Singles Night at the Virtual Hot Tub #41

What’s that I hear? Those loyal Hot Tubbers have been going ape for my Singles Night vinyl playlists? They want more, more, MORE?! Then it shall be so, my friends! With great humility I shall acquiesce to your rabid response – here we go again for another Singles Night at the Virtual Hot Tub!

For the stragglers at the back, this playlist includes a bunch of 45 rpm singles that have ended up in my treasured collection. I spend an evening playing them – both sides – and with the aid of a little alcohol, have a fine old time.

Join me again for another evening enjoying playing 7 inch records of all genres…

  1. The Kinks – “Dead End Street” / “Big Black Snake”
  2. The Steve Miller Band – “Abracadabra” / “Never Say No”
  3. Status Quo – “What You’re Proposing” / “A. B. Blues”
  4. Prince – “When Doves Cry” / “17 Days”
  5. Madness – “Grey Day” / “Memories”
  6. Kate Robbins – “The Real Me” / “Photo Fit”
  7. Ron Grainer – “Tales of the Unexpected” / “Malice Afterthought”
  8. Belinda Carlisle – “Big Scary Animal” / “Windows of the World”
  9. Bananarama – “Love in the First Degree” / “Mr Sleaze”
  10. Kate Bush – “Wuthering Heights” / “Kite”
  11. Paul McCartney – “Spies Like Us” / “My Carnival”
  12. Buzzcocks – “Orgasm Addict” / “What Ever Happened To?”
  13. The Presidents of the United States of America – “Lump” / “Wake Up”
  14. Ramones – “She’s the One” / “I Wanna Be Sedated”
  15. X-Ray Spex – “Identity” / “Lets Submerge”
  16. Wolfmother – “Dimension”
  17. Horrorpops – “Miss Take” / “Where They Wander”
  18. Captain Sensible – “Glad It’s All Over” / “Damned on 45”
  19. Black Lace – “Agadoo” / “Fiddling”
  20. ABBA – “I Have a Dream” / “Take a Chance On Me (Live)”
  21. The Sweet – “Teenage Rampage” / “Own Up, Take a Look At Yourself”
  22. Bucks Fizz – “One of Those Nights” / “Always Thinking of You”
  23. B. Bumble & The Stingers – “Nut Rocker” / “Bumble Boogie” / “Boogie Woogie”
  24. Bachman Turner Overdrive – “You AIn’t Seen Nothing Yet” / “Free Wheelin'”
  25. Barry White – “You’re the First, the Last, My Everything” / “More Than Anything, You’re My Everything”

Yes, you read that right: Agadoo by Black Lace is now in my vinyl collection. Well, you never know – it might be useful to entertain somebody one day.

Well, I certainly must’ve enjoyed myself on this particular night – 25 songs in one go is a record of a different type. I think. And what a killer collection of tunes! Classic tracks from The Kinks, Quo, Kate Bush and ABBA elevated the playlist nicely. Plus a quality punk rock section with Ramones, Buzzcocks and X-Ray Spex – and some more pop hits from Madness, Barry White and many more.

Enjoy the tunes Hot Tubbers, I won’t keep you waiting long for more!

Notes:

The Wolfmother record is single with a blank B side, which I didn’t realise when I bought it.  The Horrorpops single is a picture disc, as is the POTUSA vinyl. Pretty stylish stuff.

Oh and yes, that’s the legendary theme tune from the Tales of the Unexpected television programme.  Pretty cool to have that.

Singles Night at the Virtual Hot Tub #40

Singles Night! Singles Night! At the Virtual Hot Tub, yeah!!! Yes it’s that time again, hot tubbers – grab yourself a drink and let’s enjoy the latest Singles Night playlist!

If you’re not sure what’s going down, it’s like this: your Old pal Platinum Al has a big pile of unplayed, sexy 7 inch vinyl records – and they need to be played. So we’ll spin ’em, A side then B side, one after the other, and have the rad time while we do it.

Sound like fun? Ok, here we go…

  1. The Stylistics – “You Make Me Feel Brand New” / “Only For The Children”
  2. Scott McKenzie – “San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair)” / “What’s the Difference”
  3. Sylvester – “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” / “Was it Something I Said”
  4. Nik Kershaw – “Don Quixote” / “Don’t Lie”
  5. The Mighty Wah! – “Come Back” / “The Devil in Miss Jones”
  6. Blondie – “Dreaming” / “Sound Asleep”
  7. Bryan Adams – “Can’t Stop This This We Started” / “It’s Only Love (Live)”
  8. Muddy Waters – “Mannish Boy” / “I’m Your Hoochie Coochie Man”
  9. The Creatures – “Mad Eyed Screamer” / “So Unreal” / “But Not Them”
  10. Los Lobos – “La Bamba” / “Charlena”
  11. Kate Robbins – “Run Wild” / “Cassie’s Song”
  12. Kim WIlde – “I Can’t Say Goodbye” / “Sanjazz Megamix”
  13. Crystal Gayle – “When I Dream” / “Someday Soon”
  14. Samantha Fox – “Aim to Win” / “Holding”
  15. Billy Ray Cyrus – “Achy Breaky Heart” / “I’m So Miserable”
  16. Boney M. – “Gotta Go Home” / “El Lute”
  17. Nina Simone – “My Baby Just Cares For Me” / “Love Me or Leave Me”
  18. The Monks – “Nice Legs, Shame About Her Face” / “You’ll Be The Death of Me”
  19. Transvision Vamp – “Baby I Don’t Care” / “Time For Change” / “Strings of My Heart”
  20. Sinitta – “love on a Mountain Top” / “Don’t Tell Me Not to Cry”
  21. The Alarm – “Unsafe Building” / “Up For Murder”

Now that’s a pretty eclectic playlist. Covering all manner of genres from pop, soul/disco, rock, punk, country, blues and more.

The absolute cream of the crop is the Muddy Waters single – “Mannish Boy” is one of the greatest songs ever written. This version came from a late 80s Levis commercial, always a handy way to pick up reissued classic songs. Similar with the equally awesome Nina Simone record.

The Stylistics are one of my Dad’s favourite bands and something I grew up with. Any Disco records on these lists are a result of upbringing

Sinitta crops up again, due to the fact that I always had a crush on her. Likewise Sam Fox, Kim Wilde and Crystal Gayle and of course Debbie Harry. Though I never fancied Wendy James of Transvision Vamp. Good track, though.

No absolute stinkers this time round, either. “Achy Breaky Heart” is a kitsch classic and I love it – stoked to find that one in a charity shop!

And we’re done. Another pile of 45 rpm goodies played – stay tuned for more, very soon!

Singles Night at the Virtual Hot Tub #39

Are you ready for more rock’n’roll?  And very possibly lots of other genres of music too?  In that case, pilgrim, you’ve come to the right place.  You know it – it’s another Singles Night here at Platinum Al’s Virtual Hot Tub!

Now, for any of you brave readers who are muddled and befuddled by what a Singles Night involves, here’s the lowdown.  You see, I  possess a huge collection of 7 inch vinyl singles, none of which have been listened to (yet).  So the concept is to spend an evening playing these records – both sides – and have a grand old time doing so.

During the course of the night, we’ll hear a variety of music, old and new, with plenty of surprises.

That’s not so scary, is it?

Grab yourself a drink and let’s check out the latest playlist:

  1. Cheap Trick – “The Flame” / “Through the Night”
  2. Stiff Little Fingers – “Silver Lining” / “Safe as Houses”
  3. Belinda Carlisle – “Live Your Life Be Free” / “Loneliness Game”
  4. Salt-N-Pepa- “Let’s Talk About Sex (True Confessions Edit)” / “Let’s Talk About Sex (Super Crispy Mix)”
  5. Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Brass – “Up Cherry Street” / “Numero Cinco” / “Mexican Shuffle” / “The Girl From Ipanema”
  6. Magazine – “About the Weather” / “In The Dark”
  7. The Lotus Eaters – “The First Picture of You” / “The Lotus Eaters”
  8. James Brown – “Rapp Payback (Where iz Moses?)” / “Rapp Payback Pt. II (Where iz Moses?)”
  9. Huey Lewis & The News – “World to Me” / “It’s All Right (Live)”
  10. Dannii Minogue – “This is it” / “It’s Time to Move On”
  11. Queen – “Bohemian Rhapsody” / “These Are the Days of Our Lives”
  12. The Kinks – “Tired of Waiting for You” / “Come on Now”
  13. Big Country – “Wonderland” / “Giant”
  14. Timbuk 3 – “The Future’s So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades” / “I’ll Do Alright”
  15. Derek & The Dominos – “Layla” / Eric Clapton – “Wonderful Tonight”
  16. Jesus Jones – “Right Here, Right Now” / “Move Me” / “Damn Good at This”
  17. Big Country- “In a Big Country” / “All Of Us”
  18. Electric Light Orchestra – “Don’t Bring Me Down” / “Dreaming of 4000”
  19. The Belle Stars – “The Clapping Song” / “Blame”
  20. S’Express – “Hey Music Lover” / “Have a Nice Day”

Not a bad evening’s entertainment at all.  A thrilling exploration through several genres, from pop to punk, rock to funk, and more.  The only song I wasn’t a fan of was that hideous Clapton claptrap, so that’s a pretty decent result.

Lots of highlights, and I’m shouting out SLF, James Brown, Big Country, The Kinks and Jesus Jones as particular favourites.

Hope you enjoyed that list of killer tracks.  More soon!