Now That's What I Call Stuart's Favourite Music 43 - The Carpenters (Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft)

Today, we go back to when I was VERY little with The Carpenters' version of "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft", originally released by them in September 1977 (I was only 7 months old), and is in fact a cover from a song by Klaatu which was used by the pirate radio station Radio Caroline as an opening song for their midnight transmissions - Thanks Wikipedia.  The original is not a bad version, but I prefer The Carpenters cover, especially with the All Hit Radio intro.

I vaguely remember first listening to this one night in the 80s when my Dad put it on, and I've loved it ever since.

Enjoy this, the recognized Anthem of World Contact Day.

Hey babe, what would you like to hear?

Now That's What I Call Stuart's Favourite Music 42 - Phil Collins (Don't Lose My Number)

Whilst reacquainting myself with Phil Collins's excellent "No Jacket Required" album, Don't Lose My Number has given me a massive flashback feeling.  Gosh, I forgot how much I love this song, and how good an album it is.

As already mentioned, the song comes from his excellent No Jacket Required album, but wasn't actually released as a single in the UK.  It did reach an impressive number 4 in the US, and ranked 64th in the US Top Pop Singles for 1985

Anyway, here's the music video.  Stick with it...  the song begins around the 1 minute and 30 seconds mark.

Now That's What I Call Stuart's Favourite Music 41 - Nik Kershaw (Dancing Girls)

As I've probably mentioned before in a previous post, my sister was a massive fan of Nik Kershaw, and quite often when I was a young lad in the mid-80s I would be able to hear his tunes coming through the wall between our two bedrooms.  At the time, I was not a fan but over the years I've grown to really like his music.

Whenever I listen to Dancing Girls, I have a vivid memory of helping my sister write a "Nik Kershaw" lyrics program on our Commodore Plus 4 computer in BASIC, a program I still have stored on one of hundreds of old cassettes to this day, named "Nik 16"

Released 38 years ago, on April 2nd 1984, Dancing Girls was a single from his excellent "Human Racing" album and peaked in the UK charts at No. 13 around the same time as classic favourites of mine such as Queen's "I Want To Break Free", Depeche Mode's "People are People" and Blancemange's "Don't Tell Me"

Enjoy!

Now That's What I Call Stuart's Favourite Music 40 - Johnny Hates Jazz (Shattered Dreams)

There are a large number of songs that constantly remind me of family walks from Leigh-on-Sea to Southend, mostly because we used to stop off at different pubs on the way, and most had the songs of the day playing over the speakers.  This was around the mid to late 1980's where we'd jump on a Class 302 from Laindon, get off at Leigh-on-Sea, and stop for a quick drink at the Peterboat, Ye Olde Smack, and then onwards towards Southend-on-Sea with a quick stop at the Cliffs Pavilion for another bevvy - or in my case, another pint of orange squash!.

Shattered Dreams by Johnny Hates Jazz is one of those songs that was played a lot in those pubs at the time.  It was released in March 1987 and went straight to number 97 in the UK charts.  Only through lots of airtime on the radio did it finally reach a deserving number 5 two months later.

An absolute stonker of an 80s track.  Enjoy.

And as a bonus for those like me who also like some classical/orchestral music, here is the track from the 80s Classical live event in 2019.

Now That's What I Call Stuart's Favourite Music 39 - Freiheit (Keeping The Dream Alive)

Released in 1988, "Keeping The Dream Alive" peaked at number 14 in the UK Charts during December of that year and was their only UK hit.  It's often played on the radio at Christmas and features on many festive compilation albums mainly due to it being released around that time of year, despite the song having absolutely nothing to do with Christmas!

Crank up the volume and listen to that awesome orchestral sound.  It definitely has a hint of ELO to it with some 80s Paul McCartney thrown in too!

Enjoy.

Now That's What I Call Stuart's Favourite Music 38 - Feargal Sharkey (A Good Heart)

Whenever I feel down, I usually resort to listening to some 80s music, and this is one song I can always count on to cheer me up.  Today, I have decided to pick Feargal Sharkey's "A Good Heart" which reached number 1 in the UK Charts in November 1985, and where it stayed for 2 weeks.  It was his only UK number one, and what a great song it is too.

It will always remind me of family walks along the seafront at Southend.  Many of the 'watering holes' where we would stop off between Leigh-on-Sea and Southend-on-Sea would play this on the jukebox whilst I drank my pint of orange squash and spent countless 10p's on the arcade machines.  Happy days.