Candi Staton - Young Hearts Run Free

Released in the hot summer of 1976, Candi Staton scored a huge hit with this song which was from the up and coming disco era of the 70's. Candi, originally was a gospel singer who toured the churches before setting out on a solo career. She teamed up with writer David Crawford and hit number 2 in the UK charts with this song. The lyrics may be of a down trodden subject matter but it was set to an upbeat track to dance to. She had another couple of UK hits before disappearing till the early 80's when she scored with a cover of Suspicious Minds and later again in the 90's with the classic dance track You Got The Love. Today she is still touring and singing on the gospel circuit.

Rolf Harris - Two Little Boys

Ok, I wasn't so sure if I should put this on here without it looking like the blog is turning silly, but to keep it true to me, this is from my childhood and I still think it is a really really good song. I remember my Mother playing this to me when I was a young child, it came out in late 1969 and I will have been 6 years old and the song was the first number 1 of the 1970's. I don't know what happened to our original copy of this single, but mine came off Ebay.

Rolf Harris heard the song when he was in America doing a tour. The song itself is about two brothers who grow up together and end up fighting in the American Civil War, it was wrote in the early 1900's and is a very emotional song, listen to the lyrics, never mind it is Rolf singing. He asked his then TV producer on the BBC to do an arrangement of the song on his show, the reaction to the song was enough for Rolf to record it as a single. To be honest, I really like Rolf Harris but I think over the years a lot of people think he became a bit of laughing stock. Here's the single

Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Rage Hard

This was Frankie's fifth single and was released in the summer of 1986. The band were riding on the wave of Welcome To The Pleasuredome's success and had a lot to prove about who they were and that they were not the puppets of Trevor Horn. The single was a big hit and got to number 4 in the UK and came with the usual amounts of remixes. I remember them on Top Of The Pops performing the single throwing money around on stage and always thought it was such a strong single. It is my favourite FGTH single, I just think it has so much power to it. The album it came off Liverpool was moving more towards a rockier feel rather than the dance of the last album. They never hit the same highs as the previous singles and album which was a shame but it also showed just how the British record buying public came move on to the next big thing, which around this time was the start of Stock, Aitken & Waterman.

Fleetwood Mac - Sara

Written by Stevie Nicks, this gorgeous ballad came from the album Tusk which was released in 1979 and was the follow up to Rumours. The album has the full 6 minute version on, but the single came with a 4.37 minute edit. The song is supposed to be about the relationships and love affairs in the band, but the finished song cut most of this off. Released in January 1980 the single only managed to reach a disappointingly 37 in the UK charts but did better in America where it got to number 7.

When Tusk was released on CD for the first time, they put the 7'' edit on the album but it wasn't until the Greatest Hits came out in 1988 that the full version was first heard on CD. Rumours are there's a 9 minute version of the song! Here's the single.

ABC - Poison Arrow

A classic song for Valentine's Day! A very much loved track from 1982 and released in the middle of the New Romantic period. Produced by Trevor Horn, who loved the idea of a big production, full of orchestra and drama. Written by the band and it came off their platinum selling debut album The Lexicon Of Love and the single reached number 6 in the charts. It was also helped by the 12'' remixes of the song which at this point was at the beginning of the 12'' club remix period for many of the early 80's bands who took advantage of this format to aim at another audience. A classic piece of pop that I don't think has aged at all and has lost none of it's sparkle!

Kraftwerk - The Model

Fitting with the fact that the Germans have landed in London, playing 8 nights at Tate Modern, I thought I'd Choose this single this week. This track originally was recorded and released in 1978, it came from the album The Man Machine but was never released as a single in the UK. Move forward 3 years to the release of the band's Computer World album and the single Computer Love. EMI decided to put The Model on the B Side of the track and the single got to the lower end of the top 40 charts. The DJ's had other ideas and started playing the B Side which made EMI swap the tracks over, so The Model became the A Side. By February 1982 the single reached number 1 and was in the top 75 for 20 weeks.

They never really had the chart success they really deserve, Autobahn was a classic and unusual sounding single back in 1975 and they have become pioneers of electronic music. I Saw them play live in 1992 in Sheffield and really they didn't do a great deal on stage but the presence of the band was enough, they had half a recording studio with them on stage but the music they created was mind blowing! The personnel in the band might have changed in the group with one original member, but we don't really care as the music speaks for itself, who knows they might even get round to releasing another album this year! Here's the single, a classic piece of electronic music that helped the soundtrack of the New Romantic movement too!