144. Hello Hello I'm Back Again by Gary Glitter 1973

Despite all that came later ( I don't want to even think about it) in the early 70s Gary Glitter was king of the radio. Terribly naff looking in his silver foil costumes and obviously way over the age of his teenybop audience nevertheless is music had an impact. His version of glam was like a twin drum machine.
I first heard this on my little tranny I used to have attached to my bicycle as I did my chemist rounds. Gary Gliiter's records always sounded brilliant on little speakers. they had crunch! A couple of nights later I saw it on GTK which often featured film clips of pop groups from England. Later I would buy the song on a 4 track EP best of as a present for my girlfriend Lynne Wilson. At the time I thought it was quite special to give some one a record especially since in those days you couldn't record it first. Luckily she was into pop music too.
years later after his career as a pop artist had finished he came to Melbourne to play places like Melbourne Uni and Chasers. Really it was one of the best gigs ever. All the Melbourne musicians were there. Even the coolest ones. Gary's voice wasn't working so the whole crowd sang the songs for him it was amazing. Incredibly communal.
As I referred to before it's a great pity that his escapades of the last few years have tainted all that magic he created back in the 70s.