Here's my weekly look at the Top 30 from 28 years ago. The plan is for these posts to go out at 17:30 on a Wednesday.
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 1995 with my verdict on each record:
The run of Top 10 hits continued for Wet Wet Wet with this record. Marti Pellow's ponytail had gone but it would seem he lost none of his power. Once again I feel like I shouldn't like this record but I do.
Verdict - Good
The penultimate Top 40 hit to date for 2 Unlimited and the final one from the Ray & Anita era. I guess the record buying public were getting pretty sick of them by this point
Verdict - Rubbish
The penultimate Top 40 hit to date for Soul II Soul and the last time they'll feature as their final Top 40 hit never made the Top 30. It does feel too late for Soul II Soul still being active in the charts, but they hadn't forgotten how to make a good tune.
Verdict - Good
The follow up to her big hit "3 Is Family" that's nowhere near as well remembered. One of the reasons I speak so highly of music from the 90s is pop records like this. It does the job of what a pop record should be, catchy and pleasant to listen to.
Verdict - Good
The 2nd Top 40 hit for Alanis Morissette which I like to describe as the chicken shit song. That's not because I think it's shit, it's because of the line "I'm brave but I'm chicken shit". In fact I quite like this record.
Verdict - Good
Scooter didn't really become a household name in the UK until 2002 but they made their Top 40 debut in 1995 with this record. If you were a raver though you'd know who Scooter were. You also knew what you were getting from them, cheesy as fuck but brilliant at the same time.
Verdict - Good
24. D'Angelo - Brown Sugar (New)
The Top 40 debut for D'Angelo and this is where it all began for neo soul from a UK Top 40 perspective. It has a good groove to it and definitely one of the better records of that scene.
Verdict - Good
After the impact that "Set You Free" had on me I was excited to hear a follow up record which was this. This quickly turned to disappointment, this wasn't rave at all, it was a cheesy remake of the Bee Gees record.
Verdict - Rubbish
This of course was the theme song for the TV show Friends. I used to watch Friends back in the 90s and I liked it but I have to say it's not aged very well. The theme music though was always shit, but it was probably intended to be that way.
Verdict - Rubbish
I'm not sure I even knew there was such a place as Camden Town at the time, but now I've long since lost count of the number of times I've been to Camden. That's certainly made me understand this record more and as a result give me a more favourable opinion of it.
Verdict - Good
The Smashing Pumpkins were a band who benefited from the rise in popularity of grunge without strictly being a grunge band themselves. Yet this was the beginning of their most commercially successful period from a chart perspective, a time when grunge was out and Britpop was in. It's catchy.
Verdict - Good
1995 was the year that Louise left Eternal and this was her solo debut. Simon Climie from 80s pop duo Climie Fisher was on songwriting duties. It's a dreary ballad that I don't think I've heard since 1995 anf hopefully I'll never hear it again.
Verdict - Rubbish
18. Jimmy Nail - Big River (New)
1995 was the only year in his career that Jimmy Nail had more than one Top 40 hit. He had 3 that year and this was the 2nd of those. The big river that he speaks of is the River Tyne and this record made more sense to me when I lived in Newcastle.
Verdict - Good
This record made the Top 40 earlier on in the year under the name "Legends of the Dark Black pt2" but fared better under it's name changed to "Renegade Master". Wildchild sadly passed away a month or so after this so probably never saw the true impact of this record.
Verdict - Good
The Human League were having a bit of a revival in 1995 but sounded like they hadn't left the 80s with their new records. However this remix of their big hit sounded like they'd finally arrived in the 90s. I prefer the remix to the original.
Verdict - Good
This record failed to reach the Top 40 when first released in 1994 but then The Lightning Seeds had a surge in popularity in 1995 and this record fared better. It's a good uplifting number with a great singalong chorus.
Verdict - Good
"Sorted For E's and Wizz" is the better known song on this double a-side and it's a decent enough record. I would however say that "Mis-Shapes" is miles better and is the best Pulp song I've heard. I love the attitude this record has.
Verdict - Good / Good
13. Diana King - Ain't Nobody (New)
Diana King is regarded by many as being a one hit wonder with "Shy Guy" but she had 2 other Top 40 hits starting with this. It's a cover of the Chaka Khan record which can't decide whether it wants to be a reggae cover or not. Sounds a bit of a mess as a result.
Verdict - Rubbish
When this record came out I remember being shocked at Mariah Carey making a record that was so upbeat. It's based around a sample of "Genius Of Love" by Tom Tom Club which is a great record. However the last thing it needs is Mariah Carey's whiny voice over the top of it.
Verdict - Rubbish
11. Cher - Walking In Memphis (New)
This had originally been a Top 40 hit in 1991 for Marc Cohn. This Cher cover charted higher but it's the Marc Cohn original that gets acknowledged these days. Rightfully so, this cover is poor.
Verdict - Rubbish
Listen to this tune and watch the video and this record would appear to be as British as they come. I was therefore surprised to discover a few years later that Josh Wink is American. It's a classic for sure.
Verdict - Good
This record was written by R Kelly. It's a ballad and R Kelly was one of those people who knew how to write a ballad well.
Verdict - Good
At the time I was a big fan of "Gangsta's Paradise" and was convinced it had been in the Top 40 longer than anything else once it had been there a while. Turns out this record entered the Top 40 the same week. As both records fell to the lower reaches, I bought the "Gangsta's Paradise" single to help give it at least another week in the Top 40. Unfortunately "Gangsta's Paradise" dropped out, but this stayed another week and I wasn't happy about that. It failed to reach the Top 40 when first released but a Todd Terry remix gave it a new lease of life. Never seen the appeal myself though.
Verdict - Rubbish
After this record appeared on the Levi's advert it became Shaggy's second number one out of his first three Top 40 hits. It's a silly record really but great fun to listen to.
Verdict - Good
Louise had left Eternal and this was their first record without her. It was also the best record they've ever made. Admittedly the singing does grate on me a little but musically it's great. As you might imagine with it being about the power of a woman, this song was written by men.
Verdict - Good
This was originally a Top 40 hit for Smokie back in 1976. Then there was a cover by Gompie that was big in Europe where the audience would reply "Alice, who the fuck is Alice". Smokie therefore decided to revive this song and get comedian Roy 'Chubby' Brown to add the "Alice, who the fuck is Alice" bit. I think it's great.
Verdict - Good
This single was from their greatest hits album "Vault". A relative who clearly knew nothing about my music tastes bought me that album as a Christmas present that year. At the time I was listening to nothing but rave, even when I was into guitar music I never really thought much of Def Leppard. The fact Joe Elliott had gone for the Kurt Cobain look in the video may have been misleading in that respect. That all said, this is the best song I've ever heard from Def Leppard and I did grow to like it. To this very day though I've never listened to the "Vault" album and its never really been in my possession.
Verdict - Good
It had been 3 years since we'd last seen Simply Red in the Top 40 and this comeback single gave them their only number one record to date. The not very musical verses followed by a really catchy chorus works really well.
Verdict - Good
Meat Loaf had a hugely successful comeback in 1993 and here he is again in 1995 with another successful comeback. This time it's not his usual songwriter Jim Steinman writing this record, it's Diane Warren. Despite this it sounds like a typical Meat Loaf record, ridiculously long and over the top.
Verdict - Rubbish
I can't remember if it was the first time I'd heard it, but I can picture myself listening to this on the radio at the time and thinking this is the record I've been waiting to hear all my life. I could even tell you the name of the street I was going down when I was thinking that. There hadn't really been much of the dark side of rap music in the charts prior to this, but that's what I really wanted to hear. I even bought the single for this too which was the only thing I bought around this time that wasn't rave.
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%. Slight drop but still a great score.
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