Muzical Mystery Tour

The Housemartins were a 1980s, indie group from Hull, probably best remembered for 'Caravan of Love' which made Number One and then the band's break-up and departure of Paul Heaton and Dave Hemmingway to form the Beautiful South. Their other hit was 'Happy Hour' , from 1986, as was the above!

The Beautiful South were formed in Hull, in 1988,  from two former members of the Housmartins - Paul Heaton and Dave Hemmingway, one of eth Housmartin' roadies and a couple other guys.... They featured a female lead / backing singer over the years, the actual person changing  - initially   Briana Corrigan  for albums two and three after appearing as a guest vocalist on one, followed by  Jacqui Abbott  for the fourth to seventh albums, and finally  Alison Wheeler  for the final three Beautiful South albums. It's hard to pick out tracks from this group as I'm particularly  fond of them all but if I havd to pick (as I do here!) the this is the selection I would go for 'A Little Time' , from 1990 featuring Dave Hemmingway on Vocals. On the original track he was partnered by Briana Corrigan, in this video it is Alison Wheeler 'Rotterdam (Or Anywhere)' , from 1996 with lead vocals by Jaqui Heaton 'Perfect 10' is anther favourite, released in...

This track by Australian band The Easybeats is another favourite of mine, I first became aware of the track when I heard a version done by David Bowie but then found out he'd covered it and I stumbled upon this version. I love this video as well, not much else to say

Not their first single but their first and biggest hit, Love Affair's ' Everlasting Love ' is a great track to hear pretty much any time of the day. Their lead singer was Steve Ellis, who had a Motown twang to his voice, I remember hearing this regularly at the Hurst Road Boys Club in the early 70s. The band had a couple of follow-up hits, including ' Rainbow Valley' , which was released later in 1968, which to my mind is the only one the stood out from from the crowd.