1978: Cool, cool, cool

There were no such things as 'guilty pleasures' musically in those days. Well, they weren't called that. You either liked something or you didn't. Everyone had their tribe. That said, there were of course things one could never admit to liking, except to only the closest of friends.

I've always believed in liking what you like, and I've been playing my ELO and Dooleys records for years. Nothing got tucked away with me because Lloyd Cole and the Smiths came along. My non-Maltese roomie at school counted Air Supply's All Out Of Love and Twiggy's Please Get My Name right among his favourite records, while to the outside world those people did not exist. But I wore my cheese on my sleeve.

However, even I drew the line at admitting my absolute adoration for this record at the time. It was okay to like Boney M and Abba, but the New Seekers??

Right from the word go they were naff, and no matter how Lyn Paul tries to reinvent them today as some kind of debauched collective drinking and drugging their way around the world, it's too unbelievable to give credence to. They were squeaky clean, did Eurovision and were all eyes and teeth. Quite like Lyn Paul's solo single It Oughta Sell A Million. It bombed, and at the time I thought she was trying that bit too hard. Poor Lyn. You can catch her in reruns of 3-2-1.

Never Ending Song Of Love is a triumph, though, and this song, a No. 21 smash, was just hitting the charts as the summer holidays were kicking in. I've often thought it rather melancholy, a song of yearning and loneliness, a young woman forging her way in the world but so far to little effect, trapped by life. It's the anti-Modern Girl. Then again, I could be mistaken.

Love those harmonies though, and no Lyn Paul on this one. Their last single ever too, and a cover of an Australian song by Procession. That's here for you pleasure as well.