Philip Lynott - Yellow Pearl

Here is a great track from the late great Thin Lizzy leader. Back in 1980 Phil released a solo album, Solo In Soho and had a couple of reasonable hits for him. When Midge Ure was a temporary replacement for Gary Moore during Thin Lizzy's tour, between rehearsals and sound checks for the shows, Midge would often try to write the basic Yellow Pearl tune on the keyboards. When Phil was recording his album, he remembered the tune and asked Midge if they could work on it to make it a proper track. The song isn't about much apart from making a thought about the technology that was beginning to hit the west in the early 80's with a lot of it coming from Japan. Phil made the lyrics up as he sang and they basically are a load of lyrics that rhymed but nothing more that that, no hidden messages. It was released as a single in early 1981 and managed to reach number 56. It's release in clear vinyl managed to push it so far but not enough to reach the top 40.

In 1981 Top Of The Pops which had been a must watch TV show every Thursday night, was caught in the middle of a strike at the BBC which meant many shows were off air for the weeks of the strike. During this time, they had decided that the format of the show need updating to follow the trends of the new 1980's. The show complete with a new title sequence needed a new and exciting theme tune, as it had previously used Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love. The producer of the show had liked Yellow Pearl and asked Phil to write a new theme tune for the show. Phil had asked what would they like and the reply was something like Yellow Pearl, so Phil replied "so why don't you use that?" The instrumental track was remixed by Midge and also featured his Ultravox band mate Chris Cross and Midge's old band drummer Rusty Egan (who were all involved with the New Romantic sound that was current in 1981). The single was remixed and reissued in a new sleeve which stated it was the theme to the show and reached a more respectable number 14 in the UK charts.

I love this track, it is such exciting electronic track and always manages to get on my playlists. I love electronic music anyhow and no doubt many a track since has been influenced by this single! I've included the remix version on my Spotify playlist as it is so much more full of life than the original track, although that is a great song in itself! Check out the Spotify link here http://open.spotify.com/user/1158943663/playlist/5Jn1HAojaqM3cPMko6MN4b

Pet Shop Boys - Go West

This 1993 single was a cover of the Village People hit from 1979. In 1992 Derek Jarman asked the Pet Shop Boys to perform at an aids awareness show he was putting on and they decided they would sing this song. They liked the song and decided to release it as a non album single, but for some reason they decided to postpone the release until the following year and include it on the Very album. The guys added an extra verse to the song which helped add extra meaning to the song, plus an all male Broadway choir made it a huge hit for the duo and a huge anthem on the gay scene too which helped the single reach number 2.

Such a large song needed a larger than life video made with CGI and had shots of Neil and Chris in full uniform walking across Red Square. A singing statue of Liberty, Russian imagery and walking Russian soldiers, gave the viewers plenty to watch in an East West image stuffed video. Here's the CD sleeve

Giorgio - From Here To Eternity

Fresh from the futuristic sound of Donna Summer's I Feel Love, her producer Giorgio Moroder carried on the sounds of the synthesizer and produced this sizeable hit from 1977. It was released in September 1977 and reached number 16 in the UK charts. The single was mixed down from a 6 minute album track to produce this single version which was big in the discos along with Donna's single!

The track isn't really remembered that much, I hardly ever hear of people talking about it but it seems the album it came off (named after the single) seems to have been such an influential album in late 70's electronic music. It was one of the first electronic tracks I had heard (along with I Feel Love, Kraftwerk's Autobahn and Jean Michel Jarre's Oxygene) and it is what really got me into the sounds of synths and electronic music, that is why I still really love this single. Try and listen to it if you can! Here's the scan of the single

Gary Numan - Cars

Cars was released in 1979 as the follow up to Are 'Friends' Electric, which came under the band name of Tubeway Army. Gary Numan had wanted to release 'Friends' under his real name but Beggars Banquet (his label) wanted it under the band name. After the huge success of 'Friends' Gary persuaded the label to let him release under his name, so Cars is the first official Gary Numan single. The song, based about a confrontation in his car and locking all the doors to keep himself in safe, reached number 1 in September 1979, hit the top 10 in America and number 1 in Canada as well as doing well all over the world.

Over the years Cars has been remixed and has managed to get back into the UK top 20 on several occasions in 1987 and 1995, it has been covered by Fear Factory and always manages to get onto 80's electronic compilations (although it was released in 1979). The song also has been sampled in Armand Van Helden single Koochy. Cars is a track that is a classic piece of early electronic music that has influenced a generation of electronic bands and has a good video that still gets airplay today. Here's the single

Visage - Fade To Grey

One of my all time fave singles, a classic electronic single from the early 80's which really brought the New Romantics into the charts. Released in November 1980 just as the Blitz kids where getting a name for themselves as the club to be seen at in London. The New Romantics, all dressed up heavily made up and frilly shirts and incredibly smartly dressed used the club to meet up to dance to the latest electronic sounds coming from Europe and the UK. Rusty Egan ran the club along with Steve Strange and thought it would be good to have a house band who could play the tracks the clubbers wanted to hear.

The single was written by Midge Ure, Chris Payne and Billy Currie. Chris and Billy were part of Gary Numan's backing band and Midge was about to join Ultravox which was Billy's old band! The idea of the song came from Steve after looking over the Berlin wall to see how grey everything looked, Midge gave Steve singing lessons so he could be the voice and the face for the band. The single hit the charts early 1981, became an instant classic and peaked at number 8 in the UK but got to number 1 in Germany. It came off the album Visage which featured another 2 hits, Mind Of A Toy and Visage!

The song was helped by the now classic but simply made (by todays standards) video shot by Godley & Crème. It showed off the use of make up and how image could strongly be used to sell a product too as well as the music. Video was still in it's early stages but proved just how useful they could be. The single had a re-issue in 1993 as part of a greatest hits album but managed to scrape to number 39.

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!

Sparks - The Number One Song In Heaven

Here's the comeback single from the Mael brothers which got them back into the UK charts after several years out of the charts and back home in America. They were influenced by the electronic sounds that Giorgio Moroder was coming up with producing Donna Summer and they wanted to try other areas of music and so they teamed up with Moroder to produce the album Number One In Heaven for Virgin Records.

The single was released in the UK in April 1979 and reached number 14, which was their biggest hit since 1974. To help the single along, it was released in limited edition green vinyl 7'' and red vinyl 12'' which are highly collectable. The band found a new audience but the bands original fans accused them of selling out to the more commercial disco sound that was in the charts, they just wanted to try a different sound.

Here's the single sleeve and the green vinyl single. The first time I heard the single on Top Of The Pops I just had to buy it and if I remember rightly, it cost me the sum of 90p, a bargin in those days!

John Foxx - Underpass

This was the debut single from John Foxx, who originally had been the lead singer with Ultravox. Ultravox were formed from Tiger Lilly in 1976 and signed to Island records where they released 3 albums. They had a good following but no success in the charts, after the third album Systems Of Romance, Foxx left the band to go solo, Midge Ure would later join the band and take them in a different direction.

In 1980 John released this first single, Underpass on his own label through Virgin called Metal Beat. The single only reached number 31 in the UK charts but it summed up the early electronic songs of the early eighties, cold, stark, drama laden but still a classic track. It also came off his first album, Metamatic which reached number 18 in the charts and influenced many of the up and coming electronic bands, Gary Numan was a fan too!

He had several more hits in the early eighties before dissapearing for a few years before making a return to recording in the 1990's and he is still recording and touring today!

Ultravox - Vienna

January 15th 1981, this classic piece of a synth ballad, appeared out of nowhere. It was so different from what was happening in the charts at the time, but fitted in with the New Romantic scene so right. It summed up the time, all drama, over the top production, electronic music, plus the classic video that made the single showed that image and music could go together to make more of a complete package.

The single came off the album of the same name and was the third single off the L.P. Sleepwalk was the first and made a modest entry into the top 30, Passing Strangers was a great track but didn't crack the top 40. I guess it was such a risk to release a track like this at the time, after a flop single, would it get radio play or would anyone bother with it? It was released (like all Ultravox singles) in clear vinyl but it sold on the song, not the gimmick and reached number 2 for 4 weeks. The ground breaking video (slightly inspired by The Thrid Man) was cheaply shot in Covent Garden and in parts, in Austria as the video made you believe it all happened in Austria! I really believe it was this video that started the video revolution here in the UK. Here is the single, plus the clear vinyl scan!

Soft Cell - Torch

A single that is number 2 on my all time favourite list, originally came out in the spring of 1982 and also reached number 2 in the charts. To me, the best version of the track is the 12'' version, the full 10 minutes of amazing lyrics, great tune and even female vocals from their then drug dealer, Cindy Extasty! I read that all Soft Cell's singles, were actually recorded as full 12'' extended versions and the 7'' version would be edited from the finished track which I think is a really good idea of how to record a track. Usually remixes in those days would just have an instrumental bit added in somewhere for effect. Another one of those impulse buys, I never heard the song before but had bought the last single, played this and loved it ever since. It's a shame really that this doesn't get the plays or gets picked for compilation albums, it's always seems to be Tainted Love!

The Human League - Rock N Roll

This was the bands 4th single and a cover of Gary Glitter's Rock N Roll (Part 1). It was released in May 1980 and climbed to number 56 in the UK chart after an appearance on Top Of The Pops. Originally it was released as a double single called Holiday 80 E.P, with the song being a joined up effort with Iggy Pop's Nightclubbing and at that time the band had started to tour to promote the single and the release of the album Travelogue. The single originally was left off the vinyl release of the album, only to be included on the CD version of the album. The 7'' single was just Rock N Roll as the A Side track.

This single brings great memories back as I was really getting into electronic music at that time, 1980 seemed to be the year for synth tracks. Me and my sister saw the guys on TOTP and she bought us tickets to see them at Hull City Hall the same week they were on the show. I played and played this single and it is pretty worn now, they were one of the first bands I saw live and when I saw them live it was awesome, Phil at the front with the guys on keyboards with Adrian's slide show to fit each track. Who would have thought barely a year later and the band would be so successful!

A Little More About Me!

As long as I can remember music and records have always been around me, my Parents are into rock n roll, my Aunt always played the Beatles and the Rolling Stones records. Mother tells the story that I actually learnt to read by reading record labels! But it was my big sister that really got me into music, in the early 70's she was really into Glam rock and had a crush on the Sweet & Marc Bolan. The music then was amazing, exciting and shocking (well to the adults) especially when Bowie hit the scene wearing make up and Elton John dressed, welll like he always did so OTT!

My sister always wrote the top 20 charts out every week and I used to visit her and we'd spend a Sunday listening to the radio or she'd play the previous weeks top 40 she'd recorded onto cassette off the radio. So I did the same, I'd listen to the charts, record the songs I liked and bought singles when I had pocket money. So it was Glam rock I first really got into, Sweet being my faves of that period followed by T Rex, Slade and Queen. After the Punk explosion which I didn't really get into till after event really but I loved a lot of the new wave bands that were coming into the charts, Blondie, The Police & Ian Dury. The end of the seventies came New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (Or NWOBHM as it was refered to in the music papers) which brought bands such as Judas Priest, Iron Maiden & Motorhead, I found heavy metal to be just so full of energy and it was exciting like I found Glam rock to be!

The beginning of the eighties was Electronic music, the sound of the synths and the alien sounds that came with the tracks at that time. Gary Numan, Human League and Kraftwerk were big names connected with the music. Which led to the New Romantics who were around from 80-83 with electronic sounds and stylish clothes to match the music who brought us Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran, Soft Cell and ABC.

To me after around 1985 I think music started to go downhill, there wasn't anything exciting for me, it seemed to turn into safe pop music or Club hits or even R&B and Rap (which I hate, I've tried to listen Rap & R&B but apart from the odd track it's just not my scene man)! Then towards the late 90's came dance music and Trance which I really love listening to which brings back all the electronic music I'd always liked and pulsating beats of trance music brings me up to date!

Here is a photo of a very small part of my 7'' vinyl collection, I'm still sorting it all out, it takes time but I'll get it done then it will be the start of the albums!