Tuesday 31 October 2023

25 Years Since....October 1998

Time to go back to October 1998, trance has a notable presence here:

Dee-Tah - Relax


When I first heard this I thought it was Sweetbox with their follow up to "Everything's Gonna Be Alright". It certainly has it's similarities, but it was Dee-Tah, a rapper from Chile.

It's quite uplifting in a way but has a certain darkness to it. Maybe that's just my own interpretation.

Nalin And Kane - Beachball

One of the big trance anthems that's been remixed a million times. As you may have already guessed Nalin & Kane hail from Germany. If you're into trance then it's almost inevitable that you will like this record, I've only ever heard this record get praised and rightfully so.

Sundance - Sundance '98

A remix for 1998 of "Sundance" which had been a Top 40 hit the previous year. It's a trance record but this time it's a British one rather than a German one. As far as trance hits went in 1998 this was about as good as it got, the stand out record on "Kiss Anthems 98".

Binary Finary - 1998

This record takes me back to Dave Pearce's Dance Anthems and the Mix Selector on Radio 1. It's a trance record that's been remixed loads of times, but when it gets remixed the titles changes to whatever year it was remixed in. This was the original version of the record though.


Afrika Bambaataa Vs Carpe Diem - Got To Get Up

I remember taping this from Dave Pearce's Dance Anthems although I questioned whether this would be considered a credible record amongst the house community. In hindsight who gives a flying fuck, it's a good record and another one that's on "Kiss Anthems 98". 
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UK Number 40s: Serious Danger - Deeper (1997)

 


1997 goes down in dance music history as the year of speed garage. This was one of several speed garage records to make the Top 40 that year.

Despite the popularity of speed garage at the time, many of the speed garage records making the Top 40 tended to be in the lower reaches of the charts. The obvious consumer of the records were the DJs a no doubt many DJs bought this.

At the time same the general public were more likely to listen to the DJ sets than buy a stand alone record. If you were following speed garage at the time then there's no doubt you would be familiar with this record.

Serious Danger was the alias of Richard Philips and this was his only Top 40 hit.

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Sunday 29 October 2023

Top 30 in 1993 Reviewed: Week 44

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 1993 with my verdict on each record:


I think this was the last Pet Shop Boys record I admitted to liking at the time. I remember the rules that the rock crowd weren't supposed to like pop music but a small number of exceptions were allowed and this was one of those for me. It wouldn't be long before even a small number of exceptions wasn't acceptable.

Verdict - Good


This got no further than 29 on it's first release, but fared better when it was rereleased in 1995 after appearing on the Levi's advert. I do however remember hearing this on the radio in 1993 and liking it. The intro to it is very distinctive.

Verdict - Good


I remember when this record came out it created a divide at school between the rock crowd and everyone else. It was singled out as an example of a crappy pop record by the rock crowd but everybody else seemingly loved it. Putting all that aside, my first thought when hearing this was have Snap changed their name to Culture Beat. 

Verdict - Rubbish


This was the follow up to "Jump Around". I would hazard a guess most people don't know any House of Pain records other than "Jump Around", but I do. The fact I have the album helps somewhat. Both are solid efforts and good to hear their other material.

Verdict - Good / Good


A few years before Public Enemy sampled "For What It's Worth" Buffalo Springfield on "He Got Game" Oui 3 sampled/covered the same record. The chorus is the same but the verses are rapped. This was the first version I ever heard of this record and its one I've always liked. It was the first of 3 Top 40 hits for Oui 3.

Verdict - Good


INXS were my 2nd favourite band at the start of the year, but by this point they had taken a slide down the rankings. I'm sure I still liked this record at the time because it was INXS, but it isn't their best. Not bad, but pretty average. Believe it or not, this was their joint 2nd highest charting single.

Verdict - OK


This is one of those records which was pretty big at the time but never gets played anymore. I don't think I've heard this since 1993. It bears a vague similarity to "Baby Baby" by Amy Grant which means I can't help but think this isn't as good. Not a bad record though.

Verdict - OK


I was taking guitar lessons around this time and amongst the tablature in one of the books I had was pictures of iconic guitarists such as Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton. One picture I did find quite strange though was Prince who was never someone I really thought of as a guitarist let alone an iconic one. Then he released this very guitar driven record. Of course I now know how good a guitarist Prince was. This has a decent riff to it, but doesn't quite have enough about it for me to truly like it.

Verdict - OK


I have conflicting memories of this record. I remember going back to school after the summer holidays and me and a few others writing off the Levellers for being too soft. At the same time I remember this coming out and me liking it and also thinking I was being cool for liking it. Anyway that's no longer relevant, I like it and don't care whether that's cool or not.

Verdict - Good


It's records like this which make me look back at the 90s with fondness. There was nothing unusual about a record like this getting into the charts such was the diversity of music that would chart. A record like this would never chart these days because it's a proper dance record and not commercial nonsense.

Verdict - Good


I don't think I've heard this record since 1993 and listening to it again it's not quite how I remember it, the main hooks sounds right but I remember it having more of a rock sounding backing track. Still, it has a good flow to it and quite pleasant to listen to after all these years. It was the one and only Top 40 hit for Lena Fiagbe, maybe best kept that way.

Verdict - Good


After this topped the charts in 1984 and spent nearly the entire year in the charts you would have thought anyone who wanted this record would have already bought it. Seemingly not as this re-issue made the Top 10. I've heard it far too much in my life to truly like it, but I don't dislike it at the same time.

Verdict - OK


Julia is the name of Chris Rea's daughter and this song was written about her. Nothing wrong with that, but I can't help but find the song a bit cringeworthy. It's quite upbeat but not particularly catchy. Let's just say I won't be in a hurry to listen to it again.

Verdict - Rubbish


Cat here is Cat from Red Dwarf. Therefore with this being a record sung by a character on a comedy show you would expect it to be cheesy and crap, but that is the point. That's exactly what this record is.

Verdict - Rubbish


Earlier on in 1993 we had a Lulu penned Tina Turner hit. Now's the turn of Bryan Adams on songwriting duties. It's not that sort of record I'd imagine Bryan Adams doing himself, but it doesn't sound much like a Tina Turner record either, her singing and the backing track don't really go together. It's pretty forgettable too.

Verdict - Rubbish


Lisa Stansfield is doing her song again. OK not all Lisa Stansfield songs are bad, but she's had far too many bland slow and boring singles like this one. Fortunately she won't feature again until 1997 with one I actually like.

Verdict - Rubbish


I just assumed most people only remember Haddaway for "What Is Love" but 16 million views of this follow up hit on YouTube suggests otherwise. I'm not completely anti-Eurodance, there are a handful of records I like but most of it is dreadful and this is one of those.

Verdict - Rubbish


I remember this record being on the list of non-rock music records I secretly liked at the time. As I'm going through the weeks I'm finding I like a lot of the reggae pop records that were coming out in 1993. 

Verdict - Good


I never liked Bjork at the time and always questioned who exactly listens to her music. As time has gone on though some of her records have grown on me with this being one of them. I'd say the fact it has a very strong backing track helps a lot.

Verdict - Good


The biggest hit for M People which also made the charts in America. I would also say this is the most pop record they'd made to this point as well. They knew what they were doing making records like this, but it's not for me.

Verdict - Rubbish


We're now into the "Music For the Jilted Generation" era of The Prodigy. This lead single isn't hugely different from the "Experience" era, but at the same time it is a mark of the fact the chart era for rave music is now in the past. We're being eased into the next era of The Prodigy.

Verdict - Good


This was the only Top 40 hit for Goodmen, but they would return to the charts as Chocolate Puma, Rhythm Killaz and Riva. It's not very tuneful, but that's all part of it's appeal. 

Verdict - Good


There was no avoiding Take That when this came out. They could release any old rubbish safe in the knowledge it would probably go to number one and they achieved that with this one. 

Verdict - Rubbish


With Phil Collins now finished with Genesis from a chart perspective, it's back to his solo career. Part of me thinks this would work better as a Genesis record and part of me thinks it would work better as a ballad. It doesn't quite slot into place for me, but it's not bad.

Verdict - OK


The Top 40 debut for Eternal. I remember when this came out my assessment of it was poundland SWV. I don't think I knew at the time that SWV were American and Eternal were British, but on reflection this is a prime example of how British acts don't do R&B as well as their American counterparts.

Verdict - Rubbish


I couldn't stand this record at the time, it's always irritated me. Then when I started going out on a Saturday night I'd hear this every week which made me hate it even more. My drunken self down the students union would dance to all sorts of rubbish, but I'd always leave the dancefloor when this came on.

Verdict - Rubbish


One of the things that's surprised me when doing these posts was how many Top 40 hits Dina Carroll had before "Don't Be A Stranger". This was her 8th of 14 Top 40 hits. It's no doubt her signature song, something she probably won't be happy about because it's one she didn't write. I wonder whether the success of this song dictated that she wouldn't write any of her remaining Top 40 hits after this. Anyway I couldn't stand this record at the time, too slow and boring. I can't say I've really changed my mind to be honest.

Verdict - Rubbish


After what seemed an endless run of hits from his "Waking Up the Neighbours" album, here's Bryan Adams back with a brand new song. I do find it more memorable than some of his previous efforts despite it being a ballad, but not my cup of tea.

Verdict - Rubbish


I absolutely hated this record at the time. Along with "Mr. Vain" by Culturebeat I had it down as the ultimate shit record. I've heard worse, but it's exactly the sort of eurodance music that I consider to be a bit crap.

Verdict - Rubbish


Meat Loaf had been in the wilderness for several years before this and his previous big hits were before my music memories so I wasn't familiar with his music at the time, I'd just heard the name. At the same time someone at school was a Meat Loaf fan and would say he was heavy metal. I was therefore excited to finally hear a Meat Loaf song, but heavy metal it's certainly not. That disappointment along with the fact it goes on forever and is just ridiculously over the top means I've never liked it. 

Verdict - Rubbish

If we give the records which were good 1 point each and those which were OK half a point, the final score is 13.5/30, or 45%. Back to the full 30 now, some encouraging new entries but it's lower than last week whatever way you look at it.
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Friday 27 October 2023

Top 30 in 1996 Reviewed: Week 43

Here's my weekly look at the Top 30 from 27 years ago. The plan is for these posts to go out at 17:30 on a Friday.

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 1996 with my verdict on each record:


Jeremy Healy was known to be the highest paid DJ at the time and Amos was known to be Jeremy Healy's sidekick. I always found it quite baffling why one would pay Jeremy Healy more than anyone else particularly as I never thought much of the DJ sets I'd heard from him. At the same time though I always thought this tune was good and listening to it again I still do.

Verdict - Good


There was no escaping this song in the summer of 1996. It was the Top 40 debut for the Spice Girls and I thought it had one hit wonder written all over it at the time. Unfortunately it wasn't and there was no escaping them for the next 2.5 years which felt a lot longer. 

Verdict - Rubbish


Vanessa-Mae is a violinist who hit the big time in 1995 with "Toccata And Fugue". It was different to your usual chart music and something I amongst no doubt many others thought was a one off. Turns out she had 2 more Top 40 hits with this being her final one to date. She actual sings at the start of this which I wasn't expecting. Anyway I think the world had moved on by 1996 and the novelty of a violinist in the Top 40 had worn off. 

Verdict - Rubbish


This was one of the big rave anthems of the early 90s the first time round and has appeared in a countless number of old skool sets since. It's also a record I consider to be a classic. However it never made the Top 40 until this remix in 1996. This remix is absolutely terrible, they've added addition vocals to it, taken the breakbeats out and completely ruined it. 

Verdict - Rubbish


Hardbag was more or less finished as a genre in the Top 40 by this point so it seems quite fitting to have a remix of the record which kicked it off in the first place. It ended up back in the Top 40 after featuring in the Tango advert that was apparently only shown 10 times, mostly during TFI Friday. It also contains samples from the advert itself.

Verdict - Good


This is a cover of the Four Seasons record which is a record which has always irritated me. Quite frankly I don't think any cover of this is going to change that fact. A cheesy commercial eurodance cover certainly isn't.

Verdict - Rubbish


My main complaint about music like this at the time was that it was too slow. I did however find myself drawn towards this record though. The backing vocals of "what's up" grabbed my attention. The word "underground" in the title also helped, after all I was a fan of underground music. It was the debut hit and biggest hit for The Sneaker Pimps.

Verdict - Good


In 1993 there was no escaping Dina Carroll. Then she disappeared for the next 3 years until she came back with this record. She picked up where she left off with a ballad which worked well for her before and this time round she scored her joint highest charting hit. Hearing this again after all these years I'm reminded of the lyrics about a heart on the shelf which I always found amusing. I was ready to write this off as another dreary ballad but now I've changed my mind. I really enjoyed listening to that.

Verdict - Good


I said earlier on in the year that Norman Cooks time in the Top 40 as Pizzaman had now finished. Turns out not quite as it was the Pizzaman mix of this record which was the single version. I always thought Duke was Italian for some reason but turns out he's a Geordie. Anyway good tune. 

Verdict - Good


The final Top 40 hit to date for MN8. Now that Damage had come along there was no room for MN8 anymore in the British male R&B group world. They didn't really help their cause by releasing this really bland record, a far cry for "I've Got A Little Something For You"

Verdict - Rubbish


In 1996 you were more likely to find me listening to the drum & bass rip off of this rather than the Fugees record. In a way though I saw it as a good compromise between listening to this and staying true to the rave scene. It's a great record though, pretty dark but has a sung chorus to keep it radio friendly. There was no stopping the Fugees in 1996.

Verdict - Good


I do remember this record but I had no idea it made the Top 40. It's not the sort of record you'd expect to make the Top 40 but again the good thing about the charts back then was that a range of music could and would get in. At the same time though this music isn't to my liking so it's a no from me.

Verdict - Rubbish


This was the 7th Top 40 single for LL Cool J which reached number 7 and became his highest charting hit to that point. It features uncredited vocals by Total, the R&B group I described as being poundland TLC when I reviewed their record a few weeks ago. They didn't really sound like TLC here, but just make an annoying sound that is the chorus. It's far too pop for my liking.

Verdict - Rubbish


The hardbag era was coming to an end by this point with this being one of the last hits from the genre. I did like hardbag music generally, but you could sense it was becoming a bit tired by this point. This record just sounds like jumping on the bandwagon and making any old crap.

Verdict - Rubbish


The Top 40 debut for Damage who were filling the shoes of MN8 as the main British male R&B group. They too suffered the same problem of British R&B being inferior to its American counterpart. It was one of the early Top 40 hits for Wayne Hector as a songwriter.

Verdict - Rubbish


One thing that I get quite annoyed by is hearing that this record was the start of trance music. Trance had been around a long time before this and that includes Paul Oakenfold bringing it to the masses. It's legendary status has meant I've heard it too many times now, but it was a record I liked at the time and I still can find the enjoyment in it.

Verdict - Good


Although this wasn't the highest charting single for Blackstreet, this is the record they're best known for. With Dr Dre rapping the intro one could think it was him who produced it, but then Blackstreet already had their own big name producer in Teddy Riley and of course it was him who produced it. I love the sampling in this record, that's what makes it really stand out. 

Verdict - Good


They're called Future Sound Of London and the video is shot in London, but this tune reminds me of Plymouth. I know I went there in October 1996, but I'm not really sure why I have this association. It may have been going through my head whilst walking around, I may have heard in on the radio or may have been a completely different reason. Anyway I saw this as a solid comeback for Future Sound Of London, doesn't quite live up to their cracking debut be definitely better than any singles they'd released since.

Verdict - Good


The 4th Top 40 hit for Mark Morrison and he's turning down the tempo on this one. The trouble is he doesn't really have the voice for a record like this. It works alright on the more upbeat numbers but he's singing in exactly the same voice and it doesn't work.

Verdict - Rubbish


I've made no secret of the fact I never liked Oasis. Therefore I didn't really want to like this tune because of it's inclusion of Noel Gallagher. But I couldn't help but like it. The Chemical Brothers were already pretty established by this point, but this record was the one that made them a household name. 

Verdict - Good


Prior to this record I thought The Beautiful South were pretty much finished. They'd failed to reach the Top 10 since they topped the charts in 1990, they'd released their greatest hits and were more likely to be heard on Radio 2 than Radio 1. Then this came out and all of a sudden they were big again. I like the sentiment of this song, I've been to numerous towns and cities over the years and thought this could be anywhere. Musically though not to my liking.

Verdict - Rubbish


As someone who listened to the radio back in the 90s there were lots of records I'd hear that I didn't like. Generally I'd just put up with them, but there were some records that I hated so much I would have to turn off the radio. This was one of those records. I can also tell you that we'll be getting "Breakfast At Tiffany's" in the charts soon because that was another that made me turn off the radio at the time. Why break the habit of a lifetime, I'm stopping this before the end of the video.

Verdict - Rubbish


Someone once told me they consider Suede to be one of the underrated bands of the 90s. I disagree, they were seen as one of the big four Britpop bands yet when you had the Blur vs Oasis battle etc. they were nowhere to be seen. Then with Britpop more popular than ever, they were releasing any old rubbish and going straight into the Top 10 with it. This being a prime example.

Verdict - Rubbish


After reviewing "I Love You Always Forever" by Donna Lewis I knew this record was just round the corner because it was another record that I hated so much I had to turn the radio off whenever it came on. Now I'm going to end the YouTube video before it finishes.

Verdict - Rubbish


At the time I remember hearing that Babybird was a really prolific songwriter who'd written hundreds of songs. For many though, this is the only song of his they remember. It's a record I remember being out around the same time as "Breakfast At Tiffany's". It's not as crap, but is still crap.

Verdict - Rubbish


This is basically Celine Dion does Meat Loaf. It was written by Jim Steinman who wrote the bulk of Meat Loafs hits including a Meat Loaf version of this 10 years later. Therefore it's long and over the top and not to my liking, but I will concede it's better than her usual dreary ballads. Still crap though.

Verdict - Rubbish


This was the 5th Top 40 hit for Cast and their 5th with a one word title which is their highest chart single to date. Hard to say which record Cast are best known for. I'd say they're better known as what The La's did next. I do remember several of their sits individually including this and remember not liking them.

Verdict - Rubbish


I've now heard this record more times in my life than I care to remember. It's one of those records that's universally loved, even by people who generally don't like dance music. I liked this so much I bought the single and I've never bought that many singles really.

Verdict - Good


It had been nearly 2 years since Boyzone made their Top 40 debut and I remember when Take That were still around some said they were losing their grip on the boy band world to Boyzone. Yet it took Boyzone until this record to score their first number one. Still, it was one hit sooner than Take That scored their first number one. A cover of the Bee Gees record which could be best described as the alternative lyrics of: shits only turds and turds are all I have to take your fart away.

Verdict - Rubbish


Once again I'm going to talk about "The Noise" with Andi Peters. This was when it became apparent that The Spice Girls weren't going to be one hit wonders. They exclusively showed the video to the new Spice Girls single. It's not as bad as their debut, that's the only positive thing I can say about it.

Verdict - Rubbish

If we give the records which were good 1 point each and those which were OK half a point, the final score is 11/30, or 37%. Slipping again but not too much.
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Thursday 26 October 2023

Christmas Charts Rated: 1967

Top 40

Best Song: The Small Faces - Tin Soldier

When the internet allowed me to easily educate myself on music from the 60s, one band that stood out to me as being particularly good was The Small Faces. This is possibly my favourite record of theirs. It features PP Arnold on vocals, who also provided vocals for rave tunes years later. Maybe there's something in that.

Worst Song: Shirley Bassey - Big Spender

A question that I always get wrong on Popmaster is when they play a clip of this and you need to name the musical it's from. In fact I could say the same for several songs from musicals. I hate musicals and that's mainly to do with the rubbish music you often find in them.

Top 40 Review

After Tom Jones scored the Christmas number one in 1966 he had competition from The Beatles to achieve the same in 1967. In fact he was up against 2 Beatles records and ended up at number 3 with The Beatles occupying the Top 2.

Paul wasn't the only member of the McCartney family in this Top 40. His comedian brother Mike was in the Top 40 as part of The Scaffold with the novelty record "Thank U Very Much".

As a general rule with this Top 40 if a record sounds like it's from 1967 then it gets points. If it sounds more like it was from 1957 then it doesn't get points, and there are quite a few of those.

It goes without saying that the obligatory Cliff Richard hit fits that latter category. We also quite surprisingly have 2 hits in there for Frankie Vaughan who was even old hat in 1957. 

Although he made his Top 40 debut in 1967 I also consider Engelbert Humperdinck to fit that category. His biggest hit "Release Me" was there and also his other number one "The Last Waltz". Additionally there was a French version of the latter by Mireille Mathieu called "La Derniere Valse".

In terms of the more 1967 sounding records, we had Motown hits from The Four Tops and The Supremes which both score full marks as usual. We have other soul records from Sam & Dave, Brenton Wood and Felice Taylor plus some British soul from The Foundations with "Baby, Now That I've Found You", all good records.

There were 2 records from The Bee Gees with "World" and "Massachusetts". I like this era of The Bee Gees, it's very different to their disco era and much better in my opinion.

We had the last Top 10 hit from Gene Pitney with "Somethings Gotten Hold Of My Heart" which is a great record.

As this was a 1967 chart that could have really been any time of the year and I'm finding myself liking the 1967 sounding music, we end up with a really good score.

Score: 24.5

Table

1967 is joint top and better than the best year score. It certainly seems the Christmas charts didn't take a nosedive in the 60s, quite the opposite:



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Wednesday 25 October 2023

Top 30 in 1995 Reviewed: Week 43

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 run of Top 10 hits continued for Wet Wet Wet with this record. Marti Pellow's ponytail had gone but it would seem he lost none of his power. Once again I feel like I shouldn't like this record but I do.

Verdict - Good


The penultimate Top 40 hit to date for 2 Unlimited and the final one from the Ray & Anita era. I guess the record buying public were getting pretty sick of them by this point

Verdict - Rubbish


The penultimate Top 40 hit to date for Soul II Soul and the last time they'll feature as their final Top 40 hit never made the Top 30. It does feel too late for Soul II Soul still being active in the charts, but they hadn't forgotten how to make a good tune.

Verdict - Good


The follow up to her big hit "3 Is Family" that's nowhere near as well remembered. One of the reasons I speak so highly of music from the 90s is pop records like this. It does the job of what a pop record should be, catchy and pleasant to listen to.

Verdict - Good


The 2nd Top 40 hit for Alanis Morissette which I like to describe as the chicken shit song. That's not because I think it's shit, it's because of the line "I'm brave but I'm chicken shit". In fact I quite like this record.

Verdict - Good


Scooter didn't really become a household name in the UK until 2002 but they made their Top 40 debut in 1995 with this record. If you were a raver though you'd know who Scooter were. You also knew what you were getting from them, cheesy as fuck but brilliant at the same time.

Verdict - Good


The Top 40 debut for D'Angelo and this is where it all began for neo soul from a UK Top 40 perspective.  It has a good groove to it and definitely one of the better records of that scene.

Verdict - Good


After the impact that "Set You Free" had on me I was excited to hear a follow up record which was this. This quickly turned to disappointment, this wasn't rave at all, it was a cheesy remake of the Bee Gees record.

Verdict - Rubbish


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


I'm not sure I even knew there was such a place as Camden Town at the time, but now I've long since lost count of the number of times I've been to Camden. That's certainly made me understand this record more and as a result give me a more favourable opinion of it.

Verdict - Good


The Smashing Pumpkins were a band who benefited from the rise in popularity of grunge without strictly being a grunge band themselves. Yet this was the beginning of their most commercially successful period from a chart perspective, a time when grunge was out and Britpop was in. It's catchy.

Verdict - Good


1995 was the year that Louise left Eternal and this was her solo debut. Simon Climie from 80s pop duo Climie Fisher was on songwriting duties. It's a dreary ballad that I don't think I've heard since 1995 anf hopefully I'll never hear it again.

Verdict - Rubbish


1995 was the only year in his career that Jimmy Nail had more than one Top 40 hit. He had 3 that year and this was the 2nd of those. The big river that he speaks of is the River Tyne and this record made more sense to me when I lived in Newcastle. 

Verdict - Good


This record made the Top 40 earlier on in the year under the name "Legends of the Dark Black pt2" but fared better under it's name changed to "Renegade Master". Wildchild sadly passed away a month or so after this so probably never saw the true impact of this record.

Verdict - Good


The Human League were having a bit of a revival in 1995 but sounded like they hadn't left the 80s with their new records. However this remix of their big hit sounded like they'd finally arrived in the 90s. I prefer the remix to the original.

Verdict - Good


This record failed to reach the Top 40 when first released in 1994 but then The Lightning Seeds had a surge in popularity in 1995 and this record fared better. It's a good uplifting number with a great singalong chorus.

Verdict - Good


"Sorted For E's and Wizz" is the better known song on this double a-side and it's a decent enough record. I would however say that "Mis-Shapes" is miles better and is the best Pulp song I've heard. I love the attitude this record has.

Verdict - Good / Good


Diana King is regarded by many as being a one hit wonder with "Shy Guy" but she had 2 other Top 40 hits starting with this. It's a cover of the Chaka Khan record which can't decide whether it wants to be a reggae cover or not. Sounds a bit of a mess as a result.

Verdict - Rubbish


When this record came out I remember being shocked at Mariah Carey making a record that was so upbeat. It's based around a sample of "Genius Of Love" by Tom Tom Club which is a great record. However the last thing it needs is Mariah Carey's whiny voice over the top of it.

Verdict - Rubbish


This had originally been a Top 40 hit in 1991 for Marc Cohn. This Cher cover charted higher but it's the Marc Cohn original that gets acknowledged these days. Rightfully so, this cover is poor.

Verdict - Rubbish


Listen to this tune and watch the video and this record would appear to be as British as they come. I was therefore surprised to discover a few years later that Josh Wink is American. It's a classic for sure.

Verdict - Good


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


At the time I was a big fan of "Gangsta's Paradise" and was convinced it had been in the Top 40 longer than anything else once it had been there a while. Turns out this record entered the Top 40 the same week. As both records fell to the lower reaches, I bought the "Gangsta's Paradise" single to help give it at least another week in the Top 40. Unfortunately "Gangsta's Paradise" dropped out, but this stayed another week and I wasn't happy about that. It failed to reach the Top 40 when first released but a Todd Terry remix gave it a new lease of life. Never seen the appeal myself though.

Verdict - Rubbish


After this record appeared on the Levi's advert it became Shaggy's second number one out of his first three Top 40 hits. It's a silly record really but great fun to listen to.

Verdict - Good


Louise had left Eternal and this was their first record without her. It was also the best record they've ever made. Admittedly the singing does grate on me a little but musically it's great. As you might imagine with it being about the power of a woman, this song was written by men.

Verdict - Good


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


This single was from their greatest hits album "Vault". A relative who clearly knew nothing about my music tastes bought me that album as a Christmas present that year. At the time I was listening to nothing but rave, even when I was into guitar music I never really thought much of Def Leppard. The fact Joe Elliott had gone for the Kurt Cobain look in the video may have been misleading in that respect. That all said, this is the best song I've ever heard from Def Leppard and I did grow to like it. To this very day though I've never listened to the "Vault" album and its never really been in my possession. 

Verdict - Good


It had been 3 years since we'd last seen Simply Red in the Top 40 and this comeback single gave them their only number one record to date. The not very musical verses followed by a really catchy chorus works really well.

Verdict - Good


Meat Loaf had a hugely successful comeback in 1993 and here he is again in 1995 with another successful comeback. This time it's not his usual songwriter Jim Steinman writing this record, it's Diane Warren. Despite this it sounds like a typical Meat Loaf record, ridiculously long and over the top.

Verdict - Rubbish


I can't remember if it was the first time I'd heard it, but I can picture myself listening to this on the radio at the time and thinking this is the record I've been waiting to hear all my life. I could even tell you the name of the street I was going down when I was thinking that. There hadn't really been much of the dark side of rap music in the charts prior to this, but that's what I really wanted to hear. I even bought the single for this too which was the only thing I bought around this time that wasn't rave.

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 21/30, or 70%. Slight drop but still a great score.
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