I Love #1s - 1954

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Last week's titanic fight between those late-eighties pop ladies was right down to the wire, with Belinda just pipping Tiffany and Kylie to the top spot, making Heaven Is A Place On Earth your favourite number one of 1988 with a monstrous 44 ticks. This week the poll boxes might be a little less fruitful as we wind our way right back to 1954, when record sales were still counted on the fingers of two hands and rock and roll was but a glint in Bill Haley's eye.

[Poll #819053]

Comments

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I may have to YSI some of these.

The good ones are:

Doris Day - Secret Love: aka THE LOVE THAT DARE NOT SPEAK ITS NAME! Gay favourite which is a really good pre-rock ballad, it's from a fillum which was the mark of quality back then.

Johnnie Ray - Such A Night: POOR OLD JOHNNIE RAYYYYY - not so poor as he gets his end away, this is his hungover but happy befuddlement song with some comedy backing vox IIRC.

Frank Sinatra - it's OK but SO MUCH not the best here, it'll win tho cos people know it.

Rosemary Clooney - This Ole House: top choon, you will know it from the SHAKEY version but Rosemary does a good job too. I was far too harsh on this in Popular. :(

Winifred Atwell - first black woman to top the UK charts, this is a MEGAMIX of music hall party hits in romping pianner style. THE QUEEN OF THE IVORIES! Shamefully I have never been entirely sure if the copy I have of this is actually the right record - she did many along these lines.

I ticked Kitty Kallen too cos I remember it being alright.

Vera Lynn, "Cara Mia" and the Stargazers are all TERRIBLE in ways beyond the very imaginings of modern pop.

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

The Atwell record is the template for that Peel session by Elton John that Martin and I were talking about last week on the EJ canon thread.

I have a version of it on a 7" EP that I found for 50p in the MVE basement.