UK Music Chart: May 30, 1970

Number 6 : The Supremes : Up the Ladder to the Roof

Another clear out of the Top 20 took place this week in 1970 as six tracks were discarded to be replaced by shiny, new songs that had come into favour with the British public (although many were still digging into their pockets for 7 shillings to purchase a certain football-related 45).

• 01 (01) England World Cup Squad - Back Home 
• 02 (04) The Moody Blues - Question 
• 03 (03) Christie - Yellow River 
• 04 (02) Norman Greenbaum - Spirit In The Sky 
• 05 (13) Glen Campbell - Honey Come Back 
• 06 (30) The Supremes - Up The Ladder To The Roof 
• 07 (06) Frijid Pink - House Of The Rising Sun 
• 08 (08) Roger Whittaker - I Don't Believe In 'If' Anymore 
• 09 (05) Tom Jones - Daughter Of Darkness 
• 10 (07) The Move - Brontosaurus 
• 11 (20) The Jackson Five - ABC 
• 12 (16) Ray Stevens - Everything Is Beautiful 
• 13 (21) Mr Bloe - Groovin' With Mr Bloe 
• 14 (32) The Beach Boys - Cottonfields 
• 15 (09) The Hollies - I Can't Tell The Bottom From The Top 
• 16 (11) Creedence Clearwater Revival - Travellin' Band 
• 17 (17) White Plains - I've Got You On My Mind 
• 18 (49) Fleetwood Mac - Green Manalishi (With The Two-Prong Crown) 
• 19 (22) Butterscotch - Don't You Know (She Said Hello)
• 20 (24) Marvin Gaye - Abraham, Martin And John

*Previous week in brackets; Climbers denoted in red 
 Image: The Supremes 1970-1973: The Jean Terrell Years

Firstly, just a little housekeeping: As YouTube has become a problem with regard to sharing some of the relative music videos for the archives presented here, I am now experimenting with bringing you the tracks through Spotify (create free account here). While you don't get to see the artists, this appears to be the solution to presenting the songs in a cleaner, compressed way. At the moment, I'm deciding between the playlist or the individual track option.

Now on to this week's Top 20 which sees a varied array of musical genres among its six new entries. First up is the latest single from the new line-up of The Supremes following the departure of Diana Ross. While it had taken a little while to make its appearance, this week saw it leap twenty-four places to Number 6. With Ms. Ross gone, the new lead vocalist was Jean Terrell and Up the Ladder to the Roof would become the (oft changing) trio's first of eight Top 40 hits during the Seventies.

Seven places below them, a one-off instrumental track became a surprise hit when the BBC mistakenly started playing the B-Side of a single by an American studio group called Wind (which included Tony Orlando). Such was its popularity that the track was re-recorded with a different arrangement and released as Groovin' With Mr Bloe by the almost entirely anonymous Mr Bloe (who could have been a guy called Zack Laurence). The track went on to peak at Number 2 and become one of the biggest sellers of the year.

In the meantime, the not so anonymous Beach Boys were enjoying another sizeable British hit, although in their homeland the band appeared to have fallen out of favour. The country-flavoured Cottonfields flopped on the US Billboard chart (No.103), but across many territories outside of the United States it was a massive hit. In the UK, it went on to peak at Number 5, stay in the charts for seventeen weeks and become the tenth best selling single of 1970.

The Green Manalishi (With the Two-Prong Crown) was about to become Fleetwood Mac's fourth UK Top 10 hit, but the group's last (barring re-releases) in its original line-up. Written by Peter Green, it is not absolutely clear what a "Manalishi" is, but it seems it was created from visions produced by his drug abuse. Green insists it's about money, but another explanation could be that it's about LSD. Whatever the story is, the track is a classic example of British Blues of the period and unlike anything else on the charts of the time. Its popularity was, no doubt, in part due to Green's departure from Fleetwood Mac at this point.

One place below Fleetwood Mac at Number 19 was a track that was as far away from the blues as one could get - and a song many might struggle to remember. Butterscotch was the group and Don't You Know (She Said Hello) was their hit. Sounding very much like the pop produced by Vanity Fair or Brotherhood of Man, there is very little available information about the band. The song, however, was written by David Martin, Chris Arnold and Geoff Morrow.

If Butterscotch are somewhat anonymous, Marvin Gaye could never be accused of being unknown. His presence in the UK Top 20 this week added a third memorable Motown track to the countdown. Celebrating the contributions to American society of Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy, the track at Number 20 was a cover of a song originally recorded by Dion (of the Belmonts fame), which was never a hit in the UK, but was a Top 5 track in the US. Marvin Gaye recorded his version of Abraham, Martin and John for the album That's the Way Love Is, releasing it as a single here but not in his homeland. He was rewarded with a Number 9 hit.

The Number 1 album this week:

The Number 1 Song in the USA: Everything is Beautiful - Ray Stevens

Until next time...