Here's my weekly look at the Top 30 from 27 years ago. The plan is for these posts to go out at 17:30 on a Friday.
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 1996 with my verdict on each record:
The Top 40 debut for Etta James with a record she'd first recorded 36 years prior in 1960. It was given a new lease of life thanks to its inclusion in the Diet Coke advert. It's quite strange listening to it the whole way through as even all these years later I'm used to it ending at the point it ended on the advert. A good tune, but the only time I've ever bought a Diet Coke is for someone else in a pub.
Verdict - Good
I remember the race for Christmas number one and not liking the fact this record won the race instead of Mike Flowers Pops. It seems to me that the only reason this topped the charts was because it was Michael Jackson. It's hard to take the lyrical content seriously when it's being sung by a man who had a funfair in his own back garden.
Verdict - Rubbish
28. Lil' Mo' Yin Yang - Reach (New)
One of the challenges that having dance records in the Top 40 presents is knowing which version I'm supposed to be listening to. I'm greeted with several versions on YouTube with none appearing to be the original mix so a check of the CD single on Discogs tells me the "Little More" mix is the one. This was a one off collaboration between Lil' Louie Vega and Erick Morillo. A proper dance record which I don't think was pointed out during the Top 40 countdown. Read on for the rest of the story.
Verdict - Good
When it came to the Blur vs Oasis battle the previous year, Blur picked the worst of the singles from "The Great Escape" album for that battle as I don't like "Country House" but like the other 3 singles of which this was the 2nd. It's an illustration of why I thought Blur were miles better than Oasis in their heyday.
Verdict - Good
What's becoming a bit of any eye opener for me is just how many rubbish records Babyface has written. I can only assume he keeps the good ones for himself. It's a Whitney Houston ballad from a movie, I guess it worked before. It's the only Top 40 hit to date for Ce Ce Winans.
Verdict - Rubbish
As a teenager, which I was at this time, I never saw David Bowie as a legendary musician. Instead I saw him as an old duffer trying to stay relevant to the kids and this is an example of why I thought that. Now I'm older I still don't get the hype about David Bowie, I'm struggling to think of any records of his I like. Certainly not this one.
Verdict - Rubbish
The lead track from this EP was "Phoebus Apollo". I remember listening to this Top 40 countdown and being told it was the first of 2 dance new entries that week. It was the 3rd Top 40 hit for Carl Cox and his first since he changed musical direction. A top tune, Carl Cox rarely failed to disappoint and this showed he didn't need to stick to hardcore to deliver the goods.
Verdict - Good
The Top 40 debut and biggest hit for Joan Osborne, though the only one to feature here as her follow up failed to make the Top 40. I quite like the concept of god taking a bus back to heaven and getting a phone call from the pope. The first time I realised how much I liked this song was when it came on in a pub.
Verdict - Good
22. Lush - Ladykillers (New)
The 3rd Top 40 hit for Lush and the one I remember the best, partly because I used to hear it all the time on Now 33. When the song ends I'm expecting "Just the One" by Levellers to come on. I've not heard this since and I'm glad I haven't. I wasn't a fan of it at the time but I've forgotten just how bad this is. Apparently part of this song was written about Anthony Kiedis.
Verdict - Rubbish
Terrorvision were a band I liked when they first came about. None of their hits even made the Top 40 until this one though and by this point I had moved on. It's also a record I got sick of listening to on Now 33 all the time. Now I've had time to reflect I have to say it isn't bad.
Verdict - OK
This was the calm before the storm for the Lightning Seeds. It was their 8th Top 40 hit and they were yet to have a Top 10, but then Euro 96 happened. They had found a formula and it wasn't a bad one, but it resulted in their songs sounding the same.
Verdict - OK
The formula for this record is basically take a sample of an old disco record and repeat over and over again. Yet somehow the result is fuckin amazing. I could listen to this over and over again, I really could.
Verdict - Good
When Brian May performed this at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert and then hit the Top 40 with it, we all thought it was written as a tribute to Freddie Mercury. Then 4 years later here is Freddie Mercury actually singing it. Turns out this was recorded in 1989 and didn't make the cut for "The Miracle" album. It became the 44th Top 40 hit for Queen and first to be co-written by anyone outside of the band. As I liked the Brian May version it's difficult to not like this one.
Verdict - Good
This was described as the 2nd dance new entry in the Top 40 countdown that week after the Carl Cox record. Given both Carl Cox and Sasha had long been established as top DJs in the dance music scene I guess there is something about them both having new entries on the Top 40 that week. Maria is Maria Nayler and to be honest I'd rather this didn't have her vocals on it, but I'll try not to let that get in the way of my enjoyment.
Verdict - Good
Paul Weller had 14 Top 30 hits in the 90s and I anticipated them all being along the lines of here's Paul Weller doing his song again and many of them will be. This one however sounds a bit more distinctive, it starts with a decent riff and the chorus build up is good too. I did always consider this to be one of his better ones but am surprising myself by actually liking it.
Verdict - Good
Despite being a brand new record in 1996, this sounds like it could have easily come out in 1966. That's not a bad thing though. I do remember hearing this a lot at the time so I did get a bit sick of it, but still not a bad tune.
Verdict - OK
One of the biggest disappointments of the 90s was hearing "Spaceman" in its entirety. When it appeared on the Levi's advert it sounded great. Then it appeared on Top of the Pops and I was looking forward to it. Once the intro, which appeared on the advert, was over it slowed down into a rather dreary song.
Verdict - Rubbish
The 2nd Top 40 hit for the Lighthouse Family and the one which made them household names. They divide opinion but I find some of their music quite soothing and this is one of those. A great tune to listen to whilst driving on a country lane, not that I think I've ever done that.
Verdict - Good
12. Bon Jovi - These Days (New)
We're still in the era of Bon Jovi that I hated at the time. I've grown to like some of the hits from this period retrospectively, but this sounds every much as bland as I remember it being. It was taken from the album of the same name.
Verdict - Rubbish
A coming together of Rick Nowels who wrote most of Belinda Carlisle's hits and Billy Steinberg who'd written hit for a number of female musicians produced this which sounds like, well a Celine Dion record. She made it her own I guess, that's pretty much the only positive thing I can think of about this record.
Verdict - Rubbish
The Top 40 debut for Luniz and the only record many people know them for. It's an anthem no doubt which is possibly both a blessing and a curse for them. A blessing that they have such an iconic record but a curse that people only talk about the record and not Luniz as an act.
Verdict - Good
In 1995 I was singing this all the time, and those not into rave had no idea what I was singing with some even thinking I was making it up. In 1996 here it was in the Top 40. Technohead were a British husband/wife duo who'd recorded under several aliases over the years. In the early 90s they relocated to Holland and topped the charts with this. By the time it charted over here though one of them had sadly passed away.
Verdict - Good
8. Eternal - Good Thing (New)
This was the final Top 40 hit where Eternal could enjoy pretty much having the monopoly of British girl groups. Maybe they knew this was the last time they could say they had such a good thing. I'd take this over the Spice Girls any day, but that's not saying much.
Verdict - Rubbish
You have to feel sorry for Tito Jackson really, a musician in his own right yet 3T were best known as Michael Jacksons nephews as opposed to Tito Jacksons sons. What I remember about this at the time was one of them having a backpack on that he'd throw to the ground part way through the song. No idea why he did that, maybe a distraction from the fact it's not a very good song.
Verdict - Rubbish
6. Gat Decor - Passion (New)
This is a remix of a 1992 record with the lyrics to "Do You Want It Right Now" by Degrees of Motion. I mention Now 33 being played to death at the time and I recall this being the first track of side 2 of tape 2 which was the best part of the compilation, but that hardly ever got played.
Verdict - Good
5. Supergrass - Going Out (New)
I've not heard this one in a long time and my memory of it is being a more miserable follow up to the very cheerful "Alright". Now I'm listening to it I realise that it's a pretty decent tune. I was trying to remember how the verses went but there isn't any really, in fact there's not many words to the song at all but enough to get an idea of what they're singing about.
Verdict - Good
4. Boyzone - Coming Home Now (New)
Believe it or not, this record was written by the 5 members of Boyzone and nobody else. I struggle to believe it myself, it follows that poundland 70s soul music formula that's been done several times by seasoned songwriters and producers who seem more likely to have written it. Anyway if it's true then at least some of them have talent as songwriters as it does take skill to write crap too.
Verdict - Rubbish
A record you definitely couldn't avoid hearing in 1996, but what a tune. Like many dance records at the time, this was already over a year old by the time it was released. It's one of those tunes you can sit back and relax to but also get up and dance to, and I've done both.
Verdict - Good
I find interviews with Noel Gallagher nowadays very entertaining and do find myself agreeing with a lot of what he says about music that I don't like. I can't say the same about his music though. I never understood why Oasis were so popular, their music was just so dull in my opinion. Not only is this tune dull though, it's rather annoying too.
Verdict - Rubbish
I have happy memories of this record coming out as we knew (or should I say thought) this was the end of the band. To me, doing a cover as your final song is quite a pathetic way to go out. Saying that, they could have done "Twinkle Twinkle" and it would have probably still got to number one and give them that final pay cheque they were looking for.
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 16.5/30, or 55%. Yes it did go back up.
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