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:
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
When it comes to TLC records the number one question I always have is who wrote it? Many TLC records have big name producers behind them and this one is no exception. The big name in question is Babyface and it's a solid effort as usual.
Verdict - Good
1995 was the year we saw Ali Campbell in the Top 40 for the first time as a solo artist. He wasn't done with his band UB40 though. It's exactly the sort of record you'd expect from UB40 and I'm a fan of that sound.
Verdict - Good
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
26. Therapy? - Diane (New)
Although this wasn't their final Top 40 hit I would say this record marks the end of the commercial peak of Therapy? It's a cover of a record by Husker Du and it lacks the heavy guitars you usual get in their records. Once you get used to that fact it's actually a decent record.
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
Not to be confused with the gabber DJ of the same name from Holland. This Ruffneck were an American house act and therefore this record is much more mellow. It's soulful but the shouting gives it a rougher edge and it works really well.
Verdict - Good
23. Clock - In The House (New)
Clock scored their first 3 Top 10 hits in 1995 but only managed number 23 with this final hit of the year for them. You know you're getting cheesy eurodance music from a Clock record, but this one is cheesy even by Clocks standards.
Verdict - Rubbish
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
A few years after this record came out I learned that "Like A Rolling Stone" was a Bob Dylan record. I was surprised because I thought it was a Rolling Stones record but figured I was just being stupid by making the assumption that because it had "Rolling Stone" in the title it had to be a Rolling Stones record. Others laughed at me thinking that too. However I wasn't too wide of the mark as The Rolling Stones did this 1995 cover of it so that's what made me think it was a Rolling Stones record.
Verdict - Good
Ace Of Base were back with a 2nd album of which this was the lead single. They pretty much picked up where they left off with the successful reggae pop formula they'd used previously. Why fix something that's not broken I suppose.
Verdict - Good
19. Pizzaman - Happiness (New)
The 3rd and final original Top 40 hit to date for Pizzaman. I would say this record gave the biggest indication of what Norman Cook would sound like as Fatboy Slim. I thought it would be good if he included this in one of his Fatboy Slim sets.
Verdict - Good
The one about the funny looking buses. I thought that The Beautiful South were finished when they released their greatest hits album the previous year but this record showed they weren't going anywhere. Not my cup of tea.
Verdict - Rubbish
17. Alex Party - Wrap Me Up (New)
Alex Party had their biggest hit at the start of the year with "Don't Give Me Your Life" and it took them until the end of the year to release this follow up. It follows the same formula as the big hit but I do love music like this.
Verdict - Good
This is a cover of the Real Thing record. Sonia did the same thing 4 years earlier which was just a poor karaoke version. I would say the same for this Sean Maguire version, I guess it was to be expected.
Verdict - Rubbish
Saint Etienne made their Top 40 debut in 1991 and this was their 9th Top 40 hit. However it wasn't until this record that I became aware of Saint Etienne. I did however like it enough to explore their back catalogue and ended up buying all their albums.
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
12. Enya - Anywhere Is (New)
I do recall at the time thinking who the fuck is buying Enya records? To me it was music for school teachers. What I really meant though was it sounded so out of place compared to the rest of the music us youngsters at the time were listening to, some of whom are now school teachers themselves. I now appreciate Enya's music for what it is and consider this to be good record.
Verdict - Good
Yet another Whitney Houston song from a movie. The film in question is "Waiting To Exhale". It's a movie I've seen but remember nothing about so I guess you could say it was just as boring as this song.
Verdict - Rubbish
10. Tina Turner - Goldeneye (New)
This record was from the James Bond film of the same name and was written by Bono and The Edge from U2. Not my cup of tea.
Verdict - Rubbish
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
This was the only Queen Top 40 hit that was a cover. I use the term 'cover' in a pretty loose sense though, it was written by Roger Taylor and was originally done by The Cross who were another band Roger Taylor was in. The original also featured Freddie Mercury on backing vocals. a great way to do a cover I suppose.
Verdict - Good
The Top 40 debut for Happy Clappers which is also the record they're best known for. It's members included Mark Topham who wrote several of Steps hits. I won't hold that against him though, this is very much a commercial record but an enjoyable one at the same time.
Verdict - Good
The lead single from "Up All Night" which was the final studio album from East 17 as we knew them. I would also say that is the East 17 album I've listened to the most. This is one of my favourite East 17 singles too. I can't pin point one thing about it, the piano intro, the chorus, the verse, everything about this song is great.
Verdict - Good
I remember when this came out something that sprang to mind was that Madonna had previously made fun records like "Cherish" and "Dear Jessie" but was now making boring crap like this. Given she'd been around for over a decade and was a well established name, she could put any old crap out and people would buy it. This is what happened here.
Verdict - Rubbish
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
There's a lot to say about this record, but what springs to mind personally was seeing people who once listened to rave now listening to Oasis. It was reflected on the TV on Byker Grove too. The music aspect had gone from Frew and Barney DJing to characters who's names I don't remember singing "Wonderwall". I was firmly in the rave camp by this point though and couldn't comprehend why people would listen to Oasis instead.
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
When the Christmas Top of the Pops came on, the announcer summed up 1995 as the year Take That lost Robbie and Eternal lost Louise but we gained Robson & Jerome. I once got slated for describing Robson & Jerome as a novelty act, but they were actors who sang on Soldier Soldier once which made Simon Cowell think they could be the next Zig & Zag. If that isn't a novelty act I don't know what is.
Verdict - Rubbish / Rubbish
If we give the records which were good 1 point each and those which were OK half a point, the final score is 20/30, or 67%. A slight drop.
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