17 March 1988: Presenters: Gary Davies & Mike Read
Blimey, Mike Read rises from the grave, still dressed like it's 1983.
(12) HEART – These Dreams (video)
This video is hilarious - no amount of cliched FM Rock posing with guitars and big hair can disguise the fact thait this is the most anodyne AOR ballad imaginable that's entirely synth-based with not a six string to be heard.
(6) ERASURE – Ship Of Fools
Vince had dropped the steel National Resonator for an Encore bowl-backed electro-acoustic (with a very distinctive headstock)
(31) KEITH SWEAT – I Want Her
Is this the first example of New Jack Swing to hit the charts?
(27) DAVID LEE ROTH – Just Like Paradise
Roth taking 'Rock' rather literally for the video. Filmed at Half Dome in Yosemite National Park by renowned climbing film-maker David Breashears.
(20) EIGHTH WONDER – I’m Not Scared
Basically a PSB song (note the complete absence of the actual Eigth Wonder band) and all the better for it. As
Norton, days, it's a pearler.
24 March 1988: Presenters: Simon Bates & Peter Powell
The Walking Dead Part II - what the fuck has Bates been let out of his coffin for?
(14) SINITTA – Cross My Broken Heart
No amount of wearing a dress where you can see what she had for dinner can disguise this is Standard S/A/W Pop Song 57a, complete with the Infernal Machine working overtime in the middle 8 ('Listen, Pete! We can make her sound like Rick Astley!!').
(18) A-HA – Stay On These Roads
Tonight, Magne has a Yamaha KX88 Master MID keyboard and a Roland Alpha Juno 2. Decent song which showcases Morten's falsetto well.
(16) SIMON HARRIS – Bass (How Low Can You Go)
Roland D50/Yamaha DX7/Simmonds SDS pads standard combo.
Very few of these early sample-tastic tracks have aged well. This isn't in the same class as Pump Up The volume or Beat Dis in my opinion. It's not helped by the fact he's plainly nicked most of the samples from previous, more regarded examples of the genre.Iyt alo features my onw personal bugbear, sampled scratching.
Needless to say, the remix he was doing of Joyce Sims's
Come Into My Life gets pissed on from a great height by the Mantronix original
(25) WET WET WET – Temptation
More lyric stealing from Pellow, this time from Heaven 17!
(26) CLIMIE FISHER – Love Changes (Everything)
Re-released in the wake of the success of Pete 'Mixmaster' Harding's MARRS ripoff remix of Rise To The Occasion (it had originally been released in August 1987, when it peaked at #67) it must be one of the biggest 'bait and switch' tricks by a record company for buyers expecting another song like their previous hit.
(1) ASWAD – Don’t Turn Around
The Roland D50 and Yamaha DX7 put in a repeat appearance. Standard.