This week, we have a Set of Rocks to choose from. Or, to put it another way... a few Rock Sets. Here's the song they might all have been named after... although they probably weren't at all.
I wasn't sure whether to include this one, as it crosses over with the next Roxette. Back in 1984, Swedish songwriter Per Gessle was in a band called Gyllene Tider. However, when they released their music in the USA, they went by the name Roxette. Arguably the more famous half of his later Roxette, Marie Fredriksson, wasn't present. Hence...
The Set of Rocks most people will be familiar with. The aforementioned Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson originally gathered themselves together in 1986, going on to enjoy a string of pop-rock hits throughout the 90s. Here's their first big one, from 1989...
Sadly, I couldn't find the Glaswegian Roxette from 1982 who released the single Blind Man's Blues / Too Much Alcohol. Neither could I track down the Finnish punk Roxette from 1985. But I did manage to find one more, more modern, Roxette...
ROXETTE (& THE JETS) #6
Traditional French rock 'n' rollers from 2015, located on the camp of bands...
5. Hotrod boychild warns ships about adoring blooming herbs.
Eddie & The Hotrods.
Eddie's son?
Lighthouses warn ships.
Etc.
Etc.
I'm writing the answers on Thursday night and predicting that Alyson got that one from the photo alone. She wasn't the first, but she did end up supplying an important correction...
Just an observation but as I wrote about the song Love Grows by Edison Lighthouse quite recently I noticed that Tony Burrows isn't part of the line-up in that picture. They were a band made up of session musicians and their only big hit was when Tony was brought in on lead vocals. He had also been part of 2 other bands at the same time so had 3 singles in the Top 10 at the same time. He ended up being a 5 times 'one-hit wonder'.
It just ain't fair I was put in that position Somebody left their keys in the ignition I saw the unlocked door and made my decision I just can't help myself
Regular readers might have exected this to be Number One. So did I. Then I remembered the two songs below. Still, this is bloody marvellous. Question though, Bruce fans... do you prefer the album version above... or the piano-heavy re-interpretation / original from Tracks? I'm torn. I reckon that version actually sounds more like Bruce, whereas the version included on The River is Bruce doing Dylan.
For the second time this week, Jarvis almost makes it to Number One... story of his life, I guess, considering Common People may well be the best Number Two ever. This song is perfection: makes you wonder what could be better, doesn't it?
We can't help it, we're so thick we can't think,
Can't think of anything but shit, sleep and drink.
Oh, and we like women;
"Up the women" we say,
And if we get lucky,
We might even meet some one day.
Mister, we just want your car,
'Cause we're taking a girl to the reservoir.
Oh, all the papers say,
It's a tragedy, but don't you want to come and see?
(Oh, and I'm very sorry, but I just couldn't find room for Roxette's Joyride. I know you were expecting it!)
1. Billy Bragg & Johnny Marr - Greetings To The New Brunette
Shirley stole today's top prize - Billy and Johnny were so good together, it makes you wonder if they'd have lasted longer and been even more cherished than Johnny and that other bloke. If only they'd made more music together...
