'Stars' was recorded as the title track from Simply Red's 1991 album. It was released as the second single from the album. The B-side of the single was a remix of the track by PM Dawn.
'Wasteland' was the second single taken from the Mission's 1986 album 'God's own medicine'. There was a limited edition box set release of this single at the time of its release. As far as single box sets go, this one was quite lavish: not only did it include five colour photographs, it also had a second single with two bonus live tracks.
René Moore and Angela Winbush got together in 1980, both professionally and romantically. They formed the duo René & Angela and released three albums between 1980 and 1985. 'Save your love (for #1)' was released as the first single from their third and last album, 'Street called desire'.
John Oates originally wrote 'Maneater' as a reggae-oriented song. On the insistance of Daryl Hall, the track was changed into a 'Motown kind of groove'. According to John Oates the inspiration for this song was English model and actress Kelly LeBrock. The track was included on their 1982 album 'H2O' and released as a single.
I actually have two different copies of this single: I bought the German pressing (pictured above) in 1995. Two years later, I saw the UK pressing and didn't recognise the sleeve. It's another example of how my photographic memory sometimes gets in the way...
London Beat released their second album 'In the blood' in early 1991. The single 'I've been thinking about you' preceded the album by half a year, as it was released in August 1990.
Charlene Marilynn D'Angelo was born on June 1, 1950 in Hollywood, California. In 1973, she signed to the Motown label. 'I've never been to me' was originally a single taken from her self-titled debut album 'Charlene' in 1977. It only managed to reach number 97 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.
After having had two consecutive top 10 hits in the Netherlands, Mai Tai recorded a new album in the summer of 1986. Entitled '1 touch 2 much', it was released in the autumn of 1986, with the title track released as the first single from the album.
Howard Jones wrote the song 'Look mama' from the standpoint of a child pleading with its over-protective mother to be allowed greater independence and room to develop its own personality. The introduction to the song features some spoken dialogue sampled from the 1974 movie 'Alice doesn't live here anymore'.
'No promises' was released as the first single from Icehouse's 1986 album 'Measure for measure' in November 1985. I remembered Icehouse from their 1982 single 'Hey little girl', and this single wasn't that much different from that sound.
'Secret love' was written in 1953 by the American songwriting duo of Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster. Its first performance was in the film 'Calamity Jane' by Doris Day. It received an Academy Award for Best Original Song. The song was released on record as well, reaching number 1 in the USA and the UK singles chart.
'It's raining again' was released as the first single from Supertramp's 1982 album 'Famous last words', an album that marked the end of an era. As relations between Roger Hodgson and Rick Davies, the main songwriters of the band, became more strained, they fought over just about everything. Not long after this album's release, Roger Hodgson decided to leave the band.
'Hanging on the telephone' was written by Jack Lee. It was first performed by Lee's short-lived US West Coast power pop trio The Nerves, who released it as the title track of their 1976 ep, the band's only release.
'Stand above me' was released as the first single from Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark's 1993 album 'Liberator', the second album recorded by Andy McCluskey without Paul Humphreys. It was the last single that also appeared on a 12" single.
Making a meat sandwich, taking the 5 train, holding out the flag, putting it in there, going up and down... I'm always in awe of people who can creatively describe the act of making love and associated sexual acts. Back in 1981, my English wasn't good enough to appreciate the full meaning of 'Pull up to the bumper': I simply thought it was about cars.
In 1989, Stan Ridgway released his second solo album 'Mosquitos'. The album is notable for the three tracks featuring Tori Amos pre-'Little earthquakes' and so has become sought after by Tori Amos fans.
Massive Attack had two hit singles in 1991, 'Unfinished sympathy' and 'Safe from harm'. They followed this up in early 1992 with 'Be thankful', the fourth and last single from their debut album 'Blue lines'. This proved to be a very unsuccessful release, as it only reached number 49 in the Australian singles chart, while failing to chart everywhere else.
'Sweet talkin' woman' was originally named 'Dead end street', but the name changed to avoid confusion with a 1966 hit of the same title by the Kinks. Some words that survived from that version can be heard in the opening of the third verse, 'I've been livin' on a dead end street'. It was recorded on ELO's 1978 album 'Out of the blue' and released as the fourth single from the album.
After Michael Jackson's phenomenal success with 'Thriller', it seemed like all of his siblings wanted a piece of the pie as well. Janet Jackson started a very successful career together with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and Jermaine Jackson signed with Arista records to release 'Dynamite', an album featuring a couple of hit singles. One of them was 'Do what you do', which some say featured Michael Jackson on backing vocals.
'She makes my day' was released as the third single from Robert Palmer's 1988 album 'Heavy nova'. While the first single 'Simply irresistible' became a rock classic, the second one 'Early in the morning' went by almost unnoticed. 'She makes my day' was a top 10 hit in the UK and Australia, peaking at number 6 and 9 respectively, but was ignored in the rest of the world.
'Fire' was written by Bruce Springsteen and was originally intended to be used by Elvis Presley. Robert Gordon ended up being the first artist to record the song in 1978. Later that year, the Pointer Sisters recorded their version. It gave them major worldwide success, reaching number 34 in the UK singles chart and number 1 in the Dutch Top 40.
