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We Could Have Been the Wombles: The Weird And Wonderful World Of One Hit Wonders
320 pages, Paperback
First published September 26, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 3, 2016
Solid and generally amusing overview of UK chart "one-hit wonders", mainly from the 70s through to the end of the 20th Century, with some outliers. The author's a couple of years younger than me so his frame of reference is similar to mine, which helps.
However, whoever was proofing and fact-checking this book (and I read the "revised"edition) appears to have had the afternoon off when they were going through the second half of the book. This so annoyed me I made a list of what I picked up as wrong on a general read-through and just on my own knowledge of the subject matter. Penguin, if you're reading this, fix the following if you decide on a reprint:
p 163: It's Taja Sevelle, not Taja Seville.
p165: Badfinger's 1975 album was called "Wish You Were Here", not "Wish". And it actually came out in 1974.
p165: Nilsson's "Cuddly Toy" is not only "not the version by Roachford", it's also a different song.
p214: Sydney's Kings' Cross district could never be described as "salubrious". "Insalubrious", definitely.
p238: It's Vernon Dudley Bohay-Nowell, not Vernon Dudley Bohey-Nowell
p248: Not an error as such, but surprised to see no mention of We've Got A Fuzzbox And We're Going To Use It's cover of "Spirit In The Sky" that came out the same year as Doctor And The Medics' version. Album track only I suppose, but a fantastically shambolic rendition of it was given by Fuzzbox on "Whistle Test", IIRC, before the hit version was released.
p.260 (footnote): It's kangaroo, not kangeroo.
p267: Marvin Gaye's album was called "Trouble Man", not "Troubled Man". Soundtrack to the film of the same name.
p274: Herbie Flowers is (correctly) mentioned as the bass player on "Walk On The Wild Side" in the first paragraph, and then in the "Listen Further" recommendation at the bottom of the page "[Kenny] Pickett" is credited with doing "the bass thing". Right first time, wrong second.
p283: Nickolas Ashford (of Ashford & Simpson fame) used to spell his first name with a k, not an h, as is written in the last para of this page.
p 301: It's Geoff Downes, not Geoff Dowse.
p.321: In the acknowledgements the author thanks "Joanna, my wife". As he referred to his "girlfriend" at least twice in the main text I really hope they're one and the same, or else he's got a lot of explaining to do.
However, whoever was proofing and fact-checking this book (and I read the "revised"edition) appears to have had the afternoon off when they were going through the second half of the book. This so annoyed me I made a list of what I picked up as wrong on a general read-through and just on my own knowledge of the subject matter. Penguin, if you're reading this, fix the following if you decide on a reprint:
p 163: It's Taja Sevelle, not Taja Seville.
p165: Badfinger's 1975 album was called "Wish You Were Here", not "Wish". And it actually came out in 1974.
p165: Nilsson's "Cuddly Toy" is not only "not the version by Roachford", it's also a different song.
p214: Sydney's Kings' Cross district could never be described as "salubrious". "Insalubrious", definitely.
p238: It's Vernon Dudley Bohay-Nowell, not Vernon Dudley Bohey-Nowell
p248: Not an error as such, but surprised to see no mention of We've Got A Fuzzbox And We're Going To Use It's cover of "Spirit In The Sky" that came out the same year as Doctor And The Medics' version. Album track only I suppose, but a fantastically shambolic rendition of it was given by Fuzzbox on "Whistle Test", IIRC, before the hit version was released.
p.260 (footnote): It's kangaroo, not kangeroo.
p267: Marvin Gaye's album was called "Trouble Man", not "Troubled Man". Soundtrack to the film of the same name.
p274: Herbie Flowers is (correctly) mentioned as the bass player on "Walk On The Wild Side" in the first paragraph, and then in the "Listen Further" recommendation at the bottom of the page "[Kenny] Pickett" is credited with doing "the bass thing". Right first time, wrong second.
p283: Nickolas Ashford (of Ashford & Simpson fame) used to spell his first name with a k, not an h, as is written in the last para of this page.
p 301: It's Geoff Downes, not Geoff Dowse.
p.321: In the acknowledgements the author thanks "Joanna, my wife". As he referred to his "girlfriend" at least twice in the main text I really hope they're one and the same, or else he's got a lot of explaining to do.
May 15, 2018
an easy read of a book.interesting facts and figures.missed my one hit wonder out,benny's theme from crossroads🤣
December 3, 2008
Good fun, though obviously Brit-centric - this Australian was startled to find Men at Work and Midnight Oil classed as one-hit wonders...
July 9, 2015
- from early oddities such as the Singing Nun's "Dominique" and Joe Dulce's "Shaddup You Face", to "Video Killed The Radio Star"
- heavily slanted towards British music, which was fine
- heavily slanted towards British music, which was fine
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews