Fades in Slowly

The middle of August, 1979 and I’d just turned 6. That’s me in the picture above, apparently. JP was on good form, although I was still a bit young to fully appreciate his genius. This was a shame really, as I was about to miss the one and only session by The Police. Not only did Sting and chums have a single in the top ten at the time, they also finally realised their dream of getting a Peel session, not that JP himself was terribly impressed by their effort. Other highlights of the mid August show included Dolly Mixtures first and only session. Full as possible details of the show have been lovingly cobbled together by my friends over at the Peel wiki, and you can download the little gem here.

Elsewhere, another band who, like the Police, had ‘pestered’ JP greatly to get on the show – U2 – were making their first big radio interview. Michael Jackson released his first breakthrough album Off the Wall, and on the telly we were treated to the very scary – I was 6 – Sapphire and Steel, among other things. Am I the only one who’d completely forgotten about Outer Spacers?

Here’s what magazines looked like back then.

If you want to look through the entire mid-August 1979 edition of Smash Hits, you can do so by clicking here (courtesy of the remarkable Like Punk Never Happened).

My dear friends, here is the final part of the festive countdown… I hope you’ve enjoyed listening to this chart as much as I have cobbling it together. My laptop is resisting all attempts to Peelify the chart, so at the moment there’s only the zip file download available. I hope to remedy this in the next few days. Enjoy the top ten and have a great year.

10 Bob Marley – Punky Reggae Party (Adam – Fades in Slowly)
09 The Boys – First Time (Stewy – Mr. obscure)
08 Head Hands and Feet - Warming Up The Band (Dave – Planet Mondo)
07 Gustav Holst - Saturn, The Bringer Of Old Age (Steve – Teenage Kicks)
06 Smoke Fairies – Frozen heart (Davy – Ghost of Electricity)
05 Morrissey – I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris (Adam – Fades in Slowly)
04 The Fall – Slippy Floor (Mark Mix) (Kris – Burning World)
03 Butcher Boy – A Better Ghost (Jim – Vinyl villain)
02 Bloc Party – This Modern Love (Adam – Pretending life is like a song)
01 Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Zero (Ed – 17 seconds)

I’m sure you’ve all had much better things to do, so you might have missed 50 to 41, 40 to 31, 30 to 21and even 20 to 11.

Now then, anyone remember The Price is Right?

Here we are then, with the decade about to end. It’s frightening to think that there will be soon be parts of the 1970s that will be forty years ago.

Here be the penultimate part of the festive countdown…

20 The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Stay Alive (Adam – Fades in Slowly)
19 Bats For Lashes – Two Planets (Adam – Fades in Slowly)
18 The Silence – Hi Fi Woman (1979 Peel session version) (Stewy – Mr. obscure)
17 The Wannadies – Might Be Stars (Adam – Pretending life is like a song)
16 Big Boss Man – Beat Breakfast (Dave – Planet Mondo)
15 Richard Hawley – For Your Lover Give Some Time (Davy – Ghost of Electricity)
14 St. Vincent – Actor Out Of Work (Ed – 17 seconds)
13 Cats on fire – Horoscope (Jim – Vinyl villain)
12 Carl Orff – Carmina Burana Ecce Gratum (Steve – Teenage Kicks)
11 Gardeners Question Time – I Saw God (Short Version) (Kris – Burning World)

Listen ye now…

Just in case you’ve had better things to do, you might have missed 50 to 41, 40 to 31 and 30 to 21.

Back in 1984, Martina Extra Dry cost you £2.28 a bottle.

Hope those of you who celebrate Christmas had a good one. I’m a Chivas Regal and a Glenfiddich to the good, so all’s well at my end. Here then, my dear friends, is part three of the stupendous blogger’s choice Festive 50 of 2009.

30 We Were Promised Jetpacks – Moving Clocks Run Slow (Adam – Fades in Slowly)
29 The Jam – Ghosts (Adam – Pretending life is like a song)
28 The Wolfmen – Cat Green Eyes (Dave – Planet Mondo)
27 Smoke Fairies – Sunshine (Davy – Ghost of Electricity)
26 Horace Andy and Ashley Beedle – Babylon You Lose (Ed – 17 seconds)
25 The Twilight Sad – I Became a Prostitute (Jim – Vinyl villain)
24 Shlohmo – Socks (Kris – Burning World)
23 Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev – Classical Symphony 1st mvt (Steve – Teenage Kicks)
22 Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev - Romeo & Juliet (Balcony Scene) (Steve – Teenage Kicks)
21 Johnny Curious – The Road To Cheltenham (Stewy – Mr. Obscure)

Listen now…

If you’ve had better things to do, you might have missed 50 to 41 and 40 to 31.

Here’s what was on offer from BBC1 on Xmas Day 1984: it begins with the end of the Blankety Blank Xmas Special with Les Dawson, followed by a trailer for the Two Ronnies, and a BBC2 slide and the BBC1 Xmas ident linking into the Hi-De-Hi Xmas Special.

Here we are then, with part two (part one here) of what is becoming a smashing festive chart. More of the same, with a mix of old and new from any genre you can imagine.

Just to let you know, I’ve already started on the mulled wine, so part three might not appear until next Monday depending on my level of merriment. I’ve got a couple of things lined up for Christmas to help tide you over. Have a good one, whatever it is you celebrate.

The Fades in Slowly 2009 Festive 50 part 2

40 Franz Ferdinand – Ulysses (Adam – Fades in Slowly)
39 The Soup Greens – Like a Rolling Stone (Dave – Planet Mondo)
38 Lines – Nerve Pylon (Stewy – Mr. Obscure)
37 Brakes – Why Tell The Truth (When It’s Easier To Lie) (Adam – Fades in Slowly)
36 Electrojuice – Panpan (Kris – Burning World)
35 Paul Haig – Round And Round (Jim – Vinyl villain)
34 Hello Saferide – Arjeplog (Davy – Ghost of Electricity)
33 Peter Parker – Swallow the Rockets (Ed – 17 seconds)
32 Malcolm Arnold – English Dance Set 2 No 1 (Steve – Teenage Kicks)
31 Stevie Wonder – For Once In My Life (Adam – Pretending life is like a song)

Listen now…

In 1987, the BBC was using very weird fonts and we celebrated Christmas night with the two Ronnies.

After last year’s exhausting effort to cobble together a 1976 chart, as enjoyable as it was, I’ve this year asked some of my fellow bloggers to do the hard work and make their choices of tracks they’d like to hear in a festive chart. Here then, is part one, featuring the rundown from that all important number 50 to 41.

I hope you enjoy this chart: it’s reminiscent of the late ’70s 50s, with a mixture of a few old gems and lots of contemporary classics. Rather than do the segways myself, I’ve got in the professionals this time round, although I have to admit, there are one or two discrepancies between the track introduced and the one played.

The Fades in Slowly 2009 Festive 50 part 1

50 Lo Cut a Sleifar – Aduniad (Adam – Fades in Slowly)
49 Richard Hawley – Open up your door (Davy – Ghost of Electricity)
48 Vaughan Williams – Fantasia On A Theme Of Thomas Tallis (Steve – Teenage Kicks)
47 Readymades – Terry Is My Space Cadet (Stewy – Mr. Obscure)
46 The Keith Mansfield Orchestra – Soul Thing (Dave – Planet Mondo)
45 The Big Pink – Velvet (Ed – 17 seconds)
44 Aidan Moffat & the Best-ofs – Big Blonde (Jim – Vinyl villain)
43 The Magnetic Fields – Nothing matters when we’re dancing (Adam – Pretending life is like a song)
42 Four Tet – Love Cry (Kris – Burning World)
41 Richard Addinsell – Southern Rhapsody (Steve – Teenage Kicks)

Thank you to the wonderful bloggers who are making the chart possible.

Listen now!

Remember when TV closed down for the night?