The Early Radio London Fab Forties
Sunday 30th May 1965

#1 for the Rockin' Berries, but it was a long time before the band got to join the Knees Club.

(Click on the photo sleeve, right, to purchase a double CD containing all their FF hits)

Dylan's going down, but Donovan's back in at #35 with Colours. Johnny Cash's version of It Ain't Me Babe creeps up two places, while a new US Dylan cover, Walkin' Down The Line, arrives at #40.

Last
This
 
Week
Week
2
1
Poor Man's Son Rockin' Berries
3
2
The Clapping Song Shirley Ellis
1
3
Long Live Love Sandie Shaw
6
4
(You've) Never Been In Love Like This Before Unit 4 + 2
14
5
Trains And Boats And Planes Billy J Kramer & the Dakotas
4
6
This Little Bird Marianne Faithfull
21
7
Crying In The Chapel Elvis Presley
13
8
The Price Of Love Everly Brothers
15
9
Marie Bachelors
16
10
Iko Iko Dixie Cups
14
11
Trains And Boats And Planes Burt Bacharach, his Orchestra & Chorus
27
12
Anyway Anyhow Anywhere Who
5
13
Where Are You Now (My Love) Jackie Trent
28
14
Come Home Dave Clark Five
31
15
Set Me Free Kinks
36
16
I'm Alive Hollies
7
17
All Over The World Francoise Hardy
8
18
Wonderful World Herman's Hermits
9
19
I've Been Wrong Before Cilla Black
11
20
Subterranean Homesick Blues Bob Dylan
19
21
In The Deep Of Night Dodie West
23
22
Incense Anglos
23
Looking Thru The Eyes Of Love Gene Pitney
33
24
Yeah, I'm Waiting Force Five
25
From The Bottom Of My Heart (I Love You) Moody Blues
17
26
Come On Over To My Place Drifters
29
27
It Ain't Me Babe Johnny Cash
28
Leave A Little Love Lulu
20
29
Not Until The Next Time Jim Reeves
39
30
My Child Connie Francis
12
31
That's Why I'm Crying Ivy League
10
32
Oh No Not My Baby Manfred Mann
18
33
I Want That Boy Chantelles
34
Engine Engine No. 9 Roger Miller
35
Colours Donovan
36
Before And After Chad & Jeremy
37
Strong Love Spencer Davis Group
38
Blue Ribbons Paramounts
39
Hey Baby Hi Lites
40
Walkin' Down The Line Baytown Singers

28
Leave A Little Love Lulu Decca F12169

Lulu's Leave a Little Love entered the Fab Forty only days after being erroneously announced as the winner of the First British Song Contest, held in Brighton. (See Ben Toney's account of the event.) The genuine winner, I'll Stay By You, arrived in the Radio London chart the following week, but where Lulu was on her way to the top three, Kenny Lynch's contest-winner got no higher than #31.
38
Blue Ribbons Paramounts Parlophone R 5272

The Paramounts were formed in 1959 when the band members were still Southend schoolboys. They built a reputation as an r 'n' b outfit and as was common at the time, their early recordings were covers of US r 'n' b hits. Appearances on the two major promotional vehicles being broadcast on commercial TV in 1963, Associated Rediffusion's Ready! Steady! Go! and ABC's Thank Your Lucky Stars, assisted in pushing the band's Coasters cover Poison Ivy into the Top Forty. Subsequent singles, however, flopped.

Blue Ribbons, written by Jackie De Shannon and Sharon Sheeley was the band's fifth release and a complete departure from their previous r 'n' b covers. The (now discontinued) EMI CD 496 4362 – The Paramounts at Abbey Road 1963 to 1970, lists the line-up for Blue Ribbons as: Gary Brooker (vcls, piano), Barry J Wilson (drms), Robin Trower (gtr) and Diz Derrick (bs). However, other sources cite Phil Wainman as the drummer on the session. The CD contains two versions of the song – with and without strings.

Blue Ribbons is also available on a 16-track CD, Whiter Shade of R 'n' B and can be found (if you can track it down) on Sharon Sheeley: Songwriter (RPM206), a CD of demos of songs written, or co-written by the late songwriter. On this compilation, the track, which has been described as having a country flavour, is sung by Glen Campbell.

NME's reviewer regarded the single as the Paramounts' best release to date, which implies the writer was not an r 'n' b fan. The reviewer apparently found Blue Ribbons "toe-tapping and stimulating, with a cute lyric and a gay feel".

The Paramounts may have made little impact on the music scene, but you just can't help wondering if the 'cute lyric and a gay feel' of Gary Brooker's A Whiter Shade of Pale was what led to Radio London playing the promo as an exclusive in May 1967. Rather unlikely! As everyone knows, it became a massive hit and the formation of Procol Harum swiftly followed.


Disc of the Week  
Back in My Arms Again Supremes

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