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LOST IN MUSIC: A BLOG
We're finding, buying & framing records all day. Every once in a while we pause for thought.
The Abbas and the Papas
Abba were top of the charts 40 years ago while in April 1967 the Mamas and the Papas were No. 2 with what we would say is their finest moment - Dedicated to the One I Love. The similarities are delightful, although the Mamas rarely had success with the sweet gloom that Abba did so well.

They could even make adultery sound like a cheerful day out with your friends. The missed cue (at 2:43) just adds to the unbridled fun of I Saw Her Again, supposedly written about Michelle Phillips by John Phillips and Denny Doherty.

Posted by Mark Lawrence on Monday, 10th April 2017 at 12.15 pm.
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No Stars in Their Eyes - The 70s Hit-Makers You Were Never Allowed To See
Many of the biggest-selling vinyl albums in the 1970s were compilations of the biggest hits of the day, but unlike the Now! or Hits! LPs of the 80s and 90s many of these were recorded by session singers and musicians so that they could be released cheaply and quickly.
4th May 2022
Half of a Hit Machine: RIP Bill Martin
The names "Martin-Coulter" appeared on the labels of many vinyl singles I bought as a child - Fancy Pants by Kenny, Back Home by the England World Cup Squad in 1970, and Forever and Ever by Slik, one of Midge Ure's early bands.
30th March 2020
Quentin Tarantino: The Hits You've Never Heard Before
The huge impact of the early films of Quentin Tarantino upon modern cinema is hard to argue against, but his " jukebox " approach to selecting music for those 1990s movies gave new life to a good few forgotten hits of the 1960s and 1970s. Unlike the 60s and 70s, it is hard to move these days without pop music being played somewhere as background noise, yet the catalogue of tunes one hears in shops, cafés, restaurants, at weddings, in the background of TV and
3rd September 2019
Whatever Happened to the 12-inch Single?
It's long enough ago and we all have different memories of 1980s pop music. Was it the Cure or Bon Jovi? Kylie & Jason or New Order perhaps. Phil Collins or Mel and Kim? But one thing they all have in common, and which arguably defined the 1980s, is the 12-inch vinyl single.
18th January 2019
A Fistful of Number Ones: Theme Tunes From the Movies
It seems remarkable that instrumental film themes that have made Number One in our singles chart can be counted on one hand. The last of these was 50 years ago this week, when Ennio Morricone's theme to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly topped the chart for four weeks
3rd December 2018
Happy Birthday, War Is Over
We now frame Birthday Number One records and sheet music going back as far as 1947, when the first regular weekly music chart was published in Melody Maker newspaper and broadcast to the United Kingdom on Radio Luxembourg
17th February 2018
Bend Your Elbow...
These pop themed beer mats tickled us, particularly the Kinks Preservation Ale and the David Bowie Double Diamond spoof.
29th October 2017
All Hail the U.S. Male?
By August 1977, the great teenage revolutionaries didn't mean a lot if you were a teenager. People's dads liked Elvis Presley; people's long-haired elder brothers liked the Beatles. Cliff Richard and the Stones were still chugging along. Old Elvis and Beatles songs briefly re-appeared in the Top 20 while their films were on television a lot of the time.
16th August 2017
Rod or God?
Forty years ago last Sunday, Rod Stewart kept the Number One spot in the UK charts for a fourth week with I Don’t Want to Talk About It / First Cut Is the Deepest.
8th June 2017
It Was (Insert Number Here) Years Ago Today
Thirty years ago, the big music news was created by a great big “old media” promotional push to mark the 20th anniversary of the release of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band by you-know-who.
20th May 2017
The KLF: Back Soon
Given its sheer quantity over more than 70 years, most chart pop music rarely stays in the popular memory for long, quickly going out of date never to come back into fashion. So it was for the KLF - alias the Timelords - who had two Number Ones and four
28th April 2017
The Abbas and the Papas
Abba were top of the charts 40 years ago while in April 1967 the Mamas and the Papas were No. 2 with what we would say is their finest moment - Dedicated to the One I Love. The similarities are delightful, although the Mamas rarely had success with the sweet gloom that Abba did so well.
10th April 2017
Pick the singles chart that suits you
If you don't like the way streaming has changed the look of the national Top 40 pop charts, then you can ignore it and choose a different one instead. Think you should still have to "buy a single" for it to count? Believe the charts should just be based on vinyl single sales like they used to be?
24th March 2017
You Never Can Tell
I'm not sure Chuck Berry was the poet/genius he's made out to be, but it's true pop music doesn't often get much better than this. Cue Mrs Mia Wallace...
19th March 2017
Ed Sheeran broods
Human nature being what it is, Ed Sheeran will surely be brooding tonight on why people dislike his song "Save Myself" so much. It only made it to No. 29 in the new UK charts today behind 15 other songs from the same album.
17th March 2017
Baby I'm Yours
Baby I'm Yours by Arctic Monkeys is among the most requested "first dance" wedding songs that we have framed as gifts. Here it is with the original Barbara Lewis track from 1965. Take your pick, pop pickers.
8th March 2017
One Swedish band covers another
One Swedish band covers another Swedish band with remarkable results. Our thumbs up to the splendid First Aid Kit, who are making a habit of producing sensational cover versions.
1st March 2017
Today is Doris Day
Doris Day is back in the news. This is Secret Love from the film Calamity Jane which was her first Number One in 1954. And we can frame it for you. It's a 10-inch 78 disc; the main format for recorded music in the 1950s before the advent of vinyl.
23rd February 2017
The best Number Ones ever?
We have been talking to the Official Charts Company about the finer details of how they compile the single charts last week. For light relief we made our list of the best 12 UK Number One songs ever.
30th January 2017

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