Simply Red 'Something Got Me Started'

Chart Peak: 11

YouTube

While Mick Hucknall's in an apologising mood, perhaps he should say something about the hideous intro to his first hit in almost two years. One of the biggest-selling albums of the decade begins with a woman declaiming "I love you" and Hucknall creepily whispering "Show me!" Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Once that's out of the way, the song does improve significantly, though. It's one of the more dance-oriented tracks in the catalogue, which is usually preferable to the slowies. It's also one of the last works of Simply Red as an actual group rather than Hucknall and hired hands, although it was always clear who was in charge. It's no masterpiece, and the lyric and music don't entirely seem to fit but it's got some entertainment value and the call-and-response vocals with keyboard player Fritz McIntyre are memorable. The house piano parts that sound like they're being played with one finger (though for the benefit of any keyboardists reading this, I'm sure they're not) do date this track somewhat but they don't ruin it.

In fact, the middle of this record is about as good as the album's been so far. It's just a shame that the intro is so awful and the last thirty seconds seem to be more about making sure everyone knows the title of the song so they can buy it. And it still didn't make the Top 10.

Also appearing on: Now 5, 7, 9, 21, 23, 24, 32, 33
Available on: Stars

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark 'Sailing On The Seven Seas'

Chart Peak: 3

YouTube

This is almost another synth duo, except that founding member Paul Humphreys had left the band five years earlier and, after various contractual issues, this single was the launch of OMD as effectively a solo project for Andy McCluskey, though he continued to work with other musicians for promotional appearances, even if he couldn't stop them looking utterly of their time. It was a successful return for the name, equalling their highest ever chart position, and it does seem very heavily oriented to the pop direction that he'd follow until retiring  the name five years later. Even so, it sounds a bit stuck in the previous decade, which is presumably why the hits seemed to get smaller and smaller as the 1990s wore on.

Of course, two more decades further on and a reunited version of OMD are back in the album charts. But even speaking as somebody who's never been a fan, I sort of feel that it was the the time off that gave them more of a sense of purpose than is shown here, in this song which is so hollow I'm not surprised it floats on those seas.

Also appearing on: Now 3, 4, 8, 25, 34
Available on: Sugar Tax

Erasure 'Love To Hate You'

Chart Peak: 4

YouTube

Another synth-pop duo founded in the previous decade, this time with a nominally original song, although there's an obvious "homage" to 'I Will Survive'; other parts reminded me slightly of 'There Must Be An Angel' and the theme from the Golden Girls, though these might not be intetional. I don't know whether Andy Bell is trying to look like Tim Booth in the video either...

Anyway, I recalled this song as the point when Erasure seemed to go really weird on us, although I can't now remember whether that was something I'd concluded for myself or just a received opinion. I wasn't quite old enough in 1991 to recognise the hints towards sado-masochism in the song. Either way, it tends to leave me cold, as a lot of Erasure songs do, and whilst I recognise that this may in some ways be intentional, it doesn't really encourage me to keep listening.

Also appearing on: Now 9, 10, 13, 14, 16, 17, 21, 22, 23, 28, 29, 54
Available on: This Is... 1991

Pet Shop Boys 'Where The Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You)'

Chart Peak: 4

YouTube

Cute bit of sequencing there. It's not totally forced: despite the several months' gap between the singles, this was the earliest Now album they could have included the track on, as there were only two albums in 1991.

With so many appearances I'm slightly surprised to notice that this is only the second time I've had cause to write about the PSBs on here. Anyway, here they are with their medley pitting the 1987 U2 single against the Boys Town Gang's camp disco arrangement of 'Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You'. Coincidentally, both those singles had peaked at 4 in the UK, and so did this (as a double-A with the self-penned 'How Do You Expect To Be Taken Seriously', which adds up to one of the longest titles ever for a Top 10 entry). It's sort of a cute idea, and makes some sort of sense as a parody of Bono's rather overblown vocal style and his tendency to self-importance; but as I'm sure they'd have realised, actually recording something like that, releasing it as a single and expecting people to buy it and put it into the chart just to make your in-jokey point is itself a bit of a self-important thing to do. It also wasn't exactly topical by 1991. Nowadays I suppose they could just upload it on their Facebook page and everyone could appreciate it for what it was.

Bono's reported reaction: "What have I done to deserve this?"

Also appearing on: Now 7, 8, 10, 11, 15, 18, 26, 28 [as Absolutely Fabulous], 35, 72
Available on: Ultimate

U2 'The Fly'

Chart Peak: 1 (1 week)

YouTube

Funnily enough, this is U2's first appearance in the series since Now 5. In the second half of the preceding decade they'd proven themselves to be the biggest rock band in the world, and then seemingly worried about what to do with it. So it was almost two years into the new decade before they re-emerged with this radically different single, presumably as a statement of intent, as there were many more conventionally U2-like tracks on the album. Indeed this was such an edgy choice of single that it was supposed to be available for a limited time (though it's since reappeared as a download) so that a more reassuring single could be put out in time for the Christmas market. In the event though, this frontloaded sales sufficiently that the single performed the public service of deposing Bryan Adams from his 16-week stint at the top of the charts, although 'The Fly' was deposed in short order by the aforementioned 'Dizzy' and its initial five-week chart run equalled a record set by Iron Maiden earlier that same year. Over in the US it was rather a flop, which is presumably why it doesn't reliably show up on best-of collections.

That's a shame, because this is better than many of the songs that do reliably turn up on those. Claims of bravery are perhaps oversold (after all, they knew they weren't going to starve even if the album flopped) and as is often the case Bono's lyric isn't as interesting as he thinks it is. But there are quotable one-liners ("All kill their inspiration and sing about the grief") and the soundscape demands attention. Unfortunately, this seems to have become as much of a formula for the band as anything else and, inevitably, it inspired many an imitator too.

Also appearing on: 4, 5, 22, 32, 36, 37, 41, 47, 48, 49, 53, 57 [LMC vs U2], 60, 61, 62, 63, 66, 72
Available on: Achtung Baby

Belinda Carlisle 'Live Your Life Be Free'

Chart Peak: 12

YouTube

The opening title track from her fourth album, and seemingly about the point in her career when the home market abandoned her, though she remained a star in Europe, even if not to quite the same extent as she had before. At the same time, she was evidently still trying to make very commercial music, working with the same producers as her early hits. Indeed, in places this seems to recycle 'We Want The Same Thing', and the overall effect is that it's trying a bit too hard to please, throwing in more hooklines than there's really room for.
That said, the slick production doesn't seem to have dated quite as badly as some of her 80s work, and as usual her distinctive voice lends the record a bit more personality than it might otherwise have had. But this is more decent than impressive.

Also appearing on: 11, 12, 16, 18, 19, 26, 34, 35
Available on: The Best of Belinda Vol.1

Vic Reeves & The Wonder Stuff 'Dizzy'

Chart Peak: 1 (2 weeks)

YouTube

..And we're back!
Back with Now 20 from 1991, historically noteworthy as the first album to use the familiar three-dimensional block lettering on the cover. Apparently it was also the last Now album with an accompanying VHS tape. You can see a TV advert here, although of course it contains spoilers for what else is on the album.

Coincidentally, we're back where we left off, in the realm of the singing actors, although the context here is slightly different. At any rate, this record is supposed to be funny.

Whether it actually is, though, that's a different question. In the early 1990s I was still too young to be allowed to watch any of Vic's programmes, so my only real contact with him was through the records. I didn't understand his version of 'Born Free' at all, whereas at least this number had some musical chops thanks to a backing band I'd already heard of thanks to their huge hit with 'The Size Of A Cow' earlier that year.

Presumably influenced by the large number of key changes (11 in the original, 12 in this version) the Stuffies amp up the tongue-in-cheek effects, with plenty of wah-wah guitar, drum solos and Miles Hunt's deadpan responses to Reeves in the final chorus. The result is a pub singalong that lasted longer at the top of the UK chart than Tommy Roe's original (which managed only seven days between the last two Beatles chart-toppers) but hasn't aged terribly well. I do rather imagine that out of context it'd just sound like a bloke who could sing very well covering a song that wasn't particularly good to start with. And as some have pointed out, it makes a bit of a mockery of the bile some early Wonder Stuff songs aimed at people who recorded cover versions.

The Wonder Stuff also appear on: Now 21
Vic Reeves also appears on: Now 31 [with EMF and Bob Mortimer]
Available on: If The Beatles Had Read Hunter ... The Singles