Corona 'Try Me Out'

Chart Peak: 6

YouTube

It doesn't seem to be entirely clear whether model and frontwoman Olga Souza is actually singing on this record, thought it seems well established that she's not on all their hits. She seems to be performing as Corona now though.

Anyway, 'Try Me Out' was the third Top 10 hit from the Italian-based Eurodisco act, and it's fairly typical of the era, even to the extent that diminishing returns have set in and this is nowhere near as good as the previous tracks. In fact, the only reason I even remember it is because I found the way that whoever it was sang the word "yours" in the chorus irritating. Apart from that, this only attracts attention towards the end when the arrangement breaks down a bit in a version of that hands in the air section I recall from later dance records.

Also appearing on: Now 29, 30
Available on: 100 Hits - 90S Dance

Berri 'Sunshine After The Rain'

Chart Peak: 4 (original version 26 in 1994)

YouTube

For practical reasons, I'm having to write this post immediately after the one published yesterday about 'I Feel Love', and that's only appropriate because just as that track fades out, this one bursts in with an intro that's so obviously sampled from 'I Feel Love' I expected Moroder to get a writing credit. He doesn't though.

In fact, that sample is an addition of the remix that became the bigger hit (the "Two Cowboys edit" to be exact). The original 1994 mix (credited to New Atlantic/U4EA featuring Berri) is more breakbeat-oriented and a bit less repetitive. Mind you, only today did I discover that songwriter Ellie Greenwich had actually supplied verses, as I don't recall the hit version by Elkie Brooks. This, at least in its 1995 incarnation, is precisely the sort of music I hated at the time, and although with hindsight it isn't really that bad, it's still not something I'd listen to voluntarily. It briefly made Rebbeca Sleight a pop star and she was "romantically linked" with Liam Gallagher but in the event there was only to be one more hit, whereafter she retired back to Yorkshire and organised the 2006 World Yorkshire Pudding Throwing Championships. Worth knowing, I think.


Available on: 90 Club Hits From The 90's

Donna Summer 'I Feel Love'

Chart Peak: 8 (1 in 1977, 21 in 1982)

YouTube [long version]

The original version of this record should, I hope, need no introduction. One reason I hope that is that I can't really be bothered to give it one, but suffice it to say that Brian Eno's oft-quoted prediction that it would change the sound of dance music for the following fifteen years seems to have been wrong only by underestimating how long it would last. So here we were 18 years later and electronic music had become so synonymous with dance that even entirely undanceable electronica like Aphex Twin was filed in the dance section of shops and written about on the dance pages of the NME.

With victory asssured, this new version of the song seems almost like a lap of honour: the remixes were apparently commissioned to promote another greatest hits collection, but they seem to have arrived at the right moment to give Summer her first Top 10 hit since 1989 (and her last to date), as well as inspiring a follow-up re-release of 'State Of Independence'. The version featured here is by Rollo and Sister Bliss of Faithless, who had themselves recently made their Top 40 debut with the original release of 'Salva Mea', though their Top 10 breakthrough was still over a year away. Perhaps if I listened to the full ten-minute version enough I might pick up some sort of vibe from it: but this edit is just boring. Admittedly, I've never really liked the original and I don't like Faithless much either, but this is substantially less interesting in this form than either of them. 

Available on: Renaissance 3d (Faithless)

N-Trance featuring Ricardo Da Force 'Stayin Alive'

Chart Peak: 2

YouTube

Impressively, the packaging of Now 32 manages to spell Ricardo Da Force's name wrong no fewer than five times (back cover, disc label, back of the booklet, sleevenote and credits) and all this despite the fact that the typical publicity shot is replaced here by the single cover.

As the notes do correctly point out, this was the follow-up to the huge, 'Set You Free', which had sold over half a million - and that was only the first three times they released it! This track is a different sort of dance hit: as Mr Da Force explains during his rap, they "took a Bee Gees riff and broke it down like Kenco". Unsurprisingly, in the coolness stakes this makes the Shaggy record look like the Arcade Fire or something, but I have to admit I always rather liked it. It's not a record I'd want to make myself listen to too often, but it usually raises a smile, much more so than a lot of dance records that are supposed to be better.

Incidentally, my brother had this track on the non-canonical Now 1995. The notes to that credit the session singers, one of whom is also credited on 'Fighting Fit' by Gene. And that's the only chance I'll get to link to that track on this blog, tenuous as it is.

N-Trance also appear on: Now 30, 38, 50
Available on: The Best Of N-Trance

Shaggy 'Boombastic'

Chart Peak: 1 (1 week)

YouTube

Over the last couple of weeks as I've written laudatory posts about Pulp, Radiohead, Coolio et al, I've been slightly worried about the possibility that I might come over as interested only in music considered "cool" by a certain group of people. Not that I feel any need to excuse my own musical tastes, but I try not to look like too much of a snob.

It's good timing that this turns up now, a record that can hardly be accused of trying to be cool. Shaggy had seemed a one-hit wonder (at least in the UK) after struggling to follow up 1993's chart-topper 'Oh Carolina', but finally returned to the Top 10 in the summer of 1995 with a version of 'In The Summertime' that wasn't actually all that good if I remember rightly. Still, it helped re-establish him an pave the way for this follow-up. I remember a lot of anticpation for the release, after this advert hardly ever seemed to be off MTV over the summer, and suddenly it wasn't surprising to see him enjoying his second Number One single.

Had it not arrived some time into his career, 'Boombastic' could almost have been a theme tune for Shaggy, as it seems to define his outlandish persona to a T. He completely owns the song, using every opportunity to play up. Generally speaking, swagger isn't something I especially prize in pop, and I don't really like much else that Shaggy's done. But this one just hits the right spot and is the definitive example of his good-time pop, just about naughty enough to be nice. Just steer clear of the Marvin-Gaye sampling remix in the official YouTube upload

Also appearing on: Now 24, 31 [with Rayvon], 33 [with Grand Puba], 34 [with Maxi Priest], 48 [with Rikrok], 51 [with Ali G]
Available on: The Best of Shaggy Vol.1: Mr. Lover Lover

Coolio Featuring LV 'Gangsta's Paradise'

Chart Peak: 1 (2 weeks)

YouTube

'Gangsta's Paradise' was an American No. 1 earlier in 1995.. it is released in Britain on 16th October 1995 and seems likely to chart very very high indeed.

Curious gaps in my family's record collection part 2: even though Stevie Wonder was worshipped in our house, the one album we didn't seem to have was Songs In The Key Of Life, so in 1995 I'd never heard 'Pastime Paradise'. It's possible that in some respects that flattered Coolio's version; if nothing else, the production of 'Gangsta's Paradise' sounds a bit thin nowadays, especially against the intricate cross-cultural brilliance of Stevie Wonder's record.

Listening to it as I did then, though, I can recall how impressive it sounded. Deep in my Britpop fandom, I didn't have a lot of time for gangsta rap, and I didn't see the film Dangerous Minds at the time (from what I recall of seeing it later, it wasn't up to much anyway, just a load of clichés). But this song is something rather different, refusing the stereotypical glorification of violence and instead presenting a protagonist scared of what he's mixed up in. Subsequent events suggest that this may not have been an entirely honest representation of Coolio himself, but that matters little - it's a far more compelling storyline. And the sleevenotes guessed right: this rushed straight to the top of the chart - I recall Mark Goodier announcing it as the UK's first ever credible rap Number One, which is obviously a matter of opinion but there's no dispute that it was the first hip-hop single to sell a million, even if we forget the resurgence after Coolio showed up in Big Brother (oh, if only we could).

Those sales figures suggest that I wasn't the only one who effectively discovered a whole new sort of music largely through this record. And when I say "discovered" I mean I'd heard rap before but never really appreciated it. It's still far from my favourite type of music, but since my brother bought the album I've had a lot more time for it than I once did. A massive hit that deserved nothing less.

Coolio also appears on: Now 37
Available on: Gangsta's Paradise

The Smokin' Mojo Filters 'Come Together'

Chart Peak: 19

YouTube

Since the last two tracks we had here were Paul Weller and a Beatles cover, it seems only fitting to wrap up the first disc with a Beatles cover fronted by Paul Weller. Indeed this is a return to the War Child project which makes this seem almost like a summary of the forgoing side of the album (ignoring the Sacred Spirit track, anyway). And credit where it's due to Noel Gallagher, who pulled a double shift on the Help album, recording an exclusive Oasis track and then working on this in the same day.

The full line-up as given in the single sleeve was:
Paul Weller lead vocal & guitar
Paul McCartney guitar/piano backing vocals
Noel Gallagher guitar
Steve White drums
Carleen Anderson backing vocals
Steve Craddock {sic} guitar

- oddly, no bass player is mentioned, but then Ocean Colour Scene member Damon Minchella is briefly seen in the video and as he was also part of Weller's band at the time, it must surely have been him. Presumably, had McCartney played the bass he'd have reprised the same part he did on the original.

As I said in yesterday's post, it isn't really adviseable to try and cover a Beatles song in exactly the style of the original, and this group seem to have taken that to heart; unfortunately they seem to have been more focussed on not duplicating the existing version than on any fresh interpretation. Of course since one of them actually was a Beatle and the others were huge fans, that's not exactly surprising: also one imagines they wouldn't have had a lot of time together to work this out. Weller's gruff vocal is very different from John Lennon's creepily measured delivery on the Beatles record, and despite the large number of players, the backing track has a rough-and-ready sort of energy which is closer to Lennon's live performance of the song than the original (bag) production.

As a tie-in of all those talented people it's arguably a little underwhelming, but at the same time it remains a solid performance of a classic song and it does the job OK as a charity record; unlike some collective covers, at least you can tell they all like the song. Whether because of the more upbeat style, or the fame of the people involved, or just because it was marketed as a single rather than the confusing multi-artist EP format, this became the more popular of the two singles from this album, reaching the Top 20 just before Christmas (and in fact after Now 32 was released, which might have held down sales even more). In fact it's the only time this song has officially been a hit in its own right, since the Beatles and Michael Jackson both released it as part of a double A-side. Weller himself released another version (very similar to this apart from the absence of McCartney's keyboard and backing vocal parts) as one side of a limited-edition charity single in 2005.

As is my usual practice with charity records, I supply a link to make a donation and I've also linked below to War Child's download store, which is where I usually buy my downloads anyway. As I predicted in the Radiohead post, I have indeed bought another copy of the Help album myself.

And so ends what might be my favourite ever first disc of a Now album. Let's see next week whether Disc 2 can keep up the standard.

Available on: Help (also available direct).