80's UK & US Charts.

Nice randomly selected chart. How about that Xanadu 'mania'? Olivia hits No. 1 and ELO have the top debut at No. 61. I just looked it up, and the movie premiered in the US on August the 8th. So "Magic" made it to No. 1 before Xanadu even hit the screen. Which is just as well...

 

I liked "Workin' Overtime". I did a bit of CD shopping today, and I bought (very cheaply) a Transvision Vamp compilation (which has "Baby I Don't Care" [No. 9]) and Holly Johnson's Blast (which has "Americanos" [No. 10]). And it's funny to see "Don't It Make You Feel Good" by Stefan Dennis (Paul Robinson on Neighbours) on the chart. Everyone knows Kylie, Jason and even Craig MacLachlan had hits, but yes, Stefan had one too. It was never on the radio in NZ; I taped it off the UK chart show (as well as "Workin' Overtime". I still have that tape).

 

No. 11, "Infatuation" by Rod Stewart--the Jeff Beck solo in that one still kills me even now. So good.

 

UK album chart 15/10/83.

Sorry the pic is poor, but you can see the top 40 clear enough.

 

@Alan1074

I know you're a super-collector and probably have this..

But if you haven't, this is Record Mirror's review of 'The Dollar Album' from 23/10/82.

 

UK singles. 21/9/85.

 

Duran Duran's 'Seven & The Ragged Tiger' gets a right bashing in Record Mirror. 26/11/83.

 

No, it climbed a whole place to reach a #32 peak! So strange this should be a top 40 hit when great songs like Touch By Touch and Shockwaves didn't.

Only 3 SAW records which is surprising. That said, there were PWL mixes for Shaky, London Boys and I *think* Holly Johnson (could be wrong on that one).

I only had 23 of these singles.

 

I remember that 1985 chart well. I went to Blackpool with my mum and dad that day, and I wanted to get home to see if Mai Tai had gone up! That train back to Leeds seemed to take forever!!!

Nice to see Dead Or Alive poised for the top 40 with their most overlooked record, My Heart Goes Bang, which had a BRILLIANT 7" Remix, that only recently made it on to CD.

 

I must have begun to lose interest a little in the charts around 1985. There's quite a few I can't recall. Including the Dead Or Alive song.

Chances are I was paying more attention to the US charts as this is the month Olivia's 'Soul Kiss' single was released.

 

I would follow the U.S. Charts too in Record Mirror but I was in full swing at this point enjoying the UK charts. I had 20 from this one.

 

Ha! Great picture (albeit from 1979) but I don't recall ever having this review, which manages to be kind and barbed at the same time. No doubt at the time I was plotting all kinds of revenge against the reviewer for daring to criticize my all time favourite album!

 

It was reviewed by Sunie who was generally kind to Dollar. I think she had a crush on Thereze, which was balanced out by her obvious dislike of David.

Sunie used to review the weekly singles. She was really horrible about Olivia's releases.

 

I can't remember if it was Record Mirror or Melody Maker that made Give Me Back My Heart a single of the week. I do love reading the reviews in these old mags. The Smash Hits ones used to be very cutting, almost as if the journalists resented the magazine they worked for. I think they often forgot who their target audience was and the records they reviewed were meant for us, not them and they should have been listened to accordingly. I remember Neil Tennant saying Bardo had a huge career ahead of them. Shame he was wrong on that front!

 

Tarzan Boy, top 5, pretty neat!, remember that one on the radio quite often

 

Neil Tennant could be very peevish. Tom Hibbert too. He went to Q later and was peevish there as well!

 

Easily one of his best solo singles of the 80s. His 60s/early 70s material was a bit more soulful, but this is a great pop track. I think I prefer "Juliet" and "Another Lonely Night In New York", but I always smile when I hear this track.

 

"Golden Days Are Over" was never a great song to begin with. Cliff recorded it. Meh. Bucks Fizz recorded it. Double-meh. I agree that "Love Stealer" would have been a better choice for a cover - it´s sprightly and fun. It livened up Cliff´s "Silver" album no end. I wish he would record more of those rockier songs, like he did on "Rock´n´Roll Juvenile". Oh well, too late now.

I never listened to Bucks Fizz all that much. They were one of those Abba copycats who made some catchy songs and then disappeared. I am not knocking them - their best songs were very good pop songs, and I simply love "Now Those Days Are Gone". For some reason I think it sounds very British. The vocal arrangement is beautiful.

 

Fizz were a big band in the UK for about 2 and a half years, and sold a lot of records, but in Europe they really didn't last much beyond The Land Of Make Believe in most countries. Maybe Camera did minor things in a few places.

In the UK they were still making records in 1988 (Heart Of Stone, which Cher then recorded, badly). By then though their image, and sound, was way off base. They were step away from Vera Lynn covers and shopping at British Home Stores.

 

The first 4 Bucks Fizz albums are really good. Well worth a listen. They've just been remastered and expanded too.

 

Summer of 1984 was one of my favorites. Perhaps the best for 80s pop. A lot of good memories on both the singles and albums charts. And a lot of those stand up today.

 

1984 has to be one of the biggest selling years ever. The sheer amount of huge albums out..

 

There was an interview in RM with Dollar (with Sunie!) where they talked about (amongst other things) the recording of 'The Dollar Album' from a little while before it's release. I could have sworn I still had it, but can't find it now..

Do you remember it?

 

@OneStepBeyond The thread is up!

 

I think so, if it's the one with the photo of them with silver balloons.