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Last week we published
this comment with regard to the single 'Stomp' by Steps.
"It's trademark Steps which indicates a top
ten berth for the boys and girls, though their
hit making ability seems to have slightly
diminished of late so this could well debut
closer to number ten than number one".
 How wrong
can you be? Well we are only human.
If John Francombe could predict every winner of
every race do you think Ladbroke's would still be
in business? Exactly! All I can do is
offer you my humble apologies and hope to get
back on the winning trail this week.
The obvious starting point this
week is the Spice Girls. The first thing to
notice in their appearances is how the four have
moved away from their original images.
Victoria was wearing jeans on last weeks Top of
the Pops - a far cry from the trademark little
black dresses which she used to wear so well.
Mel C has become Melanie C and has moved well
away from her tracksuited image. Emma
Bunton has changed relatively little, though
again she has gone for the trousered look rather
than the short dress / platform trainers while
Mel B has become Melanie B and can
still get away with whatever she wants!
Images aside and onto the songs.
This is a test of their popularity, though its
one they are likely to come through. Their
album race against Westlife and Fatboy Slim in a
couple of weeks looks set to be a lot more
interesting though! 'Holler' is first up
and is somewhat dancier than their last two
albums. It comes complete with a slick
video though and it does grow on you after its
first few plays. 'Let Love Lead The Way' is
more of a ballad and hints at the girls hedging
their bets in a bid to score their ninth number
one. Although this is not the strongest
material they have released, it should be enough
to get them their first number one since 'Goodbye'
at the end of 1998.
A far superior song is Ricky
Martin's return with 'She Bangs'. He is a
fantastic performer guaranteed to liven any show
he is booked on and I look forward to seeing more
appearances on Channel 5's Pepsi Chart and BBC-1's
Top of the Pops before long. It's easily
his best outing since 'Living La Vida Loca' and
is already rising fast up the American charts.
Hopefully this will go top five, possibly even
top three.
My favourite song of the week has
to be Clinic's 'The Second Line'. Who and
what may be two questions that spring to mind to
a few of you reading this! Well the who may
not be for me to explain but the what is that it
is the current Levi jeans commercial song.
That backing has worked well for Ben E.King,
Steve Miller, Babylon Zoo and numerous others who
have scored top ten hits and it could well work
for this lot again. I'd like to see this up
in the top three, though to be fair it has
suffered a major lack of exposure on the radio
and TV. An unpredictable commodity which
could enter at 5 or 45!
A consistent top ten performer
since her dramatic departure from the world of
Eastenders, Martine McCutcheon should be back in
the higher reaches of the chart with 'Over You'.
She has done her tour of TV programmes well and
seems popular right through from the younger
Saturday morning shows to the more adult aimed
week night chat shows. Despite her
infectious personality and obvious good looks
this song is once again fairly ordinary and while
I expect her to keep her run of top ten
appearances going I don't expect her to be
scoring a second number one with this one.
Coldplay have been hyped in the
music weekly's as the best thing since...well the
last big thing really. Having been
fortunate enough to see the band play live in
recent weeks I can vouch that this lot are very
much the real mccoy - they can recreate their
album perfectly live. 'Trouble' may not be
the anthem with 'Yellow' was but then it is a lot
more subtle. The piano and guitar
combination set the vocals well and the whole
effect gives the listener a shiver down the spine.
You can accuse me of jumping on the bandwagon if
you want, but it is you who are missing out if
you are yet to discover the pleasure of Coldplay.
Keen watchers of the album chart
may have noticed Barry White's Greatest Hits
package edging up the charts. That may be
at least partially due to the summer success of
Black Legend's 'You See The Trouble With Me', but
now it is time for the deepest voice in soul to
return in his own guise, albeit with a song
originally a hit way back in 1975. 'Let The
Music Play' made number 9 on that occasion but
will be lucky to repeat that success this time
around. That said it would be a pure
pleasure to welcome such a wonderful voice back
into the top 40 of the year 2000.
Finally a word on the Ba-Ha Men.
Debuting conspicuously at 13 just three weeks
back before dipping to 14 last week all looked
over for 'Who Let The Dogs Out'. Sales
of the song increased dramatically last week in a
way not seen since Paul McCartney and Michael
Jackson's recovery from 13 to 3 with 'Say, Say,
Say' many years ago. It's popularity gives
it an outside chance of number one status and
that would be some result against such major
competition.
There is not too much else to
report on this week with Eagle Eye Cherry and
Christina Aguilera both delaying their singles
for a 30th October release. Soon we
will be looking towards the years festive chart
topper with confirmed entries for this years race
coming from Robbie Williams, S Club 7, Whitney
Houston, Kylie Minogue and Roy Wood & The
Wombles. It could be an interesting chart,
though it won't surprise anyone that Westlife are
the 6/4 on favourites to regain their crown a
year on.
I'll see you next week where
Westlife will be gunning for a seventh
consecutive number one with 'My Love'. It's
hard to see anyone beating the Spice's though I'd
be delighted to see Ricky Martin, Clinic or the
Ba-Ha Men run them close.
JHME Music Correspondent
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