 |
The Fab Four remain the Fab 40
#1, with their double A-side, while 'Rubber Soul' is chosen as 'LP
of the Week' |
| Last | This | Presented
by Earl Richmond |
|
| Week | Week | ||
| 1 | 1 | We Can Work It Out / Day Tripper | Beatles |
| 6 | 2 | To Whom It Concerns | Chris Andrews |
| 4 | 3 | Keep On Running | Spencer Davis Group |
| 9 | 4 | You Make It Move | Dave Dee Dozy Beaky Mick & Tich |
| 11 | 5 | Till The End Of The Day | Kinks |
| 10 | 6 | It's All Happening | Leapy Lee |
| 12 | 7 | Take Me For What I'm Worth | Searchers |
| 5 | 8 | Rescue Me | Fontella Bass |
| 13 | 9 | A Must To Avoid | Herman's Hermits |
| 14 | 10 | The Little Girl I Once Knew | Beach Boys |
| 8 | 11 | Let's Hang On | Four Seasons |
| 3 | 12 | My Ship Is Coming In | Walker Brothers |
| 25 | 13 | England Swings | Roger Miller |
| 31 | 14 | I Stand Accused | Merseybeats |
| 39 | 15 | Don't Push Me | Hedgehoppers Anonymous |
| 2 | 16 | Maria | P J Proby |
| 17 | 17 | Something About You | Four Tops |
| – | 18 | My Girl | Otis Redding |
| 33 | 19 | The Long Cigarette | Roulettes |
| 7 | 20 | You Were On My Mind | Crispian St Peters |
| 15 | 21 | The River | Ken Dodd |
| 40 | 22 | Mirror Mirror | Pinkerton's Assorted Colours |
| 32 | 23 | Hello Dolly | Bachelors |
| 36 | 24 | The Water Is Over My Head | Rockin' Berries |
| 16 | 25 | Fever | McCoys |
| 21 | 26 | This Year, Next Year | Honeycombs |
| 23 | 27 | Eight Days A Week | Alma Cogan |
| 28 | 28 | Starlight Melody | Nini Rosso |
| 37 | 29 | Work Song | James Royal |
| – | 30 | Are You There (With Another Girl) | Dionne Warwick |
| – | 31 | I Can't Believe What You Say | Val McKenna |
| – | 32 | May The Bird Of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose | Little Jimmy Dickens |
| 18 | 33 | Princess In Rags | Gene Pitney |
| 19 | 34 | My Generation | Who |
| – | 35 | Make The World Go Away | Eddy Arnold |
| – | 35 | Make The World Go Away | Dodie West |
| 24 | 36 | I Hear A Symphony | Supremes |
| – | 37 | Thunderball | Tom Jones |
| – | 38 | Ebb Tide | Righteous Brothers |
| – | 39 | A Sweet Woman Like You | Joe Tex |
| – | 40 | Spanish Flea | Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass |
| DJ Climbers: | ||
| Tchaikovsky One | Second City Sound | Dave Cash |
| Jealous Heart | Connie Francis | Dave Dennis |
| My Little World Is All Blue | Graham Bonney | John Edward |
| Second Hand Rose | Barbra Streisand | Paul Kaye |
| Music Talk | Beryl Marsden | Mike Lennox |
| Creation | Rick & Sandy | Earl Richmond |
| Goin' Where The Lovin' Is | Christine Holmes | Mark Roman |
| Friends And Lovers Forever | New Breed | Tony Windsor |
| Goodbye Girl | Keith Powell | Duncan Johnson |
| Liar Liar | Castaways | Ed Stewart |
Goodbye Girl was in Brian Long's original climber list, but it was not allocated to any of the DJs. From listening to recordings, Gert van der Winden has identified it as Duncan Johnson's pick for this week.
Alan Field's Fab Notes:
As Brian Long points out
in his book, The London Sound, this chart sees We Can Work It Out at #1 for the third consecutive week, marking the longest run at the top for
any record on the Fab 40. People with a copy of the book should note that
Brian has updated this week's list with us – all the climbers, and the
disc and LP of the week are published here for the first time. The Album of
the Week became a regular feature on Big L, and we have weekly listings for it starting
in the first week of May 1966.
The inclusion of the Beatles' Rubber
Soul as 'LP of the Week' on
19th December 1965 seems to be the first recorded instance or, more likely,
a special feature at the time.
| Creation | Rick & Sandy | Decca F12196 |
Between 1963 and 66, Sandy Roberton recorded and performed with Rick Tykiff as Rick & Sandy. When the Springfields disbanded and Tom turned his hand to producing and songwriting, he took on the duo and arranged a recording contract with Fontana. They then obtained a Decca contract via Les Reed and recorded three singles before calling it a day.
Earl Richmond's climber Creation, penned and produced by Jonathan King, was their final release.They secured a coveted slot on Ready Steady Go! on 29th Jan 65, alongside the Who, Hollies, Animals and Donovan, but TV exposure did not bring them a hit, although the single had reached #24 in the Fab 40.
After his split with Rick, Sandy recorded a cover of Neil Diamond's Solitary Man – and was back in the Big L chart. (See Fab Forty 05/06/66.)
| Climbers: | |
| Sugar Shack | Steve Brett & Mavericks |
| Can't Nobody Love You | David Essex |
| Disc of the Week: | |
| White Christmas | Jackie Edwards |
| LP of the Week: | |
| Rubber Soul | Beatles |
The Record Collector Rare Record Price Guide puts a value of £140 on a mint condition copy of this disc. A glance at the line-up of the Wolverhampton group who made it says it all. Playing guitar and singing backing vocals is none other than Neville 'Noddy' Holder. His next group was the 'N Betweens, who went on to become Ambrose Slade, who morphed into the 70's hit machine Slade. There's more about them in the notes to the Fab 40 for 4th December 1966. (click on the picture for an Amazon link to more information about the Record Collector Rare Record Price Guide) |
 |
Alan Field's Fab Notes:
Liar Liar by the Castaways was held over as Ed Stewart's pick for a second week; it was announced as such on four separate occasions. Paul Kaye took a new climber this week, but his previous pick , Can't Nobody Love You by David Essex, remained on the playlist as a general climber. Explaining this in his show on Christmas morning, Paul himself announced, "We're persevering with this record because we're quite sure it is gonna be a hit". Sadly, it wasn't.
The climbers and addition to the Fab Forty in BLUE have been added as a supplement to Brian Long's original listing, and were kindly contributed by Kees Brinkerink
with information gained from listening to archive Radio London recordings Kees was also able to identify this week's presenter as Earl Richmond.
The Caroline 'Sounds of '65' chart (south ship) for this week is here
Tune in next week for
another Big L Fab 40!