It's 1989 and this mix is much more eclectic than what the all-punk '79 set had to offer in my last entry.
#1856 Red Hot Chili Peppers - Knock Me Down 🟡
I'm not really familiar with the Chili Peppers' output prior to Blood Sugar Sex Magik (which came out a couple of years after this single) and even then I only know the hits. However, what I do know about them is that they always seemed to be in their underwear, or less, so this sleeve is in tune with what I expected. Two of the band members are staring straight out, expressionless, even pinching their own nipple. A bit weird, but ok. Their sound at this time is very similar to Faith No More, but not as exciting - Anthony Kiedis lacks the vocal skill of Mike Patton. They try to make up for this with 'funky' bass which I am not a fan of. Due to the flatness of the vocal I can't make out many of the words in this song and it doesn't grab me, although I suspect this might have sounded good live. There's an unnecessary key change and a lazy fade-out at the end; overall, nothing special.
b/w Punk Rock Classic 🟡
They're playing so fast here that I checked to make sure I wasn't supposed to play this side at 33rpm. It is almost a good hardcore punk song but Kiedis' vocal is so weird that it puts me right off. After a minute and a half of trying to make a hardcore record the guitarist closes with a snippet of the Sweet Child O' Mine riff, which is the best part of this 7" so far.
b/w Pretty Little Ditty 🟢
This one is an instrumental jam and I don't usually care for those but this is actually quite pretty, as the title suggests, and it's less than 2 minutes long so unlike most jams, it doesn't outstay its welcome. The most important thing about this piece is that it contains the riff which was sampled to form the basis of Butterfly by Crazy Town, a song that I love in a guilty pleasure sort of way. That stopped me in my tracks and I've rated the song higher than I expected because of its iconic contribution to nu-metal. I have Butterfly on a mix CD so I'll talk about it properly then but I immediately went and listened to it after hearing Pretty Little Ditty.
#1857 Tina Turner - The Best 🟢
The sleeve for this record isn't particularly exciting, Tina looks good on the cover but the minimalism doesn't really match the music. This is an iconic song that I definitely thought was from longer ago, but when I listen to the 80s rock drums and synths properly it's pretty clear that it's from this era. The Best is uplifting and joyous. I was worried that I wouldn't have a good experience of this song from hearing the chorus dropped in to so many adverts and montages, I thought it would just wash over me, but when the chorus is in its original context it works so well. And there's a sax solo! Yes, this is a good song and I enjoyed hearing it in full for a change.
b/w Undercover Agent For The Blues 🟡
This is very bluesy, as the name would suggest. I don't have much to say about it, it's the kind of song you could imagine hearing sung in a smoky basement club in a movie. There's nothing wrong with it but it's not a classic like the a-side.
#1858 Dion - King Of The New York Streets 🟡
There's a timeless quality to this which I suppose is the result of an old-school rock'n'roll singer putting out a single in 1989. It has all the hallmarks of a song from 30 years earlier but updated, so the drums reminded me of glam rock rather than the Spector sound that it was influenced by, and the production sounds very late-80s. It's a fine record but not memorable - it's only of those bluesy rock songs that keeps going verse after verse without getting anywhere. Dion comes across as a cool guy but it doesn't rival his original hit about the same subject.
b/w The Wanderer 🔵
This is the real deal, the OG that he's trying to have a second stab at, Dion's 1961 classic about being a slutty man on the road. The sounds in this record, from the backing singers to the snare and the sax to Dion's snarl are all perfect. The Wanderer is the real reason that this single is worth purchasing - what a great tune.
This isn't bad - it's a bit 'big' sounding, like they really want to be a stadium rock band in the vein of Simple Minds. They're from Edinburgh and feature Shirley Manson on keyboards and vocals, so I should like them more than I actually do. I didn't catch all of the words but there was talk about viruses which is something I really don't want in my escapist pop music in this decade. Goodwill City is also much too long for a song that they failed to write a big chorus for.
AA side - I'm Sick Of You 🟡
There's a lot going on here. It sounds a bit trad with Golden Brown keyboard chords and something I couldn't put my finger on which felt a step too close to a ceilidh band. The vocals have a 60s folk vibe - a bit Dylan, a bit Donovan perhaps. It's a mess with six people in the band all trying to do things at the same time. I think this song would have worked if it had been recorded by Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood about 20 years before this, but Goodbye Mr Mackenzie don't do a good job of it.
#1860 - Erasure - Drama! 🟢
This has the sort of sleeve I associate with the Erasure sound - it's bright and colourful with Pop Art leanings. As the title suggests it's quite dramatic, getting more so as the verse builds up to the chorus. It doesn't have a big hook like some of their other hits but the melody in the last line of the chorus is gorgeous. The sounds in this are fun, it's an effective dance record that I bet went down a storm in the gay disco of 1989.
b/w Sweet, Sweet Baby 🟢
I did not expect to get a genuine rave record on the b-side of this single! There's vocal samples, Italohouse keyboards, a pounding beat... It's a bit of a kitchen-sink record with a lot of motifs coming in and out which make it less cohesive than it could be, but it's good fun and I enjoyed the surprise of Vince Clarke coming up with this.
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