Chart History

Strap in, we're going back half a century to the Top 20 UK singles chart on 20th January 1974.

Most of the songs had been released at the tail end of 1973, there was still a bit of a Christmas hangover with lingering hits from Slade, Wizzard and Steeleye Span but a couple of crowd pleasers had smashed their way into the top 10 the previous week, securing the top 2 on this day.

Trawling my collection, I found I conveniently had 10 of the 20 songs so here, in countdown style, is my selection in descending order to the #1 hit on 20th January 1974. Some real corkers, right from the opening bars of Mott The Hoople's Roll Away The Stone to the final pair of glam rock stompers at the end.

Most of these will have appeared in my parents' modest collection of K-Tel and Ronco compilations, played constantly (by me) when I was a kid, so a lot of them bring back very happy memories. I'd forgotten how leftfield David Essex singles could be! And nice to be reminded of time when I only knew Leo Sayer as performer of a few great pop songs rather than the monumental twit that he revealed himself to be in later years. And no, I don't consider The New Seekers to be a blip in this selection!

The above comics are from my collection. Though snapped many years ago and unread for even longer, they are still there boxed safely at home. I'd like to say I got them as a discerning 3-year old, but who got 16p pocket money a week back then? 

 

I got both of these (and pretty much the whole run of Dracula Lives and Planet Of The Apes in one go) from a comic mart in Bath in the late 1980s, when I was a Marvel-obsessed teen. But a Marvel-obsessed teen with a job, so I had disposable income to fritter away. Very little value was placed on Marvel UK comics as they were essentially reprints of the original US issues so I managed to amass a collection with bulk purchases, mostly at or less than the original cover price.

 

Much as I enjoyed Spider-Man, The Hulk and The Fantastic Four, Dracula Lives and Planet Of The Apes were just completely bonkers in respect of content, story and art and I enjoyed reading and re-reading them for many years. 

 

However, I'm at an age where I'm chilled at the thought of a possible house move and having to shift dozens of boxes of comics again. There's no "inheritance" - Lady K enjoys manga but little interest in super-heroes and why should she? - so maybe time for one last flick through before selling them on....?

Blimey, that brought the mood down! Let's stick the music on and lift those spirits again...!

 

1) Roll Away The Stone: Mott The Hoople (#18)

2) Lamplight: David Essex (#15)

3) Pool Hall Richard: Faces (#11)

4) Radar Love (Album Version): Golden Earring (#7)

5) My Coo-Ca-Choo: Alvin Stardust (#6)

6) You Won't Find Another Fool Like Me: The New Seekers (#5)

7) Dance With The Devil: Cozy Powell (#4)

8) The Show Must Go On: Leo Sayer (#3)

9) Teenage Rampage (Single Version): The Sweet (#2)

10) Tiger Feet: Mud (#1)

 

Chart History (36:07) (KF) (Mega)

I'm On Fire, Boss!

A dozen takes on a Boss classic. Too much? Or too little?

 

I don't own a single Bruce Springsteen album but I do like I'm On Fire, which appeared on his seventh album Born In The U.S.A. in 1984. So much so it seems that I have multiple versions of the song in my collection, including one by The Boss himself, though probably not the one you were expecting....

 

Oh, and a shout out to new (to me) discovery Mumble Tide, a Bristol-based duo who I will see supporting another local legend next month. They've very obligingly provided their take on I'm On Fire but their own material is well worth a look, too.

 

1) I'm On Fire: Catherine Feeny (2006)

2) I'm On Fire: Electrelane (2003)

3) I'm On Fire: Joensuu 1685 (2009)

4) I'm On Fire (Live @ Dingwalls, London): Big Country (1996)

5) I'm On Fire: Mumble Tide (2020)

6) I'm On Fire: Katmen (Darrel Higham & Slim Jim Phantom) (2023)

7) I'm On Fire: Johnny Cash (2000)

8) I'm On Fire (Rob Da Bank Session): Bat For Lashes (2006)

9) I'm On Fire: Willie Nile (2011)

10) I'm On Fire (Live @ Club ID Bar, Nagoya, Japan): Heather Nova (1995)

11) I'm On Fire (Dermot O'Leary Session): Gabrielle Aplin (2014)

12) I'm On Fire (Cousin Cole's Bad Desire Remix): Bruce Springsteen (2008)         

 

1996: Eclectic: 4 

1996: Truth & Bone EP: 10

2000: Badlands: 7

2003: On Parade EP: 2

2006: Q Covered: The Eighties (Q magazine promo CD): 1 

2007: Prescilla EP: 8 

2008: Tambourine Dream: 12

2010: I'm On Fire / Perfect Grace EP: 3

2011: It's Boss Time EP (Record Store Day 10"): 9 

2014: The Saturday Sessions From The Dermot O'Leary Show: 11

2020: Sleepy Heads EP: 5

2023: Katmen Are Back: 6

 

I'm On Fire, Boss! (37:30) (GD) (M)

Chemical Dust

If you like your beats big, then you can't wrong with The Chemical Brothers.

Today's selection is three quarters of an hour of remixes circa 1994 to 1996, when Manchester Uni pals Ed Simons and Tom Rowlands were breaking big as The Dust Brothers and inevitably drawing attention from Michael Simpson and John King aka the original Dust Brothers. Some legal chit chat, a handshake and a name change later, and Ed and Tom continued as The Chemical Brothers.

Something big was happening (and I don't just mean Big Beat) but even then could the pair have imagined that they'd become even bigger, release albums into double digits and still be a significant musical force, three decades later? Quite something, when you think about it.

To these ears, whilst the music takes me back to experiences in a past, younger life, I still get the rush of the new when listening to these tracks.

 

Ed and Tom did a whole bunch of remixes for Manic Street Preachers and whilst La Tristesse Durera raised the bar impossibly high, their rework of Everything Must Go is an underrated banger. 

Likewise, there was a quid pro quo with The Sabres Of Paradise, Weatherall, Kooner and Burns remixing the Brothers and vice versa. Tow Truck was a speaker shredding monster from an EP of remixes from the Haunted Dancehall album.

Justin Warfield pops up twice, firstly with Bomb The Bass and the seminal track Bug Powder Dust, then on his own with Pick It Up Y'All. I really enjoyed the Rap/Hip Hop/Big Beat crossover that was firing up around this time and these two are prime examples.

 

I missed The Chemical Brothers' remixes of Republica first time around as a vinyl-only issue. Thankfully, the mid-late 1990s were a time of multiple formats, with 2-3 CD singles per release offering remixes, rarities and live versions to prise your pennies away. This rather fine dub of Out Of This World resurfaced on the Drop Dead Gorgeous single.

A standout from The Chemical Brothers debut album was Life Is Sweet which featured The Charlatans' Tim Burgess on vocals (Ed and Tom were also at the forefront of the Indie/Dance revival). Again, multiple formats for the inevitable single release but I've opted here for a rarer remix which featured on the essential Trance Europe Express compilation series. It's a Big Beat frenzy with a smattering of Tim's vocals left in for good measure.

The selection closes out with what I still think of as one of their finest moment as either The Dust Brothers or The Chemical Brothers. In 1994, they dusted up Saint Etienne's Like A Motorway. The competition was tough: David Holmes and Autechre both submitted remixes at the top of their game. However, Ed and Tom's Chekhov Warp mix is something else entirely, nine minutes of acid-drenched bleeps and squiggles, samples and dirty beats that leave you wanting to hear it all over again. There is a vocal version available but for me, the dub is the essential mix.

Pick it up y'all, we can make it to the weekend!

 

1) Everything Must Go (The Chemical Brothers Remix): Manic Street Preachers (1996)

2) Out Of This World (Chemical Brothers Dub): Republica (1995)

3) Bug Powder Dust (Dust Brothers Remix): Bomb The Bass ft. Justin Warfield (1994)

4) Tow Truck (The Chemical Brothers Mix): The Sabres Of Paradise (1995)

5) Life Is Sweet (Delik 1) (Remix By The Chemical Brothers, Steve Dub & Tim Holmes): The Chemical Brothers ft. Tim Burgess (1995)

6) Pick It Up Y'All (Dust Brothers Dub): Justin Warfield (1994)

7) Like A Motorway (Chekhov Warp Dub) (Remix By The Dust Brothers): Saint Etienne (1994)

Chemical Dust (45:21) (GD) (M)

You can find Shake This Feeling, another 45-minute selection of The Chemical Brothers from July 2022, right here.

Be Still My Beating Heart

A very happy birthday to Susanna Hoffs, born 17th January 1959.

Singer, songwriter, Bangle, author and all-round beautiful soul. All that and a superlative interpreter of other people's songs too, which is the focus of today's 10-track tribute.

The earliest entry is the opening song, when Susanna was a member of Paisley Underground collective Rainy Day along with David Roback, later of Mazzy Star. I'll Keep It With Mine was written by Bob Dylan and, legend has it, given away tom Judy Collins who released it as a single in 1965. Many other artists have recorded it since but the Rainy Day version was the first I heard, tucked away on a Rough Trade compilation I picked up secondhand in the early 1990s.

 

Bangles are represented here twice, firstly with their cover of Hazy Shade Of Winter, originally featured on the soundtrack to 1987 film Less Than Zero, starring Andrew McCarthy and Robert Downey Jr (whatever happened to him?) The version here is misleadingly labelled a "dub mix", it's actually a slightly spikier, full-vocal take on the soundtrack version. The second Bangles contribution is an Elvis Costello cover, which also inspired the title of their reformation album, 2003's Doll Revolution.

in 1997, Susanna recorded the Burt Bacharach/Hal David classic The Look Of Love for the first Austin Powers film. She also appears in the film as Gillian Shagwell, guitarist with Austin's band Ming Tea. It was there that Susanna met and later married director Jay Roach. On that day, the sound of millions of hearts breaking was audible around the world.

Another fruitful partnership borne from the Austin Powers film was with Ming Tea band mate Matthew Sweet, Between 2006 and 2013, the pair released three Under The Covers albums, 45 versions of well-known songs that managed to be both faithful interpretations but distinctly theirs. All highly recommended but I've selected four particular favourites for this selection. 

Susanna's cover of The Beatles' All I've Got To Do is lifted from a 2012 EP, whilst the closing, majestic rendition of Chris Bell's You And Your Sister featured on her solo covers album Bright Lights in 2021.

 

A further covers album, The Deep End, was released last April. I haven't got to that one yet though I suspect it will be brilliant. I mean, come on, it's Susanna, right?

 

1) I'll Keep It With Mine (Cover of Judy Collins): Rainy Day (1984)

2) Maggie May (Cover of Rod Stewart): Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs (2009) 

3) Hazy Shade Of Winter (7" Dub Mix) (Cover of Simon & Garfunkel): Bangles (1987)

4) Free Fallin' (Cover of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers): Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs (2013)

5) The Look Of Love (Cover of Dusty Springfield): Susanna Hoffs (1997)

6) Tear Off Your Own Head (It's A Doll Revolution) (Cover of Elvis Costello): Bangles (2003)

7) Different Drum (Cover of The Greenfriar Boys): Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs (2006)

8) All I've Got To Do (Cover of The Beatles): Susanna Hoffs (2012)

9) Run To Me (Cover of Bee Gees): Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs (2006)

10) You And Your Sister (Cover of Chris Bell): Susanna Hoffs (2021)

1984: Rainy Day: 1

1987: Hazy Shade Of Winter EP: 3 

1997: Austin Powers OST: 5

2003: Doll Revolution: 6

2006: Under The Covers Vol. 1: 7, 9

2009: Under The Covers Vol. 2: 2

2012: From Me To You EP: 8

2013: Under The Covers Vol. 3: 4

2021: Bright Lights: 10

Be Still My Beating Heart (34:11) (KF) (Mega)

A Baby From Bolton

Born Peter Frank Adshead in Bolton but better known as Baby Ford.

 

Purveyor of English Acid House music in the late 80s, Baby Ford enjoyed a string of club hits that also troubled the UK singles charts between September 1988 and February 1990, namely Oochy Koochy (F.U. Baby Yeh Yeh), Chikki Chikki Ahh Ahh and Beach Bump.

Oh, and a cover of Children Of The Revolution by T. Rex...

But then I happened across BFORD9, Baby Ford's third (if you count EP collection Ford Trax as his debut) album from 1992, which was a game changer for me. Quite simply one of the greatest techno albums ever made, with a slew of great singles not least the nosebleed-inducing Fetish.

 

BFORD9 contains twin takes on a few songs, essential inclusions in all cases. Here's a 2022 "Spintext Reformat" re-edit by Tony Fairchild of the alt. mix of Move On, a crucial album cut.

 

 

1997 follow up Headphoneasy Rider saw Baby Ford's first steps into a genre that's subsequently seen him labelled as the "elder statesman of classical Minimal-Techno". 2003's Basking In The Brakelights - as far as I can tell, Baby Ford's last full album release to date - continued to explore the form, as evidenced by this remix of Satellite Stroll.

  

Standalone single Messenger, also from 2003, is another deep cut especially this 11-minute Vox version.

  

Bandcamp has proved to be a veritable smorgasbord of Baby Ford tracks and remixes from the past decade, a welcome discovery that the journey continues. Here's a few choice selections: the lead track from the One For Sorrow EP (2015), plus remixes of Brainstew by Tom Ellis (2020), Lovin' Space by Le Loup aka Léonard Perret (also 2020) and Praise by Leigh Dickson (2023).

  

 

 

 

  

Note: not to be confused with this Baby Ford, who is Real 4Eva and really should come with a health warning.

Unplug The Jukebox

Here's Adam & The Ants to kick start your week...literally, the opening song of today's selection is called Kick! (Adam's exclamation mark, not mine).

The first album I ever bought was Kings Of The Wild Frontier, £3.99 from Sound Seekers for the vinyl edition with free magazine. The latter blew my 9-year old mind as it revealed that not only had the band existed before Dog Eat Dog and Antmusic forcibly grabbed my attention, but that apart from Adam Ant, it was a completely different line up with a completely different look and sound.

A year or so later, after I'd bought follow up album Prince Charming and with no inkling that the end was nigh for the band (or that I would pretty much lose all interest in Adam's solo ventures, having moved on to synth pop), I got hold of Dirk Wears White Sox. My uncle, who I think lived near Shepherd's Bush at the time, used to borrow albums from his local library and dub them onto a C90 cassette. My brother and I were fascinated by this and as our parents had a turntable but not a fancy schmancy tape deck combo, we didn't have the means to make our own contribution to killing music with home taping.

So, a few requests and blank cassettes later and our uncle had a little cottage industry of supplying my brother and I with a bunch of albums we might otherwise not have access to. My main recollection was that my brother took the opportunity to catch up with the ouevre of E.L.O. and The Police. I was quite specific: I wanted Dirk Wears White Sox, with The Blue Meaning by Toyah on the flip side.

A while later, our package arrived. My uncle's exact comments haven't been recorded for posterity but he wasn't overly impressed by my choices, which I think pleased me at the time. He had a point: whilst some of the tunes are really great; I've always found Adam's lyrics so-so. For every Antmusic, there's Ant Rap; for every Stand And Deliver! there's The Idea. In a parallel universe, Adam Ant wrote Sex Farm and gave it away to Spinal Tap.

Despite all that, there's a real buzz listening to their music. My vinyl copy of Kings Of The Wild Frontier and magazine are long, long gone but I still play Adam & The Ants' music regularly. I've since dipped into Adam's solo stuff but it just doesn't resonate with me in the way that this music from my childhood does.

Today's selection is split into two vinyl-friendly sides, quite heavy on the Dirk Wears White Sox period, with a couple each from Kings Of The Wild Frontier and Prince Charming, as well as various B-sides, sessions and demos. 

 

Enjoy!

 

Side One

1) Kick! (Remixed Version) (1982)

2) That Voodoo! (Album Version) (1981)

3) Deutscher Girls (Album Version) (1978)

4) Antmusic (Album Version) (1980)

5) The Human Beings (Demo Version) (1980)

6) Zerox (John Peel Session) (1978)

7) Never Trust A Man (With Egg On His Face) (Album Version) (1979)

8) Young Parisians (Demo) (1977)

 

Side Two

1) Beat My Guest (Single Version) (1981)

2) Animals & Men (Album Version) (1979)

3) Mile High Club (Album Version) (1981)

4) Christian D'Or (Single Version) (1981)

5) Tabletalk (Album Version) (1979)

6) Killer In The Home (Album Version) (1980)

1978: Jubilee OST: A3

1979: Dirk Wears White Sox: A7, B2, B5

1980: Kings Of The Wild Frontier: A4, B6

1981: Prince Charming: A2, B3

1981: Prince Charming EP: B4

1981: Stand & Deliver! EP: B1

1982: Antmusic EP: A1

1990: The Peel Sessions: A6 

2000: Antbox: A8

2004: Kings Of The Wild Frontier (Expanded Edition): A5

Side One (23:04) (KF) (Mega)

Side One (23:13) (KF) (Mega)

Dear Annie

Celebrating Annie Nightingale, 1st April 1940 to 11th January 2024.

When I heard the sad news that Annie had passed at the age of 83 following a short illness, I didn't immediately post about it. To be honest, it was a real shock, I'd admittedly not followed Annie's continuing broadcasts in recent years but she seemed like she was immortal, that husky voice continuing to emanate over the airwaves forever. 

I was floored by Janice Long's death in December 2021 and Annie's has also hit me hard. When reflecting on Janice at the time, I wrote that "I probably listened to [her] more than John Peel on Radio 1 as a teen, mainly because her evening show slot usually coincided with doing homework or otherwise avoiding my family in my bedroom." This was even more applicable to Annie, whose request show followed the Top 40 countdown on Sunday nights.

I continued to listen to Annie as the powers that be moved her time slot further and further back, so that (at least, as far as I recall), her show became essential post-club listening.

I discovered so much music, new and old, via Annie Nightingale and I think my eclectic collection is testament to her own unabated passion for new genres and styles. Annie was also a reason to watch The Old Grey Whistle Test on BBC2. Bands that might otherwise have stuck two fingers up to the show and presenter Whispering Bob Harris were more amenable to appear when she was presenting.

 

As with Janice Long, this is another of those selections that doesn't begin to do justice to the breadth of Annie Nightingale's indefatigable love of music. More so, given that her career spanned six decades. 

I've cheekily lifted some of Annie's OGWT intros to link some of the music on this selection. The opening extract was from the show broadcast on 14th February 1981, featuring The Sound (well, it was them or Camel) and a three-song set including the magnificent Sense Of Purpose, included here.

 

I should say that only one song, by The Selecter, is an actual performance from The Old Grey Whistle Test. The rest are album and single versions, a remix here and there including one by Annie herself and some deep cuts from The Teardrop Explodes, The Crystal Method, Public Image Ltd., T.Power and Primal Scream remixed by Andrew Weatherall.

 

Big In Japan by Alphaville made the cut as it was the first song on a request show from 1985 that TSKC1984 taped off the radio and posted on You Tube. You can listen to the entire show in all it's hissy glory here, with another from Hollowe'en 1984 here.

 

I've also drawn inspiration from the three albums that Annie compiled in 1996, 2007 and 2015: Annie On One, Annie Nightingale Presents Y4K and Masterpiece. My selection ends, as Annie On One does, with Flowered Up's magnum opus and finest moment, Weekender, which I first heard on her show in 1992. 

I'll happily confess that I was in love with Annie: that voice; the effortless cool that set her miles apart from her contemporary (male) DJs on TV; the sheer rock 'n' roll-ness of her being. Actually, scratch 'was' for 'am'. 

 

In the many, many tributes in the past few days, Annie Nightingale has been rightly described as a trailblazer, a pioneer, one-of-a-kind. Annie was all of that to me. She was also a wonderful person and my favourite radio DJ ever.

Thank you, Annie, you were the best.

 

1) Old Grey Whistle Test (BBC2 Continuity Announcement & Introduction): Annie Nightingale (1981) 

2) Sense Of Purpose: The Sound (1981)

3) Liberation (12" Version): T.Power (1995)

4) Old Grey Whistle Test (Introduction: The Teardrop Explodes): Annie Nightingale (1982) 

5) Colours Fly Away (Live @ Club Zoo, Liverpool): The Teardrop Explodes (1981)

6) This Was The Sound (Adam Freeland & Sebi Spanks Remix): K-Swing + Beber (2007)

7) Come Back Clean (Annie Nightingale + Far Too Loud Remix): The Crystal Method ft. Emily Haines (2009)

8) Big In Japan (7" Version): Alphaville (1984)

9) Old Grey Whistle Test (Introduction: Japan): Annie Nightingale (1982) 

10) Ghosts (Single Version): Japan (1982)

11) Old Grey Whistle Test (Introduction: Public Image Ltd.): Annie Nightingale (1980)

12) Poptones (John Peel Session): Public Image Ltd. (1979)

13) Don't Fight It, Feel It (Scat Mix By Andrew Weatherall & Hugo Nicolson): Primal Scream ft. Denise Johnson (1991)

14) Duel (Album Version): Propaganda (1985)

15) Old Grey Whistle Test (Introduction: The Selecter): Annie Nightingale (1980)

16) Murder (Live on Old Grey Whistle Test, BBC2 TV): The Selecter (1980)

17) Cheft El Khof: Orange Blossom (2004)

18) Grey Clouds: The Orb ft. Alan Parker, Urban Warrior (2007)

19) Weekender (Full Length Version): Flowered Up (1992)

Dear Annie (1:15:17) (KF) (Mega)

Saturday's Not Alright For Fighting, Elton

How about some love, peace and harmony instead?

 

1) Love, Peace And Harmony (Remixed By Kurt Munkacsi & Ivan Ivan): Bow Wow Wow (1983)

2) Sweet Harmony (Album Version): The Beloved (1992)

3) Our Love Is God: The Impossibles (1991)

4) Harmony (Cover of Elton John): Jesse Malin (2008)

5) Peace In Our Time (Cover of The Imposter): Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine (1993)

6) Harmony 5 (Accordion): Spiritualized (2008)

7) One Love (Remix By Adrian Sherwood) (7" Version): The Stone Roses (1992)

8) Only Love Can Break Your Heart (Remixed By Flowered Up) (Cover of Neil Young): Saint Etienne ft. Moira Lambert (1990)

9) We Come In Peace: Bobby Conn & The Glass Gypsies (2004)

10) Peace And Love: Flesh For Lulu (1984)

11) Harmony 1 (Mellotron): Spiritualized (2008)

12) Peace (SixToes Remix): Depeche Mode (2009)

13) Peace And Love: Sylvia Tella (1986)

 

1983: Love, Peace And Harmony EP: 1

1984: Flesh For Lulu: 10 

1986: Will You Still Want Me: 13

1990: It's On/Only Love Can Break Your Heart (The Catalogue magazine promo flexi 7"): 8

1991: The Drum EP: 3 

1992: Waterfall EP: 7

1993: Conscience: 2 

1993: Peace Together: 5 

2004: The Homeland: 9

2008: On Your Sleeve: 4

2008: Songs In A&E: 6, 11

2009: Peace EP: 12

Saturday's Not Alright For Fighting, Elton (46:11) (KF) (Mega)

It's Fry Day, I'm In Love

It might not be Martin Fry's birthday until March but what the heck, let's celebrate with ABC anyway!

 

I last (and first) posted an ABC selection here back in November 2022, but I had the privilege of having a follow-up Imaginary Compilation Album hosted by JC at The Vinyl Villain in April 2023. So, adhering to the (made up right now) mandatory requirement to observe Fry Day randomly once per year, here's a brand new 12-song selection, split into two slightly overlong vinyl sides. Heck, if Ronco and K-Tel could do it in the 1970s and 1980s, so can I.

 

I've intentionally included one song from each of ABC's nine studio albums to date, from 1982's The Lexicon Of Love to it's eventual - and inevitable - sequel in 2016. I've included a couple of late 80s 12" A-sides too, plus a collaboration with David Arnold covering a James Bond theme tune, all of which choices were more by feel than design. 

 

Overall, I think it's a fairly representative overview of how much - and little - has changed in over four decades: the line-up, the lame suit, the lush orchestration, the lyrics. Things may come and go, but Martin Fry's vision (and incredibly, his voice) remain undimmed. 

Side One

1) Love Is It's Own Reward (1997)

2) The Ship Of The Seasick Sailor (2016)

3) Validation (2008)

4) The Night You Murdered Love (Sheer Chic Mix By The Funky Sisters ft. Contessa Lady V) (1987)

5) Poison Arrow (Album Version By Trevor Horn & Gary Langan) (1982)

6) This Must Be Magic (1991)

Side Two

1) Thunderball (Cover of Tom Jones): David Arnold ft. Martin Fry (1997)

2) Unzip (1983)

3) Love Conquers All (Extended Version By Dave Bascombe) (1991)

4) Never More Than Now (Album Version By Graeme Park & Mike Pickering) (1989)

5) Fear Of The World (Album Version By ABC & Julian Mendelsohn) (1985)

6) Jealous Lover (1987)

1982: The Lexicon Of Love: A5

1983: Beauty Stab: B2

1985: How To Be A... Zillionaire!: B5

1987: Alphabet City: B6

1987: The Night You Murdered Love EP: A4

1989: Up: B4

1991: Abracadabra: A6

1991: Love Conquers All EP: B3

1997: Shaken And Stirred: The David Arnold James Bond Project: B1

1997: Skyscraping: A1

2008: Traffic: A3

2016: The Lexicon Of Love II: A2

 

Side One (26:30) (KF) (Mega)

Side Two (25:47) (KF) (Mega)  

 

You can find my previous ABC selection from 2022 here

 

Health warning: Side 1, track 4 features The Funky Sisters who are neither sisters nor women, but rather Hit Factory head honcho Pete Waterman and PWL remix artists Phil Harding and Pete Hammond.

Thursday's Victim

I liked Pet Shop Boys' music in the 1980s - I'm not sure that I knew anybody that didn't - but I never felt compelled to buy any of their albums or 12" singles, the latter even more surprising given my love of the the format as a teen going into adulthood.

 

Although I partly redressed the balance going into the 1990s and 2000s, I was still by and large lagging a decade behind with the Pet Shop Boys' catalogue. All of which preamble means that it was not until 2023 that I first heard their 2013 single Thursday, lifted from the album Electric.

 

My introduction to and education in the 21st Century Pet Shop Boys came courtesy of JC's epic series on PSB singles over at The Vinyl Villain which ran weekly from January to October last year. You don't have to be a Pet Shop Boys fan to appreciate the quality of the writing, the in-depth research and a very personal take on the songs that Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe have produced in their career. I looked forward to each installment, no less when it moved into albums and singles that I was completely unfamiliar with.

 

Thursday is a great pop song with an at-the-time astute choice of guest star Example, though then and now I can quite happily give his rapping-cum-singing a miss, if I'm honest. The single comes with a couple of, er, examples of Tennant and Lowe's ability to place some musical gems as B-sides. JC covered the Thursday single and B-sides, No More Ballads and Odd Man Out, in part 24 of the series in July 2023.

 

The links in the original post are now gone, but you can hear the songs on the Pet Shop Boys site on You Tube.

Odd Man Out was originally written and demoed in October 2011, with the version accompanying the Thursday single appearing in November 2013. As JC notes, the song is directly inspired by the 1961 film Victim, starring Dirk Bogarde and acknowledged as the first British film to explicitly name homosexuality and approach the subject matter with sensitivity and compassion.

 

I think I've only seen Victim once before but a high quality copy of film in its entirety is available on (where else?) You Tube. I'm going to watch it again at the weekend.

Neil Tennant's lyrics to Odd Man Out adapt lines from the film and the last 30 seconds directly samples from Victim, editing the character Henry's conversation into a closing monologue. Fact fans may like to know that Henry was played by esteemed actor Charles Lloyd-Pack, father of Roger Lloyd-Pack (Only Fools And Horses, The Vicar Of Dibley) and grandfather of Emily Lloyd (Wish You Were Here).

A rather more tenuous connection via lead actor Dirk Bogarde is Adrian Morley aka Dirt Bogarde, who has collected 8 previously released songs in one bargain price EP,  Blowback Vol.1. Listening to the music in the filter of the above songs, can I detect some PSB vibes in his music? Possibly. Either way, highly recommended if you're not familiar with his work.