Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Sept 17, 2011 12:59:26 GMT 1
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Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Sept 17, 2011 13:00:44 GMT 1
6TH APRIL- SIT DOWN- James (3 weeks)I bought the "Best Of" James in 1998 thinking I liked a fair few songs on there and discovered that I actually liked a lot/ most of the songs on there. For me it's one of the anthems of the "Madchester" anthems, and certainly the highest peaking song that fell into the genre, yet it took a re-release to get the track to be a sizeable hit. Though the Stone Roses and The Happy Mondays had grabbed the headlines in 1989/1990 I was never really into them, James always seemed like a poppier, brighter proposition to the gloomier end of the genre. First released in 1989 "Sit Down" made No 77, but after a growing fanbase the track was made available again and debuted straight into the top 10 before spending three weeks stuck behind Chesney Hawkes, it's a song written into tribute to novelist Doris Lessing and Patti Smith as the main influences on writer Tim Booth's life, and upon listening it's that drum line that grabs you first, it sounds like it's galloping along to the chorus which is a rousing thing, designed to make you erupt in song like all good anthems. It status as classic was affirmed by another remixed release in 1998 which made the top 10 all over again. This is more a marker in time than a reflection of what was happening in the charts, where it was all film soundtracks and anonomous dance music that was tearing up the charts, but it's a welcome deviation, that's not to say Indie wasn't present in the top 40 but that the headline grabbing acts of the year tended to come from the dance stable.....which brings us onto...
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Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Sept 17, 2011 13:01:54 GMT 1
11TH MAY- LAST TRAIN TO TRANCENTRAL- The KLF Featuring The Children Of The Revolution (2 weeks)The third release in the "Stadium Trilogy" this was also the follow up to their sole No 1 "3AM Eternal" and in 1991 there weren't many bigger acts than the KLF. After scoring a UK No 1 as the Timelords with "Doctorin The Tardis" in 1988 they had struggled to make any inroads into the charts until "What Time Is love" became the first of 5 consecutive top 10 hits for them, the rave/ Dance culture of 1991 I recall at the time was particularly uninspiring in my opinion, magazines such as Smash Hits etc found circulation falling away and blamed the lack of "real" popstars to put on their covers, KLF were however exactly the opposite. They were defined people, they created their own land "Mu Mu" and created videos that were both interesting and memorable, and in all honesty you can't get much more "pop star" esque than quitting the game when you're at the top and doing it in style by dumping a dead sheep outside a BRITS afterparty! For all that "Last Train to Trancentral" is probably the least original of their 1991 releases, they're all great so that's not exactly a criticism, it's just that the inspired use of Tammy Wynette or the etherial charm of "3AM Eternal" just aren't matched here, it's more pedestrian than those hits but then it's still better than 80% of the charts a la 1991, watch the video it's quite camp and altogether fun, but unlike in the 80s where fun was an end in itself, this is knowing, ironic, tongue in cheek- so very 90s.....
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borneoman
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Post by borneoman on Sept 17, 2011 14:12:51 GMT 1
agree that Trancentral was a bit pedestrian but still good!!!! Also agree on Sit Down, there are no indie anthem like that anymore
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Post by evansabove on Sept 17, 2011 14:33:59 GMT 1
Crazy For You wasn't strictly a re-release, it had been remixed for TIC although only very subtly
KLF were fantastic while they lasted
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borneoman
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Post by borneoman on Sept 17, 2011 15:08:57 GMT 1
guess there's not many tracks that have peaked twice at #2 for the same artist like Crazy for You did...
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Sept 17, 2011 15:11:47 GMT 1
Trancentral, not Transcentral, that makes it look like a railway station. Thought it was a great one from KLF, they all seemed to have a lot of fun in the video.
I remember hearing "Sit Down" for the first time and telling everyone at school it would be massive. Got to number 77. Then a couple of years later came the re-issue...
It being kept of number one by H****s was one of the injustices of our age. Forget it being a Nik Kershaw out-take by yet another star who became famous because of who his dad knew, the floppy haired moley twunt was going on on one kids' TV programme about how he was 4 Real and not a numptious boy band mimer like Fake T**t, then demonstrated it later on by miming to his *hit. The only positive from it was a singles review for it that I saw - in its entirety it read "and a f***ing good job too".
James were one of a number of indie groups who were screwed by label politics and restrictive contracts, Sire basically tried to prevent them leaving or recording anything. Still, at least they achieved a number 1 album, which showed people liked more than one of their songs. I bet C***ney wouldn't be recognized at a family reunion now. Other than people saying "that floppy-haired moley twunt reminds me of someone..."
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Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Sept 17, 2011 15:26:17 GMT 1
I can never get a definite like or dislike out of you Vas tarner- you'd be a better poster if you were a bit more definite in what you thought of songs/ acts
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TheThorne
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Post by TheThorne on Sept 17, 2011 15:59:19 GMT 1
yeh he does sit on the fence a bit hehe. I love James and I loved that song but it became a bit of a 'Sex On Fire' size albatross that became so overplayed especially at indie discos. James's fans eventually decided 'Laid' was the high point and 'Sit Down' was relegated to novelty.
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borneoman
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Post by borneoman on Sept 17, 2011 16:03:11 GMT 1
and what's with the hate for The One and Only? It's just a silly little pop song. No one should invest so much hate in poor Chesney Hawkes imho
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Post by andrew07 on Sept 17, 2011 16:20:05 GMT 1
I love Sit Down, a great indie anthem of the 90's, but I really liked the original 1989 version, it sounded sweeter and melodic compared to the slightly faster and more anthemic version that became well known. I know that the band themselves went through a period of hating that song after its success and excluded it from a number of live performances for a while. Noticed it was included on the re-issue of Gold Mother, along with the re-working of the ace "Come Home" and I think this had some (possibly new) fans up in arms who accidentally bought copies of the original LP (which was still being sold at the time) only to discover that Sit Down wasn't on it.
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borneoman
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Post by borneoman on Sept 17, 2011 16:59:51 GMT 1
so James invented the re-packaging??? I remember that one of the weeks in which Chesney & James were 1&2, The Waterboys also made it top 3 with The Whole of the Moon... that's quite an anthemic top 3!!
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Sept 17, 2011 20:46:44 GMT 1
Well, two-thirds of it was.
The original "Sit Down":
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vya
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Post by vya on Sept 17, 2011 23:32:40 GMT 1
I *appreciate* "Sit Down" (and happily danced to it countless times back in the day), but love it not - afraid it's my least favourite of the James singles from that period - "How Was It For You", the rerecording of "Come Home", "Lose Control" all stand out more for me. (Mind you, all three of those are of such high quality this is really no condemnation of "Sit Down"- although I too prefer the original 1989 version -it breathes more)
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Post by Earl Purple on Sept 18, 2011 0:02:19 GMT 1
so James invented the re-packaging??? I remember that one of the weeks in which Chesney & James were 1&2, The Waterboys also made it top 3 with The Whole of the Moon... that's quite an anthemic top 3!! There was a week with "Size Of A Cow" in the chart at #5 too, I think it was #6 the week those 3 were in the top 3 then rose to #5 the following week but "Rescue Me" moved above "Whole Of The Moon". One of the best top 5s though. "Sit Down" topped my chart for just one week but was #1 of the year, the only time that has been achieved by a song that was top for just 1 week. It spent 4 additional weeks at #2. Of the Madonna songs, I liked "Justify My Love" at the time and with it she got her second consecutive Christmas #1 in my chart, her 4th overall, but when she did "Erotica" a couple of years later then did more of the same it got really tiresome, which is why, I think, she lost popularity, albeit that "Deeper And Deeper" was a good song, but I really disliked stuff like "Bedtime Story" etc. She did actually achieve her 5th #1 from Evita with "You Must Love Me" and "Frozen" finished in my top 20 of the year in spite of only peaking at #3. I didn't like "Rescue Me" and it really spoilt that otherwise great top 5. For me 1991 was a great year in parts and very poor in others, which explains the imbalance in my chart of the year too. March-April-May was a particularly strong period and then it woke up at the end. The period when Bryan Adams was #1 was not that great (nor during the run of Cher, Color Me Badd and Jason Donovan that preceded Bryan's long run). Queen had already accumulated 7 weeks at #1 in my chart before Freddie Mercury died and that total would end at 15 (running into 1992) as 3 #1s all stayed there for 5 weeks.
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Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Sept 18, 2011 10:21:21 GMT 1
25TH MAY- GYPSY WOMAN (LA DA DEE)- Crystal Waters (1 week)This is musical marmite. At the time I loved it, but it soon wore thin, Crystal Waters did however equal the highest debut position by a debut act when "Gypsy Woman" entered the charts at No 3 before rising just one place when it was widely tipped to become No 1, the reason it never made it was probably due to that equal hatred/ Love combo. When I was 15 I used to write the charts down and work how many new entries threre were left/ who they were by (we're friends now so I can disclose this) and I recall thinking that thinking that I worked out the new entry left was by Chris De Burgh with "The Simple Truth" the Kurd Aid track which I think was shown on TV that week as a concert. It wasn't it was this- and I remember being surprised but also quite happy about that. It's insanely catchy and there is no denying that the song was a favourite at school, its tale of a homeless baglady pleading for money was an unusual theme and choice of subject for a dance record but hey it did the business, personally i'm more a fan of "Makin Happy" the top 20 follow up but they may be to do with the fact that it wasn't overplayed to death and on a level this is a novelty hit, mainly due to it's infantile chorus of "La Da Dee, La Da Da" whereas "Makin Happy" is more mature. However all in all I can now look back kindly on Crystal Waters, A song that takes me back to being 15 almost instantly, not sure how kindly I would have reviewed this 15 years ago however.....
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Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Sept 18, 2011 10:22:09 GMT 1
15TH JUNE- BABY BABY- Amy Grant (1 week)WHolesome pop circe 1991, I confess I loved "Baby Baby" at the time. It was wholesome for a reason- Grant had been releasing Christian music since the 70s and had made herself the "Queen of Christian Music" by the mid 80s when she decided to go more mainstream resulting in a US no 1 in 1986 with Peter Cetera which flopped over here. Some 5 years later this was the song to provide her with a break in the UK, thankfully without Grant's original concept for the video to be surrounded by babies and dressed as a mermaid. This is bouncy daytime pop that is foot tappingly engrossing- yes it's twee in places, but it has an innocence of it's own, and a sincerity that it's hard to hate with any passion. OK it's hardly cutting edge and probably not out of place in say 1988 or 89, but its sheer optimism and self confidence is just too good to deny.....a guilty pleasure and a joy to hear again.....
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Post by evansabove on Sept 18, 2011 10:58:00 GMT 1
What a classic Gypsy Woman is. It was remixed and re-released a number of times over the years
I had completely forgotten about Baby Baby. Pleasant track but not really #2 material
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TheThorne
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Post by TheThorne on Sept 18, 2011 11:11:53 GMT 1
Hated 'Gypsy woman' one of the most irritating songs that year, really liked Amy Grant dont know why possibly as I liked a couple of her earlier tracks 'Lead Me On' and the mentioned Peter Cetera duet,I preferred her doing the power ballads tbh to the sugary pop.
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borneoman
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Post by borneoman on Sept 18, 2011 12:19:45 GMT 1
never liked Amy Grant much... so glad this didn't go to #1 unlike in the US... think she got 5 hits off that album!!!!! and Gypsy Woman is just ok for me, nothing spectacular or memorable
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