2001: The Good Old Days? - April

It was April 2001 when MTV Dance was first launched so clearly dance music was considered to be big enough to have it's own channel. There were also more dance new entries in April than any other genre.

It's a dance record that is the best record this month which is "Happiness" by Sound De-Zign. It samples "Let the Beat Hit Em" by Shena which itself is a particularly good record.

There were 2 UK Garage new entries this month and both were lesser known follow ups to big hits. They were "Garage Girls" by Lonyo and "Show Me the Money" by Architechs. Both are decent records.

We have "Gonna Work It Out" by Hi-Gate which I associate with the launch of MTV Dance in a positive way. Orbital showed they hadn't lost their way in the 21st century with "Funny Break (One Is Enough)" which was a solid record.

From the world of rap and R&B it's not looking so good. The only record to get any points is "Snoop Dogg" by Snoop Dogg and even that is one of my least favourite tracks from his excellent "Tha Last Meal" album.

Rap gives us the worst record which is "Get UR Freak On" by Missy Elliott which I find a really irritating record. One thing I remember at the time was Trevor Nelson praising her talent of being able to both sing and rap well but I personally don't think she's any good at either.

There is however a rock record with rapping on it that I like which is "Butterfly" by Crazy Town.

The Bee Gees had their final Top 40 hit with "This Is Where I Came In". Normally a band who has been around for that long will be long past their best by this stage but I would say this record is amongst their best and a great one to round off their Top 40 career with.

Ocean Colour Scene were past their 90s heyday by this point but continued to have hits well into the 21st century. Their record this month was "Up On The Down" side which is a decent effort.

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: 27%

Here's a look at the chart:

Again we are seeing that 2001 is looking better than the years that followed but not enough high scores to consider it to be the good old days. If the remaining 3 months have 40%+ scores it would be a different story.

January Charts: 1965

Here are the new entries ranked from best to worst:

1. Manfred Mann - Come Tomorrow

2. The Kinks - Tired Of Waiting For You

3. Them - Baby Please Don't Go

4. The Righteous Brothers - You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'

5. Del Shannon - Keep Searchin'

6. Rockin' Berries - What In The World's Come Over You

7. The Supremes - Come See About Me

8. Betty Everett - Getting Mighty Crowded

9. Val Doonican - The Special Years

10. The Hollies - Yes I Will

11. Chuck Berry - Promised Land

12. Francoise Hardy - Et Meme

13. Dodie West - Goin' Out Of My Head

14. The Beach Boys - Dance Dance Dance

15. Billy Fury - I'm Lost Without You

16. Seekers - I'll Never Find Another You

17. Shangri-Las - Leader Of The Pack

18. Brian Poole And The Tremeloes - Three Bells

19. The Dave Clark Five - Everybody Knows

20. Sue Thompson - Paper Tiger

21. Cheetahs - Soldier Boy

22. Cilla Black - You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'

If January 1964 was the month we could see how popular mersey beat was, January 1965 is the month we can see it going out of fashion. The Beatles had released the "Beatles For Sale" album at the end of 1964 which was a move away from that sound towards something Bod Dylan influenced.

Although they famously covered Bob Dylan records, my number one record "Come Tomorrow" by Manfred Mann isn't Bob Dylan influenced but does follow the trend of music getting mellow.

The same could be said of my number 2 record "Tired Of Waiting For You" by The Kinks which was a move away from the garage rock sound they broke through with the previous year.

Them on the other hand bucked that trend and gave us a blues rock record "Baby Please Don't Go" which had a harder edge to it than the British rhythm and blues sound that had been popular previously.

We're back to having different versions of the same song. This time it's "You've Lost That Lovin Feelin". The Righteous Brothers version is one I've loved since the 1990 rerelease. The Cilla Black version on the other hand is terrible and finds itself bottom of the table.

Liverpool singer Billy Fury has moved away from the mersey beat sound and onto a ballad. Again though it's relatively low placing is more a sign of the competition as I actually quite like it.

In terms of Bob Dylan influence we have Chuck Berry having his final Top 40 hit of the 60s which whilst being typical Chuck Berry style it's based on a folk record. We also have the more pop folk sound of The Seekers making their debut with "I'll Never Find Another You". Brian Poole and the Tremeloes went down the same route as The Beatles with the folk style "Three Bells" but this doesn't quite deliver. It is however slightly better than "Everybody Knows" by The Dave Clark Five who are yet to move with the times.

We're also seeing the emergence of soul music with The Supremes scoring their 3rd Top 40 hit with "Come See About Me" which is the best of that bunch, followed by "Getting Mighty Crowded" by Betty Everett. 

No The Bachelors this month but there is another easy listening Irish act in this batch, Val Doonican. Here he is showing that old fashioned for the time doesn't always mean bad as I quite like "The Special Years".

Overall I do like the majority of the records in this batch and as a result we have a new highest score so far.

Score: 55

UK Number 40s: T-Pain ft Chris Brown - Best Love Song (2011)

 

Both Chris Brown and T-Pain made their Top 40 debuts in 2006. This was Top 40 hit number 8 for T-Pain and number 14 for Chris Brown. For the first time in doing these posts though I don't really want to mention how many Top 40 hits either act has had as they've probably had more by the time you read this.

T-Pain has been a lot more low key since this collaboration, but Chris Brown has been quite prolific. He had at least one Top 40 hit every year between 2006 and 2020, nobody else could claim the same thing. Included in that was a couple of chart toppers.

What I will say is Chris Brown has probably had more Top 40 hits than you think so inevitably some of them will end up in the lower reaches.

UK Number 40s: Tinie Tempah ft Labrinth - We Bring the stars Out (2011)

 

One of the big success stories of 2010 from a chart perspective was Tinie Tempah. He topped the charts with his Top 40 debut "Passout" and also scored a number one with his 3rd Top 40 hit "Written In the Stars".

At the Brit Awards in 2011 he performed both chart toppers together and this became known as "We Bring The Stars Out". Something quite ironic about combining two charter toppers together and getting a number 40 out of it.

The fact something like this could make the Top 40 said a lot about his popularity at the time. He would go on to have greater charts success clocking up a total of 7 number one hits.

25 Years Since....June 2000

In June 2000 it was announced that TFI Friday was being axed. As a fan of the show I thought it was a good decision at the time because it was a 90s show and time for something new. Nothing new of note really happened though, anyway to the music:

DJ Dee Kline - I Don't Smoke

We start with a common theme amongst these tunes that charted in 2000, a tune that's from 1999. It's a garage record but from the sub genre of garage known as breakstep. I guess this was a way of making garage appeal to those who were into breakbeat. 

Trevor & Simon - Hands Up

Some people probably bought this record thinking it would be by the comedy duo who used to appear on Going Live. It wasn't though, it was a DJ duo whose names are Trevor and Simon and this was their only Top 40 hit. Again it's a 1999 record that didn't chart until 2000.

B-15 Project ft Chrissy D - Girls Like Us

UK garage was very much seen as a London thing but not all the records were coming out of London. This is one of those examples which comes from Birmingham with B15 being the postcode they hail from. Appeared on quite a few garage tapes.

Ariel - A9

Ariel is an Argentinian DJ who at the time was based in Ibiza and was a well known name on the DJ circuit. This was his only Top 40 hit which is a simple no nonsense trance record with no vocals.

Moby - Porcelain

It had been nearly 2 years since Moby released "Honey" which was the lead single from his "Play" album. This was the final single from it and he really has saved the best for last here. It was also his highest charting single despite many people including myself owning the album which had topped the albums chart earlier on in the year.

Top 30 in 1999 Reviewed: Week 26

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 Sunday.

Here is the Top 40 in full.

I've decided against repetition from previous weeks moving forward so will only feature the records I'm reviewing for the first time. I also won't repeat the reviews from the Top 20 in 1999 Reviewed posts.

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 records new to the top 30 from this week in 1999 with my verdict on each record:

24. Blank And Jones - Cream

Yet another German trance record in the Top 40. One may think that Jones is said persons surname and Blank is just a nickname, but it's the opposite. Blank and Jones were Jan Blank & Rene Runge. I have to say though I do like the 1999 trance sound.

Verdict - Good

23. Marilyn Manson - Rock Is Dead

You can't really argue with Marilyn Manson here, rock really was pretty much dead around this time. It was an era one was more likely to buy turntables than a guitar. It didn't stop Marilyn Manson from having hits with what seemed like the same record every time.

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 16/30, or 53%. We're back above 50%.

From Rocker to Raver

When I was at school in 1994 you were either a grunger or a raver. It was strictly forbidden to like both. At the beginning of the year I was very much in the grunge camp but by the end of the year I made the controversial move to the rave camp. Sounds silly now but at the time it was serious and I did lose friends as a result.

In the late 80s when I was first into music I just liked music in general. Genres didn't really exist to me, it was all just pop music. I would however state a preference for what I'd call "shouting songs" that would typically be sung by men with long hair.

The early signs suggested I'd grow up moshing to guitars but instead I ended up dancing to beats. Except as much as I liked the guitar it wasn't the main attraction of the music. What appealed to me more was the hard edge and aggression of the music. 

By the time many of the other kids at school had properly got into music I was a Guns N Roses fan. Although not a grunge band, the fact they were a rock band put me into the grunge camp. Being a grunger meant it was compulsory to listen to Nirvana. They weren't bad but I certainly pretended to be into them more than I was.

It was also cool to like heavier bands such as Metallica and Megadeth though both had somewhat softened up come the early 90s. Then even heavier bands like Pantera and Sepultura came into the mix. Then suddenly none of that was cool anymore. It had to be grunge or alternative rock (though I don't ever remember hearing the term "alternative" at the time.

By 1994 there were 2 trains of thought. Firstly the ever changing rules made it quite difficult to keep up with what was or wasn't acceptable. I took some flack for still listening to Metallica when I wasn't supposed to for example. Secondly the main criticism of Metallica was that they were too old, but all this music was essentially an evolution of even older bands from the 60s and 70s such as Led Zeppelin. 

Rave on the other hand felt new and exciting but also had that hard edge to it that's always appealed to me in music.

At the time it did feel like I was going from one extreme to another. Now I look back though it wasn't until the whole grunger/raver thing came in that rave music didn't figure at all in my music tastes. The difference was that rave had evolved into something that didn't really exist in years gone by.

If we go back to the start of 1988 when I got my first Now album, "Now 11" I loved "That Jack That House Built" by Jack N Chill, on "Now 12" there was "Theme From S'Express" by S'Express and on "Now 13" there was "Big Fun" by Inner City.

In 1989 I used to sing "Ride On Time" by Black Box in the school playground all the time, a fact some other kids never let me forget years later. I can remember being blown away by "Voodoo Ray" by A Guy Called Gerald.

Then in 1990 I have clear memories of Guru Josh appearing on Top of the Pops with "Infinity" that spoke words to me even though it was an instrumental. I can remember the confusion of an act called The Adventures Of Stevie V appearing but it was a woman singing, or finding out that bloke I thought was Adamski was actually Seal, but was loving the music.

In 1991 I was really into KLF to the point that 12 years later a bloke came up to me in the pub and told me he remembered me as that kid who used to sing KLF and Queen all the time.

Then in 1992 I remember hearing The Prodigy's "Experience" album for the first time without knowing that's what I was listening to and I remember thinking this is the future. My favourite tune of the moment was "Fire" by The Prodigy.

It was only 1993 when you were either a grunger or raver that rave never really came on my radar. On that basis it wasn't the extreme move that it seemed.

Dutch Top 40 1995: Week 26

These were the new entries in the Dutch Top 40 that never made the UK Top 40:

De Sjonnies - Dans Je De Hele Nacht Met Mij

Discogs describes De Sjonnies as a Dutch party ensemble. The band themselves were a fictional Dutch family. This was their Dutch Top 40 debut and biggest hit with a not so successful follow up record the following year. Very much sounds like a novelty record.

Wolter Kroes - Laat Me Los

I just knew this was going to be a ballad before I played it. It was the Dutch Top 40 debut for Dutch singer Wolter Kroes. It was also the only Dutch Top 40 hit he had in the 90s but he was back in the 21st century and topped the charts in 2008.

2001: The Good Old Days? - May

One thing I'm able to pin point when looking at the list of new entries in May 2001 is the last time I bought tapes. It was the hard house and trance tape pack from Slammin Vinyl in February 2001.  I would have obviously been after the rave had happened but it was before May.

The reason I know this is related to the best record this month which is "Strange World" by Push. It was the opening track to the Mark EG set and I was already the owner of this tape by the time this record made the charts.

That Slammin Vinyl event was the last time they had a UK garage arena. We had 4 garage new entries this month. There were 2 which get full marks which are "Coming Home" by K Warren ft Lee O and "Back Up (To Me)" by Wookie ft Lain. I don't mind "Shine On" by Scott & Leon but can't help but compare to the much better original. Finally we have "Up Middle Finger" by Oxide & Neutrino, a record that contributed to the demise of garage.

The majority of dance records this month were decent, another example of these being "Star 69" by Fatboy Slim. However the worst record this month is a dance record which is "Say It" by Maria Rubia. She had previously provided vocals for Fragma but this was a solo effort that was really cheesy and crap.

Rap wise we have the Black Eyed Peas when they were good, Spooks with their lesser know record "Karma Hotel", MOP with "Cold As Ice" and Jason Downs featuring Milk with "White Boy With A Feather" which all get full marks. 

R&B wise one of my all time favourite acts K-Ci & JoJo had their final Top 40 hit to date with "Crazy". We also have a decent effort from Joe with "I Wanna Know". Not so keen on "Don't Talk" by Jon B.

Shed Seven had what was possible the best record they've ever made with "Cry For Help". We were in the brief period where the Divine Comedy went for more of an indie image with "Bad Ambassador" which is actually pretty good.

Overall this has felt like the best batch of records I've listened to since I started the original 2005 series. All will be revealed soon in the score.

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: 43%

Here's a look at the chart:

This sort of score would imply 2001 were the good old days. We'll need to see how the remaining 4 months go to be sure.

January Charts: 1964

Here are the new entries ranked from best to worst:

1. Ronettes - Baby I Love You

2. Manfred Mann - 5-4-3-2-1

3. Merseybeats - I Think Of You

4. Paramounts - Poison Ivy

5. The Searchers - Needles And Pins

6. Gerry And The Pacemakers - I'm The One

7. Dave Berry - My Baby Left Me

8. Dowlands - All My Loving

9. Billy Fury - Do You Really Love Me Too?

10. Tony Meehan - Song Of Mexico

11. Nino Tempo And April Stevens - Whispering

12. Frank Ifield - Don't Blame Me

13. The Bachelors - Diane

14. Brenda Lee - As Usual

15. Helen Shapiro - Fever

16. Shirley Bassey - My Special Dream

No Beatles in this batch but their presence can be felt. We have fellow Liverpudlian bands The Searchers and Gerry & the Pacemakers with chart topping hits "Needles And Pins" and "I'm The One" respectively. There's also the biggest hit for the Merseybeats which I think is the best of the 3 records mainly for the guitar riff.

Liverpudlian singer Billy Fury also has a record that clearly sounds like it was inspired by The Beatles. He had the best record in the 1961 batch but this bottom half finish is more of an indication of how much better the competition was.

Outside of Liverpool we have the chart debut of Manfred Mann with "5-4-3-2-1" which was the theme tune to the TV show Ready Steady Go and also sounds inspired by the mersey beat sound. Another record clearly inspired by the sound was the Beatles cover "All My Loving" by Dowlands which was produced by Joe Meek.

Another band whose presence could be felt was The Rolling Stones. They had their first 2 hits in 1963 which included a Beatles cover and their sound at the time was known as British Rhythm And Blues. Adopting this sound in this batch are Dave Berry with "My Baby Left Me" and The Paramounts with "Poison Ivy".

I've now covered 8 of the 9 best records except the best one which is "Baby I Love You" by The Ronettes. I heard the excellent Ramones cover of this first which perhaps helped me to like the original when I heard it.

At the other end we have Shirley Bassey with "M Special Dream" which I find boring. Just above we have the final hit for Helen Shapiro with "Fever" which came when she was just 17. The Brenda Lee record "As Usual" was also boring/old fashioned, but she did jump on the Beatles bandwagon later on in the year.

The Bachelors and Frank Ifield continue to sound outdated in this era. Nino Tempo & April Stevens did a better version of "Whispering" than The Bachelors who did a version the previous year. Finally there's Tony Meehan with "Song Of Mexico" which was his only solo hit without Jet Harris and is better than I expected it to be.

The fact every record has had a mention shows the small quantity of records this time which hadn't been seen since the charts were a Top 30. Overall I've found this batch to be the most listenable by far and this is reflected in the score.

Score: 50

UK Number 40s: Neon Trees - Animal (2011)

 

By 2011 the popularity of indie music from a chart perspective had declined considerably compared to a few years earlier. The number of indie Top 40 hits for the year was now barely getting into double figures.

Perhaps not the best time to be making your Top 40 debut if you're an indie band then like Neon Trees. At the same time though "Mr. Brightside" by The Killers has an almost permanent residency in the UK charts and this band do sound a lot like The Killers.

This would be their only Top 40 hit though so maybe by this point the only indie record people wanted to still see in the charts was "Mr. Brightside".

UK Number 40s: Glee Cast - Toxic (2011)

 

If I was to ask which music act has taken the shortest amount of time to clock up their first Top 20 hits an obvious answer would be Elvis Presley or Cliff Richard or one of the modern rappers who releases a new tune every week. The answer though as you might have guess is Glee Cast.

This was Top 40 hit number 20 for them and it came just a year after their Top 40 debut. Furthermore it came 7 months after their 19th Top 40 hit, such was the rate they were releasing new singles in the early days.

They weren't done by this record though, a further 10 Top 40 hits would follow with the final one coming in November 2011. All would chart in the lower reaches of the Top 40.

This was a cover of the Britney Spears record.

Top 30 in 1999 Reviewed: Week 25

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 Sunday.

Here is the Top 40 in full.

I've decided against repetition from previous weeks moving forward so will only feature the records I'm reviewing for the first time. I also won't repeat the reviews from the Top 20 in 1999 Reviewed posts.

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 records new to the top 30 from this week in 1999 with my verdict on each record:

24. Bjork - All Is Full Of Love

This was Top 40 hit number 14 for Bjork and her final Top 40 hit of the 90s. We've definitely reached the era of Bjork that few people remember. You pretty much know what to except, a record that's haunting, not very catchy but more crucially not very good.

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 13.5/30, or 45%. Bjork preventing us from maintaining last weeks score.

Dutch Top 40 1995: Week 25

These were the new entries in the Dutch Top 40 that never made the UK Top 40:

DJ BoBo - There Is A Party

We say hello again to DJ BoBo who had a hit in February with "Love Is All Around". This time he's gone for more of a reggae sound instead of Eurodance. Maybe taking notes from 2 Unlimited making a ballad. He'll be back one more time this year.

Clouseau - Passie

Another act we'd previously seen in February. To recap Clouseau were a band from the Dutch speaking part of Belgium. This record topped the Dutch Top 40 and was therefore their biggest hit in Holland. 

Sons Of Ilsa - Pulsingers Nacht

The name may not ring any bells to some people who were listening to rave in 1995. However if I was to say this is the "I'm a raver baby" tune then it likely will ring a bell. It's a gabber record that has vocals to the tune of "Loser" by Beck but with the word "Loser" changed to "Raver". 

TOF - Feel This Groove

The 2nd and final Dutch Top 40 hit for Dutch Eurodance act TOF which stands for The Original Flyguy. This only got to number 34 so is very much the not so successful follow up record which is probably long forgotten now.

January Charts: 1963

Here are the new entries ranked from best to worst:

1. Orlons - Don't Hang Up

2. Del Shannon - Little Town Flirt

3. The Beatles - Please Please Me

4. The Four Seasons - Big Girls Don't Cry

5. Little Eva - Keep Your Hands Off My Baby

6. Mel Torme - Coming Home Baby

7. Tornados - Globetrotter

8. Mike Berry And The Outlaws - Don't You Think It's Time

9. Chris Montez - Some Kinda Fun

10. Tijuana Brass - The Lonely Bull (El Solo Torro)

11. Rick Nelson - It's Up To You

12. Crickets - My Little Girl

13. Jet Harris And Tony Meehan - Diamonds

14. Julie Grant - Up On The Roof

15. Marty Robbins - Ruby Ann

16. Kenny Ball And His Jazzmen - Sukiyaki

17. Brenda Lee - All Alone Am I

18. Mr Acker Bilk - A Taste Of Honey

19. Frank Ifield - Wayward Wind

20. The Bachelors - Charmaine

21. David Thorne - The Alley Cat Song

22. Chucks - Loo-Be-Loo

23. Frankie Vaughan - Loop-De-Loop

24. Mike Sarne - Just For Kicks

25. Vernons Girls - Funny All Over

The Beatles have arrived with their 2nd hit coming out this month. It is however fair to say their chart impact was yet to be felt, their debut "Love Me Do" had been in the charts since October but got no higher than 17 whilst "Please Please Me" had reached a peak of 33 at the end of January but would eventually climb to 2.

There was also no other records in this batch that I would class as being mersey beat. Despite this, The Beatles only manage 3rd in my rankings. For a start I think their sound got better once they'd progressed from the mersey beat sound, but more importantly there are 2 records in this batch that I prefer.

There's the excellent "Don't Hang Up" by the Orlons, a nice uplifting number which is easily the best record I've featured so far though it's not quite good enough to score 5.

Then we have "Little Town Flirt" by Del Shannon, a man who help The Beatles crack America who was mid-way through his UK chart career at this point. 

Like The Beatles, The Four Seasons were onto hit number 2 in this batch with "Big Girls Don't Cry". Both bands were the only 1962 debutants to clock up more than 6 Top 40 hits. This does sound a more forward thinking records and ranks 1 place below The Beatles.

The handful of records that follow are mostly decent records but clearly from a pre-Beatles era. This includes 2 Joe Meek produced records "Globetrotter" by Tornados and "Don't You Think It's Time" by Mike Berry.

Whilst The Beatles were pushing things forwards, fellow newcomers The Bachelors were taking things in the opposite direction. They managed to keep their Top 40 career going until mid-1967 but their records wouldn't of sounded out of place in the 50s.

Below The Bachelors record we have a bunch of novelty records which is what was letting this batch of records down in my opinion. Again I make the point that The Beatles impact was yet to be properly felt and whilst some other acts were taking things in the right direction, others weren't.

The worst of these novelty records was "Funny All Over" by Vernons Girls. It's one of the most irritating records I've ever heard.

We do still get the predicted highest score so far though.

Score: 40

2001: The Good Old Days? - June

In June 2001 I would have more likely described my music taste as dance and rap as opposed to dance, rap and R&B because I had few if any R&B albums in my collection at the time.

The only R&B new entry I like from this month is "Fiesta" by R Kelly which may explain why his "TP-2.com" album was one of the first R&B albums I bought. What I do remember though is making the effort to like artists such as India Arie who made her Top 40 debut this month, but I eventually conceded it was crap.

Rap on the other hand is a different story with all the rap records this month getting full marks. These were "Until the End of Time" by 2Pac, "Lapdance" by Nerd, "So Fresh So Clean" by Outkast and "What's Your Fantasy" by Ludacris. I ended up buying albums by all these artists.

UK garage wise we have the excellent "Do You Really Like It?" by Pied Piper which had been doing the clubs for quite some time by this point. We also had "All I Want" by Mis-Teeq which made me concede I quite like their music. Not so keen on "Ring Ring Ring" by Aaron Soul which sounded a bit like a poor mans Craig David. Then there was "Booo"by Stick & Ms Dynamite which I find irritating.

The best record this month comes from Daft Punk. When it comes to their "Discovery" era people talk about "One More Time" and to an extent "Harder Better Faster Stronger". For me though the best single was the other one "Digital Love" which you never hear played now but that means it's still a pleasure to listen to.

There were several other decent dance records this month, one that deserves a mention is "Muzak" by Trisco which is unlucky not to get best record. Another worth a mention is "10 in 01" by Members of Mayday.

Onto the worst record and that goes to Christina Aguilera, Pink, Lil Kim and Mya with "Lady Marmalade". This was played all the time and I got sick of it very quickly, not to mention the fact it's a poor cover.

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: 28%

Here's a look at the chart:

Could have been better but it's still looking like 2001 is better than any year that came after it.

UK Number 40s: Ironik featuring Jessica Lowndes - Falling In Love (2010)

 

Ironik first made a name for himself as DJ Ironik and was one of the British rappers to feature on Channel U with "Stay With Me" which made it's way into the Top 40.

2 years later he was collaborating with a film actress on this record. It would be the only Top 40 hit for Jessica Lowndes and the final Top 40 hit to date for Ironik.

Whilst this was charting Ironik was the victim of a stabbing attack in London. He survived the attack, but his music career appears to have pretty much finished.

UK Number 40s: Iyaz - So Big (2010)

 

At the start of 2010 Iyaz came from nowhere to top the charts with his Top 40 debut "Replay". He then made number 3 with follow up single "Solo". One might have said he was so big at the time, but when he released the record "So Big" it only made number 40.

His sound was described as "Reggae Fusion" which is basically pop music with a reggae sound to it. With this record though it was more electropop with a reggae sound to it. This was the trend at the time and everyone seemed to be making electropop records of some description.

This was more or less it for his Top 40 career. His only other Top 40 hit came the following year as featured artist on "The Mack" with Mann and Snoop Dogg.

Slammin Vinyl - the end?

It was recently announced that after 20 years the Westfest event later on this year will be the last. For the past few years it's been one of just two events Slammin Vinyl puts on with the other being Tranzmission. With no Tranzmission event being announced this year it raises the question: is this the end of Slammin Vinyl?

If so then it really is the end of an era. Even 20 years ago Slammin Vinyl and the events they took over were pretty much the only big raves from the 90s still standing. It's amazing that Westfest alone has lasted so long let alone Slammin Vinyl themselves who started putting events on in 1994. 

No reason has been stated as to why they are stopping. A lot of comments I've read suggest they shot themselves in the foot by making it too focused on drum & bass. I would argue that is likely the main reason they lasted so long. We've seen many genres come and go over the years but drum & bass has just gone from strength to strength in terms of popularity.

In the early 00s Slammin Vinyl would put on most of their events at The Sanctuary in Milton Keynes. I was at some of those events myself. Then in 2004 The Sanctuary closed and Slammin Vinyl put on the last ever event there. I was tempted to go myself but I was no longer into the new music so decided against it.

Later on in 2004 they started putting on events in Shepton Mallet and a year later adopted the name Westfest. I never went to one because it was after my time and as the years went by the number of people I'd never heard of on the flyers would increase.

We're talking about 20 years of rave history here but the question is will there be nostalgia for those 20 years in the same way we have nostalgia for 90s rave nowadays?

If you look at music in general you'll have an artist who is big for a few years, then their popularity declines and they find themselves in the wilderness for a few years until the nostalgia kicks in and they find themselves back in demand.

Then you have bands like the Rolling Stones who have continued to be popular since their 60s heyday. But how many people go to a Rolling Stones concert to hear anything they've made in the last 40 years? Not many I would say, but that accounts for the majority of their existence.

Time will tell if we ever have Westfest type reunions in years to come. 

Top 30 in 1999 Reviewed: Week 24

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 Sunday.

Here is the Top 40 in full.

I've decided against repetition from previous weeks moving forward so will only feature the records I'm reviewing for the first time. I also won't repeat the reviews from the Top 20 in 1999 Reviewed posts.

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 records new to the top 30 from this week in 1999 with my verdict on each record:

30. No Doubt - New

In between their 1997 Top 40 success and their 2002 comeback came a couple of minor hits and this was one of those. Not a bad record, quite upbeat and I can bop along to it but doesn't quite have enough about it to make it a truly great record.

Verdict - OK

27. Mauro Picotto - Lizard (Gonna Get You)

Mauro Picotto was one of those Italian producers who had songwriting credits along with several other Italian producers on a few Top 40 hits. This was his first Top 40 hit as artist and included on the songwriting credits was Gianfranco Bortolotti, a man behind pretty much every Italian dance record of the 90s. It's one of the big trance classics and I like it.

Verdict - Good

26. Blondie - Nothing Is Real But The Girl

This was the follow up to the chart topping Blondie comeback single "Maria". Once again it was Jimmy Destri on songwriting duties. This doesn't hit the same heights as its predecessor, not as catchy I suppose. Not a bad record at the same time though.

Verdict - OK

22. Feeder - Insomnia

This was the 4th Top 40 hit for Feeder and their highest charting to this point. The early days for Feeder were pretty low key from a Top 40 perspective at least. I've always said that Feeder had one good record in "Just A Day" and the rest are dreary. However this one is more similar to "Just A Day" rather than their other hits and as a result it's not bad.

Verdict - OK

If we give the records which were good 1 point each and those which were OK half a point, the final score is 14.5/30, or 48%. That ever familiar just below 50% score.

Ja Rule

20 years ago Ja Rule had a Top 20 hit with "Caught Up". It was the follow up to his chart topper "Wonderful" and 2nd single from his "RULE" album. It was an album I'd frequently listen to on the way to work when I first bought it. After a while I stopped and more or less forgot about him. It would seem the record buying public also did as he's not had a Top 40 hit since.

Around the turn of the century we saw the rise of what is now known as "Pop Rap". Some successful rappers were given the "Pop" label but I don't ever recall the term "Pop Rap" being used. Ja Rule was one of these rappers. 

It was "Between Me And You", his lead single from his 2nd album "Rule 3:36" that made the world notice. For me though it wasn't until he did "Always On Time" that I really considered buying his music. There was something about that record. I initially bought the single but ended up buying both the "Pain Is Love" and "Rule 3:36" albums.

He was ridiculed by many for his rap/R&B crossover formula but there were some dark records on those albums too. At the same time I didn't see the commercial edge of some of the tracks as a bad thing. The line in "Always On Time" about keeping his ho's drugged up on ecstacy isn't exactly what I'd call radio friendly after all.

I listened to the "Pain Is Love" album a lot and was a big fan of "So Much Pain" in particular. He quickly followed up with "The Last Temptation" which I also bought. It marked the comeback of Bobby Brown on lead single "Thug Lovin" which showed that Bobby Brown couldn't really sing anymore, but that's what made it good. Then we had "Mesmerize" which say him reunite with Ashanti on what was more an R&B track with rapping on it, but still good.

Then came the beef with 50 Cent. Given I was never overly keen on anything I heard by 50 Cent and the impact Ja Rule had on me I was very much team Ja Rule. Then came his "Blood In My Eye" album. It was a flop but it was very much a rap album and not very radio friendly.

When he came back he topped the charts with "Wonderful" which showed he was here to stay. Except he more or less disappeared after that.

I never made a conscious decision to stop listening to him. Times were changing for me and I stopped following new music as closely as I once did. A few years later I remembered how much I liked his music and thought I'd catch up on his newer material. Except there wasn't any.

At the time of writing he's released just 1 album in the last 20 years and it doesn't look like it had much impact. He also had a reality TV show and judging by his house I don't think his lack of activity in the last 20 years has affected his financial situation.

Looking back though it would seem his biggest strength were those around him. As mentioned I was a big fan of "So Much Pain". It was a remake of a 2Pac record and what really does it for me is when 2Pac himself does the 3rd verse. On the "Blood In My Eye" album I liked "Things Gon Change" but it steps up a gear when the Black Child verse comes in.

Simply put, he had his limitations as a rapper but managed to make some great music and has made a success out of it.

Dutch Top 40 1995: Week 24

These were the new entries in the Dutch Top 40 that never made the UK Top 40:

Ome Henk - Op De Camping

There seems to be a lot of novelty records in the Dutch Top 40 in 1995 and here's another. Ome Henk is a comedy character and had 5 Dutch Top 40 hits. This was his only one in 1995 and it's a comedy take on "In The Navy" by The Village People.

Scooter - Friends

One thing that Scooter are well known for is the chipmunk vocals in their records. This record is where that aspect began for them. Of course many happy hardcore records at the time had chipmunk vocals in them.

Dune - Hardcore Vibes

Here we have another German happy hardcore act charting in Holland. This was their debut Dutch Top 40 hit. It was also a record that was being played at the raves in the UK at the time. They will be back later on in the year.

2 Unlimited - Nothing Like The Rain

2 Unlimited had so many Top 40 hits in the UK in the early to mid-90s that it's hard to believe they had a record that didn't chart here. They did though with this record which wasn't even released in the UK. Their popularity in the UK was in decline by this point. They only had 1 more hit from the Ray & Anita era. This record unusually for 2 Unlimited is a ballad.

Mokum - Ajax Heeft De Cup

Yes it's yet another football record about Ajax. This time it's a result of Ajax winning the Champions League, something they've not managed to do since. 

2001: The Good Old Days? - July

One thing is for sure about 2001, I can remember things I was doing at this point in time based on the music that was in the charts.

We'll begin with the best record which is "Frontier Psychiatrist" by Avalanches. It's the record I enjoyed the most when listening through the records just now. It's a bizarre record that just works.

This month was more of a guitar heavy month which supports the prediction Ash made at the start of the year. There were some decent guitar records, "Million Miles Away" by The Offsrping, "Broke" by Beta Band, "Juxtapozed With U" by Super Furry Animals and "Heaven Is A Halfpipe" by OPM. The latter is much better than I remember it being. Unfortunately "Sometimes" by Ash wasn't one of the records I liked.

Dance wise it was looking pretty good. There was the chart topper "Another Chance" by Roger Sanchez which showed you could make a proper dance record and be hugely successful with it in those days. Ian Van Dahl had their only hit worth listening to "Castle's in the Sky" which I bought on vinyl at the time. 

There were only 2 dance records I didn't like. There was the vocal trance record "Innocente (Falling In Love)" by Delerium & Leigh Nash. The other one was "Devil's Nightmare" by Oxide & Neutrino. The So Solid Crew were credited with fueling the demise of UK garage but Oxide & Neutrino were members of the So Solid Crew and their own material was also a factor.

Whilst not strictly a garage record, you can sense a bit of garage inspiration on "Perfect Gentleman" by Wyclef Jean and it's a decent record. The only rap record in it's pure sense was "Purple Pills" by D12 and this was around the time I bought their album.

The best of the R&B records was "Dance For Me" by Sisqo which I remember doing the rounds on the music channels a lot at the time. The worst R&B record was the worst record for the month. It was "Loverboy" by Mariah Carey. It heavily sampled "Candy" by Cameo, a decent record, but had her screeching over the top and therefore ruining it.

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: 40%

Here's a look at the chart:

We have the joint best month to feature so far. Now we're half way through 2001 it's certainly looking better than any year that came after.

January Charts: 1962

Here are the new entries ranked from best to worst:

1. Eden Kane - Forget Me Not

2. Chubby Checker - The Twist

3. Iain Gregory - Can't You Hear The Beat Of A Broken Heart

4. Leroy Van Dyke - Walk On By

5. The Everly Brothers - Cryin' In The Rain

6. Brook Brothers - He's Old Enough To Know Better

7. John D Loudermilk - The Language Of Love

8. Carol Deene - Norman

9. Bob Wallis And His Storyville Jazzmen - Come Along Please

10. Doug Sheldon - Your Ma Said You Cried In Your Sleep Last Night

11. Burl Ives - Little Bitty Tear

12. Danny Peppermint And The Jumping Jacks - Peppermint Twist

13. Lonnie Donegan - The Comancheros

14. Anthony Newley - D-Darling

15. Danny Williams - Jeannie

16. Phil McLean - Small Sad Sam

17. Adam Faith - Lonesome

18. Cliff Richard - The Young Ones

19. Karl Denver - Wimoweh

20. Joe Brown - What A Crazy World We're Living In

When I looked at 1961 I said everyone seemed to be jumping on the rock n roll bandwagon which would lead to the inevitable backlash. Well in January 1962 at least it looks like rock n roll is dead. I wouldn't consider any of these records to be rock n roll.

On that point we'll start down the bottom as some may be saying what about Joe Brown. Well if anything I'd say it was a novelty record. It's interesting to note that had the charts stayed a Top 30 then Joe Brown would be yet to made his chart debut at this point. He'd had 3 hits that all charted in the 30s.

I could feasibly class half of these records as novelty ones and this is arguably why the world was crying out for The Beatles. 

The new phase that was happening around this time was the twist, a style of dance being sung about. The most notable of these artists was Chubby Checker and that familiarity earns him a high placing with "The Twist".

We also have "Peppermint Twist" by Danny Peppermint And The Jumping Jacks but this is one that I'd class as being a novelty record.

It was also the era for the trad jazz revival, though just one of these records fits that category which is "Come Along Please" by Bob Wallis And His Storyville Jazzmen which I think is alright even if it sounds like its going back in time.

The number 1 record is a straight up pop record, "Forget Me Not" by Eden Kane. He was one of the artists whose popularity declined once The Beatles came about which is a shame because he was making good music based on this record.

Another eventual victim of The Beatles popularity who was trying to do something different was Joe Meek. He featured in the 1957 and 1958 batches as producer on the Gary Miller records, but this was the era that Joe Meek was at his most successful. The record in this batch that he produced was "Can't You Hear The Beat Of A Broken Heart" by Iain Gregory, only a number 39 but near the top of my chart.

We've reached the end of the Pre-Beatles era. The scores haven't been bad generally speaking but I do predict they will be beaten in future years.

Score: 32

Now we've reached this point it's a good time to look at the league table:

1960 is a marginal improvement over the 50s whereas 1961 and 1962 are mid-table.

UK Number 40s: Linkin Park - The Catalyst (2010)

 

At the start of the 21st century nu metal music became big in the charts. One of those nu metal bands was Linkin Park. By the mid-00s it was more or less done as a genre in the charts and the Top 40 careers of bands like Limp Bizkit and Papa Roach were finished. Linkin Park carried on though.

What gave them longevity then? well they moved away from nu metal and onto other things. With this record there was still a rock element to it, but it was really following the electropop trend that was happening at the time.

There was a competition for fans to do their own remix of this record and the winner of that competition was Czeslaw "NoBraiN" Sakowski from Poland. 

UK Number 40s: Keane featuring K'naan - Stop For A Minute (2010)

 

By 2010 we were seeing an increasing trend of collaborations making the Top 40. This would include collaborations that one couldn't imagine happening once upon a time due to how different they were to each other.

This collaboration would fit that category. Keane were an indie band and K'naan a rapper/reggae fusion artists. Keane were one of the big indie bands of the mid-00s when indie was more or less the biggest music genre in the charts.

It had been 2 years since Keane had last been in the Top 40. Since then electropop had become the music of choice in the Top 40 so Keane basically made an electropop record. This would be the final Top 40 hit to date for Keane.

It was the Top 40 debut for K'naan, but this was shortly followed by his big hit "Wavin Flag".

Top 30 in 1999 Reviewed: Week 23

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 Sunday.

Here is the Top 40 in full.

I've decided against repetition from previous weeks moving forward so will only feature the records I'm reviewing for the first time. I also won't repeat the reviews from the Top 20 in 1999 Reviewed posts.

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 records new to the top 30 from this week in 1999 with my verdict on each record:

22. Gay Dad - Joy!

I don't think too many people remember the big hit for Gay Dad let alone this less successful follow up record. To recap they were basically a band made by music critics and praised by other music critics but the general public didn't really pay much attention. This record is also crap.

Verdict - Rubbish

21. Underworld - Jumbo

Underworld had been around a few years by this point but this was only their 4th Top 40 hit. Their greatest hits is one of my all time favourite albums because I think it captures the best of them more than any of their albums.

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 13/30, or 43%. Heading back in the right direction.

Dutch Top 40 1995: Week 23

These were the new entries in the Dutch Top 40 that never made the UK Top 40:

Jimmy Cliff & Lebo M - Hakuna Matata

It's almost surprising this record never made the UK Top 40. It was from The Lion King film which was huge at the time. It's probably because unlike the big hits from that film it's not performed by Elton John, but it was written by him. 

Minty - Useless Man

We've had some UK acts feature here before but so far there has been a good explanation as to why they'd chart in Holland but not the UK i.e. they were based in other countries. However with Minty that was not the case. Minty were Richard Torry and Leigh Bowery. It was a posthumous hit as Leigh Bowery died at the end of 1994. He was Australian but moved to the UK in the early 80s and was friends with Boy George. One explanation as to why it didn't chart in the UK is the the lyrics aren't exactly radio friendly. 

2001: The Good Old Days? - August

Whilst we know the charts would become very indie/guitar music heavy by the mid-00s, the prediction Ash made about it happening in 2001 doesn't appear to be happening as this is certainly in the minority this month.

Dance music is the most prolific and whilst not all of it is to my liking it's refreshing to see some of the more proper dance records in the Top 40. We have "Nothing Without Me" by Manchild and "The Real Life" by Raven Maize from the house music world for house music fans.

Trance wise we don't have any of the vocal rubbish or euro cheese. There's the excellent "Superstring" by Cygnus X and the solid "Like This Like That" by Mauro Picotto whilst "Fire Wire" by Cosmic Gate is OK. The only trance record I don't like is "Precious Heart" by Tall Paul, a sample of "Never Tear Us Apart" by INXS done tastefully but just doesn't work for me.

UK Garage wise we may be seeing the beginning of the end here. There's "21 Seconds" by the So Solid Crew, the Top 40 debut from the act credited with killing garage. Then there's "Love You Anyway" by De Nada which I can't stand the singing on.

It's the rap world that gives us the best record which is "Ante Up" by MOP & Busta Rhymes. I bought the single for this and just loved the sheer aggression. Another single I bought was "Where I Wanna Be" by Shade Shiest, Nate Dogg & Kurupt. Then a decent rap rock record I didn't buy was "Revolving Door" by Crazy Town.

R&B wise we have the final Top 40 hit for the Honeyz "I Don't Know". It was seen as a questionable choice for a single notably from group member Celena but I do like it. Then we have "Just In Case" by Jaheim, an R&B record that later had a garage remix and both versions are good. No points for rubbish by Destiny's Child, Janet Jackson or Missy Elliott.

One record that deserves a mention is "Let's Dance" by 5ive. It reminds me of many nights out at the time, it's a pop record with a sense of humour and I remember a mate kept saying fuck Eminem, Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg, J from 5ive is the best rapper.

The worst record goes to Atomic Kitten with "Eternal Flame". The success of "Whole Again" gave them license to top the charts with any old rubbish, and they did with this dreadful cover.

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: 35%

Here's a look at the chart:

We've exceeded the 34% we needed to even consider it as the good old days. Will we stay there?

January Charts: 1961

Here are the new entries ranked from best to worst:

1. Billy Fury - A Thousand Stars

2. Maurice Williams And The Zodiacs - Stay

3. US Bonds - New Orleans

4. Buddy Holly - What To Do

5. Bobby Vee - Rubber Ball

6. Fats Domino - My Girl Josephine

7. Danny Rivers - Can't You Hear My Heart

8. King Brothers - Doll House

9. Olympics - I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate

10. Johnny Burnette - You're Sixteen

11. Andy Stewart - A Scottish Soldier

12. Avons - Rubber Ball

13. Piltdown Men - Piltdown Rides Again

14. Jess Conrad - Mystery Girl

15. Joe Brown And His Bruvvers - Shine

16. Duane Eddy - Pepe

17. Russ Conway - Pepe

18. Elvis Presley - Are You Lonesome Tonight?

19. Johnny Horton - North To Alaska

20. Connie Francis - Many Tears Ago

21. Rhet Stoller - Chariot

22. Brenda Lee - Let's Jump The Broomstick

23. Petula Clark - Sailor

24. Anne Shelton - Sailor

25. Wanda Jackson - Mean Mean Man

26. Marty Wilde - Rubber Ball

27. Tony Bennett - Till

28. Peter Sellers And Sophia Loren - Bangers And Mash

In the early days of this blog I picked a record of the year for each year and 1961 stood out to me as a year when I struggled to find a record that was good enough. Now I've listened to every Top 40 hit from the first month of the year I'd still say no records are outstanding.

The best of the bunch is "A Thousand Stars" by Billy Fury, arguably the biggest star from Liverpool before The Beatles came along. Incidentally this record would appear in the 70s film "That'll Be The Day" which had both Billy Fury and Ringo Starr in it.

The number 2 record also featured in a film that came out years later with "Stay" by Maurice Williams And The Zodiacs featuring in "Dirty Dancing". 

Rock n Roll still appeared to be in, but you sense it's getting to the stage where everyone is jumping on the bandwagon which will lead to an inevitable backlash. The fact that one of the better ones was "What To Do" by Buddy Holly which would have been at least 2 years old by this point more or less illustrates this.

Instrumental rock was popular around this time, not bad music but starts to all sound the same after a while. One such record is "Pepe" by Duane Eddy and there is another version by Russ Conway on the piano instead of guitar.

There were 3 different versions of "Rubber Ball" which are quite spread out in the table. There's the original by Bobby Vee which is up near the top, a cover by the Avons which isn't bad and a cover by Marty Wilde which is your inferior British karaoke type cover.

The latter wasn't the worst record though. Below it we have "Till" by Tony Bennett, his first hit in nearly 5 years which sounds really dated in 1961. Then down the bottom we have "Bangers And Mash" by Peter Sellers And Sophia Loren, a novelty record I find really irritating.

I feel I must address the relatively low position of "Are You Lonesome Tonight" by Elvis Presley. Many consider it to be a classic but I'm afraid I just find it boring.

Overall I think this batch of records shows that good music did exist before The Beatles but at the same time it shows The Beatles needed to happen.

Score: 34

Saint Etienne call it a day

Saint Etienne have announced that their next album to be released later in the year will be their last. It will mark the end of a run spanning 35 years. 

They somehow passed me by in their early 90s heyday, I didn't discover them until "He's On The Phone" in 1995 and never knowingly heard another of their tunes until I saw their greatest hits on offer around the turn of the century which I bought on the strength of "He's On The Phone".

I do however remember Sarah Cracknell's brief solo career in 1996 and given that and the fact their greatest hits went up to 1995 I assumed at the time that was the year they called it a day. Already having a fondness for the early 90s I saw 1995 as a great time to bow out and they'd be frozen in time and always fondly remembered. Little did I know they hadn't split up and would be around for another 25 years.

As the years went on though they took on another significance. I live in London and have lived here longer than I've lived anywhere else, but I don't come from here originally. The thought of moving to London never appeared on my radar when I was younger, but once people started flocking there after university my head started to turn. 

With a few St Etienne albums now in my collection I realised just how London centric their music was. It painted a picture of a place I wanted to experience myself. The day I handed my notice in at work because I'd secured a job in London I was listening to Saint Etienne in my car. I didn't choose that CD on purpose, but it did seem symbolic.

When I moved to London I was in my 20s and still going to clubs full of other 20 somethings. I would describe my music of choice as electronic music and would consider Saint Etienne as part of that description. However, you wouldn't hear their music at the Ministry of Sound and the likes. In fact when I first went to see them in concert I was surprised at just how old the audience were.

Perhaps this is a factor in why they're calling it a day. Their audience hasn't really grown or dwindled over the years, it's stayed consistent. Their fan base isn't getting any younger and their legacy probably isn't going to pass through generations.

Nothing stays the same forever. Eventually my days of going to the Ministry of Sound or seeking out the latest tunes fizzled out. It was replaced by a growing interest in music history which is the main reason why I started this blog. It would appear this is where Bob Stanley's interests lie too.

By the time the "Home Counties" album had come out, Pete and Sarah had done the unthinkable. They'd moved out of London, Pete moved to Brighton and Sarah moved to the Oxfordshire countryside. Some time later Bob moved to Leeds. 

It seems a bit strange that I'm living in London but Saint Etienne aren't. But then who knows, I may have moved out of London myself by the time I get to their age. What I do know is the aspirations I have now differ from the aspirations I had when I first moved here.

At the same time my perception of Saint Etienne has changed over the years. By the time their "Words & Music" album came out in 2012 I was well and truly settled in London, the band members were probably still living in London and it felt like a moment to celebrate London I guess.

Since then I can't say I've been overly impressed by their more recent material and as much as I enjoy their older music it does have its limitations. I've also never bought any of these deluxe editions and limited edition boxsets etc. they seem to be constantly bringing out, I'm happy to make do with the normal albums.

Fair play to them though. They've carved out a moderately successful career spanning 35 years with by their own admission limited music talent and have a loyal fan base, many of whom are willing to part with vast sums of money to fund an ever growing Saint Etienne collection. Nothing lasts forever though.