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 20 from this week in 1999 with my verdict on each record:
20. Catatonia - Londinium (New)
A song slating the city I live in. I guess London isn't for everyone, but you can't argue with the line about it sucking money out of your pocket. The funny thing though is that Cerys Matthews lives in London herself now. Not as good as some other their other songs, but still good though.
Verdict - Good
19. Beverley Knight - Greatest Day
It's ok, nothing special. Can't think of anything else to say.
Verdict - OK
18. Blockster - Grooveline (New)
The second and final Top 40 hit for Blockster aka Brandon Block. It samples the Heatwave song of the same name. It was never nominated for a Brit Award, but Brandon Block thought it might have won an award which lead to his confrontation on stage with Ronnie Wood. It was probably more worthy of an award than whatever did win though.
Verdict - Good
17. The Cardigans - Hanging Around (New)
This is a lot darker than your typical Cardigans song. It's the 3rd and final hit from their fourth album and probably the least remembered out of the 3. The Cardigans are one of those groups I didn't think much of at the time, though I always did like "My Favourite Game", but later on in life I realised they had some pretty good songs and this was one of them.
Verdict - Good
16. Lolly - Viva La Radio
I could have sworn the debut hit from Lolly was her cover of "Mickey" but it wasn't, it was this. I do specifically remember "Mickey" being later on in the year, which I'll come onto when we reach that song, but I always had this down as the follow up. Anyway, cheesy Europop by a singer from Birmingham who went on to become a kids TV presenter.
Verdict - Rubbish
15. Semisonic - Secret Smile
I associate this record with a day out in Lincoln in 1999, I can't remember if I heard it on a listening post in a record shop or heard it being played out loud in a record shop. Quite why I remember this song as opposed to anything else I heard that day I don't know because I've never liked it. I do also remember buying "Illumina" by Alisha's Attic and a Happy Hardcore compilation on the same day though.
Verdict - Rubbish
14. Madonna - Beautiful Stranger
As mentioned previously, I went through a period of my life where I wouldn't listen to anything that wasn't Rave but by this period I'd opened myself up to all sorts of different styles of music. Despite this there were still certain artists I'd be reluctant to like songs of, and Madonna was one of those. But even at the time I had to admit this tune is brilliant. I guess the involvement of William Orbit helped a bit. The intro sounds vaguely similar to "Light My Fire" by the Doors, a band I really got into later on that year. Maybe this tune helped with that.
Verdict - Good
13. Dina Carroll - Without Love (New)
Dina Carroll in 1999? Yes believe it or not Dina Carroll's Top 40 career lasted a decade from 1991-2001. This was her penultimate Top 40 hit, I do remember it but would have thought it was earlier than this. It sounds like it could have easily come out in 1992, which is no bad thing.
Verdict - OK
12. Jennifer Lopez - If You Had My Love
The debut hit for Jennifer Lopez. There was a lot of talk at the time about whether she should be doing music having made her name as an actress. Given the general quality of music coming from those in the acting profession that's understandable, but this actually isn't bad. When a radio show was asking for listeners opinions on Jennifer Lopez doing music, one quoted the Whitney Houston song "It's Not Right But It's Okay". Ironically both the Whitney Houston song and this song were written by Rodney Jerkins and LaShawn Daniels.
Verdict - OK
11. S Club 7 - Bring It All Back
The debut hit for S Club 7 and the number one question I had was does there really need to be 7 people singing it? I thought that 4 or 5 "singers" in a pop group was a bit excessive, but 7? Predictably for a manufactured pop group who had their own kids TV show it was shit.
Verdict - Rubbish
10. Shania Twain - That Don't Impress Me Much
The song title pretty much sums up how I feel about this song. This was the fourth Top 40 hit from her Country/Pop crossover album "Come On Over". The first three singles didn't really sound Country at all to me, but this sums up everything bad about Country Pop.
Verdict - Rubbish
9. Britney Spears - Sometimes
A teenage love ballad sung from a teenage girls perspective, written by a 36 year old bloke from Sweden.
Verdict - OK
8. Yomanda - Synth And Strings (New)
Yomanda is one of the many aliases of DJ Paul Masterson. I taped this off the mix selector on Dave Pearce's Radio 1 show at the time so the first few times I listened to this it had "you choose them, we mix them, the mix selector on Radio 1" over the top at the start.
Verdict - Good
7. Whitney Houston - My Love Is Your Love
This Wyclef Jean penned song is actually quite clever. It's impossible to listen to this without thinking about "No Woman No Cry" by Bob Marley. Yet when you try and sing "No Woman No Cry" along with this in your head you find these sudden changes that stop it from being a blatant rip off, even though it kind of is. It's hard to look past the fact it's not as good as the song that inspires it, but then if that song didn't exist I wouldn't hesitate to call it good.
Verdict - Good
6. Destiny's Child - Bills, Bills, Bills (New)
This was written by Kevin "She'kspere" Briggs and Kandi Burruss of Xscape who had both been writers on "No Scrubs" by TLC. I guess you can see the similarity lyrically, but that's where it ends. Whilst "No Scrubs" is excellent, this is shit. The members of Destiny's Child also have songwriting credits, maybe they were genuinely involved in writing this which explains the lack of quality. A better explanation though is no matter how good a song is, if you get Beyoncé and her irritating voice to sing it then it's going to sound shit.
Verdict - Rubbish
5. Vengaboys - Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom!!
The night before this charted at number one, I was in a bar where I heard this for the first time and someone informed me it was the new Vengaboys song. Given the history of cheesy euro acts releasing the record every knows them for, followed by a record that sounds the same, followed by fading into obscurity, I assumed the Vengaboys would do the same. Instead they had their first number one, I felt the same as I did when I realised the Spice Girls weren't going to be a one hit wonder.
Verdict - Rubbish
4. Will Smith ft Dru Hill - Wild Wild West
I like Dru Hill, I've seen them in concert. I therefore find it a bit of a shame that their biggest UK hit was a collaboration with Will Smith. This was taken from a film of the same name that Will Smith was in. I once read an article about rappers who went on to act in films. On Will Smith, they said "he became so successful at acting in films that he stopped rapping, at least that's what we wish he did". That pretty much sums this up.
Verdict - Rubbish
3. ATB - 9PM (Till I Come)
This was so overplayed at the time I couldn't stand it. Everywhere you'd go someone would be singing that riff. However once it stopped being played all the time and I'd listen to it on occasion as the opening track on the Trance CD on "Kiss in Ibiza 99" I realised that I actually like it.
Verdict - Good
2. Steps - Love's Got A Hold On My Heart (New)
Oh no, it's Steps. This was allegedly a song Pete Waterman wrote in 1991 but he had better songs to give to his artists at the time. By 1999 I guess he figured he could give any old crap to Steps and it would still sell a lot of records, so he did.
Verdict - Rubbish
1. Ricky Martin - Livin' La Vida Loca
This wasn't the debut hit for Ricky Martin, but I'd say it's the song that made a name for himself. His previous 2 singles were basically that crappy Spanish song you hear on holiday in Spain that makes it's way into the UK Top 40. This ones no different in that respect, except you know it's Ricky Martin from America.
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 9/20, or 45%. Not the best week, but big improvement over last week.
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