715. I SAW HER AGAIN - The Mamas And The Papas (1967) 1,001,800

 

 

One of my fave bands of the 60's, and one of the great hippie-era pop back catalogues, The Mamas And The Papas were the ultimate male-female harmony band, and were a sort of template for Abba and Rumours-era Fleetwood Mac, not to mention daughters in Wilson Phillips. John Phillips was the creative backbone, and his wife Michelle joined with Mama Cass Elliot on vocal harmonies, along with Denny Doherty on male vocals with John. Mama Cass was a huge family favourite, and the West Coast pop symphony creations of the band were just so on the spot for 3 years, and then it was all over! This song is under-rated, an uptempo gorgeous-sounding production with an infidelity relationship lyric giving it a bitter twist. Fab.

714. DELILAH - Tom Jones (1968) 1,002,250

 

 

The Voice, the perennial Tom, still kicking it in 2016, and throughout my music life really, give or take. Delilah was one of those now lost art-forms, the story ballad, and a thundering jealousy murder ballad it is, and an oddity, with waltz rhythms, Spanish-ey brass sections, and a manic piano-riff all trying to battle that belter of a voice from Tom, and very nearly winning. A fantastic pop track, still pretty well-known, and the first of two for Sir Tom.

713. LAST STOP: THIS TOWN - Eels (1998) 1,002,400

 

 

One of the great quirky bands. Quirky bands always get under-rated, and this fab whimsical, clever, musical collage of rock, harpsichord and deep down vocal interludes is no exception. Eels were very consistently good, and this was my fave track of theirs from their heyday 1995 to the early 90's, when they were labelled Alternative Rock and hailed originally from California, which endeared them even more to me - we're used to endearing quirky British bands, American ones less so post-60's. Still sounds great this one.

712. THEME FROM A SUMMER PLACE - Percy Faith (1960) 1,002,500

 

 

There's a hint of Mantovani about this film theme (starring Sandra Dee, well look at me, reading Wikipedia!) which became a worldwide breakout tuneful lush hit, and is still well-known popping on ads, in movies, and on The Simpsons when Jasper adds vocals to it, hilariously. Just to underline how old this is, I knew it as a toddler and have loved it my whole life, that melody is just good enough to eat, and the sweeping strings just hit all of the pleasure centres in my brain - percy was born in 1908 (that's 108 years ago!) and was already in his fifties when this came out. Hooray for oldies! One of the very oldest tracks in my countdown...

711. DID YOU EVER - Nancy & Lee (1971) 1,002,700

 

 

A final hit collaboration for the greatest male-female vocal duo act of the 60's (and all subsequent decades), and that includes the marvellous Sonny & Cher. It was the combo of Nancy Sinatra's sweet-girl vocals (I'll take her over her dad anyday) and Lee Hazelwood's gravel-singing and songs/productions. The best stuff is hippie trippie poetry, swirling ballads set to music with wild romantic imagery, such as Sand (still waiting to chart that one, long overdue, easpecially as I've successfully had it played on Radio 1 and Radio 2 as requests with stories - of Singapore life), but they occasionally flirted with Country and Western music and grabbed a huge UK hit in late '71 with this very suggestively naughty amusing lyric which has them interrupting each other before any risky words come.....out. First of 2 for the duo, and another 2 more for Nancy solo.

710. THE DARK IS RISING - Mercury Rev (2001) 1,003,100

 

 

Ambitiously epic, a crescendo of swirling strings just to start with, then fragile vocals and piano, a touch of violin, and as always I love moody or exotic lyrical imagery. Buffalo, New York's Mercury Rev never quite made it big, but were touchingly quirky, and this track just moves me tremendously and I still don't understand why it wasn't huge, though it did well in the UK and the band were critically rated highly. The Dark Is Rising could feature quite happily as the centrepiece of a Hollywood movie, art or blockbuster, and I still have my fingers crossed for a re-discovery.

709. I WOULDN'T NORMALLY DO THIS KIND OF THING - Pet Shop Boys (1993) 1,003,450

 

 

A lot of people, throughout their career, have had problems with Neil's voice and the dance nature of a lot of their material. Their loss, the PSB's are peculiarly British, immensely talented, and as art-ful and musically, lyrically and visually talented as any act in pop music history. This record, in keeping with their one-word-title-or-immensely-long-title tradition, is just pure upbeat fun, with a bonus zany computer-cum-60's mad-as-a-hatter video, and came off the back of their final Big Pop Stars period (Go West and Can You Forgive Her). This video version isn't loud enough, the CD version is fab. 2nd of many for Chris 'n' Neil, and to boot they have also remixed tracks by Yoko Ono, David Bowie and Madonna which also feature in the rundown. Just saying....

708. JUMP - Madonna (2006) 1,003,600

 

 

Talking Of Madonna, her last entirely wonderful album, Confessions On A Dancefloor, saw me standing outside Cardiff's Millennium Stadium for a great standing view of Madge touring the album this dropped off. By the time they opened the doors it had been 9 hours without toilets, respite from the sun, or any kiosks selling food and drink and I wilted at the last minute. Never mind, got a seat with a great view and Madonna was just fab, this track came over well and got a boost in my charts perhaps more than it otherwise would have. The people at the front had more fun though, but I'm not bitter, oh no....

707. NO MILK TODAY - Herman's Hermits (1967) 1,003,800

 

 

Teenage Peter Noone was a fresh young Manchester pop star fronting Herman's Hermits, and they were huge in the 60's, both in the UK and the USA. I was 9 years old when this Graham Gouldman song (of 10CC, then just a 20-year-old jobbing songwriter) came out during the year of the summer of love, and the tune was just fab. I could mention a huge list of great tuneful pop tracks from the lads, most of them forgotten these days, tragically (and one naughty playground version of Sunshine Girl) , but this was their best record, a lovely production, Peter at his cutest, and I eventually got to see him of all places in Disney Epcot in the 90's when they specialised in 60's acts doing performances. I still have the video...

706. YOU DON'T KNOW ME - Armand Van Helden (featuring Duane Harden) (1999) 1,003,800

 

 

As the 20th century drew to a close, this fantastic club track pointed the way forward for dance music in the 21st century for me, urgent bpm's, swooping synth chords, and a good vocal over the top of a brilliant production. Soulful and passionate, but oh did it make you want to go mad dancing like a whirling dirvish. Can I use that phrase in the 21st century? Too late! Boston, Mass. DJ Armand never really captured another massive hit single, but he pretty much has remixed everyone who is anyone over the last 20 years, often to great effect, oh and then he came back as Duck Sauce and gifted us all with the big hit Boney M sampling song Barbara Streisand. Shh don't tell anyone but it's great fun...

705. I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU WANT BUT I CAN'T GIVE IT ANYMORE - Pet Shop Boys (1999) 1,003,900

 

 

Back with the long song titles, the Nightlife first single was back in full-swirling strings and EDM beats mode. Another change of image, still eccentric of course, and an arty video. It's quite low-key melodically, and an interesting breaking-up treatment of a traditional song theme, but wasn't that well-received when it came out - to be fair there are a couple of better tracks on the album, and it was an odd choice, but I find it quite affecting in a dour sort of way for a banging dance tune. 3rd for the Petties.

704. FAIRYTALE - Alexander Rybak (2009) 1,003,950

 

 

Eurovision winner from young Norwegian Alexander with his fiddle and a fresh fab song. It stood out right away as classy, and refreshingly different from previous winners, and returned Eurovision to the UK top 10 after years in the chart doldrums. Unfairly, I thought, as the contest has gone from strength to strength in the 21st century with Europeans taking it a lot more seriously than the invariably half-hearted and hopeless UK entries - largely thanks to the BBC, it must be said, and the bad press of the contest in the British media who conveniently forget the best pop act of all time (Abba) used it as a platform to worldwide success and eventually critical acclaim. There will be more Eurovision, you have been warned!

703. LOVE ME DO - The Beatles (1962) 1,004,100

 

 

I turned 5 when this was in the charts over xmas and new year 1962/1963, and The Beatles began the rapid journey to world domination, the creation of Britpop as a world force, artistic development as a creative force, the album as art, the pop video, politics, love, death, break-up and a mere 7 prolific years containing 3 world-class songwriters. Who woulda thought it from this happy little ditty?! Within a year the Beatles had taken over pop culture and dominated my pre-teen years like no-one else, I saw the movies, bought the bubblegum cards, and dad bought some singles. Not this one, but it eventually made the top 10 in 1982 as the 20th anniversary reissues got going. Fab. Four.

702. MISS YOU NIGHTS - Cliff Richard (1976) 1,005,300

 

 

The song that saved Cliff's reputation, along with follow-up Devil Woman, after years of frothy tuneful pop and TV family fare. Not that I hold the same critical venom for that period of Cliff's career (I was a pre-teen fan of his pop songs, and he of course did Summer Holiday, the song and film that sparked all UK kids dreams of travelling the world in a double-decker bus), but he hadn't really impressed the critics much since Move It introduced genuine British teen rock 'n' roll to the world. Miss You Nights was a breathy, classy, minimal ballad (bar violin, piano. multi-tracked harmonies and some strings) and Cliff was now entering his golden mature pop period, which lasted a decade or so, give or take the odd Xmastime blip.

701. CHASING PAVEMENTS - Adele (2008) 1,005,350

 

 

Hard to believe this is 8 years old, and who could have predicted Adele was on course to become the biggest pop star on the planet, by far! Shockingly, this is her only entry in my rundown - not that I don't rate her stuff since this debut hit, but it's fair to say that there's no avoiding Adele in the media and over-familiarity tends to cut chart runs down in my charts. I'm sure there will be re-entries for the likes of Hello in the future, and there's still Water Under The Bridge as a potential future hit and "million-selling" in my charts. Long may she reign!

OK, starting THE TOP 700 without starting a new thread!

 

700. CRACKLIN' ROSIE - Neil Diamond (1970) 1,005,400

 

 

I'm 12 years old and Neil Diamond was writing great pop tune after pop tune (mostly for other acts like The Monkees), and was at last hitting the UK singles chart with this terrific pop song, chunters along beautifully and the great deep-voiced bits are fun. I still love this one, partly for nostalgia of my Singapore sunny days, where other Neil songs of the period have varied a lot more in my affections, some have gained, some have slightly declined. For me 1970/1971 were his peak years, so expect at least one more to come! OK, second of three, gave it away (though there are even more Diamond songs on the way too)!

699. UNFINISHED SYMPATHY - Massive Attack (1991) 1,006,550

 

 

Massive classic, of course, this one. Shara Nelson gives a stunning vocal performance over this haunting soulful, shuffling strings-laden brilliant record. Passion runs throughout every second of it, and the video is a work of art in itself, I love slice-of-life running visuals, people are endlessly fascinating and Shara is just cool. Massive Attack were always good, and came close to equalling this a couple of times, but they never quite hit the same special moment once Shara had her solo career to concentrate on.

698. MY NAME IS JACK - Manfred Mann (1968) 1,006,650

 

 

Manfred Mann were a bluespop band fronted by Paul Jones, and they were great. They were also led by South African Manfred Mann, who became an Earthband in the 70's to great success. After Paul left for a solo singing, acting, Blues Band-ing, and DJ'ing career the Manfred's grabbed frontman Mike D'Abo who was poptastic cool and the hits just kept coming, this time helped by Mike's pop songwriting (two of his songs will feature in the list higher up). Any similarities between Manfred Mann and Ocean Colour Scene are probably deliberate, at least visually! My Name Is Jack was perfect for 10-year-old's who were very keen on pop music (that'll be me), loved the whistling, loved the schoolground lyrics, and loved the flutey chanty tunefulness of it. Still do. First of 2.

697. RADIO GA GA - Queen (1984) 1,008,300

 

 

Queen were huge for me in the early to mid-70's, but they'd gone off the boil a bit until this came out in early 1984. By this stage all of the band were writing hit singles, not just Freddie and Brian, and this is Roger Taylor's best song hooked up with that fabulous Fritz Lang Metropolis-inspired video. Queen were a rock band not afraid to dabble with other genres, in this case synths and a wobbly disco beat amongst the hand-clapping and the fab tune. Queen were back with a bang, and this was my number one track when I moved from Mansfield to Poole, which pretty much was the dividing point between a hectic ever-changing ever-moving life and a static life. Who Knew!?

696. I HEAR YOU NOW - Jon And Vangelis (1980) 1,008,450

 

 

Now this was an unusual collaboration: a prog rock vocalist with an unusual vocal style and range, and a Greek synth-composer-arranger on his way to film scores after a career in the fabulous Greek prog rock band Aphrodite's Child with the well-known Demis Roussos. Gentle, melodic, and sounding like nothing before it, it was a gorgeous glimpse of the potential future of pop for me. I just can't resist anything that sounds new and fresh, and this did. They had a bigger hit (I'll Find My Way Home), and a better-known song (Donna Summer's glorious version of State Of Independence) but this is till my fave of theirs, just gorgeous.