Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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Fifty years ago this week saw no change at the peak of the UK singles chart, with Suzi Quatro's party-pleasing Devil Gate Drive retaining its stranglehold on the Number One slot.
However, it was a different kettle of rock on the accompanying album chart which saw Slade's Old, New, Borrowed and Blue usurp the Carpenters' greatest hits to seize the crown therein.
But perhaps they won't have to.
When General Ross and his men show up to peacekeep the place to smithereens, it's surely not going to take much work for Maximus to trick our hero into joining forces with him.
Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, in a bid to cure his blindness, Matt Murdock's visiting a European state ruled by one of his old college friends.
But that college friend is a ruthless dictator and the required eye surgeon promptly dies in a revolt.
In the watery depths, the Fantastic Four are still helping the Sub-Mariner overcome an invasion attempt by Attuma's hordes - without letting Subby know they're even there.
And Hawkeye can't help them because he's stuck in New York, delayed by the inconvenience of having to battle the Beetle who, for some reason, has decided to single-handedly invade the Avengers Mansion!
Tragically, my knowledge of what occurs in this week's Dr Strange tale is as limited as it so often is.
The second Spider-Slayer launches its deadly attack and gives Spidey a run for his money until the webby wonder realises the robot's attracted to anything spidery and, thus, lures it back to its creator's lab where the multiple spiders kept there for research purposes cause it to explode like the blundering oaf it is.
In Iron Man's strip, communist spy the Actor steals Tony Stark's latest plans and discovers Iron Man's secret identity!
Needless to say, Iron Man wastes no time in tricking that spy's overlords into murdering him.
With Odin miffed at Thor for having revealed his secret identity to Jane Foster, the thunder god returns to Earth, looking to be reunited with his beloved.
Only to find her hitting the town, with Hercules!
Infuriated by such shenanigans, Thor quickly comes to blows with the Olympian but how long can it be before Odin puts a spoke in the works?
And we finish the book with a Tale of Asgard in which Balder saves the ship he's on, by blowing a horn which causes the total destruction of the attacking Dragon of Utgard.
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31 comments:
Steve, your commentaries are so consistently amusing, I tend to take them for granted. To praise all the particularly funny bits, I’d practically have to cut and paste the whole blog post. But this time I will say that “General Ross and his men show up to peacekeep the place to smithereens” actually made me laugh out loud and “puce-panted powerhouse” is REALLY good :D
b.t.
Thanks, bt. :)
Ditto! I come here for Steve-O’s witt and wittisims! All all the others do make this a great place to hang out! CH
Worth noting, ar least in america, is Red Bone’s “Come and Get Your Love”
climbing the chartz! I have to wonder if it hit #1 with Guardians of the Galaxy a la Kate Bush’s Running up that Hill with Stranger Things?
Charlie, Wikipedia says “Come and Get Your Love” had a “resurgence of popularity” after the first GOTG movie but doesn’t cite any chart data.
b.t.
Thanks b.t. I think we are same age (62)? It was a very popular tune in jr. high in the Midwest.
I agree with b.t. about 'puce-panted powerhouse', Steve - you've set yourself a high bar for next weeks post with that one. You better get busy with the thesaurus...
If you're not sure what happens in Dr Strange, surely the easiest option currently is to say that the strip features more of the Dormammu/Mordo storyline? It went on for quite a while (I'm surprised it doesn't get more credit for being one of the first extended Marvel epics).
As it happens, the latest part is 'What Lurks Beneath the Mask', mentioned by our esteemed colleague M.P. under this very feature only a couple of weeks ago. It's a really good one, featuring the first appearance of Rama Kaliph and the aged Genghis as Doc goes searching for the secret of Eternity.
Steve Ditko was really at his peak at this point, and the episode was obviously a big influence on Judo Jim Starlin, who visually referenced it in parts of his Warlock story 'A Thousand Clowns', which iirc was dedicated to Sturdy Steve.
-sean
Cool — this week “Let It Ride” by BTO entered Billboard’s TOP 100 at #37. Unfortunately it never rose any higher than that. Supposedly it was only on the chart this one week — which seems odd, I could have sworn it was a decent-sized hit that hung around for awhile. Oh well!😄
Don Heck’s inks on Kirby’s AVENGERS cover look pretty good , I have to say.
b.t.
For anyone not into Slade or the Carpenters - or even Redbone - Tangerine Dream's 'Phaedra' album came out this week in '74.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIQ0dd7B_FU
It was a bit of a breakthrough for them, not just commercially - since it was released by Virgin rather than the German independent Ohr - but also because it was the first time they used a sequencer.
The EMS Synthi AKS I believe - a more developed form of the VSC3 - also used on 'Dark Side of the Moon' and by the Radiophonic Workshop, and Brian Eno. And Hawkwind, man. Its what the future used to sound like back then in the olden days -
www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-gVTM10Wsg
-sean
This weekend is also 50 years since Ted Heath left office after losing the general election on February 28th which he'd called early, thinking he'd win...oops. The Tories actually got more votes than Labour but fewer seats and coalition talks with the Liberals came to nothing so Heath resigned as Prime-Minister on March 4th.
*VCS3
Obviously. Duh.
-sean
Colin, considering Heath's government had crashed the economy and been running a three day week (with power cuts) its kind of amazing the Tory party got more votes in the election. What a mad country.
(I expect you knew I'd reply with a comment like that ;)
Still, on the subject of elections, I see at least the Workers have won in Rochdale tonight - well ahead of anyone else - and Gorgeous George is headed back to Westminster...
-sean
B.T. I have to agree with your analysis of BTO’s Let It Ride…. I too am surprised since I recall that song being played incessantly on the AM. CH.
I'll fourth 'puce-panted powerhouse' as pick of the post!
Good covers this week. I assume the Hulk/Inhumans story is from the annual that featured the great Steranko cover. Hence why it was changed to Hulk Battles the Inheritor when it was used on MWOM a few months later.
DW
Nay, DW, you'll find the Hulk story is part of Hulk's #119 issue.
Unfortunately, in the UK, BTO's best known hit's "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" -
Mike Smash & Dave Nice's favourite musical full-stop:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG3nNQ7Yn6E
Phillip
Phillip, I googled Smashy and Nicey recently because I'd thought they came along around 1995-96 but I was surprised to read they'd first appeared in 1990. And the big changes to Radio One (which Smashy & Nicey sort of influenced) happened in 1993 not around '96 as I'd thought.
Sean, the Feb 28th 1974 election resulted in a hung parliament and a minority Labour government but there was a second election on October 10th which Labour won with a tiny majority so obviously the voters hadn't forgiven Ted Heath and didn't want him back.
It'll be interesting to see if George Galloway holds Rochdale at the general election or whether Labour takes the seat back again (which is what will probably happen).
Colin - I do that, too! When, a few weeks ago, you mentioned it was 25 years since 'Maria', by Blondie, I thought: "Surely not - that was mid-2000s?" (But it isn't!) I also remember other things as being 'recent', then young assistants tell me: "I've worked here for 8 years, and I've never known of that!" With more accurate recollection, those memories of mine are probably often from the 1990s!
Phillip
Charlie, Sean and DW, thanks for the praise. :)
Phillip, I think “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” was their b-b-b-biggest hit here in the States too (I actually quite like it, myself). “Taking Care Of Business” was their other monster smash hit. Sounds like it didn’t do so well in UK then?
I just listened to “Devil Gate Drive” for the first time. It really wants to be a Sweet song, doesn’t it? Less piano, more guitars and you’re practically there.
b.t.
b.t. - I only know 'Taking Care of Business', because it was featured heavily on American Dad, a few years ago. It was before my time, so I'll defer to my UK seniors, but I'd guess that yes, "You Aint Seen Nothing Yet" was the bigger of the two, over here!
DGD's also a new one on me - it's got definitely a sound of the Sweet, but the listener's kind of expecting it to build to a crescendo that never really happens!
Phillip
Devil Gate Drive was written and produced by Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn who were responsible for most of The Sweet's biggest hits.
Charlie is visiting his very prego daughter in St Louis and decided to walk a few miles and visit the LCBS. To PHILLiP and COLIN’s point i was talking with the owner how i bought the first several issues of DC’s Static in the mid-1970s. He gave me an odd look and , googling, Static started around 1996. Sheesh… only off by 20 years!
Steve:
Ah. Thanks for connecting those dots for me. Makes perfect sense now. I hope It doesn’t make me a sexist pig if i think ‘Devil Gate Drive’ would have been a catchier song if Chapman and Chinn had given it to The Sweet instead.
b.t.
bt, Devil Gate Drive is pretty catchy as sung by Suzi Quatro!
Steve, apparently it was just Chapman who wrote the tunes and did the production, while Nicky Chinn handled the business side of things. Which included wrangling a contract that gave him a co-write credit, that became a major bone of contention between them as Chapman resented what he considered a diversion of his royalties.
According to that recent Suzi Quatro doc on TV that I mentioned last time anyway.
Colin, not sure whats so great about Wilson's lot only winning by two or three seats in the October election, considering what a disaster Heath was. It was a hardly a landslide.
After the February election the Tories would probably even have been able to stay in power if they hadn't pissed off the Ulster Unionists with the Sunningdale agreement.
-sean
Ted Heath took Britain into the Common Market so he deserves praise for that and he didn't change his mind later on and start whining about "socialism by the back door" like Thatcher did. Heath has been described as Britain's only genuine pro-European Prime-Minister which is true because even the supposedly pro-EU Tony Blair demanded opt-outs when it suited him. Ted Heath supported joining the Euro too - I recall a TV debate around 1990 between Heath and Norman Tebbit on the subject of a single currency (Tebbit was opposed natch) and after the debate the studio audience was asked to vote on the issue which resulted in a victory for Heath.
Heath was wrong to take the UK into Europe like that, Colin, without a referendum. The other countries joined at the same time, Denmark and Ireland, held one (as did Norway, which stayed out because theirs went against). Its just a more sensible way of doing things, rather than holding one later.
On the plus side though, at least the Brits joining the (then) EEC meant that old git Enoch Powell lost his Westminster seat in the February '74 election because he wasn't willing to accept the Tory party lÃne on Europe.
Unfortunately he returned to Parliament in October. As an Ulster Unionist MP (proof, if any were needed, that he was mental).
-sean
*The other countries that joined
-sean
Speaking about B.T.O, ah, if anyone is interested in listening to some great hard rock, I might suggest the tracks "Rock is my Life", "Not Fragile" or "Sledgehammer."
They're on the U-tubes!
I recommend headphones, unless you wanna piss your neighbors off.
On another note, one of the comics posted above featured Maximus the Mad. Or Magnificent.
What was that guy's deal, anyway? Did he have any powers, other than being a crazy genius with a bad haircut?
M.P.
Y'know, on reflection, I think maybe Maximus was inspired by the image of an insane Roman emperor.
There were plenty of 'em, take your pick.
That would explain the name and the haircut.
M.P.
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