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:
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
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
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 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
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
This tune was already 6 years old by the time it charted. It was because of a Paul Oakenfold remix that this happened. Robert Owens is a singer and the main man behind this track is David Morales. A great record.
Verdict - Good
KRS-One is one of the big name rappers who has been around for years and has lots of albums, but aside from being featured artist later on in the year this was his only UK Top 40 hit. It samples "Rapture" by Blondie as the title may suggest. I'd call it a proper rap record.
Verdict - Good
23. The Supernaturals - Smile (New)
This was the highest charting Top 40 hit for The Supernaturals making number 23. I have to say that's pretty poor considering how big this record appeared to be at the time. I was more likely to smile if I wasn't hearing this record.
Verdict - Rubbish
22. Zhane - Request Line (New)
The 4th and final Top 40 hit to date for Zhane which was also their highest charting. They called it a day in 1999 and don't appear to have reunited since which means unlike many other acts they're not ruining their legacy by releasing a load of crap in the 21st century.
Verdict - Good
21. GUN - Crazy You (New)
The final Top 40 to date for Gun which was hit number 8 and came 8 years after they made their Top 40 debut. As was the trend around 1997, they've gone softer with their music. The result is a record that sounds a bit weak and pathetic.
Verdict - Rubbish
20. The Wannadies - Hit (New)
That's right, The Wannadies had another hit that wasn't "You And Me Song". In fact they had 2 other Top 40 hits but the one that came in between only made number 38. Although not as good as their big one it's still a decent effort.
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
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
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
This was just the 5th Top 40 hit for 2Pac but despite that it doesn't appear on his 2CD long greatest hits album that came out in 1998. Not sure why it wasn't included. A track that was on there was "2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted" also featuring Snoop Dogg and this is sort of a part 2 of this.
Verdict - Good
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
The final Top 40 hit to date for Michelle Gayle and this record meant her pop career went on for longer than fellow Eastender Sean Maguire, just. At least she wasn't trying to make an Oasis record like Sean Maguire or many others for that matter. Still don't like the tune though.
Verdict - Rubbish
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
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
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
10. Faithless - Reverence (New)
I remember Faithless in their own words said they were an experimental group. The first records I heard of theirs, "Insomnia" and "Salva Mea" were pretty similar to each other but different to anything else. This record though was a complete change in comparison and do recall being somewhat disappointed when I first heard it. It's not a bad record, but the problem with being experimental is that you can't get it right all the time.
Verdict - OK
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
The Lightning Seeds have a bit of a strange Top 40 record. They have a few well known hits but their only Top 10 hit that wasn't "3 Lions" was this which I would call one of their best known ones. It's also their only Top 40 that was a cover, originally being by The Byrds. It's not great if I'm honest.
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
Blackstreet may be best known for "No Diggity" but this was their highest charting Top 40 hit. It uses the same samples as "I Ain't Mad At Cha" by 2Pac. Both records are good in their own way and I own both albums each record appears on.
Verdict - Good
This was always the big Daft Punk record before they did "One More Time" which left this in the shadows. As a result though at hasn't suffered from being overplayed as much. It's such a simple tune but very effective.
Verdict - Good
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. U2 - Staring At The Sun (New)
U2 topped the charts earlier on in the year with "Discotheque" and then their "Pop" album came out. Many consider this the dodgy period for U2, but this never stopped people buying their records with this making number 3 despite the album already being out. This record does sound a bit more like U2 of old though so maybe those who bought it were those who wanted that and not their new experimental album. Still not to my liking though.
Verdict - Rubbish
It had been a year since Oasis were last in the charts with the chart topper "Don't Look Back In Anger" but now they were back....oh hang on this isn't Oasis, it's Robbie Williams. I do remember the first time I heard it was mid song on the radio and I genuinely thought it was an Oasis song. I guess its the most convincing Oasis impersonation then, but that's not a good thing.
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 15.5/30, or 52%. Above 50% for the first time this year.
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