The 20th of February 1974
Official U.K. Singles Chart results from Sunday the 17th to Saturday the 23rd of February 1974
Cut-off for sales figures was up to the end of Saturday the 16th of February
Results counted from Sunday the 17th,
published on Tuesday the 19th,
and broadcast on B.B.C. Radio 1 on Sunday the 24th of February 1974.
Stealers Wheel
Star
At No.29, on the “The Top 50 U.K. Singles Chart”, the week of my 2nd Birthday, are Stealers Wheel with Star.
Just like the previous entry,..
…the advent of big success became a contributing factor to bringing this group to the verge of disintegration. The key difference was that the duo themselves became the band, and everybody else left instead.
Since the massive success of “Stuck In The Middle With You” (decades before Mr.Blonde showed off his surgical skills in Reservoir Dogs), it got to the point where one of the two core members of the group, that being Gerry Rafferty, had to himself walk away.
Although Gerry was enticed back; when he did return, everyone apart from fellow school friend Joe Egan (the other core member) left. It must have been something he said.
Moving onwards nonetheless, the duo took on some hired help to get the next phase of the group underway.
Taken from their latest album Ferguslie Park,..
…named after a troubled area in Paisley (where Gerry was raised in a council house, and also where the discovery and immersion of traditional Irish and Scottish folk songs helped drown out the deprivation he would have experienced while growing up there), the duo battled through their underlying tensions between themselves, and also with their producers Leiber and Stoller no less (who themselves had already savoured tremendous success years before as writers for, amongst others, a young Elvis Presley; but were themselves now having issues of their own), to battle through their second project together.
This was the second release pulled from that album.
The Single…
…had entered the chart exactly a month before at No.45, and in two weeks, had climbed up to its peak position of No.25 at the beginning of this month of February, before starting its descent back down the numbers.
From here,..
…it will drop a further ten places next week, and after that, with five weeks trailing behind it, this Star shoots out of the chart after the 2nd of March.
The “A” Side
The “B” Side
Stealers Wheel – Star (TV Performance)
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