CHART: UK Top 40 Analysis - Week Ending December 26th 1992
James Masterton
--------
And so here we are, the Christmas chart 1992. As expected all is fairly
quiet with few great surprises. 5 new entries, 13 go up, 5 non-movers
Analysis:
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No. 40: NEW ENTRY. Brand New Heavies - Stay This Way. The Brand New
Heavies have been making subtle impressions upon the chart during the
year, and this track to round of the year is a typical example of their
recreation of the best aspects of Philadelhia Soul. In the current chart
climate they tend to lose out sales wise, but for what they do there are
few that do it better than this.
No. 39: NEW ENTRY. Uncanny Alliance - I Got My Education. Hey, a rap
record with a social conscience for Christmas. Radio One have loved this
record and have been playing it to death. As a result it way well be a
substantial new year hit.
No. 38: NEW ENTRY. Louie Louie - The Thought Of It. A Rockwell for the
nineties I suppose, the American smash finally makes an impression on
the UK 40 helped in part I suppose by his guest appearance on the
televised 'Smash Hits Awards' a few weeks ago.
No. 34: NEW ENTRY. Darlene Love - All Alone On Christmas. 'Ere, lads. I
got a great idea. As it's Christmas lets release a Phil Spector
Christmas record again', 'Yeah great idea Harry, why not Sleigh Ride?'.
'Nah, everyone knows that, pick a really obscure one that nobody has
ever heard of before - who knows? It might just stand a chance of being
the only record in the Christmas chart that is actually ABOUT Christmas.'
No. 28: FALLER. East Side Beat - Alive And Kicking. Suffering perhaps
from being a) not a patch on the original and b) being released so soon
after the reissue of the original it is not a patch on.
No. 23: CLIMBER. Boyz II Men - Motownphilly. The highest climber this
week, but watch next week for a slight surge again for the evergreen
'End Of The Road' which is still hanging around, down this week at 27.
No. 19: NEW ENTRY. Michael Bolton - Drift Away. The only people I have
ever heard admitting to liking the American soulsters music are the two
assistants in my local off-licence. Elsewhere in Britain his music is
regarded (perhaps a little unfairly) as MOR tripe. Here then is the
second single off the 'Timeless' album which follows the first into the
Top 20. Incredibly, although the song is a standard, Dobie Gray's
original never made the UK charts....
No. 11: CLIMBER. Lisa Stansfield - Someday I'm Coming Back. I would have
expected this to make the 10 this week given all the promotion she has
been doing. It is still selling well though, top 3 in the new year is a possiblity.
No. 10: FALLER. Madonna - Deeper and Deeper. Down from 6, this means
that there is a strong possibility this will become the first Madonna
single for 5 years to miss the Top 5. Not quite the tragedy it seems
though - of all the singles Madonna has ever released in Britain, only
'Lucky Star' has never made the Top 10 and even this is made up for by
the fact that 'Holiday' has been there 3 times with 'Crazy For You'
coming in twice.
Top 3: Well, in actualy fact it is exactly the same as last week.
Charles and Eddie at 3, Michael Jackson at 2.
No. 1: 4th WEEK. Whitney Houston - I Will Always Love You. The single
that apparantly will not stop selling. Last Saturday it became only the
second single in the last 6 years to sell over 1 million copies. So far
it has sold 4.5 million around the world, is No.1 in 9 countries and in
the US is the second biggest selling single ever. Ironically when first
released bookmakers only gave it a 33-1 outside chance of being No.1 for
Christmas. Latest offer now is odds of 10-1 on that it will beat Bryan
Adams' record of 16 consecutive weeks at the top. With sales on an
upward spiral at the moment it would be folly to rule that out at present.
Who said the 7" single was dead?
**************************************************************************
And that is that for Christmas. Thankyou to all those who have mailed me
over the past few months for the encouragement and thanks for these
articles. I may not have the chance to post one on next weeks chart but
I will make some reference to it in the analysis of the first chart of 1993.
James Masterton - 21/12/92
*** HAPPY CHRISTMAS ***
**************************************************************************
--
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| James Masterton | You don't have a lot |
| hid...@cent1.lancs.ac.uk | But it's more than you've got |
| | And you can turn it into more |
| 'We are only here today | Than it seems |
| because of yesterday' | Jim Steinman, 1989 |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
Gregory Taylor
>No. 1: 4th WEEK. Whitney Houston - I Will Always Love You. The single
>that apparantly will not stop selling. Last Saturday it became only the
>second single in the last 6 years to sell over 1 million copies. So far
>it has sold 4.5 million around the world, is No.1 in 9 countries and in
>the US is the second biggest selling single ever. Ironically when first
>released bookmakers only gave it a 33-1 outside chance of being No.1 for
>Christmas. Latest offer now is odds of 10-1 on that it will beat Bryan
>Adams' record of 16 consecutive weeks at the top. With sales on an
>upward spiral at the moment it would be folly to rule that out at present.
>Who said the 7" single was dead?
And in another bid to totally renounce me credentials as a non-dweeb,
let me just say that I completely *loathe* this particular variety of
tune, having only barely been able to raise myself to listen to the
application of the soaring gospel voice to the treacly love ballad
back in the days when Lady Soul herself drifted into those waters. Now,
having said that, Ms. Houston's voice is, in my opinion, absolutely
transfixing, navigating the shoals of the whispery/whiny/hiccupping lil'
bits of choke-up to this positively gorgeous and effortless full-throated
roar with more ease than a human should manage - all in a couple of
minutes. While the day is coming when I may come to hate this piece of
work due to my overexposure to it, let me here say that I did love it
once, and not without cause (to misquote Antony). NOTE: the only Whitney
Houston in my collection is her appearance on Material's "One Down,"
so don't accuse me of mere slobbering fandom. This is a performance which
for me fulfills the same niche and Ms. Fernandez' aria from "La Wally"
in the film Diva - it makes a believer of one, if only briefly. Yikes.
'tis the season to be confessional....
--
The law moves quickly in the rain/and chokes the world with memorials./The
courts accept the lowest superstition/into evidence. And we embrace quickly in
the rain,/conceiving a hale infant with hands to wrinkle/the bedsheets toward
it, wave by trough by wave./Gregory Taylor/Heurikon /Madison, WI/608-828-3385
Mike Chu
>
> tune, having only barely been able to raise myself to listen to the
> application of the soaring gospel voice to the treacly love ballad
> back in the days when Lady Soul herself drifted into those waters. Now,
Whitney Houston... Lady Soul? I think not.
> having said that, Ms. Houston's voice is, in my opinion, absolutely
> transfixing, navigating the shoals of the whispery/whiny/hiccupping lil'
> bits of choke-up to this positively gorgeous and effortless full-throated
> roar with more ease than a human should manage - all in a couple of
Transfixing? Gorgeous? Effortless? Try, Screaming. Shrieking. Irritating.
Thin. Over embellished. Uneuphonic.
> minutes. While the day is coming when I may come to hate this piece of
> work due to my overexposure to it, let me here say that I did love it
> once, and not without cause (to misquote Antony). NOTE: the only Whitney
Overexposure to Houston's fluffy music would surely make me ill.
mc
--
Mike Chu -- Chemical Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332
uucp: ...!{decvax,hplabs,ncar,purdue,rutgers}!gatech!prism!gt0179a
Internet: gt0...@prism.gatech.edu
Michael P. Colburn
gt0...@prism.gatech.EDU (Mike Chu) writes:
> in article <19...@heurikon.heurikon.com>, gta...@vme.heurikon.com (Gregory Taylor) says:
> >
> > tune, having only barely been able to raise myself to listen to the
> > application of the soaring gospel voice to the treacly love ballad
> > back in the days when Lady Soul herself drifted into those waters. Now,
>
> Whitney Houston... Lady Soul? I think not.
I don't mean to speak for Greg, but I think if you read this a little
closer, I don't believe he was referring to Whitney as "Lady Soul"...me
thinks he was thinking of the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin. Whitney
Houston is many things, but Lady Soul isn't one of them. ;-)
Mike Colburn =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Dartmouth-Hitchcock "Pulu-see-ba-goomba" -- Gilligan
Medical Center =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Lebanon, New Hampshire 03756 :-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-)
M.A. Murphy
>
>In article <78...@hydra.gatech.EDU>
>gt0...@prism.gatech.EDU (Mike Chu) writes:
>
>Ta
>> >
>> > tune, having only barely been able to raise myself to listen to the
>> > application of the soaring gospel voice to the treacly love ballad
>> > back in the days when Lady Soul herself drifted into those waters. Now,
>>
>> Whitney Houston... Lady Soul? I think not.
>
>I don't mean to speak for Greg, but I think if you read this a little
>closer, I don't believe he was referring to Whitney as "Lady Soul"...me
>thinks he was thinking of the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin. Whitney
>Houston is many things, but Lady Soul isn't one of them. ;-)
True. Which is why I have such trouble listening to WH. She's got
a gorgeous voice, but the context in which she displays it is almost
always devoid of soul and emotion. I don't believe her when I hear
her sing. There are hosts of singers who I like better, primarily
because I feel something when I hear them. Whitney does nothing to
make *me* feel when I hear her.
-------
Murph
Michael A. Murphy
MU...@MAINE.BITNET
If you do not understand my silence
you will not understand my words.
George W. Sherouse
>
>Thin. Over embellished. Uneuphonic.
>
I tend to agree with Mike. But to give her *some* credit she is party
to one of the most, well.., Transfixing, Gorgeous, Effortless pieces
in my collection. It is the Soft Machine song "Memories" performed by
Material as a tastefully-backed duet between guests Whitney and Archie
Shepp. (Yes, I understand that Material w/ guests is a tautology...)
I have always loved this song anyway, but had never considered that
Robert Wyatt's rendition(s), particularly the one on Daevid Allen's
"Good Morning", might be anything less than definitive. I was wrong.
This is reportedly Whitney's first recording. She could have quit a
star right then and there as far as I am concerned. Check it out.
- George
Ron Buckmire
>No. 10: FALLER. Madonna - Deeper and Deeper. Down from 6, this means
>that there is a strong possibility this will become the first Madonna
>single for 5 years to miss the Top 5. Not quite the tragedy it seems
Hmm, has the video been aired there? Or is it just that people don't like the
single? Here in the USA the CD5 remix single was released just recently and
that should help the single crack the Top10 [it's at #13 it's 4th week on
Hot 100, but it's losing airplay points.]
>No. 1: 4th WEEK. Whitney Houston - I Will Always Love You. The single
>that apparantly will not stop selling. Last Saturday it became only the
>second single in the last 6 years to sell over 1 million copies. So far
>it has sold 4.5 million around the world, is No.1 in 9 countries and in
>the US is the second biggest selling single ever. Ironically when first
>released bookmakers only gave it a 33-1 outside chance of being No.1 for
>Christmas. Latest offer now is odds of 10-1 on that it will beat Bryan
>Adams' record of 16 consecutive weeks at the top. With sales on an
>upward spiral at the moment it would be folly to rule that out at present.
Huh? The second biggest single in the USA is "Wild Thing", after "We Are The
Worl". I hadn't heard about Whitney's feat, though I do think it is likely to
outsell "Wild Thing" and probably hit 7 or 8 weeks at #1. [She has 6 right now
if we count next week when the charts are not published in the USA.]
--
RON BUCKMIRE, 11 Colvin Circle, Troy, NY 12180-3735.
uunet!rpi.edu!buckmr||buc...@rpitsmts.bitnet||buc...@rpi.edu||+1 518 276 8910
Q. What's the difference between a conservative and a bigot?
A. A conservative attempts to defend his/her prejudices rationally.
Ron Buckmire
> She's got
>a gorgeous voice, but the context in which she displays it is almost
>always devoid of soul and emotion. I don't believe her when I hear
>her sing. There are hosts of singers who I like better, primarily
>because I feel something when I hear them. Whitney does nothing to
>make *me* feel when I hear her.
Oh, come ON nowcan you tell me that the sheer display of vocal prowess
displayed in this song doesn't impress you at all?
[I'm sure Mariah Carey is sitting at home desperately trying to compose a
song at least as impressive, and saying to herself "I could sing that. I could!
I could! Tommy, how come nobody offered me that song?"
:-)
--
RON BUCKMIRE, 11 Colvin Circle, Troy, NY 12180-3735. ***Clinton-Gore 92!***
uunet!rpi.edu!buckmr||buc...@rpitsmts.bitnet||buc...@rpi.edu||+1 518 276 8910
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