Slight change of tack this month, and indeed for the remainder of this series, in that instead of looking at one week’s chart in a particular month, I’m going to go through each of them to highlight and recall some great 45s from the latter half of 1983.
Chart dates 3rd – 9th July 1983
The top end of the chart still had the June hangover, but one of the former new wave heroes found himself in the Top 10 with a bit of an MOR classic:-
mp3: Tom Robinson – War Baby (#6)
I could have included this in last month’s posting as it was kicking around the charts in June 1983, but held it back. TRB had, with 2-4-6-8 Motorway and the Rising Free EP, enjoyed a bit of success in the new wave era, but Robinson’s next venture, Sector 27, had failed dismally. He went away to live in Germany, wrote some new songs, including War Baby, and returned to the UK with the aim of becoming purely a solo artist. War Baby was the only big hit he would enjoy, albeit there was a minor hit later in 1983. He’s remained very well-known here in the UK as a result of broadcasting shows on all various BBC Radio stations since the late 80s.
mp3: Malcolm McLaren – Double Dutch (#19)
The inclusion of this one might annoy a few of you, but I remain quite fond of it. The svengali had enjoyed an unexpected Top 10 hit in 1982 with Buffalo Gals, one of the first hit singles to feature hip-hop and scratching, but that was reckoned to have been the last anyone would hear of him. He returned in 83 with a single which celebrated a skipping game that was highly popular among many African American communities, particularly in New York. It’s one of those songs which entertains and annoys in equal measures, depending on your take. It would eventually climb to #3.
mp3: David Sylvian and Riuichi Sakamoto – Forbidden Colours (#20)
The vocal version of the main theme to Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence, one of the most critically acclaimed films of 1983. This was not the first time that the former frontman of Japan and the award-winning composer had collaborated on a hit single, as the double-A sided Bamboo Houses/Bamboo Music, which was part of the first solo project undertaken by Sylvian, had been a Top 30 hit in 1982. Forbidden Colours would rise up the charts over the next couple of weeks, peaking at #16.
mp3: The Cure – The Walk (#34)
The eleventh single to be released by The Cure. This was the week it entered the charts, making six in a row to make at least the Top 50. However, The Walk would go on to spend 8 weeks in the charts, and in reaching #12 would give the group its breakthrough into the Top 20.
mp3: Bananarama – Cruel Summer (#36)
There’s no way I’m not including this in the feature. Bananarama were great fun back in 1983, and would remain so for many more years to come. This was another new entry and, during a 10-week stay, would eventually peak at #8.
mp3: Elvis Costello & The Attractions – Everyday I Write The Book (#40)
Having been in the charts earlier in the tear as The Imposter, the release of the first new single off what would be the band’s seventh studio album, took Elvis Costello & The Attractions back into the Top 40 for the first time since High Fidelity in 1980 – four singles in the intervening period had all stalled in the 40s or 50s. This one would be a real slower burner in that it spent 8 weeks in the charts but never got any higher than #28.
Chart dates 10th – 16th July 1983
Rod Stewart and Paul Young continued to bore everyone rigid at the top of the charts. Baby Jane was at #1 for a third successive week, but was poised to lose its place to Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home) which was sitting at #2 but would end up itself spending three weeks at the top.
All of those that had come in as new entries the previous week made progress up the chart, joined by a few more excellent 45s.
mp3: Echo & The Bunnymen – Never Stop (#30)
This was the first new release since the success of the album Porcupine, as well as the hit singles taken from it (The Back of Love and The Cutter). Its absence from any future albums sort of makes Never Stop one of the more forgotten 45s from the Bunnymen, but it’s one of my favourites, particularly in its extended 12″ format which was given very regular airings at the Student Union discos. It would rise to #15 the following week, before slowly drifting out of the chart.
mp3: The Lotus Eaters – The First Picture Of You (#36)
The debut single from The Lotus Eaters had been on sale for a few weeks before it reached the Top 40. It had come in at #71, climbed to #42 and now got to #36. The good news would continue as it would rise in each of the next five weeks, which also led to a couple of appearances on Top of The Pops, reaching #15. It would prove to be the only occasion that the group had a Top 40 hit.
Chart dates 17th – 23rd July 1983
mp3: The Creatures – Right Now (#32)
The side-group of Siouxsie Sioux and Budgie was now enjoying a second Top 40 hit in 1983, this time with a cover of a jazz song from the early 60s. There was a brilliantly written review from Paul Colbert in Melody Maker:-
“The Creatures slipped through an unlocked back window, ransacked the place and left with the best ideas in a fast car. Like all the greatest criminal minds they strike without a warning and only they know the plan. We have to piece the clues into a cover story. From the earliest seconds of ‘Right Now’ you know you’re on shifting ground. Siouxsie baba da baping away to the noise of her own fingers clicking until Budgie barges in with congas on speed. Christ which way is this going? The one direction you don’t expect is a vagrant big band coughing out drunken bursts of brass in a Starlight Room of its own making. Budgie and Siouxsie – the Fred and Ginger of the wayward world”.
Right Now would end up spending 10 weeks in the charts, peaking at #14.
Chart dates 24th – 30th July 1983
mp3: Depeche Mode – Everything Counts (#26)
I’m no fan of post-Vince Clarke DM, but it’s only fair to acknowledge the amount of time they’ve been around. Everything Counts might have been 40 years ago, but it was already their seventh Top 30 single, going back to New Life in June 1981. It would eventually reach #6, which matched their previous best chart performance, which had been achieved with See You. I was surprised to learn that only one further DM single would ever get higher in the charts, and that came the following year, when People Are People reached #4.
mp3: Bruce Foxton – Freak (#34)
The bass player of the band formerly known as The Jam finally got his solo career underway. His debut single came in at #34 and after a couple of weeks had climbed to #23, but he never again replicated this success, very much overshadowed by what Paul Weller was achieving with The Style Council. To be honest, Freak isn’t a very good song, and probably owed its success from the loyalty of fans of his former band.
I’ll be back with more of the same in four or so weeks.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 