Comments on: DAVID ESSEX - “Hold Me Close”

By: DJ Punctum

DJ Punctum — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 15:11:25 +0000

I recognise the logistical difficulties of getting Ray Cooper to submerge a gong in a filled bath on a nightly basis…

By: mike

mike — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 15:07:00 +0000

Afraid not, and I think he gave “Stardust” a miss both times as well…

By: DJ Punctum

DJ Punctum — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 15:00:10 +0000

Did he do “Imperial Wizard”?

By: mike

mike — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 14:57:39 +0000

wichita l, I’ve seen Mr Essex in concert a couple of times in recent years. There’s rather too much “And now from my new album, available exclusively from my website…” for my liking, but the old hits are more than servicably attended to, and Mr E is the very essence of dignified Silver Foxiness. Biggest disappointment on both occasions: no “Rolling Stone”, no “City Lights”.

By: Billy Smart

Billy Smart — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 23:40:14 +0000

I wonder if Russel Harty conducted a joint interview with Essex, Malcolm Allison and Jill Bennett? That looks like an awkward grouping…

By: wichita lineman

wichita lineman — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 23:16:08 +0000

So, anyone going to see Davo at Hammersmith? Chances are he’ll sing Hold Me Close and Tahiti rather than reprising Out On The Street in it’s entirety… but what the hey.

By: Billy Smart

Billy Smart — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 21:06:56 +0000

Light Entertainment Watch: Quite a few television appearances for the popular singing hearthrob;

ASPEL & COMPANY: Featuring Barry Humphries, David Essex, Claire Rayner (1985)

THE BASIL BRUSH SHOW: Featuring David Essex, Guys ‘N’ Dolls, Howard Lang (1976)

THE BIG TOP VARIETY SHOW: Featuring David Essex, Bucks Fizz, The Krankies (1981)

THE BRITISH ROCK AND POP AWARDS: Featuring Maurice Kinn (Host), Real Thing, David Essex (1977)

CANNON AND BALL: Featuring David Essex (1982)

CILLA: Featuring Gerald Harper, The Wombles, David Essex (1974)

DAVID ESSEX: Featuring David Essex, Marti Webb, Jeremy Irons (1977)

DES O’CONNOR NOW: Featuring David Essex, Sarah Payne (1985)

HARTY: Featuring David Essex (1983)

IN CONCERT: Featuring David Essex (1975)

THE JOHN DENVER SHOW: Featuring David Essex (1973)

THE LAUGHTER SHOW: Featuring David Copperfield, David Essex, Hale & Pace (1984)

THE LES DAWSON SHOW: Featuring David Essex, Brian Blessed (1989)

LIVE FROM HER MAJESTY’S: Featuring Neil Sedaka, Danny La Rue, David Essex (1984)

LIVE FROM THE PALLADIUM: Featuring Cannon & Ball, David Essex, Pet Shop Boys (1987)

MARTI WEBB TOGETHER AGAIN: Featuring Marti Webb, David Essex, Christopher Gable (1982)

NIGHT MUSIC: Featuring Elaine Paige, David Essex (1982)

PARKINSON: Featuring David Essex, Rita Hunter, Alfred Marks (1977)

POP QUIZ: Featuring David Essex, Kenny Jones, Carlene Carter (1982)

POP QUIZ: Featuring David Essex, Mari Wilson, Leo Sayer (1982)

RUSSELL HARTY: Featuring David Essex, Jimmy Savile, James Cameron (1974)

RUSSELL HARTY PLUS: Featuring David Essex, Malcolm Allison, Jill Bennett (1973)

SHOWSTOPPERS: Featuring David Essex, Katia, Twiggy Lawson (1995)

THIS IS YOUR LIFE: David Essex (1995)

THE TWO RONNIES: Featuring David Essex (1982)

THE VAL DOONICAN MUSIC SHOW: Featuring The Clancy Brothers, Tommy Makem, David Essex (1985)

WOGAN: Featuring Roger Cook, David Essex, French and Saunders (1984)

WOGAN: Featuring David Essex, Anthony & Mary Green, George Layton (1985)

WOGAN: Featuring Francesca Annis, David Essex, Go West (1986)

WOGAN: Featuring Dora Bryan, David Essex, Jackie Stallone (1988)

WOGAN: Featuring Rowan Atkinson, David Essex, Ishmail & Merchant (1988)

WOGAN: Featuring David Essex, Prisoner Cell Block H, Alison Steadman (1990)

They all survive, but these two are missing;

SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MILL: Featuring Patrick Moore, Beryl Reid, David Essex (1978)

SET ‘EM UP JOE: Featuring Georgie Fame, David Essex (1969)

By: richard thompson

richard thompson — Sat, 10 May 2008 19:44:53 +0000

Coming Home the following year sounded like Hold Me Close and when it was number one on Oct 2 75 The Goodies were on that night so HMC wasn’t the worst song on.
I bought Popswop from 72 until 1974 when it merged with record mirror so I read that then afterwards, Popswop referred to Essex as Blue Eyes, he was one of their cover stars as well as Donny and Glitter and Bowie.

By: Tom

Tom — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 18:22:55 +0000

I don’t like the Arctic Monkeys guy’s voice either - though I don’t know if that’s the accent or phrasing or what.

By: Roadhog

Roadhog — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 18:04:22 +0000

I agree with the poster who said how the hell can David Essex be accused of using mockney (as well as being from Plaistow and the son of a dockwer he went to the local secondary modern and left school at 15).It so obvious he slipped the “cockney” line in as a piss take _ i even realised that as a kid.
For some reason the media are far more lenient to exaggerated accents from outside the London area.
The most obvious example of this to me coming as I do from Sheffield is the case of the Arctic Monkeys. I can’t believe how they weren’t laughed into ignomony when they appeared with their ridiculous caricature of a Sheffield accent. Remember the lead singer is the son of two university educated teachers from a leafy suburb and would naturally speak in a pretty middle class version of the local accent.
Not in the type of parody accent that I’ve never even heard the roughest kid from an area like Parson Cross (a very deprived Sheffield estate)speak with.

By: Mark G

Mark G — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 09:51:44 +0000

Primary mag:

Disco 45 from 1972 to 1980 or so
Record and Radio Mirror, from 1973 to 1977
Sounds, 1977
NME, 1977 to present

Bought lots of other ones, Record Collector, Mojo, Select, Underground, Hit, etc.

Hmm, comment 98?

By: Matthew H

Matthew H — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:44:40 +0000

Yes, I used to read the dance column in Music Week whenever I could, but it was hell to get hold of in North West Herts.

Love the JH tales.

By: mike

mike — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:23:13 +0000

Until his ill-health got the better of him, James Hamilton continued his dance column for several years after Record Mirror folded as a stand-alone title - it lived on as a pull-out section inside Music Week. Indeed, the column was compiled on the living room table of the house that I grew up in, and where I had been regularly chastised for single-mindedly over-obsessing about pop music.

(The first thing that JH did upon marrying and moving in with my stepmother was to enlarge the letter box to a width of slightly over twelve inches, in order for it to receive the white label/promo packages.)

It was particularly fascinating to watch my stepmother develop an interest in the music that dropped through the letterbox, having previously never got much further than a passing fondness for the Travelling Wilburys. Without any “taste-maker” reference points, she made her own choices. Mr. Vegas was a favourite. And Catatonia. And hip hop, the more lewdly explicit the better. (”Darling, I just love listening to these black men talking about sex!”) And a dub remix of “Ooh Baby” by Vida Simpson, which reduced the song down to one repeated line: “F**k me baby, f**k me.” She used to blast that one out through the French windows. Always big on epater la bourgeoisie stunts, my stepmother…

By: Matthew H

Matthew H — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:15:40 +0000

Ah yes. I’ve clearly got my chronology out of whack.

By: Marcello Carlin

Marcello Carlin — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:08:33 +0000

None of us who saw it can ever forget the NME’s 1985 All Time Top 100 Albums wherein Danny Kelly stated that Psychocandy would have been one of the greatest records ever made if it had been released two weeks earlier.

By: Matthew H

Matthew H — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 10:41:30 +0000

Oh, and all nine editions of The Hit.

I probably shouldn’t have binned them.

By: Matthew H

Matthew H — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 10:37:44 +0000

The first music mag I bought was Record Mirror in 1983 - 26th March, in fact, with Nick Rhodes on the cover… I’ll go no further for fear of the Spoiler Bunny. I was 10, and my mum was letting me shop around for a magazine to add to the paper delivery.

I then bought NME - the week they did the Greatest Albums Ever with Marvin Gaye at the top - and Smash Hits, with the Human League featured. Mum decided NME was too “rude” and let me take out a sub for Smash Hits for the next three years.

Then:

Record Mirror (at last) from 1985-1991
A mix of NME, Select for the rest of the 90s, but I was a Face man, really
Uncut and Word dominate this decade

I’ve never truly recovered from RM folding. It hit the right balance for me, plus the dance section (props to James Hamilton again) was essential.

By: intothefireuk

intothefireuk — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 19:01:59 +0000

For me it was :-

Disco 45 or Words intermittently between 1972 - 1975

Disc & Music Echo occasionally 1973-1974

Record Mirror 1974 - 1979

Sounds 1975 - 1982

Melody Maker 1976 - 1989

NME 1977 - 1988

All dates are approximate as is my memory.

I didn’t buy every issue of each but used to swap between them depending on which way the wind was blowing that week. Since the 90’s have bought Q, Uncut, Face, Mojo on a completely irregular basis due to their general shiteness (in varying degrees).

By: Alan

Alan — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 12:55:50 +0000

Big posters of DE’s face all around Hammersmith cos he’s playing the apollo in June.

By: Erithian

Erithian — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 09:49:24 +0000

And now the new album by Flo Rida is *titled* “Mail on Sunday”, and the first instinctive thought is “what the hell is that about?” Mind you it’s a first to see the phrase “Mail on Sunday – Explicit Lyrics”.

By: Marcello Carlin

Marcello Carlin — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 09:32:07 +0000

Now you get the new Prince album free with the Mail On Sunday and the first instinctive thought is: “what’s wrong with it then?”

By: Billy Smart

Billy Smart — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 09:22:55 +0000

Youngsters today wouldn’t believe how exciting it was when something free came with a magazine back in the day, be it a Korky the Cat kazoo in the Dandy, a free EP featuring Steinski & Mass Media and Husker Du in the NME, or even the first two years of Uncut CDs.

Nowadays, all is marketing, and you expect this stuff as a matter of course, and it generally just seems like clutter.

By: Erithian

Erithian — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 08:22:08 +0000

Blimey, some of you lot make me sound a right part-timer! Record Mirror from ’74 and Sounds from ’75 until the early 80s, Q since its inception with the very occasional Smash Hits, NME or Mojo during that time.

I didn’t throw out a copy of Record Mirror for five years, until my wardrobe was groaning with them, then compiled a scrapbook of what seemed to me to be the highlights of the era, from a headline reading “Wombles – Orinoco to go solo?” to a letter enthusing about the Pistols from a lad called Stephen Morrissey. Highlights of ’75 in RM included a review of “Jive Talkin’” saying the Bee Gees had totally lost direction, and a feature on Europop saying that Mouth and Macneal, like Abba, were unlikely to be heard from again.

By: LondonLee

LondonLee — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 02:03:38 +0000

I started with Record Mirror around 1977 when they had a feature on the upcoming world tour of my favourite band ELO. I seem to remember Hugh Cornwall was on the cover though it would be almost another year before I was interested in that sort of thing. I think I read Sounds for a while (I remember Gary Bushell giving London Calling a right slagging) before moving on to the giddy heights of the NME until the mid-80s when I was more interested in what they were doing at The Face who had Julie Burchill and Ian Penman writing for them on a regular basis anyway.

I got The Wire for while when Richard Cook was the editor but that was more because of the design than any jazzbo tendencies on my part.

But it must be nearly 20 years since I read any music mag on a regular basis.

By: Snif

Snif — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 00:00:16 +0000

Did no-one buy Rolling Stone?