25 Years Since....July 2000

In July 2000 I was probably more likely to be writing and playing music than listening to it, but still plenty of tunes I was enjoying listening to:

Lonyo - Summer Of Love

In the summer of 1999 Ibiza really looked like the place to be, but in the summer of 2000 it wasn't. One factor would have been that the dance music of the moment was UK garage and that was more likely to be found in Ayia Napa. Here's a record that was no doubt being played over there and one of many great garage records coming out around this time. 

Detroit Gand Pubahs - Sandwiches

It's obviously difficult to take a record about sandwiches seriously. Let's face it though, dance music has never been known for having decent lyrics and nor should it. The lyrics to this are a load of nonsense but draws attention and from there you can appreciate the actual music.

Artful Dodger ft Craig David & Robbie Craig - Woman Trouble

After the success of their chart debut and respective follow ups, Artful Dodger and Craig David are reunited on this record. This time though Craig David doesn't really do much on this record with the lions share of the vocals going to Robbie Craig. In my mind this is the best tune Craig David has been involved with, but not the best Artful Dodger record. That's more to do with how good other Artful Dodger tunes are and it is up there with the best. 

Alice Deejay - Will I Ever

In some ways I wished that Alice Deejay were a one hit wonder with "Better Off Alone". Whilst clearly commercial I like to think the minimal vocals give it a degree of credibility. The music that followed was cheesy as fuck, but a lot of fun to listen to at the same time. This is probably the best of those cheesy records, but I can't help but think it inspired some genuinely dreadful vocal trance such as Lasgo.

Zed Bias - Neighbourhood

Since we entered the 21st century these posts have been very garage heavy. The point is to reflect the music I was enjoying at the time though and its true to say I was listening to garage way more than any other genre of music around this time. 

2000: The Good Old Days? - December

One thing we can now do in the year 2000 is compare how much guitar music there was compared to the so called year of rock that was 2001. In December the answer was there wasn't a lot, just "Warning" by Green Day and "Thank You For Loving Me" by Bon Jovi and neither record is any good.

2000 was a year dance music was big and December may have given me an incline that 2001 would be the year of hard house because we have 3 of those records this month.

None of them are bad records, we have "Operation Blade (Bass In The Place)" by Public Domain which seemed to be to hard house what "Re-Rewind" was to garage a year earlier. There's "Storm Animal" by Storm and "Phatt Bass" by Warp Brothers vs Aquagen but this one is only good enough for half marks.

UK garage wasn't looking as good. MJ Cole could be relied on for a decent record in "Hold On To Me". However, we had Oxide & Neutrino with their garage take on "No Good" by The Prodigy which was rubbish and True Steppers continuing with the boy band/girl group vocalists with Brian Harvey on vocals to "True Step Tonight" which was just commercial nonsense.

The best record though is "My Feeling" by Junior Jack. I'm surprised it charted this late because it was definitely doing the rounds in 1999.

Rap wise we have "Stan" by Eminem and whilst there was no doubting how popular Eminem was, I did consider it to be odd how such a dark record could be so popular. Maybe it was the depression of the 21st century setting in. There was also a decent rap record from Mystikal with "Shake Ya Ass".

You could feel the pain of Wyclef Jean in "911" which is a great record. Craig David had completely moved away from garage into R&B with "Walking Away". Not a great move in the long run, but this record was decent at least.

The worst record was something me and my friends with differing music tastes could agree was the worst record at that moment which was "Independent Women Part 1" by Destiny's Child. We agreed that they made the worst music ever. Fortunately Apollo 440 were on hand to provide a decent record for the "Charlie's Angels" soundtrack which was appropriately titled "Charlie's Angels 2000".

Here's a list of the records with the best on top, worst at the bottom and the good ones in green, OK ones in amber and rubbish ones in red (and in no particular order):

Score: 27%

Here's a look at the chart:

A promising start given this is December, but it's now safe to say December 1999 was better than any December in the 21st century.

January Charts: 1969

Here are the new entries ranked from best to worst:

1. Cream - White Room

2. The Isley Brothers - I Guess I'll Always Love You

3. Marv Johnson - I'll Pick A Rose For My Rose

4. Tymes - People

5. Canned Heat - Going Up The Country

6. Johnny Nash - You Got Soul

7. Wilson Pickett - Hey Jude

8. Marvin Gaye And Tammi Terrell - You Ain't Livin' Till You're Lovin'

9. Jethro Tull - Love Story

10. Simon And Garfunkel - Mrs Robinson

11. Eric Burdon And The Animals - Ring Of Fire

12. Nina Simone - To Love Somebody

In my original search for the best year of the charts 1969 came first. It also had the best Christmas charts too. How about January charts then?

Well under the old scoring criteria this batch would score 100%. There isn't a bad record in there, not even an OK record, I like them all.

The best record is "White Room" by Cream who had already broken up by this point. It was their penultimate Top 40 hit and one of their better known despite only reaching number 28.

There's a couple of Motown records next. The Isley Brothers failed to reach the Top 40 when they first released "I Guess I'll Always Love You" in 1966. Marv Johnson was back in the Top 40 for the first time since 1960 with "I'll Pick A Rose For My Rose".

More soul music next with the Tymes back in the charts for the first time since 1963 with "People". Canned Heart were a band of the moment with their 2nd hit "Going Up The Country. Then we have "You Got Soul" by Johnny Nash which despite its title wasn't a soul record, it was a rocksteady record.

A decent cover of "Hey Jude" by Wilson Pickett which was his final Top 40 hit. Then more Motown from Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell with their 3rd duet to hit the Top 40. There's the debut of Jethro Tull with "Love Story" which was before they were considered a progressive rock band.

"Mrs Robinson" by Simon & Garfunkel had charted the previous year but was back as an EP hence its inclusion and a decent record despite being 3rd from bottom. "Ring Of Fire" was the final hit for The Animals, it was a cover of the Johnny Cash song and is better than you'd expect it to be.

Finally Nina Simone covers "To Love Somebody" by The Bee Gees. It's a decent cover and finds itself bottom due to the competition.

I get the feeling 1969 is going to win this again.

Score: 68

UK Number 40s: Kelly Clarkson - Darkside (2012)

 

With each series of the X Factor you would typically have contestants who will at least go on to have some sort of chart career in the UK. With American Idol it's the opposite, look at the list of winners and you'll struggle to find too many who have had a UK Top 40 hit. 

Bucking that trend is the first American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson. Some may understandably think she only had hit's in America. Indeed her winners song was never a UK hit. But she's had an unbelievable 18 Top 40 hits at the time of writing. That's even more than original UK Pop Idol winner Will Young achieved and he was one of the success stories from the TV competitions.

By the time this record came out it had been a decade since she won American Idol. Earlier that year she'd topped the American charts with "Stronger" and probably didn't even notice this only making number 40 over here.

Her next move was to do a Christmas album which in turn has led to her returning to the Christmas charts on an annual basis.

UK Number 40s: Nadia Ali - Rapture (2012)

 

This record came close to claiming both a number 1 and a number 40 for it's 2 different versions. Instead it just fell short of topping the charts when first released by iiO in 2001 making number 2.

Nadia Ali was the singer of iiO but left the duo in 2005. Fellow iiO member Markus Moser continued on his own up until 2011 when he retired the name. Nadia Ali meantime had become a solo artist but had no Top 40 hits until this.

It had been a decade since the original had been released. In that time the popularity of dance music had declined but then rose from the ashes to appeal to a younger crowd and alienate the older dance music fans. This was therefore given an EDM makeover by Avicii who was one of the big DJs of the modern era. He was however still in the infancy of his Top 40 career, so this was no doubt big in the clubs but not so big in the charts.

Top 30 in 1999 Reviewed: Week 30

Here's my weekly look at the Top 30 from 26 years ago. The plan is for these posts to go out at 17:30 on a Sunday.

Here is the Top 40 in full.

I've decided against repetition from previous weeks moving forward so will only feature the records I'm reviewing for the first time. I also won't repeat the reviews from the Top 20 in 1999 Reviewed posts.

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 records new to the top 30 from this week in 1999 with my verdict on each record:

26. Daniel O'Donnell - Uno Mas

Now I've listened to this song I hope to never hear a Daniel O'Donnell record ever again. How he managed to have so many hits in the 90s is beyond me. He had one more but I've already covered that in my Top 20 from 1999 posts.

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 12.5/30, or 42%. Drawn the short straw with the only record I've had to listen to this week.

Dutch Top 40 1995: Week 30

These were the new entries in the Dutch Top 40 that never made the UK Top 40:

Guus Meeuwis & Vagant - Het Is Een Nacht

We began with a Dutch act singing in Dutch. This was the Dutch Top 40 debut for Guue Meeuwis & Vagant and it was a chart topper. They also managed to top the Dutch Top 40 with their 2nd hit but that didn't come until 1996. Guus Meeuwis has had a Dutch Top 40 hit as recent as 2020. He's never had a UK Top 40 hit though he is popular enough in London at least to play the Royal Albert Hall.

Flair - Oh Middernacht

Flair are described on Discogs as a Dutch party group. It sounds like the sort of record you'd hear on Eurotrash. Despite the Dutch title they start singing in English but then start singing in Dutch part way through the song. As most Dutch people can speak English I guess that works.

Soeur Plus - Dominique

This was originally a hit in the 60s for the Singing Nun who was Belgian. This is a Dutch Eurodance cover with with some rapping added in. It's a cheesy as you'd expect it to be.

Sin with Sebastian - Shut Up (And Sleep With Me)

E Rotic weren't the only German Eurodance act making explicit record in 1995. Sin with Sebastian was one man who also did a bit of rapping on the record. This was his only Dutch Top 40 hit. 

Jordan Hill - Remember Me This Way

If you've seen Caspar then you'll probably be familiar with this record. I say probably because I've never seen the film myself but this is in it. That said the record does ring a vague bell. It was the only Dutch Top 40 hit for American singer Jordan Hill and she never had a UK Top 40 hit.

Lois Lane - Tonight

This record has nothing to do with Superman. Lois Lane were a Dutch duo consisting of sisters Monique and Suzanne Klemann. They had their first Dutch Top 40 hit in 1988 and this was their penultimate Dutch Top 40 hit. 

2001: The Good Old Days? - January

One thing that was evident around the turn of the century was how big dance music was at the time. Just over a year later and this is still the case with almost half the new entries in January 2001 being dance records.

We'll start with the best one which is "Camels" by Santos. This one very much reminds me of an era when decent dance records were making the charts. Not only that, but also dance records that may not have been my cup of tea but were records for the dance music fans more than a mainstream audience.

A record I bought on vinyl at the time was "Komodo (Save A Soul)" by Mauro Picotto. At the time it seemed like this was the sort of direction hard dance music was heading in, slower than happy hardcore which had more or less died at this point, but faster than your average dance record.

There were 2 UK garage records this month and both were by groups jumping on the bandwagon. There was Mis-Teeq with "Why", an unknown R&B record given a garage remix and bringing them into the mainstream. The result was surprisingly good. What wasn't so good was "Falling" by Boom! who were a mixed gender pop group and a bit rubbish.

I'm a big fan of "Needin U" by David Morales but this month it's fallen victim to the trend at the time of ruining tunes with vocals so therefore gets no marks. I'm not too keen on "Demons" by Fatboy Slim & Macy Gray but can still appreciate it. No marks for it though.

Just the one rap record this month which comes from Spooks with "Things I've Seen" which I do like.

R&B wise we have 2 records, but both are really pop disguised as R&B. They are "Love Don't Cost A Thing" by Jennifer Lopez and "You Make Me Sick" by Pink. Neither records get any marks and I consider the latter to be bad enough to be crowned worst record of the month.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers had the last single from their "Californication" album "Road Trippin". I owned the album at the time but don't recall this being a single. I do like it though. 

Here's a list of the records with the best on top, worst at the bottom and the good ones in green, OK ones in amber and rubbish ones in red (and in no particular order):

Score: 33%

Here's a look at the chart:

2001 is clearly better than any of the years that followed. We also have months that are better than December 1999 though the best of them fall just short of the December 1993 score. This series of posts has cover the start of 2001 to October 2007. A separate series of posts looks at every Top 30 from the start of 1990 to the end of 1999 and will conclude at the end of the year. This just leaves a gap of the year 2000 and it only seems right to fill this gap in. As you may have guessed, next week will be the start of 2000: The Good Old Days?

January Charts: 1968

Here are the new entries ranked from best to worst:

1. Martha Reeves And The Vandellas - Honey Chile

2. Status Quo - Pictures Of Matchstick Men

3. Plastic Penny - Everything I Am

4. Manfred Mann - The Mighty Quinn

5. Robert Knight - Everlasting Love

6. Love Affair - Everlasting Love

7. Amen Corner - Bend Me Shape Me

8. Spencer Davis Group - Mr Second Class

9. The Beach Boys - Darlin'

10. Foundations - Back On My Feet Again

11. Herman's Hermits - I Can Take Or Leave Your Loving

12. Symbols - The Best Part Of Breaking Up

13. The Tremeloes - Suddenly You Love Me

14. Tony Blackburn - So Much Love

15. John Fred And The Playboy Band - Judy In Disguise (With Glasses)

16. Solomon King - She Wears My Ring

17. Engelbert Humperdinck - Am I That Easy To Forget

18. Anita Harris - Anniversary Waltz

If you were to ask me what the best things musically about the 60s were I would say Motown and psychedelic rock. This is basically what the top part of the table is.

In first place we have the Motown record "Honey Chile" by Martha Reeves and the Vandellas which was their final original Top 40 hit of the 60s. Then in 2nd place we have the debut of Status Quo with "Pictures Of Matchstick Men" which sounds nothing like your typical Status Quo record.

In 3rd place we have "Everything I Am" by Plastic Penny which was their only Top 40 hit. Next we have "Mighty Quinn" by Manfred Mann who had kept themselves relevant throughout the 60s by adapting their sound to the times.

2 other bands who were part of the beat era and still going in 1968 were Herman's Hermits and The Tremeloes. Both records are alright but I feel like both bands are past their prime by this point.

We have 2 different versions of "Everlasting Love", the original by Robert Knight and the chart topping cover by Love Affair who are making their Top 40 debut. I like both versions though the record itself has been covered to death and both acts have made better records.

Down the bottom it's the usual boring ballads occupying these places. The irony that Engelbert Humperdinck has a record called "Am I That Easy To Forget" to which the answer is yes because I've already forgotten it.

Just above the boring ballads are the novelty records which include Radio 1 DJ Tony Blackburn having his only Top 40 hit with "So Much Love". To be fair it's not as bad as it ought to be, but it's not good either.

We're in a situation now where the best records are better than what's come before but this is getting countered by the rubbish in amongst it. This is a trend I expect to continue.

Score: 44

UK Number 40s: Kings of Pop - T.H.E (The Hardest Ever) (2012)

 

There was a time when a record would get played on the radio, music channels etc. to the point it was already old hate by the time it hit the charts. Nowadays a record generally isn't heard by the general public until the day it's released as a single.

This record is one of the reasons for that change. Gone were the days you needed a recording studio and a record deal to get your music out there, all you needed now was an internet.

"T.H.E (The Hardest Ever)" was a record from Will.I.Am, Jennifer Lopez and Mick Jagger. It was unleashed on the public before being released as a single and as a result anyone who heard it in theory could cover it.

This is what Kings of Pop did, they made a cover, recorded it and released it before the original version was released as a single. At that point in time the only way you could acquire the song was via an already released cover. Of course once the original came it, this cover no longer served a purpose. The 1.5k views on YouTube in over a decade more or less proves this.

As for who Kings of Pop are/were, no idea. I tried searching the internet but found nothing about them.

UK Number 40s: Snow Patrol - This Isn't Everything You Are (2011)

 

I was going to begin this post by saying it's now 10 years since the boom in indie music in the charts, but then I realised it's been 20 years. I was also going to say one of the big bands of that indie boom 20 years ago was Snow Patrol except they never had any Top 40 hits in 2005. If we go for a broader era of mid-00s then Snow Patrol were certainly one of the biggest indie bands in the charts.

They first formed in 1994 and became Snow Patrol in 1997. They made their Top 40 debut in 2004 with "Run" and were on their 3rd album by that point. By the end of the 00s they'd clocked up 11 Top 40 hits with 5 of them being Top 10s and included "Chasing Cars" which stayed in the charts for a long time.

By the time the 2010s came around indie music was going out of fashion. Instead artists from all genres were coming together to make electropop records which was the genre of the moment. When Snow Patrol were back in 2011 with a new album they reacted to this by putting out an electropop single with "Called Out In The Dark" which made a respectable number 11 in the charts.

Then came this record which was the indie sound we knew them for. Given that indie music was very much out of fashion by this point it was always going to struggle to make an impact on the charts and they've not had a Top 40 hit since.

It was following this single that Johnny McDaid became a full member of the band and he's since had great success as songwriter for other artists. There's been little in way of music output from Snow Patrol since, at the time of writing they have only released one further album and lead singer Gary Lightbody is the only original member that remains.

Top 30 in 1999 Reviewed: Week 29

Here's my weekly look at the Top 30 from 26 years ago. The plan is for these posts to go out at 17:30 on a Sunday.

Here is the Top 40 in full.

I've decided against repetition from previous weeks moving forward so will only feature the records I'm reviewing for the first time. I also won't repeat the reviews from the Top 20 in 1999 Reviewed posts.

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 records new to the top 30 from this week in 1999 with my verdict on each record:

26. The Goo Goo Dolls - Iris

I'm surprised this record only made number 26 as this seemed massive at the time. It also re-entered the Top 40 in 2006 but only made number 39 at the time. I have mixed feelings on this one, on one hand you can feel the pain but on the other hand it's a bit namby pamby. Best give it half marks then.

Verdict - OK

If we give the records which were good 1 point each and those which were OK half a point, the final score is 10.5/30, or 35%. Just a slight drop this week.

Popmaster TV: The End?

I'll start by saying I don't know whether it's been cancelled but my guess would be that it has. Series 4 was recently broadcast less than 6 months after Series 3 and shown across 9 consecutive weekdays.

I didn't know Series 4 was happening until it nearly finished and ended up watching all the episodes on catch up. Not only did this seem to be a low key affair this time I also hear that 12 Yard Productions who are behind the show are calling it a day.

For me this time I decided I couldn't be bothered to track my score which I normally do. What I do know is that if I made the grand final I wouldn't of won because the winning contestant got a full house and I didn't get a full house on the other set of questions.

I'm afraid the transition to TV hasn't really worked and I've heard several others say the same. I can think of a number of reasons why:

It's an hour long: I normally listen to the radio version on catch up and skip through the blurb. This means it takes around 10 minutes to listen to it. If I have a few days to catch up on I start to get sick of it after listening to 3 or 4 in a row. I get that it needs to be more than just the radio version with cameras but an hour does feel too long.

The modern questions: I get that music didn't end in 1999 but it's clear to see the contestants are generally clueless when it comes to music from the last 10-15 years. In 1999 many of us still had just 4 channels and would watch Top of the Pops each week. We knew what was number one in the charts. If you wrote a Popmaster style quiz that only featured music from the 2020s and the contestants were in the 18-25 age bracket I'm almost certain the scores would be really low.

Scoring distribution: If you're good at years there's 5 points up for grabs, if you're good at lyrics there's 48. In Links and Video Gaga there's a maximum of 12 and you have to rely on your competitors being wrong to score more than 12 on Mixtape. So in theory you could have a perfect score on Links, Video Gaga, Mixtape and Year and end up with 41 points, 7 less than you can score on the lyrics round alone.

How does one reach the final?: There were 8 heats but just 5 finalists. We know it's to do with the score in Original Popmaster but if say you are runner up in your heat but get a better score than the winners in all the other heats, do you reach the final or not? I know the 2 finalists in the grand final got 30+ scores in their heats but I'm pretty certain more than 3 contestants got 24. How do you determine which ones went through? is 3 in 10 a factor? None of this is made clear.

Mistakes in questions: There was the question "What was Amy Winehouse's Top 40 debut in 2003?" the answer was "Rehab" but this came out in 2006. Small error maybe but when you consider her debut single that didn't make the Top 40 came out in 2003 it can be confusing. Likewise the question "Who had a hit with Fake Plastic Trees in 2005?", answer was Radiohead but it was 1995 and someone could of done a cover in 2005. 

Difficult to play along: Part of what makes the radio version so successful is that you can play along at home. The question is always asked in full before the contestant answers. On Intros, Middles & Ends there's often a contestant who buzzes in after hearing the first note meaning you're not likely to get it without being as quick as them. In the year round if the contestant guesses after 1 clue it's hard to come up with your own answer if you need 1 or 2 more clues. On the final 2 mixtape questions when a place in the next round is at stake a contestant can take the gamble by buzzing in before the question is properly asked.

Low scores in final round: I will concede Original Popmaster is more difficult than the radio version but it's not Champions League level. When you get that contestant who's good at lyrics or identifying a song after 1 note and clocks up enough points to get to the final only to find their general music knowledge isn't that great and they score 9 it doesn't really seem fair. 

If it does return I'll probably still watch it. I've probably blown any chance I had of being selected to go on with this post but on reflection I'm not sure I would of wanted to go on and am unlikely to apply again.

Dutch Top 40 1995: Week 29

These were the new entries in the Dutch Top 40 that never made the UK Top 40:

Secret Garden - Nocturne

This is a record I would of heard in 1995 though I have no recollection of it. The reason is because 1995 was one of the rare occasions when I watched the Eurovision Song Contest and this was the winner. It represented Norway, though of half of the duo is Irish. We had Love City Groove representing the UK that year and I remember it sounding much more modern than anything else in the contest. It still does sound much more modern than this.

Van Dik Hout - S Nachts In Mijn Dromen

Another Dutch act singing in Dutch. Van Dik Hout were a guitar band whose Dutch Top 40 career spanned 15 years from 1994 to 2009. It however only produced 8 hits and they never got higher than 21. This was hit number 3 and their sole Dutch Top 40 hit of 1995. I quite like it.

Dana Winner - Westenwind

It wasn't just Dutch acts with Dutch Top 40 hits that were sung in Dutch, there were Belgians too. Dana Winner was one of these Belgian and this was her only Dutch Top 40 hit. It's a slow number though not quite a ballad.

January Charts: 1967

Here are the new entries ranked from best to worst:

1. The Four Tops - Standing In The Shadows Of Love

2. The Rolling Stones - Let's Spend The Night Together

3. Cat Stevens - Matthew And Son

4. Spencer Davis Group - I'm A Man

5. Marvin Gaye And Kim Weston - It Takes Two

6. The Move - Night Of Fear

7. The Four Seasons - Tell It To The Rain

8. Stevie Wonder - A Place In The Sun

9. The Monkees - I'm A Believer

10. The Monkees - Last Train To Clarksville

11. Keith - 98.6

12. Royal Guardsmen - Snoopy Versus The Red Baron

13. Nancy Sinatra - Sugar Town

14. Lovin' Spoonful - Nashville Cats

15. Paul Jones - I've Been A Bad Bad Boy

16. Clinton Ford - Run To The Door

17. New Vaudeville Band - Peek-A-Boo

18. Sandy Posey - Single Girl

19. Rita Pavone - You Only You

20. Engelbert Humperdinck - Release Me

21. Ken Dodd - Let Me Cry On Your Shoulder

It would seem that Beatlemania is over and Monkeemania has began. The Monkees made their Top 40 debut with "I'm A Believer" and just 2 weeks later they followed up with "Last Train To Clarksville". They're proof that you can still make decent music if you're a manufactured band.

Although The Beatles did release "Sgt Peppers" in 1967 their remarkable singles chart record did take a dip in 1967 when they failed to top the charts for the first time with the singles they released since their 2nd hit in 1963. The record keeping The Beatles off was "Release Me" by Engelbert Humperdinck. Quite why that single was so successful I don't know, it sounded rather old fashioned for it's time.

The only act from Liverpool in this batch is Ken Dodd who was charting before The Beatles and was never part of that scene. It's the only record worst than the Engelbert Humperdinck one.

Blue-eyed soul was popular in January 1966 but nowhere to be seen in January 1967. We do have 3 Motown records though with the best one being "Standing In The Shadows Of Love" by The Four Tops. We have the Top 40 debut of Marvin Gaye who became the 9th Motown act to make the UK Top 40 along with Kim Weston who we wouldn't see in the charts again. Then there's a solid effort from Stevie Wonder with "A Place In The Sun".

This was the only January The Rolling Stones had a new entry and it's one of their better efforts with "Lets Spend The Night Together". Another blues rock record in there is "I'm A Man" by the Spencer Davies Group which was their final Top 40 hit with the Winwood brothers as members.

We had the chart debut of fellow Birmingham band The Move with "Night Of Fear". This music was known as Freakbeat which is described as bridging British Invasion R&B, beat and Psychedelia. 

Once again I find most of the records at least listenable and we do have some outstanding records near the top countered by a couple of dreary ballads down the bottom.

Score: 52

2001: The Good Old Days? - February

It was February 2001 when Ash came back with "Shining Light" and predicted that 2001 would be the year of rock music. Taking that statement to mean guitar music it certainly didn't become the prominent genre like it would in the mid-00s but then we're yet to see how it compares to what came immediately before.

There was however a song from U2 which I considered to be good enough to buy the single which was "Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of". It was one that just flowed. At the time much was made about U2 being old, more complimentary about how a band so old could still be relevant. Now I'm older than any of the U2 members were at the time.

Sticking with the guitar music and bands from Ireland we have "Snow" by JJ72, not a household name and this was their highest charting single that made number 21 but they were pretty good.

I predicted it would be the year of hard house, but this was the last month we had more that one hard house new entry in a given month. There were 2, "Blood Is Pumpin'" by Voodoo & Serano which gets full marks and "We Will Survive" by Warp Brothers which gets half.

There were also 2 UK garage records this month, "Boom Selection" by Genius Cru which I like despite it being MC driven. It's on a Timmy Magic tape I used to listen to a lot at the end of side 1. At the end of side 2 on that tape is "My Desire" by Amira which is the other UK garage new entry this month and I like this one too.

Trance music wise we have "Played A Live (The Bongo Song)" by Safri Duo which is a good instrumental number. There's "Chasing the Sun" by Planet Funk which is better known for it's association with darts these days that has some vocals but not enough to ruin it. The remaining trance records are ruined by vocals including "Synaesthesia (Fly Away)" by Thrillseekers featuring Heather Deane which started life a a decent instrumental.

The best record though is "The Next Episode" by Dr Dre & Snoop Dogg. It's been played to death now but I remember how much I liked this record at the time. Nate Dogg is an uncredited vocalist on that record but he is credited on another record this month which is "Oh No" alongside Mos Def and Pharoahe Monch which I also like.

R&B singer Joe had perhaps his best known record of the 21st century "Stutter" and I own the album on which it appears. Mya had her first solo record "Case of the Ex" which has a great backing track. Not seen keen on efforts by Usher and Debelah Morgan which sound more pop.

Onto the worst record and that goes to Atomic Kitten. This was their last chance saloon, had this flopped they would have been finished and even though Kerry Katona left the group at the time of this single she may have not had the opportunity to become famous for the sake of being famous. Unfortunately it topped the charts.

Here's a list of the records with the best on top, worst at the bottom and the good ones in green, OK ones in amber and rubbish ones in red (and in no particular order):

 

Score: 41%

Here's a look at the chart:

This means at least half the months of 2001 score over 30%, only one month after Jan 2002 manages this. It's looking like we've found the good old days.

UK Number 40s: Timbaland ft Pitbull - Pass At Me (2011)

 

In the 90s Timbaland was seen by many as one of the best rap and R&B producers. At the same time some critics would say that's exactly what Timbaland would be sticking to instead of rapping on records as well.

Despite this he managed to carve out a pretty successful career as an artist in the 21st century, though he would always have other artists feature and never had a Top 40 hit by himself. That career as an artist ended from a Top 40 perspective with this record.

In the modern era collaborations have become the norm for popular music and in 2011 it was even more of a trend than it is now. Pitbull was seemingly the go to man to collaborate with. He'd clocked up 12 Top 40 hits in a little over 2 years at this point. This record was his 2nd number 40 and he'd also got 2 number ones to his name at the time.

The record was notable for it's production from David Guetta but despite this and the fact he appears in the video he is not credited as an artist.

UK Number 40s: Nicola Roberts - Lucky Day (2011)

 

The question many of you will be asking on reading this post is: Nicola Roberts had a solo career?

When Girls Aloud went on hiatus it was well documented that Cheryl had a solo career but you'd hear nothing about the other members in that respect. In fact all Girls Aloud members except Sarah had Top 40 hits under their own name outside of Girls Aloud.

Nicola Roberts had the second most prolific of all the members with 2 Top 40 hits to her name. Her solo debut "Beat of My Drum" made number 27 in the summer of 2011 and then came this her 2nd and final Top 40 hit to date.

The record was written by Dragonette who'd hit the charts earlier on in 2011 with "Hello" alongside Martin Solveig. On hearing the record you can sort of tell, from the intro anyway. This was pretty much it for her solo career, but the Girls Aloud reunions keeps her active in the music scene.

Top 30 in 1999 Reviewed: Week 28

Here's my weekly look at the Top 30 from 26 years ago. The plan is for these posts to go out at 17:30 on a Sunday.

Here is the Top 40 in full.

I've decided against repetition from previous weeks moving forward so will only feature the records I'm reviewing for the first time. I also won't repeat the reviews from the Top 20 in 1999 Reviewed posts.

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 records new to the top 30 from this week in 1999 with my verdict on each record:

29. Celine Dion - Treat Her Like A Lady

What the fuck has happened here? I wasn't expecting a Celine Dion record to sound like this, a reggae style record. It was originally by Diana King and features Diana King herself. She's obviously trying to give herself a bit of credibility here, but it just sounds ridiculous.

Verdict - Rubbish

22. Sporty Thievz - No Pigeons

This was a parody of "No Scrubs" by TLC which was a big hit from around this time. I vaguely remember it at the time and was ready to write it of as comedy nonsense. Now I'm listening to it I'm thinking great response record.

Verdict - Good

21. Gomez - Bring It On

I remember seeing posters for Gomez when I was at university without knowing who they were. When I did finally hear them I realised that I had heard their music before. It never really had much impact on me though and still doesn't/

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%. That's quite a drop.

Dutch Top 40 1995: Week 28

These were the new entries in the Dutch Top 40 that never made the UK Top 40:

Palemiger Spatzen - Harmonika Power

We're over half way through the year and there's been a countless number of cheesy records featured so far. I had the feeling this would be a cheesy one and I was right. However I wasn't prepared for a record quite like this. It's a largely instrumental polka record played by men with dodgy haircuts. I'm lost for words.

Mango Kings - Under Di Mangotree

Another record you know is going to be cheesy before you hear it. This time it's by a Swedish act and this was their only Dutch Top 40 hit. It's a reggae pop record and arguably the cheesiest reggae pop record to ever exist which is saying something.

January Charts: 1966

Here are the new entries ranked from best to worst:

1. Chris Farlowe - Think

2. Len Barry - Like A Baby

3. Toys - Attack

4. Fontella Bass - Recovery

5. Mindbenders - Groovy Kind Of Love

6. Bob Dylan - Can You Please Crawl Out Of Your Window

7. Roy Orbison - Breakin' Up Is Breakin' My Heart

8. Crispian St Peters - You Were On My Mind

9. Pinkerton's Assorted Colours - Mirror Mirror

10. Swinging Blue Jeans - Don't Make Me Over

11. Merseybeats - I Stand Accused

12. Dusty Springfield - Little By Little

13. David And Jonathan - Michelle

14. Overlanders - Michelle

15. St Louis Union - Girl

16. Second City Sound - Tchaikovsky One

17. Tom Jones - Thunderball

18. Vince Hill - Take Me To Your Heart Again

19. Sandie Shaw - Tomorrow

20. Nancy Sinatra - These Boots Are Made For Walkin'

21. Cilla Black - Love's Just A Broken Heart

22. Barbra Streisand - Second Hand Rose

23. The Bachelors - Hello, Dolly!

One of the problems with the charts from around this time was that we'd get covers of Beatles records as opposed to the actual Beatles record. In this batch we have 2 acts covering "Michelle" and another covering "Girl". None of them are bad covers but at the same time they're not as good as the originals.

Mersey beat bands the Merseybeats and the Swinging Blue Jeans are just about hanging in there with their respective final hits. Both have left their mersey beat routes behind to make blue-eyed soul records which appears to be the popular sound from around this time.

The Beatles had released "Rubber Soul" at the end of 1965 which whilst not strictly a blue-eyed soul record itself, it drew inspiration from soul artists which in turn inspired this blue-eyed soul trend.

The best record in this batch is a blue-eyed soul record with Chris Farlow making his chart debut with the Jagger/Richards composed "Think". My number 2 record is also a blue-eyed soul and was the 2nd and final Top 40 hit for Len Barry.

We have some authentic soul in 3rd and 4th place with Fontella Bass and The Toys having their respective 2nd and final hits. Then it's back to blue-eyed soul in 5th place with the Mindbenders making their Top 40 debut without Wayne Fontana.

Down the bottom we have The Bachelors with the worst record I've heard of theirs. Not only were they old fashioned for the time but they're doing a song from a musical. Speaking of musicals we have Barbra Streisand making her debut and is the 2nd worst record.

Another notable name making their chart debut was Nancy Sinatra with "These Boots Are Made For Walkin" which is a record I've always found irritating. There's also the debut of Vince Hill with "Take Me To Your Heart Again" which would have fitted in better with the charts 10 years prior. Not irritating, just boring.

Overall I do like the bulk of the records but the problem is none of them are outstanding. None score more than 3 but we do have zeros at the bottom.

Score: 43

2001: The Good Old Days? - March

Going through this latest batch of records does make it feel like we've gone back to the good old days. I've never been much of a buyer of singles but I count 7 records this month that I did buy the single for. Then there's those I have the album on which they appear and further ones that appear on mixtapes and compilations I own.

Picking the best record was a tough choice but I've gone with Artful Dodger with "Think About Me". I already owned their "It's All About the Stragglers" album by this point. This was the opening track and stood out to me as being particularly good.

In fact every garage record this month gets full marks and theirs a few of them. Fellow garage heavyweights DJ Luck & MC Neat had "Piano Loco", BM Dubs present Mr Rumble had "Whoomp There It Is" which I had on a few tapes by this point, Blackout had "Mr DJ" and Mark Ryder had "Joy".

"Set You Free" singer Kelly Llorenna was back from the wilderness by singing on "True Love Never Dies" by Flip & Fill, a record I liked enough to buy on vinyl and came before both artists started making some of the shittest dance music ever made.

I predicted in early 2001 that this would be the year UK garage would give way to hard house as the big dance genre of the moment. In reality hard house never had a big impact on the charts and this was really the latter stages of that era. This month we had "Wack Ass MF" by Rhythmkillaz, not the last hard house record to make the Top 40 but was the last particularly good one.

At the same time I was getting more and more intro rap music which is evident by all the rap records this month getting full marks and me owning on CD one way or another. There was the D12 debut "Shit On You" which I always intended to buy the album of once release. There was "X" by Xzibit where the opening line "The first day of the rest of my life" takes me back to a time when I thought I was going to rule the world. I bought the "Ms Jackson" single by Outkast when visiting Stirling. Finally we have "Danger (Been So Long)" by Mystikal and "Between Me & You" , both records by gravelly voiced rappers featuring female singers who would have solo careers of their own and be a bit rubbish.

R&B wasn't really part of my music taste at the time but we have some decent records in "The Storm Is Over Now" by R Kelly, "Could It Be" by Jahiem and "I'm Like A Bird" by Nelly Furtado. All feature on albums that I own.

However the worst record is an R&B one that I own on and R&B compilation. It's "He Loves U Not" by Dream which is basically a pop record disguised as R&B and has no place on the compilation really. Needless to say I always skipped this track whilst listening.

A mention has to go to "Push It All Aside" which was the final Top 40 hit from Alisha's Attic. This was the latter stage of me being a big fan but I was a bit underwhelmed by this comeback single. It is however the best track on their final album by some distance. The nostalgia gives it half marks though.

Here's a list of the records with the best on top, worst at the bottom and the good ones in green, OK ones in amber and rubbish ones in red (and in no particular order):

Score: 42%

Here's a look at the chart:

Just before I added up the score I thought this was a certainty to be the best month so far but it just falls short of May. There were however more new entries overall this month so it does beat it in terms of actual numbers.

UK Number 40s: Tony Bennett & Amy Winehouse - Body and Soul

 

One thing that I've learned over the last few years is that you never truly know when someone's Top 40 career is over. Many chart acts reach a point where they continue to make music for many years after they were last in the Top 40, but the occasional one finds themselves back in the Top 40 for some reason or another.

Tony Bennett was releasing music before the UK singles chart started in 1952. He made his chart debut in 1955 with the chart topping "Stranger in Paradise". His music would have been considered old hat by the time rock n roll came about in the late 50s and even more so when the Beatles broke through, but he still managed have a few hits in the lower reaches of the Top 40 up until 1965. By the end of the 60s one would have thought we'd never see Tony Bennett in the Top 40 again.

However in 2011 he was back in the Top 40 for the first time in 46 years. He had continued to release numerous albums in in the 21st century he started making collaborative albums. The one he released in 2011 was "Duets II" which contained this track with Amy Winehouse. It was the last recording Amy Winehouse made prior to her death in the summer of 2011 and was released as a single on what would have been her 28th birthday.

Amy Winehouse had a surprisingly brief Top 40 career in her lifetime. None of the singles from her debut album in 2003 made the Top 40 and she didn't make her Top 40 debut until 2006 with "Rehab". A year later she had her final Top 40 hit in her lifetime with "Valerie". These were the only 2 Top 10 singles she had.

UK Number 40s: Jedward - Lipstick

 

I've never watched an episode of The X Factor but to my knowledge it follows a simple format. First a contestant will sing to the judges who then decide if their singing is good enough to go through to the next round. After a handful of contestants make it through it's then up to the public to vote for their favourites.

One would think you would need to be a good singer to succeed, but Jedward proved that was not the case. They are amongst the best known X Factor contestants because they were supposedly a bit rubbish. They were on the 2009 series, though they didn't win it.

At the start of 2010 they hooked up with Vanilla Ice to do a cover of "Ice Ice Baby" which got to number two in the charts. Then in 2011 came this, their only other Top 40 hit.

In the 90s when Ireland were winning Eurovision regularly, the comedy show Father Ted did an episode where Ireland picked the worst song to represent them at the Eurovision Song Contest so ensure they wouldn't win and therefore wouldn't need to spend the money on hosting it.

This is presumably the mentality Ireland had in 2011 because they picked it to represent them that year. It didn't win, but finished 8th which isn't a bad result really. They were also picked for the 2012 entry with "Waterline" by that never made the UK Top 40.

The number 40 placing of this record means it's the only Ireland Eurovision entry to make the UK Top 40 in the 21st century so far.

20 Years Since....Q2 2005

Here's the tunes I was enjoying 20 years ago:

Nelly ft Tim Mcgraw - Over and Over

Tim Mcgraw was just about the biggest country singer in America around this time but was relatively unknown in the UK until this collaboration with Nelly. 

This came from Nelly's "Suit" album so was more of an R&B/country crossover rather than rap/country crossover. I recall after the success of this record Tim Mcgraw tried to crack the UK market with a song about sky diving and rocky mountain climbing but it never really worked.

Twista - Hope

I owned the Twista album by the time this came out as a single. I know this because the single version had Faith Evans on it but the album version doesn't. I prefer the album version, it's one of the highlights of the album really.

Snoop Dogg ft Charlie Wilson & Justin Timberlake - Signs

One of my interests outside music is tennis and after driving to Wimbledon listening to Snoop Dogg's "Tha Last Meal" in 2001 I made it a bit of a tradition to listen to that album when driving to Wimbledon.

I therefore found it amusing that 4 years later Snoop Dogg comes out with a record that mentions Venus and Serena at the Wimbledon arena.

Lil Jon & the Eastside Boyz - Get Low / Lovers & Friends

"Get Low" was pretty much the best known Lil Jon record that was a couple of years old by this point. "Lovers & Friends" sees Lil Jon reunite with Usher and Ludacris following the success of "Yeah". As mentioned previously I was a big fan of Lil Jon around this time.

Nelly - N Dey Say

It had all been done before, PM Dawn had their biggest hit with a "True" by Spandau Ballet sampled record. It worked really well though so there's no reason why Nelly having a crack at it wouldn't work either.

It did work, though more of an R&B record really and was taken from his "Suit" album.

Top 30 in 1999 Reviewed: Week 27

Here's my weekly look at the Top 30 from 26 years ago. The plan is for these posts to go out at 17:30 on a Sunday.

Here is the Top 40 in full.

I've decided against repetition from previous weeks moving forward so will only feature the records I'm reviewing for the first time. I also won't repeat the reviews from the Top 20 in 1999 Reviewed posts.

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 records new to the top 30 from this week in 1999 with my verdict on each record:

27. 2Pac - Dear Mama

This was Top 40 hit number 12 for 2Pac and his 10th posthumous Top 40 hit. It was originally on his 1995 album "Me Against The World" so had been well known for some time by the time it reached the Top 40. Like many 2Pac record, I like it. 

Verdict - Good

26. Dixie Chicks - There's Your Trouble

The Dixie Chicks are one of those American country groups I'm aware of without knowing any of their music. I assumed they had no UK Top 40 hits, but they managed one. It's just as crap as I expected it to be

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 16/30, or 53%. We stay above 50%.

Dutch Top 40 1995: Week 27

These were the new entries in the Dutch Top 40 that never made the UK Top 40:

Skibby ft King Lover - Feel My Riddim

This was the only Dutch Top 40 hit for Skibby as an artist. The 2 people behind Skibby though were 2 Brothers on the 4th Floor and this was a side project. It's a ragga influenced Eurodance record that's made to the tune of "I Will Follow Him". Vocalist King Lover would return to the Dutch Top 40 in 1997 providing vocals for a T-Spoon record.

Adiemus - Adiemus

Here we have a British record that made the Dutch Top 40 but failed to make the UK Top 40. It may however still ring a bell due to its use on an advert. It's what's known as worldbeat music which did have a degree of popularity in the UK around the mid-90s but this somehow failed to make the cut.

Bert Heerlink - Julie July

This record may also ring a bell if you're from the UK. It's essentially a cover of "Brother Louie" by Hot Chocolate but sung in Dutch. Bert Heerlink is a Dutch actor and this was his only Dutch Top 40 hit. He was however a part of Dutch rock band Vandenberg at one point.

2001: The Good Old Days? - April

It was April 2001 when MTV Dance was first launched so clearly dance music was considered to be big enough to have it's own channel. There were also more dance new entries in April than any other genre.

It's a dance record that is the best record this month which is "Happiness" by Sound De-Zign. It samples "Let the Beat Hit Em" by Shena which itself is a particularly good record.

There were 2 UK Garage new entries this month and both were lesser known follow ups to big hits. They were "Garage Girls" by Lonyo and "Show Me the Money" by Architechs. Both are decent records.

We have "Gonna Work It Out" by Hi-Gate which I associate with the launch of MTV Dance in a positive way. Orbital showed they hadn't lost their way in the 21st century with "Funny Break (One Is Enough)" which was a solid record.

From the world of rap and R&B it's not looking so good. The only record to get any points is "Snoop Dogg" by Snoop Dogg and even that is one of my least favourite tracks from his excellent "Tha Last Meal" album.

Rap gives us the worst record which is "Get UR Freak On" by Missy Elliott which I find a really irritating record. One thing I remember at the time was Trevor Nelson praising her talent of being able to both sing and rap well but I personally don't think she's any good at either.

There is however a rock record with rapping on it that I like which is "Butterfly" by Crazy Town.

The Bee Gees had their final Top 40 hit with "This Is Where I Came In". Normally a band who has been around for that long will be long past their best by this stage but I would say this record is amongst their best and a great one to round off their Top 40 career with.

Ocean Colour Scene were past their 90s heyday by this point but continued to have hits well into the 21st century. Their record this month was "Up On The Down" side which is a decent effort.

Here's a list of the records with the best on top, worst at the bottom and the good ones in green, OK ones in amber and rubbish ones in red (and in no particular order):

Score: 27%

Here's a look at the chart:

Again we are seeing that 2001 is looking better than the years that followed but not enough high scores to consider it to be the good old days. If the remaining 3 months have 40%+ scores it would be a different story.

January Charts: 1965

Here are the new entries ranked from best to worst:

1. Manfred Mann - Come Tomorrow

2. The Kinks - Tired Of Waiting For You

3. Them - Baby Please Don't Go

4. The Righteous Brothers - You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'

5. Del Shannon - Keep Searchin'

6. Rockin' Berries - What In The World's Come Over You

7. The Supremes - Come See About Me

8. Betty Everett - Getting Mighty Crowded

9. Val Doonican - The Special Years

10. The Hollies - Yes I Will

11. Chuck Berry - Promised Land

12. Francoise Hardy - Et Meme

13. Dodie West - Goin' Out Of My Head

14. The Beach Boys - Dance Dance Dance

15. Billy Fury - I'm Lost Without You

16. Seekers - I'll Never Find Another You

17. Shangri-Las - Leader Of The Pack

18. Brian Poole And The Tremeloes - Three Bells

19. The Dave Clark Five - Everybody Knows

20. Sue Thompson - Paper Tiger

21. Cheetahs - Soldier Boy

22. Cilla Black - You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'

If January 1964 was the month we could see how popular mersey beat was, January 1965 is the month we can see it going out of fashion. The Beatles had released the "Beatles For Sale" album at the end of 1964 which was a move away from that sound towards something Bod Dylan influenced.

Although they famously covered Bob Dylan records, my number one record "Come Tomorrow" by Manfred Mann isn't Bob Dylan influenced but does follow the trend of music getting mellow.

The same could be said of my number 2 record "Tired Of Waiting For You" by The Kinks which was a move away from the garage rock sound they broke through with the previous year.

Them on the other hand bucked that trend and gave us a blues rock record "Baby Please Don't Go" which had a harder edge to it than the British rhythm and blues sound that had been popular previously.

We're back to having different versions of the same song. This time it's "You've Lost That Lovin Feelin". The Righteous Brothers version is one I've loved since the 1990 rerelease. The Cilla Black version on the other hand is terrible and finds itself bottom of the table.

Liverpool singer Billy Fury has moved away from the mersey beat sound and onto a ballad. Again though it's relatively low placing is more a sign of the competition as I actually quite like it.

In terms of Bob Dylan influence we have Chuck Berry having his final Top 40 hit of the 60s which whilst being typical Chuck Berry style it's based on a folk record. We also have the more pop folk sound of The Seekers making their debut with "I'll Never Find Another You". Brian Poole and the Tremeloes went down the same route as The Beatles with the folk style "Three Bells" but this doesn't quite deliver. It is however slightly better than "Everybody Knows" by The Dave Clark Five who are yet to move with the times.

We're also seeing the emergence of soul music with The Supremes scoring their 3rd Top 40 hit with "Come See About Me" which is the best of that bunch, followed by "Getting Mighty Crowded" by Betty Everett. 

No The Bachelors this month but there is another easy listening Irish act in this batch, Val Doonican. Here he is showing that old fashioned for the time doesn't always mean bad as I quite like "The Special Years".

Overall I do like the majority of the records in this batch and as a result we have a new highest score so far.

Score: 55

UK Number 40s: T-Pain ft Chris Brown - Best Love Song (2011)

 

Both Chris Brown and T-Pain made their Top 40 debuts in 2006. This was Top 40 hit number 8 for T-Pain and number 14 for Chris Brown. For the first time in doing these posts though I don't really want to mention how many Top 40 hits either act has had as they've probably had more by the time you read this.

T-Pain has been a lot more low key since this collaboration, but Chris Brown has been quite prolific. He had at least one Top 40 hit every year between 2006 and 2020, nobody else could claim the same thing. Included in that was a couple of chart toppers.

What I will say is Chris Brown has probably had more Top 40 hits than you think so inevitably some of them will end up in the lower reaches.