UK Music Chart: February 14, 1970

Number 10 : Shocking Blue

• 01 (01) Edison Lighthouse - Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes) 
• 02 (04) Peter, Paul And Mary - Leavin' On A Jet Plane 
• 03 (15) Canned Heat - Let's Work Together 
• 04 (06) Jethro Tull - The Witch's Promise / Teacher 
• 05 (05) Badfinger - Come And Get It 
• 06 (03) Marmalade - Reflections of My Life 
• 07 (02) Rolf Harris - Two Little Boys 
• 08 (10) Mary Hopkin - Temma Harbour 
• 09 (08) Chicago - I'm A Man 
• 10 (21) Shocking Blue - Venus 
• 11 (09) Arrival - Friends 
• 12 (30) Jackson Five - I Want You Back 
• 13 (07) Kenny Rogers/First Edition - Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town 
• 14 (13) Temptations - I Can't Get Next To You 
• 15 (11) Bobbie Gentry And Glen Campbell - All I Have To Do Is Dream 
• 16 (28) Fifth Dimension - Wedding Bell Blues 
• 17 (12) Elvis Presley - Suspicious Minds 
• 18 (36) Lee Marvin - Wand'rin' Star 
• 19 (17) Diana Ross And The Supremes - Someday, We'll Be Together 
• 20 (16) Vanity Fare - Hitchin' A Ride

*Previous week in brackets; Climbers denoted in red.

Image : Shocking Blue: Singles A's & B's

Edison Lighthouse continued their run at Number 1, enjoying a third week at the summit of the Top 20. Below them, some classic tracks were making a move into the chart, each of them on a mission to dislodge Rosemary.

The highest new entry of the week was straight into the Top 10 and came from Dutch group, Shocking Blue.  Having enjoyed success in their homeland and around continental Europe, Venus was the track that would break them internationally. It became a Number 1 hit in the USA and Canada, as well as topping the charts across Europe. In the UK it peaked at Number 8 and enjoyed a revival when it was recorded by Bananarama in 1986.

Did you know, however, that much of Venus is heavily lifted from a track called The Banjo Song recorded by The Big Three in 1963?

Up eighteen places at Number 12 is the first ever hit single from one of Motown's most success young vocal groups. In today's terms, The Jackson 5 would probably have become known as a boy band. However, we have all come to learn that they were much more than this. At the time, the Jackson family was to enjoy a media rivalry with The Osmonds. At this point, however, the rivalry was in its early days. Nevertheless, I Want You Back was to become the first of four consecutive Number 1 singles in the USA, while in the UK the track peaked at Number 2: 

While The 5th Dimension was a regular visitor to the US charts for around seven years, in the UK the quintet was only able to enjoy two Top 20 hits. The first was Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In which managed to peak at Number 11 the previous year and became something of a signature tune for the hippie generation. The second was the new entry at Number 16 called Wedding Bell Blues, which was also the second Number 1 in the USA for the group:

One of the most unlikely hit records of the year was a song lifted from the soundtrack of the movie Paint Your Wagon. Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood were its main stars and the album became more successful than the film itself. One of the tracks was released as a single, with Eastwood singing I Talk to the Trees on the B-Side and Marvin croaking his way through the A-Side: Wand'rin' Star. It would soon become a Number 1 song in the UK, but this week it moves eighteen places to Number 18:

Until next time...