25 July 1966
This is indeed the same showband with whom Eileen Reid in 1964 became the first Irish woman to go to number one in Ireland, with ‘Fallen Star’. Eileen is still there, but The Cadets always had a male vocalist too, to provide some counterpoint and variety for their stage act. In that role, Gregory Donaghy from Tyrone had only joined The Cadets a few months before this chart-topping single, replacing Paul Green, who himself had replaced Pat Murphy (whose harmonica-playing opens ‘Fallen Star’) in 1965. And this chart-topping single makes Gregory the first act from Northern Ireland to go to number one in Ireland. So, now you’re up to speed on The Cadets and their trailblazing ways.
‘More Than Yesterday’ was a waltz-time ballad by yodelling country crooner Slim Whitman, whose claim to fame on this side of the Atlantic is the 11 consecutive weeks he spent at number one in the UK in 1955 with ‘Rose Marie’ – a reign not beaten until Bryan Adams showed up in 1991. Neither Gregory nor The Cadets can rustle up anything as oddly mellifluous, or even mellifluously odd, as Whitman’s lonesome prairie yodel. After all, this is showband; a samey country & Irish trot through some drearily sentimental cowpoke balladry is all you’re getting from this crowd. The record starts, and the trailblazing stops.
