SMASH HITS Singles Reviews, 30th October to 12th November 1991

Hard not to vote for "Martika's Kitchen" but "Surprise" is such a great deep cut.

Image link: https://imgur.com/gallery/VAkZig3

Spotify playlist, minus the following which are on YouTube:

Intastella - Century
Sophie Lawrence - Secrets
Bruno & Liz & Sam & Frank - Come Outside
Charlatans - Me. In Time
De La Soul - Keeping The Faith (Just A Touch Mix)
Sensitize - Maniac

UK chart peaks:

1 U2 - The Fly
4 Kylie Minogue & Keith Washington - If You Were With Me Now
6 Genesis - No Son Of Mine
8 Seal - Killer
13 Sonia - You To Me Are Everything
15 Salt-n-Pepa - You Showed Me
17 Martika - Martika's Kitchen
26 Manic Street Preachers - Love's Sweet Exile/Repeat
27 INXS - Shining Star
28 Charlatans - Me. In Time
35 Nine Inch Nails - Sin
38 Take That - Promises
48 Black Box - Open Your Eyes
50 De La Soul - Keepin' The Faith
53 DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince - Ring My Bell
54 Harry Connick Jr - Blue Light, Red Light
70 Intastella - Century

Didn't chart: Sophie Lawrence (withdrawn, not commercially released), Bruno & Liz & Sam & Frank, Crystal Waters, S'Express, Sensitize.

Godammit, messed up the img tags again...

https://i.imgur.com/4QAVQG9.jpeg

(At least I've posted to the right board this time.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sM23c2fRLg

Is that Seal "Killer" the same as the Adamski version or is it a different version?

Different version, and it’s also remixed from Seal’s album version; the Spotify version should be the correct one.

“Me. In Time” is a surprisingly obscure Charlatans single; the original studio version has never appeared on an album, not even on singles compilations.

A jobbing musician friend of mine did some studio sessions with ex-EastEnder Sophie Lawrence, after her only hit “Love’s Unkind”, but nothing else was released by her, not even the single reviewed here.

Odd that “Repeat” was reviewed, as “Love’s Sweet Exile” was actually the plug side.

in 1991 i was so deep down a techno / house / rave wormhole that i haven't heard a single one of these, except for the NIN track which i don't think i like enough to vote for.

^^^ yeah, same here, except for the techno part. Was gonna say, the difference between the previous 80s lists and this one (and my knowledge/interest in the songs) is massive.

Sin

I’d assumed that “You Showed Me” was an Ian Broudie composition for the Lightning Seeds, so hearing Salt-n-Pepa’s take, from a few years earlier, threw me.

is "Repeat" being in both the reviews and the "also out" box a joke?
I hardly listened to pop music at that age but I remember really loving "Love's unkind" btw

The only one of these that I bought as a single was U2 - which was weird, as I normally couldn’t abide U2. I used to refer to it, waggishly, as “The Fluke”.

Bruno & Liz & Sam & Frank were Brookes, Kershaw, Fox and Bruno. Seriously, don’t play it. It’s worse than you could ever imagine.

This was the “era” when every other “word” in Smash Hits was “ironically” double-quoted.

Different version, and it’s also remixed from Seal’s album version; the Spotify version should be the correct one.

Cheers Mike, I don't use spotify, which is why I asked. Although I don't not-use it for moral reasons, I just don't use it.

This is the Single Mix of Seal's "Killer":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4RL0fH6ZAE

Thanks, pal.

Blimey, it’s between U2, Manics, or…

Went Charlatans.

Which did I buy at the time?

None.

is it a coincidence that this is the date of the most recently aired totp?

Did not know why Seal was releasing an interior solo version of Killer at the time, and still have no idea now.

inferior not interior, autocorrect strikes again

I think it was to add it to his discography, as the original was credited to Adamski

Philip Sherburne wrote a fantastic reappraisal last week.

Seal's re-working of "Killer" with Trevor Horn (also with William Orbit on the single mix) made sense to me: it was in order to match the overall style and sound of his debut LP, whereas the Adamski version (if it was even available for re-licensing from MCA to ZTT) would have jarred in that context.

I can understand reworking it for the album, but don't think he should have released it as a single, especially so soon after the original.

The longer William Orbit remix that's the lead track on the 12" and CD single versions is quite a bit different:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XkQjWdGE9Y

The single version of Nine Inch Nails is also different from the LP version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGG2Gy7hh7U

Turns out that S'Express "Let It All Out" wasn't actually released until 1992, when it was merely the flip to a re-issued and remixed "Find 'Em Fool 'Em Forget 'Em". The reissue peaked at 43, whereas the 1991 original release of "Find 'Em" only got to 83.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Not a great week. It's come down to U2 versus Seal, but I'm voting Seal as I really like the William Orbit remixes of the Trevor Horn remake of the Adamski original.

Pre-Holy Bible Manics mostly passed me by, but "Repeat" is good. I had a hunch that early Nine Inch Nails were more electro-dancey, so "Sin" also gets a thumbs-up.

The late-period Genesis is actually pretty decent. Hadn't heard the De La Soul remix before - it works.

Despite the karaoke backing track, I quite like Sonia's delivery of the Real Thing song; she sounds committed and enthusiastic.

There's some unsettlingly loud brass on the Harry Connick Jr track, but not in an "It's Oh So Quiet" good way.

The rest are OK to meh, except the Bruno & Liz which is utter utter utter garbage.

I voted Da La Soul.

surprised myself by voting for U2, but I remember that being a reasonably exciting move from where I sat as 16-year old listener sitting right in the FM pop mainstream. our local (Sydney, Australia) mainstream rock station even played the B-side a few times, such was the buzz.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I've got another review column almost ready to go, but what with one thing and another, it won't be until Wednesday.

MUZIK Singles Reviews, November 1996