1988

 

5th place - Phil Collins - A Groovy Kind Of Love

 

6.4

 

 

Cover 4 of 6 - this time from Muzio Clementi - Sonata No. 5 - Rondo :D

 

 

 

Well, not exactly but that was the original source of the melody. The lyrics were written by Toni Wine and Caole Bayer Sagar for The Mindbenders in the 60s. Mr Collins suggested using it for his film Buster.

 

I'm quite sure that no two of us would have put these lower 6 songs in the same order. Phil comes out on top but definitely not for some of the laughably Des'ree/Enya style lyrics.

 

Exhibit A

 

Any time you want to

You can turn me on to

Anything you want to

Any time at all

 

I'd rather have a piece of toast.

 

I do like the pre-chorus a lot.

 

Seventh best seller of the year.

 

 

Always loved this song by Phil didn’t even know it was a cover!

Is there any one not quite sure what's left?

I'm totally lost at what's left, I guess Kylie for sure... maybe even twice? Yazz maybe? Tiffany?

Bros? They had a bunch of hits but not sure if they sold that well...

I have no idea what's left and I've decided not to look so it's a nice surprise - or a not nice surprise as the case may be!

1 Cliff

2 ***

3 ***

4 ***

5 Kylie and Jason

6 Glen

7 Phil

8 The Hollies

9 WWW

10 ***

1988

 

4th place - Kylie Minogue - I Should Be So Lucky

 

6.7

 

 

Ah, Kylie. Let us count the way we love thee.

 

Like Wannabe, I Should Be So Lucky was a watershed moment when many younger listeners fell in love with pop music. It ushered in a new era. An era of sustained commercial appeal. An era during which Kylie would spend more than six months in the top 2, over her first 18 months of chart action. (It took the Spice Girls 24 months to do the same).

Despite a rough patch in the late 90s, it was the start of a love affair that still hasn't ended.

 

According to Mike Stock they forgot that they had arranged a meeting with Kylie and had to write the song while she sat in the waiting room. She recorded it in less than an hour. So, in less than 2 hours this song went from not existing at all to being the iconic pop gem it is.

 

After Can't Get You Out of My Head, I Should Be So Lucky is her signature song.

 

It hasn't dated all that well, for me. The chorus grates a bit but the rests is fine, and a decent entry in the cannon of SAW.

 

Third best seller of the year.

Edited December 9, 20204 yr by Colm

not the biggest fan of I Should be so lucky, a kinda silly song, and you can tell it was done in 2 hours, I always thought SAW gave pretty shitty material to Kylie, but it didn't matter cos the public was so into Kylie they'd buy anything... Average song at best.

ISBSL oddly sounds better when Kylie does it as a ballad, in concert, as it takes away the banality and gives the melody more of a chance. As a recording, it's not in the same league as even Especially For You, never mind He Ain't Heavy....! I liked it for a while, then got annoyed by it after overplay and I took some convincing that Kylie was anything other than a flash in the pan disposable pop star, especially after the god-awful cover of The Locomotion. It was Better The Devil You Know that started to change my opinion, and I think her first core long-term fans came along about that time.

 

Groovy Kind Of Love is a lovely version of a greater 60's pop biggie. Eric Stewart (& later Graham Gouldman) of 10CC was the core of the band at this time - see their I'm Not In Love as a future chart-topping song. Toni Wine was the female vocalist on The Archies' chart-topping Sugar Sugar, and Carole Bayer Sager was co-writer of the chart-topping When I Need You (for Leo Sayer) & US chart-toppers like Arthur's Theme & That's What Friends Are For, not to mention her own hit You're Moving Out Today hit & the Bond Theme Nobody Does It Better for Carly Simon. Just to say the record I adored when I was 8 years old had impeccable credentials.... :)

 

 

I always find it hilarious when you remove the vocals from a SAW song and the general beat is the same for nearly them all and continuously rotates through the verses 😂

1988

 

3rd place - Tiffany - I Think We're Alone Now

 

7.0

 

 

Another cover - just one to go.

 

Written by Ritchie Cordell in the 60s and recoded by Tommy James and the Shondells.

 

Pipping I Should Be So Lucky to 3rd place is I Think We're Alone Now based on the sole factor of sounding like a subdued New Order backing track.

Some day I will get around to the much promised mash-up with Blue Monday.

 

 

 

Fourth best seller of the year.

oh I really liked this back in the day, and I remember buying her album on vinyl as a kid

I was Debbie Gibson team but also liked Tiffany a tiny bit :o

I never understand pop rivalry from the fan's point of view. Even in quite a public rivalry between, say Blur and Oasis, why would I deprive myself of listening to one because I preferred the other.

Edited December 10, 20204 yr by Colm

Oh now I really like that Tiffany track, it's easily my favourite song to feature so far. I agree with you that it probably has something to do with the New Order style backing but I do also think it's got a decent melody to it and it's sort of 80s cheese pop but in the best possible way.

It's just more distinctive that the other pop music that was around at the time. I didn't like it back then but now I really love it.

A while ago I was in a band doing covers and we did Tifanny's I Think We're Alone Now and was a fun song to play on guitar and sing

not sure if I've ever heard the original though, probably not

 

I don't see anything New Order-esque about the song though I have to say

I don't see anything New Order-esque about the song though I have to say

 

The beat and the hand-claps. The synth bass isn't a million miles away either, if a little sunnier than NO would do it. That's why I included the instrumental version.

Edited December 10, 20204 yr by Colm

I liked the Tiffany pretty decent cover, and anything that highlights the terrific Tommy James back-catalogue is to be applauded. Mony Mony & Crystal Blue Persuasion especially are epic. A bit better than Kylie's ISBSL on the whole. I bought the 12" vinyl and then replaced it with a 3" mini-CD (another dead format, that needed an extra plastic adaptor to play in a CD player). Bad choice!

1988

 

2nd place - Yazz and the Plastic Population - The Only Way Is Up

 

8.0

 

 

The final cover of the 10. That must be a record for number of cover versions in a year top 10.

 

The house explosion was the most exciting thing about 1988. A few house collectives found that having a vocalist was a much more successful way of achieving chart success. Coldcut, The Beatmasters, Bomb the Bass and D-Mob all brought us singers that would go on to have varying levels of stardom - Lisa Stansfield and Cathy Dennis proving most durable.

 

But first to score a chart topper we had Yazz and her Plastic Population, who had worked with Coldcut earlier in the year on the sample-laden Doctorin' the House. Coldcut also produced The Only Way is Up, but didn't get a credit as the artist.

 

A feel good anthem of positivity and resilience - the single was an absolute smash and, following Glen Medeiros who had unexpectedly jump to the top spot, also came out of nowhere (number 10 actually) to take the crown from Glen. It had been expected that Kylie's Locomotion would enter at number 1 that week but it wasn't to be. Miss M was beaten on sales for the following 4 weeks.

 

The breakdowns in the 12" version is some of my favourite acid-house music...in the world ever!

 

After Black Box's Ride On Time this was the biggest selling dance hit of the decade (if you don't include Blue Monday :P).

 

Second best seller of the year (damn you Cliff)

Edited December 11, 20204 yr by Colm

1988

 

1st place - Womack & Womack - Teardrops

 

8.4

 

 

 

Mystery solved :P

 

And the highest placed non-cover is this uniquely warm and affecting song. Its release date was unfortunate as it got continually thwarted in the weekly top 4 by Phil Collins and Hollies but ended up spending more weeks(six) in the top 4 than either of them. It also outsold the incoming U2's Desire and Whitney's One Moment in Time and indeed any chart topper until Mistletoe and Wine.

It's a tale of a lost love and the profound grief and regret involved in the aftermath. The most subtle backing vocals make this equally as comforting as it is sorrowful. And that chorus. :wub:

There's nothing quite like this song - one of those rare ones that is made totally of raw human emotion.

 

It's been covered a lot too - Sugababes, The XX, Elton John and kd Lang, and Lovestation all took a stab at it.

 

Tenth best selling single of the year.

Edited December 10, 20204 yr by Colm