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!

I'm Back!

I am really sorry to those of you who followed this blog. I sort of fell out with it, got bored and just out of sorts with myself to continue it. I've still been finding vinyl but just not blogging. I promise that I will start to update it all again!

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