Brian's Weekly Sleevenotes - 11 April 15

Discover the stories behind some of the songs in this week's playlist

Cheesecake - Louis Armstrong

Written by Armstrong and Irving Fields, who had originally composed it as ’Nothing In Particular’ but turned it into the novelty song ‘Cheesecake’ that was recorded in New York in April 1966. Louis later performed it on TV as a duet with Bing Crosby and in the Seventies it was featured in an edition of ‘The Muppet Show’ in which Miss Piggy defies her diet to run around after a cheesecake.

Good Timin’ - Jimmy Jones

This was his follow up to ‘Handy Man’ written by Fred Tobias and Clint Ballard Jnr, and like its predecessor, was produced by Otis Blackwell. Topping the charts here led to him touring the UK, but unfortunately he failed to match the quality of his first two hits and his appearances on the charts were soon a thing of the past. It was practically twelve years to the day before Jones’s record label, MGM managed to gain another UK number one with Donny Osmond’s ‘Puppy Love’.

Just One Look - The Hollies

The song had originally been an American top ten hit for Doris Troy in 1963 who co-wrote it under the name of Doris Payne. The Hollies cover version reached number two in the UK and also gave them the first taste of chart success in America even though it only made it to number ninety-eight in the Hot 100. After a number of bigger hits, it was re-issued there in 1967 and on this occasion climbed to number forty-four.

Our Day Will Come - Ruby & The Romantics

Before ruby Nash joined the romantics as the lead singer, the four men that made up the group were called The Supremes, but because there was another female act about to make the big time, they had to come up with a new name; and so Ruby and The Romantics were born. Before their first recording session, Ruby had heard “our day will come” but the writers, Bob Hilliard and Mort Garson were reluctant to hand over the song to an unknown act. After much persuasion, they agreed to let the group record it on the understanding that if they weren’t happy with the end result, they would offer it to a major act. Needless to say they were delighted when they achieved a number one hit in the states.

Rock & Roll Woman - Buffalo Springfield

The song was written by Stephen Stills and un-credited David Crosby who had just left The Byrds. It was taken from the group’s second album, ‘Buffalo Springfield Again.’ The recording of the project was marred over the often absent Neil Young and the fact that their bass guitarist, Bruce Palmer failed to turn up at sessions owing to being detained by police on alleged drug charges.

She’s About A Mover – Sir Douglas Quintet

The group led by the late Doug Sahm, hailed from San Antonio in Texas, near the Mexican border. In 1964, Sahm met Huey Meaux, a maverick record producer who was more interested in making a quick buck than the sound quality of his records. He convinced the group to introduce a Louisiana Cajun sound into their music and brought in organist, Augie Meyers for their first record, ‘Sugar Bee’, that formed the template for their next release, ‘She’s About A Mover’, that is still a floor filler today and their only UK hit.

5-4-3-2-1 – Manfred Mann

After two failed singles the group were unperturbed by the lack of success and Paul Jones and Manfred Mann set about finding a song for their next single when they were asked by the producers of ITV’s top pop show, ‘Ready Steady Go’ to provide a new theme tune for the series. They responded with the energetic ‘5-4-3-2-1’ which, with the help of weekly TV exposure, climbed to number five in the UK charts. Shortly after it was recorded, bass player, Dave Richmond decided to leave the group being replaced by Tom McGuinness; the first of many line-up changes.

That’s Why I’m Crying - The Ivy League

John Carter and Ken Lewis were two founder members of The Ivy League who also wrote this song and had previously been the leading lights of Carter-Lewis & The Southerners. ‘That’s Why I’m Crying’ was the follow up to their debut hit, ‘Funny How Love Can Be’ - which was also one of their own compositions. They later went on to form the flowerpot men achieving a top five hit in 1967 with ‘Let’s go to San Francisco.’

Save Me - Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich

This became the group’s fourth consecutive UK top ten hit and like all the previous chart entries was written and produced by Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley who were responsible for changing the group’s name from Dave Dee & the Bostons and for encouraging them to wear garish stage clothes for television appearances and live gigs whilst performing songs with slightly risqué lyrics.

Trains And Boats And Planes - Billy J Kramer & The Dakotas

After six consecutive top twenty hits including two number ones and three of the others making the top five, this surprisingly became the group’s final chart hit. Written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Kramer had to battle it out with Burt’s own version that reached number four in our charts, eight places higher than his own.

Read all about Billy J Kramer, the shy boy from Bootle, here.