Paul Young - Tomb Of Memories - The CBS Years 1982 - 1994

This is my latest purchase. I first read about this release back in June and pre ordered it and it seemed ages away before it was released. All of a sudden Friday 21st of August came and this box set dropped on the mat! It is a box set compiled of singles, album tracks alternative mixes and the odd unreleased track with a few live faves added for a complete mix.

It is quite a good compilation with his most famous stuff being on the first two discs with the lesser known single and album tracks on the last two discs. The last two discs may be made of less familiar stuff to the occasional Paul Young fan but they are still pretty good songs. The first 500 ordered off the Sony site were autographed by the man himself!

The Beatles - Real Love

Real Love, was another track done by The Beatles for the album Anthology 2 and was another demo track by John Lennon given to Paul McCartney by Yoko Ono. The band's original producer George Martin didn't produce the new tracks as he told Paul McCartney that his hearing wasn't as good as it used to be and he didn't want to do a bad job, so they brought in Jeff Lynne (of ELO fame) who had worked with George Harrison on his solo album and the Travelling Wilbury's to produce the tracks. Like the previous single Free As A Bird, the track was slowly pieced together by Jeff. The cassette of the demo was recorded by Lennon on an old tape recorder and was recorded low-fi, so it was full of background hiss and electrical hum and assorted clicks. If took Jeff a few days to get rid of the noise so that it was a workable demo.

The rest of the band put the backing track down, with the guys using many of their old instruments that had been used on many a classic track. McCartney recorded a higher range backing track to ride along Lennon's vocal as it drops in level in odd places. They managed to complete the track by all saying that John had left to go on holiday after putting his bits down, so that they could finish it off for him, it was the only way they could deal with the emotion of the recording. It was released as a single in March 1996 on the band's Apple label and got to number 4 in the UK and 11 in the US charts. It also was the opening track on Anthology 2 album that was released, covering the mid 60's period for the band.

In the UK the single suffered a radio play ban by Radio 1, then the biggest radio station in the UK. They had decided that The Beatles were no longer relevant in the chats of 1996 although many of the bands in the charts at that time (especially Oasis) had cited the band as a major influence. Paul wrote a piece for a newspaper saying how bad the ban was, Ringo said that they didn't need Radio 1 as they had the independent radio stations behind them. This would be the last time that all four original members of The Beatles would chart, Ringo said that this really was the end of the line as there was nothing more they could do as The Beatles. Here's the cover of the CD single

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

M - Pop Muzik

Released 35 years ago, this single is still very much remembered and liked and is often found on compilation albums. Robin Scott who was the brains behind M released this single in March 1979 as a song that told how pop music brought everyone together, a simple statement put on a simple pop track. When it was released it came on a double groove 12'' single which meant that the a side and the b side tracks were all on side a of the 12'' single, so it was pot luck when the needle landed to what track you actually listened to! A gimmick indeed but it annoyed a lot of people who only wanted the 12'' mix of the single!

The single reached number 2 in the UK in May 1979 but was stopped by Art Garfunkle's Bright Eyes. The single managed to get to Number 1 in the states almost 6 months after it peaking in the UK. It came off the album New York, London, Paris, Munich which failed to chart in the UK but managed a low entry in the US charts. Pop Muzik had a remix and re entered the charts in 1989 and managed to reach number 15. Here's the single

The Stranglers - Aural Sculpture

This is The Stranglers 8th album and the second for Epic Records. It was a more mellowing sound of the band although some of the lyrics to the songs showed they had lost none of their bite. The tracks were recorded in Brussels the previous year and into early 1984 and was produced by the now very much in demand Laurie Latham, thanks to his work on the Paul Young debut album. This album was quite a departure for the band, after the last album which had more of a European sound, this album was the first one to have a three piece horn section on. The lead single off the album was Skin Deep, which was a great keyboard featured track which managed to get to number 15 in the UK charts but the following two singles fared less well. The album came out in November 1984 and reached number 14 but also helped the band gain a following in Europe.

As typically Stranglers, I originally had the album on cassette, at the end of the album was a short explanation and screams from the band before it went into a game for the ZX Spectrum. It was the Aural Quest, where you had to complete parts of the game to build parts of an ear. I never completed the game as it was always a pain to load up onto the computer, but when it worked, you had to think how would one of the band think, their strange humour featured too, it was a nice added touch to the album. Have a listen to the album on Spotify, it is quite a departure from the previous Punk and New Wave sounds, you'll probably enjoy it. Skin Deep is one of my favourite tracks, along with North Winds Blowing, Souls and No Mercy. Here's the sleeve

Blondie - Denis

The first charting single from Blondie, was a cover version of an American single released by Randy & The Rainbows (originally called Denise) in 1963. Blondie covered the track and put it on their second album Plastic Letters. It was released in February 1978 and climbed to number 2 but Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights kept it from the top spot. The single came complete with a fantastic video exposing Debbie Harry to the UK population and making her a pin up for a generation of boys to drool upon. Over the next few years Blondie would become one of the biggest bands in the world and have 6 number one singles in the UK. The success was pretty instant in the UK after Denis but it took a little longer in their home country. Here's the single

Toyah - It's A Mystery

This track formed part of an E.P called Four From Toyah. Released early in 1981 it was Toyah's breakthrough hit single after several years of building up a large fan base. It wasn't like anything she had released before and was weary of releasing the single as she didn't want to upset the fans, but it was the record company that suggested to Toyah that she recorded a cover version. It's A Mystery was in fact a cover version for another band and she wrote the lyrics for the track.

The single hit the charts and peaked in the UK at number 4 of 1981 and came from the album Anthem and having a hit album and single, gave her the boost she needed and began several years of successful releases in the UK. At this time, there wasn't always a video released with chart singles so she would appear on Top Of The Pops to promote this single, but her later singles all came with good videos. Here's the single cover

The Human League - Dare

I really love this album. This was the first CD I ever bought, even before I had a player to play it on! I bought the vinyl copy as a picture disc in December 1981 and played it several times and just thought it was a great pop album. It contains four hit singles, The Sound Of The Crowd, Love Action, Open Your Heart and the worldwide smash Don't You Want Me. It was released in October 1981 and later in 1982 in America and couldn't be any different than the previous two albums by the band.

The original line up of The Human League, split up in late 1980 (the other 2 members went to form Heaven 17) and with Phil Oakey guiding the band wanted to be more of a pop band than the electronic group the old band was. Virgin wanted hits from the band so they recruited Suzanne Sully & Joanne Catherall to salvage a European tour. Virgin put them with producer Martin Rushent and the result was Sound Of The Crowd which was a decent hit reaching 12 in the UK charts, Virgin were happy and making the album went ahead.

Love Action was released in the summer of 1981 and climbed to number 3, Open Your Heart reached number 6 and was used to market the albums following release. Dare went straight to number 1 in the album charts and at the end of 1981 Don't You Want Me was released. This song ended up being the biggest selling single in the UK in 1981 and also the Christmas number one of that year too! Not bad for a song that Phil Oakey didn't think was a hit, they even put it at the end of the album as they didn't think of it that much, it ended up being a worldwide smash!

The Human League rode the success of the album well, but came the day they had to follow it up. Not many bands can follow such a successful album and they realised that. I remember watching an interview with Martin Rushent and he said it was an album of the time, one that just came together. When it came to record the follow up they struggled as they didn't know how they came up with Dare, it just happened! Martin Rushent was working on remastering Dare and rumours of extra unreleased tracks that were recorded for the album were getting sorted, but Martin died before the project was sorted and I read that his son was concidering taking on the project, fingers crossed he does! Here is the classic album sleeve, an idea taken from Vogue magazine!

Spandau Ballet - To Cut A Long Story Short

To me, this single is the start the New Romantic movement that broke big in the UK at the end of 1980. London band Spandau Ballet would be one of the many groups that used to hang out and occasionally play at Blitz night club (which many say was the birthplace of the New Romantic scene).

Spandau were making waves in the music biz and after a record company bidding war, they signed to Chrysalis Records, who gave them their own label, Reformation. The single To Cut A Long Story Short was released in November 1980 and climbed to number 5 within a couple of weeks of release. The video was a band performance and gave many a view of what the New Romantics was all about, smart clothes, guys in make up and a catchy tune.

This single helped the band have a long and worldwide successful career up to the breakup in 1990. They since got back together in 2009 for reunion shows of which the first London show sold out in 20 minutes and had to add extra dates!

Here's the single

Martha & The Muffins - Echo Beach

If there was ever a song that captured the excitement of the early 1980's, then it is this song.

Canadian band Martha & The Muffins came over to the UK to make an album for a Virgin off shoot label called Din Disc. This label seemed to deal with the more experimental side of pop music, but also OMD were signed to the label which gave it credibility. The album Metro Music was recorded in late 1979 with producer Mike Howlett and it spawned the single Echo Beach.

The song was written by Mark Gane and is in fact a song of distraction, daydreaming from the mundane work day, somewhere far away in time to escape a boring job and just wanting to be somewhere else instead. The single was released early 1980 and after the radio stations played it heavily it charted and eventually reached number 10 on the charts. The picture cover featured a map which many people believed was Echo Beach but was in fact a map of Chesil Beach in Dorset.

The album was a minor hit but the singles that followed this classic single didn't chart, so the band became a one hit wonder, but what a way to earn it!

My memories of the single actually are not that good, I hated it! It took me a long time to like it, maybe it got over played I don't really know why I didn't like it. I think it was a couple of years after the single had been and gone, when suddenly I thought it wasn't that bad and over the years I grew to love the track and often play it when I'm in an 80's mood. It is still a classic single and takes me back to 1980 when there was an optimistic feel to the year!

Bucks Fizz - Making Your Mind Up

Bucks Fizz were chosen to represent the UK in the Eurovision song contest in 1981. They were put together in January of 1981 by the writers of Making Your Mind Up just for the contest and followed the old pattern (after Abba) of 2 boys and 2 girl format. The band members were Mike Nolan, Cheryl Baker (who had previous Eurovision contest experience as she was in the band Co-co who were the 1978 entry for the UK), Jay Aston and Bobby G.

The song was released on RCA Records and when the contest was staged the single was already number 2 on the UK charts. Complete with a good tune and a memorable skirt ripping dance routine, they won the contest and the single went to number 1 in the UK. It also was number 1 around several countries in Europe too, but the hardest thing was to continue after the contest without slipping into obscurity which they managed as the next single charted. In all the band were successful around the world, had 3 UK number 1 singles and are still touring today, but as two separate groups after years of legal wrangles. Here's the cover, sorry had trouble loading photo's in for some reason!

Classic Pop

My new fave magazine, Smash Hits for grown ups as I've described it before now. I used to collect Smash Hits and the first issue I have goes back to 1979 but stopped buying it when it went towards a younger generation. So I've been looking for a really good magazine for years and last year this mag made it's debut on the shelves and is a great read. The latest issue number 4 came out yesterday (4th April) but bought it today and I'm slowly making my way through it. It's always good to read about the old bands and to know that they are still around (in some form anyhow) and are still interested in their output and also that they are still around even to this day! A great read, go check it out!

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!

Pulp - Common People

Brit pop was at it's height when this came out. Jarvis Cocker and the band came out with this masterpiece in 1995 and quickly shot to number 2 in the charts. A song basically about an upper class girl wanting to act and live like a working class girl, swapping luxury for poverty. Jarvis wrote the song about a girl that he knew from his art college days and like the line in the song goes, if she did call her Dad he could just stop it all and so therefore she could never be like common people!

Pulp had always up to this track been a band that always nearly made it, with a big loyal fan base and always critics favourites. I remember seeing them perform this track on Top Of The Pops and was so powerful, almost anthem like and the video was a great piece of footage too. Released on yellow vinyl, 2 cd singles, 12'' and a cassingle all these formats helped get it into the top 5. The follow up single had a dance remix on of Common People which is pretty good too! A classic track that always reminds you of a period of life in the mid nineties

Goldfrapp - Rocket

This track was released in March 2010 and up to now, is the last single I have bought as a physical release. The shops stopped selling CD Singles and I don't think the companies release that many singles as a physical release anymore, anyhow I digress!

Goldfrapp have been around for several years and their releases have progressed album by album, from the soundtrack sounding first album to the album this came off straight pop music. Rocket from the first notes sounds so 80's, the keyboards remind me of Jump by Van Halen (not a bad thing I might add) and I also think it reminds me of Olivia Newton John's Physical (in my head it does, humour me please) but is such a great piece of pop music. The single didn't do that well in the UK, it managed a top 50 place but the album it came off, Head First hit the top 10. The CD release featured several remixes of the track, all good too! The band are in the studio recording new material so I can't wait to hear that!

Abba - Dancing Queen

Probably Abba's most well known worldwide hit, more of a case of where it didn't charts I think! One of the most successful and remembered songs from the 1970's was released in August 1976 off the album Arrival and went straight to number 1 in the UK and in America too. The song became a huge disco hit, even though the single isn't really a disco track and an ultimate party tune that always gets people up dancing! The song had been recorded the previous year and I remember watching a TV show about the band and Freda said in the show how she cried when she first heard the backing track as it had such a beautiful tune, also on the same show, they showed a bit of film of them recording the song with an extra verse that never made the single. Over the years, the members of Abba have said that when they recorded the song, they all knew it would be a massive hit.

It was re-issued in 1992 to promote the issue of the compilation album Abba Gold, which (next to Queen's Greatest Hits) has become the UK's second biggest selling album of all time. I guess that shows just how popular the band were and still are I guess. The song always gets placed high up in the best ever song polls and biggest hit charts of the music channels. A track that has survived the various generations throughout the years and will continue I guess.

Here are the scans of my singles, the first one is the most owned copy of the single, on the orange Epic label

Here is the rarer copy of the single, the first pressing when it got released back in August 1976 on the yellow Epic label. Epic records were just about to revamp the labels design and had come up with the orange version which would last for the next four years.

The Beatles - Love Me Do

The 5th of October 1962 is a date that just about changed the world, musically and more importatnt people's lives. Although it would take a couple of years for the full impact to hit, The Beatles had arrived on the music scene and over the next few years of the sixties would cause a revolution that changed the world forever. Love Me Do was released and got to number 17 in the UK charts. Beatlemania was just around the corner and the fab four would be screamed at with every concert they played.

We all know what went on to happen with the Beatles, together and apart over the next few years but EMI were to celebrate again in 1982 when the single got a 20th anniversary release and the single was re-released in a picture cover and picture disc and this time it got to number 4 in 1982, and after that all the Beatles singles got the 20th anniversary reissue treatment.

Shoot forward to October 2012 and the single is now 50 years old, many things have changed, vinyl is no longer a populat format, EMI has been bought out and really isn't a giant like it was back in the old day, Universal (who now own EMI) decided to release Love Me Do as a limited single originally set for October 5th 2012 but the company issued the wrong version onto the single. Andy White was a session drummer brought in on one of the recordings of the single but the Ringo Starr track was used as the original single. EMI pressed the White session onto the anniversary single and realised, they withdrew the single but around 200 copies got out and now changing hands on Ebay for a lot of money. So the single was reissued a few weeks later missing the anniversary and coming out towards the end of October instead. Also on the reissue, the catalogue number on the B Side is wrong to the A Side and also the publisher of the song is MPL Communications which is McCartney's publishing company.

Here is the 50th anniversary single, plus the picture disc and a scan of an original red Parlophone Love Me Do single from 1962

The Doll - Desire Me

The charts in 1979 were an exciting time, lots of new bands with new fresh sounds were hitting the charts and appearing on Top Of The Pops. This was where I saw this band perform this fantastic single. I remember the band fronted by Marion Valentine playing the track and she was wearing a leopard skin suit to match her guitar and got all the boys talking about her. The single only reached number 28 in the charts during it's 8 week spell in the top 40. It got released as a double single (a new format in those days) 12'' & normal 7'' singles but couldn't push it any higher, but classic songs don't always have to sell huge amounts.

The band split shortly after the single, but a newly reformed band recorded the follow up single and an album but neither hit the charts again and the band split for good in 1980.

Blondie - Picture This

After having two top 20 hits in the UK, the band released this single in the summer of 1978 and got to number 12 in the UK charts. Released on limited edition yellow vinyl and was also the first single off the forth coming Parallel Lines album giving us an idea what to expect off the new album (and nobody was dissapointed) also the cover of the single was used as the picture disc version of the album. A classic piece of pop which I always remember it being played on the radio, but I am really surprised to find out the single never got an American release! Here's the single plus the scan of the yellow vinyl 7''.

The First Album

Here's a couple of scans of albums from the collection. This one is my first ever album, which was bought for me back in 1972. You can say it almost spawned the idea for the Now's series that are around today! 20 Fantastic Hits is a compilation of the hits of the day including Sweet, Donny Osmond and T Rex and more and is quite a good compilation. The only thing really is that one or two of the tracks are slightly edited due to them squeezing as many tracks on as possible!