Jason’s Jukebox Volume 34

Jason Maloney reviews

JASON’S JUKEBOX
V o l u m e # 3 4 Chart Date: 22nd September 1979 Online Date: 24th September 2004

Premier Hits: The Best
of Gary Numan Parking itself in the #1 spot this week 25 years ago, Cars gave Gary Numan a second consecutive chart-topper just a couple of months after Are “Friends” Electric? had ruled the roost. Cars’ reign would last only 7 days, however, and Numan never scaled the same heights again, his chart fortunes steadily declining over the next decade until his singles barely scraped into the Top 75 at all.

The outgoing #1, We Don’t Talk Anymore by Cliff Richard, swapped places with Cars after a month at the top. It was Cliff’s first UK #1 since 1968, and ended the decade on a high note after the least successful period of his career. The single’s success also meant he had reached #1 in the 1950s, 1960s and now 1970s. Subsequently, that sequence would be extended to include the 1980s (Mistletoe & Wine), 1990s (Saviours Day) and, remarkably, even the 21st Century’s first decade (courtesy of The Millenium Prayer).

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The Best Of
The Bellamy Brothers Completing one of the most memorable Top 3s in chart history, Electric Light Orchestra‘s Don’t Bring Me Down moved up a notch from #4 to continue their strong Top 10 showing throughout 1979. Previous single The Diary Of Horace Wimp fell from #10 to #19 on the chart of August 25th, the same week as Don’t Bring Me Down entered at #38. The latter’s surge to #11 and then #4 meant E.L.O. had only been out of the Top 10 for a fortnight. Its peak of #3 proved to be the band’s all-time high, despite numerous Top 5 hits both before and after.

The records at #4 and #5 were also on the up; The Bellamy Brothers’ If I Said You Had A Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me climbed 3 places from #7, while Love’s Gotta Hold On Me by Dollar rose from #9. The Crusaders’ Street Life, which introduced the vocal talents of Randy Crawford to the public, slipped from #5 to #6 and B.A. Robertson‘s former #2 smash Bang Bang was falling from #3 to #7. Highest of 7 new entries to the chart was Message In A Bottle by The Police at #8. The following week it would topple Cars from the #1 spot. Their next two official releases (not including the mutil-single Six Pack which hit #17) would also reach the very top.

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Divine Madness Between #11 and #20, Frantique were up 12 to #11 with Strut Your Funky Stuff, Bill Lovelady‘s Reggae For It Now rose 6 to #12, Sail On by The Commodores was climbing 10 to #14, Johnny Mathis moved #21-#15 with Gone Gone Gone and Nick Lowe‘s Cruel To Be Kind continue its ascent of the Top 40 by going from #26 to #16. Going in the opposite direction, The Flying Lizards’ Money, Duchess by The Stranglers and Gangsters by The Specials were falling to #17, #18 and #19 respectively.

Knocking on the door of the Top 20 were Secret Affair (up 6 to #21 with Time For Action) and Racey, whose Boy Oh Boy (peaking at #22) proved a far less popular single than its predecessor, the #2 hit Some Girls. Two bands widely acknowledged as among the finest British singles acts of the past 30 years were also moving up towards the upper half of the chart; the debut Madness single The Prince had debuted at #37 the previous week and now soared 14 places to #23, while Slap & Tickle by Squeeze moved up 7 places from its entry position of #32 but despite following a brace of seminal #2 singles in the shape of Cool For Cats and Up The Junction it eventually went no higher than #24.

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The Very Best of Rainbow Two other rising hits were, however, destined for the Top 10; Rainbow‘s Since You’ve Been Gone (up from #33 to #26) and the Kate Bush On Stage EP, which climbed 8 to #27 on its second week in the Top 40. Something of a stopgap release between her second and third albums, and also a kind of souvenir from her one and only tour, the lead track was a live version of The Kick Inside album cut Them Heavy People.

A pair of non-movers at #28 and #30 for the UK Subs (Tomorrow’s Girls) and Gerry Rafferty (Get It Right Next Time) bookended the second-highest entrant of the week, Michael Jackson‘s Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough at #29. The single went on to hit #3 and effectively kickstarted his sensational run of success through the 1980s and 1990s. Other newcomers to the chart included The Jags’ Back Of My Hand at #34, Status Quo‘s future Top 5 smash Whatever You Want at #35 and one of Donna Summer‘s less popular releases Dim All The Lights at #38.

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