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. 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
19. Various Artists - It's Only Rock 'N' Roll (New)
A charity record that is a cover of the Rolling Stones song. I don't think much of the original and this karaoke version is hardly going to improve on that.
Verdict - Rubbish
18. DJ Luck And MC Neat - A Little Bit Of Luck (New)
2 weeks after Artful Dodger and Craig David taught the mainstream public what UK Garage was, DJ Luck & MC Neat also chart with a UK Garage record which would go on to make the Top 10. This time there was no confusion as to who was who with the DJ and MC in front of their names. Good tune.
Verdict - Good
17. Progress Presents The Boy Wunda - Everybody
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
16. Len - Steal My Sunshine
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
15. 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
14. 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
13. 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
12. 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
11. 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
10. Vengaboys - Kiss (When The Sun Don't Shine)
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
9. William Orbit - Barber's Adagio For Strings
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
8. Mr Hankey - Mr Hankey The Christmas Poo (New)
What else can I say about this novelty Christmas record from South Park other than it's shit.
Verdict - Rubbish
7. Steps - Say You'll Be Mine / Better The Devil You Know (New)
It's bad enough that Steps managed five Top 5 records in 1999, but even worse they finish with a double a-side so it's actually 6 songs. Both sides are crap.
Verdict - Rubbish / Rubbish
6. 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
5. S Club 7 - Two In A Million / You're My Number One (New)
A double a-side where both songs have a number in the title. "Two In A Million" somehow manages to sound both cheesy and boring whereas "You're My Number One" just sounds cheesy.
Verdict - Rubbish / Rubbish
4. Cuban Boys - Cognoscenti Vs Intelligentsia (New)
Even 20 years after this came out, I still don't know whether I should love or hate this tune. At the time I'd have probably been more inclined to hate it, but having heard other material from Cuban Boys members which is basically piss take music that's actually quite enjoyable, I can appreciate this a bit more. There's no getting round the sample being annoying though.
Verdict - OK
3. John Lennon - Imagine (New)
A re-entry into the charts, to be honest I've never really got the hype about this song. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate John Lennon as a musician a lot more than I did when I was younger but even just as a solo artist he's had much better songs than this. Not a bad song though.
Verdict - OK
2. Cliff Richard - The Millennium Prayer
The Lords Prayer sung in the style of Auld Lang Syne, sounds bloody awful and it is.
Verdict - Rubbish
1. Westlife - I Have A Dream / Seasons In The Sun (New)
The 4th single and 4th number one for Westlife. Now Boyzone have more or less called it a day it seems there needed to be a boy band to do crappy covers like Boyzone were most famous for, and Westlife were it.
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 7/20, or 35%. We got that improvement for the final week of the 90s, mainly because of the good ones from last week remaining in the Top 20.
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