Catch is one of my Kosheen faves, maybe the chorus is a bit repetitive but still very good.

 

Will I is good with the big room synth sound but definitely not the sort of thing I would have liked at the time, I really didn't like trance/hard dance back then.

And into the final batch of the year, and a break, and Feeder I don;t recall that single, so let me check my stats - Just A Day got a fairly low-key 4/10. Tarantula must have frightened me off, as DNC, but Catch was a good 8/10, I thought each Kosheen single was better than previous right up to their peak in 2002 with a sublime flop (and BJSC entry of ours).

 

David Gray's best record was this Soft Cell cover, for me, a 9/10, though not quite up to the original it's a good version. Just caught his latest single co-incidentally, not quite up to this standard. Ms. Jackson was getting no late-career single name credit from me, and this butchering of Carly Simon is at best a 3/10. The Warp Brothers must have jetted off beyond the speed of light before I noticed, but Will I was a pop club track of the time, but something about it didn't gel with me and Ian Van Dahl didnt chart till 2002 with another better track.

 

Gordon Haskell was a local singer round these parts and it was quite heart-warming he got a hit late in his non-career, and How Wonderful You Are was quite nice, 7/10. Lately ditto was decent enough 7/10, and ditto Starsailor 7/10, I always liked their stuff. Emma's track scraped a weak 8, so grabs runner-up spot so far.

 

Robbie & Nicole was a welcome return of a childhood Frank & Nancy fave, but safe to say it's not a jot on the original - but it's still a 9/10 and my record of the week in a not-classic batch. Don't Stop grabbed one week at 75 from me, so 3/10, which is better than t'other track from Mariah. She'll manage one more top 10 in my charts over the next 23 years discounting oldies...

 

Delirious grabbed a 6/10, I liked the sound and production, and Michael jackson's Cry is one that sticks in my mind for being wet and dreary, so let's see if my memory is failing, here we go...and it got a 6/10 too, better than I thought it did - though just 3 weeks on the chart knocks it down to a 5/10.

 

Have a nice break Julian!

'Catch' is great, but this mix is the ultimate supreme version of it:

 

 

Also 'Just A Day' is definitely one of Feeder's best :heart:

Week 40:

 

What Would You Do? > Family Affair > First Date (just as good as the stuff that came before for me) > Right On > Step On My Old Size Nines > Thinking It Over > I Want Love > Androgyny > Come What May > Jus 1 Kiss (nice production but feels too repetitive and lacklustre otherwise) > Bad Boy For Life > Music (found this very boring oops, seems wrong saying that about anything of Marvin Gaye's but doesn't do anything for me) > Chain Reaction (I'm not massive on the original either, it's good but nothing too special but this version was uneccesary)

 

 

Week 41:

 

Candy (agree on top song this time around, think I got the cd of this for either myself or my sister at the time, really nice track anyhow) > Fat Lip (this and 'Candy' so far ahead of the rest here) > Venus And Mars > Respectable > 2 People > Here I Come (Sing DJ) > Sven Sven Sven > Let's Get Back To Bed – Boy! > It's Over > You're My Mate (naff personified)

Week 42:

 

In The End > Flawless > Has It Come To This? (didn't know they were around in 2001, well it's a solid debut from them too) > The Trees/Sunrise (both very pleasant, liking the instrumentation on each) > Since I Met You Lady/Sparkle Of My Eyes > You Rock My World > Drawing Rings Around The World > Brown Skin (nicely sung but not really doing much for me overall) > Please Save Me > When It's Over (it's no 'Every Morning and rather uninteresting too) > U Got It Bad

 

Week 43:

 

One Night Stand > I'm A Slave 4 U > Halfway Around The World > Because I Got High > Izzo (H.O.V.A.) > The Block Party (this is different for what I expecting from Lisa and in a positive way!) > Bouncing Flow (catchy rap track) > Course Bruv > Sambuca > Where The Party At > Loving You (Ole Ole Ole)

My average score in 2001 was 5.50, up from 5.45 in 2000.

 

My highlights have been added to Post 2.

 

Like in 2000 I gave 3 10s and 40 9s, and here’s my Top 40 of the year:

 

1 Rui Da Silva Featuring Cassandra - Touch Me

2 Linkin Park - In The End

3 Gorillaz - Clint Eastwood

4 Radiohead - Pyramid Song

5 Ian Brown - F.E.A.R.

6 System Of A Down - Chop Suey!

7 Granddaddy - The Crystal Lake

8 Dr Dre Featuring Snoop Dogg - The Next Episode

9 Mary J. Blige - Family Affair

10 Red Hot Chili Peppers - Road Trippin’

 

11 S Club 7 - Don’t Stop Movin’

12 Daft Punk - Harder Better Faster Stronger

13 Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Murder On The Dancefloor

14 Zero 7 - Destiny

15 The Divine Comedy - Love What You Do

16 Linkin Park - Crawling

17 The Beta Band - Broke / Won

18 Crazy Town - Butterfly

19 Ash - Shining Light

20 PPK - ResuRection

 

21 David Gray - This Year’s Love

22 Blue - All Rise

23 Faithless - We Come 1

24 Daft Punk - Digital Love

25 Daniel Bedingfield - Gotta Get Thru This

26 Gabrielle - Out Of Reach

27 Neil Finn - Wherever You Are

28 The Avalanches - Frontier Psychiatrist

29 Dido - Here With Me

30 Dirty Vegas - Days Go By

 

31 The Dandy Warhols - Bohemian Like You

32 The Ones - Flawless

33 The Strokes - Last Nite

34 New Order - Crystal

35 Outkast - Ms Jackson

36 Cosmic Rough Riders - Revolution (In The Summertime)

37 Eels - Souljacker Part 1

38 Riva Featuring Dannii Minogue - Who Do You Love Now? (Stringer)

39 Atomic Kitten - Whole Again

40 Lee Ann Womack - I Hope You Dance

 

Commiserations to the following that scored 9 but just missed the Top 40:

R.E.M. - Imitation Of Life

The Supermen Lovers Featuring Mani Hoffman - Starlight

I Monster - Daydream In Blue

 

I gave 11 1s in 2001, down from 20 in 2000 and I do think there wasn’t much that was truly horrific.

Worst hit of the year: DJ Otzi - Do Wah Diddy

Week 44

 

Island In The Sun > Chop Suey! > The Legacy > Don't Need The Sun To Shine (weaker than the singles before it but still find this pretty nice) > Closer To Me (and whilst I get the drab comments.. I also really liked this too oops and bought it at the time) > Rock The House > Why Can't You Free Some Time > Young Fresh N' New > I'm So Crazy > We Fit Together

 

Week 45 : pretty solid bunch for the most part and wouldn't usually put Slipknot bottom but that one didn't stand out as particularly interesting.

 

Fallin (can't really be anything else on top, just an excellent debut and each part is grand) > Bohemian Like You > Would You Be Happier (the amount of times this played in the car, nice little wistful track) > Rapture > Stay With Me > Dreams > I'm Real > Waiting > That Day > Livin' It Up > Party Hard > Are You Lookin' At Me > Letter 2 My Unborn > Boiler > Left Behind.

excluding oldies, this is my top 40 for 2001:

 

 

 

1 1 32 MURDER ON THE DANCEFLOOR Sophie Ellis-Bextor 1452950

2 1 32 SOMEONE TO CALL MY LOVER Janet Jackson 1440250

3 1 26 CRYING AT THE DISCOTEQUE Alcazar 1254350

4 2 25 ROAD TO MANDALAY Robbie Williams 1144550

5 1 30 CRYSTAL New Order 1113250

6 1 42 IMITATION OF LIFE REM 1095250

7 1 26 ASTOUNDED Bran Van 3000/ Curtis Mayfield 1079000

8 1 22 HE LOVES U NOT Dream 1069250

9 1 29 THE DARK IS RISING Mercury Rev 1003100

10 1 28 STARLIGHT Supermen Lovers 958650

 

11 1 14 LET LOVE BE YOUR ENERGY Robbie Williams 952300

12 1 16 WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG? Emma Bunton 946650

13 1 32 CAN'T GET YOU OUT OF MY HEAD Kylie Minogue 944750

14 1 16 BOHEMIAN LIKE YOU Dandy Warhols 897150

15 1 20 RIGHT ON Silicone Soul 890650

16 2 19 LET'S DANCE Five 827150

17 1 19 JUXTAPOZED WITH U Super Furry Animals 817600

18 2 25 SING Travis 801500

19 4 33 FALLIN' Alicia Keys 798050

20 4 12 DAYS GO BY Dirty Vegas 790000

 

21 1 22 FAMILY AFFAIR Mary J. Blige 784700

22 1 18 I'M LIKE A BIRD Nelly Furtado 779950

23 2 15 LOVIN' EACH DAY Ronan Keating 756700

24 3 19 BUTTERFLY Lucky Town 755300

25 2 31 WHEN IT'S OVER Sugar Ray 754350

26 3 21 LET ME BLOW YA MIND Eve/ Gwen Stefani 703950

27 4 19 SOMETHING STUPID Robbie Williams/ Nicole Kidman 686850

28 3 19 ELEVATION U2 671450

29 4 20 YOU ROCK MY WORLD Michael Jackson 642500

30 2 17 A.M. RADIO Everclear 613200

 

31 2 17 WHITE BOY WITH A FEATHER Jason Downs /Milk 602050

32 2 14 THIS IS WHERE I CAME IN Bee Gees 599950

33 6 19 AIN'T IT FUNNY Jennifer Lopez 592300

34 4 18 ALL FOR YOU Janet Jackson 582000

35 3 20 STUCK IN THE MIDDLE WITH YOU Louise 546750

36 4 20 HERE WITH ME Dido 531100

37 5 18 MUSIC'S NO GOOD WITHOUT YOU Cher 524500

38 5 20 FREE Mya 523950

39 8 22 TEENAGE DIRTBAG Wheatus 499700

40 4 17 CASE OF THE EX Mya 496800

 

so the 3 excluded from the 40 hurt (6, 10, though daydream in Blue grabbed an under-rated 83). So we overlap on 6, or 15%. I think it's fair to say my tastes are more pop oriented and US biased in 2001 for the top end but another 7 made my top 100, incl Blue and Cosmic Rough Riders just missing the 40. :)

so the 3 excluded from the 40 hurt (6, 10, though daydream in Blue grabbed an under-rated 83). So we overlap on 6, or 15%. I think it's fair to say my tastes are more pop oriented and US biased in 2001 for the top end but another 7 made my top 100, incl Blue and Cosmic Rough Riders just missing the 40. :)

If I’d done this at the time it would have been much more pop orientated. Still I like or love almost all of your Top 40. And your #9 hasn’t even come yet. :)

If I’d done this at the time it would have been much more pop orientated. Still I like or love almost all of your Top 40. And your #9 hasn’t even come yet. :)

 

ooh yes, I'd forgotten I was early on Mercury Rev over christmas?New year. Classic!

Hadn't commented since page 25, but then came a spell with many songs I liked but none I loved, until 'In The End' and 'Has It Come To This?' in the same week, soon followed by 'Island In The Sun', 'Fallin', Last Nite' and 'Hotel Yorba', but the only remaining song to make my top 10 of the year (as compiled in 2010) was 'Walk On', an early favourite of mine when I bought the U2 album on release in 2000, and lyrically it packs a punch (even more than 'Elevation', if that's possible :lol: )

 

Here was my top 10 of the year in full (decade positions in brackets):

1 The Strokes - Hard To Explain (#16)

2 Roots Manuva - Witness (1 Hope) (#38)

3 Super Furry Animals - Juxtaposed With U (#41)

4 Ian Van Dahl - Castles In The Sky (#48)

5 Roger Sanchez - Another Chance (#61)

6 Wheatus - Teenage Dirtbag (#65)

7 U2 - Walk On (#78)

8 David Gray - This Year's Love (#86)

9 Ocean Colour Scene - Up On The Downside (#89)

10 Robbie Williams - Eternity (#90)

Thanks Roba. for spotting that “Make It Last” by Embrace had been missed from the Week 46 and 47 review - now edited. Do let me know if you spot any mistakes, especially an omission like that which would defeat the whole purpose of the project.

Weeks 46 and 47: like pretty much everything here aside from So Solid Crew oops.

 

If You Come Back > The Music's No Good Without You (not her best but still a pretty solid single from Cher nonetheless) > Last Nite > Harder Better Faster Stronger > Hotel Yorba > Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!) > Pagan Poetry > (I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be) Free/One (only one of theirs I bought even though I do prefer lots of others. Really nice but get it might not be others cup of tea) > Freelove > Emotion > My Friend > Underwater > Make It Last > Queen Of My Heart (weirdly always found this fairly pleasant albeit not exciting like a lot of songs they did of this ilk) > What's Going On? (a clutterfest I found back then but some bits sound good) > Fight Music > Ugly > First Messin > Lift Me Up > Get Up > They Don't Know

Looking forward to the review of 2002 such a good year for UK chart music, especially the dance music in the first few months of the year.

Edited October 1, 2024Oct 1 by TheSnake

2002 is when I really zoned into pop music so looking forward to this!

Week 48

 

Who Do You Love Now? (Stringer) > Hyper Music/Feeling Good > Paid My Dues > Have You Ever > The Space Between (really liked this, nice melody and solid vocals) > You Give Me Something > 60 Miles An Hour > I've Been Around The World > A Man Needs To Be Told > Walk On > Got You > Outside > Dance And Shout / Hope ('Hope' is at least fine but agreed on 'Dance and Shout') > Do Wah Diddy

Just finishing with my thoughts on the last five batches!

 

I would agree that Daft Punk is the best of the first group, Discovery really was a perfect dance album.

 

Other than that it's not a group I'm wildly excited by - I quite like the Cher song, although it was drowned in even more vocoder than Believe so sounded very robotic. I think If You Come Back was one of the best boyband ballads from the period, a genuinely strong song and agree that Lee turned in a great vocal.

 

Last Nite and Pagan Poetry are classics, and I always had a soft spot for Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!) - who knew that 18 months later she'd be back with a huge classic, I really thought she'd be a one hit wonder for a while.

 

Not overkeen on They Don't Know, I'd have preferred them to re-release Oh No (Sentimental Things) which was disqualified from the chart iirc although I can't remember why.

 

Messin' is not a great track but I loved Ladies First's cover of I Can't Wait shortly after.

 

Emotion was kind of a strange single from Destiny's Child for me, not sure they needed a cover at this point, and I barely ever remember it as part of their discography.

 

I think I have What's Going On, on single, I was presumably trying to support the cause. It doesn't flow very well but I thought some people did well, like Darren Hayes, Christina, Britney, Alicia Keys and JC Chasez.

 

Would definitely agree with Westlife last - they are hit and miss for me but this Rod Stewart-esque nightmare is one of the most boring songs I've heard.

 

--------------

 

Riva and Dannii was my favourite too and I prefer it to Kylie's Can't Get You Out Of My Head personally, it's just a fantastic vocal line on an already great instrumental.

 

Have You Ever is my second favourite, I think this is the best vocal Jo ever gave on record personally, especially the middle eight. There are shades of The Carpenters in the harmonies on this very underrated song (albeit it is in their top five most played on Spotify so maybe not).

 

Not a very good group for me otherwise. I quite like Paid My Dues, the intro is strong. And the other one I would rate highter is It's Been A While by Staind, which I think is a strong rock track. I do remember the Dave Matthews Band song too and that is also decent.

 

Shaggy was seeing diminishing returns with progressively worse material, the Marti Pellow song is crap, and Do Wah Diddy is just another Bavarian schlager party production - I don't find it overly offensive but clearly was just a halo hit off the back of Hey Baby and not really a massively popular cover in its own right. Quite entertaining that he knocked himself out of the top 10.

 

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In that next lot I didn't buy any of them at the time but the classic there for me is Crying At The Discoteque - I love that this was a UK hit for Alcazar and very fondly remembered today too, with Alexander Bard from Army of Lovers doing the spoken middle eight.

 

I never really got into ResuRection although at the time it was unusual to see a Russian hit. Gotta Get Thru This was an impactful debut, I honestly didn't even realise he could properly sing, his voice was so manipulated on this track, so it was a surprise when he started coming out with the ballads.

 

Where's Your Head At is a classic, but agree it's a bit loud. And What If is lovely, albeit basically a good Westlife track sung by an actress.

 

The rest are not good for me. I don't agree that Everybody was Hear'say's best or anywhere aproaching it - I found it a very naff 'yay, such fun!' kind of affair that was clearly rushed out for the party season and didn't really work.

 

Calling is ok but Geri's vocal is too weak to carry it off, Gone is quite a dull plod from *NSync, and even Fragma I felt went off the boil with this after four very strong opening hits.

 

--------------

 

Murder On The Dancefloor is definitely the best of the next lot. A classic - so good it was a huge hit twice - what more is there to say? Turned Sophie from a indie/dance vocalist into a disco pop force to be reckoned with.

 

Light A Rainbow was good trance, felt a year or two late for me, I could have sworn this was a 1999 single but no!

 

I don't really like Handbags And Gladrags but it was cool to see Stereophonics have a long chart run for once as they always tended to enter high than fall quickly. So many rock bands have long-running one-off ballads like this that go against their usual form (Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, Mr Big, Extreme...).

 

In Too Deep is a pop-punk classic, It Ain't Enough was fairly good and a small hit in my chart at the time, but Artful Dodger had done better.

 

And then the naff five - you can tell it was Christmas. The Liberty song was incredibly poor, and I thought their career was done. Words Are Not Enough is easily the worst by Steps, bland album track at best and the CGI video looks awful now (and didn't look great then). I Believe In Christmas...well it's got a catchy hook, I'll give it that. Yuck at Somewhere Over The Rainbow/What A Wonderful World - I bet somebody somewhere thought this would be another festive No.1 hit for him, so awful.

 

And Country Roads just made me laugh, especially when it speeds up at the end. What with this and the two DJ Otzi songs in the chart together, just for a moment part of the charts resembled Oktoberfest.

 

--------------

 

And Christmas week...my favourite was Will I by Ian Van Dahl - really loved the trance riff on this, it's short and sweet and I'm always annoyed that it's not on Spotify, nor any of their other hits apart from Castles In The Sky.

 

Catch by Kosheen was my second favourite - I prefer this by some margin to Hide U, it has a more interesting melody to me.

 

Just A Day is one of my favourite Feeder songs - a really fun romp that had more longevity than many of their hits and deserved top ten. I still listen to this a lot.

 

Some really pedestrian/overwrought ballads here - as was often the way at Christmas. Lately was decent enough, a cover of a US track I think, but I didn't love it. How Wonderful You Are didn't match the hype for me, I like surprise hits and it was a real underdog for Christmas No.1 but it's a bit plodding for me.

 

Somethin' Stupid was an ok cover, Nicole was kind of one-note vocally on it, Robbie sounds decent, nice festive production I suppose. Cry is not great - I did expect this to be a lot bigger for MJ on name alone but I'm glad it wasn't. I was very not gelling with Mariah's Glitter era, Never Too Far tries and fails to be a classic power ballad but I don't care for it.

 

And the Emma Bunton song sounded a little tacky to me. But I did quite like Janet's!

 

--------------

 

Whew, thanks for another great year of reviews Julian, really enjoyed reliving all (well most) of these!

Week 49 – Really strong week here with my top 6!

 

Gotta Get Thru This > What If > ResuRection > Calling > Crying At The Discoteque > I'm Waking Up To Us (this is really nice)> Everybody > Where's Your Head At > Trouble/Lowrider (prefer 'Lowrider' personally but both are good) Wish You Were Here (not a bad cover at all agreed) > Rap Dis/Only Wanna Know U Cos Ure Famous > Gone

 

Week 50

 

Murder On The Dancefloor > In Too Deep > Handbags And Gladrags > Light A Rainbow > I Believe In Christmas (sorry not sorry but this was and still is fun :music: ) > She Got Game > Believers > Doin' It > You Can't Change Me > Who We Be > Somewhere Over The Rainbow/What A Wonderful World > I'll Find You (just listening to this one as it's the only one I can see on Spotify, it's fine but there's other bands that can do this better) > It Ain't Enough > Country Roads > Words Are Not Enough/I Know Him So Well

Week 51 and 52

 

Just A Day EP (all great but 'Just A Day' the track itself is the main stomper) > Lately (have this on CD so am biased to it being like a warm hug of a song, didn't realise it was a cover though) > Will I > Catch > I Could Sing Of Your Love Forever (probably the best of what I've heard of theirs) > Say Hello Wave Goodbye > Son Of A Gun (I Betcha Think This Song Is About You) > Blast The Speakers > Somethin' Stupid > We're Not Gonna Sleep Tonight > Cry (it's peak was justified, not great this was) > Tarantula > Lullaby > Never Too Far/Don't Stop (Funkin' 4 Jamaica) > How Wonderful You Are

 

Looking forward to 2002 when it comes ^_^

2002 was such a strong year for pop/chart music for me so looking forward to that starting. :D