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!

Alice Cooper - From The Inside

I'm not a huge Alice Cooper fan, although I saw him live in the late 80's and he was awesome, but I really like this unbelievably over looked album by Alice. Released in 1978 it was a concept album based about his stay in a New York institution for his alcoholism. This is a raw Alice, with help from Elton John's side kick Bernie Taupin and a couple of Elton's band mates, they helped create an album with each track with a storyline of a situation and character who he had met in the institution. From The Quiet Room about a guy in a padded cell to avoid self harm (also my favourite track on this album), with Millie And Billie which is a tale of two lovers which one is married who kill her husband to be together. There's Nurse Rosetta about a nurse that tuned on the inmates with a verse describing just what happens when he sees her! There is also the single How You Gonna See Me Now about an unsure Cooper wondering how a partner will treat him once he is freed. The single was a fairly big hit in the US but only managed 61 in the UK charts.

The album didn't chart in the UK which is a real shame as I think it is a classic. The album artwork was great too, featuring opening doors on the front cover and doors on the back which opened too all revealing Alice in various shots of the institution. To me, when I listen to this album it seems such a personal album but also bringing the other inmates to life too, where those people he sings about really there? I think it also a lot more of a softer rock album with, dare I say strings added to a couple of tracks! An album I think should be listened to from start to finish and follow the story to the final track singing about the inmates in Inmates (We're All Crazy). Originally released on Warner Brothers, try and listen to it if you can as it is a shame it wasn't such a bigger hit. Here is the sleeve from the cd!

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.

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.

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

Sweet - The Ballroom Blitz

Let's start 2014 with a huge worldwide hit and a great power single

Sweet released this single in September 1973 after having huge success in the year with Blockbuster and Hellraiser. 1973 and 1974 were to be the band's biggest years and made some great singles in these years. Glam rock was in full force and there was no stopping the band, or maybe there was!

The track was partly influenced by an incident where the band were playing a gig in a ballroom in Scotland (the birth place of Brian Connolly, the lead singer) and were forced off stage due to bottle throwing from fans. Ballrooms and club were what venues were around in those days (a throwback from the 50's & 60's pre rock n roll days). Sweet didn't help the fact that they used to piss the fans off by not playing early hits as Sweet wanted to be a rock band not a bubblegum band they were more know for. The single was never featured on any album release in the UK (except Greatest Hits) but was featured on the US version of Desolation Boulevard

The single peaked at number 2 in the UK, a position that Sweet were used to but was really annoying as a lot of Sweet singles stuck at number 2 and was only Blockbuster that got to the top. Here is the single in all it's glory!

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!

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

The Buggles - Video Killed The Radio Star

A fantastic pop song from 1979, was originally from an album released in 1978 by Woolley & the Camera Club called English Garden. Written by Trevor Horn, Geoff Downes & Bruce Woolley this synthpop classic is about nostalgia and technology, about a radio star who's career is cut short by television. Released on Island Records in September 1979 the single climbed to number 1 in November of that year. Although the song was from 1979 is has been featured on many 80's compilations. Surprised at the single's success the band had to rush back into the studio to record a follow up single and came up with The Plastic Age and the album The Age Of Plastic, although the single hit the charts nothing came close to the success of Video!

When MTV started in America in August 1981 Video Killed The Radio Star was the first video to be shown on the new station, very much true to the single's title! The band released another album but split up, Horn and Downes joined Yes for a while and Trevor Horn became a top producer in the first half of the 80's to work with the likes of ABC, Frankie Goes To Hollywood and Dollar! Here's the single which still is a classic and still sounds great!

Sad Cafe' - Everyday Hurts

Mancunian band Sad Cafe' had been around since 1976 and although building up a small following never really did anything till this single hit the charts. Released in September 1979 it slowly climbed the charts to number 3 that year and also was a small hit in American where it was renamed Everyday. To help this gorgeous ballad hit the charts the record company released the single in blue vinyl and also a picture disc (a rarity, a song being released on 2 different formats to get it into the charts). It came off the album Facades (an anagram of Sad Café) which also was released in blue vinyl and got to number 8 in the album charts!

I have seen the band quite a few times and have met them several times and were a great bunch of guys and always happy to meet the fans. I followed the band for a few years before the lead singer Paul Young left the band to join Mike & The Mechanics. Here's the single, with the picture cover, blue vinyl and picture disc versions!

Tears For Fears - Shout

With news this week that Tears For Fears are going to be back in action this year, celebrating the 30th anniversary of the release of their first album, I thought I'd feature this single that shot the band into superstardom around the world. Released in November 1984 and got to number 4 in January 1985 and hit the top spot in America the same year. It was off the classic album Songs From The Big Chair and Shout was a change of sound as the band sound was going more towards a synth pop, rock, stadium band sound. The song was basically about protesting rather than keeping quiet, but to think about what you are protesting about rather than just going ahead and just have no idea why you are protesting, also the single lasted over 5 minutes but was still played heavily on the radio. A classic single for classic times, I think it is from one of the last great years for UK pop music!

Roger Daltrey - Giving It All Away

In between a tour break by The Who, Roger Daltrey set about recording his solo album, Daltery. In 1972 The Who were recording in the studio where writers Leo Sayer and David Courtney were recording material for Leo Sayer. Roger liked what he heard from them and asked if they would write some tracks for his forthcoming solo album. As David and Leo had loads of tracks demoed and half written they let Roger choose. He Chose Giving It All Away, a powerful ballad that really suited Roger's voice, full of emotion and power. The track was a hit and reached number 5 in 1973 and was his first solo hit single. This also started the career of Leo Sayer as a few months later he was to have his first hit single too and he also recorded his version of his song on his second album Just A Boy.

The Associates - Party Fears Two

This single hit the charts on the back of the New Romantic movement that was hitting the British music scene in the early 80's. The Associates were Billy MacKenzie & Alan Rankine, who had been on the scene since 1979 releasing several independent albums before hitting the top 20 with Party Fears Two and the album it came off Sulk. Billy's operatic vocal soared over this great keyboard based track and pushed it to number 9 in early 1982. The band released another couple of singles that hit the top 20 but by far this was the best track for me!

The band split up just as they were to go on tour promoting Sulk and left Billy to carry on under the bands name, but success wasn't there and in the 1990's he recorded under his own name. In 1997 Billy MacKenzie committed suicide after suffering from clinical depression, he was thinking of making a comeback at the time and the material he recorded before his death has been released.

He had such an awesome voice, the notes he reached were amazing and when you listen to this track those hairs on the back of your neck stand up. A classic slice of synthpop circa 1982!

Death Of The Record Shop

It was sad but not unexpected that HMV had gone into administration this week. For the last few years the company had been having a really tough time with changing technology and the power of the internet. Also I really think they were too expensive, some things on the web site were so much cheaper than the shop, not just by a pound but sometimes up to £6 cheaper. I went into the shop once and the staff were talking to each other about the fact they had bought something from Amazon the night before!

I can still remember the first time I went into the shop here in Hull. It will have been 1978, my first time going into town by myself and going into the shop. Previously when I'd been into town with my parents they would never go into there and I'd only ever seen it from the front. They always put the latest released singles in the window and I remember the lines of coloured vinyl singles forming the shop window display.

The first time I went into the shop was like a kid going into a sweet shop, wall to wall racks of records, posters on the wall and at that time a full wall of the latest picture disc albums coming over from the states, with the likes of Elton John, Blondie, Rod Stewart amongst others hung on the wall. It was the first time I'd seen these and they were amazing and knew I wanted to collect them. There was no way I could afford those albums. That started my love affair of collecting records.

Over the years, the record collection grew, I'd always go into the shops every Saturday to see what new releases were out, I never thought that vinyl would die out and one day I saw these strange silver discs back in 1984 and never thought they would catch on. Compact discs slowly took over from vinyl and slowly record companies stopped releasing vinyl, it was still being pressed up but more smaller quantities to a point in the mid 1990's that shops stopped selling vinyl although mid 2000's it did make a bit of a comeback! Here is a photo of me looking at what was left of the vinyl back in 2007 in our HMV shop

The invention of MP3's, Apple and streaming has killed the record business, along with internet prices meant the humble record shop has vanished from our high streets. If HMV closes here in Hull there will be no shop where I can go to look around at new releases, old albums I might want to buy or take in the atmosphere of listening to new sounds played over a stereo system. Supermarkets like Tesco's only have a small selection of chart and current releases, WH Smiths don't really do CD's anymore and the small independent shops here are more selective in what they can sell. So the internet has won, I will order my stuff off the net, but I so much wanted to browse and look at what I want to buy, it is a real hassle to send something back you are not really happy with, the write up might sound like it's just what you want but when you get it home it just doesn't match up to your expectations.

Record Shops, may you rest in peace, your stores may be gone from our high streets but you live on in my memories!

Slade - Merry Christmas Everybody

IT'S CHRISTMAS! A line towards the end of the song that Noddy shouts to us all in this, my all time favourite Christmas song. The track was released in 1973 and went straight to number 1, the bands third single to enter the charts at number 1, a feat that only the Beatles had achieved earlier! The demand for the single was such that Polydor had to have copies pressed up in Germany and America (which is where my copy came from), with half a million copies sold within the first week of the singles release!

It was recorded in America in September 1973 and the track was a mixture of odd bits of songs Noddy Holder and Jim Lea had written over the years. It was about a normal family enjoy the festive period while being optimistic about the future, with everyone having been through a bad time during the year (economy, strikes, a bad year for everyone!) The track stayed at number 1 for 5 weeks and stayed in the top 40 for 9 weeks in total. The track is always one that gets played the most with (according to Wikipedia) 42% of the worlds population has heard this track! Along with Wizzard, the single is always hitting the charts every year and even hitting the top 40 this year on downloads alone and they don't even sing the title anywhere in the song! For more of a read about the track, have a look on Wikipedia for an interesting story of the making of the single!

So here it is, the scan of the single in all it's beaten and worn glory, the American vinyl is slightly different with it being more of a solid feel, less flexible than a UK piece of vinyl!

On that note, I would like to wish all the people who visit my Blog a Merry Christmas Everybody! Please continue to visit the Blog and hope you enjoy the singles that I post up on here!

Wizzard - I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday

This feel good Christmas song originally was released in 1973 and reached number 4 for 4 weeks, Slade has taken the coveted number 1 spot with their single and Elton John's Step Into Christmas stalled at a lower number 24 with his Xmas offering.

Wizzard's track was written and produced by Roy Wood and originally had been recorded in the hot summer of 1973, with Roy and the engineer making a Christmassy theme feeling in the studio to create the right mood for the song. School children from Birmingham were brought down to London for the recording of the choir. When the band performed the song on Top Of The Pops, the school kids were to sing on the track, but were replaced with school children from a London stage school instead. There was also a video for the single with Roy's daughter featured in the video.

The single was released in a mock Christmas card picture cover and although the single came on Harvest records (owned by EMI) the promo copies were released on Warner Brothers records as the band had signed to them when it was discovered that EMI were still owed a single, so they released it.

Here is my copy of the single, released in 1981 which managed to get to number 41. Over the years it has managed to get onto the single charts and even in the years of downloads only still manages a placing on the charts. To me it is one of the best Christmas songs ever, a Christmas card turned into song!

The Cars - My Best Friend's Girl

I still really really enjoy listening to this single after all these years! American band The Cars released this track about a guy who sees his best friend with a new girlfriend and that girl used to be his girl, in October 1978 and slowly climbed the charts to a final position of number 3. This new wave track also had the award of being the first available picture disc released here and vanished off the shelves straight away. It would be a few years later before I managed to get a copy of it.

I remember being bought a new stereo for Christmas in 1978 plus a new pair of headphones and had some money to buy some new records and I bought this single and was the first new single I played on that record player, memories eh! So here is the single, plus the picture disc of the track!