6March

In the news from ten years ago, the Albanian government resigned following month-long protests against the collapsing economy. The Wirral South by-election returned a LABOUR GAIN, reducing Mr. John Major's majority to -1; It is time for the pple of this country to have their say in a General Election, said opposition leader Mr. Mister Tony Blair hurredly. David Hempleman-Adams began his walk to the North Pole. In sport, France beat England 23:20, Scotland beat Ireland 38:10, and in Redditch, a hole had appeared in the ground. Midlands Today was looking into it. Stars of Noel's House Party were the Spice Girls, and the Gotcha victim was Noel Edmonds. Whatever happened to him? Joanne May's Eurovision entry, You stayed away too long appeared on the Lottery show with Dale Winton, while on The O-Zone, Jayne Middlemiss hopped into bed with Antan Dec for an interview about their new single Shout.

41-75 saw new entries for Section X, a one-week dance band wonder from number 42; Energy 52, whose Cafe del mar would be a smash in summer 98; and De La Soul. Sharkey (53), The Carter Twins (61), and Mombassa (63) were one-week wonders, and it was the first week on chart for Feeder, who would be in the top 40 before the year was out, but wouldn't break through in any meaningful way until 2001. Sybil re-released When I'm good and ready, a top-five hit in 1993. This time, it peaked at 66.

Last week in the top 40 for the combination of Barbra Streisand and Bryan Adams, and - somewhat surprisingly - for White Town, the chart-topper from seven weeks ago has yet to hit the high positions again. Armand van Helden had his debut hit at 38 with The funk phenomena (sic); he wouldn't hit big until 1999. In 1987, Gerald Levert had had a top ten hit with Casanova; in 1997, Ultimate Kaos had a bad cover in at 24, which didn't do any better when re-released the following year. Erasure (23) and Aerosmith (22) also entered with minor hits; we do have a soft spot for the latter's Falling in love (is hard on the knees), though that's for reasons we'll come to in about six weeks.

We're rather surprised to find that Prince hasn't had a new top 40 hit in ten years - The holy river entered at 19, and apart from a couple of re-releases of 1999 in, er, 1999, that's his lot. JX's fifth hit in three years, Close to your heart entered at 18, the group staged a comeback in 2004. Beck's The new pollution was new at 14, and he's never been higher; one place ahead is Babyface's Every time I close my eyes. Foxy Brown and Blackstreet combined on Get me home, loosely based on Eugene Wilde's minor 1984 hit Gotta get you home with me tonight. How come no-one does this kind of modern smooth soul any more? Or rather, how come this modern smooth soul isn't a hit these days?

Blueboy dipped one to 10, and Robin S's rather unnecessary re-mix of Show me love came in at 9, just three places worse than its original release in 1993. The Source came down five at 8, No Mercy dipped from 4 to 7. New at 6 was Peter Andrex's Natural; he'd had two number one hits in late 1996, and would continue clogging up the top ten until summer 1998.

The Bee Gees held station at 5, and Sash! dipped from 2 to 4. Eternal's Don't you love me came in at 3, the group's tenth hit, and their biggest to date. The biggest, and best, was just around the corner. Career high-point this week for Kula Shaker, whose Deep Purple cover Hush became their second number two hit, and fourth top tenner in eight months. We're weren't entirely sure about the attraction of the band; yes, Tattva was a bit different, but anything using sitars will be different. After this, the Shaker will have another small hit, then implode.

Three weeks at number one for No Doubt, then, but they'll have to fight off the Spice Girls to make it a month at the top.

Our song to listen to is one of last week's new entries, from The Source feat. Candi Staton. It's been a top ten hit on three occasions, and that is surely enough to make it a grade A hit.

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