Dutch Top 40 1995: Week 32

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

Nance - Love Is

Generally speaking the faces of Eurodance acts in the 90s were a male rapper and a female singer. In Dutch Eurodance act Twenty4Seven you famously had Captain Hollywood as the male rapper in the beginning. What wasn't so well known was who the female singer was. As you may have now guessed, that singer was Nance and she had been in the Dutch Top 40 a few months prior as part of Twenty4Seven with "Keep On Tryin". This was the beginning of her solo career which was more of the same minus the male rapper.

Marcel De Groot - Mag Ik Naar Je Kijken

Before I looked up Marcel De Groot I assumed he was Dutch and had been charting since the 80s. I was half right, he is Dutch but this was his only Dutch Top 40 hit. It's a guitar record that wouldn't of sounded out of place in the 80s.

Rowwen Heze - Zondag In 'T Zuiden

It's the band from America who seemed to only chart in Holland again. That's because it's a village in Holland called America they are from rather than the country America. It's their usual folky style but the speed of this particular record could give happy hardcore a run for it's money. Perhaps that was intentional.

January Charts: 1970

Here are the new entries ranked from best to worst:

1. The Fifth Dimension - Wedding Bell Blues

2. The Temptations - I Can't Get Next To You

3. Contours - Just A Little Misunderstanding

4. Canned Heat - Let's Work Together

5. Peddlers - Girlie

6. Edison Lighthouse - Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Grows)

7. Mary Hopkin - Temma Harbour

8. The Jackson 5 - I Want You Back

9. Chicago - I'm A Man

10. Arrival - Friends

11. Boris Gardiner - Elizabethan Reggae

12. The Kinks - Victoria

13. Badfinger - Come And Get It

14. Shocking Blue - Venus

15. Steam - Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye

16. Peter, Paul And Mary - Leavin' On A Jet Plane

17. Jonathan King - Let It All Hang Out

18. Jethro Tull - The Witch's Promise/Teacher

19. Sacha Distel - Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head

20. Judy Collins - Both Sides Now

It would seem that 1969 was a good year all round but the first week of January 1970 is only a week after 1969 so are we going to see the same standards or an almighty drop.

Well we have something in 1970 that we didn't have in 1969, a record that scores 5. This is "Wedding Bell Blues" by Fifth Dimension that I picked as my record of the year for 1970. Easily the best record I've listened to so far in this series.

Almost getting a 5 was "I Can't Get Next To You" by The Temptations. This was a record where we get to hear all the members sing their own lines including Otis Williams. What stops it from getting a 5 is that it's not quite as good as "Since I Lost My Baby".

It's another Motown record in 3rd place with "Just a Little Misunderstanding by The Contours. This was originally from 1966 and the group had split up by this point but it got a new lease of life from being part of the Northern soul scene.

Another Motown record we have is The Jackson 5 debut hit "I Want You Back" which may have come higher had I not heard it so many times in my life.

The Beatles were on their way out but we have a couple of records from their Apple label. There's "Temma Harbour" by Mary Hopkin which I found myself enjoying more than I expected to. Then we have the debut of Badfinger with "Come and Get It" which despite it's low placing is a record I like.

The only truly awful record in this batch is "Both Sides Now" by Judy Collins which I find really dreary and irritating. We have 1 of 3 versions of "Raindrops Keep Fallin On My Head" to chart, the Sacha Distel version. It sounds a bit of a piss take version but not bad enough to score zero.

Jethro Tull are now into their progressive rock phase with the double a-side "The Witches Promise/Teacher". Neither are bad but I'd probably need to give them 100 listens to get it.

We have 2 records that Bananarama covered in the 80s by groups who had no other Top 40 hits. As a result I've got them mixed up before. They are "Venus" by Shocking Blue and "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" by Steam. "Venus" just about scrapes a 3 whereas "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" scores a 2.

Although 1969 remains top of the table 1970 is comfortably 2nd so far.

Score: 60

2000: The Good Old Days? - November

One of the notable things about dance music by the year 2000 was the sheer quantity of sub genres there were within it. We had many different variants of house music e.g. deep house, funky house etc. Garage was going the same way too, the most notable sub-genre of UK garage around this time was 2-step.

My favourite record for this month brings another sub-genre of garage to the table, break step. It's "138 Trek" by DJ Zinc who at the time was best known for being a drum & bass DJ. I do notice how this differs from your average 2-step record but I cannot think of another record that fits under the break step genre so I guess you can say this record is so good it has it's own genre.

The other UK garage record this month was "Please Don't Turn Me On" by Artful Dodger. This ones also a little different being a bit more mellow and more for listening to at home than in the club. A decent record nonetheless.

Narrowly missing out on best record is Laurent Garnier with the double a-side "Greed/The Man With The Red Face". It's very much a record for the underground that made it's way into the Top 40.

We have a hard house record from 666 with "Devil" and a French house record from Alan Braxe & Fred Falke with "Intro" which both get full marks. One that I still like despite hearing too many more times is one of the best known French house records "One More Time" by Daft Punk. 

De La Soul had their final Top 40 hit with "All Good" which I like, but there is a UK garage version of it that I find better. Wu-Tang Clan had their only Top 40 hit in their own right with "Gravel Pit" which was very much one I was enjoying at the time.

Little known indie band JJ72 are one I've got into retrospectively and they had a new entry this month with "October Swimmer". That's all the decent indie music for this month though.

Onto the worst record and that goes to Martine McCutcheon with "I'm Over You". It was a reminder that her music career was still going just about and it got played a lot at the time. I've not heard it since and didn't bother listening today because I can still hear it perfectly in my head and still think it's crap.

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: 32%

Here's a look at the chart:

We're yet to reach the heights of 2001 but it's the best November.

UK Number 40s: Hot Natured & Ali Love - Benediction (2012)

 

Music genres can be a controversial topic and can often lead to a debate as to whether certain music should be categorised as a certain genre. During the EDM boom in the early 2010s one genre that started being widely used was deep house. However that genre was being used to describe different music as far back as the 80s.

This record was one those records that fell under the deep house genre by it's new definition. It's basically dance music that's more mellow than your typical EDM tune. These were the early days for this genre in the charts, had this been released a year later it may have got a higher chart placing as a few records in this genre topped the charts.

Hot Natured was a British-American group of producers and Ali Love is a singer who's also considered to be part of the group. They've been on hiatus since 2015 but the group members continue to be active in the EDM scene as individuals. This was their only Top 40 hit.

UK Number 40s: Frank Turner - I Still Believe (2012)

 

When punk first broke through to the mainstream in the 70s it was seen amongst other things as the voice of the working class. The aspect turned out to not be all as it seems when it came to light that there were members of The Clash and The Stranglers who were private school educated.

Punk as a genre in the charts died out in the early 80s but enjoyed a revival in the 90s up until we last saw Green Day in the Top 40 in 2009. Since then we've been in an era where acoustic guitars are seen more favourably in the mainstream than electric ones. As such, the nearest you get to punk in the charts in the modern era is someone like Frank Turner.

It's fair to say that Frank Turner is about as far away from working class as they come. He's the son of an investment banker and head teacher and the grandson of a bishop. To top all that though, he was a class mate of Prince William at Eton.

This was his sole Top 40 hit to date which is described as being folk punk. It was originally released in 2010 but didn't chart until 2 years later. It was perhaps helped into the Top 40 by it's appearance on the 2012 Olympics soundtrack.

Top 30 in 1999 Reviewed: Week 31

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:

25. Earth, Wind And Fire - September 1999

Phats & Small had made quite and impact with their Top 40 debut "Turn Around". Now here they are remixing "September" by Earth, Wind And Fire. I can't help but think they missed a trick by not waiting another month until they released it. Another disco remake house style that's quite good.

Verdict - Good

24. Smash Mouth - All Star

I feel like I've said this a number of times before for other records, but this sounds like the ultimate American high school record and not in a good way. There's something about a lot of these American high school type records that if anything made me grateful that I never went to an American high school.

Verdict - Rubbish

23. MAW Presents India - To Be In Love

When I was doing my yearly chart reviews I picked this as my record of the year for 1999. It's one of my all time favourites, a great bit of soulful house music that really can't be beaten. All I can say is give it a listen and get lost in the groove.

Verdict - Good

22. James - I Know What I'm Here For

This record has quite a distinct intro to it and gives the sense that this is going to be a good record. Unfortunately the intro is as good as it gets, one the record properly kicks in it just sounds average at best. I'll reflect that in the score.

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 14.5/30, or 48%. Back to that ever familiar score.

Dutch Top 40 1995: Week 31

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

Offspring - Gotta Get Away

Just the one record this week and quite a surprise one really. The Offspring were reasonably popular in the UK in 1995 but that didn't translate to the charts as the only UK Top 40 hit they had at the time was "Self Esteem" and even that only made number 37.