Hazel O Connor - Eighth Day

This single was the debut hit from the movie Breaking Glass, which Hazel was staring in. She starred as Kate, a singer songwriter who tries to crack the charts and the film shows the rise and fall of her and her band Breaking Glass, the pitfalls of the recording industry and the people involved. At the end of the film it shows her after being pumped with drugs, perform this amazing early 80's track, just before she runs off and suffers a nervous breakdown.

Released in the Summer of 1980 on A&M records, the single and the video to the single (from the movie) was so modern, so fresh and so amazing and very much reflected the futurism of 1980. The single got to number 5 in the charts and helped the soundtrack album and the movie do really well in the UK. Hazel had another couple of hit singles before becoming more known for being an actress in the mid 80's. When I listen to this track it still sounds so amazingly exciting and reminds me of when I first saw the clip of the song on TV and saving my pocket money up to buy a copy, money well spent!

Aretha Franklin - Until You Come Back To Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do)

This gem of a soul single was released in 1973 and sold over a million copies in the states and got to number 3 on the BIllboard chart but for some reason didn't get a UK release until 1974. The song was co written by Stevie Wonder in 1967 but he never released it himself until 1977. A song of someone waiting for their lover to return back to them, has the unmistakable notes of Aretha over it and it reached number 26 here but has become one of Aretha's most well known tracks.

To be honest, I'm not a huge Aretha Franklin fan, I think she wails and screeches too much for me, but on this track and another one of my Faves, Don't Play That Song, are tracks I still often play.

The Sounds - Painted By Numbers

This track should have been a huge hit here in the UK, but for some reason it was more or less ignored, a real shame. The Sounds are a Swedish group who have been around for over 10 years. The band have done a lot of touring around the world as support act and headliners and grown a steady following. Painted By Numbers comes from the album Dying To Say This To You and I first saw the single being played on MTV and thought it was a great single. Very much sounding New Wave, very much sounding like Blondie and I guess similar looking, certainly for the video with the black and white theme (aka Parallel Lines). The single was released in the UK in 2007 but a few months after I first saw it on MTV, maybe the rotation of the video helped get it released here but I feel was a little too late for them. It never charted and it disappeared without trace. Have a listen to it, it is a great tune that should have been bigger and everyone should have heard! Here's the cover

Feist - 1234

This catchy single was brought to our attention thanks to an advert for Apple Nano. Canadian singer Feist co wrote the song with Sally Seltmann and came from the album The Reminder which were both released in 2007. The single was slowly selling copies and suddenly after the advert was shown, the sales shot through the roof making it an instant hit here in the UK and America. It reached number 8 in September 2007 thanks to the advert, plus a really great video for the single. In the video you see Feist alone in a warehouse start to sing the song then suddenly there's a group of dancers behind her in what is a very cleverly edited video, made to look like it is a one take song and dance routine.

I think this is a really infectious to listen to and you can't help but sing along to the song, although the lyrics I think have more of a darker story to them. Here's the single