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. Daniel O'Donnell - A Christmas Kiss (New)
It's Daniel O'Donnell and it's a Christmas song. The only positive thing to say about it is that it isn't Cliff Richard.
Verdict - Rubbish
19. Martine McCutcheon - Talking In Your Sleep / Love Me
Nearly a year since Tiffany died on Eastenders and I'm sure many people were hoping they'd bring her back from the dead so we didn't have to suffer her dreadful music career. This double a-side is 2 poor covers of 70s hits. It wouldn't be her last Top 40 hit either, this was her 3rd of 5 Top 40 hits and they all made the Top 10. What were people thinking.
Verdict - Rubbish / Rubbish
18. Robbie Williams - She's The One / It's Only Us
"She's the One" is one of the best known Robbie Williams songs, but what isn't that well known is that this is a cover. The original was by World Party the 2 versions aren't very different at all. "It's Only Us" was written by Robbie Williams himself and I don't think is anywhere near as well known. I quite like both songs.
Verdict - Good / Good
17. Tom Jones And Cerys Matthews - Baby, It's Cold Outside (New)
The second single from Tom Jones "Reload" album of collaborations of mostly covers. I've heard several versions of this song and hate all of them.
Verdict - Rubbish
16. Melanie C - Northern Star
The second single from the album of the same name, this one was written by Rick Nowels who wrote several of Belinda Carlisle's hits. It does sound more of a proper song than any of the Spice Girls hits ever did but that doesn't mean it's any good.
Verdict - Rubbish
15. Lolly - Big Boys Don't Cry / Rockin' Robin
The 3rd Top 40 hit for Lolly. I'd say the best known of this double a-side is her cover of "Rockin Robin" which is very cheesy as you'd expect. The other one "Big Boys Don't Cry" goes down the ballad route, but somehow still manages to sound cheesy.
Verdict - Rubbish / Rubbish
14. Queen And David Bowie - Under Pressure '99 (New)
As the "99" part of the title would suggest, this is a remix. Like with most remixes, it's nowhere near as good as the original. I thought the original was great, and obviously there's still some similarities to the original and I guess that's enough to make me think it's ok. If I ever fancy listening to "Under Pressure" though I'll pick the original every time.
Verdict - OK
13. B*Witched ft Ladysmith Black Mambazo - I Shall Be There (New)
After failing to make number one with their previous single, they fail to make the Top 10 with this one. The record buying public it seemed were waking up to the fact their music is shit. It took one more single to flop after this before we saw the end of them, until The Big Reunion at least.
Verdict - Rubbish
12. Mario Piu - Communication (Somebody Answer The Phone)
Remember when you used to get a call on your mobile and it would interfere with your stereo making that awful sound when you're trying to listen to your music. Well then Mario Piu thought it would be a good idea to put that irritating sound into a record with a bit of ringing for good measure.
Verdict - Rubbish
11. 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
10. R Kelly - If I Could Turn Back The Hands Of Time
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
9. Boyzone - Every Day I Love You
Boyzone were arguably the biggest boyband at the start of 1999 but then we saw the start of Ronan's solo career and Westlife came along who were basically a younger Boyzone. You sensed it was only a matter of time before Boyzone would call it a day, and they did after this single. It's basically the same sort of ballad type crap they'd done throughout their career.
Verdict - Rubbish
8. Len - Steal My Sunshine (New)
I was addicted to this tune at the time. I didn't buy the single though, I taped it off the radio so I'm used to "Radio 1" being said at the end. I predicted this would be a one hit wonder, and for years I thought they were but they actually had a minor hit with "Cryptik Souls Crew" the following year that completely passed me by. When streaming became a thing, I listened to their "You Can't Stop the Bum Rush" album which this appears on. My advice is not to bother, the rest of it is nowhere near as good as this tune.
Verdict - Good
7. Progress Presents The Boy Wunda - Everybody (New)
This is a great example of someone I listen to that nobodies heard of that finally ends up in the Top 40 with a load of crap. Progress were also known as Pete and Russell and I had a tape of theirs from Dreamscape 20, which was a good tape. I can't say I knew anything about them apart from that, they were the only DJs in the tape pack I'd never heard of before I bought it and presumably they featured because they were hosting the House arena at the event. That said, they didn't exactly become a household name following this single, they don't even have a Wikipedia page. I suppose those who remember this are more likely to remember it as the Madonna rip off rather than it's actual title.
Verdict - Rubbish
6. The Wamdue Project - King Of My Castle
My first impression of this record was that it was far too slow. Then I went down the pub one night and lost count of the number of times I heard it. After that I thought I'd happily never hear this tune again in my life. It's not one that's been played a great deal since to be fair, but I still don't like it.
Verdict - Rubbish
5. Alice Deejay - Back In My Life
I loved "Better off Alone" but I found this one to be very average. A lot of the commercial Trance music in 1999 was good but then in the early part of the 21st century it was mostly cheesy vocal rubbish and this is more similar to that, though in it's defence is nowhere near as bad as DJ Sammy and co.
Verdict - OK
4. William Orbit - Barber's Adagio For Strings (New)
This record fooled a lot of Dance music fans at the time as I recall. They went out and bought William Orbit's album expecting it to be a Dance album, but it wasn't. What we have here is the Ferry Corsten remix. I can't say I'm a big fan of it myself, but it's not bad.
Verdict - OK
3. Vengaboys - Kiss (When The Sun Don't Shine) (New)
They sing about going to their favourite club on a Friday, sounds great. The grim reality for me and my friends though was we'd head to the shit club nobody liked but everybody went to because it was the only place to go once the pubs had closed. Then once we got there we had to put up with shite like this being played.
Verdict - Rubbish
2. Artful Dodger ft Craig David - Re-Rewind The Crowd Say Bo Selecta
I've never got the appeal of the rewind personally. For those who don't know, it's when a DJ mixes in a new record and the MC asks who wants the rewind, and then the DJ stops and starts the record again. So you hear a chunk of the record you just heard again. With that in mind, I wasn't too keen on this when I first heard it. However it started to grow on me and I ended up buying the "It's All About the Stragglers" album. It was also the first Top 40 hit for both Artful Dodger and Craig David and was probably the one that taught the masses what UK Garage was. A common misconception at the time was that Craig David was the Artful Dodger and people wondered where he was when they had their next hit "Movin Too Fast". That question was answered when he had his next hit with "Fill Me In". It reminded me of when people thought Seal was Adamski nearly a decade earlier.
Verdict - Good
1. Cliff Richard - The Millennium Prayer
The Lords Prayer sung in the style of Auld Lang Syne, sounds bloody awful and it is.
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 5.5/20, or 27.5%. Another poor week overall, will we see any improvement for the final week of the 90s?
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