Before there was Adele, and after there was Dusty Springfield, there was Alison Moyet, one of the great purveyors of British blue-eyed soul. The first time I ever heard her sing was when her 1984 single, "Invisible," became a Top 40 hit in the U.S. "She sounds like a man," I remember a classmate of mine saying at the time. It didn't matter to me. I was instantly in love with the full-bodied voice coming out of that full-bodied woman. It was until college that I discovered Upstairs at Eric 's and [...]
Cover Me looks back at the monumental Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, complete with recaps, commentary and videos of all the covers performed at the event.
No Parlez is the debut solo album by the British singer Paul Young. Released in 1983, it reached number one on the UK Albums Chart (for a non-consecutive total of 5 weeks) and remained in the UK Top 100 for 119 weeks. The album has been certified Triple Platinum by the BPI for UK sales in excess of 900,000 copies. Read more »
2008 digitally remastered and expanded two CD 25th Anniversary edition of the British Pop/Soul vocalist's debut album featuring a bonus disc containing 10 tracks including remixes, B-sides and live cuts. With the release of this debut album in 1983, Paul Young was immediately hailed as an intriguing synthesis of the old and the new. Blessed with a classic Blue-Eyed Soul voice, Young pays homage
It's Christmas time There's no need to be afraid At Christmas time We let in light and we banish shade And in our world of plenty We can spread a smile of joy Throw your arms around the world At Christmas time But say a prayer Pray for the other ones At Christmas time it's hard But when you're having fun There's a world outside your window And it's a world of dread and fear Where the only water flowing Is the bitter sting [...]
Did someone mention Paul Young? Oh yeah, I did. Paul Young was one of the new crop of British blue-eyed soul acts that sprouted up like crabgrass in the early-to-mid 80s, like Simply Red's Mick Hucknall, Alison Moyet (post-Yaz), and yes, Climie/Fisher. While Young had a fairly high profile at the beginning of his career in the UK, thanks to his association with his second band, The Q-Tips, he had a tougher road making waves in the States. His first US single, the Marvin Gaye remake "Wherever I [...]
Sigh, I love love songs in this era. I hate not being able to find what I'm looking for tho man.
I don't suppose Love Of The Common People will've appeared on all that many seasonal compilation albums over the years, but I always think of it as a Christmas song, for a few reasons. Namely: 1) It was, crucially, a hit at Christmas time - at least Paul Young's version was, in 1983. (I hadn't even realised his was a cover, actually, until looking it up earlier tonight; the Everly Brothers and Waylon Jennings had apparently both recorded versions many years previously.) 2) There are a few mentions of snow in the lyrics [...]
Isn't a lavish celebration of the anniversary of a compilation album pushing the idea of 'a very special birthday' a little far, even for ITV? Regardless, they spun the 'useless female presenter' wheel, selected Denise Van Outen, and threw a show to mark the 25th anniversary of the first Now That's What I Call Music compilation. On television. To be fair to ITV, they did at least invite back original artists to do their songs - normally, they'd have got Jamie Cullum and the Sugababes to have a crack at Hey You The Rocksteady Crew. But the format [...]
Quilt by Lisa Visser , photo borrowed from here Yes, yes, I know I'm late again. My excuse this time is that I'm nursing a cold. Forget rats or mosquitoes, kids are without a doubt THE most efficient disease vectors... Anyway, I'd still like to draw your attention to the Contrast Podcast , which this week dove back under the covers to bring you a slew of cover versions that are very different from the original. In fact there was [...]
Thanks to my latest best friend RH and some intensive research, my shortlist of lesser known originals now approaches 200 tracks. Suffice it to say that I won't feature all of them, and that this will still be a very long series. As always, I would be pleased to know which version the reader likes better. Everly Brothers - Love Hurts.mp3 Roy Orbison - Love Hurts.mp3 Gram Parsons & Emmylou
I didn't parlez Paul Young-ese when this album first came out. He was a huge act beloved by Sharons and Tracys everywhere. Big sisters adored him and big brothers wanted to be him so, obviously, there was nothing in it for me, a synth-pop gayer-in-the-making. But there was one single from this album I loved and strangely, would never admit to. Come Back and Stay probably hit home because of the girls backing vocals, and then listening to the album as a whole, I seem to have 'grown into' the other tracks. And there's a new one on [...]
There's a lovely interview with Paul Young in the Mail today; he's split from his wife, but is still friends with her; he's working in her restaurant to make ends meet as he blew all his cash on bad investments, and even the master tapes of his old songs are "falling to bits". But he sounds genuinely happy and surprisingly well-balanced for someone who has gone from Top of the Pops to washing the pots. You might think, for example, that he'd be grudging about the overnight success model of Simon Cowell's raw materials, but [...]
The best thing about Paul Young was that he exposed the middle-of-the-road dance crowd to Joy Division and the songs by Jack Lee (of LA's pop-punk band Nerves). In the early eighties Young made a name for himself as an husky voiced performer who could tackle songs by Booker T. & The MG's and Marvin Gaye. The UK always had it share of blue-eyed soul singers and his 1983 album No Parlez made it big in 1983, shipping millions of copies worldwide. Young contributed a couple of his own tracks for the [...]
Welcome to my late-night/early-morning post inspired by the purchases I made earlier today (technically yesterday) for $1 or less at the used record store: Paul Young "Love Will Tear Us Apart" (Joy Division cover) I feel over the years I've divulged a lot of personal information about my past with music of a somewhat embarrassing nature. I believe what I'm about to admit far surpasses all previous embarrassment. You ready? Okay, here goes: This is the first version of this song that I ever heard. Oh, god. And I [...]
Did someone mention Paul Young? Oh yeah, I did. Paul Young was one of the new crop of British blue-eyed soul acts that sprouted up like crabgrass in the early-to-mid 80s, like Simply Red's Mick Hucknall, Alison Moyet (post-Yaz), and yes, Climie/Fisher. While Young had a fairly high profile at the beginning of his career in the UK, thanks to his association with his second band, The Q-Tips, he had a tougher road making waves in the States. His first US single, the Marvin Gaye remake "Wherever I [...]
Sixteen Candles is another one of those classic 80s movies that practically everyone in my generation has seen a million times and can quote endlessly. It was the film that basically kicked off Molly Ringwald 's career and energized the teen comedy trend. It's possibly my favorite John Hughes film from that era. Even after seeing it so many times, it never gets old. Sixteen Candles tells the story of Samantha, who is celebrating her sixteenth birthday. The problem? Her family has completely forgotten about it, mostly due to [...]
THEME FOR GREAT CITIES
Cover Me
Totally Fuzzy
The Mood Indicator 2.0
The Boy With The Thorn In His Side
Lost in the '80s
CMONGOOD
Too Much Apple Pie
No Rock And Roll Fun
pogo a go-go
Any Major Dude With Half A Heart
Worrapolava
Here Comes The Flood
Copy, Right?
Looking at Them
Music Singles Chart #109
Family of the Year - "Diversity"
I’ll Just Leave This Here #161
Young Jeezy – Go (Ft. YG & E-40)
