April -Rollin' It Over

April –Rollin’ It Over/ Come On Down – PYE 7N 45462 (1975 UK)

Crap name for a band, but this Tony Hatch produced single is a nifty example of up-tempo Glam Pop. Rollin’ It Over is like a Bay City Rollers tune with loud power chords, a driving Glitter beat and a sing-along chorus.. Add a bit of Bilbo Baggins with a little Bo’ Flyers thrown in and you should get the idea. Not a stupendous find, but pleasing all the same. The B side is also good and very much in the same mould.

Sweeney Todd –Roxy Roller / Moonquake –Remember

Sweeney Todd –Roxy Roller/ Rue De Chance - London HLU 10540 (UK 1976)

For some reason I seem to have half a dozen Nick Gilder albums scattered about my music room, but this single is his ultimate moment and both songs are probably the choice cuts from the first Sweeney Todd album (recorded before pot-marked Bryan Adams came along) . Roxy Roller is simply a fantastic Glam/ Power Pop Rocker and is up there with the best singles released in the 70’s. It certainly has the grit and attitude missing from the rest of Nick Gilder’s output.

Moonquake – Remember/ This Winter –London HLU 10446 (UK 1974)

I reviewed the first Moonquake album back in the May archives and the 2 best songs from the album are coupled here together and make this one hell of a great single. This version of Remember is edited (removing most of the 2nd lead break), but this is all you really need . Forget albums…SINGLES RULE !!!!!


Staying with Canadian artists released on London Records, the B side of April Wine’s Child’s Garden single –The Whole World’s Goin' Crazy is a fine Glam Rock tune with silly vari-speeded backing vocals ( London HLU 10544 UK 1976)

Click below for a clip of Roxy Roller

Wants...

Hi
Here are a few elusive singles I'm currently looking for. If you have copies or any ideas please email me

Hector -Wired Up -DJM
Spiv -Oh You Beautiful Child -Pye
Phoenix -Pictures Of You -Dawn
Snatch -Shout it Out -Polydor?
Daddy Maxfield -Rave N Rock
Soho Jets -Hi Heel Tarzan -Polydor
Thanks

Smokestack Crumble –Got A Bad Leg

Smokestack Crumble –Got A Bad Leg/ Whisky Macaroni –Dawn DNS 1013 (1971 UK)

Had to pick this one up on the strength of name alone. I was also intrigued as it was produced by Keith Relf as I quite liked the Medecine Head album he produced on Dandelion around the same time. The A side is OK in a 70’s Hard Rock kind of way, but I much prefer the B side as it features a loud cowbell and the guitar is nice and raucous. In fact I’m pretty sure this is Vic Malcom on guitar prior to starting up Geordie. The vocals are pretty raspy, but I have no idea if this is Brian Johnson or not. A so-so release in any case.

Tag – Off Down The Road

Tag – Off Down The Road / Guitar Love - Philips 6006 477 (1975 UK)

Of all the singles I picked up recently, for some reason this is the one that I keep returning to over and over again. Off Down The Road is a loud Pop number with an intriguingly constructed tune that grows on you and yet is instantly catchy at the same time. It has a real big sound with piano, a relentless beat, exuberant guitar playing plus the usual Glam trappings (handclaps, Heys etc…but not in the usual context). Off Down The Road has a very special something that I can’t quite put my finger on and is a hugely enjoyable find.
The B side is a 50’s style slightly left-of-field Rocker featuring a Les Gray/ Elvis pastiche lead vocal, some neat guitar, another loud and full production and is also well worth revisiting. Both sides were produced by Brian Keith –has anyone got any background information on this release?

Click on title for soundclip

Plastic Feet – Big Blond Baby

Plastic Feet – Big Blond Baby/ Magic Queen - Negram NG 400 (1974 NL)

Boy do these guys look camp or what… or maybe they’re just Dutch.
Anyhow Big Blond Baby is a great mid-tempo Stomper with at least 386 HEYs and 128 Hey Heys throughout…. It has handclaps, a nifty guitar riff, a raspy Noddy Holder –like lead vocal and a cool melodic chorus (Hey Hey -Your Papa don’t mind, Hey Hey -your Mama is kind ????). The B side is simply adequate no more, no less.

Click on title for soundclip

Blackfoot Sue – a couple of clips for the weekend…

It’s easy to forget just how great these guys could be…I hope you’ll enjoy the pounding marching groove of Standing In The Road and the wild ending of its near identical follow-up Sing Don’t Speak

Oliver Day – Crazy Love

Oliver Day –Crazy Love/ Let The Music - Bus Stop BUS 1025 (1975 UK)

Crazy Love is a fun and commercial up tempo Glam pop single. Oliver’s vocal performance is a real hoot coming on like a Cartoon Steve Harley extending vowels into oblivion, but ends up sounding more like Billy Hamon of Butch Things “fame”(check out April’s archives). It has an obvious All The Young Dudes - Mott The Hoople guitar cop, a sing-along-chorus and nutty laughter on the fade out, but the outcome is a lesson on how to add all the ingredients, but cock up the mix and completely miss out on TOTPS! The B side Let The Music is a riotous fast paced Rocker and is well worth checking out as well.

Click on title for a full version of Crazy Love

Mustard – Good Time Comin’

Mustard –Good Time Comin’/ I Saw I Heard –EMI 2165 (UK 1974)

I’m amazed at the quantity (and yes –sometimes quality) of Glam singles still to be discovered out there. This single by Mustard is another prime corker. This single is loud and I mean really LOUD, it literally burst out from the vinyl…It’s a real heavy Cruncher, but without any Hard Rock histrionics. It has a great overdriven guitar sound, non-stop handclaps and a very peculiar pseudo-Rockabilly guitar break accentuated by a honking sax…and the handclapping storm-troopers march on and on throughout… The B side is really good too with its metallic clanging power chords, wild guitar solo and… yes, handclaps! Glam as the new Freakbeat? –discuss at your leisure…

Click in title for soundclip

The Jets – Yeah!

The Jets – Yeah! / Rusty Corinthian Pillar –Cube 2016 063 (French issue 1973)


The A side is a real winner with a totally amazing production job. It definitely sounds like some frustrated session guys, having had their fill with Gary, decided one afternoon to ape the Glitter Sound and have a hit with it….and they failed magnificently. OK the song is very pleasingly minimalist and real close to Do You Want To Touch Me (Oh Yeah!) with a bit of I Didn’t Know I loved You (Till I Saw You Rock And Roll) thrown in for good measure, but the sound is just incredible. They most likely attempted The Mike Leander Drum Sound, but then decided that they could improve on it. The Glitter pounding is there, but they went even more over the top with the double tracking and tape delay. They even ride and push the drum track faders up during the song! Incredible. On top of this you get all the dorky space synth/ Moog bits all over the place. There are also a few dissonant chord progressions near the end that I guess betray their pretentious muso leanings. The B side is proof of this as it’s a totally nasty and unlistenable progressive Jazz Rock instrumental...AAARRGH! (For the B side), but a very loud YEAH! For the A.

Click below for soundclip