vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Feb 1, 2015 0:27:21 GMT 1
Number one this is exciting, not your favourite number one but your favourite band/singer who have had a number one hmmm.. In this instance, it's actually the same. This particular act recorded my favourite number 1 of all time. It's a little unfair, perhaps, as the act in question did not have a long career, whereas the two other main contenders had a lot longer at the top, but which led to them recording some weaker material...
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Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2015 0:29:12 GMT 1
So then, drum roll......will it be Nicole or JJ Barrie? :>)
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Post by Milliways on Feb 1, 2015 2:32:50 GMT 1
IIRC you don't use Spotify vastar iner, but for those that do I have put together a Spotify playlist from your selections in this thread. Inevitably there are a few entries missing, but it is just a few - 94 of the 100 artists showcased so far are present. Where possible I have included the artist's highest-charting single as highlighted in your posts, but I did have to substitute another track for the high-charter occasionally.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Feb 1, 2015 12:32:28 GMT 1
I tried Spotify yonks ago but the first two acts I put in (Half Man Half Biscuit and Cardiacs) returned zero results, so I've not been back since. Maybe I should. Many thanks for the playlist. I'm slightly worried that this is going to be a bit like finding out Maggie shot Mr Burns, as the act for no. 1 is not exactly the best-known, but what the hey. I will first of all list some of the less obvious ones in close consideration. Adam & The Ants: it's quite difficult to categorize the Ants, as Adam Ant's solo career opening had more Ants in common with Prince Charming than Prince Charming had in common with Dirk Wears White Sox. There can also have been scarce few acts who changed so radically between albums. It's not even as if they did a Boo Radleys to chase success by stripping away everything that was good and going completely mainstream and dull. I doubt anyone hearing "Kings Of The Wild Frontier" would have thought that would eventually make no. 2. Such was the joy of 1981 that you could be successful by upping the drums, buzzsawing the guitars and standing defiant against the world in a sort of highwayman/Geronimo fashion. Same applies to Dexy's Midnight Runners, mutatis mutandis. Madness: I think the only thing that brings them down a notch is they were more of a singles than albums band - they had 20 top 20 singles on the trot and only one could be considered filler, but their songstyles seemed to me work best in those three minute chunks rather than sustained over the longer period. But at their highest they were utterly sublime. Tubeway Army: almost like Adam Ant, really. If I left it at Tubeway Army I would at least avoid Numan's failure to push on, but of course leaving it at that means it's too short a catalogue to consider. Slade and The Sweet: glam rock never really gets the credit it deserves. Slade at least nowadays get some critical acclaim. The Sweet though could turn their guitars to anything; their sound could be bubblegum or solid hard rock. I wonder whether they would have ended up dominating the punk scene had it not been for Brian Connolly's tragedy - they were good enough to produce the right music and hard enough to deal with the brickbats from all sides. The Small Faces: Ogden's Nut Gone Flake was a triumph - the first commercially successful concept album - and had they ever toured it I wonder if they would ever have broken up. They only performed it live once, on television, and it was deep joy. Tommy James & The Shondells: we all know that "Mony Mony" is an absolute stormer of a track, but " Crimson And Clover" is even better. And there were some other great singles from them - "Hanky Panky", "Crystal Blue Persuasion" and so on - but who recalls them nowadays?
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TheThorne
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Post by TheThorne on Feb 1, 2015 13:24:13 GMT 1
None of these are in my shortlist .
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Feb 1, 2015 13:46:54 GMT 1
In bronze medal position... BlondieSix number ones, yet none of them my favourites of theirs (funnily enough their last one might be my favourite). If I had to pick one Blondie track, it would be " Dreaming", but "X Offender", "Presence Dear", "Union City Blue" and so many more are right up there. Has any act ever come up with so many pure, perfect pop singles as Ms Harry et al? Even Deborah Harry's solo singles are under-rated gems, especially the transcendent " I Can See Clearly". Obviously Chris Stein's illness did not help, but after being right on top for three years, they lost their way really badly for the last couple and then just fell apart. At least they came back.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Feb 1, 2015 15:27:53 GMT 1
In the silver spot... The Beach BoysBy rights, they ought to be number 1. The only reason why they are not is that the more I thought about it, the more it was that their best work was basically Brian Wilson with others, and when Wilson lost it then there was nothing much left in the tank. For Cliff's sake, they even did a bloody disco record in the seventies. But when they were on form, they were flying. Their first thirteen ( thirteen! In less than a decade! My God) are surely compulsory listening for any serious music fan, and Pet Sounds is the most outstanding artistic achievement of the sixties this side of Rothko and the moon landings. It was only with the fall-out from Smiley Smile that they took an extremely unfortunate turn, and even then they could still come up with masterpieces such as " Surf's Up" - their greatest song, but, significantly, one that was meant to go on the long-lost Smile. If I totalled up the greatness of actual output, both these and Blondie would overtake "my" no. 1 act. But there is a worthiness in stopping before spoiling it. Burning out rather than fading away. Mike Hawthorn's autobiography's final line was "'Why have you retired?' is a nicer question than "why don't you retire?'". So I've gone for one that had a limited run of singles, two-and-a-half albums, and not a duffer amongst the lot.
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TheThorne
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Post by TheThorne on Feb 1, 2015 15:36:01 GMT 1
Blondie are on my shortlist not Beach Boys
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Post by Earl Purple on Feb 1, 2015 16:28:38 GMT 1
Blondie would certainly be one on my list. But probably not the winner, as that would go to a group who had their first #1 in 1975, their second together with a male vocalist in 1981 (one who would also be high up on my list) and their 3rd in 1991 the year their lead vocalist died (but 10 months before he did)...
As for Spotify, there are a lot more now on there than used to be. "Look Dad No Tunes" is definitely on there as it is on my regular playlists for that period and I know which ones I have to add and which ones are already there.. (It's their only actual single to reach my chart and got to #1). Oasis used to not be there but seem to be now.
Of your other list, I agree Madness were a singles band. I loved them when they came out and bought Absolutely but was disappointed with it. Never really got into it and didn't buy subsequent Madness albums.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Feb 1, 2015 21:00:34 GMT 1
1. WizzardI don't think any act has had as explosive a chart start as Wizzard. Their debut single was one of the greatest debut singles released by 1972. Their follow-up single was the best number 1 until then. A record it held until their third single hit the top. A record it still holds. And their fourth single was the best-ever Christmas song released until then, and not bettered for at least 17 years - and maybe longer. I suppose it's slightly unfair because Roy Wood had had one heck of a head start. As part of The Move he gradually moved them into a more commercial, yet more interesting, direction, and was behind their two biggest hits - the first song ever played on Radio 1, and the number 1 "Blackberry Way". And then as co-founder of ELO he started a band that would in turn top the charts a few years later. But when he formed Wizzard, merging two bands so there were two of everything, he started something that was quite remarkable. Samuel Goldwyn once said he wanted a film to start with an earthquake and build to a climax. To some extent that's what Wizzard did. "Angel Fingers" starts with a brass explosion, goes from there to 11, and then throws in a motorbike to take it to 12. It is also the paradigm of the Perfect Pop Hit. The thing with Wizzard is they treated albums as a very different idea to singles. Were it not for Roy Wood, you might not think that the band behind Wizzard Brew and Eddy & The Falcons was indeed Wizzard. The first sounded like they had curated their own festival, with support from a brass band that sounded like the Brighouse & Rastrick on steroids, the second was a history of rock & roll via a series of perfectly executed parodies. And then the market shifted. So the missing half of E&TF - a mental jam session - did not get released for three decades. But they did not release a single bad song. Astonishing success rate. Roy Wood himself also scored a significant solo hit with a Beach Boys homage. And he took Miss Snob and Class 3C into the charts. What's more, Wizzard were also fun. There was something infectious about their anarchic enthusiasm. It's something that music is missing today. It's all so calculated, rather than throwing in everything including the kitchen sink and seeing what comes out. And how can you not adore a band who brought The Wombles back to the 40? It's entirely coincidental that Wood is also a Birmingham City fan...
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TheThorne
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Post by TheThorne on Feb 2, 2015 0:05:18 GMT 1
Wow never expected that , when I was young I hated glam Rock it was a tacky hairy era that my older cousins liked nothing like the 80s, I have warmed to it over the years but I must admit apart from the xmas song and see my baby jive that is the limit of my Wizzard knowledge .
60s Beatles Rolling Stones Fleetwoid Mac 70s David Bowie Blondie The Police 80s New Order Human League U2 90s Blur Manic Street Preachers The Shamen 00s Artic Monkeys Coldplay Kings Of Leon
But my favourite would have to be New Order and definitely not their number one song hehe
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vya
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Post by vya on Feb 2, 2015 0:37:45 GMT 1
I am not THAT surprised - - and I might even consider agreeing, despite some obvious temptations in other directions (The Jam as well as some already mentioned spring to mind), although that Wizzard are just so much fun is a strong argument in their favour:
The main argument for the case against Wizzard for me: too small a back catalogue (I admit to being quite unfamiliar with the albums recorded under other names though..) . "Angel Fingers" is a brilliant, far too overlooked record, and Ray Wood certainly proved his worth both in the band and elsewhere....
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Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2015 11:23:43 GMT 1
^ But only after he changed his name from Ray to Roy.....
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Post by Earl Purple on Feb 12, 2015 12:46:35 GMT 1
OK, into the top 50 now, which opens us up to sixties acts. Although there are not many in here. I suppose because most sixties acts were singles rather than albums acts, which immediately narrows down their oeuvre. And the few who developed the album as a piece in itself all had chart-topping singles, so are stuck in the big race for no. 1. One of those sixties acts who did peak at 50 was Keith Relf, the singer of ahead-of-their-time The Yardbirds, who tragically died from an accidental electrocution, but I've gone for another singer. Not for his solo career - I refer to what I said earlier about cheating - but as a sort of lifetime achievement. He's been a soloist, a duo (Vegas), a trio (Fun Boy Three/Terry Blair & Anouchka), a quartet (The Colourfield) and a septet-ish (The Specials). And all of them bar The Colourfield fell under consideration for their positions. So instead of a threatened Coventry monopoly, I'll just put them all here. Not Hall's best solo single - that goes to his version of " Sense". While I'm talking of Terry Hall, I may as well throw out a mention to New York one-hit wonders Hal Paige & The Whalers, whose sole chart appearance was with a very early ska number - recorded in 1958 and a hit a couple of years later. Bit unlucky for a couple of other acts who came close. Le Tigre and Age Of Chance. The latter had an unexpected Festive 50 hit with their cover of "Kiss", not bad for a sort of low budget and angry Art Of Noise, but their best record was the splendiferous " Bible Of The Beats". Of the "50 club" acts one of those I've now become more acquainted to is Jimmy Clanton, who has already gone better in my retro chart as "Go Jimmy Go", a song that peaked at #5 in the US Billboard chart, has appeared in my first top 20. He had quite a long career in the US, several top 10 hits, but no impact here other than that one week at #50. Age 22 at the time of his one chart entry, now 76 and still alive and going.
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