As reported last week, on April 15th and 16th, Jonathan King had made on-air appearances on Radio London, playing new records he had acquired on a trip to America.

Could this appearance be related to the large proportion of US singles chosen as this week's climbers? The Artistics, Aretha Franklin, Electric Prunes, Five Americans, Neil Diamond, Sam the Sham and The Happenings had all featured recently in the US Hot Hundred. Many US acts also enhanced the Ballad Box and Soul Set.

The Artistics only reached the HH lower end at #69, but climbed to #26 on the separate R & B chart, the Electric Prunes peaked at #27, Aretha, #9, the Five Americans, #5 (their biggest hit), Neil Diamond, #10, Sam the Sham, #54 and the Happenings, #3.

Of those seven singles the only two to reach the UK Nationals were the Prunes, #42, and the Happenings, #28. Amazingly, Neil Diamond failed to crack the British Nationals till 1970.

Girl I Need You

Artistics

Coral Q 72492

The Artistics were an R & B vocal group from Chicago, Illinois, formed in 1958. Discovered by Major Lance, while still in High School, they sang backing on his 1963 Top Ten hit, Monkey Time. The group underwent several personnel changes, but the line-up for Girl I Need You, is believed to have been Tommy Green, Larry Johnson, Jessie Bolian and Aaron Floyd. The Artistics split up in 1973.

Western Union

Five Americans

Stateside SS2012

Western Union, became a US hit thanks to Jimmy Rabbitt, National Promotions Director for the Texas-based Abnak record label. Jimmy had previously been Music Director of Big Lil's Dallas cousin, KLIF. The story of how Abnak sued KLIF for failing to promote one of the Five Americans' singles is featured on the Fab Forty for June 4th, 1967.

Wishful Thinking had already appeared twice on the Big L playlist. Turning Around, (Turning Around on the label, but sometimes listed as 'Turning Round' ) was John Edward's climber in the week of 26th June '66, but never made the Fab. Step by Step scraped into the Fab at joint #40 on October 9th '66. Both of these singles were recorded by the band's first line-up of Roy Daniels (vcls), Terry New (lead gtr), Roger Charles (bass) and Brian Allen (or Allender) (drms).

Kevin Scott (b Finn) then took over from Daniels as lead singer. His stage name Scott had been adopted when he led Kevin Scott and the Kinsmen in the early Sixties. Count To Ten was the first of two singles recorded by this 1967 line-up. Count To Ten, which failed to climb out of the climbers, was written by the partnership of Guy Fletcher and Doug Flett, who had received the honour of being the first British songwriters to have their compositions recorded by Elvis. Fletcher and Flett also gave Cliff Richard a #4 hit plus a #3 placing in the 1973 the Eurovision Song Contest, with Power To All Our Friends.

All three of these Wishful Thinking singles were produced by Decca 'A & R' man and former Shadow, Tony Meehan. Renowned drummer Mitch Mitchell is reputed to have played on Count to Ten although the author of Mitch's tribute site believes that if he did indeed feature on this Wishful Thinking single, it must have been recorded some time earlier, as by this time he was fully committed to the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Sadly, despite having so much going for it, Count To Ten fared no better than the group's other singles, either in the Fab or nationally.

Later in '67, John Franklin replaced Terry New on lead guitar, and in 1969, Tony Collier took Roger Charles' place as bass player. The line-up of John Franklin, Tony Collier, Kevin Scott and Brian Allen (drums) was the one that recorded the Hiroshima album in 1970. The eponymous song from it became a huge hit when issued as a single in Germany. Every song on the Hiroshima album, bar one, was written by Dave Morgan, (now known as Dave Scott-Morgan) an accomplished songwriter who enhanced numerous Sixties and Seventies bands, including the Uglys. The Move recorded two of Dave's songs, Something and This Time Tomorrow, as 1968 'B' sides. Dave is well-known for his musicianship with the Electric Light Orchestra between August 1981 to September 1986.

From 1976 to 1978 Kevin Scott (now calling himself Danny Finn) was a member of the New Seekers. In 1978 he married fellow Seeker Eve Graham and they left the band to work as a duo.

In 1979, Finn another became lead singer with the group Prima Donna. Their performance of Love Enough For Two brought the UK a #3 position in the 1980 Eurovision Song Contest. Finn's fellow Prima Donna members included two of Paul McCartney's cousins Kate and Jane Robbins and Lance Aston.

The following is a quote from Wishful Thinking member Tony Collier. It is an extract from a very interesting feature which Tony wrote and appears on www.wishfulthinking.de As will be revealed, Tony can claim a very early offshore connection!

Tony's last statement about regular tours in Scandinavia might be the cause of one website erroneously describing the group as 'Scandinavian'!

Green additions to the climbers indicate singles sourced from 'Monty's Diary'. (See Fab Forty for 010167). The Shadows' record continues to be listed as a double-sided climber, as per the previous week. This time, however, only Maroc 7 features on Brian Long's Curzon Street list, while Monty has only noted hearing the B side Bombay Duck.

The blue additions indicate singles listed in Brian Long's book 'The London Sound' based on information typed in the Curzon Street offices or other sources.
Mauve additions to the climbers were kindly contributed by Hans Evers
Alan Field did not hear the records listed in green, blue or mauve played or announced as climbers.

(*) In its second week in the chart, both sides of the Quik record are listed, but with emphasis on 'Bert's Apple Crumble' according to both Brian Long's and Hans Peters' lists.

(**) Wolfgang Buchholz confirms Brian's listing of the Felice Taylor record which, rather strangely, doesn't enter the chart until four weeks later on 14th May 1967.

The Caroline 'Countdown Sixty' chart (south ship) for this week is here