#727: Young And Restless by Prism
Peak Month: July 1980
10 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #9
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Young And Restless”
Lyrics: “Young And Restless”
In 1967 a new rock group appeared on the Vancouver scene called the Seeds of Time. They had several local hits including “My Home Town” and “Crying The Blues”. There were a number of lineup changes, but the bands personnel included drummer Rocket Norton, guitarist Lindsay Mitchell, and bassist Al Harlow. These three reunited after the Seeds of Time disbanded in 1974. After a brief stint as an R&B band called Sunshyne, they became Prism under Lindsay Mitchell’s initiative. In the band were new singer Ron Tabak, bassist Tom Lavin, keyboard player John Hall and drummer Rodney Higgs. Higgs was actually a pseudonym for Jim Vallance, the future songwriting partner of Bryan Adams. The band released a self-titled album in 1977 that included two local singles “Take Me To The Kaptin” and “It’s Over”. Anther single, “Spaceship Superstar”, made the Top Ten in Ottawa, Hamilton and London (ON) in the winter of 1977-78.
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#728: Senses Working Overtime by XTC
Peak Month: May 1982
11 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #12
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Senses Working Overtime”
Lyrics: “Senses Working Overtime”
Colin Ivor Moulding was born in 1955 in Swindon, England. Moulding is self-taught as a bass player; he was learning rock riffs at the age of 15. Terry Peter Chambers was born in 1955 in Swindon. At age 14 he bought a drum kit and learned to play drums. Andrew John Partridge was born in Malta in 1953. He grew up in Swindon and wrote his first song at the age of 15. In 1970 he formed a band called Stiff Beach, which by 1972 was a four-piece band renamed Star Park. Colin Moulding and Terry Chambers both joined Star Park in 1972. The band opened for Thin Lizzy in 1973. Subsequently, the renamed their band the Helium Kidz. The UK pop music magazine, New Musical Express, wrote an article about them. Swindon, in Wiltshire, England, was known for several other notable musicians including Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues, Gilbert O’Sullivan (“Alone Again Naturally”), late 90s UK pop singles chart topper Billie Piper (“Because We Want To”, “Girlfriend”), and Josh Kumra who provided vocals on the #1 UK single, “Don’t Go” with Wretch 32 in 2011.
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#729: Rain On The Roof by The Lovin’ Spoonful
Peak Month: November 1966
6 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #1
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #10
YouTube.com: “Rain On The Roof”
Lyrics: “Rain On The Roof”
Bass player Steve Boone (born on Long Island) and drummer Joe Butler (born on Long Island in 1941) had been playing in a band called The Kingsmen based on Long Island in the early 1960’s. By 1964 their band (not to be confused with the Kingsmen from Washington State who had a hit with “Louie Louie”) were one of the top rock and roll bands on Long Island. Their live sets included folk songs put to a rock beat, pop standards and some new hits showcasing the British Invasion. Steve’s brother, Skip Boone, and several three other bandmates filled out the group. In 1964, Joe and Skip chose to relocate to Manhattan. They focused on writing original material and blending a rock bass and drums with their jug band sound. Three other bandmates chose not to move, except Steve Boone, who joined Joe and Skip in New York City’s Greenwich Village, the nexus of the folk music scene.
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#730: Crazy Jane by Tom Northcott
Peak Month: July 1970
9 weeks on CKVN’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #6
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Crazy Jane”
Tom Northcott is a Vancouver folk-rock singer with hits on the local pop charts from the mid-60s into the early 70s. He became known to a Canadian audience by his regular appearances on CBC Television’s Let’s Go music program in 1964-68. He was nominated as best male vocalist for a Juno Award in 1971. Later he co-founded Mushroom Studios in Vancouver and produced records. His hits are played regularly on Canadian oldies music stations.
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#732: Falling by Roy Orbison
Peak Month: June 1963
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #4
CFUN Pick of the Week ~ May 18, 1963
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #22
YouTube.com: “Falling”
Lyrics: “Falling”
Roy Kelton Orbison was born in Vernon, Texas in 1936. When he turned six his dad gave him a guitar. Both his dad, Orbie Lee, and uncle Charlie Orbison, taught him how to play. Though his family moved to Forth Worth for work at a munitions factory, Roy was sent to live with his grandmother due to a polio outbreak in 1944. That year he wrote his first song “A Vow of Love”. The next year he won a contest on Vernon radio station KVWC and was offered his own radio show on Saturdays. After the war his family reunited and moved to Wink, Texas, where Roy formed his first band, in 1949, called The Wink Westerners.
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#734: Mister Heartache by Pat Hervey
Peak Month: July 1962
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #4
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com link: “Mister Heartache”
Pat Hervey was born in Toronto in 1947. From the age of nine she appeared in public in choirs or at dances and parties. She sang at high school dances and was discovered by 1050 CHUM DJ Al Boliska, who anchored the stations morning show. He heard her at an amateur Rock n’ Roll show and connected her to a local CBC programmer. Standing five foot three, Hervey had a strong voice. CBC signed her and she was a regular feature on CBC TV shows Country Hoedown, While We’re Young, and Holiday Ranch. Art Snider owned Chateau Records and was musical director for the CBC TV show, Club Six.
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#736: Why by The Cues
Peak Month: January 1957
5 weeks on Vancouver’s Red Robinson chart
Peak Position #4
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #77
YouTube.com link: “Why”
Lyrics: “Why”
From the late 1940’s Atlantic Records was a primary company for rhythm and blues artists. In 1954, with rock n’ roll a new sound on radio, The Cues were Atlantic Records’ first studio vocal group. Their primary way of earning a living was by being a back-up group for other R&B artists on the Atlantic label. Though they had a group name, The Cues, that they tried to make a hit record with, they earned their bread and butter going by different names. As back-up to Ruth Brown they were the Rhythm makers. As backup group to LaVern Baker they were known as the Gliders. When doing backup on a recording for Big Joe Turner they went by the name of the Blues Kings. And with Ivory Joe Hunter they took the moniker, the Ivory Tones.
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#737: Dancin’ On A Saturday Night by Bond
Peak Month: April 1975
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #6
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com link: “Dancin’ On A Saturday Night” (Bond)
“Dancin’ On A Saturday Night” Barry Blue (1973 UK hit)
Lyrics: “Dancin’ (On A Saturday Night)”
In the early 70’s a band in Toronto formed and called themselves Common Bond. Mainstays of the band’s lineup were drummer Jeff Hamilton and bass player, John Roles. While the lineup changed numerous times, they band shortened their name to Bond. When Bill Dunn joined Bond, John Roles switched to rhythm guitar and vocals. By 1974 Alex MacDougall was on lead guitar, and Ted Trenholm was on keyboards and sharing lead vocals with Bill Dunn and John Roles. Bond was on a B-circuit of clubs and other venues playing covers of popular songs. They mixed in more and more of the songs from the UK, including some that weren’t big hits in Canada.
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#738: What Do You Want by Adam Faith
Peak Month: March 1960
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #7
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com link: “What Do You Want”
Lyrics: “What Do You Want”
Terence Nelhams-Wright was born in Acton Vale, in west London, in 1940. When he was twelve he got a job as a paperboy. He wanted a better life than his bus driver father and cleaning services mother had, so Terrance left school in 1955 and got a position with Rank Studios as a messenger. In 1957, he formed a skiffle band called The Worried Men. His first three single releases all were commercial failures. However, in 1959, going by the name Adam Faith, he got a regular spot on a BBC TV rock ‘n roll show named Drumbeat. Faith became one of the regular stars to appear, along with Petula Clark, Cliff Richard, Billy Fury, Dickie Valentine, the Lana Sisters (including Dusty Springfield) and Canadian pop idol Paul Anka. The TV exposure gave Adam Faith a following.
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#739: The Snake by Al Wilson
Peak Month: August 1968
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #2
1 week Hit Bound
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #27
YouTube.com link: “The Snake”
Lyrics: “The Snake”
Allen LaMar “Al” Wilson was born in 1939 in Meridian, Mississippi. By the age of twelve he was singing in gospel choirs. Meridian, Mississippi, was the same hometown where James Chaney, the Civil Rights worker who’s killing, along with two others, led to the infamous “Mississippi Burning” trial. Young Al Wilson was friends with James Chaney and the Wilson family knew the cost of living in segregated Mississippi. Alene Wilson-Harris, a daughter of Wilson, said of her father’s upbringing: “My father, well, he grew up in a very volatile time for a young black man. And, he was, unfortunately, in a position to have to know what it was to actually leave a place because there were life-threatening circumstances and hardships and all of those type of things in order to try and make a life for yourself somewhere else where those factors didn’t exist.”
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