Joe Jackson’s first hit. From 1979.

Mr Mister’s first UK hit.

I’ve not had anything from The Lightning Seeds for a while, so why not?

They always had a bright, cheerful sound.

Another football name from my youth has gone. The death of Peter Lorimer has been announced.

He came to prominence playing in that great Leeds United side of the late 60s and early 70s, managed by Don Revie.

I actually saw him play once. He even scored. It was in a World Cup qualification game against Denmark at Hampden in 1972. Denmark outplayed Scotland all over the park except in our penalty box. Everything kind of petered out just before they reached there. Scotland won two-nil.

In the finals Lorimer was involved in the most bizarre free-kick incident ever to have happened during a World Cup. It was Scotland’s first game, against Zaire. Lorimer was lined up to take it when the ref blew his whistle and a Zaire player rushed out of the wall. Lorimer hesitated, waiting for the ref to blow for the ten yard distance to be re-established. He didn’t, and the Zaire player kicked the ball upfield. Lorimer scored the first in a 2-0 win.

Peter Patrick Lorimer: 14/12/1946 – 20/3/2021. So it goes.

The first big hit on the Deram label (DM 109, see my previous post here) was this song by The Move, which reached no. 2 in the UK. The song’s writer Roy Wood borrowed extensively from his musical hero Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture for this. While normal lead singer Carl Wayne takes the verses, the song features Ace Kefford singing the “chorus” with Roy Wood and Trevor Burton adding their voices to the harmonies. Wood first contributed a lead singer role in the bridge of the follow-up single I Can Hear the Grass Grow on which Kefford also sang the middle eight.

Trevor Peacock, who was best known as an actor (particularly as Jim Trott in The Vicar of Dibley, died earlier this week.

However he was also a songwriter, with several hits to his credit in the early 1960s, though they were performed and sung by other people. Mrs Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter was a no 1 in the US for Herman’s Hermits, though it wasn’t released as a single in the UK.

This one was a No 3 in the UK. It is a very “early 1960s” sound, from a tiny bit before my time.

Trevor Edward Peacock: 19/5/1931 – 8/3/2021. So it goes.

This is a song from 1967 but it wasn’t a hit until this performance live with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra was released as a single in 1972, when it became Procol Harum’s third UK top thirty entry. There would be only one more.

A nice piece of 1983 jauntiness from The Cure.

Their first top ten hit.

The track that annnounced Radiohead to most of the world.

Granted, it’s not the cheeriest of songs, but it still has a certain something.

(I must only have heard radio edits before as I don’t remember the [repeated] swear word.)

I was so sad to hear of the death of Mary Wilson of The Supremes. The group had one of the signature sounds of the 60s more or less introducing Motown to British audiences.

Though she started the group Wilson was not given the post of lead singer, perhaps because Diana Ross began a relationship with Motown boss Berry Gordy. Ross was pushed so much to the fore that the group’s name was altered to feature her. When she left singing duties were shared more fairly.

This is one of those later post-Ross hits, where all three members took the lead.

Mary Wilson: 6/3/1944 – 8/2/2021. So it goes.