Here's my weekly look at the Top 30 from 30 years ago. The plan is for these posts to go out at 17:30 on a Sunday.
Here is the Top 40 in full.Obviously some of the records will be the same as last week so therefore the review will be the same for these. I've indicated which ones are new so you can skip the others if you read last weeks post.
Once again my opinions are inevitably going to differ from other people, but I'm not trying to convince anyone something is good or rubbish, I'm simply giving my opinion.
So this is the top 30 from this week in 1991 with my verdict on each record:
Surprisingly this record failed to make the Top 40 when first released in 1977. It finally made it into the Top 40 as a live version. It's slower than the studio version. As someone who likes fast music I should find that annoying, but I don't.
Verdict - Good
The follow up to "Insanity" that has long been forgotten. It follows a similar formula but isn't as catchy. Not sure whether that's a good or a bad thing. It's definitely a commercial sounding record, they all are but that's not always a bad thing.
Verdict - Good
This is the final Top 40 hit to date for Martika. It was composed by Prince and you can tell. With the track title being what it is, it was obviously written for Martika but I could imagine Prince doing this record himself. I do prefer "Toy Soldiers" but this is a pretty solid finish to a Top 40 career.
Verdict - Good
This was the 2nd Top 40 hit from All Around the World records. Unlike Control, who had the first Top 40 hit from the label, Love Decade were not one hit wonders. This was their biggest hit. Once again it's more commercial sounding than a lot of other dance records at the time but still decent.
Verdict - Good
This was originally a hit for Force MDs in 1986. It was the fourth Top 40 hit for Kenny Thomas and his third cover. It's basically a karaoke version of the original.
Verdict - Rubbish
I'm shocked this record only got to number 25. I would have had this down as a bigger hit than "Gett Off" and "Cream", his other 1991 hits but it wasn't. Then again maybe this was the record that had the biggest impact on me personally. It's difficult to pick what my favourite Prince single is but this one would definitely be up there.
Verdict - Good
The debut Top 40 hit for K-Klass. It failed to make the Top 40 when released earlier on in the year, but here it is going straight into the Top 10. It perhaps suffers from it's "anthem" status, but it's a great record that really did sound quite something in the 90s.
Verdict - Good
Let's set the scene here. Extreme were a hard rock group who released an acoustic ballad which was hugely successful but alienated a lot of rock fans. They now had the challenge of getting the rock fans back on side so what do they do? They release this, another acoustic record. Fortunately I wasn't one of the purists they alienated and I quite like it.
Verdict - Good
Steve 'Silk' Hurley gave us the first house number one in 1987 and as an artist he never had another Top 40 hit. As a composer though he was back in the Top 40 in 1991 with this record. It was the debut Top 40 hit for Kym Sims and her best known. I would also say it was her best hit.
Verdict - Good
After singing on the previous 3 Christmas number ones, here's Cliff Richard with another hit in the run up to Christmas. Fortunately it didn't pose much threat to the top spot and is now long forgotten. I don't remember it myself and will have probably forgotten it by the time you read this.
Verdict - Rubbish
I think this may have been the first version of "When A Man Loves A Woman" I heard. A few years later I found myself liking "When A Man Loves A Woman" but being a bit embarrassed about liking a Michael Bolton song at the same time. Then someone pointed out it was a 60s song covered by Michael Bolton. Listening to the 2 versions, it was definitely the Percy Sledge version that I liked. This ones just a karaoke version.
Verdict - Rubbish
Lots of samples in this one which got them into trouble, quite common for dance records which got bigger than anticipated. One of the samples is the Pink Floyd record of the same name but the most notable is "Just Get Up and Dance" by Afrika Bambaataa.
Verdict - Good
This is a bit of a strange one for me. It's a bit of a generic nothing song on one hand. At the same time it reminds me of late 1991 and all the good music that was around then which makes me think it's alright.
Verdict - OK
It seems like there's been a lot of Salt-N-Pepa hits since I started doing these posts. This is the fourth one of the 90s which isn't that many really. It's back to that original formula of covering an old record in the chorus and rapping the verses. It's just as crap.
Verdict - Rubbish
The Shade Of Rhythm many people know is "Sound Of Eden" but that only made number 35 earlier on in the year. This is the lesser known of the 2 singles but the higher charting one. This is one of the all time greats, definitely a contender for best charting rave tune ever.
Verdict - Good
15. Erasure - Am I Right? (New)
Erasure had set the bar high with their previous single "Love To Hate You". Following that up with a ballad sounds a terrible idea on paper but what we have is a great record. I wasn't that impressed when I first heard it but after a few listens it grew on me.
Verdict - Good
14. Brian May - Driven By You (New)
After hearing this numerous times on the Ford adverts this single release revealed to me that the man behind that music was the guitarist of Queen. This was released the day after Freddie Mercury died. Not only did I become a Queen fan following this, but I also acquired Brian May's "Back to the Light" album.
Verdict - Good
13. Kate Bush - Rocket Man (New)
Kate Bush had written all her solo Top 40 hits on her own prior to this, a cover of the Elton John record. I find the Elton John record a bit dull if I'm honest, but this cover livens it up somewhat and is done reggae style which is a bit unexpected. It's no doubt an improvement over the original but still suffers from the fact the original wasn't very good.
Verdict - OK
The Top 40 debut for 2 Unlimited, though they had a Top 40 hit the previous year as Bizz Nizz. I did like this at the time, but my memory has been somewhat tainted by the crap they released after this. I also remember hearing it a few years later for the first time in a while and it sounded much slower than I remembered.
Verdict - OK
The 2nd and highest charting single from the album of the same name. Although the number 8 position this peaked at isn't exactly setting the charts on fire, the album was the biggest selling album of both 1991 and 1992 so people were clearly buying that instead. It doesn't really fit in with other popular music at the time, but then variety is the spice of life and music like this was most welcome.
Verdict - Good
This failed to make the Top 40 when released earlier on in the year but following the success of "Such A Feeling" it ended up making the Top 10. This is the big Bizarre Inc hit that was made for the dancefloor rather than the charts. I love it.
Verdict - Good
This is jointly the second highest charting hit for James which was the follow up to their biggest hit "Sit Down" earlier on in the year. It was the lead single from their album "Seven" which confusingly was their fourth album. It's not a bad record but lacks that something to be a good record.
Verdict - OK
It amazes me how many people I've met who don't remember The Wonder Stuff, particularly given they had a number one with this. They did alienate some of their fans by collaborating with Vic Reeves, but I do wonder if they'd think the same had Vic Reeves not been a famous comedian. To me there is absolutely nothing wrong with this song, I've always liked it.
Verdict - Good
Grunge has arrived, its the debut Top 40 hit for Nirvana. On a personal level, Nirvana were really the first band I listened to because it was cool rather than because I particularly liked it. As a result I absolutely resented Nirvana once I'd moved onto other things. But I never really disliked it at the same time.
Verdict - OK
One of the biggest rave tunes ever and deservedly so. Altern 8 were arguably bigger than The Prodigy at the time.
Verdict - Good
I remember watching this on Top of the Pops at the time. I absolutely loved it. Little did we know at the time that this would be their final completely original Top 40 hit. I mishear lyrics all the time and was convinced I misheard the lyrics "They're justified and they're ancient and they drive an ice cream van" but I didn't.
Verdict - Good
I'm a big fan of Motown and like many Diana Ross records both as a solo artist and with The Supremes. Unfortunately this isn't one of them. It's quite an achievement for someone who's been around since the 60s to have a number two hit in 1991 and had Freddie Mercury not died this would have likely been Christmas number one. It's just too much of a ballad for my liking.
Verdict - Rubbish
Billy Bunter & D-Zyne had a happy hardcore record in the 90s called "Ride Like The Wind" which was excellent in my opinion. I thought it was a rip off of this, but this is a rip off of a Christopher Cross record of the same name. It's a bit cheesy and commercial sounding but I like it.
Verdict - Good
I honestly can't remember what I made of this record at the time. It was one that divided opinion but I think I was sat on the fence. Now I've had 30 years to reflect and even though this is the first time I've ever listened to it of my own accord I do quite like it.
Verdict - Good
I used to regularly go to karaoke night at a crappy town centre pub and there was an unwritten rule not to sing this song because it's one the landlord sang every week. I wasn't aware at the time that this was originally a hit for Elton John on his own in the 70s. When Elton John started singing his part on this though I thought he was much more suited to the song than George Michael. At the same time I find this cover better than the original.
Verdict - Good
If we give the records which were good 1 point each and those which were OK half a point, the final score is 22.5/30, or 75%. Looking like we're not going to get the end of year slump we got in 1990 and 1999, but still 3 weeks to go.
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