just a bit of a "throwback" or what have you, look you see. at the time that this very thing you read now was first published it is so that i have documented evidence of where i was, and what i was doing. very handy, i suppose, if any figure of authority (such as the constabulary) wish to know.
where was i, then? sitting in a car. or the car, i suppose, for my (former) (considerably) better half and i made shared use of one. as to what i was doing in the car, well, observing the time, noting with slight interest the temperature, and listening to the radio. fm, and Radio 2 off of the BBC, for precision.
as for what, exactly, i was listening to - which song kept me sat in the car when my journey had ended, well. there's a video below (yes we've got a video) and certainly a clue for those with an eye for the finer details in the title. but, to remove suspense, or to save you scrolling (or playing the video), it was the boss song Love Train off of Holly Johnson. not his "debut" solo single as some incorrectly call it, but certainly his first solo single since the demise of Frankie Goes To Hollywood.
even to this day, and may it be so that this remains true of every day that i have life, it is a song which shall see me cease doing whatever it is am doing and just listen. remember, reminisce, feel whatever level of mood i am in immediately raised, and know a good feeling. oh, sure, as an ardent, dedicated, determined Frankie fan i confess to and accept being biased, yet it is brilliant.
so, the bit of video mentioned recently. not all of the song, mind, but a casual bit from whilst i sat, probably on the driveway, bopping away. scenes of me bopping away not included, but if there is enough demand, who knows.
it was quite strange for Radio 2 to be playing this one, really. not that they don't play Holly (or, indeed, Frankie) from time to time. for some reason, though, when it's time for them to give a spin to a Holly tune, it's Americanos, being the follow up single to this, that gets selected. whereas no, it's not bad, i do get confused as to why that one seems slightly more popular with others than Love Train. then again we live in a world where one can play both, i suppose.
honest recollections of hearing this song, Love Train, for the first time would be "what". as in asking what's this, then. my journey with Frankie, and thus Holly, was immense discovery. beyond the wild adventures offered by sex, violence, belief and love in the Frankie songs, there were so many references to history, art, literature and what have you that i went off reading further on them all. quickly, though, i came to accept that now Holly was to be happy, bouncy pop that you can dance to, that made you feel good. and embraced it.
the ridiculous, generous levels of quality music we got in the 80s, even towards the end of that decade, is kind of highlighted by Love Train "only" getting to number four (4) in the singles chart. what did i do about this at the time? well, i bought the 7", the 12" and the CD single. and then 66% of my uncles at the time purchased me the 12", just in case. perhaps if i had bought the cassette single too then i could have helped it get a bit higher.
frankly, though, unlike when that twat Phil Collins and then that twat Boris Gardner kept Frankie fron the number one spot in the years before, them three (3) singles which were above Love Train remain classics to this day. as do the 2 (two) below, which i included. when you are in an era, or period, in which The Living Years as a single does not reach number one, well. getting into the top five (5) was quite the achievement, comparatively.
more video? surely. one month and one year after i caught that performance of Love Train on the radio, it just so happened that the (splendid) video for it turned up on the tele in that there New Zealand place. rather diligently my sister did go right ahead and video some of it for me.
quite a fair bit of my time these days is spent "on the road", driving, for work rather than touring. in order to make this bearable i have ample tapes (discs) with me. one of them is the Blast album, which was very much a debut solo album from Holly, with him having only done singles prior to Frankie. yes, that did get to number one (1) in the charts. anyway, i found a copy of the album in a charity or pound shop, and so have it as i drive about. lately i have been playing it a fair bit. what a wonderful, joyous, uplifting album it is.
right, time to go get things done. this has, to be honest, been as lovely a wander down some memories as hearing the song turns out to be. no, i am not going to write of them all, but keep them in heart and mind. should you have stumbled upon this for vaguely similar reasons, nice one.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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