a classic year with loads of variety in the charts

 

for those who have yet to cobtribute to one of these threads.... the idea is to post an album of tracks on a theme...any theme.. max 12 tracks. you are then free to comment or/and add your own compilation to the thread :)

 

 

Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights my fav track of the year, kates stunning debut single.

 

E.L.O. - Mr Blue sky corking pop song, upbeat, catchy, great stuff.

 

Public Image LTD - Public Image johnny at his very best, a superb snareling autobiographical track with a superb bassline.

 

Darts - Boy From New York City abit of doo-wap.. great catchy track.

 

Sylvester - (you make me feel) Mighty Real posibly my fav disco track, and im not keen on disco.

 

Yvonne Elliman - If i cant have you good beegees cover

 

Blondie - Hanging on the telephone my fav blondie track.

 

Yellow dog - just one more night silly pop

 

Buzzcocks - What do i get early buzzcocks often overlooked in favcour of the more popular 'ever fallen in love....'

 

Althia and Donna - Uptown top ranking for variety, a bit of jamaican reggae, one of my favs

 

X Ray Spex - the day the world turned dayglo true punk, poly styrene with her unique singing style.

 

Siouxsie and the Banshees - Hong kong garden distinctive, inovative, the godmother of 'goth' which she created by 'accident'...

 

 

This would have been right when I started taking more notice of the charts. I probably would have liked different songs at the time but with the benefit of hindsight this would be my choice. I would have chosen Uptown Top Ranking, Public Image and Wuthering Heights but I decided to choose some different tracks instead seeing as Rob had taken these already!

 

Elvis Costello - Pump It Up Classic rocker

Magazine - Shot by Both Sides This should have been so much bigger and it would have been if they had decided to play TOTP

Plastic Bertrand - Ca Plane Pour Moi Best record to have come from Belgium.

The Boomtown Rats - Rat Trap Loved this as a kid and still do

Ian Dury - What a Waste Remember him doing this on some variety show on a Saturday night and loving it

Blondie - Picture This Just sheer brilliance

Patti Smith Group - Because the Night Co-written with Springsteen

Boney M - Rasputin Pop song about a mad Russian monk? Mad but brilliant

Kate Bush - The Man with the Child in his Eyes Beautiful

The Who - Who are You The last hurrah!

The Undertones - Teenage Kicks No album of this year would be complete without this.

The Jam - Down in the Tube Station at Midnight Along with 'A' Bomb in Wardour Street signalled the beginning of The Jam's golden period.

 

 

 

 

 

Two fantastic selections.

 

My selection would be:

 

1. Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights An obvious ethereal classic.

2. The Clash - (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais For me their best song.

3. Public Image Limited - Public Image Johnny at his lyrical best. Putting the record straight in song.

4. The Jam - Down In A Tube Station At Midnight A quite brilliant social tale of racism & violence.

5. Elvis Costello - (I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea Known by Liverpool supporters as Steven Gerrard's theme tune :lol:

6. The Only Ones - Another Girl Another Planet A fantastic new wave song that has become a classic, despite failing to chart at the time.

7. Undertones - Teenage Kicks John Peel RIP.

8. Chic - Le Freak Nile Rodgers & Bernard Edwards = musical geniuses with this sublime dance classic

9. Warren Zevon - Werewolves of London A fantastic & intelligent lyrical tune & melody

10. Blondie - One Way Or Another A US only single, but full of that new wave attitude.

11. Patti Smith Group - Because The Night A great treatment co-penned by Bruce Springsteen, by one of America's greatest female artists.

12. XTC - This Is Pop I think it is fairly obvious why I've included this New Wave classic.

Some of my personal favourites in these lists,

 

Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights

E.L.O. - Mr Blue sky

Public Image LTD - Public Image

Blondie - Hanging on the telephone

 

Ian Dury - What a Waste

Blondie - Picture This

Patti Smith Group - Because the Night

 

Elvis Costello - (I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea

The Jam - Down In A Tube Station At Midnight

agreed with most of the other choices tip, grebo... a good year with plenty of decent choices.

1. Buzzcocks Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn't Have Fallen In Love With)

2. Undertones Teenage Kicks

3. Kate Bush Wuthering Heights

4. Sweet Love Is Like Oxygen

5. KC & The Sunshine Band It's The Same Old Song

6. Blondie Denis

7. Yvonne Elliman If I Can't Have You

8. Donna Summer McCarthur Park

9. Crystal Gayle Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue

10. Abba Summer Night City

11. The Who Who Are You

12. Rod Stewart Do Ya Think I'm Sexy

1) Sweet - Love is like oxygen...former glam stars who by now had given up the glitter for a much more pop/rock sound

 

2) ELO - Mr Blue Sky...Huge ELO fan and this still sounds good today

 

3) Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights...Sheer class, what more can I say

 

4) Nick Lowe - I love the sound of breaking glass...Just like this quirky track

 

5) Blondie - Denis....The song that got me interested in all their stuff

 

6) Squeeze - Take me I'm yours.....Great song bt a great band

 

7) Ian Dury - Hit me with your rythym stick....Overcame is polio dissability, to allow him to have a pop career

 

8) Patti Smith - Because the night... Still puts a shiver down me every time I hear this song

 

9) Motors - Airport....Great pop track, often overlooked

 

10) 10CC - Dreadlock Holiday....Reggae song by one of my favourite acts from the 70's

 

11) Undertones - Teenage kicks....Always liked their stuff

 

12) Buzzcocks - Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn't Have Fallen In Love With).....still like this even now

OMG!..... i forgot (it was rushed) squeeze 'take me im yours' ... fantastic track, loved it then, still love it now.

1978 was the start of "my" era (we all have an era we love the best, mine is 1978 - 1984)

 

Sticking to 12 songs, in no particular order...

 

1. Le Freak - Chic

 

still the best "disco" song ever and still in my top 3 favourites of all time. I've never grown tired of this song and still have the 12" single I bought in November 1978. shame I don't have a needle for my record deck...

 

2. Down In the Tube Station At Midnight - The Jam

 

the song that kick started my love for The Jam. Brilliant song and Weller paints a desolate picture of despair down in the bowels of London

 

3. Public Image - Public Image Limited

 

better than just about anything the Pistols ever produced. Great song. I love Lydon's snarling vocals, Wobble's bass andLevine's guitar.

 

4. Airport - Motors

 

The sound of the summer of 1978 for me - catchy and sunny sounding even if the lyrics tell a different story.

 

5. Rat Trap - Boomtown Rats

 

I bought all the singles and then bought the album WITH all the singles. We did silly things like that back then!

 

6. In the Bush - Musique

 

Intriguing disco song with rather risque lyrics and with a brilliant 12" mix.

 

7. Because The Night - Patti Smith

 

excellent song, entered the charts the same week as Rivers Of Babylon. One sold 2 million copies, the other is a classic song...

 

8. The Day the World Turned Day-Glo - X-Ray Spex

 

shouty, trashy but ultimately excellent! And different too - a punk song featuring a saxophone wasn't common then.

 

9. Shame - Evelyn "Champagne" King

 

the first ever song to enter the chart at #72 (the week the chart extended to a top 75!) and spent 23 weeks on the chart. Despite peaking at a lowly #39 it is one of a handful of non-top 20 records to sell 250,000 copies (the others being Freebird EP by Lynyrd Skynyrd and Free EP by Free). It sold at a fairly low level of weekly sales but continued to trickle sell for many years, hence its high overall sales. It also was helped by the fact it is a brilliant song that is as infectious as it is soulful.

 

10. McArthur Park - Donna Summer

 

the only song on this list I didn't own and yet in a way the most evocative of the era. Perhaps it's because I didn't own it and play it beyond its time in the charts that it sticks out in my mind as a song from "back then". I heard it on the radio the other day, played it on youtube last week and it still reminds me of, and takes me back to, October 1978. I love the song and Donna's soaring vocals and the sheer drama of it all.

 

11. Picture This - Blondie

 

This is probably my favourite song by Blondie, yet at the time was one of their least successful chart hits (though it did sell over 250,000 copies). I love everything about this song - Debbie's vocals, the guitar and the drums. And I had it on yellow vinyl. Strangely, I never fancied Debbie Harry while everyone else at school was drooling over her.

 

12. Talking In Your Sleep - Crystal Gayle

 

my guilty pleasure track. While I bought and played Public Image and Picture This in October 1978 I listened out for this song on the top 20 to record and play in private! I have a soft spot for Ms Gayle and made an effort to listen out for her songs when they were played on the US chart countdown back then. I love this song, soppy and sentimental, yes but lovely too...

 

 

there are other songs that I had on the list and then dropped, to try and get a balance betwen music. Certainly, the Buzzcocks were in there - twice - at one stage with What Do I Get and Love You More but ultimately made way for Crystal Gayle.

 

Doubtless there is a song out there I have overlooked and will think "why didn't I include that?" I did the list quickly, and rattled through the comments, which get a bit lengthy towards the end - sorry!

Edited May 20, 200817 yr by Robbie

tbh theres alot of great tracks from this year, anyone else like 'if i had words', scott fitzgerald and yvonne keely?.. that stupid pig film used it speeded up at the end credits <_<