Sunday, 28 November 2021

Top 30 in 1991 Reviewed: Week 48

Here's my weekly look at the Top 30 from 30 years ago. The plan is for these posts to go out at 17:30 on a Sunday.

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 30 from this week in 1991 with my verdict on each record:


Surprisingly this record failed to make the Top 40 when first released in 1977. It finally made it into the Top 40 as a live version. It's slower than the studio version. As someone who likes fast music I should find that annoying, but I don't. 

Verdict - Good


This was the debut Top 40 hit for M People. The main person behind M People was Hacienda DJ Mike Pickering. This was very much music for the radio rather than music for the clubs though. Fair play to Mike Pickering for making a success of it, not my cup of tea though.

Verdict - Rubbish


After Paul Youngs awful cover of their debut hit "Don't Dream It's Over", Crowded House are back in the Top 40 for the first time in 4 years with their 2nd Top 40 hit. It's the lead single from the "Woodface" album. Crowded House are one of those groups I've got to appreciate more later on in life. Their music was different to anything else at the time and although rave music was more my thing than anything else, this is a breath of fresh air when the beats of rave music get a bit too much.

Verdict - Good


The Scorpions waited 12 years to reach the Top 40 for the 2nd time. They didn't even have to wait 12 weeks to have their 3rd. Once again it's a ballad but as that worked for them before, why not. It's their final Top 40 hit to date. I do prefer "Wind Of Change" but I do like this one too.

Verdict - Good


This was the debut hit for Anticappella. The man behind Anticappella was Gianfranco Bortolotti who was the same man behind Cappella who made their Top 40 debut a couple of years earlier. Don't let that put you off though. Both Anticappella and Cappella were responsible for some pretty awful eurodance records in the 90s but this was before that and this records actually pretty good.

Verdict - Good


The follow up to "Insanity" that has long been forgotten. It follows a similar formula but isn't as catchy. Not sure whether that's a good or a bad thing. It's definitely a commercial sounding record, they all are but that's not always a bad thing.

Verdict - Good


This was the last Happy Monday's single to be produced by Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne. This ones more rock than dance and isn't as good as its predecessors. Still a decent tune though.

Verdict - Good


It seems like there's been a lot of Salt-N-Pepa hits since I started doing these posts. This is the fourth one of the 90s which isn't that many really. It's back to that original formula of covering an old record in the chorus and rapping the verses. It's just as crap.

Verdict - Rubbish


A Roxette ballad you don't hear anymore. That would normally make me more inclined to prefer it to their more obvious ones because it doesn't get played to death. However, it doesn't but that's more to do with how good the more obvious ones are.

Verdict - Good


This originally came out before "Everybody's Free" but failed to reach the Top 40 earlier in the year. I think I prefer this record, it probably helps that few remember it so it hasn't been played to death.

Verdict - Good


The 2nd and highest charting single from the album of the same name. Although the number 8 position this peaked at isn't exactly setting the charts on fire, the album was the biggest selling album of both 1991 and 1992 so people were clearly buying that instead. It doesn't really fit in with other popular music at the time, but then variety is the spice of life and music like this was most welcome.

Verdict - Good


Despite the fact that Kylie Minogue was still with Stock Aitken & Waterman (who were just Stock & Waterman by this point) it does sound different to her earlier hits. What we have instead is a song that sounds like it should be from a Disney movie

Verdict - Rubbish


The Shade Of Rhythm many people know is "Sound Of Eden" but that only made number 35 earlier on in the year. This is the lesser known of the 2 singles but the higher charting one. This is one of the all time greats, definitely a contender for best charting rave tune ever.

Verdict - Good


Terrible cover of The Real Thing song, I do wonder what the point of Sonia leaving Stock Aitken & Waterman was given the music she did after may just as well have been from them.

Verdict - Rubbish


Around 18 months after topping the charts as uncredited vocalist on Adamski's "Killer", here is Seal back in the charts with his own version. Understandably, it doesn't sound that different to the original version.

Verdict - Good


This is jointly the second highest charting hit for James which was the follow up to their biggest hit "Sit Down" earlier on in the year. It was the lead single from their album "Seven" which confusingly was their fourth album. It's not a bad record but lacks that something to be a good record. 

Verdict - OK


This was the 2nd Top 40 hit from All Around the World records. Unlike Control, who had the first Top 40 hit from the label, Love Decade were not one hit wonders. This was their biggest hit. Once again it's more commercial sounding than a lot of other dance records at the time but still decent.

Verdict - Good


This is a bit of a strange one for me. It's a bit of a generic nothing song on one hand. At the same time it reminds me of late 1991 and all the good music that was around then which makes me think it's alright.

Verdict - OK


Let's set the scene here. Extreme were a hard rock group who released an acoustic ballad which was hugely successful but alienated a lot of rock fans. They now had the challenge of getting the rock fans back on side so what do they do? They release this, another acoustic record. Fortunately I wasn't one of the purists they alienated and I quite like it.

Verdict - Good


The debut Top 40 hit for K-Klass. It failed to make the Top 40 when released earlier on in the year, but here it is going straight into the Top 10. It perhaps suffers from it's "anthem" status, but it's a great record that really did sound quite something in the 90s.

Verdict - Good


I'm a big fan of Motown and like many Diana Ross records both as a solo artist and with The Supremes. Unfortunately this isn't one of them. It's quite an achievement for someone who's been around since the 60s to have a number two hit in 1991 and had Freddie Mercury not died this would have likely been Christmas number one. It's just too much of a ballad for my liking.

Verdict - Rubbish


Grunge has arrived, its the debut Top 40 hit for Nirvana. On a personal level, Nirvana were really the first band I listened to because it was cool rather than because I particularly liked it. As a result I absolutely resented Nirvana once I'd moved onto other things. But I never really disliked it at the same time. 

Verdict - OK


I think this may have been the first version of "When A Man Loves A Woman" I heard. A few years later I found myself liking "When A Man Loves A Woman" but being a bit embarrassed about liking a Michael Bolton song at the same time. Then someone pointed out it was a 60s song covered by Michael Bolton. Listening to the 2 versions, it was definitely the Percy Sledge version that I liked. This ones just a karaoke version.

Verdict - Rubbish


Lots of samples in this one which got them into trouble, quite common for dance records which got bigger than anticipated. One of the samples is the Pink Floyd record of the same name but the most notable is "Just Get Up and Dance" by Afrika Bambaataa. 

Verdict - Good


Billy Bunter & D-Zyne had a happy hardcore record in the 90s called "Ride Like The Wind" which was excellent in my opinion. I thought it was a rip off of this, but this is a rip off of a Christopher Cross record of the same name. It's a bit cheesy and commercial sounding but I like it.

Verdict - Good


The Top 40 debut for 2 Unlimited, though they had a Top 40 hit the previous year as Bizz Nizz. I did like this at the time, but my memory has been somewhat tainted by the crap they released after this. I also remember hearing it a few years later for the first time in a while and it sounded much slower than I remembered. 

Verdict - OK


This failed to make the Top 40 when released earlier on in the year but following the success of "Such A Feeling" it ended up making the Top 10. This is the big Bizarre Inc hit that was made for the dancefloor rather than the charts. I love it.

Verdict - Good


One of the biggest rave tunes ever and deservedly so. Altern 8 were arguably bigger than The Prodigy at the time.

Verdict - Good


It amazes me how many people I've met who don't remember The Wonder Stuff, particularly given they had a number one with this. They did alienate some of their fans by collaborating with Vic Reeves, but I do wonder if they'd think the same had Vic Reeves not been a famous comedian. To me there is absolutely nothing wrong with this song, I've always liked it.

Verdict - Good


I honestly can't remember what I made of this record at the time. It was one that divided opinion but I think I was sat on the fence. Now I've had 30 years to reflect and even though this is the first time I've ever listened to it of my own accord I do quite like it.

Verdict - Good

If we give the records which were good 1 point each and those which were OK half a point, the final score is 22/30, or 73%. It was always going to struggle to beat last weeks score.
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