Weer 's een Top 50 uit 1974. 't Prachtige Love Epidemic van de Trammps is de hekkesluiter. Be my day van de Cats is de hoogste nieuwe binnenkomer op nummer 9.De vrouwen van Barrabas en James Brown zijn nogal aan elkaar gehecht. Vorige week stonden ze bij elkaar op 27 en 28, deze week op 35 en 36. Blue Swede staat op 26 met Hooked on a feeling, prachtige uitvoering van dit nummer, dat al eerder door anderen op de plaat was gezet (BJ Thomas, Jonathan King). Op nummer 3 in de Troef 20 staat een van mijn favorieten, met name het begin van het nummer vind ik prachtig klinken. Waterloo van Abba komt op een bescheiden 14-de plaats binnen in de Troef 20. Het zal niet lang duren voordat deze doorstoomt naar de top van de hitlijsten.

Deze Top 50 kun je hier beluisteren:

Uur 1 Uur 2 Uur 3

Onder de TOP 50 kun je de herinneringen van Michael Downing lezen uit de tijd dat deze Top 50 werd uitgezonden.

The RNI memories of Michael Downing for this period

This Top 50 has its fair share of forgotten hits, such as "Windfall" by Rick Nelson, which is only ever heard in old hitparades these days, although it is a good track. Also "Kio" by Maddog, more a Veronica record that a Noordzee one, as were their other hits at the time. "Lorilee" by David Gates is a good track that had been a Treiterschijf, but was not a big hit.

I don't remember the Buitengaats Kanskaart by Peter & Polle, but presumably they were Peter Tetteroo and Polle Edouard from the Tee Set. Also "Hey Diddle Diddle" by Mac and Katie Kissoon is not familiar, although around this time they had a Tipparade entry with "Big hello", so maybe they were the two sides of the same record.

I had stopped my RNI diary in early March 1974, but what I recall from this period is that Hans ten Hooge had left RNI in the second half of March 1974 and that Marc van Amstel had moved on land, although without a regular programme - instead he filled in for the other land based DJs when they were on holiday during the summer. This meant that Gerard Smit, who had been with RNI for about 2 years by now, became a regular presenter of Buitengaats in the evening, alternating with Eric Post, although, strangely, he does not appear in the list of DJs on the back of the Top 50 this week. I don't think Gerard got on with John de Mol, which was a pity, because he was a good DJ.

On the International service, Rob Eden would present his final shows for RNI in April 1974, before moving to Caroline. Rob had been with RNI fairly continuously since September 1971, with a gap of a few months in the autumn of 1972, although he had not been part of the main DJ team since temporarily leaving the station in August 1972. He and Mike Ross were the only DJs who broadcast on RNI in each of the years of its existence, 1970 to 1974.