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:
Another Foxy Brown hit written by Jay-Z which is predictably crap. Dru Hill don't really add anything to it, they sing the chorus which is an interpolation of "She's a Bad Mama Jama" by Carl Carlton.
Verdict - Rubbish
I was surprised to discover that there was a female singing on this, I always thought they were pitched up vocals. It's therefore hard to take the singing seriously, not that you're really supposed to. It's a very cheesy record from All Around the World records.
Verdict - Rubbish
28. Levellers - Celebrate (New)
We're now into the Levellers era that only the fans remember. Based on this effort I would say their best days were now behind them, maybe not a bad one to sing round the camp fire with a few beers but to listen to it's pretty boring.
Verdict - Rubbish
The biggest Top 40 hit for Roachford was of course "Cuddly Toy" back in 1989. Then 8 years later came this their 2nd highest charting hit reaching number 20 which was their 7th Top 40 hit. Nothing really to write home about.
Verdict - Rubbish
26. The Wildhearts - Urge (New)
This was the last Top 40 hit of the 90s for The Wildhearts who would continue into the 21st century. It sounds more or less the same as their previous hit "Anthem" which I described as sounding just a noise. Therefore that's how I'd describe this too.
Verdict - Rubbish
25. Sheryl Crow - Home (New)
Sheryl Crow has gone even softer with this record if that's even possible. It was her first Top 40 hit that she wrote entirely by herself. On that basis I would have this down as being a record that means a lot to Sheryl Crow but is going to struggle to have mass appeal.
Verdict - Rubbish
24. Feeder - High (New)
This was the Top 40 debut for Feeder. Their music is a bit of a mixed bag really, it could be a decent punk style record like "Just A Day" or some boring indie nonsense like this. In fact I would say it's mostly boring indie nonsense like this now I think about it.
Verdict - Rubbish
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
Eivissa is what Ibiza is known as to the locals, though to me it looks more like the Spanish for Elvis. 2 Eivissa are actually from Germany though and there were 3 of them. I did like this at the time, but I have to say it hasn't aged very well.
Verdict - OK
It had been 2 years since Coolio had topped the charts with his debut Top 40 hit "Gangstas Paradise". This was hit 7th and final Top 40 hit to date. It samples "Pull Up To The Bumper" by Grace Jones. Works pretty well I guess.
Verdict - Good
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
After 2 years away from the Top 40, M People were back with the lead single from their final album to date. They've gone for the "Search For The Hero" formula one this one rather than the usual dance pop. Just as bland as well.
Verdict - Rubbish
When Supergrass appeared on Da Ali G show to have their music livened up by Ali G the song Gaz Coombes sand was "Sun Hits The Sky". I would however say this follow up record would have been more appropriate as it is a lot more dull and boring.
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
This was the 5th Top 40 hit for Busta Rhymes and the lead single from his 2nd album "When Disaster Strikes". He seemed to have calmed down a lot compared to his previous hits, but it showed his all round ability as a rapper in that he didn't need to do his aggressive tone all the time.
Verdict - Good
I was once playing one of those music quizzes where you have a CD full of clips and have to name the artist and title, but it's not the original record. There was one clip I confidently said was "Runaway" by Janet Jackson, but no it was this record. I hated this record anyway but hated it even more after that.
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
Oasis were so big in 1997 that they could release any old rubbish safe in the knowledge that plenty of people would buy it. I'm not even a fan of their earlier stuff, but to it's credit it is distinctive. Even Noel Gallagher himself has since dismissed this era of Oasis.
Verdict - Rubbish
12. Clock - U Sexy Thing (New)
Stu Allan's commercial dance outfit Clock were now onto their 10th Top 40 hit and lead single from their 3rd album which was released in Japan only. It's a cover of the Hot Chocolate record and what I recall is this version pretty much stopped being played overnight when the original re-entered the charts thanks to its inclusion in "The Full Monty".
Verdict - Rubbish
This was the 12th Top 40 hit for The Brand New Heavies but it was their only one to make the Top 10 which I find quite tragic. It's a cover of the Carole King record and was a massive anti-climax to the excellent "You Are The Universe". They never made the Top 30 again so this is the last time they'll feature.
Verdict - Rubbish
1997 was a strange year. Mansun had 3 Top 20 hits, 2 of which made the Top 10 and I don't remember any of them. I've already forgotten how this one goes, that's how boring it is. I guess they were moving with the times with the likes of Travis and Stereophonics now charting.
Verdict - Rubbish
I remember someone telling me that they liked this record because it was soothing. I could relate when it came to other Lighthouse Family records but not with this one. I've always found this one rather irritating for some reason.
Verdict - Rubbish
Janet Jackson was back with her 24th single which was the lead single of just her 4th album. It's the one that samples "Big Yellow Taxi" by Joni Mitchell. A lot of the rave music I was listening to at the time was based on samples of old record so given that someone asked me whether this was my sort of music because of the sampling. I said no.
Verdict - Rubbish
The Propellerheads were big in 1997 and then completely disappeared off the face of the earth never to be heard of again. Their "Decksandrumsandrockandroll" album is excellent and of all the singles to be released from it I would say this is the best one. I would say as far as anything James Bond themed goes it doesn't get any better than this either.
Verdict - Good
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
It wasn't unusual for a British R&B act to do an inferior version of an American R&B record. This song was a chart topper in America for Monica that didn't chart here. The difference though was it was Eternal who did it first. It would be the last Eternal Top 40 with with Kelle Bryan in the group.
Verdict - Rubbish
This was the 3rd number 3 for the Backstreet Boys. They'd also had a number 2 prior to this and all 4 of these record were the ones that had been written by Max Martin. An early sign that by the time I'm writing this post only Paul McCartney would have more Top 40 hits to his name as songwriter.
Verdict - Rubbish
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
2. Sash! ft La Trec - Stay (New)
I remember the intesting fact that "Encore Une Fois" was in French, "Ecuador" was in Spanish and "Stay" was in English but Sash! was German. Those first 2 hits were very commercial sounding and whilst I didn't mind them they weren't really my cup of tea. I'm not going to pretend this is anything other than commercial dance, but its found the formula to appeal to me.
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 7.5/30, or 25%. This could be the joint worst week of the 90s.
No comments:
Post a Comment