Radio London - Big L Fab Forty 65

Sunday 24th Jan 1965

If you are new to the Big L Fab Forties, we suggest you take time to read the explanation of how these charts became an international collaberative effort, culminating in a set of Fab Forties unique to the Radio London website. Additional information is supplied by Brian Long and DJ Pete Brady.

Radio London was renowned for having very few records during the station's early days, as Pete Brady explains. You'll be able to spot the appearance of some of those Decca singles from the box that Pete mentions, with 'It's Not Unusual'arriving in the Fab Forty for February 7th. At first, the DJs had to rely heavily on recordings that had sailed over from the States with the ship. It took a while for Programme Director Ben Toney to build up relationships with the record companies and persuade them that Big L was no mere pirate, but a force to be reckoned with. Luckily for those companies, Ben eventually convinced most of them that airplay on the station would work wonders for their singles' sales.

We have no Fab 40 charts prior to 24th Jan, so if anyone can supply missing listings, please get in touch! We are particularly interested in information regarding DJ climbers


#1	Joint #5	#9

Last	This
Week	Week
1	1	Go Now!	Moody Blues
2	2	Yeh Yeh	Georgie Fame & the Blue Flames
	3	Girl Don't Come	Sandie Shaw
	4	Terry	Twinkle
	5	You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'	Righteous Brothers / Cilla Black
	6	Come Tomorrow	Manfred Mann
	7	Keep Searchin' (We'll Follow The Sun)	Del Shannon
	8	Ferry 'Cross The Mersey	Gerry & the Pacemakers
9	9	Cast Your Fate To The Wind	Sounds Orchestral
	10	Leader Of The Pack	Shangri-Las
	11	Tired Of Waiting For You	Kinks
	12	I Feel Fine	Beatles
	13	Baby I Need Your Lovin'	Four Tops
	14	Baby Please Don't Go	Them
	15	Somewhere	P J Proby
	16	Walk Tall	Val Doonican
	17	I'm Lost Without You	Billy Fury
	18	Come See About Me	Supremes
	19	Getting Mighty Crowded	Betty Everett
	20	Downtown	Petula Clark
	21	Three Bells	Brian Poole & the Tremeloes
	22	Goin' Out Of My Head	Dodie West / Little Anthony & the Imperials
	23	Promised Land	Chuck Berry
	24	Dance Dance Dance	Beach Boys
	25	No Arms Can Ever Hold You	Bachelors
	26	I Could Easily Fall (In Love With You)	Cliff Richard & the Shadows
	27	How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)	Marvin Gaye
	28	What Have They Done To The Rain	Searchers
	29	I'll Never Find Another You	Seekers
	30	Too Many Fish In The Sea	Marvelettes
	31	Shake	Sam Cooke
	32	Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood	Animals
	33	What In The World's Come Over You	Rockin' Berries
	34	Thanks A Lot	Brenda Lee
	35	Everybody Knows	Dave Clark Five
	36	Let The Sunshine In	Peddlers / Presidents
	37	The 'In' Crowd	First Gear
	38	The Game Of Love	Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders
	39	I'm Gonna Be Strong	Gene Pitney
	40	Thou Shalt Not Steal	Dick & Dee Dee

The 'In' Crowd

First Gear

Pye 7N 15763

First Gear was a five-piece Yorkshire band with Dave Walton on lead vocals, Phil Birkenshaw (gtr, vcls) Michael Ryal (bs, vcls), Raymond Wafer (gtr) and Ian Colling on drums.

First Gear's version of The 'In' Crowd is one of many singles that fall into the 'Did A Guitar Virtuoso Play On It?' category, the virtuoso in question being Jimmy Page. Jimmy, of course, was in those days earning a good living by enhancing numerous recording sessions. He would probably be the first to admit that neither he, nor anyone else, could possibly recall whether his talents were genuinely featured on every track he is alleged to have graced. Those long-ago sessions would have included many memorable recordings, plenty he would have forgotten a week or a month later, and a few he probably preferred to forget!

Jimmy is indisputably the soloist on Leave My Kitten Alone, the B-side of the band's first single, A Certain Girl (Pye 7N 15703). His performance on that track has been nominated by one fan as Jimmy's best-ever solo – and in that category, it must be up against some impressive competition. This accolade holds the key to what elevates the collectable value of that particular bit of 1964 vinyl to around £125. Follow-up single, The 'In' Crowd receives a mere £30 valuation, presumably because there is no Page solo. However, the inclusion of all four First Gear tracks on a double CD of 'Page played on this' Pye and Immediate tracks, (see below) indicates that he is believed to have done so. Both releases were produced by Shel Talmy, who frequently used Page at his recording sessions.

Whether or not Jimmy Page played on The In Crowd, the song is most definitely a Page composition – Billy Page, that is. And Dobie Gray's hit version of the song was arranged by Billy's Brother Gene. Two more Pages in the history book.

The In Crowd, a #13 US hit for Gray, was followed later in the year by Ramsey Lewis's jazzy instrumental take, which reached #5. With UK Mods seeing the song lyrics as the story of their lives, the Dobie Gray's disc climbed to #25 in the Nationals, while the Lewis version (for years used as background music by Jimmy Savile in 'Savile's Traviles' - sorry, 'Travels') made no impression. Numerous cover versions of The In Crowd, have been recorded by artists as diverse as the Ventures, Mamas and Papas and Joe Jackson. Brian Ferry finally took the song into UK Top Twenty (#13) in 1974.

Kenny and Cash, of course, started their own listener 'Out Crowd' club.

All four First Gear tracks, plus Fab 40 entries by Twice As Much and Chris Farlowe, can be found on the Sequel CD 'Jimmy Page – Hip Young Guitar Slinger'. The compilation contains 2 CDs, comprising 65 tracks which are believed to have been enhanced by Jimmy's talented performances. Click on the picture to see track list.

DJ Climber:
Last Time You'll Walk Out On Me	Mike Hurst	Philips BF1389	Dave Cash