Echo and the Bunnymen were a band from Liverpool who had both critical and (some) commercial success in the 1980s.

In 1983 this single achieved their second highest chart entry, at no 9 (just below the no 8 of both The Cutter and the later Nothing Lasts Forever.)

Echo and the Bunnymen: The Killing Moon

Psychedelia sometimes pops up where you least expect it.

That was true of Porpoise Song and it’s true of this which has hints of Tomorrow Never Knows.

ABBA: The Visitors

Another one down.

Rick Buckler, drummer in The Jam, died this week.

The band were a bit after my time but were undoubtedly important in the evolution of British popular music in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

This was the band’s first no 1. I hope its title is not too insensitive.

The Jam: Going Underground

Richard Paul (Rick) Buckler: 6/12/1955 – 17/2/2025. So it goes.

I saw Marianne Faithfull’s death announced last night.

She first came to prominence in 1964 due to her association with The Rolling Stones (Jagger and Richards wrote her first hit.) She had a sweet but almost insubstantial voice suited to soft pop songs but by the mid 60s her singing career had stalled, in part due to a drugs scandal. She took up acting with some success though but mostly fell out of public consciousness.

Here’s Faithfull’s version of a Jackie DeShannon song that gave her her highest UK chart placing (no 4 in 1965 as compared to the no 9 achieved by As Tears Go By the year before.)

Marianne Faithfull: Come and Stay with Me

The song below is from her 1980 “comeback”* album of the same title, which is widely regarded as her best, not least by herself.

*Even if Dreamin’ my Dreams had intervened in 1976

Marianne Faithfull: Broken English

Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull: 29/12/1946 – 30/1/2025. So it goes.

For a time in the late 1980s The Housemartins were one of my favourite bands. This is reasonably unusual in their œuvre in having a tune that isn’t jaunty.

From their debut album London 0 Hull 4, it was their first ever single. It didn’t dent the charts.

The Housemartins: Flag Day

https://youtu.be/eoNBC-vb2Xg?si=jRe3iBdGZ0npuPha

Another from Aussie band INXS. A UK no 14 from 1989.

INXS: Mystify

https://youtu.be/dMi5KU0UjYE?feature=shared

Late era crooner Jack Jones died recently. He was an easy listening fixture on British TV in the late 60s and early 70s but he never had a UK hit as far as I recall.

His style of singing wasn’t to my taste in those far off years but I do remember reading (or was it on a chat show?) that when he started out his agent – or his manager – asked him if he’d ever been in love and he said “No.” “Too bad,” was the reply, since it would make him a more expressive singer of love songs.

Some time later Jones informed his agent he had finally fallen in love. To which the agent replied, “Now, if only she’d leave you.”

This is a reasonably typical example of Jones’s œuvre at that time.

Jack Jones: Wives and Lovers

The following, however, might be more familiar to those relatively younger than me.

Jack Jones: Love Boat Theme

John Allan (Jack) Jones: 14/1/1938 –23/10/2024. So it goes.

Another of the most successful songwriters of the 60s, Ken Howard, has died. Together with his songwriting partner Alan Blaikley (whose death I noted here) he wrote hits for The Honeycombs, The Herd and, most notably, Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich. Their songwriting list is impressive.

This was a no 4 for the latter band in 1965.

Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich: Hold Tight!

Later in their career Howard and Blaikley went into writing TV Themes and musicals.

This is perhaps the most familiar of those tunes.

Vejle Symfoniorkester: Miss Marple TV Theme

Kenneth Charles (Ken) Howard: 26/12/1939 – 24/12/2024. So it goes.

Even though he wasn’t born when this group had their big hits, for a time The Human League were my son’s favourite band.

Recent events brought this song to my mind. Still waiting for the soldiers to be gone.

The Human League: The Lebanon

https://youtu.be/b5VmR6hZw2c?feature=shared

Despite its long afterlife this only reached no 46 in the UK on first release in 1984. It was a no 13 on re-release in 1990, though.

Talk Talk: It’s My Life

https://youtu.be/cFH5JgyZK1I?feature=shared