Tag Archives: X Ray Specs

Singles Night at the Virtual Hot Tub #41

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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.

The Kool Aid Experiment

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Along with Sea Monkeys, X-ray specs and Hostess Twinkies and Fruit Pies, one of the many strange and exotic things I was aware of as a child was Kool-Aid. I became aware of this drink via advertisements in American comic books, just like the other alien products that weren’t to be found in UK shops.

Perusing Marvel or DC comics, there would often be a tantalising advert for this fruit flavoured beverage. These images always grabbed me, with their lucid colours and bold statements. Not to mention the weird and wonderful flavours available: Tropical Punch, Watermelon – even Cherry and Grape sounded unbelievably strange to me.

Of course, it would be many years till I’d track down some of this fabled product, as it was nowhere to be found in UK shops. A while back, I picked up a sachet of Kool-Aid from one of those American sweet shops to try and make it properly.

Sachet
Jug

Yes, with Kool-Aid you need to actually make the drink, as it’s sold in powdered form. This isn’t easy, as the instructions are in American and they use quarts and cups and stuff. But with a bit of a Google, I was able to mix together a large jug of water, Kool-Aid powder and a ton of sugar. Not the healthiest of drinks, even though I was very cautious with the sugar.

The result was a fairly pleasant fruit flavoured drink, which was best served cold with ice. I chose the grape flavour as that was fairly out of the ordinary for a soft drink. It was a bit grainy due to the powder and not the easiest to mix. I was fairly hyper after all that sugar though.

In conclusion, I enjoyed my grape flavoured Kool Aid, but it didn’t set my world alight. It was an interesting experiment, but not one that I’m likely to repeat too soon. Too much faffing about, and I ended up with far too much of the purple juice. Still, I’ve now answered another yearning question from my childhood – I finally know what Kool Aid tastes like.