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.
The Drifters
Love Games
At No.34, on “The Top 50 U.K. Singles Chart”, the week of my 3rd Birthday, is The Drifters with Love Games.
If there was ever…
…a more appropriate name for a group, then The Drifters must be at the top of that pile.
For many unsuspecting listeners, the name will have already evoked memorable hits from their past. However, when looking a bit closer, and at this new single of theirs, not one of these present members would have been there at the recording of any of those golden oldies. In fact, I’ve tried to do a quick tally of the amount of artists that have literally drifted (pun obviously intended) in and out of this group since its inception, and I got to 34 past members who have come and gone, probably the most famous and familiar is one Ben E. King.
If you also look at line-up changes up to this current single, it’s around double the amount, in respect of years, that the group name has existed since 1953.
Even the very first release…
…that they put out back then (under Clyde McPhatter and The Drifters) had two completely different line-ups on each side, with the A-side as the (then) latest, and the B-side having the first ever formation. The only constant at this point was Clyde himself, and even he had left within a couple of years.
So, as formations go, this present line-up is, by my rough estimate, The Drifters mk40. The longest serving member of the current group, namely Butch Leake, having been in this current structure since around 1970, the other three members having joined around the year I came into the world in 1972. The same year that original member Clyde departed it.
Along with this current group…
…is the guy writing and producing the songs in the background, who may be familiar to some, and who has also been mentioned along my own musical road in the past. One Roger Greenaway, who at this point in the group’s life, is one good reason for this mid-seventies wave of new hits.
The single…
…had entered just outside the Top 40 at the beginning of the month, to sit at No.41 on the 2nd of February, and last week broke through that barrier and reached No.34, a position it retains for a second week, this week.
From here…
…it rises one notch to get to No.33, but stalls at this point, making this its peak position.
As it moves into March, it drops back four places, then another eight, before it falls out of the chart after six weeks.
The “A” Side
The “B” Side
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