1975 Top Thirteen

Some real big hitters this year, with Queen and 10CC, but the Glam Rockers are defo giving way and the epic Jive Talkin' foreshadows the Bee Gees chart takeover a couple of years down the line.

1) Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody - 11-1975
2) Helen Reddy - Angie Baby - 02-1975
3) 10CC - I'm Not In Love - 06-1975
4) Minnie Riperton - Loving You - 04-1975
5) Slade - How Does it Feel? - 02-1975
6) Billy Swan - I Can Help - 01-1975
7) The Average White Band - Pick Up The Pieces - 03-1975
8) The Bee Gees - Jive Talkin' - 06-1975
9) Gloria Gaynor - Never Can Say Goodbye - 01-1975
10) Supertramp - Dreamer - 03-1975
11) Leo Sayer - Moonlighting - 09-1975
12) The Chi-Lites - Have You Seen Her/Oh Girl - 07-1975
13) Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel - Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me) - 02-1975


And, as ever, the ones bubbling under - still the odd novelty song creeping up on my blind side.
Ace - How Long? - 03-1975
David Bowie - Space Oddity - 10-1975
The Eagles –Lyin’ Eyes – 06-1975
Pilot - January - 02-1975
Greg Lake - I Believe In Father Christmas - 12-1975
Slade - In For A Penny - 12 -1975
The Four Seasons - Who Loves You? - 10-1975
Hot Chocolate - You Sexy Thing - 11-1975
Andy Fairweather-Low - Wide Eyed And Legless - 12-1975
Roxy Music - Love Is The Drug - 11-1975
David Essex - Hold Me Close - 09-1975
Stevie Wonder - Boogie On Reggae Woman - 02-1975
John Lennon - Imagine - 11-1975
Linda Lewis - It's In His Kiss - 08-1975
The Stylistics - Can't Give You Anything (But My Love) - 08-1975
Shirley & Company - Shame, Shame, Shame - 02-1975
Peter Wingfield - Eighteen With A Bullet - 07-1975
Moments & Whatnauts - Girls - 03-1975
The Bay City Rollers - Bye Bye Baby - 03-1975
Peter Shelley - Love Me Love My Dog - 04-1975
Typically Tropical - Barbados - 07-1975
Abba - S.O.S. - 10-1975
The Bay City Rollers - Give A Little Love - 07-1975
The Blackbyrds - Walking in Rhythm - 03-1975
Susan Cadogan - Hurts So Bad - 05-1975
David Bowie - Golden Years - 12-1975
Susan Cadogan - Hurt So Good - 05-1975
Glen Campbell - Rhinestone Cowboy - 11-1975
Jim Capaldi - Love Hurts - 11-1975
The Carpenters - Only Yesterday - 05-1975
Judy Collins - Send In The Clowns - 05-1975
Billy Connolly - D.I.V.O.R.C.E. - 11-1975
Dana - It's Gonna Be Cold Cold Christmas - 12-1975
Windsor Davies & Don Estelle - Whispering Grass - 05-1975
The Drifters - There Goes My First Love - 09-1975
The Eagles – One of These Nights – 0?-1975
The Eagles – Take it to the Limit – 0?-1975
David Essex - Stardust - 01-1975
Fox - Only You Can - 03-1975
Art Garfunkel - I Only Have Eyes For You - 09-1975
Gloria Gaynor - Reach Out I'll Be There - 04-1975
Jim Gilstrap - Swing Your Daddy - 04-1975
Bobby Goldsboro - Honey - 04-1975
Justin Hayward & John lodge - Blue Guitar - 11-1975
Jigsaw - Sky High - 11-1975
Elton John - Philadelphia Freedom - 04-1975
Judge Dread - Je T'Aime (Moi Non Plus) - 07-1975
KC & The Sunshine Band - That's The Way (I Like It) - 08-1975
Kenny - The Bump - 01-1975
Kenny - Fancy Pants - 03-1975
Jonathan King - Una Paloma Blanca - 10-1975
Mac & Katie Kissoon - Sugar Candy Kisses - 02-1975
Gladys Knight & The Pips - The Way We Were/Try To Remember - 05-1975
Gladys Knight & The Pips - The Best Thing That Ever Happened - 08-1975
Kraftwerk - Autobahn - 06-1975
Love Unlimited - It May Be Winter Outside (But In My Heart It's Spring) - 03-1975
Barry Manilow - Mandy - 03-197
Johnny Mathis - I'm Stone In Love With You - 03-1975
Van McCoy - The Hustle - 06-1975
George McCrae - It's Been So Long - 08-1975
Mud - The Secrets That You Keep - 02-1975
Mud - Oh Boy - 04-1975
Johnny Nash - Tears On My Pillow - 06-1975
Nazareth - My White Bicycle - 07-1975
Maxine Nightingale - Right Back Where We Started from - 11-1975
Donny & Marie Osmond - Morning Side Of The Mountain - 01-1975
The Osmonds - The Proud One - 06-1975
Queen - Now I'm Here - 02-1975
Esther Phillips - What A Diff'rence A Day Makes - 11-1975
Demis Roussos - Happy To Be An Island In The Sun - 12-1975
The Rubettes - I Can Do It - 03-1975
Telly Savalas - If - 03-1975
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band - Delilah - 08-1975
Showaddywaddy - Three Steps To Heaven - 05-1975
Showaddywaddy - Heartbeat - 09-1975
Smokey - If You Think You Know How To Love Me - 08-1975
Billie Jo Spears - Blanket On The Ground - 08-1975
Chris Spedding - Motor Biking - 09-1975
Status Quo - Roll Over Lay Down - 06-1975
Steeleye Span - All Around My Hat - 12-1975
Ray Stevens - Misty - 07-1975
Rod Stewart - Sailing - 08-1975
Rod Stewart - This Old Heart Of Mine - 11-1975
The Stylistics - Star On A TV Show - 02-1975
The Stylistics - Sing Baby Sing - 05-1975
Sweet - Fox On The Run - 04-1975
10cc - Life Is A Minestrone - 04-1975
10cc – Art for Art’s Sake – 11-1975
The Three Degrees - Take Good Care Of Yourself - 05-1975
The Trammps - Hold Back The Night - 11-1975
The Tymes - Ms Grace - 01-1975
Frankie Valli - My Eyes Adored You - 03-1975
Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons - The Night - 05-1975
Wings -Listen To What The Man Said - 06-1975
Tammy Wynette - Stand By Your Man - 05-1975
Tammy Wynette - D.I.V.O.R.C.E. - 07-1975

70s Sweethearts - Linda's Lament

You have 11 days left to pick up the third Calamity Chicks book - Linda's Lament at the pre-order price of £2.22/$2.99.

Here's the skinny:

Almost Famous meets 10 Things I Hate About You with elements of  Queen's Gambit.
How many twelve-year-old girls have toured the UK and Europe with a rock band? Lin thinks she’s pretty unique, but it comes at a cost. Firstly, as accidental witness to the antics of groupies, and secondly when she draws the attention of the band’s creepy manager. She’s pretty sure his daughter never gave those kind of squeezy hugs when she was alive, but if Lin tells anyone, her dad could lose his job.

Her mother’s outrage at an innocent childhood crush results in her incarceration in a super-strict convent school whose first priority is not teaching maths or English, but discipline. When she finally gets to the grammar school, she’s missed her chance with the only person who’s never made her feel fat, ugly or a nuisance, because he now has a lovely girlfriend.

At sixteen, after gruelling exams, the family holidays in Spain, where she meets a local lad with amore on his mind. Carlos is everything she isn’t – slim, beautiful and completely comfortable in his skin – and for some inexplicable reason, he seems to like her. She’s already missed out on one romance because of her unworthiness – should she go against her instincts and succumb to his expert seduction?

This cheeky piece of British nostalgia features plucky girls escaping from hairy situations, several handsome hunks, a whole lot of rock bands, and a couple of nasty villains. Feel free to boo and hiss.

1970s Hair and Makeup

Who can forget the bright blue eyeshadow that went all the way up to the eyebrows, bronze blusher and red lips in the early 70s? Eventually, common sense set in and it got more subtle as they lulled in au-naturel styles before the thick black OTT punk styles at the end of the decade.

Early-mid 70s What were we thinking?

As for hair - a bit of a cop-out, because I need to focus on Linda's last few chapters, so I'll let these awesome pix tell the story. I've included late 60s and early 80s, because they had so many iconic pix.

As soon as I can find it, I'll credit the awesome website who did all the work for me this week!

1974 Top Thirteen

Finally, at fourteen, I was allowed to go to the Friday night disco in my friend's village hall and it felt so-oo glamorous and exciting. Proper grown up with all the older kids, including my first proper boyfriend.
Glam Rock was still around, but for me this was when the soul stuff I loved started turning into disco with Disco Tex, KC and the Sunshine Band and George McCrae's unforgettable Rock Your Baby.
Somewhere in between we had the likes of Cockney Rebel, The Rubettes and Mud. C'mon, own up to putting those thumbs in your belt hooks to do the classic box-step to Tiger Feet.

1) Bachman-Turner Overdrive - You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet -12-1974
2) The Hollies - The Air That I Breathe - 03-1974
3) George McCrae - Rock Your Baby - 07-1974
4) R. Dean Taylor - There's A Ghost In My House - 06-1974
5) Slade - Everyday - 04-1974
6) Paul McCartney & Wings - Band On The Run - 07-1974
7) David Bowie - Rebel Rebel - 02-1974
8) Queen - Seven Seas Of Rhye - 04-1974
9) Golden Earring - Radar Love - 01-1974
10) Ringo Starr - You're Sixteen - 03-1974
11) The Stylistics - You Make Me Feel Brand New - 08-1974
12) The Chi-Lites - Homely Girl - 04-1974
13) Terry Jacks - Seasons In The Sun - 03-1974

So much good music, I could have added at least half a dozen more.
Doobie Brothers – Listen to the Music – 03-74
Kiki Dee – I Got the Music in Me – 09-74
Paul McCartney & Wings - Jet - 03-1974
Mud - Tiger Feet - 01-1974
The Hues Corporation - Rock The Boat - 05-1974
Cozy Powell - Dance With The Devil - 01-1974
Johnny Bristol - Hang On In There Baby - 09-1974
Eric Clapton - I Shot The Sheriff - 08-1974
Cockney Rebel - Judy Teen - 06-1974
Lynsey De Paul - No Honestly - 11-1974
Lulu - The Man Who Sold The World - 02-1974
Disco Tex & The Sex-O-Lettes - Get Dancing - 12-1974
The Drifters - Kissin' In The Back Row Of The Movies - 07-1974
Bryan Ferry - The In Crowd - 06-1974
Hot Chocolate - Emma - 03-1974
KC & The Sunshine Band - Queen Of Clubs - 09-1974
Andy Kim - Rock Me Gently - 09-1974
Robert Knight - Love On A Mountain Top - 01-1974
Mud - The Cat Crept In - 04-1974
Alan Price - Jarrow Song - 06-1974
Suzi Quatro - Devil Gate Drive - 02-1974
Charlie Rich - The Most Beautiful Girl - 04-1974
The Rubettes - Juke Box Jive - 11-1974
Santana – Samba Pa Ti - 09-1974
Leo Sayer - One Man Band - 06-1974
Elton John - Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds - 12-1974
Gary Shearston - I Get A Kick Out Of You - 10-1974
The Sparks - This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us - 05-1974
Jim Stafford - Spiders & Snakes - 05-1974
The Sweet - Teenage Rampage - 01-1974
The Three Degrees - When Will I See You Again - 07-1974
Stevie Wonder - He's Misstra Know It All - 05-1974
Elton John - Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds - ??-1974
Barry White - You're The First, The Last, My Everything - 11-1974

70s Food

At the start of the seventies, my folks owned a newsagent so, as you can imagine, I formed a very close relationship with chocolate.
How many of these do you remember? I think Mars Bars, Twix and Kitkat are still my favourites, although nowadays, I only allow myself one piece on a Friday, because they have no calories on that day.

As I remember, we used to have a weekly delivery from the "pop man" who would bring every imaginable flavour - I remember Dandelion and Burdock being a favourite.

Set menus were much more common at home - a hang on from the fifties after rationing finally stopped. Fish on Friday - usually from the chippy, or occasionally a "Chinky do" - we made our own dim sum by ordering half a dozen dishes from the local Chinese restaurant. Sunday was traditionally a roast, even in the summer - I can remember lazing on the back lawn with a small glass of sherry while the joint roasted. Saturday saw dishes created from scratch using fresh ingredients – almost every recipe started with slicing an onion, and we had around a dozen different recipes we'd alternate. Quickest was bacon, onion and potato casserole, all the way through to a complex moussaka. Making a béchamel sauce from scratch was a real skill.
On weekdays, we were more likely to open tinned vegtables with chops or a Fray Bentos pie - you opened the flat tin and the pale pastry rose to many times its thickness, turning golden brown.
So many things came in tins from peaches and pineapple to semolina and hot dog sausages. No such thing as sell-by dates, we had enough tins in the cupboard to outlast a siege, and you only chucked them away if the lid began to bulge. And only then after opening them to make sure they weren't still edible.

Those were the days! And yet, we had far fewer food allergies and eating disorders. The advent of Homepride cook-in sauces in 1974 meant one could do coq-au-vin or chicken in white wine sauce with very little prep. The early jars were a real treat, although we never understood the thing making them so tasty was a bunch of added salt and sugar.

Dinner parties: the fondue set was a must, along with cheese & pineapple hedgehogs, cheese straws, Twiglets, cocktail sausages, vol-au-vents and garlic mushrooms. No party was complete without a Quiche Lorraine (tomato and bacon), and people were inspired by holidays abroad - adding pizza, gazpacho and paella, and meals from Indian and Chinese restaurants, with Homepride helping to make chicken curry or sweet and sour pork.

Eating out. Anyone who was there in the 70s will remember the classics: Prawn cocktail or Melon for starters, Mixed Grill or Steak, Black Forest gateau or lemon meringue pie. It was rare to find a vegetarian option, the attitude was "just don't eat the meat."

1973 Top Thirteen

As you can tell by the long list of also rans, this was when I really began to develop a massive love affair with music - mostly the rockier side of pop with oodles of Queen, Bowie, ELO, Fleetwood Mac etc. Still hanging on to a stack of soul and a goodly amount of boppy ones - what can I tell you?
I AM a dancer.

These are my top thirteen:
1) Stevie Wonder - Living for the city -11-1973
2) Wings - Live And Let Die - 06-1973
3) Thin Lizzy - Whiskey In The Jar - 02-1973
4) David Bowie - Sorrow - 10-73
5) Ike & Tina Turner - Nutbush City Limits - 10-1973
6) Roberta Flack - Killing Me Softly With His Song - 03-1973
7) Bobby Goldsboro - Summer (The First Time) - 08-1973
8) David Essex - Rock On - 09-1973
9) The Isley Brothers - (Who's) That Lady - 10-1973
10) Barry Blue - (Dancing) On A Saturday Night - 08-1973
11) Lynsey De Paul - Won't Somebody Dance With Me - 10-1973
12) Hot Chocolate - Brother Louie - 05-1973
13) Billy Paul - Me And Mrs. Jones - 02-1973

And just bubbling under:
David Bowie - Life On Mars - 07-1973
Manfred Mann's Earth Band - Joybringer - 10-1973
Mott The Hoople - Roll Away The Stone - 12-1973
David Bowie - Drive-In Saturday - 04-1973
The Rolling Stones - Angie - 09-1973
The Sweet - Blockbuster - 01-1973
Nazareth - Bad Bad Boy - 08-1973
The Detroit Emeralds - Feel The Need In Me - 03-1973
Drifters - Like Sister And Brother - 09-1973
The Electric Light Orchestra - Roll Over Beethoven - 02-1973
Fleetwood Mac - Albatross - 06-1973
Stealer's Wheel - Stuck In The Middle With You - 06-1973
Focus - Sylvia - 02-1973
Status Quo - Caroline - 10-1973
Free - All Right Now - 08-1973
Paul McCartney & Wings - My Love - 04-1973
Roxy Music - Street Life - 12-1973
Carly Simon - You're So Vain - 01-1973
Leo Sayer - The Show Must Go On - 12-1973
The Sweet - Ballroom Blitz - 09-1973
10cc - Rubber Bullets - 06-1973
First Choice - Smarty Pants - 08-1973
Slade - Cum on Feel the Noise - ??-1973
Stevie Wonder- Superstition - ??-1973
David Bowie- Jean Genie - ??-1973
Lynyrd Skynyrd- Freebird - ??-1973
Elton John- Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - ??-1973
Limmie and the Family Cooking - You Can Do Magic - ??-1973
Diana Ross- Touch me in the Morning - ??-1973
Kiki Dee - Amoureuse - ??-1973
Free - Wishing Well - ??-1973
The Detroit Spinners - Ghetto Child - ??-1973
The Doobie Brothers - Long Train Running - ??-1973
Stevie Wonder- You Are the Sunshine of my Life - ??-1973

My 1970s Movies

Although back in 1970s UK, we called them films, not movies - but you know how much I love a little alliteration! When choosing my top three from each year, I based many of these films on my current tastes – pretty sure I wouldn’t have enjoyed Telly Savalas’ band of misfit soldiers at 10 years old. But heck, it had Clint Eastwood, as did many of my faves from the 70s.
You may think the following lists woefully incomplete, but the majority of others getting a mention were ones I’ve heard of – not necessarily the highest grossing or critically acclaimed. And you’ll notice a bunch of musicals and horror among the action and rom-coms.

1970 – Two Mules for Sister Sara, Kelly’s Heroes, MASH.

Airport, Love Story, The Aristocats, Ryan’s Daughter, Catch-22, The Owl and the Pussycat, The Railway Children.

1971 – Shaft, Dirty Harry, Get Carter.
Klute, Play Misty for Me, Duel, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Fiddler on the Roof, Diamonds Are Forever, Walkabout,
Escape from the Planet of the Apes, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, The Beguiled, A Clockwork Orange.

1972 – Sleuth, What’s Up Doc, The Poseidon Adventure.
The Godfather, Last Tango in Paris, Silent Running, Cabaret, Frenzy, The Getaway, The Way of the Dragon, The Mechanic, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, Deliverance.

1973 – Live and Let Die, The Sting, The Three Musketeers.
The Exorcist, Enter The Dragon, The Way We Were, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Day of the Jackal, Magnum Force, The Wicker Man, American Graffiti, High Plains Drifter, Papillon, Serpico, Paper Moon, A Touch of Class, Badlands.

1974 – Death Wish, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, Blazing Saddles.
Murder on the Orient Express, The Man with the Golden Gun, The Towering Inferno, The Land That Time Forgot, The Great Gatsby, Confessions of a Window Cleaner, The Odessa File, Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

1975 – One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Jaws, The Stepford Wives, The Man Who Would Be King, The Return of the Pink Panther, Tommy, Funny Lady, Shampoo, Rollerball, Three Days of the Condor, Rooster Cogburn, Shivers.

1976 – Carrie, Bugsy Malone, The Slipper and the Rose.
A Star is Born, The Outlaw Josey Wales, The Eagle Has Landed, The Man Who Fell to Earth, Marathon Man, The Omen, Logan’s Run, King Kong, Rocky, Taxi Driver, All the President's Men.

1977 – Saturday Night Fever, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Star Wars.
Smokey and the Bandit, The Spy Who Loved Me, Goodbye Girl, A Bridge Too Far, The Hills Have Eyes. The Deep, The Gauntlet Annie Hall, Black Joy.

1978 – Grease, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Every Which Way but Loose.

Superman, Death on the Nile, Halloween, Blue Collar, Heaven Can Wait, The Wild Geese, Battlestar Galactica, Convoy, Coma, Damien: Omen II, The Boys from Brazil, The Deer Hunter, Midnight Express.

1979 – Alien, Life of Brian, Star Trek.
Mad Max, 10, Moonraker, Kramer vs. Kramer, The Amityville Horror, Escape from Alcatraz, Time After Time, Apocalypse Now, All That Jazz, Being There.


Hands up if you remember trying to get into an X-rated (18+) film when you’re only thirteen. For me, that was Enter the Dragon and, guess what? My (strict) mum and dad took me to see it!
The old film ratings changed on 1st July 1970, with the A rating going from 11+ to 8+, an extra level AA for 14+ and the X rating going up from 16+ to 18+.