M People 'Sight For Sore Eyes'

Chart Peak:
YouTube

The last 3 years have seen M People rise from dance act to pop group to household name... 'Sight For Sore Eyes' followed previous smashes such as 'Moving on Up' and 'One Night In Heaven' into the Top 10 in November '94.

Some readers may not be surprised that when I looked up this video, my first thought was to try and identify the scap cars they use as a backdrop. I think it's (l-r): Austin Montego, Ford Escort Mk 3 3-door, Vauxhall Astra Mk1 or possibly Opel Kadet, Escort Mk 3 5-door, Ford Cortina Mk 4 and Renault 11, but I am very much open to correction. Needless to say, the song title also reminded me of a well-known joke by TV's Tim Vine of Housemates fame: "Conjuctivitis.com, that's a site for sore eyes."

I suppose you could make some sort of tenuous analogy between M People in the 90s and the Human League in the 80s - both amassed impressive runs of hits (this was the sixth of eight consecutive Top 10 hits, not counting a remix EP that only got to 32) after a slow start and then seemed to fall from favour quite quickly, and neither of them was known for making obviously intellectual music. The difference was that where the League sometimes came over as knowingly inane, M People just got on with things and thus were widely considered uncool. I'm no great fans of either act but I am willing to say in public that Heather Small is a better singer than Phil Oakey, and at least when she sings "at the drop of a hat" on this song she knows what she's talking about - imagine trying to keep a hat on top of that hair.

OK, so it's another post where I've put off discussing the song itself. It's not bad in an upbeat gospel-pop way but neither is it truly inspiring. At least it has some joy to it.

Also appearing on: Now 26, 27, 28
Available on: One Night In Heaven: The Very Best Of M People [Clean]

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

M People 'Moving On Up'

Chart Peak: 2

YouTube

'Moving On Up' was the 3rd and biggest of the group's 5 massive hits in the last year... It reached No. 2 for the Pickering/Heard/Small dream-team.

Presumably this would have been before percussionist Shovell was officially recognised as a member of the band then, although he does feature in the video. The upbeat mood of the preceding tracks is continued here, although it's not entirely a song of happy times: indeed it more or less follows the same storyline as 'The Sign', minus the religious overtones. It adds a pinch of innuendo instead though, with the lyric "They boast man has walked in space/But you can't even find my place."

With hindsight, it wasn't that M People were actually that bad so much as that they were a bit average and outstayed their welcome with a lot of very samey records. I can understand why they were resented for bringing dance to the middle of the road but I have to admit this is less irritating than most of the album so far.

Also appearing on: Now 26, 28, 30
Available on: The Best Of M People