#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)

Wonderful Life

On the seventh day of the week, seven songs from Stevie Wonder.

A companion piece of sorts to The O'Jays selection from a couple of weekends ago, today's Dubhed delight delves into some deep, extended Stevie Wonder workouts.

Without making this an hour-long mix - which I could have, easily - I have had to miss out some landmark albums, namely Where I'm Coming From (1971) and Music Of My Mind (1972). Otherwise, Stevie's run of classics through the 1970s is well represented.

Nicolas Laugier aka The Reflex is hopefully a familiar name to most of you. He has been producing 'revisions' of classic songs for years now, initially as a labour of love, now as a full-time occupation.

Don't Make Me Wait Too Long was originally written and performed by Stevie Wonder for Roberta Flack, which she recorded for her 1979 album Roberta Flack Featuring Donny Hathaway. 

The Reflex Re√ision takes the multitracks from the original recording session, including Stevie's unreleased lead vocal. to create an nine-and-a-half minute, well, wonder. 

From the 1980s, I've included the promo 12" version of Master Blaster (Jammin') which extends the original Hotter Than July album version for another minute or so. Part-Time Lover is also represented by it's 12" mix, at eight minutes twice the length of the version which opens 1985 album In Square Circle.

And what other way to wrap things up than with the full length album version of Isn't She Lovely from Songs In The Key Of Life?

A soulful Sunday with Stevie. What could be better?

1) Maybe Your Baby (1972)

2) Don't Make Me Wait Too Long (The Reflex Re√ision By Nicolas Laugier) (2020)

3) Master Blaster (Jammin') (12" Version) (1980)

4) Boogie On Reggae Woman (Album Version) (1974)

5) Part-Time Lover (12" Version) (1985)

6) Visions (1973)

7) Isn't She Lovely (Album Version) (1976)

1972: Talking Book: 1

1973: Innervisions: 6

1974: Fulfillingness' First Finale: 4

1976: Songs In The Key Of Life: 7

1980: Master Blaster EP: 3

1985: Part-Time Lover EP: 5

2020: Don't Make Me Wait Too Long EP: 2

Wonderful Life (47:58) (GD) (M)

A Long Soulful Sunday

Ooops, sorry, more like a late soulful Sunday...

I hope this makes up for the later than usual post.

Happy Sunday, everyone!

 

1) Let 'Em In (DJ Reverend P Edit By Patrice Larrar) (Cover of Wings): Billy Paul (2016)

2) When Love Begins Friendship Ends: Bobby Womack (1978)

3) Bridge Over Troubled Water (Live @ Fillmore West Concert Hall, San Francisco) (Cover of Simon & Garfunkel): Aretha Franklin (1971)

4) Living For The City: Stevie Wonder (1973)

5) Let The Drums Speak (mass Thomas Edit): Bah Samba (2023)

6) Funkier Than A Mosquito's Tweeter (Album Version): Nina Simone (1974)

7) It Won't Be Long (Late Show, Live @ Fillmore East, New York): Sly & The Family Stone (1968) 

8) Make Me Say It Again Girl (Part 1 & 2): The Isley Brothers (1975)

9) Keep On Keeping On (Album Version): Curtis Mayfield (1971)

1971: Aretha Live At Fillmore West: 3

1971: Roots: 9

1973:Innervisions: 4

1974: It Is Finished: 6

1975: The Heat Is On: 8

1978: Pieces: 2

2004: Thee Encyclopedia Of Ecstacy: 7

2016: The Legacy Of Soul: 1

2023: Let The Drums Speak EP: 5

A Long Soulful Sunday (1:00:47) (KF) (Mega)

Wonder, Man

A very happy birthday to Stevie Wonder aka Stevland Hardaway Morris, born Stevland Hardaway Judkins on 13th May 1950.

 

Of course, Stevie's song Happy Birthday wasn't intended to celebrate himself but recorded in 1980 to support the call for a national holiday in the USA to mark the birth of Martin Luther King. It took until 1983 for MLK Day to be signed into law, 1986 for it to be first observed and 2000 for official observance to be included in each state's law. 

 

By coincidence, yesterday's post featured Ellen Beth Abdi's stunning cover of Ordinary Pain from Stevie's 1976 magnum opus Songs In The Key Of Life. His version runs to nearly six and a half minutes. The second part (the "reply") is sung by Shirley Brewer, so here's Stevie alone on the first half.

As mentioned, I saw Ellen Beth Abdi live in concert on Sunday night. Both she and the headline act have covered Stevie Wonder songs, although neither were performed at this particular show.

The other song covered is Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing, originally a single from another of Stevie's classic albums, 1973's Innervisions. Here's the man himself performing the song over four decades later.

Rounding things off with a superb performance from German TV show Musik Laden / Beat Club in 1974. Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing is included in the set (and also available on You Tube) but I've gone for a rousing version of Superstition. 

 

Have a good one, sir.

There's No Town Like Motown

I'll confess that I've cheated a little: whilst all of these artists have been on the Motown roster, not all of the tracks in today's selection were released on the label. But when the songs are this amazing, I'm not going to complain.

Some stone cold classics here, along with a few cover versions and perhaps relatively lesser known songs. No surprise that a third of the selection was written by the mighty Holland-Dozier-Holland but just look at the rest of the songwriters:

Norman Whitfield, William 'Mickey' Stevenson, Barrett Strong, Marvin Gaye, Harvey Fuqua, Johnny Bristol, Vernon Bullock, Nickolas Ashford, Valerie Simpson, Berry Gordy, Jr., Anna Gordy Gaye, Iris Gordy, Janie Bradford, Elgie Stover, Anette Minor, Jack Goga, Johnny Bristol, Peter Green and Ed Cobb, not forgetting Jim Morrison, John Densmore, Ray Manzarek, Robbie Krieger, John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

 

My parents didn't own any Motown albums, but I was exposed to many of these songs via Radio 1 during my childhood in the 1970s and 1980s, regularly played even though most of them were several years old by this point. A few I've discovered as an adult, thanks for various music magazine CDs, compilations by the likes of Saint Etienne or my fellow travellers in the blogosphere. I never get tired of listening to these songs, no matter how familiar they've since become.

 

Play loud.

Side One

1) I Got A Feeling: Barbara Randolph (1967)

2) Love Is Like An Itching In My Heart: Diana Ross & The Supremes (1966)

3) Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me A Little While): Kim Weston (1965)

4) Money (That's What I Want): Barrett Strong (1959)

5) Light My Fire (Cover of The Doors): Stevie Wonder (1969)

6) He Was Really Sayin' Somethin': The Velvelettes (1964)

7) What Does It Take (To Win Your Love): Jr. Walker & The All Stars (1969)

8) You're All I Need To Get By: Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell (1968)

Side Two

1) Cloud Nine (Album Version By Norman Whitfield): The Temptations (1968)

2) The Bells: The Originals (1970)

3) Reach Out I'll Be There: Four Tops (1966)

4) Didn't You Know (You'd Have To Cry Sometime): Gladys Knight & The Pips (1969)

5) Got To Get You Into My Life (Cover of The Beatles): Chris Clark (1967)

6) Come To Me: Marv Johnson (1959)

7) No One There: Martha Reeves (1971)

8) Every Little Bit Hurts: Brenda Holloway (1964)

Side One (22:46)

Side Two (24:00)

Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?

You can thank/blame John Medd for today's selection. His quite literally stunning post of Elizabeth Taylor photos inspired a playlist of songs named after her movies (I attempted the same trick with Faye Dunaway last year). No clever sequencing here: I started with the earliest match - and Elizabeth Taylor's 2nd film from 1943 - through to her uncredited appearance in a 1979 political conspiracy movie starring Jeff Bridges, John Huston, Anthony Perkins and Toshirô Mifune "as Keith". 

 

I think it mostly works, though for 1976 film The Blue Bird I was torn between equally great songs from Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. Hope prevailed.

 

Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? was one of the set texts for my English Literature O Level (too many years ago to count) and we got to watch the 1966 film as part of the study. It's a great play and a great cast, but Elizabeth Taylor transcends all. Arguably her greatest performance, and that's saying something.

Unfortunately, I don't currently have a song named Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? but Jimmy Smith has kindly obliged with this classic from 1964, which I must get hold of.

 

1) Lassie Come Home: Alphaville (1986)

2) A Place In The Sun: Stevie Wonder (1966)

3) Rhapsody: Siouxsie & The Banshees (1988)

4) Giant (Radio Edit) (Cover of The The): DJ Food ft. Matt Johnson (2012)

5) Cleopatra (John Peel Session): Adam & The Ants (1978)

6) The Comedians: Elvis Costello & The Attractions (1984)

7) Ash Wednesday: The Psychedelic Furs (2020)

8) Blue Bird: Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions (2009)

9) Winter Kills (Electronic Periodic's Sub / Piano Mix): Yazoo (2008)

Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? (42:00)

I Dream In Colours And My Dreams Are Only Shades Of You

A soulful selection today, including some popular classics by Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder and Jamo Thomas, with some songs that have only really come into my orbit in the last decade by Soul-Walkers, Patti LaBelle and The Brothers Of Soul. The latter appeared on Mayer Hawthorne's Soul With A Hole Vol. 1 mixtape, which I posted in September. Two sharp sides guaranteed to add a shuffle to your early morning, sleepy-eyed stumble and a smile to your post-work slumber.

Side One

1) Funkier Than A Mosquito's Tweeter (Album Version): Nina Simone (1974)

2) Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing: Stevie Wonder (1973)

3) Need A Replacement: The Winstons (1968)

4) I Spy (For The FBI): Jamo Thomas & His Party Brothers Orchestra (1966)

5) Dreamer's Hall Of Fame: Jeb Stuart (1969)

Side Two

1) I'm Tired Of What People Say Or Do: Soul-Walkers (1970)

2) I Don't Go Shopping: Patti LaBelle (1980)

3) Can't See Myself Doing You Wrong: Milt Matthews Inc. (1971)

4) A Lifetime: The Brothers Of Soul (1970)

5) Rolling Down A Mountainside: The Main Ingredient (1975)

Side One (18:12)

Side Two (19:01)