While Page and Plant zeppelined to the top, Sabbath brooded, and the high priests of prog kept rising, the charts demanded no less to fill their weekly ” top of the pops » : new ritornellos to hum. the bubble gum of the late 1960s had given way to the bubble rock : hard candy rather than soft candy. We have 79 of them on the three discs of this densely sweet compilation. It ranges from the harmless glam of Slade and the Bay City Rollers (we’re a long way from sulphurous Bowie) to the perfect pop of Marmalade and Gilbert O’Sullivan (a McCartney clone). This is sung as a gospel hymn (United We Standby The Brotherhood of Man) as well as a hedonistic ode (Soly, Soleyby Middle of the Road, success with us under the title Sunsun). What’s more, the neon nostalgia of the 1950s is gaining momentum: yes, the worst is yet to come. In 1974 the disco breaks out.
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