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's not a cover of the Diana Ross record, it's a cover of an Oasis record. OK it isn't really, it just sounds like an Oasis record and I do question whether Andy Bell was using this band as his audition for joining Oasis which he did a few years later.
Verdict - Rubbish
After reaching number 12 with a cover and then failing to reach the Top 20 with an original composition, OTT went back to doing a cover version for their 3rd Top 40 hit. Much like the Boyzone covers they've completely ruined it, but it did give them their joint highest charting Top 40 hit.
Verdict - Rubbish
Jon Bon Jovi had been singing about Chelsea on his previous Top 40 hit. This time he's singing about New Orleans. Once again he's teamed up with Dave Stewart but this time we have a record that's more lively and as a result more listenable.
Verdict - OK
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
This was the 34th of 40 Top 40 hits to date for UB40, but it would be their final hit to date that wasn't a cover. It's the usual UB40 that they'd been doing for nearly 2 decades by this point and it had worked well for them so why change it.
Verdict - Good
25. Gina G - Gimme Some Love (New)
I've mentioned before that I remember first hand that Gina G wasn't a one hit wonder like a lot of people think she was. We're now onto Top 40 hit number 5 and I have to admit even I don't remember this one. It would be her final Top 40 hit to date and sounds like the sort of song you would hear on Eurotrash.
Verdict - Rubbish
This was the 9th Top 40 hit for Boyzone and just the 2nd that wasn't a ballad. It was from the Mr Bean movie so it would have been odd for them to do a ballad for a movie like that. Whilst a relief from the usual dreary rubbish they'd usually come out with, it's still crap.
Verdict - Rubbish
I was such a rave purist in 1997 that I specifically remember pretending to people at the time that I didn't like this record because it wasn't rave. In reality I loved this record and ended up buying the single. I just gets better as it goes on, I love the final verse to it.
Verdict - Good
This was the 13th Top 40 hit for Mary J Blige but just her 2nd to make the Top 10 and was her highest charting hit to this point. It's another Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis composition which sampled "You Are Everything" and interpolates "Sukiyaki". That's a good thing in a way as I don't think a straight cover of either would have worked.
Verdict - Good
This was the Top 40 debut for Conner Reeves which confused me somewhat because I was certain he'd featured in these posts before. Then I realised I was thinking about Brian Kennedy. Anyway its the same sort of bland forgettable nonsense that probably inspired Ed Sheeran and his clones in the modern era.
Verdict - Rubbish
The first post-Dawn Robinson En Vogue record was actually a decent one. Here's the next one and as an observation the remaining 3 members look different to how they did in the "Don't Let Go (Love)" video. This time they've got Diane Warren to write the record and I would say that was the issue rather than the lack of Dawn Robinson. It divided opinion and I'm with those who thought it was a bad idea.
Verdict - Rubbish
This was a record that made an impact from it's title alone. It had all been done several times before though, first by the Rolling Stones with a song of the same title back in 1971. It sounds like it could be an Alanis Morissette record.
Verdict - Rubbish
Time for Lauryn Hill to have her first post-Fugees Top 40 hit. I would say this sounds like a bridge between her Fugees material and what her solo material would go on to sound like, a sort of easing in if you like.
Verdict - Good
I first came across Bentley Rhythm Ace when they were featured in Dream magazine which was a rave magazine around in the 90s. I have to say it wasn't what I was expecting it to sound like when I heard it. I allowed it to grow on me though and still like it to this very day.
Verdict - Good
No Mercy have gone for a cover of an Exile record for their 3rd Top 40 hit. A sizeable number of people may remember their 2nd hit for sounding the same as the first but I think most would struggle to recall this one. It would be their final Top 40 hit to date.
Verdict - Rubbish
This was the 2nd posthumous Top 40 hit for The Notorious BIG and became his biggest hit to this point. It samples "I'm Coming Out" by Diana Ross and I love the way it has been sampled. You could have literally any rapper rapping on this and it would still be a decent record.
Verdict - Good
As the title might suggest, this was a comeback single for the Backstreet Boys even though it had been just 5 months since they'd last been in the Top 40. It was however the lead single from their 2nd album. I was written by Denniz Pop and Max Martin and the way the Backstreet Boys were marketing themselves in this record tells you what this was all about.
Verdict - Rubbish
Dannii Minogue had last been in the Top 40 in 1994. In the time in between she was presenting The Bigger Breakfast which was an extension of The Big Breakfast in the school holidays. That made me think she'd given up her singing career, but then came this which was her biggest Top 40 hit to date. I would call this an example of how sex sells.
Verdict - Rubbish
This was the 2nd Top 40 hit for Shola Ama and her highest charting single to date. I thought that when S Club 7 did "Natural" it was a blatant rip off of this. Don't let that put you off though, the S club 7 record is just a really poor imitation of a decent record.
Verdict - Good
This started off as and R&B record in 1995, but it was a Tuff Jam garage remix that got it into the UK Top 40. Now considered to be one of the garage classics and rightfully so. It may have inspired some other big garage remixes of R&B records.
Verdict - Good
10. Ginuwine - When Doves Cry (New)
The 3rd Top 40 hit for Ginuwine and once again it's a Timbaland production and have him his first Top 10 hit. It's a cover of the Prince record and is something you could imagine the right people to make a decent job of and no reason why Ginuwine and Timbaland can't be them. I have to say though they have completely ruined it.
Verdict - Rubbish
My biggest memory of this record was watching a TV show that I think was called "Holidays From Hell". It documented the holiday of 2 old ladies taking a holiday to Ibiza and their hotel was right in the middle of San Antonio amongst the Club 18-30 crowd and this was being blasted out repeatedly to the point that one of them was pointing out it was that song again. To be fair as a youngster at the time I would have hated hearing this all the time as well as I've never liked it.
Verdict - Rubbish
8. Radiohead - Karma Police (New)
If Radiohead were yet to have a reputation for making depressing music then it would have certainly been this record that would have cemented that reputation. Some say it's a masterpiece and it probably is but for me personally I just find it boring an miserable.
Verdict - Rubbish
7. DJ Quicksilver - Free (New)
This was the lesser known follow up single from DJ Quicksilver but I was paying attention because I liked his first hit and he was a name that had been brought to my attention prior to that. I must admit it hasn't aged well, still acceptable but I'm not sure I'd think much of it if I heard it for the first time now.
Verdict - OK
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
Yet another Top 10 hit for Ocean Colour Scene which was their 5th in a row with only debut "The Riverboat Song" not making the Top 10 to this point. This sounds like it's been inspired by The Small Faces, possibly because it features vocals from PP Arnold who had also sung with The Small Faces. Gives it some authenticity I suppose.
Verdict - OK
There was never any doubt that the All Saints were a girl group when they made their Top 40 debut with this single. As a result I really didn't want to like this song. I couldn't help but like it though and eventually bought their album which was the first album I'd bought in a long time that wasn't rave.
Verdict - Good
3. Mariah Carey - Honey (New)
It had been 7 years since Mariah Carey made her Top 40 debut. She had built a reputation for doing dreary ballads so now it seemed was time for a transformation. With Puff Daddy, Q-Tip and Stevie J on board this was a world away from the sort of music one might expect from her. If I was forced to listen to one of Mariah Careys 18 Top 40 hits to this point then this one would probably be it. More to do with how shit her other records were though.
Verdict - Rubbish
Chumbawamba first formed back in 1982 but this was the first time they hit the Top 40. It sounds like the sort of record that would make the charts because of a major football tournament happening, but there wasn't. Maybe it was just compensating for the lack of major football tournament.
Verdict - Rubbish
With Will Smith an established actor by this point and Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince now split up you would think Will Smith would have given up on the rapping. Unfortunately he was only just getting started as a solo artist with this being his Top 40 debut.
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 11/30, or 37%. Improving again.
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