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.
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:
The Top 40 debut for Idlewild, a Scottish indie band who were said to have a harder sound than their fellow indie bands. If you compare to fellow Scottish indie band Travis, that isn't difficult. What it does mean though is they trying to sound heavy but just sound weak.
Verdict - Rubbish
Mansun have made it to 11 Top 40 hits which had all been chronologically number EPs. Just to add a bit of confusion though the main song from this EP is called "Six". It could be the same song as the one on their "Six EP" for all I know, they all sound the same.
Verdict - Rubbish
Alex Gaudino is a big name EDM DJ of the modern era, but he was around in 1999 as one of the writers of this record. Quite how much input he had to it I don't know. Supercar were a duo that didn't include Alex Gaudino and there were a further two writers on it. A sign of things to come with everyone and everyone else writing an EDM record then, but fortunately this is musically far better than your average EDM record.
Verdict - Good
The final Top 40 hit to date for M People who took an extended hiatus after this charted. With proper dance music becoming more and more popular I guess there was little room for the commercial throwaway rubbish by M People.
Verdict - Rubbish
There were a lot of house remakes of old disco records around this time, but this record is more using a disco sample than doing a remake. The sample in question is "Giving Up Giving In" by The Three Degrees. The minimal vocals make for a good record.
Verdict - Good
This record features Thea Austin on vocals, the same person who provided vocals for "Rhythm Is A Dancer" by Snap! It's another house remake of an old disco record, this time it's "Let's Lovedance Tonight" by Gary's Gang. It's definitely more on the commercial side, but still acceptable.
Verdict - Good
The only Top 40 hit for A+ who was a child rapper in the 90s and was 17 when this came out. He then disappeared off the face of the earth after this. It samples "A Fifth of Beethoven" by Walter Murphy and I always thought it was pretty solid.
Verdict - Good
We'd already had the Top 40 debut for Tatyana Ali aka Ashley from "The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air" but just incase we missed that the first time round we have the Fresh Prince himself here to remind us. It seems quite fitting that this of all Tatyana Ali records features Will Smith after what happened at the Oscars.
Verdict - Rubbish
It had been 17 years since we'd last seen Blondie in the Top 40 with any original material. As far as comeback singles after a period of that sort of length go, this is amongst the best. The fact it was by Blondie would have played a part in it topping the charts, but the fact it's a genuinely good record must have been a factor too.
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 15.5/30, or 52%. We've got above 50% for the first time in 1999.
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