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. Buffalo Tom - Going Underground / Liam Gallagher And Steve Craddock - Carnation
There's something I never thought about when I decided to start doing these posts, the double a-side. It's quite amazing it's taken this long for the first of those to appear. The way I'll deal with these is I'll give a verdict on both songs and if either are good or ok then they'll add 1 or half a point to the score, if both are good it will still be just 1 point and if both are ok it will still be half a point. Anyway, what we have here are 2 poor covers of Jam records.
Verdict - Rubbish / Rubbish
19. The Honeyz - Never Let You Down
It's the first Honeyz single to feature Mariama who replaced Heavenli in the group. One thing I'll always remember about this song was if me and my housemate were having a conversation when this was playing, we'd always shut up during the breakdown. The harmonising with the vocals in that part is second to none. Love this tune.
Verdict - Good
18. Britney Spears - (You Drive Me) Crazy
After debuting with a song written by a Swedish bloke and following up with a song written by another Swedish bloke, the 3rd single for Britney Spears was written by those 2 Swedish blokes along with another 2 Swedish blokes. The result is something that sounds very American, and crap.
Verdict - Rubbish
17. Jordan Knight - Give It To You
It had been 5 years since New Kids on the Block called it a day, but this was the only time we'd see any of it's members have a solo Top 40 hit. Further to that, it had been 8 years since we'd last seen New Kids on the Block in the Top 10. Despite this, Jordan Knight was still only 29. It was written by Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis alongside a then unknown Robin Thicke. On paper it sounds like it should be stuck in the 80s given the artist, writers and freestyle chorus, but somehow it doesn't sound out of place in 1999.
Verdict - OK
16. Eternal - What'cha Gonna Do (New)
I remember this being on Top of the Pops at the time. My thoughts were "are Eternal seriously carrying on as a 2 piece" and "it's not 1995 anymore, time you called it a day". This would turn out to be their final Top 40 hit before they really did call it a day. It's a poor record.
Verdict - Rubbish
15. Shania Twain - Man! I Feel Like A Woman!
Oh dear, this is just dreadful. I guess she was successful with the equally dreadful "That Don't Impress Me Much" so thought more of the same.
Verdict - Rubbish
14. Simply Red - Ain't That A Lot Of Love (New)
Here's Simply Red doing a cover of a 60s record 1999 style. They must have identified Dance music was big business, so to keep up with the times made a Dance record. It's actually not bad.
Verdict - OK
13. B*Witched - Jesse Hold On
The first B*Witched record not to top the charts (excluding collaborations). About time if you ask me.
Verdict - Rubbish
12. Steps - After The Love Has Gone
With this being Steps you would expect it to be a cover of the Earth Wind and Fire song, but it isn't. Instead it's more of the usual poundland Abba shite they often do.
Verdict - Rubbish
11. ATFC Presents Onephatdeeva - In And Out Of My Life (New)
A mash up of "Right Here Right Now" by Fatboy Slim and the Adeva tune of the same title. We also have a mash up of the sampled artists names in Onephatdeeva. I've got say I hated this at the time, in my mind it was just unnecessarily adding vocals to a Dance record. It's grown on me a bit since then, but I don't think it's the best.
Verdict - OK
10. Tina Turner - When The Heartache Is Over (New)
After giving Cher a new lease of life with "Believe" just over a year earlier, producers Brian Rawling and Mark Taylor turned their attentions to a nearly 60 year old Tina Turner by producing this Dance record. On the song writing team was John Reid of Nightcrawlers fame alongside Graham Stack. I guess it worked seeing as it reached the Top 10, but I can't say I'm a fan of it.
Verdict - Rubbish
9. Destiny's Child - Bug A Boo (New)
Written by Kandi Burruss and Kevin "She'kspere" Briggs, the same people who wrote "Bills Bills Bills". My assessment of "Bills Bills Bills" was that Beyoncé and her irritating voice can make any song sound crap. She's not as irritating on this record, but that doesn't mean I like it.
Verdict - Rubbish
8. Macy Gray - I Try
When I first heard this I imagined the singer to be in her 50s. She actually is now, but at the time she was only 32. I thought it was alright initially but then it quickly got irritating. On paper it shouldn't be a bad song, it's original, it's soulful and it certainly isn't boring but for some reason it just bugs me.
Verdict - Rubbish
7. ATB - Don't Stop
You hit the big time debuting at number one with arguably the biggest Dance record of the summer, how do you follow that up? Well what ATB did was make a record that more or less sounds the same. He knows it too and has since disowned the record for that very reason. It's not as good as "9pm (Till I Come)" and comparisons will be made, but had "9pm (Till I Come)" not been made and I was hearing this would I like it? I would say probably not, it just seems to lack any substance.
Verdict - Rubbish
6. Eiffel 65 - Blue (Da Ba Dee)
This had already been played to death by the time it charted. I remember listening to the Top 40 the week it topped the charts but turned the radio off once the number one record was announced. It's absolutely terrible.
Verdict - Rubbish
5. Backstreet Boys - Larger Than Life (New)
On the song writing credits for this record is band member Brian Littrell. As the story goes, he took this song to Swedish producers Max Martin and Kristian Lundin who would then make alterations and additions to the song. I wonder just how similar the final song is to what Brian had originally wrote.
Verdict - Rubbish
4. Ann Lee - 2 Times
This is very cheesy. It was the debut hit for Ann Lee who had previously had some success as a songwriter. I always imagined this to be sung by a teenager but turns out Ann Lee was 31 when this was released. Obviously she had learned the formula for selling records. I don't mind this record though.
Verdict - OK
3. R Kelly - If I Could Turn Back The Hands Of Time (New)
The 7th Top 40 single from his "R" album, and still not the last. This is one of those records that charted much later than I remember it charting, but given it's on an album that I own and the first single from that album came out in early 1997 it's not that surprising. Good tune though.
Verdict - Good
2. Christina Aguilera - Genie In A Bottle
The debut hit for Christina Aguilera. Like with many pop songs by young American artists at the time, this is very American high school sounding, but based on what we've learned about many of these songs, you'd expect it to be written by a Swedish bloke. But not this one, 2 of it's 3 writers are actually American, the other coming from New Zealand. Still, not a record I can say I like.
Verdict - Rubbish
1. Westlife - Flying Without Wings (New)
This is probably the best known Westlife song. It was written by the same people who wrote their first number one "Swear It Again". The funny thing was that it wasn't originally going to be a Westlife song, it was going to be the debut solo record for Boyzone member Stephen Gately. Given most people don't remember Stephen Gately even having a solo career, I wonder if he'd have been more successful if this song was given to him instead as originally intended. As far as Westlife songs go, this is probably one of the better ones but it's still shit.
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 4/20, or 20%. The poorest week I've reviewed so far, maybe a sign the 21st century is only a couple of months away.
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