I remember thinking it was highly overrated at the time but I grew to love it.

love it! didn't realised it dropped so fast 1-8-20 is pretty poor sadly, deserved so much better, great great track!!!! Chemical Brothers could do no wrong at the time... Setting Sun/Block Rockin'Beats is a great sequence of singles

DJ Quicksilver - Bellissima

 

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm82/TheMagicPosition86/rsz_bellissima_zpsatktkmvf.png

 

Date 6th April 1997

4 Weeks (3 consecutive)

Official Chart Run 6-7-4-4-5-9-10-10-11-14-20-19-26-33-39-53-75 (17 weeks)

*Positions in red are the weeks when the track would be number 1 if just dance music was chart eligible.

 

Released on the distinct and increasingly ubiquitous Positiva record label, “Bellissima” was a huge chart hit for Turkish born producer Orhan Terzi, who grew up in Germany. Living in the city of Bochum situated in Nordrhein-Westfalen he opened and ran a record store that would soon become a frequent meeting place for ravers and DJs alike. It was here where he met Tommaso De Donatis in early 1995, and from this point collaborated on the DJ Quicksilver project. The ‘DJ Quicksilver’ name was one affectionately given (and subsequently taken) by Terzi in a DJ competition whereupon a barometer of mercury was used to establish and project the apparent success of the DJ set from the audience reaction.

 

By the middle-to-late-1990s instrumental dance was rapidly sweeping from the club dancefloor to the mainstream with the aforementioned Positiva duly delivering it to the charts. Their 1996 debut “Bingo Bongo” was a moderate hit in Europe (reaching the Top 40 in both Germany and Austria) but made a more subdued debut in the UK at #133 in February 1996. That club hit was sparse progressive house track with one vocal sample and tense string arrangements that would later be better applied on May 1997 single “Nightmare” by Brainbug (sadly not covered here), the follow-up just over a year later however was vastly more successful.

 

Opening with a euphoric and anthemic melody upon which “Bellissima” is constructed, the track slowly builds using a relentless pulsating bassline, a vinyl scratching effect which is used to break up the track, all of which transforms it into a powerfully charged commercial dance smash. “Bellissima” went straight into the Top 10 and began a (surprisingly strong for the unsettled Top 10 of 1997) run of 8 consecutive weeks there - likely due to people slow to catch on to the actual title of the track given it was an instrumental and this was in the era before Shazam and the internet, making it one of the most successful tracks to not go Top 3 in 1997. “Bellissima” eventually sold over 400,000 copies making it as the 24th biggest hit of the year. The project would come back with another Top 10 hit later in the year (more on that later), but are probably best known for their remix of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence”, titled “Heart of Asia” and released under the Watergate pseudonym - making the Top 3 in May 2000.

 

Goosebumps.... I LOVE this track!

 

:wub: :wub: :wub: :wub: :wub: :wub: :wub: :wub: :wub:

I remember a radio DJ joking that this was the one that caused confusion in record stores with people asking for the name of the track that goes "do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do" :P Amazing track - getting some tropical house vibes from it at points, surprised there hasn't been a Kygo-style makeover of it by now.

Just came to my mind that there was another German DJ who started his career in 1997 (althought never charted sadly in the UK): Kosmonova. Hi came to fame with the song called Ayla (which was a cover of a DJ called Ayla and 2 years later charted also in the UK)

 

in 2000 he had a fantastic track: Danse Avec Moi :wub:

 

The DJ Quicksilver track is gorgeous.

Bellissima is the essence of 1997 dance for me. Instrumental dance was indeed sweeping the dance floor and this track got played twice a night at the nightclub where I went, back then.

Edited March 19, 20169 yr by Colm

1997 was the year of my favourite dance song of the 1990s, I hope to see it get a week at the top here! :o LOVE Block Rockin' Beats, another Chem Bros classic, I think I recognise Bellissima too.

Edited March 19, 20169 yr by Chez Wombat

Belissima is a proper tune! :music:

 

now we're getting into the trance era properly I imagine there'll be lots of songs I love.

 

Alan Walker and SeeB having hits now also gives me hope that trance will make some sort of comeback soon as they sound more trancey in production than most of the recent dance hits although they're in no way trance songs

Trance rarely hit the top 10, even in 1999 when the great stuff was being re-released it still failed to reach the Top 10.

On the subject of Sash, Stay and Mysterious Times are both brilliant! 1997 was a great year for dance though :D

Orbital - The Saint

 

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm82/TheMagicPosition86/rsz_the_saint_zps3jrpew70.png

 

Date 13th April 1997

1 Week

Official Chart Run 3-12-22-43-71-73-68 (7 weeks)

*Positions in red are the weeks when the track would be number 1 if just dance music was chart eligible.

 

Brothers Paul and Phil Hartnoll officially formed Orbital in 1989 at the height of the UK acid house and rave scene, however it took them until 1997 to make the UK Top 10. Equalling their highest chart position of #3 was “The Saint”; an updated version of British composer Edwin Astley’s iconic theme to the popular 1960s TV series of the same name, which starred Roger Moore as Leslie Charteris’ anti-hero Simon Templar (aka, ‘The Saint’).

 

What started out for the brothers as a hobby became a full-time job after Paul created groundbreaking acid house anthem “Chime” in a makeshift garage studio at their family home in the commuter belt town of Sevenoaks. Knocked up in less than half an hour on a new four-track they were testing out and initially mixed onto cassette, it quickly garnered demand from tentative club plays and eventually scaled the dizzy heights of #17 on the singles chart in March 1990 - they were asked to perform on Top of the Pops where they mimed along to “Chime” in their anti-Poll Tax shirts. The group continued to mix and record new tracks, many of which also became 90s anthems such as “Belfast” and “Halcyon” from the Radiccio EP, and eventually gravitated to putting on relentlessly energetic and hugely entertaining live shows, which culminated in a legendary performance at the 1994 Glastonbury Festival. Step forward to 1997 and with a reputation that garnered the brothers huge respect, they were kindly asked by New Zealand film score composer Graeme Revell to remix the theme from the TV series of ‘The Saint’ to accompany the Hollywood adaptation.

 

Adopting a big-band style along with their own inimitable classical techno textures, “The Saint” is transformed into a huge big beat sound which became very much on trend during ’97 with updates to the Bond theme “On Her Majesty's Secret Service” by The Propellerheads, and the original theme by Moby: both following later in 1997. Orbital never made the Top 10 again but continued to tour successfully and have hits with 2004’s #29 hit “One Perfect Sunrise” serving as their swan-song before going on hiatus until 2012, when they returned in style with the fantastic Wonky.

 

Lovely track by the Orbital :wub:

 

And the video is really funny :)

I don't recall that Orbital track at all. And looking at its chart run I imagine even people who were music followers at the time would've forgot it.

This one always frustrates me a little because it reminds me of another, similar track - probably late 90s/early noughties - that I heard a million different times on various adverts/TV shows in the early-mid noughties but never known the name of it as it's an instrumental.

 

Features a brassy sample from what sounds like an old movie/TV show theme - but might not be - and goes into a garage/D&B style-sound similar to Bomfunk MC's 'Freestyler'. Unfortunately that's not enough to identify it but it's the same sort of idea as the Orbital track.

Obrital are one of few artists that still make great techno sounds even in 10s, I love their Wonky album, especially the track with Zola Jesus. "The Saint" is fantastic, shame it rather was quick faller and hardly a huge hit

Two really great tracks here, both Orbital and the ChemBrothers are amazing! Surprised how short-lived both Chemical Brothers' #1s were.

Shame Orbital's only representation on this thread is the pretty run of the mill cover of The Saint. Especially since The Box was such a brilliant record immediately before. Great act who remain one of the most exciting to see live - there's always a wee surprise thrown in.

not crazy about these dance versions of tv/movie themes and agree, kinda bittersweet that they peaked in the charts with this track instead of any of their original songs