1988. A year of Acid House causing moral panic amongst the nation’s self-appointed moral guardians. UK Hip-Hop like Derek B, Cookie Crew and The Wee Papa Girl Rappers making it out of the clubs and into Smash Hits and Top Of The Pops. A massive 70th Birthday Concert at Wembley Stadium to honour Nelson Mandela, then still facing life imprisonment in South Africa for his entirely reasonable opposition to the Apartheid regime*.

However, Christmas seems to send people into conservative (note small ‘c’) mode and the biggest selling record of the year was Cliff Richard’s ‘Mistletoe and Wine.’ His first number one single since he had teamed up with the Young Ones on a re-working (for Charidee, obviously) of his old hit ‘Livin’ Doll’.

I have no idea to what extent Idlewild are followers of Cliff Richard, but they recorded this rather ace version of ‘Mistletoe and Wine’ for a radio session a couple of years ago.

Idlewild -‘Mistletoe and Wine.’ mp3

*BTW what the fuck was Eric Clapton doing there?