THE SIMON PARK ORCHESTRA – "Eye Level"

I was always led to believe this was the first TV theme to go to number one. It certainly isn’t the last.

First film theme to go to number one? I always though it was M*A*S*H, but am shocked to see when that charted (no spoilers!). Jimmy Young’s Man From Laramie does not count, as it wasn’t from the film (nor does Sinatra’s Three Coins In The Fountain on the same made up rule). I guess there are shed load of Elvis and Beatles which would count.

No, its a cover innit. The film version is choral and striking and no chance is is Jimmy in a million years.

I was always much taken with Van der Valk’s wife, who was played by a wholesome actress called Joanna Dunham. Mrs VDV dressed oftentimes in appealing tweedy Joan Bakewell-style skirts and was more often than not at home with a bottle opened, dinner cooked and a ready smile waiting for Barry Foster, who was a pig-ugly bastard, to return home from being a crap copper in Amsterdam. The model 1970s wife – fully functioning and tasty too. Such a portrayal would simply not be permitted today.

Wifey was one of the two reasons why I watched this supposed Dutch lunacy (Pat Butcher from “EastEnders” once turned up playing a barmaid. So no typecasting there, then). The other reason, of course, was this super theme tune, which was just so good that its monumental chart success didn’t surprise me in the least, although it clearly caught many of the assine Radio One jocks on the hop, vexed as to how a well-arranged orchestral march should be so dammed popular. The B-Side to this was the theme for the closing titles of daytime classic “Crown Court”, which btw has been revived in its original form by Legal tv and was the “Casualty” or “The Bill” of its day in as much as the entire membership of Equity were obligated to appear in it at one point. Looking at the episodes now, it strikes me as to how intelligent and well-scripted these half-hour shows were. I remember watching them back in the day on the occasions when my school was closed because of a murder.

Happy Days!

Yes, that was a great performance, if truth be told. Barry’s character was just horrid – “The necktie murderer”, no less. Typical Hitch sicko!

Looking at the credits sequence, it does do its job in making me think “Oh, I’d quite like to watch this.” Especially with Nigel Stock, Donald Gee and Jim Norton in it – I wonder which was the murderer?

I first became aware of ‘Eye Level’ through what may have been the first exercise routine LP, ‘Popmobility’! Good though the tune is, it’s never made me want to move about to it, rather to have a sit-down and a cup of tea.

I’ve yet to hear the hit single versions of the themes of ‘The Onedin Line’ or ‘Upstairs Downstairs’, but I’m sure that DJ Dale will eventually satisfy my curiosity. Best thing that I’ve heard yet in this genre has been ‘Sleepy Shores’ by the Johnny Pearson Orchestra, though I doubt that I’ll ever see its parent programme, ‘Owen MD’.

Owen MD also starred the much-missed Nigel Stock, these days best remembered for playing Number 6 in the episode of The Prisoner where McGoohan had to toddle off to Hollywood to make Ice Station Zebra. “Sleepy Shores” is lovely with lots of warm childhood memories. Don’t recall the Upstairs, Downstairs theme charting (or even being released as a 45) but The Onedin Line theme certainly went Top 20 (more or less as Khatchaturian wrote it) and not long after “Eye Level” ex-King Brother and Hello, Cheeky pianist Denis King led the London String Chorale into the Top 40 with “Galloping Home” a.k.a. the theme from Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty.

And two more from ’71 which deserve noting: “The Lightning Tree” by the Settlers (Follyfoot) and the best of them all, John Barry’s Main Title Theme From The Persuaders!

Not going by the chart we are working with, but Stranger on the Shore was number one in some charts in 1962 and was a TV theme. Not many people seem to remember Stranger on the Shore the TV series, and even fewer remember the sequel, Stranger in the City, whose theme tune was a sped-up version of the same.

Not much to say about Eye Level, except that three years later when I started out as a teacher (but I’m better now), it could be heard being belted out of the music room by a recorder ensemble. It helped to form my firmly-held view that children should not be let anywhere near an instrument as subtle and as hard to play in tune as a recorder. Nor, come to that, should John Paul Jones.

“Piano equals failure” (Dave Hill).

1973 of course saw the release of Tubular Bells, wherein Mike Oldfield wisely concentrated on the trusty flageolet rather than the recorder.

Billy – you beat me to it, the Number 2 at the time was indeed the record I shall now always think of as “My Friend Satan”.

Worth noting that this and two of the next three number ones were million-sellers and featured on the all-time Top 100 best-selling singles list – this was No 75.

I wasn’t too keen on it at the time, principally because it foiled “Ballroom Blitz”, but now would happily admit that it swings like a good ‘un. I particularly like the way the main motif is repeated in different moods throughout the piece, and goes nicely with the HEY VIEWERS AMSTERDAM theme.

Marcello – wouldn’t the first number one film theme be “Unchained Melody”?

I’m not sure of the last TV theme to reach Number 1, but I remember Oxide And Neutrino’s Bound 4 Da Reload (Casualty) was hailed as the first since Tellytubbies Say Eh-Oh!

I was going to mention Stranger on the shore, but Rosie beat me to it; Acker Bilk is still doing shows in his old home town of Pensford, ar at least that’s what the handbills said when I went through there in June when on holiday from SE Asia. He must be 128 years old by now. Also in a frightening West country way, the Wurzels still crank it up and are about to re-release a single from 30 years ago.
On TV hits, we should not over look the Monkees either

Bah. Stranger not on our list (NME number one, US number one but not it appears on the official UK list). So pub quiz pedantry abated.

Ah, the first and only number 1 by somebody from Market Harborough, fact fans! Incidentally, the composer is Jack TROMBEY, rather than Twombley, a writer of shedloads of library music for DeWolfe’s. Doubtless young Mr. Carmody knows much more about his oeuvre.

Would have thought “Stranger On The Shore” would have been the first tv theme to top the British charts, but it’s not a number one in my copy of Guinness. The first tv-related chart-topper though was “Hoots Mon” by Lord Rockingham’s XI, a bunch of session-men who were the house band that Jack Good put together for “Oh Boy!”

Re airplay: while Radio 1 played “Eye Level” as infrequently as possible (though it got plenty of hammer on Radio 2 as you’d expect, along with Matt Monro’s vocal cover version), Luxembourg played it not at all. It didn’t even feature in the Fab 208 chart when it reached Number 1 everywhere else.

And yes, I do have the Best of TOTP 1973 tape; the appearance of Mr. Park and his merry band sure as hell confuses the audience. Not quite as amusing as Kevin Godley’s hopeless attempt to mime playing the drums to the recording of “Rubber Bullets”, though.

Marcello, I’m still trying to trump “Jailhouse Rock” as the first movie theme at number one. You’re right that Jimmy Young’s covers of “Unchained Melody” and “The Man From Laramie” pipped the originals to number one in the UK (Al Hibbler’s version of the former is the one on the soundtrack but almost the only version NOT to reach number one). But what about “Rock Around The Clock”, which was on the soundtrack to the film Blackboard Jungle in 1955?

Also re number one film themes, note that Rihanna this summer had the longest unbroken spell at number one for a song that *wasn’t* a film theme for 52 years!

Pete and others talking about “Stranger on the Shore” – there was a thorough discussion on the vagaries of the rival charts of the 60s in the “School’s Out” thread back in May, which will clear things up on that score:
https://popular-number1s.com/ft/2007/05/alice-cooper-schools-out/

Oh come on, you know how geekish we all get on this site! 🙂

OK, you win : )

Bit harsh to castigate Lebovici etc about spoilers – it’ll be a long long time before we get to the Teletubbies!

Thanks to Marcello I have heard this, and I’d give it a 7. The US #1 at the time was “We’re An American Band” by Grand Funk Railroad.

Just go ahead and dive in, as you have done. Imagine away!

I’ve always enjoyed the out-of-pace weirdness of TV themes and instrumentals generally. What exactly ties instrumental music to the subject it’s nominally linked with?

I guess the best example of how randomly instrumentals can be linked with subjects, ideas and genres is The Chantay’s famous surf instrumental, “Pipeline”, which was originally called “Liberty’s Whip” before the surf craze but is now imagined to be one of the sounds that most evokes the surf music era.

My favourite TV theme is still the one from “The Double Deckers”.

The weird thing is Ice Station Zebra actually makes more sense as a Prisoner episode than Do Not Forsake Me does. USS Tigerfish as the Village and Rock Hudson as Number 2!

THAT IS HOW NAZI GERMANY STARTED

Also: “Rock Around The Clock” excluded from chart – end of time.

Once again we run into the notion that the charts are the sole preserve of a subset of the community. There were specialist charts by this time (I could never quite get my head round the idea that a record could have a lower position in, say, the R&B chart than in the general chart, but as I can’t produce concrete evidence it’s probably best not to press that point too far.)

I’m not sure that we were supposed to be in the middle of a teenage revolution in 1973, were we? That came later, surely.

Given my prejudices I’m going to have to tread a bit carefully here, but Van der Valk, to me and many others, was an enjoyable piece of tosh. It was gentle and cerebral (though not excessively so) and just because it didn’t rely on car chases, shoot-outs, and general alpha male behaviour doesn’t mean it was dull for some of us. And it had a catchy signature tune, the kind of thing that wriggles around in the head all day without being overly intrusive. Superior lift music, in other words, and something capable of evoking pleasant memories.

Is it perhaps the last instrumental to top the charts performed entirely on real instruments?

Rock Around The Clock was actually a hit before the film was released (although it was number 1 after). It is therefore excluded from any Nazi style dictate regards TV/Film themes.

As regards EL catching a mood – I doubt this – although Van Der Valk wasn’t very good for some inexplicable reason it was popular (in the top 20 TV ratings for the year).

Don’t get me wrong there are many decent theme tunes but they are a completely different entity.

“As regards EL catching a mood – I doubt this”

Four weeks at the top of the charts seems to present the view to the contrary irrespective of “Van der Valk’s” popularity or lack of it.

“…or “Paranoid” by Swingle 2.”