In June 1976, the 2MBS FM "Peak Hour" team aired an interview with 2UW 'disc jockey' Ward Austin.  The one hour program was part of a series recorded with drive time radio announcers. This aired June 25. 

Ward Austin interview (2MBS FM)

What can you say about Cliff Richard that hasn’t already been said? The Bachelor Boy, the Peter Pan of Pop, the English Elvis, the... you get the picture. 

According to the stats, he’s had more than 1500 45RPM singles released in 44 countries,  with 230-odd in the UK alone. 

One of the things Cliff shared with US-based Elvis Presley was his early move into motion pictures, with well-loved musical comedies such as Summer Holiday, Espresso Bongo, Wonderful Life,  and The Young Ones.

Perhaps his most unusual role, however, was in the Gerry Anderson film Thunderbirds are GO, where he played Cliff Richard Junior, voicing the part as a puppet (or more correctly, Supermarionnette) set in the year 2066.

The film was a commercial disaster; if not for the show you are currently listening to, you may never have heard this song again!

Today’s Lost 45 is his musical feature from that film, Thunderbirds are GO. Here’s the legendary Cliff Richard & the Shadows with SHOOTING STAR

Lost 45s intro

Cliff Richard & The Shadows - Shooting Star

Poor old Ed Sheeran is being sued by the estate of Marvin Gaye, something about the feel of one song being too similar to the heartbeat of another.

Led Zeppelin’s songwriters just finished a court case brought against them claiming they stole a song.

Last year it was Tom Petty vs Sam Smith, and before that Robin Thicke & Pharrel Williams had to defend themselves. In decades past, artist such as Rod Stewart, John Lennon and George Harrison and many others have found themselves in hot water over alleged similarities, unconscious inspiration or outright theft.

So I was intrigued when I discovered one of my favourite classic rock tunes, Black Night by Deep Purple, owed an apparent debt to a little US combo from the year 1967.

What I love about this song:
Whereas Black Night is dark, intense and foreboding, this one is bright, hopeful and self-effacing.
Somehow, in less than 2.5 minutes they get in vocal chants, three choruses, two guitar solos, lots of hooks and a song to put a smile on your face.

The Blues Magoos – We Ain’t Got Nothing Yet.

Demos 2016

The Blues Magoos - We Ain't Seen Nothing Yet

It’s not that far a distance between a six months hard labour sentence for offending a judge and becoming editor-in-chief of Women’s Weekly or regular appearances on the Midday Show with Kerrie-Anne. But inspiring a Beatle and his wife to write and record a couple of songs to support your cause? You’d have to be really special to get that to happen.

Such was the situation for the team who published Oz Magazine, in its day a kind of mashup of Wikileaks and Monty Python’s Flying Circus, exposing corruption and taking the mickey out of mainstream-living through state-of-the-art design, wicked wit and an eye for the underdog. If you can offend as many people in the process, you might get a high-profile trial, but watch the circulation increase, both pulse-rates and sales figures.

Sadly, one of the publishers of Oz, Richard Neville, passed away just a few days ago. When Neville, Felix Dennis and Jim Anderson were put on trial in the UK in 1971 for "conspiracy to corrupt public morals", support for their defense came from all quarters – soon-to-be household names such as John Mortimer, Geoffrey Robertson, Marty Feldman, Caroline Coon, John Peel, Edward deBono and many others testified or otherwise represented on their behalf.

To raise funds for the defense, John Lennon & Yoko Ono leapt into action and recorded two songs – and today’s Lost 45 is the one neither of them actually sang. Do you know Splinter’s ‘Costafine Town’? It’s that guy.

Lost 45: God Save Us – Bill Elliot & the Elastic Oz Band.

Lost 45

A lost Lennon under any other name - God Save Us

There are certain key elements that can go into a classic-sounding old-school pop-rock song: 120-ish BPM, a strong melody, call-and-response vocals, handclaps, a bit of doo wop, some boogie-woogie piano, throbbing basslines, stabbing horn section, soaring strings, bouzouki... waitaminnit, BOUZOUKI???

Barry Green was a wannabe writer, producer and singer, who had signed up early with Cliff Richard and The Shadows’s producer/arranger, Norrie Paramor.  He took a gig playing bass in the band that become heavy rock stalwarts Uriah Heep. He worked for a couple of years finding talent for The Bee Gee’s publishing company, later finding himself teaming up to write a song for ex-Herman’s Hermit Peter Noone. 

Noone didn’t end up recording the song, but surprisingly Green’s co-writer Lynsey De Paul did, and Sugar Me became a Top 10 UK hit for her.

Taking his own turn in the spotlight, Green and de Paul penned another song, and Barry Green ended up signing a record deal of his own, changing colour in the process to the more alliterative Barry Blue.

In Australia we perhaps know him best as the writer of songs such as “I Eat Cannibals” as recorded by Toto Coelho, and “Escaping” as recorded by Margaret Urlich. Maybe you’ve heard his tunes performed by artists like Andrea Boccelli, Diana Ross, Gene Pitney and Celine Dion.

The song he released here under his own new name, replete with all those melodies, handclaps, horns, strings and bouzoukis, is today’s Lost 45: here’s Barry Blue with Dancing on a Saturday Night.

Barry Blue - Dancing on a Saturday Night

It’s Eddie’s turn nowadays, but back in the 1970s it used to be that you couldn’t switch on the telly without Glenn A. Baker grinning back at you.

Currently we know him as an ex-Rock Brain of the Universe and as a travel writer, but in times past he was rightly esteemed for his insights into the modern music scene, with his own reissue record label, his work on Triples J & M and of course all those appearances on the Mike Walsh Show, The Kerrie-Anne Show, The Today Show and so on, waxing eloquent on the joys of popular music.

In the mid-70s, TV show Happy Days was in full swing, and with a glint in his eye Glenn was putting all his media skills to good use steering the look and sound of a 50’s-revival music outfit called Ol’55. 

After Ol’55 had made regular appearances on Countdown and had a few hit records, it was time to develop a new group with a more modern sound. Ol’66 wasn’t it, but the 60’s theme WAS it... and Glenn’s next protege’s debuted on Countdown as PUNKZ.

Of course Johnny Rotten, et al, surfaced soon after, and goodness gracious, we can’t have people thinking our boys are actually, you know, punks or anything, so Punkz soon changed their name to Cheek and dived headfirst into the dustbin of history.

Except they didn’t, because yesterday’s trash is today’s gold.  On Lost 45’s it’s my great privilege to play for you today the second single from the band that once was Punkz - Take Me For What I’m Worth

Lost 45s

Punkz - Take Me For What I'm Worth

We know him now as an R&B/blues singer par excellence.

Ten or so years ago he was the middle aged comeback king, the funky dad who could cover Prince with complete cred.

Forty years ago, perhaps not seeing past the cabaret style self-parody facade, we didn’t know the man wasn’t just good he was GOOD

Why, why would we think that, Delilah? 

As Tom Jones’ career progressed it was all equal opportunity covers – country music alongside nascent soul and rhythm & blues standards, show tunes and movie themes. 

His late-60s/early ‘70s television show afforded him the opportunity to appeal to a mums-and-dads audience while rubbing shoulders with bands the kids would understand, like 
CSNY			The Moody Blues 	Janis Joplin		Blood, Sweat & Tears 
Stevie Wonder	The Supremes	Joe Cocker		The Who

alongside the more predictable
Shirley Bassey	Perry Como 		Mireille Mathieu	
Nancy Sinatra		Sammy Davis Jr	Rudolf Nureyev

Today’s Lost 45 barely troubled the UK charts, but was a Top 10 hit in Belgium, Canada and Australia. If not for the constant DVD re-release of the James Bond movies it might not be heard at all nowadays – a huge crime.

Here’s Tom Jones with arguably his finest 2:53, if not his most melodramatic. Thunderball.

Ward Austin interview (2MBS FM)

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