yes the next dance #1 here is absolutely fantastic if i say so myself, a real classic of its era like Heaven was.

And 'Walk On Water' - could be ok with a remix but in its official form is a bit too weedy and lifeless for me. And, again, that's someone miming to someone else's vocals in the video...

 

For the next release, Land of the Living, the vocals WERE actually re-recorded for the UK version :lol:

 

Compare the original:

To the UK version:

 

It confused me at the time as I had no idea Linda was miming to somebody else's vocals for the first two releases, and wondered why her voice had suddenly deepened in the space of a few months. Walk On Water

, shame she didn't record her vocals for all three UK releases.

 

As an aside btw, I love all three Milk Inc singles and their album was one of my favourites of 2002. This track, For No Reason, was my favourite, less dancy than the others with more interesting strings and steel pan sounds, and actually sung by Linda:

. Actually reminds me more of Independent Women by Destiny's Child or a Timbaland production of the time in some ways, though a lot cheaper sounding.

Edited September 29, 20168 yr by gooddelta

Heaven is good, it was everywhere at the time, my father hated DJ Sammy (I assume most older adults did back then) because he said he ruined good songs, the same with Boys Of Summer.

 

It did get a bit annoying after a while as it was overplayed at the time.

 

DJ Sammy would have another top 10 hit in 2005 with Why (a cover of the Annie Lennox song) with a vocalist who sounded a lot like Annie. I prefer this one as the vocal sounds more 'retro'. The Heaven production is good, but I am not sure if I like the vocal as much.

 

But before that comes another DJ Sammy track in 2003, an original one I think, which is my favourite of his.

 

There were a lot of trancepop covers of 80s songs starting to appear in the charts by this time. Personally I preferred the later 80s remixes period (later 2004 to mid 2006) because most of them used the original vocal.

 

There's something very sad sounding about the music in that Soda Club song. It's like LNM Projekt ft Bonnie Bailey - Everywhere in 2005 (deep house cover of the Fleetwood Mac song), which also had quite sad sounding music.

Edited September 29, 20168 yr by TheSnake

yes the next dance #1 here is absolutely fantastic if i say so myself, a real classic of its era like Heaven was.

 

Actually the band that produced the song made their two UK hits in the late 90s.

 

Actually the band that produced the song made their two UK hits in the late 90s.

 

And it shows, both sound like something Sash! might have released in 1998, similar to Move Mania etc...

Just going to post these here, seeing as all of Kelly Llorenna's appearances have now gone. She was SO good on Top Of The Pops, completely live, hilarious staging or costumes, she really should have been a bigger star.

 

 

 

 

 

Then again, her more recent performances haven't been up to much oops, this is absolutely dreadful, hopefully it was an off day :(

 

'shiny disco balls' :dance: :dance:

 

'forever', 'shooting star' & 'tell it to my heart' are all amazing classics from this era~ :wub:

Flip and Fill didn't come to the performance on Top Of The Pops for True Love Never Dies. :(

 

Edited September 30, 20168 yr by TheSnake

I got really into Top of the Pops again around this time, I remember the Rainbow performance quite vividly (how could you not!) and became a major Big Brovaz fan after that first performance of Nu Flow. Odd to think that the ill-advised "all new" revamp/beginning of the end was only about a year away, it seemed pretty fine how it was at this point but I know there were crisises behind the scenes with increasingly falling ratings. It certainly wasn't in the weekly top 30 by then - that went to other high profile programmes such as Ground Force and Celebrity Bargain Hunt.

 

It's certainly a myth that no one bothered with it after 1991 or so (which is what most seem to suggest when examining why the show ended when it did) - it might not have been at its 1970s/80s levels of viewing, and I eventually switched full time to CD:UK on the other side which seemed way cooler, but it was still worth a watch - those Kelly Llorenna performances are fantastic, properly making the songs into events!

 

The start of that 'Forever' performance though..."They've had FIFTY top ten hits!", what :lol: And maybe mentioned before but what on earth at that 'Set You Free' performance - introduced as a remix but they play the original?! You can imagine Rob Searle being pretty pissed off watching at home :P

Edited September 30, 20168 yr by BillyH

Cant think of a drum & bass song with trance influences tbh. Although I can think of a song that brings together trance and breakbeat.

 

I found this from early 2013, mostly dubstep beat but obviously very trance influenced (even has a trance beat at the start)

 

 

Serious trance influence in this one too with the synths in it, although it's not really dance music.

 

 

 

Edited September 30, 20168 yr by TheSnake

I cant see it sorry. Having synths isn't enough since several genres use it.

Edited September 30, 20168 yr by Euphorique

Loved "Heaven", for me easily better than the original. Also loved "Boys Of Summer", but thought "Sunlight" was super dull

 

"Pray" is good but nowhere near on the same level of "Something" or "Alone"

 

I liked both covers by Jan Wayne, but then he lost me with "Only You" which I found super dull.

 

"Heart Of Gold" is another great song by Kelly Llorenna, she also did that year "Destiny" with N-Trance which was great, but it flopped with no support

 

That Rainbow track is just nuts, first heard it on TOTP of all places.

Edited September 30, 20168 yr by Euphorique

I cant see it sorry. Having synths isn't enough since several genres use it.

 

Well I just thought the buildups and the sound of those synths in the Delilah -Go track are similar to those in trance, I know the beats are trip hop though.

 

The Endorphins track I think has the feel and buildups of trance and in the video there is a trance beat at the start too, so this was obviously inspired by the genre.

 

Elsewhere 'Don't Stop The Party' by The Black Eyed Peas has trancepop elements, I guess that is what the production would sound like if an American EDM act decided to do a 'trance' influenced track.

Edited October 1, 20168 yr by TheSnake

The Jan Wayne track is a bit like 2010s big room house, spoken line and then the drop with the big synths.

 

Soda Club actually after doing two trancepop covers went on to change genre completely for their last top 40 hit with an original (I think) funky house tune.

 

I think Kelly Llorenna's Tell It To.My Heart inspired this move to doing 80s trancepop covers. Its a bit like how Call On Me inspired the 80s remixes later on in the thread.

Just going to post these here, seeing as all of Kelly Llorenna's appearances have now gone. She was SO good on Top Of The Pops, completely live, hilarious staging or costumes, she really should have been a bigger star.

 

It's a shame that she never got to perform Brighter Day on TOTP. Or that it was a top 40 hit, for that matter.

It's a shame that she never got to perform Brighter Day on TOTP. Or that it was a top 40 hit, for that matter.

 

Her version of Tell It To My Heart was better than the Filatov and Karas version, although I do like that one, reminds me of 'Summer Jam' by UD Project (the remix that charted in 2003)

 

2003 saw the kind of funky house I like start to do better in the charts,

How Did You Know by Kurtis Mantronic

is one of my personal favourite ever dance records even though I discovered it recently. But will it make this thread.

 

2003 also has one of my favourite trance records ever

Damaged by Plummet

and also the drum.and bass masterpiece that is

Barcelona

the chorus of which I remember singing a lot at the time -has to be one of the best summer anthems of all time.

 

Plus we have two excellent trance tumes making this thread at the start of 2003. I am looking forward to the year immensely.

Soda Club actually after doing two trancepop covers went on to change genre completely for their last top 40 hit with an original (I think) funky house tune.

 

You mean Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use)? That was a soundalike cover of a top 3 hit from the 1993 by Sub Sub (who later went on to form alternative band Doves oddly!)

Love Inc. - You're A Superstar

 

 

Date 22nd Dec 2002

3 Weeks

Official Chart Run 7-7-7-7-13-14-18-21-26-36-39-45-57-x (13 weeks)

 

 

Canadian dance group (from Toronto) Love Inc. released 'You're A Superstar' in June 1998 where it peaked at #13 in their own charts and #8 in Spain, and the UK being fashionably late as always got the song... over four years later. That's a long delay even by our usual standards. The group are made of eurodance producers Chris Sheppard and Brad Daymond, with vocalist Simone Denny. Both this and their UK follow-up hit 'Broken Bones' (released prior to 'YAS' in Canada) are taken from their self-titled album which made the Canadian top 40 chart. A follow-up album would be released in 2000 ("Into The Night") before the band split up. It is also worth nothing that another group called Love Inc. had a minor hit single in 1991 titled 'Love Is The Message' (UK #57), who are unrelated.

 

If you asked me why it took so long for the song to be pushed here, or why it even did finally receive a push, I have no clue. At least we can be thankful it was though because it's a brilliant song and a fave of my early youth, and the fact it managed to be such a hit years after it was produced just shows. Rather than feeling dated it has the feel of a big dance classic. The lyrics are inspirational, the vocals are powerful, and the production is far from lazy unlike some of the other eurodance songs of the time.

 

And with that we end 2002. Review to come shortly.

2002 in review

 

The #1s:

 

Puretone - Addicted To Bass (4 n/c weeks)

Flip & Fill feat. Kelly Llorenna - True Love Never Dies (1 week)

db Boulevard - Point Of View (2 weeks)

Lasgo - Something (5 n/c weeks)

Shy FX & T Power feat. Di - Shake Ur Body (1 week)

X-Press 2 feat. David Byrne - Lazy (3 weeks)

Shakedown - At Night (1 week)

Nigel & Marvin - Follow Da Leader (2 weeks)

Ian Van Dahl - Reason (2 weeks)

Paffendorf - Be Cool (1 week)

Elvis vs. JXL - A Little Less Conversation (4 weeks) (+1 week in 2005)

Scooter - The Logical Song (4 weeks)

Mad'house - Like A Prayer (4 weeks)

N-Trance - Forever (1 week)

Scooter - Nessaja (3 weeks)

Jakatta feat. Seal - My Vision (3 weeks)

Who Da Funk feat. Jessica Eve - Shiny Disco Balls (1 week)

DJ Sammy & Yanou feat. Do - Heaven (7 weeks)

Love Inc. - You're A Superstar (3 weeks)

 

links to all the reviews are contained in the OP for easy reference

 

End-of-year:

 

Pos/Performer/Title/Dance Chart Peak/Actual Chart Peak/Sales

 

1 Elvis vs. JXL - A Little Less Conversation 1 1 634k

2 Scooter - The Logical Song 1 2 386k

3 DJ Sammy & Yanou feat. Do - Heaven 1 1 300k

4 Lasgo - Something 1 4 260k

5 Puretone - Addicted To Bass 1 2 208k

6 X-Press 2 feat. David Byrne - Lazy 1 2 153k

7 Daniel Bedingfield - Gotta Get Thru This (D'n'D Mix) 1 1 145k

8 Mad'house - Like A Prayer 1 3 142k

9 db Boulevard - Point of View 1 3 136k

10 DJ Alligator Project - The Whistle Song (Blow My Whistle Bitch) 2 5 106k

 

Elvis becomes the king of the dance chart in 2002 then. Other than that it's very much the year of eurotrance and house, plus 'Gotta Get Thru This' makes the EOY top 10 for the second time.

Those iconic four weeks at #7 *.* Even in the streaming era that would be something of a feat.

 

I believe Broken Bones was remixed for the UK, as I have the album from 1998 and it sounds a lot more dated and doesn't have as much oomph. You're A Superstar was much the same though, apart from the great intro being cut out on the UK radio edit. Incredible track anyway, we always have a token dance song in the Xmas top ten :lol: