The first week of 1972 gave us 3 new entries which end up being the bottom 3 in this list. At the bottom we have Neil Reid with "Mother Of Mine". He was a 12 year old who had just won opportunity knocks, so the 70s equivalent of an X Factor winner who sings a dreary winners record and is never seen again.
Just above we have "Morning Has Broken" by Cat Stevens. I just can't get my head round the fact an artist who sung quite ground breaking records like "Matthew & Son" and "I'm Gonna Get Me A Gun" in the 60s thought it would be a good idea to cover a song I used to sing in school assembly and at church.
Then we have Melanie with "Brand New Key". The fact it inspired "Combine Harvester" by The Wurzels don't do it any favours, but even on it's own it's very much a novelty record that's rather irritating.
On a more positive note we have the excellent "Have You Seen Her" by The Chi-Lites at the top of the table. It could be argued that the spoken verses provided some inspiration for rap music a few years later.
In 2nd place we have "American Pie" which I listened to the whole almost 9 minutes of because I like it. I remember the rerelease in 1991 and I didn't know it was an old record but it's one I'd sing along to.
The 3rd placed record "Storm In A Teacup" by the Fortunes also holds some nostalgia circa 1991 for me thanks to a 70s compilation that was often played at home at the time. They were primarily a 60s band who had this as their final Top 40 hit.
Motown was still producing the goods in 1972. Martha Reeves & the Vandella had their final Top 40 hit with "Bless You" whilst Stevie Wonder had a solid record with "If You Really Love Me". We also have a Motown cover but this time it's a decent one. Donnie Elbert recorded a cover of "Where Did Our Love Go" in the 60s and became part of the Northern Soul movement in the 70s.
When I think early 70s one of the first think that springs to mind is glam rock. We have our first example here from T Rex with "Telegram Sam" but to be honest I find it average at best.
A record of note in this batch is "Son Of My Father" which was the first chart topper to use a synthesizer. Unfortunately I just can't get into it.
I'll end with an interest chart stat for you. Badfinger had precisely 3 Top 40 hits, each one a year apart from each other, all released in January and all reached the Top 10. The one in this batch was their final hit "Day After Day" and I'd say are 3 a decent records.
After a terrible start to the year the records generally improved as the month went on.
Score: 43
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