Into May and the Now Yearbook return to the past gets back to those pages we favour on vinyl going back to a year that has some parallels, extreme economic and social disruption plus a general election (if you were around you might recall we had two) and while the grown ups were getting worried about the "State of the Nation" we were playing, reading our comics, playing our records and enjoying Vision On.
Getting back to this, we have a record with some 48 tracks, all but one a substantial hit almost the equivalent of four of those cheesy cover girl Top Of The Pops albums that had remakes of all the hits, pressed on three lumps of green vinyl but sadly lacking the informative booklet of the cd version
Record One opens with ‘Killer Queen’ that was first Top 5 single for Queen, and followed by the classic ‘Jet’ by Paul McCartney & Wings the second second from his latest album, and the still breathtakingly original, and hugely influential ‘This Town Ain’t Big Enough For Both Of Us’ from Sparks. This is followed up by run of ‘glam rock" from Sweet and Roxy Music, and including #1s from Suzi Quatro, and the years’ biggest seller ‘Tiger Feet’ from Mud, before closing with Slade’s ‘Far Far Away’.
Flipping over to side two we start with Elton John with ‘Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me’, before some of the years biggest Rock hits, including ‘You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet’, ‘Radar Love’, ‘Dance With The Devil’ and the Faces ‘Pool Hall Richard’ before concluding with ‘Mike Oldfield’s Single’ – the ‘theme’ from his iconic album ‘Tubular Bells’.
Record Two's first side is packed with huge hits including 6 #1’s - with chart-toppers from David Essex, The Rubettes, Alvin Stardust and Paper Lace, plus a huge hit from Pilot the Scottish group that promised much and the first Top 3 single for the Bay City Rollers with ‘Shang-A-Lang’.
To my delight 1974’s biggest selling singles act were The Wombles, and their debut ‘The Wombling Song’ is up next along with the #1 global smash ‘Kung Fu Fighting’ from Carl Douglas inspired by the cult films and sport, before ending with the Reggae-Pop #1 ‘Everything I Own’ from Ken Boothe.
1974 was a landmark year for Soul music, and it included the first global ‘Disco’ smashes and fittingly this is given a side to itself kicking off with with Barry White’s #1 ‘You’re The First, The Last, My Everything’ before a run of iconic floor-fillers from The Hues Corporation, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, and a further #1 ‘Rock Your Baby’ from George McCrae.
We conclude this side with four of the greatest Soul ballads of all-time from The Isley Brothers, Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross & Marvin Gaye and ‘You Make Me Feel Brand New’ from The Stylistics.
Record Three kicks off with the title track from the year’s biggest selling album, ‘Band On The Run’ from Paul McCartney & Wings – followed by the iconic ‘Candle In The Wind’ from Elton John, ‘I Honestly Love You’ by Olivia Newton-John which was her first US #1, and the amazing ‘The Air That I Breathe’ from The Hollies, before a run of four songs: John Denver’s ‘Annie’s Song’, ‘She’ from Charles Aznavour’, ‘The Three Degrees with ‘When Will I See You Again’ and ‘Sad Sweet Dreamer’ from Sweet Sensation – all of which hit #1 in 1974.
The final side of Record Three is an eclectic line-up of pure Pop heaven led by the number ones ‘Seasons In The Sun’ from Terry Jacks and ‘You Won’t Find Another Fool Like Me’ from The New Seekers that charted in December of 1973, and including Stephanie De Sykes, 10cc, and Lulu with ‘The Man Who Sold The World’, featuring David Bowie on backing vocals, before a second appearance from Sparks with ‘Amateur Hour’, plus Cockney Rebel’s ‘Mr Soft’, and Leo Sayer closing out this collection with his debut hit ‘The Show Must Go On’.
As you can see this is a very comprehensive selection of hits, many of which I certainly recall gathered up from the original recordings in the media we were brought up on.
Recommended.
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