Cher, Chrissie Hynde and Neneh Cherry with Eric Clapton 'Love Can Build A Bridge'

Chart Peak: 1 [1 week]

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The 1995 Comic Relief single is an all-star cover of the Judds' 'Love Can Build A Bridge'... It raced into the Top 5 on release in March '95

Performers on this track are listed in the same order as they were on the sleeve - order of appearance would be Hynde-Cher-Cherry (and then Clapton). And while we're dealing with details, Now CDs of this era have the song titles and production credits printed onto the disc itself, but this is the one case I know of where there are also credits for the three engineers, five assistant engineers and the mastering engineer (as well as the arranger and mixer, jobs which get mentioned now and again). I've attached the photo of this below the jump, just in case anyone wants to avoid spoilers for the remaining tracks on the album; I presume these people took a more prominent credit in lieu of payment, due to the nature of the release. Incidentally, the arranger on this track was David Campbell, which is the closest we've ever got to his son Beck appearing on a Now album.

Regular readers may have noticed that when I write a whole first paragraph without mentioning the song itself, this is rarely a sign of enthusiasm, and so it proves again. We're back in cover-of-a-cover territory here, as the song's obvious sentimentality had already seen a version released to raise money for Rwandan children peak at only 57 six months earlier. The song clearly had potential though, hence this swift re-recording, though it is rather an odd one out among the Comic Relief singles: where previous releases had been out-and-out comedy tracks, and subsequent ones have often been upbeat tracks by currently popular acts with room for clowning in the video, this is the one single that makes no attempt at humour, although whether it actually is the least funny one is a matter of opinion. Speaking of odd ones out, it seemed at the time that Neneh Cherry was slightly out of place among the three singers as she was the only one who'd not previously had a Number One single (in fact, she was the only one of the three who hadn't had a Number One with a version of 'I Got You Babe') but all three singers do a decent job of the vocals, even though the number of technical staff involved implies they recorded their parts separately. Eric Clapton's guitar solo, which also earns him his first Number One single, isn't very interesting though, and he looks a bit stupid wearing a suit and trainers in the video. Still, he's as good as the song itself really deserves. At least it was for a good cause. I believe the Tom Jones/Lenny Henry track on the B-side would have been the audio of this sketch from 1991, though how well that worked in sound only I wouldn't care to speculate.

Cher also appears on: Now 32, 33, 42
Chrissie Hynde also appears on: Now 6, 13 [both with UB40]
Neneh Cherry also appears on: Now 14, 15, 16, 18, 29 [with Youssou N'Dour], 35

Pretenders 'Hymn To Her'

Chart Peak: 8

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The follow-up to 'Don't Get Me Wrong' charted at No. 56 on 9th December 1986 and made No. 8 for 2 weeks in January 1987.

This was a bit of a comeback era for the Pretenders (or at least for Chrissie Hynde, the only original member still in the band at this point). The aforementioned 'Don't Get Me Wrong' had become her/their first Top 10 single in almost five years, and this was the only occasion in their career when they scored back-to-back Top Tens (though the run soon ended with their next single falling short of the Top 80). The former was the song I liked at the time, though I may have been swayed by the old cars in the video. I don't think it's aged all that well since, though, especially the production. This song, apart from its odd title that seems like it was supposed to be a pun, didn't grab my younger self's attention much at all and it wasn't one I expected to like at all now to be honest.

This probably won't be one of the more popular things I say on this blog but I realised quite a few years ago that I don't actually like Hynde's voice; and she's one of those singers who has a very obvious presence that I find it hard to overlook. Some of the early, punchy songs by the original band are still quite enjoyable but a Pretenders power-ballad wasn't something I particularly looked forward to. By those low expectations, 'Hymn To Her' is a mild but pleasant surprise. It's a big statement song about femininity but couched in intimate terms - and sung by a woman too - it steers clear of the worst patronising tendencies, and there's a nice, slightly jangly melody and an energy going on which makes it less heavy going than I thought. The song was written not by a Pretender but by Hynde's old schoolfriend Meg Keene (though Hynde published the song through her company). Apparently the Black Keys later went to the same song. Even Hynde is in good (and relatively subtle) voice on this one. It's a neat ending to Now 9 after a wayward couple of tracks: it also ends the truncated CD version where it follows 'Land Of Confusion'.

Also appearing on: Now 28
Available on: The Best Of / Break Up The Concrete

UB40 'I Got You Babe' (Guest Vocals Chrissie Hynde)

Chart Peak: 1

I Got YouTube

Originally No. 1 in September 1965 for Sonny and Cher, it returned to the top spot almost exactly 20 years later on 27th August with Ali Campbell as Sonny and the Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde taking the female vocal.

Funny how the memory plays tricks: I'd always associated this "duet" with Live Aid, but in fact neither act was even present. They did, however, reprise it at the Nelson Mandela concert three years later, along with their version of 'Breakfast In Bed', a hit single at that time.

Without that Live Aid context, though, I'm not sure what led them to do this. I suppose it was just a combination of UB40's unstoppable urge to cover every song written before 1980 and Hynde's determination to be a reggae singer. In fairness to them, the studio recording is better than the mumbly soundcheck they seem to have used for the video, but it still succeeds in making Sonny Bono's already rather smug Dylan pastiche (apparently it was based on 'It Ain't Me Babe') sound even smugger still. Like all but their earliest recordings, the band sound half-asleep, twiddling away at a sluggish tempo without feeling. But they could afford to cry all the way to the bank with their second chart-topper.

Also appearing on: Now 1, 4, 7, 9, 13 [with Chrissie Hynde again], 17, 18, 26, 41, 56
Available on: Love Songs