32 Kavana - Funky Love - DVDfever.co.uk

In the last chart of 1997, I posted my Top 50 singles of theyear, picking out the Top 10 first. During 1998, I’ll be going through thelist one by one.

This week : 12 new entries, 0 climbers, 1 non-movers & 27 downers.

new entry re-entry climber faller non mover

CHART TIME !

(* – my current favourites)
(!!! – Single Of The Week!!!)
(:O === the current all-time hate that makes even my smilie want to hurl!)
( (R) – Repeat., ie. a re-release)

A brief analysis on the current chart situation…

12 new entries this week :

34 Simply Red – Ghetto Girl

33 Bjork – Alarm Call

32 Kavana – Funky Love

23 LeAnn Rimes – Blue

13 Brandy – Have You Ever?

12 Savage Garden – I Want You 98

11 Manic Street Preachers – The Everlasting *

7 Blackstreet – Take Me There

5 Emilia – Big Big World

4 Robbie Williams – No Regrets / Antmusic * !!!

3 Bryan Adams & Melanie C – When You’re Gone *

2 Jay-Z – Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem) :O === so the following dropped out :

40 Alanis Morissette – Thank U

39 Billie – Girlfriend

38 U2 – Sweetest Thing

37 Queen & Wyclef Twat – Another One Bites The Dust

36 Beautiful South – Perfect 10

34 Sham Rock – Tell Me Ma, La De Da

32 Eagle-Eye Cherry – Falling In Love Again

31 Ash – Wild Surf

30 Culture Club – I Just Wanna Be Loved

29 Pras – Blue Angels

28 Clock – Blame It On The Boogie

24 Sonique – It Feels So Good 0 climbers : 1 non-movers :

1 (1) Cher and 27 going down. Big fallers include :

10 (3) Will Smith

15 (7) All Saints

17 (6) Madonna

19 (12) Sash

21 (10) Vonda Shepard

22 (13) Corrs

27 (16) Lovestation

29 (15) Faithless

35 (19) Sheryl Crow

40 (20) Space

Of this week’s highlights and lowlights…

34 Simply Red – Ghetto Girl
33 Bjork – Alarm Call
32 Kavana – Funky Love

It wasn’t long ago before they could all attain Top 10 chart hits with ease.How the mighty, and in the case of Kavana – not so mighty, have fallen.

Out of the 3, I’ve only heard Bjork‘s single, and it’s bizarre in the extreme.

12 Savage Garden – I Want You 98

“How to Sound like Roxette Vol.1” – record this record.

11 Manic Street Preachers – The Everlasting *

Second single from the current long-titled album, and a damn good one atthat, but while I thought it would be another Top 5 hit, since “If You TolerateThis…” made No.1, this follow-up hasn’t even made the Top 10.

“The Everlasting” is another song with the same tempo as “If You Tolerate This”,so clearly those who would have bought this single have bought the albumalready.

4 Robbie Williams – No Regrets / Antmusic * !!!

Have I gone totally senile, or is Robbie Williams deserved of the “SingleOf The Week” award? It’s the latter, although this slow moody song has thePet Shop Boys influence, with backing vocals from Neil Tennant himself.

It’s also got a very good video to boot.

3 Bryan Adams & Melanie C – When You’re Gone *

This song also has a fairly good video, and while it’s another duet for BryanAdams, it’s Melanie C‘s first time in the charts without the Spice Girls, whocollectively release “Goodbye” on December 14th.

If the Spice Girls do split up, who will be next to follow into the charts?Geri’s too busy with the United Nations, Emma’s taken over the Sleeping Beautyrole in a TV movie from Martine McCutcheon (aka Eastenders’ latest corpse,Tiffany), and Victoria who’s probably too busy waiting to get married to DavidBeckham and have his child.

If I had any complaints about this duet though, it’d be that Bryan’s voicetends to drown out Mel C’s, and that he’s wearing far too much eye make-up inthe video, making him look like an actor in “A Clockwork Orange” !

2 Jay-Z – Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem) :O ===

Yo! Hey! They’re all so tough in the Hood, that they use samples from themusical, Annie, to fill the gaps in their material.

1 (1) Cher – Believe :O === *7th Week at No.1*

Cher goes Techno. The end result sounds like she’s singing through a toiletas a machine controls the inflection in her voice and makes her sound likeProfessor Stephen Hawking.

This is the fifteenth single in a row to go straight in at No.1 :

1. B*witched – C’est La Vie

2. Baddiel, Skinner & The Lightning Seeds – 3 Lions 98

3. Billie – Because We Want To

4. Another Level – Freak Me

5. Jamiroquai – Deeper Underground

6. Spice Girls – Viva Forever

7. Boyzone – No Matter What

8. Manic Street Preachers – If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next

9. All Saints – Bootie Call

10. Robbie Williams – Millenium

11. Melanie B featuring Missy ‘Misdemeanor’ Elliott – I Want You Back

12. B*witched – Rollercoaster

13. Billie – Girlfriend

14. Spacedust – Gym And Tonic

15. Cher – Believe

Fourteen No.1’s in a row beats the record set in the chart at week endingApril 13th 1996 when the Prodigy rounded off 10 singles going in at No.1 in arow which began with Shaggy. Let’s see how many more are to follow…

The previous Top 10 No.1 list looks like this :

1. Shaggy – Boombastic

2. Simply Red – Fairground

3. Coolio – Gangsta’s Paradise

4. Robson & Jerome – I Believe/Up on the Roof

5. Michael Jackson – Earth Song

6. George Michael – Jesus to a Child

7. Babylon Zoo – Spaceman

8. Oasis – Don’t Look Back in Anger

9. Take That – How Deep is Your Love

10. The Prodigy – Firestarter

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New releases :

November 30th :

December 7th :

December 14th :

December 28th :

January 4th 1999 :

January 11th :

January 18th :

January 25th :

February 1st :

Other forthcoming releases

DECEMBER :

JANUARY :

FEBRUARY :

MARCH :

APRIL :

MAY :

Oh Jim – Gay Dad (London)

JULY :

[tba] – Whitney Houston (Arista)

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Top 40 ALBUM chart analysis :

This week there are new entries for

No-one! The top 5 goes like this :

1 George Michael – Ladies And Gentlemen: The Best Of

2 M People – Best Of: A Silent Album

3 Robbie Williams – I’ve Been Expecting You

4 The Corrs – Talk On Corners

5 Boyzone – Where We Belong

New releases :

November 30th :

December 7th :

December 14th :

December 21st :

Flesh Of My Flesh, Blood Of My Blood – DMX (Def Jam/Mercury)

January 4th 1999 :

January 11th :

January 18th :

January 25th :

February 1st :

Dead Bees On A Cake – David Sylvian (Virgin)

February 8th :

Middle Of Nowhere – Orbital (ffrr)

February 15th :

No Exit – Blondie (Atlantic)

Other forthcoming releases

DECEMBER :

JANUARY :

FEBRUARY :

MARCH :

APRIL :

[tba] – Soul Assassins (Columbia)

COMPILATIONS :

November 30th :

December 7th :

December 14th :

The Parent Trap OST – v.a. (Polydor)

January 11th 1999 :

January 18th :

Locked On Vol. III – v.a. (VirginEMI)

DECEMBER :

The Ultimate Rarities Collection Vol. 1: Motown Sings Motown Treasures -v.a. (Motown)

FEBRUARY :

The Dirtschamber Sessions Vol. 1 – v.a. (XL)

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Dominator’s Top 10 of 1997

50. The Verve – The Drugs Don’t Work

1997 was defintely Verve‘s big year. They’d only had moderate success in thepast, their last chart outings being in 1995 with three hits (This is Music at35, On Your Own at 25, and History at 24).

The best of their three releases last year was the No.1 ballad, “The Drugs Don’tWork” (Sept 97). It didn’t quite hit home the first few times I heard it, andI thought it would only be a minor hit, but after I’d heard it a number oftimes, it proved a grower.

It followed the equally excellent “Bitter Suite Symphony” (No.2, June 97),which at the time was one of the most epic and atmospheric singles in the chart,and was followed by “Lucky Man” (No.7, Dec 97).

It should have then be followed by “Sonnet”, but while they made a great andmuch-played video for it, they never released it as a single in this country.

The end bit :

Well, that’s it for now. If you want to be added to the WidescreenVideo and Laserdisc lists, just mail me atCharts Request to tell me.

Bye for now,

Dominator

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Dom Robinson

Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.

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