FIFTY YEARS AGO we were humming along to the hits of 1976. Some have magnificently stood the test of time; others have not. Join us on Memory Lane as we review them on their golden anniversaries.

First oops… we have been slacking with our weekly posts. We’ll soon catch up. Second oops: 1976 was really not the year of the best music of the 1970s.

And so we come to Forever and Ever, by Slik, which ended Abba’s two week stay at number one with Mama Mia (yay!) by taking over the top spot itself (boo) on 10th February 1975. Give it a listen.

If you think this sounds depressingly like the Bay City Rollers, give yourself a point. Its writers, Bill Martin and Phil Coulter, had just stopped writing for the Rollers – who had been offered this song but turned it down. Forever was originally recorded by Kenny, on their 1975 debut album, but it was the Slik recording that we all remember.

Not that we remember Slik for very much. Forever was their only UK number one – indeed, it was their only UK top 20 single. It does have a catchy chorus, and maybe a different producer could have made more of it for a different band. Don’t confuse Slik’s Forever and Ever with the song of the same name put out by Demis Roussos.

Slik played the single on Top of the Pops, where they appeared nervous and ill at ease. They were described as a Scottish glam rock band – an insult to Scotland, glam rock – and bands, for that matter.

The performance was the first TV appearance of one Midge Ure, who took on lead vocals, guitar-clutching and smouldering down the camera. Slik broke up in 1977, and Ure was to join Ultravox in 1979, after lead singer John Foxx left the band to pursue a solo career. Under Ure’s dynamic leadership, Ultravox went on to enjoy ten years of commercial success.

https://youtu.be/TtrVvO40SDg?si=LY_IXtDvrlU5XLW4 

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