#ArtistFave15 - Nile Rodgers productions - alphabetical order 10 - Norma Jean - Saturday Another Rodgers/Edwards number, which despite sounding like a Chic song and featuring a Chic vocalist never made it to the pop charts. A shame, because it’s a certified banger. www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mlF...

#ArtistFave15 - Nile Rodgers productions - alphabetical order 9 - Madonna - Like a Virgin There's no doubt that Madonna would have become one of the world’s biggest pop stars even without Nile’s help, but his sterling production on this album must have helped a bit www.youtube.com/watch?v=s__r...

#ArtistFave15 - Nile Rodgers productions - alphabetical order 8 - Grace Jones - I’m Not Perfect (but I’m Perfect for You) It’s crazy that Grace and Nile didn’t work together before 1986: their first release was this majestic piece of electro-pop. Worth the wait! www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMyp...

#AlbumAlmanac #WeekendSingles #TheQueenIsDead #TheSmiths Not very original, I know, but for years it was (and kinda still is) my cornerstone.

#WeekendSingles Local record shop was having an ‘80s 7” sale and couldn’t resist. £5 for the lot.

#ArtistFave15 - Nile Rodgers productions - alphabetical order 7 - Al Jarreau - L Is for Lover www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qxr0...

#NowPlaying Easing into the weekend with this gorgeous 2021 Fire Records collection compiled by the divine Jane Weaver featuring all female artists on the label. Not a duff track on it. Shockingly cheap copies on Discogs.

#ArtistFave15 - Nile Rodgers productions - alphabetical order 6 - INXS - Original Sin Another discovery: I had no idea Nile was involved in this, my favourite INXS tune (there is, admittedly, not a lot competition for me there). Enjoy this video that screams: 1983! www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTUL...

#ArtistFave15 - Nile Rodgers productions - alphabetical order 5 - Duran Duran - Notorious As a young music lover, I’d always dismissed DD as some silly pop band, so I was very confused when this brilliant song came out. I’m now a big fan of their music, obviously. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9z0...

#ArtistFave15 - Nile Rodgers productions - alphabetical order 4 - Chic - Good Times Ah, those late 70s Chic singles. This is obviously Bernard Edwards’ baby too and for a few years whatever these two touched turned into gold (more of which in a few days). 🪩 www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGKQ...

#ArtistFave15 - Nile Rodgers productions - alphabetical order 3 - David Bowie - Let’s Dance Imagine getting in a room with Bowie (!!) and telling him what to do with his songs: it was Nile's idea to start with the chorus and god did it work. An insanely good song. www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbD_...

#ArtistFave15 - Nile Rodgers productions - alphabetical order 2 - The B-52s - Deadbeat Club Less ubiquitous than its shouty siblings Love Shack & Roam, it also has a lovelier melody and feel which makes it my favourite song from their blockbuster LP Cosmic Thing. www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXy0...

#ArtistFave15 - Nile Rodgers productions - alphabetical order 1 - Laurie Anderson - Language Is a Virus Didn’t know until earlier this week that Nile had produced this: sometimes the most unlikely partnerships (like this one) are the ones that work the best. www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eTS...

#NowPlaying Uneven Paths - Deviant Pop From Europe 1980-1991 (Music from Memory, 2018) Many of my discerning #WeekendSingles friends would love this.

#StandaloneSingles - no order Day 28 - Morrissey - The Last of the Famous International Playboys A Smiths reunion of sorts and a video loaded with Moz iconography, it also one of his best songs and a sweet tribute to his love for glam rock. I miss this Morrissey. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bk1w...

#StandaloneSingles - no order Day 27 - The House of Love - Destroy the Heart Arguably (fight me) the best two-and-a-half minutes on Creation Records. I remember being very excited to get a copy of the 7” when I came to England for the first time on holiday in '88. www.youtube.com/watch?v=nS_a...

#StandaloneSingles - no order Day 26 - Lush - De-Luxe Lush were the queens & kings of the EP 89-91: this Robin Guthrie-assisted, perfectly-formed 4-tracker came out exactly 36 years ago according to the @whatafuckingrecord.bsky.social oracle. Still gives me chills. www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKrw...

Just finished compiling my list for the next #ArtistFave15 challenge with songs on which Nile Rodgers worked and my god does he have an amazing CV. Even artists with incredible catalogues have to thank him for some of their best songs (see picture below)

#StandaloneSingles - no order Day 25 - Susan Fassbender - Twilight Café I know very little about Susan Fassbender, only that she died very young and that she released just a bunch of singles, including this rather fabulous and somewhat enduring synth-pop gem. www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK-d...

#StandaloneSingles - no order Day 24 - Electronic - Getting Away With it Unsurprisingly, when members of three of the best bands of the '80s got together and made a song, the song was pretty good. www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSfj...

#StandaloneSingles - no order Day 23 - Saint Etienne - Join Our Club Saint Etienne released some of their best songs as non-LP singles: this infectious slice of dance-pop and the dreamy pop People Get Real on the flip-side are a prime example of that. www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYdr...

#StandaloneSingles - no order Day 22 - Madonna - Justify My Love In 1990 Madonna released both Vogue AND Justify My Love, two of her best singles. This was a blueprint for Erotica, but, IMO, nothing on that LP matches it. The remixes are also excellent. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Np_Y...

#WeekendSingles No vinyl from me today, just CD singles that made it back to Hove last week. Various Elizabeth Fraser’s collaborations, some Ride, some Kirsty and other easy-to-transport bits.

#StandaloneSingles - no order Day 21 - Kate Bush - Experiment IV Leave it to Kate to have an extra track for a greatest hits which is an amazing mini-epic with a star-studded video concept. The average pop star would kill for a song like this, she had tons of them. www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTUc...

#CDFriday At the centre of it all.. 🖤⭐️ #BowieForever

#StandaloneSingles - no order Day 20 - Fleet Foxes - Mykonos Embarrassingly, this is my first 20th century pick. I played their debut and the Sun Giant EP, from which this is taken, a tonne in the late 00s and playing this instantly transports me to that time. 🦊🦊🦊 www.youtube.com/watch?v=DT-d...

#StandaloneSingles - no order Day 19 - Belle & Sebastian - Dog on Wheels The EPs, always the EPs. B&S came at the right time and joined St Etienne to save us poor sensitive souls from the horrors of Britpop. It was great to see them become so popular over the years www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoD2...

#StandaloneSingles - no order Day 18 - The Normal - Warm Leatherette Another one-off, this one from Mute man Daniel Miller. An electronic music classic, brilliantly covered by Grace Jones in 1980. Possibly about being turned on by car crashes, but definitely odd. www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5QE...

#StandaloneSingles - no order Day 17 - Everything but the Girl - Night and Day Their debut from (gasp!) 44 years ago is a classy, jazzy take on the Cole Porter classic. This whole EP is a thing of real beauty. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dix3...

#StandaloneSingles - no order Day 16 - Cola Boy - 7 Ways to Love On Mondays we like cheese... A Saint Etienne side project which, I believe, did better in the charts than all of their other singles. There is a version with vocals by Sarah, this is the charting one. www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1oy...

#StandaloneSingles - no order Day 15 - Soft Cell - Torch It’s brilliant to revisit what bonkers stuff Soft Cell took to the top 5 in 81-82. This mini-drama got to number 2 and features Cindy Ecstasy who may or may not have been Marc’s NYC drug supplier. Who knew? www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdQp...

#StandaloneSingles - no order Day 14 - Primal Scream - Screamadelica From their Dixie-Narco EP and featuring the lovely Denise Johnson. My favourite of theirs. m.youtube.com/watch?v=T-ZC...

#StandaloneSingles - no order Day 13 - New Order - Everything’s Gone Green Could’ve chosen almost anything from the ‘80s. It seems like I’ve been here before... www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aaf-...

#StandaloneSingles - no order Day 12 - The Cure - The Lovecats The Cure at their poppiest and most playful, I personally find this delightful although I know that some of the fans of their gloomier material really don’t. Takes all sorts, doesn’t it? 🐈🐈‍⬛ www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcUz...

#StandaloneSingles - no order Day 11 - The Stone Roses - Fools Gold/What the World Is... Few songs say 1989 more than Fools Gold. I liked the debut album, but it was when this came out that I really *got* the Stone Roses. It would prove, for me, their high point. www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBsa...

#StandaloneSingles - no order Day 10 - Yazoo - Situation Started life as a B-side, but it was too good not to become a single (in some countries). Remixed many times over the years, with mixed results, the original remains the best and it’s absolutely irresistible. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysmV...

#StandaloneSingles no order Day 9 - Associates - 18 Carat Love Affair/Love Hangover What a band! It’s hard to believe they lasted as long as they did but in that short time they produced one of the 80s best singles discography, including this pair of deranged gems. www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMYj...

#StandaloneSingles - no order Day 8 - David Bowie/Pat Metheny Group - This Is Not America In the mid-‘80s our David did a lot of soundtrack work, this is by far the moodiest and his vocals are out of this world. Doesn’t get the credit it deserves. www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-GY...

#StandaloneSingles - no order Day 7 - The Smiths - William, It Was Really Really Nothing The rain falls hard in a humdrum town. Two minutes of perfect guitar pop: Moz always made you feel like he spoke directly to you and that’s why we fell in love with the Smiths. www.youtube.com/watch?v=P22T...

#WeekendSingles morning!

#StandaloneSingles - no order Day 6 - Culture Club - Time (Clock of the Heart) Beautiful melody, singing, and arrangements; at the risk of sounding like an old man - they just don’t make them like this anymore. A well-deserved worldwide hit for George and the lads. www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tI1...

#StandaloneSingles - no order Day 5 - Pet Shop Boys - Always on My Mind Started life as a one-off single then added (in a radically different version) to the Introspective LP, it’s the Boys at their zenith, when they simply couldn’t put a foot wrong. Flawless. www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDMC...

#StandaloneSingles - no order Day 4 - Vivien Goldman - Launderette Her only single, followed by her only album 40 years later. The list of musicians involved reads like a who’s who of UK post-punk royalty, but it’s her delivery and THAT BASSLINE that make the song. www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhjY...

#StandaloneSingles - no order Day 3 - Cocteau Twins - Aikea-Guinea Plenty to choose from in the early Cocteau years, this is from 1985, when they were evolving into their world-conquering ethereal sound of the glorious Blue Bell Knoll and Heaven or Las Vegas. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du7n...

#StandaloneSingles - no order Day 2 - M/A/R/R/S - Pump up the Volume The ultimate standalone single, a Frankenstein of a song that almost 40 years later remains a bona fide banger. M/A/R/R/S never released a follow-up ensuring a 100% ratio of UK number ones. www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9gO...

#StandaloneSingles - no order Day 1 - Echo & the Bunnymen - Bring on the Dancing Horses My favourite Bunnymen song, it was the extra track on their hits collection and as a bonus it appeared in the Pretty in Pink soundtrack... doesn’t get more '80s than this. 🐴🐴🐴🐰 www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_bJ...

#70sTop30 1 - Joni Mitchell - River No one does heartbreak like Joni. I haven’t seen many mentions of Joni in this challenge, which is odd because her run of LPs 68-77 is one of the best in the history of recorded music. Forever underrated and under-appreciated. www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8Mq...

#70sTop30 2 - Donna Summer - I Feel Love The Moroder/Bellotte zenith, the great unifier, the disco song disco-haters can’t help loving. #LoveIsLove 🏳️‍🌈 www.youtube.com/watch?v=74k7...

#ArtistFave00s Saint Etienne - Heart Failed (in the Back of a Taxi) Their best song. Thanks @olgalovesyuri.bsky.social & @geodrew.bsky.social for another fun challenge ❤️ www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLU3...