20. 84 points

 

Dollar - Videotheque

 

Chart peak: 17

 

King Rollo 16, Popchartfreak 4, Mango 12, jimwatts 23, AH Gold 29

 

The last of the four singles that Trevor produced for Dollar ends up as our favourite. The song was first recorded by him as a demo for Buggles' second album 'Adventures In Modern Recording' but wasn't amongst the tracks when it came out in 1981. The album, mainly a solo effort, failed to chart. The demo can be found on the 2010 re-issue. Dollar wanted Trevor to produce more songs for them but he was too busy with other acts. This year, Thereza has been touring as 'Thereza Bazar's Dollar' with a new male singer. She is no longer on speaking terms with David Van Day.

 

19. 88 points

 

Marc Almond - The Days Of Pearly Spencer

 

Chart peak: 4

 

Severin 18, King Rollo 11, Popchartfreak 19, AH Gold 12, dandy* 15, chartjack2 3, Jade 10

 

Set in the run-down parts of Ballymena, Northern Ireland, this song was first recorded by its writer, David McWilliams, in 1967. Although it went to number 1 in France, it wasn't a hit in the UK. Marc Almond wrote an additional verse for his cover version.

 

Videotheque is a brilliant Dollar track, only really beaten for me by Hand Held In Black and White.

 

Here's an odd fact for you...

 

The male singer Theresa Bazar is now touring with is Stephen Fox, who did loads of video work with The Fizz when they were known as The Original Bucks Fizz. For a while, he was even the fourth member of the group with Cheryl, Mike and Jay.

Of course David Van Day was also in Bucks Fizz back in the 90s when he tried to steal the name. And Van Day was also in Dollar.

 

And you thought Sugababes had a chequered line up!!!

 

 

Glad that the Days of Pearly Spencer made the top 20 here, it's a really distinctive track. I liked all of the Marc Almond tracks, they are definitely the strongest things I've heard from him since the obvious Soft Cell hits.

I've known and liked 'Hand Held In Black and White' and 'Videotheque' for a while, both expansive pop songs with standout production.

'The Days Of Pearly Spencer' is a pretty good track, I probably should have given it some points tbh!

18. 99 points

 

Godley & Creme - Cry

 

Chart peak: 19

 

Severin 4, King Rollo 28, Popchartfreak 26, jimwatts 2, AH Gold 4, chartjack2 9, JulianT 26

 

Cry was the only new song on the 'History Mix Volume 1' album which consisted of various songs by Godley & Creme, 10cc and Hotlegs spliced together to form a continuous piece of music with new sounds from the Fairlight synthesizer thrown in. The intro to Cry on the album is combined with the "big boys don't cry" section from 'I'm Not In Love'. The album has not been re-issued and is not on Spotify so it's largely forgotten now. The face of Trevor Horn is the penultimate one to appear in the groundbreaking video. His long association with Lol Creme started here with Lol being part of his groups The Producers, The Trevor Horn Band and the reformed 1999 Art Of Noise line-up.

 

17. 101 points

 

Grace Jones - Slave To The Rhythm

 

Chart peak: 12

 

Severin 19, King Rollo 20, Popchartfreak 11, jimwatts 13, AH Gold 2, dandy* 14, chartjack2 14, Jade 1, JulianT 7

 

Slave To The Rhythm is the first song to attract as many as nine voters. It was originally intended for Frankie Goes To Hollywood who got as far as recording a demo but ended up with Grace Jones. Many remixes were made by Trevor and these were put out as a full album which got to number 12 on the album chart. Grace memorably performed the song on Terry Wogan's chatshow wearing a mask which was removed towards the end when she got to the line "and now, ladies and gentlemen, here's Grace" and also at the Queen's Diamond Jubilee concert in which she hula-hooped for the entire song.

 

16. 106 points

 

t.A.T.u. - Not Gonna Get Us

 

Chart peak: 7

 

Severin 2, King Rollo 18, Mango 20, jimwatts 15, AH Gold 16, dandy* 8, Jade 27

 

From 2003, this was t.A.T.u.'s follow-up to their number 1 single 'All The Things She Said' which is still to come.

 

 

'The Days of Pearly Spencer' is a very good track its like an epic country/folk song.

 

The Grace Jones song is interesting, very art-poppy.

 

'Cry' is very good, epic and atmospheric rock ballad with the style with the echo effects reminding me a bit of Mr Mister - Broken Wings. The video is groundbreaking too - similar video effects were used later most famously on Michael Jackson's 'Black or White' but also U.S.U.R.A. - Open Your Mind.

 

'Not Gonna Get Us' has some great production mix of breakbeat and pop - in that regard its similar in a way to Dannii Minogues 'All I Wanna Do'.

 

Grace Jones, what an icon *.*

 

Love the t.A.T.u track, it felt mean only giving it 8 but it was up against tough opposition

Unpopular opinion - I prefer 'Not Gonna Get Us' to their big #1, breakbeat banger alert

The TATU song is decent, but not enough room in my votes I'm afraid. LeAnn Rimes (she clearly only rhymes when singing) never a favourite which I got the title wrong on Popmaster last week (It's not Can't Stop The Feeling!). Videotheque is fabulous, I never knew it was almost a Buggles track - pity it wasnt a 4th single after Clean Clean.

 

The Days Of Pearly Spencer original is fantastic, and Marc's ups the ante even more, epic-sounding. Marc is at his very best when he's emoting dramatic 60's-styled ballads. Grace Jones was always living in Grace World, not suffering fools, doing her own thing, stylish and not giving 2fux what anyone said - Slave To The Rhthym is easily her best recording, but I can very much see FGTH doing a manic amazing version, so that's a loss at the same time. Adored 10CC, adored Godley & Creme, and that video was influential and fascinating - of course they did it themselves, and indeed they were top video creators for other pop stars at that time, the pop hits were more an occasional bonus. Pity! I'd rather have had more classy pop stuff than helping other big and minor names get hits, but you gotta go with the cash if you're on a creative streak.

'Not Gonna Get Us' is great, I remember it being a very unexpected follow up to 'All The Things She Said'. Excellent production on both though!

Grace Jones is one of those artists that I just never quite got. And also she scares me. A lot.

Although I too will always prefer the David McWilliams version, Marc Almond's cover of Pearly Spencer is class.

 

Grace Jones is a mid '80s classic and the T.a.t.u. tracks are decent.

 

Starting to get in to the stuff I rather like now.

 

Love both Slave to the Rhythm and Cry!

15. 114 points

 

Pet Shop Boys - It's Alright

 

Chart peak: 5

 

King Rollo 19, Popchartfreak 12, Mango 29, jimwatts 11, AH Gold 18, dandy* 12, chartjack2 5, Jade 8

 

It's Alright was first recorded by Sterling Void and Paris Brightledge in 1987. Their version reached number 53 after the release of the Pet Shop Boys' 'Introspective' album but before the song's release as a single. The album version is certainly the best one to listen to. With a length of 9 minutes and 26 seconds, it is the longest Pet Shop Boys track across all their albums.

 

 

 

14. 124 points

 

The Art Of Noise - Moments In Love

 

Chart peak: 51

 

Severin 15, King Rollo 22, jimwatts 24, dandy* 18, Jade 26, JulianT 19

 

Moments In Love has justified its wild card as the only non top 40 hit by finishing in 14th place. It was first released as part of an EP in 1983 before being a single in 1985. As with the last song, the best version is the ten minute album track. It's been sampled by many artists including Charli XCX, Lil Wayne and Drake and was also played while Madonna walked down the aisle at her 1985 wedding.

 

13. 135 points

 

Yes - Owner Of A Lonely Heart

 

Chart peak: 28

 

Severin 9, King Rollo 27, Popchartfreak 7, Mango 9, jimwatts 26, AH Gold 1, dandy* 4, chartjack2 6, Jade 24, JulianT 22

 

This is the first song that all ten of us put in their votes. After Yes split up in 1981, Chris Squire and Alan White (the bass player and drummer) formed a new group called Cinema and recruited the South African musician Trevor Rabin as their lead guitarist and singer. Owner Of A Lonely Heart was one of the half finished songs he brought with him. Tony Kaye, who had been the keyboard player in Yes before being replaced by Rick Wakeman in 1971, was the next to join up. When Jon Anderson then came into the studio to help with the vocals and songwriting, it made sense to drop the Cinema name and Yes were reborn with Jon back as their lead singer. Boosted by the single reaching number 1 in the US, this line-up of Yes continued together up to and including 1994's 'Talk' album. A dance remix of the song by Max Graham did better in the UK than the original, reaching number 9 in 2005.

 

Moments in Love is my favourite today, although all three are pretty great. I've only really started to get into Art of Noise in the past few years, in particular since their album was re-released for RSD a few years ago, and Moments in Love is probably their best song that I've heard