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 1992 with my verdict on each record:
Prince Be of PM Dawn had both rapped and sung on their previous efforts, but there is no rapping on this one, just singing. It's and R&B ballad that perhaps takes a while to get into, but I've heard it enough times to have got into it.
Verdict - Good
29. Enya - The Celts (New)
I'm not sure I remember this one at the time, but I remember there being a happy hardcore version in the late 90s which I liked. As the main riff is the same and this one sounds more authentic I guess I like this one too.
Verdict - Good
28. East 17 - Gold (New)
This was the 2nd Top 40 hit for East 17. This was much more low key than their debut as it only reached 28. My own memory of East 17 was "Deep" being their 2nd hit, but once East 17 were a big name you'd hear all their other hits retrospectively which is possibly how I first got to know this.
Verdict - Good
This is basically a rave version of "Blue Monday" and also has similarities with "Everybody In The Place" by The Prodigy. Electroset are the same people as Hyper Go Go. Good to hear at a time when the rave tunes were dying out in the Top 40.
Verdict - Good
Cathy Dennis has some great pop songs early on in her career and wrote some crap ones for other people later on. By the time of this record her best days as a pop singer were behind her and I find this effort pretty poor. It almost sounds like she's trying to do her own version of "Baby Baby" by Amy Grant and it doesn't really work.
Verdict - Rubbish
When Elton John rereleased "Sacrifice" and "Healing Hands" as a double a-side charity record he scored his first solo number one. He was unable to repeat that success with this record though which was for his AIDS foundation. It was a Freddie Mercury tribute song so it's quite surprising it wasn't more successful. It does take a few listens to get into though. I thought it was pretty non descript when I first heard it but now I've heard it a few times it's not bad.
Verdict - OK
This is the final Top 40 hit to date for The Pasadenas. 1992 was the year they basically became a covers group. I loved "I'm Doing Fine Now" because that was the first version I'd heard. I don't recall hearing this one at the time though and I'm familiar with the Al Green record and I'm afraid this just sounds like a karaoke version.
Verdict - Rubbish
This was the 3rd version of this record to reach the Top 40. The original by the Bee Gees wasn't one of them though. It came 2 years after Jimmy Somerville's cover. It's done in a typical Michael Bolton ballad type way therefore it's shit.
Verdict - Rubbish
I think we're reaching the point here where the rules were getting established in that if you were female you liked Take That and if you were male you didn't. I should point out I no longer subscribe to that way of thinking, I like what I like. What I will say about this song is that it showcases Gary Barlow's credentials as a songwriter. It's a proper song, nothing particularly cheesy about it unlike their previous efforts. That doesn't mean I like it though.
Verdict - Rubbish
My memory of what happened when is a bit hazy but I know INXS were my 2nd favourite band by 1993. No doubt this record contributed to that though I do prefer "Baby Don't Cry" which came before and "Beautiful Girl" which came after.
Verdict - Good
I recall a few years ago watching a "Forgotten Gems of the 90s" show on one of the music channels. It was a welcome change to the usual anthem bashing you get on retro channels. If memory serves me correctly this was number one. My initial thought was is this really forgotten, but then I guess I've not heard it much since the 90s. That may be a reason why I still like it.
Verdict - Good
After doing their Abba covers, here is Erasure going back to their roots literally. This failed to make the Top 40 when first released in 1985 but succeeded when released in 1992. I remember hearing it at the time and thinking that's more like it.
Verdict - Good
This is the last Top 40 hit to date for Shakespear's Sister as a duo, with Marcella Detroit leaving the following year. She sings so little in this record though that it may as well have been Siobhan Fahey on her own. The thing is though, Marcella Detroit can sing and Siobhan Fahey can't.
Verdict - Rubbish
I'm surprised this record only got to number 16. It's hard to pin point one record as being the one En Vogue are best know for but "Free Your Mind" is definitely a candidate. Both tunes are from the "Funky Divas" album and influenced my decision to buy that album.
Verdict - Good / Good
This is a tune which reminds me of the beginning of a school year. I loved this tune at the time and still do. It was the 3rd Top 40 hit for Bizarre Inc but it was a change in direction compared to it's predecessors. The story is that the record label wanted them to make more of a pop record and this was the result.
Verdict - Good
A record from 1967 which was given a new lease of life in 1992 when it featured on the Levi's advert. Erma Franklin was the sister of Aretha and had more or less retired from the music business long before this. It's the only record of hers I've ever heard so my impression of her as a singer is a positive one.
Verdict - Good
I would say "Out Of Space" is the record The Prodigy are best remembered for from this particular era. The beats in this tune are really something, which is easy to forget when you hear it so much. "Ruff In The Jungle Bizness" is one of those tunes that just goes to another level once the piano kicks in.
Verdict - Good / Good
Simon Harris was one of the first DJs to bring Hip House to the charts in the late 80s. It was more or less dead as a genre in the charts by 1992 and instead Simon Harris was doing this. Why you would turns computer game music into an actual tune I don't know, in the days when I played computer games I'd often turn the sound off because the music irritated me so much.
Verdict - Rubbish
This was the 6th single to be released from the "Use Your Illusion" albums which had been out for over a year by this point. I'm pretty sure Guns N' Roses were my favourite band by this point so I liked pretty much everything they did.
Verdict - Good
The lead song on this EP is "Lady Godiva's Room". Given their "Stars" album was the biggest selling album of both 1991 and 1992 I guess it didn't make sense to release any more singles from it given how many people would have owned the album. I find this record quite soothing.
Verdict - Good
When I first heard people talking about Rage Against the Machine in 1993 I thought surely they can't be talking about the group who had a hit with "Run to You" not so long ago. They weren't as this group were simply called Rage. It's a eurodance cover of the Bryan Adams record which on paper should be dreadful. It's actually not bad though.
Verdict - OK
This was the first time I'd heard Heaven 17 and I had no idea this was a remix of an 80s record. One stand out memory about this record is it being the first one they played at a school disco and everyone was singing along so loudly that I couldn't hear myself singing along. When I finally heard the original I found it a bit of a disappointed because I like this remix so much.
Verdict - Good
I'd pretty much forgot about this record until I watched a Classic Chart Show episode which this appeared on. I don't know if I ever know who did it at the time, but when I saw it was Vanessa Paradis I was quite surprised. I was also surprised to learn this was written by Lenny Kravitz. It certain has that 90s nostalgia to it.
Verdict - Good
When this record was first released in 1986 it reached number 15. This live version 6 years later reached number 7. It was the penultimate Top 40 hit to date of the Phil Collins era of Genesis with their final one only making number 40. If you asked me to name one Genesis record then this one would probably be it. Quite appropriately for a record with Phil Collins on it, the best thing about this record is the drumming.
Verdict - Good
I mentioned in the "Ebeneezer Goode" review the the person who gave me a lift to school would always turn off the radio when that tune came on. When this one appeared on the radio that person said they actually liked this record. So did I.
Verdict - Good
When this came out I was yet to hear the original so this was the first version I heard. I loved this record at the time and I was was very pro modern music I probably would have still loved it had I heard the original. Because of these fond memories I still like it today.
Verdict - Good
You couldn't escape this record at the time, it was everywhere. I recall "The Bodyguard" film which this was taken from being massive as well. Let's just say the film was much better than the song.
Verdict - Rubbish
In 1992 there were just 2 rap records which made the Top 10, "Jump" by Kris Kross and this record. It was the Top 40 debut for Arrested Development. It was the weird noises that I always liked about this record at the time.
Verdict - Good
When it comes to Boyz II Men I can't look past the comparison that's often made between them and Jodeci which is basically Jodeci were the bad boys of R&B whereas Boyz II Men were the clean cut group. Behind the scenes though Babyface was one of the writers and he has also written for K-Ci & Jojo of Jodeci. That doesn't mean this song is good though.
Verdict - Rubbish
Literally everyone I knew at the time loved this record. Some even went as far as saying Charles & Eddie were their favourite band based on this record alone. I was no exception, I loved this record too.
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 21/30, or 70%. Quite a jump from last week and possibly ensures every week in 1992 will get a score of over 50%.
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