21 December 1968 McCartneys at number one in Ireland in 1968: Paul one, Mike one. Paul surely bears some moral culpability for 'Lily The Pink', though; Sgt Pepper evidently opened a market gap for tuba-farting English music-hall retro whimsy. English pop music never really ditched its end-of-the-pier variety show impulses. Robbie Williams eked a solo … Continue reading The Scaffold – ‘Lily The Pink’ →

9 November 1968 Factoid fans and '90s kids love The Tremeloes. They're the band that auditioned for Decca Records on the same day as The Beatles; guess which one Decca signed. This late-'60s line-up of The Tremeloes features co-lead-vocalist Chip Hawkes, father of the one and only Chesney. Chip replaced Brian Poole, father of Karen … Continue reading The Tremeloes – ‘My Little Lady’ →

21 September 1968 Copperfastening my realisation that, 'Hey Jude' aside, 1968 may be our worst year ever for number one singles, here come the Bee Gees. I hadn't realised there were five of them at that stage; as per the cover image above, the three Gibbs had dragged two unrelated randomers into their hot mess. … Continue reading Bee Gees – ‘I’ve Gotta Get A Message To You’ →

14 September 1968 Even taking into account the local dominance of showbands, the contemporary folk boom, the demon seed of Jim Reeves, the ready availability of low-grade Merseybeat, and the pop-cultural isolation of our country at the time, it's still been surprising to me just how few of the genuinely iconic '60s hits actually got … Continue reading The Beatles – ‘Hey Jude’ →

7 September 1968 Just when I thought Ireland's number ones of 1968 couldn't get any worse, here's Cork's most prevalent showband. Their frontperson was singer Brendan O'Brien but their real star seems to have been drummer Joe Mac, who was still popping up with skits and japes on Irish light-entertainment television during my otherwise happy … Continue reading The Dixies – ‘Little Arrows’ →

17 August 1968 No one gets murdered in the 'Help Yourself' universe, which already makes it an improvement on 'Delilah' and 'Green, Green Grass Of Home'. So, how goes Tom Jones, cabaret pop's most prolific killer, when he contains his chart-topping bloodlust to focus on mere lust? 'Help Yourself' isn't as brash as I had … Continue reading Tom Jones – ‘Help Yourself’ →

13 July 1968 Okay, I get the whole '60s Dylan-acoustic-folk scene. And despite his '50s teddy-boy look, English folkie Don Partridge on the sleeve of 'Blue Eyes' (above) cuts a suave figure. But this is rubbish. 'King of the Buskers' - that was Don, and you can also see on the cover that he's got … Continue reading Don Partridge – ‘Blue Eyes’ →

15 June 1968 For years I thought 'Honey' was meant to be a comedy song. This was because I first heard it as performed by a theatrical troupe who, for reasons not clear to us, played at our secondary school one random midweek morning. The singer threw to us with gurning reaction faces at certain … Continue reading Bobby Goldsboro – ‘Honey’ →

18 May 1968 Continuing the turbulent social upheaval of May 1968: here's Engelbert with tear gas for the ears. Originally an Italian song called 'Quando m'innamoro' from that year's Sanremo festival, it ended up being recorded in at least ten other European languages; 'A Man Without Love' is repping the language of Shakespeare and Shakin' … Continue reading Engelbert Humperdinck – ‘A Man Without Love’ →