It’s great to be back! I just moved it up a day because I’ve wanted to start back long ago…but I had too much to get done. This is a song that I had no clue about a year ago …but now it’s always on my playlist.
As I’ve said before, I like posting so much because of the interaction. I posted The Tremeloes song Here Comes My Baby and obbverse commented and mentioned this song. I’d never heard it before but immediately started to make it a daily listen for a while.
The Tremeloes had been a backup band for Brian Poole and when they split in 1966 after 8 UK hits, they looked to be another backing band set for junk pile. They bought in Len “Chip” Hawkes as their bassist and lead singer and their career took off.
The song was written by Alan Blakley and Chip Hawkes. The song sounds like it borrows a little from The Beatles and the melody leads to a fantastic top-drawer pop song. The video is wonderful…it looks like a slice of life from the sixties. The song just missed the number one spot. It peaked at #2 in the UK in 1969. So what song kept this from living up to its title and being number 1? Another lesson on why life isn’t fair…the damn Archies with Sugar Sugar.
In the UK the band had two number 1 hits, 11 top ten hits…21 top twenty songs, and 21 in the top 75. Their LP Master was issued in 1970. The album failed to sell well. However, it gave them their last major UK hit with “Me and My Life” which peaked at #4.
(Call Me) Number One
I picture the rain on windows
And I think of home
I wonder if you remember
Did you ever know?
Walshie
Walshie
Walshie
Walshie
Walshie
Walshie
Places I dream about
I will be getting out
Then I can follow the sun
You will be with me
I know you will give me
A hand to get everything done
Call me number one!
Call me number one!
Will I be afraid to tell you
That I’m coming home
I’m ready to take the highroad
I’ve been away too long
Walshie
Walshie
Walshie
Walshie
Walshie
Walshie
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I did not recognize this song Max and besides The Tremeloes song Here Comes My Baby, I really don’t know much about this group. Nice music and welcome back.
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Yea I like picking these under the radar songs…new old music so to speak. Thanks Jim…it’s great to be back…I’m ready
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Welcome back, Max. Had not heard of the band or the song. Interesting vibe. Sugar Sugar was hard to knock off the pedestal.
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Thank you! Yea I do have some under the radar songs coming up…I like to venture out some.
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Welcome back! Good to have your daily stuff back on here and I bet you’ve got a trove of goodies lined up for everyone!
This one is pretty good- actually a really nice tune and great harmonies. I did find the horn bits a little distracting and in all the song might have benefited from a bit of remixing, but all in all very good and it should have been a hit here too. thanks for bringing them to our attention!
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Thanks Dave! It’s great to be back on here. Something about this song just sticks with me.
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Welcome back Max! I love this record and The Trems generally. I was still a fan after the hits stopped and have recently been re-loving their 1972 flop I Like It That Way which ironically has the bubblegumish melody amongst the thumping rhythm. Lovevit. Love The Archies too. The first EP i bought with my pocket money was Sugar Sugar – a sort of Greatest Hits collection in Singapore. First Album i ever bought with my own money was The Archies. Also had sugar sugar on it. And i bought the 12 inch remix in 1987. Flawless bubblegum pop and still sells and streams. I was 11 years old when this came out but i didnt get to hear it till 1974 as it wasnt on Singapore radio.
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Thank you! I bet most Archie albums would have Sugar Sugar on it. I did like the cartoon I will admit…and yes the song is extremely catchy. I’ve even done a hard rock verison of it for fun…
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Ooh pop music piss taker Jonathan King did a hard rock cover hit in 1971 under the name Sakkarin, i think he was aiming at rock music rather than bubblegum though 🙂
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Our band did that also! It actually sounded really good. We also did a country song like that… Delta Dawn that worked.
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Ooh delta dawn hard rock would be fun! 🙂
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It’s made for it in structure. I wish I still had a recording of us doing it. We used power chords on the Del-Ta Dawn and it worked well!
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Thats a shame having no recording of it!
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Definitely new to me.
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Yea the next few will be…I love discovering new old music.
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Welcome back, Max on this beautiful September day! I never heard this one before. Not fair after only one listen, but I’m going to have to say I prefer “Sugar Sugar,” probably at least partially due to the memories I associate it with.
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Yep… no one or song can compete with a memory…an old girlfriend told me that before and it’s true.
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Oh and Thank you for the welcome back… I can smell fall in the air.
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You’re welcome. Same here 🙂
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Welcome back Max. Thanks for the tip o’ the hat, it’s always nice to hear new new/old music. Sometimes it works hearing something out of its time as well. For me it is pure gleeful teenage pop. Its full of hooks, but I like the little licks and filigrees that dip in and out of the mix too.
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Thank you Obbverse! I’m happy to be back. After you mentioned it…I couldn’t get enough of it…and to be held back by Sugar Sugar. The feel of it is what I like so much.
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Yep, it has more to it than a casual listen would have you believe. And held back by ‘Sugar Sugar.’ God, that cheery teeny-bop earworm became tedious waaay before it fell away from Number One. Still managed to stall ‘Call Me Number One’ at Number Two though. (Tragic/comic?)
I’m only glad ‘Bang-Shang-A-Lang’ didn’t rise to the ‘heights’ of ‘Sugar Shi- Sugar.’
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(both!)
The Sugar song that I cringe the most at…is Sugar Shack…my most hated song of the 60s hands down…but Sugar Sugar comes in close!
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Welcome back Max. This song is a new one on me. I don’t think I ever heard it on the radio or anywhere else. But, yeah, a lot of Here Comes My Baby. And, as you mentioned, (ugh) … Sugar Sugar. That Archies stuff was the music Mike Nesmith hated when the Monkees started.
BTW, I deleted my old WP site after 11 years and am starting anew. Give me a follow when you can. I’ll still be posting my art and writing … and maybe some songs.
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Thank you for the welcome I appreciate it! I sure will right now Steve.
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It’s great seeing you back, Max! That’s a really nice tune. I only had heard of The Tremeloes because of their cover of “Silence Is Golden,” which I also dig. The fact the Archies denied them the no. 1 spot isn’t sweet! 🙂
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I’m happy to be back! It feels like I’m coming home. You might know “Here Comes My Baby”
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Nice ’60s tune as well. I don’t think I had heard it before.
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Welcome back! I love several Tremeloes songs, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard this one. It very much resembles the early Hollies; particularly the chorus harmonies. To me, the Tremeloes often sound remarkably like someone else, which may be why their name isn’t more recognized here. For instance, their song Silence is Golden sounds like the Lettermen, imo. I like their song ‘Hello World’, which to me sounds like the BeeGees. The Tremeloes do lovely harmonies.
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Thank you! Their sound remind me more of the mid-sixties than the latter…I was surprised how late this one came out. They do sound like a bit of everyone.
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Welcome back! I’d never heard this – which is surprising for such a big hit – and I like it. Lots of late sixties tricks and flourishes in it.
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Thank you! It’s good to be back. Yea this one did really well not to be remembered more.
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Welcome back!!
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Thank you John! It’s great to be back.
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Welcome back. I’ve never heard this before – didn’t realise they were enjoying success in the 1970s still. The footage reminds me of the Let It Be rooftop concert.
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Thanks Graham. You can tell they just shot that video quickly…it does have that quality of the rooftop.
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I’ve not heard this song before, though I remember and like their songs “There Goes My Baby” and “Silence is Golden”, which were pretty big hits in the U.S. They really do sound like the Beatles in the choruses on “(call me) Number One”.
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Thanks for listening Jeff… I struck on how close they did sound like them.
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