Sunday, 31 December 2023

25 Years Since....December 1998

Time to go back to 1998 one last time:

E17 - Each Time


At the start of 1997 Brian Harvey was booted out of East 17 for his comments about ecstasy. That seemed to be the end for them, but then at the end of 1998 they were back minus Tony Mortimer and had quite hilariously rebranded themselves as E17.

They were now an R&B group and whilst this record was a success the follow up flopped and that was that for them.

Sash! ft Shannon - Move Mania

This was the first Sash! record not to make the Top 5. I considered it to be the best Sash! record which may explain it's lack of success relative to his previous hits. Don't get me wrong though, this is very much dance music of the commercial variety but a lot of fun to listen to at the same time.

Ruff Driverz Presents Arrola - Dreaming

Ruff Driverz were Chris Brown and Brad Carter who had previously been making happy hardcore records. They left all that behind and this was probably their biggest hit as Ruff Driverz. Something quite nice about moving onto something else only to find those making the music have too.

All Saints - War Of Nerves

The final track from their self titled debut album which was also the final single to be released from the album. I had bought the album earlier on in the year and could definitely see this being a single and quite a good way to end an album too.


The Honeyz - End Of The Line

One day I was playing the Honeyz album in my car which ends with this record. My 2 friends only knew the hits and without any prompting we found ourselves all singing along to this. Afterwards I think we all thought that was weird that we were 3 grown men singing along to this, but it goes to show what a great record it is.

It was a cover of a record that was originally written by an Australian and performed in Malaysian and Indonesian.
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Top 30 in 1994 Reviewed: Week 1

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 1994 with my verdict on each record:


It was 2nd time lucky for this record after charting in the lower reaches of the Top 40 a few months prior. It was the debut hit and biggest hit for Soul Asylum, a band who weren't grunge as such but benefited from the rise of grunge. I prefer their lesser hits, but this is still decent.

Verdict - Good


One thing I remember in 1993 was U2 appearing in peoples Top 10 bands early on in the year but tended not to appear in peoples Top 10s by the time this record came out. I don't ever recall U2 being in my Top 10 though, I thought they were decent but not that good. Ironically I considered "Stay (Faraway, So Close)" to be one of their best records at the time. The other side was Frank Sinatra's only hit of the 90s and the first time he actually charted with this song. Not my thing though.

Verdict - Good / Rubbish


We're now half way through the Top 40 career of Bad Boys Inc with this being the 3rd of 6 Top 40 hits for them. As a reminder this was a boy band put together by Ian Levine which I refer to as the Virgin Cola of the early 90s boy band world. This one was penned by Ian Levine himself and it sounds like a cheap imitation of Motown.

Verdict - Rubbish


This was a remix of a 20 year old record that never charted in the UK originally. I like the original of this but the question is does the remix do it justice? Well actually yes it does, it works well as a dance record and doesn't ruin the original.

Verdict - Good


The year started with WWF wrestlers having a couple of novelty hits and ends with a WWF wrestler team up with novelty rockers with this Gary Glitter cover. It's predictably crap, but that's the point. That said I'd rather listen to this than the crap his daughter was singing on "Hogan Knows Best".

Verdict - Rubbish


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


Regular readers of this blog will know that it's highly unlikely I'd rate any Pet Shop Boys record anything other than good. This is no exception, a solid Pet Shop Boys record. This was playing on my car radio several years ago when I was driving past the site of where Dreamscape 20 was held so it's in good company.

Verdict - Good


Ice-T had been around since the early 80s with his debut album coming out in 1987. By 1993 he was onto album number 5 of which this was taken. Yet surprisingly this was his first UK Top 40 hit. A solid effort.

Verdict - Good


This was the penultimate Top 40 hit to date for Shabba Ranks which is a cover of the Sly & the Family Stone record. As mentioned several times I do like the reggae pop music of 1993 generally speaking, but I'm getting the feeling they were running out of ideas by the end of the year.

Verdict - Rubbish


Here's Cliff Richard once again releasing a single at Christmas time presumably aiming for another Christmas number one. The record buying public had fortunately had enough leaving this record long forgotten.

Verdict - Rubbish


I remember first coming across EYC at the Smash Hit Poll Winners Party which would have happened shortly before this single came out. They were another boy band, but this time an American one who'd failed to crack America. If East 17/Take That were the Coca Cola/Pepsi of the early 90s boy bands and Bad Boys Inc were the Virgin Cola, EYC were the Tesco Value Cola. There was one EYC fan at school which is actually one more than Bad Boys Inc so maybe I'm being harsh. It's a crap record though.

Verdict - Rubbish


M People turn down the tempo on this record which is a cover of the Dennis Edwards and Siedah Garret record. It features male singer Mark Bell, but the male/female parts have been switched around compared to the original. I remember hating this record at the time and then later on in life heard the original after looking up records that 2Pac sampled. I like the original and in a way that has made this record more tolerable listening to it again after many years, but still not a patch on the original,

Verdict - Rubbish


Pearl Jam had no top 40 hits in 1993 but were back in 1994 with this record which was the lead single from their 2nd album "Vs". We're at a point where Nirvana were finished from a Top 40 perspective and almost finished as a band with grunge as a genre starting to die out shortly afterwards. However, Pearl Jam appeared to be moving away from that sound already with this being more alternative rock with some country influence. Not a good combination in my opinion. 

Verdict - Rubbish


I really don't want to like this song and on paper I shouldn't. I'm not really a fan of Janet Jackson and this is a slow ballad. I can't help but like it though and the most logical reason for that is it's inclusion in the film "Poetic Justice" which has Janet Jackson in it alongside 2Pac.

Verdict - Good


I'm not a fan of the first two Haddaway hits but will concede they were fun records so could understand the appeal to others. I therefore found it baffling that his next hit would be this depressing number. It still managed to reach the Top 10 though. 

Verdict - Rubbish


After coming back with a surprisingly uplifting record a few months prior, Mariah Carey follows up with something extra dreary even by Mariah Carey standards. I try to listen to every song the whole way through even if it's something I've heard many times and know I hate, but I had to stop this one less than a minute in as I couldn't bear to hear any more.

Verdict - Rubbish


I'm in 2 minds about this record to be honest. On one hand I'm thinking not another slow one from Diana Ross in the 90s and on the other I'm thinking this isn't bad. She had the Christmas number 2 with her comeback ballad "When You Tell Me That You Love Me" and was probably trying to do the same again but it didn't work this time.

Verdict - OK


After the success they had with the re-issue of "Relax" a few months prior, here's Frankie Goes To Hollywood doing the same again by re-issuing "The Power Of Love". It's one of those records you always hear at Christmas without it actually being a Christmas record. This may be why I've never liked this record.

Verdict - Rubbish


Disney films are cartoons made for kids generally speaking. Cartoons are supposed to be fun for the children to watch. Therefore why does music from Disney films have to always be so depressing? The only positive thing I have to say about this record is at least it's not Peter Andre and Katie Price singing it.

Verdict - Rubbish


After what seemed an endless run of hits from his "Waking Up the Neighbours" album, here's Bryan Adams back with a brand new song. I do find it more memorable than some of his previous efforts despite it being a ballad, but not my cup of tea.

Verdict - Rubbish


I remember this being on my list of non-rock records I liked at the time. Its one of those records that has a great sing along chorus which pretty much makes the record. It's very much of its time too which is also a good thing given it was the 90s.

Verdict - Good


After their collaboration in 1976 gave both artists their first number one, Elton John and Kiki Dee reunite 17 years later but fall short of topping the charts this time round. The world had moved on and I remember this sounding very dated at the time. Little did I know he'd still be charting with duets 3 decades later that would actually sound modern in a bad way.

Verdict - Rubbish


With looking at the numbers I'm sure 1993 saw more re-issues than any other year and here's another. After Meat Loaf topped the charts with "I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)" I told the Meat Loaf fan at school that Meat Loaf is definitely not heavy metal. He conceded that particular record wasn't but I should check out his older stuff. This re-issue allowed me to do that and this still re-iterated my point he wasn't heavy metal. Again I'm not a fan of how ridiculously long and over the top Meat Loaf songs tend to be.

Verdict - Rubbish


Meat Loaf had been in the wilderness for several years before this and his previous big hits were before my music memories so I wasn't familiar with his music at the time, I'd just heard the name. At the same time someone at school was a Meat Loaf fan and would say he was heavy metal. I was therefore excited to finally hear a Meat Loaf song, but heavy metal it's certainly not. That disappointment along with the fact it goes on forever and is just ridiculously over the top means I've never liked it. 

Verdict - Rubbish


I guess 1993 was the perfect year from the perspective of Dina Carroll. This was when she had her biggest hit with "Don't Be A Stranger" which felt like it was around for the whole of 1993 and was still in the charts when this record entered. Not my cup of tea and this follow up isn't any better.

Verdict - Rubbish


This was the 6th and final single from East 17's debut album "Walthamstow". It could be argued that being the final single from an album that was nearly a year old was what stopped it from getting the Christmas number one, but we all know they achieved that the following year. Like with most East 17 record, this one gets the thumbs up from me.

Verdict - Good


The Bee Gees are best known for their disco era, which I think is a shame because they made some really good music outside of this such as this record. In fact I would say this is the best record The Bee Gees have ever made. The moment where Robin starts singing the chorus is second to none.

Verdict - Good


I liked a lot of the reggae pop music of 1993 and particularly liked the first two Chaka Demus and Pliers hits. I draw the line at this record though. I hated it at the time, I remember someone asking a question about this record to a group of people and my response was I don't care about shitty pop music with my answer being seconded by someone else. My opinion on this record hasn't really changed.

Verdict - Rubbish


I guess we have Mr. Blobby to thank for the fact we don't hear this at Christmas every year after being denied the Christmas number one spot. It was the first Take That hit where Mark Owen takes the lead vocals, though really anyone could have sung it and it would have still been crap.

Verdict - Rubbish


Mr Blobby started out as a pretend kids TV show on the Gotcha segment of Noels House Party. I remember hearing the theme music for that segment was being released as a single. That didn't sound like the worst thing in the world, but when I heard this record and the kids started singing it did sound like the worst thing it the world. I also recall a school disco at the time where they had a dancing competition and the winner won this single. Needless to say I didn't miss out on much by not taking part.

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 9.5/30, or 32%. Same as last week, though with just one new entry it was never going to change much.
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Friday, 29 December 2023

Top 30 in 1996 Reviewed: Week 52

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:


It had been a year since The Mike Flowers Pops had been aiming for Christmas number one with his version of "Wonderwall". Now here he is doing the same again with his version of "Don't Cry For Me Argentina". That didn't work so well, least of all because the song he was covering was an old song in the first place. I will concede the "Macarena" bit he adds in but singing "Argentina" instead was funny, but aside from that it's poor. 

Verdict - Rubbish


I vaguely remember Liv Tyler getting married to a musician from Leeds who I'd never heard of. Royston Langdon, the singer of Spacehog was the musician in question. They formed in America but it's members are English. It's actually a pretty decent record, the only Top 40 hit for the band.

Verdict - Good


This was the lead single from Snoop Dogg's 2nd album "Tha Doggfather". It samples "Oops Upside Your Head" by the Gap Band and features Charlie Wilson from the Gap Band himself. It also became his highest charting Top 40 hit to that point. You can't go wrong with a bit of classic Snoop Dogg.

Verdict - Good


On paper this should be a strange record as it's an odd collaboration. In reality though it just sounds like your typical Elton John record the the odd bit of singing from Pavarotti. It's pretty forgettable too, bit of a non-entity music wise.

Verdict - Rubbish


Robson & Jerome had a total of 3 Top 40 hits and they all reached number one. This was the final one of those hits. Like it's predecessors, it's a cover and it's rubbish. To be fair they knew there time was probably up after this so called it a day.

Verdict - Rubbish


The Fugees narrowly missed out on making it 3 number ones in a row. They're showing that they can do multiple genres of music with this Bob Marley cover. It's definitely up there amongst the best covers ever and even as someone exclusively listening to rave at the time I couldn't deny how much I liked this record.

Verdict - Good


At the time I remember hearing that Babybird was a really prolific songwriter who'd written hundreds of songs. For many though, this is the only song of his they remember. It's a record I remember being out around the same time as "Breakfast At Tiffany's". It's not as crap, but is still crap.

Verdict - Rubbish


The 4th Top 40 hit for the Lighthouse Family. This is a lot less soothing that their previous 3 hits. In fact it's not very soothing at all and as a result isn't as good. It may have worked with a different backing track but the combination doesn't work here.

Verdict - Rubbish


This was the Top 40 debut for Chicane, though he had been in the Top 40 the previous year as Disco Citizens. I must admit I don't remember this one being at the end of the year as it's very much a summer tune. Then again I may have heard it long before it charted. It's one of those tunes you can chill out to or dance to.

Verdict - Good


A second chart topper for Peter Andre that wasn't "Mysterious Girl". This is quite possibly the most obscure number one of the 90s. I do remember it and remember thinking it was depressing. A blatant rip off of every other dreary ballad.

Verdict - Rubbish


The Warren G I was most familiar with in 1996 was the drum & bass MC who would regularly MC for DJ SS. There was of course an American rapper of the same name and this was his joint biggest hit. With the interpolation and the fact it was on a movie soundtrack means it was supposed to be commercial, but it's done really well. I can appreciate this a lot more now than I did at the time.

Verdict - Good


At the time this sounded so futuristic when he sang the opening line about a Saturday in 1999. Obviously that's well in the past now, but if someone sang about a Saturday in 2026 now I'd almost question whether I blinked and we were in 2026 already. If only music remaining as good as this into the future.

Verdict - Good


A lot of boy band songs are crap and many of them are supposed to be. At the same time though, several boy bands have one decent song in their back catalogue and this is the one for 3T. It's a cover of an Eric Carmen song, but is produced by Denniz Pop and Max Martin so would have been carefully crafted to be easy on the ears.

Verdict - Good


Once again I'm going to talk about "The Noise" with Andi Peters. This was when it became apparent that The Spice Girls weren't going to be one hit wonders. They exclusively showed the video to the new Spice Girls single. It's not as bad as their debut, that's the only positive thing I can say about it.

Verdict - Rubbish


This record was released to promote East 17s greatest hits album. To show they weren't planning on splitting up any time soon they put in the reference "The Journey So Far", but we all know what happened next. As with pretty much all the East 17 singles, I like it.

Verdict - Good


Here's Whitney Houston with yet another song taken from a movie. This time it's "The Preachers Wife" which Whitney Houston was also in herself. It's a cover of an Annie Lennox record. There was also a happy hardcore version of this which I thought was dreadful, much like what I think of this.

Verdict - Rubbish


The intro to this record features vocals by a then unknown Dido who is the sister of Faithless member Rollo. After the release of "Insomnia" a couple of months prior I was ready for the Maxi Jazz rapping this time. Again the way it breaks down for the Maxi Jazz vocals is fantastic and then the complete change in sound when the beat kicks in following the vocals just makes the tune. I bought this single as well.

Verdict - Good


The final Top 40 hit to date for The Smurfs. One of those records that's awful, but that's the point. It's long forgotten now though, not a Christmas record you always hear at Christmas.

Verdict - Rubbish


The Woolpackers were 3 actors from Emmerdale who were named after the pub that features in the soap. As you can probably predict then, this is cheesy and shit. It's a line dancing record, something myself and many others used to take the piss out of.

Verdict - Rubbish


This was the 2nd Top 40 hit for Damage who opted not to wait for their 3rd hit to release a ballad. More significantly though this was the first Top 40 hit penned by the partnership of Steve Mac and Wayne Hector, the songwriting duo behind many of Westlife's hits. It sounds like it could have been a Westlife hit as well.

Verdict - Rubbish


Swearing in music was nothing unusual in the 90s but this record became most famous for its swearing. I guess it's because it wasn't the style of music you'd expect swearing in. The whole appeal of The Beautiful South is the lyrics but the lyrics were generally easy to ignore so they probably put the swearing in to grab peoples attention. It probably worked, but I can't say I think much to this record.

Verdict - Rubbish


Eric Carmen only had one Top 40 hit in the UK which was with this record, but he had covers of 2 of his records in the Top 40 at the same time in 1996 with the other being "I Need You" by 3T. It's Celine Dion doing what she does best, dreary ballads. 

Verdict - Rubbish


This was one of those records that I didn't really want to like but I couldn't help but like it. Mark Morrison may only be remembered for one song now, but this was pretty big at the time. Another thing I remember around this time was Mark Morrison being the Wanker of the Week on The Girlie Show, the only feature worth watching on that show truth be told.

Verdict - Good


When The Prodigy did "Firestarter" earlier on in the year after much excitement of a new Prodigy tune it was a big disappointment. However, despite follow up "Breathe" taking a similar direction I actually like this one and bought the single. It's the beats that really do it for me.

Verdict - Good


Boyzone waited for nearly 2 years to get their first number one, then two come along at once. They've gone for an African style pop song this time and it's every bit as awful as that sounds. It's up there amongst the obscure number ones of the 90s.

Verdict - Rubbish


After having 2 big hits that were both instrumentals, Robert Miles did the unthinkable and released a record with a vocalist. I remember at the time thinking what are you doing having a vocalist on your record. The vocals have always annoyed me so on that basis this gets half a mark.

Verdict - OK


After having all 5 of her previous Top 40 hits written by Babyface, Toni Braxton turned to prolific songwriter Diane Warren for her 6th. It worked as this became her joint highest charting Top 40 hit, but often in order to achieve popularity you have to compromise on quality and this is what's happened here in my opinion. 

Verdict - Rubbish


Another hit from the musical film "Evita" which is the most painfully boring film I've ever seen. Part of the painfully boring watching of the film was sitting through this painfully boring song. 

Verdict - Rubbish


This was a charity record in the aftermath of the Dunblane school massacre that happened earlier on that year. "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" is a cover of the Bob Dylan song with a new verse added and "Throw These Guns Away" was an originally composition written by Ted Christopher who sang on both songs. Like with most charity records, musically it's not very good.

Verdict - Rubbish / Rubbish


What had become apparent by this point was that not only were the Spice Girls here to stay, but they were almost inevitably going to top the charts with everything they release. I knew someone who bought this single because you could see Geri's legs on the cover, that's how effective their marketing seemed to be. It even made its was onto the Christmas episode of "Only Fools And Horses". Musically though it's really poor. 

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 11.5/30, or 35%. Same as last week with one good record out and one in.
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Wednesday, 27 December 2023

Top 30 in 1995 Reviewed: Week 52

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:


When Blur won the chart battle against Oasis with "Country House" I thought it was pretty much the worst song I'd heard Blur do. The other singles from their "The Great Escape" album were pretty solid though starting with this one.

Verdict - Good


The only Top 40 hit for Crescendo. It's a progressive house record which basically means it's a dance record that doesn't obviously fit any category. I do miss the days of music being more experimental like this/

Verdict - Good


Another novelty record at Christmas time from a non-musician. Given that "Eye Of The Tiger" is best known for being from a boxing film and Frank Bruno was a boxer, this cover makes sense. It doesn't sound like it's Frank Bruno singing on it though so quite what he did on this record I don't know.

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 final original Top 40 hit to date for Corona, so the title is quite appropriate that they're saying they don't want to be a star so get the lowest charting of their 4 Top 40 hits and have no more original hits thereafter. This had more of a disco sound than their previous efforts and I don't remember it sounding like that, but do remember how the main hook went. I'm pleasantly surprised to find I quite like it.

Verdict - Rubbish


Yes that's right, Michael Barrymore had a Top 40 hit. He was all over the telly at the time so I guess it made sense for him to make someone's unwanted Christmas present. The abrupt end of his TV career means that this record is now long forgotten.

Verdict - Rubbish


Passengers were a side project of U2 and Brian Eno. This was their only Top 40 hit under that name and it features vocals from Luciano Pavarotti. An unlikely collaboration but it was one that worked in the case of this record.

Verdict - Good


A one off charity record by a collective of musicians including Paul McCartney doing a cover of the Beatles record. I like the original Beatles version of this and this cover is decent enough too.

Verdict - Good


I would have had this record down as being more 1993, not just it sounding more 1993 but seems to fit more in with my life around 1993. It's different to your typical 90s rap record and a lot more radio friendly, but it's good.

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 liked the original of this in 1992, but don't recall hearing the remix which got it back into the charts before. Being a dance record in the first place perhaps makes it less likely to be destroyed by a remix. In fact I would say it lends itself to remixes quite well, probably helped by the fact that Luther Vandross can sing to anything. 

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


This is the final Top 10 hit to date for Prince. It's nearly 6 minutes long but I can't help but think it's too short, when it finishes I just want to listen to it for longer. If you can get a record for that long to have that sort of impact on me then you must be doing something right.

Verdict - Good


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


This was pretty much the end of the road for The Outhere Brothers after being pretty much the biggest chart act of 1995. I would call this the forgotten gem of their admittedly small back catalogue. They did have one more Top 40 hit, but they're very much a 1995 act and should remain that way.

Verdict - Good


It's funny how there were a number of us who spent the 90s looking forward to the year 2000, but then as the 21st century got under way we longed for the 90s again. I always liked the story of the song, but I've only just discovered that it was a true story and Deborah, the subject of the song is sadly no longer with us. 

Verdict - Good


I used to hear this on an almost daily basis at this time thanks to a bus driver who used to play Now 33 every day. I remember very well that this came after "Ladykillers" by Lush. As a result I couldn't stand it, though I don't think I've heard it since 1996 so sufficient time for me to reassess. Not a bad record, but it's no "One Way". 

Verdict - OK


Although the title and the fact it was released around Christmas time may suggest this is a Christmas song, it isn't. It's to do with the landscape Freddie Mercury was seeing out of the window when recording in Switzerland. Having been to Switzerland around winter time myself I can vouch for that. I really want to like this record, but it just lacks that certain something for me to truly like it. The fact the initial recording was incomplete and added to later on may have something to do with it.

Verdict - OK


Prior to this record Mariah Carey had 2 uplifting hits in a row with "All I Want For Christmas Is You" and "Fantasy". She was never going to do 3 in a row, but teamed up with Boyz II Men to allow her to do a dreary ballad that could fall under the R&B banner. 

Verdict - Rubbish


You never hear this record at Christmas time anymore, yet you always hear another Tony Mortimer penned record that isn't even a Christmas one. It's a collective of pop singers from the time which includes Peter Andre and the Backstreet Boys who were both yet to have a UK Top 40 hit at this point. It also featured CJ Lewis, China Black and EYC who wouldn't be in the Top 40 again. This record was also the subject in the first post I made in this blog after the introduction posts. I like it on a nostalgic level and the fact it's not rammed down my throat every Christmas ensures that remains the case.

Verdict - Good


In the post Louise era of Eternal they came back with perhaps the most uplifting record they'd released to date in "Power of a Woman". They followed it up with this, which is perhaps their most dreary. It was composed by the writer of "Nothin At All" by Heart and the write of "In the Ones You Love" by Diana Ross. 

Verdict - Rubbish


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


When I learned about The Beatles as a kid one thing that became apparent was that following their break up in 1970 and the death of John Lennon in 1980 we were never going to have any new music from The Beatles. Then in 1995 this came out, a new Beatles record. It was a combination of a demo recording by John Lennon from the 70s and contributions from the remaining members in the 90s which was put together by Jeff Lynne. The result is something you'd imagine The Beatles would sound like if they were still around in the 90s, which was presumably the whole point

Verdict - Good


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


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


I don't think this was ever considered a true contender for Christmas number one but I guess it shouldn't have ever been ruled out considering how high it did chart. Bjork presented the Christmas Top of the Pops that year which obviously was recorded in advance of Christmas day when they wouldn't have known what was number one. Bjork announced Michael Jackson was Christmas number one, so presumably they recorded all possibilities of who could be Christmas number one and I do wonder whether they recorded Bjork saying she was Christmas number one herself. Anyway I didn't really like it at the time, but it's grown on me over the years. 

Verdict - Good


To me this record illustrates all that was wrong with Boyzone's formula of doing lots of covers. The song is supposed to be a father singing to his son, but Ronan Keating was only 18 here and therefore more likely to be the age of the son being sang to. OK it's composer Cat Stevens was only a few years older when he wrote it, but I remember seeing Ronan Keating sing "look at me I am old" and thinking no you're not.

Verdict - Rubbish


I remember the Chris Evans breakfast show where this played for the first time. They said that "Wonderwall" was a song from the 60s that Oasis had covered. It soon came to light that this was in fact the cover, but made to sound like it was done in the 60s. I thought this was a big improvement and really wanted it to get the Christmas number one, but sadly that wasn't to be.

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

If we give the records which were good 1 point each and those which were OK half a point, the final score is 18/30, or 60%.A good end to a good year.
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