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:
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
29. Genesis - Congo (New)
In 1996 Phil Collins left Genesis. I'm sure many people just assumed Genesis ceased to exist after that, especially given the reunions with Phil Collins happed a decade later. In between though Phil Collins had been replaced by Ray Wilson of Stiltskin. This was their only Top 40 hit with that line up. They called it a day after their popularity had declined.
Verdict - Rubbish
TJR was an alias of Karl "Tuff Enuff" Brown and Matt "Jam" Lamont who's remix of "Never Gonna Let You Go" by Tina Moore was riding high in the charts. Although this wasn't as big, it's still one of the speed garage classics.
Verdict - Good
This was the 2nd Top 40 hit for Finley Quaye and his highest charting to date. I would say its one of those records I can appreciate and it doesn't sound as bad as I remembered it, but it's just not to my liking.
Verdict - Rubbish
It had been 3 years since Portishead released the legendary "Dummy" album and this was the lead single to the follow up album. It also gave them their only Top 10 single to date. They hadn't done a "Dummy" part 2 and but still kept the spirit of Portishead alive.
Verdict - Good
The Fugees were no more, but Wyclef Jean and Lauryn Hill were reunited on this record. It's basically Fugees plus others minus Pras. It's much better than the previous Wyclef Jean effort that sampled "Stayin Alive". The sample of the record of the same name in this works a lot better with the record overall.
Verdict - Good
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
The 2nd Top 40 hit for N-Tyce who were the first British girl group in the Top 40 to rival the Spice Girls and this was their biggest hit which is the same sort of nonsense as their debut hit. With the All Saints now a thing, the days were numbered for N-Tyce, but they would be back.
Verdict - Rubbish
22. Joe - The Love Scene (New)
The 5th Top 40 hit for Joe and his penultimate one of the 90s. When I really got into R&B Joe was amongst my favourite artists. Even the albums of his I don't own I'm very familiar with the covers because I'd keep checking they'd come down in price enough for me to buy them. We're talking about a time when CDs were around £17 as standard and I had a tiny student loan to live off.
Verdict - Good
The final Top 40 hit to date for Brownstone. They were one of those groups who started off good and ended shit. I'm not sure I'd even call this album filler material. It's like they were trying to be cool but failing abysmally. Nothing good about this record at all.
Verdict - Rubbish
20. Adam F - Circles (New)
This started getting played at raves around 2 years prior to this. When this became a Top 40 hit I was quick to tell everyone that I'd know this record for 2 years. At the same time I wasn't too happy about it being a Top 40 hit because I wanted all the music I liked to stay underground.
Verdict - Good
When Mark Morrison is 3 in 10 on Popmaster the contestant usually only gets "Return of the Mack" and Ken points out he had other hits with "Mack" in the title. Here's one of them, and it strikes me he's just living off the glory of his chart topper and is squeezing out what's left of his Top 40 career.
Verdict - Rubbish
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
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
Boyz II Men had 4 Top 10 hits in total. The other 3 were the obvious ones and this is the obscure one. Being the lead single off a new album in 1997 almost guaranteed them a Top 10 though even if most of us were fed up with their dreary nonsense.
Verdict - Rubbish
15. Blur - MOR (New)
David Bowie and Brian Eno received co-writing credits on this record as it was the same chord sequence in the David Bowie songs "Boys Keep Swinging" and "Fantastic Voyage". It therefore bears a resemblance to David Bowies music which I've never been a fan of.
Verdict - Rubbish
When it's said that the solo career of Robbie Williams was a flop in the early days before he did "Angels" I assume their referring to this particular record which was the first that failed to reach the Top 10. He would reach the Top 10 with all his singles after this until 2006. It's the last single where he's trying to be Oasis.
Verdict - Rubbish
After collaborating with The Fugees on their last single, Simply Red were collaborating with Sly & Robbie on this cover of a Gregory Isaacs song. Not sure what to make of this if I'm honest, not a bad record but does seem to lack a little something.
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
The 2nd Top 40 hit for Hanson and follow up to their big hit. I don't think this one is well remembered but my memory of it was the discovery that Hanson had a band member whose voice had broke. The contradiction between that and the squeaky voice of the lead singer made me laugh.
Verdict - Rubbish
The Top 40 debut for Ricky Martin. It strikes me as one of those records everybody dances to on their holiday in Spain in the summer and then makes it's way into the UK Top 40 in time for Autumn. Except it's only any good when you've had a few beers and are getting in the holiday spirit.
Verdict - Rubbish
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
8. Bellini - Samba De Janeiro (New)
I was surprised to read on Wikipedia that Bellini are a German girl group. Not so surprised that they're not Brazilian, I kind of assumed they weren't but definitely surprised to learn they're a girl group. A lot is said about girl groups miming to the music, but with this record there isn't even any singing to mime to. Instead they just dance to the music, though I've no idea who the actual members are from watching the video because there's loads of people dancing. I do like the record though.
Verdict - Good
7. Blackstreet - Fix (New)
I own the "Another Level" album on which this appears but have no recollection of this being a single. Amazingly it charted higher than their best known hit "No Diggity". The single version was a remix that featured Fishbone, ODB and Slash. A sort of mish mash of genres then, but it just sounds a mess really.
Verdict - Rubbish
Not only was George Michael getting older but his album was too and the singles kept coming. This was the 6th single off the album, 5 of which made the Top 2 with the other making number 3. I would have this down as one of the most obscure number 2 records of the 90s and it's strange to think this would have almost certainly topped the charts had Princess Diana not died.
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 you were to ask the question what was the only number one single for The Verve? I would guess most people would say "Bitter Sweet Symphony" but it was actually this record. There always seemed to be someone playing this at open mike night at university which is one of the reasons I wouldn't have gone to it myself if I wasn't playing songs there myself.
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
2. Dario G - Sunchyme (New)
This was the Top 40 debut for Dario G. I liked this record at the time and remember enjoying it when it appeared on Top of the Pops. Then several years later this came on the music channels and it made me think what a classic it was.
Verdict - Good
The biggest selling single of all time thanks to it being a charity record and a tribute to Princess Diana. I can picture the video clip of loads of people piling into the record shops as soon as it opened with one woman going and picking up a massive pile of CDs to buy. This blog is all about the music though and not the sentiment and musically it's not to my liking.
Verdict - Rubbish / 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%. We're hovering around this mark.
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