UK Top 40 w/e 18th August 1979

I'm sure it's probably shit but I was a big B.A. Robertson fan as a 7-year-old, so that.

Lost In Music

I'm intensely sentimental about this chart, as it contains a lot of music from the end of my A-level term, which also coincided with my first physical relationship. But with term over, and the obscure object of my desire having vanished over the horizon, I was now stuck up North, doing a horrible vacation job in a wholesale warehouse, and watching the records which defined my Golden Age slowly slide away from public view. So my vote is going to the record which evokes the strongest Proustian rush on this lovely August morning, thirty years on... and that record is "Girls Talk" by Dave Edmunds.

Funny, I remember buying "Girls Talk" in South Shields, because they had the nice clear vinyl version.

Would have, anyway, but.

Plenty on here to vote for, went "Gangsters" though, had to...

Chic, boringly

The ones that I bought on 7" at the time: Reasons To Be Cheerful, Gangsters, Money, Are Friends Electric.

The ones that I bought on 7" at a later date, because I was soft like that: We Don't Talk Anymore, Horace Wimp, Morning Dance, If I Had You, Is She Really Going Out With Him, Good Times, Bad Girls, Silly Games, Lost In Music.

The one that I bought on 7" at an earlier date, because I was hip like that: Rock Lobster.

at least a dozen great tunes here but gotta give geldof some due.

Tubeway Army, Flying Lizards or Sister Sledge for me. That's quite a good Sparks track though.

Randy Vanwarmer - A+ name btw

The Randy Vanwarmer track isn't a patch on the Barbara Jones lovers rock cover version, though....

ALL GOLD!

OK maybe not Merton Parkas, or the Johnny Mathis one (which I can't recall)

IIRC #3 and #6 were new entries that week. I was v excited by this at the time.

... The Dooleys? (xp)

36 Me & You - You'll Never Know What You've Got

Whazzis?

Reggae I think.

Yeah, I loved "Wanted".

Me & You = lovers rock I think

Ah, here you go:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njTZ0TfqArQ

Close between 'Good Times' and 'Lost in Music' but the latter wins out. Some great tracks in this chart.

At the time, I thought "Lost In Music" was plodding and dreary. How very, very wrong I was.

The Johnny Mathis one was his "disco" number, actually not bad.

tubeway army.

two songs called ''angel eyes'' in the top 15, by two great bands, even.

The Dooleys, odd bunch: Family group, guy lead singer, fairly tepid disco-lite.

Then they promoted the 2 girl backing vocalists to lead for "Wanted", more strident and a step up.

Then they never had another hit.

(oh, and they never had a single called "Caught", no matter what the jovial local radio DJ might tell you)

No, they had one more proper hit: the faintly reggae-tinged "The Chosen Few".

Somehow I get them mixed up with the Nolans

This must be the best UK Top 40 we've polled. I can either do the "I can't choose" routine or just arbitrarily vote for whatever I'm feeling most at this second, which right now is...fuck it, Abba.

The Johnny Mathis one was his "disco" number, actually not bad.

*slaps forehead* Oh yeah, duh. I remember it now. I may even vote for it!

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

for me it's between cliff and sister sledge and cliff cuts deepest. great chart.

That month, I saw three of these bands live - Ian Dury at the Hammersmith Odeon (audience lapping up his every gesture), Specials at the Hammersmith Palais (magnificent), and Sham at the Rainbow (a show Jimmy Pursey, in tears, cut short due to audience violence). So many of these tracks sounded revolutionary at the time - Lizards, B52s, Chic in particular. Going wuth Chic.

is that Mathis number his Chic collaboration?

No, the Chic collab was never released.

Went for ELO, but excellent list overall.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Justin Lee Collins' catchphrase wins.

Can't really argue with the top two, though in the end I voted for Roxy's 'Angel Eyes'. Still sounds as diaphanous and beguiling as it did when I bought it 30 years ago.

What a wonderful chart. Incredibly evocative for me. "Girls Talk" and Roxy's "Angel Eyes" would've been my favourites at the time, and I think they still are.