THE Scots pop group Middle of the Road warrants but a brief paragraph in Rip It Up, Vic Galloway’s recently-published history of Scottish pop music. The book is tied to an exhibition of the same name being staged at the National Museum of Scotland.
In the book, Galloway notes that the Glasgow quartet won on the TV talent show, Opportunity Knocks, and developed a “Europop” sound that gave them a number of UK hits, including the million-selling 1971 number one, Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep.
At the very end of that busy year, the band’s lead singer, Sally Carr, was photographed in the Star and Garter lounge bar in Maryhill’s Garscube Road. Six months of that song and its follow-ups, Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum, and Soley Soley, not to mention a series of concerts across Europe, and a bout of flu, had taken a toll on Sally’s voice. “I am willing my voice to hold out until the end of the year when we finish our Scottish tour,” she said. “Last week we had to cancel a gig because my throat was so raw.”
Her bandmates were looking forward to a fortnight’s break – and, after that, further business opportunities. Carr’s bandmate Ian McCredie said they planned to make “an all-action attack on the American market, where we have had no real success yet. Our first effort is a sophisticated album with a middle-of-the-road appeal. It has got great arrangements, great tunes, and a great sound.”
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