Here's my weekly look at the Top 30 from 28 years ago. The plan is for these posts to go out at 17:30 on a Wednesday.
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 1995 with my verdict on each record:
The 3rd Top 40 hit for Deuce and it was the final one to feature main singer Kelly O'Keefe before she left the group. Like its predecessor it's a dreadful record and no doubt inspired the music of Steps in years to come.
Verdict - Rubbish
Gompie were a Dutch group who covered the Smokie record "Living Next Door To Alice" with the audience adding "Alice, who the fuck is Alice" into it. This was big on the continent but was overshadowed by Smokie's rerelease with Roy 'Chubby' Brown which was a reaction to the success of this. Both records are good fun though.
Verdict - Good
The final Top 40 hit for Madonna's R&B era. This time it's Mary J Blige producer Dave Hall on songwriting/production duties. I will concede that this is the most convincing R&B record but that doesn't mean it's any good.
Verdict - Rubbish
The 2nd Top 40 hit for The Chemical Brothers. It was the sort of record that could appeal to both the dance crowd and the rock crowd and features Tim Burgess from The Charlatans on vocals. I remember liking this one at the time.
Verdict - Good
The Top 40 debut for JX and also the record he's most famous for. It did sound quite futuristic at the time and falls under the progressive house banner. It wasn't his highest charting hit though, that came 2 years later. One of the classics which does mean somewhat overplayed, but still decent enough.
Verdict - Good
The only UK Top 40 hit for The Connells and I think one of those situations where it may be just as well they left it at that because if I was to hear anything else by them it would most likely be a big disappointment. I absolutely love this record, there's no such thing as perfection but this is pretty damn close to it. Then there's the video showing various people from the class of 74-75 then and now (well 1993 when the video was made). I'm now older than these people were back then by a few years, they would now be of retirement age.
Verdict - Good
The 2nd Top 40 hit for Echobelly which came over a year after their first. This was also their biggest Top 40 hit.
Verdict - Good
The Top 40 debut for Diana King and the record she is best known for. It was from the soundtrack to "Bad Boys", a film that has Will Smith in it. The fact it wasn't Will Smith making the record for the film might have indicated that he'd given up on music. Maybe that's why I like this.
Verdict - Good
Lenny Kravitz had last been in the Top 40 in 1993 when he had the very rock "Are You Gonna Go My Way?" and some not so rock follow ups. On this one he's gone back to the rock sound and at the same time is saying that rock and roll is dead. Not bad but nothing to get excited about.
Verdict - OK
The penultimate Top 40 hit to date for D:Ream and the last time they will feature as their final Top 40 hit never made the Top 30. I can't say I'm going to miss their brand of what I would call dance music for estate agents. A sort of dance version of Kenny Thomas.
Verdict - Rubbish
This was originally a Top 40 hit for Smokie back in 1976. Then there was a cover by Gompie that was big in Europe where the audience would reply "Alice, who the fuck is Alice". Smokie therefore decided to revive this song and get comedian Roy 'Chubby' Brown to add the "Alice, who the fuck is Alice" bit. I think it's great.
Verdict - Good
One thing that makes Corona different to your usual eurodance acts is that they have 3 big hits that could all claim to be their big hit. Not only that but each of those 3 are quite distinctive and not just soundalikes of what they've done before.
Verdict - Good
18. Whigfield - Close To You (New)
First we had the overplayed and very cheesy "Saturday Night". Then it was the almost identical "Another Day". Then we had the excellent if a bit cheesy "Think Of You". Now we have the ballad. I guess it was always coming, the only surprise really is that it was her 4th hit that was a ballad and not the 3rd.
Verdict - Rubbish
A nice bit of music trivia here, what was the 3rd highest new entry on the week of the Blur vs Oasis chart battle? Nobody seems to know the answer though, nobody really paid attention to what was below the Top 2 that week. Based on this record I don't blame them.
Verdict - Rubbish
"Kiss From A Rose" was originally a Top 40 hit in 1994 but was given a new lease of life when it featured in the "Batman Forever" soundtrack. I'd never heard "I'm Alive" until I bought the CD single of this.
Verdict - Good / Good
Robbie Williams had left Take That by this point but his vocals were still present on the record. Howard Donald took lead vocals on this record which was unexpected given he was very much in the background prior to this. I hated it at the time, but now it's actually quite good.
Verdict - Good
There's almost a bit of a reggae vibe to this record which isn't how I remember this record if I'm honest. I don't think I've heard it since 1995 and my memory of this record is it being a typical depressing Michael Bolton ballad. To be fair it's not a million miles away from that.
Verdict - Rubbish
The 3rd Top 40 hit for The Nightcrawlers and by this point you more or less knew what you were getting from them. I'm pretty sure I'd heard this long before it entered the charts, I recall it doing the rounds early on in the summer. It's a decent enough formula.
Verdict - Good
I do remember this record but what I don't remember is the fact it sampled "Good Times" by Chic. It had already been proven to be a good record to sample. As a result we have another Michelle Gayle record that I actually like, which I'm surprised by.
Verdict - Good
After being top of the charts for an eternity with the dreary ballad "Think Twice" it would seem that Celine Dion could release any old rubbish and people would buy it. That seemed to be the case with this French language record.
Verdict - Rubbish
The other Scatman Top 40 hit. It sounds like there's a more serious message in this one but you can't really take this record seriously. The eurodance sound, the funny noises he makes and the fact it's referring to his own fantasy world see to that. A great record though.
Verdict - Good
What I was learning from being a raver in 1995 was that you generally weren't supposed to like house music because it's too slow. There were of course exceptions to the rule and this was one of them. The person who told me of that rule liked this record himself.
Verdict - Good
8. Donna Summer - I Feel Love (New)
This was originally a chart topper in 1977 and was remixed and returned to the charts in 1995. It was remixed by Rollo & Sister Bliss of Faithless but this was a time before Faithless were that well known. A decent 90s makeover though it doesn't sound too much different from the original.
Verdict - Good
I've already mentioned a memory of listening to the Chris Evans Breakfast Show one day on Radio 1 around this time and liking everything he was playing. This was another of those records that he played. It became the biggest hit to that point for TLC.
Verdict - Good
This originally made the Top 40 at the beginning of the year but was much more successful when it re-entered the Top 40 in August. I can sort of understand why because it's a record more suited to the summer. It's great to listen to whatever the time of year though.
Verdict - Good
There are a handful of records that very famously reached number 2 in the charts and this was one of them. Famous because it lost the Blur vs Oasis chart battle. I wasn't on either side but this was the worst of the 2 records.
Verdict - Rubbish
This was originally a Top 40 hit in 1994 but fared better on it's return to the Top 40 in 1995. Around the same time there was a happy hardcore record called "Rainbow in the Sky" by Paul Elstak that was based on the same tune but with different lyrics.
Verdict - Good
This of course was the theme song for the TV show Friends. I used to watch Friends back in the 90s and I liked it but I have to say it's not aged very well. The theme music though was always shit, but it was probably intended to be that way.
Verdict - Rubbish
The winner of the Blur vs Oasis chart battle. As a raver at the time I didn't care for Blur or Oasis but if I had to pick one it would have been Blur. In fact I did like Blur during their "Parklife" album era. This record marked the start of their demise in my opinion
Verdict - Rubbish
This record was written by R Kelly. It's a ballad and R Kelly was one of those people who knew how to write a ballad well.
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 19.5/30, or 65%. Just slight drop on last week.
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