I think that PSB single is the strongest from the album, it's very typically them but it's a strong pop song

Wasn't becoming a bit too easy to debut top 10. All those songs making it but barely anything great

The only semi-decents in those newbies are PSB and Lisa Stanfield but both ok.ish songs nothing wowowow

and some terrible ones from R Kelly, Wet Wet Wet and Boyzone

 

Gezza one thing I wanted to ask you. Why the 97 version of People Hold on is credited as Lisa Stanfield as the main

and Cold Cut are not even credited?

So 1 week skipped today (Spice Girls 3rd week at number 1).

So many songs! None of them that great though imo.

 

BBE Flash is my favourite of them though but its not one of the best late 90s trance songs imo.

 

Prefer Eurodance Clock, 'It's Over' is a good song though if a bit dated imo in production for even 1983 (when it was first a top 10 hit for Funk Masters).

 

Melodically that Pet Shop Boys song sounds like a mix of 'Song For Whoever' by Beautiful South and for the chorus Elvis' 'Cant Help Falling In Love'. Its good, but quite of-its-time production-wise in my opinion, unlike their 80s hits.

 

Pleasantly surprised that Gina G managed a third top 10 hit.

 

I never really liked 'I Believe I Can Fly' - I found it a bit tedious and it was way overplayed on the music channels at the time!

Edited February 7Feb 7 by TheSnake

Gezza one thing I wanted to ask you. Why the 97 version of People Hold on is credited as Lisa Stanfield as the main

and Cold Cut are not even credited?

No idea. Maybe as Coldcut were the producers in 89 but didn't produce the 97 version then the credit got to change to the new producers? B-)

I'm not a fan of Boyzone's music but a pop culture nerd nevertheless so checked out their new documentary and it was a real eye opener, Louis Walsh admitted to making up pretty much anything to get them in the press, including that plane crash story mentioned here :drama: the lighting used for their TOTP performance today was terrible, you could barely see their faces :lol:

Isn't It A Wonder is probably Boyzone's worst single for me, I'm surprised it sold so well but they were huge I suppose.

 

Nice that Gina G got another decent sized hit, the first verse melody of that has always reminded me of Faith by George Michael.

 

Was that PSB songs one of the first to dive out of the top 40 after a top 10 debut? Good track though and shame that episode was skipped.

 

Not really a vintage few weeks for new entries generally though.

Was that PSB songs one of the first to dive out of the top 40 after a top 10 debut? Good track though and shame that episode was skipped.

Yes the only previous one was The Wedding Present - Come Play With Me which dropped 10-65 as one of their monthly single releases in 1992.

The NEs summing up the drawbacks of the held back strategy lol at Boyzones sales drop there too and they were a big current artist too!

so we're missing quite a few weeks out now because of you know who. I'll post a chart a day to bring us up to speed slowly!

Yes we skipped the last Spice Girls number 1 last week, then played a week with Chemical Brothers at number 1, now this week 3 are skipped! So you’ll have 6 weeks to post to be up to speed :(

5TH APRIL

 

 

Containing samples from 6 tracks including a vocal hook lifted from Schoolly D’s “Gucci Again” from 1985, The Chemical Brothers “Block Rockin’ Beats” becomes their second No 1 single on the trot this week after moving 84,700 copies. The duo’s second album “Dig Your Own Hole” is out in a fortnight and is widely expected to top the charts.

 

 

It was a close run thing though with The Spice Girls selling approximately 700 copies less than the Chemical Brothers, No Doubt however stick at No 3 but increase sales to 67,000- the reason both songs have held up so well is of course because it is the Easter weekend and the schools are currently on holiday.

 

Both Spice Girls and No Doubt are of course among the biggest hits of the year and as we’re a ¼ of the way through it’s an apt time to look at the YTD charts

 

 

 

1- DON’T SPEAK- No Doubt 692,000

2- WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE/ MAMA- Spice Girls 569,000

3- WHERE DO YOU GO- No Mercy 514,000

4- DON’T LET GO (LOVE)- En Vogue 387,000

5- ENCORE UNE FOIS- Sash! 369,000

6- YOUR WOMAN- White Town 326,000

7- 2 BECOME 1- The Spice Girls 296,000

8- PROFESSIONAL WIDOW (IT’S GOTTA BE BIG)- Tori Amos 287,000

9- REMEMBER ME- Blue Boy 280,000

10- SAY WHAT YOU WANT- Texas 258,000

 

 

Last September The Charlatans released “One To Another” and it became their biggest hit making No 3, they’ve taken a whole 8 months to record an album and with “Tellin Stories” almost good to go we get the second single from it “North Country Boy”. It storms in at No 4 (64,000) to become their second top 10 hit on the trot but only the third of their 7 year chart history.

 

 

 

Turkish born DJ Quicksilver yet again proves the power of the clubs to influence the charts, his track “Bellissima” has already been a club hit all over Europe and now gets UK recognition. Credited as a double A-side in Europe with the Martin Luther King sampling “I Have A Dream” it seems that the latter track has been downgraded for us though it can still be found on the CD version here, the package arrives at No 6 (45,000).

 

 

 

Cast’s second album “Mother Nature Calls” lands in three weeks and will feature their new single “Free Me” which itself touches down at No 7 (42,000). That’s a fourth top 10 single in a row and something of an achievement for the Liverpool foursome who have established themselves in the Britpop field and will be hoping for big things for the album.

 

 

 

The film “Space Jam” may have met with a lukewarm reception but it has delivered up the hits with Seal’s “Fly like An Eagle” (No 13) and R Kelly’s “I Believe I Can Fly” (which this week falls 2-5, 62,000) registered on the charts, it now provides a No 8 (38,000) hit for Busta Rhymes/ Coolio/ LL Cool J/ Method Man/ and B Real. It’s certainly a rap supergroup with only B Real the new name to the charts, Method Man and Busta Rhymes have a solitary top 10 single to their credit before today, Coolio had two (including the million selling “Gangsta’s Paradise”) and JJ Cool J is the daddy of them all with three prior top flight hits with his last “Ain’t Nobody” a chart topper only 2 months ago.

 

 

 

3T continue to mine their debut album “Brotherhood” for singles and a fifth cut “Gotta Be You” provides them with a fourth top 10 single. It features (officially) Herbie Crichlow who produces the track for the boys as it flies in at No 10 (33,000).

 

 

Six new entries again this week means that we only have four survivors and the only song not discussed yet is Sash! who slips 6-9 (35,000)

 

 

1- BLOCK ROCKIN BEATS- Chemical Brothers (84,700)

2- MAMA/ WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE- Spice Girls (84,000)

3- DON’T SPEAK- No Doubt (67,000)

4- NORTH COUNTRY BOY- Charlatans (64,000)

5- I BELIEVE I CAN FLY- R Kelly (62,000)

6- BELISSIMA- DJ Quicksilver (45,000)

7- FREE ME- Cast (42,000)

8- HIT EM HIGH- Busta Rhymes/ Coolio/ LL Cool J/ Method Man/ B Real (38,000)

9- ENCORE UNE FOIS- Sash! (35,000)

10- GOTTA BE YOU- 3T (33,000)

 

Ooft very close between the Chemical Brothers and Spice Girls there! Both are 90s acts that I caught live in 2019. Glad 'Block Rockin' Beats' did indeed get a turn at the top :wub:

 

Oops at all the skipped episodes at the moment :drama: fast-tracking closer to my birth lol

'Bellissima' is one of the best of the late 90s trance anthems imo.

Block Rockin’ Beats :wub: This era from the Chemical Brothers is one of my favourites of the 90s

 

Also lots of love for Bellissima, that was such a fun dance track and everyone at school used to love the kind of scratch/awooa sound that happens throughout it

Oh yes love ‘Belissima’ reminds me of my GCSEs! Such a euphoric and joyous piece of trance!

big fan of Chemicals and Block rockin'beats, didn't never it had been so close

 

don't think I've ever heard Bellissima :o

 

 

That's surprising! 'Bellissima' feels like such a hugely well-known iconic track that anyone would instantly recognise, almost like 'Sunchyme'

Did it not chart in your country Bjork?

 

 

There’s not much info on the Danish charts but I’m just looking at the number ones for 97 and 98 on wiki and it seems as though the turnover was quite slow

^Im originally from Spain so in the 90s I was living in Spain, it's only in the last 10 years that I've been living in Denmark.

 

just checked Bellissima and sounds a bit familiar but not super super familiar

guess at the time I was more into Britpop

and UK dance like Chemical Brothers and Prodigy and Faithless

and less into European dance like Sash

 

but liking Bellissima on possibly 1st listen :o