The A – Z of my singles collection Part 1

In this ongoing series of posts, I will keep to one golden rule. I will leave nothing out. If the single is in my collection it will be photographed and maybe commented on! There are songs I no longer like and songs I have no idea why I ever liked (!) but they were all songs I liked in my younger days and they should be acknowledged.

So, without further ado, let’s get on with it.

The Letter A

So, in alphabetical order, here are the first six. It starts off with an all-time classic. The Winner Takes It All was the first ballad I became totally obsessed with. I played it over and over again to learn every word and appreciate every nuance of Agnetha’s incredible delivery of such deeply personal lyrics. It is still one of those songs that can make me emotional every time I play it. The fact that I only have two ABBA singles shouldn’t be seen as a negative, because I had enjoyed pretty much everything else they released, but not to the extent of wanting to buy it. I got the Super Trouper cassette and bought the cassette of ABBA’s singles as soon as it came out. The ABC single was the one track of theirs that I really loved, and the B side, which is a classical overture is even better. You really need to take a listen if you haven’t.

Going from the sublime to the ridiculous! Yes, I have a Russ Abbot single, yes, I enjoyed his comedy, and, yes, I thought it was good fun at the time. Guess what? As these novelty singles go, I think it is a good example of the genre and it’s still very catchy. Trapped by Colonel Abrams was a great one to dance to and I think stands up pretty well. Finally, my one Adam and the Ants single, the classic Stand and Deliver with that instantly recognisable introduction. They were a real favourite of mine at the time, so why only the one single? Well, unusually, I had the album Kings of the Wild Frontier quite early on due to the title track, which I still think is their best song.

A trio of Bryan Adams singles next, with Run to You and Somebody in 1984, his first two big hits and tracks that still sound brilliant. Everything I Do is the song of his that you either love or hate, except it wasn’t always like that. It was the fact that it stayed at Number One for so long – 16 weeks to be exact! Take that out of the equation and it is one of the great ballads of the 1990s. The two A-ha singles are fairly common, if not ubiquitous, in virtually every 80s collection. I listen to them now and wonder how on earth it was The Sun Always Shines on TV not Take On Me that got to Number One. However, they both still sound great. Finally in this sextet, you have one of my favourite ever songs, All Out of Love by Air Supply. The tune, the vocals and the general air of heartbreak is just marvellous and as a slow dance record in my teens it was simply perfect – not that anyone was queueing up to dance with me of course! Just as well I loved listening to it and singing along with it.

So, next up is Wales’ greatest rock band – I won’t be swayed on this so don’t try! I was obsessed with The Alarm from the very first time I heard 68 Guns. It was one of those records where I remember exactly when and where I first heard it. It was on Top of the Pops, and the opening just absolutely blew me away. The energy, the aggression, the superb tune and the amazing lyrics combined to make this an all-time classic. I heard it on the Thursday night and I was straight down to the local record shop on Saturday morning to buy it. A couple of months later I bought the follow-up Where Were You Hiding Where The Storm Broke? As with 68 Guns it is a classic piece of socially conscious rock with a sing along chorus and energy to spare. However, it is the B-Side which is really special here. Pavilion Steps reflects on the closing down of so many of the spaces where young people congregated, particularly in the 80s as the social fabric of the country started to break down. This was a theme carried on by the rabble rousing The Chant Has Just Begun, but this excellent single pretty much vanished without trace. Absolute Reality did get them back on TOTP, but even the epic Spirit of 76 couldn’t break through to the mainstream. 68 Guns stalled at Number 17 in the charts, but it was ridiculously their highest charting single. They are one of the great unappreciated groups of the 80s although their template must have had some influence on MCR when they made Black Parade. If you don’t know much about The Alarm get yourself to Spotify or YouTube and find some of the greatest socially conscious rock of all time. I always think that this group were the start of my leftwards move politically, and for that I thank them!

Although they were one hit wonders, Alphaville left a lasting legacy with the outstanding Big in Japan. This German group had many more hits in Europe, but at the time European groups found it very difficult to follow up even the biggest of hits with significant chart entries. At the time, radio or TOTP would make or break a record, and they tended to take a fairly sceptical view of any but the most radio friendly tracks, something that also affected Nena as she struggled to follow 99 Red Balloons.

A real mixed bag here! One of the things I used to like doing was trawling the record shops for Old Gold or The Original singles and similar oldies imprints. In this little set, you can see Amen Corner and Louis Armstrong, both hits way before my record buying began in earnest. In a sense, it was like discovering old songs through the internet these days. Next, we have two left field electronic tracks, the ‘marmite’ style track O Superman by Laurie Anderson and the electronic reworking of an obscure 50s track, Peter Gunn, featuring the original guitarist Duane Eddy. It’s a superb remake in every way. Finally, an absolute banger that I loved dancing to. Solid by Ashford and Simpson is a total soul classic and still gets me singing (shouting) along with the chorus whenever I hear it.

Two pairs of singles finish off the letter A. The rather brilliant debut single and follow-up from Rick Astley showcase that amazing voice to very good effect. Never Gonna Give You Up has, of course, entered popular internet culture thanks initially to Rick Rolling, but strip all that away and you have one of the finest singles of the 1980s. Together Forever would be the best track of many other debut albums, so don’t underestimate that one either. Finally, a couple of smooth ballads from the American group Atlantic Starr, the first of which, Secret Lovers always gets overlooked when the great ballads of the 1980s are played but it’s well worth checking out if you haven’t heard it. Always is a decent track as well, but it’s not at the same level.

Well, I hope you enjoyed that little whistle stop tour of the A’s. I have handpicked ten of those tracks to go with this article which I will be adding to next time when I work through the B’s.

Here’s the link https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4FjFIa3zqlRGgTqpT5swkj?si=0cacc6e2ae9045e7