The 20th of February 1972

Official U.K. Singles 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.

Gilbert O’Sullivan

No Matter How I Try

At No.34, on the the U.K. Top 50 Singles Chart the day I am born, is Gilbert O’Sullivan with “No Matter How I Try”.

By the time I was entering the world,..

…Gilbert’s latest single was nearing the end of it’s successful 15 week run.

The second music artist in this chart…

…to be born in the Irish city of Waterford (the first is further back at No.46), Gilbert also crossed over the Irish Sea to England, but he was to do it with his parents, due to being only 7 years young, and still very much called Raymond O’Sullivan.

No.46 on “The Top 50 U.K. Singles Chart” on my Birth Day

Eventually settling in the large town of Swindon,..

…in the South West county of Wiltshire, Ray found he had a natural aptitude for playing the family’s upright piano, and could pick up tunes easily by ear.

By the time he went to Swindon College, he began playing in a couple of groups. One of which he got taught to hone his piano skills, and also play the drums (hence why, when you study his hands when he plays piano, he does so very percussively), by the leader of blues band ‘Rick’s Blues’, headed by fellow college student Rick Davies, who would eventually go on to co-found the group ‘Supertramp’.

By his 21st year,..

Ray had moved east to settle in London, and make, not just a name, but an image for himself. The latter would be going against the grain of the fashionable threads emerging from such places as Carnaby Street, and instead modelling his look on famous Hollywood stars of the previous 50 years, such as Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. Although, as others have pointed out, he looked more like the ‘Bisto’ kids from the gravy adverts.

His contrasting dress plan worked,..

…and he managed to secure a record deal.

It was also suggested that, if he was intent on representing an image of bygone times, then maybe his name should reflect the same.

So, making reference to the popular Victorian theatrical innovators of the light-hearted opera, William Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, everyone agreed that Ray be renamed Gilbert O’Sullivan.

Even though ‘Gilbert’ was ready to unleash his talent onto the public,..

…the public weren’t quite ready for him, and his short trousers, just yet.

This was evident by the release of a few singles (going by just his new first name of ‘Gilbert’), around the highly colourful time of the mid-to-late 1960’s.

Take, for example, his first song called “Disappear” which, when offered to the single buying public of Great Britain in the midst of flower power, Sgt. Pepper, Piper at the Gates of Dawn, Hendrix, Cream, and generally all things truly amazing (…man), “Disappear” is exactly what it did.

He would have another bash at it,..

…early the following year of 1968, with the song “What Can I Do”…

…but the public’s response…

…was still the collective reply of ‘not much right now, thanks very much’.

The problem that was eating Gilbert, was that his look, and musical style, were just too different for his surroundings at that time. Even with ‘Peace and Love’ now eroding away drastically while a significant portion of the biggest, and most relevant names in the music business were processing their spiritual trips (quite literally) to and from Rishikesh in India.

Unperturbed, he tried once more the following year, after a change in record label, hoping to strike third time lucky with “Mr.Moody’s Garden”.

However, the buds weren’t blooming in his beds just yet.

It would take one more further attempt,..

…at releasing a song, one more change of label, and a change of manager (who didn’t like his image anyway).

Oh, and a seismic shift in the musical landscape, teamed up with a financial recession, which was accompanying the change of decades, from the colourful rose tinted 1960’s, to the dank, dark beginnings of the 1970’s.

With the public now probably feeling in the same destitute frame of mind as Gilbert’s dress sense. Mr. O’Sullivan (looking like he’d just walked up a cold grey Yorkshire cobbled street, with a new loaf of warm bread under his arm, and Dvorak’s “Largo” from his “New World Symphony” hanging in the air), would now finally get noticed. Reaching the Top 10 in time for the decade’s first year of festivities.

He’d follow this success into the spring…

…the following year, with “Underneath The Blanket Go”, while working on his first album in the background.

Heading into the Summer of 1971,..

…there would be one further single to release before I’m almost up to date.

“We Will” hit the shops in July and ended up becoming a Top 20 hit in the U.K., prior to the release of his debut album which, apart from “Nothing Rhymed”, didn’t feature any of his previous singles up to this point.

The current standalone single…

…would be his 4th and final release which tied in with his new album, which had been released at the beginning of autumn 1971.

Again, the A side hadn’t been included on the LP, and although the B side was, it featured a new charming little intro added to it, just in case you’d forgotten which side of your new single you were playing.

The plan to not include his singles on his album worked wonderfully , especially for this song, which will end up earning him the prestigious award for “Best Ballad or Romantic Song” at the 17th Ivor Novello Awards later this year of 1972.

This catchy melody…

…had entered the UK Chart way back on the 21st November 1971, and had quickly climbed to take it’s place at No.5 for two weeks. His highest position for any song, and only his 2nd Top 10 hit in the U.K. up to this date.

The peak at No.5 happened just before, and during the actual rundown, for that year’s Christmas Chart, starting from the 12th December, and taking it all the way up to Christmas Day itself, before the song slowly began edging back down again.

Staying in the Top 10 another couple of weeks, it then fell back into the Top 20 for a further three, before heading out of the chart altogether, after the 4th of March.

With the release of this single,..

…would come the end of an era for the public, who had eventually grown accustomed to the musical and visual world of Gilbert O’Sullivan.

For Ray, it would be the culmination of many years of believing in himself, even when everyone else didn’t seem to.

As ‘Gilbert O’Sullivan’, he not only proved all of them wrong, but also demonstrated to them that he wasn’t just a quaint curiosity, but deep within, was a hugely talented songwriter.

Most importantly, he proved to himself, that with real perseverance, and a gimmick he believed in, of the scruffy lad with his torn off sleeves, shorts, and flat cap, could win the day.

Ok, he had to wait for the right moment, to ride the waves of the zeitgeist, but he was ready and waiting for it when it finally came.

And, for me personally, there is not a way to listen to these early first recordings without that vision of a young man in that get-up, with an upright piano, a coat stand, and an old lamp.

That’s how good he is.

But then, he knew that. He just had to wait for everyone else to catch up.

Gilbert O'Sullivan – No Matter How I Try (Outer Sleeve Front)

Gilbert O'Sullivan – No Matter How I Try (Outer Sleeve Back)

The “A” Side

Gilbert O’Sullivan – No Matter How I Try

The “B” Side

Gilbert O’Sullivan – If I Don’t Get You (Back Again)