Showing posts with label lennon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lennon. Show all posts

Thursday 6 October 2016

Best Selling UK Singles – Revised 2016


It’s apparently good blogging etiquette to review your own blogs, some time after the original publishing. So to this end, welcome to this revision blog!

A couple of years ago I put together a review of the best SELLING UK songs of all time. See the originals here:



But things have changed, and many more vinyl and digital formats have been purchased, so here’s a little update for you, 2016 style, with new entries and chart climbers highlighted in purple:

I don’t tend to buy many music magazines these days, having spent years thumbing through NME and MOJO back in the day. However I do tend to have more of a glimpse when they have their latest ‘greatest songs of all time’ poll results. National newspapers have a crack at it, and TV specials pop up occasionally as well – particularly on ITV.

There are some songs that regularly make the higher echelons of the lists, but there’s also some pleasing variety with changing trends – after all, The Beatles wouldn’t have achieved immortality had they just recorded ‘Love Me Do’ songs for ten years. 

I’m never satisfied with the lists when they come out though. For years I’ve craved a poll that truly reflects the greatest songs ever, and the only way I reckon that could be achieved would be to add it as a mandatory question in the National Census: 

Question 15: What is your favourite song?

Only then will it be definitive! 

It’s hard therefore to do a personal review of the greatest songs of all time as it provokes too much doubt and debate as to whether certain songs should be on the list in the first place. 

What IS definitive though, is a best SELLING singles list.


To this end where better to go but Wikipedia to view the BestSelling UK Singles, and have a little play with that list. 

I’ve included double A-sides where they warrant a mention – note to kids: ask a grown up what a double A-side is...




So here we go:

30. Three Lions (and 3 Lions ‘98) – Baddiel & Skinner & The Lightning Seeds

Hmm.. not sure the idea of the game is to combine two chart runs of a song that actually each has more than 50% different lyrics. Brilliant record which brings back memories galore of the summer of 1996 – but lucky to make the top 30 on this combined issue. The song has dropped a few places in the last couple of years, so this could be the last hurrah on the elite list…


29. My Heart Will Go On – Celine Dion

 A new entry!
I have to admit to not being a HUGE fan of Celine’s, but I do actually like this effort. One cannot hear it though without picturing a big boat at 90 degrees. I’m unsure why it has shot up the list though, as I can’t recall any obvious reason for a surge.

Off on a tangent though, check out Celine’s mock up duet with the King here

Clever stuff indeed!



28. Perfect Day – Various Artists for Children in Need

 I bought the CD single of this primarily to hear the gender specific versions included therein – probably available on You Tube to have a listen to. The original composer Lou Reed (RIP) himself sings on this, so thankfully it wasn’t butchered. Seemed to linger in the charts for ages, and the accompanying video was pretty good too.


27.  Don't You Want Me – The Human League

 I wonder if lead singer Phil Oakey knew how much this song would eventually be covered by millions due to his long lost cousin Carrie? A definitive 80’s classic though. Even the cover by The Farm wasn’t bad either – plus the video of the latter version featured one Rik Mayall (another RIP)

  

26. Someone Like You – Adele

Not really surprised to see Adele make the list this time around. That said I would have guessed that Rolling In The Deep might have been here too. Maybe next time.

I always get the feeling that Adele is singing for the common woman, and long may she continue to do so.




25.  Two Tribes – Frankie Goes to Hollywood

 Again another song accompanied by an interesting video. Worthy follow up to the other FGTH song that appears higher up this list… Still gets tons of airplay on music television channels.

  

24.  I'll Be Missing You – Puff Daddy featuring Faith Evans

I wonder how well this song would have fared had Diana Princess of Wales NOT died. I know it was originally not intended as a tribute to her in particular, but it has certainly panned out that way.  Songs often bring far more comfort in times of pain than we might realise, and this certainly benefited from a nation in mourning. To be fair the song is a good sampler, as samplers go – and who could fail with that STINGing bass-line?


23.  Summer Nights – John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John

 I never really got into Grease as a child. I think because my dad didn’t like it much, and therefore by default nor did I as a young child.

And then you grow up and change your mind! The less said about Grease 2 the better though. Even a young Michelle Pfeiffer can’t rescue it. In fact, some years later, bless her but she couldn’t even recall the actor who she played opposite (Maxwell Caulfield).


Blimey – Imagine Sandy not remembering Danny!

  

22. I Will Always Love You – Whitney Houston

A chart climber!

Poor Whitney (again RIP) gets a bad rap for this on the basis of it being overplayed, and by default of being a Christmas number 1 it has since become a Christmas playlist staple. I liked it in 1992, but a little less as each year goes by.


21.  Blurred Lines – Robin Thicke featuring T.I. and Pharrell Williams

Another chart climber! This was MASSIVE back in 2013 (the year Pharrell Williams became omnipresent) but where has Robin been since, apart from in court. Plenty of time for him to revive his career though.

I shouldn’t really indulge, but the X-rated version of this catchy song is worth a view on YouTube (if you’re an adult) #cough

  
20. Imagine – John Lennon

Imagine if John hadn't been killed. This song might genuinely have forever been condemned to being a poor performer in the charts. Not even a released single when it first surfaced (1971), it then only made number 6 in 1975 before the mourning of a nation revived it in 1980 to become one of his best loved compositions.

It’s another track that has become a Christmas / New Years’ anthem due to the timing and circumstances of its 1980 release. Can’t see its popularity fading any time soon

  

19. I Want to Hold Your Hand – The Beatles

The song that properly broke The Beatles into the American market. Not many better intros to a song than heard on this zippy belter


18. Evergreen – Will Young

An early effort of the yearly X-Factor song that reduces the once revered Christmas chart to a farce every year. Nothing against Will Young, but he did far, far better songs after this one


17. Last Christmas / Everything She Wants – Wham!


Possibly the greatest number 2 ever (don’t!), possibly one of the best Christmas songs ever and possibly the slickest remix ever (check out the Last Christmas Pudding Mix above). In fact the only disappointment for me is that Everything She Wants wasn’t released elsewhere in the year in its own right as that song is just so Wham! at their best


16. Believe – Cher


Wow! Cher’s voice on this. Not done using a vocoder as was originally thought, but by rigging an auto tune machine to warp 3 sets of her vocals. Innovative. And then Madonna did it. Touché.

My main memory of this is going to an awful nightclub in Crawley, West Sussex and hearing it played four or five times an hour. Strong song with a good video too.

  

15. Barbie Girl – Aqua

Novelty songs – you gotta love ‘em eh!? Well no not always. It’s harmless, poppy fun, but I’m not over bothered with it. Aqua could do a job though, and I politely refer you to Turn Back Time, as heard in the soundtrack to Sliding Doors. See!? Get a song in a movie and it’s a sure fire chart scorcher.


14. (Everything I Do) I Do It for You – Bryan Adams

Another chart climber, and another song carried along by the success of a hit film. Overplayed? Perhaps at the time, but not quite so worn out as I Will Always Love you has become. You can’t knock 16 weeks at number 1 though, so well played to the Canadian Londoner Canadian


13. Happy – Pharrell Williams

The least surprising climber in this new revision.

A remarkably simple effort from Pharrell in creating a track that is popular whether you’re aged 3 or 93… and all done without the help of Robin Thicke or Nile Rodgers. Clap your hands.


12. I Just Called to Say I Love You – Stevie Wonder

Now if this ‘ode’ had come out nowadays, would it have been a hit? Would it be renamed?

Maybe:

I Just Texted 2 Say I luv U – LOLZ


Or


I just tindered you, and no thanks



11. Unchained Melody – Robson & Jerome

There must be a million different covers of this song, and whilst R&J (a bit like an old version of Ant & Dec) did their best, no-one is gonna convince me that the Righteous Bros effort isn’t the definitive cover though. Bound to be recorded again by someone in the future. Joey Essex maybe?



10. Mary's Boy Child – Oh My Lord – Boney M

And into the top ten we go. Again, the Christmas sales probably helped this one make the list, and I suppose if you can rework a traditional slumber seasonal carol into a pseudo Christmas Disco multimillion seller, then you must be doing something right. Oh My Lord indeed.

  

09. Love Is All Around – Wet Wet Wet

Another cover, another song from a movie soundtrack, so obviously another multimillion seller. In fact ‘The Wets’ might have sold even more, but they actually ordered the cessation of production of units whilst they were still at number 1. Apparently this was because they didn’t want to condemn the song to the over played graveyard (too late…)

More likely they didn’t want the embarrassment of being replaced at the top by Whigfield’s Saturday Night



08. She Loves You – The Beatles


Now we’re cooking. 18 weeks in the top 3 alone, and this included TWO different spells at number one, with a few weeks gap in between hitting the summit. No other song in chart history has had quite the storyline that the chart run of She Loves You has.



The tragedy is that the version we all know is in fact a splice of more than one recording and is the reason why when the Remastered Stereo albums box set was released, SLY was one of the only songs not actually presented in crisp stereo. This for me is singularly the saddest tale in the history of the British charts. Still, it didn’t put millions off buying the record I suppose!



07. Rivers of Babylon / Brown Girl in the Ring – Boney M

Controversy klaxon. This was another double A-side (though originally was a plain old A and B-side), yet you never hear ‘Brown Girl…’ played on the radio. Like EVER.

Is there a race reason behind this? A bit of research suggest it’s nothing of the kind, and is based on a West Indian children’s song – a bit like Ring of Roses, which has its own history. As a child, I loved singing and dancing to it, and still prefer it any day to the original A-side. So dammit DJ’s of the UK, show ME a motion and play it more often!

  

06. Relax – Frankie Goes to Hollywood


Like many people possibly, I had no idea what the lyrics to this belter were referring to at the time of release, but does it really matter? Songs inferring sex have been around since the Edison Phonograph. Mary had a little Lamb indeed.

In fact well over half the songs in this top 40 have at least subtle sexual overtones (or undertones), so get over yourselves and be happy and gay.


05. You're the One That I Want – John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John


Wow a second entry from the same film. I’m running out of superlatives, so see Summer Nights blurb above.



04. Mull of Kintyre – Wings

As a child I think this came on to my radar before I even knew who The Beatles were.

I like to imagine Lennon hearing about this song the day before it was released…

The Lennon Diaries, Thursday November 10th 1977:

‘Pfft – Just heard about Macca’s latest! ROTL… Bagpipes and a beach in Scotland? Good luck with that pal. Gear fab, gear fab’

  

03. Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen

It’s hard to knock this one, but again, I’m still not sure about combining two chart runs (1975 & 1991) just to elevate it up the list. I wasn’t keen on Queen until poor young Freddie passed on, but their music was everywhere in the aftermath of his death and one couldn’t help but admire what they’d contributed to British music. When clubbing at The Event II (another RIP!) nightclub in Brighton in the 1990’s, this was frequently referred to as the club’s ‘anthem’. I’m still not convinced by this, but maybe it was helped by the additional tie in with the film ‘Wayne’s World’. Let the head banging commence.



02. Do They Know It's Christmas? – Band Aid

Just when you thought we’d done Christmas to pieces, along comes the biggest one of them all.

What’s not to like? Always likely to remain a classic at Christmas, and that’s a good thing.


It won’t be a popular view, but I liked the 1989 SAW version too. Not keen on the Band Aid 20 version though, as even I could’ve done Bono’s line better than he did. It’s all going to charity though so we can’t knock it.. and then there was Band Aid 30...

#feedtheworld


01.   Candle in the Wind 1997 – Elton John

Elton John’s music was heard everywhere for weeks after the death of Diana Princess of Wales, and upon his performance of the rewritten song at her funeral, the inevitable charity release followed. They couldn’t make enough copies of the single fast enough. I remember eventually buying it about a month after its release, simply because it was sold out everywhere.

The funeral version differs slightly and is better in my opinion, but the irony is that Diana herself might have preferred another of Elton’s songs given the choice, as she had cited his early single ‘Your Song’ as one of her all-time favourites.

This was a double A-side too, but Something About The Way You Look Tonight tends to get forgotten!



So what are the themes in this list to guarantee a huge seller?

·                   Christmas

·                   Movie soundtrack

·                   Sex

·                   …and – rather morosely – death.


And what one don’t they play on the radio? The children’s song


So I’ll leave you with this final thought:


Go download baby and ShowMe Your Motion



XxX

Monday 1 December 2014

Christmas Playlist



Updated and revised for Christmas 2018!


Oh come on, it’s not too early now!
I rewrite this every year, but I at least give it until December before unleashing a bit of Christmas on Twitterland.

I love loads of Christmas songs – there, I’ve said it! So much so that limiting myself to just 15 entries on this blog was pretty tricky, and hard though I tried I just couldn’t place them in order of preference. Each year one song seems to grab me in particular as a ‘favourite’, but more often than not a different one will topple it the following year.
So here are 15 of my faves – with a few hyperlinks if you want to get festive.

You’ll notice there’s not a trace of Cliff, Jive Bunny or Mariah Carey – I’m not saying I dislike them though. In fact, think yourselves lucky that I didn’t include the songs that merely remind me of Christmas, on the basis they were released in December etc. (Blur, Oasis, Michael Jackson, Björk etc.)
Sometimes you just run out of space and time…

Wonderful Christmastime – Paul McCartney
This was my favourite one as a child – maybe because there’s lots of ding-dong-ding-donging, and at school the most exciting instrument I ever got to use was a chime bar (musical note C of course).
Sir Macca doing what he does better than most – simple, catchy and melodic. And for good measure for my local readers, the accompanying music video was filmed in good old Sussex at The Fountain Inn, Ashurst


The Christmas Song – Nat 'King' Cole
Got to have a bit of tradition. Nat actually recorded several different versions of this, but the differences are so negligible, only a finely tuned ear might notice. Reminds me of my childhood and a roaring fireplace – which is odd as I didn’t have one (fireplace that is!)
Man that guy had a voice sweeter than honey.
 

Stop the Cavalry – Jona Lewie
Every year I can’t help but change the dub-a-dub-a-dum-dum bit into an advert jingle in my head for Deb-a-deb-en-hams. I even suggested it to a Debenhams CEO. “Thanks, but no thanks Bez!” was their short reply.
The song itself has barely anything to do with Christmas, but a few sleigh bells make a huge difference #whoismarybradley?


Step into Christmas – Elton John
This sticks in my mind due to it playing throughout a trip to the Santa’s Grotto at the legendary Brighton department store Hanningtons (RIP) in the early 1980’s. Oddly enough it didn’t fly too high in the charts when first released (there was good competition in the charts in 1973), but the royalties that Sir Elton has recouped since then has probably eased his pain somewhat!


Sleigh Ride – The Ronettes
Back when Phil Spector was merely a superb producer of pop and wall of sound mono, he gave us his Christmas Gift album.
It is without doubt the best Christmas album ever created, and any number of songs from it would grace many a Christmas playlist, but Sleigh Ride is brilliant brilliant brilliant… and even better in stereo if you can get it. Sung with all the panache and charm the amazing Ronnie Bennett/Spector could muster. Did I say it was brilliant? It’s super brilliant.
And someone somewhere needs to remaster these Spector babies into crisp stereo please.




River – Robert Downey Jr
What’s that then? Well from the intro, you might think it’s a serious version of Jingle Bells, but that does it a huge disservice. RDJ (with help from the fab Vonda Shepard) covered this Joni Mitchell classic during his stint on the much missed TV show Ally McBeal, and he absolutely nailed it. If you only click on one of the hyperlinks on this blog, click on this one. Beautiful song: River


Merry Christmas Everyone – Shakin' Stevens
The most Christmassy promo video since NORAD Tracks Santa went viral on YouTube. Shakey’s career peaked with this nearly-Christmas-number-one (depends on which chart you look at) but he’d had a good run, and holds the crown of being the most successful UK Singles chart act of the 1980’s. Not bad when you consider who he was up against (Madonna, Michael Jackson, Queen etc)


Last Christmas – Wham!
Probably my favourite all time Christmas song, but really the only version you should listen to is the 6 minutes+  Pudding Mix
It probably carries more poignancy with the tragic passing of GM on Christmas Day 2016 - but Last Christmas has always been revered.
In my teens I used to repeatedly listen to this through headphones and immerse myself in its sad sob story. In the dark. #shelteredteenyearsActually I still listen to music in the dark, so not much has changed!

I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday – Wizzard
Dead unlucky to have been released the same year (1973) as Slade’s Merry Xmas Everybody – in any other year it might have performed better in the charts than it eventually did. Let’s not mention the mash up version that The Wombles did with Roy Wood though… we’ll forgive the legendary Roy, on the basis that he also formed the original Electric Light Orchestra don’t you know!? And was the first artist ever to be heard on BBC Radio One.


I Believe In Father Christmas – Greg Lake

Performed by yet another musician who has sadly passed away.


I really wasn’t keen on this one growing up, as I didn’t think the video was Christmassy enough. I clearly missed the point! A song perhaps initially intended to be about the over commercialisation of Christmas, but with a push from Prokofiev’sTroika it still manages to drill home the essence of Christmas: Belief.Love.Spirit




Christmas Wrapping – The Waitresses
Very cutesy song from this post punk band. Covered in a very poppy way by the Spice Girls, but maybe they didn’t quite capture it quite so well (and they omitted a verse for some reason!?)
Lead singer Patty Donahue died well before her time, but her song will ensure she won’t be forgotten.




Fairytale of New York – The Pogues featuring Kirsty MacColl
Another one that slipped under my radar when first released (1987) – possibly because it might have received a radio ban due to some industrial language lyrics? Consistently voted as a Christmas favourite in polls, so it appears to have earned its’ place at the top table, though I can’t escape the idea that it has become a bit of a bandwagon song i.e. it’s become a fashionable song just BECAUSE it’s trendy to like it. It wouldn’t be on this list if I didn’t like it, but the way it has gained its momentum of popularity has always struck me as a bit odd.


Happy Xmas (War Is Over) – John & Yoko
After a family bereavement in November one year, I listened to this song incessantly. I don’t know if I was in denial, or if it simply cheered me up, but maybe it just gave me some hope and comfort.
In a similar vein to his former song-writing partner mentioned earlier, it’s brilliantly simple and melodic. You’ll never miss it, as it gets re-released every year.
Not keen on the various cover versions though – some songs should just be left alone!


Driving Home For Christmas – Chris Rea
Traditionally it’s the song I play in the car on my way home from my last working day before Christmas #OCD
Possibly the most loved underachieving Christmas song ever. Everyone seems to like it, but incredulously it only peaked at number 53 (UK charts) when first released and even on re-release the best it’s ever achieved is number 26. Given another worthy lease of life in recent years due to the terrific SHELTER charity video below:




And finally…December Song (I Dreamed of Christmas) by George Michael.
This has been hovering around this playlist for years, and has now earned its place. The ever generous George Michael (revealed as a HUGE philanthropist after his sad death) actually gave this song away as a freebie download from his website when first issued on Christmas Day 2008.
Quite a few people missed out on that event, so it was released as a physical single a year or so later – and even then it still couldn’t catch up with demand until it was made available for regular downloading.
Originally written with the Spice Girls in mind to record it, I’m not sure they would have done it the justice that GM has. A truly lovely sentimental song.

Merry Christmas one and all!

Belief.Love.Spirit XxX