for Sunday 30th April 1967

A promising start last week saw the Searchers coming straight in at #27, neck-in-neck with the Five Americans. Now both versions of Western Union have slipped down to #36. This Dutch picture sleeve of the Searchers is courtesy of Willy de Ruyter. The Five Americans were a Dallas-based band led by Michael Rabon, who had enjoyed a Top Ten hit in the US Hot Hundred.

Thirty-five years later, the 2002 line-up of the Tremeloes was on a UK tour called Call Up the Groups, with the Barron Knights (naturally), Fortunes, Marmalade and legendary guitarist Bert Weedon. Between them, the musicians performed over thirty of their million-selling hits. In recent years Silence is Golden has often been sung a capella by a choir comprising members of various groups on the bill, as a tribute to sadly-departed band members.

Shotgun Express existed for only a short while in '66 and early '67. Rod Stewart had joined as a vocalist after leaving Steampacket. He featured on I Could Feel The Whole World Turn Round, the first Shotgun Express single, which reached #15 on the Fab Forty for 13th November '66. However, he had left to join the Jeff Beck Group before this second single was recorded.

Other group members were Beryl Marsden (vcls), Peter Green (b Greenbaum) (gtr), Peter Bardens (org), Dave Ambrose (bs) and Mick Fleetwood (drms).

Beryl Marsden was no stranger to the Fab, having already appeared there solo in December 1965/January 66 with her single Music Talk.

Mick Fleetwood was already familiar to the Fab, as his only single with the Bo Street Runners, Baby Never Say Goodbye, had been at #28 on 8th August '65.

After Shotgun Express, Peter Green and Mick Fleetwood were briefly with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, (version #108, according to Pete Frame's Rock Family Trees) before forming Fleetwood Mac. Dave Ambrose headed for The Brian Auger Trinity and Peter Bardens went to The Love Affair. Mint copies of Funny 'Cos Neither Could I are now very collectable, fetching around £45.

Aboard the Galaxy this week

Radio London had chosen the Attack's single as a climber for one week, 26/02/67. It was released a few days later on 03/03/67, but was dropped from the playlist in favour of Jeff Beck's version of Hi Ho Silver Lining (on Columbia).

On 12/03/67, Beck's version of Hi Ho... appeared as Tony Blackburn's climber and was soon scaling the Fab Forty.

Now, the station began running a competition to give away copies of the version of Hi Ho Silver Lining, by the Attack (on Decca). The end of April was rather late in the day to promote this single, not least because the song had already been a Fab Forty hit for Jeff Beck and only two weeks earlier, that version had held the #4 slot! All that aside, the Attack single had already been out for nearly two months.

The exact date when this competition began and how often it was repeated on air, is not known, but it required that the audience listened sufficiently closely to Hi Ho Silver Lining to count how many times lead singer Richard Shirman repeated the song's title. This of course ensured plenty of airplay, even though the record was not part of the Radio London playlist. Fifty copies were being given away and the closing date was May 8th.

Ashore

May 5th
Keith Skues interviewed the Beach Boys at the Finsbury Park Astoria. The interview, originally intended for the 15-minute Coffee Break, became a one-hour special. The Beach Boys appreciated that airplay on the offshore stations was the reason for their massive popularity in the UK and they expressed disappointment that their tour schedule did not permit them the time to visit the Galaxy.

Besides climbers that were played at the time of the broadcast of the Sunday Fab Forty, Alan kept a note of others he heard later in the week and incorporated them into his list.