The A-Z of my singles collection Part 9

So, here we go with the 9th part of my record by record retrospective. Finishing off the letter L, we have Kenny Loggins with Footloose and Los Lobos with La Bamba. The former was a hit song that became much better remembered than the film it came from. On or off of the dance floor, Footloose was exciting and energetic to sing or dance to. He had more success in his native America, but during the 80s you could pretty much guarantee that he would pop up on a film soundtrack somewhere! Another song that became bigger than the film it hailed from was La Bamba by Los Lobos. Famously, the first Spanish language track to hit the top of the charts and led to many of us singing along in quite appalling Spanish. By British standards this was about as outward looking as we got lingually speaking!

The first single in the M section is in fact by M! It is of course the all time synth classic Pop Muzik. What a song and what a sound. It completely captivated me and introduced me to a musical genre that would become central to my musical life. What a song it is, and a song that still sounds current. Only one Kirsty MacColl single, which is surprising given how much I have always loved her voice. That’s something I’ve noticed as I have worked through the collection, the way that I have a number of singles from artists that now appear peripheral in my musical life and so few from artists I still love. Mind you, if you are going to have one song from MacColl it had to be A New England for me. A song with great Billy Bragg lyrics and one of the best vocal performances of her career at least in my opinion. rom the sublime to the absolutely ludicrous! Kinky Boots is silly, throwaway and the type of song that could only be a hit in the UK and then only at Christmas! For all that, it’s just fantastic fun, extremely catchy and performed by two consummate performers who know how silly it all is. Take a listen when it goes on my Spotify playlist and I dare you not to smile!

Now on to the Magnificent 7 – Madness! What a quintet of singles. Baggy Trousers, Grey Day, It Must Be Love, House of Fun and Tomorrow’s Just Another Day. Baggy Trousers was their breakthrough hit, and it really brings back schooldays for so many 70s and 80s kids, and possibly beyond. Grey Day was possibly their best piece of social commentary with the mundanity of working life front and centre. It Must Be Love was a brilliant cover of the Labi Siffre song that became perhaps their most abiding track. House of Fun went to Number 1 and was a good track, but definitely not their best. How often does that happen? Finally, Tomorrow’s Just Another Day had a brilliant track on a Double A Side single called Madness is all in the Mind. Outside of fans, probably few people remember it, because it was played infrequently and eventually became a B Side in all but name. However, for me at home with a record player it was the more frequently played track. Take a listen to it when you can, it’s brilliant. So, there you have five of the best from one of the best bands of the era. Madness, I tip my fez to you!

Madonna next, and oddly enough only three singles. I could have sworn I had more!. Anyway, first up is the largely overlooked but excellent earlier track Gambler. If you don’t remember it, give it a listen. The next single is Crazy for You, an absolutely marvellous ballad that really shows off her fantastic voice and her ability to deliver a song. However, my favourite Madonna single is True Blue which fizzes with energy and joy throughout. I have the Immaculate Collection and during the 80s she did not release a single that wasn’t top class. One of, if not the most important artists of the decade without a doubt. Next up The Mamas and The Papas with a four track single that starts off with one of my all time favourite songs, California Dreaming. I mean, how amazing is that track? Luscious harmonies and a tune of genius that never fails to entrance. Manfred Mann were 60s chart toppers and thanks to my favourite label, Old Gold, I was able to get a copy of The Mighty Quinn which I loved singing along with as a kid. Marillion had a long chart career, but are really only remembered by non fans for one track, Kayleigh. It happens to many artists, and is maybe a matter of some irritation in many cases, but when that song is as iconic as Kayleigh, then perhaps that may sweeten the blow. After Bob Marley died, I took a while to dip in to his catalogue of songs, but One Love provided me with my ‘in’ and after that I started to understand his true genius. His voice and the amazing musicianship of The Wailers combined to give us so many iconic songs, and the world was blessed with his presence, albeit for a very short time relatively speaking. Finally, in this picture we have Canadian New Wave excellence from Martha and the Muffins whose Echo Beach still speaks to the soul crushing tedium of sitting behind a desk wishing your days away. Put that together with an instantly recognisable tune and you have a record that never dates.

So, for this set, we start off with Suicide is Painless by The Mash. The instrumental theme from the all time great TV show M*A*S*H* was instantly familiar to huge numbers of people brought up in the 70s. It was one of three shows my Dad and I both loved. The vocal version was from the original film and had pretty much vanished without trace until it was rediscovered by Noel Edmonds. He was one of those rare DJs who could ‘break’ a song on his own. The lyrics are as bleak as you could imagine, and the tune can both augment and undercut the effect of the words. It’s a fascinating track that I could analyse in much greater depth if I had the space! Next up we have a couple of singles from Rockabilly stalwarts Matchbox. The first one, When You Ask About Love made full use of the gorgeous vocals of Graham Fenton and I thought it was one of the best ballads of the time. Then they released my absolute favourite song of theirs, a mash-up of two songs, ‘Over the Rainbow’ which I was very familiar with and ‘You Belong To Me’ which I had never heard before. It was the latter song which caught my imagination and at the time I could often be heard singing about ‘Pyramids along the Nile’!

Yes, I was Snooker Loopy, yes I loved Chas ‘n’ Dave, yes I bought the single and played it frequently. No, I don’t regret it, and yes I still love it! For some reason, the creators of Rockney don’t get the credit they deserve for their ability to write tunes that you can’t get out of your head. I have already waxed lyrical about them in an earlier blog. Suffice it to say, it’s one of the great novelty records, and still as catchy as anything 40 years later!

Now on to the great Paul McCartney with four singles, of which three probably divide opinions like few others. ‘Pipes of Peace’ is not a Christmas song, even though it has a Christmas themed video, and reached Number One in January, so don’t let anyone tell you differently, particularly the compilers of bargain bucket Christmas Compilations. It is a call for an end to fighting in a time when we half expected to be blown up by nuclear weapons at any moment. To some it’s incredibly corny, but to me it’s an absolute classic. I certainly prefer it to ‘Give Peace a Chance’! Next is the song that even the McCartney detractors grudgingly admit to liking. No More Lonely Nights is simply an amazing ballad that contains one of the greatest guitar solos I’ve ever heard, courtesy of David Gilmour of Pink Floyd. It reached Number Two the week before I joined the RAF and was only kept off the top by another classic, Freedom by Wham!, which I will revisit towards the end of this trawl through my collection. McCartney’s real Marmite song is ‘We All Stand Together’ credited to Paul McCartney and the Frog Chorus. If you don’t like it, I will never be able to persuade you otherwise, but I can’t think of any other song that my young children sang along to while watching the video endlessly, and myself and my friends belted out at the top of our voices at a house party when fairly drunk! It is a truly joyous song that I will always love. The final single of the quartet – well it’s not his finest moment by a long, long way! It does contain a really good Beatles style riff, but otherwise it’s best forgotten!

Well, this journey through my singles is not over by a long chalk, but you’ll have to wait until 2024 for the next instalment!