That Was The Game That Was. 1.

 

George  writes:

This (brief?) series has nothing to do with a certain 1960s TV programme but, as the picture suggests, football matches, ones that I have been to: that programme is a memento from the first time I saw Manchester United play, and the second match I ever saw. (This was the first.) August 18, 1971, it was a wednesday and I am assuming I was still on holiday from my primary school near Reading otherwise I don’t think my dad would have driven into central London on a weekday evening. He would have driven his 11 year old yellow Ford Consul into central London so I could see my team, me sitting beside him on the grey plastic-covered front bench seat. I can still remember that car’s number plate.

Here are the team sheets, with Dad’s corrections, and just how fabulous are those lists for nostalgia? 

Apart from the programme you can see, I also bought what has long been one of my prized possessions, a Manchester United Supporters Club Handbook for season 1971/72.  I also have a feeling I (or my Dad really) bought a rosette, but no metal badge from what I am sure was a dazzling array. Of the game itself I can actually remember two things, one was that Bobby Charlton scored a wonder goal and the other was George Best getting sent-off (although my memory of this is that it happened at the end of the game, and not after 40 minutes when it actually occurred). Oh, and that we won 3-2.  Three things.

Dad and I were two of 54, 763 at Stamford Bridge that night, a massive crowd for a weekday game, and I think most were there not see Dennis Law (as I was) but to cheer on Chelsea in their first home league game since beating Real Madrid in the 1971 Cup Winners’ Cup. That team disintegrated in a couple more years, although not as badly as my team - they did go top in December of that year but then the slow descent to Division two started in January, taking 2 and a half seasons to do so

That was the first of the four times I saw Manchester United play (I started to  very quickly lose interest after they sacked Tommy Docherty in 1977).

As a Dundonian, the date of the 18th August is quite significant - The Tay Road Bridge was opened on that day in 1966 (by which time we were living near Reading). 

Anyway, back to August 18 1971, and I have looked at the All Important Top Ten. We have already featured the no. 2 tune in a highly thought of and much lamented series about that excellent pop band The New Seekers (Never ending song of love, since you ask).  I instantly recognise 7 of the top ten. I actually have one the songs I did not instantly recognise, and of the other two I have absolutely no recollection of one of them at all (What Are You Doing Sunday, by Dawn). I do, somehow, know this execrable pile of bobbins:

There are some belting tunes in that AITT, one by Atomic Rooster, and this one by a prog. band from Leicester fronted by Roger Chapman, he of the quivering vocal style:

Family - In My Own Time

That song of course cannot be confused with a song by these blokes

………..because that song CAN be confused with Taxman by The Beatles. 

Thanks for reading (and daring to listen to the tunes). And thanks to my good friend for hosting this piece.

CC writes:

Thanks for this George.

More All Our Yesterdays next week

Trace - Second Time Lucky

 

Earlier last year I picked up a cope of Trace the 1995 debut album by Son Volt  from the British Heart Foundation shop in St Andrews... or so I thought.

Yup that old schoolboy error of nor checking for the disc before purchasing.

I'm pleased to say that this unfortunate state of affairs has now been resolved. During last week's visit to Glasgow city centre I very briefly popped into Missing Records and came away with a copy for two pounds.

Ok - that is a pound more expensive than St Andrews but it does have the disc included. It is now sitting alongside their 1997 second album Straightaways on the Americana shelves (which are blue as opposed to white).

Son Volt - Tear Stained Eye

Son Volt - Loose String

Blog Country 107 - Dominican Republic

 

Visitors to this Blog from the Caribbean have tended to be a bit thin on the ground so it was good to welcome some interest from the Dominican Republic.

This will be a doddle to source some music I thought given that the Caribbean is the home of Reggae, Soca and Calypso and even Voodoo music from their Hispaniola neighbour Haiti.

No the majority of the music that I initially sourced seemed to consist of young semi-clad Latino ladies singing awful R&B ballads, Not to be deterred I dug further.

First up is Yasser Tejada whose  Bandcamp  page describes as   an award-winning Dominican composer, guitarist, vocalist, and producer. According to Billboard, Yasser is giving traditional folkloric music a new spin with jazz, rock, and Caribbean rhythms in "a frenzied celebration of ancestral union"

Next up is Alberto Beltrán  who was a Dominican singer, known as "El Negrito del Batey", after his first signature tune. He mainly sang in the genres of bolero, son montuno, mambo, merengue, and guaracha. The track below features La Sonara Matancera

Finally we go all the way back to 1963 with Luis Quintero  with Que Paqueton. Not to be confused with the Columbian footballer who plays in Spain with Villareal.

The next Blog Country may be a bit more controversial.

Yasser Tejada - Tu Ete' Bonita

Alberto Beltran -Todo Me GustoDe Ti (ft La Sonara Matancera)

Luis Quintero - Que Paqueton

Will Anything Happen

 

A Christmas present to myself was a vinyl copy of the 2024 remastered reissue of Will Anything Happen by Shop Assistants which was first released in 1996.

This blurb by Manchester's Piccadilly Records gives all the information you should require.

They were yet another band I missed at the time and one who I only discovered thanks to the Blogging community.

I note that in a post about the Big Gold Dream 3CD compilation that I wrote that hey require to be on the shelves..Better late than never I suppose.

One I suspect which will meet with the approval of JC and  Brian and hopefully many others. 

Sadly lead vocalist Alex Taylor, who subsequently left the band to join The Motorcycle Boy, died in 2005.

Hopefully all other vinyl acquisitions this year will be as good as this.

Shop Assistants - I Don't Wanna Be Friends With You

Shop Assistants -Somewhere in China

Fifth Dimension

 

My recent upgrade to vinyl of Sweetheart of the Rodeo here convinced me that I needed more stuff by The Byrds even although it is an atypical album by the band

All I had were Younger Than Yesterday and The Definitive Collection. On a recent trip to the great record shop Love Music I picked up a CD copy of Fifth Dimension their third album originally released in 1966. The CD was a 1996 version as part of the Columbia/Byrds Legacy with an additional 6 tracks.

It's not a bad place to start. It is a mix of Dylanesque Folk with a shift to more psychedelic songs in the run up to the Summer of Love.

They only released 12 studio albums so that's a quarter or them now accounted for. Don't be surprised to see others popping up here during 2025. You have been warned!

The Byrds - 5D (Fifth Dimension)

The Byrds - Eight Miles High

Northern Soul Sunday 7

 

I've saved the best for last.

Those of you who have been following the Blogs for a number of years will fondly remember Drew of Across the Kitchen Table fame. He was one of my inspirations when starting my Blog and I have had the pleasure of meeting him on a couple of occasions.

From April to June 2015 he published a few posts which he titled as My Northern Soul Top 50. I duly downloaded them all and burnt them onto a couple of CDs which is what folk did back then and titled it with a distinct lack of imagination as  Drew's Northern Soul Top 50.

I shall feature the top three in reverse order.

At number three, and fulfilling my featured female artist criteria is Ruby Andrews with Just Loving You described succinctly by Drew as Just Sublime.

At number two he has an Ashford & Simpson song Don't Send Nobody Else  performed by the wonderfully named Ace Spectrum.

For number one Drew writes  from the moment I heard this track it became the greatest northern track ever in my eyes and I haven't heard anything since that has made me think twice about its position.

The artist and song in question ? The brilliant Jackie Wilson with Because of You.

Fortunately Drew's posts are still available with this one describing the Top 10. Searches will reveal the rest of the Top 50 and many other brilliant songs to.

A great rabbit hole to fall down.

Ruby Andrews -Just Loving You

Ace Spectrum - Don't Send Nobody Else

Jackie Wilson - Because of You

Saturday Shuffle 83

 

The MP3 player got its first outing of the year for its primary function yesterday as I hit the gym for the first time in about a month finally having just about recovered from my chest infection.

Today it's secondary function is put to use which, as you should all be aware, is providing three random tunes for the shuffle.

I'm pretty sure that R.E.M. have appeared on the shuffle before but not with  (Don't Go Back to) Rockville the second and final single from 1984's Reckoning. Now over 40 years old!

The next choice is a bit more up to date given that it is from 2018. Wild! Wild! Wild! was a collaboration between Robbie Fulks and Linda Gail Lewis  (Jerry Lee's younger sister). Here is the title track.

We conclude with yet another track from one of the Jon Savage compilations.  This time around it is the turn of The Seeds with Can't Seem to Make You Mine from 1965 - The Year the World Ignited

The third installment of 2025 next Saturday.

R.E.M. - (Don't Go Back to ) Rockville

Robbie Fulks & Linda Gail Lewis - Wild,Wild,Wild

The Seeds -Can't Seem To Make You Mine