Thursday, 8 September 2022

Dreamscape 20 @ Brafield Aerodrome Fields 09/09/1995

Clarkee

When it comes to Dreamscape events this one was the big one. It was in the middle of the Northamptonshire countryside and attracted around 15,000 people. Whether it would have become and annual thing we will never know as Dreamscape promoter Murray Beetson had sadly passed away by the following summer.

There were 5 arenas, 4 of them being dance music arenas and a chill out arena where Mark EG played a 15 hour set. The main arena was a mixture of hardcore and drum & bass, arena 2 was drum & bass, arena 3 was techno and arena 4 was house.

The tape pack from this event was a 12 pack which featured sets from all 4 arenas. There were 4 house tapes which is quite unusual for a rave tape pack. The DJ's were Jon of the Pleased Wimmin, Tony De Vit, Farley Jackmaster Funk and Pete & Russell, the latter being the promoters of Progress who were hosting the house arena.

I've posted the Clarkee set because I just love the energy from it. I've not featured a Clarkee set in these posts yet, but given he played all the Dreamscapes and was good friends with Murray Beetson it seems appropriate for me to pick his set to post at the big Dreamscape event.

Tape wise we have slightly more drum & bass than hardcore owing to the fact Easygroove does a mixture of hardcore and drum & bass in his set, so we have 5.5 sets of hardcore and 6.5 sets of drum & bass.

These are the new for 1995 drum & bass records:

Dillinja - Non-Believers

Adam F - Circles

Dillinja - Simple

Il Padrino - Il Padrino

The X - New Dawn

DJ Hype & Ganja Max - Rinse Out

Ballistic Brothers - I'll Fly Away

Oblivion - Sands Of Time

Intense - The Sax Lick

Mouly & Lucida - Spirits

Arteq - Amazing

Maximum Style - One 4 Da MC's

Cybotron Feat Dillinja - Threshold

Prizna - River Nile

DJ Trace - Monkeys

Tribe Zero 2 - Death By Sax

Goldie - Still Life

L Double & Shy FX - The Shit

DJ SS - Green

Conroy Smith - Dangerous Jungle

Deadly D - Punani Nuh Fi Nurse

The most notable of these is the first outing of "Circles" by Adam F which would be a Top 40 hit 2 years later. It's one of the usual suspects that dominates the sets though with "The Lighter" by Sound of the Future appearing in 4 of the sets.

Hardcore wise, these were the new for 1995 tunes:

DJ Dougal & Mickey Skeedale - On A High

Dougal & Eruption - I.O.U.

Force & Styles - Harmony

Alchemist & Fade - Keep On Trying

Micado - It's Gonna Be A Fine Night

Charly Lownoise & Mental Theo - Stars

Sandman - Can Can Party

Ferocious - Please Don't Go

DJ Fade - Lost It

SMD - SMD#5

Sy & Unknown - Techno Harmony

DJ Pooch - Don't Stop

DJ Pooch - Volume 11

Higher Level - Feel The Sky

Tim B - Step To It

DJ Isaac & Pagan - 2 Definitions

DJ Demo - '96 Style 

One of the notable ones here is "Stars" by Charly Lownoise & Mental Theo which had just entered the Dutch Top 40. It had been a while since SMD#4 had come out, but SMD#5 was here and was the last one of the series. "96 Style" by DJ Demo is basically a remix of "95 Style" by Happy Rollers. I have to say though September does seem a little early to be putting the next year onto a tune name.

There were 2 hardcore tunes which were played the most on the tapes. "On Top" by A Sense Of Summer and "Bust A New Jam" by Seduction & Eruption.

Little did anyone know at the time that this would be the penultimate Dreamscape as we knew it.

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Tuesday, 6 September 2022

UK Number 40s: Tasmin Archer - Shipbuilding (1994)

 


Once again we have an act who has had both a number 1 and a number 40, the 48th time this has happened.

Tasmin Archer is seen by many as being a one hit wonder with her 1992 chart topping debut "Sleeping Satellite". She in-fact had 5 Top 40 hits of which this was the last one.

The 3 in between all charted in 1993, "In Your Care" which made 16, "Lords Of The New Church" which made 26 and "Arienne" which made number 30. Those first 4 Top 40 hits all came from her "Great Expectations" album.

Then came this which is an Elvis Costello cover taken from a Tasmin Archer EP of Elvis Costello covers. The Elvis Costello version was never a Top 40 hit, but a cover by Robert Wyatt did slightly better than this cover making number 35 in 1983. 

Having 5 Top 40 hits when you're seen as a one hit wonder is no bad thing. It's a case of peaking too soon though, having the big hit as you're debut can mean nobody wants to hear you do anything else.

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Sunday, 4 September 2022

Top 30 in 1992 Reviewed: Week 36

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 1992 with my verdict on each record:


Sting and Eric Clapton are both known to many and have had long careers, but this collaboration only made number 30. With just 3 Top 10 singles each though it's fair to say neither has a great singles record. The fact they were both over 40 by this point meant it was unlikely to appeal to the kids, but all that aside it's a bit of a nothing record.

Verdict - Rubbish


Following the success of their "Pornograffitti" album and in particular the single "More Than Words" here's the lead single from follow up album "III Sides to Every Story". To this day I still meet people who aren't aware that Extreme were a rock band because they only know "More Than Words". I use this record as a suggestion to listen to for them to get an idea of what Extreme generally sound like.

Verdict - Good


This is the beginning of the post "The Immaculate Collection" era of Madonna. This has a more mature sound than her previous efforts but that means this is basically granny music. It's from the film "A League Of Their Own" which was set in World War II so it was perhaps the intention to make a tune that sounds old fashioned. The song is rubbish though and so is the film.

Verdict - Rubbish


I have a vague recollection of someone who wasn't Elvis Presley singing "All Shook Up" around this time. Here it is. That said he does his best to sound like Elvis which basically means you may as well just listen to the Elvis version if you want to listen to it.

Verdict - Rubbish


This is where it all began for East 17s Top 40 career. I could openly admit to liking this record at the time as this was before the unwritten rule amongst my peers that you're not supposed to like boy bands. I openly admit to still liking it today.

Verdict - Good


This was the only Top 40 hit in the UK for Das Boot, though they had several more hits across Europe. It was also a number one in their native Germany. It was the first German techno record to make the UK Top 40. As someone who likes a bit of German techno it gets the thumbs up from me.

Verdict - Good


Bananarama had now become a duo after Jacquie O'Sullivan had left the group. I don't think too many people noticed though, I certainly have no recollection of Bananarama as late as 1992. It's also their last Top 40 hit to date written by Stock & Waterman. It basically sounds like poundland Abba and I'm not a big fan of Abba.

Verdict - Rubbish


We're nearing the end of the Stock Aitken & Waterman era for Kylie Minogue with this being the penultimate Top 40 hit and final one to actually be written by them. Sounds just like all the other ones.

Verdict - Rubbish


This double a-side is a re-issue of their debut single "Youth Gone Wild" which failed to make the Top 40 when first released and a cover of "Delivering The Goods" by Judas Priest. "Youth Gone Wild" is arguably their signature song but is far from my favourite. "Delivering The Goods" features Rob Halford from Judas Priest on vocals and sounds much more like it.

Verdict - OK / Good


Abba in 1992? after Erasure did their Abba covers there was a so called Abba revival. As they'd sailed of into the sunset years prior to this the only way to capitalise was to re-issue their biggest hit. I've heard this so many times in my life and I've never liked it so decided not to listen. What's also symbolic about this entering the charts at this point in time is that the Swedes were about to take over the music world (see Dr Alban).

Verdict - Rubbish


Throughout 1989 and into early 1990 Bobby Brown had a new single every 5 minutes it seemed. Then there was nothing until this record. It continues the new jack swing sound of its predecessors with Babyface, LA Reid and Daryl Simmons on songwriting duties again. It has a more aggressive sound than previous efforts which I guess went with Bobby Browns bad boy persona. 

Verdict - Good


A long forgotten Take That single which is the only non-cover not to be written by any of Take That's members. It was written by Ian Levine and Billy Griffin and has since been disowned by the group with Gary Barlow stating that they all hate it. I guess Gary Barlow won't be making any royalties from it, but to be fair it is pretty awful.

Verdict - Rubbish


This was the beginning of Sweden taking over the music world. Dr Alban was a Nigerian based in Sweden and wrote this with Denniz Pop who founded Cherion Studios. There were a number of songwriters who have since been very prolific with their songwriting including Max Martin who at the time of writing only has Paul McCartney ahead of him in terms of most Top 40 hits as songwriter. Given how much dreadful music has been created as a result of this I should hate it. However it probably would have still happened with or without this record and I do like it in a 90s nostalgia sort of way.

Verdict - Good


This started off as a solo Roy Orbison record in the early 60s. This duet version was done in 1987 but not released in the UK until 1992. The previous year a comedy duet version appeared in "Only Fools And Horses" sung by 2 of the characters which may have inspired the decision to release this as a single. I don't mind it, but if I was to listen to it I'd be more inclined to listen to the comedy version.

Verdict - OK


I remember the chorus to this but not much else. It was the lead single off her 2nd album and her final Top 40 hit to date. As the record began my initial thought was this sounds more mature than her previous efforts, but then she starts rapping the verse which makes it sound as silly as her other records. I will however give this record half marks because I do like the backing track, it's just the vocals which lets it down.

Verdict - OK


When an actor, or someone famous for something other than music releases a record you generally expect it to be a novelty record. Jimmy Nail is an actor but whilst this record has a bit of humour to it, I wouldn't call it a novelty record. The fact I quite like it too may have something to do with that.

Verdict - Good


The 4th Top 40 hit for 2 Unlimited and first not to make the Top 10. I would describe this as being the ultimate generic eurodance record. It somehow manages to be very cheesy whilst being a bit boring at the same time.

Verdict - Rubbish


The lesser known follow up to "Hazard", though it is his joint 3rd highest charting Top 40 hit. It sounds like a very stereotypical soft rock record but is also catchy so onto a winning formula. 

Verdict - Good


This had previously been a Top 10 hit in 1987 but was re-released because of the Barcelona Olympics. I had the single and there was also a shorter version on there which was used for the TV coverage. As I had the single then clearly I liked it.

Verdict - Good


This record seems a bit out of place in 1992. It's one of those I feel I've always known but it's most likely that when I first heard it in 1992 I just assumed it was an old record. It was the 2nd single released for his greatest hits album, the first not making the Top 40 and prior to that he hadn't been in the Top 40 since 1986. Quite surprisingly he was still having Top 40 hits as late as 2004 but this is the last one I actually remember. It's your typical naff Lionel Richie record.

Verdict - Rubbish


After topping the charts with their Top 40 debut KWS followed up with another cover. In fact all their Top 40 hits were covers. This was also the opening track to a rave compilation I have from 1992.

Verdict - Good


Like many, I first heard this at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert. I thought the song itself was a tribute to Freddie Mercury but then 3 years later came a Queen version with Freddie Mercury actually singing it. I liked this along with "Driven By You" enough to get the "Back To The Light" album on which they appear.

Verdict - Good


There are some records where I can pin point exactly when they came out and this is one of them. I associate this with starting a new year at school. There is also no doubt that this is the best Annie Lennox solo record I've heard.

Verdict - Good


Hardbag has arrived with this being credited as the breakthrough record for that genre. Felix was the only one flying the flag for the genre commercially in the early days as it wasn't until 1994 when we started to get the flood of hardbag Top 40 hits. You could say this was ahead of its time then.

Verdict - Good


One memory I have of this record is that someone who I would regularly get lifts from would turn the radio off when this would come on. At the time I thought they simply could stand it but it's more likely they knew what the lyrics meant and didn't want kids listening to it. I still managed to hear it a lot though not knowing what the lyrics really were. I liked it because it's a good tune.

Verdict - Good


The debut for Jon Secada and the only hit of his that many people would remember. I love the contrast between the vocals and backing track in this. You hear the intro and it sounds quite happy and upbeat, then you hear the pain in his voice. 

Verdict - Good


Back in 1992 I just thought this record was a bit naff. By 1993 I thought we'd seen the last of Billy Ray Cyrus and for a while that seemed to be the case. Unfortunately we've since had to encounter a lot more from the Cyrus name than just a naff record. To be fair to Billy, it's more his daughter that irritates me than him. Still, if it wasn't for this record then nobody would have heard of his daughter which makes me hate it even more.

Verdict - Rubbish


Being a London resident, I pass though Baker Street a lot and still to this very day I get this record going through my head more often than not when I do so. It was the Top 40 debut for Undercover and their best known. I'd not heard the Gerry Rafferty original at the time so this is my default version. 

Verdict - Good


When I saw the video to this I thought Luther Vandross and Janet Jackson looked different to how I remember them. That is of course because it's not Luther Vandross or Janet Jackson in the video, it's Damon Wayans and Stacey Dash from the film "Mo Money" which this record is from. 

Verdict - Good


In my college days I bought an old rave compilation from Cash Converters and put it on in the common room. Several people in the common room weren't into rave and weren't familiar with most of the tunes. I was there saying they were missing out, this was good stuff. Then this tune came on which everyone did know, but I had to concede that this one was shit. Think that was the only one we all agreed on.

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 18/30, or 60%. Same as last week.
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Beautiful People Festival @ Queen Elizabeth Park

These days when I see the line up for a festival my reaction tends to be a mixture of who the fuck is that, too much EDM nonsense, they used to be good but not any more and Carl Cox is the only one on the line up I'd want to see. The reality is as someone who's the wrong side of 40 with a music taste that's perhaps a bit older than my years I'm unlikely to be inspired by a line up that's in all probability designed to appeal to a younger demographic.

Then I saw the line up for Beautiful People Festival which I confess I'd never heard of before, my first thought was I haven't seen a line up like this for years and given it's also in London I should probably go.

The headliners were Masters at Work who I'm a big fan of. The rest of the line up was a mixture of styles, but there was also a dedicated UK garage arena. I loved UK garage back in the day but was never too keen on garage arenas at raves because the stereotypes were true in that respect. In a festival where the punters were likely to be older and the other music styles being mixed in though, this seemed the ideal setting to go to a garage arena. 

Arriving at the festival I headed straight to the garage tent. Jason Kaye was playing to just a handful of people with it being early on. He kept it 90s, the way I like it and by the end of his set the tent was filling up.

Next on the bill was Matt Jam Lamont, but also joining him was Mike Ruffcut Lloyd who was due to play afterwards but they started an unplanned back to back set. However, Mike Ruffcut Lloyd soon disappeared off the stage. I stayed for around half the set, conscious that I wanted to experience the variety the festival had to offer.

Wandering round the other tents it became apparent that the garage tent was by far the busiest. The main arena was outside as expected, but there was also another outdoor arena that basically had the DJs playing out of a shed to a small outdoor space that was a bit of a corridor. After a quick visit to each arena I settled on the tent that didn't have any must see DJs on the line up, but there was some pleasant house music being played in it.

Next up on the agenda was Evelyn Champagne King. I'd been in the tent she was playing less than 30 minutes prior when it was pretty empty but now it was full. DJ Bigger finished his set and handed over to Shortee Blitz who announced that Evelyn Champagne King would now be on a bit later. Cue the mass exodus from the tent.

I then returned to the garage arena where Mike Ruffcut Lloyd was playing, followed by Masterstepz. I stayed for around an hour, before returning to see if Evelyn Champagne King was now playing. Shortee Blitz was still playing but I decided to stay put in the hope Evelyn Champagne King would be on shortly.

She finally appeared on stage and it was worth the wait. She did the big hits, but also sang "A Change Is Gonna Come" by Sam Cooke acapella, did an excerpt of "Rappers Delight" and played the bongo's.

DJ Hype appeared afterwards and it was good to hear a bit of drum & bass out loud. After the altered schedule though I remembered I was hoping to catch a bit of Brandon Block so went out to catch the last 10 minutes of his set where he'd gone way back playing "Stomp" by Brothers Johnston and "I'm Every Woman" by Chaka Khan. I then returned to see Hype play who I gather was playing newer stuff as I didn't recognise the majority of what he played.

Then it was back to the garage tent to see Artful Dodger, though not the original Artful Dodger. They started off playing pretty much every garage anthem from the turn of the century. Then they did a bit of grime, before playing a bit of old skool jungle. What they didn't appear to play though was any Artful Dodger tunes which seemed a bit odd.

Next up was Pied Piper and early on in the set Da Click appeared on stage to do "Good Rhymes". I stayed until it was time for Arrested Development.

These days Arrested Development is Speech and a few randoms, though in all due respect Speech was the only member people knew back in the day. Being a festival you're more likely to get a crowd who simply thinks your music is decent without being your biggest fans and this was evident from the mass exodus once they'd played "Mr Wendal".

Finally it was headliners Masters at Work on the main stage. After chopping and changing all day this was 2 hours straight of them. It was solid without being spectacular, maybe I was hoping for more of their anthems in there of maybe I was just knackered. By 10pm I'd been going for 9 hours and even though I live in London, Stratford isn't exactly close to where I live and the walk from the park to the station takes long enough. A few minutes later I decided to beat the rush and leave, though there were plenty of other people who had the same idea.
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Thursday, 1 September 2022

Rezerection @ Royal Highland Showground, Edinburgh 02/09/1995

 

DJ Vibes

One thing I've mentioned many times throughout the year is the number of Scottish and Dutch records being played vs English records. For the first time though we actually find ourselves raving in Scotland.

As far as Northern/Scottish events went Rezerection was pretty much as big as it got. An estimated 16,500 people attended this particular event which started at 12 noon and finished at 8am the following morning. 

Scott Brown, the producer of a sizeable number of Scottish records was on the line up. Paul Elstak who I guess you could call the Dutch Scott Brown was also on the line up. Unfortunately neither appeared on the tapes so I can't comment on their sets.

The only Scottish DJ (to my knowledge) to appear on the tapes was Marc Smith. Scotland leads the way tune wise plus there's a notable number of Dutch tunes, but he also plays tunes from USA and Austria plus a couple of English ones

The only other set where Scotland leads the way tune wise comes from Bass Generator who comes from Newcastle, so not too far from Scotland. Again a notable amount of Dutch records in there, but we also see German and American records as well as a solitary English one.

Speaking of America, Lenny Dee was playing at this event and played the same number of Scottish tunes as he did American ones, but it was Dutch records he played the most of. There were also a couple of English records plus and German and Italian one.

Just the one Scottish record played by Brisk, but plenty of Dutch ones and as seems to be the way in many of his sets he starts playing the English tunes towards the end.

Marie Chantal played an equal number of Scottish and Dutch tunes plus a solitary English on and German one, though there were some unidentified tunes in there too.

I've gone with the Vibes set though which is mostly Dutch and the rest being a mixture of Scottish and English records. 

Finally from the south coast of England we have Ramos & Supreme who play a 100% English set. 

Plenty of new for 1995 tunes, but some of these could just be Scottish records that never got much play outside of Scotland:

Gordon Tennant - I'm On Fire

Omar Santana - Cologned

Infernus - 7 Ways

Sonicdriver - Mind On The Beat

Gordon Tennant - Jump Jump

DJ Paul - Rainbow In The Sky

DJ E Rick & Tactic – Now Is The Time

Da Beatblower - Fuck Your S Off

DJ Jeroen Flamman - Fucked In The Ass

Shrillness - Keep The Hands In The Air

Scott Brown & Omar Santana - Drop The Noise

Nasty Django - Hardcore Motherfucker 

DJ Isaac - Party Is Mine

DJ Gizmo & Delerium - Don't You Ever Stop

The Director - Somebody Scream

Wedlock - The Tower

DJ Isaac - Bad Dreams

Omar Santana - Hype The Funk

Buzz Fuzz - Countdown

Temper Tantrum - I Get The Coke

Temper Tantrum - Destroy the World

The Destroyer - You Fuckin' Mutha Fucker!

Twin Terror - Get Up And Party

DJ Weirdo & DJ Sim - Go Get Busy

DJ E-Rick & Tactic - Bring the Noise

G-Force - Out There

Sons Of Ilsa - Pulsingers Nacht

Ultimate Buzz - NR Gize

DJ Alex - In Control

Marc Smith - Nexus

Force & Styles - Pump it Up

Bass Shakers - E Motion

WE 3 - Groovy Dimensions

Menace & U.S.D. - Hardcore Vibes

Evil Maniax - Bang!

Druid vs Rebel Alliance - Kick Some Ass

Spy vs. Spy - Dance With Me

Pagan & Petrov Feat DJ Dobbit - Feel So Good

Mc Loud - Untitled

I'm surprised that "Rainbow in the Sky" by DJ Paul has only just featured as it would be in the Dutch Top 40 the following week.

The tune that gets the most plays is unsurprisingly a Scottish one which is "Pump up the Noize" by Marc Smith, a tune I've always loved but never knew what it was called until I started doing these posts.

Whether we'll return to Scotland or not before the end of the year remains to be seen. Based on this event it would be good, but then we were spoiled for choice in 1995.

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Wednesday, 31 August 2022

The Top 40 Leaderboard: August 2022

Drake now tops the leaderboard alone, somewhere I suspect he will stay until the end of the year. Ed Sheeran consolidates 3rd place and with most of Central Cee's hits coming at the start of the year it only seems a matter of time before Ed Sheeran overtakes him.

Rap wise it's been a bit more low key this month, 61 of the 139 records this year coming from that genre or 44%.



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25 Years Since....August 1997

In August 1997 it was all about the dance music. Here's some of the tunes I was enjoying:


Da Mighty Dub Katz - Magic Carpet Ride

This record was actually from 1995 and the man behind Da Mighty Dub Katz was Norman Cook before he became better known as Fatboy Slim. By 1997 Fatboy Slim had been established, but was yet to be a household name.

In the summer of 1997 came the TV show Ibiza Uncovered and this was the theme music. I watched every episode and recorded them onto video. As a result I can't listen to this tune without thinking about the TV show.

Shena - Let The Beat Hit 'Em

Shena has sang on many dance records over the years, but this was her only Top 40 hit that was simply credited to Shena. Prior to this she had sang on JX hits but as uncredited vocalist.

For me though it's all about the main riff. I could listen to it all day.

Airscape - Pacific Melody

In the 21st century there was some pretty dreadful trance music coming out of Belgium from the likes of Lasgo. It wasn't always like that though.

This was one of the first Top 40 trance records from Belgium. I love the way it breaks down and then the piano comes in.

N-Trance - The Mind Of The Machine

Back when N-Trance did "Set You Free" it was a turning point in my life. It played a massive part in me converting from a grunger to a raver. Unfortunately the N-Trance records the followed immediately afterwards were a bit crap.

With this record though they were back doing decent music again. Or so I thought, their next Top 40 hit would be a cover of "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" featuring Rod Stewart himself. Needless to say that record won't be featuring in this series when the time comes.


The Source - Clouds

The Source are known for recycling their tune "You Got The Love" every so often. They did have one other Top 40 hit though which was this.

To be fair it doesn't sound all that different to the 97 mix of "You Got The Love" which came out earlier on in the year. It's a good beat though.
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