Because You Demanded More, The Return Of Versions Galore!

Side 2 of a cassette compilation of cover versions, recorded 26th November 1999.

When I posted Side 1 in July 2024, I remarked "Who would have thought a quarter of a century on, many of these artists would still be recording and touring?"

The more sobering realisation is how many artists are sadly no longer with us since I originally recorded the mixtape at the end of the last century: Brian Wilson, Marc Moreland, Tony Ogden, Charlie Watts, Cathal Coughlan, Rod McKuen...and that's just in the first four songs of Side 2 alone.

The other thing that struck me was the 1993 was clearly a good year for cover versions, as demonstrated here by Spell aka Boyd Rice and Rose McDowall, Barry Adamson and Louise Ness, One Dove (Dot sings Dolly!) and Slowdive all turning in versions that hold up well against the originals.

And despite Frente! having the greater commercial success with their cover of a cover, it's the earlier acoustic driven version of Bizarre Love Triangle by Devine & Statton aka Ian Pinchcombe and Alison Statton that wins hands down every time. 

1) Do It Again (Album Version): Wall Of Voodoo vs. The Beach Boys (1987)

2) She's A Rainbow (Left Hand Blue Mix By Fluke): World Of Twist vs. The Rolling Stones (1991)

3) Shiny Happy People: The Fatima Mansions vs. R.E.M. (1991)

4) Seasons In The Sun: Spell vs. Rod McKuen (1993)

5) Jolene (Edit By Khayem): One Dove vs. Dolly Parton (1993)

6) Some Velvet Morning: Slowdive vs. Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood (1993)

7) Broken English (7" Extended) (Remix By Sunscreem & Phil Bodger): Sunscreem vs. Marianne Faithfull (1992)

8) White Rabbit: The Shower Scene From Psycho vs. The Great Society with Grace Slick (1985)

9) Purple Haze: Soft Cell vs. The Jimi Hendrix Experience (1983)

10) "Heroes": Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie vs. David Bowie (1990)

11) Bizarre Love Triangle: Devine & Statton vs. New Order (1989)

12) Je T'Aime ... Moi Non Plus: Barry Adamson & Louise Ness vs. Serge Gainsbourg & Jane Birkin (1993)

1983: Soul Inside EP: 9

1985: White Rabbit/Cinnamon Girl EP: 8

1987: Happy Planet: 1

1989: Bizarre Love Triangle EP: 11

1990: Love Child EP: 10

1991: Bertie's Brochures: 3

1991: She's A Rainbow EP: 2

1992: Broken English EP: 7

1993: Seasons In The Sun: 4

1993: The Negro Inside Me EP: 12

1993: Volume Seven: 6

1993: Why Don't You Take Me EP: 5

Side Two (46:15) (GD) (M)

Side One here

In September 2022, I posted another all-covers compilation, Hokey Karaoke (Volume One), which repeats some of the tracks from Versions Galore, and can be found here

Muzik For Hair Gel

Day 2 of the Eighties 12" Weekender with a new selection, based on an old idea.

Digging out archive Dubhed selections to include with yesterday's post, I'd planned to include Muzik For Hairspray, a mixtape I'd compiled circa 2000 and posted here in May 2021.

I was barely six months into the blog, Muzik For Hairspray was my 29th post and I had no expectation at the time that five years and over 1,500 posts later, I may want to re-post the selection...so I deleted it.

In recreating the original mixtape (again), I was inspired to create a companion set, inspiringly titled Muzik For Hair Gel.

The idea was simple enough: use exactly the same artists and sequence of the Muzik For Hairspray mixtape*, just different songs, and ideally ones that I hadn't used on a previous 12"/80s compilation. And it was that last bit that took the most time!

That said, I'm pretty happy with the end result. After the controversy of 1979's Pop Musik on the previous comp, today's song by M (aka Robin Scott) was genuinely released in the 1980s...just. 

Official Secrets was only released on 7" in the UK and many other countries, though the Spanish put the full length album version on theirs, and Mexico went one step further by putting it on a promo 12". Tick!

I've used the dub remix of Love Calling by Sir William of Idol in a previous Best of Billy selection, so I stuck with the album version. As with Mexico, it was Australia to the rescue this time, releasing this version on a promo 12" single. Double tick!

This is the fourth appearance on this blog of Boom! There She Was (Sonic Property Mix) by Scritti Politti. However, whilst the previous three selections all featured an edit included on the UK 12", this time it's the unexpurgated 9-minute version direct from the U.S.A. 

Divine makes a welcome reappearance, again teaming up with Bobby Orlando for Love Reaction. But what 1983 12" single could possibly have inspired their own dancefloor smash?

* With one exception.

Having recorded this selection first, I then revisited Muzik For Hairspray, only to discover too late that I've accidentally missed off the last song on Side 1 when I originally posted the tracklist. So, apologies to Belouis Some for missing out on Muzik For Hair Gel. Them's the showbiz breaks, I guess!

This weekend's selections are dedicated to Mike, his mates and anyone else making their way to the Milton Keynes Bowl for today's Forever Now festival, featuring several of today's artists and some unbelievably great headliners to boot. Have a fab day!

And a very happy birthday to Green Gartside, who is 70 today!

Side One

1) Official Secrets (Album Version By Robin Scott): M ft. Brigit Vinchon (1980)

2) Love Calling (Album Version By Keith Forsey): Billy Idol (1982)

3) Cccan't You See... (8:15 To Nowhere Mix By Tony Mansfield): Vicious Pink (1984)

4) Love Reaction (12" Version By Bobby Orlando): Divine (1983)

5) Junk (Remixed By Harvey Goldberg): Bronski Beat (1984)

6) Dissidents (The Search For Truth Part II) (Remix By François Kevorkian & Dominick Maita): Thomas Dolby (1984)

7) Where The Heart Is (12" Version By Mike Thorne & Harvey Goldberg): Soft Cell (1982)

Side Two

1) Boom! There She Was (Sonic Property Mix By Steve Thompson & Michael Barbiero) (Full Length): Scritti Politti ft. Roger Troutman (1988)

2) Channel Z (Rock Mix By Don Was & Michael Hutchinson): The B-52's (1989)

3) On Your Own (New York Mix By Steve Thompson & Michael Barbiero): Pete Shelley (1986)

4) Let's All Make A Bomb (New Version By B.E.F. & Greg Walsh): Heaven 17 (1983)

5) Shock (The Shep Pettibone Mix): The Psychedelic Furs (1987)

6) It's Called A Heart (Extended) (Remix By Depeche Mode & Daniel Miller): Depeche Mode (1985)

7) Without You (12" Mix By Tim Friese-Greene): Talk Talk (1984)

Side One (45:52) (KF) (Mega)

Side Two (46:19) (KF) (Mega)

You can find Muzik For Hairspray here

And, for your further 12/80s listening pleasure:

Flying In The Face Of Fashion (2022)

Just Walk Don't Talk (2022)

Fun To Think (2023)

No Games (2024)

Party Down, Rock The House (2024)

Cover Stories

I hope you're sitting comfortably, this is a mammoth Marc Almond post...

 

On Wednesday 18th September, Mrs. K and I spent an evening in the company of Mr. Almond and band at the Bristol Beacon. I first - and last - saw Marc live in concert on 11th October 1988 (and wrote about it in 2022) so, at just shy of 36 years, it's the biggest gap between gigs that I've been to by the same artist.

In 1988, I had to miss the tail end of the show to get the last bus home (!). No such worries in 2024 but on both occasions it was a weekday concert with work the following day. Nearly four decades on, this can be a more grueling experience, especially as (for me, at least), it was my third gig in the space of a week. There were consequences later.

Having not been to the Bristol Beacon since it was renamed and relaunched in 2020, this was the third time Mrs. K had seen a gig there this year, after O.M.D. and Future Islands. This was notably different for a couple of reasons:

1) It was a fully seated show;

2) We had seats in the lower tier, rather than the stalls.

 

Due to the usual logistical challenges of crossing Gloucestershire to get home from work, grab a bite to eat with Clan K, then drive into Bristol, it was inevitable that the support act, Alex Lipinski, wouldn't get a look in. 

 

I've not (yet) heard any of Alex's music, but I'm always disappointed to miss an opening artist and we at least had the consolation that he joined Marc and the band onstage for a couple of songs later in the evening.

As we entered the venue, it was notably quieter in the foyer and up the stairs than on our previous visits and as I proffered the tickets for checking, the usher brightly but ominously said that we were welcome to swap our lower tier tickets for the stalls if we wanted to. We politely declined, but the whiff of an undersold show was suddenly apparent.

We made our way to our seats, a narrow and precarious front row with a higher row behind separated by a wired barrier. No such protection for us from pitching over the front and down into the stalls below. What we did get was a fantastic elevated and full view of the stage. Unfortunately, we also got a view of just how undersold the gig was.

There was a delay to the start of the show, presumably to persuade a few more audience members to swap their tickets. These gaps weren't much smaller as the lights went down, we had plenty of spaces in our row, and it didn't look like there was anyone in the upper tier at all. At least Marc won't see what a piss poor turnout there's been, I thought to myself.

 

The band came on first - all eight of them - including Neal X aka Neal Whitmore, infamously with Sigue Sigue Sputnik but arguably now

 better known as Marc's foil since the mid-1990s. After a few seconds to settle, the band launch into I'm The Light, the opening track of Marc's current album, I'm Not Anyone.

And then Marc himself arrives, all in black (hair included) with the obligatory shades, taking to the microphone, grandly proclaiming

It's not the Devil that you conjure
When you turn your back on me
You'll just be looking in the shadows
I'm the light, I'm the light
I'm the only one you'll see.

I'm The Light was originally released by Blue Cheer in 1971 and tonight the opening song of a setlist that was entirely comprised of cover versions. Marc's a great storyteller in his own right, but his career has also seen him as a consumate interpreter of other people's songs, going right back to Soft Cell's first #1 in 1981, featuring cover versions on both vinyl sides, with Tainted Love and Where Did Your Heart Go.

I'm Not Anyone is as good as any of the many covers albums that Marc has previously released (and that's not meant to be faint praise). Surprisingly, it's dispatched early on, four consecutive songs and then just one more, right at the end. It's less a reflection of the album's quality and more of the sheer number of songs Marc has covered in the last forty-odd years.

After a moving version of Trouble Of The World, joined up front by Bryan Chambers, we then get an expansive and delightful tour of Marc's back catalogue. First up a brace of early solo releases with a majestic version of A Womans Story, followed by The Heel, respectively made famous by Cher and Eartha Kitt. I was also delighted that The House Is Haunted (By The Echo Of Your Last Goodbye), my first solo Marc Almond single purchase in 1985, also got an airing later in the evening.

 

There's an introduction (and frequently an anecdote) between each song, Marc acknowledging the songwriters as well as the performers, and explaining what the song or artist means to him. We're about 25 to 30 minutes in when Marc then takes to his chair and tells us about Charles Aznavour.

As any Marc fan will know, two songwriters that he has been hugely influenced by and revisited frequently in his career are Charles Aznavour and Jacques Brel. The latter featured later, but what we got at this point was four Aznavour songs, back-to-back.

 

Starting with a stripped back version of The Boss Is Dead, Neal also seated and swapping guitar for thigh slaps, they're all great performances, though it did feel that the energy dipped a little. Or maybe that was just me. 

 

The exertions of a full-on day at work and getting to the gig clearly caught up with me and I was mortified to get a poke from Mrs. K, as I was apparently - and noticeably - nodding off at one point. And during Yesterday, When I Was Young to boot. Oh, the irony! It wouldn't have happened if I'd been standing...

Suitably chastened and alert, I was immediately rewarded with a version of Terrapin, the Syd Barrett song that featured on Marc & The Mambas' debut album, Untitled. This was followed by Gloomy Sunday, the Billie Holiday classic, also interpreted by the Mambas on their second and final album, Torment And Toreros. 

 

The studio version of Gloomy Sunday was part of a medley and included a snippet of Bobby Darin's Dream Lover. Marc revisited the song in 2007 for the covers album Stardom Road and fittingly, it was the next song in this setlist. Marc then performed the title track of said album which, over the course of the show, got as many songs (5) as his current effort.

It was apparent by now that the song selection skated and danced back and forth across Marc's long and storied and deep cuts were as likely as the big hits. One Night Of Sin, recorded in 1952 (released in 1956) by Smiley Lewis but famous for the later version by Elvis Presley, is a prime example. 

 

I think Marc's version was an exclusive for the soundtrack of Jez Butterworth's 1997 film Mojo. I got it via a music magazine freebie CD (sadly, not Mojo!) around the same time and it's since popped up on the deluxe reissue of contemporary album Open All Night. It's a rousing, showstopping version in it's live setting.

Marc and band were far from done, though. There were inevitable nods to Marc's other teen idols, David Bowie and Steve Harley, the latter with a hilarious introductory anecdote before Marc (eventually) got a to a beautiful version of Sebastian.

 

From there, Marc and the band switched up a gear for the final leg, all the big hits with a big, big sound: The Days Of Pearly Spencer, Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart, Soft Cell's breakthrough Tainted Love and Jacky, the second Jacques Brel song of the night albeit better known for Scott Walker's translation.

 

Technically, the last few songs were encores but, from our vantage point, Mrs. K and I could clearly see that on the couple of times that Marc said he was leaving the stage, he barely made it as far as the door before turning on his heels and heading back to the microphone. 

After a stirring rendition of I Close My Eyes And Count To Ten (sadly, no Sarah Cracknell, as on the studio version), it really was time for the final song, the title song of I'm Not Anyone. Despite acknowledging that he'd been suffering from a cold all week, Marc was in fine voice throughout and delivered a stunning show, nearly two hours, the spaces between songs filled with one brilliant story after another.

In true showbiz fashion, Marc gathered the band in a row for a final round of bows and applause. Possibly due to the late start and the strict curfew, the house lights abruptly came up before the stage had been cleared. Marc will have inevitably clocked the rows of empty stall seats in his direct line of sight and it seemed a rather cruel stroke, after such a wonderful performance. 

 

I'm not sure when or if I will get to see Marc perform live in concert again, but this show was one for Mrs. K and I to treasure always. 

...So, how can I possibly hope to recapture a 26-song, 2-hour show in a Dubhed selection? 

 

I briefly toyed with the idea of doing it in two parts, as with the recent Lloyd Cole concert. However, whereas that was two separate and distinct sets, Marc's show was a continuous sequence of songs, so strap in, there's a mega 100-minute selection coming up.

Since my 2022 post, I've pretty much filled the gaps in my Marc Almond collection, up to and including the current album, so recreating the setlist was mostly straightforward. There were a few challenges, however.

To the best of my knowledge, Marc hasn't (yet) recorded The Boss Is Dead and premiered it live on the current tour, with no bootlegs currently available online. To preserve the entire setlist, I've taken the unusual step of including the original English language version by Charles Aznavour from 1962. Marc pretty much delivered the song as you're hearing it here. 

Likewise, I don't believe that there's a studio version of What Makes A Man A Man, but the live version featured here was released as a single and on the album 12 Years Of Tears in 1992.

As mentioned above, Gloomy Sunday appeared on the Marc & The Mambas album Torment And Toreros as a medley with an original song (Narcissus) and another cover (Vision by Peter Hammill). The medley runs to nearly 12 minutes so I've carefully edited the relevant section, retaining the Dream Lover intro.  

 

Marc & The Mambas' debut Untitled featured the first of many versions of If You Go Away that Marc has recorded. I found it deeply moving then and still do now; here though I've opted for a later, warmer version that Marc featured on 1989 album Jacques, entirely dedicated to covers of Brel songs.

Sebastian by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel is another cover that has been performed by Marc for the first time on this tour. Fortunately, I found a live bootleg from the Brighton show a couple of nights before, including (most) of Marc's hilarious Harley tale whilst Martin Watkins gamely ad-libs on piano.

It would have been sensible to go for the chart-busting version of Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart with Gene Pitney on board. Naturally, I've gone for the solo recording that appeared on initial versions of The Stars We Are until it was replaced by the subsequent, hugely successful duet. I prefer the former, to be honest.

If all of this has left you wanting even more Marc Almond, then I've also reactivated links to two previous posts / selections:

A Promise Of Heaven Or Hell In Your Song (Jan 2022)

Playing Up The Vamp (May 2023)

A final thanks to Mrs. K for supplying several of the photos accompanying today's post and for being there with me on the night. A wonderful experience, even more wonderful for sharing it. Oh, and thanks for that subtle poke during the Aznavour suite!

Phew, I need a lie down after all that…

 

1) I'm The Light (Cover of Blue Cheer): Marc Almond (2024)

2) Gone With The Wind (Is My Love) (Cover of Rita & The Tiaras): Marc Almond (2024)

3) Elusive Butterfly (Cover of Bob Lind): Marc Almond (2024)

4) Trouble Of The World (Cover of traditional song / Mahalia Jackson): Marc Almond ft. Bryan Chambers (2024)

5) A Womans Story (Cover of Cher): Marc Almond (1986)

6) The Heel (Cover of Eartha Kitt): Marc Almond (1984)

7) The Boss Is Dead: Charles Aznavour (1962)

8) Yesterday, When I Was Young (Cover of Charles Aznavour): Marc Almond (1993)

9) What Makes A Man A Man (Live @ The Royal Albert Hall, London) (Cover of Charles Aznavour): Marc Almond (1992)

10) I Have Lived (Cover of Charles Aznavour): Marc Almond (2007)

11) Terrapin (Cover of Syd Barrett): Marc & The Mambas (1982)

12) Gloomy Sunday (Cover of Billie Holiday): Marc & The Mambas (1983)

13) Dream Lover (Cover of Bobby Darin): Marc Almond (2007)

14) One Night Of Sin (Cover of Smiley Lewis): Marc Almond (1997)

15) How Can I Be Sure (Album Version) (Cover of The Young Rascals): Marc Almond (2017)

16) The London Boys (Cover of David Bowie): Marc Almond (2007)

17) Stardom Road (Cover of Third World War): Marc Almond (2007)

18) If You Go Away (Cover of Jacques Brel): Marc Almond (1989)

19) Sebastian (Live @ Brighton Dome, Brighton) (Cover of Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel): Marc Almond (2024)

20) The House Is Haunted (By The Echo Of Your Last Goodbye) (Single Version) (Cover of Paul Whiteman presents Ramona): Marc Almond ft. The Willing Sinners (1985)

21) Extract From "Trois Chanson De Bilitis" / The Days Of Pearly Spencer (Album Version) (Cover of Claude Debussy / David McWilliams): Marc Almond ft. Sally Bradshaw (1991)

22) Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart (Album Version) (Cover of Gene Pitney): Marc Almond (1988)

23) Tainted Love (Single Version) (Cover of Gloria Jones): Soft Cell (1981)

24) Jacky (7" Version) (Cover of Jacques Brel): Marc Almond (1991)    

25) I Close My Eyes And Count To Ten (Cover of Dusty Springfield): Marc Almond ft. Sarah Cracknell (2007)

26) I'm Not Anyone (Cover of Sammy Davis, Jr.): Marc Almond (2024) 

 

1962: The Time Is Now: 7 

1981: Tainted Love EP: 23

1982: Untitled: 11

1983: Torment And Toreros: 12

1984: Tenderness Is A Weakness EP: 6 

1985: The House Is Haunted (By The Echo Of Your Last Goodbye) EP: 20

1986: A Womans Story EP: 5

1988: The Stars We Are: 22

1989: Jacques: 18

1991: Jacky EP: 24

1991: Tenement Symphony: 21

1993: Absinthe: The French Album: 8

1993: 12 Years Of Tears: 9

1997: Mojo OST: 14

2007: Stardom Road: 10, 13, 16, 17, 25

2017: Shadows And Reflections: 15

2024: I'm Not Anyone: 1, 2, 3, 4, 26

2024: Live In Brighton 2024 (bootleg): 19            

 

Cover Stories (1:38:51) (KF) (Mega)

Decade I: 1981

Side 2 of a mixtape compiled 4th February 1990.

 

After setting the bar high with side 1, could I hope to match it on the flipside? Well, this is 1981 we're talking about here...

 

Although I didn't start buying records in earnest for another few years, when I had a Saturday job and therefore money to spend, 1980 and 1981 were perhaps the two years when my love of music became an obsession. 

 

I started sticking posters on my wall, mostly from Look-In, occasionally Smash Hits or one of the other pop mags that included pin-ups and lyrics for all the chart hits. I used to send blank cassettes to my uncle so that he could borrow albums from his local library and help build my collection. I was fascinated by the New Romantic and synthpop bands that would pop up with alarming regularity on kids' TV shows. 

 

And pop videos! It was a perfect time, musically speaking at least.

Making a return visit on this side are Visage, The Human League and O.M.D., others for the first time but destined to reappear in later volumes. Again, I'm really happy with the sequencing of this selection, although I ran out of tape on the original recording and had to go back and fade out Heaven 17 early in order to squeeze in Gary Numan. No such ignominy in this digital age, so you get the full version of (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang, as intended.

I will return to this series over the next few weekends but I have to confess that Decade volumes II and III (1982-1985) were lost many years ago on my travels. I don't have a note of the track listings either so I will aim to recreate selections that reflect what was in my collection at the time.

In the meantime, get that trench coat on, back comb that hair and go stand on a street corner looking moody whilst listening to this on your Walkman!

1) Vienna (Album Version): Ultravox

2) Europe After The Rain (Album Version): John Foxx

3) Mind Of A Toy (Album Version): Visage

4) Passionate Friend (Album Version): The Teardrop Explodes

5) Pretty In Pink (Album Version): The Psychedelic Furs

6) Grey Day (Album Version): Madness

7) Bedsitter (Album Version): Soft Cell

8) The Sound Of The Crowd (Album Version): The Human League

9) Joan Of Arc (Album Version): O.M.D.

10) New Life (Remix): Depeche Mode

11) (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang (Album Version): Heaven 17

12) She's Got Claws ('Modern Dance' Edit): Gary Numan

Side Two (46:24) (KF) (Mega)

The Pain You Drive Into The Heart Of Me

Three versions of Tainted Love today, starting with Hannah Peel, performing live (with music box) at No Alibis bookshop in Belfast in December 2010. First time I've heard Hannah's version and it's mesmerising.

Like most of my age, I was first introduced to the song via Soft Cell's smash hit version, which spent 2 weeks as UK #1 in September 1981 and an impressive 30 weeks in the Top 100 between August 1981 and August 1982. I didn't see the video for the song until 1989, when Non-Stop Exotic Video Show was re-released on budget priced VHS and I bought a copy from my local Woolworths.

It would be remiss of me not to include Gloria Jones' original version of Tainted Love from 1964. I couldn't find a contemporary TV performance on YouTube, so here's a fan-made video by Vitalijs Neudahins, using footage of Gloria singing another song (Heartbeat) on Hollywood A Go Go. 

 

Incredible to believe now that this version, written and produced by Ed Cobb was originally a B-side and a flop single in the UK. In fact, even when re-recorded (produced by Marc Bolan) and re-released in 1976 due to it's popularity in Northern Soul clubs, it still failed to chart.

 

Ghost Light

Celebrating Sylvia Syms, 6th January 1934 to 27th January 2023.

Not to be confused with American jazz singer aka Sylvia Blagman, Sylvia Syms was born in London, got into the acting profession and built up a hugely impressive body of work in a career spanning more than six decades. 

 

The handful of tributes I've read have inevitably been drawn to Sylvia's bravura performance in 1958 film Ice Cold In Alex, made familiar to a whole new audience in the 1980s when Carlsberg repurposed a clip for a hugely popular ad campaign. There's also mention of her latter performances, particularly as The Queen Mother in Stephen Frears' 2006 film The Queen, appearing with Helen Mirren in the title role.

 

For me though, one of Sylvia Syms' standout performances, mentioned if at all only in passing, was in Doctor Who in 1989. In what subsequently became the final series of the original run, Sylvia appeared as Mrs. Pritchard in the three-part story Ghost Light. Should this ever come up a pub quiz question, the very last scene to be recorded for the original series's 26-year run featured Sylvia Sims and Katherine Schlesinger.

 

Personally, I think it's one of the best Doctor Who stories of either incarnation, with a brilliantly gripping yet frequently oblique story and standout performances not only from the leads Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred, but guest stars including Ian Hogg, Sharon Duce, Carl Forgione and Frank Windsor. Sylvia's realisation of Mrs. Pritchard is sublime, adding a depth and nuance to the character that less skilled actors would have missed.

 

Long suffering readers will recall - possibly with horror - that I've occasionally posted a selection of songs drawing on a particular actor's career in film and TV. Previous victims stars have included Faye Dunaway, Elizabeth Taylor and Juliette Binoche. Today's selection with apologies is a dubious tribute to Sylvia Syms.

Unfortunately, as far as I'm aware, no-one had yet to record and release a song called Ice Cold In Alex and I had to shoehorn in a Ghost Light song, breaking my usually strict rule of 'namesake' songs only. By coincidence, there's another Doctor Who reference in here: Frazer Hines appeared in the show as a hugely popular travelling companion in the late 1960s; his short-lived pop career was arguably less, er, popular.

I couldn't decide between the two choices for Together (which I think was Sylvia's final film role, released in 2018) so I included them both, topping and tailing the selection. Both very different, it has to be said.

Another tough choice was Absolute Beginners: the film's title track by David Bowie or the 1981 single by The Jam? Weller won out.

Before today, you may not have realised you needed a nearly-ten minute version of Love Story by Andy Williams. From today, you may realise that you don't need a nearly-ten minute version of Love Story by Andy Williams. It's a kitsch keeper for me.

 

Sylvia Syms' CV is such that a twelve song selection could easily accommodate some much-loved (by me) artists such as Tim Bowness, The Jazz Butcher, Soft Cell and Tom Robinson. 

 

And then there's No Time For Tears by The Marvelettes, a pure pop classic that was a mere B-side - a B-side!!! - back in 1965.

 

All in, just over fifty minutes of music as a thank you to a brilliant, beautiful actor.

 

Rest in peace, Sylvia Syms. 

 

Today's selection is also dedicated to Rol, of the wonderful My Top Ten blog.

 

1) Together (Edit): Nine Inch Nails (2020)

2) Lost In The Ghost Light (Giallo): Tim Bowness (2017)

3) Love Story (Where Do I Begin) (Long Version): Andy Williams (1979)

4) Absolute Beginners (Single Version): The Jam (1981)

5) The Human Jungle (Extended Mix By John A. Rivers): The Jazz Butcher (1985)

6) Blue Murder (Album Version By Todd Rundgren): Tom Robinson Band (1978)

7) Original Sin (Dance Version By Nile Rodgers): INXS (1984)

8) Punch And Judy Man: Frazer Hines (1968)

9) Run Wild, Run Free: Claudine Longet (1970)

10) No Time For Tears: The Marvelettes (1965)

11) Where The Heart Is (12" Version By Mike Thorne & Harvey Goldberg) (Early Fade): Soft Cell (1982)

12) Together: William Shatner ft. Lemon Jelly (2004)

 

Ghost Light (A Tribute To Sylvia Syms) (52:24) (Box) (Mega)

Think For Yourself And Question Authority

I'm a big fan of Richard Norris and Dave Ball's respective and prolific careers in music, so it's little surprise that I also love their work together as The Grid.

As well as hit singles and albums of their own, The Grid were ubiquitous remixers throughout the 1990s and I'd often buy a single by an artist that I wasn't all that fussed about because there was a remix by The Grid included.

Today's selection therefore focuses on The Grid as remix artists, drawing from 1990 to 1994, including a remix of themselves (featuring Dr. Timothy Leary) and Dave's former band, Soft Cell. Your Loving Arms by Billie Ray Martin initially scraped into the UK Top 40 in November 1994, but triumphantly returned to #6 when re-released in May 1995.

 

Some personal favourites from Sparks and Brian Eno, a couple of rarer tracks by Stex (featuring Johnny Marr) and Ragged Jack and single remixes of Sophie B. Hawkins and If? that I think improved on the original versions. 

 

And what better way to end than with World Of Twist? Their album Quality Street was produced by The Grid and deserved so much better than #50 in the UK album chart, as single Sweets (criminally peaked at #58) attests.

1) Still Feel The Rain (The Grid Mix): Stex ft. Johnny Marr (1990)

2) Your Loving Arms (Original Radio Edit By BRM & The Grid): Billie Ray Martin (1994)

3) Origins Of Dance (Electronic Future Mix By The Grid): Dr. Timothy Leary Meets The Grid (1990)

4) When Do I Get To Sing 'My Way' (The Grid's Frank And Nancy Mix): Sparks (1994)

5) Memorabilia '91 (Extended Remix By The Grid): Soft Cell (1991)

6) Saturday's Angels (Elevator Heaven Mix By The Grid): If? (1991)

7) Right Beside You (The Grid 7" Mix): Sophie B. Hawkins (1994)

8) Ali Click (Long Trance Mix By The Grid): Brian Eno (1992)

9) Grid Radical (Twilight Mix By The Grid): Ragged Jack (1992)

10) Sweets (Album Version By The Grid): World Of Twist (1991)

Think For Yourself And Question Authority (55:09) (KF) (Mega)