The first question I have to ask when looking at the list and listening to the records is have we gone back to the 50s?
Elvis Presley, Cliff Richard, Perry Como and Petula Clark all have records here and all were charting in the 50s. The worst of these was "Song Of My Life" by Petula Clark. She'd enjoyed a revival in the 60s by adapting to a Motown type sound but here for her final original Top 40 hit she's very much gone back to the 60s.
Add Dawn to the mix who at this stage was basically Tony Orlando under a false name we are saying a quarter of the acts here were charting pre-Beatles. Speaking of The Beatles, George Harrison became the first band member to top the charts with a solo record with "My Sweet Lord". A decent record but has to settle for 4th place in this list.
The top record comes from Ashton, Gardner & Dyke with "Resurrection Shuffle", their only Top 40 hit. Ashton and Dyke had their routes in the mersey beat scene as part of The Remo Four and were part of George Harrisons backing band on his debut solo album in 1968.
Badfinger had their 2nd single in as many years with "No Matter What". This was written by band member Pete Ham as opposed to Paul McCartney who wrote their debut.
Also up near the top are a couple of Motown records. We have "(Come Round Here) I'm The One You Need" by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles which was a 1966 record revived by the Northern Soul movement. Then we have The Supremes who were now without Diana Ross in the group but could still make a good record. Down near the bottom we have a Motown cover by Jonathan King under the alias Weathermen which just sounds like a poor karaoke version.
In terms of new artists we have the debut of Tony Christie with "Las Vegas". Not a bad record but a bit old fashioned for the time. We also have the debut of Elton John with "Your Song", a song I do like but would put it in the easy listening category. I'd say the same for The Carpenters with their 2nd hit "We've Only Just Begun".
I could be said that the presence of The Beatles improved the overall quality of the music in the charts therefore the lack of The Beatles brought down the overall quality. Either way this is the worst score since The Beatles first came about.
Score: 37
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