Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Mar 15, 2012 18:29:21 GMT 1
23RD JUNE- ALL I WANT- Mis-Teeq (1 wk)So we're still plugging on the Garage/ 2 step vibe that had raging since the emergence of the likes of Shanks & Bigfoot back in 1999, a nice enough tune but of course really it was only ever about Dixon's rapping which was always attention grabbing. I was never a fna of the genre, and whilst this is packed with a healthy dose of pop, it suffers by association in my eyes, though it's produced by some production genius's Stargate (who are still around to this day producing the likes of Rihanna and Ne-Yo) its curiously empty of much feeling and substance listening to it now. Vocals are paper thin (let's be honest here) and once you've heard the Dixon rap then would normally satisfy any curiosity you might of had about the record, it hasn't aged very well to be fair, but if it wasn't your bag then it won't be now.
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Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Mar 15, 2012 18:42:03 GMT 1
21ST JULY- PURPLE HILLS- D12 (2 Wks)Rap is by its very nature desgned to be confrontational and controversial baring in mind its roots, and certainly the original version of this titled "Purple Pills" contained a litany of reference's to drug use which had to be changed before the single release and thusly a censored version had to be released called this. Though D12 were inevitably thought of and promoted as an Eminem side group (a fact the band would parady in later hit "My Band") that's doing a grave injustice to the other members of the band who have clearly put in as much effort to the band as he had (though Eminem produces the track has 7 writing credits) and D12 were around pre the Eminem solo career, but for all this, and like the record that went before, it ain't gonna convert the layman who has already made his mind up about the genre. Indeed this is far from the best work they did (In my opinion that would be the excellent "How Come" ) and it's too light on melody to really grab a pop head like me though being held off by the offensively dull and bland "Eternity" made it look considerably better than it probably is in retrospect.
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Post by andrew07 on Mar 15, 2012 18:51:06 GMT 1
I remember watching CD:UK and on it mentioned that Purple Pills by D12 came close to disqualification as it had a free sticker inside. When I went to Virgin Megastore that same saturday, I noticed that they'd taken the stickers out of the cds and placed them on the counter, meaning that anyone could just take a free sticker, whether they bought the cd or not. Too bad that didn't happen when Electric Soft Parade had a single disqualified just because they gave away a free sticker too.
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Post by Earl Purple on Mar 15, 2012 20:28:17 GMT 1
I particularly do remember Mis-Teeq charting at #2 with "All I Want" because the #1 in my chart that week was also called "All I Want" but was a totally different song by Reef.
June 2001 was the month I got married.
"Purple Pills" passed me by totally even though this was Eminem's next hit after his massive #1 "Stan". But "My Band" did reach my chart, peaking at about #12, and was Eminem's only other chart hit for me ever. (Thus he isn't properly a one-hit wonder and I credited My Band to D12 ft Eminem).
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Post by thehitparade on Mar 15, 2012 21:25:21 GMT 1
I remember watching CD:UK and on it mentioned that Purple Pills by D12 came close to disqualification as it had a free sticker inside. When I went to Virgin Megastore that same saturday, I noticed that they'd taken the stickers out of the cds and placed them on the counter, meaning that anyone could just take a free sticker, whether they bought the cd or not. Too bad that didn't happen when Electric Soft Parade had a single disqualified just because they gave away a free sticker too. I have to say I presumed the ESP single had that sticker thrown in deliberately to exclude it from the chart because the record company had realised it wasn't going to do much anyway. That certainly did happen a lot back then. I'm not sure taking them out worked anyway. When Paul Weller had an album format disqualified for too many picture cards, somebody was sent out to remove them in shops but CIN were unmoved.
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vastar iner
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I am the poster on your wall
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Post by vastar iner on Mar 15, 2012 22:43:12 GMT 1
So we're still plugging on the Garage/ 2 step vibe that had raging since the emergence of the likes of Shanks & Bigfoot back in 1999, a nice enough tune but of course really it was only ever about Dixon's rapping which was always attention grabbing. I genuinely thought the exact opposite - that her rapping was an afterthought thrown in in a desperate attempt to look "street" and was about as authentic as a Ronex watch from Shanghai Market. Bit like Dizzee's on Band Aid Dinosaur. Meanwhile, has there ever been a worse rapper, and I AM including John Barnes and Steve McMahon in this, than D12's Bizarre?
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Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Mar 17, 2012 18:42:39 GMT 1
4TH AUGUST- BOOTYLICIOUS- Destiny's Child (1 wk)There's no law saying how songs should be used when being sampled, or that the original version's lyrical themes should also be incorporated, all of which is quite fortunate for DC on this one. Back in 1981 Stevie Nicks song "Edge Of Seventeen" was written about the death of her uncle and John Lennon in the same week, it went top 20 in the US but failed to chart here, this was therefore many people's (including mine) first exposure to this track in it's sampled form. Here it provides quite an ominous undertone to the track, bubbling along and threatening to overspill, all of which is entirely ruined by the lyrics in which the girls suspect they're men aren't up to it. Utter tosh really, I quite liked what they did with "Emotions" but that just proves how hard it is to ruin a Gibb record and no tears were spilt by me when they broke up. Certainly their stock had certainly risen almost unremmitedly since 1998 into a big player in the field, shame they had to ruin a great song to do it though.
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Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Mar 17, 2012 19:05:04 GMT 1
25TH AUGUST- TAKE ME HOME (A GIRL LIKE ME)- Sophie Ellis Bextor (1 wk)After a brief stint as an indie singer in her first group "Theaudience" Bextor turned her hand to disco and saw greater rewards at least commercially. MUCH better things were to come from her before the end of this year but after the uncredited vocal on Spiller's massive dance anthem "Groovejet" in the summer of 2000, Ellis- Bextor launhed her solo career with this cover of the Cher 1979 disco classic. It's not great kids I can't lie to you, it passes the time but it all feels like she's in a hurry to get someplace else, and that sweet accent which will work so incredibly well on her next single seems odd here, by the time the original was done Cher was already 33 and in another era that was a time when a woman "wasn't getting any younger" as they said, Bextor here is a little over 22 perhaps too young to make the song believable. This is, after all, a plea to avoid the loneliness, an acknowledgement that the protagonist isn't the best of what's left or available but still worthwhile, and as she's a cracking looking 22 yr old you have to wonder why, if the sentiment of the song remains, she can't get a man? Psycho? overbearing? smothering? A fairly light, unsubstantial production doesn't rescue the situation here either, it's a shame as I'm rather a fan of SEB in the main but this one has always been a rather addition to her canon in my opinion.
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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 Mar 17, 2012 20:10:43 GMT 1
ìyes, not a patch on the fabulous Murder on the Dancefloor!!!!!!! damit Spiller not crediting her on Groovejet!!!!
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Post by Earl Purple on Mar 17, 2012 22:07:17 GMT 1
Sophie Ellis-Bextor had been #1 in my chart with Theaudience, the song "A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed" topping my chart for 4 weeks in 1998, keeping out Embrace's "Come Back To What You Know" along the way. I was in Belgium during that time.
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TheThorne
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*Hillside, slip and slide, feel the pain, it's no surprise!*
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Post by TheThorne on Mar 17, 2012 23:35:14 GMT 1
Her debut single with TheAudience was a #1 in mine in 1997 'You Got The Wherewithal' seen them live that year as well
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Post by andrew07 on Mar 18, 2012 1:55:09 GMT 1
I just heard "A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed" in a repeat of The Inbetweeners last night. And there was a great b-side that Theaudience did, "You And Me On The Run", which I heard on a free cd with Select back then too.
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Post by greendemon on Mar 19, 2012 13:49:40 GMT 1
my god, did 'bootylicious' really come out THAT long ago?!
i didn't realise it had sampled an earlier song, either, so thanks for that. not sure i approve either in light of what you've 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 Mar 19, 2012 13:56:19 GMT 1
Didn't know the story behind the Bootylicious sample or even that it included a sample!!!! Did DC at least coin the word 'Bootylicious'?? Always thought the word fitted Beyonce 100%
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Post by Earl Purple on Mar 19, 2012 17:55:34 GMT 1
I love the word "bootylicious". A bit of a shame the song doesn't match the word.
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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 Mar 19, 2012 18:11:09 GMT 1
^but did they coin it?? or it has always existed??
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Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Mar 19, 2012 18:40:28 GMT 1
Nope Snoop Dogg back in 92 I'm afraid
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Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Mar 19, 2012 19:00:21 GMT 1
15TH SEPTEMBER- STARLIGHT- Supermen Lovers Featuring Mani Hoffman (1 wk)A song that I first heard whilst in Switzerland in May 2001, this is like a really good Jamiroquai record (he doesn't make that many I know) and had me hooked from the off. A bubbling funky bassline erupts at regular intervals to deliver a chorus that should have your hands in the AYER long before the arrival of such "luminaries" as Pitbull and Rida, it's all that was great about dance music at the opening of the decade, prayers asking for this to beat Bob The Builder to No 1 were made by me but alas fell on deaf ears, but it's another fine instance of French dance production a la Daft Punk & Stardust which had translated into UK chart success. As a record aimed squarely at the dancefloor it's not got much substance to it other than its primary purpose and on that front it's a success for me!
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Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Mar 19, 2012 19:12:18 GMT 1
6TH OCTOBER- CHAIN REACTION/ ONE FOR SORROW- Steps (1 wk)The end was oh so very near (3 months) and this became the penultimate release and is of course a cover of the Diana Ross 1986 No 1 hit with a remix of their own 1998 hit on the reverse. To be fair I don't really mind this, probably because they don't do anything too radical with the song, the dance routine's look a little haggard and out of place in an era when more sophisticated pop was starting to rule the airwaves and there is little doubt in my mind that they got out just in time. I've always been a fan of the remix of "One For Sorrow" electrofied up and really rather jolly. As I have said on the previous Steps review I think 2001 was actually a good year for the band and their music did become more adult, this is a little bit of nostalgia for the late 90s coming out on this track and who doesn't like that eh?
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Post by greendemon on Mar 19, 2012 19:18:17 GMT 1
i didn't like 'starlight' at first (curiously, i was in switzerland at the time too, although that was because i was living there) but it grew on me. it was never a favourite of mine, though.
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