Tom Robinson Band - 2-4-6-8 Motorway b/w I Shall Be Released (1977)

Tom Robinson Band (TRB) are a British rock band, established in 1976 by singer, songwriter and bassist Tom Robinson. The band's debut single "2-4-6-8 Motorway" was a top five hit on the UK Singles Chart in 1977, their début album, Power in the Darkness (1978), is regarded as a definitive late Seventies punk album.
The music and lyrics were written by Tom Robinson, and it was the first single released by the Tom Robinson Band, who had formed in January 1977 and were signed to EMI in August 1977.
Robinson wrote the song between leaving Café Society in 1976, and forming the Tom Robinson Band in 1977, when he was performing with whichever friends were available on the night, so the song had to be simple enough to learn in a few minutes.
Robinson came up with the tune "trying to work out the chords to Climax Blues Band’s "Couldn’t Get It Right"" which he could not really remember.
This led to the simple three chord repeat of 2-4-6-8. The verse came from Robinson's memories of driving back to London through the night after gigs with Café Society, "By the time our van hit the last stretch of M1 into London the motorway sun really was coming up with the morning light."The chorus was lifted from a Gay Lib chant "2,4,6,8, Gay is twice as good as straight... 3,5,7,9, Lesbians are mighty fine".
EMI initially turned the song down, but after touring the band became much tighter, and guitarist Danny Kustow expanded his riffs, which persuaded EMI to release the record.
The song is about the joys of driving a lorry through a rainy night, until dawn. Although the chorus is based upon a gay liberation chant, this is not clear to the casual listener, so the song is in contrast to their far more blatantly political later songs, covering subjects such as homophobia "Glad to Be Gay" and civil disorder "Long Hot Summer".


A - 2-4-6-8 Motorway  (3:18)
       Producer – Vic Maile
       Written-By – Robinson

B - I Shall Be Released (For George Ince)  (4:35)
      Producer – Triumvirat 
       Written-By – Dylan


Companies, etc.

• Phonographic Copyright (p) – EMI Records Ltd.
• Published By – MCPS Ltd.
• Published By – B. Feldman & Co. Ltd.
• Pressed By – EMI Records

Credits

• Mastered By – Blair (tracks: A) 
• Track B was dedicated to the 'Free George Ince Campaign' 

Notes 

Release: 1977
Genre: Punk Rock
Label: EMI Records
Catalog# 5C 006-06570

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ISOIpmp3aeXQKRjIrxciqMoYSttv0YQD/view?usp=sharing

Eagles - New Kid In Town b/w Victim Of Love (1976)

"New Kid in Town" is a song by the Eagles from their 1976 studio album Hotel California. It was written by Don Henley, Glenn Frey and J.D. Souther. Released as the first single from the album, the song became a number-one hit in the US, and number 20 in the UK. The single version has an earlier fade-out than the album version.
The song features Glenn Frey singing the lead vocals, with Don Henley singing main harmony vocals. Randy Meisner plays the guitarrón mexicano, Don Felder plays electric guitars, and Joe Walsh plays the electric piano and organ parts. The song won the Grammy Award for Best Vocal Arrangement for Two or More Voices.

• "We were writing about our replacements."
  
  That's what J.D. Souther told us about this song, which he wrote with Eagles members Glenn Frey and Don Henley. Souther was part of the flourishing Southern California music scene, and often collaborated with the Eagles, also cowriting their hits "Best Of My Love" and "Heartache Tonight."
  
  Souther explained: "'New Kid' emerged from our whole fascination with gunfire as an analogy. The point was at some point some kid would come riding into town that was much faster than you and he'd say so, and then he'd prove it. That's the story of life. That's the story of aging, especially coming out of your teenage and young man years and as you approach 30, you begin to see that things don't stay the same forever. And that there's a lot other guys like you and gals like you that want the same thing that are coming up, and they want their moment, too, and they're going to get it. And it's fine. It's as it should be."
• Don Felder, who was the Eagles guitarist at the time, told us that once they came up with the concept of the "Hotel California," some other songs fell into place, including this one. Said Felder: "Once you arrive in LA and you have your first couple of hits, you become the 'New Kid in Town,' and then with greater success, you live 'Life In The Fast Lane,' and you start wondering if all that time you've spent in the bars was just 'Wasted Time.' So all of these other song ideas kind of came out of that concept once the foundation was laid for 'Hotel California.'"

A - New Kid In Town (4:49)  

       Written-By – Don Henley, Glenn Frey, John David Souther

B - Victim Of Love (4:04)  

       Written-By – Don Felder, Don Henley, Glenn Frey, John David Souther

Companies, etc.

• Pressed By – EMI-Bovema N.V.

Credits

• Producer – Bill Szymczyk

van de Elpee: AS 53051 "Hotel California" 

Notes

Release: 1976

Genre: Country Rock

Label: Asylum Records

Catalog# AS 13069

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kNMdK4jeQbAraN_rqCqWWK7Itb5d2GKu/view?usp=sharing

Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Good Year For The Roses b/w Your Angel Steps Out Of Heaven (1981)

The initial word on Almost Blue was that it was going to be career suicide, but while the album scored no hits in the United States (unsurprising, since Elvis Costello didn't finally bag a Top 40 single until "Everyday I Write the Book" scraped into the lower 30s in the fall of 1983), his sensitive reading of the George Jones hit "A Good Year for the Roses" hit the U.K. Top Ten, making it one of his biggest chart singles ever. (A creepily atmospheric video that got a lot of U.K. airplay probably helped a lot.) The song is sentimental almost to the point of self-parody, and Costello seems to recognize this; a barely perceptible wink seems to accompany the first verse, in which the singer compares himself unfavorably to a lipstick-marked cigarette and half-drunk cup of coffee. This is the most identifiably Billy Sherrill-produced song on the album, complete with the strings and female backing vocals that are his trademark; take out Costello's inimitable lead vocal and you could easily slot Jones, Ray Price, or Charlie Rich in its place. This proves only how suitable Costello's vocals are to the countrypolitan sound, despite the complaints of some of the less open-minded reviewers at the time. "A Good Year for the Roses" is both a great Elvis Costello song and a great country song.



A - Good Year For The Roses  (3:05)
       Written-By – J. Chesnut 
 
B - Your Angel Steps Out Of Heaven  (1:55)
       Written-By – Jack Ripley 


Companies, etc.

• Manufactured By – WEA Records B.V.
• Manufactured By – WEA Records SA / NV
• Distributed By – WEA Records B.V.
• Distributed By – WEA Records SA / NV

Credits

• Producer – Billy Sherrill

Notes

Release: 1981

Genre: Pop Ballad

Label: WEA Records

Catalog# WEA 18.879

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sFxqicz3WQWFKpA7sY47NZrRYyws-02J/view?usp=sharing