It pleases me greatly that there isn't only one band who chose to call themselves The Only Ones. Just as there are many songs that do similar. I guess we all want to feel special, unique, like we're the only one... even if we're not.
THE ONLY ONES #1
"You know I'm just an average, ordinary guy..." sings Michigan's Larry Calder at the beginning of this 1966 song. Calling his band The Only Ones seems rather contrary to that.
THE ONLY ONES #2
One year later, Jim and John Axberg thought they were the Only Ones. Well, they were the Only Ones from Longview Texas... with their old-fashioned, sexist attitudes, damn them!
THE ONLY ONES #3
Peter Perrett, Alan Mair, John Perry and Mike Kellie are The Only Ones most of you will know, with one huge hit and three well-respected albums to their name, released between 1978 and 1980. Except... that huge hit never actually made the charts, reaching only #44... in New Zealand. So how is it we all know it so well?
The band reformed in 2007, following a resurgence of interest, and they're still gigging today... sadly without drummer Mike Kellie, who died in 2017.
Here's that huge hit that wasn't a hit...
I found two other bands called The Only Ones - the first from Minneapolis in 1965, the second from Australia in 1983. Their music can't be found online though, so we're limited to the only three above. But which is The Only One for you?
Some time ago (back in March 2018) I started a new series on the blog called Anyone Can't Play Guitar, which was supposed to be an ongoing tribute to my favourite guitar solos. There was only ever one post. I may argue because it couldn't be beaten... although I did intend to follow it with a post about Richard Thompson, the best guitarist I ever saw play live.
The baton may be very dusty, but Rigid Digit just picked it up and ran with it...
RIGID DIGIT’S TOP 10 GUITAR SOLOS THAT DON’T SEEM TO MAKE
THE USUAL BEST OF ALL-TIME LISTS:
Not those 9,473 notes a minute shredding solos so beloved of
poodle-haired rockers who believe Eddie Van Halen is God.
These are (in my mind) perfectly captured moments of musical
brilliance using 6 steel strings and a plank of wood.
And these – brilliant though they are – rarely get the
plaudits they deserve.
This song, like many other Walker Brothers tracks is
dominated by Scott Walker’s moody baritone.
The arrangement and that vocal would usually be enough, but then the solo
arrives and takes the track to another level.
The internet, not always the most reliable of places, cites many options for
the provider of this solo, including Big Jim Sullivan, Jeff Skunk Baxter (later
of Steely Dan), and John Walker- who
was actually a Walker Brother, but what are the chance of a member of a 60s
band actually playing on their own song?
Popular opinion suggests the widdling was by Alan Parker -late of Blue Mink,
and whose guitar work was heard once a week for nigh on 10 years as a member of
CCS who did the “Whole Lotta Love” version that introduced Top Of The Pops
Mick Taylor joined The Stones in 1969 replacing Brian Jones,
and within a month had provided overdubs and guitars for ‘Let It Bleed’ and was
sitting at Number One with “Honky Tonk Women”.
Taylor’s musical chops were never in doubt – he was a member of the Blues
Guitarists' finishing school (John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers) at 16, and is a key
player on the Stones ‘Sticky Fingers’ album.
“Sway” from that album ranks as a high point, but the solo on the album version
of “Dead Flowers”, great though it is, falls just short.Not when played Live however (as seen here) –
Mick Taylor is effectively soloing all the way through the song.It’s cool, laid-back, laconic even, but fills
every gap required to be filled.
With Brian Jones, they were the second greatest pop singles band in the
UK.With Mick Taylor, they were
(probably) the greatest Live Rock n Roll Band standing on a stage.
Hereford may not be the Rock n Roll Capital of the World,
but it did provide half of Mott The Hoople, and three quarters of The
Pretenders.And it was one of those
Pretenders with a blond mane and a Mott The Hoople and Cream fixation that came
up with (on the spot in the studio) this sublime solo which elevates the song
to one of the finest in The Pretenders catalogue.
James Honeyman-Scott died in mid 1982 leaving a legacy of two very good albums
with The Pretenders, containing his intricate guitar work.We will never know if “Kid” was a one-off, or
would there have been more to come?
How many notes does a guitar solo actually need?More than two is surely just an extravagance.
Pete Shelly obviously thought so, providing a bare-bones “cheeky two note
solo”.Any more than that would surely
just inspire boredom in the listener.
Lifted from their first EP, which is held as the first independent single, and
the last Buzzcocks outing before Howard Devoto parted for the more progressive
sounding Magazine (almost denouncing Punk, and inventing Post Punk before Punk
had even got going).Post-Devoto,
Buzzcocks went on to release a string of the finest singles of 1978/79.
Although this may be unfair to Dan members in the early
days, the band was basically Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, plus a supporting
cast.The parent album (‘Can’t Buy A
Thrill’) did feature guitarists Jeff "Skunk" Baxter and Denny Dias as
full time members, but the guitar work on this was supplied by session
guitarist Elliot Randall – a man who has been offered many full time band
positions (The Blues Brothers and Toto to name two) but turned them down to
remain a gun for hire.And with this on
your CV, the work may not be thin on the ground.
(I refer the honourable gentleman back to a previous post on this very blog. - Rol.)
When this track is played on the radio, it always seems to
cut before the solo starts – a real shame that.The solo is an integral part of the song and provides the perfect coda.
Not, as often believed, played by Dave Gilmour (although Gilmour was a key
figure in Kate Bush’s signing to EMI), but supplied by a session guitarist (and
Kate’s now full time band member) who’d previously appeared on Bay City Rollers
records, and would later play with Bucks Fizz.
A sublime solo providing counterpoint to Peter Perret’s
weathered and withered vocals.
John Perry delivers another solo almost the equal on “The Beast” (from the same
debut album), but in the context of this song it lifts it to another level.
They may only be truly known for this one song, but it’s not a bad legacy, is it?
Who said Punk and New Wave should have no guitar solos or standout
musicianship?
Guitar solos usually pop up about 2/3 through the song –
either just after the middle eight, or just after the second chorus.
Not this one – Glen just can’t wait to get it out – one verse and chorus, and
let it out.Oddly placed perhaps (55
seconds in), but lets the song grow and tell the story whilst you’re still
marvelling at the musical dexterity.No
screaming notes, fretboard divebombs, just pure understated brilliance.
See also “Some Fantastic Place” for another example of Tilbrook’s fretboard
dexterity
Think of “Baker Street” and the stand-out memory has to be
the saxophone (not played by Bob Holness, but a great urban myth
nonetheless).But vying for attention is
the minimal, almost-skeletal, understated, yet oh so powerful guitar solo.It’s played so cleanly it could almost be a
squealing Hank Marvin meets Mark Knopfler affair.It is also (apparently) a big influence on
Slash and the basis of the solo in ”Sweet Child O’ Mine”, and once you know
that you can, sort of, hear it.
1. Goodbye To Love – Carpenters (Tony Peluso)
I’m not a fan of the MOR stylings of this lot, and I’m not
going to call this a Guilty Pleasure, but that fuzzed-up Guitar solo is a mighty
fine thing.
He plays it straight first time round (still fuzzed, but basically the melody
line), and then later gives it a bit of welly.
Tony Peluso may not have done anything as notable before or since, but surely
he could dine out on this one solo forever.
And (snobbily?) if it wasn’t for the fact it was for The
Carpenters, this solo would sit alongside the work of Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton,
and (the sainted?) Eddie Van Halen in the list of All-Time Great Widdly Bits.
I've got to hand it to you, RD, that was one fine collection of tunes. Particularly that live version of Dead Flowers. Excellent stuff. I wonder if anyone can beat that...?
There was another One D... band I could have chosen to illustrate the final edition in the Hot 100 Countdown... fortunately, Swiss Adam saved me from having to go there when he suggested One Dove.
I've been dreading this week since I started this countdown, way way back in January 2018. (Yes, I've been at this for more than two years.)
Partly because I knew there would be thousands of potential ONE songs.
Partly because I knew it'd be impossible to find them amidst all the BlutONES and UndertONES songs, and all the songs about bones and phones; everyone, anyone and no one; money and baloney.
I didn't dread it because I wondered what the winner would be though. I've known that since January 2018.
Before you dismiss it completely, let's not forget that it was written by Nik Kershaw, and came from a movie in which Roger Daltrey played Chezzer's dad.
And, while we're on the subject of Ones & Only... and Only Ones, for that matter... I may as well re-direct you back to this, from way back in 2013...
George will be disappointed to see that Huey Lewis only got to #2 in that countdown. And he was beaten by The Charlatans, for Pete's sake... what was I thinking?
I think it's fair to say I haven't heard that since 1982. However, I was 10 in 1982, and I seem to recall being quite a fan. If you'd asked me, I'd have said this actually won Eurovision that year, but it didn't. It was beaten by Nicole. Still, neither of them were in the same league as the 1981 winners. Witness my nascent sexual awakening at 1 minute 32 seconds on that video.
You may have noticed I'm holding off on the lists this week, folks. There's a reason for that. Over to C...
Blimey Rol, incredible stuff. This must be like a full-time job - perhaps you should charge us for your services to blogging? I'm not even going to add anything, happy just to see what comes up.
The truth is, C, last week nearly broke me. And the prospect of copying and pasting all the one suggestions... and then finding links for the bloody things... I just couldn't take it!
And then Lynchie said this...
Rol - I think you should turn this series into a book.
I would ask who'd read it... but I guess you guys have answered that question over the past two and a half years. For which, I will be eternally grateful... but not so grateful that I could face the colossal workload of this final post.
And then, after whittling his shortlist down to 600, The Swede came to my rescue...
Here's what's left from my hard-drives. Sorry there are so many - for gawd's sake don't post them all!
Do you know what, Swede? That's the best advice I've been given in all my blogging career.
What I'm going to do instead is choose ONE song from each contributor... beyond the ones suggested above.
If anybody cares to see the full list of suggestions, you can do so here.
(Part of me thinks I should have instituted a filtration policy such as this weeks ago.)
Finally, as seems only fitting, here's my Number One contributor... at least in terms of the number of suggestions he's submitted during the lifetime of this series... The Swede.
Just pitching the one this week, mostly because it must surely be the winner...
How right you are, Martin.
(Special mention to Lynchie who guessed the original version, a worthy runner-up.)
As I said at the start, I knew this song would be the winner of the final week of my Hot 100 even before I published the first post. It is, quite simply, perfect...
Which brings us to the end of this feature.
I sometimes wondered if I'd ever reach the end, but I'm glad I did. Chalk it up as another of life's little accomplishments... and thank you all again for playing along. It wouldn't have been half as much fun... and I definitely wouldn't have made it this far... without your contributions.
Final word goes to The Swede...
A thought occurred whilst mulling... I trust you'll be doing a final entry the week after next for zeroes?
Now I don't like to be one to disappoint, Swede, but I just can't face that right now. (Neither can I face "Half Songs" or "Quarter Songs" or anything else, for that matter. If I never see another number again, it'll be too soon.)
However - that's not to say I won't welcome your contributions. If anyone wants to compile a Top Ten Zero Songs and submit it for Guest Post Thursday, I will be happy to let you have the space.
I have got an idea for a feature to replace this one, and I'll be kicking that off in a couple of weeks' time. I've been itching to get to it for at least a year now... and it will require your suggestions (though I'm hoping it won't lead to quite so many as the last few weeks of the Hot 100 has). I hope you'll join me and play along...
C cracked the cryptic clue, then claimed to have blanked any memory of Pseudo Echo's "hit" from her mind. Brian came to the rescue, saying, "We are laughing our asses off listening right now. Worse than I even remember." Now remember, Brian, every record featured in Saturday Snapshots comes from my own personal collection. I'd never feature an artist here that I don't own at least one song by. So watch what you...
No, you're right. It's pretty awful.
7. A Rutger Hauer film makes Mica hot.
No, this is not The Hitcher. Or Blade Runner. It's Ladyhawke.
At the end of The Empire Strikes Back, the ghost of Yoda tells the ghost of Obi Wan, "that boy was our only hope." Ben replies, "no, there is another..." His sister...
The Scottish singer-songwriter whose first name I stole for one of my characters in Department of the Peculiar. (Not bought your copy yet? Get it here.)
And when a genocidal maniac talks about grief
And you kinda get the feeling that there’s nothing underneath
But you can’t believe a man would lie through such nice teeth
There's only one way
14 minutes long... and not a second wasted.A masterclass in songwriting... all about writing songs.
Strum your guitar -- sing it kid Just write about your feelings -- not the things you never did Inexperience -- it once had cursed me But your youth is no handicap -- it's what makes you thirsty
OK, that rule I have about not including band names in my Top Tens? Breakable if the song's as good as this one. Space travel's in my blood...
2.Huey Lewis & The News - The Only One
A belter from Huey's second album, Picture This. The story of a high school hero whose later life leads to tragedy. You know, the sort of kid you think: he's got it made... and then, years later, you find out how much he blew it. I'd forgotten how much I loved this song when I was a teenager. Perhaps I was maliciously wishing a similar fate on some of the "popular" kids I knew in high school...
1. The Charlatans - The Only One I Know
The Charlies' biggest hit has a fantastic funky intro, and a Hammond organ that could only have come from the early 90s.
I chose ten... but you can have only one. Obviously.
