Just over a week ago, I was again lucky enough to be present at the latest Little League night at which John Hunt from Butcher Boy mans the laptop and gives us four or more hours of great tunes to dance away to. The nights usually follow some sort of theme and this time round all songs had to have made the Top 10 in the singles charts. You'd be surprised at how good a list you can come up with even with that restriction:-
SERGE GAINSBOURG - JE TAIME (MOI NON PLUS)
QUEEN - YOU'RE MY BEST FRIEND
CHRIS ISSAK - WICKED GAME
HOT BUTTER - POPCORN
IAN DURY - WHAT A WASTE
RED BOX - LEAN ON ME
EELS - NOVOCAINE FOR THE SOUL
TLC - WATERFALLS
SIMON AND GARFUNKEL - HOMEWARD BOUND
KIM WILDE - KIDS IN AMERICA
CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD - GIVE ME JUST A LITTLE MORE TIME
HUMAN LEAGUE - LOVE ACTION
BLUR - BEETLEBUM
PLASTIC BERTRAND - CA PLANE POUR MOI
ROXY MUSIC - STREET LIFE
TRACIE - THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT
DIVINE COMEDY - NATIONAL EXPRESS
ISLEY BROTHERS - HARVEST FOR THE WORLD
BADLY DRAWN BOY - YOU WERE RIGHT
STEVIE WONDER - FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE
OMD - ENOLA GAY
JACKIE WILSON - I GET THE SWEETEST FEELING
HAIRCUT 100 - FANTASTIC DAY
CHICORY TIP - SON OF MY FATHER
PRETENDERS - TALK OF THE TOWN
VANESSA PARADIS - BE MY BABY
PET SHOP BOYS - WHAT HAVE I DONE TO DESERVE THIS?
HOUSEMARTINS - HAPPY HOUR
NENEH CHERRY - BUFFALO STANCE
ALTERED IMAGES - DON'T TALK TO ME ABOUT LOVE
STONE ROSES - ELEPHANT STONE
MARTHA AND THE MUFFINS - ECHO BEACH
NICK LOWE - I LOVE THE SOUND OF BREAKING GLASS
XTC - SENSES WORKING OVERTIME
JESUS AND MARY CHAIN - APRIL SKIES
A-HA - TAKE ON ME
BEATLES - GET BACK
STYLE COUNCIL - MY EVERY CHANGING MOODS
MORRISSEY - INTERESTING DRUG
FUN BOY THREE - OUR LIPS ARE SEALED
DAVID BOWIE - REBEL REBEL
PIL - THIS IS NOT A LOVE SONG
PULP - MISSHAPES
DEPECHE MODE - EVERYTHING COUNTS
BUDDY HOLLY - PEGGY SUE
BLONDIE - DREAMING
SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES - HONG KONG GARDEN
CARLY SIMON - YOU'RE SO VAIN
NEW ORDER - TRUE FAITH
DEL SHANNON - RUNAWAY
KRAFTWERK - THE MODEL
SPECIALS - A MESSAGE TO YOU RUDY
ROLLING STONES - NOT FADE AWAY
BETTY BOO - WHERE ARE YOU BABY
ADAM AND THE ANTS - DOG EAT DOG
ELO - MR BLUE SKY
ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN - THE KILLING MOON
SPANDAU BALLET - TO CUT A LONG STORY SHORT
JAM - GOING UNDERGROUND
JOHN LENNON - INSTANT KARMA!
BEACH BOYS - GOOD VIBRATIONS
MORRISSEY - SUEDEHEAD
SMOKEY ROBINSON - TEARS OF A CLOWN
SUEDE - ANIMAL NITRATE
PRIMITIVES - CRASH
BLUETONES - SLIGHT RETURN
RAMONES - BABY I LOVE YOU
MADONNA - BORDERLINE
TRACEY ULLMAN - THEY DON'T KNOW
SQUEEZE - COOL FOR CATS
MALCOLM MCLAREN - DOUBLE DUTCH
KIRSTY MACCOLL - NEW ENGLAND
BOB DYLAN - SUBTERRANEAN HOMESICK BLUES
ORANGE JUICE - RIP IT UP
B BUMBLE AND THE STINGERS - NUT ROCKER
STEVE HARLEY - COME UP AND SEE ME
ELVIS COSTELLO - OLIVER'S ARMY
DEXYS - GENO
KNACK - MY SHARONA
SUGABABES - FREAK LIKE ME
SEX PISTOLS - HOLIDAYS IN THE SUN
SMITHS - SHEILA TAKE A BOW
UNDERTONES - MY PERFECT COUSIN
McALMONT AND BUTLER - YES
ASSOCIATES - PARTY FEARS TWO
I was there with Aldo. We arrived just as the Isley Brothers were playing, first dance for us after necking some alcohol was OMD and we didn't stay seated for much of the rest of the night. Dancing to the 12" version of this was one of many highlights:-
mp3 : The Style Council - My Ever Changing Moods (12" version)
And then just a few days later, in what is approximately a 10,000-1 chance, this version came up on random play on the i-phone:-
mp3 : The Style Council - My Ever Changing Moods (Cafe Bleu version)
I really don't know which one I prefer. At a night like John was hosting, the single is tremendous. But when I'm sitting on a train, on my way to work and contemplating why the world is sometimes such a sad place then the LP version sounds as good a thing as Weller has ever penned. Your thoughts dear readers are most welcome. Oh and is if there was foresight of how nuts we would be going for cycling some 28 years later thanks to us suddenly becoming the best in the world at it, here's the rather silly but entertaining promo:-
The LP version was also on telly once. I've a copy on VHS tape somewhere. I can't recall which show it was from...I have have a memory that it was a Saturday morning kiddies show on BBC1. I had a hunt on you tube. And someone was been wonderful enough to make it available:-
And that's the wonderful Bobby Valentino on violin.....some of you might recognise him from his playing on Young At Heart, the #1 single by The Bluebells. But click here and read just how wide-ranging his career has been
Happy Listening
4 comments:
JC its as it says on the tin depends the mood your in.
son of the rock
Wow, that's some playlist.
I was thrilled when I bought the album and heard the slower versh.
Both do the trick.
Don't recall ever seeing that TV performance. He seemed to do 'Wogan' a number of times in those days - with mixed results. Clearly that's more 'Cheggars Plays Pop!
And you're dead right about the violin.
Hi JC,
I hope you don't mind if I have stolen your great idea of 45 45s at 45...
Here is my blog: now I'm at n°14, so there's 31 more to the end...
http://conventionalrecords.wordpress.com/
Here is the first post of the series, where I give the credit to you and your blog:
http://conventionalrecords.wordpress.com/2012/08/20/45-45s-at-45-my-sharona-the-knack-145/
I waited until now because I wanted you to see some common ground in our musical tastes. And I'm delighted to do it in this great post, where I can share with you my love for Paul Weller and for My ever changing moods:
http://conventionalrecords.wordpress.com/2012/08/30/45-45s-at-45-my-ever-changing-moods-the-style-council-1984-845/
I'm sorry you probably can't understand my blog, written in my ancient, exotic language...
I really want to thank you for the hugely inspiring readings all over these years and for this wonderful idea, for which I couldn't wait to get old enough... now that the time has come, could we all slow down a bit for a while?
Good night, and good luck
Andrea
That's a lovely message from Andrea, jc.
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