brooding synth, Don’t Stand So Close to Me starts very strong. Sting’s lyrics are compelling and not the subject matter of your average pop song. The first verse is purely focused on the schoolgirl’s desire for the teacher. So far, so very good. But when it gets to the chorus, Don’t Stand So Close to Me goes downhill. While the verses are atmospheric, tense and foreboding, the workmanlike reggae of the chorus is perhaps a sign of the lack of time spent making this album. It’s like a demo recording – as is the instrumental section, featuring some more synth work that screams ‘this will do until we work out what goes here’, but they never went back to it.

Apparently however, The Police and producer Nigel Gray did work on this track for some time, with it initially tried out as a Hammond organ-based soul track. Several complex arrangements were tried, but, perhaps with the ticking of the clock in mind, they were abandoned and the band reverted to an earlier sound.

The second and third verses are strong, detailing the teacher’s lack of torment. However, you could say Sting tries harder to make the listener gain sympathy for the man here, mentioning ‘Temptation, frustration, so bad it makes him cry’. And the definite low point is:

‘It’s no use, he sees her, he starts to shake and cough,
Just like the old man in that book by Nabokov’.

You guessed it! The book in question is Lolita! Terrible, yet Sting later claimed to think it was ‘hilarious’ that he was given so much flak for it.

So the song ends with both student and teacher as the subject of gossip in the classroom and staffroom, and Sting pleading with his pupil to keep away, possibly partly to keep his temptation at bay, but also the rumours. The ending is overlong and if you’re not a fan of Sting’s attempt at reggae singing, Don’t Stand So Close to Me is not going to rank as their best number 1. In a year of so many chart-toppers, with the average duration at the top of the hit parade being only a fortnight, this doesn’t really deserve it’s lofty bestseller status.

The video is a typical Police promo. Sting does a decent job playing the stressed-out teacher, with a young girl hovering around him, while Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland probably revelled in the chance to wind him up by throwing paper aeroplanes and smoking in the classroom. This is intercut with the trio skanking around a schoolroom, with Copeland looking particularly silly holding his drumsticks. Mind you, Summers gives him a run for his money by dropping to his knees for a guitar solo that isn’t actually there. Sting’s adoring fans will have particularly enjoyed their hero getting his top off at one point (bit harsh him telling the girl to keep away when he’s behaving like that).

Don’t Stand So Close to Me has aged better than other similar Lolita-style songs, such as 1968 chart-topper Young Girl, but any sensitivity in which Sting broaches the subject matter quickly evaporates with that terrible rhyme, and nothing is resolved.

After

The melody to Don’t Stand So Close to Me found its way on to another huge 80s hit, when Dire Straits asked Sting to sing on the epic intro to Money for Nothing. Sting sang ‘I want my MTV’ to the tune, and after the release of the LP Money for Nothing, he received a co-writing credit.

The Outro

In 1984 The Police went on hiatus. Two years they reconvened, but the chance of a new album was doomed when Copeland broke his collarbone before they’d had chance to jam. Their final single was Don’t Stand So Close to Me ’86. Copeland and Sting fell out over what to use as drums, the former won out with his Fairlight CMI over the latter’s Synclavier. Unfortunately, while the idea of a reworked version showed a desire to breathe new life into an underworked song, this version is actually inferior. The production is too 80s, and the chorus less catchy. The video, directed by 10cc’s Godley and Creme, is one of the most comically mid-80s things you’ll ever see. The single made it to 24 after the group disbanded.

The Info

Written by

Sting

Producers

The Police & Andy Gray

Weeks at number 1

4 (27 September-24 October) *BEST-SELLING SINGLE OF THE YEAR*

Trivia

Births

5 October: Motorcycle racer James Toseland
13 October: Football player Scott Parker
14 October: Actor Ben Wishaw

Deaths

27 September: Banker Sir Michael Turner
28 September: Pianist Horace Finch
29 September: Labour Party MP Peter Mahon
30 September: Botanist James Wyllie Gregor/Conservationist George Waterston
6 October: Actress Hattie Jacques
7 October: Designer Sir Gordon Russell
10 October: Conservative MP Evelyn Emmet, Baroness Emmet of Amberley/Cricketer Wilfred Hill-Wood
11 October: Singer Cassie Walmer
12 October: Actress Ambrosine Phillpotts
14 October: Labour Party MP Arthur Pearson
15 October: Writer Katharine Mary Briggs
19 October: Radio producer DG Bridson
20 October: TV personality Isobel, Lady Barnett/Tennis player Phoebe Holcroft Watson
24 October: Conservative MP Sir Richard Glyn, 9th Baronet

Meanwhile…

3 October: The 1980 Housing Act came into effect, which gave council house tenants of three years or more in England and Wales the right to buy their home from their local council, at a discount.  

6 October: Express coach services were deregulated.

8 October: British Leyland launched the Austin Metro.

10 October: Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher made her infamous ‘The lady’s not for turning’ speech at conference, after being warned her economic policy was to blame for the recession and record-breaking rising unemployment.

15 October: Former Prime Minister James Callaghan resigned as Labour Party leader after four and a half years in the job.
Also this day, former Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and union leaders criticised Thatcher’s economic policies.

17 October: Queen Elizabeth II became the first British monarch to make a state visit to the Vatican.

22 October: Lord Thomson announced The Times and Sunday Times would close within five months unless a buyer was found.

24 October: MG car production ended.

450. The Special A.K.A. Featuring Rico – Too Much Too Young – The Special A.K.A. Live! (EP) (1980)

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The Intro

The Specials/The Special AKA quickly grew into one of the most beloved bands of the early 80s. Their state-of-the-nation address Ghost Town is one of the greatest singles of the decade, but before that, the Coventry-based ska revival legends became the first act since Demis Roussos in 1976 to reach number 1 with an EP. It was also the first ska number 1 since Double Barrel in 1971, and the first live recording to be a chart-topper since Billy Connolly’s D.I.V.O.R.C.E. in 1975. And The Specials are among my earliest memories – I can remember being struck by the 2-Tone record label, watching the black and white man in the suit spinning on our record player, as my big brother was a huge fan.

Before

The Special AKA formed in 1977 and were known as The Automatics, then The Coventry Automatics. They consisted of songwriter and keyboardist Jerry Dammers, vocalist Tim Strickland, drummer Silverton Hutchinson and bassist/vocalist Horace Panter, aka Sir Horace Gentleman. Terry Hall replaced Strickland very soon after. They were joined in 1978 by vocalist Neville Staple and guitarist Roddy Byers, aka Roddy Radiation. Dammers hoped his band could unite black and white music lovers, coinciding with the Rock Against Racism movement. And they were given a huge leg-up in exposure when Joe Strummer invited the band to support The Clash.

As 1979 rolled around, Hutchinson left and was replaced behind the drumkit by John Bradbury. Dammers launched the 2 Tone Records label and released The Special AKA’s debut single, Gangsters, which was a reworking of Jamaican singer-songwriter Prince Buster’s Al Capone, which shot to number six – impressive for a debut. They changed their name to The Specials and began recording their eponymous debut album, produced by hip new wave star Elvis Costello and also featuring horn players Dick Cuthell and Rico Rodriguez.

The ska seven-piece stood out thanks to their Mod stylings and two-tone suits, but the material they released was as strong as their image. The Specials, released that October, featured a heady mix of original material and covers of ska classics. The first fruits of this, A Message to You, Rudy, was a cover of Dandy Livingstone’s Rudy, a Message to You, and it peaked at 10.

As great as the album was, it didn’t capture the energy of their live shows. So it was a very wise move to release a live EP in January 1980. As we know through this blog, the first month of the year can bring up many surprising chart-toppers. Credited to The Special AKA Featuring Rico (although the vinyl also, confusingly, billed them as The Specials), Too Much Too Young – The Special A.K.A. Live! EP was a five-track showcase of the group on stage in 1979. Side A featured two tracks from the Lyceum in London, and Side B was a three-track medley – billed as Skinhead Symphony – from Tiffany’s, in their hometown.

Review

The title track is of course one of the most beloved by The Special AKA. Loosely based on the 1969 song Birth Control by reggae singer and producer Lloyd Charmers, Too Much Too Young was originally recorded and released on The Specials.

Inspired by Dammers considering a relationship with a married woman who had a child, Too Much Too Young may be a great tune, but it’s lyrics are somewhat divisive. You could argue the band are railing against wasted youth caused by teenage pregnancies, and are calling for better sex education and knowledge of contraception. This is most likely, considering The Specials’ usual left-wing leanings. But critics have a point when they say Dammers and co come across as preachy and patronising – even somewhat right-wing – by criticising a poor young mum, just because the narrator wants a good time with her, ultimately.

Far more clearcut is just how good this live cut is. It’s the definitive version, and much better than the Costello-produced album version, which is overlong and plodding by comparison. At 2:04, this incendiary version of Too Much Too Young is the shortest number 1 track of the 80s. But it packs in so much in such a short time, it’s easily the best song on this EP, which is no mean feat when it’s up against four classics of the genre. Most noteworthy are Hall’s passionate performance, Gentleman’s bass and Golding and Radiation’s guitar.

Guns of Navarone, the other Lyceum track, is a straightforward cover of The Skatalite’s skanking 1965 version of the theme tune to the 1961 film of the same name. Staple provides great toasting, accompanying expert trombone skills by Rico.

Skinhead Symphony on Side B is a jubilant, celebratory six-minute-plus medley of more 60s ska greats. Opening with a bugle call by Rico, Longshot Kick the Bucket is a faithful rendition of Longshot Kick de Bucket by The Pioneers, originally recorded in 1969. Long Shot was a real horse, that dropped dead mid-race, who the Jamaican group had sung about before. The Liquidator is the only track that doesn’t really live up to the original. Part of The Harry J All Stars 1969 original’s charm is the wonky feel of the primitive recording, which disappears in this sprightly run-through. The symphony closes with a version of 1969 rude boy anthem Skinhead Moonstomp by British ska band Symarip. This was based on Moon Hop, released earlier that year by rocksteady great Derrick Morgan, in honour of the Moon landing that July. It’s the perfect way to cap off a collection of great live recordings. In spite of the rather basic production, the atmosphere is palpable and you can only listen in envy at the fans chanting ‘Specials’ at the end.

In true ska fashion, it’s worth noting there are many credit errors on the original EP. Guns of Navarone songwriter Dimitri Tiomkin’s surname was spelled ‘Thompkin’. The mysterious ‘Gordon’ credited on Longshot Kick the Bucket was George Agard, and Sydney Cook, should be ‘Crooks’. And Symarip’s Monty Naismith should say ‘Naysmith’. Things like this matter!

After

The Special AKA reverted to calling themselves The Specials and continued to score hits throughout 1980 and 81, leading up to their masterpiece, Ghost Town.

The Outro

It’s worth noting that this EP knocked the Pretenders’ Brass in Pocket off the top spot. Singer Chrissie Hynde had provided backing vocals on The Specials, and the video to their number 1 had two band members miming ‘Special!’ in the video. Tenuous, perhaps, but I’m pointing it out anyway.

The Info

Written by

Too Much Too Young: Jerry Dammers & Lloyd Chambers/Guns of Navarone: Dimitri Thompkin & Paul Francis Webster/Longshot Kick the Bucket: Gordon, Sidney Cook & Jackie Robinson/The Liquidator: Harry Johnson/Skinhead Moonstomp: Roy Ellis & Monty Naismith

Producers

Jerry Dammers & Dave Jordan

Weeks at number 1

2 (2-15 February)

Trivia

Births

5 February: Scottish Liberal Democrats leader Jo Swinson
10 February: Photographer Matt Irwin/Actor Ralf Little/Footballer Steve Tully

Deaths

4 February: Labour MP Edith Summerskill
9 February: Journalist Tom Macdonald

Meanwhile…

14 February: The ever-loving Margaret Thatcher celebrates Valentine’s Day by halving state benefit to strikers.

14-23 February: Great Britain and Northern Ireland take part in the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. But they only win one gold medal, thanks to figure skater Robin Cousins.

447. The Police – Walking on the Moon (1979)

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The Intro

Hot on the heels of their first number 1, Message In a Bottle, new-wave/reggae three-piece The Police were ruling the charts once again with this follow-up. And in a year of really hip number 1s, Walking on the Moon is one of the coolest.

Before

Their second album, Regatta de Blanc (which loosely translates into French as ‘White Reggae’) had been recorded between February and August. Although their label, A&M Records, had wanted to capitalise on their band’s growing wave of support with a bigger budget and more famous producer, The Police insisted on returning to Surrey Sound in Leatherhead with co-producer Nigel Gray.

Unlike their first album, Sting, Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers struggled to find enough new material to record and considered remaking debut single Fall Out. Digging out old material from before they were a band, they added new elements to flesh out the songs. Walking on the Moon, however, was brand new.

Sting came up with it while drunk one night in a Munich hotel following a gig. Slumped on the bed, the room spinning around him, he got up and started singing ‘Walking round the room, ya, ya, walking round the room’. In the morning he remembered the riff and wrote what he had down, but realised it was a rather dull premise for a song, so he changed the lyrics. He later admitted the song became the recollection of his first girlfriend, Deborah Anderson, and likened leaving her house in a loved-up state was akin to walking without gravity. Sting was a keen jazz buff, and one of his favourite tunes was John Coltrane’s Giant Steps, so the title also found its way in naturally to the opening line.

Originally conceived and demoed as a rocker, The Police and Gray decided a song about space should sound spaced out. Rather than delve into reggae as they often did, Walking on the Moon became a very successful experiment in dub. This genre, originally an offshoot of reggae, had been developed by pioneering producers including King Tubby, Augustus Pablo and Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry in the late-60s. They would reshape songs, often removing vocals and laying emphasis on the rhythm section, adding echo and reverb. It sounds brilliant when stoned.

A key instrument used in dub was the Roland RE-201 Space Echo unit, and The Police bought one with the money from their first hit, Roxanne. Drummer Copeland added the Space Echo to Walking on the Moon, using it to repeat not the preceding note, but the one before that. Doing so on the rhythm track created the wobbly, stuttering effect that makes it so atmospheric. The combination of Sting’s memorable three-note bass line with the drums was more than good enough on its own, but the icing on the cake was Summers’ idea to add the clanging guitar echo after the bass notes throughout.

Review

Were it not for Every Breath You Take, Walking on the Moon would easily rank as my favourite Police number 1. I love dub, in small doses, and it makes for great headphone music. Sting gets a mostly free pass for his often irritating vocal here, so great is the bass. If you think too much about it, the way he sings the title could still annoy – it is a cod-Jamaican accent, there’s no escaping it. It’s there again on the ‘Keep it up’ refrain at the end too. However, his least annoying performance comes in the least successful element of the song – the ‘Some may say/I’m wishing’ my days away’. The lyrics to this section don’t really fit the rest and just seem like rhymes for the sake of it.

I love the idea of likening new love to being as amazing as stepping out on to the Moon. The music is in complete contrast to that idea though, sounding edgy and mysterious. I guess there is a good comparison to be had with the great unknowns of what happens next in a love affair and moonwalking. Anyway, I’m rambling. I just wish there was a 12-inch version, which could have explored the outer reaches even more, really emphasising the echo.

Taking a literal approach for the video, Sting, Copeland and Summers were recorded at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on 23 October 1979. They’re mostly pretending to play live, although Sting has an electric guitar rather than a bass, and Copeland is whacking his drumsticks against a Saturn V rocket. As with their last video, Derek Burbridge directs and Sting looks rather menacing, until all three crack up while dicking about inside.

After

Walking on the Moon very nearly made it to Christmas number 1, which would have made for a distinctly un-festive chart-topper and final number 1 of the 70s. What replaced it was even less cheery.

The Info

Written by

Sting

Producers

The Police & Nigel Gray

Weeks at number 1

1 (8-14 December)

Trivia

Births

14 December: Footballer Michael Owen

Deaths

9 December: Boxing promoter Jack Solomons

Meanwhile…

10 December: Stunt performer Eddie Kidd performs an 80ft motorcycle jump.

14 December: Doubts are raised over the convictions of the four men in the Carl Bridgewater case. Hubert Vincent Spencer is charged with murdering 70-year-old farmer Hubert Wilkes. The farmhouse where Wilkes was murdered was less than half a mile away from the one where Bridgewater had been killed.

426. 10cc – Dreadlock Holiday (1978)

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The Intro

By the time of their third and final number 1, 10cc weren’t half the band they used to be. Literally. Despite the success of their masterpiece, I’m Not in Love, creative differences had come to a head.

Before

While recording fourth LP How Dare You!, the two separate songwriting partnerships – Kevin Godley and Lol Creme and Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman – realised they were drifting further apart. Despite this it spawned two hit singes. Art for Art’s Sake reached five in 1975 and I’m Mandy, Fly Me peaked at six.

At the start of sessions for Deceptive Bends (1977), Godley and Creme decided to leave to make an album together. Although Stewart and Gouldman knew the working environment had got more and more difficult, they couldn’t believe Godley and Creme would be willing to walk out on 10cc at the peak of their commercial and creative powers. To make matters worse, Stewart and Creme were married to sisters.

10cc continued as a three-piece with tour back-up drummer Paul Burgess while Godley & Creme released the triple album Consequences, featuring comedian Peter Cook. Stewart and Gouldman likely felt vindicated when that album sank but their own gave them two hit singles – The Things We Do for Love (six) and Good Morning Judge (five). Having said that, Godley & Creme likely didn’t care too much as they were more concerned with doing things their way.

10cc then went on an international tour, bolstered by guitarist Rick Fenn, keyboardist Tony O’Malley and additional drummer Stuart Tosh, formerly of fellow chart-toppers Pilot. The tour was documented on Live and Let Live, released later the same year. O’Malley then left and was replaced by Duncan Mackay and the five-piece set to work on a new album, Bloody Tourists.

Its first single, Dreadlock Holiday, was inspired by a trip to Barbados that Stewart experienced with Moody Blues singer Justin Hayward. Stewart recalled seeing a white man trying to act cool to embarrassing effect, annoying a group of Afro-Caribbeans. This is where the lines ‘Don’t you walk through my words/You’ve got to show some respect’. The chorus, later misunderstood on every cricket highlights package on TV, came about when Gouldman, who was talking to a Jamaican who asked him if he liked cricket, replied ‘No, I love it!’.

The line-up featured Stewart on electric piano, organ, cabaza and vocals, Gouldman on bass, maracas and vocals, Fenn on guitar, backing vocals and organ, Burgess on cowbell, congas, marimba, triangle, agogô and timbales, Tosh on drums, backing vocals and tambourine and Mackay on Yamaha CS-80 synthesiser.

Review

Released in the decade that political correctness forgot, Dreadlock Holiday was a huge hit. But in more enlightened times it proves problematic. Musically, it’s perfectly fine. A good approximation of reggae, well-produced and infectious. But the problem is in the lyrics. Stewart and Gouldman could defend themselves by saying we’re supposed to be laughing at the white man here, thinking that the ‘four faces, one mad’ will leave him alone if he mentions cricket. It’s not good enough really because Jamaicans are certainly not portrayed in a good light either. This gang with ‘dark voices’ are going to rob him, because of course they’re poor criminals, because Jamaica. He manages to escape the gang, only to encounter a dope-dealing woman by the pool. Because Jamaica. Cricket, reggae, crime, drugs, sung in piss-taking cod-Jamaican accents. It’s not that far removed from Typically Tropical’s Barbados.

10cc, or at least Stewart and Gouldman should have known better. It’s a cheap joke and mean-spirited. How can this be the same band that recorded I’m Not in Love? You could argue that perhaps Godley and Creme wouldn’t have allowed something like this through, except they wrote Une Nuit a Paris, a song featuring comedy French accents. No, I think it’s just a case of rich white men not being half as clever as they can be and, well, it was the 70s.

The video to Dreadlock Holiday cheapens the song further. To save money (and possibly to avoid confronting any real-life scary Jamaicans), they filmed on the coast of Dorset instead. It looks about as summery as the field of the campsite in Carry On Camping (1969) and not like Jamaica at all. Director Storm Thorgerson (the man behind the cover of The Dark Side of the Moon) clearly encourages the actors to ham it up big time.

After

Dreadlock Holiday was the last proper 10cc hit. In 1979 Stewart was seriously injured in a car crash. A tour was cancelled and the band was put on hold. Originally planned as a 10cc project, Gouldman made the soundtrack to Animalympics (1980) alone. This animated comedy, made to tie in with the Moscow Olympics, has a special place in my heart as I became obsessed with it as a child. The music is great too.

Both Stewart and Gouldman consider this hiatus the beginning of the end for 10cc. Upon Stewart’s return, tastes had shifted and their next album, 1980’s Look Hear? featured contributions from the other band members, with little collaboration between the founding members. For the next LP, Ten Out of 10 (1981), 10cc were officially just Stewart and Gouldman, with the others demoted to session musicians. In a bid to do better in the US, they collaborated with singer-songwriter Andrew Gold and released a separate version in America with his contributions. They asked him to become a fully fledged member but he declined. His contributions made little difference to record sales.

For their ninth album Windows in the Jungle (1983), Stewart and Gouldman wrote together intending to make a concept album, but a desire to also make a hit single got in the way and it was another failure. That was it for 10cc, for a while. In the meantime, Godley and Creme had made several albums together and had two top three singles in 1981 – Under Your Thumb (number three) and Wedding Bells (seven). They also became very good at directing quirky and innovative pop videos for bands including The Police, Ultravox and Duran Duran. In 1985 they made a very memorable promo for their single Cry, featuring faces blending into each other. I remember being totally mesmerised and disturbed by it at the age of six.

After the split, Stewart worked as a producer for Sad Cafe, Paul McCartney and ABBA’s Agnetha Fältskog. Gouldman produced The Ramones and then formed the duo Common Knowledge with Gold, who changed their name to Wax. In 1985 Gouldman tried the Bob Geldof approach and assembled and produced an unusual group of musicians and celebrities dubbed The Crowd. Featuring, among others, Bruce Forsyth, Rolf Harris, Gerry Marsden, the Nolans, John Otway and Motörhead, they covered the Gerry and the Pacemakers 1963 chart-topper You’ll Never Walk Alone in aid of the Bradford City Disaster Fund. It went to number 1 and Marsden became the first person to do so with two versions of the same song.

In 1992 a 10cc reunion album was released. But …Meanwhile was actually a Stewart and Gouldman LP by and large. Godley and Creme were only on board to fulfil contractual obligations and mostly provided backing vocals. It didn’t fare as well as hoped but Stewart and Gouldman toured once more with former members and a few new ones, as captured on another live album, 1993’s Alive.

The next album, Mirror Mirror (1995), saw Stewart and Gouldman working apart in separate countries. Despite the latter’s initial objections an acoustic version of I’m Not in Love was released from it and actually gave them their first singles chart action in 17 years, reaching 29. Stewart left 10cc after the album tour, saying as far as he was concerned 10cc were finished.

Gouldman disagreed and has continued to perform live as 10cc ever since, with the help of Burgess and Fenn, plus Keith Hayman and Iain Hornal at present. Stewart refuses to speak to Gouldman because of his refusal to stop using the name and Creme has also been critical of the move. However, Godley and Gouldman recorded and performed together as GG/06 in 2006 and Godley also performed at the Royal Albert Hall with the band to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their formation in 2012.

The Outro

Despite my criticism of this final number 1, 10cc were one of the smartest acts of the 70s. The material by the original line-up is never dull and at times, in particular I’m Not in Love, brilliant. In a way, it’s amazing four such multi-talented men, all writers and performers, were able to work together for as long as they did.

The Info

Written by

Eric Stewart & Graham Gouldman

Producers

10cc

Weeks at number 1

1 (23-29 September)

Trivia

Births

23 September: Cartoonist Andy Fanton
25 September: Model Jodie Kidd

Meanwhile…

26 September: 23 Ford car plants were close due to strike action.

423. Boney M – Rivers of Babylon (1978)

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The Intro

Boney M were one of the most popular disco acts of the 70s and scored one of the biggest number 1s of all time with this cover of a Rastafari song by The Melodians. In a year in which the singles charts were returning to importance after years of dominance by albums, Boney M were the most popular. And they were the first of several pop acts to spring from the mind of Frank Farian.

Before

Farian, born Franz Reuther in Kirn, Germany on 18 July 1941 had trained as a cook before moving into the music industry. As Frankie Farian he released his first single, Will You Ever Be Mine in 1967.

He wasn’t really making much of an impression until he recorded Baby Do You Wanna Bump in 1974. It was a remake of Jamaican ska singer-songwriter Prince Buster’s Al Capone from 1964. However, in the first of many performance and songwriter controversies from Farian, there was no mention of Prince Buster within the credits.

Farian provided all the vocals and when deciding on an alias for the release, he was inspired while watching an episode of Australian detective drama Boney. He just stuck an ‘M’ on the end for added mystery.

Slowly, the single picked up steam in the Netherlands and Belgium. Farian decided to put a group together to promote it on TV. The first line-up of Boney M in 1975 consisted of Montserrat-born model-turned-singer Maizie Williams, her Jamaican friend Sheila Bonnick and a dancer called Mike. Several changes took place before the group settled down in 1976 with Williams, Jamaican-British singer Liz Mitchell, Aruban exotic dancer Bobby Farrell and Jamaican Marcia Barrett.

Farian set to work on Boney M’s debut LP, Take the Heat Off Me. It became apparent that he couldn’t use either Williams’ or Farrell’s voices and would instead use his own along with Barrett’s (who had already recorded solo with Farrell) and Mitchell’s. Again, the response was initially lukewarm but Farian pushed them to tour constantly, performing at discos, clubs and even country fairs.

The breakthrough occurred when they appeared on West German TV show Musikladen in September wearing outlandish outfits during a performance of Daddy Cool. It shot to 1 in several European countries and peaked at five in the UK. Follow-up Sunny rose to number three over here. Disco was peaking and Boney M had come along at exactly the right time.

In 1977 they released second album Love for Sale and it spawned two hits – Ma Baker (number two) and Belfast (eight). Undertaking their first major tour, Farian lined up live musicians known as The Black Beauty Circus to provide backing.

Boney M’s first release of 1978 was taken from forthcoming third album Nightflight to Venus. Rivers of Babylon was written by Brent Dowe and Trevor McNaughton of rocksteady Jamaican act The Melodians. Released in 1970, the lyrics were adapted from the texts of Psalms 19 and mainly 137 in the Hebrew Bible. The latter expressed the thoughts of Jewish people in exile after the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem in 586 BC. It contains the line ‘By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.’

Rivers of Babylon was a big hit in Jamaica once the government lifted a ban on it and it became famous internationally after it appeared in the 1972 film The Harder They Come.

Featuring Mitchell on lead vocal and Barrett and Farian on backing vocals, the Boney M version showcased Farian’s standard disco-lite sound, removing all Rastafarian language from the lyrics. The initial single mix featured extra ad-libs from Mitchell and all single versions feature extra vocals from Farian as well as a different fadeout to the LP version. Initially, Dowe and McNaughton didn’t receive any songwriting credit until they rightly kicked up a fuss.

https://youtu.be/HTq7vE_5un4

Review

I’ve never liked Boney M and I can’t see that ever changing. This blog has helped shift my attitude to realise how good ABBA actually were, for example, but I think Boney M are so cheap, tacky and throwaway and re-listening now has made little difference.

There are disco versions of every style of song going but I find taking a song about Biblical plight in poor taste, or maybe that’s just down to my inbuilt dislike of Boney M. I guess though that it’s more respectful than other Boney M hits. Mitchell is a great singer, so there is that, but Farian’s vocals are awful, which makes me wonder how much worse Farrell’s must have been.

So here is another example of the madness of British record buyers. Not only was Rivers of Babylon the biggest-selling single of 1978 but it’s the seventh biggest-selling single OF ALL TIME. What the fuck?

After

After five weeks at the top, it was slipping down the charts and was at 20 when DJs began playing the B-side, a cover of traditional Caribbean nursery rhyme Brown Girl in the Ring. It became a hit in its own right and took the single all the way to number two. This seems highly unfair to me but it at least partly explains why something so poor could sell so well.

The Info

Written by

Frank Farian, George Reyam, Brent Dowe & Trevor McNaughton

Producer

Frank Farian

Weeks at number 1

5 (13 May-16 June) *BEST-SELLING SINGLE OF THE YEAR*

Trivia

Births

14 May: Scottish field hockey defender Emma Rochlin
22 May: Model Katie Price
6 June: The Libertines singer Carl Barât
9 June: Muse singer Matthew Bellamy

Death

18 May: Conservative MP Selwyn Lloyd
7 June: Nobel Prize laureate Ronald George Wreyford Norrish

Meanwhile…

16 May: 40-year-old prostitute Vera Millward is found stabbed to death in the grounds of Manchester Royal Infirmary. It is believed that she is the 10th woman to die at the hands of the Yorkshire Ripper and the second outside of Yorkshire.

17 May: Charlie Chaplin’s coffin, stolen 11 weeks previously, is discovered in a field near the Chaplin home in Corsier near Lausanne, Switzerland.

25 May: Liberal Party leader David Steel announces the Lib-Lab pact is to be dissolved at the end of the Parliamentary session by mutual consent, which would leave Britain with a minority Labour government.

3 June: Airline entrepreneur Freddie Laker is knighted.

8 June: Naomi James becomes the first woman to sail around the world single-handedly.

13–16 June: Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife Elena make a state visit to the United Kingdom. He is made a Knight of the Order of the Bath and she becomes an honorary professor of the Polytechnic of Central London. How lovely. 

417. Althia & Donna – Up Town Top Ranking (1978)

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The Intro

It was starting to look like Wings would be at number 1 forever in those first few freezing weeks of 1978. It took two Jamaican teenagers to knock Mull of Kintyre/Girls School from the top.

Before

17-year-old Althea Forrest and Donna Reid, 18, started out singing on the sidewalks of Kingston, Jamaica. They were spotted by the singer Jacob Miller, who introduced them to producer Joe Gibbs. The duo recorded Up Town Top Ranking as a lighthearted answer song, with origins dating back to 1967.

That year, ‘Godfather of Rocksteady’ Alton Ellis released the track I’m Still in Love, a sweet slice of lovers rock. In the mid-70s, circa 1975, Marcia Aitken recorded her own version, produced by Gibbs. He and sound engineer Errol Thompson were known as The Mighty Two and they cut many reggae hits in Jamaica.

In 1977, deejay and producer Trinity took the backing track of Aitken’s version and toasted over the top, bragging about how sharp he looked in his Three Piece Suit. Althea & Donna, together with Thompson, wrote their reply to Trinity. With tons of tongue-in-cheek, frisky attitude, Up Town Top Ranking answered back, using the rhythm track of Aitken’s version.

Upon its original release, Althea’s name was spelt incorrectly as ‘Althia’, hence the weird spelling in the title here. Even worse, Gibbs was credited as ‘Joe Gibson’. It’s one thing to get an unknown teenager’s name wrong, but an acclaimed producer?! I’m also going with the original title – ‘Up Town’ rather than ‘Uptown’.

As fun and catchy as Up Town Top Ranking is, it’s unlikely it would have made it to number 1 had it not been for Radio 1 DJ John Peel. Allegedly he began playing it as a joke. I find that a little hard to believe, I’d imagine he just really liked it, like most people. Eventually other Radio 1 DJs began to spin it too and the rest is history.

Review

Up Town Top Ranking is a great start to the chart-toppers of 1978 and the best number 1 since I Feel Love in July 1977. In an era of often staid chart hits, it cuts through the crap by being full to the brim with the joy of being young and alive.

Althea & Donna aren’t note perfect and are outright flat at times but it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter that sometimes the patois is impenetrable to a 42-year-old from East Yorkshire, there’s enough that is decipherable to know that these girls are out on the town, dressed to kill and won’t take any shit from the likes of Trinity and his ego, three-piece suit or no three-piece suit:

‘True you see me in me pants and ting,
See me in me halter back,
Say, me give you heart attack’.

When they sing ‘Love is all I bring/Inna me khaki suit and ting’, they’re not coming on to the men they meet. The ‘love’ they sing of is likely a more innocent kind. The love of being alive and on the dancefloor. ‘Give me little bass make me whine out mi waist’ is all they care about. More power to them.

After

Althea & Donna cheered up a gloomy February with an appearance on Top of the Pops where they looked like they couldn’t believe their luck. The album Uptown Top Ranking followed, with backing from The Revolutionaries and produced by Karl Pitterson. It couldn’t match the magic of their one hit and nor could three singles – Puppy Dog Song, Going to Negril and Love One Another, all released in the same year.

Althea & Donna disappeared as so many one-hit wonders do but they did record more material separately, Althea occasionally under the name Althea Ranks. Both recorded covers during the 80s and then left the business. Althea was last heard of working as an events planner and Donna works for the state of Florida. They performed together again in 2018 in Jamaica.

The Outro

Up Town Top Ranking has been covered by, among others, Black Box Recorder (1998). Occasionally it gets sampled and covered but ignore all that and stick on Ellis, Aitken, Trinity and this number 1 instead.

The Info

Written by

Errol Thompson, Althea Forrest & Donna Reid

Producer

Joe Gibson

Weeks at number 1

1 (4-10 February)

Meanwhile…

9 February: 25-year-old Scotland central defender Gordon McQueen became Britain’s first £500,000 footballer in a transfer from Leeds United to Manchester United. 

373. Johnny Nash – Tears on My Pillow (I Can’t Take It) (1975)

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The Intro

US reggae singer-songwriter Johnny Nash is best known for the uplifting and inspirational I Can See Clearly Now, but he only scored one number one, and it’s this lesser-known track, which isn’t the Tears on My Pillow that immediately springs to mind.

Before

John Lester Nash Jr was born 19 August 1940 in Houston, Texas. This shy boy sang in the choir at Progressive New Hope Baptist Church in South Central Houston. Aged 13 he was working as a golf caddy, and he impressed retired businessman Frank Stockton with his singing so much, he arranged an audition for a local TV show. Nash went down so well, he made regular appearances for three years, and was earning more than his father.

In 1956, aged 16, Nash was signed with ABC-Paramount and released his first single, the self-explanatory A Teenager Sings the Blues. It made little impact but he did chart in the US with a cover of Doris Day’s A Very Special Love. His eponymous LP was released in 1958 and a year later he made his film debut in the adaptation of Take a Giant Step.

In these early years, his label marketed him as a rival to Johnny Mathis. He mostly ignored rock’n’roll, and crooned ballads on several labels, to little success. By the 60s, he was looking decidedly old-fashioned.

Nash’s career picked up when he and manager and business partner Danny Sims moved to Jamaica in 1965. Sims opened a new music publishing business, Cayman Music. A year or so later, Nash went to a Rastafarian party where a little-known group called Bob Marley & The Wailing Wailers were performing. Nash was awestruck and got to know Marley, his wife Rita, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer, and got them signed to Cayman Music.

Jamaica transformed and rejuvenated Nash’s career. He, Sims and Arthur Jenkins formed JAD Records and released rocksteady single Hold Me Tight in 1968, and it was a big hit, reaching five in the US and UK. Follow-up You Got Soul reached six, and so did Cupid in 1969.

By the time I Can See Clearly Now came along in 1972, JAD Records was no more and Nash was signed with Epic. It was a number 1 in the US but somehow stalled at five on these shores, which is surprising, such is its enduring appeal. When Nash died a few weeks ago, this classic had top billing in his obituaries. The album it came from, with the same name, had four songs by Marley, one of which, Stir It Up, had also been a hit and is better known in its version by The Wailers. Third single There Are More Questions Than Answers climbed to number nine, and was later used on a regular round of A Question of Sport in the 80s when I would watch it with my dad, despite having next to no interest in sport.

But I digress. As Marley came into his own and superstardom beckoned, Nash was doing the opposite. In 1974 he decided to move back to Houston to live a quiet life on a ranch with his new, third wife, Carlie Collins. Which makes the success of Tears on My Pillow (I Can’t Take It) all the more surprising. It was a cover of reggae artist Ernie Smith’s I Can’t Take It, and the renaming caused Smith to miss out on initial royalties. Was it renamed to lead people into thinking it was a cover of the Little Anthony and the Imperials classic from 1958? Perhaps. It doesn’t help that the chorus contains the lines ‘Tears on my pillow/And pain in my heart”.

Review

It’s baffling to me how this overtook I’m Not in Love as number 1 – though there’s some continuity considering that contained the famous ‘Be quiet, big boys don’t cry’ line. It’s a nice enough dose of light reggae, but there’s nothing to make it stand out really. Also, it’s a bit too upbeat to make you believe Nash is hurting. I like the initial move from the intro into the reggae rhythm, but then it doesn’t do enough to keep me interested. The spoken word section is poor, but Nash is in fine voice otherwise. I Can See Clearly Now is a much better track, so why did this do so well at the time? It’s a strange one. Nash hadn’t had a hit in three years, so there was no momentum there, other than there was a market for reggae-pop tunes, as the superior Everything I Own had been number 1 a year previous.

After

In 1976 Nash had a number 25 hit with a cover of Sam Cooke’s (What a) Wonderful World and then seemed to decide on planned obsolescence, releasing a couple more singles before dropping off the radar. He concentrated on family life and helping local causes. There was a brief resurgence in 1986 with the album Here Again, but then he vanished again. In 1993 he set up the Johnny Nash Indoor Arena in Houston and helped poor youngsters to have riding lessons they couldn’t afford otherwise. Nash died of natural causes on 6 October 2020, aged 80.

The Info

Written by

Ernie Smith

Producers

Johnny Nash & Ken Khouri

Weeks at number 1

1 (12-18 July)

Trivia

Births

12 July: Actress Hannah Waterman
15 July: Actress Jill Halfpenny
17 July: TV presenter Konnie Huq

359. Ken Boothe – Everything I Own (1974)

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The Intro

A tune that started out as a soft rock tribute to Bread singer David Gates’s dead father was repurposed as a reggae love song by Jamaican rocksteady singer Ken Boothe and became his sole number 1 in the autumn of 1974.

Before

Gates’s father had died in 1963, long before his son’s group became successful, but he considered him his greatest influence. The title was also inspired by him, as when Gates was a struggling musician he had bought his mother an orchid, and his father wrote to him saying he could have ‘anything she owned’ in return. It’s a lovely song, and will mean a lot to anyone who has lost a parent, but despite reaching number three in the US in 1972, it stalled at 32 in the UK.

Boothe was born in Denham Town, Kingston on 22 March 1948. He developed an interest in music while at Denham Primary Elementary School, with the help of his eldest sister Hyacinth Clover, who was part of a comedy double act. One of his biggest influences was Owen Gray, considered Jamaica’s first homegrown singing star.

As a teenager, Boothe formed a singing duo with his friend Winston ‘Stranger’ Cole. They released singles together as Stranger & Ken between 1963 and 1965. He also recorded as Roy & Ken with Roy Shirley in 1966, the same year he went solo and began recording at the famed Studio One, scoring his first hit with The Train Is Coming, on which he was backed by The Wailers. Boothe toured the UK the following year, promoted as ‘Mr Rocksteady’. To the unitiated, ‘rocksteady’ came after ska and before reggae, and is basically a slowed-down version of the two. It has nothing to do with rock.

Boothe enjoyed a number of hit singles over the next few years, including Moving Away and covers of American and British soul tunes. He switched to producer Leslie Kong’s Beverley’s Records in 1970, but following his untimely death he moved around and eventually settled with UK-based Trojan Records and Lloyd Charmers in 1971.

Two albums, 1973’s Black Gold and Green and 1974’s What’s Going On followed, and then when they began another album, Charmers suggested they work on a cover of Everything I Own, which eventually became the name of the LP too. It featured the Federal Soul Givers, Lloyd Parks on bass, Paul Williams from Toots and the Maytals on drums, Willie Lindo on guitar and Charmers on organ, piano and percussion. Unlike most covers, not only was the arrangement updated, but the lyrics were changed enough to alter the meaning of the song, altering it from a son mourning his father, to a spurned lover hoping to change her mind by whatever means necessary.

Review

Although a minor number 1 (strong enough to top the charts once more when Boy George released it in 1987, though), Boothe’s cover is a pleasant slice of light reggae-pop – the type of reggae I’d normally avoid (don’t get me started on UB40, plenty of time for that when I reach the 80s). Most of that is simply down to Boothe’s voice. Some find his delivery too exact and too tight to the music but his trademark deep timbre is unusual and makes the performance feel real to me, suggesting Boothe is wounded and broken but hopeful. However, it sounds like it was his fault, as Boothe mentions taking someone for granted.

Musically, Boothe’s version is better, but I prefer the lyrics to the original. They stand out more and after all, there are a million songs in which the singer is broken-hearted and trying to persuade their lover back. Not bad at all though.

After

Boothe had one more UK hit from the same album when Crying Over You reached 11. Unfortunately Trojan’s financial difficulties resulted in the label suspending operations, and Boothe’s career struggled to regain momentum when it returned in 1978. That year, he was name-checked in The Clash’s (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais.

Boothe and Trojan parted ways again, and his recording output dropped considerably from then on, with only two albums released in the 80s – Imagine (1986) and Don’t You Know (1987), but often he was reworking old Studio One material. UB40 (there they are again) covered Boothe on their Labour of Love album in 1983, and its sequel in 1992. In 1995 Boothe collaborated with Shaggy on a remake of The Train Is Coming on the soundtrack to the action film Money Train.

The Outro

In 2003, Boothe was awarded the Order of Distinction from his homeland for his contribution to Jamaican music.

The Info

Written by

David Gates

Producer

Lloyd Charmers

Weeks at number 1

3 (26 October-15 November)

Trivia

Births

29 October: Cricketer Michael Vaughan
2 November: Hammer thrower David Smith
4 November: Singer Louise Redknapp

Deaths

28 October: Poet David Jones

Meanwhile…

28 October: The wife and son of Sports Minister Denis Howell survived a Provisional IRA bomb attack on their car.

4 November: Judith Ward was sentenced to life imprisonment for the M62 coach bombing on 4 February. It took 18 years for her to be released due to a wrongful judgement.

7 November: Richard John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan, better known as Lord Lucan, went missing after his children’s nanny, Sandra Rivett, was bludgeoned to death in the Lucan family home. He was never found and his death certificate was granted in 2016.
Also that day, an IRA bomb explodes at the Kings Arms, Woolwich, killing two. 

11 November: The New Covent Garden Market in Nine Elms opened.

13 November: The Americanisation of the UK took a giant leap forward when the first McDonald’s restaurant opened in Woolwich, South London.