Huey Lewis and The News – Fore (1986) Audio Cassette

Huey Lewis and the News were a band whose records I never would have envisaged myself buying. I practically used to vomit in the early ‘eighties when someone even mentioned middle of the road melodic rock, and in general I wouldn’t even accept products with a golf connection if I was being paid endurance money. But by the middle of the decade, the airwaves were flooded with the tones of Huey Lewis & the News. Song after song, I’d be thinking: “Oh, that’s pretty good”, and when I heard Hip To Be Square, I nearly bought the single. I probably would have done too, had I not found out that it was on this album – Fore! And once the fullness the album’s content became apparent to me, I couldn’t resist it.

UB40 – Present Arms Audio Cassette

Present Arms was the second album from Birmingham reggae band UB40 – released in spring 1981. In its day, I bought the album on vinyl, but years later, after the band seemed to try and deny their early history, I lost interest and gave away more than half of my UB40 vinyl as a mark of disapproval. Pretty stupid thing to do, but the guy I gave it to (a major fan of the band) was grateful beyond words, and he was clearly not going to sell it. I did, however, miss this album, so in the 1990s I ended up buying it again – this time on audio cassette – the one you see here.

Siouxsie and the Banshees – Once Upon a Time (1981)

The classic red paper label of Polydor Records, complete with Made in England denotation printed below the brand logo, adorns 1981’s Once Upon a Time – The Singles, by Siouxsie and the Banshees. It’s hard to tell from the photo, but the back of the case is not black – it’s very dark brown, and marked with the PolyGram branding. The album title is self-explanatory. This is a compilation of the band’s singles, released between 1978 and 1981. For the record, the tracks are set in chronological order.