votes
top ten dance tunes
Once we got the Desert Island Discs out of the way, Bernard at work came up with another question: What are the tunes that will make you jump up onto the dance floor no matter what?
Twenty-one people responded, male and female, gay and straight. And the winner was:
Gloria Gaynor – I Will Survive (with three votes)
Go figure.
Runners up with two votes each were:
B52s – Love Shack
Dee-Lite – Groove is in the Heart
Lou Bega – Mambo No5
New Order – Blue Monday
and finally… Cheb Khaled – Aisha (but this was voted by a husband and wife because it is their song!).
The rest of the list is pretty broad but would make a good CD one day.
Abba – Dancing Queen
B52s – Rock Lobster
Baby D – Let Me Be Your Fantasy
Bronski Beat – Hit That Perfect Beat
Cameo – Single Life
Chemical Brothers – Under the Influence
Cher – Believe
Chic – Le Freak
Dead or Alive – You Spin me Round
Diana Ross – Chain Reaction
Disco Nights – GQ
Don Blackman – Holding you, Loving you
ELO – Mr Blue Sky
Entouch – Scratch my Back
Fatback Band – I Found Loving
George Clinton & Parliament (later Funkadelic) – Flashlight
Grease Megamix
House of Pain – Jump Around
Indigo Girls – Galileo
Is this the future – Fatback band
Jacksons – Heartbreak hotel
James Brown – Get up
Kathrina & the Waves (yes I know they’re a eurovision band) – Walking on Sunshine
Kenny Loggins – Footloose
Loose Endz – Gonna Make you Mine
Madness – One Step Beyond
Madonna – Into the Groove
Newcleus – Wikki Wikki Song
OMD – Enola Gay
Pet Shop Boys – Always on my Mind
Plump DJs – Donna Kebab
Positive Force – We’ve Got The Funk
Real2Real – I Like to Move It
Rick James – Ghetto Life
Rocky Horror Soundtrack – The Time Warp
Rose Royce – Carwash
Roy Ayers – Running Away
S Club Seven – Reach for the Stars
Sash – Encore Une Fois
Simple Minds – Sanctify Yourself
Slave featuring Steve Arrington – Stone Jam
Snap – Rhythm is a Dancer
Soft Cell – Tainted Love
Stone – Time
The Cult – She Sells Sanctuary
The Cure – The Love Cats
The Jackson 5 – I Want You Back
The Proclaimers – Five Hundred Miles
The Romantics – What I Like About You
The Stone Roses – She Bangs The Drums
Tina Turner – Simply the Best
Tom Browne – Funking for Jamaica
Tom Browne – Thighs High (Grips your hips and movie)
Touch & Go – I’ve Noticed You Around
Weather Girls – It’s Raining Men
Weddings Parties Anything – Industrial Town
Wham – Wake me up Before You Go-Go (the ultimate summer party song!)
Who Da Funk – Shiny Disco Balls
Whodini – Magic’s W
William Orbit – Barber’s Adaggio for Strings
Young and Company -I Like What You’re Doing To Me
Zapp & Roger Troutman – Dance Floor
desert island discs – the challenge
Well it all started with a conversation I had with Nick Lawrance after the Top Eight Books were published. It went along the lines of:
Nick: So, can we do top ten albums next, then? Can we?
Me: Oh, go on then.
So, here we go then. The rules are:
1. No greatest hits or compilations or various artists except for item 2 below.
2. Soundtracks are allowed (I relented after a serious onslaught by Orlando over a full weekend away in Brisbane).
3. Where possible, be specific about the version of the album you are talking about (eg, the original on vinyl, or the 2004 remastered edition).
4. Albums don’t have to be in order (ie favourite at number one), just the ten last albums you would like to be left with in the world.
5. Give a reason as to why it makes your list.
6. List your favourite track on each album if you have one.
Answers by email please. You have until 31 October 2006 to respond, then I will collate the responses and publish here.I have created my top ten for starters. You will find a link to my list on amazon.co.uk here.
1. Boz Scaggs Silk Degrees 1976
This album reminds me of my brother. More specifically, it reminds me of my first ever trip to new York in 1989. I stayed with Bernard and Naomi in their house in Amityville, Long Island (it was right around the corner from the Amityville Horror house) and played his records for three weeks. Almost twenty years later – and a full thirty years after its release – I still listen to this album in its entirety probably every month or more.
Favourite track: Harbour Lights
2. Buena Vista Social Club Buena Vista Social Club 1997
I first heard this album on a hot summer’s afternoon in a friend’s London garden. Even now, the first bars of “Chan Chan” make the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Pause and allow the richness of the music to transport you to Cuba. A genuine masterpiece.
Favourite track: Chan Chan
3. Earth, Wind & Fire All ‘n’ All 1979
This was a toss-up between I Am and All ‘n’ All (in the absence of a Greatest Hits). In the end I simply counted the tracks on each I couldn’t do without, and this album won by a hair. EWF make joyful, intelligent, soulful, uplifting music capable of lifting anybody’s spirits.
Favourite track: (if I must) Jupiter
4. Maxwell Urban Hang Suite 1996
This is one of those albums I played on constant loop for months after I bought it. Maxwell’s voice is angelic, and the full-band, heavily-produced R&B sound is rich and sweet.
Favourite track: Whenever Wherever Whatever
5. Michael Jackson Off the Wall 1979
Probably one of the best albums ever made. Destined to make you get up and dance, this was, in my opinion, the best album Michael Jackson ever made. The depth of emotion he conveys in this soulful, funky album is complete: his unselfconscious whoop of laughter in the middle of “Get On The Floor” is completely infectious, and contrasts with his tears whilst singing “She’s Out Of My Life”. The remastered version you can buy now has interesting interviews with Quincy Jones, and a couple of demos where you can hear Michal bickering with his siblings.
Favourite track: sorry, can’t choose
6. Missy Elliott Under Construction 2002
This was the first Missy album I ever bought. I’m not a natural hip-hop fan but I love Missy’s in-your-face attitude, her confidence, her humour. Under Construction is a lot mellower than most of her previous work (she was grieving for her friend Aaliyah at the time) and there are some great old-school-sounding songs on there.
Favourite track: Work It
7. Planxty Live 2004 2004
Never mind U2: Planxty was Ireland’s very first super-group. They broke up in the early 80s and we thought we would never hear them play together again. Twenty years later, they got together for some low-key sessions in Lisdoonvarna, and finally played the tiny Vicar Street in late 2004. It wasn’t enough. The Point Theatre was booked and six nights sold out in one day. Hearing these men play again is like a homecoming for most Irish people: we are privileged to have lived when they collaborated. When Liam Og O’Flynn chimes in with the uileann pipes about a minute into the first track, it’s magic.
Favourite track: The Starting Gate
8. Prince Sign o’ The Times 1987
It’s hard to pick just one Prince album when you possess his entire back-catalogue. This is one of his most eclectic albums, from the pure funk of Housequake to the pure romance of Adore. His humour shines through, he doesn’t take himself very seriously, and, above all, his musical genius is all over this album.
Favourite track: Housequake
9. Talking Heads Stop Making Sense 1984
The 1983 movie Stop Making Sense played a midnight show in Dublin’s Ambassador Cinema for years. This was break-through New York conceptual art meets the Top 40 and we loved it. The album (re-released in 1999 with almost all movie tracks on) is still a classic. David Byrne’s reedy voice adds a weirdness to the already complex funk of the melodies. And who can forget the Big Suit?
Favourite track: Girlfriend is Better
10. Luther Vandross Give Me The Reason 1986
Ah, Luther. What will we do without you? This was almost the point at which I broke my own “no greatest hits allowed” rule. How do you choose when considering an artist who was better known for his individual hit singles than his albums? How do you select only a tiny handful to listen to for all time, and forget the rest? This was almost an arbitrary selection in the end, but as seven out of the nine tracks were released as singles, it was the best value I could find. Nobody will ever sing a love song like Luther.
Favourite track: So Amazing
top ten books
Imagine your child, your god-child, or perhaps a child you know will become the leader of the free world, can only ever read ten books in their lifetime. What would those books be?
Thanks to all who contributed to the experiment. I received some wonderful lists from people, many of whom also gave their reasons why they chose the books.
In the end, we didn’t have a full top ten. There was a handful of books who were nominated a number of times, and a clear number one book. But the rest of the books nominated make such a great collection that I have listed them all here. Click here to buy any or all of the Top Eight from Amazon. Enjoy!
Number 1 – four votes
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Nominated by:
Nick Lawrance
“Read this book firstly as a fairy tale”
“To be read a second time immediately after The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx, as an allegory of how power corrupts and all that”
Mairead Doyle “This book can be read again and again in life to appreciate its many layers”
Katea Downie
Joint 2nd
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
Nominated by:
Manu Pillai
Katea Downie
Mairead Doyle
“The ultimate cautionary tale for our times”
Joint 2nd
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon
Nominated by:
Nick Lawrance
“Because mental health problems are just health problems”
Eileen Kershaw
Mairead Doyle
Joint 4th
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
Nominated by:
Sam Evans
“Read this book and you won’t have a great view of humanity; like no other book it reveals the human cost of wars and why they should never be fought”
Mairead Doyle
“Probably the best war book ever written”
Joint 4th
Cloudstreet by Tim Winton
Nominated by:
Bres
“A modern Australian flavour”
Sam Evans
“An Australian masterpiece, amazingly written book about two poor families in western australia that suffer catastrophies but live on – wonderful use of Australian rural language”
Joint 4th
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Nominated by:
Katea Downie
Katharine Haines
Joint 4th
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Nominated by:
Katea Downie
Mairead Doyle
“A powerful story about growing up in an imperfect world”
Joint 4th
The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama
Nominated by:
Manu Pillai
Sam Evans
“Helped me get perspective – I think I’ll need to re-read this every few years to keep its messages fresh”
| Ref. | Title | Author | Nominated by |
| 1 | 100 Years of Solitude | Gabriel Garcia Marquez | Suzanne Parsons |
| 2 | A Shropshire Lad | AE Housman | Katharine Haines |
| 3 | A Well Dressed Gentleman’s Pocket Guide | Oscar Lenius | Orlando Gibson |
| 4 | Anna Karenina | Leo Tolstoy | Sam Evans |
| 5 | Art of War | Sun Tzu | Manu Pillai |
| 6 | Between You & I | James Cochrane | Orlando Gibson |
| 7 | Bhowani Junction | John Masters | Hayley Burchill |
| 8 | Bible | Reference | Lesa Campbell |
| 9 | Black Beauty | Anna Sewell | Louise Beechey |
| 10 | Black Dogs | Ian McEwan | Bres |
| 11 | Bonjour Tristesse | Francoise Sagan | Katharine Haines |
| 12 | Brave New World | Aldous Huxley | Manu Pillai |
| 13 | Bridge to Terebithia | Kathrine Patterson | Alison Crimmins |
| 14 | Brotherman | Herb Boyd & Robert Allen | Orlando Gibson |
| 15 | Captain Correlli’s Mandolin | Louis de Bernieres | Louise Beechey |
| 16 | Catch 22 | Joseph Heller | Nick Lawrance |
| 17 | Catcher in the Rye | J D Salinger | Katea Downey |
| 18 | Change the World | Robert E Quinn | Dean Campbell |
| 19 | Computer Programming for Dummies | Reference | Orlando Gibson |
| 20 | Crime & Punishment | Fyodor Dostoevsky | Louise Beechey |
| 21 | Danny, Champion of the World | Roald Dahl | Nick Lawrance |
| 22 | Definitely Atlas Shrugged | Ayn Rand | Alison Crimmins |
| 23 | Dracula | Bram Stoker | Nick Lawrance |
| 24 | Elizabeth – Red Rose of the House of Tudor | Kathryn Lasky | Kathryn Fridman |
| 25 | Endurance | Alfred Lansing | Sam Evans |
| 26 | Famous Five or Secret Seven | Enid Blyton | Eileen Kershaw |
| 27 | Fast Food Nation | Eric Schlosser | Katharine Haines |
| 28 | Howl’s Moving Castle | Diana Wynne Jones | Kathryn Fridman |
| 29 | I Capture the Castle | Dodie Smith | Katharine Haines |
| 30 | I, Coriander | Sally Gardener | Kathryn Fridman |
| 31 | If This Is A Man | Primo Levi | Katharine Haines |
| 32 | In Praise of Slow | Carl Honore | Katharine Haines |
| 33 | In Spain | Ted Walker | Annette Doyle |
| 34 | Journey to the River Sea | Eva Ibbotson | Kathryn Fridman |
| 35 | Les Miserables | Victor Hugo | Louise Beechey |
| 36 | Lord of the Rings | J R R Tolkien | Sam Evans |
| 37 | Lyn: A Diary of Prostitution | Lyn Madden | Annette Doyle |
| 38 | Maid of Buttermere | Melvyn Bragg | Louise Beechey |
| 39 | Martin and Malcolm and America | James H Cone | Orlando Gibson |
| 40 | Master and Commander | Patrick O’Brien | Hayley Burchill |
| 41 | Mayor of Casterbridge | Thomas Hardy | Louise Beechey |
| 42 | Midnight’s Children | Salman Rushdie | Mairead Doyle |
| 43 | Mr God This Is Anna | Finn | Mairead Doyle |
| 44 | Northern Lights | Philip Pullman | Kathryn Fridman |
| 45 | Noughts and Crosses | Malorie Blackman | Mairead Doyle |
| 46 | On Her Majesty’s Secret Service | Ian Fleming | Nick Lawrance |
| 47 | Oxford English Dictionary | Reference | Orlando Gibson |
| 48 | Parade’s End | Ford Madox Ford | Hayley Burchill |
| 49 | Pilgrim’s Progress | John Bunyon | Hayley Burchill |
| 50 | Pole to Pole | Michael Palin | Katharine Haines |
| 51 | Puffin Book of Utterly Brilliant Poetry | Various | Louise Beechey |
| 52 | Rachel’s Holiday | Marian Keyes | Annette Doyle |
| 53 | RHS Gardening Manual | Reference | Hayley Burchill |
| 54 | Romeo and Juliet | William Shakespeare | Katea Downey |
| 55 | Schindler’s Ark | Thomas Kenneally | Mairead Doyle |
| 56 | Sophie’s World | Jostein Gaarder | Bres |
| 57 | Teach Yourself Chinese | Reference | Orlando Gibson |
| 58 | Teach Yourself Spanish | Reference | Orlando Gibson |
| 59 | The Butcher Boy | Patrick McCabe | Annette Doyle |
| 60 | The Communist Manifesto | Karl Marx | Nick Lawrance |
| 61 | The Constant Gardener | John le Carre | Suzanne Parsons |
| 62 | The Five People You Meet in Heaven | Mitch Alborn | Bres |
| 63 | The Horse Whisperer | Nicholas Evans | Annette Doyle |
| 64 | The Kite Runner | Khaled Hosseini | Suzanne Parsons |
| 65 | The Lady Grace Mysteries – Assassin | Patricia Finney | Kathryn Fridman |
| 66 | The Lonely Planet – India | Lonely Planet | Annette Doyle |
| 67 | The Lost World of the Kalahari | Laurens van der Post | Katharine Haines |
| 68 | The Mousehole Cat | Antonia Barber | Louise Beechey |
| 69 | The New York Trilogy | Paul Auster | Bres |
| 70 | The Once and Future King | T H White | Katharine Haines |
| 71 | The Piano Tuner | Daniel Mason | Hayley Burchill |
| 72 | The Prophet | Kahlil Gibran | Annette Doyle |
| 73 | The Reader | Bernard Schlink | Nick Lawrance |
| 74 | The Silent World | Jacques Cousteau | Louise Beechey |
| 75 | The Star of Kazan | Eva Ibbotson | Kathryn Fridman |
| 76 | The Treatment | Mo Hayder | Annette Doyle |
| 77 | The Worlds of Chrestomanci – The Magicians of Capriona | Diana Wynne Jones | Kathryn Fridman |
| 78 | Time Bandits | Michael Palin & Terry Gilliam | Orlando Gibson |
| 79 | Twinkle Annual | – | Eileen Kershaw |
| 80 | Veronika Decides to Die | Paul Coelho | Annette Doyle |
| 81 | Vile Victorians (Horrible Histories) | Terry Deary | Kathryn Fridman |
| 82 | Voyage of the Dawn Treader | C S Lewis | Nick Lawrance |
| 83 | Winnie the Pooh – Complete Collection of Poems and Stories | A A Milne | Mairead Doyle |
| 84 | Women’s Room | Mariyn French | Annette Doyle |
the big (egg) vote
One of the most controversial issues being discussed here in Aus with our visiting friends invariably raises its head around breakfast time.
What is the correct procedure regarding eggs and beans in your breakfast?
It appears that there are clear opposing views on the difficult subject of eggs and beans with your full English/Irish/Aussie breakfast. Can they touch? Are your eggs contaminated if they are swimming in bean juice? Should you strive to build a barrier from toast, sausage or another suitable breakfast food?
20 votes
Avoid contact at all costs. Build a barrier from sausages, hash browns, toast or other acceptable interface food. 35%
Enthusiastically chop and mix eggs and beans together, ensuring full amalgamation before consuming. 0%
Keep them on separate plates or simply don’t order one of the two to guarantee no contamination. 20%
Relax, allow the bean juice and runny egg yolk to do what they wish and wonder what all the fuss is about. 45%
This is one of the thorniest issues facing civilization in the 21st century. I thank you for your input.
the big (egg) vote
One of the most controversial issues being discussed here in Aus with our visiting friends invariably raises its head around breakfast time.
What is the correct procedure regarding eggs and beans in your breakfast?
20 votes
- Avoid contact at all costs. Build a barrier from sausages, hash browns, toast or other acceptable interface food. 35%
- Enthusiastically chop and mix eggs and beans together, ensuring full amalgamation before consuming. 0%
- Keep them on separate plates or simply don’t order one of the two to guarantee no contamination. 20%
- Relax, allow the bean juice and runny egg yolk to do what they wish and wonder what all the fuss is about. 45%
It appears that there are clear opposing views on the difficult subject of eggs and beans with your full English/Irish/Aussie breakfast. Can they touch? Are your eggs contaminated if they are swimming in bean juice? Should you strive to build a barrier from toast, sausage or another suitable breakfast food?
This is one of the thorniest issues facing civilization in the 21st century. I thank you for your input.
top ten dance tunes
Once we got the Desert Island Discs out of the way, Bernard at work came up with another question: What are the tunes that will make you jump up onto the dance floor no matter what?
Twenty-one people responded, male and female, gay and straight. And the winner was:
Gloria Gaynor – I Will Survive (with three votes)
Go figure.
Runners up with two votes each were:
B52s – Love Shack
Dee-Lite – Groove is in the Heart
Lou Bega – Mambo No5
New Order – Blue Monday
and finally… Cheb Khaled – Aisha (but this was voted by a husband and wife because it is their song!).
The rest of the list is pretty broad but would make a good CD one day.
Abba – Dancing Queen
B52s – Rock Lobster
Baby D – Let Me Be Your Fantasy
Bronski Beat – Hit That Perfect Beat
Cameo – Single Life
Chemical Brothers – Under the Influence
Cher – Believe
Chic – Le Freak
Dead or Alive – You Spin me Round
Diana Ross – Chain Reaction
Disco Nights – GQ
Don Blackman – Holding you, Loving you
ELO – Mr Blue Sky
Entouch – Scratch my Back
Fatback Band – I Found Loving
George Clinton & Parliament (later Funkadelic) – Flashlight
Grease Megamix
House of Pain – Jump Around
Indigo Girls – Galileo
Is this the future – Fatback band
Jacksons – Heartbreak hotel
James Brown – Get up
Kathrina & the Waves (yes I know they’re a eurovision band) – Walking on Sunshine
Kenny Loggins – Footloose
Loose Endz – Gonna Make you Mine
Madness – One Step Beyond
Madonna – Into the Groove
Newcleus – Wikki Wikki Song
OMD – Enola Gay
Pet Shop Boys – Always on my Mind
Plump DJs – Donna Kebab
Positive Force – We’ve Got The Funk
Real2Real – I Like to Move It
Rick James – Ghetto Life
Rocky Horror Soundtrack – The Time Warp
Rose Royce – Carwash
Roy Ayers – Running Away
S Club Seven – Reach for the Stars
Sash – Encore Une Fois
Simple Minds – Sanctify Yourself
Slave featuring Steve Arrington – Stone Jam
Snap – Rhythm is a Dancer
Soft Cell – Tainted Love
Stone – Time
The Cult – She Sells Sanctuary
The Cure – The Love Cats
The Jackson 5 – I Want You Back
The Proclaimers – Five Hundred Miles
The Romantics – What I Like About You
The Stone Roses – She Bangs The Drums
Tina Turner – Simply the Best
Tom Browne – Funking for Jamaica
Tom Browne – Thighs High (Grips your hips and movie)
Touch & Go – I’ve Noticed You Around
Weather Girls – It’s Raining Men
Weddings Parties Anything – Industrial Town
Wham – Wake me up Before You Go-Go (the ultimate summer party song!)
Who Da Funk – Shiny Disco Balls
Whodini – Magic’s W
William Orbit – Barber’s Adaggio for Strings
Young and Company -I Like What You’re Doing To Me
Zapp & Roger Troutman – Dance Floor
Máiréad Doyle 