dandy*

Interesting, I’ve never really paid any attention to any version other than the original for that

I keep forgetting about this but will try to get it done tomorrow afternoon as I have some free time and have no inclination to do anything productive with it

Best: Gladys Knight & The Pips - Midnight Train To Georgia Steve Miller Band - The Joker Marvin Gaye - Let's Get It On Stevie Wonder - You Haven't Done Nothin' Love Unlimited Orchestra - Love's Theme Worst: Ray Stevens - The Streak Ringo Starr - You're Sixteen

Well the list time we were both considering the same thing, it went on to win so maybe it's a sign! edit - and when I say 'last, it may actually be 'only' :D

Where as you went for my Plan C!

Confirmed early for once! Although that usually means I end up changing.

Well they did always like covering other people’s material

Clannad and Human League both delivering great songs there, probable the best “non-Dare” track from the latter.

Not expecting anything from this, charity songs just don’t really work any longer

CharLi xCX for me

I think that Charli deserves it, but I’d also be happy with Beyoncé, Andre or Billie getting it. I went with Beyoncé for who I think, but it isn’t with any conviction as I agree there are arguments for many on the list.

Ah okay. I thought it was from a film soundtrack and released because of that

Same for Bad and him leading with I Just Can't Stop Loving You... I've wondered before if they were collaborations that were stand alone projects that were tacked on to the albums, a bit like Madonna leading True Blue with Papa Don't Preach but tagging on a previous single in Live to Tell.

I think Maneater is my favourite of the new ones too, it's undeniably catchy

I don't get this take that the Junior Vasquez mix elevates the song at all, yet I've seen it mentioned lots of times over the years. It does transform it, I'll give you that, but it takes it from being an interesting change in direction and pace from Madonna and turns it into a pretty generic dance track production - which isn't to say I don't like it, it's perfectly okay for what it is, but it isn't as good as the original imo.

I didn't mind that Tina Turner track, but realised it was because it was a cover so didn't think I could award it any points. Thought the Spandau Ballet track was a bit lacklustre tbh.

At the moment it looks like FLJ may be going African-French Edit - and it looks like the act has been entered before, which I'm kinda quite surprised by. Although not as surprised by who entered the act first as they tend to have a pretty interesting and varied taste in music.

01 - 02 The Cure - Songs of a Lost World 02 - NE Kruder & Dorfmesiter - The K&D Sessions (25th Anniversary Edition) 03 - NE Nicolas Jaar - Piedras 1&2 04 - 01 Judeline - Bodhiria 05 - 04 Tyler, The Creator - CHROMAKOPIA 06 - 06 Jamie xx - In Waves 07 - 03 Kelly Lee Owens - Dreamstate 08 - 08 Charli xcx - Brat (and it's completely different but also still brat) 09 - 09 Nilüfer Yanya - My Method Actor 10 - 10 Floating Points - Cascade 11 - 05 Laura Marling - Patterns in Repeat 12 - 12 Fontaines D.C. - Romance 13 - 11 TR/ST - Performance 14 - 13 Kiasmos - II 15 - 07 Utah Saints - Utah Saints (Remastered and Expanded) 16 - 15 Magdalena Bay - Imaginal Disk 17 - 17 Billie Eilish - HIT ME HARD AND SOFT 18 - 18 Vampire Weekend - Only God Was Above Us 19 - 16 Rahim C Redcar - HOPECORE 20 - 14 Caribou - Honey

No - as some attempts showed haha… but I’d still maintain it’s also not that skilled either.

I think the TFF version of Mad World is substantially better than the cover version. At the time I really loved the Michael Andrews & Gary Jules version, and I still do think it is fine, but it was made at the time when stripped back versions of songs were only just becoming a thing - as more and more arrived I realised that it's actually comparatively easy to do and that actually the original was far more interesting and inventive. I think Mad World could well be the best song to have appeared in the chart all year long.

I don't recall the updated Could it be Magic at all from the time, but I thought it was pretty awful when I heard it in the playlist. A real misstep from Trevor Horn as the production just didn't work at all for me.

Broke was one of the songs I'd forgotten all about but I really liked it at the time. It was a lovely reminder (and the other song in the rate from them was good too)

I don't think Future Love Paradise has aged quite as well as it perhaps needed to, but it's still a very solid song imo. I love the chorus in particular and the second half of the track.

Yes you're right I'd usually choose Enjoy the Silence by default for something like this. However I've been listening to Orbital a lot over the past 12 months (or however long it is since thirty something was released) and the new version of Belfast has made me love that track even more than I did before, the original was always nice and deservedly an electronic classic but kinda didn't quite go anywhere for me after the first half, where as this new version kicks up a gear before breaking it all back down again and it just makes it even more special a song for me... plus you do need a song that's perfect for a disc closer!

Just a suggestion (and obvs feel free to just ignore it if it doesn’t work for you guys) but maybe you could have a ‘disc 3’ that represents some of the biggest artist forums over the years? I suspect that would cover some of the acts you’re thinking of if people are nominating more personal things at the moment.