You wanted it – you got it! Another Singles Night at the Virtual Hot Tub. This is where I spend an evening playing 7 inch singles that have found their way into my vinyl collection, from any number of different sources. None of the records have been played before, so I spend a few hours playing both sides and working through that pile.
There’s usually plenty of variety in the stack, with songs old and new, from any genre. Anything can happen, so just enjoy the ride.
Grab a drink and let’s check out the latest playlist:
The Beatles – “Now and Then” / “Love Me Do”
The Dickies – “Banana Splits” / “Hideous” / “Got It at the Store”
S.S.S. – “CDC” / “Bath Night” / “Thrash with a Small Moustache” / “Black Night White Light”
999 – “Little Red Riding Hood” / “Wait For Your Number to be Called” / “I Ain’t Gonna Tell Ya”
Roxy Music – “Jealous Guy” / “To Turn You On”
Ram Jam – “Black Betty” / “I Should Have Known”
Bee Gees – “Tragedy” / “Until”
ABBA – “One Of Us” / “Should I Laugh or Cry”
Sweet – “Love is Like Oxygen” / “Cover Girl”
The Alarm – “Spirit of ’76” / “Where Were You Hiding When the Storm Broke? (Live)”
Nancy Sinatra – “Love Eyes” / “Coastin'”
Kool & The Gang – “Joanna” / “Tonight”
Rick Dees & His Cast of Idiots – “Disco Duck (Pt. 1)” / “Disco Duck ({Pt. 2)”
Matthew Wilder – “Break My Stride” / “Break My Stride (Instrumental)”
Bee Gees – “Night Fever” / “Down the Road”
Dire Straits – “Romeo & Juliet” / “Solid Rock”
Nilsson – “Without You” / “Gotta Get Up”
Sinitta – “Right Back Where We Started From” / “I Just Can’t Help It”
Charlie Pride – “The Most Beautiful Girl” / Johnny Cash – “Ring of Fire” / Crystal Gayle – “Miss the Mississippi & You” / Tammy Wynette – “Stand By Your Man” / Bertie Higgins – “Key Largo”
Twenty one records this week, and enough variety to keep anyone on their toes. Disco, punk, pop and rock classics – this was one of my best Singles Nights yet.
Notes:
The Beatles single is their last ever song, released recently and backed with their first ever single. A must for the collection.
That Dickies single is on yellow vinyl, naturally. The 999 record is plain old black vinyl, but I’ve been after that for a very long time. It was one of the songs on the first punk/new wave compilation I heard, it confused me as it didn’t sound “punk” (or what I thought was punk at the time). Great song.
SSS stands for Short Sharp Shock, a hardcore/skate thrash band from Liverpool that I can’t believe I never saw live. The last track is dedicated to Metallica bass legend Cliff Burton.
That final 7″ country record i picked up for 50p in a charity shop. Plain sleeve, so very little information – some fantastic songs though. not least my all time hero, Johnny Cash.
It’s that time again – Singles Night! Yes, the night at my Virtual Hot Tub where we play a variety of 7 inch singles and have a few beverages. A record listening party, if you will, but only involving 45 rpm discs.
There’s a huge stack of unplayed singles lurking round the Hot Tub. Some old, some new, some that have been given to me as a gift. They’ve collected together over time from all manner of different sources, and they need to be played.
So play them I will, A side first then flip ’em over for the B side – playing through the stack for the sheer fun of it.
Pour yourself a drink and join me, who knows what we’ll hear?
Here’s the playlist:
Chafed GBI – “The Regulator”
Jim Jones & The Righteous Mind – “Get Down Get With It” / “Ace of Spades”
Elvis Presley – “Are You Lonesome Tonight? (The Laughing Version)” / “From a Jack to a King”
Bad Company – “Feel Like Makin’ Love” / “Wild Fire Woman”
The Alarm – “Absolute Reality” / “Blaze of Glory”
INXS – “Need You Tonight” / “Move On”
Vapors – “News at Ten” / “Wasted” / “Talk Talk”
Lita Ford – “Kiss Me Deadly” / “Broken Dreams”
Depeche Mode – “Just Can’t Get Enough” / “Any Second Now”
Shakin’ Stevens – “Green Door” / “Don’t Turn Your Back”
Simple Minds – “Ghostdancing” / “Jungleland”
Duran Duran – “The Reflex” / “Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me”
The Motors – “Forget About You” / “Picturama”
Chic – “I Want Your Love” / “(Funny) Bone”
Slade – “Know Who You Are” / “Dapple Rose”
Thin Lizzy – “Killer On The Loose” / “Don’t Play Around”
Roxy Music – “Over You” / “Manifesto”
Madonna – “Material Girl” / “Pretender”
AC/DC – “Heatseeker” / “Go Zone”
David Bowie – “Fashion” / “Scream Like a Baby”
The Alarm – “Rescue Me” / “The Hurricane Sessions (My Land Your Land)”
ABBA – “Gimme, Gimme, Gimme” / “The King Has Lost His Crown”
Twenty two songs this week, and some real beauties in that session. From great classic rock (Bad Company, Thin Lizzy, AC/DC) to 80’s pop (Depeche Mode, Madonna, ABBA) to punk/new wave (Vapors, The Motors) there’s a wide spread of awesome songs.
Some notes:
Chafed GBI is a “supergroup” comprising Scott Ian and Charlie Benante of Anthrax, with Dave Grohl on drums. It’s a single sided, colour vinyl 7 inch of the classic Bad Brains song released for Record Store Day.
The Jim Jones & The Righteous Mind single is on coloured vinyl. While it does contain a cover of the Slade song on the A-side (though that was a cover of an earlier tune), the B-side is not the song made famous by Motorhead! Still great though.
Here we go with another Singles Night! Just like Kool and the Gang said – no wait, that was “Ladies Night”. Totally different event altogether. Well, don’t let that be any concern for you, good reader – let’s spend an evening of musical fun and adventure anyway!
What, you may well ask, is “Singles Night at the Virtual Hot Tub”? If you know, feel free to skip this bit. Otherwise, I’ll explain.
Singles
In essence, I have a huge stack of 7 inch vinyl singles that I haven’t played yet. And they need to be played before I can add them to my super sophisticated filing system. So on Singles Night, I grab a bunch of these records and play ’em, A side then B side, one after the other, whilst having a wee drinkie or three.
It’s great fun. It rocks. Here’s the latest playlist:
The Rezillos – “I Can’t Stand My baby” / “I Wanna Be Your Man”
The Rezillos – “Top of the Pops” / “20,000 Rezillos Under the Sea”
The Ruts – “Something That I Said” / “Give Youth A Chance”
Sweet Dreams – “Honey Honey” / “I Surrender”
The Steve Gibbons Band – “Tupelo Mississippi Flash” / “Till the Fire Burns Out”
Showaddywaddy – “You Got What It Takes” / “Showboat”
Goombay Dance Band – “Sol de Jamaica” / “Isla de Suenos”
KC & The Sunshine Band – “That’s the Way (I Like It)” / “Ain’t Nothin’ Wrong”
Dollar – “Mirror Mirror” / “Radio”
Siouxsie & The Banshees – “Hong Kong Garden” / “Voices”
Suzi Quatro – “I Go Wild” / “I’m a Rocker”
Rose Tattoo – “Rock’n’Roll is King” / “I Had You First”
Deep Purple – “Black Night” / “Speed King”
Elton John – “Blue Eyes” / “Hey Papa Legba”
Berlin – “Take My Breath Away” / Giorgio Moroder – “Radar Radio”
Motley Crue – “Primal Scream” / “Dancing on Glass”
Bobby Brown – “On Our Own” / “On Our Own (with Rap)”
De La Soul – “Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey)” / “Pile and Piles of Demo Tapes Bi-Da Miles”
And there we go, mes amis. A right old concoction and no mistake. But you know what? The odd dud in the playlist only makes the good stuff sweeter. And when you’re having fun, those duds ain’t so bad anyway.
The odd horror from the fabled car boot box of doom still lingering here, but they’re slowly dying off. Instead, a veritable feast of punk rock wonders, from the Rezillos, Ruts, Siouxsie and The Damned. That Damned track is, of course, a cover of the Jefferson Airplane song, and not one of my favourites – though the two songs on the B side are absolutely wonderful.
Plenty of other delights with Rose Tattoo and a double sided banger from Deep Purple, not to mention a Crue song I actually really like.
I hate the film Top Gun – never managed to see it all the way through – and not a huge fan of the Berlin track, but hey, it was a freebie. Likewise, that Bobby Brown song from Ghostbusters II is a huge drop in quality from the Ray Parker Jr classic. Some pop genius from KC & the Sunshine Band and Booker T keeps us on track nicely, though.
All in all, another successful night’s entertainment. Stay tuned for more soon, folks – I’ve got loads of these discs for ya and they’re itching for a spin!
Yeah, it’s that time again! Time for another Singles Night at my Virtual Hot Tub. These nights are always huge amounts of fun, with some rockin’, some ripe cheese and some surprises. Plus the occasional dud, just to keep me on my toes.
Recap time, for the newbies: Singles Night is all about digging into my collection of 7 inch singles, which have come into my possession from various sources. I play through the pile, one after the other, A side then B side. There’s all sorts of genres and styles in that pile and sometimes the unexpected CAN happen.
So grab the’sen a drink (I recommend the booze) and let’s see what we get in this pile of 45rpm glory…
Royal Blood – “Limbo” / “All We Have is Now”
The Cult – “Spiritwalker” / “A Flower in the Desert”
Zodiac Mindwarp & The Love Reaction – “Planet Girl” / “Dog Face Driver”
Slade – “Mama Weer All Crazee Now” / “Man Who Speaks Evil”
Kevin The Gerbil – “Summer Holiday” / “Hawaiian Holiday”
Boney M – “Belfast” / “Plantation Boy”
Elton John – “Part Time Love” / “Cry at Night”
Chas & Dave w/ Rockney – “Strummin'” / “I’m in Trouble”
Showaddywaddy – “Rock’n’Roll Lady” / “I’m a Traveller”
Suzi Quatro – “She’s in Love with You” / “Space Cadets”
Chuck Berry – “My Ding-A-Ling” / “Let’s Boogie”
Queen – “Hammer to Fall” / “Tear It Up”
Def Leppard – “Animal” / “Tear it Down”
Queen – “I’m Going Slightly Mad” / “The Hitman”
Gary Moore – “Parisienne Walkways” / “Fanatical Fascists”
Music from ‘The Sting’ ft. Marvin Hamlisch on piano – “The Entertainer” / “Solace”
Showaddywaddy – “Heartbeat” / “Lucy Jane”
David Soul – “Silver Lady” / “Rider”
Frank Sinatra – “I Believe I’m Gonna Love You” / “The Only Couple on the Floor”
Hot Chocolate – “You Sexy Thing” / “A Warm Smile”
Who wants to guess the lamest track of the bunch? If you guessed Kevin the Gerbil’s song, you’d be dead wrong! I’m a lifelong Roland Rat Fan and anything from his world is golden to me. In actual fact, there’s noting awfully cheesy on that last – certainly not Chas & Dave or Showaddywaddy, either.
Starting off bang up to date with a great single from Royal Blood, the rock genre delivered the goods with bangers from The Cult, Zodiac Mindwarp, Queen and Def Leppard. I’ve only just noticed that Queen wanted us to “Tear It Up” whilst the Lepps wanted us to “Tear it Down” – crazy!
Talking of crazy, I love Slade and that single was a gift from my pal Greeny at his wedding (it was number 1 when I was born). A happy addition to the collection.
Another fun night, it got a bit hazy with the beverages piling up. I’ll keep you posted with more of these soon.
Pentre Fest is a big deal to me. And I’ll bet it means a lot to plenty of other people too, who are just as keen to enjoy this festival of underground – but not unloved – metal bands. I look forward to this event every year. I mean, after the Christmas festivities, how else are you gonna survive the misery of January?
Yours truly was the lone representative for Ever Metal at Pentre this year, so all the reviews were my responsibility. I tried to see as many acts as I could, but it wasn’t always possible. And so I can cover as much ground as poss, the summaries will be short and sweet this year. But trust me, I’ll keep you on the straight and narrow.
The festival began on Friday evening, Edd Case and his acoustic set on the new outdoor Keymo stage being my introduction. It’s a proper stage this year, with steps and everything. Edd played a great set of acoustic tracks, including some Maiden, Neil Young (nice Soundgarden segue/tribute) and plenty more. Most impressive.
Heading inside, Omega Throne was on next. Their set was an exciting blend of Death/Black Metal, with some intriguingly dark, gothic elements peppered through the songs. A great set that combined power and fury with a little mystique.
That was followed by the lunatic genius of Mad Spanner. Now a one-man band of crazed thrash metal with a backing track, Mike aka Mad Spanner offers brilliant musicianship, wry humour and furious energy. I’m still recovering from this set, God know how he does it.
Back inside and Bloodmores were up next. This was a great set of pounding, heavy Thrash/Death metal, excellently played and with a surprising amount of foot stomping groove.
Tonight’s original headliners, I Saw The World Burn, were sadly unable to play. We sincerely hope all is well in that camp. At the final hour, however, Cadence Noir were able to fill the headline spot with their gothic tinged folk punk’n’roll. Cadence can always be counted on to get everyone jumping and jigging around, and they did a fine job of finishing Day the First of Pentre Fest.
Saturday’s wake-up call was DAM.G, alias Rob from Thrashatouille’s “grown up band” (not my observation, but one overheard on the day!). A melting pot of progressive metal with Rob’s growl augmented by phenomenal female co-lead vocals, it was certainly a powerful and memorable set.
Outside was a pleasant surprise: the disco funk of Mrs Gizlo. Who’d have expected that? Not me, but it was great fun to hear something different and it certainly got the crowd moving.
In Which It Burns took to the indoor stage next, and gave as a relentless set of thrash metal. It was only mid-afternoon and these Pembrokeshire ragers delivered the goods with super-fast, aggressive tracks. Nice work.
Liverpool’s Ogun were on the main stage next, with some meaty thrash metal of their own. Fast and brutal, I really enjoyed these guys and their total take-no-prisoners approach. Wish I’d bought a t-shirt.
It was freezing outside, so deep apologies from me to the various artists I missed outside, whilst huddled inside with a pint. North Wales Deathcore deviants Dystopian Sun kept the fires burning with some intense yet bouncy metal that roared by like a Sasquatch driving a stolen pick-up truck.
Rule of Six had an early start on Saturday morning. Whilst most of us were still hiding from encroaching hangovers, these lads set off at 4am to get from Northern Ireland to North East Wales for this gig. I’ve never seen so many guitars on stage (four plus a bass!) but all Rule of Six’s instruments were well employed, with their melodic metal proving an uplifting and thrilling experience. Maiden comparisons are a bit obvious, but apt. Great show and nice contrast to much of the bands so far.
From one band who crowded out the main stage, to another band who spent little time on it: Broken Jaw refused to be restrained and preferred to wander around the room! Their blend of punk energy and attitude with metal riffery made sure no-one in the audience was allowed to put their feet up.
Afterward, I dared to make a rare venture outside to witness Skinflick, who I’d heard very good things about. This two-piece outfit gave us some filthy Industrial EDM dripping with sleazy beats – another very cool divergence from the expected.
Beyond Salvation made their way to Pentre from Manchester, and pretty much laid waste to all with a blistering set of thrash metal. The band were both brutal and energetic, with superb playing, that kept the gig going on full steam. There was no chance for the audience to flag here!
I’m actually gutted that I missed SOOTO out on the Keymo Stage. Blame the cold, blame the drink, blame me for being useless: I should’ve been there, sorry. Can we get SOOTO back please? I promise I’ll pay attention this time.
Every year at Pentre Fest, there’s at least one band that I go full-on Fan Boy for. This year’s recipients of the accolade were the amazing Struck/Down, who played huge sounding groove metal riffs that immediately had me hooked like a fish. For me, Struck/Down were the best band of the weekend by a distance. T-shirt purchase? Tick. CD purchase? Tick.
Finally, our last band of a fantastic event were Extreme Metal leviathans Krysthla. The foot was down on the pedal as Krysthla hurtled us through the last set of the weekend with a rapid fire, unrelenting batch of songs.
And that was it, Pentre Fest was over for another year. I’ve been downhearted ever since, missing the camaraderie and fell-good vibes of the event – not to mention the out of this world music. Thanks and huge respect to Fozzy and Beany, North East Wales Metal Productions, McClean’s, and all the bands and crew who made this happen.
Here we go again, my little Hot Tub amigos! Yes it’s time for another Singles Night at Platinum Al’s Virtual Hot Tub – grab a cocktail and jump right in, we’ve got some listening to do!
Do I really need to explain what we’re up to, here? OK, well very quickly then: I have a pile of 7 inch singles that I’ve acquired from various places, all of different artists and genres. On Singles Night, I play through a stack of ’em in order, A side then B side, and we go on a musical odyssey.
Sound like fun? Well it is. Drink up and let’s rock with this latest selection:
The Cult – “She Sells Sanctuary” / “No. 13”
Iron Maiden – “Infinite Dreams (Live)” / “Killers (Live)”
Rod Stewart – “Lost in You” / “Almost Illegal”
Steve Miller Band – “Rock’n’Me” / “The Window”
Bob Marley & The Wailers – “Mr Chatterbox” / “Mr Chatterbox (Version)”
Wizzard – “Rock’n’Roll Winter (Loony’s Tune)” / “Dream of Unwin”
Hot Chocolate – “A Child’s Prayer” / “Everything Should Be Funky”
Mud – “Show Me You’re a Woman” / “Don’t You know”
Bay City Rollers – “I Only Wanna Be With You” / “Rock’n’Roller”
The Kartoon Krew – “Inspector Gadget” / “Inspector Gadget Dub”
Snap! – “The Power” / “The Power (Dub)”
Nicole – ” A Little Peace” / “Thank You, Mercy”
Bob Marley & The Wailers – “Stir It Up (Alt. Jamaican Version)” / “Stir It Up (Alt. Jamaican Instrumental)”
Katrina & The Waves – “Walking on Sunshine” / “Going Down to Liverpool”
Hot Chocolate – “Disco Queen” / “You’re a Natural High”
UK Subs – “She’s Not There” / “Kicks” / “Victim” / “The Same Thing”
Run DMC – “Walk This Way” / “Walk This Way (Instrumental)”
Iron Maiden – “Run to the Hills” / “Total Eclipse”
The Nolans – “Attention to Me” / “Old Feelings Again”
Chas & Dave – “Gertcha” / “The Banging in Your Head”
Another twenty 45 rpm slabs of varying quality there, but I’m not including Katrina (great song!) or Chas & Dave (who can do no wrong) in the dodgy list.
We started with possibly my favourite song of all time, the wonderful “She Sells Sanctuary”. Love that tune. I never had the 7″ as a kid, I bought the 12″ as it had an extra track on it, as I was always obsessed with collecting B sides. That was in 1989, however, well after the single was originally released in ’85.
Other highlights included a double dose of Iron Maiden, a UK Subs EP and the classic Run DMC single “Walk This Way”. Not to mention a couple of very cool Bob Marley singles, both of which were Record Store Day purchases.
As I said, Singles Night is always a journey, from well known paths to the very different excursions. I can recommend it as a fun evening.
Gather ye round, Hot Tubbers! Tis time once again to dip our toes into the warm waters and enjoy another Singles Night.
What am I babbling about? Regular readers will know that Platinum Al likes to spend an evening playing through my collection of 7″ singles, both sides, one after the other. I have a large unplayed pile of 45 rpm records that need spinning, so sometimes I like to blitz through ’em, accompanied with a few drinks (or several).
Why? Because it makes a fun evening! You never know what’s crept in to the “play me” pile: old or new, good or bad. And when the night is over, these discs can be safely added to my collection.
Men Without Hats – “The Safety Dance” / “Security”
Third World – “Now That We’ve Found Love” / “Night Heat”
Bomb the Bass – “Beat Dis” / “Beat Dis (Dub)”
Phil Collins – “Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)” / Mike Rutherford – “Making a Big Mistake”
Hale & Pace and the Stonkers – “The Stonk” / Victoria Wood – “The Smile Song”
Bob Geldof – “Love or Something” / “Out of Order”
The Whispers – “And the Beat Goes On” / “Can You Do The Boogie”
Queen – “It’s a Hard Life” / “Is This the World We Created…?”
Bob Marley & The Wailers – “Jamming” / “Punky Reggae Party”
Sweet – “The Six Teens” / “Burn On The Flame”
Belinda Carlisle – “La Luna” / “Whatever It Takes”
Baccara – “Yes Sir, I Can Boogie” / “Cara Mia”
The Stranglers – “Bear Cage” / “Sha Sha a Go Go”
Bucks Fizz – “One of Those Nights” / “Always Thinking of You”
Rod Stewart – “How Long” / “Jealous”
Ghost – “Kiss the Go-Goat” / “Mary On a Cross”
The Beach Boys – “Darlin'” / “Here Today”
ZZ Top – “Gimme All Your Lovin'” / “If I could Only Flag Her Down”
A mixed bag, as always – with a few left overs from my “100 singles for a fiver” car boot sale purchase. But this is what Singles Night is all about – you take the rough with the smooth, learn to appreciate stuff that you might’ve previously written off.
There are a couple of stinkers in that list, but surprisingly the Comic Relief single ” The Stonk” isn’t one of them. Daft it may be, but it features Brian May, Tony Iommi, Dave Gilmour, Cozy Powell and Roger Taylor in a Quo-esque rock boogie that I quite enjoyed.
I love the Boney M. single, as the B-side reminds me of being on holiday in Greece. “Safety Dance” is brilliant, Bomb The Bass is class, and I even enjoyed the Phil Collins song!
Obvious highlights in this set came from Queen, Bob Marley, Sweet, The Stranglers, Beach Boys and ZZ Top. Always wanted to hear that Bob Marley B-side, as he name checks several punk bands such as The Damned, The Jam and The Clash.
I was a surprisingly cool dad, thanks to the Ghost single (coloured vinyl, nice). Apparently the B-side is a social media craze, so my daughter was impressed!
Great tunes, fun times exploring music – that’s Singles Night. More soon!
Welcome, music lovers! Yes, we’re back at Platinum Al’s Virtual Hot Tub for another leisurely evening of spinning 45 rpm records and drinking a hell of a load of cocktails. It is on, brothers and sisters!
So what’s going down? It’s pretty simple. I have a stack of vinyl singles (hence “Singles Night”) and I’m playin’ ’em in order, side A then B, just for the heck of it. Because it’s fun. And you might just hear some great tunes. No cheating: play each single in the pile, with no skipping (even if it’s a dud).
Here’s the latest playlist. Grab a drink, this is gonna be fun…
Dread Zeppelin – “Stairway to Heaven” / “Jailhouse Rock”
INXS – “Suicide Blonde” / “Everybody Wants U Tonight”
Village People – “In the Navy” / “Manhattan Woman”
Mike Post ft. Larry Carlton – “The Theme from Hill Street Blues” / “Aaron’s Tune”
Sammy Davis Jnr – “What Kind of Fool Am I” / “Gonna Build a Mountain” / “Someone Nice Like You” / “Once in a Lifetime”
Giorgio Moroder w/ Philip Oakey – “Together in Electric Dreams” / “Together in Electric Dreams (Instrumental)”
S’Express – “Superfly Guy” / “Funky Killer”
Sting – “Demolition Man (Soulpower Radio Mix)” / “Demolition Man (Film Version”
Slade – “Far Far Away” / “OK Yesterday Was Yesterday”
Shakatak – “Feels Like the Right Time” / “Corina”
Roy Orbison – “Only the Lonely” / “Here Comes That Song Again”
Earth Wind & Fire – “In the Stone” / “Africano”
Little Eva – “The Loco-Motion” / “He is the Boy”
And were there any duds in this selection? Well, nothing disastrous, though “Hill Street Blues” was a bit of a mood changer.
But just look at the strength of the list over all: some absolute beauties from AC/DC, Free, Rainbow, CCR and double INXS. Plus that Budgie single (which is a really nice 7 inch picture disc, by the way) is totally cool.
Some great pop classics in there, too. Village People and Giorgio Moroder? Floor fillers!
Thanks for joining me for another Singles Night at the Virtual Hot Tub. Let’s do it again soon. In the meantime, keep your media physical and your drinks cool.
Yes, that’s right: it’s time for another Singles Night! This is no crappy Channel 4 dating show featuring halfwit Instagram influencers, no sir. The type of single we’re talking about here is the vinyl kind – 45 rpm records, beautiful black plastic discs. Seven inches of pure joy!
For the newcomers, I have a pile of unplayed vinyl singles, which I listen to consecutively (A side, then B side). Accompanied by a few drinkies, it’s a most excellent evening of entertainment.
Here’s the latest playlist, featuring some total bangers:
AC/DC – “Touch Too Much” / “Live Wire” / “Shot Down in Flames”
Judas Priest – “Evening Star” / “Beyond the Realms of Death”
Hollywood Beyond – “South Africa” / “The Cocteau Twins – “Orange Appled” / The Fall – “Lucifer Over Lancashire” / Zodiac Mindwarp & The Love Reaction – “High Priest of Love”
Pretenders – “Brass in Pocket” / “Swinging London” / “Nervous But Shy”
Billy Idol – “Rebel Yell” / “(Do Not) Stand in the Shadows”
Television – “Prove It” / “Venus”
Def Leppard – “Rocket” / “Release Me”
U2 – “The Unforgettable Fire” / “A Sort of Homecoming”
Pet Shop Boys – “Always On My Mind” / “Do I Have to?”
A Flock of Seagulls – “Wishing (I Had a Photograph of You)” / “Committed”
Frankie Goes to Hollywood – “Relax” / “One September Monday”
Big Country – “Chance” / “The Tracks of My Tears”
Duran Duran – “Wild Boys” / “(I’m Looking for) Cracks in the Pavement (1984)”
GB Band – “Smasheroo” / “Long Distance Calling”
Petula Clark – “Downtown” / “You’d Better Love Me”
Paula Abdul – “Straight Up” / “Straight Up Power Mix”
Slade – “All Join Hands” / “Here’s to…”
Foreigner – “Say You Will” / “A Night to Remeber”
Chuck Berry – “Reelin’ and Rockin'” / “I Will Not Let You Go”
Whoa, a lot of EPs and mulitple B sides, there!
There you go: another twenty top quality tunes that I enjoyed rocking out to in the Virtual Hot Tub. Well, except maybe Foreigner. But at least Chuck Berry saved the day!
That playlist spans the years and the genres, with some of my favourite artists like AC/DC, Billy Idol and Zodiac Mindwarp rubbing shoulders with pop legends and underground classics. Which ones are you a fan of?
See you soon for another Singles Night at the Virtual Hot Tub!
One of my favourite types of night in: a random stack of 7 inch vinyl, and a big old crate of booze. I’ve not held a Singles Night at Platinum Al’s Virtual Hot Tub for a little while, so allow me to put that right.
You see, I’ve got a load of 7″ singles that I haven’t listened to yet. They come from various sources, though most are second hand. So I play ’em through, A side then B side, and enjoy the sonic delights. Accompanied with a tipple of two.
Here’s the latest batch:
Mudhoney – “Warning” / Meat Puppets – “One of These Days”
Cockney Rejects – “The Greatest Cockney Rip Off” / “Hate of the City”
Metallica – “The Unforgiven” / “Killing Time”
The Shipbuilders – “Silk Road” / “La Fee Verte”
Huey Lewis & The News – “Stuck With You” / “Don’t Ever Tell Me That You Love Me”
The Archies – “Sugar, Sugar” / “Melody Hill”
Boney M – “Painter Man” / “He Was a Steppenwolf”
Twiggy – “Falling Angel” / “Virginia (And the Circus Side Show)”
Eurythmics – “Sexcrime (Nineteen Eighty Four)” / “I Did it Just the Same”
From Metallica to the Smurfs, there’s a right old mixture in that playlist. A nice wide coverage of genres from pop, disco, ska, prog rock, punk and – wonder of wonders – even some opera. Not to mention all the various subgenres on the list (Goth? Post punk? New Wave? Make your own conclusions).
Another fine evening of music, I can recommend a Singles Night for the variety and fun. Dig out your old singles collection and have a knees up!
Platinum Al's Virtual Hot Tub 