UK Music Chart: August 7, 1971

Number 11: Family

Beginning its third week as the UK Number 1 this week in 1971 was Get It On by Marc Bolan's glam rock group, T. Rex. 

Further down the chart, three new songs debuted in the Top 20, including the first hit by T. Rex contemporaries, Slade. Elvis Presley was also back in the listing with a re-release of three of his classic songs from the mid-1950s.

The Chart: 

• 01 (01) T. Rex - Get It On 
• 02 (05) The New Seekers - Never Ending Song of Love 
• 03 (02) Middle of the Road - Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep 
• 04 (10) Atomic Rooster - Devil's Answer 
• 05 (03) The Sweet - Co-Co 
• 06 (04) Lobo - Me and You and a Dog Named Boo 
• 07 (06) New World - Tom-Tom Turnaround 
• 08 (16) Diana Ross - I'm Still Waiting 
• 09 (07) Dave and Ansel Collins - Monkey Spanner 
• 10 (17) The Who - Won't Get Fooled Again 
• 11 (23) Family - In My Own Time 
• 12 (08) Greyhound - Black and White 
• 13 (29) Elvis Presley - Heartbreak Hotel / Hound Dog 
• 14 (11) The Move - Tonight 
• 15 (12) St. Cecilia - Leap Up and Down (Wave Your Knickers in the Air) 
• 16 (13) The Supremes and The Four Tops - River Deep, Mountain High 
• 17 (24) Slade - Get Down and Get With It 
• 18 (09) Hurricane Smith - Don't Let It Die 
• 19 (15) The Temptations - Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me) 
• 20 (21) The Delfonics - La-La (Means I Love You) 

*Previous week in brackets; Climbers denoted in red; New entries in bold  
Image: Strange Band: The Best Of Family

11: Family: In My Own Time

Roger Chapman's distinctive warbling vocals were back in the UK Top 20 this week, as Family's biggest ever British single, In My Own Time, began its speedy ascent of the music chart.

To be honest, Family was never really a singles band, instead relying on sales of their musically eclectic albums and live tour dates.

Nevertheless, they would return to the Singles Chart one more time before the group folded, but we would have to wait almost a year for Burlesque.

13: Elvis Presley: Heartbreak Hotel/Hound Dog

During the early 1970s, RCA Records re-released several titles in the UK in their MaxiMillion series. The deal was that you could pick up three tracks for the price of two on a single record.

One of these releases was Elvis Presley's first UK hit from 1956, Heartbreak Hotel, backed with both Hound Dog and Don't Be Cruel. Great sales pushed the disc to an ultimate peak position of Number 10 this time around.

17: Slade: Get Down and Get With It

This was the first appearance in the UK Chart from Slade, the group that would eventually go on to be the most commercially successful British singles band of the decade. It was not a quiet debut, either. Get Down and Get With It is a stomping rocker which had been a live favourite, aimed principally at the group's skinhead following of the time.

Most listeners assumed that the track had been written by the band, but it was in fact a cover of a soul recording composed by American funkster Bobby Marchan. Slade transformed it and took it to Number 16.

20: The Delfonics: La-La (Means I Love You)

It took more than three years for this Delfonics' single to register on the UK chart, following its initial release in the US in January 1968. The vocal group was one of the earliest purveyors of smooth Philadelphia Soul, without even the phrase or genre having really been coined to this point.

Written by Thom Bell and William Hart, La-La (Means I Love You) was The Delfonics' first hit on both sides of the Atlantic, peaking at Number 4 Stateside and Number 19 in the UK.

The American Top 10 (w/e August 7, 1971)

• 01 (06) How Can You Mend a Broken Heart? - The Bee Gees 
• 02 (02) Indian Reservation - The Raiders 
• 03 (01) You've Got A Friend - James Taylor 
• 04 (04) Mr. Big Stuff - Jean Knight 
• 05 (05) Draggin' the Line - Tommy James 
• 06 (08) Take Me Home, Country Roads - John Denver 
• 07 (03) It's Too Late - Carole King 
• 08 (16) Beginnings / Color My World - Chicago 
• 09 (10) What the World Needs Now is Love/Abraham, Martin and John - Tom Clay 
• 10 (11) Mercy, Mercy Me (The Ecology) - Marvin Gaye

The UK Number 1 album this week:

• Hot Hits 6 - Various Artists