Merry Christmas everyone, and less than a week to go now until I complete this marathon!
During the course of this year I aimed to upload a song every day for your consideration as to whether they were good enough and sufficiently commercial to have become UK Top 20 singles. Many different genres will be represented, so if this particular one’s not your preferred style then hopefully it won’t be too long before you find one that is.
For those songs that are interesting enough for you to give them a proper listen, please press “like” if you think it could have been a hit, and “dislike” if you don’t, in the hope that we get enough votes to obtain a balanced overview. Also, if leaving a critical comment please try to take into account the year of original release - most of the songs that I'll be uploading are decades old so it wouldn’t be surprising if some sound dated now.
Christmas has always been a time of the year associated with memorable records, and whether you belong to the Bing Crosby, Slade or Mariah Carey generation the chances are that you have your own personal favourite. For many years mine was “I Believe In Father Christmas” by Greg Lake which was a fantastic song in its own right, but that all changed in 2015 when I heard this amazing track from Sparks. Like Lake’s song it’s as poignant lyrically as it is memorable musically, and I really do urge you to take the opportunity to take three minutes out of your day to watch this official video • Sparks - Christmas Wit... so that you don’t miss any of the subtle nuances. I know it won’t be to everyone’s taste as Sparks are the classic ‘Marmite’ band, but for me it’s the most interesting take on Xmas since The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl broke the ‘goodwill to all’ mould in 1987. Nobody does Christmas quite like the Maels, as you’ll soon discover.
Hopefully you’ll drop by again tomorrow for some more festive fun!