#ArtistFave00s Saint Etienne - Don’t Back Down #9 www.youtube.com/watch?v=HD26...

#70sTop30 11 - Blondie - Heart of Glass Look. At. Her. Blondie were almost too good to be true, Debbie was a dream front-woman, the boys were impossibly cool and the music is some of the best pop ever recorded. There never was or will be something quite like them. www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGU_...

#ArtistFave00s Saint Etienne - Side Streets An odd choice for a lead single, but a lovely song nonetheless www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsVW...

Happy Blue Monday, everybody www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHLb...

#70sTop30 12 - Talking Heads - I Zimbra My favourite band from the late ‘70s New York scene, Talking Heads (especially when Eno was helping out) were just brilliant -- I Zimbra has so much going on that I feel like I notice something new every time I listen to it. www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKFn...

#70sTop30 13 - Michael Jackson - Rock with You Hard to believe Michael’s been gone for more than 15 years. This is from a more innocent era, before the scandals and the meltdown, written by Cleethorpes’ very own Rod Temperton who deserves every penny he ever got. www.youtube.com/watch?v=5X-M...

#WeekendSingles Jet lagged in snowy New York 🥱

#70sTop30 14 - Yvonne Elliman - If I Can’t Have You My second and last Bee Gees tribute and another slow disco (the best kind) gem. Reminds me of sitting on the back seat of my dad’s car, being dragged to see my grandma when I was a little kid. Ah, youth... www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZVU...

#70sTop30 15 - Anita Ward - Ring My Bell Another day, another disco stomper 🪩 www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvEc...

#70sTop30 16 - Chic - Le Freak Virtually impossible to choose a Rodgers/Edwards song from the 70s, so I’ll go for this as we had the 7” when I was a kid and playing it feels like having an old friend that you don’t remember meeting because you’ve always known them. www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXgS...

#70sTop30 17 - The Cure - Boys Don’t Cry Full disclosure: I thought this was an 80’s song until yesterday so had to bump out an Odyssey gem to make room for it. I have to thank my other brother for the Cure, one day he came home with Standing on a Beach & instant ♥️ www.youtube.com/watch?v=latE...

#70sTop30 18 - Kraftwerk - Autobahn I think everything that had to be said about the influence of Kraftwerk on everything that came after it has been said many times over, so I’ll just leave you with the glorious 22:47 full version of Autobahn. Spoil yourselves! www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkOZ...

#70sTop30 19 - Candi Staton - Nights on Broadway My first tribute to the genius of the Bee Gees, but not the last. This version was a hit in the UK for the wonderful Candi, who isn't as celebrated as she should and sung that other 70s banger Young Hearts Run Free ♥️ www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghjx...

#70sTop30 20 - Sparks - This Town Ain’t Big Enough for Both Of Us As odd as the 70s were, Sparks still managed to look and sound like they had been beamed in from another dimension: 52 years later this still sounds like nothing else, before or since. www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUJ_...

#WeekendSingles Four recent additions, including, oddly, a recent UK number 1 (Raye) and a Stereolab 7” I wouldn’t have if it wasn’t for the lovely @ricrus77.bsky.social

#70sTop30 21 - Marvin Gaye - Trouble Man Impossibly cool 😎 www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY81...

#CDFriday Nothing like these two old friends on a cold rainy January morning. 🌧

#70sTop30 22 - The Flying Lizards - Money Wildly original cover of early Motown standard, this has everything I like in a song: flat singing by a bored-sounding female singer, slightly manic and repetitive electronic track, done in two and a half minutes. Bingo! www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-P2...

#70sTop30 23 - Earth, Wind & Fire - September m.youtube.com/watch?v=Gs06...

#70sTop30 24 - Vashti Bunyan - Diamond Day This album, her first, was rescued from relative obscurity 30 years after release and since then, Vashti has released two other excellent LPs. An inspiring, true British original and an under-appreciated talent. 💎 www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ir5l...

#70sTop30 25 - Amii Stewart - Knock on Wood At the risk of annoying many music lovers, I’ll come out and say that this is by far my favourite version of this song, it just kicks ass. That chugging sound at the beginning is one of my favourite calls to the floor 🕺🏻 www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKuJ...

#70sTop30 26 - Nicolette Larson - Lotta Love A song that’s very much part of my formative years, I find out now that it didn’t chart at all in the UK and that she didn’t have a lot of chart success after this Neil Young cover (also a fact I just discovered). www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpFf...

#70sTop30 27 - Human League - Empire State Human www.youtube.com/watch?v=5q22...

#70sTop30 28 - Aretha Franklin - Day Dreaming Soul music at its absolute best, there’s no one quite like Aretha. www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-fz...

#70sTop30 29 - Pretenders - Brass in Pocket Released as a single just weeks before the end of the decade, Chrissie shows the kids how it’s done. www.youtube.com/watch?v=0H6r...

#70sTop30 30 - Alicia Bridges - I Love the Nightlife (Disco ‘Round) No better way to start the challenge and the year than with a disco stomper; growing up with an older brother had few advantages, but that brother loved soul and disco and that love trickled down! www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_K4...

#MusicThroughYears #MusicChallenge 2024-2025 Rosalía/Björk/Yves Tumor - Berghain The first time I saw the video/heard the song, I didn’t know what had just hit me: it was the first genuine WTF music moment I’d had in a long time. Bonkers and brilliant. www.youtube.com/watch?v=htQB...

#MusicThroughYears #MusicChallenge 2022-2023 Julie Byrne - The Greater Wings m.youtube.com/watch?v=KB0j...

#MusicThroughYears #MusicChallenge 2020-2021 The Weather Station - Robber Everything I said yesterday about Jessica Pratt also applies to The Weather Station except she’s Canadian, not Californian. www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJ9S...

#MusicThroughYears #MusicChallenge 2018-2019 Jessica Pratt - Crossing Californian sensation Jessica Pratt ought to be as popular as Taylor Swift. I’ve often championed her music on here, to unanimous indifference. 😒 Give her a try, folks, treat yourselves!! m.youtube.com/watch?v=1Hbq...

#MusicThroughYears #MusicChallenge 2016-2017 Jane Weaver - The Architect m.youtube.com/watch?v=keXH...

#MusicThroughYears #MusicChallenge 2014-2015 Lana del Rey - West Coast Gorgeous stuff from Lana, proving she was no one-hit wonder. m.youtube.com/watch?v=oKxu...

#MusicThroughYears #MusicChallenge 2012-2013 Tracey Thorn - Joy Have a lovely day, you wonderful people out there. 🎄 m.youtube.com/watch?v=maRc...

#VinylSanta obviously did his homework… 🎄💚❤️💚❤️

#MusicThroughYears #MusicChallenge 2010-2012 PJ Harvey - Let England Shake Probably my fave from Peej 🖤 m.youtube.com/watch?v=5tFB...

#MusicThroughYears #MusicChallenge 2008-2009 Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal ❄️ m.youtube.com/watch?v=DrQR...

#MusicThroughYears #MusicChallenge 2006-2007 Amy Winehouse - Back to Black When someone releases an album as unique and timeless as B2B it means that almost 20 years later it will still sound new and old at the same time. Might explain the 1.3bn+ views on YouTube. www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJAf...

Happy Christmas to all my #WeekendSingles friends. It was great to meet so many of you in 2025 and also to see a few of you again. Hopefully I’ll get to meet more of you in 2026! In the meantime here’s some Sufjan 🎄❤️💚❤️💚💙

#MusicThroughYears #MusicChallenge 2004-2005 Sufjan Stevens - Chicago It was only when Carrie & Lowell in 2015 came out that I became a Sufjan fan and how happy was I to discover that he had already released a ton of music. Chicago is definitely a highlight. ♥️❤️ www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWX3...

Thanks to #WeekendSingles Christmas fairy @jaynemoobs.bsky.social and elf @gerardojoseph.bsky.social for their lovely cards and pressies. All together now: Punctured bicycle on a hillside desolate!

#MusicThroughYears #MusicChallenge 2002-2003 Goldfrapp - Strict Machine They could have made Felt Mountain mk II, but they re-invented themselves into this electro-dominatrix, totally new thing and their gamble really paid off: we got the wonderful Black Cherry 🍒 m.youtube.com/watch?v=Yeaw...

#MusicThroughYears #MusicChallenge 2000-2001 Aaliyah - Try Again The little late 90s and early 00s were a golden age for chart pop/R’n’B, so I had to choose a Timbaland production today, as he’s responsible for so many bangers of the era. m.youtube.com/watch?v=qTA0...

#MusicThroughYears #MusicChallenge 1998-1999 Madonna - Beautiful Stranger The soundtrack to one of the best summers of my life and one of Madge’s best singles. Up to this point in her musical career, she‘d hardly put a foot wrong and she still seemed invincible. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dsh0...

#MusicThroughYears #MusicChallenge 1996-1997 Fiona Apple - Criminal Written and recorded when she was a teenager. She managed to stand out in a crowded field (the "next Tori Amos”, when Tori herself was still very much a thing). Songs like this are the reason why. www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFOz...

#MusicThroughYears #MusicChallenge 1994-1995 Kristin Hersh - Your Ghost I love everything about this song, its parent album Hips and Makers is as starkly beautiful and I listened to little else in the winter of 1994. Those K&M harmonies are mesmerising. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfW4...

#MusicThroughYears #MusicChallenge 1992-1993 The Breeders - Cannonball Insanely good and, I know I’ll get hate mail for this, better than anything the Pixies had released. Also, name a cooler line-up if you can. www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxvk...

#MusicThroughYears #MusicChallenge 1990-1991 Deee-Lite - Groove in the Heart One of the 90s best debuts and a song deserving its continuing popularity, although it overshadowed everything they did afterwards, which is a crime because they carried on being amazing. www.youtube.com/watch?v=etvi...

New this week, Raye’s 2025 mega-hit Where Is My Husband on fancy pink vinyl, plus 5 singles kindly donated by #WeekendSingles elder @showbizwhines.bsky.social Especially chuffed by the B&S 7” and the German Beatles ❤️❤️

#MusicThroughYears #MusicChallenge 1988-1989 Neneh Cherry - Manchild I love Buffalo Stance, everyone does, but it was the brilliant Manchild that converted me to the church of Neneh. Incidentally, her memoir from last year is excellent: what a life! www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJ9V...

#MusicThroughYears #MusicChallenge #FallFriday 1986-1987 The Fall - Hit the North www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5za...