130. No Scrubs – TLC (1999)

I can’t remember where I first heard this song but I do know that I loved it so much I went out and bought TLC’s album FANMAIL and transferred it my favourite tracks (which include this one) to my new ipod when I finally moved up to 80GB!

It’s odd to look back and realise that this song and that album are now twelve years old as it doesn’t seem like five minutes ago I was playing the CD on my Walkman on my way to work at Tower Hill.

I remember watching a documentary about TLC on MTV some time later which was covered their music, their brushes with the law, fights with each other and their record label which made for some pretty interesting viewing! I love ‘No Scrubs’ as it is a song that it not ashamed to say ‘Sod Off’ to the kind of guys that beep their horns and harass pretty girls in the street, which is something, that always amuses me! The lines ‘No! I don’t want your number, No! I don’t wanna give you mine and No! I don’t wanna meet you nowhere, No! Don’t want none of your time!’ are particularly amusing despite the double negative!!

This is a great song. Enjoy….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Av7m_Pgt1S8

129. The Scientist – Coldplay (2005)

I heard a segment of this song on ITV2’s programme about Kerry Katona, which my wife was making me watch one evening when there was little else of any interest on tv and so I sought it out and downloaded it onto my ipod. The song was being used to subconsciously send the message that ‘nobody says it easy’ when parting or moving onto a new phase in one’s life which was the pivotal message in the programme which followed Kerry’s break up, divorce and bankruptcy and move from the North to Surrey.

Watching the show reminded me that I had ready Kerry Katona’s autobiography and so was painfully aware of what a hard time that she had had as a child and indeed as an adult and this song seemed an apt choice for the programme’s music.

Having downloaded it I played it over and over and over and even though I knew virtually nothing about Coldplay apart from the fact that one of the band was married to Gwyneth Paltrow and had a baby named after an ipod, I found that I had accidentally discovered yet another truly great song and great band. Had it not been for Kerry Katona and Mrs G making me watch that show I may never have found this and so I would like to thank Kerry who changed my life….

Now listen to the song…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqWLpTKBFcU

128. Are ‘Friends’ Electric – Tubeway Army (1979)

I first heard this record in 1979 when I had just started my senior school and Gary Numan appeared on ‘Top Of The Pops’. At the time the sound of Gary Numan’s music was really something quite new and (as I’ve mentioned before) the use of the synthesiser particularly the Moog (as invented by Robert Moog) was a new instrument, which was being used to very dramatic effect by musicians like Gary Numan and later OMD and the original incarnation of The Human League.

I had a copy of ‘Replicas’ which was the concept album that Gary Numan had written from which this was one of the songs and the dark vision of the future which he presented where the aliens had replaced God, vicious machines patrolled the parks committing crimes at night to provide ‘normality’ and where people had ‘electric’ friends, was something that was greatly enhanced by the cold and mechanical nature of the music.

As I grew older and met my friend Melanie at the local youth drama group who was a true Gary Numan devotee I began to hear more and more of his music and come to love it more and more. This song however was my introduction to Gary Numan and will be forever my favourite Tubeway Army song.

Now listen to the song…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9W3y-qCkso

127. Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep – Middle Of Road (1971)

This song reminds me of all of my children!

I remember this being sung when I was a child and hearing it on the radio (and loving it!) and I have often found myself singing the line ‘Where’s your Momma gone?’ while holding one of my babies.

Having recently just had another son (who is only two weeks old) I am once again reminded of just how much love and attention a new born really needs and how all babies love human company and snuggling up to their mothers, however every now and again a poor Momma needs to hand me a baby so she can have a bath or dry her hair etc. After a while the baby is ready for a feed and to pacify him I find myself singing this song! All my kids have loved it and even as they grow older we still sing ‘Where’s your Momma gone?’ when we can’t find her in the supermarket when she’s wondered off to get a cucumber or some strawberries!

Now listen to the song….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSNSTerj2Kc

126. Islands In The Stream – Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton (1983)

I remember hearing this song on ‘Top Of The Pops’ in 1983 and the watching the accompanying video of a live performance by Dolly and Kenny!

Following on from his success working with Barbara Striesand on ‘Guilty’ (which is another great album) Barry Gibb of BeeGees fame worked on producing an album with country singer Kenny Rogers. The album was called ‘Eyes That See In The Dark’ and the title song from that album is another one of my personal favourite BeeGees written songs, but this is also another great song and the version that Dolly and Kenny produced is different in style to the BeeGees version and other versions.

I have always been keen on ‘country and western’ music since George Hamilton had a lunchtime country tv show on ATV when I was a child that my mother watched just before ‘Crown Court’ and now and again a truly great country song comes along. This is a fabulous version.

Hope you enjoy it…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiwcOaaRo1Y

125. Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence – Ryuichi Sakamoto (1983)

I saw ‘Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence’ in 1983 during a screening at a David Bowie convention that I was attending in London having been taken along by my friend Laura.

She was a big Bowie fan and whilst I like his music I was not so much of a devotee and so was not really as excited by hearing the lectures and buying the merchandise as she was, but I did enjoy getting the train to London and travelling on the tube and sitting in the hotel conference room on the floor watching this film watching Ryuichi Sakamoto’s acting and listening to his fabulous music.

I had known about Sakamoto from his work with the Yellow Magic Orchestra and his various collaborations with Japan – most notably ‘Taking Islands In Africa’ on the ‘Gentlemen Take Polaroids’ album and later that year David Sylvian (fresh from the demise of Japan) recorded a vocal version of this song called ‘Forbidden Colours’ and for many this will be where they will recognise this song from.

David Sylvian has recorded various versions of ‘Forbidden Colours’ but here the original music played by Sakamoto himself is a true testament to his talent and the beauty of his music. Much imitated this is the original.

Now listen to the song….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mfyCI82lWM

124. Somewhere Only We Know – Keane (2004)

This song by Keane was featured in a French film called ‘LOL’ which Kerry and I watched one evening when we were trying to improve our conversational French. One of Kerry’s French friends (who was working as a nanny over in Essex) lent her the DVD as an example of a contemporary French film and we thought we’d watch the video and see how much of the language (and the plot) we understood.

I love France and the French who are so wonderfully relaxed about everything and this film about a teenage girl’s rites of passage and her mother’s coming to terms with her divorce was very entertaining, especially the bit where the kids came over to England on the Ferry and the wonderful ideas that French film directors have about the way we live! The film featured ‘Somewhere Only We Know’ and ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’ by the Stones a number of times, which acted as a timely reminder of what great songs these are and why I should have them on my ipod.

I understand that the Americans are making a version of ‘LOL’ with Miley Syrus as Lola and Demi Moore as her mother and wonder what that will be like…I can’t wait!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oextk-If8HQ

123. Love – John Lennon (1970)

‘Love’ is my absolute favourite song by John Lennon and one that I heard for the first time back in the early eighties when the piano intro was used in a tv series that I had seen on ITV.  The simplicity of this song and its structure make it an easy one to play on the piano (and I was playing it the other day) but like most true classics its simplicity is its greatest strength.

‘Love’ is complicated; we love many things and many people for many different reasons and in many different ways. The love we have for our children, parents, wives, husbands, friends or lovers is different in so many ways but we only use the single word ‘love’ to explain it in English but in its purest form love is a very powerful thing and should be celebrated in whatever form it takes.

This song celebrates ‘love’ in all its forms and is a true masterpiece.

Listen to the song….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umq6qFNVnxs

122. A New England – Kirsty MacColl (1984)

I remember first coming across Kirtsy MacColl when her song ‘There’s a guy works down the chip shop swears he’s Elvis’ was in the charts and I loved it as I love all songs that mention ‘the chip shop’ which is such a quintessentially English institution that I am glad it has been immortalised by such a great artist.

I never bought ‘A New England’ at the time but I remember hearing it on the radio and thinking it was a great song, little knowing that it was a cover of a Billy Bragg song. Kirsty MacColl was a truly inspirational English artist and her untimely death in 2000 came as  a real shock, as I would so have loved to listen to the music that she might have been producing today. Her Christmas song ‘A Fairy Tale of New York’ with ‘The Pogues’ is another classic and it seemed to me that everything she turned her hand to was truly inspirational from ‘Days’ and her various collaborations with other artists.

 ‘A New England’ is my favourite Kirsty MacColl song. I love the song and the line ‘It’s wrong to wish on space hardware’ when referring to a satellite confused with a shooting star….

Now listen to the song…..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DjW1w4VMI8&feature=related

121. Be My Baby – The Ronettes (1963)

‘Be My Baby’ by the Ronettes is a total classic and one of those songs that I have always known but can’t remember when I first heard it. I remember when I was at drama school two of my friends did a production of ‘Danny and The Deep Blue Sea’ which is a play by John Patrick Shanley which was directed by another friend Max. Max was an American and in directing this play chose to use music by the Ronettes between scenes. He used this song, along with ‘I Wonder’ and ‘Baby I Love You’ to great affect in the play and having heard these fabulous songs blaring out from the theatre’s phenomenal sound system I went down to the HMV shop in Oxford Street to see if I could get them.

As you may know by now, I love Phil Spector’s production style (loads of instruments and drama!) and the songs that he recorded with the Ronettes are among some of my favourite examples of this genre. ‘Be My Baby’ is a particular favourite and a song that reminds me of my friends Ruby and Lee and their play as well as Max and his love of all things American and Dramatic as well.

Now listen to the song…..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyGO5NRhzvk

120. Got A Long Way To Go – Cassie (2006)

I first heard this song playing in the background of a bar I was in and I just loved the sound. In this day and age with itunes and you tube and Google and so on, it is easy to enter one or two lines from a song and be directed to some possible choices which can you then listen to in order to find the right song. Long gone are the days of having to go into the record shop and hum the song to see if anyone recognises it!

Having found it, I added it to my ipod and have this on my ‘Dance’ music playlist along with Rhianna, David Guetta, Akon and Lady Gaga where it gets a regular airing. My wife thinks I’m too old to like this kind of music and listen to Capital FM but as far as I’m concerned if you like something then you like it and that’s that – and I like this.

Now listen to the song…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pC1YuWwgKP4

119. The Telephone Always Rings – Fun Boy Three (1982)

The Fun Boy were three were a band comprising of Terry Hall from ‘The Specials’  Lynval Golding and Neville Staple who had a number of hits in the early 80s including this masterpiece.

I have this song on my ipod and it is one that I listen to a lot! I love the sound of the proper telephone ringing and the rhythm of this song as well as the concept that it must be fun to be popular and constantly partying whilst enjoying the respect and admiration of one’s peers! The song obviously pre dates the rise of the mobile phone where a person is virtually on call 24/7 and reminds me of a time when you actually had to be at home in order to receive a phone call or an invitation to a party etc.

There’s not much more to say about this song other than…enjoy it…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYNMAj5T9HU

118. Oh What A Circus – David Essex (1978)

This song from ‘Evita’ was a hit for David Essex in 1978 and was one of the first records I ever bought.

When I was at school in the early 1980s, the school hired two trains from British Rail to take the whole school (some 800 boys and 60 odd teachers and support staff) to London for the day. The entire school walked to Loughborough Station where the trains pulled in and we set off for London, which was about one and a half hours away at that time in our own private train.  The very idea of hiring a train these days seems ridiculous but this was the early 1980s and the railway was still a nationalised industry and there to serve the needs of the passengers however I suspect it cost a few pounds! When in London we visited The Natural History and Science Museums and (I recall) Mr. Haynes – the Chemistry teacher took us for a walk through Soho which was still very sleazy back then before going to the Theatre to watch ‘Evita’ which was on in the west end.   

I loved ‘Evita’ and to go to the theatre and hear this song (which is the opening number) performed on the stage was a real treat. ‘Evita’ is a great show and this song along with ‘Don’t Cry For Me Argentina’, which shares its tune, are great songs. From the Latin chorus to immortal lines like ‘you let down your people Evita, you were supposed to have been immortal…but in the end you did not deliver’ this is a great song from a great show…and David Essex was good as Che!

Now listen to the song…..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YInWq7qt4PA

117. The Judgement Is The Mirror – Dali’s Car (1984)

This has got to be one of the weirdest records I have in my collection but (as I hope you know by now) I love weird and wonderful things!

Dali’s Car is a band made of Peter Murphy from Bauhaus and Mick Khan from Japan who got together with Paul Vincent Lawford to produce one album in 1984 from which this was the only single.

I first came across ‘The Judgement Is The Mirror’ when the video (which you can see here) was shown on ‘The Tube’ one Friday night back in 1984. As a Bauhaus and Japan fan I knew Peter and Mick and immediately loved this very strange and unusual song. This is another one of those instances where (for me) I find it hard to divorce the music from the imagery of the video that accompanies it and the video with its video discs (like large DVDs) and ‘Midnight Express’ style locations as well as the general weirdness of it I find very exciting!

Mick Kahn died in January this year following a long battle with cancer. He was a truly great musician and this song as well as his work with Japan stand as a tribute to his ability.

Now listen to the song….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMaXZxPTUBY

116. No Woman, No Cry – Bob Marley (1975)

I love Reggae and I love Bob Marley and I love this song of his best of all.

I had this song on a single, which I bought in 1984 round about the time the ‘Legend’ Album (which was a retrospective of Bob Marley’s music) was released and resulted in a number of his songs (such as ‘One Love’ and ‘Waiting In Vain’) hitting the charts. I had taken an interest in Bob’s music previously and remember when ‘Could You Be Loved’ was in the charts and on ‘Top Of The Pops’, but like many others was not really fully aware of what a talent and truly great musician he was until after he had gone and Island Records released ‘Legend’ which is well deservedly the best selling Reggae Album of all time.

I remember watching Jools Holland on ‘The Tube’ visiting Trench Town and doing a feature on Bob Marley for the show where I learned more about the man and his music and it was during that segment that they played a section of this song. ‘No Woman, No Cry’ is a very emotional and very powerful song which had changed significantly from the time Bob originally wrote it as a much faster number to the version we hear in his final recordings. The most famous recording of the song is the one recorded during Bob’s live concert at the Lyceum in 1975, however as the song was always evolving and changing up until Bob’s final performance I have a later version for you to enjoy now…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGqrvn3q1oo

115. Goodbye – The Spice Girls (1998)

This song by the Spice Girls was released at Christmas in 1998 and has to be one of my favourite Spice Girls songs. Although the ‘band’ were only together briefly they have left their mark on the music industry and were genuinely new and exciting at the time - five girls of varying talent and ability coming together to give us some truly great pop songs. I am not ashamed to admit that I love them and took my kids to see them on the opening night of their reunion concert at the O2 where we sat behind Will Young and Nikki Chapman!!!!!!!

Even if you don’t like the Spice Girls I still think that this is a good song. Rumour has it that the song is a ‘Goodbye’ to Ginger Spice Geri and there would certainly seem to be some elements of that theme in the song but I love this song for its words and music as well as the fact that it reminds me of Christmas which is a time that I love and enjoy….

Now listen to the Spice Girls!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eegDtyrSUZw

114. The Power Of Love – Huey Lewis and The News (1985)

This songs reminds me of going to the cinema for a pound on a Monday night back in Leicester in the 1980s!

Back in the 1970s when Leicester had two Odeon Cinemas and both were huge with large screens and many seats there was a small cinema near the Bus Station called the ‘Cinecentre’. The Cinecentre was very plush and had nice comfy wide seats but it was very small and may well have been independent. I seem to think it use dto show dirty movies in the days when you had to go the pictures to see them but I may be remembering that wrong! I do remember going to see ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ there, which was a bizarre film based on the Beatles’ album starring Frankie Howerd and the BeeGees as well as George Burns and Alice Cooper! Aerosmith were in it as well I recall and Peter Frampton!!

By the time the 1980s had come along the ‘Cinecentre’ had been taken over by Cannon cinemas and had taken to showing films which had had their time at the big cinemas and were in the death throes of their shelf life or small independent films. On a Monday you could go for a pound and my friends and I saw a huge variety of films including ‘The Hitcher’, ‘Stormy Monday’, ‘For Queen and Country’ and ‘Under The Cherry Moon’ to name a few. We also saw ‘Back To The Future’.

I must say that I hadn’t wanted to see ‘Back To The Future’ when it was on at the Odeon but as it was only £1 we all went to see it as it was the only film on that week and to be honest we all thoroughly enjoyed it! ‘The Power Of Love’ by Huey Lewis and the news is the theme song for ‘Back To The Future’ and from watching the film I came to enjoy it too…

Now listen to the song…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NMph943tsw

113. How Can You Mend A Broken Heart – The BeeGees (1971)

One of the things that I just can’t get over about the BeeGees is the sheer number of truly great songs that these guys have written. Not only have they produced some truly great songs for themselves but have given us other winners like “Heartbreaker’ for Dionne Warwick, ‘Woman In Love’ for Barbara Streisand and ‘Chain Reaction’ for Diana Ross (which despite being a BeeGees song is also in the style of a Motown classic!!).

There are so many songs by the BeeGees that I like that it’s almost impossible to know where to start but it is this one that I have chosen to start with. Originally released in the 1970s this is a song that has matured with age and maybe even has come to take on a different meaning with time.  The thing about all of the BeeGees songs is their melodies and sentiment combine with the diversity of their voices and harmonies and make a sound that is truly unique within popular music and for me (at least) very appealing. They really are a truly amazing talent and the untimely death of Maurice (which has stopped Barry and Robin from continuing to make music) is a genuine loss.

Now listen to the song….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZInWGC5L2T8&feature=related

112. The Last Night Of The World – Miss Saigon – Lea Salonga and Simon Bowman (1989)

I remember going to see Miss Saigon at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in the early 1990s with Kerry one rainy afternoon in London. We weren’t planning to go and had decided to go to the matinee about five minutes before it started and bought a couple of tickets for £10 each from a tout outside. We were sat in the stalls at the back but it was a Saturday afternoon and there we were in the audience and when the show started we knew we were going to see something special.

As we were actors at the time and loved the theatre we knew some of the songs from having performed them at east 15 and this song was one that I had sang as a duet myself in the past so it was exciting to see it in its original context.

The story of Miss Saigon concerns an American soldier in Vietnam who gets separated from his Vietnamese lover and is forced to leave the country without knowing she is still alive and is having his son. An extremely sad story and not too dissimilar to ‘Madame Butterfly’ in many of its themes it is a great show and well worth watching. The futility of war, the nature of conflict as well as love and loss and the generally tragic consequences of war are the central themes of this work and the music is truly wonderful. ‘The Last Night Of The World’ is the song that Chris and Kim sing before the American retreat from Saigon. The songs ends and Kim says, ‘You’re going to leave me now?’ to which Chris replies ‘Yes, I’m going to leave…and take you out with me.’

Now listen to the song….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGmqX8EAvrw

111. All of My Heart – ABC (1982)

The 1980s was a time of great music and new things and nothing was more great or new than ABC and their amazing album ‘The Lexicon of Love’.

The ‘Lexicon of Love’ is a truly magnificent  album with some truly great songs on it. Including ‘Poison Arrow’ and ‘The Look of Love’, ‘Valentine’s Day’ and ‘4 ever 2 Together’ and this one ‘All Of My Heart’ it is a masterpiece. During 1982 when I was discovering music and getting to decide what I liked and what I didn’t this album came along and I fell in love with the drama of ABC from their big production numbers, Martin Fry’s fantastic vocal range and their amazing outfits!

The music of ABC was playing in the background of many of the parties and places I visited at that time and it was one of the first albums I bought on CD when we threw away our records and moved to the clarity and more dramatic sound of that medium.

This has to be my all time favourite ABC song and one that I still listen to today whenever I need to be reminded of the 1980s and the fabulous time I had. The idea of walking into the room with a broken heart like a souvenir is a brilliant one and one that always makes me smile…

Enjoy the song….

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2psl5_abc-all-of-my-heart_music

110. ‘Cavalleria Rusticana’ – Intermezzo: Pietro Mascagni (1890)

This has to be one of my most favourite pieces of classical music, written in 1890 and part of a short opera by Mascagni entitled ‘Cavallaeria Rusticana’.

Needless to say that it was through the medium of television that I was first introduced to this piece as it has been featured in a number of tv adverts and films (including ‘The Godfather – Part III’ and ‘Raging Bull’) and as a result is a piece that most people have probably heard but may not know its name or origins.

It is a wonderfully sublime piece of music and in listening to it in the quiet of the lounge when everyone is out shopping rather than on the tube through the headphones it conveys a sense of peace and wonderfully powerful emotion at the same time. You can almost feel the sadness and hope embodied in this music and that is what makes it truly magnificent.

This version Played by a Japanese Orchestra is the best example of it I can find…

Now listen to the song….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OvsVSWB4TI

109. Nobody Loves You When You’re Down and Out – John Lennon (1974)

I first came across John Lennon’s album ‘Walls and Bridges’ in the late 1980s when I stumbled across it in the record library. At the time I had just bought my first stereo system with a record deck, tuner, twin cassette decks and CD player but as CDs were new and expensive was still borrowing them from the Leicester record library to enjoy music on this new medium!

In my bedroom, I loaded up the CD and sat back on the sofa to soak up the wonderful music and much improved clarity of sound that CDs gave us in a time when scratched and worn out records were the norm (I practically wore my collection out playing them so much and had to rebuy some records!)

I particularly like the drama of this song. It’s so massively self indulgent it just screams at you which (coupled with the orchestra and the influence of Phil Spector) I must admit I find massively appealing. The songs on Walls and Bridges deviate from Lennon’s almost mandatory post Beatles desire to produce music about his love of Yoko, and instead look for new themes and ideas and as such makes for a truly great album. This song is my personal favourite from the album.

Now listen to the song….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYLdmi_U99w

108. Stay Another Day – East 17 (1994)

Okay! So I like East 17!

I must admit that I am not a great fan of East 17 but back in 1994 when this song was a Christmas hit and Kerry and I were living in Loughton we used to see Brian and Daniella Westbrook around the place! Whatever you think of the rest of their music I personally love this song and think it is their best number. A Christmas Number 1 back in 1994 it is rumoured to be about the death of Tony Mortimer’s brother and as such is an example of yet another song about love and loss which as you know are among the greatest ever themes of music. How ever many songs are written on this subject each one is truly personal, some are better than others and all are unique.

As a result of its association with Christmas this has come to be seen as a Christmas song and appears on some Christmas albums and even though it isn’t really a true Christmas song in the real sense of the genre it does remind me of Christmas which is a time of peace and goodwill to all men (coupled with excessive boozing and other pleasures!!).

Now listen to the song….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgcY2W5qs6M

107. Manic Monday – The Bangles (1986)

This song reminds me of my friend Emma who is a massive Prince fan and during the time I was at school, and we were friends, introduced me to other artistes (such as ‘Shelia E’ and ‘The Bangles’) for whom Prince had written songs.

I have always been a big Prince fan and recently went to see him when he was in London at the O2, saw ‘Under The Cherry Moon’ and ‘Purple Rain’ when I was at school and never cease to be impressed by the vast amount of music he churns out.

Rumour has it that Manic Monday was written by Prince for Susanna Hoffs, who was the singer with ‘The Bangles’ however it seems more likely that it was a song that Prince had written in the past and offered to them to record. I remember this song being in the charts and loving its message and simplicity. Sometimes we just don’t want to go to work on a Monday (or in some cases at all) but we know we know we have to……

Now listen to the song….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAZgLcK5LzI

106. Sweet Harmony – The Beloved (1993)

As I mentioned previously (‘The Sun Rising – Song No.9 – Dec 2010) my wife Kerry is a big fan of ‘The Beloved’ and we listened to their album ‘Happiness’

on a trip to the French Alps back in the Mid 1990s, however it was not until much later that I found The Beloved’s second album ‘Conscience’ and this song in particular.

‘Sweet Harmony’ was one of those songs that I remember hearing at the time of its release and must have somehow lodged itself in my subconscious awaiting rediscovery.

During a holiday to Portugal in 2008 with the family we stayed in an amazing resort called ‘Suites Alba’ in the Algarve and in the grounds of the resort was a bar on a sandy hilltop furnished with a number of comfy white leather sofas, wooden runways above the sandy cliff tops, makeshift tents with white sheet sides billowing in the gentle breeze, the most amazing view of the sea and the full moon and a quite spectacular cocktail menu. As we were on holiday Kerry and I had cocktails and the kids ran around in the sand, dancing and eating ice creams!

The music being played by the DJ in the bar was extremely mellow and non intrusive and had an ambient quality that suited the mood of the bar and I don’t know whether I actually heard this song being played or not but whatever was being played reminded me of this song and The Beloved and on my return to England I bought the album and listened to it to remind me of that holiday (where we had a truly relaxing time and great fun!) and my original introduction to them on our trip to France back in the 1990s.

Now listen to the song…..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h9TsTsGdAI&feature=fvst

105. Something’s Happening – Herman’s Hermits (1968)

Herman’s Hermits were enormously popular in the 1960s and had a string of hits but this is my favourite of their songs as it was that my Auntie Sheila had on a 45rpm single, which we always played when we visited her maisonette on the

St. Matthew’s Estate in Leicester in the 1970s. It was on the Columbia record label and came in a bright red sleeve.

My mother and her sister were very close and shared that flat for a time after my mother had come home from teacher training college and had nowhere to live and the two of them had a fun time together before my mother got married, moved out and eventually had me. Whilst my mother was raising my brother and me she took some time out from her job as a teacher and we would sometimes go over to Sheila’s flat during the day. Sheila had a Stereo radiogram and her collection of records sat on a shelf in a brass ‘singles’ rack covered by a tea towel to stop them getting dusty!  As I child I loved to go over and to play her records.

At home my parents had a MFP record LP entitled “Herman’s Hermit’s – Greatest Hits’ but ‘Something’s Happening’ wasn’t on it as I don’t suppose it was great enough, but I loved that song and poor old Sheila was pretty much forced to play it every time I came around.

My parents tell a tale of how, as a child I used to sing this song around the house, and being a youngster had misheard the line ‘As soon as you started to kiss me, something knew suddenly hit me’ as ‘As soon as you started to kick me!’ which (needless to say) they found hilarious!

I don’t know why I love this song so much but it is one of my all time favourites and it is as old as me as we were both brought to life in 1968. I love the Xylophone, the production, the sound, the music the lyrics – all together it is a joyous song that reminds me of many happy times as a child in the 1970s.

Now listen to this song…..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Mj48x6-jZs

104. Jesse J – Price Tag feat B.o.B (2011)

On 16^th March 2011 I have never even heard of Jesse J but I was having lunch with a friend when the question of ‘whether or not I liked her music’ came up.

I said I would have to seek some out and report and then (as if by magic) I heard this on Capital FM when I was in the car with my daughter and I thought that it was amazing and so (you guessed it) I downloaded it and have been listening to it on the way to work.

I have since discovered that Jessie J is from Essex and from reading about her on the web seems that she is a living miracle as well as an outstanding talent! I genuinely love this type of music and I also like songs that challenge everyday perceptions and things that seem to be going on in other areas of the music industry. I am particularly fond of ‘The Fear’ by Lily Allen and this song too asks the question whether or not our materially orientated society is a good thing.

There’s not much more to say other than that I’ve listened to this several times this week and I love it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMxX-QOV9tI

103. Imagine – John Lennon (1971)

I remember the day that John Lennon was shot. I was in bed asleep and as my Dad came in with my morning tea (he always used to wake me up with a cuppa) he told me about it and as I sat up in bed on that cold December morning and drank my tea I remember being shocked by it. The idea that an artist could be murdered by a depraved fan was just too crazy to imagine.

Immediately following his death and in the approach to Christmas a number of John Lennon’s records were re-released and ‘Imagine’ spent a long time at the number one slot. My mother had always been a Beatles fan and I too had a number of their albums being particularly fond of ‘Abbey Road’ and ‘The White Album’. I didn’t need to but another copy of ‘Imagine’ as I already had the song but suddenly following the untimely death of its creator it seemed to somehow be more important and even more relevant than it had ever seemed.

I had the sheet music for the song, which had been given to me by a friend and I used to (and still do) play the song on the piano. It’s simplistic structure and message – that we should all strive for peace and try to live together regardless of our religious beliefs - is as simple and important as it has ever been. To the line ‘You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one’ – I say ‘You are not….’

Now listen to the song……

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b7qaSxuZUg

102. Sanctus – Missa Luba – Los Troubadours du Roi Baudouin (1958)

The Missa Luba is a Latin Mass sung in Congolese by a choir of Congolese children and recorded by Phillips in 1958.

The ‘Sanctus’ from the Missa Luba will be recognisable to some as the music played in the black and white café scene in Lyndsay Anderson’s surreal 1960s film ‘If’ but for me it envokes further memories of time spent at Sheriff Hutton Park in Yorkshire.

Whilst at East 15 drama school in 1990 and 1991 we lived in a Jacobean Mansion in a village called Sheriff Hutton and as the place was off the beaten track we had to make our own entertainment in the evenings - a number of which were spent in the kitchen of the great house, drinking wine, having heated discussions and playing card games. Wilf Walker who was our tutor and director had a old record player and a copy of the ‘Missa Luba’, which we pretty much played every night! Sometimes, we would put it on over and over again and as soon as it was finished we put it back on. Listening to it always reminds me of sitting in the kitchen (which was always warm) on those dark winter nights having a genuinely interesting and wonderful time and sometimes we listen to the whole recording in our own kitchen at home in Essex.

A more recent version of the ‘Missa Luba’ has recently been recorded but for me the original (which you can now finally get on itunes) is the definitive.

Now listen to the song….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIxEPYkXkU8

The café scene from ‘If….’ for those that are interested…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mIEShgpJ3k