Suggs 'Cecilia'

Chart Peak: 4

YouTube

It's statistically unlikely that you'll need a link to the original of this, but here it is anyway.

My strongest memory of Suggs's solo career is that in May 1996 (or around that time at least) I was torn between buying his album The Lone Ranger or The Sun Is Often Out by Longpigs. Much to my brother's derision, I ultimately plumped for the latter (but guess what he got for his birthday that year). Whilst I still think I made the right choice, this doesn't necessarily mean I have a complete downer on the one I decided against: if I remember correctly, I actually took it with me when I moved out of the house, but I did have to give it back eventually. It's no masterpiece but there are some decent chunks of Madness-like pop on there (indeed the song '4am' was later recycled on a Madness album) thanks to his renewed collaboration with ex-colleague Mike Barson. And then there's this.

At the time, I actually thought this was quite good. It's certainly a good-natured treatment of Paul Simon's original, which lends itself better to Ska than might have been predicted; I don't even know whether there might have been ska versions of the song before. And, I suppose the extra vocals from Louchie Lou and Michie One add a slight spark of originality. But still, this hasn't aged at all well - it sounds like a bit of a novelty now. It was novel enough for a lot of people though: in a time when almost every hit single entered the charts at its peak position, this managed to leap 33-9 in the second week of release, thanks to an appearance on the televised lottery show if I remember rightly. It went on to peak even higher and sell over half a million copies, and inspiring them to team up again for the less successful 'No More Alcohol'.

Oh, and some people might not forgive me if I neglected to link to this. Naughty Top Of The Pops producers!


Also appearing on: Now 32
Available on:Platinum Collection

Belinda Carlisle 'In Too Deep'

Chart Peak: 6

YouTube

After our little Bon Jovi confessional the other day, I might as well keep going. I don't suppose it's terribly shameful to say that 'Circle In The Sand' made at least some contribution to persuading my ten-year old self that girls might be more interesting than I'd previously assumed. I had less excuse by the time I was of voting age, but there's no denying that it once crossed my mind to buy the seven-inch picture disc of this, with '(We Want) The Same Thing' on the flipside. What was I thinking?

Actually, even when I came to do this review, I thought I remembered this as being a bit better. The lead piano line that I remembered is alright, but slower and less energetic than I remember, and not strong enough to bear the weight of the overproduction, nor even of lyrical howlers like "Thanks for the crash-course/You came riding on your noble horse". A decent vocal, at least, but it really doesn't do the trick. Still a big improvement over Bryan Adams, though.


Also appearing on: Now 11, 12, 16, 18, 19, 20, 26, 35
Available on: A Woman & A Man

Bryan Adams 'The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me Is You'

Chart Peak: 6

Livevideo.com [no, I'd never heard of it either].

An oddly difficult record to track down: he's only uploaded a live version to his YouTube channel (although there are also some officially-endorsed cover versions) and neither is it on Last.FM. If I didn't know better I'd suspect he was slightly ashamed of it. I certainly wouldn't blame him.

Now, I realise he's an easy target for criticism, but there's a reason: however much one might admire his humanitarian work, this is a truly, deeply awful record by almost any possible measure. It can't even claim the good ol' blue collar appeal of typical Adams work, as it strives to be fashionable, funny and sexy, none of which are moods he's well qualified to portray. The dismissive references to famous fashion brands are awkwardly out of place and the notion that all this is somehow intended as a come-on would be creepy were it not so bizarre. And just to seal the deal, there's also the garish horror of the promo video, which repeatedly shows Adams on the toilet. Blender magazine apparently voted this the 47th worst single ever and if anything, they were a bit on the generous side.

Also appearing on: Now 6 [with Tina Turner], 43, 45 [with Chicane]
Available on: Anthology

Bon Jovi 'Hey God'

Chart Peak: 13

YouTube

It's tempting to suggest that the very fact of Bon Jovi continuing to release records implies the lack of a God to go shouting "Hey!" at, but that's a pretty cheap shot and besides, I've got to admit that there was a moment circa 1995 when I sort of thought they were good. It didn't last too long, but this was their relatively serious era: 'Hey God' was the fifth and smallest hit from These Days, though curiously the only one to feature on any Now album. I'd like to think it's also the point when I really started to go off them too, if only because it's so overblown and that's a far less appealing quality in a song that's supposed to be taken seriously.

Oh yes, you're supposed to take 'Hey God' very seriously, because it's their attempt at socially-conscious rock. Apparently Richie Sambora was inspired to write it after he saw a homeless person from the window of his limo, and it strives to capture the impotent anger of three characters in difficult circumstances. But however good the intentions, Bon Jovi had apparently forgotten how to sound angry by this point in their career and they were a bit too house-trained for this to sound any more than noodly, particularly since it's six minutes long for no obvious reason.


Also appearing on: Now 9, 47, 62, 64
Available on: These Days

Paul Weller 'Peacock Suit'

Chart Peak: 5

YouTube

Another case where I can remember the first time I heard the song: this time in an unusual live performance on Top Of The Pops. Either then or when they re-ran the performance during the chart run of the single, I was watching it with subtitles which claimed that the first line was "I've got a breakthrough matter", but according to the official lyric sheet it's actually a "grapefruit matter", which is "as sour as shit". Thanks Paul. At first glance the lyric seems like an expression of the rather grumpy phase Weller seemed to be going through at the time, although on closer inspection it's more likely intended as a mocking sketch of a self-regarding dandy, a dedicated follower of fashion if you will. If so, it doesn't entirely convince, possibly because it seems to betray a conflicting back-to-basics urge and the whole thing sounds less considered than a lot of his work - that slightly off-mic "I look real cute!" after the chorus sounds spontaneous, and you rather have to hope that it is.

The performance as a whole is obviously aiming at a certain rough-and-ready charm: it's presumably for this reason that he called in Steve Cradock on second guitar rather than overdubbing the part himself. And on that basis at least, it's a success, an intense run at a rather simple song that belies the underwhelming material. In fact, I've enjoyed listening back to this rather more than I'd expected to, but it remains far from my favourite solo Weller track; I can well imagine that people who didn't like him anyway would rate this among his worst. So it's probably just an accident of timing that this proved to be his biggest chart hit as a solo artist.

Also appearing on: Now 25, 32, 33, 70
Available on:Hit Parade

The Bluetones 'Slight Return'

Chart Peak: 2

YouTube

For some reason, it really sticks in my mind that one Monday afternoon in January 1996, a few of us trotted down into town after school, and walked into Our Price and used the listening post near the front of the store to check out some of the week's new single releases. I rejected possibilities from Northern Uproar" and Marion, I ultimately plumped for the single in the proper CD case with a picture of bee on the front:



Apart from sounding like it was a very long time ago, that description goes some way to explaining why I was unconcerned about failing to find the official promo video on YouTube (I hardly saw it at the time, surprisingly for such a big hit: it's not actually that good apart from Mark Morriss's silly little jig). In fact the only thing I dislike about this track is the extent to which it seems to have overshadowed all the band's other hits. If they're remembered at all by most people it seems to be as a sort of second-tier Britpop act, and of course the very fact that I started this sentence the way I did, despite the band still being together, seems to tell a story of its own. Perhaps it's because they struggled to replicate the level of success they had with this track, or perhaps that's recursive.

Anyway, if I squint past the albatross status of this song, enough time has now passed to remind me why I liked it so much. Not the lyrics, some of which I couldn't really make out until I bought the Singles album six years later, but the charm with which they're delivered by Mark Morriss, and the jangling twelve-strings of Adam Devlin. But there's something in this that raises this above a mere Byrds pastiche, perhaps the slight hint of mystery about it.

Also appearing on: Now 35
Available on: Expecting To Fly

Oasis 'Wonderwall'

Chart Peak: 2

YouTube

An even older record than 'Jesus To A Child' (though it outlasted it in the chart), this was originally released as a single in November 1995 and had therefore already been missed from two volumes in the Now series. Indeed, the next Oasis single, 'Don't Look Back In Anger' is on Now 33.

Of course, we can probably attribute this to record company politics. But just as Box Music must have felt they were coming late to this track, I feel it's a bit late for me to start reviewing 'Wonderwall' now. What can I possibly add to the reams of commentary about this track? When I listened to it attentively for the first time in ages, the thing that really caught my ear was how well-produced a record it is. That tends to be a bit of a faint-praise description, but it really struck me how good the acoustic guitars sound at the start of the track. And I've always liked the way the busy percussion helps to keep the energy of the recording up: it's a great flaw of most cover versions that I've heard that they tend to drift into the flat and maudlin. Perhaps this is the closest I'll get to an insight here, regarding my own conflicting feelings about the record, and about Oasis as a whole. I don't think it's the greatest song ever written, and I don't think it's as good as I did in 1995. But maybe I don't like it any less, and not only because I know how much worse the band can get. It doesn't arouse particularly nostalgic feelings in my either, perhaps because it's never really gone away. It just seems to exert a special power of its own, and not only on me: it recently sold its millionth copy, more than 11 years after release, and is at time of writing just outside the iTunes Top 200.

The pedant in me wants to point out that the single version here omits the brief acoustic reprise of 'Supersonic' at the end of the album version. One final observation from the video: stand-in bassist Scott McLeod clearly wasn't hired for his darts-playing ability. We used to have a good old laugh at that.

Also appearing on: Now 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 38, 52, 53, 54, 61, 62
Available on: Stop the Clocks