IN PERFECT HARMONY

by Will Hodgkinson

A Telegraph Book of the YearA Guardian Book of the YearA Shindig Book of the YearA Virgin Radio Book of the Year'A colourful picture of the entire '70s in Great Britain.' - SUZI QUATROIn 1970, pop was in trouble. The Beatles were no more. Pink Floyd devoted themselves to progressive epics. Led Zeppelin dismissed anything beyond their 'musical statements' as childish frippery. Thankfully, help was on its way.This comprehensive chronicle by music historian Will Hodgkinson explores how an unlikely mix of backroom songwriters, revitalised rockers, actors, producers, teen stars and children turned pop into the dominant sound and vision of the 1970s.While bands such as the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac were ruling the albums chart, the singles chart was swinging along to the tune of million-selling blockbusters by the likes of Brotherhood of Man, the Sweet and the Wombles. These were the songs you heard on Radio 1, during Saturday-night TV, at youth clubs, down the pub and even emanating from your parents' record player...It was never cool, but it was the real soundtrack of the decade.Against a rainy, smog-filled backdrop of three-day weeks, national strikes, IRA bombings and the Winter of Discontent, this unrelenting stream of novelty songs, sentimental ballads, glam-rock stomps and blatant rip-offs offered escape, uplift, romance and the promise of eternal childhood - all released with one goal in a smash hit.In Perfect Harmony takes the reader on a journey through the most colour-saturated era in music, examining the core themes and camp spectacle of '70s singalong pop, as well as its reverberations through British culture since. This is the pioneering social history of a musical revolution.

Genres: Music, History

Hardcover

Published January 1, 2022

About the author

Hodgkinson is a journalist and author from London. He has written for The Guardian,The Independent and Vogue.Hodgkinson presents the Sky Arts TV show Songbook, in which he interviews contemporary songwriters.

Written in 2014, The House Is Full Of Yogis is his memoir.

Abridged from Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Colin · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Perfect Harmony (a title taken from one of the most famous and all-pervading manufactured pop songs of all time), is a not entirely harmonious account of Seventies pop - not Rock (with a capital R), mind you, but the songs that sold singles by the ton and were seemingly everywhere until they were replaced by the next big thing. ‘Singalong pop’ in the words of Will Hodgkinson’s apt subtitle. It’s an admirable undertaking and its 500+ pages are full of fascinating stories and larger than life characters, which make it a page-turning joy to read, particularly for someone like me for whom much of the music described in the book was the soundtrack of my childhood. But it has its faults: the author’s attempts to tie the story of the music into the social history of that drab and disappointing decade don’t really work and I would have liked to know much more about the experience of fandom; but the strangest thing about the book is how predominantly white it is. While some black artists and groups make an appearance (Hot Chocolate, The Equals, Boney M), there’s no room for the countless American groups who always seemed to be on Top of the Pops in the Seventies: no Stylistics, no O’Jays, no Barry White, not even the Jackson Five, and from the UK , no The Real Thing or Billy Ocean. For artists who were such a fundamental part of the Seventies pop scene, it seems like a strange omission.

[Graham Power · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book about 1970s pop music which avoids the usual suspects, the cool and the credible, in favour of the critically maligned and terminally unfashionable; not so much a walk on the wild side as a stroll down the middle of the road. Under the banner headline of ‘singalong pop’ Hodgkinson explores a wide variety of artists who sold millions of singles without ever being even vaguely trendy: teen pop, kiddie pop and mum’s and dad’s favourites. Other pop music historians before him have seen the value in Slade, Sweet or Suzi Quatro, but he might be the first to regard You Won’t Find Another Fool Like Me by the New Seekers as a reason for turning the radio up rather than off, and the only one who has ever examined the success of Sylvia Vrethammar’s infuriatingly catchy 1974 rendition of Y Viva Espana in the context of Britain’s evolving cultural and political relationship with Europe.

The prime movers in this version of ‘70s pop were professional songwriters, producers and session musicians with groups playing a subsidiary role. Indeed, the groups were often non-existent. Songwriters and producers like Tony Macaulay, Jonathan King and John Carter churned out countless hits by a plethora of bands none of whom existed as anything more than a name on a record label. The session singer Tony Burrows appeared four times on one edition of Top of the Pops in 1970 ‘jumping from one made-up band to another’. Sometimes the groups weren’t even human but puppets or cartoon characters.

In Perfect Harmony journeys through a weird musical universe spawned from Children’s TV, cabaret clubs, advertising jingles and Saturday night variety shows. The band names and song titles roll by unceasingly: Chicory Tip, Lieutenant Pigeon, Edison Lighthouse, Pickettywitch, Brotherhood of Man, Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep and Leap Up and Down (Wave Your Knickers in the Air).

This melodic and carefree music provided escapism in a Britain of lengthening dole queues and spiralling inflation, industrial conflict, blackouts and terrorist bombs. But, as Hodgkinson observes, it also reflected the times and was capable of social commentary. Melting Pot by Blue Mink was a clumsy yet well-intentioned attack on racism (in the ironic light of posterity some of the lyrics now seem a tad racist themselves) released shortly after the notorious Rivers of Blood speech by right-wing demagogue Enoch Powell, while I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony) offered a utopian vision of universal togetherness, albeit one that involved the consumption of sugary drinks.

This is a large but consistently entertaining book which offers a fresh take on a familiar stretch of pop history. Hodgkinson has a gift for capturing the essential strangeness and inventiveness inherent in so many ostensibly disposable records. He demonstrates a welcome lack of musical snobbery and achieves the not inconsiderable feat of arguing the social significance of the Wombles and the St Winifred’s School Choir without ever sounding remotely pretentious or, indeed, unhinged.

[Martin Brabazon · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable history of pop (definitely not rock) music in Britain in the 1970s, a period bookended by two songs about grandparents that reflect the changes during the decade.

Told against the background of the political and societal upheavals of the time with as much emphasis on the listeners as on the musicians and their producers and managers. The book also takes in other elements of pop culture from the time - magazines, TV, films - many of which were vehicles for pop music and/or pop stars at the time. Hodgkinson's extensive research has enabled him to gain first-hand accounts of the time from many key people.

Full of interesting (first-hand) accounts, snippets of trivia, and new bits of information (I never knew about Pete Waterman's role in the start of the Two Tone movement!). More than just a rose-tinted nostalgia fest, Hodgkinson skilfully navigates the appearance of the likes of the vile Jimmy Saville, Gary Glitter, Jonathan King, Tam Paxton to create a true picture of the period with all it's glam and grime.

A great read, so much so that I'll even forgive the continual misspelling of the band Smokey [sic].

[Ipswichblade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book about Pop music in the seventies and how it interwove with the events of the decade.

[Charles James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Glorious romp through 1970's pop . It covers the many Glam Rock and downright shmaltzy hits of the 70's . Good career summaries of the likes of Slade, Sweet, Dollar and many others .Anyone alive at the time will remember these songs . Gives a good insight into the talents of those involved and how thin the divided lines was between those musicians who achieved credibility and those that didn't .Well worth a read . Recomended .

[Roo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fast moving journey through the music of the 70's. Lots of social history and interesting stories. A huge book... which I ploughed through slowly.. but if you lived through this decade you will love it as it reignites memories

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who grew up listening to 2UW in the 1970s, British pop music was omnispresent. The Sweet, Edison Lighthouse, Middle of the Road, Tony Christie, Tina Charles and a horde of other acts were always on the radio, guesting on ABC TV's 'Countdown' or being lauded by my school mates. I have a rather fuzzy memory of miming along to Suzi Quatro's 'Devil Gate Drive' circa 1974 during some kind of classroom activity, and a few years after this saw her appear as Leather Tuscadero on 'Happy Days'. When it comes to power pop, disco, glam and all manner of other sub-genres it was a golden time in my childhood and for the wider pop culture life of anyone else who was growing up with 'Fox on the Run' and Noosha Fox on high rotation.

So, it goes without saying I was eager to read In Perfect Harmony: Singalong Pop in ’70s Britain by Will Hodgkinson. Thankfully the author and his book delivered as hoped, and in some ways actually did more than I expected. This is a bobby dazzler of a tome!

The most engaging, most enjoyable aspect of this book is that Hodgkinson is able to evoke the paradoxes of the numerous musical acts and their work, whilst contextualising the wider pop music movements within the framework of a society that was becoming increasingly fragmented, depressed and even dysfuntional. Whilst kids, teens and young adults were bopping along to anything from 'Puppy Love' by Donny Osmond, 'I Love To Love (But My Baby Just Wants to Dance)', 'Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep' or 'Children of the Revolution' the UK was devolving into a place that eventually sought salvation in arch-Conservative Margaret Thatcher. Melodic pop performed by manufactured and faceless acts might be considered anathema to serious music critics, but Hodgkinson understands and documents not only how valid the songs were of this period, but also how they fitted into the British national identity and culture at the time. With garbage rotting on the streets, with inflation running rampant, with a revolving door at Number 10 between Ted Heath and Harold Wilson, with the troubles in Northern Ireland hitting home and in many cases leading to death in pubs and clubs, it was no surprise (for example) that Slade or David Essex had such an impact, and are so representative of the era. Britain might have had questions raised over its 'Great' status in the 1970s, but jeez there were some fantastic pop songs and acts coming out while things went downhill.

Hodgkinson offers the reader a long, deep and at times eclectic narrative as he navigates through the multitude of songs and acts that became notorious for their melodic pop in 1970s Britain, and in the process he turns up some real nuggets of popular culture. Early in In Perfect Harmony: Singalong Pop in ’70s Britain he examines the counterpoint success of Marc Bolan and Clive Dunn in 1971, and in the process reveals that the latter (a star of the sitcom 'Dad's Army') flirted with fascism in the 1930s before becoming post-war a part of the whole British mythos of resistance to Nazism during WW2. In his discussion of the career of the New Seekers Hodgkinson cites member Marty Kristian thus: "It ('I'd Like to Teach The World') was Richard Nixon's favourite song...Apparently he liked to listen to it when he was bombing Cambodia.". Again and again Hodgkinson positions the music of 1970s Britain as a reflection of and response to wider events and issues, and in the process draws out some fascinating histories and pearls of trivial knowledge.

One speciifc section in In Perfect Harmony: Singalong Pop in ’70s Britain where I was rather impressed with Hodgkinson's work was his exploration of what must be one of the most bizarre yet fascinating conjunctions of music and film to emerge out of the last 80 years, i.e. 'All This and World War Two'. A movie that relies on the incongruity of matching newsreel footage from WW2 battles and excerpts from films of the era with covers of Beatles songs performed by the likes of Leo Sayer, David Essex etc, it is one of the most egregious misadventures ever to hit cinema screens. Hodgkinson documents its making and reception with appropriate dismay, and allows Sayer a chance to speak to what his role was in its making. There is a subtle hint of grandeur going utterly awry in what the movie did , which is perhaps a reflection of the broader social and political issues of the time. However, the music can and does stand out as something worthy and appreciated, even if it comes from a somewhat derivative place.

Hodgkinson is remarkably successful in drawing together so many broad strands of British popular history under the flag of pop music in the 1970s, and in the process he evokes a sincere nostalgia for those who will recall the period. If there is one reason why I would recommend In Perfect Harmony: Singalong Pop in ’70s Britain to anyone it is as one reads the book you will be transported back in time through his writing plus encouraged to listen to the music as your soundtrack. He is unafraid of speaking to some of the more problematic aspects of the time, such as the (then hidden) sex crimes of the likes of Jimmy Saville and Gary Glitter, or the manner in which acts were manipulated, exploited and even destroyed by managers or other shady business people. So this isn't a story where it's all sunshine and lollipops; drugs, sex, booze, overnight success, long term failure etc all feature. The glam rockers, the disco queens, the Eurovision acts, the teenage heart throbs, the proto-punks and novelty acts are both a motley mob and remarkably heterogeneous. The author shows them all as both a symptom and a reflection of the broader world they performed in. And at the end one comes away from Hodgkinson's book feeling like songs such as 'Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes' were far more meaningful and far more important than perhaps more orthodox history and criticism would suggest.

The bottom line is, if you want to understand what was going on when we were listening to Brotherhood of Man in 1973, and why the pop music of the time lives on, you have to read In Perfect Harmony: Singalong Pop in ’70s Britain .

[Nigeyb · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew I was going to love In Perfect Harmony: Singalong Pop in ’70s Britain (2022) by Will Hodgkinson. I grew up in the 1970s. I turned eight in 1970 by which time I was already music obsessed. This meant being glued to wunnerful Radio One and never missing an episode of Top Of The Pops. Will Hodgkinson’s focus is the mainstream, the charts, the bubblegum hits of the era. From Clive Dunn’s Grandad in 1970 to the St Winifred’s School Choir’s There’s No One Quite Like Grandma in 1980. Obviously both those songs are rubbish, but how about Mouldy Old Dough, Sugar Me, Teenage Rampage, I Love To Love, Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes), and Merry Xmas Everybody?

If you love reading about music and you were around at the time then you will adore this book. An amazing exploration of the era and full of fascinating information, much of which was new to me.

5/5



A Telegraph Book of the Year
A Guardian Book of the Year
A Shindig Book of the Year
A Virgin Radio Book of the Year

'A colourful picture of the entire '70s in Great Britain.' - SUZI QUATRO

In 1970, pop was in trouble. The Beatles were no more. Pink Floyd devoted themselves to progressive epics. Led Zeppelin dismissed anything beyond their 'musical statements' as childish frippery. Thankfully, help was on its way.

This comprehensive chronicle by music historian Will Hodgkinson explores how an unlikely mix of backroom songwriters, revitalised rockers, actors, producers, teen stars and children turned pop into the dominant sound and vision of the 1970s.

While bands such as the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac were ruling the albums chart, the singles chart was swinging along to the tune of million-selling blockbusters by the likes of Brotherhood of Man, the Sweet and the Wombles. These were the songs you heard on Radio 1, during Saturday-night TV, at youth clubs, down the pub and even emanating from your parents' record player...

It was never cool, but it was the real soundtrack of the decade.

Against a rainy, smog-filled backdrop of three-day weeks, national strikes, IRA bombings and the Winter of Discontent, this unrelenting stream of novelty songs, sentimental ballads, glam-rock stomps and blatant rip-offs offered escape, uplift, romance and the promise of eternal childhood - all released with one goal in a smash hit.

In Perfect Harmony takes the reader on a journey through the most colour-saturated era in music, examining the core themes and camp spectacle of '70s singalong pop, as well as its reverberations through British culture since. This is the pioneering social history of a musical revolution.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this. I've always found worthy rock critic books a little innaccessible. This takes pop music seriously and treats the stuff we fall in love to and do stupid dances to as important - just as it was for me when I was growing up, but it sets bubblegum pop against the intense 1970s.
Of course there are chilling echoes of today in the national strife, with its social history of a complicated decade, but at least we don't have Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep to deal with.
The opening chapter following Marc Bolan as he gives up credibility for teenybopper superstardom sets the tone - sometimes short, perfectly written pop songs say more about who we are than a five volume sociological history. Hopefully there's a spotify playlist to go along with it... although, then again, I'm not sure I quite believe Grandad by Clive Dunn has as much in common with Pink Floyd as the author does. Joyous and analytical, which almost never go together as successfully as the author has managed.

[Wvschaik · Rating 5 out of 5]

'The past is a different country', and, for me, the recent past (the 1970s) of the UK is almost like a different planet. But what a triumph this book is: it explains the monumental socio-economic developments in the UK (mostly England though) through the evolution of throw-away, and now almost forgotten, pop music from 1970 to 1979. A highly readable, often very funny, sometimes disturbing, trip to a very different country indeed.

[Robert Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent read covering the musical spectrum of the 1970’s from MOR music at the start of the 70’s through Glam Rock, Disco and ending in Punk Rock. The different musical era’s were interlocked with the political unrest during that period.
I learnt a lot about the different artists during that period and would highly recommend this book

[Jonny Brick · Rating 4 out of 5]

A smart idea for a book: social history of all ages (teen, tween, twentysomething, old folk) told through Top of the Pops. Very good on so-called session musician pop, and the importance of TV and its three channels as a medium. Objective too, as the author keeps himself out of it (he was under 10 at the time).

[Dan Kert · Rating 1 out of 5]

very hard to read, filled with uninteresting stories of a gazillion uninteresting people... even the historic bit about life in Britain in 1970s is somehow excruciatingly boring... oh man...

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a delight; a marvellous illumination on the most fascinating decade.

[Ann Baxter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect for anyone interested in 1970s music & some good social history too - highly recommend this

[Paul White · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some wild facts about the 70s. Certainly brought back many memories.

[Robbie Carnegie · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable evocation of a lost era of music, full of interesting anecdotes. It would get 4 stars were it not for the frequent typos and mis-namings that marr its authority.

[DAVE STAINER · Rating 4 out of 5]

A comprehensive reference guide to the World of manufactured pop of the seventies

[Tolkien InMySleep · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative and entertaining romp through the lighter side of the 1970's UK pop charts, featuring a lot of musicians normally considered too lowbrow to merit serious consideration