Archives – 2008  
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PILOT – "January"
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Popular: #365, 1st February 1975
— 10 February 2008 Tom 66 comments

Well, first of all, love the intro and instrumental hook – glam guitars arcing over the track like a Red Arrows flypast – but then? The chorus of “January” seems feeble in contrast, with follow-the-bouncing-ball phrasing no[…]

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THE TYMES – "Ms. Grace"
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Popular: #364, 25th January 1975
— 1 February 2008 Tom 25 comments

The billowing harmonies and full-service orchestration on “Ms Grace” are half a bluff, with the doo-be-doo-be backing vocals telling a truer story. This is an old-fashioned song of devotion, the modish mid-70s “Ms” the only re[…]

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STATUS QUO – "Down Down"
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Popular: #363, 18th January 1975
— 23 January 2008 Tom 64 comments

There are records which could only have topped the charts in January (a phenomenon I’ve always known as the “Babylon Zoo effect”, though it far predates them). And there are records which are somehow January-ish: “Down Down” is one of them.[…]

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Latest comments on Popular

  2. I know "Stuck On You" sounds like Gordon Lightfoot, but which song specifically?

  4. There's a 2005 VW campervan on my street with Lyla written on the side. 60s nostalgia made unfussy and functional…

  5. Yeah but. It was of it’s time, we loved it at the time, and perhaps most key of all, they’ve…

  8. Thankfully one of the quite-a-few records of 20+ years ago that I have yet to hear on any of the…