Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
***
This week in 1972, the UK government, confronted by a cost-of-living crisis, introduced freezes on pay, prices, dividends and rents. A cost-of-living crisis? My, how the world changes.
The good news in all this was, of course, that the government's action meant we wouldn't have to worry about the price of The Mighty World of Marvel increasing anytime soon. And, indeed, it was still just 5 pence, a year later and wouldn't increase in cost until January 1974.
But before we explore that comic further, let's take a look at what the UK singles chart was up to, at the time.
Pianos and flat caps were all the rage because, hitting the Number One spot, for the first time, was Gilbert O'Sullivan with his not-at-all-sentimental hit Clair.
Over on the UK album chart, top spot was still being held by Various Artists' 20 All-Time Greats of the '50s.
I must confess to not being a huge fan of that Gilbert track, preferring the domestic discontent of Alone Again, Naturally and Nothing Rhymed but songs that I did approve of on that week's singles chart were:
In a Broken Dream - Python Lee Jackson
Leader of The Pack {1972} - the Shangri-Las
There Are More Questions than Answers - Johnny Nash
Crocodile Rock - Elton John
The Guitar Man - Bread
Crazy Horses - the Osmonds
America - Simon and Garfunkel
Back Stabbers - the O'Jays
Badge {1972} - Cream
and
House of the Rising Sun {1972} - the Animals.
Should you wish to investigate the topic in greater detail, that week's singles chart may be found here.
While the connected album chart is located here.
Judo Jim's still cranking out those covers.
And, inside, the Hulk must battle the mind-numbing threat of the Circus of Evil. How can even the world's strongest mortal hope to overcome such mighty opposition?
Spider-Man, meanwhile discovers that a trip to have a radio fixed can lead to a battle against alien invasion, when he encounters the Terrible Tinkerer.
And, finally, the Fantastic Four must overcome the non-existent threat of the Miracle Man.
We also get a feature that explains the powers of the Human Torch and Mr Fantastic.
And, of course, there's the Mighty Marvel Mailbag.
But, most excitingly of all, it seems we discover the secret of my mystery gift!
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49 comments:
That monster's Mohican resembles Cadbury's finger biscuits. Although, maybe the colour's more like sponge fingers!
Phillip
Phillip, I was thinking it looks like hotdog sausages.
The cost of living crisis in 1972 was caused by Ted Heath's government cutting taxes in a dash for growth (sound familiar?) which caused inflation and then Labour had to deal with the mess when they came to power in 1974 but they ended up taking the blame which is what will happen to Keir Starmer too if he becomes PM.
Steve, your list omitted the Chuck Berry classic 'My Ding-A-Ling' at #6 on its' way to #1.
My favourite Gilbert O' Sullivan song is 'Get Down' in which he tells his dog to get down off the furniture. It was Gilbert O' Sullivan's second UK #1 (in 1973).
In 1972 didn't the USA go off the gold standard?
Gilbert O'Sullivan's new album got great reviews (some critics said it was his best ever). Considering how good some of his early stuff is, that's high praise.
In my mind, I sometimes conflate Gilbert O'Sullivan songs with Leo Sayer's. 'Claire', 'What's in a Kiss?', etc. I think...now was that Sayer, or O'Sullivan?
After 6 stingy months of not putting the central heating on, my gas boiler's conked out. According to the gas engineer, it's £3,500 for a new one being installed. Needless to say, I'm getting a second opinion tomorrow!
Phillip
Philip both Claire and Whats in a Kiss are Gilbert O'Sullivan songs. My favourite Gilbert song was "Alone again (naturally)" as well - bitter sweet and beautiful lyrics that as I have gotten older mean more and more . I love that Python Lee Jackson (a band not a solo artist) song " In a broken dream" with a young Rod Stewart singing ( it was originally released in 1970) Rod used to be good before he became a bit of a twonk!
I blame the early 70s cost of living crisis on Heath's tory government taking the UK into the European Economic Community, Colin - at this point in November '72 you were less than a couple of months away from being colonised by Brussels!
But don't worry - I hear if Labour win the next election Sir Keir is going to make Brexit work.
Steve, are you not a Gary Glitter fan then?
Sorry, that was probably in poor taste. Other than the O'Jays, and Focus theres not a lot that really appeals to me in either chart.
On the plus side though, Can's 'Ege Bamyasi' lp came out (astonishingly, their double album 'Tago Mago' was only released about six months earlier - they were obviously busy boys in '72) and Frank Zappa's 'Grand Wazoo', so you can't really knock the month in music.
-sean
Paul, it doesn't seem like Rod Stewart tweeting congratulations to Boris Johnson on winning the last election and doing a concert for the queen's jubilee went down too well with the rest of the Celtic fans...
-sean
Anyway, what was the secret of the mystery gift then Steve?
-sean
Gary Glitter would be regarded as a national treasure by now if he hadn't been so interested in little girls in Thailand or wherever it was. His Xmas song 'Another Rock 'n' Roll Christmas' is still a festive classic though and Wagner's music gets performed even though he was horribly anti-semitic so shouldn't we condemn the artist but appreciate the art?
Paul - Thanks. Surfing a bit, Leo Sayer's big hit was "Love You More Than I can Say". Maybe it's just their hair that's similar! I have to confess to having 2 Rod Stewart albums. 'Back When We Were the New Boys' & 'You Wear it Well' are okay songs. I've just listened to "In a Broken Dream", and young Rod's not straining as much to hit the notes - a somewhat different vocal tone.
Phillip
Phil, that's terrible. Have you got £3,500 to spare?
Crazy Horses!!! Nuff said!!!
Wait!!! Take it back!!’n Badge by Cream!!! Nuff said!!!
Sean, Rods relationship with both Celtic and the Scottish national football team is strange, he doesn't quite " get it" . Still in his day he was a good rock singer when he was in the faces.
Sean. I meant to add the free gift was a John Buscema illustrated poster. As another piece of bare - faced self promotion you can see the poster on my blog.
https://twthen.blogspot.com/2022/09/milestones-50-years-ago-this-week.html
Colin - Yes, but it would knock a considerable hole in my savings. I'm going to shop around tomorrow. The guy seemed genuine, but that means absolutely nothing.
Phillip
Paul - that link doesn't seem to work.
Phillip
Thanks for the info Paul, although I'm still not sure whats so mysterious about a John Buscema poster (and no worries on the self-promotion - I enjoy your blog anyway).
Colin, on appreciating the art I would agree that it shouldn't really matter if the artist is dodgy, but in practice like most people I'm not very consistent on that, and I think it often - rightly or wrongly - really comes down to the perceived quality of the work.
So in the case of Gary Glitter, being essentially a novelty act even in his early 70s heyday made it easy to 'cancel' him straight away. Whereas the public seem more willing to allow certain rock stars of the time who were - and still are - taken more seriously the benefit of the doubt.
Er, not that I have any sympathy for Glitter.
-sean
Philip. If you press the link on the page it should open. It works when I do this
My Ding a Ling by Chuck Berry and Burning Love by Elvis were big hits on my 6th grade playground at school, lol.
My ding a ling
My ding a ling
I love to play with my ding a ling a ling!
(Wasn't that the truth!)
Sean
I think this was the issue that explained you had to cut out the tokens, for a number of weeks, and then send away to receive the 'free' gift. They didn't confirm it was a poster for another couple of weeks, but provided clues such as 'it rhymes with toaster'.
My mum was a Gilbert O'Sullivan fan and had the first two LPs. I remember (even as an almost five year old) that he had an awful haircut when performing on TOTP. Sorry, bubble perm fans...
DW
Oh, so much musical fun in the latter weeks of 1972!
I greatly liked Gilbert O'Sullivan's hits, they were quite prominent on our local radio station. Really enjoyed "Clair", and if memory serves, my baby sitter liked the song too (both our parents worked, so we frequently had a sitter after school- until I hit 14, then they made me do the sitting).
Glad you share the link to your UK charts, Steve. Always interesting. I noticed Harley Quinne had a hit song. Wonder what the Joker thought of that...
Over on our Billboard Hot 100, there was a novelty hit in the top ten: "Convention '72" by the Delegates. Basically a comic routine composed of clips from pop Hits pieces together as a press interview. There were several such Hits here in the early and mid 70's, prominently by Dickie Goodman. The biggest was "Mr. Jaws", in 1975. I loved all those comedy collage records. Did you have any such Hits on your side of the water?
Whenever I hear some would-be Macho Dude beating his chest like King Kong and ranting about how things were SOOOOOO much better back in the Swingin’ 70s compared to the Super-Woke present, with all the wimpy, emasculated males everywhere in the media these days, I think about Gilbert O’Sullivan and Leo Sayer and Edward Bear and Albert Hammond and and Terry Jacks and Neil Sedaka (and Jim Croce and Cat Stevens and David Gates and Bread — and Elton John — and Donovan — and David Bowie) — and I just laugh and laugh.
Hammond’s ‘It Never Rains in California’ and Bear’s ‘Last Song’ are probably my two All-Time favorite Whiny Mope Songs.
b.t.
Incidentally I have no clue as to why my autocorrect keeps capitalizing "hits"...
Ah right, thanks DW. Paul's blog post mentioned the coupons but for some reason I didn't quite get that it was a big secret (my fault Paul, not yours).
Gilbert O'Sullivan was an early example, following Dana, of the Irish strategy of getting our own back for the 1921 treaty and partition by inflicting terrible records on the British. It got out of hand later with U2 and Westlife.
-sean
Red, the only hit in the UK that I can remember that strung together bits of other people's hits while interlinking them with a comedy commentary was Bionic Santa by Chris Hill. I'm not saying it's not good but it's, possibly, the only Christmas song that never reenters the British chart at Christmas.
Sean, don't forget Val Doonican - Ireland's revenge for the potato famine ;)
I recently mentioned that BT is switching me over to fibre broadband and I'm getting a new phone that plugs into my router but I got it wrong. My new phone will be a handset with rechargeable batteries which sits on a base and it's my old landline phone which can be plugged into the router. I've been watching YouTube videos about fibre broadband in preparation for my switchover day on November 30th. Apparently there's a target date of December 2025 for switching the entire country over to fibre broadband.
Tell me "Mouldy Old Dough" snippet by Lieutenant Pidgeon, on Steve Does Chicago's link to the pop charts, doesn't sound like it could be Lennon and McCartney?
Hey Phillip - QUick question for you Sir!
You mentioned you did your Daredevil reviews these past months based on the Marvel MWOM (or such) compilations and not the version original comics?
I have a few of those MWOMs and they are mostly black and white with a bit of color pages.
Did you get to see any of the DD in color, then, or was it all black and white?
They really were impressive issues by the master Gene the Dean... as were your reviews! :)
Charlie - King of the Bolshie Peoples Republic of the East Side of Chicago
b.t. - I've just listened to 'My Last Song'.
As regards that genre, my nominations are 'Messenger' & 'The Best is Yet to Come', by Clifford T Ward.
The UK had a similarly named character, in a kids' tv show, named Teddy Edward. But he was a (toy) Edward bear, with a very purposeful expression:
https://www.google.com/search?q=teddy+edward+theme&rlz=1C1TEUA_enGB467GB467&ei=7FJuY8jBHNmX8gLxgp3oCg&oq=Teddy+Edward+the&gs_lcp=Cgxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAQAxgAMgUIABCABDIGCAAQFhAeMgYIABAWEB4yBggAEBYQHjIGCAAQFhAeMgUIABCGAzIFCAAQhgMyBQgAEIYDOgoIABBHENYEELADOgcIABCwAxBDOg0IABDkAhDWBBCwAxgBOg8ILhDUAhDIAxCwAxBDGAI6CwguEIAEEMcBEK8BOgUILhCABDoICAAQFhAeEApKBAhBGABKBAhGGAFQ7gZYixFg5ChoAXABeACAAW-IAZEDkgEDMi4ymAEAoAEByAEQwAEB2gEGCAEQARgJ2gEGCAIQARgI&sclient=gws-wiz-serp#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:d1c7b6d4,vid:9l42MaXNiRE
Strangely, the theme tune's quite memorable. I remembered it from when I was an infant, without refreshing my memory.
Phillip
Charlie - Thanks, glad you liked them!
The MWOMs were entirely black & white. With Tom Palmer's inks/shadows, this maybe makes things even better. I've also got American versions of a couple of the later ones (Angar the Screamer, & Terrex), but I still prefer the bigger paged black & white versions. It depends what you're used to, I suppose. Some other artists - like Herb Trimpe, for example - always look better in colour.
I don't plan on doing a DD review next time, because the ending of the Damon Dran story's a let down. The following story (Man Bull) starts very good, but ends poorly - so I might take a look at that (December or January? - whenever.)
Phillip
* starts very well *
Phillip
Charlie - I've just remembered that I've also got the American version (minus the back cover, so it was cheap!) of the final part of DD & Black Widow vs Killgrave & Electro. Having compared that with the MWOM version, I thought the black & white version highlighted Palmer's shadows/inks better.
Phillip
You're not going to review a Daredevil story thats rubbish then, Phillip? What kind of critical standard is that?
Some of the first Dr Strange stories I ever read were the Colan/Palmer drawn ones from Strange Tales, when they were reprinted in the old Avengers weekly. They were fantastic in black and white.
-sean
I meant the first Dr Strange title, that followed the numbering of Strange Tales there. Duh.
-sean
Sean - motivating myself to write is hard (you have to be in the mood, for ideas to come.) Something that's rubbish = no motivation to write.
Dr.Strange in Avengers Weekly - I hear you! A story with the Ancient One & Dormammu in Avengers & SSOC # 116, which I got in a junior school sale, had very powerful ( black & white) art. It might have been Frank Brunner, not Colan, though.
Phillip
I think Marvel UK had relatively good printing back in the Avengers weekly days, Phillip.
Because I read a fair bit of the later Englehart-era Colan/Palmer Dr Strange in Rampage monthly, and it din't come off quite as well. Still better than the colour US comics - for my taste anyway - but the blacks weren't as... er, black.
-sean
Charlie says...
Once upon a time a chap named Colin Bray, who used to hang out here, sent me some of those MWOMs for my reading pleasure.
I have to say, I did find them compelling in their own way. Perhaps it was due to the ability to get several nostalgia-hits in one sitting? I mean 4 - 6 pages of this, and then 4-6 pages of that... boom, boom, boom!
The black and white of MWOM (whatever I have in the storage locker, lol) was cool. Also, given the format being wider than it was taller was fun. Perhaps b/c I'd grown up reading b&w newspaper strips daily for 15 years I was used to it and this presentation of the Marvels seemed more like newspaper strips to me?
That said, I really never warmed up to those anthology Marvel Essential collections in black and white. They just seem so "empty."
That said, I've never really ever warmed up to the various color archives of Marvel and DC b/c the paper is so damn white you need to have indirect yellow lighting and sunglasses to read it!
Redartz mentioned the US Billboard Hot 100 and last week Taylor Swift made history by becoming the first artist ever to hold all Top 10 places in the Hot 100 in the same week. Obviously this is due to modern streaming and all the Top 10 songs were from Taylor Swift's new album 'Midnights'. Such a feat is now impossible in the UK singles chart because the rules were changed and only the three most popular songs from an album are now included on the chart but what's the point of a chart that doesn't accurately show what's popular? The same thing happened back in 1989 when compilation albums by various artists were no longer included in the UK albums chart.
Apparently Twitter might go bankrupt thanks to Elon Musk!
I think limiting how many times an artist can appear in the top 10 is fair enough Colin - if anything, three entries is too many! The sales of Taylor Swift's ten tracks should be added up and count as one entry in an album chart.
Otherwise you're not finding out whats popular generally, just who's the biggest act.
You don't want some corporate megastar preventing us from finding out that a lot of the public seem to be listening to, say, the Wolfe Tones these days. Its nice to know there seem to be a fair few rebels around (;
-sean
Speaking of music...
Yesterday, being a veteran, Charlie hooked up with his best Army mate, who served with him in Germany during the 80s.
Having Veterans day off, we hit 4 Vintage Vinyl stores.
What vinyl did Charlie discover that he'd only heard of but never seen?
1) ROLLING STONES live with MUDDY WATERS, Chicago 1981, Checkerboard Lounge. FWIW - Keith Richards first played his riff to "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" at Chess Records in Chicago in addition to The Stones recording their biggest UK hit there.
2) Some kind of guitar duo playing BATMAN and ROBIN import from the UK featuring all the TV themes from the 1960s TV show.
3) ROLLING STONES ROCK N ROLL CIRCUS from the late 1960s featuring Yoko Ono and Marianne Faithful among others.
These would have been pure impulse buys. (Mercifully Charlie's record player is in storage and so those records stayed on the racks.)
BUT do any of you have thoughts about those three? Ever heard them?
(Redartz - we did stop by the Vinyl Store in Oak Park we visited this summer!)
Charlie, I've not only heard The Rolling Stones' Rock and Roll Circus, I've seen it. I can't remember too much about it, though, other than it featured the Stones, Lennon and, possibly, Jethro Tull.
On the other hand, I've no idea what the Batman and Robin record is about.
Colin, things are certainly looking dim for Twitter. Believe it or not, people were actually talking about it on the bus, yesterday. That's how bad it's got.
As for the singles chart, I fear that technology has made them all a bit redundant. I do note, though, that The Killers' Mr Brightside has now been in the UK Top 100 for a startling 340 weeks!
Sean and Phillip, I think that, given a choice between reading old American comics in colour and reading them in black and white, I'd go for colour but there's no denying the alignment of colour printing in US comics back then was often atrocious and seemed to get worse as the 1970s went along.
Charlie, I can't say that Mouldy Old Dough has ever struck me as feeling particularly Lennon and McCartney.
Bt, there was also Marc Bolan who wasn't exactly what you could call traditionally masculine.
Red, I'm about to check out that Harley Quinne single, as I can't remember ever having heard it. I shall give my verdict, later.
DW, I remember Gilbert when he was rocking the 1930s street urchin look. Now, that was a terrible look for a singer.
McScotty, thanks for the Mighty World of Marvel link. It works fine for me.
I've now listened to that Harley Quinne record and, while I've never heard that version before, I instantly recognised the song. Did someone like Robert Plant do a version of it?
Sean, John Fogerty ( of the great Creedence Clearwater Revival) recorded a version of New Orleans. I had forgotten all about that Harley Quinne song which I loved as a kid.
Sorry I meant to reply to Steve on the Bew Orleans song and not Sean. Sorry Steve.
Steve- as you endeavoured to investigate that Harley Quinne single, I could do no less. I too immediately recognized the tune. Actually a pretty catchy version...even if there was no blonde psycho in Jester's tights...
Charlie- glad to hear you made a return visit to that shop! Love such little nooks, filled to the brim with records or books (hey, that might make a memorable advertising catchphrase ). And their prices were such that it makes it worth considering another 5 hour drive...
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