Best Song: Love Affair - Rainbow Valley
Many people only know Love Affair for their chart topper "Everlasting Love" which was a cover of a Robert Knight record. I would highly recommend people listen to their other songs though, most notably this follow up which is also a Robert Knight cover. It's all about where Sue Glover comes in with the backing vocals, that really does it for me.
Worst Song: Sue Nicholls - Where Will You Be
Yes that's right, Audrey from Coronation St once had a Top 40 hit. This was before she was on Coronation St though, at the time she was on Crossroads, another soap. She also sang this on the show and it translated into the charts.
Top 40 Review
There are 3 Motown records in this Top 40, "Ain't Nothin' Like The Real Thing" by Marvin Gaye And Tammi Terrell, "Some Things You Never Get Used To" by Diana Ross And The Supremes, and "Gotta See Jane" by R Dean Taylor. You probably won't be surprised to hear they all get the thumbs up from me.
The other soul records are a mixed bag. I like "Son Of Hickory Holler's Tramp" by OC Smith but don't like "Do You Know The Way To San Jose" by Dionne Warwick. There's also an Otis Redding tribute song by William Bell called "Tribute To A King", a nice idea but musically it's not for me.
It's the week we have the 7+ minute long "MacArthur Park" by Richard Harris otherwise known as the one about the cake in the rain. I personally prefer the Four Tops cover, but like this version too. We also have some psychedelic records in "Fire" by Crazy World Of Arthur Brown and "I Don't Want Our Loving To Die" by Herd, both good records.
At the same time we have some easy listening creeping into the charts. The first act from New Zealand to have a UK Top 40 hit John Rowles had both his hits in this particular chart. We also have a record from TV presenter Des O'Connor. There's also the Italian song "Quando M'Innamoro" by American band The Sandpipers along with and English version by Engelbert Humperdinck called "A Man Without Love".
Much of the charts is simply pop music, no bad thing. I like "Yesterday Has Gone" by Cupid's Inspiration which I don't think sounds too different to American soul records. There's also the debut hit from Marmalade with "Lovin' Things", they're another band I'd recommend people listen to beyond their chart topping Beatles cover. Lulu has another surprisingly good record with "Boy", maybe I should look beyond the big hits with her.
The standard has been set with 1966 and 1967 getting decent scores and I'm afraid to say 1968 hasn't quite lived up to that. Less Motown, more easy listening has probably done that. Still it's not a bad score and not far behind.
Score: 17.5
Table
No change at the top then with 1968 coming in 3rd. Just one more year of the 60s to go:
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