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):
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.
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