Best Song: Flash And The Pan - Waiting For A Train
I always like it when I come across a great tune by someone I know nothing about. This is a great example, I've only just now discovered that Flash And The Pan were a duo who were part of 60s group The Easybeats and include George Young, the older brother of the Young brothers in AC/DC. This couldn't be any different from AC/DC though, or The Easybeats for that matter. It's very much an 80s sounding synth driven record that sounds a little haunting.
Worst Song: Shalamar - Dead Giveaway
The only thing that was going to stop me picking this as worst song is the fact I picked a Shalamar record for worst song in 1982. But the idea is to pick the song I hate the most without any bias towards the artist or what it is. Shalamar were a terrible group but fortunately their Top 40 career finished in 1983 so they won't be picked again.
Top 40 Review
Seeing Rod Stewart, Mike Oldfield, Elton John, David Bowie and to a certain extent The Police all in the Top 6 questions whether we've gone back to the 70s. The only one in the Top 6 not to score a zero is the very 80s "Flashdance... What A Feeling" by Irene Cara which gets half marks.
The number 7 record "IOU" by Freeez gets full marks though. Aside from Flash & the Pan, you'd need to go to number 18 for the next record to get full marks in "Dream to Sleep" by H2O. Even the usually reliable Electric Light Orchestra have a record in there I don't like with "Rock 'N' Roll Is King". By the end of the Top 20 the score so far is 4, not a great start and now mathematically impossible to top the table.
But then the chart comes to life. We have an excellent Motown record in "All Night Long" by Mary Jane Girls. Staying with funk, there's also "It's Over" by Funk Masters.
The obscure record worth checking out is from Jimmy The Hoover with "Tantalise (Wo Wo Ee Yeh Yeh)", someone else I know absolutely nothing about. Other good records include "Candy Girl" by New Edition and "We Came To Dance" by Ultravox.
This eventually brings the score up to the same as 1981 and 1982. I've always thought you need to look at the lower reaches of the charts to find the good stuff and this is proof.
Score: 14
Table
I can basically say the same for 1983 as I did for 1981 and 1982. I wonder if I'll say the same for 1984:
No comments:
Post a Comment