The Chart Book – The Specials The Melody Maker Albums 1958- 1969 Compiled by Lonnie Readioff Contents Introduction Introduction .............................................................................................. 2 Melody Maker began publication of a Singles chart in 1956, and, like many other publications, Chart Milestones ....................................................................................... 4 began an Album chart a few years later. They where not the first, as we shall see, but they where, at the time, the largest size of chart publishing a Top 10. The Artist Section ...................................................................................... 5 Analysis Section......................................................................................... 82 The first album chart was printed in Record Mirror in 1956, although LP’s had been selling very Most Weeks On Chart By Artist ........................................................... 83 well for years previously. What made them start a chart in 1956 could well have been down to Most Weeks On Chart By Year ............................................................. 85 the massive sales of Elvis, Sinatra and the Carousel soundtrack, all of whom made the NME Most Weeks On Chart By Record ......................................................... 89 Singles Top 30 around May/June 1956. Melody Maker went one step further and, instead of a Top 5 they printed a Top 10 (shown below from the authors collection). The Number 1’s ......................................................................................... 90 Full Title Listing In Alphabetical Order ...................................................... 92 Weekly Charts ........................................................................................... 97 This book is © Lonnie Readioff 2020, though the original charts that this book is derived from were first printed in Melody Maker between 1958 and 1969. The original data was compiled form reference to the original weekly magazines and corrected using internet resources, such as Discogs, iTunes, Spotify and the Internet Archive amongst others. I am grateful to the support and assistance of numerous people, including Iain Moffatt for providing some of the track listings. The book is presented on an as-is basis. While every effort has been made to make sure it is free from defects I will not be held responsible if it does nasty things to your computer. Though it shouldn’t. But if it does, it’s not my fault. Notes on the text As with any book of this nature there are mistakes inside its pages. I would be stupid to think that there were none. So, if you spot a mistake and let me know, I’ll correct it and you’ll get your name in the book. Drop me an email at [email protected] and I’ll check out the error, though I also welcome praise and criticism, both for the book and the layout of the book. Much changed in the following years as the Album chart did eventually get religated lower and lower prominence and size. By 1965 the Top 50 Singles chart was taking up much of the page, As far as can be tested this book is virus free, though it may contain traces of nuts. with the Top 10 LP’s tucked away in a corner below. The Beatles did little to change this, but eventually the chart size did increase (See the Chart Milestones section later on). Many other charts where created during the 1960’s (Record Retailer, New Musical Express, Top Pops, etc) but Melody Maker was the one, at least to it’s readers, with the larger sample size and so was therefore most accurate (Just ask any statistician!). The chart , as they all where, was not without aligations of hyping (A news report on the front page in February 1969 went to great lengths to distance themselves from claims of this stating how they where ensuring hyping did not sully their chart.). By 1970 though, as this volume ends, times where changing. The BBC chart was listed as Official as it was compiled by the British Market Research Bureau and while Album Track Listing they did overlap in some ways (in number 1’s most weeks), the BBC Chart was gaining in power. Every track as listed on the album is presented here, in order. A very few albums have no track Come with us now though as we return to those good old days of vinyl records. listing other than ‘Side 1’ and ‘Side 2’ - these are presented as shown. Later CD re-issues may have named the tracks, so caution with these is required as the track listing relates to the version whose catalogue number is shown. The full artist is shown for any track where this differs from the main album credit. For many - but not all - Soundtrack or Cast albums, shown at the end of the book, individual artists are shown where it has been possible to identify who they where. This is not the case for all soundtracks as the cover does not always state performers. In some cases later CD re-issues have been used to determine the performer. Verifiable evidence of errors is gratefully received to [email protected], including durations of albums where none is shown, but do please take the above notes into account. Durations This volume is the first to also list the durations if the albums and so a word about how these are created is important. The database from which this book is derived contains the full album track listing for each album together with the duration of that particular track. To create the album duration the individual track times are added together, which means that the original LP duration could be a few seconds longer to account for silence between tracks. Equally, the duration of each track may itself be adjusted slightly as where a particular track ends can differ slightly depending upon who you consult. Here I am discussing specifically fade out times. Some albums (2 in total) do not have a duration listed as accurate data for some or all of the listed tracks could not be located. In compiling the durations I was able to verify many with Spotify and iTunes. Below is a listing of the albums for which durations are not available in this book. Artist Title Label CatNum Reginald Dixon The World Of Reginald Dixon Decca LP: SPA 38 Val Doonican The World Of Val Doonican Vol II Decca LP: SPA 25 1 November 1969 chart – from the authors personal collection. Chart Milestones Meldoy Maker printed the charts within this book weekly from 1958 to 1969. Key milestones are mentioned below, together with the chart it refers to. 1969 1958 4 Oct Chart increases to a Top 30. Bubbling Under printed for the first time, listing 7 entries 8 Nov The first chart, a Top 10 this week starting at position 34. Chart listed 10 entries, usually not in alphabetical 27 Dec Frozen chart, as no Melody Maker printed this week. order. The chart size change is due to a new publication taking the Melody Maker chart as Melody Maker itself still printed just a Top 20. The new publication was entitled Music Business Weekly and carried the Top 50 Melody Maker Singles chart as well as the 1959 Top 30 albums, and bubblers. 1 Nov Bubbling Under listed 9 records listed this week, starting at 32 because of tied 30 on the 27 Jun Newspaper strike means no Melody Maker printed and so no new Album chart until 8 main chart. August 1959 8 Nov Bubbling Under listed 10 records listed this week, starting at 32 because of tied 30 on 8 Aug Newspaper strike over, the chart returns, still a Top 10. the main chart. 22 Dec Frozen chart, as no Melody Maker printed this week. 13 Dec Bubbling Under listed 9 records listed this week 20 Dec Final Bubbling Under chart for 1969 27 Dec Frozen chart. 1960 30 Jul Chart now listed as having data supplied by over 100 record dealers Various publication errors, including incorrect positions, have been identified and corrected by reference to the original chart issues. Corrections to titles, label details and other information by 1962 reference to internet searchers and copies of the original records. 29 Dec Frozen chart. 1963 28 Dec Frozen chart. 1967 30 Dec Frozen chart. 1968 5 Oct Chart increases to a Top 20 28 Dec Frozen chart. Chart History Between 8 November 1958 and 27 December 1969 Entry Peak Weeks on chart, Title (Number 1 Number) (Composer) Full artist credit (if different) B-Side (Or EP/Album track listing) Label (Catalogue Number) Duration. Notes are presented below the title for some entries. Entries are sorted by artist, then by entry date, peak position and finally weeks on chart. All re-entries are shown as separate entries. C Canned Heat Entry: 14.09.1968 Hits: 2 Peak: 4 Weeks: 11 14.09.1968 4 10 Boogie With Canned Heat Liberty LP: LBS 83103 043:39 Evil Woman / My Crime / On The Road Again / World In A Jug / Turpentine Moan / Whiskey Headed Woman No.2 / Amphetamine Annie / An Owl Song / Marie Laveau / Fried Hockey Boogie Bubbling Under The Melody Maker Albums Chart Entry: 11.10.1969 Hits: 1 Peak: 37 Weeks: 1 11.10.1969 37 1 Hallelujah Liberty LP: LBS 83239 038:04 Same All Over / Change My Ways / Canned Heat / Sic ’em Pigs / I’m Her Man / Time Was / Do Not Enter / Big Fat / Huautla / Get Off My Back / Down In The Gutter, But Free Freddy Cannon Entry: 27.02.1960 Hits: 1 Peak: 2 Weeks: 8 27.02.1960 2 8 The Explosive Freddy Cannon Top Rank LP: 25/108 027:08 Boston (My Home Town) / Kansas City / Sweet Georgia Brown / Way Down Yonder In New Orleans / St. Louis Blues / Indiana / Chatanoogie Shoe Shine Boy / Deep In The Heart Of Texas / California, Here I Come / Okefenokee / Carolina In The Morning / Tallahassee Lassie Captain Beefheart Entry: