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 1997 with my verdict on each record:
It had been a little over a year since 3T made their Top 40 debut and now here they are with their final Top 40 hit to date. Herbie is Herbie Crichlow, a Sweden based English songwriter. This sounds a bit like the Backstreet Boys but this makes sense as Herbie Crichlow is joined by Max Martin and Denniz Pop on songwriting duties on this one. It's also shit.
Verdict - Rubbish
An eye opener here is that we were in an era where there was loads of dance music being made in the UK and being played in the clubs up and down the country, yet its the American records getting into the Top 40. I guess they were more likely to succeed here as we'd taken to dance music much more than the Americans. It's alright but nothing special.
Verdict - OK
The 6th Top 40 hit for Cast and the lead single from their 2nd album. It was also their first Top 40 hit not to have a one word title. I would say they had built a big enough of a fanbase to keep them ticking along at the top end of the charts as I don't think their chart positions reflect their popularity. Or maybe I learned to ignore them more.
Verdict - Rubbish
This was the Top 40 debut for MC Lyte which made number 39 when first released in 1996 but fared better when re-issued in 1997. It was the final time she made the Top 30. This was also the 3rd and final Top 40 hit to date for Xscape but the first time they made the Top 30. It's a Jermaine Dupri production, but that doesn't mean it's any good because it isn't.
Verdict - Rubbish
Livin Joy had already had their 3 bigger hits by this point and now we're into Livin Joy territory that few people remember. The formula was getting a bit tired by this point. It was always commercial but this ones commercial without excitement which is never good.
Verdict - Rubbish
Makaveli was the name 2Pac used to release his final album which came out just after he died. The first Top 10 hit for 2Pac was "California Love" and featured Dr Dre. On this, his 2nd top 10 hit he says "California Love part motherfuckin 2 without gay ass Dre". It would appear they never saw eye to eye. Anyway love this tune and love the album.
Verdict - Good
This was another record from the film "Space Jam" and the "Monstars' Anthem" refers to the song for the enemy team. That makes it quite difficult to take seriously as a record given it's from a cartoon, but it's not bad.
Verdict - OK
The Charlatans continued with their successful return to the charts scoring another Top 5 hit with this. Like with Cast though, I think they must have just had enough of a following for them to chart this high. I do remember this one more than the Cast record admittedly, but it really didn't seem that big.
Verdict - Rubbish
Interestingly this was the 18th Top 40 hit for Bryan Adams but it didn't quite manage to reach number 18. His next Top 40 hit would peak at number 18 though. It was his final Top 40 hit from his album of the same name and as far as I can tell it isn't from any film. As a result it's not very memorable.
Verdict - Rubbish
The only Top 40 hit for Belgian act Natural Born Grooves. It almost sounds like it's trying to do the theme from Casualty but stops shot of actually doing that. Being from Belgium I dare say they'd never heard of Casualty. Once you get that connection out of your head it's actually a pretty decent record.
Verdict - Good
A year or so earlier The Chemical Brothers were an act I'd speak highly of. When they topped the charts with the aid of Noel Gallagher my underground self looked on them less favorably even though it was an undeniably good record. Then came this, another chart topper that I've never liked. My main complaint about it was it was too slow but to this very day I've just never got into it.
Verdict - Rubbish
I've mentioned before how hearing "Set You Free" by N-Trance was a life changing experience but then N-Trance came out with a load of crap afterwards. Here's an example of some of that crap they continued to churn out which is a rip off of the Ottawan record.
Verdict - Rubbish
The main singer on all of The Brand New Heavies Top 40 hits prior to this was N'Dea Davenport. This was their first Top 40 hit without her with Siedah Garrett taking vocal duties here. It gave them their biggest Top 40 hit to this point. I would say Siedah Garrett is the better singer.
Verdict - Good
This was the penultimate Top 40 hit to date for Bruce Springsteen and the last time he'll feature as his final hit never made the Top 30 and came in the 21st century. This failed to reach the Top 40 when first released in 1995 but fared better in 1997 after it was featured on the soundtrack to the film "Jerry Maguire". Which shows you can put any old rubbish on a soundtrack to a popular film and you're pretty much guaranteed to chart.
Verdict - Rubbish
The 2nd Top 5 hit in 1997 for Depeche Mode. To put that into perspective, they'd only achieved one Top 5 hit prior to this out of a possible 28. They were a big enough name to reach the Top 5 though which seems to be happening a lot in 1997. The difference this time is it's a record I actually like.
Verdict - Good
The 4th Top 40 hit for the Spice Girls and their 4th number one and last single from their debut album. "Mama" is marketing in a way for ones mother to approve of their child listening to the Spice Girls and "Who Do You Think You Are" was the comic relief single. It was a win win situation for them, but musically it was still shit.
Verdict - Rubbish / Rubbish
The Top 40 debut for Sash! and the record he's best known for. I have mixed feelings about this record. At first I wrote it off as being cheesy commercial crap, but it did start to grow on me after a while. When you consider some of the dreadful music this no doubt inspired though it's hard to truly like it.
Verdict - OK
After the previous years disappointment of hearing the full version of "Spaceman" having initially liked it from the Levi's advert I was more cautious with this years effort. Fortunately I wasn't disappointed with this one. I'm sure I'd acknowledged by this point there was room in my life for chill out music amongst the hard and fast dance music I was listening to at the time. This one definitely fitted that.
Verdict - Good
12. Erykah Badu - On And On (New)
We've already had D'Angelo and Maxwell more or less come and go in the Top 40, now's the turn of Erykah Badu to bring neo soul to the Top 40 with this being her debut. My view hasn't really changed, decent background music but nothing to get excited about.
Verdict - OK
It had been a year since Supergrass had previously been in the Top 40. This comeback single was notably heavier than their previous efforts but I can't help but think if they intended to make a record like this they should have made it harder and faster. Not bad though.
Verdict - OK
10. Texas - Halo (New)
When this follow up to "Say What You Want" hit the Top 10 it was a sign the comeback for Texas wasn't a one off and they were here to stay. In fact they'd only fail to reach the Top 10 once for the remainder of the decade. It's an improvement over it's predecessor, but still not to my liking.
Verdict - Rubbish
9. Suede - Lazy (New)
I would say the title of the record is quite descriptive of the record itself. It sounds like a lazy attempt of making a record. No substance to it whatsoever, it's very non-descript and appears to have only charted this high because it's Suede.
Verdict - Rubbish
8. Kavana - MFEO (New)
This was the 2nd and final Top 40 hit from Kavana to make the Top 10. It was also one he didn't write himself so I'm guessing he's not happy his 2 biggest hits are ones he didn't write. It peaked at the same position as his best known hit "I Can Make You Feel Good". It's becoming apparent that so many records entered the charts in the Top 10 and plummeted down the charts the following week in 1997 that many records that weren't that big are getting into the Top 10. I'm sure most people have forgotten this, I wish I had.
Verdict - Rubbish
As the story goes, Shola Ama was singing on the tube one day and was heard by someone in the business which eventually led to this her Top 40 debut. It's a cover of a Turley Richards record made famous by Randy Crawford. I do quite like this record.
Verdict - Good
No Doubt seemed to just come out of nowhere with this record. I remember thinking who the fuck are No Doubt and suddenly they were number one. Turns out they'd had a number 38 prior to this. I think they did their best stuff later on in their career, but this ones not bad.
Verdict - OK
5. The Course - Ready Or Not (New)
It hadn't even been a year since the Fugees took this record to the top of the charts but here we are with a dance cover in the charts. To be fair there were already hardcore and drum & bass versions being played at raves before this. Which leads to the problem, this one isn't as good. Plus what was the point in getting someone else to sing it.
Verdict - Rubbish
I had a friend who was also a raver who I used to think just made up things about the rave scene safe in the knowledge nobody had anyway of proving otherwise. One day he had written quite a sizeable list of DJ names, some were ones I was very familiar with and others I thought he'd just made up. One such DJ was DJ Quicksilver. I questioned whether a DJ would really name himself after a brand of clothing. Then it turned out there was such a DJ. When I first heard this record it wasn't what I was expecting. I expected something of the hardcore or drum & bass variety, but this was club music. I still liked it though.
Verdict - Good
3. Orbital - The Saint (New)
After hitting the Top 10 for the first time earlier on in the year with a live version of "Satan" making number 3, Orbital followed up with another number 3 record called "The Saint". It was taken from the film of the same name which would have helped. However Orbital were possibly the best at making big beat versions of older tunes.
Verdict - Good
2. Blur - Song 2 (New)
This was the 2nd single to be take from their self titled album which was 2 minutes long and reached number 2 in the charts. It would have no doubt topped the charts if it was the first single to be released from the album as Blur achieved that anyway with a record that's not as well remembered. Like Supergrass were doing, they are going for a harder sound here but like Supergrass it really isn't hard enough to be effective in my opinion.
Verdict - Rubbish
This was the main song from Space Jam and I asked the question why do they always have ballads for cartoon films. That said, I did think this ballad was much better than your average ballad so not a bad choice really.
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 12/30, or 40%. Slight drop but same ball park.
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