Frank's little girl must have had ten-league boots made for jumping straight from a climber to the Fab Forty, at #22 |
Last |
This |
Presented by Mike Lennox |
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Week |
Week |
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4 |
1 |
I Put A Spell On You | Alan Price Set |
3 |
2 |
That's Nice | Neil Christian |
5 |
3 |
You Don't Have To Say You Love Me | Dusty Springfield |
6 |
4 |
The Pied Piper | Crispian St Peters |
7 |
5 |
Alfie | Cilla Black |
2 |
6 |
Substitute | Who |
9 |
7 |
Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) | Cher |
11 |
8 |
Daydream | Lovin' Spoonful |
1 |
9 |
Somebody Help Me | Spencer Davis Group |
13 |
10 |
(You're My) Soul And Inspiration | Righteous Brothers |
24 |
11 |
Pretty Flamingo | Manfred Mann |
18 |
12 |
Frankie And Johnny | Elvis Presley |
27 |
13 |
Little Latin Lupe Lu | Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels |
10 |
14 |
Homeward Bound | Simon & Garfunkel |
26 |
15 |
Let's Run For Cover | Zoot Money's Big Roll Band |
15 |
16 |
Twinkle Toes | Roy Orbison |
33 |
17 |
Walkin' My Cat Named Dog | Norma Tanega |
34 |
18 |
A Sign Of The Times | Petula Clark |
|
19 |
Sloop John B | Beach Boys |
38 |
20 |
Splendor In The Grass | Gullivers People |
36 |
21 |
Secret Agent Man | Johnny Rivers |
|
22 |
How Does That Grab You Darlin' | Nancy Sinatra |
8 |
23 |
A Legal Matter | Who |
12 |
24 |
Super Girl | Graham Bonney |
35 |
25 |
How Can I Tell Her | Foresters |
32 |
26 |
I Feel A Cry Coming On | Hank Locklin |
|
27 |
She Can Build A Mountain | Paul Dean & the Soul Savages |
|
28 |
Come On Home | Wayne Fontana |
23 |
29 |
Elusive Butterfly | Bob Lind |
|
30 |
Cheat And Lie | Miki Dallon |
39 |
31 |
Baby Don't Push Me | Alan Bown Set |
19 |
32 |
The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore | Walker Brothers |
|
33 |
I'm Comin' Home, Cindy | Trini Lopez |
|
34 |
Together Again | Ray Charles |
|
35 |
One Track Mind | Knickerbockers |
|
36 |
You'd Better Make Up Your Mind | Koobas |
|
37 |
Once | Geneveve |
|
38 |
Take It Or Leave It | Searchers |
25 |
39 |
Run For Your Life | Harbour Lites |
|
40 |
I Take It That We're Through | Riot Squad |
|
28 |
Come On Home | Wayne Fontana | Fontana TF684 |
Wayne Fontana's new entry was written by Jackie Edwards. He named Come On Home as his favourite of all the songs he recorded. No doubt he was delighted when it took him into the Fab Forty Top Ten.
Having two months ago been obliged to share their first Fab Forty entry Take Me For a Little While, with soloist Stevie Lewis, Liverpool's Koobas – Keith Ellis (bass) Stu Leatherwood (gtr/vocals), Roy Morris (gtr/vocals) and drummer Tony O'Riley are back at #36 with their second release You'd Better Make Up Your Mind. The band members' names vary in spelling depending on the source. In the April 9th edition of Record Mirror (below left) birthday boy Stu's name is spelt Leathwood.
The lads apparently had a thing about sporting matching over-the-top trousers - described in the item above left, as 'Kooba-trews'. (Click on the picture to read an enlarged version of the text) Other unforgettable band fashions beside the chequered creations, included the floral pants above, right, which would undoubtedly have stopped the bus. |
The Koobas were in the line-up for Radio England's Swinging 66 tour (see their page from the tour programme, left) alongside fellow current FF artists Crispian St Peters, Neil Christian and Wayne Fontana. Commencing in August 66, it played Lewisham Odeon (12th), Finsbury Park Astoria (13th), Birmingham Odeon (15th), Sheffield Gaumont (16th), Leeds Odeon (17th), Glasgow Odeon (18th), Newcastle Odeon (19th), Liverpool Odeon (20th), Manchester Odeon (22nd), Cardiff Capitol (23rd), Exeter Odeon (24th) and Southampton Odeon (25th). Neil Christian and Wayne Fontana appeared only in the London shows - Dave Berry took their place for the rest of the tour – with the Small Faces topping the bill. Shows were hosted by SRE Boss Jocks, Roger Day, Larry Dean, Ron O'Quinn and Jerry Smithwick. The proclaimed 'tour of the year' unfortunately fared very badly, mainly because many of the venues booked were well outside the Radio England reception area. The potential audience was not only unfamiliar with the station, which bhad launched on May 3rd, but it had not heard any promotions for the concerts, resulting in poor attendance. In an attempt to recoup some of their losses, station management resorted to selling autographed copies of the programmes. You'd Better Make Up Your Mind appears to have been ignored by both the City Sixty and the Caroline Countdown of Sound. The Pirate Radio Hall Of Fame has a clip of Jerry Smithwick introducing a promo for the tour.
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DJ Climbers: | ||
The World You Left Behind | Larry Cunningham | Dave Cash |
Lies A Million | Roving Kind | Dave Dennis |
I Could Make You Fall In Love | Rockin' Berries | John Edward |
Sippin' 'N' Chippin' | U.S. T-Bones | Duncan Johnson |
Ain't That A Groove | James Brown & the Famous Flames | Paul Kaye |
I Love Her | Paul & Barry Ryan | Mike Lennox |
That's A Magic Moment | John Summers | Earl Richmond |
Never Leave Your Baby's Side | Tony Jackson | Mark Roman |
Love Ya Illya | Angela & the Fans | Ed Stewart |
Come Summertime | Gibsons | Tony Windsor |
Until April 2021, we cited 'Ain't That A Groove' by James Brown as TW's climber. This is as per Brian Long's Curzon Street list in The London Sound. However, we now have two sources, Roy Taylor (from his 1966 notes) and Kees Brinkerink (from an archive recording), both citing 'Come Summertime' by the Gibsons as TW's pick. Roy lists the James Brown track as Paul Kaye's climber instead. Knowing that the Curzon Street lists often differed from what was actually broadcast and knowing that The Gibsons, like TW, were Australian, we felt that 'Come Summertime' was a more plausible choice of climber for him.
The Gibsons started out in 1960 as The HI Fi's, before evolving into The Cicadas. When the band came to England, their manager was Phil Soloman, a co-director of Radio Caroline, who renamed them The Gibsons. 'Come Summertime' is a Tom Springfield composition.
Climbers: | |
Then So Do I | Johnny Carr |
Come See Me | Pretty Things |
Love Is Like An Itching In My Heart | Supremes |
May My Heart Be Cast Into Stone | Toys |
I Know You Don't Love Me No More | Felder's Orioles |
I Can't Get Through | Bill Oddie |
You've Got To Learn | Diane Ferraz & Nicky Scott |
Behind The Door | St Louis Union |
Shotgun Wedding | Roy C |
What's Been Done | Wimple Winch |
Disc of the Week: | |
Love Around The World | David Ballantyne |
Album of the Week: | |
Aftermath | Rolling Stones |
Advert courtesy of Brian Long |
Wimple Winch's singles are extremely collectable, with mint copies
of What's Been Done valued at over
£160. (Click on the picture for an Amazon link to more information
about the Record Collector Rare Record Price Guide.) The band's story is a classic one of a combination of sheer bad luck
and unfortunate timing conspiring to keep a talented and popular outfit
from fame and fortune. One of the original Merseybeat groups, Four
Just Men relocated to Manchester, experienced numerous personnel
changes and suffered an enforced name-switch to Just
Four Men before evolving into Wimple Winch. Demetrius (Dee) Christopholus,
John Kelman, Larry Arendes, aka King, and Keith
Shepherd released three Fontana singles under that name.
None of them were National chart successes, but none is currently valued
at less than £200. For the full story of the band, see the Manchesterbeat website which says that Wimple Winch is reputedly an old English name for a ditch. Larry King died in March 2017, but his personal website Pacific Drift containing clips and interviews, is still available.
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This week aboard the Galaxy Weds, April 20th Saturday, April 23rd After a merger of two publications, Disc and Weekly Echo, the first edition of Disc and Music Echo appeared on news stands on April 23rd, with Ray Coleman at the helm. The paper promised, 'More news, better pictures, more features and a Top 50 chart' and one of the new features was the Radio London column, Big L Show, the first one written by Paul Kaye. (With thanks to Tom Blomberg for his input.) |
The information coloured PURPLE was kindly provided by Roy Taylor.
Kees Brinkerink identified Mike Lennox as this week's presenter
The Caroline 'Countdown Sixty' chart (south ship) for this week is here
This week's Radio City 'City Sixty' on the Pirate Radio Hall of Fame is here
Tune in next week for
another Big L Fab 40!