Tuesday, May 29, 2007

BubbaTUNEsday

Last week we had a great double bill as we "released" the first two Cyndi Lauper classic albums and this week we go for another big double bill as we launch out with Laura Branigan and her debut from 1982 and its hit follow up from 1983.

bub88 Laura Branignan - Branigan (1982; May 29, 2007)
First let me say Laura's debut Branigan actually is out there on CD and you can usually find it for a fairly fair price but because I'm a sucker for completion I couldn't release the second one without doing a number on the first including bonus tracks of course. In most reviews of Laura's albums the critics are always quick to point out the exceptional voice that cascades through each album and I'm one to definitely root with that ideal as well. The beatch can sing, she drips enthusiasm on her rocking tunes and pulls you into each one of her heartfelt ballads, and there you have the gist of Branigan - a 9 song combo of European pop circa '82 and some ballads thrown in. But it would be a disgace to just pass this off or to convince anyone to listen to it just because it includes her infamous "Gloria" single, because there is so much going on. Branigan opens with "All Night With Me" a pseudo ballad that was actually released prior to "Gloria" as a single. It starts slow and builds from there with Laura enchanting you into its depths, before we break into the synthy "Gloria" which even now in 2007 still backs a huge wallop (it makes the top 10 of my top 100 Singles of the 80's for a reason), the other songs continue with the jaunty bounce of "Gloria" found on my favorite track "Down Like A Rock" which has Laura pushing her through a stormy love affair wondering if anyone bothered to see if she was drowning as she went down like a rock, it's clever and it's fun, "Living A Lie" and "Please Stay Go Away" keep up a faster pace but feel a little filler-ish while the ballads are the ones that ironically keep the pace going, "Lovin' You Baby" could be viewed as a co-dependant's wet dream but it comes off so powerful you actually feel every note she is singing, while my favorite ballad on here, "If You Loved Me" just sends chills down my spine with her ultra cool phrasing and powerful pipes. "Maybe I Love You" with its total indifference is a great way to end Branigan.. as for us at Bubbatunes we aren't quite done with Branigan yet, instead we get the super cool and probably my ultimate favorite Branigan track ever with the smoky darkness synth drive of "Imagination" - Laura's offering to the Flashdance soundtrack, plus the single edit of "Gloria" which is essentially the same as the album cut with music cut out and a sooner fade, and a club thumping "Gloria" remix plus two rare singles Laura released prior to Branigan - the ballad "Fool's Affair" and the total dance floor 12" of "Looking Out For Number One."

Laura Branigan - Branigan (bub88)
Track List: 01. All Night With Me 02. Gloria 03. Lovin' You Baby 04. Living A Lie 05. If You Loved Me 06. Please Stay, Go Away 07. I Wish We Could Be Alone 08. Down Like A Rock 09. Maybe I Love You
Bonus Tracks: 10. Imagination 11. Fool's Affair 12. Looking Out For Number One 13. Gloria (Single Edit) 14. Gloria '99


bub89 Laura Branigan - Branigan 2 (1983; May 29, 2007)
If you have a formula that works sometimes its best to just stick with it and that is exactly what Miss Branigan did - same producer (Jack White; who she would work with on every album up until the late 80's), similar title and very similar theme. This time she pulls it up a few notches and expands on what she is capable of doing with her Broadway bound voice - the opening cut and first single "Solitaire" is daring in all aspects, full of fire and sass, full of the electro pop of "Gloria" and full of that voice, it's always been one of my all time favorite songs - just try to sing along if you think you're capable. "Deep In The Dark" follows the hit single with its ultra cool and darkly synth vibe, it's actually a retelling of "Der Kommisar" which was another hit at the time but it's so cool to hear different lyrics and Laura's interpretation on this one, it has fast become another Branigan favorite, particularly with her scratchy, huh huh huh's and her pseudo rapping singing style. Plus those electro male voices in the background are uber cool. The second single from Branigan 2 was another big hit in the ballad "How Am I Supposed To Live Without You" - a Michael Bolton penned dramatic that he would later record but he could never muster up the awesomeness of Laura's version. "Mama" and "Lucky" have similar veins to the poppier rock of the fast songs on the first album but they're somehow just a few pops finer than her previous efforts, particurlarly "Mama" which finds our heroine in the throes of a passionate affair leaving everything her Mama ever taught her far behind. An interesting yet very entertaining cover of The Who's "Squeeze Box" is yet another highlight of this gem, which doing The Who may seem kind of humorous on paper, Miss B pulls it off more than just convincingly. All the songs are good but where Branigan excelled in the ballads, it's Branigan 2 that then excels in the more poppy rock flair. With both CD's you get a fairly good interpretation of the gusto that Laura Branigan was blessed with and put into both pop songs and ballads, and unlike Branigan, this album is pretty much out of print on CD which means it's very hard pressed to find it, so you're all so lucky Bubbatunes stepped up. And never fear, we don't leave our listeners wanting more either as I found a few tried but true bonus cuts to add to Branigan 2 - from her following album 1984's Self Control I picked the super cool and slightly dirty "Self Control" and it's follow up single "The Lucky One" as they both fit in with these 10 songs quite well and then for an added dancing bonus, we get the "reggae mix" of "Self Control" and the 12" version of "Solitaire" in all its 1983 glory.


Laura Branigan - Branigan 2 (bub89)
Track List: 01. Solitaire 02. Deep In The Dark 03. Close Enough 04. Lucky 05. Squeeze Box 06. How Am I Supposed To Live Without You 07. I'm Not The Only One 08. Mama 09. Find Me 10. Don't Show Your Love
Bonus Tracks: 11. Self Control 12. The Lucky One 13. Self Control (Reggae Mix) 14. Solitaire (12" Extended Mix)

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posted by swivek @ 8:44 AM 0 comments

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

The Bubbatunes Vaults 10

Here we are as we edge closer to the end of the Bubbatunes vaults and onto some other Bradley rant, but for the next two posts we're still going through the catalog of my compilations and album reissues; today we have some glorious additions including a Swivek (gasp) comp, a Blondie (gasp) comp, a couple of very rare firls of Knots Landing comps that I can guarantee will never see the light of day in a record store and a slip into some Branigan territory. Sure, you've read about some of these in old posts but hey, it's a Holiday week and besides I've added more notes (gasp!)

bub 55 Lisa Hartman - COULD BE MAGIC (2005)
The holy grail in Lisa Hartman music, this is the CD all the Knots knuts really want - full of rare televison and movie songs from my Lisa, Could Be Magic had a lot of research, a lot of time and a lot of love put into it. My pal Shae came up with the music, very hard to find and very hard to manipulate but he did it, cuz well he's super cool that way - and then I took those songs and manipulated and "remasterd" as best I could. The problem wiht movie and TV songs are the lengths and the background noise in them - a lot of songs are cut mid way to cut to another scene, some are done at the beginning and then the show cuts to another scene before going back to the song, and for those Shae was awesome in putting some songs together. I tried to put the more perfect songs at the beginning and go from there - for some of these though edited versions of a real song are complete songs in themselves. For most fans they want the songs Lisa sang on Knots Landing. In her first stint on the show when she played Ciji Dunne, Lisa did a lot of songs she recorded herself on her Letterock album but there were moments of different songs in Ciji's catalog including an excellant version of "Sometimes When We Touch" and Journey's "Open Arms" though it should be noted the Journey song was never done in one full scene so it's one that had to be meshed together, and a thrill for many, a version of "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" sung with Julie Harris that the characters of Ciji and Lilimae sang at a block party.

When Lisa returned to Knots Landing the following year as Cathy Geary her singing was fairly limited, Gary caught her singing Journey's "Separate Ways" at a bar towards the end of the season and the only other time she sang was at the piano in the ranch where she finished a full verse of Linda Ronstadt's "Love Has No Pride" before being interrupted. But the following season, Cathy got a job singing at Isadora's and then went onto her boy's religious program so she was like a walking performing American Top 40 singing the hits of 1984-85 and continuing the following season (her last on the show). So we get a ton of little gems, some are full completions (though like I said they are shorter versions of the real song) including Corey Hart's "Never Surrender", "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" (which was done as a kind of mini video in the series), Pat Benatar's "We Belong", Survivor's "The Search Is Over", Foreigner's "That Was Yesterday", Rick Springfield's "Love Somebody" ( a real highlight though it's too bad it's one of those that had to be meshed together), a wonderful cover of Bee Gee's "Words" and the ultimate in fan favs the synthesized religious "Jehovah".

But Lisa performed else where as well including her stint as Neely O'Hara in Valley Of The Dolls '81 where she rocked it out with Could Be Magic's opening track "However Dark The Night" and a different take of "Why Baby" which would end up on her Letterock album. Also included is another rarity that is thrilling in how well I got it to sound, the theme song "It Could Be Magic" from her short lived 1977 sitcom Tabitha.

There's also some songs from a TV special Lisa did in early 1979 entitled The Lisa Hartman Show : Hot Stuff - we have the title of that show here (no, it's not a Donna Summer cover which would've been so cool), and a duet with Ricci Martin (different Ricci than Ricky) who is the son of Dean Martin and starred with Lisa in the movie Just Tell Me You Love Me; here the duo take on Kenny Loggins/Stevie Nicks with a version of "Whenver I Call You 'Friend'" and also from the special is what I do belive is Shae's favorite - a rousing version of the Beatles' "The Long & Winding Road".

The 39 song Could Be Magic may seem a little dautning but you have to remember a lot of these are about 2 minutes long at best with most of the second half of the compilation comprised of songs that just end because the scene was cut. But for the Lisa Hartman enthusiast this is a real find.

Track List:
01. However Dark The Night 02. Sometimes When We Touch 03. Why Me? 04. The Long & Winding Road 05. Love Somebody 06. Never Surrender 07. Words 08. How Am I Supposed To Live Without You 09. Love Don't Live Here Anymore 10. Separate Ways (Worlds Apart) 11. We Belong 12. I Can Dream About You 13. Jehovah 14. Whenever I Call You Friend 15. Open Arms 16. Dancing In The Street 17. The Race Is On 18. The Search Is Over 19. That Was Yesterday 20. It Could Be Magic 21. Will The Circle Be Unbroken 22. Why Baby '81 23. Ease On Down The Road 24. Where The Boys Are Live 25. You're The One 26. Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow 27. Love Has No Pride 28. Beat Of A Heart 29. Games - Alternate Version 30. Time After Time 31. Let's Be Lovers Tonight 32. If Love Must Go - piano version 33. Don't Tell Me About It 34. Don't You Love Me Anymore - Alternate 35. Tender Evening 36. Caroline 37. Something's Not Right 38. Hot Stuff 39. Run Around

DOWNLOAD COMING SOON!

bub 56 Kim Lankford - YOU'RE THE ONE (2005)
The only EP in our list, this is another for the real die hard Knots Landing fan. Kim Lankford played Ginger Ward, schoolteacher and would be singer married to himbo Kenny Ward who was a record producer but didn't want his wife recording music or fulfilling a dream particularly after she had a baby. But that didn't stop our Ging, no siree, after being called in at the last minute to record a demo for husband Kenny ("One Too Many") she caught the ear of hot new producer Andy Moore. Andy wanted Ginger to record more but Kenny wanted nothing to do with it. So after listening to the demo repeatedly (something Kenny would do a year later with a Ciji Dunne song), Ginger went behind Kenny's back and started working with Andy. Kenny realized how good his wife was while picking up their daughter at the studio while The Ging ripped into a rock song ("New").

Following that third season episode, The Ging's singing career seemed to have been put on the back burner. But in the fourth season 1982-83, Gary and Kenny started working with Ciji Dunne and were all about putting her career to the front burner stroyline, something Ginger didn't like. Particularly when The Ging took up (off camera) with a father in her baby daughter's play date group and they wrote a song. She showed it to Kenny, he scofed but the minute Ciji needed a new song for her set out came the song Ginger and her unknown partner wrote. Ciji sang "You're The One" while The Ging's eyes bugged out and her nostrils flared. She threatened Ciji, Ciji countered back, "If I'm up there doing something you want to do, that's your problem not mine," and she did have a point. But The Ging got her way by the end as Ciji Dunne never showed up for her own album launch and it was up to Ginger to carry the song home. As Ginger sang "You're The One" (the song featured on this faboo little Bubbatune), Ciji's body washed ashore - dead as a Knots Landing singing career.

But don't feel too bad, Ciji came back in sorts as Cathy Geary, and Ginger Ward ran off to Nashville with her husband and baby when producer superb Jeff Munson offered Kenny a producing job and Ginger a recording contract.The last we saw of the Ging was in 1997 when she shoed up in Knots Landing for Mack & Karen's 15th anniversary and though she never mentioned if she ever had a hit record, she did say she divorced the cheating Kenny who apparantly was never very good in the sack anyway.

And with that little bio I give the one and only Kim Lankford recording You're The One featuring that live performance from the night Ciji washed ashore, along with her "One Too Many" track that caught Andy Moore's attention though that stupid Kenny is heard talking Andy in the middle of it; and the first version of "One Too Many" the Ging sings with a piano to get into the groove of things. Finally is the rock song "New" our girl sings at the end of that first season 3 episode though again Kenny and Lilimae are yacking over parts of it.

Track List:
01. You're The One 02. One Too Many 03. New (demo) 04. One Too Many (demo version)

Download KIM LANKFORD - YOU'RE THE ONE EP
bub 57 LAURA BRANIGAN - Help You Say Goodbye (April 2006)
It's so sad that this woman with the enormous pipes is gone, but her music will last forever and now it will be forever immortalized in a bubbatunes collection. Titled after the set's closing track "How Can I Help You Say Goodbye", the song is very touching and very sweet, and in fact with all three verses dealing with saying goodbye and its inclusion of a death, I'm surprised it hasn't been a country song yet. The highlight of this comp to me isn't the singles, though they're here ("Gloria", "Solitaire", "Self Control") but a little ditty from her Branigan 2 album called "Deep In The Dark." The song is actually set to the music of "Der Kommisar" with English lyrics, but it was hard to find (thank you all the Branigan fans on the yahoo groups) and it's something everyone should hear. The set also includes Laura's much better versions of Alphaville's "Forever Young", Michael Bolton's "How Am I Supposed To Live Without You" and Celine Dion's "Power Of Love" - and actually Laura recorded the latter two before the more famous counterparts.

Track list:
01 Gloria 02 The Lucky One 03 Maybe Tonight 04 Imagination 05 Solitaire
06 Shattered Glass 07 Forever Young 08 Deep In The Dark 09 How Am I Supposed To Live Without You 10 Self Control 11 Hold Me 12 Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow 13 Spanish Eddie 14 Power Of Love 15 Dim All The Lights 16 Foolish Lullabye 17 Moonlight On Water 18 How Can I Help You Say Goodbye

bub 58 BLONDIE - On The Balcony (April 2006)
I know I make far too many Blondie & Benatar compilations but is it my fault they have so many great songs? This collection was inspired by my pal Amy Cissell who said she would like to have Blondie songs that weren't hits, just to hear some of the more classic sounds Debbie & The Boys had to offer (and thus running out to buy Blondie for herself of course), so after many months of planning I came up with On The Balcony, the Blondie album cuts. Using songs from all eight of their albums, I think I've done a pretty good job to represent Blondie to the ones unfamiliar, but more importantly I made a really great Blondie collection of MY favorite album cuts.

Blondie went through a few incarnations in their musical endeavors so instead of putting these songs in order we go through the zig zag world of these musical geniuses. So we start On The Balcony with the aweome tin chug opening of "Angels On The Balcony" from 1980's Autoamerican, we start off the ultimate album song compilation. From the very fist Blondie album in 1976 we get the great Jimmy Destri song "Look Good In Blue", the bluesy country of "Little Girl Lies" with some of the most cleverly written lyrics ever by Miss Debbie, the West Side Story inspired "A Shark In Jets Clothing" complete with finger snaps, and the rousing "Kung Fu Girls". From 1977's darker Plastic Letters album comes more punky confection in "Detroit 442", "I'm On E", and "I Didn't Have The Nerve To Say No" before venturing into the mother lode of 1978's Parallel Lines which we feature with 5 songs - Jimmy's "11:59", Debbie's "Just Go Away", "Will Anything Happen", "Pretty Baby" and "I Know But I Don't Know" then onto one of my all time fav album Eat To The Beat with Jimmy's (he is my favorite you know) "Accidents Never Happen" and "Living In The Real World" plus "Shayla", "Die Young Stay Pretty"; Autoamerican is reperesented by the aforementioned pseudo title track of the compilation, plus more Jimmy in "Do The Dark" and the rocking "Walk Like Me", and the punchy "Go Through It", while 1982's original swan song The Hunter once again taps into Jimmy's world with "Danceway" but goes the spy route with their version for the James Bond film with "For Your Eyes Only" and the last two albums No Exit (1999) and The Curse Of Blondie (2003) are represented by the country tinged "The Dream's Lost On Me" and the pop of "Rules For Living" respectively.

Track list:
01 Angels On The Balcony 02 Will Anything Happen 03 Accidents Never Happen 04 I Didn't Have The Nerve To Say No 05 Little Girl Lies 06 Go Through It 07 Pretty Baby 08 Detroit 442 09 Shayla 10 Walk Like Me 11 The Dream's Lost On Me 12 Living In The Real World 13 Kung Fu Girls 14 Danceway 15 I'm On E 16 Rules For Living 17 Do The Dark 18 I Know But I Don't Know 19 A Shark In Jets Clothing
20 Die Young Stay Pretty 21 11:59 22 For Your Eyes Only 23 Look Good In Blue 24 Just Go Away

bub 59 SWIVEK - Blanche & Wither (April 2006)
Can you even believe it - a Swivek compilation! Yes, that's right for the first time in history, Bubbatunes is releasing a Swivek comp not available by any other means. Actually, the reason this isn't an actual Swivek release on our regular label is the fact there are some of these songs that just can't be released, legal reasons, people saying "No" etc. but that shouldn't stop the regular fan from having them now should it? So with Blanche & Wither, I give you a bunch of b-sides, rare songs never released (some not really complete or just left for dead), some never before heard and some that should be known. The track list is done in chronological order from when they were recorded starting in 1999 and going through October of 2005.

From a very early recording session comes the Parick English music written title track which was released on the 2002 EP Rhinelander though it was recorded in 1999 around the time of the debut Swivek album Drab. Then when I started working on Mexican Gods in the summer of 2002 a few songs got shuffled and thrown off, including "Allright Now" which did appear as a b-side on the Cherry Go Go single, "We Live For Love" is a mellow electronic cover of the Pat Benatar song and it really isn't very good at all but hey it's rare. Also recorded but scrapped was "Zombie Dance (Come For You) " a song I liked but it never worked right. I even tried re-recording it for Bruised in 2003 but there's just something missing, maybe one day I'll go back again. Also recorded right after Mexican Gods was released is the ballad "Thoughts Of You (Fly)" written after my friend Shawn passed away. It was released on the Wish single in the summer of 2002. Incidentally recently I've been re-recording the vocals on the Mexican Gods songs and included was a re-recording of "Allright Now" and I'm working up a new vocal take on "Thoughts Of You (Fly)" - I'm not sure what I'll do with any of them but I think the song deserves a better vocal take.

From the Bruised sessions in 2003 comes "Just Go", "Teenage Dream (Cool Kids)" and "Boyfriend" - all which ended up on singles pllus the metallic electronic creepy-ish "You Don't Know" which was recorded as a B-side but never made it on a release, so there you go another unreleased track.

Then the perhaps infamous Poprock sessions - what happened is this, in the summer of 2004 I began working on a new Swivek album I was going to call Happiness Is Hard. I recorded a few songs including "The End Of The World" and "Make A Level Sunrise" and then I decided to use some instrumentals of quirky pop written and performed by Louis Bustamante of Tiki Lab. I wrote lyrics for about 5 songs and started recording them including "Bee Boo", "Ecstasy", "Seafish" and two Blondie covers - "Island Of Lost Souls" and "In The Flesh" that I thought we could use. Once I combined the tracks I did on my own and the Louis tracks I liked how they worked together and decided I'd change the name of the album to Poprock. The ultimate in all of the songs, I thought was the Charles Mason lyrics of "California Boy" a lyric written just for me so I recorded them over a track by Louis and sent all the tracks to Louis tracks to mix up while I worked on the rest of the album. As it would turn out, Louis worked with them a bit but put them away and then later decided he wanted to use the instrumentals for his own musical project so all the songs had to be shelved. But why should you suffer without hearing them? It all worked out anyway, as the songs I worked on alone became the Happiness Is Hard album and it's one of the best in the Swivek catalog. As for Charlie's dirty little ditty I'm going to go back to it one day and perhaps turn it inot a punk song instead.

"The One To Fall" and "Help Her" are both songs that were also recorded during the Happiness Is Hard session though they were written once I didn't have the other tracks anymore. But with other songs stronger and Patrick from Orange Television stepping in with a great little track, we didn't these two. "The One To Fall" ended up on the Where The Boys Are single while "Help Her" is another one I'd like to redo someday as it was written about my crazy Aunt and I'd like to see it redone.

The final track is one of my all time favorite Swivek tracks - "Crypt Keeper" a punky little electronica number written for the Flexible Records Halloween compilation Ghastly, it's hilarious and fun and actually quite entertaining.

Track List:
01 Blanche & Wither 02 Allright Now 03 We Live For Love 04 Zombie Dance (Come For You) 05 Thoughts Of You (Fly)06 Just Go 07 Teenage Dream (Cool Kids)
08 Boyfriend 09 You Don't Know 10 The End Of The World (demo) 11 Bee Boo 12 Make A Level Sunrise (original version) 13 California Boy14 Ecstasy15 Seafish 16 Island Of Lost Souls 17 In The Flesh18 The One To Fall 19 Help Her 20 Crypt Keeper


bub 60 Quarterflash - MAKE IT SHINE (May 15, 2006)
Rindy Ross and her gang are best known for the "Harden My Heart" single but there are many a good piece of 80s rock to be found on here. My ultimate fav song by the band has always been "Make It Shine" - an upbeat little number enforcing positive attitude while breaking down in the middle to a drum induced refrain (I love those), "Find Another Fool" is probably my favorite single by the band but "Take Me To Heart" may come in a close second. One of the most overlooked songs in their entire catalog is the title track to their second album Take Another Picture - the song is a punchy number reflecting the fear of fading away before your time is done - "Please take another picture, I don't want to fade away..." but the actual verses are what sucks me in - "I saw a picture hidden in the bedroom underneath father's ties/ a beautiful woman caught naked forever/ black strip over eyes/ I still remember that picture/ the image is sharp and clear/ and I'll never erase that eyeless face still smiling all these years..." Clever.

There are other gems to be found in the Quarterflash catalog that you may have forgotten about or never knew existed. "Don't Be Lonely" was the B-side to "Harden My Heart" and also included on Fast Times At Ridgemount High - a fun little ditty set to a chug beat and full of beacking vocals; and a fairly risque little ditty from the first album called "Valerie" about the girl in art school who had what appears to be a lesbian crush on the singer. They never say "yo! she's a lesbian" but even when I was a kid I could figure it out.

By the time Quarterflash recorded their third album they were actually fading away but that doesn't mean they didn't have some fine tunes left in them. The singles "Walking On Ice" and "Talk To Me" may have been lacking the ultimate pizzazz of earlier songs but they were still quite catchy and "Love Without A Net" is the 80s personified, which means I love it.

Track List:
01 Make It Shine 02 Find Another Fool 03 Don't Be Lonely 04 Take Me To Heart 05 Love Without A N et (You Keep Falling) 06 Valerie 07 Nowhere Left To Hide 08 Harden My Heart 09 Shane10 Walking On Ice 11 Take Another Picture 12 Love Should Be So Kind 13 It Don't Move Me 14 Right Kind Of Love 15 Eye To Eye 16 Talk To Me 17 Try To Make It True 18 Critical Times 19 Night Shift

and now we've made it through #s 55-60 so there's only one more batch of Bubbatunes to go through, and I just know you're itching to read about them, so we'll be back very soon!

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posted by swivek @ 8:16 AM 2 comments

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

The Top 10

After weeks and weeks of waiting, we are finally here - the top 10 Singles of the 1980s According to Bradley - so since I made you wait all this time, let's get started:

10. DON'T CHANGE - INXS
(Andy Farriss/Michael Hutchence)
ATCO single #99874 (US)/ INXS1 (UK)
Chart Debut: July 16, 1983 US
Chart Position: #80 US

You know I love my Michael Hutchence, and the whole band of INXS has a lot to offer, but it's this little single from the album Shabooh Shabah that makes INXS one of the greatest 80s band. Blending new wave and guitar rock into one glorious song is just one of the brilliant things about this single, but Michael's vocal performance, the drums, the keyboards, all of it make it one of the top ten singles of the 80s. "I'm standing here on the ground/the sky above won't fall down/ seeing no evil in all directions..." I've always thought of doing a cover of this song, and apparantly I'm not the only one for No Doubt had the idea as well. When deciding to do an 80s cover song for their singles compilation a few years ago, it came down to "It's My Life" by Talk Talk and this gem by my boys of INXS. Watch the video here!

9. ONLY YOU - Yaz (oo)
(Vince Clarke)
Sire/Mute single #29844 (US)/ Mute #020 (UK)
Chart Debut: February 26, 1983 (US)/ April 17, 1982 (UK)
Chart Position: #67 US (#1 Dance Club Play)/ #2 UK

When Vince Clarke opted out of Depeche Mode after only one album, he immediately took up with the smoky voiced Allison Moyet who had been touting around England singing jazz songs. With her voice and Vince's excellance at synthesized pop, Yazoo (as it was known in England) was a brilliant little blip in music history. Recording only two albums, Vince would go on to create Erasure while Allison would go on to her own thing before retiring on a chicken farm - don't ask me I just report the news.

As for "Only You" the song is pure bliss. Beginning with the quietest tone of synth Allison's voice comes in, "Looking from a window above/it's like a story of love/ can you hear me?.." a mournful twitch of lost love and pop genius the song remains one of the best the 80s had to offer. See the video here.

8. TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE HEART - Bonnie Tyler
(Jim Steinman)
Columbia/CBS single #38-03906 (US)/ CBS #TYLER1 (UK)
Chart Debut: August 13, 1983 (US)/ February 19, 1983 (UK)
Chart Position: #1 US / #1 UK

If including "Sunglasses At Night" won't be enough to send my pal Brian into a gin laced tizzy, including his most abhored song certainly will. But despite Brian's lack of appreciation for Bonnie Tyler's epic masterpiece, I love it. In fact I love the entire Jim Steinman written catalog, from Meat Loaf's Bat Out Of Hell albums, Air Supply's "Making Love Out Of Nothing At All", Barry Manilow's "Read Em And Weep" and the only Celine Dion song I can muster up the courage to listen to, "It's All Coming Back To Me Now" - Jim was a rock theatrical God. Even the video in all of its early 80s cheapness was of epic proportions - with Bonnie portraying some kind of insane school marm with boys with neon blue eyes trying to drive her mad. It was all too surreal and so unforgettable.

The song begins softly enough with a piano and the high octave male voice "turn around... bright eyes..." Bonnie and her ultra gravelly vocal enter, "Every now and then I get a little bit lonely.." and the song goes into an explosion before calming back down and then exploding again. Pure and simple theatrics but enjoyable theatrics none the less. Somewhere there's a Broadway musical in all of Jim's vocals - in fact the whole Bat Out Of Hell was meant to be a rock opera, but include all of his songs including lesser known gems by the likes of Karla Devito, and you have a winning Broadway musical that is not a rehash of a classic film. But I digress.. I guess I'll just turn around and see what my neon blue eyes can see.... Relive the electric blue eyed video here.

7. GLORIA - Laura Branigan
(Bigazzi/Tozzi/Veitch)
Atlantic single #4048 (US)/ #11759 (UK)
Chart Debut: September 4, 1982 (US)/ December 18, 1982 (UK)
Chart Position: #2 US / #6 UK

"If everybody wants you why isn't anybody calling?" Oh, poor poor Gloria and her messed up, screwed up love life. As told through the power packed lungs of Laura Branigan, "Gloria" enters our mind with a swirling synth intro where we discover Gloria is going through a number of troubled issues. She dates and dates and yet can't find the simplest of love, perhaps it's something some bastard told her that made her feel bad, or maybe it's just all those voices in her head. Is she sychophrenic?Is she unable to love? Does it really matter when the whole performance is so flawless? Perhaps it's the entire storyline that intriques me so, almost a desperate housewife Gloria isn't sure how she's going to go on her life, "how's it gonna go down?/ will you meet him on the mainline or will you catch him on the rebound?/ will you marry for the money, take a lover in the afternoon/ feel your innocence slipping away/ don't beleive it's coming back soon..." Oh how I felt for Gloria and somehow knew that I would end up being the male version of Miss G herself... See Laura in all her 82 glory-ah!

6. KIDS IN AMERICA - Kim Wilde
(Ricky Wilde/Marty Wilde)
EMI America single #8110 (US)/ RAK single #327 (UK)
Chart Debut: July 17, 1982 (US)/ January 26, 1981 (UK)
Chart Position: #25 US / #2 UK

My girl Kim Wilde in her ultra cool new wave best. It's creepy, it's dance inducing, it's new wave glory! Beginning with fanciful synth loop this English girl introduces the new world of the kids living in America, with their suburbs, malls and endless dance parties. "Looking out a dirty old window/ down below the cars in the city go rushing by/ I sit here alone and I wonder why/ Friday night and everybody's moving/ you can feel the heat but its soothing heading down/ I search for the beat in this dirty town/ downtown..." I love it.

When this song came out and I first saw the video, I thought it was one of the coolest things I had ever heard in the world. I think I have a love for songs that talk about kids, either cool or losers, it's just something I relate to. This was also released around the time of the Valley Girl status craze and it all somehow seemed related to me. As I would skate around and around in a giant circle at High Roller listening to Kim Wilde, it would occur to me that I was a Kid in America and I deserved to be in the Valley.

Incidentally, Kim, whose brother and father wrote most of her music including this song never once questioned the line, "New York to East California" though to this day, she, like the rest of us have no idea what it was supposed to mean. Were the kids west of East California not included in the wave of fun hitting the rest of America? I guess we'll never really know. Another side note, though this song was released in America a year later than it was in the UK, and though it hit the top 40 in July of 1982, it's actual US Top 100 chart debut was May 22, 1982 - my birthday (okay not the actual day I was born but close, very very close I tell you)... and perhaps somehow, someway I knew that and that is why the song has become so popular in my little mind... Watch the video here!

Well kids in America (and beyond) we are almost at the end of our countdown. I can't believe you've stuck with the total eclipse of this list so you deserve to come back and see the top 5 - tomorrow...

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posted by swivek @ 1:10 PM 1 comments

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

# 75-71

and we continue on as we hit numbers 75-71 in the TOP 100 SINGLES OF THE 1980s!

75. PEEK-A-BOO – Siouxsie & The Banshees
(Steven Bailey/Peter Clarke/Susan Dallion)
Geffen single #27760 (US)/ Wonderland single #SHE14 (UK)
Chart Debut: July 30, 1988
Chart Position: #53 US / #16 UK

My pal Brian will be quite pleased to see his Siouxsie on my list, as he feels about her the same way I feel for my Debbie. But it’s not only taking Brian’s thoughts into consideration for my list, it’s actually the fact that Siouxsie Sioux did a bang up job on this little number. I have to admit being the little ray of blonde Wisconsin sunshine that I am, I pretty much dismissed or completely missed a lot of the goth movement in the early 80s – as you can see I was spending way too much time listening to Cyndi Lauper and Juice Newton. But that doesn’t mean some of that black charm didn’t work its way into my system. As it turns out, Siouxsie was kind of on her way out of her blackness when “Peek-A-Boo” premiered; I mean her next album would have a PINK (gasp!) cover… but nonetheless, this is the song that captured me. The intro with its sharpening synth like knives slicing through the stereo, Siouxsie's high control over vocals, the eminent pumping accordion sound – it’s sheer brilliance! And despite her losing some of her earlier gothness, she still held tight onto the peepshow creepshow she was trying to create. Watch the video.

74.RAPTURE - Blondie
(Debbie Harry/Chris Stein)
Chrysalis Single #2485
Chart Debut: February 14, 1981 (US)/ January 24, 1981 (UK)
Chart Position: #1 US / #5 UK

“Rapture” was the second single released from Blondie’s 1980 album Autoamerican, so by the time it was a single, I was more than familiar with the tune having listened to the album repeatedly for months. What can be said about this classic track that hasn’t been said a million times – it was the first mainstream rap song, it was the first rap song to ever hit #1 on the charts, it took Debbie five minutes in a corner of the studio to write the rap, it was the second #1 single from Blondie’s fifth album – an album that record executives insisted had no singles on it, Fab 5 Freddy is a real person and everybody is indeed fly. The only real trivia in the song is the number of variations released; in the US they ripped the song right off the album in all its 6 minute 33 second glory, in the video, the song is cut down with the middle instrumentation gone, in the UK they got a shorter version without the cool guitar ending or the middle music but with the extra sung verse of “Man to man/body muscular….” I’m not sure which version I like the best, but I do know I spent countless hours entertaining the folks with my take on that little skip dance the “Man from Mars” does in the video. Watch the video.

73.SOLITAIRE – Laura Branigan
(Martine Clemenceau/Diane Warren)
Atlantic single #89868
Chart Debut: March 2, 1983 US
Chart Position: #7 US

“Solitaire” is probably a bit of a surprise to see on my chart and so high on the chart, but as I went through my long list of 80s singles, Laura kept popping up. To me she is sadly overlooked in the pantheon of female rockers in the 80s. For some reason when one thinks of Laura Branigan and you get past the immediate “Gloria” theme, you seem to think of ballads. But as it was, Laura didn’t really do too many ballads, though her version of “The Power Of Love” which came out years before Celine’s screech fest is far superior – most of Laura’s songs were rock based pop like “Self Control” and the aforementioned “Gloria.” “Solitaire” follows that formula with its wispy intro and reverse lyrics finding Laura turning the cards on her absent boyfriend – “where were you when I played solitaire?” and without a doubt Laura had one of the most powerful voices in pop music – all one has to do is turn on our #73 song to bear testament to her pipes. Watch the video here.

72.BORDERLINE - Madonna
(Madonna/Reggie Lucas)
Sire single #29354 (US)/ WEA single #9260 (UK)
Chart Debut: February 15, 1984 (US)/ June 2, 1984 (UK)
Chart Position: #10 US / #56 UK

I’ve had a love/hate relationship with Miss Ciccone for as long as she’s been able to vogue, but nothing conjures up images of being a teenager than her early music, and nothing is as thrilling of all her incarnations than the early years when she burst onto the scene with messed up hair, day glo clothes and more jewelry than a street pimp. After bopping and singing along to hits “Holiday” and “Lucky Star,” – it was her third big single from her debut album “Borderline” and her neon green skirt in the video that made me love her – at least until “La Isla Bonita” came around. Relive the video and the power of neon green.



71.FRENCH KISSIN’ – Debbie Harry
(Chuck Lorre)
Geffen single #28546 (US)/
Chrysalis single #3066 (UK)
Chart Debut: November 15, 1986
Chart Position: #57 US / #8 UK

The first of a few Debbie Harry solo singles you’ll find on our list – I can’t even describe the excitement I had when this single came out in 1986. Aside from a one off cut on the Krush Groove soundtrack in 1985 (“Feel The Spin”), Debbie hadn’t been seen or heard from in a few years, having almost disappeared after Blondie’s fizzle of a break up in 1982. In fact, it seemed Debbie had passed the blonde torch onto Madonna. But suddenly out of nowhere Debbie had a new album, a new single and a new punky hair spray induced hairdo; and she was suddenly everywhere.

It seemed Geffen Records and Debbie herself were bound and determined to let the world know the original blonde was back and ready to tackle the charts. A cleverly subdued punchy groove emphasized the first single from her comeback album Rockbird. Tongue firmly in cheek (??) French Kissin’ was sweeping the nations, somewhat controversial (“lips are in motion/ocean to ocean”), somewhat dance pop; it was a perfect lead off and come back. In the UK where it was redubbed “French Kissin’ In The USA” the song hit number 8. Here, the song didn’t fare as well but anyone with even a dabbling in music had to know Debbie Harry was back. Watch the video.

just like lips are in motion, we will continue in motion tomorrow as we take a look at numbers 70-66!

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posted by swivek @ 12:18 PM 0 comments