7 October 1971 Two total ledgebags at number one with 'Did You Ever' - not Linda Martin and Mick McCarthy with their unlikely 1991 duet, but Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood twenty years earlier. The Nancy n' Lee songbook of sunkissed and sometimes sinister country-pop still sounds thrilling and sophisticated today. In particular, 'These Boots … Continue reading Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood – ‘Did You Ever’ →

30 September 1971 There ain't nothing like shaggin'. My baby sure can shag. Hey, what's the matter? I'm only telling you the names of the 1987 comeback hit by The Tams and its 1988 follow-up single! The shag was the name of an early-'60s dance style which formed the basis of a 1988 US retro … Continue reading The Tams – ‘Hey Girl Don’t Bother Me’ →

16 September 1971 The wait is over: it's September 1971 and Ireland finally has a number one single from Motown. That's not to say we were theretofore completely oblivious to the brilliance coming out of Hitsville: The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, The Four Tops, Mary Wells, The Temptations and Marvin Gaye had all had Irish top … Continue reading Diana Ross – ‘I’m Still Waiting’ →

26 August 1971 Imagine the online fan feuding there would have been on '70s social media between old Seeker-heads and the New Seeker army, with maybe even Judith Durham mic-dropping a Mariah-esque "I don't know them". That's how I lifted my spirits while in the depths of listening to this. Quick re-up: the OG Seekers … Continue reading The New Seekers – ‘Never Ending Song Of Love’ →

12 August 1971 Already here in mid-1971 we have one of the signature hits of T. Rex and glam - but perhaps not yet the signature sound of either. As with most of the tracks on parent album Electric Warrior, 'Get It On' still has a groove rather than a stomp, the lyrics are still … Continue reading T. Rex – ‘Get It On’ →

31 July 1971 The showbands hadn't gone away. What's more, the '70s bring a new wave of them, with more technically capable singers who'd probably have gone into musical theatre if Dublin had its own West End or Broadway. Instead, they work the cabaret angle, make the occasional tilt at getting selected for Eurovision, and … Continue reading Red Hurley and The Nevada – ‘Sometimes’ →

19 June 1971 With five number one singles dotting the decade like bird droppings, Brendan Shine can claim to be Ireland's biggest chart-topping star of the '70s. It may somewhat colour this accolade for you to know that his nearest competitor in this was Red Hurley with four; the showband-dominated '60s Irish charts congealed into … Continue reading Brendan Shine – ‘O’Brien Has No Place To Go’ →

5 June 1971 Anyone who writes 'I'm A Believer' can't be all bad. Therefore, to say that every Neil Diamond song is knuckle-gnawingly dreadful would be incorrect. It's the other 99.9 percent of them that's the problem: his gauche, self-satisfied lyrics that amount to the wrong-headed knowingness of a parish priest telling a class of … Continue reading Neil Diamond – ‘I Am… I Said’ →

10 April 1971 Knocking Marc Bolan off the Irish number one spot: a welder from Cork, an actual metal guru. Some more chopping and changing saw Lynn Anderson's 'Rose Garden' and T. Rex's 'Hot Love' each reclaim the top bunk, before 'When We Were Young' by Pat Lynch and The Airchords vanquished both again to … Continue reading Pat Lynch and The Airchords – ‘When We Were Young’ →

3 April 1971 It happened on 24 March 1971, according to biographer Lesley-Ann Jones in her book Ride A White Swan. T. Rex were at the BBC to record 'Hot Love' for that week's Top Of The Pops as the new UK number one. They had performed the track on the show before, but this … Continue reading T. Rex – ‘Hot Love’ →