"Dickens" was a hit for Canadian group
Leigh Ashford
Leigh Ashford was a Canadian rock group formed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and which existed between 1966 and 1974.
History
The group was formed in 1967 by, the guitarist Gord Waszek, drummer Dave Cairns, bassist Joe Agnello and keyboard p ...
in 1971. It was a track from their ''Kinfolk'' album that was released that year.
Background
The single which was composed by Gord Waszek and
Buzz Shearman
''A Tribute to Buzz Shearman'' is a compilation/tribute album by the Canadian rock group Moxy in the band's original incarnation with Buzz Shearman, Earl Johnson, Buddy Caine, Bill Wade and Terry Juric. The album is a tribute to Moxy vocalist Bu ...
was backed with the nonsense song, "Lee Oompa Kum Pah Pah". It was from their 1971 ''Kinfolk'' album which was produced by
Mort Ross
Revolution Records was a Canadian Record company. It was also the parent company for the Revolver label. It had success with hits from artists such as Dianne Brooks and Motherlode.
Background
Incorporated in October 1968, the company was co-fo ...
and released on
RCA LSP 4520,
Revolver
A revolver (also called a wheel gun) is a repeating handgun that has at least one barrel and uses a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold up to six roun ...
LSP-4520.
"Dickens" came 3rd with 5.3 in The Maple Leaf System competition with
Tom Northcott
Tom Northcott (born August 29, 1943 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) is a Canadian folk-rock singer with hits in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Musical career
He became known to a Canadian audience by his regular appearances on CBC Televi ...
coming first with "
I Think It's Going to Rain Today
"I Think It's Going to Rain Today" (or "I Think It's Gonna Rain Today") is a song by American singer-songwriter Randy Newman. It appears on Julius La Rosa's 1966 album ''You're Gonna Hear from Me'', Eric Burdon's 1967 album ''Eric Is Here'', on N ...
" at 6.3, results published in ''Billboard'', January 2, 1971. As reported in the Jan, 23 edition of ''RPM Weekly'', RCA had faith in the single's potential and their promotion team were taking advantage of the current chart action with the intention of bolstering it. The team that was pushing it consisted of Ed Preston, Scott Richards and Johnny Murphy.
It was mentioned in the January 30, 1971 issue of ''Billboard'' that re-mixed and re-edited versions of "Dickens" were being sent to rock music stations.
Chart action
By the 23rd of January, the single was doing well with some chart action across Canada. It was also at #68 on the RPM100 Singles chart.
By February 6th, it was charting at CKOC. It eventually got to #27 in Canada.
References
{{reflist
Revolver Records singles