— Lola Borg
The race for the 1987 Christmas Number One was on and this would be a competition unlike any seen before or since. For starters, the winner and runner-up were both excellent singles, a formidable one-two punch on any chart but one that's especially impressive considering the holiday season doesn't normally feature such quality. And while the Slade-Wizzard race in 1973 kicked off the competition and Band Aid-Wham!-Frankie in '84 likely resulted in the highest sales, this may be the most significant Xmas chart battle because this was the year it turned it into an annual tradition with betting shop odds and an entire nation being gripped by it.
Rick Astley (more on him below) had been on the rise that year and had been a good bet to take the crown with a cagey double A side. Pet Shop Boys had also been in the midst of an exceptional chart run, which singer Neil Tennant would go on to describe as their 'imperial period'. The Pogues weren't in the same commercial league but their exceptional offering "Fairytale of New York" charmed enough people beyond their loyal fanbase to give them their only major hit and the only song of their's that anyone knows. Though "Fairytale..." was the most obviously Christmassy, all three had something of the seasonal favourite to aid their chances.
Elsewhere, the also-rans are a mixed bag. This issue's rightful SOTF should have been a reissue of Dusty Springfield's magnificent solo debut from 1963 "I Only Want to Be with You", one of the greatest pop songs off all time. Reviewer Lola Borg is less impressed by Bruce Springsteen's "Tunnel of Love", the title track to The Boss' masterpiece album from the same year. It's not really single material so I understand her disdain but it's still a vital cog in a brilliant LP. Wet Wet Wet serve up some Yuletide slush with "Angel Eyes (Home and Away)", a song I did like as a youngster but am far less fond of now. There are also two proper Christmas singles, the Rik Mayall/Ade Edmunson heavy metal spoof Bad News with "Cashing in on Christmas" and Run-DMC with "Christmas in Hollis", a number that would eventually become a classic but which unjustly flopped in the UK charts.
Alas, Borg doesn't place a flutter on any of these as she opts instead for the Paul Hardcastle 'Mammoth Mix' of a thirteen-year-old song by Barry White. She expresses fondness for most of the tunes mentioned above but the baritone lothario has clearly won her heart years earlier and this is her chance to recommend him to the youth of Britain. Well, not really. White had already had a hit single a couple months' earlier with "Sho' You Right" (his first UK Top 20 appearance in nearly a decade) and this remix was clearly intended to capitalise on his new found success. Sprucing up old hits was becoming more and more common at this time but older acts didn't tend to have chart longevity. The novelty of someone from the sixties or seventies could get punters into the shops but the law of diminishing returns would inevitably set in.
Originally released in 1973, "Never, Never Gonna Give Ya Up" — tune remixed, title edited — was White's second US Top 10 hit as he began achieving the fame for which he is remembered today. It's hard to know what to say here beyond that it sounds like pretty much every Barry White song I've ever heard. British audiences in '87 would have been rightly struck by his distinctive voice (just as many of us were when he made a memorable appearance on The Simpsons in 1992) only to discover that this freshness only applies to whichever White song you happen to hear first. There's nothing wrong with "Never Never Gonna Give You Up", just as there's nothing amiss with anything White ever did. I appreciate the fact that while seventies' soul music was dominated by smooth types like Marvin Gaye and Al Green with their velvety voices to lure the female folk into the bedroom, White's deep, gravelly singing proved just as effective. It's just that if you've heard one of his songs, you can probably guess how the rest of them will go. (And if all of this didn't torpedo its chances, there may also have been some confusion with the title: "Never Gonna Give You Up" by (who else?) Rick Astley had been the year's biggest selling single so what was this song with almost the same title doing?)
"Always on My Mind" ended up taking the Christmas Number One, which for some remains one of pop's great injustices in that it denied The Pogues the top spot. I've always been a Pet Shop Boys fan so I can't be objective on this but perhaps we should all be content that such an excellent pair of singles took the top two spots. They may not be quite "Wuthering Heights"/"Denis" or "Are 'Friends' Electric?"/"Up the Junction" but they're close. Sure, it would have been nice if Run-DMC, Dusty Springfield and, yes, Barry White had done better but at least some of the cream still managed to rise to the top.
~~~~~
Also Reviewed This Fortnight
Rick Astley: "When I Fall in Love" / "My Arms Keep Missing You"
While The Beatles didn't actually invent the concept album, the double album nor the idea of writing your own songs, it seems they can be credited with the first double A side. John and Paul were said to argue about which song got the more prominent side and giving them equal billing was the compromise. This became the standard for double A's but Rick's attempt at the Christmas Number One marked a change for the medium. "When I Fall in Love" was there to get him to the top (even though it ultimately failed to do so) while "My Arms Keep Missing You" was meant to maintain interest past the New Year (even though it was already falling down the charts by that point). A smart strategy that didn't work out and has reduced the B side in name only to obscurity but it would be taken up other acts to varying degrees of success. "When I Fall in Love" is an expertly done copy of the original but it's still a drag and a blot on Rick's debut album. "My Arms Keep Missing You", however, is classic SAW and deserves to be better remembered, though I suppose you could say that about a few of his hits that aren't "Never Gonna Give You Up".
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