Not The Greatest Hits Of 1974

Night Of The Monster's Party by The Monsters (Dart, 1974) - listen to Tim Worthington, Ben Baker and Tracey Binnie talking about it in Songs Of Reappraise.

Songs Of Reappraise is a show on the excellent Noisebox Radio in which The Not Very Reverend Ben Baker and a couple of guests trawl through some of the singles released during a certain week in history that resolutely failed to trouble the pop charts. Recently I joined Ben and fellow guest Tracey Binnie for a look at – well, a listen to – some of May 1974’s Glam-tastic hit hopefuls who narrowly averted having to be introduced on television by now discredited celebrities, including Lady Killer by Mouse, I’ll Have To Say I Love You In A Song by Cilla Black, Good Time Fanny by Angel, A Friend To You by Kenny Ball With The Johnny Arthey Orchestra And The Eddie Lester Singers, I Like To Live The Love by Bob And Marcia, Hazel Eyes by Neil Reid, The Night Of The Monster’s Party by The Monsters, It’s Magical by Colin Blunstone, The Magician by The Button Down Brass Featuring Ray Davies and Feet In The Sunshine by Jimmy Webb, thankfully none of whom are now discredited themselves although some of the records themselves probably now have some sort of restraining order slapped on them. Meanwhile, sadly, BBC Records And Tapes didn’t release any singles during May 1974.

None of the above would go on to join The Rubettes and Carl Douglas on that year’s Christmas Top Of The Pops, but which record sounds like Blue Jam with you dad’s mate on vocals, which one warranted an ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww with fifteen w’s, which one is not as good as We Are Two Ians In Space, and most importantly which one will we rescue and make into a belated hit? Find out here!

If you’d rather download a full version of the show, you can find one at Ben’s Patreon here.

Buy A Book!

If you’ve enjoyed this, you’ll enjoy Tim’s book Can’t Help Thinking About Me, a collection of columns and features with a personal twist. Can’t Help Thinking About Me is available in paperback here or from the Kindle Store here.

Alternately, if you’re just feeling generous, you can buy me a coffee here. I mean, you don’t want to have to buy one for Kenny Ball, The Johnny Arthey Orchestra and The Eddie Lester Singers, do you? Even if they will be a friend to you.

Further Listening

You can listen to me and Ben talking about the Nativity module of the BBC Schools programme Watch – yes I know it’s from slightly later in the seventies – here.