The Alan Price Set was the band Price formed after he left The Animals. This wasn’t their first hit – that was the Randy Newman song Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear* – but it was the first which Price wrote.
The Alan Price Set: The House That Jack Built
*Edited to add: I just remembered The Alan Price Set released I Put a Spell on You and Hi-Lili, Hi-Lo which were both hits before Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear.
He was one of the most distinctive pop acts of the late 1950s and early 1960s before the advent of The Beatles overturned everything.
His many songwriting credits include Stupid Cupid, a 1958 hit for Connie Francis, and Love Will Keep Us Together (Captain and Tenille, 1975.) (Is This the Way to) Amarillo (1971) eventually became a big hit for Tony Christie – aided by Peter Kay’s video – in 2005.
Sedaka’s own hits include Calendar Girl, Little Devil, Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen, Breaking Up Is Hard to Do.
He kind of reinvented himself as a singer-songwriter in the 1970s with a more adult-oriented approach.
Here’s a live performance from 1975.
Neil Sedaka: Laughter in the Rain
This one was a hit for The Carpenters but this is a Sedaka performance-
Neil Sedaka: Solitaire
Though he had an earlier hit with I Go Ape this was the song which really announced him in the UK in 1959.
Founder member of Jethro Tull, Mick Abrahams, died on 19/12/25. He only played on Tull’s first LP This Was before leaving the band due to wanting to pursue more in the line of the blues than flautist, singer and main songwriter Ian Anderson.
This, from that LP, is a song he co-wrote with Anderson.
Jethro Tull: Beggar’s Farm
Abrahams went on to form the unforgettably named Blodwyn Pig. Their first single was Dear Jill.
Blodwyn Pig: Dear Jill
Michael Timothy (Mick) Abrahams: 7/4/1943 – 19/12/2025. So it goes.
A further tribute to John Lodge, who died last week.
This track, which he wrote (and whose mediæval and “orchestral” interludes in many ways presage Procession from Every Good Boy Deserves Favour,) was split into two for its appearance on In Search of the Lost Chord, with the Ray Thomas penned Legend of a Mind making the meat in the sandwich.
This TV appearance from 1968 –the Colour Me Pop session the Moodies did – puts it all together though.
Some songs remain fixed in the public mind with one particular artist. Others take on a life of their own. One of the latter is I Fought the Law, written by Sonny Curtis who joined Buddy Holly’s band The Crickets in 1958 just before Holly’s death and took over as lead vocalist (as well as lead guitar) in the band after that sad event.
The Crickets version was an LP track and a B-side in 1960 but only became a hit when the Bobby Fuller Four released the song in 1965. The Clash also famously recorded I Fought the Law.
The Crickets: I Fought the Law
Bobby Fuller Four: I Fought the Law
Curtis also wrote Walk Right Back which was a UK No 1 for the Everly Brothers in 1961.
The Everly Brothers: Walk Right Back
In addition he wrote the theme for The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Love Is All Around, (not to be confused with the similarly titled song written for The Troggs by Reg Presley in 1967 and turned into a humongous hit by Wet Wet Wet in 1994.) This theme will bring back memories for anyone around in the mid- to late 60s.
Mary Tyler Moore Show Theme (Love Is All Around):
Sonny Curtis: 9/5/1937 – September 19/9/2025. So it goes.
