I have to return to a previous theme. Richard and Fred Fairbrass went to school in East Grinstead. Their school became Imberhorne School when Sussex went comprehensive. Shortly after that happened I started at the school. The year before that Nicky Eede started there. He went on to form Cutting Crew. I didn't.

 

 

Mika's Relax (Take it Easy) was widely accused of being a homage to (I Just) Died in Your Arms.

Relax, Take It Easy, Take Five.....

 

Dave Brubeck

 

From Brubeck to plain Beck

 

 

 

Beck's Odelay was co-produced with The Dust Brothers. UK duo Tom Rowland and Ed Simons were forced to change their name from The Dust Brothers as it was already taken by the American producers...so they changed their name to The Chemical Brothers (after the song 'Chemical Beats' on their debut album) and the rest was history.

 

Here's how it pretty much began for them - the epic 'Leave Home'

 

Chemical Brothers teamed up with Noel Gallagher for a no.1 hit, Noel is ofcourse from

 

The best time of day to see Oasis was Midnight. Maria Muldaur sang about them, all sultry and jazzy 20 years earlier..

 

 

There have been a few songs about Maria. Blondie's brilliant comeback number one is far too obvious so we'll have Tony Christie's cheerful little ditty instead :D

 

Well I never expected Tony's best record..but I DO love a good Murder Ballad. here's one of the best...

 

Where The Wild Roses Grow...

 

Nick Cave and Kylie

 

 

At the start of his career Nick Cave was a member of The Birthday Party. At a birthday party you are likely to hear the song Happy Birthday. Sadly it is unlikely to be the Altered Images version.

 

 

 

 

Another artist who had a very popular song called "Happy Birthday" was the legend that is Stevie Wonder, hard to pick a favourite Stevie song but i've plumped for "Part-Time Lover"

 

 

Another Stevie, of the more laced dress kind, is the brilliant Stevie Nicks. She's written dozens of fabulous songs, this is the one that made me well-up for the duration of the song when I saw Fleetwood Mac the other year. OK I was crying like a baby...

 

The gorgeous Gypsy...

 

 

Fleetwood Mac were also responsible for The Chain, perhaps the Mornington Crescent of threads such as this. The Chain is well known as the theme tune for the BBC's Formula 1 coverage. Another programme popular with petrolheads is Top Gear whose theme tune is (or was, I never watch it) Jessica by The Allman Brothers

 

Jessica 7 was Logan's girlfriend in TV series Logans Run. Logan Airport is where I once got stranded for 24 hours, and it's the main airport for Boston.

 

Here's Boston and the classic More Than A Feeling...

 

 

Boston was also the setting for the TV show Cheers, the place where everybody knows your name, and if they're Norm they often say it too, speaking of saying one's name....

 

 

Speaking of girls' names, Julian Cope had a 'Planetary Sit-In' back in 1996, a track which had (Every Girl Has Your Name) in parentheses. But it's not that great. 'Beautiful Love'...now there's a classic track!

 

ooh that causes me a dilemma, can i go cheap and opt for Teardrop Explodes classic Treason...

 

 

damn, i can't bring myself to do it. Talking of Damn, they covered (beautifully) Love, and as that's a bit more inventive than another song with love in the title, I'll go for the original version of Alone Again Or..

 

 

I'm starting to forget what's gone before now, so I ought to do a "been n Gone" list of acts soon for the Chain..

That's an absolutely glorious song :wub: . It's scandalous that it was never a hit. As it would be difficult to follow that with a song of equal calibre I'll go with Alone Again (Naturally) by Gilbert O'Sullivan

 

Gilbert O'Sullivan also had a hit with "Get Down" similar to the title of the Kool & The Gang hit "Get Down On It", of course they also released party favourite "Celebration". Celebration was also the name of Madonna's greatest hits album, my favourite from that being "Frozen"

 

 

 

there are some corkers being posted...!

 

well, Frozen is off Ray Of Light, and someone who never brings a ray of light into our lives is perennial Mr Grumpy, Morrissey, though he did say there is a light that never goes out. Instead, though, as I often feel like following his advice when I hear people paid to play music who are more interested in self-promotion than in the music....Hang The DJ!

 

Panic...