"Starting Over" - The 80's singles thread

[Robt]

[Robt]

Hey, how about this one ?!!!!

[elvisalisellers]

Although not to my taste, Collins shifted a hell of a lot of records in the 80's.

[elvisalisellers]

Great Transvision Vamp single from the late 80's.
Nice homage to Elvis in the video, too.

Wendy James could make Madonna look like a nun at times!

[elvisalisellers]

A thread resurrection!

The current topic on the great Jackie Wilson reminded me of the hit in which the Commodores [post-Lionel Richie] paid tribute to him and Marvin Gaye on.

Very cool vibe to this one.

[rjm]

A thread resurrection!

The current topic on the great Jackie Wilson reminded me of the hit in which the Commodores [post-Lionel Richie] paid tribute to him and Marvin Gaye on.

Very cool vibe to this one.

Oh, thank you!

I loved that with all my heart!

You know, back when it came out, I somehow "knew" - some kind of frightening gut feeling, that this would one day be as much about MJ as the others. It couldn't be verbalized then, but I had a feeling that he was headed for the nightshift with those other Detroit-launched artists.

And I thought about Elvis, too. And others. That is also why.

Maybe it was because so many of them were dropping like flies, and continued to do so. In addition to Jackie (who wasn't Motown, but was Detroit), think of all the groups. Not many survive. Actually none made it to 2010, without one or, sometimes, ALL members tragically gone. And in many - most cases, quite before their time.

And MJ seemed, as I think Stephen Spielberg put it, "like a fawn in a burning forest." He knew what he meant by that. The Night Shift awaited as the forest burned.

I hate that I listened to this song and had that feeling. But I SO love this song.

Sing on, on The Night Shift. All the world fell in love with night, one by one, and paid no heed to the garish sun.

(Apologies to Shakespeare and B. Kennedy.)

rjm
P.S. - I knew Madonna would make it. She was strong. Detroit be damned!

Sent via mobile

[elvisalisellers]

Thanks for your thoughts, rjm.

Staying in Jackie mode, here is an 80's hit cover [by Dexys Midnight Runners] of Van Morisson’s classic "Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile)".

Pretty remarkable to think that this version made far more impact than Van’s original, but at least he gained some nice royalties from it.

Note: the b/w backdrop of the grinning guy in the TOTP studio is that of the popular Scottish darts player, the late, great Jocky Wilson.

Having gone down in folklore as being one of televisions major gaffes, re. that clueless TOTP producers thought that the song was a tribute to Jocky: the reality was something altogether different.

Dexys front man Kevin Rowland explained:

"For a laugh, we told the producer to put a picture of Jocky Wilson up behind us," he told the Guardian in 2002. "He said: 'But Kevin, people will think we made a mistake.' I told him only an idiot would think that. The morning after, the [Radio 1] DJ Mike Read said: 'Bloody Top of the Pops. How could they mix up one of the great soul singers with a Scottish darts player?"

[elvisalisellers]

Former Dexys Midnight Runners violinist, Helen O'Hara, also happened to play on one of my favourite singles from the late 80's: Tanita Tikaram's "Good Tradition".

With a passing resemblance to "50's Elvis", it's somewhat ironic looking back now to hear how similar her deep throaty vocals are to Lisa Marie Presley's!

Top tune.