Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Oct 17, 2011 18:43:17 GMT 1
Didn't like M People much... didn't hate them either... until they (undeservedly) won the Mercury Prize!!!!!!!!!! Kinda surprised she didn't succeed solo... and I kinda liked the Capella song... Capella > 2 Unlimited for me Castration > 2 unlimited for me
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Post by evansabove on Oct 17, 2011 18:55:42 GMT 1
Oh wow i loved Cappella. They had a string of hits most of which sounded the same as the previous one but i bought them all anyway lol
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Oct 17, 2011 19:24:07 GMT 1
I could never stand Heather Small's ridiculous voice which seemed to ruin every song they did. Watching her sing is even worse. Horrid band I agree with you. I'm scared.
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Post by Earl Purple on Oct 17, 2011 20:55:29 GMT 1
Actually I think Heather Small was a bit of a diva, I didn't think it suited M People's songs that well and she should have been singing a different kind of song.
With regards to "Please Forgive Me" by Bryan Adams, it certainly isn't Bryan Adams's second best song, and for me his most classic song remains "Run To You" and after that " Summer of 69" and "everything I do.." behind both of them. I did buy the "So Far So Good" album on which Please Forgive Me was the closing track on it. I was disappointed that the album did not have "There Will Never Be Another Tonight" which I thought was a great rock anthem by him and it also performed rather poorly in the chart. "When You're Gone" is actually also one of his better songs.
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Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Oct 18, 2011 17:34:23 GMT 1
6TH NOVEMBER- PLEASE FORGIVE ME- Bryan Adams (3 weeks)I mean, really, this is unforgivable. There was a time, let's say 1985, when Bryan Adams may have been acceptable (I'll give you "Heaven" "Summer of 69"and "Run To You") but in the 90s the guy was just awful, churning out this kind of crap like there was no tomorrow- and my how we lapped it up. Bonus's about this track are that it isn't "Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman" which is just like dying slowly inside listening to it, but that's about it. Formulaic, droning, lasting far too long, and he over emotes in the video, the list of faults can go on and on, I can only assume that the dog on the cover is somehow linked to the one in the video, maybe it's equating disliking this song to kicking a puppy, I don't know and I don't really care, yes that's where I am with Bryan Adams in 1993. EDIT: Perhaps it has something to do with the songs co-writer (Robert "Mutt" Lange")
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Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Oct 18, 2011 17:35:06 GMT 1
27TH NOVEMBER- TRUE LOVE- Elton John & Kiki Dee (2 weeks)
This was one of the biggest contenders for that festive top spot in 1993, a smultzy ballad betwixt Elton & Kiki from Elton's new "Duets" album. The pair had of course released a couple of singles previously back in 70's and scored the mammoth No 1 "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" , and were back with this cover of the Cole Porter "True love" made famous by Bing Crosby & Grace Kelly in the Film "High Society".
It's not a bad song, but it was released far too early for a shot at the Xmas No 1 which in any eventuality ended up being a tussle between Mr Blobby and Take That with this track being lucky to hold onto a top 10 placing by the time we tucked into the turkey. There's a undeniable warmth to the pair's tones and voices, and it's obvious there is genuine friendship there, but there's no getting round the fact we are seeing out 1993 with a wimper....
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Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Oct 18, 2011 17:36:02 GMT 1
And that's 1993, only one more year to go before we can finish this part of our "Journey" (how very X Factor of me!)
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Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Oct 19, 2011 16:43:22 GMT 1
29TH JANUARY 1994- ALL FOR LOVE- Bryan Adams/ Sting/ Rod Stewart (1 week)Yes it's 1994 and I turned 18! This is of course the title track to the "Three Musketeers", but more importantly I'm reminded of the Three Muskehounds and Dogtanian from when I was a kid, a series which certainly seemed to run for an entire lifetime, yet Wikipedia says it only had 52 episodes- odd. Anyway along with "Dungeons and Dragons", "Thundercats", and "Transformers" this was basically my childhood, so hooked was I on "Thundercats" that when I was press ganged into joining our after school group who did swatty things (that came to an end after just one term when all we did was doss about) I was very disturbed that it clashed with the programme, I'd have killed for recordable TV back in those days. Ah yes 1983 holds such fond memories for me people- oh the record?- DIRE.
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Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Oct 19, 2011 16:43:55 GMT 1
5TH FEBRUARY- BREATHE AGAIN- Toni Braxton (2 weeks)From the fair hand of Babyface came this tale of a love that had run its course. A curious record really, even at the time it seemed almost apologetic to be in the charts, the verses are far more appealing than the chorus here, she almost drawls over the end of the words, like chocolate oozing out of the sides, oddly captivating, its akin to being hypnotised, the record is kinda over and you feel like you enjoyed it but you can never be sure. A piece of competant mid 90s R N B and there is no doubt Braxton has a pair of lungs on her, this songs seems ill-fitted for that purpose though, 2000's "He Wasn't Man Enough" or 96's "You're makin Me High" seem better vehicles for her talents as a seductress, here the whole thing seems lazy and the beats almost fall over themselves in lethargy. I don't dislike it though, like I say, it's just all a bit "The Silence" (Dr Who) for me- you hear it and recall it then it never exists until the next time you hear it......
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borneoman
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love is tough, when enough is not enough
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Post by borneoman on Oct 20, 2011 6:45:23 GMT 1
I don't mind some Bryan Adams, those two are not THAT bad... kinda liked Toni Braxton...
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Post by evansabove on Oct 20, 2011 7:33:29 GMT 1
I am a big Bryan Adams fan so don't you be saying bad things about him lol
Breathe Again was pretty good but nowhere near my favourite 2 Toni songs He Wasn't Man Enough & Unbreak My Heart
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borneoman
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love is tough, when enough is not enough
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Post by borneoman on Oct 20, 2011 7:41:17 GMT 1
^I have the exact 2 fav x Toni B
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Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Oct 20, 2011 17:44:15 GMT 1
Nice to have you back I was getting lonely in here!
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Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Oct 20, 2011 17:45:09 GMT 1
5TH MARCH- THE SIGN- Ace Of Base (3 weeks)Ah Ace of Base, lovely Ace Of Base, I loved them back in 1993/94, so much so that I even bought the album on the strength of the first 2 singles "All That She Wants" and "Wheel Of Fortune", but by the end of 93 the album and the band looked destined for the dumper when third single failed to make top 40. It was America that saved them, where this track went to No 1 and made the UK take another look. Indeed it can be argued that whilst the album bombed here (7 weeks in the charts and peaking at No 21), it prevented mass exposure to "The Sign" so that when the record label deleted the album it made the single appear to all intents and purposes as a "new" single. We like our scandanavian groups to have two girls (one blonde, one brunette) and two boys, it seems to work for us, and so the endless ABBA comparisons were always rife with this bunch, but AOB were a different proposition, fusing together 1993's great loves, reggae and dance, with pop, it was all great Europop fun really. Wikipedia says this song is about the religious calling that the female protagonist experiences- not sure I concur with that, but "The Sign" is pleasing enough, for me though the highlight of their discography will always be the near pop perfection of 1998's "Always Have, Always Will"...
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Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Oct 20, 2011 17:46:04 GMT 1
2ND APRIL- STREETS OF PHILADELPHIA- Bruce Springsteen (1 week)Proving that when done right, social commentary and pop music can be pulled off with hard hitting accuracy. This was the theme to the film "Philadelphia" a story of the AIDS epidemic in the US starring Tom Hanks as a gay lawyer who sued his employers for wrongful dismissal on the grounds he had the disease back in the 80s, and was the first mainstream Hollywood film to address the issue. Everything about this song is utterly amazing (a phrase I've never used on here before I assure you) the arrangement of the track is as sparse as the theme, a synthesiser line, a drum beat, and his vocals, yet all together it's a haunting piece that he should be proud to be in his repertoire. The Video is similarly perfect and fitting, the urban environment juxtaposed with children playing and innocence, and Springsteen as the (presumably) AIDS suffering lead role, wondering through this landscape as the cool observer of a society that wishes to bury the issue. It is a song that grabs you from the off, an ominious riff (that the Pet shop boys would be proud off) and the drum beat like a heartbeat rippling through the narrative, and some of that narrative is heart breaking "I walked the avenue till my legs felt like stone/ I heard the voices of friends vanished and gone/ At night I could hear the blood in my veins/ Black and whispering as the rain" is as good a piece of poetry as you'll find in modern pop. Yet for all that it never oversteps the mark, never pulls too hard on the heartstrings, and really the power of the song comes not from what is sung but what is unsung. You can sense you're just getting the tip of the iceberg here from Springsteen, this is an insight, a snapshot, but if you don;t live the life then you'll never really know, and the power of the suggestion, or of what he isn't singing about (the depth or scale of the problem, or the attitude of society) seems all too much to burden the audience with. Leaving to the consumer (so to speak)imagining is far better, it could never be adequately done by Springsteen anyway, and certainly not in a 4 minute pop song, and the fact that he understands all of this, and sets this up as food for thought, rather than a straight story is where he's got this song absolutely right. Springsteen is also the perfect artist to deliver this, manly, gritty, and of course by the mid 80s the all-american man, "Born In The USA" was almost used in President Reagan's election campaign, a republican president, until Springsteen expressed a contrary preference, but he had by that stage become very synonomous with middle America, if not its politics. To use him to sing a song which was supposedly about a "gay" plague (as it was termed initially) was just inspired and added gravitas to an already serious message. Fantastic, and for my money, one of the best no 2 hits of the decade!
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Post by evansabove on Oct 20, 2011 18:23:00 GMT 1
Streets Of Philadelphia is an incredibly moving film and Springsteen's song captures the mood perfectly
Ace of Base are fab, no more needs to be said
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borneoman
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love is tough, when enough is not enough
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Post by borneoman on Oct 20, 2011 18:23:14 GMT 1
To this date, I'm still amazed that Bruce came up with such an amazing song. I'm not a big fan of him, but he nailed it here, both musically and lyrically. He kinda peaked here, didn't he...
I love The Sign too... and agree, I also thought in the beginning that they were gonna be a one-hit wonder, but they really proved everybody wrong. Also loved their Don't Turn Around cover that was the follow-up to this...
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Post by andrew07 on Oct 20, 2011 21:48:37 GMT 1
I'm stunned that Bruce Springsteen has never had a UK No.1 hit, and he came so close with that one. So beautiful and so moving.
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borneoman
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love is tough, when enough is not enough
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Post by borneoman on Oct 21, 2011 7:17:42 GMT 1
and funnily, Ace of Base's All That She Wants was #1 in the UK and #2 in the US... while The Sign was #2 in the UK and #1 in the US
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Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Oct 21, 2011 13:26:33 GMT 1
Doop has much to answer for
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