Waxing Lyrical

Three mailshots from Soulwax, Follytechnic Music Library and Leo Zero, all containing the musical equivalent of a volcanic eruption (I should hasten to add, in respect of impact, not catastrophic devastation).

First up is a standalone single from the brothers Dewaele, spending a magical mystery tour in Abbey Road Studios 1, 2 & 3 to come up with this absolute banger. Beats, vocals, keyboard stabs, squelchy bits, you name it, it's got it, delivering seven minutes and twenty five seconds of club- and ear-friendly pop goodness. 

It's incredible to think that the first release from Follytechnic Music Library was barely three years ago. FML1 was an album of Hot Chocolate edits, so it seems fitting that the latest, FML39, features another sweet thing, namely Blancmange.

A dozen skillful edits from their 1980s period, mostly singles, of which I've plumped for the most obvious, Living On The Ceiling.

Every FML is a labour of love and a delight to the ears. Individual releases are name your price, or you can buy the full discography (currently at 46 items) for a tenner. You will not regret it.

Leo Zero has been a longtime hero of mine when it comes to edits and mash-ups, and he's been on a creative streak with the former in the past 12 months, with a slew of new releases.

The past few days have seen nine more added to the catalogue, covering a diverse range of artists from Sade to The Seeds, Christopher Cross to The Clash and, perhaps the most unexpected of all, Dinosaur Jr.

I was tempted to feature the latter but instead I've gone for Beverley Knight's cover of I Wanna Be Your Lover by Prince, performed for BBC Radio 2's Piano Room back in 2019.

Leo has turned that stripped down, three-minute version into a nine-minute dancefloor behemoth. I love it.

And a belated happy birthday to Beverley, born 22nd March 1973. What a legend!

 

#StandaloneSingles

The end of another month and the end of another music challenge on BlueSky, hosted by @tansleyjames.bsky.social.

The challenge? "Throughout February choose 28 of your favourite standalone singles. Post one per day, ranked or unranked. Lead tracks on EPs and singles tagged on to Best Of compilations can be selected, the main criteria is that they aren’t on an artist’s studio album."

I jumped in with an 'unranked and random' selection, initially making it up as a I went along, eventually stockpiling songs that I wanted to use, but using the 'shuffle' function to maintain the random nature of my daily picks. Just two exceptions: my pick for Valentine's Day had to be a song with 'love' in the title, and my penultimate pick, inspired by Swiss Adam, also timed to coincide with the release date of a timely cover version.

I've created two Dubhed selections for your listening pleasure today, a first stand and a last stand, covering picks 1-14 and 15-28 respectively. Amazingly, despite the lack of planning and sequencing, both come in at a smidge over 60 minutes and actually don't jar as much as I might have expected.

The only place today that you're likely to hear Bee Gees followed by Orbital, The Shirelles paired with David Holmes, Stevie Wonder rubbing shoulders with A Certain Ratio and Ellen Beth Abdi, and samples of ABC, Bad Manners and Mazzy Star liberally sprinkled throughout.

I've tweaked and adapted the original BlueSky posts to provide a track-by-track 'sleeve note' for your added entertainment.

I've Gotta Get A Message To You by Bee Gees was The Brothers Gibb's 2nd #1 in the UK and a standalone single, although it was added to the US edition of 3rd album Idea when the song cracked the Top 10 there.

From the Brothers Gibb to the Brothers Hartnoll, it's a testament to how many good tunes Orbital had that Omen didn't make their debut album. And if you can remember this rave, you weren't there...

Young Parisians, the debut single by Adam & The Ants, flopped when released in October 1978. By 3rd February 1981, it was enjoying a 2nd week at #9 in the UK, during the height of Antmania. La deuxième fois sera la bonne!

Again, I Wait For The World was recorded for Blancmange's greatest hits compilation in 2024, the song is every bit as good as their peak period pieces.

As a lifelong DMs wearer, My Docs by Kiss AMC was an easy pick for me. Top production from Greg Wilson and getting guest spots from Noddy Holder and Frank Sidebottom in the video was a genius move.

New year, new HANN. Titchiest Kitchen In Britain is the latest in a line of fab standalone singles, with a cheeky DIY video to boot. "Not enough room to tickle a kitten" indeed!

From '26 to '62, with It's Love That Really Counts (In The Long Run) by The Shirelles, a shivering classic written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David.

Johnny Favourite by David Holmes would also be a dead cert for a debut singles challenge. Strap in, I've included the 15+ min Exploding Plastic Inevitable Mix by David, Jagz Kooner & Gary Burns in today's selection. Stunning.

Fast forward three decades from 1994 to 2024 and Real Magnificent by Fluke featuring Leah Cleaver. Comeback of the decade and rarely a more apt title for a song. 

I have loved Seconds Too Late by Cabaret Voltaire since my brother bought The Golden Moments Of Cabaret Voltaire CD in the late 80s then included the track on a mixtape for me.

A more recent love is Nzaumi by Ndalani 77 Brothers. Eternal thanks to Ernie Goggins creator and curator of the superb 27 Leggies blog for introducing me to this late 70s Kenyan classic a couple of years ago, during his African Odyssey. Funky as hell!

The original of That's What Friends Are For by Deniece Williams was a UK #8 in 1977, but Janet Kay's cover the same year is the definitive version for me. 

Always ahead of the game, I suspect that Sparks released the Madder! EP in 2025 just so they could appear in the #StandaloneSingles series :-)  I've chosen opening song Porcupine, which comes with a typically fab video, starring the equally fab Self Esteem.

For Valentine's Day, I picked a song for all the lovers out there.  What else, but Laser Love by T. Rex? How on earth did this single stall outside the UK Top 40 in 1976?!

(deep breath, then on with the second half...)

I think Never Change by MC Buzz B got withdrawn from release in 1991 as Bruce Hornsby wasn't happy with the sample of The Way It Is, inspired though it was. 

I was cheating a bit with this pick as Never Change appeared on MC Buzz B's album Words Escape Me! However, the song was stripped of the offending Hornsby sample, which changed the song completely (and to it's detriment) in my book!

MC Buzz B later fronted a clutch of classics by Lionrock aka Justin Robertson. 

Iron Lion Zion was an unreleased Bob Marley song, recorded circa 1973, discovered in the vaults nearly two decades later, then remixed, released and a UK #5 hit in 1992.

When my friend John wanted to educate me in the brilliance of Belle & Sebastian, Dog On Wheels was one of the songs that he chose. It worked.

Face To Face by Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie is a harrowing account of rape and it's aftermath, including the failure of the legal system. Three decades on, rape, sexual assault and domestic abuse remain hugely under reported crimes with shamefully low conviction rates for those that make it to court.

Weakness is track 2 of the Island Head E.P. by Inspiral Carpets and one of their finest songs, full stop.

The Cure's 1980s singles pop up frequently in others' #StandaloneSingles picks (and rightly so). Wrong Number is an underrated gem, released to promote the Galore singles compilation in 1997. As always, The Cure also deliver a rather wonderful video.

My next choice is Can't Stop Jumping by Bim Sherman and Dub Syndicate from 1983, specifically the 10" version produced by Adrian Sherwood and featuring Dr. Pablo. The single was a double A-side with Keep You Dancing, equally wonderful.

My Sahel was an all-star, one-off single to promote the My Sahel initiative mysahel.org in 2023.  Credited to Vieux Farka Touré, Amadou & Mariam and OMG Oumy Gueye, featuring Bassekou Kouyaté, Songhoy Blues and Tal National.

Originally a one-off digital single by The The in 2007, Mrs Mac reached a new audience in 2023 as the 7" B-side of $1 One Vote! One of Matt Johnson's deepest, darkest songs.

Stevie Wonder was 17 years old when he co-wrote and recorded I'm Wondering in 1967. I'll just leave that fact there.

When A Certain Ratio and Ellen Beth Abdi get together, magic is guaranteed. Day By Day is the opening track of the superb 4-track 2023 EP.

I was a fan of The Dream Academy but not so much their 1985 standalone single, a cover of The Smiths' Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want. Thanks to John Hughes' used of the song in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, it grew on me!

The 12" of Tarantula was the first Colourbox single I bought and it remains my favourite song of theirs, but the cover by This Mortal Coil was the first version that I heard, in 1986. 

There are several other varied and fine covers out there including Beck (2019), Diane Birch & The Phenomenal Handclap Band (2010), Maria Usbeck (2016) and, released just yesterday, Darkinari & Pandit Pam Pam (with thanks to Swiss Adam at Bagging Area for the heads up on the latter).

And, to close...

Four Tet released Into Dust (Still Falling) last June. It's Kieran Hebden at his best, with an aching hint of Hope Sandoval/Mazzy Star to melt your heart.

First Stand

1) I've Gotta Get A Message To You: Bee Gees (1968)

2) Omen (12"): Orbital (1990)

3) Young Parisians (Single Version): Adam & The Ants (1978)

4) Again, I Wait For The World: Blancmange (2024)

5) My Docs (7" Mix): Kiss AMC (1990)

6) Titchiest Kitchen in Britain: HANN (2026)

7) It's Love That Really Counts (In The Long Run): The Shirelles (1962)

8) Johnny Favourite (Exploding Plastic Inevitable Mix): David Holmes (1994)

9) Real Magnificent (Single Version): Fluke ft. Leah Cleaver (2024)

10) Seconds Too Late: Cabaret Voltaire (1980)

11) Nzaumi: Ndalani 77 Brothers (1977)

12) That's What Friends Are For (Single Version) (Cover of Deniece Williams): Janet Kay (1977)

13) Porcupine: Sparks (2025)

14) Laser Love: T. Rex (1976)

Last Stand

1) Never Change (7" Mix): MC Buzz B (1991)

2) Iron Lion Zion (7" Mix): Bob Marley (1992)

3) Dog On Wheels: Belle & Sebastian (1997)

4) Face To Face (Single Version): Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie (1987)

5) Weakness (Single Version): Inspiral Carpets (1990)

6) Wrong Number (P2P Mix): The Cure (1997)

7) Can't Stop Jumping (10" Version): Bim Sherman / Dub Syndicate (1983)

8) My Sahel: Vieux Farka Touré, Amadou & Mariam, OMG Oumy Gueye ft. Bassekou Kouyaté, Songhoy Blues & Tal National (2023)

9) Mrs Mac: The The (2007)

10) I'm Wondering: Stevie Wonder (1967)

11) Day By Day: A Certain Ratio ft. Ellen Beth Abdi (2023)

12) Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want (Single Version) (Cover of The Smiths): The Dream Academy (1985)

13) Tarantula (Second Version) (12"): Colourbox (1983)

14) Into Dust (Still Falling): Four Tet (2025)

First Stand (1:05:02) (GD) (M)

Last Stand (1:02:13) (GD) (M)

Waves And Then Goodbye

Celebrating Stephen Luscombe, 29th October 1954 to 13th September 2025.

I was very sad to read on Sunday of Stephen's passing after a long illness. Although Stephen had been unable to continue beyond Blancmange's spectacular comeback album Blanc Burn in 2011, he remained a fervent supporter of Neil Arhur's continuing journey with the band they formed in 1979.

And what a legacy, not just as Blancmange, but also as West India Company with Pandit Dinesh and Asha Bhosle. Andrew Weatherall was an early adopter.

There is an informative tribute by Chi Ming Lai over at the Electricity Club blog. I've picked a single/video from each of the four Blancmange albums that Stephen recorded with Neil, in reverse chronological order, ending inevitably with Waves.

1) The Western (2011)

2) What's Your Problem? (1985)

3) That's Love That It Is (1983)

4) Waves (1982)

I've also reactivated links to a two Blancmange compilations that I've previously posted, focusing on their 12" singles and remixes.

Just Desserts (2005)

Please Sir, I Want Some More (2022)

Thank you for the music, Stephen, rest easy.

 

 

 

Hope, Visions, Centre, Living, Seeing, Hell

Just the one video today, but it's a good one: Blind Vision by Blancmange.

Released in the spring of 1983, it reached #10 in the UK singles chart the week of 21st May.

I'm pretty sure I won't have seen the video at the time, although Blancmange did make an appearance on Top Of The Pops. it's an odd clip, to say the least. Neil Arthur does a lot of running (or singing from a lectern), whilst Stephen Luscombe plays all manner of instruments, including old school microphones as percussion, little of which you will hear on the song.

And then there is the actor replicating the 1940s housewife illustrations on this and their previous singles. Lots of creepy rictus grinning and the inevitable 'hand splatting a plate of blancmange' shot.

It's completely bonkers and completely brilliant.

Blind hope, blind visions, blind centre

One centre

Blind living and seeing, blind hell

Blind hell

Blind visions and no reasons for actions

Blind words

Blind visions and no reasons for actions

Blind words

Blind visions and no reasons

No reasons for action

In a dream when I'm reading pages full of words

The harder you look, 

It's getting hard, it's getting hard, it's not

A dream's a dream

In a dream when I'm reading pages

Pages full of words

It's, it's getting hard

It's not, it's not, it, it

It's getting harder

It's getting harder

Ooh, it's getting hard

Hold me closer now

Hold me closer

That's blind vision (blind vision)

Push me harder now

Harder, push me harder

That's blind hell (blind hell)

Keep me spinning around and round

The blind centre (blind centre)

Now I'm turning miles above the ground

That's blind hell (blind hell, blind hell)

Blind hope, blind visions, blind centre

One centre

Blind living and seeing, blind hell

Blind hell

Blind visions and no reasons for actions

Blind words

Blind visions and no reasons for actions

Blind words

Decade II: 1982

Side 1 of a cassette compilation, recorded sometime in March 1990, lost sometime in the next two decades, reimagined and recreated 11th August 2024.

 

And the hits just keep on coming...

 

If you were here for last weekend's opening brace of 80s-themed mixtapes, you'll know that of the five cassettes I recorded in 1990, only three remain. 

 

The two lost volumes covered 1982 to 1985 and I've had a go at recreating the track listing and cover art (kind of) from scratch. Some songs I vaguely recall being on the original mixtapes, others I've no idea, but I've excluded any songs that I couldn't have owned or borrowed in spring 1990. Lots had to be left out, inevitably, but I think the end results are faithful reproductions that sit well with their contemporary cassettes.

 

1982 was another fantastic year for pop and I realise how lucky I was to grow up surrounded by all this diverse and exciting music troubling the Top 40. Synths were fully embedded in the mainstream by now but with all sorts of influences and flavours stirred in. 

 

Looking back, there's a marked shift towards heavy marketing and promo by this point: videos, double pack 7" and 12" picture discs with free posters, saturation on kids' TV shows, and so on. If a single wasn't a hit, it would be re-mixed, re-recorded and re-re-re-released until, damn it, it became a hit.

Kiss Me is a prime example of this. Stephen Duffy originally formed the band Tin Tin with a couple of guys from Fashion, a Dexys Midnight Runner and producer Bob Lamb. Kiss Me was their debut single in November 1982 and flopped. The single was remixed and released in the USA by François Kevorkian in 1983 and became a minor club hit. 

 

Taking notice, Duffy's label released the remix in the UK in 1984 and it scraped to #78. Undeterred, Kiss Me was remixed yet again, this time by J.J. Jeczalik (Art Of Noise) and Nicholas Froome, and given one last shot in early 1985. Fourth time lucky, as Stephen 'Tin Tin' Duffy reached the dizzy heights of #4 and enjoyed several other hits afterwards.

I've cheated a little here and gone for François Kevorkian's remix from 1983, partly because I didn't own the original Tin Tin single back in the day and partly because it's a much better version than the 1982 original.

I've also plumped for the 12" remix of Talk Talk's eponymous single to open proceedings. An early purchase from Plastic Wax Records in Bristol, back when it was in Old Market, opposite the Trinity. As with most Talk Talk extended mixes, there are fewer vocals than the single/album version and lots of none-more-80s bridges, bells and whistles.

I was tempted to drop in the 12" mix of Party Fears Two by Associates but it pops up quite frequently in my 80s mixtapes so I've stuck with the single version here instead. Hearing this for the first time on Top Of The Pops was an attention-grabbing moment and began a lifelong love of Billy MacKenzie. What a voice.

Making their debut here along with Talk Talk are Tears For Fears, Blancmange and Scritti Politti, who will all (probably) reappear in later volumes. Others, like Yazoo, ABC and Monsoon make one-time appearances in this series.

Squeeze wrapped up an incredible run of singles with Annie Get Your Gun, recorded to promote their essential compilation, 45s And Under. 

And should any 1982 collection be without Pete Wylie's epic The Story Of The Blues? No Wah!, sorry, no way!

 

No prizes for guessing the year in tomorrow's post...

1) Talk Talk (Extended Mix Long Version): Talk Talk

2) Don't Go (Album Version): Yazoo

3) Party Fears Two (Single Version): Associates

4) Living On The Ceiling (Single Remix): Blancmange

5) The Story Of The Blues Part One (Single Version): Wah!

6) Mad World (Album Version): Tears For Fears

7) Kiss Me (U.S. Remix) (7" Version): Tin Tin

8) Poison Arrow (Single Version): ABC

9) Windpower (Single Version): Thomas Dolby

10) Ever So Lonely (Single Version): Monsoon

11) Asylums In Jerusalem (Album Version): Scritti Politti

12) Annie Get Your Gun (Single Version): Squeeze

14th March 1982: The Lexicon Of Love (#6): 8

21st March 1982: Sulk (#9): 3

25th April 1982: Talk Talk EP (#52): 1

2nd May 1982: Ever So Lonely EP (#12): 10

25th July 1982: Upstairs At Eric's (#3): 2

8th August 1982: Songs To Remember (#43): 11

5th September 1982: The Golden Age Of Wireless (#31): 9

24th October 1982: Singles: 45's And Under (#43): 12

31st October 1982: The Hurting (#3): 6

??? November 1982: Kiss Me EP (# n/a): 7

21st November 1982: Happy Families (#7): 4

16th January 1983: The Story Of The Blues EP (#3): 5 *

Side One (45:46) (GD) (M)

* The Story Of The Blues first charted on 19th December 1982

Don't Tell Me I've Gone Too Far

Blancmange played at the Trinity in Bristol on Friday (31st). Mrs. K and I were planning to be there but sadly we couldn't make it on the night. Fortunately, my friend Mike did and so today it's my privilege to publish a guest post from someone who was right there in the thick of things.

 

Over to you, Mike....

 

This was my 3rd gig with Blancmange Mk II (for the purposes of this review Blancmange Mk I is 1978-1986 and Mk II is 2011 onwards.) First gig was in 2018 at the Fleece and second gig with Khayem in Stroud in 2022.

You do know what you are getting – a mixed up diet of 80’s bangers with the newer songs that Neil Arthur is obviously very proud of.

 

First up the support is The Remainder – Neil himself accompanied by Finlay Shakespeare on synthesiser and vocals and Liam Hutton on drums.  

 

I very much like their only album Evensong and was looking forward to hearing it in a live setting. They kick off at 8pm with ‘Broken Manhole Cover’ which is my favourite track that Neil Arthur has been involved with in the 21st Century so glad we got there on time! He tells us how nervous he is singing these songs even though it is night 8 of the tour and toys with various sheets before launching into each song.

 

 

The audience are respectful as they play 30 mins of the album including a cracking version of ‘Evensong’ and they finish with ‘Dead Farmer’s Field’ which has similarly ludicrous lyrics as ‘Broken Manhole Cover’. I’ve worked out the reason why I really like these tracks is that they remind me of Fujiya and Miyagi (who should be huge but I think people don’t give them the time of day to their name…)

 

 

 

 

Blancmange come on at 9pm comprising exactly the same band as The Remainder and start with ‘Again, I Wait For The World’ which we are told later has its origins in 1978/79 but they have only just finished it with Benge. Only the 45 years to finish the track… it’s a good song so I’m glad they bothered.

 

  

Next up ‘Reduced Voltage’ from 2022 – just over half the set consists of Blancmange Mk II tracks and for the most part the audience are fully into it. I did keep on glimpsing 4 males to my left who had various reactions to the songs on offer. 

 

The furthest away from me resembled Philip Serrell (apologies to those who don’t watch antiques shows designed for the over 80’s) but he was dancing like a mad thing…. maybe he’d discovered a rare ming vase earlier in the day? 

 

However, to my immediate right was a very enthusiastic young man (eg under 50) with two very miserable mates. The only comment miserable man no 1 made throughout the whole gig was ‘well that wasn’t very good was it’ referring to ‘Distant Storm’ two thirds through the set list. I did wonder whether miserables x 2 had come on the pretence that they were getting jelly, ice cream and blancmange and their enthusiastic mate hadn’t told them what they were really seeing – who knows??

 

  

Anyway aside#1 – are there any bands you see when they could play one track and you would go home happy? For me there are 3 bands from the early 80’s where this applies.

 

1) Lloyd Cole and the Commotions – Rattlesnakes

If Lloyd just came on, sang that song and walked off again I would be a happy camper.

 

2) Altered Images – Don’t Talk To Me About Love

Again if Clare came on and sang this and went off again I’d be more than happy.

 

3) Feel Me – Blancmange

I will ruffle a lot of feathers here as many people would believe that ‘Living On The Ceiling’ is more of a banger than ‘Feel Me’. Well each to their own and all that but I would argue that the 3 songs mentioned here represent why I was glad to be a teenager in the mid 80’s and not today..

 

So tracks 3 and 4 are ‘I've Seen The Word’ and ‘Feel Me’ and I could go home but we then have 2 songs from Blancmange Mk II including 'Mindset' from 2020. The rest of the evening goes by in a flash with highlights being ‘Last Night (I Dreamt I Had A Job)' and ‘We Are The Chemicals’. 

  

 

  

Last two songs of the main set are inevitably ‘Living On The Ceiling’ and ‘Blind Vision’. The former with the ‘la, la, la’s’ to the fore from the audience and the latter being more danceable than you remember.

 

 

  

The encore has ‘God’s Kitchen’ played for the first time this tour and the final track is ‘Don’t Tell Me’ (which was a bit mad as whilst I was stood there a mate who didn’t know I was at the concert said he was watching TOTP 1984 and the only good song on the show was ‘Don’t Tell Me’ and I could message him back saying ‘I’m watching it now!’.)

  

My mate Paul and I walked away having really enjoyed Blancmange yet again. Neil’s voice is still really strong and for a guy who is 66 this month looks remarkably fit. 

 

I’m off to see The Pet Shop Boys next week and will I enjoy it as much as this gig..? It’s hard to say but we need to keep on supporting the 80’s troubadours who made our tricky teenage years most bearable whilst they are still around.

 

Mike

 

...Wow, thanks so much Mike! I'll echo Neil's post-show sentiments on social media and say that this review was wonderful.

 

I'd also like to give credit and thanks to a few other audience members who I've borrowed from for this post:

PeterD1969 for posting the rather spectacular setlist here

mr and mrs thomas for photos #2 & 3

Suze for photo #4

Bradders for photo #5

...and Mike (again!) for the headline photo.

Off The Chart

Lace up your trainers, we're going back four decades to the Top 20 UK singles chart on 18th May 1984.

 

In January, I did a similar look back at 1974 and whilst I would hesitate to call this a series, a run of back-to-back Top Of The Pops episodes on BBC4 (kind of) inspired today's selection, although I also have to tip my hat to Jez at A History Of Dubious Taste for his delve into the early volumes of Now That's What I Call Music.

Being 1984, we're well into the era of the 12" single and the extended dance club remix frenzy. So, what you've got here are thirteen stretched out versions, some pushing the 8-9 minute mark, others bending the original songs into interesting shapes. And, honestly, could you actually dance to some of these?!

 

I'm guessing that the movie Footloose was pretty popular around this time as there are two singles from the soundtrack in the Top 20. Kenny Loggins' title theme song didn't have an extended version in 1984 so I've gone for one of the many 21st century fan-made versions that proliferate online.

Madonna's mate John 'Jellybean' Benitez remixes the other by Deniece Williams and also turns his hand to Automatic by Pointer Sisters. Benitez was ubiquitous at the time, even Talking Heads and Elvis Costello got the 'Jellybean' treatment.

Then up-and-coming writers and producers Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis kick things off with Just Be Good To Me, a new entry at #20. I don't particularly remember this song at the time but it's legendary status was sealed when Beats International covered it a few years later, securing a #1 in the process. Jam & Lewis went on to greater heights with Janet Jackson and all-new lows with The Human League.

Blissfully unaware of this in 1984, The Human League were still enjoying Top 20 hits, including The Lebanon, dropping to #12 this week from a peak of #11 the week before. An undeniably brilliant bassline, coupled with some of the most cringeworthy lyrics committed to vinyl, but I love it regardless.

Speaking of bass, there's some funk to make Mark King of Level 42 give a heavily insured thumbs up, from Jeffrey Osborne and Jocelyn Brown. If the latter sounds familiar, it's been sampled to death by artists such as George Michael (Too Funky), Utah Saints (Ohio) and OutKast (Spaghetti Junction).

 

If you prefer your guitar histrionic, look no further than Queen at #4. Thanks to Lady K's early obsession with Queen's Greatest Hits, I am now more familiar with the back catalogue of Mercury and co. than I ever wanted to be. This 12" version is rumbling along quite nicely until in the last minute or so it decides to go all Stars On 45 and give the listener a chopped up Greatest Hits medley. 

Blancmange and O.M.D. respectively deliver one of my favourite and least favourite singles by said artists, I'll leave you to decide which is which. In a bizarre twist of fate, I will have seen both bands live in 2024, O.M.D.in March and Blancmange at the end of this month.

Just the one reggae hit in the Top 20 but it's a goodie. One Love/People Get Ready was a posthumous smash for Bob Marley & The Wailers, peaking at #5 in it's fifth week and promoting the compilation Legend, released two weeks before. Suffice to say, it's one of the greatest greatest hits albums ever.

So, to the top spot and enjoying the third of four weeks at #1 is Duran Duran with The Reflex. Heavily remixed from the album version, the 12" version takes things even further. Mrs. K and I have enjoyed many a slightly tipsy lounge disco dance to this one.

As with the 1974 selection, I've gone for a Marvel UK comics header. The Mighty World Of Marvel was on it's second incarnation by this time. The May 1984 issue actually came out in April but I've included this one for the gorgeous painted art by Alan Davis, whose epic Captain Britain storyline with Alan Moore was coming to an end. 

 

At the other end of the spectrum was The Thing Is Big Ben, in which Marvel UK decided that what kids really needed was the rocky one from The Fantastic Four in his own weekly comic, with a title that tenuously linked him to the iconic London landmark. Add to that reprints of Iron Man and Captain America (the latter replaced by Power Man & Iron Fist) and you can understand why editors felt the need to throw in a free cap to convince kids to hand over their 18p. The cover price was prescient: 18 weeks later, the kids remained unmoved and the title quietly folded into the ongoing Spider-Man comic, as so many others before it had done.

 

1) Just Be Good To Me (Album Version By Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis): The S.O.S. Band (#20)

2) I'm Falling (Album Version By Colin Fairley & Bob Andrews): The Bluebells (#19)

3) Stay With Me Tonight (Extended Remixed Version By Bill Bottrell): Jeffrey Osborne (#18)

4) Somebody Else's Guy (Remix By John Morales & Sergio Munzibai): Jocelyn Brown (#13)

5) The Lebanon (Extended) (Remix By The Human League, Chris Thomas & Hugh Padgham): The Human League (#12)

6) Don't Tell Me (U.S. Dance Remix By Mark Kamins): Blancmange (#9)

7) Let's Hear It For The Boy (Extended Remixed Version By John 'Jellybean' Benitez): Deniece Williams (#8)

8) Locomotion (Razormaid Remix By Joseph Watt): O.M.D. (#7)

9) Footloose (VJAR 2016 Extended Dance Remix By Alex Ritton): Kenny Loggins (#6)

10) One Love/People Get Ready (Dub Version By Godwin Logie): Bob Marley & The Wailers (#5)

11) I Want To Break Free (Extended Mix By Queen & Reinhold Mack): Queen (#4)

12) Automatic (Special Remix By John 'Jellybean' Benitez): Pointer Sisters (#2)

13) The Reflex (Dance Mix By Nile Rodgers & Jason Corsaro): Duran Duran (#1)

Off The Chart (1:27:14) (KF) (Mega)