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:
30. Beck - Sissyneck (New)
This was the 5th of 10 Top 40 hits to date for Beck. This is my reading of his Top 40 career to this point. A solid debut with "Loser" but after that he's released the same song every time and it's getting rather boring.
Verdict - Rubbish
This was the lead single from their 2nd and final album. It's that familiar story of a group not being able to follow up their first album with anything decent. It's like they've become a poundland version of their old selves.
Verdict - Rubbish
This was the Top 40 debut for Maxwell which reached number 39 the previous year, but fared better when re-released in 1997 following his only other Top 40 hit. I mentioned previously the "neo soul" music is just good background music. I'm now going to contradict myself because this record is good all around.
Verdict - Good
27. Monica - For You I Will (New)
Yet another song from the "Space Jam" soundtrack. It's also a ballad so will perhaps come as no surprise to hear it was written by Diane Warren. I would call this a pop song disguised as R&B and it's not very good.
Verdict - Rubbish
I've just discovered that this record is about Albert Einstein's parents. Given this and the general way the song is sung you sense a bit of humour in the record. The problem is it's not particularly funny and there's not enough fun in the record either.
Verdict - Rubbish
This was the 2nd and highest charting Top 40 hit for the Eels. It's quite a haunting record that documents the grim side of everyday life of a run down area where "Susan" lives. I've previously tried to think of anyone else who's like the Eels and I can't. It's pretty unique and in a good way.
Verdict - Good
It's that time of year again where we have a football team in the Top 40 with a song about their football team. They've got Suggs on the record, perhaps to give it a bit of credibility. Put it this way, I have a friend who is a massive Chelsea fan and he things this record is shit.
Verdict - Rubbish
One TV show in the 90s that in hindsight I really don't understand the fuss about was The X Files. I really tried to get into it but to be honest it just bored me. It was no doubt because of the shows popularity that they got Gillian Anderson on the record and made it X Files like. The result is something that's a bit boring.
Verdict - Rubbish
The Seahorses are a band who completely passed me by in 1997. It's the band that John Squire formed after the Stone Roses split up and this was their Top 40 debut. That fact alone would have generated record sales. Maybe I had heard this at the time and quickly forgot it, that's the sort of record it is. I am familiar with it retrospectively.
Verdict - Rubbish
Duran Duran were one of those 80s bands I've never really liked. Then in the 90s they did "Ordinary World" which was the best thing they've ever done and if we're honest the last Duran Duran record that's widely remembered. What about this hit which came afterwards? Well it does sound like a 90s record, I couldn't imagine it being released in the 80s. At the same time it's a bit dreary.
Verdict - Rubbish
20. The Orb - Asylum (New)
The Orb are best known for making ambient music, but on their previous hit they'd gone a bit more upbeat. With this record they've gone somewhere in the middle, there's ambient elements to it but a bit of a beat too. Works pretty well.
Verdict - Good
It had been nearly a year since Gary Barlow topped the charts with his solo debut "Forever Love" and it took that long for him to release his follow up single which also topped the charts. It was originally a Madonna song that didn't make the cut for her "Bedtime Stories" album. That's how shit it is.
Verdict - Rubbish
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
With East 17 now out of the picture, 911 were the biggest active UK boy band at this point. They were perhaps overshadowed by Irelands Boyzone and Americas Backstreet Boys though. The solution for taking on the latter was to basically make a Backstreet Boys record. It worked though as this is the record they're best known for. It's shit though.
Verdict - Rubbish
The distinctive thing about Ginuwine's debut hit "Pony" is the weird noise you repeatedly hear in the background. The distinctive thing about this one is another weird noise you repeatedly hear in the background. It's also a Timbaland production like its predecessor. Doesn't quite have the same appeal, but it's not bad.
Verdict - OK
"If Your Girl Only Knew" had been a hit the previous year so I won't go into that again except to say I liked it. "One In A Million" is another Timbaland and Missy Elliott composition. It's sampled in a UK garage record and I can't help but think of it when I hear this. No bad thing I suppose.
Verdict - Good / Good
14. Placebo - Bruise Pristine (New)
As I listen to the intro to this I'm thinking isn't this "Nancy Boy" again. It does change into it's own song once it kicks in again. It's got a good tempo to it I will admit, but it's too much of a non-entity if I'm honest. I remember the song but was unable to sing it in my head prior to playing it, that's never a good thing.
Verdict - Rubbish
This was originally a Top 40 hit for Elvis Presley in 1972 but it returned to the charts in 1997 after being featured in the BT advert. I can't say I remember the advert in question, perhaps I'd learned to ignore adverts by that point. Anyway the Pet Shop Boys cover of this is so good it's difficult to listen to another version. I'll give it half marks though.
Verdict - OK
North and South were a band from a children's TV show called No Sweat. This was their Top 40 debut and there's something quite amusing about a boy band singing "I'm A Man Not A Boy". It's just as shit as it sounds on paper.
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 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
After scoring her joint highest charting Top 40 hit with a ballad, Toni Braxton followed up with another ballad. This time it's written by R Kelly and is much better made. It's definitely an improvement over it's predecessor, but I'm not as tolerant with ballads as I once was so this gets half a mark.
Verdict - OK
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
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
This was the 4th Top 40 hit for Damage and their highest charting. It's a cover of the Eric Clapton record. One of the YouTube comments sums up this record nicely which is "they seriously damaged this song". What else can I say.
Verdict - Rubbish
When it came to the soundtrack for "Romeo + Juliet" this was seen as the big record from it as opposed to the much better "You and Me Song" by The Wannadies. A very poor choice of record in my opinion, there's nothing to like about this record, it's irritating.
Verdict - Rubbish
4. No Mercy - Please Don't Go (New)
That's right, No Mercy had another hit which doesn't sound all that different to their big hit "Where Do You Go". They make it obvious that it's going to sound the same with having a similar title as well. As their big hit was shit, so it this.
Verdict - Rubbish
I remember there big a big fuss and performance in selecting the UK Eurovision entry of 1996. In 1997 though all I remember was hearing the news that this was going to be the UK Eurovision entry of 1997. I thought it was a step backwards as Gina G the year before had a far better song than any of the other countries, but to me this record was just as shit as what the other countries came up with. It worked though because it won.
Verdict - Rubbish
This record appeared in the Top 40 I reviewed for my best year search. I found it to be better than I remember it being. At the time I wrote it off, but it's actually not bad. Not sure I like it enough to give it full marks, but it's definitely worthy of half marks.
Verdict - OK
The only member of Simply Red that most people know is Mick Hucknall. In a way that was a win win situation for former Simply Red member Tim Kellett when he formed Olive. The music is nothing like Simply Red, but people would buy it without being put off it being by a former Simply Red member because they wouldn't know. At the same time Simply Red fans may have bought it because he used to be in Simply Red. Either way this is an undeniably good record.
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 11/30, or 37%. Again half the Top 30 has changed.
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