Longtime readers of the site would, well, no, there are no long term readers any more are there? I’ve bee sporadically active and the landscape has changed. RSS is out of favour, content is pushed to one site and replicated to the other five or six. Maybe you’ll see me dancing my way through this on tikety-tok in future.
So now I’m going to back to amusing myself, as if I didn’t do this in the first place. I’ve found a motherlode of old music press and charts at World Radio History, so let’s have a look at the charts in Record Mirror dated for the week of September 25th, 1971. I was born that week, have always been kind of curious about the music that was around at the time as no amount of film stock and bands on the roof would really adequately describe what was out.
I’ll skip over the content for the early parts of the paper, that’s an exercise left to the reader if they so desire. BTW, the versions linked above are OCRed, but due to the layout of the paper that’s not exactly useful for most of the content. I just want to take a look at the charts this time around and with a bit of manipulation they’re below in text form descending. I’ve added youtube links to a couple of tracks I wasn’t previously too aware of.
| 50 | Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds | ANNABELLA |
| 49 | Nite-Liters | K-JEE |
| 48 | Lighthouse | ONE FINE MORNING |
| 47 | Stylistics | STOP, LOOK LISTEN (To Your Heart) |
| 46 | Raiders | BIRDS OF A FEATHER |
| 45 | Poppy Family | WHERE EVIL GROWS |
| 44 | Engelbert Humperdinck | ANOTHER TIME, ANOTHER PLACE |
| 43 | Four Tops | MacARTHUR PARK |
| 42 | Stephen Stills | MARIANNE |
| 41 | Kris Kristofferson | LOVING HER WAS EASIER (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again) |
| 40 | Freddie Hart | EASY LOVING |
| 39 | War | ALL DAY MUSIC |
| 38 | Diana Ross | SURRENDER |
| 37 | Tommy Roe | STAGGER LEE |
| 36 | Glass Bottle | I AIN’T GOT TIME ANYMORE |
| 35 | Denise Lasalle | TRAPPED BY A THING CALLED LOVE |
| 34 | Dells | THE LOVE WE HAD (Stays On My Mind) |
| 33 | Rufus Thomas | BREAKDOWN |
| 32 | Paul Stookey | WEDDING SONG (There Is Love) |
| 31 | George Harrison | BANGLA DESH/DEEP BLUE |
| 30 | Free Movement | I’VE FOUND SOMEONE OF MY OWN |
| 29 | Three Dog Night | LIAR |
| 28 | Bobby Russell | SATURDAY MORNING CONFUSION |
| 27 | Persuaders | THIN LINE BETWEEN LOVE AND HATE |
| 26 | John Denver with Fat City | TAKE ME HOME, COUNTRY ROADS |
| 25 | Guess Who | RAIN DANCE |
| 24 | Moody Blues | STORY IN YOUR EYES |
| 23 | James Brown | MAKE IT FUNKY Pt 1 |
| 22 | Five Man Electrical Band | SIGNS |
| 21 | Mac and Katie Kissoon | CHIRPY CHIRPY CHIRPY CHEEP CHEEP |
| 20 | Carole King | SO FAR AWAY/SMACKWATER JACK |
| 19 | Osmonds | YO-YO |
| 18 | Stampeders | SWEET CITY WOMAN |
| 17 | Bee Gees | HOW CAN YOU MEND A BROKEN HEART |
| 16 | Al Green | TIRED OF BEING ALONE |
| 15 | Who | WON’T GET FOOLED AGAIN |
| 14 | Stevie Wonder | IF YOU REALLY LOVE ME |
| 13 | Partridge Family | I WOKE UP IN LOVE THIS MORNING |
| 12 | Lee Michaels | DO YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN |
| 11 | Honey Cone | STICK UP |
| 10 | Rare Earth | I JUST WANT TO CELEBRATE |
| 9 | Dramatics | WHATCHA SEE IS WHATCHA GET |
| 8 | Carpenters | SUPERSTAR |
| 7 | Undisputed Truth | SMILING FACES SOMETIMES |
| 6 | Paul and Linda McCartney | UNCLE ALBERT/ADMIRAL HALSEY |
| 5 | Aretha Franklin | SPANISH HARLEM |
| 4 | Joan Baez | THE NIGHT THEY DROVE OLD DIXIE DOWN |
| 3 | Bill Withers | AIN’T NO SUNSHINE |
| 2 | Rod Stewart | MAGGIE MAY/REASON TO BELIEVE |
| 1 | Donny Osmond | GO AWAY LITTLE GIRL |
(I should have decapped those titles before starting this, WP doesn’t seem to have any easy tools to do it.)
| 50 | Sultana | Titanic |
| 49 | Simple Game | Four Tops |
| 48 | Knock Three Times | Dawn |
| 47 | Look Around | Vince Hill |
| 46 | Witch Queen Of New Orleans | Redbone |
| 45 | Back Seat Of My Car | Paul And Linda McCartney |
| 44 | Superstar/For All We Know | Carpenters |
| 43 | My Way | Frank Sinatra |
| 42 | Won’t Get Fooled Again | The Who |
| 41 | Amazing Grace | Judy Collins |
| 40 | Keep On Dancing | Bay City Rollers |
| 39 | Remember | Rock Candy |
| 38 | Get It On | T. Rex |
| 37 | Little Drops Of Silver | Gerry Monroe |
| 36 | Heartbreak Hotel | Elvis Presley |
| 35 | We Will | Gilbert O’Sullivan |
| 34 | Leap Up And Down | St Cecilia |
| 33 | Devil’s Answer | Atomic Rooster |
| 32 | (For God’s Sake) Give More Power To The People | Chi-Lites |
| 31 | Move On Up | Curtis Mayfield |
| 30 | Butterfly | Danyel Gerrard |
| 29 | Bangla Desh | George Harrison |
| 28 | At The Top Of The Stairs | Formations |
| 27 | Moon Shadow | Cat Stevens |
| 26 | Tom-Tom Turnaround | New World |
| 25 | You Don’t Have To Be In The Army To Fight In The War | Mungo Jerry |
| 24 | Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep | Middle Of The Road |
| 23 | Another Time Another Place | Engelbert Humperdinck |
| 22 | When Love Comes Round Again | Kenn Dodd |
| 21 | Freedom Come Freedom Go | Fortunes |
| 20 | In My Own Time | Family |
| 19 | Life Is A Long Song/Up The Pool | Jethro Tull |
| 18 | Let Your Yeah Be Yeah | Pioneers |
| 17 | Daddy Don’t You Walk So Fast | Daniel Boone |
| 16 | What Are You Doing Sunday | Dawn |
| 15 | It’s Too Late | Carole King |
| 14 | Never Ending Song Of Love | New Seekers |
| 13 | For All We Know | Shirley Bassey |
| 12 | Soldier Blue | Buffy Stainte-Marie |
| 11 | Back Street Luv | Curved Air |
| 10 | I’m Still Waiting | Diana Ross |
| 9 | You’ve Got A Friend | James Taylor |
| 8 | I Believe (In Love) | Hot Chocolate |
| 7 | Cousin Norman | Marmalade |
| 6 | Tap Turns On The Water | C.C.S.R. |
| 5 | Nathan Jones | Supremes |
| 4 | Tweedle Dee Tweedle Dum | Middle Of The Road |
| 3 | Maggie May/Reason To Believe | Rod Stewart |
| 2 | Did You Ever | Nancy And Lee |
| 1 | Hey Don’t Bother Me | Tams |
And I should have switched title and artist, sigh, next time. Anyway, now I know which single was number one when I was born on both sides of the Atlantic.