Month: August 2015

B-Side Beauty


Petite, beauty-spotted singer-songwriter Lynsey de Paul originally wrote this song for the vocal trio Thunder Thighs who were famous for their backing vocals on “Walk On The Wild Side” and “Roll Away The Stone.” It was only a small hit for them in 1974, but the same year Lynsey put out her own version on the flipside of her theme song for the TV sitcom No Honestly which made the Top Ten.

She shouldn’t have hidden it away like that because this is a terrific record. Not only is it miles better than the a-side, it’s better than Thunder Thighs’ version too: sophisticated, glittery pop you can imagine Sarah Cracknell singing. Despite its shiny surface the song itself is a strange, dark affair about a policewoman shooting a stranger in Central Park at night. Shame Lynsey didn’t do more idiosyncratic songs like this and fewer themes for naff sitcoms — and made them a-sides.

Download: Central Park Arrest – Lynsey de Paul (mp3)

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Something for the Weekend


Want to see Public Enemy walking around 1980s London in a video introduced by Tim Westwood wearing an MA1 flying jacket? Of course you do. Those were the days.

I saw Public Enemy live in 1992 supporting U2 at Tampa football stadium of all places (Big Audio Dynamite were also on the bill). It was my first week living in Florida and my first experience of how American rock audiences didn’t give a shit about — and were even hostile to — black music, especially in the South. I was all excited about seeing PUBLIC ENEMY but no one else around me seemed to care. Personally I thought it was brilliant when Flavor Flav chased Chuck D around the stage dressed in a Ku Klux Klan outfit.

What a mind-blowing record this still is. Westwood’s phony American “street” accent sounds really dumb though.

Fame At Last


Last week I finally got a copy of Bob Stanley’s epic pop history Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! and I wish I hadn’t taken so long about it. Not only because it’s a great book, but in the list of names acknowledged in the “Sources” section at the back was none other than ME! I was very surprised and, as you can imagine, well chuffed about that. Being in such a terrific — and possibly definitive — book is a real honour. Even my daughter was impressed.

I’m listed because I used to be a regular commenter at the Popular blog when they were covering the hits of the 70s and 80s. I don’t comment so much anymore because they’ve got to the point where I haven’t heard any of the records they’re talking about, but I still read it. Bob was obviously lurking around the site at the time, not only does he name-check it in his book, but Saint Etienne did a song about it on their marvelous last album Words & Music. Sadly I’m not mentioned in this though.

Download: Popular – Saint Etienne (mp3)

Holy Hormones, Batman!


I’m not entirely sure who was the very first woman I saw on TV as a boy that made my dormant hormones go Boing! and realize that girls were actually rather interesting creatures. Previously I’ve identified that first crush as possibly being Raquel Welch, or even Bobbie Gentry, but it could very well have been Yvonne Craig as Batgirl.

The Batman TV show was already catnip to a young boy anyway with its bright cartoon sensibility and KAPOW! fight scenes, then they threw this cute girl in a skintight purple outfit into the mix (they already had Julie Newmar as Catwoman, add her to the list too) and I thought it was about the greatest thing on television.

40+ years later and I have a daughter who loves watching the same show to see Batgirl beating up bad guys. Anyone with a daughter can tell you the power of strong female role models to fight against the malevolent evil that is Barbie and Disney princesses, so I’m very grateful to her Batgirl for several reasons. Craig died yesterday at the age of 78, she’ll be fondly remembered.

Download: Hero Takes A Fall – The Bangles (mp3)

My Sister’s Records


Smokie (originally spelled “Smokey” until they were threatened with a lawsuit by a certain Motown legend) were a band from Bradford who had had been kicking around for years without any success before coming under the wing of the songwriting and production team of Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman in the mid-70s. Though “Chinnichap” were famous for the Bubble-Glam hits they penned for Suzi Quatro, Mud, and The Sweet, they showed their versatility (and smarts) by not forcing the denim-clad Smokie into this mould and instead wrote some laid-back, country-rock songs for them that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on an American FM radio station.

There must have been a gap in the market for a Northern English version of The Eagles — grey Yorkshire houses on the album cover instead of California hotels — because they were very successful. Their second album Changing All The Time was a big seller in 1975 down to the presence of the Chinnichap hits “If You Think You Know How To Love Me” and “Don’t Play Your Rock & Roll To Me.” They also wrote the title track which is a really lovely song, hard to believe it’s by the same guys who wrote “Blockbuster” and “Tiger Feet”.

Because of those hits my sister got the album for Christmas 1975 as a present from our Gran. She was 14 at the time and up until then had only owned Bay City Rollers and Osmonds albums so this might have been her first non-“teenybopper” record. Two years later she was into The Clash, but I don’t think Smokie were directly responsible for that. These days she really likes The Eagles which you probably can blame them for.

Download: Changing All The Time – Smokie (mp3)
Download: Don’t Play Your Rock & Roll To Me – Smokie (mp3)

I’ve always loved the cover of this album, a nicely evocative bit of pre-Photoshop collage and hand-tinting.

Something for the Weekend



If you’re wondering why presenter David Hepworth found The Pale Fountains’ taste in music so surprising, in those post-punk years it was considered quite a radical act for a young band to be into John Barry and Simon & Garfunkel — they called it the “quiet pop” movement.

Clips of The Fountains (I’ve never called them The Paleys) are quite rare so I’m well chuffed to have found this.