The 'Soul-Aim' Road Show

09/08/2022

Dame Olivia Newton-John OBE, DBE

An accomplished career, the personal battles. Fulfilled with dignity and the respect of her peers. A fitting tribute.

Actor John Travolta has honoured the life and memory of Australian icon Olivia Newton-John Australian singer and actress Olivia Newton-John has passed away ...

08/08/2022

Grease - Frankie Valli

Iconic Song - Iconic Film

R.I.P Olivia Newton-John

Frankie Valli's first #1 hit was 1962's "Sherry" as recorded by the Four Seasons. The band had been at it since 1955 recruiting songwriters and producers Bob...

18/12/2020

It's the Weekend!
Max it out with 4 of THE BEST EXTENDED PLAYS

https://haydnharrisblog.wordpress.com/2020/05/29/its-the-weekend/

This Old Heart of Mine - The Isley Brothers
I Can't Help Myself - The Four Tops
Stoned Love - The Supremes
Heaven Must Have Sent You - The Elgins

15/06/2020

Do It Again – Steely Dan - ABC 4075

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmdiKePVUy8

This is the original version of ‘Do It Again’ from the ‘Steely Dan’ Album ‘Can’t Buy A Thrill’, released in 1972 and that includes the organ solo, full intro and outro. The single was released in the States that year on the ABC Record label (Cat Number: ABC 1138) and it made the U.S Billboard Top 100 in November that year, peaking at Number 6 in 1973, making it Steely Dan’s biggest hit. It was then released in the UK in 1973 on the Probe Record label (Cat Number: PRO 75) but it did not chart.

‘Do It Again’ was re-released in 1975 on the ABC Record label in the UK (Cat Number: ABC 4075), charting at Number 48 on the 30th of August. Strangely, it peaked the following week at Number 39, dropping back to Number 40 the following week and then Number 42, spending just four weeks in the Hit Parade.

For a song that did not sell that well in the UK you might think that it would have faded but, it was a big favourite with Rock fans, remaining a cult number and it can still be heard on the Radio today.

'Do It Again' was composed by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen who went on to have a successful solo career. Fagen was lead singer, co-songwriter, and keyboardist of Steely Dan and he along with Walter Becker was co-founder of the band.

14/06/2020

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQZBaJAngH8

Lido Shuffle – Boz Scaggs - S CBS 5136

The fourth single from the Album 'Silk Degrees' and released in 1977 'Lido Shuffle' by Boz Scaggs (Cat Number: S CBS 5136) was written by Boy Scaggs and David Paich. It made the Charts in the Spring, entering at Number 41 on the 14th May, peaking at Number 13 on the 18th June, spending seven weeks in the Top 20 and a total of nine weeks in the Top 50. 'Lido Shuffle' peaked at Number 11 in the States on the Billboard Top 100.

Members of the backup band on "Lido Shuffle" include David Paich, Jeff Porcaro and David Hungate who later formed Toto.

Scaggs recalled: ""Lido Shuffle" was a song that I'd been banging around. I took the idea of the shuffle from a song that Fats Domino did called "The Fat Man" that had a kind of driving shuffle beat that I used to play on the piano.

13/06/2020

Young Hearts Run Free - Candi Staton - K 16730

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsNzIVkkc90

Candi Staton's background was in Gospel and her first career moves after 1968 proclaimed her as a 'Southern Soul' singer. Many still call her 1976 hit 'Young Hearts Run Free' a soul number but I would call it contemporary, even 'Disco'. Released on the Warner Brothers Record label in the UK (Cat Number: K 16730) in 1976 this is yet another one of the hot Summer hits of the mid seventies that has proved its longevity.

'Young Hearts Run Free' by Candi Staton first charted in the UK on the 29th May 1976, entering the hit parade at Number 47, peaking in its seventh week at Number 2 on the 5th July on its third week in the Top Ten. 'Young hearts Run Free' went on to spend a total of ten weeks in the Top Ten that Summer and its charts run, before dropping away like a spent Summer bloom had just another two weeks in the Top 30 before exiting the Charts come the 28th August.

It reappeared ten years later, once again in the Summer but faded after peaking at Number 47 in just a five week run in the Top 100. If you thought that was it, no it was not. Another show in 1999 saw 'Young Hearts Run Free' back on the 7th of August at Number 29 but, falling back to Number 45 the following week it exited the Hit Parade after just 2 weeks.

If this proves anything it is that everything has its timeline and 'Young Hearts Run Free' by Candi Staton will always be of its time, part of the mid 1970's Summer blossoms, remaining classics that punctate that era.

"Young Hearts Run Free" was written by its producer David Crawford. According to Staton, the song's genesis was a conversation she had with Crawford over lunch in Los Angeles: Staton – she said "Dave Crawford was always asking me: 'What's happening in your life'...and I was with someone I shouldn't have been with and it was hard getting out of that...very abusive relationship"..."I saw that that he was taking notes, and he said, 'You know, I'm gonna write you a song. I'm gonna write you a song that's gonna last forever.'"

12/06/2020

You To Me Are Everything - The Real Thing - 7N 25709

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yT1iDKkZNYU

Founded in 1972 by Chris Amoo, Dave Smith, Kenny Davis and Ray Lake, The Real Thing secured a record deal with EMI after performing live covers of American progressive soul hits but in spite of the high quality of releases between 1972 and 1973 such as 'Viscous Circle' success evaded them until a collaboration with David Essex and Pye Records. Kenny Davis had left before this collaboration when the band toured internationally with Essex and recorded with him but, none of the songs charted and it seemed as if that would never happen until they were then offered a song that hit the spot.

Written by Ken Gold and Michael Denne and produced by Ken Gold, 'You To Me Are Everything' by British Band 'The Real Thing' was another memorable Summer chart topper released by Pye International Records (Cat Number: 7N 25709) in the UK in 1976 and it first charted on the 5th June at Number 22 in the UK Singles Chart. Two weeks later it reached Number 2 before topping the Charts at Number 1 from 26th June, for three weeks. It spent a total of 11 weeks in the Top 40.

The song was reissued in 1986 on the PRT Record label (Cat Number: 7P349) as 'You To Me Are Everything (The Decade Remix) ten years later in 1986. This time it peaked at Number 5 on the 5th May, spending five weeks in the Top 10 and a total of seventeen weeks in the Hit Parade.

11/06/2020

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeEfvZCqYzI

Fireflies – Fleetwood Mac - WBS 49660

Fireflies is a song written by Stevie Nicks and performed by her with Fleetwood Mac at a private concert for family and friends at the Civic Centre in Santa Monica, California in July 1980 and that recording was released on the Album ‘Fleetwood Mac Live’ later that year. It was then released in the USA as a single in 1981(Cat Number: WBS 49660) where it peaked at Number 60 on the Billboard Top 100.

"Fireflies" was Nicks' rumination on the tumultuous recording of the "Tusk" album and her observance that the band stayed intact nevertheless. Her lyrics referred to band members as the "five fireflies". I still have a rare copy of the ‘Fireflies’ single from 1981 and I think it is one of the great Fleetwood Mac songs of that time, alongside 'Gypsy' and 'Sara' although it is a not so well-known in the UK.

10/06/2020

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLmolsADviE

Concrete and Clay - Randy Edelman – BTC 2261

Released by the band ‘Unit 4+2’ in 1965 and written by group members Tommy Moeller and Brian Parker, ‘Concrete and Clay’ became a Number 1 Hit that year in the UK, spending a total fifteen weeks in the Top 50 between March and June 1965. Many artists have since covered the song, as did Randy Edelman on his Album ‘Farewell Fairbanks’, when all other tracks on the Album were his own, original recordings.

Released on the 20th Century Record label in 1975, Randy Edelman’s version of ‘Concrete and Clay’ entered the UK Singles Chart on 6th March 1976 at Number 40, peaking at Number 11 on the 27th March, on its fourth week in the Hit Parade. Randy Edelman’s cover of ‘Concrete and Clay’ spent a total of seven weeks in the UK Top 40 and this evergreen contemporary version of the song remains popular to this day.

09/06/2020

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5uMOOQ6MV0

Love Really Hurts Without You – Billy Ocean – GT 72

Billy Ocean is a British R&B singer who actually wrote ’Love Really Hurts Without You’ using his real name, Leslie Charles. The song was his tenth release and it is said that he was the most surprised person in the world when ‘Love Really Hurts Without You’ became a hit, having failed on the nine previous occasions!

Ocean had written the original version of "Love Really Hurts Without You" several years earlier while working as a pattern cutter at a fashion house on Savile Row. He was influenced by Motown and he admitted that his song's tune strongly resembled The Four Tops 1965 classic ‘I Can’t Help Myself’.

Released 23rd January 1976 on the GTO Record label ( Cat Number: GT 72) in the UK, ‘Love Really Hurts Without You’ entered the UK Singles Chart at Number 34 on 21st February that year. It peaked at Number 2 on the 28th March, claiming the Number 3 spot either side of this and with a total of ten weeks in the Top 40, six of those were spent in the Top 10. The song was re-released in 1986 but only managed three weeks in the Top 100, peaking in the first week at Number 81.

‘Love Really Hurts Without You’ ranks jointly as Ocean’s second biggest hit alongside ‘Red Light Spells Danger’. His biggest hit came in 1986 with ‘When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going’, that topped the Charts - spending four weeks at Number 1.

08/06/2020

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NlOgacob8g

You Little Trustmaker – The Tymes – RCA 2456

Having covered some of the history of ‘The Tymes' with a look at ‘Ms Grace’, here I want to just concentrate on facts about ‘You Little Trustmaker’. Released in the UK in 1974 on the RCA Record label (Cat Number: RCA 2456), this song was the first single released by The Tymes that found any success, since ‘People’, that reached Number 16 in 1968. As we already know, prior to that you have to go back to 1963 when ‘So Much in Love’ peaked at Number 21.

The Tymes were definitely on the right track though, with their new Album ‘Trustmaker’ in 1974 when they released the title track ‘You Little Trustmaker’. It first charted on 21st September 1974 at Number 50, peaking at Number 18 on the 12th October and it spent a total of nine weeks in the Top 50 of the UK Singles Chart.

Whilst the song did not enjoy the same success as ‘Ms Grace’, that followed it up and then topped the Charts, ‘You Little Trustmaker’ did, nevertheless pave the way and it was more a track for the dance floor. It has stood the test of time and is a classic.