Three of a kind #3

Today's Three of a kind features, rather spoddily, a trio of songs that all peaked at number 18 in the UK singles chart in 1984. Now, bear with me on this one because the other thing these songs have in common is that they're all dead good - honest!

First up is the pick of the bunch, for me, Tossing & Turning by Windjammer, which remains one of the great lost (or at least largely forgotten) soul tracks of the decade. Having done much of my growing up in the eighties I'm still a sucker for most soul (and funk) music from that era, and Tossing & Turning sounds as great today as it did all those aeons ago. Just a perfect song for a summer's day - or any day at all - really.


Windjammer - Tossing & Turning mp3 (available for seven days)

Track number two will be familiar to many, coming as it does from one of the decade's best bands, New Order. Thieves Like Us is a typically generous six minutes plus, recorded while the band were in the middle of a very purple patch indeed. So hip it hurts.

New Order - Thieves Like Us mp3 (available for seven days)

Finally, we find soul troubador (and cheesy pullover fan) Jeffrey Osborne getting all funky on our backsides with his second-biggest hit of the year, Stay With Me Tonight. Now, Jeff's probably most famous for late-night local radio favourite, the tender ballad On The Wings Of Love, but Stay With Me Tonight is a much more raunchy affair, as the title suggests. The old saucebox. (I should warn you here that this song features a none-more-eighties - and slightly incongruous - guitar solo two thirds of the way through, so brace yerselves!)

Jeffrey Osborne - Stay With Me Tonight mp3 (available for seven days)

Buy music that peaked at number 18 in the UK in 1984 here