TOP 20 ALBUMS 2nd February 1974

LISTEN HERE

20 - “Till” from the album Greatest Hits
TOM JONES

19 - “Cecilia” from the album Bridge Over Troubled Water
SIMON AND GARFUNKEL

18 - “Aladdin Sane” from the album Aladdin Sane
DAVID BOWIE

17 - “Candle In The Wind” from the album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
ELTON JOHN

16 - “The Long And Winding Road” from the album The Beatles - 1967 To 1970
BEATLES

15 - “In My Life” from the album The Beatles - 1962 To 1966
BEATLES

14 - “Just Like You” from the album Stranded
ROXY MUSIC

13 - “Touch Me In The Morning” from the album Touch Me In The Morning
DIANA ROSS

12 - “Jerusalem” from the album Brain Salad Surgery
EMERSON LAKE & PALMER

11 - “Sorrow” from the album Pin Ups
DAVID BOWIE

10 - “One Way Hotel” from the album Sladest
SLADE

9 - “Breathe” from the album The Dark Side Of The Moon
PINK FLOYD

8 - “Band On The Run” from the album Band On The Run
PAUL McCARTNEY AND WINGS

7 - “I’m A Writer Not A Fighter” from the album I'm A Writer Not A Fighter
GILBERT O'SULLIVAN

6 - “The Sound Of Silence” from the album Greatest Hits
SIMON AND GARFUNKEL

5 - “Extract” from the album Tubular Bells
MIKE OLDFIELD

4 - “Jealous Guy” from the album Overtures And Beginners
ROD STEWART & THE FACES

3 - “I Want To Give” from the album And I Love You So
PERRY COMO

2 - “Why Is Everybody Going Home?” from the album Silver Bird
LEO SAYER

1 - “Jambalaya (On The Bayou)” from the album The Singles 1969-1973
CARPENTERS 

SPIN FULL CIRCLE 1

 

CLICK ON IMAGE TO PLAY

STARTING POINT: HERB ALPERT “El Presidente”

NOMINATED BY: SFC PRES

Herb Alpert also recorded “Bean Bag”, which is more commonly recognised in the UK as the theme to the TV game show, ‘It’s A Knockout’. The international version was ‘Jeux Sans Frontières’ a phrase repeated in the song “Games Without Frontiers” by Peter Gabriel, a literal translation of the phrase. Singing backing vocals on this track was Kate Bush, whose song “Dreamtime” (the b-side of her hit “The Dreaming”) featured the use of a didgeridoo, the favoured instrument of choice for 70s children’s entertainer, Rolf Harris. His song, “War Canoe” was the basis for a ‘large sum’ ‘out of court’ payment, from Adam Ant, when it was said to be ’almost musically identical’ to the latter’s hit “Prince Charming”. Adam’s earlier recording ‘Lady’ was recorded before some of his fellow Ants left the group to form Bow Wow Wow with Annabella Lwin. One of their biggest hits was “I Want Candy”, an old hit from the 60s, that was also covered by Mel C, who reportedly had a relationship with Robbie Williams before he recorded his hit, also about “Candy”. The following year, Williams released and album called ‘Swings Both Ways’ which featured a cover of the 60s Mama Cass single, “Dream A Little Dream” with Lily Allen, daughter of actor/comedian Keith Allen who had had a number one hit with the football song “Vindaloo” under the name Fat Les. His follow-up Christmas single was “Naughty Christmas” which reached number 21 in the charts and featured Lisa Moorish on backing vocals. Lisa had also sung backing vocals on Ash’s “Oh Yeah” before her infamous affair with Oasis front-man Liam Gallagher. Oasis performed the theme tune, “Half A World Away”, on TV’s ‘The Royle Family’ which starred Ricky Tomlinson, who had his own hit with a cover of Shane McGowen’s “Are You Looking At Me”. Shane was the driving force behind The Pogues, the band featured many, traditional sounding, Irish folk tunes like “Sally MacLennane” among their earliest recordings. Shane is probably best known for his perennial Christmas hit “Fairytale Of New York”, a seasonal duet with Kirsty MacColl. After her first hit “There’s A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He’s Elvis” in 1981, Kirsty had many single releases before her last “England 2 Columbia 0” which was released just before her unfortunate, accidental, death in 2000. One of her biggest hits was a cover of Billy Bragg’s “A New England”, which failed to chart for the songwriter, unlike his cover of “She’s Leaving Home” which went to number one as part of a double A-side release with Wet Wet Wet’s “With A Little Help From My Friends”. Both originally hits for the Beatles, George Martin produced much of their output, including the wonderful “And I Love Her”, as well as many recordings for many other artists. Cilla Black was just one of these, and her cover of the Gene Pitney hit “Something’s Gotten Hold Of My Heart” was also produced by the maestro. Cilla went on to host TV’s ‘Blind Date’ which was a British version of the American hit show ‘The Dating Game’, which featured “Spanish Flea” as the ‘Bachelor’s Theme’ part of the programme which was originally a hit for Herb Alpert!

Play this when I die!

 

Play This When I Die by Sfcpres on Mixcloud

My 50th birthday, the constant trips to the doctors, the constant pain, and the everyday irritations of this world we live in, have made me consider the end of life lately.
Not that I want it to happen, or even have any real fear of it happening soon, just what happens when it does?
The last thing I'd want is to have some religious nut, spouting away about what a wonderful life I'd led, and how everybody loved me, when in fact, I've been a miserable bastard for most of it, and haven't done much with it at all! A couple of good kids, a decent marriage, and a few compilations left behind on non-biodegradable CDs is all I have to show for 50 years on this planet, so when I go, I'd like to at least have a send of that I can be proud of.
So here it is.
There's some tracks here that mean a lot to me for one reason and another, and those that do know me will know their meaning. So hopefully this will remain out there in cyberspace for a bit longer than I'll be around for, so if there's anyone left behind when I do go - play this!

1

The Somnambulist

XTC

2

So Long Ago, So Clear

Vangelis & Jon Anderson

3

Clair de Lune (Debussy)

Earl Wild

4

Rejoice In The Sun

Joan Baez

5

Solitude (Ella Wheeler Wilcox)

Meryl Streep

6

In My Life

Beatles

7

I Only Want To Be With You

Shelby Lynne

8

My Funny Valentine

Elvis Costello

9

Stars

Janis Ian

10

Aria From La Wally (Catalani)

Wilhelmenia Fernandez

11

I See a Darkness

Johnny Cash

12

Heaven Can Wait

Meat Loaf

13

Feeling good

Nina Simone

14

Q5 Piano Tune

Spike Milligan