A trawl through some lesser known acts on TOTP 1970....

[stevej]

For no good reason whatsoever, I've been going through all the TOTP editions for 1970 listed on TV Pop Diaries and compiling a list of some of the more interesting acts featured that year in missing editions. The extended 45-minute format seemed to allow some more left-field releases to be featured and I must admit that although I like to think I have a pretty broad knowledge of pop from that period, several of these are artists or songs I hadn't heard of before. Surprisingly all but a couple can be found on Youtube or elsewhere, so it was possible to make up some very diverse and entertaining CD compilation volumes for the car. Although I'm sure most if not all of these tracks would also have been played on Radio 1 in 1970, I think almost none of these have had any airplay since....

See how many of these 45s you are intimately familiar with:-

The Peddlers - Girlie 15.1.70

Edwin Starr – Time 22.1.70 (OK so this is a well known classic and was featured as a dance routine for Pan's People- which must have been dynamite!)

Robin Gibb – August October 12.2.70 (A BBC colour performance of this idiosyncratic single exists, as Robin was also a guest on a surviving edition of The Young Generation in January)

Jackie Lomax – How The Web Was Woven 19.2.70
Nanette – Flying Machine 19.2.70
Peter Sarstedt – Without Darkness (There Is No Light) 19.2.70 (Marvellous single, this!)

Radna Krishna Temple – Govinda 19.3.70
Doris Troy – Ain’t That Cute 19.3.70

Madeline Bell – We’re So Much In Love 26.3.70
Jerry Butler – Hey Western Union Man 26.3.70

Maurice Gibb – Railroad 16.4.70
Jack Wild – Wait For Summer 16.4.70 (Actually not as bad a single as you may have feared from this child star)

Peaches & Herb – Satisfy My Hunger 23.4.70 (About a million miles away from 'Reunited'!)

Alan Price – Sunshine & Rain 30.4.70
Barry Ryan – Kitsch 30.4.70

Root & Jenny Jackson – So Far Away 7.5.70
Turley Richards – Love Minus Zero 7.5.70
Jake Holmes – How Are You (Part One) 7.5.70

Chris Farlowe & The Hill – Black Sheep Of The Family 14.5.70
Teresa Graves – We’re On Our Way 14.5.70 (Teresa Graves starred in Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In and also appeared on ATV's Des O'Connor Show 9th May)

Arrival - I Will Survive 21.5.70 (Another cracking single from this outfit)
Opus – Baby Come On 21.5.70 (A hard-riffing rocker probably best known for inclusion on a Circus Days comp some years ago)
Savoy Brown – A Hard Way To Go 21.5.70
Dorothy Morrison – Rain 21.5.70 (Another fantastic soul single)

Zoot Money – No One But You 28.5.70
Brinsley Schwarz – Shining Brightly 28.5.70

Love Affair – Speak of Peace, Sing of Joy 4.6.70

Paintbox – Get Ready For Love 11.6.70

Soft Pedalling – It’s So Nice 18.6.70

Audience – Belladonna Moonshine 23.7.70
Jonathan Kelly & Friends – Don’t You Believe It 23.7.70

The Wake – Boys In The Band 30.7.70

Jerry Reed – Plastic Saddle 6.8.70

Hank Marvin with Trash – Break Another Dawn 13.8.70

Caravan – If I Could Do It Again 20.8.70 (A classic, natch!)
Gary Osborne – Three Day Nation 27.8.70 (One half of Vigrass/Osborne who wrote 'Forever Autumn')

Eli Bonapart – Never An Everyday Thing 3.9.70 (I actually have a promo copy of this Decca single, also recorded by Springfield Park on CBS)
Jonathan King & The Free – Cherry Cherry 3.9.70
Voices Of East Harlem – Ride On, Be Free 3.9.70

Peter E Bennett & The Co Operation Choir – The Seagull’s Name Was Nelson 17.9.70
Doris Troy – Jacob’s Ladder 17.9.70

Birds Of A Feather – All God’s Children Got Soul 1.10.70 (Fantastic UK soul effort. They did better later in the 70s as The Chanter Sisters)

Quartet – Joseph 1.10.70

Harmony Grass – Stand On Your Own Two Feet 8.10.70

Vanity Fare – Carolina’s Coming Home 22.10.70
Humpy Bong – Don’t You Be Too Long 22.10.70

Tears – Why Do I Love You 5.11.70

Dozy Beaky Mick & Tich – Festival 19.11.70

Deep Feeling – Do You Wanna Dance 26.11.70
Men – She Works In A Woman’s Way 26.11.70

Sue & Sunny – Ain;t That Tellin You People 3.12.70 (No strangers to tv this pair)

Guess Who – Share The Land 10.12.70
Lance le Gault – Cannikin Clink 10.12.70
P P Arnold – May The Winds Blow 10.12.70

Quite eclectic isn't it?

Steve

[williammcgregor]

I bought the original Govinda single

years later I also bought Kula Shaker doing a great cover of the song ...

[Alan Turrell]

I have around 9 or 10 of these on vinyl some of these are really good songs and a few are worth a few bob as well for example Nanette - Flying Machine Columbia DB 8659 ranges from £15 to around £40.

[Kev Hunter]

Also on 28.5.70 : Fairfield Parlour (previously known as Kaleidoscope) - Bordeaux Rose

[Kev Mulrenan]

A tiny few second fragment exists via the anatomy of pop survives.

I believe this was when Johnny Stewart had a sabbatical.

Was this when Mel Cornish took over?

Are we looking at a situation where Doddies in brown paper envelopes took over for a while?

[markjhaley]

I bought the Barry Ryan 'Kitsch' single and was most surprised that it wasn't on again. Mind you I was only 9

[Alan Turrell]

Nov 20, 2020 21:55:31 GMT markjhaley said:

I bought the Barry Ryan 'Kitsch' single and was most surprised that it wasn't on a
gain. Mind you I was only 9[/


I have a copy of "Kitsch" Mark a really good song on Polydor I thought Barry made several good singles on his own.

[Jeff Leach]

I have a copy of the Birds of a feather single.
Some great seldom heard tracks there.

[stevej]

Funnily enough I actually heard that same Birds of a Feather single for the first time a year or so ago on a recording of a Radio 1 Tony Blackburn breakfast show from 1970. I was impressed enough to seek more information (only 49 years later- how about that for a delayed reaction!) It turns out that the nice people at rpm records have compiled the Birds of a Feather LP and associated singles on one handy compact disc. It's a cracking listen and features some Elton John input as well as early covers of 'Take Me To The Pilot' and 'Border Song' - pretty much still hot of the press at the time.

Edit: The CD is currently still available and at a bargain price too:

www.cherryred.co.uk/product/birds-of-a-feather-the-page-one-recordings/