The 20th of February 1972
Official U.K. Albums Chart results from Sunday the 20th to Saturday the 26th of February 1972
Cut-off for sales figures was up to the end of Saturday the 19th of February
Results counted from Sunday the 20th,
announced on Tuesday the 22nd,
and broadcast on B.B.C. Radio 1 on Sunday the 27th of February 1972.
So…we finally reach the No.1 Album on “The Top 50 U.K. Album Chart”, on the 20th of February 1972 (the day I was born).
Ok here’s a list of artists it could have been and the albums it had to battle to get there.
The following all reached number 1 with albums this year:
T. Rex
Paul Simon
Rod Stewart
Deep Purple
The Rolling Stones
Neil Young
George Harrison and special guests (including Bob Dylan)
Any of those will do thanks…
…and as we witnessed last time, T. Rex was almost still there with Electric Warrior but it had been toppled from it’s No.1 position.
The other artists this album had to out-sell were Pink Floyd, Carole King, James Taylor, Cat Stevens, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Elvis Presley, John Lennon and Jimi Hendrix to name but a few.
But…
The week before I was born, on the 13th (unlucky for some) of February 1972, this album hit the No.1 spot, knocking T-Rex off it’s perch and it’s….
Neil Reid
Neil Reid
At No.1, on the “The Top 50 U.K. Albums Chart” on the day I am born, is Neil Reid with “Neil Reid”.
…
Who?
OK, a quick glance at Wikipedia solves that.
‘Neil Reid is the first album, for Scottish Opportunity Knocks winner, Neil Reid. The album reached number 1 on the UK Albums Chart and the single “Mother of Mine” also peaked at number 2 in the UK Singles Chart’.
Oh…great (and I don’t mean that most sincerely …more like most sarcastically folks)
I get one of the first, if not the first, TV talent show influenced selling music products.
Oh the shame of it!
It might as well be X Factor (except Ant and Dec haven’t been born yet!).
And it’ll keep the top spot on the album chart for 3 weeks! Once toppled, it will hang around in the Top 10 for another 5 weeks, only dropping further back once the Spring month of April is settling in.
The album will drop out of the Top 50 for a week, at the end of this month before re-entering in the Top 30 perimeter as April turns to May.
A few more weeks ensue at the lower end of the chart before Neil finally departs for good with this album after the 27th of May.
Ok, so the song “Mother of Mine” is familiar to me, but only because I know the version by Little Jimmy Osmond, which is on the flip side to his leviathan smash hit “Long Haired Lover From Liverpool” (not an annoying song at all…yes sarcasm runs through me at times like a hormonal teenager on Space Dust).
A few years on from this pivotal moment,
…my eldest sister tried to get a 5 year old me up on a stage to sing “Mother of Mine” to my own mum at this community village hall / day centre type place we lived nearby to.
You see, my sis (about 15 at the time), was part of a singing and dancing troupe.
We rehearsed round her friends house with all of them.
I vaguely remember one of the guys in the group had an accordion.
There was also discussion amongst them regarding Genesis, as they had a copy of “Seconds Out” there.
Oh, and one of them wanted me to listen to Jasper Carrots’ ”Magic Roundabout” (the flip side to “Funky Moped”), which my sister told them not to (If you know it, you know why).
Anyway, there may have been a couple of evenings of this rehearsing type thing as the day of the performance got closer.
And then I backed out at the last minute.
So precariously do things balance in life – I could have been England’s answer to wee Neil Reid and Little Jimmy.
I could have hit the big time!
I could have been a star!!
I could have mingled with all the other big british TV stars of the day, Top of The Pops with Jimmy Saville, or met Rolf Harris, Stuart Hall, Gary Glitter…sigh.
Alas, it was not to be.
Anyway, so about this album…
It’s basically an album of old standards which the grannies probably would have known from way back. And with young Neil singing them in his cute way, they probably wanted to just cuddle him and chubber his cheeky McCheek cheeks.
But teasing aside, Neil did have a great singing voice, and it must have been such an exciting time for him to achieve a number one. Something most of us will never achieve in our lifetimes.
Good for him.
Unfortunately, after a while, puberty took a hold on Neil and his little voice broke, and with it his singing career.
So back into obscurity Neil disappeared, which in a way is a shame.
It also seems that this album is only one of very few to have to have hit the Number One spot and not transferred and updated to any other format in over 50 years, including CD.
For this project of mine,
…the intention is to listen to each of the original albums as a whole.
Now I’ll be honest, it’s quite an effort to listen to this whole album for me. It’s not what I’m used to listening to, especially for 40-odd minutes. However, for this project I’m doing so.
I’ll listen to anything at least once.
And one of the tracks, let’s just say I’m a bit more biased on this one than the rest, due to the fact that it mentions where I now live, the Isle of Wight, is The Beatles’ “When I’m 64”.
And by pure coincidence, with me writing this down in the year 2023, with Neil’s birth year apparently 1959, he’s now in his 64th year (for those that remember him, let that sink in).
I’ve endeavoured to create my own separate playlists for both Sides 1 and 2 of this album with the correct versions and the original track sequencing order for the U.K. release.
Side 1
Side 2
Many thanks go to the following YouTube Channels, for providing the chance to hear the tracks to form as close to the complete original album that I can get, so that together we can experience both sides of this album release, as it was intended, once again.
Please show your support by visiting their channels:
So there finishes the Top 50 countdown (as it was in 1972) of both the Singles and the Albums.
Now that we have a snapshot of the music of that time.
Next, I will be highlighting the music which became memorable for me in my first year.
Listen to “The Official Top 50 UK Singles Chart: 20th February 1972” Playlist here:
Grab Your Binoculars, Come Follow Me
What is it…?
Why am I…?
How do I…?
When am I…?
