My Musical Alphabet : S

As I keep saying, this stuff isn't mine and may very well be pulled for breach of copyright. You can, of course, go looking on YouTube, or its variants, for other copies. I'm sure you know how.

We are now up to the letter S and my collection of musical items associated with it.

This first S I am posting as a sort of tribute to my wee sister who I lost last year. I really have no idea how she got interested in it, but it is through her that I watched the movie. I'm quite partial to foreign, subtitled movies in any case. So, this first piece for your ears is a triple S. One for Soundtracks, the second for Eric Serra. Monsieur Serra has written soundtracks for many movies but my choice goes back to 1985 and a film starring Christophe Lambert and Isabelle Adjani. The third S is for this film Subway and here is your link:

Next up is a another song that I don't know the provenance of. What I mean is that I'm not sure where I first heard it or even who I heard singing it. I have a feeling I was out Christmas shopping in a department store and it was part of the "musak" being played over their sound system. This is another beautiful song with a truly remarkable voice. There are covers of this song but I prefer this voice. Haunting stuff. It is Songbird by Eva Cassidy. 

My next offering was originally from 1973 by the Walkers but I have chosen a more European cover by The Vengaboys - yes, that fine Dutch Eurodance ensemble performing Shalala lala.

The 80s have been derided by some of my FB chums but I do like a lot of the Italo disco-type stuff that came from then. Does anyone remember Sabrina? I'm not sure why (cough), but there is a lot of stuff on Youtube for this lady. My pick of the bunch is this - Boys (Summertime Love):

Now, let's head back to the 60s again with this lovely song. The 70s was the music that I "got" but the 60s was the stuff that seeped in. It was there in the background - TV, radio or next door.  My next track is from The Tremeloes. A lovely set of harmonies in the song Silence is Golden:

We haven't had any blues for a while so here we are. We need to head back to the swamps for this one, according to Wiki. It was written by Slim Harpo back in 1957 but for you, I'll let you in on a little secret. I have a The Rolling Stones Reader's Digest box set and only heard this track on one of the discs. It is a mono recording of "I'm A King Bee". A bit of a coincidence in that the Stones have a new album out as I post. Also of note is that I am not a big fan of this band apart from their album Some Girls and some lovely slide by Brian Jones back in about 1965.

Next up is a band that may be new to you. They hit my ears in 1980-ish and I thought "Quo have some competition here". They go by the name of Spider and were part of the NWOBHM. The track I have chosen for you goes by the title "All The Time".

If we jump over the Channel we hit Germany eventually (provided you head in the right direction) and I have loads of tasty stuff on the shelves from there. As is often the case in my music collection there is a link between much of it. Spider Murphy Gang links my love of all things German, many things Alpine, many things Rock'n'roll. So, here we have the cover called Schuitog in the vernacular of Bavaria. School Days as Chuck would have called it.

Lastly, we come to another band where it is really hard to find the best to showcase. They are a one-off. Having said that, there are Hank Marvin soundalikes around.

To me, they ARE the sound of the 60s. Sunshine comes out of that guitar.

I have to plump, after much thought, for "Moonlight Shadow". I've heard many versions of this song but this one ticks all the boxes.

Here are The Shadows:

As usual, feel free to add your thoughts, whether you agree with me or not. It would be helpful to know what you think and if you want this to take any particular direction.