More posts
Newer
Older

MUD – "Tiger Feet"
Read post

As a kid, “Tiger Feet” was pretty much my reference point for what seventies music sounded like from my (far more sophisticated) eighties vantage point – eager-to-please hoofers chanting a load of nonsense. Time and perspective ha[…]

THE NEW SEEKERS – "You Won't Find Another Fool Like Me"
Read post

The very definition of a tune your milkman could whistle, this delivers its melodic payload right upfront and then just hangs around for a bit, tapping its toes and honking its horns until the party wanders off somewhere else. The Ingredient X that &[…]

Popular '73
Read post

(Appearing on the front page for a limited run!)
I give each song on Popular a mark out of 10. In this poll, you should pick any YOU would have given 6 or more to from the 1973 number ones. As many as you like!

Which of these Number One[…]

SLADE – "Merry Xmas Everybody"
Read post

I had thought I might have to write about it in that tiny sliver of summer we had this year, but turns out I come to it at the end of September – a proper September, as Robin Carmody put it on his blog: crispness in the air, conkers on the ground a[…]

GARY GLITTER – "I Love You Love Me Love"
Read post

Glitter halves the pace for what by his standards is a ballad. Surprisingly it’s still effective, less rabble-rousing but more anthemic – assuming you can turn off your hindsight detectors long enough to get past “So here we are a[…]

DAVID CASSIDY – "Daydreamer"/"The Puppy Song"
Read post

Superior metaphysical wetness from Cassidy – on “Daydreamer” his thin voice sounds utterly wrung-out, a flopping ineffectual adenoidal rag of a thing. It would be intolerable except that it suits the song so well. Effective touches abound – t[…]

THE SIMON PARK ORCHESTRA – "Eye Level"
Read post

How to evaluate a theme tune from a TV programme I’ve never seen? All I have is the name and this track. I asked my Dad if he remembered a show called Van Der Valk, which would have been popular around when I was born. “Yes!” I felt hopeful. �[…]

WIZZARD – "Angel Fingers"
Read post

Again Wizzard offer maximalism pushed to the point of grotesquerie, a sprawling rock’n’roll pastiche that keeps flinging hooks at us, simply not knowing when to stop. This time though the effect is more touching, as “Angel Fingers” is a love […]

DONNY OSMOND – Young Love
Read post

Once a teen idol has reached the peak phase of his career, the question becomes – how to stay there? Building a profile is no longer so important – any given single release has a good chance of topping the charts, or close to it, so it’s a matt[…]

GARY GLITTER – "I'm The Leader Of The Gang (I Am)"
Read post

A question I’m honestly unsure of the answer to: if Michael Jackson had been found guilty of child molestation, what would have happened to his songs? Would “Billie Jean” or “Beat It” have emptied party dancefloors? Would “Wanna Be Starti[…]

Latest comments on Popular

  1. Thankfully one of the quite-a-few records of 20+ years ago that I have yet to hear on any of the…

  2. I doubt Noel was stockpiling the "best" songs for his solo career, the last two albums had a record low…

  3. Unlike some of the previous Oasis number 1s, this did make it on to their best of (Stop The Clocks).…

More posts
Newer
Older