1976 is considered by many to be the worst year for the charts, well in the 20th century at least. There were no new entries in the first week, when going through the 5 new entries in the 2nd week the word that sprang to mind was silly.
The only one of these I didn't consider silly was "Evil Woman" by ELO. One thing I remember from the early days of the Top of the Pops reruns is ELO having by far the best record on the episode and this is true of this batch of records.
We have "We Do It", the only hit for UK/US husband/wife duo R&J Stone known for it's subject matter. I do quite like the record though. Then there's The Miracles who by now were without Smokey Robinson with "Love Machine" which is essentially about a sex robot. Not a bad record but they've done better.
Then there's "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover" by Paul Simon, the "hop on the bus Gus" record which is definitely silly. The subject matter of "Tears On The Telephone" by Claude Francois is actually quite serious but the song itself just sounds like a nursery rhyme.
It became more of a tough listen after that and I had to do it in installments as I was losing the will to live. One record I refused to listen to was "December 63" by The Four Seasons so on that basis it finishes bottom. I've always found it really irritating.
One of the surprise records was "Lies In Your Eyes" by The Sweet. I generally find their brand of glam rock a bit naff but this is a hard rock record.
I would say there are 3 main reasons why 1976 is poor based on this batch. First are the 60s acts past their prime, I've already mentioned The Four Seasons and The Miracles but we also have The Who and The Walker Brothers who have both gone down the country route.
The 2nd reason is the naff covers of older hits, for example "Answer Me" by Barbara Dickson, "Deep Purple" by Dony & Marie Osmond, "Baby Face" by Wing And A Prayer Fife And Drum Corps and "Just One Look" by Faith Hope & Charity.
The final reason is too much disco music. I'm not anti-disco and there are some great disco records out there. However when not done well it can be quite abysmal and this is a consequence of everyone jumping on the disco bandwagon.
Even the ever reliable Motown can't produce the goods this time. We have the only solo record from former Temptations member David Ruffin with "Walk Away From Love" which is alright but didn't have much impact on me. Then there's the only hit for Yvonne Fair with "It Should Have Been Me" which I find a bit boring.
Not a great year then but is it the worst so far? Yes, along with 1955.
Score: 27
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