Juliet Roberts 'Free Love'

Chart Peak: 25

YouTube [remix]

Former Working Week lead singer Juliet Roberts follows the dance smash 'Caught In The Middle' with the re-release of the storming 'Free Love' on 25th October '93.

It's been a while since this has happened, but I've struck out at trying to find the original version of this track on YouTube: it is available on Spotify, if that's of any use to you. Fortunately I had the cassette to refer to. This is the second of four consecutive Now! appearances for her, despite the underwhelming chart performance of most of the songs involved. Roberts has spent much of her career as a backing singer and without wishing to sound unkind it almost feels like she is one here as well. Maybe I'm just tired but I struggle to even pay attention to this song, let alone find things to say about it. I'm going to be generous and suggest that it might make more sense in a club, but at home it's sadly featureless.

Also appearing on: Now 25, 27. 28
Available on: Original Hits - Nineties [Explicit]

M People 'One Night In Heaven'

Chart Peak: 6

YouTube

M People are DJ/remixer/producer Mike Pickering, keyboardist/bassist Paul Heard and the wonderously emotive emotive vocalist Heather Small. The euphoric 'One Night In Heaven' was the second of three Top 10 hits so far this year and made No. 6 in July.

So the first song on the album was written in the Sixties, the second in the Seventies, the third in the Eighties and now we finally get a number from the Nineties. SPOILER: the next track isn't from the 2000s though.

Though not their first Top 10 single, 'One Night In Heaven' marks the start of their of their peak phase, which wasn't as long as you might think: their last studio album was as long ago as 1997, although they have toured since then. They packed a lot of hits into those few years though, largely by sticking fairly rigidly to a winning formula, so much so that even the cover versions fit in seamlessly. 

It's probably a bit harsh to criticise dance music for being formulaic when that seems almost to be the point of it, but M People seem to get it in the neck especially because of the success they had in converting the club sounds of house music into something people listened to in actual houses (and cars). This was the first single from the album Elegant Slumming, which even had a lot of sofas on the cover to underline the point. Doing that seems to set a somewhat tougher standard, and although few of their records are honestly dislikeable individually, the cumulative effect does become somewhat tiresome. And apparently Juliet Roberts sings the actual "One night in heaven, one night in heaven" bit that is the most memorable part of the song but isn't fully credited for it. 

Also appearing on: Now 27, 28,  30
Available on: One Night In Heaven: The Very Best Of M People

Juliet Roberts 'I Want You'

Chart Peak: 33

YouTube

Another relatively minor hit, and one that seems to form a bridge between the soul-diva tracks immediately before it and the dance tracks that follow towards the end of the album. Roberts is a classic example of somebody that I knew had been a pop star but couldn't name a song by.

'I Want You' (unconnected to songs by Marvin Gaye, Pulp, Elvis Costello etc) is from the big, pumping disco-style school of dance, rather than the Eurodance style we heard earlier in the album. It's easier on the ear sometimes but I tend to find this sort of thing rather unengaging. The big string intro is impressive and the singing is very good thoughout but in the context in which I'm hearing this I find it hard to care.

Also appearing on: Now 25, 26, 28
Available on: Natural Thing