SotD82 - Part 16

Inspired by our series of articles looking back at music released 30 years ago, Jimmy Hunter takes a step further back in time to give us some more Songs of the Day from 40 years back, SotD82...

Find Jimmy's other SotD82 articles here

I’m grinning as I type. No, I really am. We have a few surprises lined up for you this week, dearest reader. [WE??!! – Ed] However, all in good time.

Walking On Sunshine by Rockers Revenge featuring Donnie Calvin written by Eddy Grant is a bit of a mouthful but hopefully your voice activated speakers will understand. I think this has matured into a classic yet when I think of it, I don’t instinctively place is as far back as 1982… more 1984-ish. That random thought notwithstanding, it’s a great record and one that shouldn’t be confused with a record with the same title released the following year (keep reading these and we’ll get there eventually) [stop threatening us!! – Ed]. However, this is a rehash of the Eddy Grant original (have a listen here) which is very different and wasn’t a hit.

Here’s the original full length extended mix (HQ music only track)

 

one of my favourite DJ mixers, Rod Laymen from DMC (the Disco Mix Club)

 

And here is the absolutely banging Full Intention Remix from a few years back (HQ music only track)

 


Never liked Dire Straits, back in the day. And for many days following too. Found the music bland, right from the first time I heard Sultans of Swing. Being shit-faced in Majorca in 1985 and being flung into the pool while Twisting By The Pool was playing simply reinforced my “they’re crap” feeling. Oh how we larfed. But being the diligent soul that I aspire to be [eh? – Ed] I’ve gone back and listened to a lot of what I let pass me by, starting with Private Investigations. And you know what? I think it’s a great piece of music. Hell, I even listened to the whole album (Love Over Gold). Share my joy…

 


As it turns out, The Jam was about to fall apart. In fact, just a few weeks after this record was released, Paul Weller announced the end of the band, much to the surprise of, er, the band. The Bitterest Pill (I Ever Had to Swallow) reached number 2 in the singles charts yet the follow-up, Beat Surrender, released a few weeks after the announcement, shot into the charts at number 1. Talk about your bittersweet. Geddit?? [yes – get on with it – Ed]




Steve Winwood's Valerie is a record I somehow always place farther back in time. That could be because I think about the single When You See A Chance, Take It (see my review here) which was released almost 2 years before this one. The record wasn’t really commercially successful on its first release but a remix 5 years later did well and a dub-rehash by Eric Prydz in the early 2000s did very well. I like it, it’s hooky, it has a good melody and I like the production too.

Here's the original music video

 

and the Remastered HQ music track:

and [as promised - Ed] Call On Me - the Eric Prydz remix, with a very funny Royal Marines vid. [Those of a sensitive disposition may wish to avert their gazes now - Ed]