Thursday, 31 October 2024

25 Years Since....October 1999

Wow 25 years since the last year of the 20th century, these were the tunes I was enjoying then:

York - The Awakening


Incidentally it was around this time period when I visited the city of York for the first time and loved the place. One may think York named themselves after the city they came from, but they're not even from the UK, they are from Germany. You can often rely on the Germans for a decent trance record and this very much delivers the goods.

Matt Darey Presents Mash Up - Liberation (Temptation - Fly Like An Eagle)

In the summer of 1999 there was an Ibiza night on ITV and something that stands out from that was footage of Judge Jules playing this track in his set. It was one of those moments where I wished I was there. One of the best trance records of that summer.

Junior Sanchez - B With U

Sticking with the subject of that Ibiza night on ITV, one thing that also happened was a joint interview with Junior Sanchez and Roger Sanchez. Both are American DJs but are not related to each other. Roger Sanchez was arguably the bigger name DJ, but this tune shows that Junior Sanchez shares the same credentials as Roger.

Moby - Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad

This record was a turning point for the success of the "Play" album. It got off to a slow start and the first couple of singles charted in the lower reaches of the Top 40. Moby licensed the tunes off the album to films, TV shows and commercials. I remember this particular tune being on the advert for the TV show "Hearts and Bones" though I never actually watched the show. It was the music from the advert that caught my attention, which I guess was the point.


Liquid Child - Diving Faces

1999 is remembered as a golden year for mainstream trance music and this tune is one of many examples of why. You may not be surprised to learn that Liquid Child came from Germany. It's one of those records that works both on a dancefloor and for chilling out to at home.

2004: The Good Old Days? - March

In April 2004 there were several candidates for best record which made picking one a tough choice. Whilst March has some good records, none of them would stand a chance at best record had they been released in April.

I've picked "Black Cherry" by Goldfrapp. I'm a big fan of Goldfrapp but "Black Cherry" is nowhere near my favourite tune of theirs. When comparing Goldfrapp to chart music in general though they're always likely to come out on top.

Just the one dance record gets full marks and it's a cheesy one which is "Look At Us" by Northern Heightz. I can't help but like it, it's a fun record. There's half marks for JX with "Restless", alright but no "Son of a Gun" or "There's Nothing I Won't Do". 

The rest is AATW type nonsense and one of those AATW records is the worst record. Kelly Llorenna sang on "Set You Free" by N-Trance and therefore gave me a positive impression at first. Her solo hits though were terrible including her cover of "This Time I Know It's For Real". My positive impression of her had long gone by the time this came out. 

In the rap and R&B world it came as no surprise at the time that Nerd would have a decent record with their comeback single "She Wants To Move". What did surprise me at the time was liking an Usher record in "Yeah". The production from Lil Jon no doubt helps as does his shouting of a few random words.

What was perhaps even more surprising was 2 decent records that came courtesy of Roger from Sister Sister. We had Roger himself aka Marques Houston with "Clubbin", I didn't actually realise he was Roger when I first heard it. Then we have "Badaboom" by B2k on which Marques Houston was a writer. 

Simon from Blue went into music management and gave us a male/female vocal group called VS whose members included 18 year old future JLS member Marvin Humes. Sounds awful, but their debut single "Love You Like Mad" quickly became a guilty pleasure of mine.

No Doubt did a cover of "It's My Life" by Talk Talk which is one I've always considered to be pretty decent. We also have Kraftwerk in the charts with "Aerodynamik" which is a decent tune.

Here's a list of the records with the best on top, worst at the bottom and the good ones in green, OK ones in amber and rubbish ones in red (and in no particular order):


Score: 23%

Here's a look at the chart:


Looking like April was a one off then and we're back to 2004 looking better than what came after but not much better.

Wednesday, 30 October 2024

Top 30 in 1998 Reviewed: Week 44

Here's my weekly look at the Top 30 from 26 years ago. The plan is for these posts to go out at 17:30 on a Wednesday.

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 1998 with my verdict on each record:


After Brandy scored a number 2 with her duet with Monica, she teamed up with Mase and achieved the same again. It was also written by Rodney Jerkins, Fred Jerkins and LaShawn Daniels. I would however say it's probably the most obscure number 2 of the year as I don't remember it first time round. If I had then I may have thought twice about buying Brandy's "Never Say Never" album.

Verdict - Rubbish


After Brandy was able to score another number 2 with her follow up to "The Boy Is Mine" Monica was unable to do the same getting to number 6 with this. She had Jermaine Dupri behind this record. To be fair she'd not even been in the Top 20 prior to her big hit. This would be her final Top 40 hit to date. Like with the Brandy follow up though, not my cup of tea.

Verdict - Rubbish


The Top 40 debut for Luniz and the only record many people know them for. It's an anthem no doubt which is possibly both a blessing and a curse for them. A blessing that they have such an iconic record but a curse that people only talk about the record and not Luniz as an act.

Verdict - Good


After having a blip with her previous hit "Wishing I Was There", Natalie Imbruglia was back in the Top 10 with this record. It would be her final Top 40 hit of the 90s, but unfortunately she'd be back in the 21st century. It's a record that never really gets started.

Verdict - Rubbish


In the summer of 1998 Robbie Williams appeared as a pundit for the World Cup  where Martin O'Neill told him the he thought he'd struggle with a solo career because he couldn't write songs or play an instrument. His solo career had taken another step up with this record giving him his first number one. It samples "You Only Live Twice" by Nancy Sinatra and is simple but effective.

Verdict - Good


What this record now reminds me of was the time a friend of mine tortured me with it on the way home from a Nelly Furtado concert. He agreed to go to the concert without being familiar with Nelly Furtado and decided he didn't like it so I figure playing this repeatedly on the way home was his act of revenge. I do question why he had it on tape though, but then again his taste in music was very questionable.

Verdict - Rubbish


We'd had the solo Top 40 debuts as lead artists of fellow Fugees members Wyclef Jean and Pras. Now it was time the the debut of Lauryn Hill whose solo career was just as brief as the Fugees. Once again though it's something different and I remember I'd reached the point of openly admit to liking music that wasn't rave because I openly admitted to liking this.

Verdict - Good


This was the first Top 40 hit for REM without Billy Berry in the band. It was written about a nightshift worker. I remember taking a nightshift job in my student days thinking it would be up my street given my inclination to stay up till 3am, but it was awful. I was envious of those arriving for work after a full nights sleep once my shift had finished. If you are a nightshift worker and are having trouble sleeping during the day, listen to this record.

Verdict - Rubbish


The only Top 40 hit for Germany based American R&B group 4 The Cause who were all teenagers at the time. Best known for their association with R Kelly these days but I'll say no more on that. It's a cover of the Ben E King record and is fuckin terrible.

Verdict - Rubbish


Few would argue that this was the biggest dance record of 1998. It was everywhere at the time. It was a one off side project by Daft Punks Thomas Bangalter along with Alan Braxe. I wasn't impressed when I first heard it, I thought it was too repetitive. It did manage to grow on me eventually though after hearing it for maybe the 100th time.

Verdict - Good


It had been 2 years and 7 months since Cliff Richard had last had a Top 40 hit. That had been the longest gap he'd had between Top 40 hits since he made his Top 40 debut back in 1958. During that time away he hadn't changed a bit. Why not I supposed, it's not like if he made anything that was any good the younger generation would have bought it.

Verdict - Rubbish


I do wonder how much awareness there was of how big a part Sweden played in the pop world in the late 90s. In the case of this record, how many people were aware that Meja is Swedish. I wasn't aware myself, I never gave it much thought really. It's an honest way of saying what the Swedish songwriting model is all about.

Verdict - Rubbish


I've lost count of the number of house remakes we've had of old disco records during this time period. The thing is they work so well, disco lends itself very well to house music. It was credited to Rose Royce ft Gwen Dickey because Gwen Dickey was no longer in Rose Royce.

Verdict - Good


The 2nd top 40 hit for Lynden David Hall which was also his highest charting. He was the British equivalent of D'Angelo and Maxwell. I would actually say this has a bit more excitement to it to the point I think it deserves full marks.

Verdict - Good


T-Spoon had previous had a Top 40 hit with "Coco Jamboo"....oh wait that wasn't T-Spoon. It was by German group Mr. President and T-Spoon were basically a Dutch version i.e. one male and two females with a very cheesy record. The lyrical content upset a few people which helped it to sell records. 

Verdict - Rubbish


In 1998 I was a big fan of formula one to the extent that I'd get up at stupid hours to watch the grand prix live. The final grand prix of that season was the Japanese Grand Prix and at the end of the coverage they had a montage of the seasons highlights with this song playing over the top. It worked really well and probably helped me to like this record. Also as a result this record reminds me of Martin Brundle.

Verdict - Good


Dru Hill were back with a 2nd album and this was the lead single. It was also from the movie "Rush Hour" and gave them their first Top 10 hit, something they'd achieve with the remainder of their Top 40 hits to date. Nothing to do with the Bee Gees song of the same name, it's original and a good record in it's own right.

Verdict - Good


Whilst "Praise You" is credited with making Fatboy Slim a household name, he was definitely someone people were talking about by the time this record came out. I was loving this record at the time and it's quite possibly my favourite of the Fatboy Slim hits. It also appears on "Kiss Anthems 98" prior to the Norman Cook remix of "Brimful Of Asha" so I find myself drawn to that once it ends. 

Verdict - Good


The 2nd Top 40 hit and 2nd chart topper for B*Witched. On thing they had over their girl group rivals the Spice Girls was they went straight into number one with their first 2 hits whereas the Spice Girls climbed to number one with their first. To rub it in further, they knocked Spice Girl Mel B off the top. Musically though they were still just as bad as each other. 

Verdict - Rubbish


When the Beautiful South revival happened in 1996 they had 2 hits where Jacqui Abbot did the entire lead vocals and 1 where Paul Heaton did. Around 18 months after that last hit they were back with a record where both singers shared lead vocals. On a personal note I remember walking one wet Sunday afternoon with this record going round my head. It was in a good way though.

Verdict - Good


The 2nd Top 40 hit for Billie Piper and her 2nd chart topper, though this would be her last. I do remember making a point at the time that her music was always going to have limitations given she was only 15 but then someone pointed out that she'd just turned 16. It's very much music for kids though.

Verdict - Rubbish


Five appeared to be winning the battle of the boy bands against 911 so 911 had to come up with a plan. They did something that worked well for their Irish counterparts Boyzone, the cover version. This was original a hit for the Tavares in the 70s. It worked as it gave them their first number 2. An inferior cover in every way.

Verdict - Rubbish


The first of two hits from Kele Le Roc, both of which reached number 8. Admittedly I don't think I've listened to this song since 1998 but I did like it at the time but did prefer her follow up "My Love" which I have listened to since. Seems strange that all she's seemed to do since then is be a featured artist on other peoples tracks given her chart performance was pretty good, but I guess back then your chart career would most likely be brief if you were an R&B act not from America.

Verdict - Good


Imagine that you are a songwriter in a band with varying degrees of success over the years but still await you first US Number 1 or your first UK Top 10. Then 28 years later you finally achieve both with a song written by somebody else, not just anybody else, but Diane Warren who's written shit loads of hits for other people. That's exactly what happened to Steve Tyler. Aerosmith were described as a blues-based hard rock band when they formed in 1970 but by the 90s their style was more Rock Music for people who aren't into Rock Music. The guitars are so discrete in this song you would question whether this is even Rock Music at all even if Wikipedia describes it as being "Hard Rock". I'm not one to shy away from ballads by Rock bands but this seems a step too far. Despite this though, I can't help but like it.

Verdict - Good


Dance music is often used for workouts so it sort of made sense to make a dance record with an instructor talking on it. I remember the confusion of having both Spacedust and Stardust in the charts at the same time. To add further confusion, this was based on a Bob Sinclar record that was co-produced by Thomas Bangalter who was part of Stardust. It's cheesy as fuck but I like it.

Verdict - Good


It had now been over two years since the excellent "Head Over Feet" by Alanis Morissette which is by far her best hit. This didn't have the same impact though, it's not a bad record but not one I'd go out and buy like I did her previous hit.

Verdict - OK


I don't remember Culture Club the first time round but I do remember the solo career of Boy George and had assumed the likes of "Karma Chameleon" were by him rather than Culture Club. In the 90s he became a House DJ which brought him a new set of fans, myself included, so I questioned why after becoming an established House DJ would he want to bring back Culture Club. That said this song isn't bad.

Verdict - OK


I didn't realise this at the time, but this song was originally the b-side to "Where the Streets Have No Name" in 1987, so was already 11 years old. Still, what a tune, I particularly like the bit where he sings "Baby's got blue skies up ahead". To be honest I don't like too many U2 songs I've heard but the ones I do like I really like and this is one of them.

Verdict - Good


I can't say I was particularly keen on this song at the time. Listening to it now though it actually sounds better than I remembered it being. It's no "Careless Whisper" though.

Verdict - OK


This was number one for an eternity and I knew quite a few people who liked this. I however thought it was rubbish and still do. It set the scene for the music we'd come to expect from Cher for the forseeable future following the success of this.

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 15.5/30, or 52%. Back above 50%.

Tuesday, 29 October 2024

DJ Sy Retires

Several DJs have retired over the years, but few if any turn out to be permanent retirements. However, one retirement that does seem permanent is DJ Sy who has just announced he is to retire from DJing with immediate effect. The reasons stated is because of how DJing has affected his hearing and he's finally had enough of driving up and down the country.

When you look at the first 20 years or so of the hardcore scene, pretty much the only constant throughout was DJ Sy. He was there in 1991 when hardcore rave really took off. Many of the other DJs who were around at the time either went down the jungle route when the scene split or never really lasted beyond that point in an upfront sense.

What differentiated DJ Sy from the other happy hardcore DJs was his scratching which earned him the nickname "The Scratchmaster". He formed Quosh Records with DJ Unknown which went on to become one of the longest running hardcore labels.

My first insight into DJ Sy as a person was when he was interviewed on Club@Vision at Dreamscape in 1998. As you might expect the subject of his scratching came up and one thing I remember him saying is that he'd also scratch when playing house sets which was quite unusual for that style of music.

He was also interviewed on the Helter Skelter Millennium Jam video and the main thing I remember him saying was that he wished the music was slower and pointed out how the house scene had taken off. This was a time when the popularity of hardcore was at an all time low and in the year 2000 Sy and Unknown did a garage remix of "Let Me Be Your Fantasy" by Baby D under the name Trick or Treat and enjoyed chart success with it.

There were really only 2 other major happy hardcore DJs who had been around for as long as DJ Sy by this point, there was Seduction who retired after Helter Skelter Energy 99 and Slipmatt who played his last hardcore set at Hardcore Heaven in early 2000 before moving onto house music. There were newer DJs such as Vinylgroover who also moved away from the hardcore scene. To me it seemed inevitable that DJ Sy would move on.

He didn't though, he carried on doing what he did and was seen as the old guy of the scene. He'd also got a reputation for cramming in several gigs in a single night and driving quickly to get between them. 

In 2012 Quosh Records and his partnership with DJ Unknown came to an end, as did his time as an upfront hardcore DJ/producer. He still continued with the old skool sets though which would arguably make him more in demand. 

Some years before he stopped making new music he got into property development. There's obviously much more money in that, so the music would of been more of a hobby than a source of income. Now it seems the enjoyment in that has gone for him which leads to him announcing his retirement. 

UK Number 40s: Starsailor - Born Again (2003)

 


Starsailor are one of those bands who have had more Top 40 hits than you might think. They've had 10 in total and this was number 7 for them. It was the follow up to "Silence Is Easy" which was their highest charting single to date.

The key difference here is that "Silence Is Easy" came before the album of the same name was released whereas this record came after said album was released. Given that album made number 2 in the album charts a lot of people would have already got the album.

They never got any higher than number 22 with their final 3 Top 40 hits which came at a time when indie music was getting more and more popular. Perhaps they peaked too soon.

Sunday, 27 October 2024

Top 30 in 1994 Reviewed: Week 44

Here's my weekly look at the Top 30 from 30 years ago. The plan is for these posts to go out at 17:30 on a Sunday.

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 1994 with my verdict on each record:


I guess you could say this was the first happy hardcore record to make the Top 40. Moby did very much fall under the rave banner when he made his Top 40 debut in 1991 with "Go" but he still seemed an unlikely person to have a happy hardcore record in the Top 40. Anyway its a great record and these days when I listen I feel like my phone is ringing.

Verdict - Good


The 2nd of 3 Top 40 hits to date for Elastica. I know this best these days for being the warm up music to Race for Life as they've played that every time I've gone to show me support along with some god awful rubbish from Rihanna. It's like an evolved version of their debut hit but still crap.

Verdict - Rubbish


PJ & Duncan had now left Byker Grove and had made their name as pop stars following the success of "Let's Get Ready To Rhumble". I remember this being played a lot by the same people who'd been listening to "Baby I Love Your Way" and "I Swear". That tells you about who this was aimed at, not me.

Verdict - Rubbish


When this record came out I was very much on my own when it came to liking Terrorvision as I remember people commenting on how shit they found it. They had a point now, I'm listening to this again for the first time in years and it's not very good.

Verdict - Rubbish


This was the final Top 40 hit to date for Pink Floyd which marks the end of a 27 year long Top 40 career. Not bad for a band that didn't really do singles. I feel like I've listened to an entire album from just listening to these 2 pretty lengthy records with no shorter edits and I've completely lost the will to live.

Verdict - Rubbish Rubbish


The 11th Top 40 hit of the 90s for Gloria Estefan and we're not even halfway through the decade. We're into the era of her doing covers with this being a cover of a disco record by Vicki Sue Robinson and is done disco style. I've not heard the original but I'd speculate Gloria Estefan didn't do much to make it her own.

Verdict - Rubbish


After releasing one of the best albums of all time with "Blue Lines", Massive Attack were back with a 2nd album of which this was the lead single. It clearly was unlikely to be as good as it's predecessor, but was it any good. Well yes it was.

Verdict - Good


I've sang pretty much every East 17 hit at karaoke at some point, but this ones my favourite to sing. I'd also say this is probably my favourite East 17 hit. As I transitioned to a raver this record made me think that maybe I could now get away with admitting to liking East 17. I did hold off a few years until I did that though.

Verdict - Good


The penultimate Top 40 hit to date for Cappella who use the word "Move" once again on one side and use a genre name that was just emerging for the other side. Nothing big beat about either of these tunes, it's the usual eurodance rubbish as their previous few hits.

Verdict - Rubbish


The final Top 40 hit to date for German eurodance act Maxx. I'm getting a bit lost as to who was who to be honest as they all followed the same formula and came from the same production line. The end of Maxx in the Top 40 will be no loss to me 

Verdict - Rubbish


The top 40 debut for Green Day. In terms of what direction the rock crowd should be taking now that grunge was pretty much finished I thought this was a much better path than Britpop. Then again I went in a completely different direction and got into rave. I did like Green Day for a brief period before that and then a few years later I really got into this period of Green Day and their earlier stuff which I still like to this day.

Verdict - Good


I remember a Champions League question on Popmaster one year was to name a China Black Top 40 hit that wasn't "Searchin". I think I could name all 3 of them. This was their 2nd Top 40 hit and doesn't hold the same nostalgia factor as it's predecessor. 

Verdict - Rubbish


This was the lead single from the "Bedtime Stories" album where Madonna was jumping on the R&B bandwagon. The man behind this record was Dallas Austin. He's a credible producer but he's wrote a lot of crap too and this is an example of the crap he's written.

Verdict - Rubbish


The Top 40 debut for the Simon Cowell created boy band Ultimate Kaos who really were still boys when this came out. On paper this should be a really shit record and I'm not going to pretend for a minute that it has an ounce of credibility. At the same time though it's a guilty pleasure of mine.

Verdict - Good


The penultimate Top 40 hit to date for Rozalla which has Lamont Dozier and Rick Nowels amongst it's songwriters which implies it's across between the Four Tops and Belinda Carlisle. It isn't though, it's actually a great bit of dance music.

Verdict - Good


This was the penultimate original Top 40 hit to date for INXS which came 3 years before their final one. It was released to promote their greatest hits album. Their greatest hits in a literal sense though are generally far better than this pretty poor effort from them.

Verdict - Rubbish


The Top 40 debut for Corona. What I remember about this record what it came about was there was lots of eurodance about and I thought oh no not another sodding eurodance record. It summed up everything I was hating in music at the time. Listening now I have to say it's not aged very well.

Verdict - Rubbish


This was Elton John's other song from the "Lion King". It really just sounds like an inferior version of "Can You Feel The Love Tonight". As "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" only just scraped a half mark this record isn't going to get any.

Verdict - Rubbish


The guitar riff to this comes straight from "Get it On" by T Rex. I thought it sounded familiar when I first heard it. This became the biggest hit to this point for Oasis who were very much household names by this point. Again I don't get the fuss.

Verdict - Rubbish


After being in the Top 40 for what seemed like an eternity with their Top 40 debut "Crazy For You", Let Loose follow up with this record which follows a similar formula. Fortunately this didn't hang around for nearly as long.

Verdict - Rubbish


The only Top 40 hit for Lisa Loeb and also the only record of hers that I've ever heard. I don't want to ruin my perception by hearing any of her other songs. A great bit of 90s pop and they don't make them like this anymore.

Verdict - Good


I've said this before and I'll say it again, my view is that Sting was such a big name that he would release any old crap in the knowledge that people would buy it regardless. This bland record released to promote his greatest hits is a prime example of this.

Verdict - Rubbish


I knew this record would be appearing soon after "Yesterday When I Was Mad" by the Pet Shop Boys hit the charts. This record came on the radio all the time when it sounded like it could be the Pet Shop Boys for the first couple of seconds. I hate it as a result, but now I can listen at my leisure I'm actually quite liking this.

Verdict - Good


In order to promote her greatest hits album, Cyndi Lauper returned with a reggae style remix of her debut hit. It samples "Come and Get Your Love" by Redbone. It sounds very cheesy, even more so than the original which is really saying something.

Verdict - Rubbish


The 3rd Top 40 hit for R Kelly which was really his breakthrough record in the UK giving him his first Top 10. It was taken from his first album "Born into the 90s" which he did with Public Announcement which came out in 1991. A great record which was the only track I knew on said album prior to buying it.

Verdict - Good


I would call this a good representation of everything that was naff about the 90s. I think of it as the sort of record that Andi Peters would like. At the time I remember finding this record painfully slow and when I heard it years later I was reminded of what a poor record it was.

Verdict - Rubbish


The comeback single for Take That which was the lead single from what proved to be their final album before splitting. They came back with a new look to mark the new era, Robbie had shaved his head, Marks hair was considerably shorter, Jason's hair was considerably longer, Howard had dreads and Gary looked exactly the same. Brothers in Rhythm were the producers on this record but don't let that fool you into thinking it's any good because it isn't.

Verdict - Rubbish


I hated this record at the time. Bon Jovi had become the rock band for people not into rock music and releasing this ballad which became their biggest hit didn't do them any favours in that respect. A few years later though I realised that I actually like this song. I knew someone who had their greatest hits and I borrowed it just to tape this song which then got regularly played in my car. 

Verdict - Good


I first came across this record via someone singing it at school. I heard her singing the "be my baby" part initially thinking she was trying to sing "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight", but it wasn't long before I was hearing this everywhere. Once the hype had died down I remember hearing it on holiday a couple of years later for the first time in while and was thinking how badly it had aged already, it was sounding far too slow.

Verdict - Rubbish


I remember at the time learning that this was a cover of a 60s number one by The Equals. When I asked my mum if the original was a reggae tune she said no, there was no such thing back then. Well actually there was. I also remember people singing the "CD collection of Bob Marley" part thinking that was just a piss take not realising that was actually part of the lyrics. I think it's also worth pointing out that this also features Ali and Robin Campbell from UB40 who I think do more singing in it that Pato Banton. Anyway its a good bit of reggae pop.

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%. Are we having another charge to over 50%?