The World from Here

Monday, 30 August 2010

Top 100 UK Million Selling Singles

This is as played from 10am with Ken Bruce - some were double-sided (including the No1)

Radio 2 played them all today (well except for one by Gary Glitter),

The Righteous Brothers — Unchained Melody
Rediscover The 60's - With A Little H
Julie Covington — Don't Cry For Me Argentina
Andrew Lloyd Webber - Premiere Coll'n
The New Seekers — I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing
70's Number Ones Vol 2
The Archies — Sugar Sugar
Dance Hits Of The '60's & '70's
Simon Park Orchestra — Eye Level
Sleepy Shores - Instrumental Classics
Kings of Leon — Sex On Fire
(CD Single)
Billy Joel — Uptown Girl
An Innocent Man
Brotherhood of Man — Save Your Kisses For Me
The Ivor Novello Winners
Bob the Builder — Can We Fix It?
(CD Single)
Adam and The Ants — Stand & Deliver
Fantastic 80's Disc 2 (Various Artis
ABBA — Dancing Queen
Abba Gold
Black Box — Ride On Time
Fantastic 80's - 3 (Various Artists)
Irene Cara — Fame
Heart Of Gold (Various Artists)
The Black Eyed Peas — I Gotta Feeling
(CD Single)
Eiffel 65 — Blue (Da Ba Dee)
(CD Single)
Oasis — Wonderwall
What's The Story Morning Glory -Oasis
Take That — Back For Good
No Greater Love (Various Artists)
Robbie Williams — Angels
The Best 90's Album In The World...Ev
Pink Floyd — Another Brick In The Wall
Pink Floyd
Cliff Richard & The Shadows — The Young Ones
Cliff Richard - 40 Golden Greats
Natalie Imbruglia — Torn
1999 Grammy Nominees (Various Artist
Ray Parker Jr. — Ghostbusters
Young at Heart (Various Artists)
Hear'Say — Pure And Simple
(CD Single)
Shayne Ward — That's My Goal
(CD Single)
Spice Girls — 2 Become 1
Mixed Emotions III (Various Artists)
Frank Ifield — I Remember You
The Hits Of 1962 (Various Artists)
Ian Dury and The Blockheads — Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick
Fantastic 70's (Various Artists)
Robson & Jerome — I Believe
I Believe
Robson & Jerome — Up On The Roof
Duets - 36 Of The World's Greatest Ev
Teletubbies — Teletubbies Say "Eh-Oh!"
My CBeebies Album (Various Artists)
Boyzone — No Matter What
Love Songs - 39 All Time Love Classic
Whigfield — Saturday Night
The Best Summer Ever (Various Artist
Slade — Merry Xmas Everybody
(CD Single)
New Order — Blue Monday
Now 1983 - The Millennium Series
Kylie Minogue — Can't Get You Out Of My Head
(CD Single)
Babylon Zoo — Spaceman
Spaceman
Michael Jackson — Earth Song
(CD Single)
Band Aid 20 — Do They Know It's Christmas?
(CD Single)
Acker Bilk — Stranger On The Shore
Jukebox Instrumentals Vol.2
David Soul — Don't Give Up On Us
Million Sellers Vol.13 - The Seventie
Steps — Heartbeat
Love Songs - 39 All Time Love Classic
Steps — Tragedy
Steps - Gold - The Greatest Hits
Engelbert Humperdinck — The Last Waltz
Engelbert Humperdinck - Greatest Hits
Harry Belafonte — Mary's Boy Child
Billboard Greatest Xmas Hits
Art Garfunkel — Bright Eyes
Art Garfunkel - Album

At this point the show handed over to Tony Blackburn
Alexandra Burke — Hallelujah
(CD Single)
Run-D.M.C. vs. Jason Nevins — It's Like That
(CD Single)
Tom Jones — Green Green Grass Of Home
Fifty Number Ones Of The 60's (Variou
Tony Christie — Is This The Way To Amarillo
Dance Hits Of The '60's & '70's
Shaggy — It Wasn't Me
Now 48 (Various Artists)
Soft Cell — Tainted Love
Our Friends Electric (Various Artists
Paul Anka — Diana
Paul Anka - The Greatest Hits Collect
Blondie — Heart Of Glass
Parallel Lines Deluxe Collectors Edition
Elvis Presley — It's Now Or Never
Presley - The All Time Greatest Hits
Survivor — Eye Of The Tiger
The No.1 Movies Album (Various Artist
Dexys Midnight Runners & The Emerald Express — Come On Eileen
Fantastic 80's Disc 1 (Various Artis
Céline Dion — Think Twice
(CD Single)
Spice Girls — Wannabe
Bad Girls (Various Artists)
Fugees — Killing Me Softly
(CD Single)
Gareth Gates — Unchained Melody
(CD Single)
Coolio — Gangsta's Paradise
(CD Single)
Jennifer Rush — The Power Of Love
Now That's What I Call Love (Compilat
Engelbert Humperdinck — Release Me
Acuff-Rose Opryland Music: 50th Anniv
The Beatles — We Can Work It Out
The Beatles - 1
The Beatles — Day Tripper
The Beatles - 1
The Seekers — The Carnival Is Over
The Seekers
The Beatles — I Feel Fine
The Beatles - 1
Bill Haley & His Comets — Rock Around The Clock
That's Rock'n'Roll (Various Artists)
Céline Dion — My Heart Will Go On
1999 Grammy Nominees (Various Artist
George Michael — Careless Whisper
George Michael - Ladies & Gentlemen
Village People — YMCA
Night Moves (Various Artists)
Culture Club — Karma Chameleon
Fantastic 80's Disc 1 (Various Artis
Whitney Houston — I Will Always Love You
The Bodyguard (Original S/Track)
Puff Daddy & Faith Evans — I'll Be Missing You
Huge Hits 1997 (Various Artists)
Baddiel, Skinner & The Lightning Seeds — Three Lions
Beautiful Game (Various Artists)
Britney Spears — Baby One More Time
Now 44 (Various Artists)
The Human League — Don't You Want Me
Fantastic 80's Disc 2 (Various Artis
The Beatles — Can't Buy Me Love
The Beatles - 1
Ken Dodd — Tears
The Hits Of 1965 (Various Artists)
Various Artists — Perfect Day
The Best 90's Album In The World...Ev
John Lennon — Imagine
John Lennon - Lennon Legend
Frankie Goes to Hollywood — Two Tribes
Fantastic 80's Disc 2 (Various Artis
John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John — Summer Nights
Grease (Original Movie Soundtrack)
Wham! — Everything She Wants
Wham! - Make It Big
Wham! — Last Christmas
That's Christmas (Various Artists)
Bryan Adams — Everything I Do, I Do It For You
(CD Single)
Cher — Believe
Love Songs - 39 All Time Love Classic
The Beatles — I Want To Hold Your Hand
The Beatles - 1
Aqua — Barbie Girl
Will Young — Evergreen
(CD Single)
Will Young — Anything Is Possible
(CD Single)
Stevie Wonder — I Just Called To Say I Love You
Stevie Wonder - Song Review
Wet Wet Wet — Love Is All Around
The All Time Greatest Movie Songs
Robson & Jerome — (They'll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs Of Dover
Robson & Jerome
Robson & Jerome — Unchained Melody
No Greater Love (Various Artists)
Boney M. — Mary's Boy Child
That's Christmas (Various Artists)
The Beatles — She Loves You
The Beatles - 1
Frankie Goes to Hollywood — Relax
Fantastic 80's - 3 (Various Artists)
John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John — You're The One That I Want
Grease (Original Movie S/Track)
Boney M. — Brown Girl In The Ring
Boney M - Night Flight To Venus
Boney M. — Rivers Of Babylon
(CD Single)
Wings — Girls School
London Town
Wings — Mull Of Kintyre
Paul McCartney - All The Best!
Queen — Bohemian Rhapsody
The Ivor Novello Winners
Band Aid — Do They Know It's Christmas?
That's Christmas (Various Artists)
Elton John — Something About The Way You Look Tonight
Elton John Greatest Hits 1970-2002
Elton John — Candle In The Wind (1997)
(CD Single)

Thoughts on the "Doctor Who" 2011 series split ..

Steven Moffat chose his spot at the Edinburgh International Television Festival yesterday to reveal that the 13 episodes of the 2011 series will be broadcast in two blocks, one from Easter and another from September. The Moff also tells us these shall consecutively be known as series six and seven (which is likely to prove as contentious as his initial claim that the 2010 series was to be known as series one). Just to confuse matters further series six will be seven episodes while series seven will be six episodes.

At first my feeling was dismay, but, certainly for next year, it makes sense. Not only do we have a particularly late Easter but it was officially announced the same weekend that a second series of "Sherlock" will be broadcast in Autumn 2011 and this will ease Moffat's shared commitments and deadlines. I suspect the proximity of these announcements is not a coincidence. I don't know what the future holds for "Merlin" if it goes to a fourth series - I presume they won't be ready to go out in spring or summer 2011 instead - more likely they will spill into January/February 2012.

So anyway, I worked out this will be the "Doctor Who" schedule for next year:

"Series Six" - 7 episodes starting 23 April (Easter Saturday) until 4 June

"Series Seven" - 6 episodes starting 4 September until 9 October

then the Christmas special in December.

I would fancy that this will still not satisfy the 'winter fetishists', especially if it's being broadcast before 7pm as it regularly was this year. If "Strictly Come Dancing" hasn't committed suicide this year, then series seven of "Doctor Who" will be the warm-up so 7pm starts would seem unlikely.

NB: photo courtesy of Richard Bacon on Twitter - he was the designated interviewer at the event.

Cricket Totty - Mohammad Amir

I had set this up before the weekend , when Amir's name has been associated with something less than great but he came to my attention at the end of last week when he was Pakistan's teen sensation against England in a test match. Hopefully he'll come through unscathed.

Stand Up Totty - Daniel Sloss

Comedians have that thing whereby they become sexy even if they're not that good looking, but when they are it's a bonus. Following the recent annual onslaught of their number on Edinburgh I present a lad who didn't have to travel far - 19 year old Daniel Sloss.

Saturday, 28 August 2010

Retro Blast - August 1995

Aah, August 1995. My mindset is probably still stuck around here. Most of my generation yearn for the 1980s, but I was always more suited to the 90s. Though you might not be able to tell from my YouTube choices below.I couldn't pick some because I follow the classic TOTP rule of not including fallers, so no Connells, Take That, TLC, or Black Grape all of which were faves of mine.

Anyhow, while much more serious conflict raged in Bosnia that summer, a battle that made it to the TV bulletins and newspaper front pages here was the Blur v Oasis spat that ensued when both had released singles on the same day and both expected to be No1. By this point, Blur had won that battle (no-one can agree who won the war) and "Country House" was stable at the top.

I'm using the performance featured in the Christmas Day edition of "Top of the Pops", four months later, as it is a rather spirited turn by Damon. Introducing are Jack Dee and Bjork.

The classic promo video, featuring Keith Allen and Matt Lucas alongside the band, was directed by Damien Hirst, by way of Benny Hill and The Avengers.

And can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ci0fyRAw21Q

The Gallagher brothers had to be content with a No2 - above they premiere the track on "Top of the Pops". Their new pal Robbie Williams was co-hosting.

Michael Jackson's second single from the "HIStory" album was a new entry at no3, but would depose Blur the following week. This is the bizarre video featuring his then-wife Lisa-Marie Presley.

Frankly, I have no recollection of this artist, who had a new entry at no5. Typical of contemporary mainstream dance records I recall. This mix seems as inspired by "I Feel Love" as "Sunshine After the Rain".

I'm including this one purely as it is so of the time - I never watched "Friends" and frankly hated the song, more so because it's one you get lodged in your brain. It's The Rembrandts' new entry at no6 - "I'll Be There For You".

Lastly, in at no26, where it characteristically peaked, is Morrissey with "Dagenham Dave"

Otherwise going on there was the much hyped launch of Windows 95 on the 24th of August - I was unaffected as I'd already had my Mac for more than 2 years at this point.

"The Usual Suspects" was released in the UK on the 25th, only 9 days after the US release. Others on release were "Babe", "Virtuosity", "Mortal Kombat", "Desperado" and "Dangerous Minds".

On telly, at the end of the summer drought, some new season programmes began to emerge. On the 31st came the short-lived return of Maureen Lipman as Jane Lucas in "Agony Again", the sequel to "Agony". Jane had fictionally moved from magazine to TV counselling, and in reality had transferred from ITV/LWT to BBC One. Maria Charles and Simon Williams followed too as her mother and ex-husband respectively, though Jane now had a black boyfriend and a gay son to spice things up. Shame it didn't get a second series, though it wasn't as good as the original. I always love Maureen Lipman's work but it's been doubly interesting in recent years as my boss is her niece (she's actually Jack Rosenthal's niece, but you get my point).

In an era when "Doctor Who" was officially dead, it might be thought there's nothing to report on that front (even the TVM announcement was months away), but not so. We had 2 new Virgin novels a month, Doctor Who Magazine and August 1995 had two VHS releases ("Frontier in Space" and "K9 & Company", since you ask).

Here are that month's novel covers for Gareth Roberts' "Zamper" (Seventh Doctor, Bernice, Roz and Chris) and Gary Russell's somewhat fanciful "Invasion of the Cat People" (Second Doctor, Ben and Polly). And yes, there does appear to an unfortunate anthropomorphic tendency going on.

In what was the first Frisky Summer for Bel Ami, as they celebrated their initial dose of success, I present their second big star, Johan Paulik as the designated 'Retro Totty' for August 1995:

Johan is now 35 and retired from 'performing' in 2007, though directs for the company and has held a Bel Ami managerial position (ahem) since 2002.

http://www.chartstats.com/chart.php?date=28%2F08%2F1995

Next weekend: September 1976

NB: this is an unfinished post, as I will be adding some personal colour later

Friday, 27 August 2010

The Moff's Hero Sandwich

I only upload this as it's so cute and will send several ladies and gents into throes of envy for Steven Moffat as he poses betwixt his leading men, Benedict Cumberbatch & Matt Smith.

The Moff is currently using this as his Twitter avatar, but he's such a busy man elsewhere that I only discovered this today.

Enjoy!

Thursday, 26 August 2010

Meat to Please You - Kaden Saylor - ADULTS ONLY!

http://www.imagebam.com/gallery/41gr2dqnhdph8xa43dd4b3cdebktq26u

No "Shame" for Robbie & Gary

Thanks to BBC Breakfast, I caught the video for the eagerly anticipated musical reconciliation between Robbie Williams and Gary Barlow, entitled "Shame". And I'm not the first to notice the melody is reminiscent of the Beatles' "Blackbird" while the video is a fairly shame-less homage to "Brokeback Mountain". Officially the track was done for Robbie's next Greatest Hits album (see below) but I wouldn't be surprised to see it on the next Take That proper album once Robbie's new recordings with them, plus a tour together, have passed.

Not surprising that Robbie has a reputation for ego. With this second stab at a Greatest Hits the dating of 1990 to 2010 is curious when Take That didn't have any sort of hit until the end of 1991, but the only Take That track on it is from 1994. I suppose that might be down to EMI though, but it's still a bit of a cheat.

Here's the album cover and full track-listing anyway (a notably stronger CD2) ...

CD1

1 Shame (with Gary Barlow)
2 Heart And I
3 You Know Me
4 Bodies
5 Morning Sun
6 She’s Madonna
7 Lovelight
8 Rudebox
9 Sin Sin Sin
10 Advertising Space
11 Make Me Pure
12 Tripping
13 Misunderstood
14 Radio
15 Sexed Up
16 Something Beautiful
17 Come Undone
18 Feel
19 Mr Bojangles

CD2

1 I Will Talk And Hollywood Will Listen
2 Somethin’ Stupid (with Nicole Kidman)
3 The Road To Mandalay
4 Eternity
5 Let Love Be Your Energy
6 Supreme
7 Kids (with Kylie Minogue)
8 Rock DJ
9 It’s Only Us
10 She’s The One
11 Strong
12 No Regrets
13 Millennium
14 Let Me Entertain You
15 Angels
16 South Of The Border
17 Lazy Days
18 Old Before I Die
19 Freedom
20 Everything Changes (with Take That)

Monday, 30 August 2010

This is as played from 10am with Ken Bruce - some were double-sided (including the No1)

Radio 2 played them all today (well except for one by Gary Glitter),

The Righteous Brothers — Unchained Melody

Julie Covington — Don't Cry For Me Argentina

The New Seekers — I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing

The Archies — Sugar Sugar

Simon Park Orchestra — Eye Level

Kings of Leon — Sex On Fire

Billy Joel — Uptown Girl

Brotherhood of Man — Save Your Kisses For Me

Bob the Builder — Can We Fix It?

Adam and The Ants — Stand & Deliver

ABBA — Dancing Queen

Black Box — Ride On Time

Irene Cara — Fame

The Black Eyed Peas — I Gotta Feeling

Eiffel 65 — Blue (Da Ba Dee)

Oasis — Wonderwall

Take That — Back For Good

Robbie Williams — Angels

Pink Floyd — Another Brick In The Wall

Cliff Richard & The Shadows — The Young Ones

Natalie Imbruglia — Torn

Ray Parker Jr. — Ghostbusters

Hear'Say — Pure And Simple

Shayne Ward — That's My Goal

Spice Girls — 2 Become 1

Frank Ifield — I Remember You

Ian Dury and The Blockheads — Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick

Robson & Jerome — I Believe

Robson & Jerome — Up On The Roof

Teletubbies — Teletubbies Say "Eh-Oh!"

Boyzone — No Matter What

Whigfield — Saturday Night

Slade — Merry Xmas Everybody

New Order — Blue Monday

Kylie Minogue — Can't Get You Out Of My Head

Babylon Zoo — Spaceman

Michael Jackson — Earth Song

Band Aid 20 — Do They Know It's Christmas?

Acker Bilk — Stranger On The Shore

David Soul — Don't Give Up On Us

Steps — Heartbeat

Steps — Tragedy

Engelbert Humperdinck — The Last Waltz

Harry Belafonte — Mary's Boy Child

Art Garfunkel — Bright Eyes

Alexandra Burke — Hallelujah

Run-D.M.C. vs. Jason Nevins — It's Like That

Tom Jones — Green Green Grass Of Home

Tony Christie — Is This The Way To Amarillo

Shaggy — It Wasn't Me

Soft Cell — Tainted Love

Paul Anka — Diana

Blondie — Heart Of Glass

Elvis Presley — It's Now Or Never

Survivor — Eye Of The Tiger

Dexys Midnight Runners & The Emerald Express — Come On Eileen

Céline Dion — Think Twice

Spice Girls — Wannabe

Fugees — Killing Me Softly

Gareth Gates — Unchained Melody

Coolio — Gangsta's Paradise

Jennifer Rush — The Power Of Love

Engelbert Humperdinck — Release Me

The Beatles — We Can Work It Out

The Beatles — Day Tripper

The Seekers — The Carnival Is Over

The Beatles — I Feel Fine

Bill Haley & His Comets — Rock Around The Clock

Céline Dion — My Heart Will Go On

George Michael — Careless Whisper

Village People — YMCA

Culture Club — Karma Chameleon

Whitney Houston — I Will Always Love You

Puff Daddy & Faith Evans — I'll Be Missing You

Baddiel, Skinner & The Lightning Seeds — Three Lions

Britney Spears — Baby One More Time

The Human League — Don't You Want Me