Should have been a hit

There's always this one from the blessed Kate, of course (number 48 in 1982):



Extending slightly to include the 'technically just about a hit' category...these top-class tunes dragged themselves up to numbers 39 and 37 in 1990 and 1978, respectively:

This is the Life - Amy McDonald.

Actually a HUGE hit in Europe. #1 in 5 countries and #2 in 5 more. In the UK could only get to #28.

'Hot Shot' was another flop that deserved better, imo.

Eternal Flame itself was a reversal of fortune though. The first single from the album was In Your Room, which only made number 35 in the UK. I was really surprised when Eternal Flame reached number one, as the Bangles really weren’t that big here. I think it was a case of the song not the group though. I wasn’t surprised that Be With You didn’t do as well (though still did better than In Your Room).

Kim Wilde - It’s Here. Perhaps not her best, but after her album Close had been a big success in 1988 (with its three top 10 singles), it was hoped that It’s Here would launch a successful follow-up. It was not to be.



Close was a hard act to follow though. Its three big hits (You Came, Never Trust A Stranger and Four Letter Word) were enough but even the two smaller hits and the other album tracks were all of very high quality. I’d rank it as one of the best pop albums I’ve ever heard (though that might mostly be because of the age I was at the time - 17 - in January 1989).

To be fair, I didn’t buy the follow-up album, Love Moves, so maybe It’s Here didn’t deserve to be a hit. I just thought it would be.

I saw Kim live last weekend, an acoustic set. She did a Christmas album ten years ago, so a fair few of the songs were from that, but some of the big hits too (including what was - to me anyway - a big surprise. European Soul from Close). Was a great show, she was so warm and spoke between every song and had her brother and niece on stage with her.

I absolutely love (nearly) all of these tracks (Bucks Fizz being the exception).

Alison Moyet never puts a foot wrong in my opinion, but the Hoodoo album was exceptional. I was always puzzled that the lead single "It Won't Be Long" didn't do better, as well as the lead track from 'Essex', "Falling". Both are such wonderful singles.

Kiki Dee is definitely underrated - what a supreme vocalist she has always been! I note that "Another Day Comes" was produced by Dave Stewart and that Annie Lennox cited Kiki as being one of the UK's best singers (not faint praise coming from Ms. Lennox).

As a big Fleetwood Mac fan, I was addicted to "Go Insane" upon its release, but the accompanying album was a mixed bag.

Sheena's "101" was my favourite song of 1989 - I literally could not stop playing it at the time (I must have driven my flat mates mad!). Such a fabulous track.

Blondie's 'Panic Of Girls' album is a solid outing and "What I Heard" is indicative of the quality. (The multiple outtakes from the album sessions are worth searching out - they're all splendid.)

Eddi Reader's "Nobody Lives Without Love" is so atmospheric and from memory, was a Trevor Horn production? "Dear John" (a Kirsty MacColl composition) and "Medicine" are both top-notch as well.

Thanks for the reminders Tony! I have some listening to do...

The 18 year old me played Kim's 'Close' album to death at the time of its release - some tracks took me a while to get in to but I soon loved every one. 'It's Here' was a great single in my opinion, so I bought the 'Love Moves' album, and unfortunately I couldn't get into it (apart from 'Can't get enough (of your love)'). 'Who Do You Think You Are?' from 'Love is' is the ultimate ear-worm, and I love it, although I don't think it had much impact on the UK singles chart if I remember rightly.

Yes, Trevor Horn produced NLWL. Some years later, I read that the track had originally been intended for Sinéad O'Connor. She didn't turn up for the session and couldn't be reached. Rather than waste the bookings of the studio and the musicians, Eddi Reader was approached. She was recording tracks for her next album (Candyfloss & Medicine) in another part of the building and was only too happy to oblige. I imagine her label must have been happy: her eponymous second album had yielded three modest hits in The Patience of Angels, Joke (I'm Laughing) and Dear John, and a Horn-produced track for the Batman soundtrack must have seemed like a gift from the gods. Such a shame it wasn't a hit.

For my money. 101 was the very best thing Prince ever wrote for Sheena. Sugar Walls is good, if a little too saucy-by-numbers. Eternity is beautifully performed but awkward and not very single-y (especially when Still In Love was left dawdling on the album). But 101 has a little magic in it. The production still holds up (as does the storming house remix from the time). I think the vocal is possibly even her best. The whole album was wall-to-wall bangers - including Days Like This. But the Brits seemed to have taken against Sheena, so the success of The Lover In Me was almost despite it being by La Easton (who was looking amazing at that point).

Kiki Dee is a prime example of a fantastic talent who was let down by luck and inert A&R. I almost nominated her 1981 single, Perfect Timing, here. That album should have been a big, big hit. Her voice is just beautiful. If you get to hear the album she recorded for Motown in 1969/70 (wasn't she the first white artist they signed?), it is a very classy set.

Alison Moyet is incredible (if you didn't know, my forum name is the title of her 2002 album). Hoodoo kickstarted a very difficult period in her relationship with Sony/Columbia. She and her manager insisted that It Won't Be Long should be the first single but realised later they were wrong. It's a great song, but even I'm not convinced it's a single. Equally, I don't get why Wishing You Were Here was chosen as the second single. It's pretty, but not an A-side. I'd have gone with Hoodoo, Footsteps and This House in that order. Essex was an even harder struggle. Sony sent the album back and told her to rerecord it. The original set was produced by Pete Glenister (just like Hoodoo) but Sony wanted the new version to be produced by Ian Broudie (AKA The Lightning Seeds). I love the album, but I'd struggle to nominate a sure-fire hit single from it. That they had to produce that electronic Broadway disco-adjacent version of Whispering Your Name is telling.

I get that Bucks Fizz are a marmite act. I think their version of Heart Of Stone is a peach and has far more heart than Cher's cover from the following year. Another one of their singles, You And Your Heart So Blue, is a potential hit that got buried in the distractions of band turmoil and ugly tabloid drama. I still think they're overdue some reevaluation/rehabilitation.

I love those Mike Oldfield tracks, bjorenny - and I love Hall & Oates's cover of Family Man too.

I had the 12" singles of all the "Close" releases, and also loved the inclusion on one of them of the jazzy, slightly bluesy '88 remix of "She Hasn't Got Time for You", originally from 1986's 'Another Step' album. Always been a sucker for a minor chord!

Tony, I never knew that "Nobody Lives Without Love" was originally intended for Sinéad - I can only imagine how brilliant her interpretation would have been. 
The situation speaks very much to Eddi's ability to inhabit a song from the get-go - her vocal delivery indicates an intimate understanding of the composition and one could be forgiven for thinking she wrote it. What an outstanding job - an incredibly beautiful performance.

While on the subject of Eddi Reader, how gorgeous is her little-known b-side "Shirt and Comb"? I'm not suggesting this could have been a hit single, but what a superb track it is - further evidence of Ms. Reader's exquisite talent.

Totally agree that "101" is the best work Prince did with Sheena and in my opinion, his best collaboration of all. The stars definitely aligned in that moment. 
I remember playing the 12" mix a lot back in the day and I agree, it still holds up. 
I'd forgotten how stunning Sheena was during the 'The Lover In Me' phase - the long auburn hair really was well-suited and she looked like a dream! (I still remember her Australian television performances during this period and she was mesmerising.)

I agree that Kiki Dee was never properly promoted, despite Elton John being a prominent advocate throughout the years (is this the only friendship of his that wasn't fractured?). 
I'm wondering if Kiki's 1981 single "Star" (from the 'Perfect Timing' album) was a hit in the UK? I remember loving this track as a kid and actually thought it was very ABBA-esque.
Yes, the Motown album Kiki recorded is outstanding. It's extraordinary that she had such a fine voice in her early twenties, which just got better and better over time. 

I didn't know that Alison Moyet had pushed for "It Won't Be Long" to be the lead single from 'Hoodoo'. I concede it's not an obvious choice, but upon first hearing it in 1991, I was hooked. It's another single I could not stop playing (I had the cd single and the accompanying b-sides "My Right A.R.M." and "Take of Me" made for an excellent little EP in my opinion.)
"Hoodoo" would have made a great single and I think it was issued in America, but ultimately "This House" is the best track on the album and should have been massive. (I remember hearing the early version on the "Love Letters" 12" single and knew there was a great track in there, which was fully realised four years later!)

I knew about the struggles Alison faced in getting the 'Essex' album made and issued. I remember that reviewers received copies in the latter part of 1993 and wondered which version they had heard because the 'early campaign' ground to a halt and didn't resume until another six months, in the second quarter of 1994. 
Alison must have gotten along with Ian Broudie as they recorded the duet "My Best Day" (as well her providing backing vocals on the 'Jollification' album) and went on to record "Solid Wood" together the following year. 
I think the only contenders for singles from 'Essex' were "Whispering Your Name" and "Getting Into Something", but I agree, nothing as immediate as featured on 'Hoodoo'.

I must admit I don't know a lot about Bucks Fizz - they were never heavily promoted in Australia. I think they had a handful of hits here in the beginning but then slid off the radar. I do remember being given their debut album for Christmas (1981) and smirking to myself that it didn't hold a candle to 'The Visitors'. I realise it's an unfair comparison given the divergent stages of their respective careers, but I was an immature child! I must delve into their catalgoue and better educate myself.

I'm also a fan of Hall & Oates' "Family Man" cover and to my embarrassment, thought it was their original composition up until about ten years ago. I know, ignorance personified! 

My all-time Bucks Fizz Top Three would comprise... 

...at number three (nice and 'arty' in a faux Berlin-y sort of way)...



...at number two...(love the 'brass' on this):



...and, in the top slot, this cover of the global Romantics hit (which, unlike the BF version, inexplicably escaped the UK's attention IIRC, so qualifies as a 'should've-been-a-hit'):



As a delusional songwriter of extremely limited ability, I do have a mental 'wish I'd written that one' (WIWTO) file and 'Sleep' is definitely in it.  

Twist in My Sobriety - Tanita Tikaram (1988)

Another song that was a big hit in Europe, #2 in Germany and Austria. Top 10 in France, Switzerland, Norway and Ireland.

But only #22 in the UK and #23 in Australia. Great atmospheric song with rather odd lyrics. I recall reading a post from a Spanish guy who didn't understand the lyrics after putting it through Google translate. Join the club!

Indeed. I recall the French and Saunders sketch where they do a take-off of Star Test (short-lived Channel 4 show where an apparently computer-generated female voice asks real pop stars supposedly random questions). Jennifer Saunders as the voice in the punchline asks Dawn French as Tanita Tikaram: What does ‘Twist in my sobriety’ mean?”

Edit: found it.

Alan, that Tanita Tikaram sketch was spot on!