"i can dance forever"

first blood to you, mr carlin... ?

You're both wrong, it is in fact Give me back my heart by Dollar.

Nope its 'Hand Held in Black And White' surely. Trevor Horn did have flashes of genius.

(haha in order to better decide i just had to spend half an hour finding my stash of those little squiggly centre-things you had to put into pop 7" singles in times long gone and gentle dust in our hearts: the yoof of today they are surely spoiled... hang on, my turntable-driving hamster-wheel is slowing, i must find his kibble!!)

Which grim pub in NoHo, that's what we want to know? Other ILXers spent vast chunks of evening attempting an a capella version of the worst pop single ever cf. Peaches by The Stranglers.

sam smiths pub w.stained-glass windows on or near wells street: we "liked" the look of it because it was nearly deserted; we soon found out why heh. sam smiths = no real drinkable bogus corporate alco-piss = eg bud yum yum tho i was able to spot in advance and avoid the HORRIBLE HORRIBLE organic lager foisted on me by evil neo-Jazz Age winos in my previous sam smith chiz

Sam Smiths have an armlock on the NoHo pub scene so this could have been any one of a number of deserted pubXoRs, probably The Champion though (inaptly named).

We were in The Crown. A member of our party sang a bit of Gary Byrd's "The Crown" to underscore this fact. And I got my jacket back.

Anyway I'm not sure I know this Dollar song though I know the other ones mentioned.

Dollar themselves spell it with an 'h' strangely: "Videotheque" 1982 WEA Buck4

"Videotheque" has to be listened to as the fourth and final of the four singles which Horn co-wrote/produced for Dollar (the others being, in order, "Hand Held in Black and White," "Mirror Mirror (Mon Amour)" and "Give Me Back My Heart") as they, intentionally or not, tell a story (fall in love on screen, are in love, drift apart, exist only as separate pixels on a dehumanised VDU).

The idea was that they were going to do a whole concept album about this, but Dollar apparently got fed up with Horn's "schoolmasterly" approach in the studio and figured they could do the rest of it by themselves. The resulting "Dollar Album" flopped as it deserved. Even the singles didn't appear in the correct order on the album, and to my knowledge have never appeared on CD (there are cheapo Dollar best ofs in existence, but always without these central four songs).

"Give Me Back My Heart," however - avant-MoR at its finest, outdoing Brian Wilson and up there with Yello's "Of Course I'm Lying" and Saint Etienne's "Avenue."

More about pubs in a moment.

The Trevor Horn Worship Hall for anyone interested in his work. Worth visiting alone for the description of Foreigner's 'I want to know what love is' as an 'aborted single'.

Have a look at www.dollarsite.co.uk. There are two FANTASTIC pictures of David Van Day and Thereze Bazar (sp?) on the first page, which shriek '1981'.

I read that DVD now runs a burger van empire somewhere or other.

Most of what ms and mc say 'bout Dollar is indeed on the money. Also Hot Chocolate's 'It Started with a Kiss' ("You don't remember me, DO YOU?").

anyone see Never Mind the Buzzcocks, last night? David Van Day was one of the panelists, and they kept making fun of the burger van. childish, but amusing

Dr C d'you remember Hot Chocolate's "Mindless Boogie"? During Erroll's Talking Heads phase?! "Six hundred dead in Jonestown, very strange very strange"

"more about pubs in a moment"

See where hanging with Mark S gets you. Huh.

i am in the pay of Old Father Ethan: soon there will be nothing here but promises

How soon?

Oh christ, I'd forgotten "Mindless Boogie"! Classic!

Also 'No Doubt About It' : "Let tell you about the other night, it was really frightening".

How can you start on Hot Chocolate without mentioning "Every 1's A Winner"? *Fantastic* pop-funk, everything "You Sexy Thing" might still be if it weren't so grotesquely overplayed and over-remixed.

Also: Imagination's "Just An Illusion" reveals deeper tragedy every year.

Oops, forgot about "Emma".

What about Dollar's earlier records? "Love's Gotta Hold On Me": C or D?

Yes, of course "Everyone's A Winner" is fantastic. And has a guitar riff as good as any other you can think of. "So You Win Again", "Brother Louie" ... all classix.

The problem is, Robin, Errol's a TORY!!!

the thing people semm to ignore about videothegue is fantastic use of then new digital technologies.samples of thereze's voice in different colourful ways drum samples linndrum a digital sample drum machine. these are all taken for granted nowadays.it wasnt then. videotheque does not sound to my mind dated at all it sounds quite colourfully modern thats just my opinion.a great underated track one of the forerunners for music expectations through the 80s 90s i love it and most of dollers music it great stuff that deserves a real good listen

Somehow I'd never read Dr C's reply until now. I know he was sending me up gently, but I'll just say that I don't *instantly* dismiss records just because they were made by Tory supporters!

I'm increasingly coming to think that Hot Chocolate's best single might be "Put Your Love In Me". Devotional.

Actually, I'm reminded: Errol appeared at a Tory conference in the 80s, didn't he?

Singing "Imagine"!

Then again, did not Mr Lennon vote Tory on the quiet to keep his taxes down (see Revolution in the Head)?

Latest "Imagine"-related damage: my cousin playing the opening chord sequence on the horrible crappy Casio "piano" he inherited from a much younger me. Needless to say I scarpered after a few seconds.

I can't be bothered to check MacDonald but I wouldn't put it past Lennon.