The 20th of February 1975
Official U.K. Singles Chart results from Sunday the 16th to Saturday the 22nd of February 1975
Cut-off for sales figures was up to the end of Saturday the 15th of February
Results counted from Sunday the 16th,
published on Tuesday the 18th,
and broadcast on BBC Radio 1 on Sunday the 23rd of February 1975.
Average White Band
Pick Up The Pieces
At No.32, on “The Top 50 U.K. Singles Chart”, the week of my 3rd Birthday, is the Average White Band with Pick Up The Pieces.
One of the most…
…influential and iconic four minutes of funk that has ever emanated from a record groove; and do I remember it at the time? The surprising answer is no, I don’t think it registered into my 3-year-old head. It must have been on the radio a lot at the time, and I would have thought it would have gone in there subconsciously.
The moment I do remember it, and it indelibly latching onto something in my psyche and me finally attuning my ears to it, would have been when I went to the cinema to see Superman II at the age of 9, and the scene where General Zod, Ursa and Non visit planet “Houston”. This track was playing in the background. Many years later I’d always assumed it had been in the diner scene at the end, but that must be my neurons misfiring in what they now call the Mandela Effect.
It would be many many more years later…
…when my assumptions about the band themselves were blown away, and I would be surprised to find out they literally lived up to their name. Not only that, but they originated from up in Scotland; and it seems, by seeing how many reaction videos there are to this track, I’m not the only one.
I also love the fact that the backing band of one of the funkiest artists ever, the godfather of soul himself, Mr James Brown, paid tribute to AWB’s efforts and at the same time parodied them, when they recorded the response track “Pick Up the Pieces, One by One”, under the name AABB (Above Average Black Band).
Another surprise…
…was that apparently, when this single was initially released here in the UK, back in July the previous year of 1974, it didn’t even make the chart.
It would take the release of the corresponding album from whence it came, to cement itself as a formidable new sound in the USA, and for this single to then top their Billboard Chart, before it finally gains any attention over here; and this is where I find it, this week of my 3rd birthday.
The single…
…is finally a New Entry this week and lands big into the Top 40 at this position.
From here…
…it jumps up ten places to No.22, before the spring month of March sees it leap straight into the Top 10, where it keeps climbing, eventually peaking at No.6 on the 16th of that month.
It then climbs back out of the Top 10 and descends over the next few weeks, until it takes its leave just over a month later, after the 19th of April, with 9 weeks on the chart in total.
The “A” Side
The “B” Side
“Pick Up The Pieces” Don Kirschner’s Rock Concert TV Live Performance (1974)
“Pick Up The Pieces” Live Video Performance via Top of the Pops (20th March 1975)
“Pick Up The Pieces” American Bandstand Live Performance (1976)
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