Wizzard

461. Olivia Newton-John/Electric Light Orchestra – Xanadu (from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (1980)

/ robbarker1979

The Intro

The 1980 musical fantasy Xanadu was a box office failure, even inspiring the Golden Raspberry Awards. But the soundtrack album, featuring Olivia Newton-John, Electric Light Orchestra, Cliff Richard and the Tubes, was a global smash. And the theme gave Newton-John her third chart-topper and – surprisingly – ELO’s sole number 1.

Before

1978 was a mammoth year for Newton-John. The Australian pop star and actress became a superstar thanks to her role as Sandy in Grease. And together with co-lead John Travolta, she was a chart mainstay, with two lengthy number 1s – You’re the One That I Want and Summer Nights. So enduring was the image of Newton-John, sexed-up and dressed in tight black leather at the film’s finale, she adopted it for her next LP, Too Hot, released at the end of the year. Its first single, A Little More Love, was a worldwide hit and peaked at four. But 1979 was a barren year for UK singles success.

She began 1980 by duetting with Andy Gibb on I Can’t Help It in the US, as well as a TV special – Hollywood Nights. Then came Xanadu. Originally conceived as a low-budget film cashing in on the roller-disco craze, it grew in scale as big names joined the production, most notably Newton-John and the legendary dancer Gene Kelly, in what was toby his final role.

Xanadu, directed by Robert Greenwald, was based on the 1947 movie Down to Earth, which also featured Kelly. The new film was named after the nightclub setting, which in turn referenced Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s 1816 poem Kubla Khan. However, the filming ran into difficulties due in large part to several script changes. The soundtrack LP was split, with tracks by Newton-John (plus Richard, the Tubes and Kelly) on side one. All tracks there were written by John Farrar, who before writing You’re the One That I Want had been in The Shadows. Side two exclusively featured ELO, with the final song featuring both acts together on the title track.

ELO was originally conceived by Roy Wood, singer-songwriter in 1969 chart-toppers The Move. He spoke to fellow Brummie Jeff Lynne of psychedelic pop act The Idle Race, about a new group that would ‘pick up where The Beatles left off’, employing classical instruments on a full-time basis. Lynne liked the idea but was determined to try and find fame with his own group rather than join The Move to get things started. But by January 1970, when Trevor Burton left The Move, he’d changed his mind – on the condition that he and Wood concentrated on their new project – the Electric Light Orchestra.

That summer, a track intended to be a B-side for The Move developed into the first ELO track. And what a debut 10538 Overture was, when it finally hit the shops in 1972. Written by Lynne, with around 15 Chinese cello parts played and overdubbed by Wood, there had been nothing like it before, and it reached nine in the charts. The debut eponymous ELO LP had been released the previous December, and was and is still known in the US as No Answer, due to a misunderstood note left by a United Artists Record Executive. Their call to the UK to find out the name of the album had resulted in ‘no answer’. This album features a far less slick sound than later work, and features only three core members – Lynne, Wood and Bev Bevan on drums.

The Move finally became defunct shortly before the release of 10538 Overture and around the time of ELO’s live debut, which saw the trio joined by Bill Hunt on keyboards and French horn, Andy Craig, Hugh McDowell and Mike Edwards on cello, Wilfred Gibson on violin and Richard Tandy on bass. This line-up proved short-lived, as the making of the second ELO album later in 1972 saw a raft of departures. First Craig, then – most importantly, Wood, who among other reasons cited being unable to hear the classical instruments over the electric when performing live. Wood took Hunt and McDowell with him and of course, went on to form Wizzard, who scored two number 1s with See My Baby Jive and Angel Fingers (A Teen Ballad) in 1973. With Wood’s departure no doubt in mind, Lynne ensured that all band members were properly amplified when playing gigs from then on.

Wood only featured on two tracks on ELO 2, released in 1973. Neither were the cover of Roll Over Beethoven, which soared to six in the singles chart. The new line-up included Tandy switching to keyboards to replace Hunt, plus new recruits Mike du Albuquerque picking up the bass and cellist Colin Walker. Third single Showdown showcased a new, funkier direction and surprisingly missed out on the top 10, finishing at 12.

Further changes came during the making of the next LP, On the Third Day. Gibson was sacked, Walker quit and Mik Kaminski joined as violinist. Then McDowell bounced back from Wizzard during the end of recording. Concept album Eldorado was released in 1974 and saw the end of Lynne multi-tracking strings and using a full orchestra instead. Albuquerque left during recording.

Lynne took on a deliberately more commercial sound and the line-up finally stabilised after Eldorado. Kelly Groucutt became their bassist and Melvyn Gale replaced Edwards as a cellist. The next album, Face the Music, saw ELO deservedly score a number 10 hit with Evil Woman in 1975.

Sixth LP A New World Record (1976) was the first to feature the classic ELO logo and their first top 10 UK album. It spawned three great singles – Livin’ Thing (my favourite) peaked at four, and then in 1977, Rockaria! climbed to nine and Telephone Line reached eight. And later that year came the huge, multi-platinum Out of the Blue. First single Turn to Stone did respectably (18), but in 1978 Mr Blue Sky, Wild West Hero and Sweet Talkin’ Woman all reached six. The first and latter are obviously classic pop songs.

ELO were now massive, and so were their gigs at the time. Taking a leaf out of George Clinton’s book, Lynne and co performed in front of a spaceship, with elaborate lasers and smoke machines, on a huge world tour dubbed ‘The Big Night’, which was the highest-grossing tour ever at the time. They also performed a record-setting eight sold-out gigs at Wembley Arena.

ELO’s fame peaked in 1979 with the multi-platinum LP Discovery. Featuring a mix of ultra-glossy pop and rock with disco influences, this album contained four top 10 singles – Shine a Little Love (six), The Diary of Horace Wimp (eight), the highlight, Don’t Bring Me Down (three) and Confusion/Last Train to London (eight).

Whoever had the idea of Newton-John and ELO for the soundtrack to Xanadu, it was a great move. A side each for the lead actress, fresh from Grease, and one of the biggest bands of the late 70s. Throw in legends Richard and Kelly, plus a hip band in the Tubes, and it was bound to do well. And it was certainly way more successful than the film itself.

However, initially the signs weren’t promising in the UK. Newton-John’s Magic was released first and although it was a US number 1, it couldn’t manage better than 32 here when released in May. ELO’s I’m Alive came next and climbed to 20. It was time to bring out the big one.

Review

Xanadu was written by Lynne as an ELO song with Newton-John in his place as lead singer. It’s easy to see why people rushed out to make it number 1 for a fortnight in the summer of 1980. Especially as there had been two months of sad ballads in the top spot beforehand.

Although disco was fading in popularity and the ridiculous Disco Demolition Night had taken place the previous year, Xanadu was designed as a coke-fuelled floorfiller. It ticks lots of boxes, and I can remember playing my brother’s single as a boy and loving it. Which makes sense as it’s like a hit of pure sugar from a bag of sweets. And yet, if you strip away Lynne’s sheen, it sounds rather throwaway now. The soaring chorus is strong – with piano flourishes reminiscent of Dancing Queen – but the rest doesn’t leave much of a mark. It’s an argument you could make about a fair bit of ELO’s material. Of course, there’s classics in there like Mr Blue Sky and Livin’ Thing, but sometimes the production is hiding substandard material. I would bet on many buyers listening to Xanadu once or twice and then forgetting all about it. It doesn’t help that, as I keep banging on about here, that there are so many classic chart-toppers in 1980. Xanadu doesn’t stand the test of time as well as I’d expected it to.

The official video to Xanadu, is, I assume, taken from the film itself. It’s predictably flashy, with a predictably stunning Newton-John mining among roller-skaters and even body-poppers, in a sign of things to come. There’s no sign of ELO at all. The effects may be dated, and I’ve no idea what’s going on at the end when Newton-John turns blue and then ends proceedings in a Marilyn Monroe-style pose in white. But it’s all rather charming, thanks in large part to Newton-John.

After

Press screenings of Xanadu were cancelled, which raised suspicions that Universal weren’t confident. The suspicions proved true, and it sunk at the box office, despite critics applauding the soundtrack. A double feature of Xanadu and Can’t Stop the Music inspired the first ever Golden Raspberry Awards (or Razzies), highlighting the worst in cinema every year since. Greenwald won the initial Worst Director Award and his movie was nominated six more times.

One further track was lifted from the soundtrack. It’s love theme, Suddenly, was a Newton-John/Richard duet, and it reached 15. Refusing to let the failure of the film curtail her career, she followed the project with her most successful album, Physical, in 1981. The surprisingly risqué title track, hidden behind a memorable ‘keep fit’ video, was a Billboard number 1, but somehow only made it to seven on these shores. Newton-John also made a video version of this album, with a short film for every song. One song, Landslide, was her final UK hit for eight years, reaching 18 in 1982. A year later she starred with Travolta once more, but the romantic fantasy Two of a Kind was a flop. Nevertheless, as with Xanadu, the accompanying album did well.

Newton-John’s fortunes began to slide with the release of her 1985 LP Soul Kiss, and she went on hiatus after giving birth to daughter Chloe in 1986. She returned in 1988 with the album The Rumour, but although the title track was written and produced by Elton John, it failed to make an impact. The next album – her last to be produced by Farrar – was Warm and Tender, and it also got nowhere. It took the nostalgia of The Grease Megamix in 1990 to return her to the charts, peaking at three. In 1992, a planned comeback was waylaid when she discovered she had breast cancer on the same weekend her father died. Fortunately she recovered, and added cancer awareness to her impressive resume of charity and humanitarian work.

Gaia: One Woman’s Journey was released in 1994. Co-produced by Newton-John, this album chronicled her time with cancer. In 1995 she reunited with her showbiz pal Richard for his musical Heathcliff, and their duet Had to Be finished up at 22. In 1998, the Martian Remix of You’re the One That I Want did extremely well, becoming a number four hit.

Newton-John concentrated on releasing material in Australia from then on, but occasionally toured the UK. She married John Easterling in 2008, and continued to act, including two cameos in popular US musical comedy drama Glee. Occasionally she’d reunite with Travolta, including on the charity festive album This Christmas in 2012, or to celebrate the Grease phenomenon.

In 2017, Newton-John’s cancer returned and spread to her back. Despite significant pain, she was able to relieve her pain with cannabis oil. But on 8 August 2022 she died, aged 73. As a mark of respect, Melbourne and Sydney lit up some of their most famous landmarks.

Two more ELO tracks were released from the Xanadu soundtrack – All Over the World (one of Lynne’s best, which went to 11) and Don’t Walk Away (21). Next came their sci-fi concept LP Time in 1981, on which they replaced their trademark strings with synths. Its first single, Hold On Tight, was their last top 10 hit, peaking at four. The last Time release, The Way Life’s Meant to Be, could get no higher than a paltry 85.

Lynne wanted to release a double album in 1983, but CBS blocked the plan and he was forced to edit down Secret Messages to a single LP. This, combined with dwindling ticket sales and arguments with his manager Don Arden, took their toll. He decided to wrap up ELO. Rock ‘n’ Roll Is King sold respectably, reaching 13, but no further singles made the charts.

Bevan went to play for Black Sabbath, while Lynne concentrated on production, working with the Everly Brothers and ABBA’s Agnetha Fältskog. He also collaborated with Tandy on the soundtrack to Electric Dreams (1984). However, ELO were contractually obligated to complete one more album, so Lynne, Bevan and Tandy reunited to record Balance of Power, released in 1986. The first single it spawned, Calling America, was their final top 40 hit (28). ELO leader Lynne disbanded the group once more and produced George Harrison’s comeback album Cloud Nine in 1987, before the duo joined supergroup The Traveling Wilburys.

ELO returned to life in 2000 with the release of the box set Flashback featuring, among various out-takes, an inferior new remake of Xanadu. A year later a new album, Zoom, was released featuring only Lynne from the classic line-up – bar Tandy on one track. A new line-up followed, with Tandy returning to the fray, for a planned world tour, that never materialised.

Lynne and Tandy eventually returned under the name Jeff Lynne and Friends for Children in Need in 2013. They went down so well, the project expanded into Jeff Lynne’s ELO in 2014. A tour and a new album, Alone in the Universe, followed in 2015, but Tandy left a year later. ELO were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017. The last Jeff Lynne’s ELO album to date was From Out of Nowhere in 2019.

The Outro

Xanadu grew a cult following over the years, with a spin-off musical hitting Broadway in 2007.

The Info

Written & produced by

Jeff Lynne

Weeks at number 1

2 (12-25 July)

Trivia

Births

18 July: DJ Gareth Emery/TV news presenter Tasmin Lucia-Khan/Engineer Scott James Remnant
19 July: Liberty X singer Michelle Heaton

Deaths

14 July: Welsh poet Andiron Talon Davies
15 July: Scottish painter Dorothy Johnstone
18 July: Theatre director Robert Kidd
21 July: Physiologist Isabella Leitch
23 July: Poet Olivia Manning
24 July: Comic actor Peter Sellers (See ‘Meanwhile…’)

Meanwhile…

19 July-3 August: Great Britain and Northern Ireland win five gold, seven silver and 9 bronze medals at the controversial Olympic Games in Moscow.

22 July: Unemployment hits nearly 1.9 million – a 44-year high.

24 July: Shortly after dinner with his former Goon friends Harry Secombe and Spike Milligan, actor and comedian Peter Sellers dies of heart failure. He was 54.


348. ABBA (Bjorn, Benny, Anna & Frida) – Waterloo (1974)

/ robbarker1979 / 4 Comments

The Intro

I’m not giving you earth-shattering news when I point out that ABBA are one of the best-selling groups of all time. But here’s a few statistics to set the ball rolling. With nine UK number 1s between 1974 and 1980, they’ve had more than any other mixed-sex group in history. Seven of those number 1s occurred in the 70s, which is the most any single act had in that decade. They were the first group from a non-English-speaking country to have consistent success in English-speaking charts like the UK, US, Canada and Australia. Estimates suggest that their total sales are over 150 million. They’re easily the most successful group to have ever entered the Eurovision Song Contest, and ABBA Gold is one of the best-selling compilations of all time.

ABBA became cool again in the 90s, with their songs turned into the musical Mamma Mia! in 1999, before it was adapted into a hit film in 2008, spawning a sequel a decade later. In 2020 it was reported that they just might be making a comeback, though that could just be wishful thinking for a world turned on its heels that needs the pop bliss conjured up by Björn, Benny, Agnetha and Anni-Frid once more.

And yet despite all this – and I’m in agreement that Dancing Queen is one of the best number 1s of all time – a lot of ABBA’s output does little for me. I think a lot of it is down to the sheer overload during my 20s of ABBA covers and media coverage shoving them down the nation’s throats. Some truly awful acts were recording their songs, and they may have become guilty by association in my mind. Perhaps I will now grow to appreciate them more, as I work my way through their biggest hits?

Before

Before I look at the song that first made them stars, some background knowledge, as the story usually begins with ‘Swedish pop group ABBA entered Eurovision and became famous’.

Songwriter Benny Andersson, from Stockholm, joined his first band, The Hep Stars, aged 18, as their keyboardist. They were known as Sweden’s answer to The Beatles and often performed covers of international hits. Soon, Andersson was composing original material for them, and scored his first Swedish hit with No Response in 1965.

While touring, occasionally The Hep Stars would cross paths with folk-skiffle group The Hootenanny Singers, who featured Björn Ulvaeus as their songwriter and guitarist. In June 1966 the duo wrote their first song together, Isn’t It Easy to Say, which was recorded by The Hep Stars. The manager of The Hootenanny Singers (and later founder of Polar Music), Stig Anderson, encouraged them to write together more often. Andersson and Ulvaeus became friends and would occasionally join each other on stage in their respective bands, both of which were fracturing by 1969. Their first real hit together, written with Anderson, was Ljuva sextital (Sweet Sixties), recorded by Brita Borg that year.

Also in 1969, Andersson submitted Hej, Clown into Melodifestivalen 1969, the competition to decide Sweden’s Eurovision entry that year. He narrowly lost out, but he did meet a singer there called Anni-Frid Lyngstad, and within the month they had become a couple.

Lyngstad had become a jazz singer in 1967, winning national talent competition New Faces and appearing on television with the song En ledig dag (A Day Off). She signed with EMI Sweden and in early 1968 while appearing on TV she briefly met a singer named Agnetha Fältskog, who was performing her self-penned first single, Jag var så kär (I Was So in Love). A few months later Fältskog met Ulvaeus for the first time. In May 1969 they met again on a TV special and fell in love.

In 1970 Andersson and Ulvaeus recorded an album together called Lycka (Happiness). Both Lyngstad and Fältskog featured on the LP, with the latter co-writing a song. The two couples performed together for the first time while on holiday in Cyprus in an impromptu performance for soldiers stationed there. That November they presented a cabaret show, Festfolket (Party People) in Gothenburg, performing material by all four, but it was panned, and further collaborations were shelved, but not for long, as Hej, gamle man from Lycka, credited to Bjorn & Benny but featuring all four, became their first hit in Sweden.

Ulvaeus and Fältskog married in July 1971, and began performing live with Andersson regularly soon after. The collaborations became more frequent, and in 1972 the Swedish hit People Need Love was credited to Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid. Anderson had also encouraged them to make another attempt at entering Eurovision that year. They missed out again, but Säg det med en sång” (Say It with a Song), performed by Lena Anderson (another Anderson!), also did well in Sweden, and may have even done well in the US had it been on a bigger label.

In 1973, they tried for Eurovision again with Ring Ring, a direct, catchy pop song with interesting production techniques designed to emulate Phil Spector’s ‘Wall of Sound’, and English-translated lyrics by Neil Sedaka and Phil Cody. This was a good little pop song, but Eurovision still wasn’t ready for them. Despite that, it became the title track of their first album, credited to Björn Benny & Agnetha Frida. Anderson recognised this name was a bit unwieldy though, and began referring to them as ABBA, using the first letter of each member’s first name. It was also the name of a fish-canning company based in Gothenburg, and the band asked Abba for their blessing. They said it was fine as long as they didn’t do anything to make them feel shame for the association. I’m sure they were happy with the way things turned out.

In late 1973 the group was invited to take part in Melodifestivalen 1974, and set to work finding a song. They considered Hasta Mañana, sang by Fältskog, but decided to work on something that gave Fältskog and Lyngstad an equal chance to shine. Waterloo, originally titled Honey Pie, was inspired by the nostalgic rock’n’roll sound of Wizzard’s 1973 number 1 See My Baby Jive, and the lyrics came from Anderson.

Waterloo was a brave move for Eurovision, as at the time, the standard template was to use dramatic ballads, sung in the mother tongue of the country being represented. From 1973, the language rule was lifted, and Anderson and ABBA knew if they could garner a Eurovision win with an English language song, they could make it big beyond the competition.

Recording commenced on 17 December 1973, featuring regular ABBA session musicians Janne Schaffer on guitar (he wrote the guitar and bass parts), Rutger Gunnarsson on bass and Ola Brunkert on drums. Swedish and English versions were recorded, with German and French versions recorded in March and April 1974 respectively. The French version was adapted by Claude-Michel Schönberg, who later went on to co-write Les Misérables.

Review

I’ve a new-found appreciation of the fact Waterloo was something new for Eurovision, and I loved See My Baby Jive, so I should love the retro jive of Waterloo. The lyric is a clever conceit too – it’s a bold move to start a pop song in the mid-70s with ‘My my/At Waterloo Napoleon did surrender’ and to compare a historical moment with surrendering your love to someone. And I have always liked the way Andersson attacks the piano here. I just can’t love Waterloo, for some reason. I’d never listen to it by choice. One for the ‘admirable, but doesn’t connect with me’ pile.

But Waterloo connected like no Eurovision song ever had before with the public, or probably since. Credited to ABBA (Björn, Benny, Agnetha & Frida) in Sweden and ABBA (Björn, Benny, Anna & Frida) in the UK, it was released on 4 March, and on 6 April, they made history at The Dome in Brighton, rocking out in their glam rock-influenced outfits and huge platforms. The beautiful Faltskog particularly stood out – you could easily argue she may be the most beautiful woman to ever grace the pop world, without wishing to sound sexist. After winning the competition, ABBA partied all night in – of all places – the Napoleon suite of the Grand Brighton Hotel. Waterloo climbed the charts and a month later, they were number 1 in the UK. They also topped the charts all over Europe, and went top 10 in the US, but surprisingly didn’t hit number 1 in Sweden.

After

For a while however, it appeared ABBA could end up a one-hit wonder in the UK. Their second album, also named Waterloo, didn’t light up the charts, and a European tour led to cancelled dates due to poor ticket sales. Would ABBA become a footnote in 70s pop?

The Outro

Of course not. Waterloo was voted the best Eurovision song of all time at Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest in 2005.

The Info

Written by

Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus & Stig Anderson

Producers

Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus

Weeks at number 1

2 (4-17 May)

Trivia

Births

7 May: Singer Lynden David Hall

Deaths

9 May: Writer LTC Rolt

Meanwhile…

4 May: Liverpool win the FA Cup for the second time with a 3-0 victory over Newcastle in the final at Wembley, with two goals from Kevin Keegan and one from Steve Heighway.

6 May: The inauguration of full electric service on British Rail’s West Coast Main Line through to Glasgow.

17 May – The Loyalist paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force carries out the Dublin and Monaghan bombings in the Republic of Ireland. 34 people died in the bombings, which caused the single deadliest death toll in the Troubles

341. Slade – Merry Xmaƨ Everybody (1973)

/ robbarker1979 / 2 Comments

The Intro

‘IT’S CHRISTMAAAASSSSSSS!’. It’s not. It’s currently mid-August 2020 and we’re coming to the end of a blistering heatwave, which, if you know the story behind Slade’s final number 1, you’ll know is how the song was recorded. Little did they know it would become not only the most famous of their six number 1s, it would become perhaps pop’s greatest festive staple.

And yet, in summer 1973, the future of the band looked in doubt. While Skweeze Me, Pleeze Me was at number 1, drummer Don Powell was in a car crash that killed his girlfriend Angela Morris and left him in a coma for nearly a week. Luckily he successfully recovered, although he still suffers acute short-term memory loss and sensory problems.

Before

Back in 1967 when Slade were The ‘N Betweens, Noddy Holder had written a song called Buy Me a Rocking Chair, with the very psychedelic chorus ‘Buy me a rocking chair to watch the world go by/Buy me a looking glass, I’ll look you in the eye’. Despite liking the chorus, the verse needed work, so they scrapped it. Speaking to the Record Mirror in 1984, bassist Jim Lea recalled he was taking a shower in New York in 1973 when he came up with ‘Are you hanging up your stocking on the wall?’. Lea remembered Holder’s chorus and thought the two could fit together well, and producer and manager Chas Chandler had been nagging them to write a Christmas song. Holder thought the idea had legs, and penned the lyrics at his mother’s house in Walsall in one draft. They played the finished song to Chandler on acoustic guitars.

As hinted at earlier, Slade recorded Merry Xmaƨ Everybody in the middle of a September heatwave in New York while on tour there. Powell had returned to the fray at the Power Plant, where John Lennon had just finished recording his album Mind Games. Lea didn’t look back on the recording fondly, claiming the others weren’t as interested in him at rehearsing, though he did acknowledge Powell was still recovering and his memory was shot. Lea put in the most work, laying down the bass, piano and harmonium (the latter on loan from Lennon). They weren’t happy with the first completed mix as they wanted a bigger sound for the chorus, so they re-recorded it down a corridor, getting baffled looks from passers-by (Slade were virtually unknown in the US). After five days, the song was complete.

With several months to go until they could release their hopeful festive number 1, Slade released a compilation, Sladest, and new single MY FRIEИD STAИ (which looks slightly satanic). For the first time since Christmas 1972, they didn’t get to number 1. It was a departure from the usual Slade formula, but they had to change tack at some point, and it’s a nice little song. So, were they going to miss out on the Christmas top spot for the second year in a row?

Of course not. Merry Xmaƨ Everybody became the first Christmas-themed Christmas number 1 since Harry Belafonte’s Mary’s Boy Child in 1957, and couldn’t have come at a better time. As everyone knows, the UK was going through a particularly grim time in late-1973. You’ve only got to look down at the ‘Meanwhile…’ section to see the Three-Day Week was about to begin, and the first post-war recession had started. Plus there was the OPEC oil crisis, and the IRA could strike at any moment. Glam acts like Slade and Wizzard were sorely needed to keep spirits up, and they did the job then and still do close to 50 years later. ‘Look to the future now, it’s only just begun’. How we could do with some of that optimism in winter 2020.

Review

One of the most important factors that explains the magic of Merry Xmaƨ Everybody is its inclusivity. It’s less rocking and more poppy than previous material. It’s aimed at all the family, with mentions of Granny ‘up and rock and rolling with the rest’. ‘ In 1971 Lennon asked ‘So this is Christmas, and what have you done’, in 1973 Slade said ‘everybody’s having fun’. There’s a nod (pardon the pun) to Christmas songs of old with the reference to ‘momma kissing Santa Claus’.

In 2017 I listened to every Christmas number 1 in one sitting and wrote about it here, and came to the conclusion Merry Xmaƨ Everybody is the best festive chart-topper of all time. I pointed out the production is lacking all the trimmings such as sleigh bells etc, and I think that’s another reason it’s stood the test of time so well. It doesn’t need them, as Holder’s ‘IIIIIITTTTT’S CHRIIIISSSTTTMMMMMASSSS!’ at the song’s conclusion gets the childhood joy of Christmas Day across like nobody has before or since.

After

Slade won the chart battle with Wizzard, who actually only reached number four in Christmas week, but nevertheless the sense of competition between the two glam rock outfits helped to create the battle for christmas number 1 that the media have latched on to ever since. The singles chart for Christmas week was now an event, and that’s thanks to Slade. Which is entirely appropriate, when you consider how glam’s low-budget sense of fun, bordering on the tacky, is Christmassy like no other genre.

Slade’s biggest seller was also a great way for the band to finish their run of number 1s. Six within just over two years is pretty impressive and puts them up there with some of the biggest acts of all time. Their fall was slow and steady, but there were also unexpected twists and turns.

1974 began with the release of the LP Old New Borrowed and Blue, which showcased a more piano-led sound and even a ballad as a single, Everyday, which went to number three. Much of the year was spent filming their film Slade In Flame, a surprisingly gritty drama about the rise and fall of a fictional group called Flame, played by the members of Slade. It was released in November, and although it was critically acclaimed (it has gained somewhat of a cult following in recent years), and the first single from the soundtrack Far Far Away reached number two, the theme song How Does It Feel only made it to number 15. Thanks for the Memory (Wham Bam Thank You Mam), in 1975, was their last top 10 hit of the 70s.

Understandably feeling they had peaked in the UK, in 1975 Slade decided to move to the US and try and hit the big time there. They toured with rock acts like Aerosmith and ZZ Top, and released an eclectic album. Nobody’s Fool, but not only did they fail to make much of an impact, their UK fans accused them of selling out.

By the time they returned to the UK in 1977, punk and the subsequent new wave rendered Slade very unfashionable. Their contract with major label Polydor had ran out and instead they signed with Chandler’s Barn Records. They performed single Gypsy Roadhog on Blue Peter and found themselves banned by the BBC due to its drug references, but the notoriety couldn’t help them up the charts. The next album, Whatever Happened to Slade, was an all too appropriate name.

As the band slid into irrelevance they would release singles based on football chants (1978’s Give Us a Goal) and covers of cheesy party classics (Okey Cokey in 1979) and some material failed to even reach the top 200. Disagreements between Lea and Chandler resulted in the former and Holder producing their back to basics album Return to Base in 1979. It was another failure, and the band briefly went their separate ways. Lea formed a new group, The Dummies, with his brother Frank, poor Dave Hill resorted to driving couples to their weddings in his own Rolls-Royce to make money (it didn’t work), and Holder was briefly considered as AC/DC’s new singer following the death of Bon Scott, but he still thought Slade may have a future and reportedly turned the Australian rockers down.

In 1980, Slade had some luck at last when Ozzy Osbourne cancelled his headlining appearance at Reading Festival late in the day. Organisers rushed around looking for a last-minute replacement, and asked Slade. All but Hill were keen, but the only way he could be persuaded was when Chandler visited him at home and pointed out it could be their big farewell gig. To Hill’s surprise, they went down a storm. The split was forgotten about, and they acted fast to keep the momentum going. Showcasing a sound more in keeping with heavy metal, therefore pleasing the Reading Festival crowd, 1981’s We’ll Bring the House Down (title track to their next album) became their first top 10 hit in six years, and they returned to larger venues after years of touring small clubs and universities.

Slade and Chandler finally parted ways and they signed with RCA Records, who released their heaviest material yet, Till Deaf Us Do Part. That Christmas saw the first of many re-releases of Merry Xmaƨ Everybody, which reached 32. RCA began to demand hits from the band, and set them to work with producer John Punter. The resulting album, The Amazing Kamikaze Syndrome, was released in December 1983, and featured two decent tracks. Power ballad My Oh My very nearly gave them their second festive chart-topper, but was held at bay by The Flying Pickets’ version of Only You. It was followed by Run Runaway, a fair stab at a Celtic-flavoured, Big Country-style sound.

Unfortunately, Holder wasn’t keen on Punter, and troubles in his private life resulted in a cancelled tour. They tried again for another Christmas single, All Join Hands (an inferior retread of My Oh My), but it couldn’t crack the top 10. And the final decline began, with a mainly synth-led album in 1985, Rogues Gallery, followed by a cheap Christmas cash-in LP, Crackers – The Christmas Party Album, along with the umpteenth release of their final number 1. It would take more than returning to deliberately mis-spelling their material to return Slade to form, and You Boyz Make Big Noize, released in 1987, was their final album. They did (sort-of) return to number 1 with Wizzard and lots of other festive hits, courtesy of Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers’ sampling them on Let’s Party in 1989.

In 1991 the Slade fan club organised a 25th anniversary show, and it was the last time they played live. Radio Wall of Sound, recorded for a compilation, was their final chart hit. In March 1992, Holder finally called it a day, and Lea, his much underrated songwriting partner, couldn’t see a future for Slade without their singer. He retired too, leaving Hill and Powell to form Slade II.

Slade II have continued since with various other members, and made the news in 2003 when convicted serial killer Rosemary West announced her engagement to bassist Dave Glover. Glover claimed this was a misunderstanding and he had only written to her about her case, but Hill of course sacked him. In February 2020 Powell claimed he had been sacked by Hill via a rather cold email, which Hill denied. He was all set to start Don Powell’s Slade but suffered a stroke, and with live music practically comatose post-lockdown, it remains to be seen if we end up with two separate Slades on the road.

Lea has largely remained out of the public eye, other than making solo album Therapy in 2007, and revealing he had been treated for prostate cancer.

Holder became a national treasure following Slade’s demise, taking up acting and making a decent job of it in ITV comedy drama The Grimleys. He has presented radio shows, documentaries, and made numerous cameos on TV. He reportedly loved Vic Reeves’ portrayal of him in the Slade at Home sketches on The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer in the early-90s, but Hill wasn’t so fond of Bob Mortimer’s portrayal of him as a disapproving mother figure.

All four members of Slade attended Chandler’s funeral in 1996, and in 2010 had a group meeting to consider a farewell tour, but nothing came of it. It’s unlikely they will ever play together.

The Outro

Slade deserve more credit. Yes, this final number 1 is the best Christmas chart-topper of all time, but before then they released some excellent singles too. Holder had one of the best rock voices of all time, and together with Lea, they wrote several classics. The flamboyant Hill was mainly responsible for their showmanship, and Powell fought back from a near-death experience and continued to belt out the beat. They may have lacked in innovation, but like all the best glam acts, they sparkled and rocked the nation during stormy years.

1973 was by and large very similar to 1972 for number 1s, but better. There was still some old-fashioned pop doing very well, and Donny Osmond and David Cassidy catering for the teens, but there were also glam classics that have stood the test of time.

The Info

Written by

Noddy Holder & Jim Lea

Producer

Chas Chandler

Weeks at number 1

5 (15 December 1973-18 January 1974)

Trivia

Births

18 December 1973: Historian Lucy Worsley
24 December: Comedian Paul Foot/Chef Matt Tebbutt
12 January 1974: Spice Girl Melanie C
15 January: Radio DJ Edith Bowman
16 January: Model Kate Moss

Deaths

12 January 1974: Princess Patricia of Connaught

Meanwhile…

19 December: The 17.18 Paddington to Oxford express train was derailed between Ealing Broadway and West Ealing. 10 died and 94 were injured.

31 December 1973: As a result of coal shortages caused by industrial action by the miners, Prime Minister Edward Heath’s energy-saving measures, the Three-Day Work Order, came into effect at midnight, making for the darkest New Year celebrations for decades. Commercial consumption of electricity would be limited to three consecutive days, TV broadcasts would end at 10.30pm on alternate nights for BBC and ITV, and most pubs were closed.

1 January 1974: But it wasn’t all bad news, as New Year’s Day was celebrated as a public holiday for the first time.
Also that day, the Northern Ireland Power-sharing Executive is set up in Belfast.

337. Wizzard (Vocal Backing – The Suedettes and The Bleach Boys) – Angel Fingers (A Teen Ballad) (1973)

/ robbarker1979

The Intro

Glam rock’s debt to rock’n’roll continued apace in the autumn of 1973, as Wizzard enjoyed their second number 1 within months with Roy Wood’s lesser-known paen to his 50s youth with Angel Fingers (A Teen Ballad).

Before

I mentioned in my blog for See My Baby Jive that Wizzard’s debut album, Wizzard Brew, wasn’t anything like their singles. Released just before that single, it wasn’t very much like anything before or since. A lo-fi kaleidoscopic trawl through psychedelia, blues, rock, brass, metal, it’s a much underrated piece of work and I urge you to find it.

Inbetween Wizzard’s two number 1s, Wood also released solo album Boulders. Recorded between 1969-71, he wrote every song, played every instrument and drew the artwork. This is also considered a lost classic.

Although all Wizzard’s singles harked back to the 50s, Angel Fingers (A Teen Ballad) is Wood’s most overt tribute. The clue, not that you need one here, is in the bracketed part of the title. The lyrics are full of romantic 50s teen imagery, including Wood driving a motorbike to a cafe, a Dion poster on his girlfriends’s wall, a record playing… It’s as if Bruce Springsteen grew up in Birmingham in the 50s.

Review

Angel Fingers (A Teen Ballad) may not be as instant as See My Baby Jive or I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday, but it’s a lovely track with a real yearning quality, as Wood strives to capture the feeling of young love, rock’n’roll and those magical teenage years. It’s also slightly less cluttered, which gives the poignancy more of a chance to shine through. Spector would be impressed. Or would have threatened to shoot him, depending on how much cocaine he had in his system.

After

And then came I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday. One of the best festive songs of all time, Wood took See My Baby Jive and added extra tinsel, in yet another tribute to Spector’s Wall of Sound. Unfortunately for Wood, it was up against one of the other greatest yuletide anthems, and Wizzard lost out to Slade. Incredibly, it wasn’t even number two in the top 10 that Christmas, lagging behind Gary Glitter and The New Seekers. This is very, very wrong.

It’s worth noting that nobody hears the 1973 version of I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday anymore. It doesn’t exist. In 1981, EMI contacted Wood to say they wanted to give the single another crack at the Christmas charts, but they couldn’t find the master tapes. They were never found, and Wood had to re-record the song in a week with Muff Murfin producing. Murfin recalled Wood painstakingly recreated the original, and played every single instrument. The original choristers, from Stockland Green Bilateral School in Birmingham, were replaced by pupils at Kempsey Primary School. So the only way to hear the original is if you have a copy of the original 1973 vinyl. And if the versions on YouTube that are 1973 versions are real, there is no discernible difference. Which makes Wood’s remake an amazing feat, really.

1973 was intense for Wood, and it took its toll the following year. Several live dates were cancelled and the single Rock’n’Roll Winter (Looney’s Tune) was delayed until the spring. Second album Introducing Eddy and the Falcons was another tribute to the 50s, a concept album about a fictional band, inspired, no doubt by The Beatles. It was supposed to be a double LP, with the second half an experimental jazz-rock collection, but this material didn’t see the light of day until 2000’s Main Street.

The early momentum of Wizzard soon dissipated. Wood struggled to afford such a large line-up and ran up huge studio costs. Bassist Rick Price once recalled a rumour that the group spent more time recording their last number 1 than Paul McCartney & Wings spent on the whole of the Band On the Run album. Cellist Hugh McDowell departed in 1973 to return to the Electric Light Orchestra, and keyboardist Bill Hunt left a year later. In 1975, Wood split Wizzard up. Farewell single Rattlesnake Roll failed to chart.

Saxophonist Mike Burney went on to work with The Syd Lawrence Orchestra and The Old Horns Band, which was a joint venture with other former Wizzard members. He was also a session player for a wide variety of stars including Chaka Khan, The Beach Boys and Cliff Richard. Burney died in 2014. After ELO, McDowell joined new wave group Radio Stars and featured on albums by Saint Etienne and Asia. He died in 2018.

Price joined Wood in his short-lived project Wizzo Band after Wizzard, a jazz-rock project that was ill-received critically and commercially, with only one album, Super Active Wizzo in 1977. They split the following year. He married Diane Lee of Peters and Lee in the 90s, and they tour performing hits and new material. He’s also a member of The Rockin’ Berries.

Wood released a second solo LP, Mustard, in 1975, which featured Phil Everly. It wasn’t as successful as his first however, and his third, On the Road Again, didn’t even get a UK release in 1979. After The Wizzo Band’s demise he largely disappeared from the public eye. He led Roy Wood’s Helicopters between 1980 and 1982, and the following year recorded with Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy and Chas Hodges as The Rockers. 1986 saw him record the ABBA song Waterloo with Doctor and the Medics. In 1987 came another solo album, Starting Up, and then another group, Roy Wood’s Army. Two years later he recorded with his former ELO bandmate Jeff Lynne, but the songs never saw the light of day.

Like Slade, Wood will always be associated with Christmas, and it helps that he looks rather like Santa Claus. There was a remake of I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday in 1995, credited to Roy Wood’s Big Band. Weirdly, he and Mike Batt’s The Wombles teamed up in 2000 for an ill-advised mash-up called I Wish It Could Be A Wombling Merry Christmas Everyday. It was awful. Seven years later, thanks to his appearance in an Argos Christmas advert, it reached number 16. In 2010, Wood featured in a cameo on the Christmas special of ITV comedy drama Benidorm.

Wood’s most recent troupe of musicians call themselves The Roy Wood Rock & Roll Band. In 2018 they made the news when their touring equipment was stolen in a ram-raid on a warehouse in Leeds, but it was later recovered. Sadly, it transpired that he was a hardcore Brexiter. So much so, he joined The Brexit Party in 2019. Ah well, everyone has their flaws, even a musical genius.

The Outro

It’s a shame Wood is only remembered for one song, even if it is a bona fide classic. From his days in The Move, to forming ELO, to Wizzard, Wood was an eccentric musical magpie in the 60s and 70s, able to turn his hand to most forms of music, but always with an eye for a winning pop tune. Perhaps his unassuming nature and inherent shyness are further reasons he is underappreciated. He’s not bothered about reminding the world about his number 1s Blackberry Way, See My Baby Jive and Angel Fingers (A Teen Ballad) and his other classics like 10538 Overture, he’s content to show up from time to time at Christmas and then he’s gone again. I imagine it will sadly take his death before his resume is reappraised, but until then, the UK remains grateful at least that Wizzard kept the UK smiling during The Troubles and the Three-Day Week.

The Info

Written & produced by

Roy Wood

Weeks at number 1

1 (22-28 September)

Trivia

Deaths

24 September: Peeress Barbara Freyberg, Baroness Freyberg
25 September: Labour Party MP George Porter

330. Wizzard (Vocal backing: The Suedettes) – See My Baby Jive (1973)

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The Intro

Lighting up the charts in 1973, Wizzard became one of the biggest bands in glam rock. Literally, too, as there were eight full-time members, creating an all-mighty cacophony of tributes to Phil Spector’s ‘Wall of Sound’. They were also visually striking, an explosion of colour, filling the stage with outlandish outfits and make-up. This was all down to their unassuming genius leader, Roy Wood.

Before

Wood, born 8 November 1946 in Kitts Green, Birmingham, was no stranger to pop stardom, having already been at number 1 in 1969 with Blackberry Way in The Move. Their story was covered in greater depth in my review of said song, but prior to that hit, Wood had first learned guitar as a teen, and was a member of various bands in and around Birmingham, the first being The Falcons. He later joined Gerry Levene & the Avengers, who recorded a single before splitting in 1964, then joined Mike Sheridan and the Nightriders, later to become The Idle Race. Around this time he as expelled from Moseley Art College.

By 1967 The Move were a constant presence on the singles chart thanks to Wood’s ability to write catchy pop-rock songs with a psychedelic edge. By the end of the decade he was also their lead singer following Carl Wayne’s departure.

Wood was also one of the founders of the Electric Light Orchestra. He came up with the project with the desire to combine classical instruments with a rock sound, picking up where The Beatles had left off. After initially declining, Jeff Lynne of The Idle Race joined The Move on the condition they focused more on ELO. Originally intended to be a B-side for The Move, the epic, excellent 10538 Overture became ELO’s first single (more on that here).

The Move were supposed to end in 1970, but contractual obligations meant both groups existed until 1972, which proved a pivotal year for all concerned. That March saw the release of The Electric Light Orchestra, which would be the only ELO album to feature Wood, who departed that July. Wood decided to start a new project, where he could take his ELO experimentation up a notch and see just how many instruments it was possible to add to pop songs.

In addition to being singer in Wizzard, Wood played guitars, saxophone, woodwinds, strings, keyboards and percussion. Also on board were Mike Burney (saxophone, clarinet, flute), Charlie Grima (drums, percussion, vocals), ELO members Bill Hunt (keyboards, French horn) and Hugh McDowell (cello, synthesisers), Rick Price (bass), formerly of The Move, and Keith Smart (drums). Quite a set-up.

Making public Wood’s intention to pay tribute to the rock’n’roll of his youth, Wizzard made their debut at The London Rock and Roll Show at Wembley Stadium only a month after leaving ELO. They set to work on their first recordings, and debut single Ball Park Incident reached number six in January 1973.

Review

In his excellent book Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Story of Modern Pop, Bob Stanley noted that ‘Roy Wood loved pop. He was a superfan. He wanted to be all of pop, all at the same time.’ This is certainly apparent on See My Baby Jive, a joyous audio romp in which a million things are happening all at once. So much so, this song understandably has its critics, who say it’s just too much for their ears to cope with. Not me, I love it, and am fascinated by Wood’s production technique. I thought the reason Wizzard’s singles were so muddy and harsh was down to primitive technology of the time, but apparently he insisted on adding a ring modulator to mess up the quality deliberately. Despite the fact there’s so much going on, and it’s over five minutes long, the tune is so effervescent it seems to be over in a flash.

After

Wood was of course made for life when he made I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday, and I’ve always found See My Baby Jive to be the Christmas song you can enjoy all year round. Try hearing Wood singing ‘Well every one you meet coming down the street/Just to see my baby jive’ and not hear ‘So let the bells ring out for Christmas’. So on that limited knowledge of Wizzard I wondered if this particular project was a one-trick pony. Then I heard their debut LP, Wizzard Brew.

The Outro

All glam rock is indebted to rock’n’roll to some degree, and became more so as the years went by, but See My Baby Jive is a full-on tribute to the ecstasy of the dancehalls of the 50s, and was also a big influence on ABBA’s first number 1, Waterloo. But you could argue that Wizzard weren’t glam rock at all. If you listen to Wizzard Brew, you get what Stanley meant, and that Wood should be considered one of our greats, not just as a man who got lucky with a Christmas song. More on that when we get to Angel Fingers (A Teen Ballad).

The Info

Written & produced by

Roy Wood

Weeks at number 1

4 (19 May-15 June)

Trivia

Births

21 May: Comedian Noel Fielding
24 May: Presenter Dermot O’Leary
30 May: Comedian Leigh Francis
9 June: Comedian Iain Lee

Deaths

21 May: Painter Montague Dawson
6 June: Comedian Jimmy Clitheroe

Meanwhile…

20 May: The Royal Navy sent three frigates to protect British fishing vessels from Icelandic ships during the Cod War dispute.

23 May: The Matrimonial Causes Act changed the law of divorce in England and Wales.

29 May: The Princess Royal announced her engagement to Captain Mark Phillips.