A Pop Fan's Dream

Now That’s What I Call Music 40 (EMI / Virgin / Polygram, 1998)

Posted on July 15, 2017 by nlgbbbblth

Now 40

Now 40 r

Review
The Now series reached another milestone with the release of its 40th volume on 3 August 1998. 20% of its songs reached number one on the UK chart and we get treated to a double whammy from rising pop stars All Saints. My opinions on this set of a dozen tunes can be read from the following:
New Hits ’98: Natalie Imbruglia – Big Mistake.
Smash Hits Summer ’98: The Tamperer featuring Maya – Feel It, Aqua – Doctor Jones, Steps – Last Thing On My Mind, Janet Jackson – I Get Lonely, Massive Attack – Teardrop, Perpetual Motion – Keep On Dancin’ (Let’s Go), Imaani – Where Are You?
Fresh Hits ’98: Bus Stop featuring Carl Douglas – Kung Fu Fighting, Lutricia McNeal – Stranded, Catatonia – Road Rage, Baddiel, Skinner & Lightning Seeds – Three Lions ’98.

The Grease Megamix first reared its ugly head in December 1990. This ghastly staple of weddings and bad discos was put together by PWL’s Phil Harding and Ian Curnow. It was released in 1998 when the film turned 20 and in case you’ve been living under a rock, features the three biggest hits from the Grease soundtrack: You’re The One That I Want, Greased Lightnin’ and Summer Nights. Of more artistic merit is Viva Forever, a tired and emotional ballad from the Spice Girls. Yahoo: “A tear-jerking flamenco guitar and lush strings weave into this break-your-heart, I Will Always Love You ballad with a touch of Madonna about it.” Shades of Like A Prayer’s Spanish Eyes. In its wake, Karen Ramirez’s evocative cover of Everything But The Girl’s Looking For Love and then Billie Piper’s cheeky call ‘n’ response pop classic Because We Want To. #1 at 15 years old.

“Do you want to sleep with me tonight?” is a translation of a French question asked by Eleventh Hour, Labelle, Sabrina and now All Saints. A passable entry. Stay smutty with the relentless grind of Mousse T vs Hot ‘N’ Juicy – Horny. And now for one of the most inspired Now sequences ever: The Groove Generation featuring Leo Sayer – You Make Me Feel Like Dancing followed by Bus Stop’s reboot of Kung Fu Fighting. The GGs are CP, Kipper and Carlos and they revamp the ’70s disco classic with a choice rap and extremely funky grooves. Kung Fu Fighting sees the main man, Carl Douglas, get into the action himself. Staying with glitter are Ultra Nate and their string-soaked New Kind Of Medicine.

Postcards From Heaven begat Lost In Space, a relaxed, soulful jam from the Lighthouse Family – complete with heavily religious iconography in the video. Also ploughing a downbeat furrow are Boyzone on All That I Need; additional production by Rude Boy, Andy Bradfield, Trevor Steel, and John Holliday. Elsewhere All Saints second number is a superb take on the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Under The Bridge while K-Ci & Jo-Jo’s All My Life is pure gorgeous, an awesome bump. Sticking to R&B, Sparkle sounds like its name, a stripped-down cautionary tale. Closing the first half is Peter Andre and Kiss The Girl, taken from Disney’s The Little Mermaid; a cloying and uninteresting effort.

CD2 starts with a throwback to 1985: Don Henley’s nostalgic and elegiac look at lost youth and aging, The Boys Of Summer. It won best video of that year at the MTV Music Awards. Shot in monochrome, it shows the main character of the song at three different stages of life (as a young boy, a young adult and middle-aged), in each case reminiscing about the past relationship. The crucial line: “A little voice inside my head said don’t look back, you can never look back.” at which point, each of the three people look back in turn. He also has a pop at Grateful Dead stickers on a Cadillac; an automobile that apparently is a right wing status symbol. The video is absent from YouTube, otherwise it would be first in line.

I can’t get excited about The Mavericks and their turgid timex texmex country Dance The Night Away. Next is the gentle strum of Eagle Eye Cherry’s Save Tonight – “Fight the break of dawn” always gets me. Big anthem spot: Embrace’s deadly serious Come Back To What You Know followed by The Verve’s Sonnet – described in the booklet as “the single that never was.” Not quite. In early 1998, Hut asked The Verve to put out another 45 from Urban Hymns. The band disagreed. Unusually, Hut pressed them on this matter, and so the band finally agreed to release Sonnet, but only in a format that would make it ineligible for chart recognition. It ended up coming out as part of a set of four 12″s (the other three being Bittersweet Symphony, The Drugs Don’t Work, Lucky Man). A cardboard mailer held ’em all. However, sales of an imported format resulted in it charting at #74.

Straight out of Chester came Mansun with a half dozen top 40 hits in just over 12 months. Legacy sounds almost immortal now, built on an amazing riff and a rather creepy promotional video. Back to football, time to score one more – Vindaloo was the work of a Britpop side project called Fat Les AKA Damien Hirst, Keith Allen and Alex James. Watch out for a young Lily Allen in the video. Unofficial piss up anthem. Yes, oh yes: The Rockafeller Skank featuring the repeated line “Right about now, the funk soul brother / Check it out now, the funk soul brother”, a truncated vocal sample of rapper Lord Finesse on the Vinyl Dogs’ Vinyl Dog Vibe. Also added: Just Brothers – Sliced Tomatoes, The Bobby Fuller Four – I Fought the Law, John Barry and his Orchestra – Beat Girl, Art of Noise featuring Duane Eddy – Peter Gunn.

Banger time: David Morales presents The Face – Needin’ U. Perfect summer holiday blaster. In step, Lucid’s I Can’t Help Myself, the sound of a thousand house parties. KAM decks carried down basement steps and placed on the kitchen worktop. Also caned in those sunny months was Barbara Tucker’s uplifting Everybody Dance (The Horn Song). You’ve never too far away from a bad disco cover; this time its star of the Saturday Night Fever stage production, Adam Garcia murdering Night Fever. Lastly, a pair of glorious failures. 1) Kerri-Ann’s likeable Irish #1, Do You Love Me Boy. All the airplay in the world didn’t help. 2) Los Umbrellos – No Tengo Dinero. Catchy in the worst possible way.

Favourite tracks
Spice Girls – Viva Forever

Lighthouse Family – Lost In Space

Embrace – Come Back To What You Know

Mansun – Legacy

The Verve – Sonnet

Lest we forget
The Groove Generation featuring Leo Sayer – You Make Me Feel Like Dancing

Missing tracks and other thoughts
Now 40 is a lot better than I remember with some crackers and impeccable sequencing from the maestro Ashley Abram. Even the rubbish is placed together. Some more songs:

Bluetones – If… Classic single from their enigmatic second album.
Air – Kelly Watch The Stars. Retro electronics and table tennis.
Cornershop – Sleep On The Left Side. Low, fat grooves.
Beastie Boys – Intergalactic. The triumphant return and Hello Nasty prelude.
Hanson – Thinking Of You. Lost in the sands of time, a beautiful noise.

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Posted in Now That's What I Call Music | 20 Comments

Fresh Hits ’98 (Global Television / Sony / Warner ESP, 1998)

Posted on July 8, 2017 by nlgbbbblth

Fresh Hits 98

Fresh Hits 98 r.jpg

Review
4 July 1998: two more World Cup quarter finals. Netherlands 2 Argentina 1; Kluivert and Bergkamp brewing up a storm for the Dutch. Croatia 3 Germany 0; the golden boots of Davor Šuker. Fresh Hits ’98 was released on that day and became the 32nd volume of the Hits series. Nine of its tracks had already been compiled as follows:
Now That’s What I Call Music 39: Ultra Nate – Found A Cure, Robbie Williams – Let Me Entertain You, Tin Tin Out – Here’s Where The Story Ends, Billie Myers – Kiss The Rain, Lighthouse Family – High, All Saints – Never Ever.
Smash Hits Summer ’98: The Tamperer featuring Maya – Feel It, Steps – Last Thing On My Mind, Aqua – Doctor Jones.

Let the fun begin: B*Witched arrived on stage with C’est La Vie, an ostensibly inane pop tune that only reveals hidden layers many years later. Check out that traditional break. They reached the top spot with each of their first four singles. Also making waves in Dublin at the time were the Chicks who released two coloured vinyl 7″ singles of half-decent yet aloof indie pop. The first was launched at a Virgin in-store. Their debut album was produced by Royal Trux but still remains in the vaults. Moving on with Five and the pleasant – almost rocking – Got The Feeling. And after its ubiquity as a deathless ballad, it’s positively weird to hear Tony Moran’s Mix of Celine Dion’s My Heart Will Go On.

Four seasons in one song, Wyclef Jean’s Gone Till November has still got a good bounce to it. Elevating the dancefloor, Busta Rhymes Knight Rider sampling Turn It Up / Fire It Up. Old school banger straight from the shelves of Abbey Discs. Back to France ’98 with Dario G and the come together vibes of Carnaval De Paris. The music video features children painted in the colours of the representative countries participating in the tournament. Elsewhere Cleopatra’s Life Ain’t Easy spreads a positive message – like a Kids From Fame for the ’90s – while Lutricia McNeal’s Stranded is pure mint, a gorgeously sung jam. The grooves keep fly with Alexia’s energetic Gimme Love and Ultra’s earnest Say It Once.

One more time: Bus Stop’s Kung Fu Fighting, which sampled the original vocals by Carl Douglas and added rap verses from Daz Simpson is great retro disco fun. To Birmingham and the Eurovision which was won by Israel’s Dana International’s Diva. The song is an ode to the powerful women of history. Remembering the good times, Tina Moore’s jerky Nobody Better and Robyn’s heart on sleeve Do You Really Want Me. Jambo on with Will Mellor’s No Matter What I Do; sounds like a Boyzone demo. Lastly Three Lions ’98 which begins with the sound of crowds from Euro ’96 singing the chorus of the original. The new version reflects on the that tournament and its entry alongside previous disappointments, as well as the team’s performance in qualifying for the 1998 World Cup. “We still believe.”

Natalie Imbruglia’s third 45, Wishing I Was There, is unusual in the sense that the radio edit is 35 seconds longer than the album version. Its medium tempo and somewhat less immediate delivery meant a peak of #19. “We all live in the space age” carbon dates Road Rage as a late ’90s song. No matter, Cerys’ rolling Welsh vocal means all is forgiven. It’s followed by the pounding Sound Of Drums; the Kula Shaker tank keeps advancing. There’s more “normal” fare on offer with Simply Red’s plaintive cover of Say You Love Me while The Corrs do Fleetwood Mac’s Dreams and due to Tee’s Radio, enhance its danceability. Rod Stewart covers one of old band’s tunes – The Faces’ Ooh La La – as a tribute to Ronnie Lane who had just died. Far more satisfying are Super Furry Animals and the superb Badfinger-style ballad Ice Hockey Hair. Between Radiator and Guerrilla.

They’re back! Freak Power’s last throwing of their hands in the air comes with No Way. The tail end of the big beat sound. Keeping music evil are Tzant and Sound Of Wickedness. Want that vintage Timbaland vibe? Check out Missy Elliott’s Beep Me 911. NB – The Magoo on this are not the too cool for school Chemikal Underground group. The R&B sequence continues with Aretha Franklin’s earthy A Rose Is Still A Rose, Mase’s sensual What You Want and Jay-Z’s Glen Frey mashed cover The City Is Mine. The latter features Blacksheet, never the Backstreet Boys. In the ugly camp: NYCC’s desperate take on the Beastie Boys’ Fight For Your Right. Finally, a slight martial arts return – 187 Lockdown and Kung Fu; yet another speed garage classic with a killer bassline. Streatham ’98.

Favourite tracks
Busta Rhymes – Turn It Up (Remix) / Fire It Up

Dario G – Carnaval De Paris

187 Lockdown – Kung Fu

Freak Power – No Way

Super Furry Animals – Ice Hockey Hair

Lest we forget
Ultra – Say It Once

Missing tracks and other thoughts
Another pretty decent entry in the Hits series. A few for the final squad:

Mighty Mighty Bosstones – The Impression That I Get. Ska(te) on.
Tori Amos – Spark. Total heartbreaker.
Drugstore – El President. Featuring Thom Yorke. Allende tribute.
Pras Michel featuring ODB and Mya – Ghetto Supastar. Windows down, volume up.
Public Enemy – He Got Game. The new found maturity years.

Posted in Hits series | 4 Comments

Smash Hits Summer ’98 (Virgin, 1998)

Posted on July 1, 2017 by nlgbbbblth

Smash Hits Summer 98

Smash Hits Summer 98 r

Review
The minimal design of the Smash Hits compilation franchise continued with the Summer ’98 edition. This one had a rainbow, almost Balearic effect with six artist photographs on the back inlay. Concept and compilation by Ashley Abram for Box Music Limited.

24 of its tracks had already been snapped up as follows:
Now That’s What I Call Music 37: Hanson – MMMBop.
Now That’s What I Call Music 38: Lighthouse Family – Raincloud.
Smash Hits ’98: Robbie Williams – Angels.
Big Hits: Jimmy Ray – Are You Jimmy Ray?
The Best Of Dance ’97: Robyn – Show Me Love.
New Hits ’98: Run DMC and Jason Nevins – It’s Like That, Alexia – Uh La La La, Cornershop – Brimful Of Asha (Norman Cook Remix), Cleopatra – Cleopatra’s Theme, Lutricia McNeal – Ain’t That Just The Way, Destiny’s Child – No No No Part 2, Another Level – Be Alone No More, Backstreet Boys – All I Have To Give, Natalie Imbruglia – Big Mistake, Catatonia – Mulder And Scully.
Now That’s What I Call Music 39: Spice Girls – Stop, Robbie Williams – Let Me Entertain You, Vanilla – No Way No Way, Various – Perfect Day, Boyzone – Baby Can I Hold You, All Saints – Never Ever, Tin Tin Out – Here’s Where The Story Ends, Space with Cerys – The Ballad Of Tom Jones, Sash – La Primavera.

Smash Hits Summer ’98 is front-loaded with big tunes. The Tamperer featuring the sultry Maya dropped their Jacksons’ sampling Feel It that May and hit #1 in both the UK and Ireland. It also incorporated elements of Urban Discharge’s Drop A House and the “chimney on her” reference means a black eye. Next come Aqua with Doctor Jones, the follow-up to Barbie Girl. Cheesy Indiana Jones vibes; nostalgia you horrible beast. Please yourself with Steps covering Bananarama, the joyful ABBAesque stomp of Last Thing On My Mind. World Cup 1998 was on the horizon and Chumabawamba got in on the act with the hackneyed occupation roll call of Top Of The World (Ole, Ole, Ole). Po-faced rubbish. We in Ireland want our chant back. And look out for a better football tune later.

The Velvet Rope, like Control and Rhythm Nation 1814 before it, continues to yield up singles. While I Get Lonely (Jason Nevins Radio Mix) is a solid, pop-smart house remix, the more subdued album version remains my go-to option. Meanwhile Imaani remains the United Kingdom’s most successful Eurovision entry of the last 20 years – second plane to Dana International. Where Are You? comes with a decent vocal performance and a rather melancholy twist. The R&B groove moves on with Juice’s upfront Best Days before the underrated pop gem I Want You To Want Me by Solid Harmonie. Also dropping out of sight: Shernette Maye’s superb ballad All The Man That I Need. Seriously powerful.

CD2 gives up 911’s syrupy All I Want Is You before the Spice Girls show how a pop ballad should really be done. Too Much was the Christmas #1 of 1997, a lavish doo-wop delight with a really haunting vibe. Paling by comparison: Louise’s competent All That Matters. 1998 saw Massive Attack return with Mezzanine. Its second single was sung by the Cocteau Twins’ Liz Fraser, the ghostly heartbeat glory box Teardrop. And now for a decent footy tune – Eat My Goal was used as the soundtrack to Coca-Cola’s “Eat Football, Sleep Football, Drink Coca-Cola” advertising campaign that tied in with Euro ’96. It was so good that it was reissued for France ’98. Out with a bang: Perpetual Motion’s frantic Keep On Dancin’, Vanilla’s cut-price pop True To Us and LCD’s Greek style banger Zorba’s Dance.

Favourite tracks
Spice Girls – Too Much