Tuesday, 12 May 2020

Hot 100 #8


As this is the Hot 100, there was no finer band to illustrate Number 8 on our countdown than the Hot 8 Brass Band. If this doesn't put a smile on your face, rigor mortis may have set in...

Hot 8 Brass Band - Sexual Healing

Other 8 bands in my library included...

8In8 - Because The Origami

(That's Ben Folds, Amanda Palmer, Neil Gaiman, and Damian Kulash of OK Go.)

8th Day - I Gotta Get Home

AVO-8 - Big Car

V-8 Death Car - Rocknroll Rockroll

Club 8 - Baby, I'm Not Sure If This Is Love

The Straight 8s - F-Hole

United 8 - Getting Uptown To Get Down

(Worth listening to that one for the intro.)

And, as suggested by Jim in Dubai...

The 5 6 7 8s - Woo Hoo!

(Although a little later in the post we'll discuss a new rule that excludes that one.)

And, from Martin, harking and back to a recent appearance on Saturday Snapshots...

Eighth Wonder - I'm Not Scared

But what about the 8 songs?

As is customary, The Swede kicks us off...

Up early for work, so here's my lot:

Sister John - Eight Years

Couldn't find that anywhere online, Swede, but I did find this, which is very cool, and I imagine you'll be putting forward in seven weeks' time...

Sister John - I'm The One

The Upsetters - Eight for Eight

David Bowie - Eight Line Poem

The Beatles - Eight Days a Week (massive contender?)

Who are these "Beatles"? They're pretty groovy. But, no.

Soft Machine - One Over the Eight

Neu! - After Eight

Just noticed your request regarding artist first and title second. Sorry! I'll make sure to do that next week if I come up with anything - gotta run now!

That's OK. I'm used to being ignored.

Couple missing from The Swede's list there. We may come back to those later.

George can't get up quite as early as The Swede. I'll put that down to the time difference.

Struggling this week you'll be glad to hear. 

What!? I need my co-writer!

Super Furry Animals - Baby Ate My Eight Ball

Is 2 4 6 8 by The Tom Robinson Band allowed?

Sadly not. Otherwise it might win for the next 4 fortnights.

Does that idiotic song by Herman's Hermits I'm Henry the 8th I am count?

It does, but only because I'm going to allow much better 8th songs later.

Herman's Hermit's - I'm Henry the 8th

Like this one, as suggested by Charity Chic...

Hazel O'Connor - 8th Day

Swiss Adam was up next, with a suggestion we'll come back... as well as this...

DSK - What Would We Do? (Eight Minutes of Madness Mix)

Enter Martin, also supporting an as-yet-unmentioned front-runner, but also weighing in with these...

Foghat - Eight Days on the Road

(also covered by Aretha Franklin)

Alanis Morissette - Eight Easy Steps

Kim Wilde - 2-6-5-8-0

No... Now listen up, everybody!

From this point onwards, we're going to have to institute The Tom Robinson Rule, otherwise this countdown will never end. Sorry.

They Might Be Giants - Figure Eight

Lisa Stansfield - 8-3-1

Tom Robinson Rule.

Should probably name-check the 8 Mile soundtrack by Eminem too...

That did come in to my head, to be honest.

Eminem - 8 Mile

Lynchie was similar resigned to "The Swede snaffling all the good ones" this week, but did offer up this belter...

Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen - Beat Me Daddy, Eight To The Bar (from one of the greatest albums ever - "Lost In The Ozone")

There's a lot of versions of this song and the original, by Will Bradley and His Orchestra was released in 1940. The lyrics are awesome!

While Marie had this to offer...

O.V. Wright - Eight Men and Four Women

And Douglas McLaren picked out an all-time favourite of mine... and Styx.

You know the 80's lover in you is having a hard time choosing a winner between Tommy Tutone's "867-5309 (Jenny)" and Styx, "Pieces of 8" (though that one came out late '79 I think).

Oh well, if R.E.M. or The Byrds win out (as in justice they should), at least Tommy Tutone has a chance almost every week upcoming! And if you listen to the opening jangly guitar intro, you might almost think it was going to be an early era R.E.M. song. Until the Big Dumb Eighties production values kick in, and Tommy opens his mouth and utters the absurd pick up line lyrics.

Tommy Tutone - 867-5309 (Jenny)

Styx - Pieces of 8

Sadly, Douglas, much as I love it, Tommy Tutone falls foul of The Tom Robinson Rule.

As for Styx... well...

Half Man Half Biscuit - Styx Gig (Seen by My Mates Coming out of a...)

Strawbs!?
Huh, what do you know boy?
I’m the reigning county champion

You have embarrassed me
With your clinching Hudson Ford discography

And it feels like I’ve just been seen by me mates
Feels like I’ve just been seen by me mates
Seen by me mates coming out of a Styx gig

Rigid Digit was late to the party as usual...

Even in a state of lockdown, I'm still turning up late when all the good ones have gone. So:

Rufus Wainwright - Dinner At 8

That's a good one.

Sugarhill Gang - 8th Wonder

Tribe Called Quest - 8 Million Stories

Al Stewart - Eight Arms To Hold You

Which couldn't help but remind me of this...

The Goon Squad - Eight Arms To Hold You

(From The Goonies: children of the 80s say yeah!)

Over in Dubai, it's Jim...

Tough this week, here's what's in my library...

Frazier Chorus - Cloud 8

The Innocents - Every Wednesday at 8

That's great.

The AK Band - 8-3-12

I'm calling Tom Robinson Rule on that one.

(Have you noticed how since I asked The Swede to put the band names first, everybody has switched to doing it song titles first? Oh well, more work for the wicked.)

John Medd, meanwhile, was still smarting over my rejection of ELP last week. But once he'd got over that...

How about a bit of culture? 

Daniel Barenboim - Beethoven's Sonata No.8

Pathetic, John. Sorry, I meant pathetique.

Alyson, meanwhile, seems to have been aiming for Jez's Worst Song of the Week award...

Ken Dodd apparently had a hit in 1966 with something called 8 x 10 but it certainly won't be your pick.

Ken Dodd - 8x10

That is truly awful.

What a beautiful day! What a beautiful day for someone taking an 8x10 glossy of you not paying your taxes.

Sorry. I never got the appeal of Ken Dodd. My Dad found him funny though.

OK, time to shake the hard-drive and see what falls out... besides all the "weight", "height" and "freight" songs.

Hospitality - Eight Avenue

Adam & The Ants - Hell's Eight Acres

Kris Kristofferson & Friends - Eight Day Clock

Madness - Behind The Eight Ball

E - Eight Lives Left

The Black Crowes - Paint An 8

Billy Joel - Opus 8

Grant Lee Buffalo - 8 Mile Road

Green Day - 8th Avenue Serenade

King Creosote - Figure 8

Modest Mouse - Interstate 8

Red House Painters - Million + 8 Things

Satan's Pilgrims - Super 8

Jason Isbell - Super 8

Group X - There Are 8 Million Cossack Melodies & This Is One Of Them

I don't know where I get these things either.

Shawn Lee - 8 Million Ways To Die

Kurtis Blow - 8 Million Stories

Listen to that if you want to take a time machine back to the 80s.

The Grid - 8 Miles From Memphis

Sinead O'Connor - 8 Good Reasons

Kiss - And On The 8th Day

Tullycraft - 8 Great Ways

Brilliant.

Cinderpop - Oliver 8

Robert Plant - 8:05

And finally, from My Top Ten Stalker Songs: Volume 3...

The Go-Betweens - Eight Pictures


All of which brings us to the debate over this week's winner, which comes down to two songs, both of which were initially identified by early bird The Swede. First, this...

The Byrds - Eight Miles High

Alyson: Yes, of all those mentioned it's got to be Eight Miles High for me too.

Swiss Adam: Eight Miles High but the Husker Du cover.

Hüsker Dü - Eight Miles High

C: Already mentioned but for me it's gotta be either Byrds or Husker Du, or both, with Eight Miles High.

What, no love for the Roxy Music version, guys?

Roxy Music - Eight Miles High

Leave it to Brian to find another version... one which I'm surprised The Swede didn't mention...

I will go along with Eight Miles High, but I'm going to throw the version by Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians into the mix. Terrific B-side to So You Think You're In Love.

Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians - Eight Miles High

But it did seem like Eight Miles High was going to walk away with the crown this week.

And then came The Swede's other big suggestion...

REM - Driver 8

Martin: Good call, Driver Eight by REM would be my nailed-on choice for this week.

Swiss Adam: R.E.M. from the 80s seem to be all over this end of the countdown don't they?

Perhaps not quite as many votes as The Byrds, but...

Driver 8 was one of the first pre-Green REM songs I really became aware of (apart from The One I Love, obviously). This was because one of my favourite comics of the late 80s / early 90s (Doom Patrol) which featured a minor character called Driver 8, and that brief reference made me go hunt down the song.

I saw a treehouse on the outskirts of the farm
The power lines have floaters so the airplanes won't get snagged
Bells are ringing through the town again
The children look up, all they hear is sky-blue, bells ringing



Next week... the most popular lucky number in the world.

We may be here some time.

7...


29 comments:

  1. Day off today and up late, yet still the first one in!

    Winston Wright & the Soul Kings - The Magnificent Seven
    Pharoah Sanders - Seven by Seven
    Owen Gray - Seven Lonely Days
    Can - Seven Days Awake
    Bob Dylan - Seven Days
    The Hippy Boys - Seven Heaven
    Wah! Heat - Seven Minutes to Midnight
    The Soft Machine - And Sevens
    Baba Brooks - Seven Guns Alive
    Nic Jones - Seven Yellow Gypsies
    Pye Corner Audio - The Seventh Labyrinth
    Appendix Out - The Seven Windows
    Hawkwind - Seven by Seven
    Egg - Seven is a Jolly Good Time
    Ballroom - Seven's a Secret
    Niagara - Dance in Seven
    Chuck Wood / Dexys Midnight Runners - ‎Seven Days Too Long
    Miles Davis - Seven Steps to Heaven
    Culture - Two Sevens Clash
    Big Blood - Mouth in Seven Tongues
    Chris Squire - Lucky Seven
    Prince - 7
    Moon Duo - Sevens
    Return to Forever - Beyond the Seventh Galaxy
    Scott Walker - The Seventh Seal
    Liz Phair - Dance of the Seven Veils
    Derrick Morgan - Seven Letters
    Brian Eno - Seven Deadly Finns
    The Soul Rhythms - Round Seven
    Causi Sui - Seven Hills
    The Clash - Magnificent Seven
    David Bowie - Seven Years in Tibet
    Don Drummond & The Tommy McCook Band - Lucky Seven
    Love - 7 and 7 Is
    Richard Thompson - Seven Brothers
    Larry Coryell's 11th House - Seven Secrets

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  2. I was going to offer up Hawkwind, Dexys, Culture The Clash (vacuum cleaner sucks up budgie could be a clue in Saturday Snapshots, eh?) and Love, because those were tracks I actually knew. But once again The Swede's got in early, so I'll head off and try to find some others.

    That said - I think it's a toss up between Culture & The Clash for #1.

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  3. I met the prog rock band Egg at a bed & breakfast place in Dundee sometime around 1970 if memory serves me well. Can't say I was a fan.

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  4. Has the Swede left us any?
    Clash, Love, Chuck Woods and Culture all featured in the Magnificent Seven on the occasion of CCMc 7th birthday the others being
    Steve Young - Seven Sisters Road
    White Stripes - Seven Nation Army - surprised the Swede missed that one
    Desmond Dekker - 007 (Shanty Town)

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  5. And how could we forget The Goombay Dance Band with Seven Tears

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  6. God, I think The Swede has nailed this down. What to add?

    Sting - Seven Days (to irk the musos, right?)
    Youssou N'Dour and Neneh Cherry - Seven Seconds (might be in with a shout)
    ABC - Seven Day Weekend
    The Four Tops - Just Seven Numbers (Can Straighten Out My Life)
    John Entwistle - Cell Number Seven
    They Might Be Giants - Seven
    Florence & The Machine - Seven Devils
    Nirvana - D-7
    Bruce Springsteen - Seven Angels
    Frank Black - Seven Days
    Graham Coxon - Seven Naked Valleys
    Patti Smith - Seven Ways of Going
    The Travelling Wilburys - Seven Deadly Sins
    REM - 7 Chinese Bros (could you do an entire REM numbers countdown?)

    I'll leave it there. There are so many... REM for me though, again...

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  7. REM, obvs
    The Clash Magnificent Seven
    Andrew Weatherall 'Let's Do The Seven Again', a tale of heroic failure and circus acrobats
    Dion 'The Seventh Son'
    Cola Boy 'Seven ways To Love'
    Chuck Wood or Dexys 'Seven Days Too Long'
    Wah! 'Seven Minutes To Midnight'
    Eric B and Rakim 'Paid in Full' (Seven Minutes of Madness Mix) a minute less than DSK

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    Replies
    1. And Love, already mentioned by Swede, 7 And 7 Is

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  8. With all the submissions above I doubt I'll find something not already here. But my first thoughts were Love: 7 And 7 Is, and Wah Heat: Seven Minutes To Midnight, both already mentioned, of course!

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    Replies
    1. Oh, got one, I think?! - The Wipers: D7, the original, not the Nirvana cover. I really loved the Wipers.

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    2. One more. Elbow: Seven Veils.

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  9. My hard drive obviously comes from Planet Uncool as very little overlap with the above choices at all. Other than Love and Youssou N'Dour, I have the following:

    Madness - Return of the Los Palmos 7
    Craig David - 7 Days
    James - Seven
    Eagles - Seven Bridges Road
    The Four Tops - Seven Rooms of Gloom, and a strange one by:
    Simon & Garfunkel - Seven O'clock News/Silent Night (Vietnam War era news bulletin in the background)

    Pretty sure I'm going to irk a lot of musos with that lot. And, as a 7 band, my hard drive is littered with material by those giants of pre-teen pop S Club 7 as my daughter was just the right age for them at the turn of the millennium.

    My pick would be Youssou N'Dour/Neneh Cherry though with 7 Seconds as wrote about it recently so found out so much more of the back story - Again, don't include this bit, but here is a cut and paste:

    '7 Seconds is apparently about the first positive 7 seconds in the life of a newborn child, a child who does not know about the problems and violence in our world. Three different languages were used in the song: English, French and Wolof, which is a language spoken in Senegal, Gambia, and Mauritania.'


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  10. Very funny Ken Dodd comment by the way - Yes, how tickled he was, not to pay those taxes.

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  11. Has Moon Mullican's "seven nights to rock" been mentioned? (a song covered by BR549)?

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  12. ANd Willie Mabon "7th son", and rhythm and blues song written by Willie Dixon

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  13. My top choice:
    Iron Maiden - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son

    Surprised not already been mentioned:
    Queen - Seven Seas Of Rhye
    Fleetwood Mac - Seven Wonders

    Others:
    Seven Months - Portishead
    Seven Years - Norah Jones
    Seven - Megadeth
    777 - Danzig
    Seven High - Damon Albarn
    Seven Shades Of Nothing - Babyshambles
    Seven Walls - Gaz Coombes

    Tom Robinson Rule?
    4st 7lp - Manics
    3s and 7s - Queens Of The Stone Age

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  14. Can add the following.

    Echo & The Bunnymen - Seven Seas
    Seven Pints & a Suicide - Graham Fellows (Or Jilted John as some people may know him better as)
    Seven - Chew Lips
    Waiting for the Seventh Man - Positive Noise
    7 Nights of Rock - Nick Lowe
    7 Reasons - Revenge


    Bands:
    Shed Seven
    Seventh Avenue

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. or John Shuttleworth - a truly right thinking man if ever there was one. Who else could impart the panic and shock of opening the fridge and findings two margarines on the go

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    2. Ha Ha. Can't go back to savoury, great Shuttleworth song as well

      Delete
  15. Douglas McLaren12 May 2020 at 20:17

    Okay, this time I am still late, and despite the whopper load of songs already listed, I see there are a few left to nab! I would of course have taken R.E.M, myself, but on the philosophy that they can't win two weeks in a row (can they?) I am glad my second favourite choice of all 7 songs is still available, so here goes:

    Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark--Sailing On The Seven Seas
    Duran Duran--The Seventh Stranger (which naturally counts double becasue
    it is from the album "Seven and the Ragged Tiger")
    Cinerama--7x
    Audience--Seven Sore Bruises
    Feeder--Seven Days In The Sun
    Queen--In Only Seven Days
    Animals That Swim--Seven Days
    Cracker--Seven Days (a different song, of course)
    Kenney Chesney--Seven Days (... different still)
    Grace Jones--7 Day Weekend
    Foghat--Seven Day Weekend (yep, different)
    Gary US Bonds--Seven Day Weekend (uh-huh, different)
    Elvis Costello and Jimmy Cliff--Seven-Day Weekend (okay, that one's a cover)
    ...And that is probably enough confusion for now!




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  16. I woke up this morning with the riff from 7 Reasons by Revenge running in my head, the best New Order song not by New order. And as Jim also says Seven Seas by the Bunnymen.

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  17. Boy, talk about left with the scraps! I was going to wow you with Wah! Heat's Seven Minutes To Midnight,and that has already been mentioned at least twice! All of the best ones are taken, and even most of my songs from the B squad are already here. Time for the C squad:

    The Apples in Stereo - 7 Stars
    Me and Dean Martin - 7 Compton Street
    Andy Pawlak - Seven Days
    The Holidaymakers - Seventh Valley Girl
    Elvis Costello - Seven o'clock (Demo)
    The Cleintele - Carnival on Seventh Street
    Velocity Girl - Seven Seas (Echo & the Bunnymen cover that's well done)
    Strawberry Switchblade - Dark 7
    The Ocean Blue - F Major 7

    ...And my album pick is Roddy Frame with Seven Dials. Beware of the term 7" version/mix when you search through your archive! Ugh.

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  18. Chuck Wood deserves the brass ring this round.

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  19. Sorry, me again. Moon Duo 'Sevens'

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  20. Think you're going to have to trim this list down, probably, but as is tradition I will throw in an oldie for sake of completeness:

    Paul Evans - Seven Little Girls Sitting In The Back Seat (definitely not the Bombarulina version.

    Good luck with getting through that little lot above (no pressure remember to deliver every week).

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