Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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There was no change at the summit of the UK singles chart, this week in 1973, with Slade's Cum On Feel the Noize still ruling the roost.
And there was an equal lack of change on the album chart, as Elton John's Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only the Piano Player continued to reign supreme.
Cum On Feel the Noize is, of course, a rip-roaring classic but these are the other tracks I approved of on that week's chart:
Cindy Incidentally - the Faces
Blockbuster - the Sweet
Still, not to worry. As long as he remains in the form of the Hulk, he'll be fine...
Daredevil's still battling it out with Electro - and doing such a good job of it that he makes this week's front cover.
However, judging by that cover, it appears to be too late for the Fantastic Four who've been shrunk to doll size and are being zapped to death by the voltacular villain.
Meanwhile, inside the book, the quartet have their work cut out, trying to confound the Impossible Man.
I know the cover's much-vaunted mini-poster features the Human Torch but I don't know what it depicts him doing.
Whatever it is, I'm going to hazard a guess that he's flamed-on in order to do it.
And the villain actually beats the flu-stricken hero and then unmasks him!
Can this be the end of Spidey's secret identity?
No, it can't, because everyone thinks it's just Peter Parker trying to be brave by impersonating the wall-crawler.
In Thor's latest smash, Zarrko - AKA, the Man Who Would Be Kang - goes back in time and steals a cobalt bomb from 1962. However, the thunder god chases him into the future and defeats him.
And, just to give us even more value for money, Thor tells us all about our free gift.
Not that I have a clue what that free gift is.
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25 comments:
You forgot to approve of the best record in this weeks singles chart, Steve, 'Why Can't We Live Together' by Timmy Thomas.
Simple - little more than a drum machine rhythm (unusual in '73) with a fairly basic keyboard line - but fantastic, it really stands out. Cool lyric too.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hULALx9PuXA
The worst record is obviously the Spurs loving 'Nice One, Cyril'.
-sean
Sean:
Yes — YES — that’s a fabulous song. Lordy.
Some others on the UK charts that I approve of:
Stevie Wonder — ‘Superstition’
Carly Simon — ‘You’re So Vain’
Roberta Flack — ‘Killing Me Softly With His Song’
I’m kinda shocked to see Alice Cooper at #7 with ‘Hello Hurray’. I’ve always loved that song, as the anthemic opening track on the BILLION DOLLAR BABIES album, and didn’t realize it was ever released as a single. Turns out it peaked at #35 here in the U.S.
b.t.
Steve, you made me laugh. "Zarrko-AKA The Man Who Would Be Kang."
He really was a poor man's Kang, wasn't he. Did we really need two of these guys? All Zarrko had, really, apart from a time machine, was one big-ass robot, the Servitor. And all he did was get beaten up by Thor.
Same deal with the Mole Man and Tyrannus (a poor man's Mole Man).
M.P.
Sean, I must admit I'd totally forgotten about that Timmy Thomas record. Thanks for reminding me of it.
Bt, it's always a shock to me to discover Alice Cooper had more than one 1970s hit in Britain. Growing up, School's Out was the only Alice Cooper track I ever heard on the radio.
Thanks, MP. In fairness to Zarrko, he did predate Kang which does make me wonder why Marvel ever invented Kang instead of just upgrading Zarrko.
Fairly sure 'No More Mr Nice Guy' was also a big hit for Alice Cooper in the UK, Steve. Although obviously his biggest moment in the 70s was being drawn by Tom Sutton as the star of Marvel Premiere #50.
The most interesting thing about what is a fairly boring album chart this week is the rise of sarf London chancer David Bowie, as 'Ziggy Stardust' getting close to the top ten appears to have reactivated previous stabs at fame like 'Hunky Dory' and 'Space Oddity'.
The latter album in particular sold so poorly - back when it was released as 'David Bowie' in late '69 - that original first press copies go for crazy money.
Although not quite as much crazy money as the first 'David Bowie' album, released on Deram in '67, which had even worse sales (being released on the same day as Sgt Pepper didn't help get it much attention). But along with Bowie's early singles it too was about to gain a new commercial lease of life as the basis for budget compilations like 'World of David Bowie' and 'Images 1966-67', and early classics such as 'The Laughing Gnome' would finally achieve the wider recognition they deserved.
-sean
Don't forget Alice Cooper's 'Poison' (it reached #2 in the UK in 1989 which isn't the '70s obviously).
Alice Cooper also had top 5 or top 20 hits in the 1970s with "Elected", "How you gonna see me now" and "Teenage Lament 74" .
McScotty, Colin and Sean, it's amazing how many hits Alice Cooper had that I've never heard on the radio. I sense some dread conspiracy.
Its an Illuminati plot, Steve. Or possibly its just that 'Schools Out' is the one that usually gets played since it was a hit, so we remember it more.
One of the two, anyway.
-sean
So Prince Edward is now the Duke of Edinburgh and on his 59th birthday too. I assume the shuffling of royal titles ahead of the coronation is now complete!
I rather like Alice Cooper, the theatrics and so on...
But I never thought he was very scary until he got off the sauce and became a born-again Christian Republican who played golf with Pat Boone.
It was only then that I found him disturbing.
M.P.
From Zappa's Straight/Bizarre roster - with Captain Beefheart, Wild Man Fisher and the GTOs - to golf with Pat Boone is a cautionary tale, M.P.
-sean
I can't help noticing that Alice is a girl's name so what's that all about? I suppose it all seemed very anti-establishment in the early '70s. At least we didn't get Elvisa Presley or Jane Lennon.
Colin, Alice Cooper was originally the name of the band before Vincent Damon Furnier (Alices real name) took it. The name was picked as it sounded wholesome against their funny horror songs.I
Some great singles in that lot, totally agree with Sean , that Timmy Thomas song is amazing. Other classics for me include: Jimmy Helms "Gonna make you an offer you can't refuse" Frees "Wishing Well" and "Love Train" by the O'Jays. Of course on the L.P. side the mighty David Bowie was starting to make his presence noticed at long last.Genius.
Ah, thanks Paul - another of life's mysteries is solved :)
Good grief... of the Top 20 UK Singles I only know two of those actual version of the songs (Pinball Wizard by New Seekers don't count since I never heard their version til googling last week or so.) off the top of my head:
KILLING ME SOFTLY WITH HIS SONG by ROBERTA FLACK.
SUPERSTITION by STEVIE WONDER.
But Meanwhile, in the USA charts, I do know most all of the top 20. What does surprise me is that DUELING BANJOS is #2, behind Roberta Flack at #1
https://top40weekly.com/1973-all-charts/#US_Top_40_Singles_Week_Ending_10th_March_1973
That DUELING BANJOS isn't even in the UK top 50 per Steve's link is "interesting?"
Was DELIVERANCE a "big deal" in the UK as it was here in the USA?
Did it not spawn all sorts of boyish humor like:
"SQUEAL LIKE A PIG FOR ME" or
"YOU GOT MIGHTY CUTE EARS"
Thing about DELIVERANCE is it is still shocking to see some of those scenes even for today's youth, 50 years on, who seemingly have been exposed to everything.
Is it mere coincidence that songs like "DEAD SKUNK" are creeping up the charts in the USA, at #27 in the USA but nowhere on the UK charts?
And odd-ball songs like "COVER OF THE ROLLING STONE" are charting now!
What the hell be going on in the USA, 50 years ago, lol.
CHeers All, CHarlie!
(Can mighty Tottenham beat Nottingham Forest and losing to Sheffield Wednesday??)
I m pretty sure that "Dueling Banjos" charted in UK. Maybe it was later in the year when the film was released in UK. I've never seen "Deliverance" but I do recall the jokes being made in the playground about it.
I think you might be getting Sheffield Wednesday and United mixed up there, Charlie.
Personally I've always had a soft spot for United - mainly because they have the same home strip as Derry City (a sound sporting reason!) - so it was nice to read they won they other day.
Although we can't really be mean about Spurs at the moment, not while their old player Gary Lineker is being supressed by the state.
Cancel culture, eh? Seems you can't say anything these days without some right-wing snowflake taking offence...
-sean
This month is the 25th anniversary of Madonna's 'Ray Of Light' album which is widely considered to be her masterpiece! Just thought I'd mention it.
Colin-
Just how much of Madonna is cyborg, now, I wonder?
M.P.
MP, when 'Ray Of Light' was released in 1998 I read an interview with Madonna in which she said she could feel "the fleetingness of time". Madonna was only 39 back then and I suppose she feels that fleetingness a lot more nowadays, hence her recent plastic surgery and her total abandonment of the idea of ageing gracefully.
Madonna seems as whacked as Michael Jackson. Hopefully her head does not catch fire and she develops an opiate addiction.
When Cullis of Wolves refused to do the Nazi salute in 1938 was he slammed by the BBC like Lineker?
In the 80s, pop stars experienced fame/a level of exposure far in excess of anything today. They were treated like gods. No one's ego can survive that, without something going wrong. Most of the biggest 80s stars died early, for one reason or another, many not unconnected with fame. Madonna still being alive is - for her - an achievement, but - to paraphrase 'Sunset Boulevard' - her attitude's probably, "I'm still big - it's the movies (or, in her case, pop scene) that got small!"
Phillip
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