Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
***
Who wants to see my baby jive?
You do?
Well, you can't because she's not jiving. She's too busy, in her bedroom, listening to Wizzard's See My Baby Jive which was Number One on the UK singles chart, this week in 1973.
Over on the British album chart, it was Pure Gold by Various Artists that was ruling the roost.
See My Baby Jive is, of course, a classic but other tracks I approved of on that week's singles chart were:
Can the Can - Suzi Quatro
Albatross {1973} - Fleetwood Mac
Stuck in The Middle with You - Stealers Wheel
Walk On The Wild Side - Lou Reed
Giving It All Away - Roger Daltrey
Brother Louie - Hot Chocolate
and
Live and Let Die - Paul McCartney and Wings
Should you wish to pursue the matter further, that week's UK singles chart can be found here.
While the corresponding LP chart dwells right here.
Somehow, this all leads to Thunderbolt Ross activating the Leader's most powerful Humanoid of them all!
I do believe this tale features some of the very earliest work John Buscema did for 1960s Marvel.
In fact, I wouldn't be at all shocked if it was his very first. I do remember that his art in this yarn lacks the dynamism and self-confidence we later came to take for granted.
In our second tale, the Boomerang's back!
Well, I suppose he would come back. He is, after all, called the Boomerang.
Meanwhile, in the Fantastic Four's tale, the Sub-Mariner locates what little remains of his undersea realm and, fueled by a desire for vengeance, plans a new attack against the surface world.
It can only be trouble when the Green Goblin tries to take over Lucky Lobo's gang. And it turns out to be trouble for Lucky's gang when Spider-Man puts the lot of them in jail.
Elsewhere, having been refused a job by Dr Don Blake, Calvin Zabo becomes Mister Hyde and sets out to gain retribution!
Where’s the luv for 10 CC’s “Rubber Bullets” asks Charlie! It’s way up the charts!
ReplyDeleteI had to listen to it on YouTube to confirm it was the song I thought it was. “Load up load up with rubber bullets…”
10 CC was a hit machine, no?
A cover with Hulk depicted fighting with a brief case (?) loses a bit of its intensity? How can Hulk Smash with a briefcase in one hand?
ReplyDeleteCharlie - Isn't it an oil barrel-like vessel, with water in it (which Hulk is dousing his opponent with), not a briefcase? Although, why's it got strings attached to it? I'm not sure.
ReplyDeletePhillip
"Load up, load up, load up, with rubber bullets..." Its subliminal British propaganda
ReplyDeletefrom the era of internment, Charlie!
Or possibly just one of those terrible faux-50s records that were big in the early 70s. Either way its annoying.
I was a bit surprised to see Eumir Deodato had a hit, and that Steve hasn't rated it. I suppose 'Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001)' was a something of a novelty record, but still - its not often you see a Brazilian jazzbo get into the top 10. And its reasonably entertaining.
Although the real action is in the album chart, with Hawkwind's awesome 'Space Ritual', also going top 10. And I believe the Pink Fairies 'Kings of Oblivion' lp came out this week. Degenerate 70s youth, eh?
-sean
Another record that came out early this month was fab Japanese 'Pinky Violence' film star Meiko Kaji's 'Hajiki Uta' album. Probably not many people in Europe or America would have heard it back then, but these days at least one track - 'Urami Bushi', the theme from her Female Prisoner Scorpion flicks - has become fairly well known after being used by Quentin Tarantino for Kill Bill 2.
ReplyDeletewww.youtube.com/watch?v=NfG8LiXjmkQ
So Steve, can you listen to 'Stuck In The Middle With You' without picturing ear violence, or thinking about K Billy's Super Sounds of the 70s?
-sean
Sean- that Deodato tune went all the way to number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, it was heard everywhere. Which was fine with me-I loved it. It was a favorite cut on the first K-Tel compilation album I ever had, played on the first stereo I ever had. Oh, those middle school memories...
ReplyDeleteMy brother, on the other hand, was fond of playing Tony Orlando's "Tie a Yellow Ribbon ". It also got loads of airplay, and again several years later during the Iranian Hostage Crisis. A decent enough song, but I'd take Paulie and Wings over Tony and Dawn any day...
Steve, how could you ignore 'Snoopy Vs The Red Baron' ??? It's a classic!
ReplyDeleteI always wondered what happened to Leather Tuskadero.
ReplyDeleteShe had a musical career in Europe.
And she didn't even need the Fonz to do it. Good for her!
M.P.
Two more killer tracks in this week’s Top 50 that deserve a shout-out:
ReplyDeleteI’M GONNA LOVE YOU JUST A LITTLE BIT MORE BABY by Barry White
FRANKENSTEIN by the Edgar Winter Group
b.t.
If you're interested in the UK Top 40 and are partial to podcasts, can I draw your attention to Chart Music, wherein a rotating panel of former Melody Maker writers analyse and dissect episodes of BBC "Top Of The Pops" TV show. Informed, educational, at times howlingly funny - recommended to Pop-Crazed Youngsters everywhere!
ReplyDeletehttps://chartmusiccouk.wordpress.com/
B Smith, our very own Steve once had something similar - a blog called 'Steve Does Top Of The Pops'.
ReplyDeleteMP, Suzi Quatro had two UK #1 hits - 'Can The Can' in 1973 and 'Devil Gate Drive' in 1974 but I think my favourite song of hers was 'If You Can't Give Me Love', a Top 10 hit from 1978.
ReplyDeleteSuzi Quatro was a childhood crush from those HAPPY DAYS episodes.
ReplyDeleteSo interesting the tastes between countries, only once did she have a song in the U.S. get in the top 40. And that with her being from Detroit!
Baffling!
B, thanks for that TOTP blog link.
ReplyDeleteColin, I can only put my lack of appreciation of Snoopy Vs The Red Baron down to a momentary fit of madness.
Sean, I'm proud to announce I can listen to Stealers Wheel without thinking of either of those things.
Charlie, I liked 10CC at the time but, these days, their obsessive devotion to cleverness tends to wear me out fairly quickly.
Are we talking about Suzi Quatro who did Stumblin In? Charlie likes that song muy mucho!!! A real sweet song.
ReplyDeleteCharlie, that song wasn't a UK hit but I've just been watching it on YouTube and it's a nice duet. I also watched 'She's In Love With You' which was another UK hit for Suzi Quatro but one I'd forgotten about!
ReplyDeleteI heard 10CC's 'Dreadlock Holiday' in Tesco only recently!
Good riddance to Boris Johnson and his vile groupie Nadine Dorries!
ReplyDeleteColin - Dreadlock Holiday confuses me. Someone's being mugged, in Jamaica, so tries to win his muggers' sympathy, by telling them he loves cricket, etc? I've never really got it.
ReplyDeleteNow Nadine can retire to write "novels" (trash) about a female M.P. besotted with the biggest idiot to ever walk the face of the earth.
Phillip
Charlie, she was indeed that Suzi Quatro, although her hits in the early 1970s were a lot more Glam and a lot more Rock than that track, sort of inhabiting a user-friendly middle ground between Alice Cooper and the Sweet.
ReplyDeletePhillip, I think Dreadlock Holiday was based on a true story. So, however odd the tactic, it seemed to work, bearing in mind all the members of 10CC are still with us.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, Phillip, Sir Jacob is still with us.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was pretty poor form of Boris Johnson not to make Rishi Sunak a knight of the realm too. He's going to feel left out among the other party leaders in Westminster - Sir Keir, Sir Ed, and Sir Jeffrey...
And he's not even Scottish!
Also, I noticed Steve did not get a title yesterday. I can only assume this is because he is a man of the people who refuses the reactionary rewards of a corrupt class system. Well done, Steve.
-sean
Sean - I imagine they're all holding out for peerages, like Pritti - that's the usual reward for Tory ministers who lose their seats.
ReplyDeletePhillip
Maybe next month, Phillip, when Liz of the 49 days gets her go at a resignation honours list...
ReplyDeleteAlthough is it particularly a Tory thing? The SNP won't go to the Lords - and the more sensible Sinn Fein won't even go to the Commons - but the other main parties are all up for a bit of ennoblement aren't they?
Although to be fair I don't expect we'll see the previous leader of the Labour party becoming a knight or lord.
-sean
That was a bit of a shock about Boris quiting......"for now" I fully assume that he expects to return as an MP and their leader afer the Tory collapse at the next election like a Phoenix from the flames saving the party ... wont happen though
ReplyDeleteIf only your boris and our trump could share the same jail cell…
ReplyDeleteMa ma Ma, maybe that could be the next subject for Steve does Comics open microphone? Trump and boris have to share the same jail cell… How do they amuse themselves?
ReplyDeleteCharlie, Boris Johnson was born in New York so maybe he could be Trump's running mate in 2024?
ReplyDeleteBut why is Trump even still in the race? He tried to stage a coup to stay in power, he was recently convicted of rape and now he's been charged with illegally keeping classified documents but despite all that he's still allowed to run for president. The mind boggles!
Paul, I was surprised Boris Johnson stayed an MP for as long as he did! I suppose he never had to turn up to Parliament so it was worth his while keeping the job for the pay and expenses (and legal aid). But still - you'd think the liberal Remoaner elite would have got rid of him sooner.
ReplyDeleteSeriously though, the 'Party-gate' enquiry would have pushed him out before the next election anyway. So its better for him to resign - that way, he can say he didn't lose his seat, and try to shape a 'witch-hunt' narrative.
As for him making a comeback, I wouldn't put it past the English electorate...
-sean
Good gosh… Lot of big guns in the album chart: Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Beatles, McCartney, Led Zep, Pink Flioyd… What a year for music! Ohh… Donnie Osmond also has 2 albums in the top 50!!!
ReplyDeleteAnd better than any of that, Donovan's 'Cosmic Wheels'!
ReplyDelete-sean