STUCK IN THE VINYL AGAIN - ANDREW GOLD and MIKE AND THE MECHANICS

[maggot]

Good morning gang and welcome to the New Year's Day edition of Saturday's Singles ! We, like the rest of the world, are saddened by the loss of The First Lady Of Television, Betty White. She spent 8 decades charming us and the world is a dimmer one now that she has moved on. A lot of people my age knew her first from the NBC sitcom The Golden Girls, which aired from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992. We don't own the Cynthia Fee version of the theme, but we do have the next best thing, which is the original by Andrew Gold.

"Thank You For Being A Friend" was released February 1978 on the Asylum label. It was written by Gold and then produced by him and Brock Walsh. It hailed from his third album, All This and Heaven Too, which we have featured previously on the page. The tune peaked at #58 in Australia, #42 in the UK, #25 on the Hot 100, #15 on the Adult Contemporary charts, #11 Cash Box,  #7 in Canada, and #5 on the Canadian Adult Contemporary charts. It's B-side is "Still You Linger On".

Andrew Gold – lead vocals, backing vocals, acoustic piano, synthesizers, percussion
Waddy Wachtel – guitars
Kenny Edwards – bass, backing vocals
Jeff Porcaro – drums
Brock Walsh – backing vocals

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Our second selection is "All I Need Is a Miracle" by  English rock supergroup,  Mike + The Mechanics. The song was released in February of 1986 on Atlantic label and produced by  Christopher Neil, who also co wrote the song with Mike Rutherford. It came from the group's self titled debut record and reached #53 in the UK, #35 in Belgium, #31 in New Zealand, #26 in Germany, #24 on the Billboard Dance Play Singles, #10 in Canada, #8 in Australia, #7 Adult Contemporary, #6 Top Rock Tracks, and #5 on the Hot 100. "You Are the One" is featured on the flip side.

Mike Rutherford – Electric and bass guitar, backing vocals
Paul Carrack – Backing vocals
Paul Young – Lead vocals
Adrian Lee – Keyboard
Peter Van Hooke – Drums

Additional personnel

Dereck Austin – Keyboard
Ian Wherry – Keyboard
Alan Carvel – Backing vocals
Christopher Neil – Backing vocals
Linda Taylor – Backing vocals

As we venture forward into this next year, don't forget to look and appreciate the miracles.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++