UK Number 40s: Mumford & Sons - Guiding Light (2018)

 

Ask a casual music fan whether they've heard of Mumford & Sons and they'll probably say yes. Ask then if they could name a Mumford & Sons song and they'll probably say no.

They were they are talked about by the likes of the BBC you'd think they're one of the biggest bands of the modern era and maybe they are. Look at their Top 40 career and they don't look so big.

To their credit their Top 40 career has spanned 9 years, but in that time they managed just 5 Top 40 hits and never got higher than 12. This was the last of these 5 hits at the time of writing. More singles have been released but failed to reach the Top 40. 

Their 4 albums on the other hand have given them a pair of number 1s and a pair of number 2s. They'd not had an album since 2018 though.

UK Number 40s: Lily James ft Jessica Keenan Wynn & Alexa Davies & Celia Imrie - When I Kissed the Teacher (2018)

 

If at a music quiz you were to ask the question "Who had a Top 40 hit with When I Kissed The Teacher?" the answer you're most likely to get is Abba. That answer would be wrong because the Abba song was never a Top 40 hit.

That said, one may struggle to remember exactly who was on this record. All four are actresses who appeared in the film "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again" off which this was taken.

None of these actresses has troubled the Top 40 again at the time of writing.

Top 30 in 1999 Reviewed: Week 41

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. Point Break - Do We Rock

Point Break are yet another long forgotten boy band. It's members included Brett Adams and David Oliver who had both previously been in Byker Grove but a few years had passed since. This was their Top 40 debut, it's awful.

Verdict - Rubbish

25. The Space Brothers - Heaven Will Come

This was the fourth and final original Top 40 hit to date for The Space Brothers. It's a vocal trance record and there seems to be more of a focus on the vocals than the music itself. That's not a good thing in my opinion, but it's not bad.

Verdict - OK

24. Gary Barlow - For All That You Want

This is where the solo of Gary Barlow career initially came to an end. He had called upon the services of Swedish songwriters Max Martin and Kristian Lundin to make this record, but that couldn't stop this record from flopping. 

Verdict - Rubbish

21. Longpigs - Blue Skies

The Britpop era was over but nobody told the Longpigs who were back in the Top 40 for one final hit. It's chart position was more or less reflective of their Top 40 career overall but the band split shortly after this. I guess they're going a bit American on this record, still crap though.

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 10/30, or 33%. Slight improvement on last week.

Dutch Top 40 1995: Week 41

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

DJ Bobo - Freedom

DJ Bobo didn't have a Top 40 hit in the UK until 2003. In Holland this record marked the end of his Dutch Top 40 career. It's a Eurodance record with DJ Bobo rapping the verses and female singers Natascha Wright and Lisa Noya singing the chorus. It's clearly the same person who did "Love Is All Around", it follows that tried and tested formula.

Club X - The Sequel (La La La)

Being a gabber record in the Dutch Top 40 one would assume this is Dutch but it's not, it's Belgian. The sample used in this is the "La La La" bit of "Self Esteem" by The Offspring. It's quite possibly the familiarity of that sample that helped this record into the Dutch Top 40.

Snap ft Summer - The World In My Hands

In terms of original hits Snap were finished in the UK Top 40 by this point. In a way it was a shame because they'd started to make records I actually liked, partly because they'd sped up. In Holland they carried on and I guess this is what could have come next in the UK. This time they've slowed down, but it's not a bad record.

The Offspring - Come Out And Play (Keep Em Separated)

I'm surprised this was never a Top 40 hit in the UK because I remember it very well at the time and it seemed to be pretty well known. It only managed to get to 98 though. Maybe by the time it was released as a single people were fed up of hearing it on MTV all the time.

January Charts: 1979

Here are the new entries ranked from best to worst:

1. The Three Degrees - Woman In Love

2. Judas Priest - Take On The World

3. Blondie - Heart Of Glass

4. Electric Light Orchestra - Can't Get It Out Of My Head

5. Third World - Cool Meditation

6. Generation X - King Rocker

7. Doll - Desire Me

8. Dr Feelgood - Milk And Alcohol

9. UFO - Doctor Doctor

10. Nazareth - May The Sunshine

11. Edwin Starr - Contact

12. Olympic Runners - Sir Dancealot

13. Chanson - Don't Hold Back

14. Phoebe Snow - Every Night

15. Cerrone - Je Suis Music

16. London Symphony Orchestra - Theme From 'Superman'

17. Andy Gibb - (Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away

18. Peaches And Herb - Shake Your Groove Thing

19. Dan Hartman - This Is It

20. Leif Garrett - I Was Made For Dancin'

For many years the only song I knew by The Three Degrees was "When Will I See You Again" which I've always hated. I was therefore surprised how much I liked "Woman In Love" when I first heard it, given who it's by, it's a slower number and it's a cover of a song originally by Twiggy who wasn't really a singer.

In 2nd place we have the debut of heavy metal band Judas Priest with "Take On the World". They'd been going a few years but we were now entering the "New wave of British heavy metal" era of which Judas Priest we a big part of.

On paper the 3rd placed record should be rubbish because it's a non-disco group making a disco record but there's no denying "Heart of Glass" by Blondie is a great record. It's ahead of "Can't Get It Out Of My Head" by ELO which is decent but far from my favourite record of theirs.

I finally get to include an authentic punk record with "King Rocker" by Generation X which is decent. It's ahead of new wave one hit wonders Doll with "Desire Me" which in turn is ahead of "Milk & Alcohol" which was the biggest hit for pub rockers Dr Feelgood.

Most of the bottom half is disco records which is indicative of where disco was at by this point. Down the bottom is Leif Garrett with "I Was Made For Dancing". He was a teen idol who went off the rails, the usual story.

Whilst I would put the Leif Garrett record and "This Is It" by Dan Hartman and "Shake Your Groove Thing" by Peaches & Herb in the cheesy disco pop category what I would say are these are far from the worst disco records I've heard and the remaining disco records seem more credible.

The problem is that it seems to have become a bit formulaic by this point, something that does happen when you get too much of the same thing.

Overall we don't have the bad records keeping the score down, it's more the average records stopping the score from getting too high.

Score: 50

Now we've reached the end of the 70s let's take a look at the leaderboard:

Interesting how 1970 is so high up and 1971 is in the bottom half. It's almost like a sharp declined at some point in 1970 except 1973 finds itself sat in 3rd place. 

Perhaps no surprise to see 1976 2nd from bottom with 1975 not far above. Goes with the general theory that the 70s started and ended good but weren't so good in the middle.

2000: The Good Old Days? - February

In this era a record would typically get a few weeks of play on the radio and music channels before hitting the charts. Some records would get an earlier release date overseas and some were from already released albums. On that basis its safe to assume that most, if not all new entries this month were made in the 20th century.

The best record this month is "Playground Love" which was definitely made in the 20th century because it was from the 1999 film "The Virgin Suicides". I watched the film on the strength of this record, that's how much I like it.

As mentioned in March, there were no UK garage new entries in February. However a significant chunk of records this month come from what UK garage replaced as the dance genre of the moment, trance.

Sash! tended to make trance of a more commercial Eurodance variety, but this month we had "Adelante" which was more of a credible trance record which gets full marks. Armin Van Buuren made his Top 40 debut with "Communication" and this was an era when he was good.

A strong contender this month for the best record was "Must Be The Music" by Joey Negro & Taka Boom. This was a record I remember from the summer of 1999, it also sounds more of a summer record but just didn't chart until the winter. Ten City singer Byron Stingily had a solo version of the Ten City record "That's The Way Love Is" which was never going to beat the original but it's still a decent record.

Most of the dance records this month score points but we're also getting points from a wide range of genres. Rap wise we have "Simon Says" by Pharoahe Monch and R&B  wise we have "Got To Get It" by Sisqo. 

We generally expect rap and R&B to give us points but we also have records such as "Glorious" by Andreas Johnson and "The Great Beyond" by REM from the indie and alternative rock world giving us points. There's the funk rock of "Otherside" by Red Hot Chili Peppers and the pop record "Pure Shores" by All Saints giving us points.

However the worst record is also a pop record. It's "Ooh Stick You!" by Daphne & Celeste. I know it's supposed to be crap, but it's annoying enough to get that crown.

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: 46%

Here's a look at the chart:

I would be quite fitting for the 2nd month of the 21st century to be the best month of the 21st century. It would be even more fitting if it was the first. We'll find out next.

UK Number 40s: Camila Cabello - She Loves Control (2018)

 

Normally when someone attempts a solo career after leaving a girl group, they are often overshadowed by their time in a girl group even if their solo career is successful. An exception to that rule is Camila Cabello, I couldn't remember what girl group she'd previously been in and had to look it up. It was Fifth Harmony.

At the time of writing she's had 15 Top 40 hits, more than I was expecting. A lot more than the 5 she had with Fifth Harmony, again I didn't realise they had that many.

This was Top 40 hit number 6 and she topped the charts with her 4th hit "Havana" and 8th hit "Senorita". I sense a theme here, so maybe she'd have been more successful if it had a more Latin sounding name.