I had another great night recently, playing a load of old 7″ singles.  What happens is, I acquire these singles from record fairs, charity shops or maybe contributions from friends – and I spend an evening playing through the pile.  The’re stacked in order of how long I’ve had them – oldest near the top – and not organised in any way.

So I get a few drinkies down me and play the records in the order they reveal themselves.  Which can be fun – no skipping, play whatever’s next in the pile.

This system always means that no matter how many cool songs I play, there’s always a few dodgy tracks in there too.  But then let’s just call those less aspirational songs “guilty pleasures”, and enjoy them for what they are.

Last time, I claimed that the rest of the stack of 45 rpm magic wouldn’t reach as high a standard.  I was wrong.  Here’s the playlist, which includes some absolute monsters…

1. Elvis Presley – “Young and Beautiful” / “True Love” / “Lover Doll” / “Love Me Tender”
2. AC/DC – “Whole Lotta Rosie” / “Hell Ain’t a Bad Place To Be”
3. W.A.S.P. – “Mean Man” / “Locomotive Breath”
4. The Beatles – “Can’t Buy Me Love” / “You Can’t Do That”
5. Anthrax – “Anti-Social” / “Parasite”
6. The Hawaiian Islanders – “Hawaiian War Chant” / “Song of the Islands” / “One, Two, Three, Four” / “On the Beach at Waikiki” / “Sweet Leilani” / “Aloha Oe”
7. Johnny Cash – “It Ain’t Me Babe” / “Understand Your Man” / “Five Feet High and Rising” / “I Walk the Line”
8. Stiff Little Fingers – “At the Edge” / “Silly Encores, Autumn 1979”
9. Spagna – “Call Me” / “Girl, It’s Not the End of the World”
10. Tenpole Tudor – “The Swords of a Thousand Men” / “Love and Food”
11. The Rolling Stones – “It’s All Over Now” / “Good Times, Bad Times”
12. Belinda Carlisle – “Vision of You” / “Leave a Light On For Me (Kamikazee Mix)”
13. Salt-n-Pepa – “Push It (US Remix)” / “I Am Down” / “Tramp”
14. Fat Boys – “The Twist (Yo, Twist)” / “The Twist (Buffapella)”
15. Bananarama – “Cruel Summer” / “Summer Dub”
16. Thin Lizzy – “Cold Sweat” / “Bad Habits”
17. Heaven 17 – “Temptation” / “We Live So Fast”
18. Hammer – “Addam’s Groove (LP Mix)” / “Street Soldiers (Saxapella Reprise)”
19. Philip Lynott – “Yellow Pearl” / “Girls”
20. Senser – “The Brunt”
21. Siouxsie & the Banshees – “The Staircase (Mystery)” / “20th Century Boy”

Fantastic stack of singles!  Some absolute classics with a couple of cheesy horror stories.  Any playlist that includes AC/DC and the Beatles can’t be half bad.  I’ll be doing some more of these singles nights soon, stay tuned!

Elvis

AC/DC

WASP