The Ultimate Averaged Chart - The BBC Chart Re-Imagined

[Splodj]

I used to think that the original 'Sailing' by The Sutherland Brothers sounded like 'Neanderthal Man' minus the humour. So although Rod Stewart gave it a different arrangement and injected some passion, in my mind it did get to number one in the end!

[Graham76man]

Hotlegs did however go on to sell a million copies!
In the previous chart we have the first hit for Hot Chocolate, who will have stacks of hits and no misses, unlike 10cc! One of their best to miss the BMRB chart was "Worst band in the World" - perhaps a bit rude for radio?
Then Chairman of the Board reaching number two only with Give Me Just A Little More Time. Kylie Minogue will cover it later and take it to the top of the chart.

[MrTibbs]

The Sutherland Brothers should have had a hit with 'Secrets', I thought that was a really good single.

[brian05]

30 The Long And Winding Road - Ray Morgan

Only in MM so far. Did it ever make the NME or BMRB charts? Was BMRB a top 50 chart at this time?

[kingofskiffle]

30 The Long And Winding Road - Ray Morgan

Only in MM so far. Did it ever make the NME or BMRB charts? Was BMRB a top 50 chart at this time?

BMRB was always at least a top 50 (except for a couple of odd weeks and the strike period when it was a Top 40)

The track did make the Top 50 (entered 25 July and peaked at 32 - 6 weeks in total, 4 in the Top 40.

[Splodj]

BMRB was always at least a top 50 except for a couple of odd weeks

6-Jan-73 RM says: 'Owing to seasonal difficulties in collecting returns, the RM singles chart is this week reduced to 30 records.' I can't see any Top 30 around this time on the OCC site, although there is a repeated 50, so what happened there?

[kingofskiffle]

This would be an example of the OCC messing up again. The Graham Betts book has the correct chart - a Top 30 - for that week, as do almost all other sources.

[Metalweb]

Hotlegs did however go on to sell a million copies!
In the previous chart we have the first hit for Hot Chocolate, who will have stacks of hits and no misses, unlike 10cc! One of their best to miss the BMRB chart was "Worst band in the World" - perhaps a bit rude for radio?
Then Chairman of the Board reaching number two only with Give Me Just A Little More Time. Kylie Minogue will cover it later and take it to the top of the chart.

10cc had to re-edit 'Worst Band In The World' for the BBCs benefit - changing the "offending" line to "we don't give up'....

Hot Chocolate did have a few flop singles, notably 'Blue Night', which had the original version of 'You Sexy Thing' on the flip....

[Metalweb]

I used to think that the original 'Sailing' by The Sutherland Brothers sounded like 'Neanderthal Man' minus the humour. So although Rod Stewart gave it a different arrangement and injected some passion, in my mind it did get to number one in the end!

The song itself was pretty similar to The Faces' own 'Flying'.....

[MrTibbs]

Greetings Pop Pickers

Here is the next Ultimate Averaged Chart for Week Ending August 29th 1970

Here are all '' the uppers, the downers, the just hanging 'arounders ''

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending August 29th 1970							NME	MM	BMRB	Total
Last	This		The Sound Survey			Stores	200	250	150	Points
Week	Week		The Top 30 Singles Chart					TOP	30	Scored
1	1	The Wonder Of You - Elvis Presley					2	1	1	17800
4	2	Tears Of A Clown - Smokey Robinson and The Miracles					1	2	2	17600
2	3	Neanderthal Man - Hotlegs					3	4	3	16550
6	4	Rainbow - The Marmalade					4	3	4	16450
5	5	Something - Shirley Bassey					5	5	8	15150
3	6	Lola - The Kinks					6	6	5	15150
7	7	Natural Sinner - Fairweather					7	8	6	14300
11	8	25 Or 6 To 4 - Chicago					9	7	7	14000
19	9	Mama Told Me Not To Come - Three Dog Night					8	9	9	13400
12	10	The Love You Save - The Jackson Five					10	10	10	12600
10	11	Love Like A Man - Ten Years After					13	11	12	11450
17	12	Sweet Inspiration - Johnny Johnson and The Bandwagon					11	14	11	11250
9	13	I'll Say Forever My Love - Jimmy Ruffin					15	12	13	10650
26	14	Love Is Life - Hot Chocolate					15	13	17	9800
13	15	Big Yellow Taxi - Joni Mitchell					12	16	21	9050
8	16	All Right Now - Free					22	15	14	8350
14	17	In The Summertime - Mungo Jerry					18	17	16	8350
21	18	Wild World - Jimmy Cliff					14	18	22	8000
28	19	Make It With You - Bread					19	22	15	7050
16	20	Signed Sealed Delivered I'm Yours - Stevie Wonder					21	19	18	6950
NEW	21	Give Me Just A Little More Time - The Chairmen Of The Board					17	23	19	6600
15	22	Lady D'Arbanville - Cat Stevens					24	20	20	5800
18	23	Song Of Joy - Miguel Rios					25	21	23	4900
27	24	I (Who Have Nothing) - Tom Jones					20	24	25	4850
29	25	It's So Easy - Andy Williams					23	25	24	4150
20	26	It's All In The Game - The Four Tops					26	26	26	3000
23	27	(It's Like A) Sad Old Kinda Movie - Pickettywitch					30	27		1200
25	28	Cottonfields - The Beach Boys					28	30	29	1150
24	29	Love Of The Common People - Nicky Thomas					27			800
22	30	Up Around The Bend - Creedence Clearwater Revival						28		750
		Goodbye Sam Hello Samantha - Cliff Richard							27	600
X		Mr President - Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich						29		500
B		Which Way You Goin' Billy - The Poppy Family							28	450
B		Black Night - Deep Purple					29			400
		Yellow River - Christie							30	150
30		The Long And Winding Road - Ray Morgan

[MrTibbs]

Greetings Pop Pickers

Here is the next Ultimate Averaged Chart for Week Ending September 5th 1970

Here are all '' the uppers, the downers, the just hanging 'arounders ''

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending September 5th 1970							NME	MM	BMRB	Total
Last	This		The Sound Survey			Stores	200	250	150	Points
Week	Week		The Top 30 Singles Chart					TOP	30	Scored
1	1	The Wonder Of You - Elvis Presley					2	1	1	17800
2	2	Tears Of A Clown - Smokey Robinson and The Miracles					1	2	2	17600
9	3	Mama Told Me Not To Come - Three Dog Night					3	3	3	16800
4	4	Rainbow - The Marmalade					5	4	4	16000
8	5	25 Or 6 To 4 - Chicago					7	5	8	14750
3	6	Neanderthal Man - Hotlegs					6	7	6	14750
19	7	Make It With You - Bread					9	10	7	13250
5	8	Something - Shirley Bassey					13	6	9	13150
21	9	Give Me Just A Little More Time - The Chairmen Of The Board					4	16	5	13050
14	10	Love Is Life - Hot Chocolate					8	9	15	12500
7	11	Natural Sinner - Fairweather					10	11	11	12200
6	12	Lola - The Kinks					15	8	12	11800
12	13	Sweet Inspiration - Johnny Johnson and The Bandwagon					11	13	10	11650
18	14	Wild World - Jimmy Cliff					11	12	13	11450
10	15	The Love You Save - The Jackson Five					14	14	14	10200
11	16	Love Like A Man - Ten Years After					16	15	18	8950
25	17	It's So Easy - Andy Williams					18	19	17	7700
13	18	I'll Say Forever My Love - Jimmy Ruffin					22	17	19	7100
24	19	I (Who Have Nothing) - Tom Jones					19	23	16	6650
17	20	In The Summertime - Mungo Jerry					23	20	22	5700
16	21	All Right Now - Free					26	18	23	5450
NEW	22	You Can Get It If You Really Want - Desmond Dekker					17	28	20	5200
15	23	Big Yellow Taxi - Joni Mitchell					21	22	25	5150
20	24	Signed Sealed Delivered I'm Yours - Stevie Wonder					28	21	28	3550
NEW	25	Which Way You Goin' Billy - The Poppy Family					24	27	24	3450
23	26	Song Of Joy - Miguel Rios						24	21	3250
NEW	27	Don't Play That Song - Aretha Franklin					20	30	29	2750
NEW	28	Jimmy Mack - Martha Reeves and The Vandellas					30	26	27	2050
22	29	Lady D'Arbanville - Cat Stevens					29	25		1900
NEW	30	Montego Bay - Bobby Bloom					25	29	30	1850
B		As Long As I Can See The Light - Creedence Clearwater Revival					27			800
B		Strange Band / The Weaver's Answer- Family							26	750
26		It's All In The Game - The Four Tops
27		(It's Like A) Sad Old Kinda Movie - Pickettywitch
28		Cottonfields - The Beach Boys
29		Love Of The Common People - Nicky Thomas
30		Up Around The Bend - Creedence Clearwater Revival

[Splodj]

Strange that NME had Smokey at the top longer than Elvis.

[Robbie]

This period was quite the comeback for Elvis Presley. I'm not a fan of 'The Wonder Of You' though I can see it's appeal. His voice sounds a little more mature on his 1969 / 1970 big hits. The Vegas years seemed to have removed some of the rougher edges to his voice. I prefer the more youthful vocals of his 1950s hits.

[MrTibbs]

Greetings Pop Pickers

Here is the next Ultimate Averaged Chart for Week Ending September 12th 1970

Here are all '' the uppers, the downers, the just hanging 'arounders ''

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending September 12th 1970							NME	MM	BMRB	Total
Last	This		The Sound Survey			Stores	200	250	150	Points
Week	Week		The Top 30 Singles Chart					TOP	30	Scored
2	1	Tears Of A Clown - Smokey Robinson and The Miracles					1	1	1	18000
1	2	The Wonder Of You - Elvis Presley					2	3	2	17150
3	3	Mama Told Me Not To Come - Three Dog Night					3	2	3	17050
9	4	Give Me Just A Little More Time - The Chairmen Of The Board					4	4	4	16200
7	5	Make It With You - Bread					5	6	5	15350
4	6	Rainbow - The Marmalade					6	5	9	14800
10	7	Love Is Life - Hot Chocolate					7	7	10	13950
5	8	25 Or 6 To 4 - Chicago					8	8	7	13950
14	9	Wild World - Jimmy Cliff					10	9	8	13150
NEW	10	Band Of Gold - Freda Payne					9	16	6	11900
13	11	Sweet Inspiration - Johnny Johnson and The Bandwagon					11	12	12	11600
6	12	Neanderthal Man - Hotlegs					12	11	13	11500
8	13	Something - Shirley Bassey					13	10	15	11250
11	14	Natural Sinner - Fairweather					15	13	17	9800
17	15	It's So Easy - Andy Williams					16	14	16	9500
22	16	You Can Get It If You Really Want - Desmond Dekker					14	20	14	8700
12	17	Lola - The Kinks					21	15	18	7950
25	18	Which Way You Goin' Billy - The Poppy Family					18	22	11	7850
19	19	I (Who Have Nothing) - Tom Jones					19	18	21	7150
30	20	Montego Bay - Bobby Bloom					17	21	20	6950
15	21	The Love You Save - The Jackson Five					23	17	25	6000
27	22	Don't Play That Song - Aretha Franklin					20	24	19	5750
16	23	Love Like A Man - Ten Years After					25	19	26	4950
28	24	Jimmy Mack - Martha Reeves and The Vandellas					22	25	23	4500
NEW	25	Strange Band / The Weaver's Answer - Family					24	26	22	4000
NEW	26	As Long As I Can See The Light - Creedence Clearwater Revival					26	26	29	2550
18	27	I'll Say Forever My Love - Jimmy Ruffin					30	23		2200
NEW	28	I Ain't Got Time Anymore - Cliff Richard					27		24	1850
23	29	Big Yellow Taxi - Joni Mitchell					29	28		1150
20	30	In The Summertime - Mungo Jerry						30	28	700
21		All Right Now - Free						29	30	650
B		Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Diana Ross					28			600
26		Song Of Joy - Miguel Rios							27	600
24		Signed Sealed Delivered I'm Yours - Stevie Wonder
29		Lady D'Arbanville - Cat Stevens

[MrTibbs]

Smokey dethrones Elvis this week not surprising as it really is a cracking track but they are looking over their shoulder as Freda Payne storms in at #10 with one of the best singles of the year.

Martha Reeves and The Vandellas just missed out on a top twenty place back in 1967 when first released but this time the reissue will make the top twenty. Justice is done.

[MrTibbs]

Greetings Pop Pickers

Here is the next Ultimate Averaged Chart for Week Ending September 19th 1970

Here are all '' the uppers, the downers, the just hanging 'arounders ''

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending September 19th 1970							NME	MM	BMRB	Total
Last	This		The Sound Survey			Stores	200	250	150	Points
Week	Week		The Top 30 Singles Chart					TOP	30	Scored
1	1	Tears Of A Clown - Smokey Robinson and The Miracles					1	1	2	17850
4	2	Give Me Just A Little More Time - The Chairmen Of The Board					2	2	3	17250
10	3	Band Of Gold - Freda Payne					4	4	1	16650
3	4	Mama Told Me Not To Come - Three Dog Night					3	3	5	16500
2	5	The Wonder Of You - Elvis Presley					5	5	4	15750
5	6	Make It With You - Bread					6	6	7	14850
9	7	Wild World - Jimmy Cliff					7	7	9	14100
7	8	Love Is Life - Hot Chocolate					8	8	6	14100
16	9	You Can Get It If You Really Want - Desmond Dekker					11	11	8	12450
8	10	25 Or 6 To 4 - Chicago					12	9	12	12150
6	11	Rainbow - The Marmalade					13	10	11	11850
18	12	Which Way You Goin' Billy - The Poppy Family					9	15	10	11550
20	13	Montego Bay - Bobby Bloom					10	13	15	11100
15	14	It's So Easy - Andy Williams					15	12	13	10650
11	15	Sweet Inspiration - Johnny Johnson and The Bandwagon					14	14	16	9900
22	16	Don't Play That Song - Aretha Franklin					16	17	17	8600
13	17	Something - Shirley Bassey					22	16	14	8100
12	18	Neanderthal Man - Hotlegs					21	18	19	7050
25	19	Strange Band / The Weaver's Answer - Family					19	21	18	6850
24	20	Jimmy Mack - Martha Reeves and The Vandellas					17	22	22	6400
19	21	I (Who Have Nothing) - Tom Jones					20	20	23	6150
NEW	22	Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Diana Ross					18	25	21	5600
14	23	Natural Sinner - Fairweather					24	19	24	5450
26	24	As Long As I Can See The Light - Creedence Clearwater Revival					23	24	26	4100
17	25	Lola - The Kinks					29	23	25	3300
NEW	26	Black Night - Deep Purple					30	28	20	2600
NEW	27	(They Long To Be) Close To You - The Carpenters					25	26		2450
28	28	I Ain't Got Time Anymore - Cliff Richard					25	29		1700
NEW	29	Sweetheart - Engelbert Humperdinck					27		27	1400
21	30	The Love You Save - The Jackson Five						27	29	1300
23		Love Like A Man - Ten Years After					28	29		1100
B		Paranoid - Black Sabbath							28	450
B		Me And My Life - The Tremeloes							30	150
27		I'll Say Forever My Love - Jimmy Ruffin
29		Big Yellow Taxi - Joni Mitchell
30		In The Summertime - Mungo Jerry

[Robbie]

Freda Payne is making quick work of heading to the top. Already at number 1 on BMRB with the UAC ahead of both MM and NME.

'Ain't No Mountain High Enough' is an excellent song by Diana Ross.

Deep Purple and The Carpenters debut on the charts in the same week. Truly an eclectic chart. Shame that Ozzy & co couldn't also have made the UAC 30 this week too!

[MrTibbs]

Freda takes on Smokey and will elbow him aside. I agree there are three stunning singles making their debut this week. I loved and love Diana Ross's re-working of Ain't No Mountain turning it into a classic and one of her best. The smooth Carpenters debut and I immediately fell in love with Karen Carpenters silky honey toned voice and crystal clear pronunciation of every word. Close To You was close to me.

The true era of heavy rock is ushered in by Deep Purple's pounding Black Night which in weeks to come will challenge for the very top and yes Ozzy's snarling vocals on Paranoid will go top five.

You are right though Robbie. What is missing today that you can clearly see in this chart as an example is the sheer variety of the musical spectrum aligning up side by side. Now one song sounds very much like another and the top twenty on a Friday evening sounds like one long track.

[Graham76man]

Freda didn't want to sing that song saying it was too old for her! The Poppy Family also credits featuring Susan Jacks - who was the wife of Terry Jacks (seasons in the sun).
The Family record is an EP called Strange Band - the main track being the Weavers Answer.
If you listen with headphones on to the Carpenters Greatest Hits CD with that track you can hear the master tape hiss - just!

[Splodj]

The Family record is an EP called Strange Band

It was a 3-track 'maxi single' - to meet BMRB's crazy rule.

[Graham76man]

It was a 3-track 'maxi single' - to meet BMRB's crazy rule.

45 Cat lists it as a EP even though it has one track on one side. It is also a 45 rpm, whereas the other was 33rpm, though later became a 45 duo to the Jukebox people.
"Maxi Singles" were started by RCA to give customers more value than a 45. But keeping the A side as one track helped stop the sound and ware problems of 45 EP's, squashing two or more tracks on them. You would get three for the price of two tracks!
The record companies were not daft often these three track records had previous hits or releases on the B side.
The above record was on Warner Bros, not an RCA record.

The BMRB were employed by the Record Industry. They made up the rules to stop companies using EP's to get records into the charts. Such as the Beatles selling two discs to get more sales.
Most of the rules were needed due to the smaller number of shops taking part. The record companies could ensure that ALL the chart shops were well stocked with gimmick records. When you have ALL the shops taking part, such rules are not needed.

If you have any EP's in your collection it's likely they will have more clicks in them and sound not as good as a standard 45 of the same date. Other bad records are picture discs. They wear very bad. I have found some of the coloured discs do too.

[Splodj]

'Band of Gold' would have made a great coloured disc!

[Graham76man]

'Band of Gold' would have made a great coloured disc!

They did in 1979!
https://www.45cat.com/record/heat17

[MrTibbs]

Greetings Pop Pickers

Here is the next Ultimate Averaged Chart for Week Ending September 26th 1970

Here are all '' the uppers, the downers, the just hanging 'arounders ''

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending September 26th 1970							NME	MM	BMRB	Total
Last	This		The Sound Survey			Stores	200	250	150	Points
Week	Week		The Top 30 Singles Chart					TOP	30	Scored
3	1	Band Of Gold - Freda Payne					1	1	1	18000
1	2	Tears Of A Clown - Smokey Robinson and The Miracles					3	2	2	17200
2	3	Give Me Just A Little More Time - The Chaairmen Of The Board					2	3	3	17000
9	4	You Can Get It If You Really Want - Desmond Dekker					4	5	4	15950
4	5	Mama Told Me Not To Come - Three Dog Night					5	4	6	15700
6	6	Make It With You - Bread					7	6	10	14200
13	7	Montego Bay - Bobby Bloom					6	9	8	13950
5	8	The Wonder Of You - Elvis Presley					11	8	5	13650
8	9	Love Is Life - Hot Chocolate					8	7	11	13600
12	10	Which Way You Goin' Billy - The Poppy Family					10	11	7	12800
7	11	Wild World - Jimmy Cliff					9	10	12	12500
16	12	Don't Play That Song - Aretha Franklin					12	13	13	11000
26	13	Black Night - Deep Purple					15	16	9	10250
19	14	Strange Band / The Weaver's Answer - Family					14	17	14	9450
10	15	25 Or 6 To 4 - Chicago					19	12	17	9250
22	16	Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Diana Ross					13	19	16	8850
14	17	It's So Easy - Andy Williams					18	14	23	8050
27	18	(They Long To Be) Close To You - The Carpenters					17	21	15	7700
15	19	Sweet Inspiration - Johnny Johnson and The Bandwagon					20	18	22	6800
20	20	Jimmy Mack - Martha Reeves and The Vandellas					16	22	24	6300
11	21	Rainbow - The Marmalade					25	15	25	6100
17	22	Something - Shirley Bassey					21	20	26	5500
NEW	23	Me And My Life - The Tremeloes					22	25	18	5250
24	24	As Long As I Can See The Light - Creedence Clearwater Revival					24	23	20	5050
NEW	25	Paranoid - Black Sabbath					26	24	19	4550
NEW	26	Black Pearl - Horace Faith					23	29	27	2700
28	27	I Ain't Got Time Anymore - Cliff Richard						28	21	2250
21	28	I (Who Have Nothing) - Tom Jones					27	27		1800
18	29	Neanderthal Man - Hotlegs						26		1250
29	30	Sweetheart - Engelbert Humperdinck					28		28	1050
B		Ball Of Confusion - The Temptations					29		30	550
B		Our World - Blue Mink							29	300
23		Natural Sinner - Fairweather						30		250
B		Still Water (Love) - The Four Tops					30			200
25		Lola - The Kinks
30		The Love You Save - The Jackson Five

[Robbie]

Engelbert's chart fortunes have certainly taken a turn for the worse. While he was never in fashion even when he was selling a million singles, by 1970 he must have seemed completely out of place. Though the same could be said for other acts at the time, including Cliff Richard and even Tom Jones. 'Paranoid' is a million miles away in musical style from the records by those three acts which lie a little further down the chart.