Dido - White Flag

White Flag was Dido's much anticipated release after the success of the last album No Angel which sold around 20 million copies worldwide. She released this single in September 2003 and climbed to number 2 in the UK and was certified gold. In America it reached number 18 and went gold there too. White Flag is about a person in a broken relationship who claims she is over the relationship but really deep down hasn't got over it. It was based on a relationship Dido had and caused a few problems after the song was released. The album Life For Rent was released a few weeks after the single came out and hit the number 1 spot and has sold just under 3 million copies in the UK. In total four singles were released off the single making it one of the most well known of Dido's albums.

Barry White - You're The First. The Last, My Everything

Released in the winter of 1974, this classic soul record was massive in the UK charts. Barry was just having solo success after the hits he produced with the Love Unlimited Orchestra. The song original was based on a previously unheard country track by Peter Radcliffe. Barry changed the lyrics and the title, set it to a disco beat and classic single is made.

The single got to number 2 in America and did better here in the UK and got to number 1 for 2 weeks just before Christmas 1974, which Mud's Lonely This Christmas knocked it off the top for the converted Christmas number 1.

The Byrds - Mr Tambourine Man

This is a special post for me. Last week (July 29th) I turned 50! Yep, half century has landed and I'm just the same old me as usual, don't think that will ever change! This single by The Byrds was number one here in the UK the week I was born. This single originally written by Bob Dylan and came off his Another Side Of Bob Dylan album. Originally Bob's version ran for about 5 minutes, but to enable the band to receive radio play in America, they recorded the song to run for about two and a half minutes. This worked as the song reached number one in America and the UK in July 1965, not bad for a debut single!

The song, with it's 12 string Rickenbacker jangly guitar song played by Jim McGuinn was the only member of the band to play on the single after the producer thought the band weren't up to playing on the song at that point. They all sang on the single and later recordings featured all the members of the band. They say the sound of The Byrds is the sound which defined Folk Rock, with that signature jangly guitar sound.

To me when I hear this song, it sends me back to being a 7 year old child going to my friend Amanda's house and her Mum playing this single quite a lot of times. I just fell for those jangly 12 string guitar sounds which I still love hearing today. This is a real classic single which defined the times, a real pocket of history when you listen to it. Here's the single!

Free - All Right Now

What a classic rock single to mark my 100th post on my blog. Released in May 1970 and hit number 2 in the charts in June, this well known single from the Paul Rodgers led band hit the top of most of the charts around the world in 1970. The single was taken off the album Fire And Water which was a huge hit too thanks to the single. Free had mixed fortunes over the few years they were together and were formed in 1968 but had split up by 1973 due to personal differences and drug problems. All Right Now has taken on a life of it's own and continues to be played today. The single has various UK & US awards for the amount of radio play it has had since 1970. The song has been featured in various TV shows and adverts and has had it's fair share of cover versions too! It was re-released 1973 when it got to number 15 and again in 1991 when it got to number 8 thanks to a remix. Here's the single on the classic pink Island label

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

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

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

Stevie Wonder - Superstition

Another hit single from Stevie Wonder, this great track was released here in the UK in early 1973 and managed to climb to number 11 but did so much better in the States as it got to number 1. Stevie played many of the instruments on this single, including the drums, he wrote it and also produced the track which mentions a few of the superstitious tales of old. Taken from the 1972 album Talking Book which managed a number 16 chart placing here had enough sales to make it a gold album, but I don't think Stevie's UK success matched the States as in chart placing's. Shooting forward to 1986 and Peter Gabriel released Sledgehammer which gives a nod to Superstition. Here's the single

White Lies - To Lose My Life

White Lies are a band hailing from Ealing near London and originally were in a band called Fear Of Flying. They felt that the songs they were coming up with didn't fit in with that band so White Lies came from that band with a more darker sound to the material they had played previously. The band formed in late 2007 and began gigging with the new band and songs they had written. Almost straight away they began to have record company interest and signed to Fiction Records which was an off shoot from Polydor and started work on their debut album.

To Lose My Life was the title of the album and third single off the album and the single reached 34 in the UK charts. A mixture of rock, pop and punk with plenty of 80's sounds, the single and album sound like Echo & The Bunnymen with a bit of Billy Idol in places I think. But don't let that put you off, listen to then as it is a great debut album and a cracking single. Here's the single which was released in clear vinyl.

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.

Record Store Day 2014

Last Saturday (19th April) was Record Store Day in the UK and as usual some really odd and wonderful pieces of vinyl were released in very limited issues. For some reason I couldn't find if there was a record store in Hull that was taking part this year. Last year there was a shop but they closed down the beginning of this year so no joy for me this year.

I have always called this day Ebay Store Day as some of the vinyl that should be released on the Saturday had made it's way onto Ebay for a inflated price, which to me is really unfair. Paul Weller now seems to agree too. He released a single for the day in a limited run of 500 copies. His fans complained via his website, as they had seen his single appear on Ebay the night before and yet again ruined any chance of his fans getting hold of this single. He was mad enough to issue a statement on his site saying how angry he was about it and as a result of this, will not be taking part in the Record Store Day again.

If only all the other artists who take part for this day, saw what was happening and followed Paul in the same way. The organisers would have to take it seriously do something about sorting the problems out and making it a little fairer on the record buying public. It would be nice as well if there was a web site we could purchase some of the releases on for those who don't have a record shop taking part.

Sarah Brightman & Hot Gossip - I Lost My Heart To A Starship Trooper

Thanks to one of my TV heroes, Kenny Everett, this is where the Hot Gossip story began. Hot Gossip were a dance troupe that were more sexy with the clothes and moves than what Legs & Co were off Top Of The Pops. Kenny Everett had the dancers on his show and used them in odd sketches and because they were mostly gorgeous women, they became well known and talked about certainly at my school and no doubt loads of other schools around the UK in 1978.

Sarah Brightman was in her late teens when she was in the dance group and also was the one who could sing. To cash in the their popularity and of the disco boom they released this camp single I Lost My Heart To A Starship Trooper and was written by the two guys who were known in the UK as Typically Tropical who got to number one with Barbados in 1975. The song was a tongue in cheek name checking reference to Star Wars, Close Encounters, Star Trek, Flash Gordon and plenty of innuendo for good measure. The song did well and reached number 6 in the UK charts.

They tried to follow up the single with The Adventures Of The Love Crusader but it didn't do that much. Not long after that Sarah Brightman left Hot Gossip to concentrate on her singing career which was to scale enormous height over the next few years. A great song from an amazing show, 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

Kate Bush - Wow

OK, I wasn't going to put another Kate Bush single on here for a while but after yesterday's news (Friday 21st March) that she has announced she is going to play live for the first time in 35 years, it needed celebrating! Wow was released in March 1979 and came off her second album Lionheart. The album Lionheart was released in late 1978 and people say it was rush released and more or less had tracks left off from recording the first album. The first single Hammer Horror missed the top 40 so relief was all around when this charted. The song managed to get to number 14 and around this time she played live for the first time calling the tour, The Tour Of Life.

Part of the lyrics for Wow were about an aging gay actor and had a pretty good video to go with the single, much in the vein of the last few videos, when released on the compilation video, they made a compilation video of bits from the live tour for Wow. Kate's success I believe is mainly here in the UK and Ireland and I think she is more of a cult artist in America and Europe. A lot of artists around today say that Kate has been a huge influence and hopefully after this tour she just might release a new album and her back catalogue is in need of a re-master and a new compilation DVD would be great too!

Here's several shots of the single I've collected over the years starting with the UK release

Here's the Italian pressing

And Finally a rare Canadian pressing in yellow vinyl!

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

Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

This was the second single off the album of the same name. This single is regarded as one of Elton's best ever songs, it was released in September 1973 and amongst the Glam Rock hits in the charts at that time, managed to get to number 6. Written by Elton and Bernie Taupin, the lyrics of the song are about Bernie wanting to get back to having a normal life and leaving Elton to live the rock n roll lifestyle! He still sings the song live at all his show but as the years go on, Elton has to drop the key of the song down as he can no longer reach the notes of the original song.

The album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is about to get a re-release as a deluxe box set and should bring a lot of interest back in the album and Elton too! Here's the single

Michael Jackson - Billie Jean

My favourite Michael Jackson single ever, Billie Jean was released in January 1983 and went to number 1 in the UK. it was the second single to be released off the album Thriller (which has become the biggest selling album ever) and is one of Jackson's most popular songs. The song which many reviewers think is about a fan saying that he is the father of her child, Michael has claimed it was more about groupies that used to follow the Jackson 5 around when the band had hit the big time!

The video to the single was a great dance film, with Michael dancing on top of lighting up tiles, a result of a limited budget for the video, the director told Michael which tiles where lit and Michael told him not to worry and when filming, he just danced and hit those tiles! The video they say changed the way MTV used to show music vids, they never showed black artists until this video came out, it helped the single get to number 1 in the various charts in America, helped Thriller to sell bucket loads of copies and helped MTV to become established and become the station that it is today!

Billie Jean is also well known for the dance routine on the Motown 25th anniversary show, where Michael sang the song and showed the audience the Moonwalk for the first time. The show went down in history for that little dance move and whenever Billie Jean was sung, he had to do the Moonwalk! The track of the song, to me sounds quite sparse in production but is so sinister in the words and the way he sings the song, such a powerful performance. Here is the cover to the single and the scan of the vinyl, here as a 7'' red vinyl single from a pack of singles released of all his singles up to Bad.

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.