Car Boot Christmas Countdown - Day 1

Welcome to the first installment of the Car Boot Christmas Countdown!  Over the next ten days (taking us up to Christmas Eve) I'll be posting about all the festive records I've been gathering together from car boot sales and chazzas during the year in readiness for the season, not to mention the Car Boot Christmas Special cloudcast.

First up then, costing £2, A Very Special Christmas:

Various Artists - A Very Special Christmas (1987)

This star studded album was released in October 1987 in aid of the Special Olympics and attracted a host of big-hitters from both sides of the pond including Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, U2 and Stevie Nicks.  Songs include both the traditional and more modern, from Alison Moyet's Coventry Carol, through Whitney Houston's Do You Hear What I Hear? to the magnificent Christmas In Hollis from Run DMC.

Producer Jimmy Iovine's desire to put out an album of Christmas music in memory of his father, and his wife Vicki's idea that proceeds support Special Olympics athletes worldwide resulted in not just this quadruple platinum record, but an entire series over the past 27 years.

The rest of the series to date

Like the performances, production and other costs, artist Keith Haring's striking cover image was provided free of charge, meaning that 100% of proceeds from the whole series have enabled athletes in hundreds of countries to take part in coaching programmes and competitions.  You can find out more about the albums and the charity here: http://www.averyspecialchristmas.org/

With such a great line-up on this record, when trying to pick out a couple of tracks for the Car Boot Christmas Special I was spoilt for choice and ended up using four!  I'll certainly be keeping a lookout for the other albums on my travels - I'd no idea that there was such a large series. As the second installment didn't come out until 1992, it's only Volume 1 that can be found on vinyl.  The rest are readily available on CD from the charity's website and online retailers.

Tracklisting

Side 1.
1. The Pointer Sisters - Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.
2. Eurythmics - Winter Wonderland.
3. Whitney Houston - Do You Hear What I Hear?
4. Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band - Merry Christmas Baby.
5. The Pretenders - Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.
6. John Cougar Mellencamp - I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.
7. Sting - Gabriel's Message.

Side 2.
1. Run DMC - Christmas In Hollis.
2. U2 - Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).
3. Madonna - Santa Baby.
4. Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band - The Little Drummer Boy.
5. Bryan Adams - Run Rudolph Run.
6. Bon Jovi - Back Door Santa.
7. Alison Moyet - Coventry Carol.
8. Stevie Nicks - Silent Night.

Make sure you come back tomorrow (Tues 16th Dec) for Part 2 of the Car Boot Christmas Countdown, featuring two more festive LPs for the cheapskate record collector.

Hear me playing selections from this album and loads more Christmas music on vinyl gleaned from the boot sales and charity shops of Suffolk in the Car Boot Christmas 2014 cloudcast:

Car Boot Christmas 2014 by Car Boot Vinyl Diaries on Mixcloud

See you tomorrow!

Mostly Madge

If you've read this blog in the past you may know that I find it difficult to walk past a Madonna 12 inch single, particularly her 80s ones (her heyday as far as I'm concerned, before she learned to sing).  Yesterday's car boot sale was packed and I came away with four such examples:

Madonna 12" singles.  Clockwise from top left: Into the Groove,
Like a Virgin, La Isla Bonita, Express Yourself.

I also couldn't resist the 12" version of another 80s favourite; Miami Sound Machine's Dr. Beat:

Miami Sound Machine - Dr. Beat (1984)

I've amassed quite a few twelve inch singles from car boot sales and don't listen to them as much as I'd like.  Since our new (old) car has only a cassette player in it, I thought it'd be fun to make a mixtape of a selection of 80s 12"s.  I recently bought a load of new blank cassettes at a boot sale, so yesterday afternoon I re-lived part of my early teens and did just that.  Madonna singles filled all of Side A and spilled over into Side B, which I finished with tracks by Michael Jackson, Pet Shop Boys and Kraftwerk among others.

I'm now thinking of doing something similar with my box of 80s 7" singles, but that may take a bit more effort.  Anyway, in keeping with recent sporting news, here's the Kraftwerk track playing on my vintage Dual HS 34 record player:



Congratulations Bradley and Mark!!

Sun and singles

Today dawned bright and sunny, so I headed up the coast in search of vinyl.  The site was almost full and heaving with bargain hunters:

There were quite a lot of records around and for some reason, lots of 80s 12"s.  First I got two Madonna 12" singles at £5 for the pair; more than I would normally like to pay, but they are favourites of mine and in spanking condition:

Madonna - Borderline (US Remix) (1984)

Two statements of independence from Madonna; Borderline, the fifth single from her self-tiled debut album, remixed by Jellybean (John Benitez) who was then going out with Madge.  This reached no.2 in the UK and no.10 in the US.

Then her second single from third album True Blue; teen pregnancy plea Papa Don't Preach (1986), which reached no.1 in both the UK and US:

Madonna - Papa Don't Preach (Extended Version) (1986)

For £1 I bought another 80s gem from the wonderfully unique Miss Jones:

Grace Jones - Slave To The Rhythm (1985)

It's taken from her 1985 Trevor Horn-produced concept album of the same name, which consisted of eight interpretations of "Slave.."  as well as spoken word sections.  Horn had originally intended the single to be recorded by Frankie Goes To Hollywood but it ended up in Grace's capable hands.  It was a top twenty hit in many countries, particularly German-speaking ones where it achieved it's highest chart positions.

Here's the video of the 7" single version:

Lastly was an EP of remixes of the Rebel MC and Double Trouble's 1990 hit Street Tuff:

Rebel MC and Double Trouble - Street Tuff Remixes (1990)

Side A.  Ruff Mix, Time To Rock - The Trouble Dub.

Side B.  Norman Cook Mix, Norman Cook Mix Instrumental.

As you can see from the track list it contains some of Norman Cook's early work from before he became Fatboy Slim.

For me, the making of the original hit (which reached no.3 in the UK) was it's use of the sample of the bassline to The Maytal's 54-64 That's My Number, but this is entirely absent from all of these consequently disappointing remixes.

Here's the original version on Spotify:  Double Trouble & The Rebel Mc – Street Tuff

Desperately Seeking Susan

I got this single last year for 10p.  It's my favourite Madonna song, and possibly my favourite pop song of all time.

Madonna - Into The Groove (1985)

It's taken from the 1985 movie Desperately Seeking Susan, co-starring Rosanna Arquette.  It's a story of murder and mistaken identity in which Madonna's acting isn't that bad, mainly because she's pretty much playing herself.

The single was Madonna's first UK no.1 and it stayed there for four weeks.  Here it is.

 

 

I recently got the DVD of the movie and was reminded just how yummy Aiden Quinn (Dez, the male lead) was.  Apparently Bruce Willis was originally up for this part - I'm glad they went with Aiden in the end!