After a bit of a gap February to be precise we get back on the trail of the late 1990's in the now established Now Yearbook series.
I love that packaging.
Tracklistings are on the rear and in order on the pages of notes and a quiz.1997 was a year we saw the launch of Channel Five aided by the Spice Girls in a year that saw woman and woman lead groups do well, some great songs before Brit pop ceased to be a thing, Messres Barlow and Williams achive sucess outside of Take That, the continued intrest in dance music and hip hop which wasn't my maine thing by a long shot.
NOW Yearbook 1997 gathers up some 78 popular tracks across 4 CDs – housed in the deluxe version I bought ‘hard-back-book’ packaging, including a 28-page booklet featuring a summary of the year and a track-by-track guide which just great for bring back memories.
Disc one kicks off in style, with the stunning jazz-drenched ballad from legend George Michael, ‘Older’, before Natalie Imbruglia's huge debut single ‘Torn’. Texas scored a UK top 5 with ‘Say What You Want’ and Hanson hit the US & UK #1 with ‘MMMBop’. ‘Barbie Girl’ from Aqua and the Spice Girls’ anthemic ‘Spice Up Your Life’ were both #1s and lead a run of pure pop including Boyzone (‘Picture Of You’), Louise (‘Arms Around The World’), 911 (‘Bodyshakin’’) and Backstreet Boys (‘Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)’) alongside Steps with their debut ‘5, 6, 7, 8’, and Ricky Martin’s global smash ‘María’. Up next is Elton John’s superb ‘Something About The Way You Look Tonight’ - one half of the biggest selling single of all time. Eternal feat. Bebe Winans hit #1 with ‘I Wanna Be The Only One’ and All Saints made their debut with ‘I Know Where It’s At’. En Vogue’s powerful ‘Don’t Let Go (Love)’ and Gabrielle’s remake of ‘Walk On By’ lead into the discs closing trio: - the atmospheric ‘Out Of My Mind’ from Duran Duran, the genre-blending #1 ‘Your Woman’ from White Town, and Pet Shop Boys’ brilliant version of the musical classic ‘Somewhere’.
On Disc two we open with another George Michael classic from his ‘Older’ album, the beautiful ‘You Have Been Loved’, ahead of a second contemporary masterpiece ‘Secret Garden’ from Bruce Springsteen. Next Up, Paul McCartney’s ‘Young Boy’ and Sheryl Crow’s top 10 hit ‘A Change Would Do You Good’. Meredith Brooks makes her debut with ‘Bitch’ and Robbie Williams’ ‘Old Before I Die’, became his second smash as a solo artist. Different styles of dance pop are celebrated in a run of floor fillers including Jamiroquai’s groovy ‘Alright’, and from Tina Moore (‘Never Gonna Let You Go (Kelly G. Bump-N-Go Vocal Mix)’), Whitney Houston (‘Step By Step’) and Lutricia McNeal (‘Ain’t That Just The Way’). Finley Quaye and Ginuwine feature before rap from LL COOL J enjoying his first UK #1 with ‘Ain’t Nobody’, and Coolio with the ear-worm ‘C U When U Get There’. Soulful vocals close this disc with Mary J. Blige’s ‘Everything’, ahead of great covers from Shola Ama with You Might Need Somebody’, and ‘Wonderful Tonight’ from Damage.
Disc three kicks off with Radiohead’s defining ‘Paranoid Android' from the album OK Computer, and Oasis’s huge #1 ‘D’You Know What I Mean?’ – the lead single from their third album ‘Be Here Now’. Indie-pop anthems follow from The Seahorses (‘Love Is The Law’), Supergrass (‘Richard III’), from In It For The Money, The Charlatans (‘North Country Boy’) and Ocean Colour Scene (‘Hundred Mile High City’). 90s alt-pop continues with Cast’s ‘Free Me’ from the marvellous Mother Nature Calls, Kula Shaker’s hit cover of Deep Purple's 1968 single‘Hush’ and Embrace’s ‘All You Good Good People’. Echo & The Bunnymen returned in ‘97 with ‘Nothing Lasts Forever’, and James also scored a Top 10 hit with ‘She’s A Star’. The Cardigans had a #2 smash with ‘Lovefool’ and ‘Ready To Go’ gave Republica a Top 20 chart debut. Next up, some of the years’ electronic dance music highlights: - The Chemical Brothers with the massive ’Block Rockin’ Beats’ ahead of Moby with his re-imagining of the classic film-series theme: ‘James Bond Theme (Moby’s Re-Version)’. Orbital provided the theme to the remake of ‘The Saint’ and Smoke City provide trip-hop brilliance with ‘Underwater Love’, ahead of the disc finishing with the atmospheric version of 'You Showed Me’ by The Lightning Seeds’ and Suede’s plaintive ‘Saturday Night’.
We complete the set with Disc four that features mainly dancefloor hits.
Opening with the club juggernaut and #1 ‘Professional Widow’ from Tori Amos, remixed for single release by Armand Van Helden, ahead of the collaboration between Lisa Stansfield and The Dirty Rotten Scoundrels on the remix of ‘People Hold On’, Olive’s UK #1 ‘You’re Not Alone’, the huge ’97 ‘Now Voyager’ remix of ‘You Got The Love’ from The Source feat. Candi Staton, and ‘Remember Me’ from Blue Boy. Ultra Naté and Dannii Minogue had euphoric dance-pop smashes with ‘Free’ and ‘All I Wanna Do’, which are featured before pan-European hits from Sash! (‘Encore Une Fois’) and Dario G (‘Sunchyme’). Eurovision glory happened for the UK in 1997, and winners Katrina And The Waves with ‘Love Shine A Light’ are up next before gems from Céline Dion, Backstreet Boys and the second solo #1 for Gary Barlow with ‘Love Won’t Wait’. Gina G keeps things ‘Fresh’, No Mercy hit #2 with the infectious ‘Where Do You Go’, and N-Trance (featuring Rod Stewart) reimagined the classic: ‘Da Y Think I’m Sexy’. Five achieved a Top 10 debut with ‘Slam Dunk (Da Funk)’, East 17 enjoyed their 11th visit to the Top 10 with ‘Hey Child’, and Wet Wet Wet’s ‘If I Never See You Again’ was another Top 5 hit for the enduringly popular band celebrating their 10th anniversary. The journey back to 1997 closes with the huge #1 ballad from the Spice Girls – ‘Too Much’ – the year’s Christmas #1 and their 6th chart-topper in an unbroken run to date…which ends the collection on a perfect pop high.
There are many tracks that bring back memories here.
The last time we looked at this series was in early November 2024 as we made our way back in time to 1977 but to our amazement it was announced the next edition would be this, the 1998 one which meant we started an new Arc in this series 1995 though to 1999.
As usual I opted for the deluxe edition with the book style presentation with notes on each featured track as that helps to bring back memories of that year as I continued in the main to follow "Brit Pop" but read magazines like Blues and Soul as I was also listening to a lot of Soul and modern R&B watching MTV's The Lick Show too.
Looking back at it the charts were more varied than you may of remembered so there is much I did enjoy at the time so with that, we'll look at what's on each disc in the set.
Disc 1 opens with George Michael’s ‘Outside’, that was the lead track from his massive ‘Ladies And Gentlemen’ collection, followed by Cher’s global smash ‘Believe’ which held the #1 spot for 7 weeks in the UK, becoming the biggest seller of the year. RUN-DMC vs. Jason Nevins’ dance-floor phenomenon ‘It’s Like That’ also claimed the top spot, cementing itself as an era defining track.
The chart-topping ‘Never Ever’ from All Saints along with ‘The Boy Is Mine’ from Brandy & Monica (and it featured on BOTH their albums) showcases some of the best R&B pop from the year, while the Spice Girls’ ‘Stop’, Billie Piper’s ‘Because We Want To’ and B*Witched’s infectious ‘C’est La Vie’ bring a fresh, vibrant pure pop.
With more enjoyable smash hits from Aqua, Steps, and Ricky Martin, before the disc draws to its close with Meja, Ace Of Base and The Corrs, who enjoyed a huge hit with their cover of Fleetwood Mac’s classic ‘Dreams’.
Disc 2 celebrates the best of ‘98’s alt-pop, my main preference then, kicking off with Radiohead, R.E.M., and the Manic Street Preachers’ ‘If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next’, which became their first #1 single. Oasis’ epic ‘All Around The World’, topped the chart and became the longest-running UK #1 single of the year.
The brilliant Jamiroquai enjoyed their first #1, The Cardigans’ ‘My Favourite Game’, Stereophonics’ ‘The Bartender and the Thief’ and Natalie Imbruglias’‘Big Mistake’ were among the years’ big successes for recently established chart hitmakers.
Disc 3 is a celebration of dance, club anthems, and infectious electronic beats – opening with Air and the timeless brilliance of ‘Sexy Boy’. Cornershop’s ‘Brimful Of Asha’ claimed the #1 spot, with a remix by Norman Cook who is up next as Fatboy Slim with ‘The Rockafeller Skank’, and also remixed ‘Renegade Master’ for Wildchild which became a defining dance floor anthem once again in 1998.
Faithless’ ‘God Is A DJ’ continued their run of hits, while Sash., Vengaboys, Dario G, and Bus Stop & Carl Douglas enjoyed enjoyed crossover dance-pop smashes. More R&B/pop follows from Robyn, Ultra Naté, M People and Melanie B who became the first of the Spice Girls to achieve a #1 away from the group – with ‘I Want You Back’, a collaboration with Missy Elliott….and the disc finishes with another collaboration – between Texas and Wu-Tang Clan (& Robert F. “Price Rakeem Diggs) on a reworking of ‘Say What You Want’, extending the title to ‘Say What You Want (All Day Every Day)’.
The final disc delivers a combination of massive hit ballads and infectious pop anthems.
Robbie Williams’ iconic ‘Angels’ became a career-defining track, while Céline Dion’s ‘My Heart Will Go On’ topped charts worldwide and became one of the best-selling singles of all time. Boyzone’s ‘No Matter What’ became their biggest hit, and Aqua hit #1 for the third time with ‘Turn Back Time’.
Steps, 911, Cleopatra and Des’ree all made big impacts on the charts, and Catatonia, The Beautiful South and Fat Les all enjoyed huge hits, plus 1998 saw the return of Culture Club to the charts after a twelve year absence.
We conclude this review of 1998’s hits with a run of the years’ biggest pop ballads including from the Backstreet Boys, K-Ci & JoJo, B*Witched before signing off with the Spice Girls with their #1 ‘Viva Forever'.
The now familiar extra made its appearence on March 28 with an extra 60 tracks across three well filled cds.Disc 1 gets going withwith Robbie Williams’ classic ‘Let Me Entertain You’, followed by a run of hits from Stereophonics, Natalie Imbruglia, Sheryl Crow and The Corrs with the Tin Tin Out Remix of ‘What Can I Do’ – taken from 1998’s biggest selling album ‘Talk On Corners’.
Space and Cerys Matthews’ collaboration on ‘The Ballad Of Tom Jones’ adds touch of alternative pop ahead of All Saints with their #1 version of ‘Lady Marmalade’, and Billie Piper’s #1 smash ‘Girlfriend’.
More classic 90s pop anthems next with huge hits from B*Witched and Five, before Busta Rhymes, Usher and Brandy featuring Ma$e deliver unforgettable hip-hop and R&B smashes. The disc closes with superb vocals from the Lighthouse Family, Simply Red and Elton John!
Disc 2 opens with the raw energy of the Manic Street Preachers with ‘The Everlasting’, the second single from their platinum ‘This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours’ album, followed by ‘Brand New Start’ from Paul Weller, ahead of a run of indie-pop from some of the most popular bands of the era:- Ocean Colour Scene, Embrace, James, Ash and The Bluetones. Alt-Pop hits from Republica and Catatonia lead to more gems from Simple Minds and Robbie Williams’ with his second feature on this collection with ‘No Regrets’.
Unforgettable dance-floor anthems from Fatboy Slim, Faithless, Lovestation and Dario G come next, and the disc signs off with a couple of crossover pop- club smashes from Sash! with ‘La Primavera’ and Gloria Estefan’s ‘Oye’!
Disc 3 opens with some of the years’ best chilled pop: ‘War Of Nerves’ by All Saints, followed by Shania Twain’s ‘From This Moment On’ and Sarah McLachlan’s ‘Adia’. Paula Cole provided the theme to TV drama ‘Dawson’s Creek’ with ‘I Don’t Want To Wait’, and that’s up next ahead of more dance-pop gems from Lutricia McNeal, Tin Tin Out & Shelley Nelson and ‘98’s UK Eurovision entry from Imaani.
Another run of massive pop from Louise, Boyzone, 911, E-17, Another Level and Hanson are ahead of sophisticated soul and R&B from Dina Carroll, Monica, Brandy and the Honeyz – while the final word is from the biggest pop band of the era – Spice Girls with their eighth #1- also 1998’s Christmas chart-topper, ‘Goodbye’.
