The A-Z of my singles collection Part 11

It’s been nearly nine months since I last did one of these, so for any new readers it is a trawl through my somewhat enormous 7″ single collection in its entirety. Yes, the good, the bad, the weird and the downright appalling! I leave nothing out because at one time I enjoyed all these singles. If you want to catch up with the As to the Ms you can find them all grouped together in the category ‘A -Z of my singles collection’ so feel free to have a look at any of them. So, without further ado, let’s get into the Ns and the Os.

So, we start off with two novelty records from very different eras. First, it’s Napoleon XIV with the very funny They’re coming to take me away (Ha-haaa) which was first released in 1966 reaching Number 3 in the US charts and Number 4 in the UK charts. Apparently, it is about an ungrateful dog that has destroyed its owner’s mental health! To continue the theme of mental disintegration the B side is the A side played backwards which is hands down the strangest track in the entirety of my record collection! Despite its disappearance from the airwaves in these different times, those of us who liked it will often recall its title in moments of stress and frustration! Neil from The Young Ones (played by Nigel Planer) reached Number 2 in the charts in 1984 with his cover of the Traffic track Hole in my Shoe. The character of Neil was a permanently spaced out hippy so the trippy lyrics were a perfect fit for him. The TV and cultural success of The Young Ones meant that chart success of this song was pretty much guaranteed. Listening nowadays it’s a definite cultural time capsule, but it still brings a smile to my face all these years later.

99 Red Balloons by Nena is an encapsulation of the fear of nuclear war that affected all areas of culture in the 1980s. You had Threads on TV, When the Wind Blows by Raymond Briggs in book form and as a film, Wargames in the cinema and a number of singles released by a whole range of artists. You had Dancing with tears in my eyes by Ultravox, I won’t let the sun go down on me by Nik Kershaw, Hammer to fall by Queen and Two Tribes by Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Of these, Nena’s is perhaps the one that comes to mind most readily because of her performance and the imagery in the translated version. The ending in particular where she finds one of the 99 Red Balloons that caused such devastation is extremely effective in its understatement. All these years later, Nena’s song is still one of the most recognisable of the entire sub-genre of nuclear songs.

A couple of Olivia Newton John singles next, though oddly enough nothing from Grease. The first is her Eurovision song contest entry from 1974 where she represented the UK called Long Live Love. The song was selected after a public vote following her performances of 6 different songs on a show called Clunk Click! Although I have always loved the song it turns out that she was convinced that the public had made the wrong choice and that they should have voted for Angel Eyes. However, 1974 was of course the year of ABBA’s Waterloo so nothing else stood a chance anyway. The other single of hers is Landslide, the follow up to her massive hit, Physical, a record I never really liked. Mind you, I preferred Sandy before the makeover so that says a lot about my preference for the sweet over the strident!

The final pair of Ns could not be more different. Nilsson’s Without You is one of the saddest songs ever recorded. Sung with a depth of feeling and a subtlety that the famous cover completely misses, it trawls the depths of the human experience of lost love in a way few other pieces of music have ever matched. It’s one of those songs that has the same effect on my head and my heart every time I listen to it. The Nolans I’m in the mood for dancing is simply one of the most joyful records ever made. Whatever your mood, it is one record that is almost guaranteed to make it better with its infectious tune and uplifting chorus. It is a dance track that unites generations and just makes the world seem like a better place.

Billy Ocean is one of the UK’s most successful singer songwriters of the last 50 years. He had three US Number 1 hits along with four other Top 10s, whilst in the UK he had a single Number 1 and five other Top 10s. I saw him live at the Royal Albert Hall a few years back and he was absolutely brilliant with the voice and the charisma still intact. The three singles of his in my collection were released in 1985 and 1986 and cover three of his biggest UK hits, Suddenly, When the going gets tough and There’ll be sad songs (to make you cry). Each of them showcases his amazing voice of course, but also his ability to speak directly to the listener and influence their emotions with well chosen words or key changes. This is timeless music that will find a new audience with each succeeding generation.

Hazel O’Connor was in many ways my first punk favourite, although I had enjoyed some of the earlier tracks in that genre. She came along when I was 15 and exactly the right age to expand my horizons musically. Eighth Day is one of the greatest dystopian songs ever. The story of science gone too far, self aware machines that turn on us and an uninhabitable planet sounds more like current affairs these days! Her passion, soaring vocals with that veneer of nihilism and the intense tune blend together to make Eighth Day a record like no other. As a bonus, you have one of the best B Sides ever recorded with the social commentary of Monsters in disguise, which deals with the corrupt officials in ‘bowler hats and old school ties’. It came at a time when I was starting to wonder if the powers that be really did have our best interests at heart so it definitely made me think about what I was reading and hearing. Now, of course, I know they don’t so this song again sounds like its bang up to date. Please seek it out on YouTube. It’s amazing. D Days is a song just made for pogoing around the dance floor with its exhortation of ‘Going out dancing, pose, pose’ and the shout along chorus announcing that ‘These are decadent days’ to keep the energy levels high throughout the song. It’s another great punk style song. However, Hazel O’Connor is best known by many for the incredible ballad ‘Will you?’ which starts off with perhaps the most atypical lines of any ballad ‘You drink your coffee and I sip my tea’ before moving into a story of uncertain feelings that may or may not be love. These feelings explode and lead in to one of the greatest saxophone solos ever recorded. Three tracks, all completely different and each of them completely brilliant. Hazel O’Connor was a shooting star in chart terms, although she continued making excellent music long after her popular successes, making everyone sit up and take in her brilliance before vanishing.

Now on to OMD, one of my favourite groups. I saw them live as the support act to Aha a few years back and they overshadowed the main act in a way I have never seen before or since with confidence, humour and the most amazing collection of brilliant tracks. I have five of those tracks in my singles collection starting with Enola Gay, the hard hitting recounting of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima, now being used on a commercial featuring an exercise shy dog! Suffice to say I will never think of that advert when listening to the original, but I do which they had been a little more choosy with who they sold the keyboard riff to. Next we have one of my favourite tracks of all time, which still leaves me awestruck every time I hear it. Souvenir has a justifiable claim to be the greatest synthpop tune of all time in my opinion. When I heard it live I actually had tears in my eyes, such was the beauty of the experience. The next two singles showcase the two sides of their output with the dance track Locomotion which was a staple of every disco at the time and Talking Loud and Clear which epitomises the beauty they were able to imbue the simplest tune with. Finally, we have La Femme Accident, bought after a recommendation from one of my best friends at the time. It took a while for me to really warm to it, but I now rate it as one of the nicest tracks in their hugely impressive discography.

So, that’s the end of Part 11 of my singles collection, and also Part 4 of my Spotify playlist covering these singles. If you want to hear everything from Loggins to OMD, just click here See you next time for the Ps!!