9TH AUGUST- FREED FROM DESIRE- Gala (1 week)

 

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ux68MJhvNlc/TekISYO91aI/AAAAAAAACnw/tNC09qYlvKI/s320/1201.jpg

 

NOW THIS IS MORE LIKE IT. If there is any song that sums up clubbing in 1997 to me then this is the one. With a hook that digs in and refuses to budge in a fashion that the protesters outside St Paul's still envy, this exploded from the continent to dominate the summer of 97. Having hit No 1 in many European countries in late 96/ early 97, the UK once again played catch up but once finally on board the track spent 8 weeks in the top 10, quite impressive in the high turnover charts of the year.

 

The TOTP performance was notable for its "unusual" dance moves and the fact that despite all the dancing Gala still chose to sing live (albeit breathlessly at times) so kudos for that, I still remember watching the performance and being enthralled by her, it was everything that good dance music was about to my 21 yr old heart. Naturally after such a fantastic start she went nowhere (or presumably back to Italy at least) and she scored just 2 hits after this, but is still releasing music. Along with Ultra Nate, Rosie Gaines and Dannii Minogue I seem to recall a summer when there was always some big dance record in the charts by a Diva, a great summer it has to be said and one filled with good memories, I know it's only coincidence but Gala fits into that picture very nicely indeed.

 

Edited December 11, 201113 yr by Dasher76

A really strong set of #2's in 1997 - adore Ecuador, Lovefool, Song 2 and yes - even Time To Say Goodbye - joined in the top three one week by Olive and Katrina and the Waves one week iirc - how wonderfully diverse :wub:

 

And then Picture Of You, fantastic uptempo which I actually still hear regularly on the radio now - probably Boyzone at their 90s best - well personally I very slightly prefer 1998's All That I Need but I'm sure I'm completely alone in caring for that song at all :lol: But I disagree with you Gezza, I don't think it lacks anything - it's great as it is (off topic but why did you change your name to Dasher?)

It's a christmas thing innit? :D

 

It'll be going back in Jan.

 

1997 was a bit of a damp squib for me in general, musically speaking, or perhaps it just seems that way in comparison to the glorious 98 & 99. However it does end on a high with a few absolute gems of runner ups....

Another excellent song, off topic slightly but this was my personal top 40 of 1997 which features so many of these songs - quite a few of my favourites from that year flopped though, as the top five shows :( Amazingly strong year though although I agree that 1998 (in particular) and 1999 were superior overall.

 

1. Eternal feat Bebe Winans - I Wanna Be The Only One

2. Kylie Minogue - Some Kind Of Bliss

3. Republica - Ready To Go

4. The Corrs - I Never Loved You Anyway

5. The Corrs - Only When I Sleep

6. Paula Cole - Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?

7. All Saints - Never Ever

8. Dario G - Sunchyme

9. Boyzone - Picture Of You

10. Katrina & The Waves - Love Shine A Light

11. Texas - Say What You Want

12. Eternal - Angel Of Mine

13. The Cardigans - Lovefool

14. Mr President - Coco Jamboo

15. Dannii Minogue - All I Wanna Do

16. Natalie Imbruglia - Torn

17. En Vogue - Don't Let Go (Love)

18. Spice Girls - Mama

19. Boyzone - Baby Can I Hold You

20. No Doubt - Don't Speak

21. Sash! - Ecuador

22. Spice Girls - Too Much

23. Sash! - Stay

24. Coolio Feat. 40 Thevz - C U When U Get There

25. Savage Garden - I Want You

26. Texas - Halo

27. No Doubt - Just A Girl

28. Janet Jackson - Together Again

29. Finley Quaye - Sunday Shining

30. Mark Owen - Clementine

31. Kylie Minogue - Did It Again

32. The Verve - The Drugs Don't Work

33. Republica - Drop Dead Gorgeous

34. Gala - Freed From Desire

35. White Town - Your Woman

36. Texas - Black Eyed Boy

37. Backstreet Boys - Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)

38. Hanson - Mmmbop

39. Backstreet Boys - As Long As You Love Me

40. DJ Quicksilver - Bellissima

It's a christmas thing innit? :D

 

It'll be going back in Jan.

 

1997 was a bit of a damp squib for me in general, musically speaking, or perhaps it just seems that way in comparison to the glorious 98 & 99. However it does end on a high with a few absolute gems of runner ups....

 

Of course - I didn't even make the connection in my mind :lol:

 

1997 is perhaps the year I first became very aware of music and the charts - or maybe 1996 alongside the Spice Girls, I was 9/10 so a bit of a late starter I guess :o So I definitely have some good memories related to the music of 1997, especially the Spices, Boyzone, All Saints etc... as they were what was big in the school playground :lol:

Another excellent song, off topic slightly but this was my personal top 40 of 1997 which features so many of these songs - quite a few of my favourites from that year flopped though, as the top five shows :( Amazingly strong year though although I agree that 1998 (in particular) and 1999 were superior overall.

 

2. Kylie Minogue - Some Kind Of Bliss

6. Paula Cole - Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?

7. All Saints - Never Ever

11. Texas - Say What You Want

14. Mr President - Coco Jamboo

15. Dannii Minogue - All I Wanna Do

16. Natalie Imbruglia - Torn

19. Boyzone - Baby Can I Hold You

22. Spice Girls - Too Much

25. Savage Garden - I Want You

26. Texas - Halo

28. Janet Jackson - Together Again

30. Mark Owen - Clementine

34. Gala - Freed From Desire

35. White Town - Your Woman

38. Hanson - Mmmbop

39. Backstreet Boys - As Long As You Love Me

 

On these songs we can agree, I left "Coco Jambo" on there just because it is sooooo bad it's good :lol: :lol:

On these songs we can agree, I left "Coco Jambo" on there just because it is sooooo bad it's good :lol: :lol:

 

Oh I agree, brings back some good memories even if on paper it's horrendous :lol:

 

Good to see some love for the underrated Clementine :D Shame that didn't peak a place higher to appear in this thread!

And "Child" and "I Am what I Am"- all of which were great, I think I even bought "Four Minute Warning" i suppose that makes me a fan! :o

23RD AUGUST- TUBTHUMPING- Chumbawamba (3 weeks)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ee/Tubthumping.jpg

 

It must have been a mixed fortune for a band of self proclaimed anarchists like Chumbawamba to have such a successful record as "Tubthumping". They had been plugging away with records criticising Band Aid, Ferry Aid, The Miners Strike, and the electoral system for much of the 1980s without any chart success, and a move to One Little Indian record label in the early 90s produced some minor hits without ever troubling the Top 40.

 

It was signing with corporate giants EMI in 1997 that changed their fortune, whilst some saw this as a sell out the band arguing it would enable them to reach a wider audience with their music and insisted that "Tubthumping" was just a song they wrote with no intention to "write" chart music. However over the summer media interest in the track grew and radio picked up on the song was riding in the top 20 of the airplay charts pre release and hey presto when it hit the shops it spent 3 weeks at the runner up spot selling over 700k. Whilst their time at the top may have been brief they used it productively, famously pouring a bucket of water over John Prescott at the BRITS in 98, and getting a top 10 follow up with "Amnesia" written about the broken promises of Tony Blair's Government post election.

 

It was impossible in late 97 NOT to hear this song everywhere (it even made the top 10 in the US) and was often heard sung drunk in many a pub, teh working class images and politics of the band lent itself to that kind of environment, adn whilst the song has little subtlety about it, as a "beer song" it is hard to beat, the female vocals add a slight touch of melancholy to the track which I always found interesting, nice to hear after all these years but it became quite grating toward the end of 97, I guess we all have to sober up sooner or later.

 

Edited December 12, 201113 yr by Dasher76

20TH SEPTEMBER- YOU HAVE BEEN LOVED/ THE STRANGEST THING 97- George Michael (1 week)

 

http://991.com/newGallery/George-Michael-You-Have-Been-Lov-135246.jpg

 

He's back- a sixth release from "Older" and a third No 2 hit from it. In the light of the death of Princess Di radio had started to play "You Have Been Loved" which was already pencilled in as a release prior to those events but the funerial feel of "You Have Been Loved" seemed to capture the mood until Elton came along of course.

 

Indeed the Michael release had a normal release date of Monday and topped all the midweek flashes being bound for the top until that Elton record saw over 600K sold on the Saturday alone comprehensively defeating Michael. "You Have Been Loved" is a tender ballad sung in Michael's best emotive voice, a reminder of the tenderness he could command when his voice was at its best, it's just a bit....bland.

 

On the other hand "The Strangest Thing" was taken from the album and, as was now the tradition, given a dance overall and provided an unexpected delight. Transformed into a Disco electronica extravaganza, it has a mediterranean savoir- faire about it, with all the disco bleeps you could ask for. This was the great seller to me about the package, a confident beast, delivered with convinction, and an emotional underbelly which is all Michael was at his best, one fo teh best things to come from the whole "Older" period.

 

Edited December 12, 201113 yr by Dasher76

26TH APRIL- OLD BEFORE I DIE- Robbie Williams (1 week)

C'est la vie, they say. And they said at the time that this wasn't really much of a cop. Looking back, I agree it isn't. It's definitely Robbie sounding like he's trying to find his feet out of the Take That prison and using Britpop as his safeboat. Better things would come along, of course, so "Old Before I Die" was just a tremulous beginning.

 

10TH MAY- STAR PEOPLE 97- George Michael (1 week)

Never had a lot of love for this in either the original album version or the '97 single edit. Even then the lyrics stroke me as pompous pontification coming from someone who wasn't exactly known for modest behaviour or anything like it. The music, on the other hand, was competent enough mainstream pop, but nothing more.

 

17TH MAY- LOVEFOOL- The Cardigans (1 week)

Now THIS is more like it! I had already heard this back in its original Summer '96 release and, quite frankly, I was just amazed at how it didn't become a hit-single right there and then, such was its ear-catching mass appeal so evident. Of course closer inspection reveals this song to be as masochistic as can be, especially in its infamous "pretend that you love me" line. But then that was exactly part of its charm: that such disturbing lyrics could be dressed up under a cod-disco pop backing. Of course such peculiarity could only result in The Cardigans falling into pretty much one-hit wonder status, as their music was always a bit off-centre to really sustain a prolonged life in the limelight.

 

24TH MAY- TIME TO SAY GOODBYE (CON TI PARTIRO)- Andrea Bocelli & Sarah Brightman (2 weeks)

Being a continental European, I was already pretty well familiar with this rubbish. This piece of over-dramatic popera bears all the hallmarks that gave Andrew Lloyd-Webber's musicals such a dubious fame, as it indulges itself in pretty much any cliché it pleases, adding insult to injury by doing it with all the pomp of those who seem to think they have something really important to say. Why such thing was a hit in the first place, I don't know!

 

28TH JUNE- BITTERSWEET SYMPHONY- The verve (1 week)

If you're going to over-blow everything, might as well do it in style! Even in those Britpop-heavy days, the thought of what had been once a third-tier indie/guitar act which had just reunited achieving such prominent success would be considered unlikely. But that's exactly what happened, and you can truly say that, however good some of their earlier singles had been ("All In The Mind", "Slide Away", "On Your Own" and "History" in particular), "Bitter Sweet Symphony" was another level altogether. Where most Britpop acts seemed content to ape their parents' record collection in a dispirited way, The Verve actually seemed to take those classicist influences and dress them up in a way where ambition and contemporaneity were jolly good partners. This song in particular drove that point home better than most, by taking the strings out of Andrew Loog Oldham's take on The Rolling Stones' "The Last Time" and looping it to a beat that could be best described as DJ Shadow morphed into a classic rock band format. It could have been a disaster, but it wasn't. Far from it, actually. It was a brilliant tune, through and through, full of gravitas, purpose and inspiration.

Of course, it was all to go down it one fell swoop, starting with the Andrew Loog-Oldham royalties story. It was just a sign of how fast The Verve's second life (and their one in the Sun) was to be.

 

5TH JULY- ECUADOR- Sash! Featuring Rodriquez (2 weeks)

Wherein Sash's full-blown descent into LCD mediocrity started.

 

2ND AUGUST- PICTURE OF YOU- Boyzone (1 week)

Allow me to have a pet theory about why Hollywood's take on Mr. Bean was such rubbish: it had Boyzone on the soundtrack.

 

9TH AUGUST- FREED FROM DESIRE- Gala (1 week)

Another one which, being a continental European, I was very well familiar with by the time it hit the success trail in the UK. Let me just say that the best thing about this song is the face on the single's cover. And I have a feeling some of you will actually agree with me. ^_^

 

23RD AUGUST- TUBTHUMPING- Chumbawamba (3 weeks)

I guess Chumbawamba wanted a little piece of the action too. Or maybe it's just too easy to see this as just another drinking song, when the famous chorus "I get knocked down, but I get up again/You're never going to keep me down" probably points you to another meaning in the song: that however you try to push it down, the working-class always finds a way to resist and, when seeing the chance, to fight back against the pricks. Of course Chumbawamba's place in the mainstream spotlight was never meant to be lengthy, but it surely was fun for a lot of us while it lasted.

Edited December 12, 201113 yr by jaxxalude

27TH SEPTEMBER- SUNCHYME- Dario G (2 weeks)

 

http://www.twinkleboi.com/blog/wp-content/21010438.jpg

 

Having the grave misfortune to run into "Candle In The Wind 97" in the week when it sold over 1.5 million it was never on the cards that this was gonna be a chart topper, and it is, somewhat famously, the record holder for the biggest gap in sales between teh No 1 and No 2 position on the charts. Based on a sample "Life In A Northern Town" by Dream Academy (Dario G were all from Crewe so it's appropriate), it's another one of those songs (albeit a good example) of the dance tunes which begin to litter the charts as we moved into 1998. Indeed, more than any other genre this is the one that would dominate the charts from 1997 until around 2001 and the mass invasion of R N B.

 

I have no strong opinion on "Sunchyme", it's bright enough and engaging, but it wasn't something I cared enough to buy, and in any eventuality with Elton at the top it was never gonna trouble for the No 1 spot. It actually increased its sales in the second week that it fell from 2-3 (to make way for our next entry) before rebounding to No 2 but was well beaten again by Elton by almost 500k. They can't complain as the group had a fair run at the charts scoring 7 top 40 hits though this was by far their biggest.

 

Edited December 13, 201113 yr by Dasher76

4TH OCTOBER- STAND BY ME- Oasis (1 week)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0a/Stand_By_Me_(Oasis).jpg

 

In the dying days of Britpop (popularly said to be with the release of "Urban Hymns" and "Be Here Now") this is one of Oasis's greatest moments. "Stand By Me" is a giantic record, broad in its ambition, and bold of intention, it's the one single from "Be Here Now" that does truly belong to the halycon days of 94-96, and frustratingly the only track from the period NOT to make the top. Full of the hunger and yearning that epitomised those early records it really is a piece of prime Britpop that showed exactly why the movement became big, themes of escape in hope of a better life "If your leaving will you take me with you

I'm tired of talking on my phone" match much of what is found in say "Half The World Away", "Acquiesce" or "The Masterplan"- it is in short classic Oasis.

 

There was a time, believe it or not, when even an Oasis B-Side was as good as most of the things in the charts and maybe herein lies the problem. What makes this record great is exactly the same as what made those early greats amazing, this is aped Oasis circa 96, the point at which we should have realised that the party was over, I think we did, they were forever damaged by the real failure of "Be Here Now" and even subsequent 00s successes or return to form were, in reality, the tracks that reminded us best of that early period. My love for "Stand By Me" is merely therefore my love of the bands first two albums, that's not necessarily a bad thing, they are two of the finest albums to made by a UK band certainly in the last 20 years, but as someone once said (Dorothy Parker I think) "Every new love is just the old one in duller clothes".

 

Edited December 13, 201113 yr by Dasher76

20TH SEPTEMBER- YOU HAVE BEEN LOVED/ THE STRANGEST THING 97- George Michael (1 week)

You know what? Looking back, I have to concede that the Older album probably wasn't as impressive as mainstream pop got in 1996. Through the ears of today, it just sounds like someone desperately pleading to please, please take him seriously as an artist. Even the heavy-handed Listen Without Prejudice, vol. 1 didn't seem so determined to prove to us just how much of a "real" artist he was. Or maybe he just had better songs in Prejudice to back up his ambitions.

All of this to say that, apart from "Fastlove", "Jesus to a Child" and the title-track, everything just seems designed to imply that not only you should take him up as a "proper" artist, you should also buy that he's more mature, as the album title itself screams so obviously. Too bad that George Michael's idea of maturity is such a stereotyped idea of sophistication and class. This single does nothing to change my perception, I'm afraid.

 

27TH SEPTEMBER- SUNCHYME- Dario G (2 weeks)

This is pretty much The Dream Academy's "Life in a Northern Town"'s main hook set to a standard-issue superclub-era handbag house backing, innit? It's still better than everything he did afterwards, though - which doesn't really say much, but there you go.

 

4TH OCTOBER- STAND BY ME- Oasis (1 week)

For all the talk of Be Here Now being a flop, it still sold bucket-loads, didn't it? But then, what could possibly topple (What's the Story) Morning Glory?'s numbers and cultural impact?

Then again, there definitely was a sense that Oasis thought that cranking everything up to 11 would be the solution to move ahead. "Stand By Me", in many ways, was one of the guiltiest parties in this assumption. What sounded like the half-bred mutant child of "Wonderwall" and "Champagne Supernova" turned up as a nightmare to those of us who could forgive Oasis' obvious derivativeness because of how undeniable those hooks, that energy and that joie de vivre which poured out of their music. Here, that derivativeness degenerated into a band completely bored of itself and going through the motions, hoping that the loud guitars would somehow disguise the obvious lack of inspiration on show. It was the sound of a group falling apart at the seams and somehow knowing of their future as once-cultural behemoths turning into a tribute band to themselves. It wasn't pretty to witness!

Edited December 13, 201113 yr by jaxxalude

Then again, there definitely was a sense that Oasis thought that cranking everything up to 11 would be the solution to move ahead. "Stand By Me", in many ways, was one of the guiltiest parties in this assumption. What sounded like the half-bred mutant child of "Wonderwall" and "Champagne Supernova" turned up as a nightmare to those of us who could forgive Oasis' obvious derivativeness because of how undeniable those hooks, that energy and that joie de vivre which poured out of their music. Here, that derivativeness degenerated into a band completely bored of itself and going through the motions, hoping that the loud guitars would somehow disguise the obvious lack of inspiration on show. It was the sound of a group falling apart at the seams and somehow knowing of their future as once-cultural behemoths turning into a tribute band to themselves. It wasn't pretty to witness!

oh you're nasty! :D

 

I don't actually disagree with you in general but I don't think this song is necessarily guilty of that though certainly DYKWIM and AATW certainly are. But then this track's saving grace is what I mentioned in my main commentary.

 

As for GM, as I say the album proper "Older" is now quite soul destroying in its "sophisticated melancholy" it's "Fastlove" and the dance remixes which save the singles from the same fate IMO.

Edited December 13, 201113 yr by Dasher76

18TH OCTOBER- STAY- Sash! Feeaturing Le Trec (1 week)

 

http://www.allflac.com/covers/b_65208_Sash_-Stay__Cd__Maxi_Single___Germany__Mighty__571_813_2_-1997.jpg

 

Poor Sash!. though i'm no fan of the first two hits, I feel for his constant appearance in this thread in 1997. The final one of Elton's "Victims" he was outsold by over 150k in this particular week, and I confess that this was my favourite of his (to this point), perhaps because it's more of a "song" in the traditional sense, this one featuring the vocals of Francine McCoy (Le Trec). Incidentally Sash! became, with this hit, the first act ever to open their chart career with a hat trick of No 2 hits.

 

Anyway it's more of the same fodder that his first two hits were made of, eurobeat, but this time he's taken the effort to write some lyrics, and it's less "Chanty/ shouty" than previous efforts, and there seems to be more of an attempt at "mood" in the track than tracks prior to this. In all truth, this is probably much closer in feel to "Mysterious Times" than "Encore Une Fois" and I have to congratulate him on that, in the week when it debuted at No 2 I recall it was like a "holding week" in the charts, by which I mean there was a feeling in the media/ chart watchers that all the important events would be happening the following week with the release of "Spice Up Your Life" (which was put back a week to "accomodate" the Elton record/ they didn't think they would get a No 1 if they released it on time) which was by now at saturation point on the TV/ Radio so this kind of slipped under the radar preventing over exposure, another potential reason for my liking of this.

 

To my ear a far greater piece of work than I had been to used to seeing from him, and one that actually did get me up on the dancefloor way back in 97 but after this review it should be clear where my Sash! love will hit its height!

 

 

Edited December 14, 201113 yr by Dasher76

8TH NOVEMBER- TORN- Natalie Imbruglia (3 weeks)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/ba/Torn_(Natalie_Imbruglia_single)_coverart.jpg

 

The story of "Torn" is well known, originally written by US group Ednaswap in 1993 it was given away by the band and picked up in Scandinavia at least by Danish singer Lis Sorensen that year turning into a minor hit and adapting it into her language. Ednaswap finally got round to recording their own version in time for their debut album in 1995, and was covered again by Norwegian Trine Rein which again was a hit locally this time in English in 1996, again another two versions followed by Ednaswap, again without much notice before it fell into the hands of Imbruglia.

 

She had of course been a star in Neighbours for much of the decade, but created somewhat of a minor sensation with "Torn" and teh accompanying haircut in the video. The mid 90s was a curious period when having an unusual haircut almost meant fame itself, or certainly increased fame at any rate, starting with the Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) then moving onto Sharleen Spiteri, and Natalie Imbruglia, and they say we're fickle NOW!

 

Anyway back to the song, it's one of those rare tracks that has sold over a million without hitting No 1, and it was far from widely publised when released that this was a cover, causing some awkward questions to Imbruglia in interviews, she responded that she had never claimed it was original or that she wrote it (which was true) but it's a thin line between a lie and an omission. In any respect "Torn" is naturally great, with a video featuring actor Jeremy Sheffield (his second video appearance after Queen's "I want To Break Free") it's an arresting piece of pop music, full of guitar hooks, and an emotive vocal, imbruglia's great looks hardly being a draw back to the whole affair.

 

Of course the test is in time, and it's still hailed a veritable classic to this day, a song that I bought at the time and loved, guitar led pop has always been a bit of a soft spot for me, but this is a song with all the hallmarks of greatness about it, effortless and sublime.

 

Edited December 14, 201113 yr by Dasher76

4TH OCTOBER- STAND BY ME- Oasis (1 week)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0a/Stand_By_Me_(Oasis).jpg

 

In the dying days of Britpop (popularly said to be with the release of "Urban Hymns" and "Be Here Now") this is one of Oasis's greatest moments. "Stand By Me" is a giantic record, broad in its ambition, and bold of intention, it's the one single from "Be Here Now" that does truly belong to the halycon days of 94-96, and frustratingly the only track from the period NOT to make the top. Full of the hunger and yearning that epitomised those early records it really is a piece of prime Britpop that showed exactly why the movement became big, themes of escape in hope of a better life "If your leaving will you take me with you

I'm tired of talking on my phone" match much of what is found in say "Half The World Away", "Acquiesce" or "The Masterplan"- it is in short classic Oasis.

 

There was a time, believe it or not, when even an Oasis B-Side was as good as most of the things in the charts and maybe herein lies the problem. What makes this record great is exactly the same as what made those early greats amazing, this is aped Oasis circa 96, the point at which we should have realised that the party was over, I think we did, they were forever damaged by the real failure of "Be Here Now" and even subsequent 00s successes or return to form were, in reality, the tracks that reminded us best of that early period. My love for "Stand By Me" is merely therefore my love of the bands first two albums, that's not necessarily a bad thing, they are two of the finest albums to made by a UK band certainly in the last 20 years, but as someone once said (Dorothy Parker I think) "Every new love is just the old one in duller clothes".

 

 

I'd argue "D'You Know What I Mean?" is better but that's largely in the context of the album, "Magic Pie" kills all momentum built up by DYKWIM and "My Big Mouth" (surely the obvious 3rd single? Massive tune) dead and "Stand By Me" isn't QUITE good enough to regain it.

4 of the best #2 singles in a row there - shows how good 1997 was for quality. I adore Sunchyme and Stay as amazing dance records, and Torn and Stand By me are classics of their type.

I will get round to giving my comments on the last batch of #2 hits but I must say 1997 was a solid gold year for music imo. Whilst I didn't tend to buy any artist albums, I sure bought a lot of CD singles and compilations this particular year.

I will get round to giving my comments on the last batch of #2 hits but I must say 1997 was a solid gold year for music imo. Whilst I didn't tend to buy any artist albums, I sure bought a lot of CD singles and compilations this particular year.

Nows 37 and 38 will always be favourites of mine.