Every weekday between 1 and 5pm we play tracks from our #spotlightartist. They’re an artist with a body of work which has stood the test of time. We’ll play the hits – but also some deep cuts. Listen ad-free through New Zealand via @tunein at https://goo.gl/VL6m3NS
Most of us probably know Chris de Burgh solely for his smash hit “Lady In Red”. This hit the top ten in at least nineteen countries in 1986 and has been a staple of Adult Contemporary radio and ‘Love Song’ compilations ever since. “Don’t Pay The Ferryman” from 1983 saw him make his first foray into the Top 40 in the UK and USA, yet Chris had been plying his trade since he signed his first recording contract in 1974, gaining exposure supporting Supertramp on tour. Intriguingly his 1970s albums were pretty successful in Europe and South America, but he failed to make much progress in the UK and USA. He was actually born in Argentina to a British Dad and Irish Mum, and lived in a variety of countries before settling in Ireland. He is described as an ‘art rocker’ who occasionally writes some pop material. We think you’ll enjoy listening to a selection of his quality music this week, from through his career.
Some of the highlights of Loving The Alien include two double-disk concert albums, a remake of Never Let Me Down (1987 album) and a bunch of dance mixes. We’ll highlight some of our favourite tracks off the box set from this master musician this week.
Abby Wolfe – Win You Over
Mountain Boy – 52
Mitch James – Old News
Yumi Zouma – Powder Blue / Cascine Park
Mel Parsons – I Got The Lonely
British acts started getting some exposure in the US in 1962, with three acts including “Telstar” by The Tornados reaching No 1 on the Hot 100. The term really belongs to the era beginning in late 1963 when disk jockeys began playing “I Want To Hold Your Hand” by The Beatles. This spawned a massive craze known as Beatlemania, surfed by other British acts including The Animals, The Rolling Stones, Searchers and Zombies. We’ll enjoy a range of great songs from this era this week in our “Spotlight Artist” slot.
We had to go with the beautiful album by kiwi Anika Moa though. A collection of songs which belie her TV persona, the album was recorded in New Orleans a few months ago with an amazing backing band. Enjoy!
Sigala Feat. Kodaline – All For Love
Loud Luxury feat. Brando – Body
Kodaline – Shed A Tear
Rod Stewart & Bridget Cady – Cold Old London
Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper – Shallow
Phil Collins is a giant of popular music. Deeply uncool to some, 
Filled with great outtakes, demos and live versions, we’re looking forward to this sad retrospect of this great man’s talent this week.
Fleetwood Mac are a massive group with a huge body of work. This week we’re going to focus in on a particular aspect – Stevie Nicks’ vocals with the group. Nicks joined the group in late 1974. After several personnel changes Mick Fleetwood had invited Lindsey Buckingham to join the group – he agreed on condition that his then girlfriend Stevie could as well. The rest as they say is history – the ensuing album Fleetwood Mac broke the band through to mainstream success and sold over 5 million copies. We’ll enjoy some of the big hits such as “Rhiannon” but also some great album tracks such as “Storms” and “That’s Alright” this week.
We loved Christine and the Queens’ first album a few years ago, and the singles already out for this new effort are remarkable as well. The full album is worth a listen. Unusually we agree with Pitchfork‘s gushing review. It gets into detail about the courage and creativity of her gender crossing persona. We just think its a great collection of music, especially “Girlfriend”, “5 Dollars” and “Doesn’t Matter”. See what you think.