| This Week's Highlights |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
analysis w/e 14.5.11 |
DVDs out 9.5.11 |
|
@ DVDfever Youtube |
|
|
|
|
May 11 2011 
DVDfever co uk
|
Jason Maloney reviews
V o l u m e # 0 8 |
As one singles dynasty began to establish itself, another was entering its final throes. Benny Anderson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, better known as one half of ABBA, had penned a series of #1s between 1974 and 1981 for their band, but the last time they were at the top as writers was in league with lyricist Tim Rice on I Know Him So Well. Taken from the musical Chess, the Elaine Page & Barbara Dickson single had spent four weeks at #1 before making way for Dead Or Alive. |
There were five re-issues among this week's hits; the highest-placed was a 1985-style makeover for Kiss Me by Stephen "Tintin" Duffy, up 18 to #4 on only its second week on the chart. A flop first time around in 1983, the new version gave the track a contemporay Art Of Noise-style feel and the result was the first of two sizeable hits for Duffy in 1985 and the biggest success of his whole career. The other re-releases were King's Love & Pride (a #2 smash now down to #8), Bruce Springsteen's Dancing In The Dark (falling to #9, its original #28 peak in 1984 having been bettered by 24 places) and a remixed version of ZZ Top's Legs up 10 to #16 some 12 months after reaching #8 in America. |
Prince wasn't having too bad a time of it, either. His autobiographical album/film Purple Rain had provided his real UK breakthrough and made him a bona fide superstar in the US in 1984, and the project was still churning out the hits almost a year later. The album's opening two songs, Let's Go Crazy and Take Me With U, were paired for the last single from Purple Rain in Britain but released separately Stateside at very different times - the former hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in September 1984 while the latter was only a modest hit at around the same time the UK double-A side was charting. Let's Go Crazy/Take Me With U moved up 2 more places to its peak of #7 on the chart of March 9th 1985 while another AA-sided entry, a re-release of two minor pre-Purple Rain UK hits - 1999 and Little Red Corvette - which had made #2 in January, was still on the Top 40 at #28. |
By far the best single on the chart, and indeed of 1985 overall, was Don Henley's magnificent The Boys Of Summer (DVDfever Dom adds: And you haven't lived until you've heard the same album's "Sunset Grill"). The US Top 5 hit inched up 1 place to #12, its highest position both on this initial chart soujourn and also when re-issued 13 years later. Henley has still to enjoy solo UK Top 40 success with any other track; his only other entry being the 1992 duet with rock chick Patty Smyth (not to be confused with iconic punk figure Patti Smith) on Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough which reached #22. More oustanding AOR came in the shape of Run To You (the debut hit for Bryan Adams) dropping 6 places from its high of #11, and Foreigner's erstwhile #1 I Want To Know What Love Is (down to #30 on its 12th week). Daryl Hall & John Oates, officially the biggest duo in US Chart history, were making an all-too-rare UK chart appearance with Method Of Modern Love (up 8 to #25). Their previous two singles Say It Isn't So and Out Of Touch, both American #1s, had missed the Top 40 in this country. Method Of Modern Love rather perversely only made #5 across the Atlantic. |
Michael Jackson didn't have any solo hits in 1985, but his elder brother Jermaine kept the family name in the UK charts with his Do What You Do leaping 21 places to #18. Meanwhile Mick Jagger, the man who teamed up with The Jackson clan for State Of Shock (a one-off Top 20 single in 1984) was launching a sporadic solo career away from the Rolling Stones. However, Just Another Night - the first single from his album She's The Boss - found the going extremely tough, rising just 3 places to #32 despite an avalanche of publicity. New arrivals included Go West at #31 with We Close Our Eyes (backed by a superb Godley & Creme video, it would go on to reach #5), seminal Britsoul outfit Loose Ends at #37 with the classic Hangin' On A String, and Prince protege Sheila E. at #39 with The Belle Of St Mark. Her debut single, The Glamourous Life had inexplicably failed to emulate its US Top 40 status on this side of the pond in late 1984, and the next one - A Love Bizarre (#11 in the US early in 1986) - suffered the same fate. |
The following is a list of Jason's Jukeboxes online for week ending:
Vol.40: The 40 Best Singles That Missed The UK Top 40 (20/12/2004) Vol.39: November 12th 1977 (12/11/2004) Vol.38: October 29th 1984 (29/10/2004) Vol.37: October 15th 1987 (15/10/2004) Vol.36: October 6th 1973 (08/10/2004) Vol.35: September 30th 1995 (30/09/2004) Vol.34: September 22nd 1979 (24/09/2004) Vol.33: September 13th 1986 (16/09/2004) Vol.32: September 9th 1989 (09/09/2004) Vol.31: September 4th 1982 (02/09/2004) Vol.30: August 26th 1978 (26/08/2004) Vol.29: August 21st 1976 (19/08/2004) Vol.28: August 13th 1983 (12/08/2004) Vol.27: August 3rd 1985 (06/08/2004) Vol.26: July 25th 1981 (29/07/2004) Vol.25: July 21st 1979 (22/07/2004) Vol.24: July 4th 1992 (08/07/2004) Vol.23: June 24th 1965 (01/07/2004) Vol.22: June 16th 1984 (17/06/2004) Vol.21: June 11th 1977 (10/06/2004) Vol.20: June 8th 1967 (03/06/2004) Vol.19: May 29th 1971 (27/05/2004) Vol.18: May 18th 1991 (20/05/2004) Vol.17: May 14th 1969 (13/05/2004) Vol.16: May 8th 1982 (06/05/2004) Vol.15: May 3rd 1980 (29/04/2004) Vol.14: April 19th 1986 (20/04/2004) Vol.13: April 14th 1990 (13/04/2004) Vol.12: April 8th 1989 (08/04/2004) Vol.11: April 2nd 1983 (06/04/2004) Vol.10: March 24th 1979 (23/03/2004) Vol.9: March 19th 1988 (16/03/2004) Vol.8: March 9th 1985 (09/03/2004) Vol.7: March 3rd 1973 (02/03/2004) Vol.6: February 28th 1987 (24/02/2004) Vol.5: February 20th 1993 (17/02/2004) Vol.4: February 11th 1978 (10/02/2004) Vol.3: February 3rd 1966 (03/02/2004) Vol.2: January 31st 1981 (27/01/2004) Vol.1: January 21st 1984 (20/01/2004)
And in chronological order:
June 24th 1965: Vol.23 (01/07/2004) February 3rd 1966: Vol.3 (03/02/2004) June 8th 1967: Vol.20 (03/06/2004) May 14th 1969: Vol.17 (13/05/2004) May 29th 1971: Vol.19 (27/05/2004) March 3rd 1973: Vol.7 (02/03/2004) August 21st 1976: Vol.29 (19/08/2004) June 11th 1977: Vol.21 (10/06/2004) November 12th 1977: Vol.39 (12/11/2004) February 11th 1978: Vol.4 (10/02/2004) August 26th 1978: Vol.30 (26/08/2004) March 24th 1979: Vol.10 (23/03/2004) July 21st 1979: Vol.25 (22/07/2004) September 22nd 1979: Vol.34 (24/09/2004) May 3rd 1980: Vol.15 (29/04/2004) January 31st 1981: Vol.2 (27/01/2004) July 25th 1981: Vol.26 (29/07/2004) May 8th 1982: Vol.16 (06/05/2004) September 4th 1982: Vol.31 (02/09/2004) April 2nd 1983: Vol.11 (06/04/2004) August 13th 1983: Vol.28 (12/08/2004) January 21st 1984: Vol.1 (20/01/2004) June 16th 1984: Vol.22 (17/06/2004) October 29th 1984: Vol.38 (29/10/2004) March 9th 1985: Vol.8 (09/03/2004) August 3rd 1985: Vol.27 (06/08/2004) April 19th 1986: Vol.14 (20/04/2004) September 13th 1986: Vol.33 (16/09/2004) February 28th 1987: Vol.6 (24/02/2004) October 15th 1987: Vol.37 (15/10/2004) March 19th 1988: Vol.9 (16/03/2004) April 8th 1989: Vol.12 (08/04/2004) September 9th 1989: Vol.32 (09/09/2004) April 14th 1990: Vol.13 (13/04/2004) May 18th 1991: Vol.18 (20/05/2004) July 4th 1992: Vol.24 (08/07/2004) February 20th 1993: Vol.5 (17/02/2004) September 30th 1995: Vol.35 (30/09/2004) The 40 Best Singles That Missed The UK Top 40: Vol.40 (20/12/2004)
|
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B 37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
