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.

Let’s check out what I played this time:

1. Boney M. – “I’m Born Again” / “Bahama Mama”
2. Sounds EP: The Perfect Disaster – “55 Miles” / “Mega City Four – “What We’ve Got” / Cerebral Fix – “Eternal Winter” / Killdozer – “New Pants & Shirt” / Pussy Galore – “SM57”
3. Men Without Hats – “The Safety Dance” / “Security”
4. Third World – “Now That We’ve Found Love” / “Night Heat”
5. Bomb the Bass – “Beat Dis” / “Beat Dis (Dub)”
6. Phil Collins – “Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)” / Mike Rutherford – “Making a Big Mistake”
7. Hale & Pace and the Stonkers – “The Stonk” / Victoria Wood – “The Smile Song”
8. Bob Geldof – “Love or Something” / “Out of Order”
9. The Whispers – “And the Beat Goes On” / “Can You Do The Boogie”
10. Queen – “It’s a Hard Life” / “Is This the World We Created…?”
11. Bob Marley & The Wailers – “Jamming” / “Punky Reggae Party”
12. Sweet – “The Six Teens” / “Burn On The Flame”
13. Belinda Carlisle – “La Luna” / “Whatever It Takes”
14. Baccara – “Yes Sir, I Can Boogie” / “Cara Mia”
15. The Stranglers – “Bear Cage” / “Sha Sha a Go Go”
16. Bucks Fizz – “One of Those Nights” / “Always Thinking of You”
17. Rod Stewart – “How Long” / “Jealous”
18. Ghost – “Kiss the Go-Goat” / “Mary On a Cross”
19. The Beach Boys – “Darlin'” / “Here Today”
20. 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!