Dina Carroll 'This Time'

Chart Peak: 23
YouTube

Dina first charted in 1991 as featured vocalist on Quartz's 'It's Too Late'... Her solo career has already produced numerous hits such as 'Ain't No Man', 'So Close' and 'This Time' which features the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.

I think this may have been another failed bet: her previous three solo singles had all gone Top 20 so this was probably expected to follow them there, particularly as it was a sentimental ballad released in February. In the end it didn't do so well, ending up the least successful of the six singles from the album and has left little impact on posterity - I'm sure I've never heard it outside the confines of this album and the YouTube link I've just looked up. Mind you, Dina Carroll seems a bit of an overlooked pop star generally, despite an impressive run of success in the early 90s.

Strangely, 'This Time' doesn't seem as opulent a production as the presence of a big orchestra (or at least its string section) would suggest. Somehow the rest of the arrangement feels a little bit cheap, possibly thrown together on synthesisers. Carroll herself is in fine voice but the song doesn't seem to go anywhere and it feels like a bit of a waste.

Also appearing on: Now 24, 27, 35, 43
Available on: The Very Best Of... (UK single CD)

Dina Carroll 'Don't Be A Stranger'

Chart Peak: 3

YouTube

Dina first charted as lead vocalist on the 1991 Quartz hit 'It's Too Late'... 'Don't Be A Stranger' is her 6th solo hit in the last 18 months and became the soul singer's biggest success yet when it entered the Top 10 on 17th October '93.

It might look like an exaggeration, but this really was the sixth hit single from her debut album, and the eighth if you include the two Quartz hits she sang on. By the end of 1993 she'd managed yet another hit with 'The Perfect Year', although it took three years for any more new material to emerge and her career seems never to have recovered. 'Don't Be A Stranger' is a big ballad to end all big ballads, with extra orchestral parts ladled on for this single version. In subject matter, it's not a million miles from 'Miss You Nights' by Cliff Richard, and whilst it's not quite that good it works pretty well, Carroll being a capable singer and wisely not overegging the song - after all, the protagonist is obviously lacking in self-confidence, hence the desparation to be welcomed and accepted by somebody, even for the wrong reason. It wouldn't make sense to be bellowing about that. For me, it's just a pity the music feels a little too tame and doesn't quite have that extra flourish that would make it more memorable.

Also appearing on: Now 24, 27, 35, 43
Available on: The World's Greatest Ballads

Dina Carroll 'The Perfect Year'

Chart Peak: 5

YouTube

'The Perfect Year', Dina's 7th consecutive hit, followed 'Don't Be A Stranger' into the Top 5 in January 1994... Her debut solo album So Close has now sold in excess of 1 million copies in Britain alone.

The sleeve note here is technically correct that this single peaked at 5 in the chart dated 8th January 1994 (and so announced on the 2nd) but of course that would have been based mainly on sales in 1993 - entirely logical really, as the song is set on New Year's Eve. It was for one week in December that year when both the singles mentioned in the note were in the Top 10 simultaneously; a rare achievement in those pre-download days and one not matched by any other female solo act in the whole decade.

What remains curiously unmentioned is that this wasn't another selection from her debut album but the big song from Andrew Lloyd Webber's then-new musical Sunset Boulevard. Carroll was not a cast member, but merely a popular singer of the time, presumably called in to record the song as promotion for the show. Regular readers won't be surprised to learn that I've never seen the musical itself and so I have no real idea of how it fits into the story, but of course I know roughly what it's about so I presume that there's some element of delusion somewhere in the song. Out of context, that's not really portrayed in this version but Carroll gives a good straight performance and the song isn't bad by the Llord's standards, though still more MOR than I'd usually go for. And in places it does remind me slightly of 'I Only Have Eyes For You'.

I'm not sure whether this is the end of Side 1 or the start of Side 2, but either way there do seem to be a lot of slow songs bunched together at this point.

Also appearing on: Now 24, 26, 35, 43
Available on: Andrew Lloyd Webber - Gold