The Hollies - The Air That I Breathe

Going back to being an 8 year old, just really getting into music and listening to the radio and hearing all kinds of music mixing together on the radio. I remember hearing this single from an old band that were having hits before I was born! The Hollies were a band from Manchester who were towards the end of their chart hit career. They had a lot of hit singles here and in America during the 60's as part of the so called ''British invasion'' which happened after the Beatles had hit America.

Graham Nash had left the band to form Crosby, Stills & Nash. The Hollies hits were drying up and they recorded this track written by Albert Hammond & Mike Hazlewood, which was included on Hammonds solo album. The Hollies heard the album decided the track was their kind of track and complete with lush orchestral arrangements, this ballad hit the charts in February 1974 and raced up to number 2 and made the top 10 in America. It would be the last major hit for the band until the mid 80's re- issue of He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother after an advert had used the song and pushed it to number 1!

The song has been covered many times by a number of different artists and has become a standard. In 1992 Radiohead were sued as the chords in their single Creep were very similar to the chords on the Hollies version of The Air That I Breathe so they were sued by the writers of the track and are now listed as co writers on the Radiohead track. Here's the single.

Roxy Music - Angel Eyes

A reformed Roxy Music recorded this classic single in 1979 and originally came off the album Manifesto but in more of a rockier feel to the track. This was the third single to be lifted off the album and to give it more of a chance in the charts, they re-recorded the song with a more disco feel to the song and also released a 12'' version too. This was enough to push the single to number 4. As a result of the single being a hit, copies of the album and CD releases replaced the rockier album track with the single version, I guess to help sell more copies of the album, which itself managed to get to number 7 in 1979.

I always enjoy listening to Roxy Music's singles from mid seventies to their end in the early 80's. They always managed to fill the tracks full of amazing sounding instruments, but in turn you can hear them all and they all sound clear crisp and not muddled at all! Here's the single

Abba - Waterloo

Probably Eurovision's biggest success ever via Sweden. In 1974 Abba took part in the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on the 6th of April in Brighton with a catchy little ditty called Waterloo. Influence by the Glam Rock scene of the UK and dressed in the latest fashions of the time (remember folks this is mid 1970's) they performed the song in English and won the contest with just 24 points. They had previously tried for Eurovision in 1973 with Ring Ring but failed to get chosen by the Swedish broadcasters. So this time they knew what they had to do to win a place, but for them it was a small step in the band's idea of making the big time.

The single got to number 1 in the UK and also the top of the charts in several European countries too. Also it hit the charts in Australia and America too where Eurovision wasn't really that well known. Apparently the band have said that Waterloo is roughly based and influenced by Wizzard's single See My Baby Jive (a hit in 1973) which I never thought about until now, but there is a similar sound. Although they released another couple of singles in the UK they all flopped here until S.O.S was released in 1975 which got into the top 10 and the rest is history. This was the beginning of the Abba story, from this one contest that would shoot them into superstardom and worldwide stars.

Tonight's Eurovision Song Contest is to take place in Sweden, 39 years after Abba's triumph win, the band split up in 1982 and vowed they would never sing together again. There are a lot of rumours that they might appear tonight to sing Waterloo, seeing that the band have opened this year a museum in Sweden celebrating the bands career and that Agnetha Fältskog has just released a new album, have all helped to fuel the rumours. It would be nice to think they might get back together but it is doubtful! Here is the original single, plus a picture disc version of the single that was released here to celebrate the 30th anniversary.

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.

Gloria Gaynor - I Will Survive

The ultimate song, of finding your own strenght from a breakup, this song I guess is the biggest gay anthem I know as everyone can identify with some line of this song. Released in late 1978 at the height of Disco, I Will Survive originally was going to be on the b side of Gloria's latest single Substitute. DJ's in the disco's picked up on the b side and quickly made that the track they played in the clubs.

The record company quickly started pressing the single with Survive on the a side and quickly began to storm up the charts. Released here in January 1979 the single finally got to number 1 and went gold. The simple video to go with the single is the iconic girl on the roller skates with Gloria singing the track in the night club. The single is one of the most well known disco tracks ever, it is always played at parties and one of those songs that is going to be around for ever!