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:
En Vogue had bucked the trend at the start of the year by being an early 90s female R&B group making better music in the late 90s rather than going shit like the others. Then the unthinkable happened, Dawn Robinson left the group. This was their first post-Dawn Robinson Top 40 hit. It was a Babyface composition and whilst it's not as good as its predecessor or their early 90s material it's still decent.
Verdict - Good
When I heard that Supergrass was going to be on the first episode of "Da Ali G Show" I found it really odd as it wasn't the sort of music you'd associate with him. On the show itself though it became clearer, he was the president of the society against indie music and it was his job to bring on indie musicians and make them less crap. On comes Gaz Coombes from Supergrass who starts playing this tune and Ali G puts drum & bass beats over the top. Even though he was a pretend piss take character, he had a good point about the crap indie music coming out around that time.
Verdict - Rubbish
You could be forgiven for thinking that ETA is one of the many aliases of Norman Cook. It does sound like it could be a Fatboy Slim record, but he had nothing to do with it. In fact whilst he was playing as Fatboy Slim by this point he was yet to breakthrough commercially. ETA were a Danish duo and this was their one and only Top 40 hit.
Verdict - Good
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
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
The 4th Top 40 hit for Foxy Brown which was her only Top 10 hit to date. Once again Jay-Z features and it actually raises the question, who is worse, Jay-Z or Foxy Brown? I can't stand either of them and I can't stand this record.
Verdict - Rubbish
It had been 7 years since The Charlatans made the Top 40 debut and this was single number 13. They would have had a big enough fanbase evidenced by the successful comeback singles earlier on in the year. Quite why they felt the need to make a record that sounds like Oasis I do not know.
Verdict - Rubbish
23. Depeche Mode - Home (New)
Martin Gore takes lead vocals on this record rather than Dave Gahan. It's a downtempo number that's produced by Bomb the Bass. It shows the breadth of music that Depeche Mode can make and do a really good job of.
Verdict - Good
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
This record has had such an impact on me that whenever I come across the word "universe" this record comes into my head. It features Siedah Garrett on vocals and she's a far better singer than N'Dea Davenport in my opinion. Like with all decent Brand New Heavies tunes though it's all about the groove.
Verdict - Good
The Top 40 debut for Finley Quaye which is basically him doing a version of "Sun Is Shining" by Bob Marley. I'd not heard said record until a couple of years later but given Bob Marley had been dead for some time it was obvious he'd come up with the lyrics first. Bob Marley aside, I've never been a fan of this record.
Verdict - Rubbish
When I first got into rave I was still listening to the Red Hot Chili Peppers initially but by the time this record came out I'd definitely stopped listening to them. It's a cover of the Ohio Players song done for the Beavis & Butthead movie and became their highest charting single to that point. It was probably their worst single to that point too.
Verdict - Rubbish
The 80s had finished 7.5 years prior to this but it seems nobody told Savage Garden who were making their Top 40 debut with this. If you're unsure which record this is, it's the "Chick A Cherry Cola" one. The 80s in the 90s formula worked pretty well for them though I must admit.
Verdict - Good
In the mid-90s there was a pretty big happy hardcore record from Holland called "Hold Me Now" by The Highlander which samples "Hard To Say I'm Sorry" by Chicago. Then someone told me that some crappy boy band like OTT had done a version. Turns out it was Az Yet rather than OTT, but still the same sentiment, this is shit.
Verdict - Rubbish
16. Primal Scream - Star (New)
Another Primal Scream record that doesn't really sound like anything they've done before. It's probably the most similar to their earlier hits though, almost like a stripped back style of it. The result is a record that isn't bad, but could be better.
Verdict - OK
I'd almost forgotten this record existed, but it's bringing back memories of the "you go have a beer" line. It would seem I was one of many people who completely misinterpreted this song, which is a shame because what I thought was the sentiment of the song was the only thing I liked about it.
Verdict - Rubbish
When I was on Champions League Popmaster I'd say the easiest question I had was to give the surname of Rosie who had a hit in 1997 with "Closer Than Close". I remember this very well at the time and it was one of those records I was supposed to like but wasn't convinced by. It's aged really well though and has become a bit of a classic.
Verdict - Good
The Fugees were no more and this was the start of Wyclef Jean's solo career. It samples "Stayin Alive" by The Bee Gees. I do like several tunes that Wyclef Jean did as a solo artists, but this is rubbish and not a patch on what the Fugees were doing.
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
I guess you could called this "Think Twice" part 2 as this was penned by Andy Hill and Peter Sinfield who were the composers of her chart topping hit. She failed to top the charts this time and actually peaked outside the Top 10 for the first time since 1994. It was her 11th Top 40 hit and reach number 11. Like the other 10, it was also shit.
Verdict - Rubbish
When I was doing my search for the best year this appeared in the Top 40 I looked at in 1997 and I picked this as the worst song. It's almost like The Vengaboys before The Vengaboys and even has a name that implies the members would be male but has female members too.
Verdict - Rubbish
9. Cast - Guiding Star (New)
The Top 10 hits kept coming for Cast with this record being their 5th in a row. I've just read the critical reception of their "Mother Nature Calls" album on which this appears and it's not very favourable. They say it's dull and more of the same. I agree.
Verdict - Rubbish
Echo & The Bunnymen had several hits in the 80s but this was their first original Top 40 hit in the 90s and their first in 9 years. They fitted nicely in with what I call the TFI Friday music of this era. The one thing I didn't like about TFI Friday generally speaking was the music on it.
Verdict - Rubbish
There was absolutely no avoiding this record at the time. I remember it appearing on Club Nation and then an advert for the single appeared in the advert break. It didn't take me too long to get absolutely sick of it. Not a bad record by any means but I thought this record was just alright in the first place and that's my view of it now.
Verdict - OK
It had been nearly 4 years since Eternal had made their Top 40 debut but it took until this, their 13th Top 40 hit to top the charts. It did sound like they'd finally cheered up in this record have had a string of rather miserable hits. All was not well behind the scenes though as this would be the penultimate Top 40 hit with Kelle Bryan in the group. Still a rubbish song though.
Verdict - Rubbish
5. Blur - On Your Own (New)
The 3rd Top 40 hit from their self titled album. What I've previously said was that the fun seemed to get taken out of Blurs music following the big rivalry with Oasis. This is a good example of this, just sounds like throwaway rubbish to me.
Verdict - Rubbish
The joint highest charting single for Ocean Colour Scene which was the lead single from their "Marchin' Already" album. They were a band who had more Top 10 hits than you'd think. I sense a bit of Paul Weller influence in this and I'm not a fan of Paul Weller.
Verdict - Rubbish
I believe Hanson were the first band younger than me to top the charts. The fact the lead singers voice was yet to break gave that one away. It was the only song most people remember from them, but unfortunately they did have others.
Verdict - Rubbish
The Verve had been around since 1990, released their first album in 1993 and first hit the Top 40 in 1995. This record though was the beginning of their commercial peak. It's got a famous video of Richard Ashcroft walking down the street barging into everybody. That's about as exciting as this record gets.
Verdict - Rubbish
We've had the first posthumous hit for The Notorious BIG. Now we have the tribute record by his label boss and his widow. It interpolates "Every Breath You Take" by The Police. I would say this topped the charts because of what it was rather than how it sounds, it's a pretty poor record.
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.
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