293. Family Snapshot - Peter Gabriel (1980)

 

 

I've been waiting for this

All you people in TV land

I will wake up your empty shells

Peak-time viewing blown in a flash

 

Some of the lyrics of this song could apply to the assassination of John F Kennedy but it's mainly based on the diary of Arthur Bremer who shot the presidential candidate George Wallace in 1972,leaving him partly paralyzed. After 35 years in prison,he was released in 2007.

 

 

Wonderful Life is a good song! I think I may have knew it before, but I certainly rediscovered it when it was used on that Premier Inn advert a few years ago.

292. The First Picture Of You - The Lotus Eaters (1983)

 

 

The first picture of you

The first picture of summer

Seeing the flowers scream their joy

 

If you ask 80s music fans to pick their favourite one hit wonder from that decade,most of them will choose either 'Big In Japan','The Safety Dance' or this one. Those first two did quite well in the Buzzjack one hit wonder contest but not 'The First Picture Of You'. I don't think it's as well known on here as the other two. The Lotus Eaters were from Liverpool. They split up two years later but reformed in 2002.

 

291. The Film Of My Love - 10cc (1975)

 

 

We're gone with the wind

On the Orient Express

To join the magnificent seven

 

From my favourite 10cc album 'The Original Soundtrack',this song was written by Godley & Crème but sung by Graham Gouldman who didn't sing lead vocals quite as much as the other three but he puts in a great performance here and this is,for me,his finest hour as a vocalist. The music has a Mediterranean sound to it and it conjures images of a singing waiter in a pizzeria.

 

290. Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad? - Moby(1999)

 

 

These open doors

 

A top 20 single from Moby's hugely successful album 'Play'. I would have guessed that the male vocal was new and the female vocal was sampled but it's the other way round. I'm learning new facts myself doing this. The male vocal is sampled from 'He'll Roll Your Burdens Away' by the Banks Brothers (1963) while the female vocal was recorded by Diane Charlemagne from Urban Cookie Collective.

 

289. Good Vibrations - The Beach Boys (1966)

 

 

I don't know where but she sends me there

 

One of the most innovative songs ever recorded. Brian Wilson spent several months in different studios slaving over every tiny detail until he was happy with the finished result. This must have sounded extraordinary to those who heard it on the radio for first time when it came out. I love the theremin on this even if it's an electro-theremin and not a real one.

 

ooh some classics in the latest batches! Tubular Bells side 1 got the album to top my singles charts on the grounds that it was one track (albeit it very long) in 1974, followed the next week by hergest Ridge. No other album has qualified! The bit where the bells come in gives me huge goosebumps every time, even 44 years later.

 

I agree about Long & Winding Road, a song I associate with Singapore boyhood, just gorgeous in the Phil Spector version. The less lush version has an appeal too, but the strings push it into overdrive and Paul has always been wrong about the song! I prefer the B side edit of Paninaro but the subsequent mixes havent been nearly as great. Should have been a single in early 1987, missed opportunity.

 

Good Vibrations is the one that pushed record production obviously and clearly into an art form of it's own. Sheer genius. No cover could ever do the song justice.

 

Love Somebody To Love, Silent Running, Wonderful Life and Why Does My Heart feel So Bad, but of all these tracks I'm commenting on only two are in my top 850 tracks on chart "sales" performance!

288. Stay Now - Jem (2004)

 

 

Hide in bed,sheets overhead

Blocking out the sun

Feel like we are marooned at sea

Away from everyone

 

The third song on my chart from Jem's debut album 'Finally Woken'. This is a beautiful ballad with lush orchestration and some sensual vocals from Jem.

 

287. Yesterday Is Dead - Guillemots (2011)

 

 

Yesterday came walking

Yesterday got found

Yesterday went barking

At the underground

 

Another song from Guillemots' third album 'Walk The River'. This is a nine minute epic which builds up to a wall of electric guitar sounds. They certainly cover a wide range of musical genres.

 

286. Bluebird - ELO (1983)

 

 

I watch the stars,I watch the sun

Now I watch for anyone

But it's only make believe

 

From the 'Secret Messages' album which was originally intended to be a double album but ended up as a single album. After a gap of 35 years,it was finally released as a double vinyl LP this month and is also on Spotify which is where I will listen to the songs I am not too familiar with. I think I've heard most of the tracks that were left off here and there. 'Bluebird' is a fine song with great use of backing vocals to complement the lead vocal and I particularly like the slowed down bit two minutes in.

 

 

285. Paper Thin - ABC (1989)

 

 

Rich and wealthy canvas

Clustered up in jewels

Finding all your heavyweights

Are featherweights and fools

 

An underrated gem from ABC's fifth album 'Up' which mainly consists of house/dance music. 'Paper Thin',however,is more of a mid-tempo pop/rock song. It's the most recent ABC song on my chart,I haven't chosen anything from their subsequent albums.

 

284. The Native Daughters Of The Golden West - Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark (1985)

 

 

As children do they stayed at home

Waiting for the day that they were grown

 

Another song from OMD's sixth album 'Crush',this has a much bigger sound to it than most of their work. I like the cellos and the drums and Andy McCluskey manages to hold a very long note at the end of the song.

 

283. Why Me? - Mike + the Mechanics (1988)

 

 

I was so concerned with saving life

I never saw you pull the knife

 

Another song that Mike Rutherford co-wrote with B A Robertson,this is a huge,anthemic pop/rock song with a barnstorming lead vocal from Paul Carrack.

 

 

282. Heart Of The Sunrise - Yes (1971)

 

 

Love comes to you and then after dream on

On to the heart of the sunrise

 

From Yes' fourth album 'Fragile',an eleven minute epic which opens with some frenetic guitar work from Steve Howe. The intro goes on for three and a half minutes before it slows down and Jon Anderson's vocal comes in. Elsewhere in the song,there's some wonderful keyboard playing by Rick Wakeman who had just joined the group.

 

281. We Fly So Close - Phil Collins (1993)

 

 

The passing of time hasn't changed my mind

And the ghosts I know return

 

At almost eight minutes long,this is quite a lengthy song for Phil Collins whose solo efforts were normally much shorter than some of the Genesis epics. He played all the instruments on the 'Both Sides' album so he shows himself here to be an accomplished guitar player. This is a beautiful piece of music for him to come up with this late into his career and as it wasn't released as a single,it's not widely known.

 

 

 

280. Brand New Day - 10cc (1975)

 

 

Here boy,there boy

The boss got you running everywhere boy

 

Just three days after the last one,here is another song from 'The Original Soundtrack'. Again,it's written by Godley & Crème with vocals this time by Kevin Godley and Eric Stewart. The vocals and production on this are top quality.

 

 

279. More Than The Sun - Black (1984)

 

 

The first version of this song was Black's second single,released in 1982. This is a re-recorded version from 1984,again released as a single but still not managing to chart. I first came across it when I bought an EP of his early singles that came out after 'Sweetest Smile' and 'Wonderful Life' were top 10 hits in 1987. I like the dramatic orchestral sound on this one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

278. Siberian Breaks - MGMT (2010)

 

 

It's not the life lesson I've guessed

If you're conscious you must be depressed

 

From MGMT's second album,'Congratulations',this is a trippy,psychedelic twelve minute song with many tempo changes and a late 60s influence. It was released as a 12 inch vinyl single for the 2010 Record Store Day.

 

 

277. Stripped - Depeche Mode (1986)

 

 

Let me hear you make decisions

Without your television

 

The first single from the 'Black Celebration' album. The underlying beat is a slowed down sound of a motorcycle engine running and the song is about escaping the city for a day in the countryside. I like the industrial sound to this one.

 

 

290. Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad? - Moby(1999)

The female vocal was recorded by Diane Charlemagne from Urban Cookie Collective.

 

Who sadly passed away at the end of 2015 - she's also on “Inner City Life” by Goldie.

 

This was the track that made me get Play and I was so glad that I did, the single was one of my earliest #1s on my personal chart back in 2000 when it was re-released. Such a beautiful track!