Doctor And The Medics with Roy Wood 'Waterloo'

Chart Peak: 45
YouTube

Roy Wood was No.1 with The Move ('Blackberry Way') and with Wizzard ('See My Baby Jive' and 'Angel Fingers'), Doctor And the Medics were No.1 with 'Spirit In The Sky'. 'Waterloo' was originally No.1 and a Eurovision winner for Abba... So this new version should get to No...

To nowhere in the Top 40, as it turned out, making this the third and last non-hit on Now 8. Again, though, the Doctor and his Medics weren't really a one-hit wonder because they'd had a Top 30 hit with 'Burn' as the immediate follow-up to their chart-topping cover version. Still, somebody obviously thought there was demand for more novelty covers from the Seventies and so this version of Abba's Eurovision winner arrives, sung by the group's (female) backing singers The Anadin Brothers. You could argue this was a little ahead of its time, six years before Erasure's Abba-Esque EP, but you could also argue that Erasure put more of their own spin on the track whereas this a fairly straight re-run of the original without the thorough finesse of genuine Abba.

Roy Wood makes his only appearance in the main Now series (though he has of course appeared on several Now Christmas albums) on saxophone here, though he probably attracted more attention in the video. He also provides a tenuous link back to It Bites, since Francis Dunnery's late brother played in Violinski, a spin-off from Electric Light Orchestra and of course Roy Wood was also a member of ELO. The video also features cameo appearances by Lemmy, Captain Sensible and some other people I don't really recognise but they're filmed as if they're famous.

The Medics don't really impress too much with their Now tracks, which feel more like cabaret than something for sound-only. However Andy Partridge produced their earlier single 'The Miracle of the Age' which hints that there was something slightly more interesting going on once upon a time.

Doctor And The Medics also appear on: Now 7
Available on: Keep Thinking It's Tuesday

Billy Bragg 'Greetings To The New Brunette'

Chart Peak: 58
YouTube

His previous single 'Levi Stubbs' Tears' was a Top 30 hit... 'Greetings' was released as the follow-up in late October.

OK, a couple of things to mention early on. Firstly, some discographies list this track as "Billy Bragg with Johnny Marr and Kirsty MacColl" [also how it was listed on the chart] so for consistency with earlier posts I'm continuing to credit them even though they're not mentioned on the sleeve of Now 8. Kirsty MacColl sings a prominent backing vocal towards the end of the track and Johnny Marr, he plays guitar. And as for that video, since it's been copied from VH-1 I have to assume that it's official, even though the combination of stock footage and home movies of Bragg not singing give it an oddly posthumous feel.

Billy Bragg is of course still very much among us but despite his high profile he's never been a consistent singles chart performer so Ashley Abram was taking quite a risk placing this track on the album. It of course didn't pay off as this is one of two singles on Now 8 that missed the Top 50. Interestingly both of them are the only solo appearances in the series by performers who had Top 20 hits that were uncompiled; Bragg can technically claim that his next chart appearance after this was at Number One with 'She's Leaving Home', though inevitably it was Wet Wet Wet's flipside that made it to Now 12. It's a bit of a cliche to say that most of Bragg's best writing deals with the personal rather than the political, but it's not entirely untrue; not least of course because the emotions he's discussing here are eternal. Throughout the song his protagonist addresses the unseen "Shirley" with whom he evidently has a testy but enjoyable relationship - not an over-the-top Burton/Taylor kind of thing, the sort of relationship normal people have. Though Bragg possibly thinks of himself as cleverer than his narrator he still leaves him and Shirley as sympathetic characters and throws in perhaps his most-quoted lyric "How can you lie back and think of England when you don't even know who's in the team?" Although this doesn't quite have the same emotional impact as the aforementioned 'Levi Stubbs' Tears', neither does it have the hectoring tone of some of his songs, and the conversational tone of the performance is safely within his limited vocal range. A good song that could even have been a hit were it not for the confusing title; Bragg did eventually give in and re-record the song as 'Shirley' a decade later. If it seems out of place here, at least Bragg is sometimes better enjoyed in smaller doses.

Kirsty MacColl also appears on: Now 10 [with the Pogues], 15, 31
Available on: Must I Paint You a Picture?: The Essential Billy Bragg

Grace Jones 'I'm Not Perfect (But I'm Perfect For You)'

Chart Peak: 56
YouTube

Grace has co-written and co-produced her new single - released early November.

Another confident inclusion, though it doesn't look like this one went quite as well for them as Swing Out Sister. This was her first single for EMI after her run of reggae-influenced hits on Island, which might explain why it's her Now debut. As well as changing label she also moved to a more disco-pop sound, so her co-producer was the ubiquitous Nile Rodgers. Famously, it was Jones who'd first invited Rodgers and the other members of Chic to the legendary Studio 54 club, but they were refused entry so they went home and wrote 'Le Freak' instead. Despite this old connection, her insistence on contributing to the production apparently led to a rather fraught working relationship. Her co-writer for this and the rest of the album was Bruce Woolley, who'd also co-penned 'Slave To The Rhythm' and 'Video Killed The Radio Star'. It's a good if undramatic song and features a strong performance but it does keep reminding me of 'I'd Be Surprisingly Good For You' by Linda Lewis. Perhaps it reminded the record-buying public too as the single stayed largely on the shelves and the album Inside Story was also her least successful in the UK. It's one of those odd little quirks that this turned out to be her only solo Now appearance. Surprisingly it's not the lowest-charting single on this album either.

Available on: Inside Story

Fool Boona 'Popped'

Chart Peak: 52

YouTube

Based on the classic Iggy Pop tune 'The Passenger', originally recorded in 1977, Fool Boona's interpretation 'Popped' is scheduled for release on March 22nd and is already going down a storm on dancefloors across the UK.

It can be quite an education doing this blog sometimes. I remember seeing a lot of copies of this single in the shops, in its psuedo-Roy Liechtenstein sleeve, but I'd never actually heard it nor even known what it was until I picked up Now 42 a couple of years ago. Seemingly, both retailers and Ashley Abram overestimated the demand for this single. I've also learnt that Colin Tevendale was  Fool Boona's real name. It apparently took him and two other people to write this, not counting Iggy Pop and his original co-writer Ricky Gardiner.

As the note says, Iggy's version does indeed date back to 1977, when it appeared on his Lust For Life album, though its only single release at the time was as a B-side. It finally got promoted to A-side status in 1998 after it was used in a TV commercial (the phrase "get into the car" featuring prominently) and it was presumably airplay of that release that spawned this version. 'Popped' is based not on the distinctive rattling riff of the verse/chorus sections (reportedly inspired by the S-Bahn in Berlin) but on the "La-la-la-la-la-la-la" section sung in the original by Iggy and the producer David Bowie, seemingly in an old man's voice. Not only does this not sample the original, it's not even a convincing soundalike, the vocal closer to Neil Hannon than anyone who was actually an adult in 1977. If you want to hear somebody singing the most annoying part of a classic song over and over again, then you might enjoy this, but it seems most people didn't.

Available on: Popped

Fe-m@il 'Flee Fly Flo'

Chart Peak: 46

YouTube

Fe-m@il, whose ages range from 15 to 19, are "on a mission to get the nation dancing"... Oyana is easy-going but hates cats, Ans is lazy - but a perfectionist, Nicci is a smiley violinist, Lauz (aka Laura) is a party animal and and Sally (Lauz's sister) enjoys fiddling with her belly-button because it freaks her big sister out!

If you've watched that video, I'd just like to reassure you that the world hasn't ended, you're not having a feverish dream, that song really does exist. There are some records that have a timeless quality, that are so individual that they can't be pigeonholed with anything else or be tied to a specific era; it's fair to say that 'Flee Fly Flo' isn't one of them. The very name of the act, with the pun and the use of the @ symbol (which always looks to me like it should be pronounced "fematil", surely the name of a hygiene product) is an instant throwback to the days when references to this newfangled Internet thing were trendy whether or not they made any sense. Even four years after 'Wannabe', people still thought there was some mileage in the concept of a feisty girl-group and especially one who could be promoted to a very young audience. To this end, the track is apparently based on a traditional song commonly sung at scout camps and similar, so it would be all the more familiar to schoolgirls. Even before release this track was included on a free video cassette with TV Hits magazine (another very of its time reference), but the kids didn't bite and as far as I know this was their only release, in the days when one flop was the end. I don't know whether a second single was recorded and abandoned, and neither do I know what happened to the ex-members of the band. Presumably they've all had to get proper jobs now but I wonder if they ever tell their colleagues about this.

Fine Young Cannibals 'Blue'

Chart Peak: 41

YouTube

The follow-up to 'Johnny Come Home', released in early November.

And so a milestone in Now! history passes quietly, as this is the first track ever to appear that did not make the Top 40. Obviously, this was a result of the album having to go to press before the single was even released, but it was pretty trusting to include this when the FYC had only the one hit under their belt. As it transpired, they guessed wrong this time and the single underperformed, despite the enticement of a free "1986 FYC Picture Calendar". The band were saved from one-hit-wonderhood by their cover of 'Suspicious Minds' in early 1986, although that was notably not included on Now 7... a case of once bitten twice shy maybe?

As to 'Blue' itself, it's more directly political than the more emotional 'Johnny Come Home', and for that reason alone has unsurprisingly not aged as well. It's firmly in the vein of anti-Thatch soul-pop from the mid-1980s, but it doesn't have quite the rousing anger of the Style Council at their best, nor the direct personal impact of some of Jimmy Somerville's work. It's not even the best thing the Cannibals did in this style and to be honest it was probably the wrong choice of second single.

Also appearing on: Now 6, 14, 16 (CD only)
Available on: Fine Young Cannibals

Right Said Fred 'Wonderman'

Chart Peak: 55

YouTube

Richard, Fred and Rob's collaboration with Sega's Sonic The Hedgehog, 'Wonderman', is due for release on 7/3/94

Well, some you win some you lose. This didn't do quite as well as the Doop single, although since the two singles before this had peaked at 32 and 60, a major hit never really seemed to be on the cards; possibly the record company agreed to licence this track in the hope of reviving the Freds' career, though it didn't work as far as as the UK was concerned, barring a one-off comeback hit in 2001. The two Fairbrass brothers are still at it though, and as I write this have are on the Night Of The Living Fred tour.

On the track itself, it's not immediately obvious what the computerised hedgehog has contributed, but it is a reminder of the video-game hits on Now 23. I didn't say that was a good thing, mind you. The chorus is not as unlike Tinie Tempah's current hit of the same title as I might have expected, but it's not plausible that this could have been a significant influence because I can't imagine anyone involved would ever have heard of it.

Right Said Fred were fun for a while, and I suppose now they're into the world of nostalgia but at this time in history they seemed utterly pointless. This record doesn't discourage that impression.

Also appearing on: Now 21
Available on: Wonderman

Radiohead 'Lucky (War Child)'

Chart Peak: 51 (as the lead track of the Help EP)

YouTube

Radiohead's 'Lucky' is the lead track from the 'Help' EP due for release in late October 1995... The vast majority of monies owed go directly to the 'War Child' charity which is working to alleviate the suffering of children in Bosnia

Another track that seems a bit of a misfit on a Now album, especially noting its lack of success as a single (though it did feature on a million-selling album a couple of years later). In mood as well, it seems unlikely to appeal much to the stereotypical Now purchaser. Indeed it was allegedly rejected by one radio station for sounding "too depressing", not that I'm under the impression many other stations played it either. Between this and the fact that Radiohead aren't named on the front cover, this interrupted an otherwise unbroken run of 16 Top 40 hits over 15 years, and yet only six of those hits made it to Now album. For the record, the other three tracks on the EP were a live version of '50ft Queenie' by PJ Harvey, 'Momentum' by Guru and an untitled instrumental track that was actually by Portishead.

The sleeve note oddly glosses over it, but this lead track derives from the Help album,one of the more laudable achievements of the Britpop era. 20 exclusive (at the time) tracks were recorded on the 4th of September, and the record was in the shops by the 9th, too soon for them to list the tracks on the cover. This didn't stop it shifting enough copies in a single day to become the week's biggest seller, although to Brian Eno's annoyance it was treated as a compilation and thus excluded from the main chart (I should imagine this induced some mixed feelings in the Levellers, who gained their only Number One album for this reason). Over the years, I bought it on both cassette and CD, but last time I looked I couldn't find either of them so by the time you read this I may have to buy another copy.

Whilst some of the material was just rearrangements of old material or cover versions, 'Lucky' was at the time an entirely new song, though I don't know whether it was written specifically for the occasion. It seems to capture Radiohead at a pivotal moment in their career, somewhere between the relatively conventional rock of the first two albums and the more avant-garde soundscapes they've tended towards since. It still sounds like something that was written on guitar and arranged afterwards, but for me at least the emphasis has always been on the atmosphere more than the actual lyrics, which apparently are about a survivor of an airline accident who gains superpowers (or thinks he does?). It's an interesting concept actually, linking with obvious parallels like Spiderman, Futurism and their own song 'Airbag', which ultimately joined this on the OK Computer album. And it raises all sorts of questions about whether he's lucky to survive the accident, or unlucky to have had it. And I realise Radiohead aren't everyone's cup of tea, but for my mind this is possibly the greatest purpose-built charity single of all time at least in musical terms; it doesn't seem to have been quite as effective a short-term fundraiser as getting a load of current stars to bellow a cover version.


Fortunately, War Child seems to have done alright out of it in the long run and it's good to know that they're still going now, though in an echo of the song itself, it's a shame there's still anything for them to do. While there is, though, I've pointed the link at the bottom of the post to their download store, because they surely can make better use of the commission than I would. In line with my usual practice, I'll provide the link for direct donations.

PS - I have to admit that it's a pure coincidence that I'm publishing a post about a song called 'Lucky' on the 13th.

Also appearing on: Now 26, 33, 37, 38, 39, 49
Available on: OK Computer (deluxe edition)

Kerri-Ann 'Do You Love Me Boy?'

Chart Peak: 58

YouTube

Kerri-Ann, the latest Irish teen pop sensation, is due to release her first single 'Do You Love Me Boy?' on 27th July '98... She signed her record deal while still at school where she was also a champion Irish dancer

Yes, you read that chart position right, though apparently this did make it to Number 2 in Ireland. In case the phrase "Irish teen-pop sensation" isn't enough of a giveaway, she was managed by Louis Walsh, and signed to Polygram, which might lead a cynical person to suspect that her presence here might even have been some sort of quid-pro-quo for the inclusion of the Boyzone track on the first disc. Scurrilous allegations aside, it must rank as one of the most obscure tracks ever to crop up on a Now! album, having made so little impact at the time and leaving very little impact on posterity. She never released another single in the UK, despite further success in her homeland.

It'd be fun to say that 'Do You Love Me Boy?' was some sort of lost classic, but of course it isn't. It's just a throwaway (and not in a good way) piece of inanity for which somebody seems to have pressed the "latin" button on their sythensiser. If you like castanets, you'll be impressed by this, but that's not enough to make me want to hear this more than the twice I had to for the sake of this post.

The Verve 'Sonnet'

Chart Peak: 74 (import sales only)

YouTube

The Verve's Album 'Urban Hymns' has now sold over 2 million copies in Britain alone...to celebrate, we include 'Sonnet' the single that never was

To be strictly accurate, there was a limited 12" single released featuring three previously available B-sides, alongside equivalent re-issues of the three hits from the album; apparently this was the result of a compromise between the record company (who were understandably eager for another hit, especially since a moderately popular band who'd split to relatively little fanfare in 1995 had unexpectedly re-emerged as one of the biggest acts in the country) and Richard Ashcroft (who thought three singles from an album was plenty).In other countries where Ashcroft seemed to hold less sway, there was a CD single and demand in the UK was sufficient for that to sneak into the Top 75 for a week; it's now available as a digital single for anyone interested. Under the circumstances I feel a little mean applying the "flops" tag to this post, butI couldn't think of a more succint way to indicate the songs that didn't make the Top 40.

I'd become rather fond of The Verve during their downtime, after buying their posthumous single 'History' and picking up the album A Northern Soul at mid-price; I couldn't resist feeling a little smug when it went back up to full price in 1997. Between that and the first two singles I had pretty high expectations for the Urban Hymns and I can still recall the faint sense of disappointment that began to set in as ballad followed ballad and the whole thing dragged on for what felt like about two hours. There isn't really a bad song on there but there's just too much time where not enough happens, and it's not surprising in retrospect that much of the material was originally meant for a solo Richard Ashcroft album. 'Sonnet' is perhaps a tantalising glimpse of what the album could have been with a different focus: though recognisably a solo Ashcroft composition, it's much crisper and more focussed than many of his others, running to less than four-and-a-half minutes and full of well-crafted little details (note Nick McCabe's distinctive lead guitar work through the verses). I can understand that fans of the more wigged-out part of the band's repertoire or the ones who liked them when they were still called Verve might not be too fond of this one, but at a time when a lot of what they did seemed to be falling between two stools I'm quite glad they went all the way with this. It shows up the Embrace track (same producer, same record company, clearly aiming in the same direction).

This track does have one slightly sadder association, as it was the record Radio 1 played to lead up to the announcement that John Peel had died; no prizes for guessing what they played after the announcement.

Also appearing on: Now 37, 38, 39, 71
Available on: Urban Hymns

Amy Winehouse 'Love Is A Losing Game'

Chart Peak: 46

YouTube

Ah, what can you say about Amy Winehouse? Well, rather a lot by the looks of things, but I'm not sure I can be bothered with any of it. In fact I even take a certain perverse pride in not being entirely sure whether that man glimpsed in the video is Blake Fielder-Civil.

Anyway, let's ignore the whole soap opera, except to note that one possible explanation for the underwhelming chart performance of the single was that she wasn't available to promote it much around the time of release (it was reported that a planned video shoot had to be cancelled in her absence, hence the cutting-room scrapings that ended up being used). Another reason is surely that it wasn't really necessary to pull a fifth single off the already very successful Back To Black album; although a deluxe version of the album was released at the same time, this wasn't new to it. It's a slightly odd choice of single at any time, because whilst well-received it's not an obviously dramatic attention-grabbing track. That's more a strength than a weakness, in this case, and in a way it seems like a better justification for all the fuss than some of her bigger hits; but it doesn't inspire strong reactions. It does give the album a sense of winding down and might even have been a good place to end it.

Also appearing on: Now 65, 66, 67, 68
Available on: Back To Black

Sydney Youngblood 'I'd Rather Go Blind'

Chart Peak: 44

YouTube

Looking through the list of tracks, I wondered how an almost entirely dance-oriented second disc would run into a version of this famous ballad standard. Hearing it for the first time on YouTube, I got my answer: Mr Youngblood (not his real name, you know) had in fact squared the circle somewhat by dancifying the song a bit, recalling the style of his first two hits 'If Only I Could' and 'Sit And Wait'.

Unfortuntely, this is a song I've never been fond of in any form, which protects me from hearing this as any sort of sacrilege, but also would demand a brilliant version to impress me. And that's not what we have here, although it's passable I suppose. The record-buying public weren't impressed either (or if they were, they'd already bought this album, which was released before the single) and his Top 40 career was over.

Also appearing on: Now 16
Available on: Feeling Free

Los Del Mar 'Macarena'

Chart Peak: 43

YouTube

Yes, you read that right. Los Del Mar.
Unless you're considerably younger or older than I am you probably already know about the massive phenomenon that was the original Los Del Rio version of 'Macarena', or at any rate the remix that ultimately crossed over to North America and Europe. Evidently, though, Box Music were unable to licence that, so they ended up with this cover version, released in Canada in 1995 and issued here as a spoiler.

British buyers weren't fooled, but in Australia it managed to peak at 2 behind the Los Del Rio version: as if anything like that would ever happen here. Of course, everyone knows the song, and this sticks as close as legally permissible to the Bayside Boys production of the hit. Singer Wil Veloz has a slightly lower pitch than Los Del Rio, but otherwise there's not much to say here.


Available on:La Bomba (MP3 album)

Tina Cousins 'Angel'

Chart Peak: 46

YouTube

Yes, you read that right. This only got to 46, admittedly only a few weeks before the album was released. But this being her second consecutive single to fall short of the Top 40, it's hard to imagine anyone really fancying its chances of being a big hit. Perhaps they got this as a job lot with the Steps track: they both worked with Pete Waterman, and Cousins was the first to record 'Deeper Shade Of Blue', later a Steps hit. Presumably she was considered due to her success as a guest vocalist for Sash!

I can't entirely remember whether I heard this at the time, but hearing it now I wouldn't expect to be able to remember it. The rather odd video might have stuck in my mind though. Musically, it does sound a bit like, well, a rejected Steps track, more than anything I'd recognise as dance music. There are some vague intimations of a beat, but it doesn't really gel. Although Cousins never really caught on as a solo artist in her home country, she managed more success in Australia, which explains how she ended up on a telethon with Tim Brooke-Taylor over there. Now we know what the internet was invented.

Also appearing on: Now 42, 43
Available on: Smash Hits 2000