Tuesday Tunes 97: Dance, Part Two

I said a couple of weeks ago that I had loads more dance songs to share with you, and have managed to whittle them down to eight for part two of what I think might be a longer series. Well, I had got the selection down to eight, but then Saturday’s news made me rethink. I wanted to add in an extra one, but not to the exclusion of another, so I’m going with nine this week.

That news was the passing of Taylor Hawkins, drummer with the Foo Fighters, at the ridiculously early age of 50. Reports say that he died of heart failure, which was probably caused by the concoction of ten drugs that were found in him – the rock and roll lifestyle claims yet another victim. By way of tribute I’m adding in a song you may not have been aware that the Foos had covered. Last year, for Record Store Day, they brought out an album under the name of the Dee Gees, which contained five covers of Gibb brothers songs plus five live versions of their own. As he occasionally did, Taylor took lead vocal on one of them, Shadow Dancing, and this seems a very appropriate song to play in his memory:

That is an Andy Gibb song, though it bears all the family hallmarks. RIP Taylor.

This is where I had been intending on starting this week’s selections:

I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that this was the opening track on Lady Gaga’s debut album, The Fame, released in August 2008. It was a massive hit, reaching #1 in the UK, Canada and Germany, and #2 in the US, New Zealand and France. Coupled with the expanded version, The Fame Monster, released a year later, it has to date sold more than 18m copies worldwide, 3m of which have been in the UK, which is a phenomenal performance. It has also spent a total of over 150 weeks at the top of the US Dance/Electronica chart. This song was released as a single ahead of the album, in April 2008, and has been #1 in the US, the UK, Australia and Canada, and has sold more than 8m copies. If I’m honest, I didn’t pay that much attention to her at first until I saw her performance at Glastonbury live on tv in June 2009, and was captivated by her. The album purchase followed shortly after!

This next one has long been a favourite of mine:

Don Henley released All She Wants To Do Is Dance on his second album, Building The Perfect Beast, in November 1984. The album got to #13 in the US and #14 in the UK, but did best in Australia, where it reached #4. This song was released as the second single from the album, in February 1985, peaking at #9 in the US but not making the UK charts. I remember this video well, as it got a fair amount of airplay here: I hope you can see it, as Henley’s record label is notorious for blocking videos. If not, the official audio-only version can be found here.

Today’s next tune goes back a further decade, to 1975. Again, it is one I’ve always liked:

Dance With Me was a track on Orleans’ third album, Let There Be Music, released in March 1975. It was their first to reach the charts, peaking at #33 in the US and #71 in Canada. They have a lovely relaxed, laid back West Coast feel to their music, despite the fact that they took their name from the city whose music they were listening to at the time the band formed, in January 1972. But they come from Woodstock, so I guess they had heard music from a few other influences too. This became a single in July 1975, and gave them their real breakthrough, getting to #6 in the US and #5 in Canada. They have never had anything in the UK charts, which I think is a pity.

As you may have noticed, I enjoy playing the occasional song which I think will be new to everyone, and this is one of those:

That’s a little different from the others I’m playing today, but I make no apology for that. This is an incredibly powerful song and video, and is especially relevant in current times. Xander and the Peace Pirates are a band from Liverpool, who have in their time had a five year residency at the famous Cavern Club, and have been the support act for some well known names, including Manfred Mann and Joe Bonamassa. Dance With The Devil was a track on their first album, 11:11, which was released by a small label in 2016. It attracted a good deal of interest, but wasn’t a big seller. The band have thrived very much on live performance, and as you can probably imagine they have been badly affected by the restrictions of the pandemic, like many lesser-known bands. They are currently touring the UK with a range of club dates, ahead of their self-released second album, Order Out Of Chaos, on 6 May. A friend looks after the admin for their Facebook page, and I’m hoping that she and her colleagues will be able to generate some well-deserved and much needed publicity for the album: I think they are fantastic, and should be more widely known. They have played London’s prestigious Green Note Cafe a couple of times, and this tells you more about them, including the answer to the question you may well be asking after watching Keith Xander in that video.

Back to the well known now, and they don’t come much more famous than this guy:

I’ve known this song for more than fifty years, and for me it is still one of the most beautiful of all that Elton John has done – which is saying something. The video is a good deal more recent, and was made five years ago as one of a set of three marking Elton and Bernie’s Californian influences in their songwriting. It depicts life for the ‘L.A. Lady’ of the song from a dozen different perspectives, and I think it is a wonderful accompaniment to a superb song. Tiny Dancer was the opening track on Elton John’s fourth album, Madman Across The Water, which was released in November 1971. He was going through a poor patch with the UK singles charts at that time and the album seemed to follow that pattern, only getting to #41 here, but it did much better across the pond, peaking at #8 in the US. The song was issued as a single in February 1972, with similar results: #41 in the US but not making the UK charts at the time, though it did finally make a rather belated appearance in 2015 at #70. It is, however, one of his more popular songs in live performances, and I still think it is beautiful!

Today’s next song is one that may have gone under the radar for many, even though it was a hit both sides of the Atlantic:

Wang Chung originally released Dance Hall Days as a single in 1982, but it didn’t make the charts anywhere. The song was re-recorded for their second album, Points On The Curve, which came out in January 1984 and made it to #30 in the US and #34 in the UK. The song became a hit single the second time round, reaching #21 in the UK and #16 in the US, as well as #5 in Canada, #6 in New Zealand and #7 in Australia. The band’s name, if you were wondering, means ‘yellow bell’ in Chinese – they changed the spelling, though, having released their first album as Huang Chung. They were a British band but didn’t have any real success here to follow this one up: they did better in North America, where their song Everybody Have Fun Tonight was #1 in Canada and #2 in the US in 1986. I don’t remember it, but I’ve always enjoyed this one, which has a quirky appeal to me.

I’m going back onto more familiar ground for the penultimate song in today’s marathon. This is a classic rock record, and is another long time favourite of mine:

Moondance was the title track of Van Morrison’s third album, released in January 1970, which peaked at #32 in the UK and #29 in the US. The song later reached #92 in the US singles chart in 1977, after Van the Man decided that seven years was long enough for his fans to wait for a single version of the song. I’m not sure what the video is about – it isn’t official – but at least it gives you something to look at while you enjoy the music.

I described Wang Chung’s song as quirky, which must make today’s final song and video double quirky:

What more could you want from a pop music video? A catchy song, a beautiful girl dancing around, Morris dancers, Mummers, a Maypole, Punch and Judy – it has them all. Utterly bonkers, but a lot of fun and a good closing piece. With all that traditional British-ness Men Without Hats just have to come from these shores, right? Wrong: they are a Canadian new wave/synth-pop band from Montreal, originally formed in 1977 by the lead singer, Ivan Doroschuck, going on hiatus after their successful period in the 80s, and then reforming in 2010, and they are still going strong. Safety Dance was a track on their debut album, Rhythm Of Youth, released in April 1982, which got to #13 in the US, #15 in their homeland, and squeaked into the UK chart at #96. This was written by Ivan after he had been kicked out of a club for pogo dancing, because it was deemed too dangerous for enclosed spaces – I can somehow understand that after watching this video, as he clearly needed a bigger dance floor. It was a slow burner as a single, reaching most of its peak positions in 1983: it got to #11 in Canada, #3 in the main US chart and #1 in their dance listings, #6 in the UK, #2 in New Zealand and #1 in South Africa. The video, by the way, was filmed in the village of West Kington, in Wiltshire. Ivan is the only band member featured: the other leading players are Mike Edmonds, a tv actor, and Louise Court, who later went on to be editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine and a director of Hearst Magazines in the UK. She must have an interesting CV! [PS: I’ve been advised that this didn’t play for an American reader, which is a real shame, as it’s great fun. Jim has very kindly found a version that works over there and you can find it here ]

That’s all for my second set of dance songs. As I’ve said, I still have many more I could have played so I may well revisit this theme, unless we all get bored with it. I’ve done my best to give you my usual mixed bag, and hope that there will at least be a few for you to enjoy amongst them. And, going back to where I began today, Taylor’s passing is a reminder for us all to be good to ourselves, as well as to others. Take care, and I’ll see you again soon. 😊🎶