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Non-Hit Wonders

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In 1972, Warner Brothers invested a fair bit in Little Feat, hired a hot-shot percussionist, Milt Holland, and a sure-fire producer, Ted Templeman, to create a hit single, written by Lowell George and Martin Kibbee. Kibbee changed his name to Fred Martin, so the song credit read an eye-catching ‘George Martin’. Easy To Slip is a belting song; bright, uplifting, beautifully sung by George in his most fetching auburn croon. What is there not to like. It bombed. Little Feat didn’t start making money until they were splitting up four years later. Nevertheless, Easy To Slip is a perfect single, more than matching any other Little Feat single and The Afterword knows Little Feat, being the beeze neeze, were not prone to releasing anything other than great singles.

What other records should have been a hit but the public, inexplicably, ignored?

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Comments

  1. Is this commercial? Could it have been a hit?

    I don’t know and I can’t tell as it’s one of my favourite singles. What am I talking about? Nick Nicely and Hilly Fields (1892), his touch of psychedelia from 1982.

  2. Dennis “Blackbeard” Bovell had this on the B-side of a non-memorable 1981 single, “Bertie”.
    If it had been flipped he just might have got a hit out of it.

    (Bettah)

    All instruments played by Blackbeard except the sax, played by Lora Logic.

    And also…
    A Chuck Berry cover, the like of which you’d hardly believe.
    Former Brinsley Schwarz guitarist Ian Gomm almost completely reinvented “Come On”. Could have been massive.

    • I’m great admirer of Dennis Bovell. He certainly knew how to write a hit (first witness for the defence, Janet Kay’s Silly Games). I suspect he was aiming for the party market and ended up with a salsa Bertie, rather than a reggae one. There is no doubt Bettah is better, though.

      As for Gomm, that’s a superb cover. Top ten material? I’m not so sure.

      • Re: Dennis Bovell:

        1) I’ve always liked his work with LKJ
        2) A big thumbs-up for his production on the first Slits album
        3) His dub album with Steve Mason, “Ghosts Inside”, is well worht hearing
        4) If anyone suggests that Rihanna is the greatest Barbadian artist ever, point them in the direction of Blackbeard – there’s no contest!

    • To be fair, I seem to remember the Ian Gomm track getting a fair bit of airplay at the time (certainly on the Kid Jensen Radio 1 teatime/early evening show back then?), so clearly it just didn’t “click” with the GBP…

      • I recall Noel Edmonds, then the R1 breakfast DJ, made Roy Harper’s One Of Those Days In England (Part 1) his record of the week, much to Roy’s amusement as he got a drug reference past the censors, but it failed to make the slightest dent in the charts.

    • Davitt Sigerson also co-wrote & produced (and I think he also sings) this unknown gem under the name Daisy Chain – is is possible for a song to be too catchy?

      PS In a strange twist he became a massively successful label exec in the 90’s – president of Polydor, EMI and Chrysalis, then chairman of Island!

  5. Sniff ‘n’ the Tears are best known for Driver’s Seat, but the single that followed it, Poison Pen Mail, was much better. The album it was taken from, The Game’s Up, is easily their best album. Poison Pen Mail didn’t make the charts, but should have.

      • I do hear it as chart material. In fact I remember hearing it on the radio, many years before hearing Driver’s Seat, and buying the album and playing it to death. I always assumed it was a hit and it’s only now with internet that I find out it never was.
        Back in those pre-Cowell, pre-modern R&B (sic) days it was songs with a certain leftfield quality (as exemplified by hits like Japan’s Ghosts or Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk) that often topped the charts. Not the anodyne, formulaic pap that is today’s ‘hit parade’. (Which is not to denegrate modern music, but to recognise the reality that few people, young or old, seem to care about the charts anymore cos that’s no longer where the interesting sounds reside).

        • I’ve just listened again to check; lovely song, something I would enjoy listening to again but not a big enough hook.

          Ghosts chart success is remarkable. It was the third single of four from Tin Drum. The other three only managed the lower reaches of the hit parade but the drumless, ethereal Ghosts got to number five.

          My daughter sometimes plays the radio chart show on Sundays. It’s always verging n the hysterical. No room for subtlety any more.

  7. For some readon, this thread got me thinking about short-lived Swedish band, Gloria, which featured Sarak Isaksson and Rebecka Törnqvist who did that wonderful album of Steely Dan covers.

    Which led me to this gorgeous ballad.: Live as we know it.

  8. I suppose it’s surprising that ‘The Days of Pearly Spencer’ wasn’t any kind of hit in 1967, when it received blanket airplay from Radio Caroline and is one of those songs that lots of people recognise.

    But this one, by Dutch band The Hunters, released in Britain in 1966, wasn’t a hit either and yet it feels like it shouold have been. Jan Akkerman on guitar (as if one couldn’t guess):

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_hsRLmDYQ8

    • No. It’s overwrought rubbish. Can’t stand the warbling. However, I enjoyed the video. Great drum mimicry and does Demis’s right hand actually do anything to that guitar?

      For readers new to The Afterword, Colin H is younger than he seems.

  10. If you were anything like me, you enjoyed the electronic dancey sounds of the late 80s. There were plenty of them and the 12″ format was made for these big, brash loud productions. Here’s one that I picked up in a white sleeve and I had it in my head that it was something to do wIth the Colourbox/MARRS people. I now know that it’s not. It’s a German band called Bigod 20, made in 1988. It’s a cracker.
    https://youtu.be/h0Q6oX2p90g

  11. If Wikipedia’s to be believed, apart from “A New England” and “Fairytale Of New York” you could throw any Kirsty MacColl single into the ring.

    (I’m getting RSI from posting “He’s On The Beach” so will give it a miss this time)

  13. That is a fucking choon.

    I support Scotland, Cowdenbeath and Norwich. Doomed to heartbreak. My list of tunes that should have been is, well, huge. Having me on your fanlist is tantamount to disaster. Others may follow. But this is the first one that sprang to mine.

    It’s a prefect single.

  15. To get back to Easy to Slip, O think this is a superb ecample of the non hit wonder.. can’t think of a better one.. maybe ‘I will dare’by The Replacements. Anyway did my annual lower North Island golf weekend with my pals lasy week. We played at Rangatira Golf Club. After in the clubhouse bar the muzak featured bands like Climax Blues Band, Amazing Rhythm Aces, Orleans, Lyrnyrd Skynyrd, Allman Bros, Dolly etc. I quipped ” this is pretty good in a better than The Eagles but not as good as Little Feat kinda way

    • There’s big money in finding brilliant music that fell under the radar. D.J music usually follows this formula.
      Brother Bob Weir covered this song on his 1978 LP Heaven Help the Fool. I personally prefer it to Little Feat as I like Bob’s yacht-rock california accent.
      To be honest, I was unaware it was a LF song to begin with. I have much to learn, I’m the first to admit.

  17. Apologies for my overposting but… 1967.
    The Sundowners, my goodness, how I love this song. Avert your eyes from the crass visuals, please! and immerse yourself in the grace of late 60’s audio bliss.
    They had a lot of competition that year, but surely they were contenders, no?

    • Don’t apologise. It is impossible to overpost, in my view.

      I suspect all three of your examples were launched into a saturated market. 1970/1 was peak singer-writer and 1967 sunshine pop. Excellent as Paul Williams is, his songs were maybe a bit too intricate to make the top ten.

      I prescribe twelve successive listens to Sailin’ Shoes to deal with that yacht problem you have! 😉

    • If not for their initial success, you would have hit non-hit wonder pay dirt there, Colin. Their first single, Sign Of The Times (not that one), was a smash. Each successive single after that did worse until Iko Iko took off in America (I think connected to a Tom Cruise movie).

      • I think when Iko Iko was a hit in the US (in 1989, on the back of its use in the ‘Rain Man’ film) the band had effectively broken up.

        But ‘Sign Of the Times’ wasn’t their first single – the first was ‘Hiawatha’, a left-over from the Bodysnatchers’ repertoire (it was on one of the ‘Snatchers’ Peel sessions), and then four more non-hits until ‘The Clapping Song’ (which was on TOTP, and presumably a minor hit) and then ‘Iko Iko’ (which was out at the same time as another version, which became the bigger hit of the two), and then ‘Sign of the Times’, which was their only significant hit. Five more non-hit singles followed until the releases stopped in 1986. Any number of them could have been hits in that era. One wonders what the problem was.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckG9gubtO1g

  19. So what about the hit potential of this one?

    Thanks to your review of the new album, Tigger, I went to see Shovels and Rope live last week. And very good they were too.
    If I’m not mistaken, that is S & R’s dog, Townes Van Zandt doing a cameo.

    • My heart says YES!! S&G are so endearing, an act that is so easy to love (even if they are Americana). The video is engaging and heartwarming. The song is superb, stamped with their characteristic ramshackle humanity. Sadly, I don’t hear it in the top ten.

      I’m delighted you enjoyed the gig. Perhaps, you could a Nights Out?

  20. “Try to understand me, deep inside I’m much like you”

    Despite Tigg’s draconian standards, this is a must hear.
    Late 60’s pop, happy, yet sad, up tempo, but slow, naughty AND nice
    Please!!! click before it’s to late!

  21. Billie Davis had one hit (‘Tell Him’) in 1963 but then had LOADS of further singles released, on various labels, up to 1985, only managing one more just-about chart placing in that time (a No.33 in 1968).

    It’s curious how some artists were able to sustain such long careers while being, on paper, essentially unsuccessful. She was a decent singer and I suspect being pretty, and likely to get on TV variety-type shows as a result, probably helped.

    Still, this one from 1970 sounds like it could have/should have…

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv9QZyx14tI

    • Her early career was damaged by a combination of bad luck and scandal.
      Not long after “Tell Him” became a hit she left her record label, Decca, after financial disagreements and was then injured in a car crash while travelling with ex-Shadow Jet Harris, a married man. She was only 17 at the time. Adverse newspaper reports of their affair, coupled with being unable to record for 4 months due to her broken jaw from the accident being wired shut, meant her career lost all it’s momentum.

    • Indeed. Fits the eighties charts like a glove. Nice, retro video of an elegant lady walking the streets. How she crossed that road without getting hit by a car, I don’t know. She was completely oblivious to them, lost in her own tormented thoughts.

  24. That He’s On The Beach, Caroline, In These Shoes or Angel, didn’t bother the charts is always puzzling.

    As why her version of ‘You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet, Baby ‘ which knocks the Smith original away effortlessly with its sheer vibrancy was not a single I simply don’t understand

    Alison Moyet has had a similar problem in that many of her biggest hits have been covers (Love Letters, Old Devil Called Love) ) including this, her last top 20 which is a Pet Shop Boys tinged beauty that I never knew was a cover til about a month ago

      • I remember walking into the super Tesco store in Slough at Christmas and Kirsty’s They Don’t Know started blaring out and it really took my breath away. The sparkly pop guitar and effortless vocal was unbelievably moving in that way experiencing music in odd places can be

  25. After two Top 10 UK hits circa January 1973, this was the next Focus single, with very much the same ingredients as the previous two while being strikingly different. And it got nowhere. It can only be that the brief moment for progressive rock instrumentals in the hit parade had come and gone (briefly reviving later in the decade for Gordon Giltrap and ELP).

    • Well, I bought it.
      It’s notable for having stolen the melody line from In A Silent Way for the middle eight. They weren’t alone in doing that, Sting did it too on The Soul Cages

      • I noticed something else Focus borrowed from Miles a while back, but it escapes me just at the moment…

        Strangely, nowhere in the world (as far as I know) was the glorious prog-baroque-Euro-disco ‘My Sweetheart’, from the ‘Mother Focus’ LP, a single. Instead, the title track was. I can imagine this having been a hit.

  26. A fascinating though little-populated corner of John McLaughlin record collecting is his singles – with Miles Davis, Lifetime, Mahavishnu, solo. Surprisingly, there are a lot more than you might imagine, though several from this 60s-70s era are radio promo-only releases or foreign releases. Someone, for example, in France must have thought ‘Marbles’ from 1970’s ‘Devotion’ LP was a chart contender.

    However, the one Mahavishnu Orchestra single that was released on both sides of the Atlantic in commercial form was ‘Can’t Stand Your Funk’, in 1975. At only two minutes long (quick, someone help @Leedsboy – he’s fallen off his chair) it may be atypical, and being in 5/4 may have limited iits dance-floor potential for some, but should it have been a hit? Should the Mahavishnu have appeared on TOTP?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VsyW7ywXaU

    • Good call on The Blue Nile. None of their singles did well. The highest they charted was 50. How did they earn a living for all those years? Three albums got into the top twenty but they barely toured and studio fees alone must have taken all the profit.

      • I had no idea that a band with such a low profile and such high-falutin ideals would even make videos, until someone sent me a compilation of them on a DVD. The common theme is they all look incredibly uncomfortable in front of the camera. I love the band, but I can see why they quickly fell out with Linn, then Virgin, then Warners, then Sanctuary.

        That documentary Dr V posted a link to recently was excellent. Those rumours of them burning master tapes were, it turns out, true.

        • I’ll check Wiki. Here’s the list of collaborations:

          The Blue Nile – “Headlights on the Parade” 12″ single (1990): B-side includes “Easter Parade” re-recorded as a duet between Paul Buchanan and Rickie Lee Jones
          Julian Lennon – Help Yourself (1991): the track “Other Side of Town” features vocals by Paul Buchanan, written by Paul Buchanan & Robert Bell
          Robbie Robertson – Storyville (1991): the track “Breakin’ the Rules” features vocals & guitar by Paul Buchanan and bass & drum programming by Robert Bell; the track “Sign of the Rainbow” features bass by Robert Bell
          Annie Lennox – Diva (1992): the track “The Gift” co-written by Annie Lennox & the Blue Nile
          Michael McDonald – Blink of an Eye (1993): the track “I Want You” written & produced by Paul Buchanan & Robert Bell
          The Devlins – Drift (1993): the track “I Don’t Want to Be Like This” produced by Robert Bell
          Matraca Berg – The Speed of Grace (1994): the track “Let’s Face It” written by Paul Buchanan
          Máire Brennan – Misty Eyed Adventures (1995): the track “Big Yellow Taxi” produced by the Blue Nile
          Chris Botti – Midnight Without You (1997): the track “Midnight Without You” features the Blue Nile, written by Chris Botti, Paul Buchanan & Paul Joseph Moore
          Craig Armstrong – The Space Between Us (1998): the track “Let’s Go Out Tonight” features vocals by Paul Buchanan (cover version of song from Hats)
          Peter Gabriel – OVO (2000): the tracks “Downside Up” and “Make Tomorrow” feature vocals by Paul Buchanan
          Quiet City (aka the Blue Nile’s drummer Nigel Thomas) – Public Face, Private Face (2002): the tracks “Due North” and “Things We Should Say” feature vocals by Paul Buchanan
          Melanie C – Reason (2003): the track “Soul Boy” written by Paul Buchanan (the song’s first release was in 1997 on the eponymous debut album by Polish singer Edyta Górniak, later recorded by the Blue Nile themselves on High)
          Texas – Red Book (2005): the track “Sleep” features vocals by Paul Buchanan
          Michael Brook – RockPaperScissors (2006): the track “RockPaperScissors” features vocals by Paul Buchanan
          Aqualung – Memory Man (2007): the track “Garden of Love” features vocals by Paul Buchanan
          Paula Cole – Courage (2007): the track “Until I Met You” features vocals by Paul Buchanan
          Various artists – Seasons of Light Christmas album (2007): the tracks “Seasons of Light” and “Silent Night” feature vocals by Paul Buchanan
          Robin Danar – Altered States (2008): the track “Message of Love” features vocals by Paul Buchanan (cover version of the Pretenders song)
          Aqualung – Magnetic North (2010): the track “36 Hours” co-written by Matt Hales & Paul Buchanan
          Up Dharma Down – Capacities (2012): the track “Feelings” features vocals by Paul Buchanan

          A lot of work there but nothing earthshaking. I doubt the bank balance is overflowing.

          • I have most of those, but few get above the level of “Oh! It’s that bloke from The Blue Nile”.

            Paul B had a publishing deal around the Warners time but, given the band’s release speed, many of the cover versions came out before the originals.

            They more recently did a remix of a track by The xx.

  29. It’s possible Australians among us may know of Brunatex, whose song ‘A is for Apple’ I came across somehow, quite a few years ago now. I know nothing of them except they are Australian. The song is enchanting – echoey notes, strummy acoustic guitar leading into two multi-octave female singers offset by piano chords and then full band response.

    There is no YouTube clip, but I did unearth this url which takes you to a page where you can listen to it.
    https://www.triplejunearthed.com/jukebox/play/track/309316

  37. A very enjoyable, very eclectic, very AW thread. I’m really looking forward to listening my way through it. And we’re not finished yet, are we?

    This brilliant song reached no 60 in the Uk charts. Shame on you pop pickers!

    Kings of Convenience – I’d rather dance with you

    • Hmm. He dances the way I imagine Beany does. It’s all very gentle but the message I’m receiving from that song is that he thinks the girl is an air-head.

      Thank you for the Spotify list. As always, you are too generous.

        • Medals for dancing? I thought one received medals for bravery in combat situations.

          So where were you dancing? In a moshpit?

          I’m extremely happy to share the playlists I do from AW threads, Tigger. The more who listen the better! As well as being something I enjoy listening to, they are also a useful record of stuff that got talked about. If, 6 months later, I can’t remember the name of an artist ot a song, I use them for reference.

      • He is confessing to being an airhead hmself:

        “Even if I could hear what you said
        I doubt my reply would be interesting for you to hear
        Because I haven’t read a single book all year
        And the only film I saw, I didn’t like it at all.”

        You are at a party and you meet a gorgeous lass from the fjords. Would your rather: discuss Ibsen or
        dance to Daft Punk?

        There’s more to life than The Wild Duck!

  38. Not as radical as the Ian Gomm version (which sounds great), Wishbone Ash tried for a UK hit in the late 70s with this version of ‘Come On’. It didn’t work but, intriguingly, Dollar had a hit shortly after with a version of ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’, with the same producer, which seems to have borrowed the groove. So the Wishbones were on to *something*…

  39. A couple more:

    Thomas Lang’s The Happy Man, January 1988. A bit more than mere wine bar jazz, I think.

    and, this, Cinnamon by The Storys, which was on an Uncut cover CD in 2006. Can’t find a recorded version on YT, so this will have to do: a great pop tune.

  40. In a parallel universe, almost 50 years ago, someone at Charisma realised this was a supremely melodic effort from their newly-signed underground group, it was just a touch too slow for the charts and also a little long at six minutes. Consequently, it was a huge hit. If only..

    Eh, @fitterstoke?

  41. A big epic pop song with an appealing retro feel.

    Maybe tonight – Nicole Atkins

    Maybe Jenny Lewis’s She’s not me was a hit somewhere in the world? It’s got hit single written all over it for me.

  42. Sounding like a psychedelic Who is not a bad thing.
    Even a BBC ban couldn’t get this one to sell

    Johns Children – Desdemona
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jwct8twEIo

    They tried again the following month (June 1967) but sort of sabotaged themselves and the single was never released

    Midsummer Nights Scene

    5 singles and an album in 12 months, a tour with The Who, but no chart success.
    The various members went on to form The Radio Starts (Andy Ellison), played substitute for Keith Moon (Chris Towson), and their manager went on to manage Wham.
    The guitarist done OK after Johns Children – first forming a hippy-dippy Tolkien-esque folk duo, and then inventing Glam Rock

  43. I may be wrong but I don’t believe Australian Crawl had much traction outside of the Antipodes. This spiky ode to Errol Flynn is just one of many great songs that I hear on local radio.

    • Aussie Crawl’s lead singer James Reyne made an album circa 1990 that Bob Harris had on heavy rotation in a (failed) bid to get it released in the UK. It was released in the US as Any Day Above Ground. In Aus it’s title is Electric Digger Dandy. I only ever saw one copy in America, which I bought and still play.

      • Like Colin Hay James Reyne is excellent accompanied only by himself on acoustic guitar. Ditto with Lloyd Cole who I caught here in Melbourne last month. Proves that there is life after being in a successful band.

        • True that. I saw JR a few years ago in Auckland on a double bill with Renee Geyer. He played largely unaccompanied and I was reminded how many good songs he’d done, things like Reckless, Downhearted and Reno. Renee, by way of contrast, put on a real old-fashioned soul review. Quite a gig

  44. This band of Brits had a bit of a push in Germany a few years back. Came to relatively little, sadly. And I doubt too many of their countrymen are overly familiar with their work. But I think this could easily have been a crossover hit and provided many a sweaty festival set highlight, with a little bit of luck…

  45. The answer is of course Pete Wylie. Ripping up the charts at #79 with this perfect piece of B-side pop. An ever present in my top 10 tunes.

    Although another one that criminally didn’t trouble the top 60 is this.

  46. To bring my posts into this millennium. This got to about 80 in the Billboard chart. Not sure if it was even released here. I thought it was one of the best singles of 2015. What do I know, eh?

  47. Early synth pioneer goes 80s pop with a heavy Japan vibe. No 96 for this poptastic track. He then went and formed ACT with Claudia Brucken. Possibly here the lyrics, a Syriana-style takedown of the drugs trade, went against him.

  51. And this is much, much better than I’m In Love With A German Film Star… a perfect slab of pop new wave dub reggae. Didn’t have a gimmicky title though. Not chart troubling. Monster yippie-ah-aye chorus

    • I am a bit gobsmacked as I remember when that came out thinking – Top 10 at least. But yes no 47 its highest position. The jig was up for chart stomping electro-pop from Alison. Pastoral electro-whimsy beckoned.

      • Goldfrapp seem to view the Head First album the same way that REM view Shiny Happy People, but it’s one of my favourite albums. Practically every song is a winner, but Rocket is a firm favourite of the Wad household.

  54. Carey Johnson – Real Fashion Reggae Style

    Does anyone remember this? It came out in 1987. A very commercial slice of pop-reggae. Should’ve been a big hit.

  55. This was the single that spurred me into searching for the LP. She would certainly have brought a touch of class to Top Of The Pops. Yesterday I discovered the LP is now available on CD. The Hallmark label of course. That is on the Christmas list now.

  58. I’m on a roll with more late 70’s power pop though this a bit cod reggae.
    Fischer- Z….The Worker managed only 51 in 1979. Marliese which came out the next year and was a corker didn’t even bother the charts at all. Shame.

  59. This single peaked at number 45 in 1979, despite an appearance on TOTP. Their debut album has never been made available on CD. I have just discovered a follow-up album was issued in 2013 and I’m currently streaming it on Amazon Prime now. Isn’t technology marvellous.

    • Niallb – you have inadvertently solved a mystery that’s been bothering me vaguely for over 10 years, and (in theory) over 25 years before that…

      When I got my first iPod and set-up iTunes sometime in 2005, as many of us did, I went hunting for all of those odd tracks I could never find on CDs to start off my new digital collection… one that came to mind was a great record Radio 1 used to play a lot in the teatime slot around 78-79 when I was doing my homework, but I couldn’t recall the band or name… was it “Women in…” something? I went to Google (this was pre-YouTube), and yes, there it is, Skyhooks, “Women In Uniform”, 1978! So I downloaded it, and er, it wasn’t very good, and not how I remembered it at all…

      I’d forgotten about it until seeing this thread and your post – yes! Of course it was The Invaders, “Girls In Action”! Hurrah! Great record! Thank you!

  62. @tiggerlion an awesome thread. One we would put in front of the Commons Media and Sport Select Committee if ever asked to justify the public benefit of the Afterword. If the late 70s new wave saw a deluge of major label signees (Sinceros, Bizzarros, Invaders Fischer Z and many more) that failed to chart, then the early 90s dance boom was another gold rush period. Some got rich, most lost their shirts.

    This is a BRILLIANT example. How could hooking up a soul diva, the soul 2 soul beat and JOHNNY FREAKIN MARR on guitar not be a monster smash…lets get hot remixers The Grid to do a club mix too. Jobs a good ‘un. Number 63.

    Though anyone with an extra 3 minutes should go for The Grid mix which is much better. Goddamn this a great single. Have the 12″, not played it in 20 years.

        • That is a monster track. Inexplicable that it was not a hit and even if it was not, that it is not more widely known. Googled. It was on Some Bizarre.

          A label I know nothing about. Here’s another of their artists: Risque, a French-Welsh electronic band into S & M by the looks of things. Such combos do not grow on trees!

          • Some Bizzare (note the deliberate mis-spelling) was the brainchild of eccentric early 80’s Electronic music DJ Stevo Pearce. He ran clubs and made up his own “Futurist” chart in Sounds, which he parlayed into a label and the “Some Bizzare Album”, a sampler notable for featuring super-early recordings by the then-unsigned Soft Cell, Depeche Mode, The The, Blancmange and B-Movie, amongst others. The success of Soft Cell & The The enabled Stevo to expand the label into a more industrial/avant garde direction, with Cabaret Voltaire, Einsturzende Neubauten, Psychic TV, Swans, Foetus and Test Dept.

            These tracks are from the post-hit years, when Stevo kept plugging away with one-single deals and more samplers such as “Ish” and “I’d Rather Shout at a Returning Echo…” – always interesting!

  63. So lads, thanks for coming in. We love your ethereal dream pop, we really do. But 57, 53 and 73 is not going to keep us all in yachts now is it. I’ve been on the phone to Paul Oakenfold and he LOVES your new track. Radio One go wild for anything he does. A perfecto mix should open the ears of everyone…alright think of it as a necessary evil….I DON’T CARE READ YOUR CONTRACT!….
    Number 52

    • They’re the first band I thought of when I read the OP…actually, the first song I thought of was Goodnight Moon by Shivaree. I find it incredible that this song isn’t more widely appreciated. I saw her sing it at Dingwalls and fell in love…but immediately after thinking of that song Frazier Chorus came to mind. Every time I listen to them, and I have listened to them a lot, my wife waits for me to start chuntering as to why they never made it big, cos some of their songs are just perfect. All The Air is my favourite. She then points out that if they had started selling loads of records I’d have gone off them, “cos that’s what you do.”

      As you’ve bagged them, I’ll pick a Joe Pernice song. Loads to choose from, as he doesn’t half know how to write a tune, but gone for a slice of power pop perfection, which surely would have been a hit had it been released in 1966 or 1979 instead of 2001. Also features an outro The Turtles would have been proud of.

      • Your wife makes a great point. If Eay To Slip had gone top ten and Liitle Feat had followed that up with a string of chart smashes (Willin’, Dixie Chicken, Two Trains, Rock & Roll Doctor, Oh Atlanta, Spanish Moon, All That You Dream, Long Distance Love, Rocket In My Pocket, Old Folks Boogie), so much so that their studio albums outsold Waiting For Columbus, would we love them quite so much? I’d like to think so.

    • Poor old Lawrence really thought he’d recorded the song that would give him the hit he so craved and was looking forward to the first week sales, but sadly ‘Summer Smash’ was due to come out the day after Lady Di died (sounds like a folk song that, doesn’t it?) so it was withheld by the record company.

  66. I’m sure that this single did absolutely nothing anywhere but to my ears it’s a near-perfect slice of pop, overflowing with strings like a 60s Glen Campbell classic. Great singing too.

    • No 28 on the charts. Not a big hit, but a hit. The Freshies sold 40,000 copies of I’m in Love With.. and stalled at 54. I’m guessing this sold a tenth of that.

      My working definition of ‘No hit’ is peaking outside the top 40, but as with the Headboys occasionally an act got on TOTP as a ‘riser’ never to rise into the charts…it’s all a matter of personal judgement.

      • Famously, I believe (at least the anecdote is famous whether factual or not), Jethro Tull’s ‘Ring Out Solstice bells’ went down the week after their TOTP appearance.

  68. My little lad’s favourite song, Tutti Frutti by Little Richard, only spent 1 week on the charts, where it reached the lofty heights of 29 in the, then, top 30. I don’t need to post a video, cos we all know how that one goes…Awopbopaloobopawopbamboom…

  69. This one should have been a hit, and the chorus should have been bawled around festivals at sunset ever since. They even blanked the swear out for the video! What more do you have to do?

  71. A prospective Non-Hit Wonder
    New single from Ruts DC.

    Now, I may be doing this down before the horse has even bolted, but as The Ruts haven’t graced the singles chart since 1980 *, will this one make it beyond the hardcore fans?

    (* in fairness, they split in 1983 and didn’t reform until 2007)

    Kill The Pain

  73. My Life Story were recently mentioned on another thread. Hit or not, this was a stupendous pop song.

    And that Drimble Wedge and the Vegetation did not zoom straight to the top of the charts ….

    “You fil me with inertia”

  74. The orginal version of this fine song reached a pitiful Number 58 in the charts.

    They only made one album and very good it was too.

    Annie Lennox made sure the song eventually became a hit.

      • I’d heard about the legendary Farmer’s Boys from Norwich. That track made me realise what I’d missed.

        TMFTL?

        This reached the covered #44 slot in the UK charts.

        • The Farmers Boys were the poppier brothers* to the hard-white-funk of The Higsons.

          Both the videos above are from second album With These Hands – I have the only-released-in-Japan CD if you (ahem) need help tracking it down. Debut album Get Out & Walk is a bit more keyboard driven (it was early training ground for Pete Waterman) but I think the songs are stronger. Single Muck It Out and b-side Funky Combine John are both in my DJ box. I think I’m in the credits of the Cherry Red CD for supplying 12″ sleeve scans.

          I have vague links to Backs records in Norwich and social circles overlap with one or two of BazFrogMarkAndStan – I never expected that when I bought the cassette of Get Out & Walk as a 13 year-old schoolboy.

          Here’s an audio-only version of the Muck It Out 7″:

          (*) I nearly wrote “cousins” there, but this is Norfolk we’re talking about…

          • Thanks for the background story, Steve. You mix in illustrious circles!

            A band that hit the spot at once. It was love at first listen

            There is a a whole album on Spotify which will keep me going nicely, but thanks for the tip about Asian rarities.

            No surprise at all that they were favourites of St John of Peel.

            • I always thought the Housemartins were a me-too Farmer’s Boys as well, thanks for letting me know I wasn’t alone, Dave!

              I was actually at Great Yarmouth art college around the time of the FBs & The Higsons (I think one of the girls in my class was going out with Mark, or maybe Stan) so saw them live quite often… Popular Voice were the band everyone seemed to think would make it big, though!

              • Thanks Dave, interesting to know, although the Boys’ version is far better.

                What a strange clip of Cliff! The camerman is far more fascinated by the girls in the audience than the band. Suits me fine. So was i!

  82. The Fat Lady Sings. My best man was their biggest fan, and I’m probably the second. Nothing from their first album troubled the charts, the big-budget Steve Osbourne-produced follow-up hit number 56. I’m currently in touch with main man Nick, trying to get an exhaustive box set off the ground, which will probably sell two copies…

    Arclight:

  84. I don’t think this has got a mention but I remember that there seemed to be ‘blanket’ coverage on Radio Lux and the music weeklies for David McWilliams ‘Days of Pearly Spencer’ & ‘Harlem Lady’ which I preferred at the time…….IMHO ‘Days of…..’ is far better than the weak Marc Almond version!

    Anyway here is a link: https://youtu.be/4VDS8uArR0A

    • Pearly Spencer is a brilliant record, justly resurrected on the brilliant Mojo Acid Drops… box set (along with old Denny Laine’s Say You Don’t Mind from ^ up there)

      Marc Almond has such great taste in pop music…. who else was digging Gene Pitney in 1989?…. shame about his rotten voice.

    • I love the intimacy in those tracks. Reminds me a little of the feel of Scritti Politti’s White Bread, Black Beer album. It’s on my to-buy list but I don’t think it will be a hit.

  86. Fruit Bats reappeared again last year after years of being m.i.a. to release an absolute beauty of an album & the world blinked & moved on. Well I loved it, & this should’ve been a hit.

  89. Her 1st EP came out late last year. Would love to hear this blasting out of a radio someplace. Hopefully things may still happen for this lovely lady from Portishead. Looking forward to seeing her live at the Kilkenny Roots Festival later this year. Hopefully she blows the roof offa the place. I know country’s not quite yer thing, but ya got room for some soul country?

      • Growing up & getting into music in my teens I was a total rock chick until I started listening to both Lynyrd Skynyrd & Little Feat, both, (Feat moreso I’d say, with tracks like Willin’, Trouble, Easy To Slip, Dixie Chicken, Truck Stop Girl. Brides Of Jesus, All That You Dream, Roll ‘Em Easy, Long Distance Love) of whom opened the door into me listening to, & liking, country music, which I’d always thought was for old fogeys. They managed it with such a deft, light touch, & with lyrics that were witty & wise. Yet you love Little Feat & hate country @Tiggerlion . I hear so much country in their music. Funk & blues too, it’s why I loved ’em, their brilliant eclectisism. I still think Lowell George is my favourite vocalist (& one of my favourite lyricists) of all time. Ah well, we all have our blind spots. I’m sure I have plenty of my own.

      • Ah, what’s a motherfucker between friends eh? Saw them live a few years ago when they were supporting Polyphonic Spree. One of the most exuberant live bands I’ve ever seen, & lovely lovely people. Album came out but not a great recording I’m afraid. Didn’t really capture their energy. Fingers crossed for album no. 2

    • It’s so good to see you again, Contrary! Is all well in your world?

      I look forward to spending this evening devouring your suggestions. I always enjoy listening to your choices. They are usually off-the-wall and very beautiful.

      • Here here! Nice to “see” you, Contrary. Looking forward to giving these a spin later.

        Particularlly interested to hear that Benji Hughes track. He has a new album too. You’ll remember I saw him supporting Jenny Lewis and few years back and rather fell for his slacker humour.

        Here’s a song that ought to have been a hit. Maybe it was?

  94. When you know and love an artist often you really have no clue as to which songs have been hits. It doesn’t matter. You know which songs you want to hear live.

    Camera Obscura – Lloyd, I’m ready to be heartbroekn
    Flaming Lips – Yoshimi battles the Pink Robots
    Ron Sexsmith – Secret Heart
    Ry Cooder – Theme from Paris Sexas
    The Necks – Whatever is their current single..

    Tigger will slap my wrist for going off piste but I think this wonderful song about the sense of freedom after a separation should have been a hit. Maybe if a better known artist had done a cover (a la Kirsty and New England) it might have charted.

    Rosie Thomas – Wedding day

  95. From 1981, despite Radio 1 airplay, I think I’m the only person who actually bought this – still sounds great:

    Domino Effect – La Dolce Vita

  96. 1950s Britain was not ready for this magnificent song.

    It finally got the fame it deserved when it was used very effectively in the Paddington soundtrack.

    Very happy to keep this thread bubbling away, Tigger!

  97. This single by Angie did not make the charts despite being released in 1979 on the Stiff Records label, was Radio One’s record of the week with Andy Peebles and featured Pete Townshend on the song and record sleeve.

    A year later she recorded backing vocals on Video Killed the Radio Star working with Trevor Horn.

    Her 2013 single Shine was also a miss.


  98. A lot of my record collectio consists of Non hit wonders, such as the fabulous
    Yachts

    The Original Mirrors

    Fingerprintz

    and why was this not a massive hit for The Icicle Works?

    • The first three are classic 12″ singles in my mind from the Megastore sale racks in the early eighties. Virgin Records seemed to have a huge stock of vaguely new wavish acts destined for no 52 at the time.

  105. Sadly topical, but how about Al Jarreau’s “L Is For Lover”?

    I can’t YouTube from work, sorry, but it’s a Green Gartside song (while he was in his hitmaking years), produced by Nile Rodgers, with a great Jarreau vocal – how could that not have been a hit?

  107. Just the three for me! All 80s! First one was huge on No Limits (remember that!?) and I never understood how it never got into the top 40.

    Second one is a brilliantly catchy one – Radio City played it non stop but nobody seemed to buy it (apart from me!)

    And finally the best non hit – period!

    • I googled and discovered that Don’t Walk ( which I’d never heard of) “became a classic at the famed Dallas, Texas nightclub, The Starck”.

      The things I learn here!

    • I’ve never hear Careless Love before, but that should have been a hit.
      I loved Ed’s Funky Diner and I tried to encourage everyone I knew to buy it.

  110. My itunes library keeps on giving. This today, an absolute monster tune just made for singing along to at the second stage at Reading – no 71 in 1992, they were one of the nearlies of the late 80s post-C86/pre-Britpop scene – if this has been released in 1994 surely a huge hit.

    • These last two have been the best of your many very valuable contributions to this thread, moles. Thank you.

      I’m rather fond of The Cardigans. They should have had far more hits. Live And Learn.

    • You are a man of taste Mr Moles. A fine Stockholm combo that ought to have gone further.

      I know what you mean. I am constantly remembering songs that ought to be on this thread. And why on earth not? It can galumph along for a week or two more and that will keep me very happy.

  112. Last one for a bit I promise. Why Man 2 Man feat Man Parrish and Frankie could rock the mid80s leather scene on R1/TOTP and this couldn’t I’ll never know. Perhaps ‘women beat their men’ was a bit too much.

  114. Major-label, big-budget, chart-cert for Manchester funkers. Straight in at number 96. Even the Bernard Sumner re-mix/re-title/re-release only managed number 55. I played their Four for the Floor EP on 12″ yesterday.

    A Certain Ratio – The Big E:

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