Severin

Cambodia is brilliant and I won't hear otherwise. Both Kim's first two albums are good. My favourite description of the first is 'The best Blondie album Blondie never released'. Chequered Love us my favourite of hers. Eurythmics were mostly great bar a few stinkers. Not a Lionel fan

Damn. Missed this by a day. I'd definitely have chucked a bucketload of points at CCR and Slipknot too. Hope a few of my favourites can still make it through

Never particularly liked George Michael's work and really didn't like Wham. That being said he was a talented songwriter, and a good singer, although not that pleasant an individual but much of the success was thoroughly deserved. Depeche Mode are my favourite of the three here and are definitely among the best of the synth bands. The early pop tracks are good (although 1 minute of Just Can't Enough is ironically, quite enough) and the move into more serious work served them well. I think they've been treading water since Gahan overdosed but they've never been awful. Although it drives e up the wall when they get labelled Goth! Pet Shop Boys had some great early Pop singles but seem content to never do anything particularly different musically. I feel they're a tad overrated but a decent singles band.

Hot Milk - The American Machine The Molotovs - Today's Gonna Be Our Day Dinosaur Pile Up - Sick of Being Down Muse - Unravelling

Muse, the only one for me. Added to playlists this week - Hot Milk - The American Machine The Molotovs - Today's Gonna Be Our Day Dinosaur Pile Up - Sick of Being Down

Dexys were a much more interesting band than they often get credit for. I like all three of the 80s albums. Soft Cell too were really good at first, and the second album The Art of Falling Apart is my favourite. By thetime Marc formedMarc and the Mambas with The The's Matt Johnson I thought they were spent and the new band was a more interesting group. Marc's work in The Immaculate Consumptive with Nick Cave, Foetus and Lydia Lunch was incredible stuff too. OMD are one of those bands that started out very Kraftwerk influenced but by 1984 had become more of a pop group. Similar to what happened with Thompson Twins and Ultravox to a degree. I will always prefer the really stark, cold European feel of the early synth bands over the poppier numbers. Give me Enola Gay over Tesla Girls any day.

Foxx's first three albums are all really good.

I'd say start with the Vienna album as it's the one most like what you will expect and it's great. The follow up Rage in Eden is also great but the album feels more like a whole piece rather than a collection of songs. Plus the singles from it were heavily edited for radio. Alternatively the Quartet album is much poppier but for me feels rather lightweight but is still decent. Lament is ok but the ideas are wearing thin. Avoid U-Vox like the plague althoughAll Fall Down is brilliant, if very different for them. Ignore anything between that and Brilliant as it's not really Ultravox. Brilliant though is pretty decent. Then there's the John Foxx albums - Ultravox! - Roxy Music inspired Proto Punk Ha! Ha! Ha! - Post Punk during the Punk era and one fo my favourite albums ever. Systems of Romance - The template for 80s New Romantic and probably their most influential album. For me the weakest of the three.

Ultravox were a defining band in my musical history. Of all the New Romantic bands they were the most arty and thoughtful I thought. Plus the 3 albums with John Foxx are all brilliantly ahead of their time. Lennon was truly gifted and cruelly taken away but it took me another 20 odd years before I'd set about properly listening to his solo work. He and The Beatles et al, symbolised my parents generation so I ignored a lot of it for way too long.

Prince is one of the defining acts of the decade and I can't overemphasise how influential he is. A true genius. Tears for Fears first two albums are pretty solid and typical of their times but I never thought they were that special Elton John had his moments but they were pretty much all in the 70s really.

Went to Nova Twins

Simple Minds were great in the early Post Punk days (Empires and Dance is an oft forgotten gem) but I kind of lose interest around 1983 when Sparkle in the Rain is their last decent album. Not much needs to be said about Abba although they were clearly on the decline in the 80s. That being said The Day Before You Came and Winner Takes it All are exceptional, even by their standards. Never liked Whitney. Good voice but she tends to go for the vocal theatrics too much. Not my kind of thing.

Congratulations to DanG. Well done and a worthy winner. Really pleased to finished as high as I have done here. Keeping up a recent run of decent results. I shall celebrate by seeing the Psychedelic Furs again next Sunday at Milton Keynes. Thanks also to Brer for excellent hosting

I have to confess I'd never thought to check out anything else by Zager & Evans, which feels like an oversight

I'm very pleasantly surprised to be in 2nd right now. Really pleased to see the Furs getting some love

Ever since I first heard The Mercy Seat back in 1988 on John Peel, where he described it a like two songs being played at once, I've absolutely loved it. All of the versions - the video mix, the radio edit and the album version are all brilliant Johnny Cash also does a brilliant cover of it too

Was a great choice and only the presence of a genuine favourite of mine held it off a 12

Love Buzz is one of Shocking Blue's best, along with Venus and Never Marry a Railroad Man. Nirvana's version is a great interpretation

Now that the Grand Prix is over, I'm onboard for these results. No idea how this is gonna go

Feel like that duel will come to symbolise the Mclaren drivers title fight this year - Norris is fast and capable of a bold overtake now and then, Piastri a little slower, but smarter and less prone to errors

Didn't mind Bad Manners, they weren't great but had a few fun tracks like Special Brew, Lip Up Fatty and an entertaining romp through Offenbach's Galop Infernal - aka the 'Can Can' Rod Stewart is one of those artist where I never understand the longevity. Aside from some brilliant work with the Faces and a pair of cracking early #1s in Maggie May and You Wear it Well, he's been tedious for decades. Great voice though and I can't help think of a certain Kenny Everett sketch when it comes to Da Ya Think I'm Sexy? Jason Donovan? Decent bloke, but a decidely average singer who got lucky. I always hated what SAW were doing at this point as it was a creative vacuum.

This is depressing on a number of levels

Three very, very middle of the road acts right there. Never liked Level 42 but Mark King was an astounding bassist Paul Young has a couple of tracks I like - most notably his cover of Love of the Common People. Great voice a-ha had two solid albums to kick off their career and have slid gently into icy elegance over the years. An underrated band. Although, Take on Me is overrated

Second track from the album Trance State is out now -

Finally had a proper listen to this and it's perfectly all right. Not up there with their best and could do with a bit more energy about it but pleasant enough. I did find my attention waning about midway through but Background Noise saved the day. Agree with dandy* that it's the best track on the album. Feels like it would fit on This is Hardcore in particular. A solid addition to their catalogue