Both iconic but 'Ride On Time' wins it for me easily. Btw anyone who likes 'Ride On Time' should check out their album 'Dreamland'.

Edited October 11, 20195 yr by M4NG0

Am I the only one who didn't know Heather Small's vocals were on a different version of Ride On Time? :lol:

 

So is it her vocals on the version we all know and love or is it the reworking of Loleatta's vocals?

I know it's only a year off but I remember being so surprised to learn these were both from the 80s. They feel distinctly 90s and you can notice they're influence in so many of the biggest 90s dance classics. Both ahead of their time and timeless, as these go down a storm on the dancefloor now and fit very well among today's dance records.

 

It's very close but I've gone for 'Pump Up the Jam'.

At the time I thought that 'Pump Up The Jam' had something of a retro feel to it. In places the music sounds modern (as in back in 1989) but there are also times where it does sound like it could have been from 1984 or 1985.

 

I bought both singles so love both songs but I'll go for Black Box. Only the Loleatta Holloway sampled version though. The Heather Small version (which probably sold more copies back in 1989) is dreadful. As Alan Jones described her re-recording at the time it was like something you would find on those cheap 'Top Of The Pops' type albums that Hallmark Records used to release which often featured "gross cover versions". Alan (like the rest of us at the time) didn't know who the singer was on the re-recording and M-People were a couple of years away from making the charts so he just described her as an "inferior singer".

Edited October 11, 20195 yr by Robbie

Both are bonafide classics, but Ill go with Black Box on this one.

Crazy to think I was a matter of weeks old when this chart happened! I have to say Black Box are my favourite of the two here. First act from Italy to have a number one too, I believe?

 

Also can't hear this without thinking of Jennifer Saunders singing it in character on the original French & Saunders sketch that later became Ab Fab!

Am I the only one who didn't know Heather Small's vocals were on a different version of Ride On Time? :lol:

 

So is it her vocals on the version we all know and love or is it the reworking of Loleatta's vocals?

How on earth can you not tell the difference it is totally obvious

 

 

 

by the way Loletta Holloway interview on Youtube love the last comment she makes and her facial expression over the settlement making her views clear.

Edited October 12, 20195 yr by steveh31

Crazy to think I was a matter of weeks old when this chart happened! I have to say Black Box are my favourite of the two here. First act from Italy to have a number one too, I believe?

Mantovani was Italian and made no 1 way back in the 50s as well as half of Renee & Renato :D

^agree on that, Get Up was much better, a masterpiece compared to Pump up the jam

 

 

 

This I do not understand.

Get Up, This Beat Is Technotronic & Rockin Over The Beat were much better the latter being my fave of their songs.

 

I would like to pose a question re Black Box if Ride On Time had not been re-recorded by Heather Small do we think it would still have reached 1 million copies, did people buy both and inflate the sales or did in fact the remix put some people off like me and had the original stuck around in the shops it may have sold more?

 

The remix and the hype over the vocals certainly put it into people's minds so maybe a factor of all the above inflated sales and maybe it would have done slightly less had it not had the negative coverage.