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Post by rubcale on Nov 20, 2005 13:34:03 GMT 1
Slade A far cry from their glory days
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Post by rubcale on Nov 20, 2005 13:34:24 GMT 1
Barry Manilow The least said the better
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Post by Earl Purple on Nov 23, 2005 12:06:32 GMT 1
ok my comments:
01 01 Prince Charming Adam and The Ants Classic in its time. They were the band of 1981, but this sort-of marked the end to their supreme reign as after one more hit "Antrap" they split and although Adam Ant got to #1 with his first solo hit he was never the sensation he was in 1981.
07 02 Birdie Song Tweets Harmless little tune really. Not as bad as people make out. 1981 was a big year for instrumentals, 3 of them reaching #2 (Chi Mai, Hooked On Classics and this one) with Can Can by Bad Manners also reaching #3.
02 03 Invisible Sun Police Never thought that much of this track, the first from Ghost In The Machine (the first time they'd released an album with a title in English). Their next single entered low but had quality and climbed to #1. This had a controversial video.
06 04 Under Your Thumb Godley and Creme Breakaway from 10cc, got them to #3. Eerie song about a ghost.
03 05 Hands Up (Give Me Your Heart) Ottowan Summery hand-clap song which, like DISCO, was a big hit in Europe then didn't reach the UK until Autumn.
04 06 Pretend Alvin Stardust Shakin' Stevens had been doing supremely well in 1981 and would have been the act of the year had it not been for Adam & the Ants, so Alvin Stardust decided to make yet another comeback with an uptempo cover of a Nat King Cole song.
10 07 Shut Up Madness Classic.
17 08 It's My Party Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin Greatest cover version of all time. Nowadays they take a classic song and cover them with no emotion at all. For this song, they took an old song (Leslie Gore, 1963) that was rather ordinary and made it into a classic. You could almost feel like it really was her party.
09 09 Endless Love Diana Ross and Lionel Richie Good old-fashioned love song. Better than Mariah Carey and Luther Vandross's version, of course.
05 10 Souvenir Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark Their only ever NM #1. Integral part of "New Romantics". Then later on he went and spoilt it by giving us Atomic Kitten.
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Post by Earl Purple on Nov 23, 2005 13:00:31 GMT 1
More comments:
12 11 Just Can't Get Enough Depeche Mode Back in these days Vince Clarke was with Depeche Mode and this was quite a jolly song, I think one of only two in their whole career, the other being "The Meaning Of Love" in 1982 (which was after Vince had left them to form Yazoo). The synth-based riff made this almost the archetypal new-romantic song.
08 12 Tainted Love soft Cell David Ball said one of his biggest regrets about this song is that they didn't write it. Goes down as another classic cover though few know the Gloria Jones original.
32 13 Thunder In The Mountains Toyah She started as an actress and was in the film Quadrophenia that also starred Phil Daniels, and was about youth gangs fighting in Brighton. This song was ok - uptempo, trying to follow in the footsteps of Hazel O'Connor. Her best single though was "I Want To Be Free" although it was only her 3rd biggest hit of 1981 (though it still went top 10).
11 14 Slow Hand Pointer Sisters Classic smooth soul.
13 15 You'll Never Know Hi Gloss Also soul, though this was a British soul group with a female lead singer. It was about having been jilted. They never charted again.
30 16 Walkin' In The Sunshine Bad Manners More classic ska/reggae for them.
15 17 So this Is Romance Linx Linx was led by David Grant who went on to have some solo success and a hit duet with Jaki Graham. This song told a story about his cousin and his long-time girlfriend who went on holiday without him and ended up getting into a whirlwind romance and getting married to another man.
16 18 In And Out Of Love Imagination Imagination is not something they had a lot of, as their songs started to sound the same. Still, Body Talk and Just An Illusion were classics but this one was just ordinary.
26 19 Quiet Life Japan They were the kind of alternative-new-romantic. David Sylvian was their lead singer. I always felt there was a bit of Roxy Music influence in their music too. My favourite Japan hit was Nightporter at the end of 1982 (NM #2) and that was surprisingly not a big hit for them.
14 20 Wired For Sound Cliff Richard Cliff went through a good phase in his career between We Don't Talk Anymore and Please Don't Fall In Love, which covered a 4-year period. During this period most of his songs were good and he was cool. The topic of this song was portable radios walkman-style that allowed people to listen to the radio as they travelled.
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Post by rubcale on Nov 24, 2005 19:55:03 GMT 1
I was only doing one liners of my personl opinion to get my posts up!
I am enjoying your comments, Earl P. There is a lot of interesting information in them I wouldn't have known.
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Post by rubcale on Nov 29, 2005 10:40:05 GMT 1
I liked Bucks Fizz but not their best.
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Post by rubcale on Nov 29, 2005 10:40:44 GMT 1
Hides Park. The Came and Went and aren't remembered.
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Post by rubcale on Nov 29, 2005 10:41:45 GMT 1
Tight Fit. No thanks.
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Post by rubcale on Nov 29, 2005 10:42:32 GMT 1
Aneka. One of those annoying records you shouldn't like but do!
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Post by Earl Purple on Nov 30, 2005 0:52:03 GMT 1
I'll do the other positions sometime. I was 16 when these were out so I certainly remember them from the time.
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