December 19, 201113 yr 9TH MAY- RAY OF LIGHT- Madonna ( 1 week) Another surefire contender for best #2 record of 1998, hands down! After a first half-decade in the semi-wilderness, Madonna came back smoother, better, slower, stronger. A combination of motherhood, Kabbalah, William Orbit and the finest set of songs since Like a Prayer gave her back her edge over any opponents, making sure that La Ciccone would secure a few more years in the Pop Throne. "Ray of Light" was certainly one of the better examples of her renewed sense of self. Even though there's a furious dance beat beneath, it's a song which exudes an inner peace in a way previous Madonna songs never really did. More than anything, though, "Ray of Light" is everything a true pop record should achieve to be: glorious and ambitious, panoramic and anthemic. An absolute classic! 6TH JUNE- THE BOY IS MINE- Brandy & Monica (1 week) And here's contender #3 for best #2 record of 1998 - how golden was this year, exactly? Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins had his first, and probably most lasting, hit record of his career here. And his authorial stamp was surely here: the lush, synthesized orchestral arrangements; the spacious atmospherics; the mild-mannered beats. All of this weaved together in a harmonious and inventive way, signalling what the next few years of unbridled creativity within American mainstream Urban music would be. On top of this, two teen-aged divas giving their mostly-subdued emotional all, fighting for their boy as if they saw him The One and Only for Life. Another absolute classic!
December 19, 201113 yr 13TH JUNE- HORNY- Mousse T Vs Hot N Juicy (1 week) Hmmm, I'm on the fence with this one. Everything here screams standard-issue all over: the disco-flavoured handbag house beat, the two not-particularly memorable divas, the whole air of calculatedly-crafted hands-in-the-air dance anthem about it. And yet, "Horny" doesn't sound half-bad. Of course the lyrical content here is what it is, but no one goes to dance music expecting biting poetry of the Jarvis Cocker kind now, right? I guess it ends up being a decent tune for what it tries to achieve, which isn't really much and definitely not artistically ambitious. Just one thing, though: don't try to hail this as the dance classic that it really isn't, OK? 20TH JUNE- VINDALOO- Fat Les (3 weeks) In some ways, this song's promo pretty much gave it away. By parodying The Verve's iconic "Bittersweet Symphony" video, Fat Les managed to kill two rabbits at once: send up both the mind-numbing simplicity of football chants and the lad culture associated with them and pretty much football in general. The fact that this ended up being adopted as a football chant itself during England's dismal World Cup campaign (but haven't they all been post-1990?) probably proved its point even further. As such, you can't really fault this record for its apparent zaniness, as that was pretty much its principle anyway.
December 19, 201113 yr Author 11TH JULY- GHETTO SUPASTAR- Pras Michel Featuring Mya & ODB (2 Weeks) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3b/Pras_-_Ghetto_Superstar_single.jpg A Curious thing about summer release schedules, truer in the 90s than ever before, that due to a slump in sales, big new releases tend not to happen which result in (surprise surprise) a sales slump, a vicious circle. As a side effect of this the records that are big around July/ August tend to healthily overplayed by Radio and so the same fate that befell Mousse T occured to Pras, yes I was very OVAH this record by about early August at the latest. Pras's major debut post Fugees, the song featured in the film "Bulworth" and obviously contains a healthy dose of "Islands In The Stream", it's just all a bit rap by numbers to my ears. If you compare this to "Gangsta's Paradise" for example, there is a use of a sample that creates something really quite new despite the sample, menacing in tone, and dark in feeling with lyrics that convince through delivery, and whilst both tracks are from films (though obviously about different subject matters) the Coolio track is about a hundred times more inventive, and almost accidentally commercial. THIS however is firmly aimed at the commercial market, now there isn't anything wrong in that, but for a medium which was originally conceived to be anti establishment it seems a rather curious place to get to so relatively quickly within a genre. Not being a Fugees fan I wasn't expecting to like this at the time (although there a few Wyclef songs that I do love "Gone Til November" for example) but this was just annoying in my book i'm afraid. xqkutef4l1Y Edited December 20, 201113 yr by Dasher76
December 19, 201113 yr Author 1ST AUGUST- JUST THE TWO OF US- Will Smith (1 week) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/11/Just_The_Two_Of_Us_Single_CD_Cover.jpg A man who trades solely on charisma, the appeal of Will Smith in a musical fashion is always something that I never quite understood. The only song in his entire cannon that I like is "Summertime" and that was way back in 1991, the others have varied between annoying and ultimately forgettable and this one falls between the two. With a chorus lifted from Grover Washington's Junior's 1981 hit, this is like most of Smith's output heavily based on more popular samples which is my first gripe, they are all more or less covers though the rap verses are obviously not. He's not therefore much different to the much more derided Robson & Jerome though of course he has two things going in his favour to make him much "cooler" than they ever could be, firstly he's a black guy doing rap, and secondly he's American meaning that he escapes the usual fate that befalls any of our native stars who would do a similar thing. "Just the Two Of Us" throws in a whole more though, platitiudes, twee lyrics concerning fatherhood, there are all here in spades, for a star that is so full of personality his music was curiously deficient of it. Go figure. Anyway, it won't be the last time we'll come across his "hits" in this thread sadly but really, perhaps digging out the originals will always be better.....oh reminds me of Robson & Jerome again. _WamkRSDeD8&ob=av2e Edited December 20, 201113 yr by Dasher76
December 20, 201113 yr 11TH JULY- GHETTO SUPASTAR- Pras Michel Featuring Mya & ODB (2 Weeks) The one thing that makes this song is the one that's already dead. That's right: ODB was the real reason anyone should care about this, as his gonzo delivery is what gives it the necessary gravitas to pull off what would be essentially a run-of-the-mill pop-rap fest, with a charisma-free rapper (Pras) leading the way and a non-entity like Mya in the chorus. 1ST AUGUST- JUST THE TWO OF US- Will Smith (1 week) Charisma, on the other hand, is something Will Smith shouldn't complain about too much. What he should complain about, though, is the fact that, as soon as he changed his rap moniker from The Fresh Prince into his birth name, his music increasingly took a turn to the dull as dishwater. Apparently that wasn't a problem for many, as the album which marked that transformation, Big Willie Style, easily became his biggest ever. Whether this particular fact had as much to do with his then recently newfound film celebrity as it had with his ever-increasing turn towards what could be described as MOR rap (and he was never a hardcore rapper to begin with) is certainly debatable. What's doesn't merit discussion, as far as I'm concerned, is another thing: where tunes like "Parents Just Don't Understand", "I Think I Can Beat Mike Tyson", "Summertime" and even "Boom! Shake The Room" and "Gettin' Jiggy Wit' It" were breezy good fun, others like "Just The Two of Us", "Miami" and a couple of others which we'll discuss later just fell listless and limp all around. Maybe money does make people too comfortable after all. Edited December 20, 201113 yr by jaxxalude
December 20, 201113 yr Author The one thing that makes this song is the one that's already dead. That's right: ODB was the real reason anyone should care about this, as his gonzo delivery is what gives it the necessary gravitas to pull off what would be essentially a run-of-the-mill pop-rap fest, with a charisma-free rapper (Pras) leading the way and a non-entity like Mya in the chorus. Charisma, on the other hand, is something Will Smith shouldn't complain about too much. What he should complain about, though, is the fact that, as soon as he changed his rap moniker from The Fresh Prince into his birth name, his music increasingly took a turn to the dull as dishwater. Apparently that wasn't a problem for many, as the album which marked that transformation, Big Willie Style, easily became his biggest ever. Whether this particular fact had as much to do with his then recently newfound film celebrity as it had with his ever-increasing turn towards what could be described as MOR rap (and he was never a hardcore rapper to begin with) is certainly debatable. What's doesn't merit discussion, as far as I'm concerned, is another thing: where tunes like "Parents Just Don't Understand", "I Think I Can Beat Mike Tyson", "Summertime" and even "Boom! Shake The Room" and "Gettin' Jiggy Wit' It" were breezy good fun, others like "Just The Two of Us", "Miami" and a couple of others which we'll discuss later just fell listless and limp all around. Maybe money does make people too comfortable after all. OMG two reviews we agree on? :D
December 20, 201113 yr Author 8TH AUGUST- COME WITH ME- Puff Daddy Featuring Jimmy Page (1 week) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1b/Come_With_Me.jpg The late 90s were a boom time in music promos, at least on the budgets anyway. Whilst "Thriller" was groundbreaking and cost a then unthinkable amount for a pop video, by the mid and late 90s promos were regularly running into the millions with varying amounts of success Jacko's "Scream" having recently set a benchmark that still has to be surpassed, and thus we have the 7 minute pop promo for this single. Taken from the film "Godzilla" (which had just given Jamiroquai their first chart topper weeks before this) it's somewhat disturbing that this is as close as Jimmy Page ever got to the UK No 1 spot as it's based around the riff from "Kasmir" by Led Zepplin for which Page gave consent and features on this movie tie in. Predictably it's awful, I'm no Led Zepplin fan (prog rock tends to send me to sleep) but this rap bast*rdisation only adds insult to injury, and should, in addition to the previous entry, make you eternally grateful for "Viva Forever" which held both of them off the top. I still recall hearing this track on the chart show entering at No 2 and being very unimpressed with it, essentially it attempts to appeal three types of market, rap, rock, and pop and in doing so overstretches itself falling between all three genres, it's non appearance in the year end top 40 for 1998 proves this point and it's highly doubtful that the song repaid its video budget, here was an expensive lesson that hype doesn't guarantee sales long term, and an ego no matter how large, isn't compensation for a tune. tOi6-JmxM0I Edited December 21, 201113 yr by Dasher76
December 20, 201113 yr Author 15TH AUGUST- MYSTERIOUS TIMES- Sash! Featuring Tina Cousins (1 week) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/da/Mysterious_Times_single.jpg Finally a great Sash! track. After the disappointment of "La Primavera" which only made No 3 the German producer refound his form along with the help of Ms Cousins for whom it was her first taste of chart success after a couple of chart flops. What exactly makes this a great record? Well in my opinion it's quite poppy, light, and ultimately a feel good record, everything great dance music should be, there are elements of trance in the track which would be dominating dance music by 1999 (the first major sub genre of dance music that I actually loved) and it was around 1998 that I got majorly into clubbing, we're talking about 3-4 times a week. If you're wondering how I did that whilst working then the answer is youth and also being in a job that I knew wasn't a career :) Yes I was doing an admin job and planning my escape to Brighton the following summer so whilst I had finished Uni and was working it was just a holding job to accumulate money for my masters, it was a relativelycare free period in my life and I guess that rubs off on some of the "party" tunes of late 98 and 99, "Mysterious Times" is eurodance at its best in my opinion, a great tune! myEF_NMsnLw Edited December 21, 201113 yr by Dasher76
December 21, 201113 yr 8TH AUGUST- COME WITH ME- Puff Daddy Featuring Jimmy Page (1 week) This (and a whole host of other tracks) is why no one was really sorry when Puffy/Puff Daddy/P. Diddy/Diddy/whatever faced possible jail time around 2000 over the whole nightclub fracas. OK, just taking the piss! :D Still, Sean Combs' fancy for taking whatever shopping mall favourites and turn them into lazy examples of sampling work was certainly on full display here. Whereas he used to take both musical backing AND chorus on other occasions, only the first is done here, if only because the original "Kashmir" didn't have a chorus to speak of. Still, the method was pretty much intact, as "Come With Me" was basically "Kashmir" redux with some inane babble done in Puffy's unmistakably limp style. 15TH AUGUST- MYSTERIOUS TIMES- Sash! Featuring Tina Cousins (1 week) And here it is: Sash!'s other decent tune in his life. Shame he hasn't done more like this, as "Mysterious Times" places him squarely on what should have been his territory since the very beginning and afterwards: straight-up POP music. And in that light, this track is almost a revelation, as Sash!'s trance-lite tendencies get filtered through Tina Cousins' longing vocals and an actual song that doesn't really say much, but does it stylishly. Unfortunately, as I already said, it would turn out to be a one-off for Sash!, as it was back to mediocrity land in no time.
December 21, 201113 yr Author 22ND AUGUST- MUSIC SOUNDS BETTER WITH YOU- Stardust (2 weeks) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ef/Stardust_-_Music_Sounds_Better_with_You.png If there was a single definition of cool in 1998 then Stardust were pretty much it. The members of the group were at the time shrouded in mystery even appearing on TOTP in silhouette form only, all we knew was that they were French, and that once again we were behind the times as this had already been a big hit across Europe before it got to us here. The members of the group ended up being a trio one of whom was Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk, which accounts for why the track has a daft punk appeal to it. Based around a sample of Chaka Khan's 1981 track "Fate", THIS is now an officially recognised classic, effortlessly cool in a way the French have become masters at, MSBWY shimmy's onto a crowded dance floor and ultimately ends up with everyone staring admiringly at it by the end of the song. Indeed it even sounds quite advanced for the music scene of 1998 which had a fair amount of cheesy dance in it but it would be this kind of thing that puts "Horny" et al to shame. There aren't many lyrics, there doesn't need to be, it has a chopped up beat most records would die for, and an air of continentantal savoiur faire that the UK just can't replicate, the group itself were only a side project for the members and nothing more ever came from them, perhaps they realised that having hit near perfection there was little point in continuing....if only everyone thought like that. Much as I love "No Matter What" its ability to come from behind and defeat Stardust seems a little cruel all these years later but if they hadn't I wouldn't have this opportunity to gush about it. SIMPLY GREAT! AGeopZRnPjc&feature=related Edited December 22, 201113 yr by Dasher76
December 21, 201113 yr Author 5TH SEPTEMBER- ONE FOR SORROW- Steps (1 week) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c3/One_For_Sorrow.jpg A certain truth belies the success of Steps. There is nothing new about them, nothing original, the music and image is more or less a rehash of ABBA, that was all known at the time, but why Steps were so phenomenially popular is simply because they produced very good copies of an alrready proved successful formula. Waterman admitted that he wanted to recreate an ABBA for the 90s which is exactly what he did, and as the reputation and reverance for the Swedish supergroup had been rekindled in the early 90s he saw the perfect opportunity to launch his facsimilie into a market which more responsive to "pure pop" now than at any time since the hey days of S/A/W back in the late 80s. The music of Steps is therefore now very painfully late 90s (that's either a bad thing or a good thing depending on your view of the period) for me it's bloody MARVELLOUS! Don't get me wrong they did produce some pap but from "Last Thing On My Mind" to "Love's Got A Hold On My Heart" they barely put a foot wrong. "One For Sorrow" is a piece of bittersweet balladry with a marked resemblance to "The Winner Takes It All" with Richards taking lead vocals (something which would result in tensions in the group later down the line) but in all fairness even a copy of that great ABBA track is better than most of what was around at the time. Aimed at the lucrative teenage/ pre pubescent/ gay audience Waterman knew so well it was always going to be a winning audience. I still recall to this day doing the Steps challenge in Gay clubs where all the "Butcher" guys would stand around looking cool but when Steps came on suddenly the campness within would erupt :lol: Anyway "One For Sorrow" is great, and I loved it at the time, it's no "Winner Takes It All" it's true but let's not be churlish about it compare it to much of what we've suffered over the summer of 1998 and it's a blessed relief! GM6jygVxMPg Edited December 22, 201113 yr by Dasher76
December 22, 201113 yr 22ND AUGUST- MUSIC SOUNDS BETTER WITH YOU- Stardust (2 weeks) As one-offs go, this one is certainly up there with M/A/R/R/S's "Pump Up The Volume". The work of Daft Punk's Thomas Bangalter, Alan Braxe (who'd have a Top 40 hit in conjunction with Fred Falke two years later with the brilliant "Intro") and singer Benjamin Diamond, Stardust were, like many good things, a happy accident. Bangalter was DJing one of these nights, with Benjamin Diamond doing his thing singing over any instrumental parts. There, Bangalter plays Chaka Khan's "Fate" and Diamond starts improvising the now-famous words that are forever etched in the minds of all those who heard it in real time. Watching the crowd reaction, Bangalter pitched the idea of making a track from the very same premises and asked his pal Alan Braxe for help. The rest, as they say, is history. "Music Sounds Better With You" became a monster hit all over Europe, and deservedly so. Stardust took only the necessary parts from Chaka Khan, melding them perfectly together and creating a monster groove out of hit over a production so pristine, it almost felt like our ears were shining! On top of it, Benjamin Diamond sang lyrics which could be easily described, when heard attentively, as a love letter to E: Oooooh baby I feel right The music sounds better with you Love might Bring us both together I feel so good And so on. Think about it! 5TH SEPTEMBER- ONE FOR SORROW- Steps (1 week) Dear old me, there aren't words to describe how much I loathed (and still do) Steps! To be honest, I never really thought of them as being ABBA for the late century, but more as the worst parts of Bucks Fizz (i.e., everything not called "Land of Make Believe") and Brotherhood of Man (everything) with updated production. "One For Sorrow" was but one example of such putrid combination. I don't care what anyone says; for me, Steps represented not so much the return of "pure" pop so much as pop really eating itself. That this was masterminded by Pete Waterman was just proof that he should have just let the past be the past and rest content with the fact that, in the middle of a lot of forgettable fare, he did help to create some of pop's with a capital P greatest late 80's moments.
December 22, 201113 yr Author 12TH SEPTEMBER- EVERYBODY GET UP- Five (1 week) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/da/Everybodygetup.jpg Of all the boybands of the late 90s if there was one that I had an indescirbable liking for it was Five (or 5ive depending on your view point) more likely just because of the lovely Jay Brown. Anyway that to one side, Five had been growing in stature since their first hit "Slam Dunk (Da Funk)" back in Dec 97 and this was their fourth release and sampled Joan & The Blackhearts "I Love Rock N Roll". It isn't their best work IMO "When The Lights Go Out" and "Got The Feeling" were actually much better but hey I have to work with what the charts give me, their particular angle on the boyband market was the East 17 market who had long since had not much to champion in the charts more than the odd hit from a US boyband. Yes that all important urban music genre was just looking for the right product to hook young females in, in reality I'm surprised no-one really noticed the market opening for a band like Five, hooks lifted the world of Rock combined with rap sung by pretty boys, for many years they were the boyband it was kinda cool to like. Yes they were formed by Simon Fuller (of Spice Girls fame, and signed by Simon Cowell) by way of trivia Russell Brand was one of the auditionees for the group, wonder how differently it would have panned out if he'd got through? Perhaps the faux macho posturing wouldn't have been quite so convincing? "Everybody Get Up"'s appearance here then is more to do with the rising star of the band, the raps are delivered with slightly more conviction than East 17 ever really managed (maybe it's a northern thing) but let us not forget where all this is aimed at, teenage girls and the pink pound, and without those the charts would look very different, certainly during this period. You can argue that the demise of Britpop created a vaccum that pop filled, or that pop became quite good throughout this period depending on where your allegencies lie, for my money however this was a great time in UK pop history. In a world full of Boyzone, 911, OTT, Upside Down, and Backstreet Boys- were they really so bad? 4JVTjvsXEa0 Edited December 23, 201113 yr by Dasher76
December 22, 201113 yr Author 19TH SEPTEMBER- SEX ON THE BEACH- T-Spoon (1 week) http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51zVyGKDNEL._SL500_AA300_.jpg THIS however is vile. With a melody that sounds like it was constructed on the world's cheapest keyboard and some rapping that could make a Peter Andre record look world class this is dance gimmickery at its cheapest. Painful. Having been having "hits" in northern Europe since 1994 they finally struck it big with this track which again was a big hit over most of Europe over the summer of 98 and was slightly unusual in being a considerable hit in Ireland whilst not getting a release in the UK. Sadly this was rectified come September when it flew into the charts at No 2, yes we are in the midst of the times when the record at No 2 was almost invariably a new entry and the turnover is quite high, hey at least we get some variety. "Sex On The Beach" is therefore typical euro fodder, light on substance, meaning, and indeed anything to endear it really, perhaps it was those nights spent in Ibiza and the returining hoards of tourists we have to thank for this, a lesson in how dangerous drugs can be kids! In the MW of the time it blames "The Box" for making this hit, further words fail on this though. GP2uRViuB2Q Edited December 23, 201113 yr by Dasher76
December 23, 201113 yr 12TH SEPTEMBER- EVERYBODY GET UP- Five (1 week) Oh, feckin' shite, 5ive! Where to start? The laughable rap aspirations? The faux-macho posturing? The simple fact that they never really had anything close to actual tunes - bar "When The Lights Go Out", "Keep on Movin'" or, if I'm being charitable, "Let's Dance"? Anyway, "Everybody Get Up" is just typical of 5ive: the aforementioned rap aspirations, the over-reliance on over-familiar sampling material, the absolute air of half-heartedness about the whole affair. Quite how they managed to be so popular as to even achieve a double-platinum album with Invincible is beyond me! 19TH SEPTEMBER- SEX ON THE BEACH- T-Spoon (1 week) No one should expect too much out of Eurodance, ever. But even with limited expectations, this track is just pure unbridled litter! The faux-reggae backing, the incompetent MC, the no-voiced "diva"... really, if there's anything even remotely redeeming about this, tell me, because it just escapes me! Edited December 23, 201113 yr by jaxxalude
December 23, 201113 yr Author 3RD OCTOBER- PERFECT 10- The Beautiful South (1 week) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0b/Perfect_10_Single_Cover.jpg Fine purveyors of clever pop, or peddlers of the bland? Well a bit of both really, they can be beige, but when they are good then they're really GREAT. Sadly this isn't one of the greatest moments (among the greats BTW are "Dumb" "Let Love Speak Up Itself" and "One Last Love Song"), it's certainly clever with a dialogue between Heaton and Abbott concerning weight Vs penis size, and the whole thing plods along amicably enough, but really it's hard to bring yourself to care much about the outcome (and in the year of "The Ballad Of Tom Jones" there were wittier things in this vein being done). Once again this is a more a thank you, or a spill over, from the success of the "Blue Is The Colour" album in 1996, and really was no different to what they had been doing in say 1994 or thereabouts, the problem then becomes about progression. Namely that their was very little of that on show, you knew you exactly what you were going to get from a Beautiful South record and it wasn't going to win any new fans. Whilst their success in the Britpop era was more in relation to recognition that was always due- now they had to prove to us that they merited ongoing adoration and that is the weight that rests on the shoulders of "Perfect 10", and it fails to convince. The entirely more winsome "Dumb" is, in my opinion, what was required at this point but perhaps isn't quirky enough to pull off the trick required of a lead single and this did do the job as "Quench" debuted at the top but overall sales disappointed. At the end of the track you're not particularly bothered whether you hear it again or not, apathy does not a great No 2 make. i5-7KHmJ33k Edited December 24, 201113 yr by Dasher76
December 23, 201113 yr Author 10TH OCTOBER- TOP OF THE WORLD- Brandy Featuring Ma$e. (1 week) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ea/Brandy_top_of_the_world.jpg Come on now, honestly, do you know how this one goes off the top of your head? I confess I didn't and after listening to it I'm still struggling to establish how the tune goes. Just like Beautiful South this is a record that makes this thread more due to what occured before than on merit of its own worth, in short as "The Boy Is Mine" was such a big hit therefore her next hit must be good (or so it was reasoned). Pretty much sounding like a million and one other records it's hard to pick out anything that rouses the least excitement or passion. It makes it hard to review. it's another Darkchild creation whose sound would become all conquering by the early noughties, but this is just generic fodder that was almost instantly forgotten. c7ig2LG85LM&feature=related Edited December 24, 201113 yr by Dasher76
December 24, 201113 yr Author 24TH OCTOBER- MORE THAN A WOMAN- 911 (1 Week) http://991.com/newGallery/911-More-Than-A-Woman-498937.jpg Ah 911, always at best part of the Boyband B-List really, yet somehow they built up a run of 10 straight top 10 hits anyone name them all? With a career contained almost entirely within the boyband "bubble" of 95-2000, the band followed the path of what was boyband gold- simply cover a Bee Gees song, it had already turned the trick for Boyzone and Take That and delivered them chart toppers, and the week of release this track led the midweek listings only losing out to Spacedust come the sunday (surely the VERY definition of a Non-number one?). It was recorded as part of a tribute album to the Bee Gees called "A Message To You" which collected some of the biggest names together to cover their songs (Steps, Robbie Williams, Boyzone, Dana International :o ) and of course 911. This was the first song to be released from that album and despite not quite hitting the top did provide the band with their biggest hit to date, and I have to say I don't mind the version they did. Written and heard in "Saturday Night Fever" it also traded on the new west end production of the film which had just started in late 98, in short the stock of the band was probably at its highest since that late 70s disco boom. OK, so the verion is slightly lacking any spirit and the production is also inconsequential, but as a slice of late 90s pop it works well enough and after Brandy it seems to become a much better song). Their next track "A Little Bit More" would finally provide them with that UK Number One they so desired but the end was closer than we imaged as they split up live on the Chris Moyles Show. Lead singer Lee Brennan also married, and remains so, Lyndsey Armaou of B*Witched by way of pop trivia for you. nIsZTD9PAmo Edited December 25, 201113 yr by Dasher76
December 24, 201113 yr Author 31ST OCTOBER- OUTSIDE- George Michael (2 weeks) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7f/George_Michael_-_Outside.jpg I'm going to sound a bit thick now but the issue of George Michael's sexuality hadn't really occured to me even by 1998, I wasn't overly shocked by his rather public outing but I hadn't really thought about it much either, I wonder if the "Older" period would had of been as successful if that outing had of come in 1995 instead? Anyway "Outside" is the response record to that incident, an incident the press had a field day with. A suitably earnest Michael did the rounds of interviews with Parkinson etc to talk about the issue and the pre release interest in "Outside" was probably the biggest boost he had had since the break up of Wham!. I recall on the release day buying this track and Cher's "Believe" in Woolworths before work which had opened early as the DVD release of "Titanic" was also on that same Monday. There's much to love about "Outside", with a funky 70s esque backing track, Michael on fine form vocally (probably his last period before the drugs started to take their toll) and tongue N Cheek lyrics. Faced with two possible responses to this episode he could have gone into seclusion and hung his head in shame or come out fighting, and thank god he chose the latter for "Outside" is the sound of a man unburdened (I was going to say relieved but perhaps that's not appropriate). The "Older" period can therefore be seen as representing that repression, there were hints of a desire to be open before, and great art can be born of such repression, "Outside" however marks the point that Michael loses that need to hide and it is joyous. Such a shame then that supression seems also to be the point that artistically, he was at his best and lost his touch post this, I guess nothing focuses talent like opposition. S5IJyb2In58 Edited December 25, 201113 yr by Dasher76
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