LISA STANSFIELD – "All Around The World"

For the second time, Coldcut give a leg-up to a vocalist via the medium of “featuring” – but while Yazz’ music with and without them wasn’t too different, the gap between “People Hold On” and “All Around The World” is far wider. As a house vocalist, Lisa Stansfield was a terrific find: she could play the belter with the best of them, but also provide a calm centre for Coldcut’s gleeful cut-and-mix pyrotechnics and pianos. Best of all, she sounded like she was having a tremendous time.

Since “All Around The World” is a song about guilt and loss, it’s no surprise she doesn’t sound quite so joyful. But while this kind of smoky ballad is a sensible foundation for a career at the torchy end of soul, I’ve always found it a little tepid. This kind of classy, grown-up pop works best when it feels glossy and nonchalant at the same time, a music of expensive but discreet gestures with detail barely visible but always thought-through. “All Around The World” just doesn’t fit together that well. That awkward murmured intro seems to come from a different emotional place from the grief-stricken verses and determined chorus, and it gives the record an air of self-consciousness which never quite lifts. There are terrific moments – the hesitant shame of “things… he didn’t know before” and the raw “ay-ay-ays” leading into the chorus – but I still end up not quite believing any of it. The lyrics seem sloppy too – “he gave the reasons he should go” in the verses, but she doesn’t know why he’s gone in the chorus? It might seem pedantic but it’s that attention to detail and consistency which can make a pat song believable.

The backing is stronger – light swingbeat rhythms giving a lot of space for the strings (and vocals) to move around in. In the US, where this went to No.1 on the R&B charts, it was rubbing shoulders with the likes of Guy and Troop, and makes sense in that musical context. Here – like “Ride On Time” and the next number one – it’s one of the hits which helps establish the playing field of early 90s pop on this blog. As such it’s easy to overrate – especially next to the lethal lagomorph – but for me this still seems stylised and cold.

Score: 5

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Kat but logged out innit

8 October 2010 13:45

I loved this very much indeed and would twirl around and around, emulating not only the giddiness of the video but 1) Willy Fogg 2) Michael Palin.

Now I find it slightly weird that she looks more like Betty Boop than Betty Boo does.

weej

8 October 2010 13:54

I watched the video of this yesterday and had it pegged as a 5 or 6, but halfway through another watch just now I realised for the first time that, actually, I really like this song, in particular the emotion in Lisa’s performance and the way the whole thing builds. As I’ve been writing this I’ve realised that yesterday’s video was 2 minutes 17 seconds, and today’s was 4 minutes 18 seconds. Perhaps that accounts for the ‘slow build’ thing.

wichita lineman

8 October 2010 13:54

This felt like a Barry White pastiche at the time, with the 1989 model Helen Shapiro well up to the job. As with The Only Way Is Up, though, it sounds much thinner than I remember, especially on the verse. I imagine that’s a string quartet-plus -keyboards imitating the Love Unlimited Orchestra.

Having said that, it IS a strong performance, and a good if not great song that Barry White would have been proud of (I wonder if he made any comments on AATW at the time?). It doesn’t sound empty to me, just let down by technology. And I also like the fact that – US R&B hit or not – Lisa S was thoroughly Rochdale and never in danger of making a faux pas like this

Dare I bait the the bunny by saying there’s another Barry White ‘pastiche’ due to hit Popular eleven years on from this.

Chelovek na lune

8 October 2010 14:04

I think the song is someway less than the sum of its parts (in some ways, her I prefer her earlier solo single, “This Is The Right Time”, which is unapologetically lightweight) ; and I have been considering why that might be.

She’s a decent enough singer, she puts in a commendable performance here, the tune has some kind of direction and shape; all these things are in place. But somehow this is a little bland, airport music or wallpaper, essentially, albeit good airport music or wallpaper; closer to Cathay Pacific than Ryanair, closer to that company run by George Osborne’s family than B&Q.

Ultimately, I think the real problem is the lyrics. They aren’t the only flaw (the orchestration is adequate rather than outstanding), but they are the most fundamental one. They don’t work. Especially not in the chorus. She’s been all around the world, looking for her baby? Errr…no she hasn’t.

Whereas Paul Weller could get away with “I’ve been all around the world, looking for YOU!”…because it implied the searching for an (initially unspecified, and initially unknown) object of affection (whom as such, one could say he had been long seeking), and then its finding, Stansfield is singing of a lost love, whom she hasn’t patently gone to Beijing, Venice or Vancouver to attempt to find again. Not even in those pre-internet days did that sound plausible. Nor still metaphorically does the image work.

And “I’ve been wandering every back street of Rochdale, looking for you” would sound both naff and more than a little bit stalkerish. (Not that that would be any bar to late 80s hitdom).

So the chorus is silly. Lyrically too much, and perhaps melodically an anticlimax. There are some beautiful bits of tune in “All around the world”, even in the chorus, but it all doesn’t fit together properly.

I think it’s another case of an artist getting to no 1 with a song that is clearly not their best (even if somewhat better than mediocre in this case). “All Woman” would rate an 8 in my book (good story telling, substance too), and the sultry, silky, sensual “Time To Make You Mine” quite possibly a 9.

So, then, I guess this will be a seven from me. It’s OK.

Rory

8 October 2010 14:10

A 5 or 6 for me on first listen (at least I think it’s my first; the song feels vaguely familiar, but that might just be its Barry White-sound-alike qualities). Pleasant, but nothing I’d rush out and buy.

justfanoe

8 October 2010 14:11

Of course, today most would remember this song for Notorious BIG, and I do have to say that “Been Around the World” is better than this one.

For the curious, the US Number One at the time was “When I See You Smile” by Bad English.

RobB

8 October 2010 14:14

I loved this record. Probably mainly for reasons of happy memories of a chilly November made better by this playing down the pub. But I still think it stands up: the vocal performance is superb in my view, the chorus and the lyric refreshingly “real” for the time. It felt modern in 1989 and northern and like we had pop for our times. I’m smiling while thinking about it again which tells me a lot. 5. No! 9.

swanstep

8 October 2010 14:16

It’s a bit painful that this got to #1 while swing out sister, ebtg, patti labelle’s On my Own, even abc going back a bit never did. Still, amidst all the SAW-dust and Bunnies and charity records of the year, it’s hard to complain too much, and certainly 5 strikes me as harsh. Tom’s right that there are some lyrical fuzzies here, but the chords/changes are interesting, Lisa S. flies through every vocal test, the rest of the backing’s solid or better, and a good vid to boot…it’s a, oh why not:
7

wichita lineman

8 October 2010 14:19

Well she hasn’t been All Around The World, granted, but the label of the same name barely sells a record outside of Lancashire either. Seems like a rather literal criticism – “That’s What I Like? No it isn’t”.

Re 6: I’d never heard that Bad English song before – stinker! Not a patch on John Waite’s other US number one, the minimal, in-the-pocket AOR Missing You.

Chelovek na lune

8 October 2010 14:43

Literal, maybe. But it still goes to undermine the plausibility of the song (as do the other infelicities and careless inconsistencies that Tom identifies in the main post), not least as the verses and overall tone don’t build up a picture of a character prone to exaggeration, or of an unreliable narrator. And when you’ve only got three minutes to play with, you can’t make a slip like that at the climactic point of the song.

punctum

8 October 2010 14:47

Not too much to say about this or Ms Stansfield except that my favourite single of hers comes from the golden year of 1982 and even received the hallowed honour of Smash Hits Single Of The Fortnight. I wish she were still making records like this.

Steve Mannion

8 October 2010 15:01

She had a pretty unusual look (the hair! Betty Boop indeed) that felt more like a hangover from the early 80s to me. Apparently “this is the right time” to capitalise on the burgeoning market for slick-stringed big-voiced Soul-based songs over modern beats (altho there was still a fair bit of retro going on e.g. Sam Brown). Did she get compared to Moyet much? This isn’t bad but it all just feels a bit too glossy, esp. with killer tunes like ‘Got To Have Your Love’ and ‘Tell Me When The Fever Ended’ hoving into view. ‘People Hold On’ still ace tho, and as Chevolek says her first solo hit retains an understated charm.

lex

8 October 2010 15:06

The second UK No 1 I remember from the time, and a much more specific memory than of “Back To Life” – a kitchen table, a small tinny kitchen radio, and this song seemingly coming out of it all the time. Even then I remember thinking it was kind of bland – which is some achievement on its part given that, as one of the first pop songs I actually remember hearing, I have no idea what I was even comparing it to. I also thought the “ay-ay-ay”s sounded silly – and they still do, they’re space-fillers that don’t signify any particular emotion. But give it its due – this thing is SUPER catchy. Which is why I actually have a memory of it, I guess. I’d agree w/Tom’s [5].

And yes, as per #6 this was ultimately rendered redundant by Puffy and Biggie.

Erithian

8 October 2010 15:13

My grandad was born in Rochdale circa 1887 (we sprog late in our family) but I’ve never been able to find a birth certificate for him. After much delving I’ve concluded that he might have been born under a different name, and the man I thought of as his father might just have been a bigamist. So I’ll not hear anything said against “our Lisa” – depending on how much great-grandad put it about, she could be family!

Besides, she’s the heroine of the piece here, with a terrific vocal performance full of conviction on a slightly under-heated song – Tom nailed it nicely, but the lyrics never seemed convincing to me either. Nice atmosphere to the production, too. Other bit of trivia – Stansfield is Gracie Fields’ real surname, thus linking Rochdale’s biggest musical celebrities.

MikeMCSG

8 October 2010 16:15

# 14 Ian, my Rochdale connections are more recent and ongoing than yours – born in Littleborough four miles up the road. My Popular- related claim to fame as that I was at my mum’s pre-school playgroup with Ian Deveney who plays keyboards on this. She later looked after Paul Ryder’s kids and used to chat with Astrelle Celeste – about what, God only knows !

This came as a bit of a surprise to locals who’d been involuntarily following Lisa’s career for a decade (look at those crow’s feet, ridiculous for a girl in her mid-20s) through the pages of the Rochdale Observer. By this time she was regarded as a bit of a saddo still chasing a dream that wasn’t going to happen and then it did.

In the second week of this song’s reign ‘Dale played Marine in the FA Cup First Round and the tie was switched to Anfield because their ground was inadequate. At one point a group of fans started chanting “Lisa ! Lisa ! Top of the charts !” but it didn’t really catch on because Lisa’s disinterest in the football team made Cyril “They don’t do anyone any harm” Smith seem like a diehard fan.

# 11 I have got that single DJP and agreed,it is the best thing she’s done.

Billy Hicks

8 October 2010 17:16

You’ve got sun-drenched summer hits. You’ve even got the occasionally chilly-sounding winter hit (and no, they’re not all about Christmas). This is a rare example of an ‘autumn hit’. A feeling when listening that the year’s coming to an end, almost as if you can feel the nights getting darker, colder, and hear the leaves falling as she sings. An added poignancy with this one, as it’s the end of a decade.

Not as big a fan of this as I once was, but the ‘I did too much lying, wasting too much time’ pre-chorus still has a spark for me. Very much a transitionary record into the forthcoming 1990s, the likes of ‘You’ll Never Stop Me Loving You’ and other Stock/Aitken/Waterman already feel like a lifetime ago.

lonepilgrim

8 October 2010 17:34

I’ve always enjoyed this – it balances neatly on the edge of pastiche of an earlier style but still manages to have a contemporary (1989) quality to it. The string arrangement, Lisa Stansfield’s vocal and an urgent middle eight help it to swing along. It does have a certain blandness to it but it’s a good quality blandness – like a rice pudding on an autumn day – and sometimes bland is just what I want. 7 for me

as mentioned in the previous entry, this was number 1 when the Berlin Wall ‘fell’.

I remember returning to West Berlin after a day trip to East Berlin in 1984 and the best comparison I can make to the sensation I experienced, of returning to the garish Capitalist billboards, shopfronts and neon after the monotone East, was of listening to a Jive Bunny single

the current Potsdamerplatz building makes me nostalgic for the Cold War aesthetic – if not the reality

thefatgit

8 October 2010 19:41

It’s not bad, but nothing special either. In my mind, it sets a trend for a number of female singers exploring love and loss around the turn of the decade much more ably than Lisa manages here. There’s an obvious bunnyable Prince cover, but there are a number of future Top Tenners before the trend falls away around the fag-end of Grunge five years hence. So with hindsight, Stansfield is trumped by the likes of Tracey Thorn (who was always better at this), Tori Amos and Shara Nelson among others.

Stand alone, it’s slavishly faithful to the Barry White formula as mentioned above, but does this formula work when seduction isn’t on the menu? And can Lisa really convince she’s been around the world, with that flawlessly white complexion of hers? Been down very pit and pothole maybe.

I believe Our Gracie was a favourite on Workers’ Playtime on the BBC Light Programme, back in the days of ricketts and ration books, so my mum tells me.

Mark M

8 October 2010 19:43

Re 12: Really? I think of her look as classically late 80s, making it maybe a year or so out of date by this point. Certain, you would’ve seen a lot of hair like that on South Molton St or at Hyper Hyper in 1988 or so.

Billy Smart

8 October 2010 20:14

Hm, the choruses are a bit more memorable than the generic set-ups of the verses. The chief autobiographical interest for me is that come the end of 1989, I’m in a very different school, having moved from a famous public school to being a sixth former in the biggest comprehensive in London. Sadly, this was not to be a story of redemptive personal transmogrification, but my innate tendency towards clinical depression really kicking in for good at this point, suicide attempts and all.

Anyway, one of the most noticeable features of my new school is the clear class and cultural divide between the two sets of pupils, Eltham kids – working class, of more conventional backgrounds and interests, harder-working – and Lewisham kids – more bohemian backgrounds, more interested in drugs. The classy stylings of ‘All Around the World’, and Lisa Stansfield’s contemporary appearance, attracted rare blanket approval from all of my school peers.

Billy Smart

8 October 2010 20:20

TOTPWatch: Lisa Stansfield twice performed ‘All Around The World’ on Top Of The Pops. Have patience, you shall still learn about the Christmas show.

9 November 1989. Also in the studio that week were; Electribe 101, Linda Ronstadt & Aaron Neville and Janet Jackson. Nicky Campbell was the host.

Billy Smart

8 October 2010 20:25

Light Entertainment Watch: Lisa Stansfield has been a regular UK TV presence;

ASPEL & COMPANY: with Bob Hoskins, Hugh Laurie, Lisa Stansfield (1991)

BRUCE’S GUEST NIGHT: with Cliff Richard, Rita Rudner, Lisa Stansfield, Pat Cash, Howard Keel (1992)

BRUCE’S GUEST NIGHT: with Jimmy Tarbuck, Lisa Stansfield, Cliff Richard (1993)

DES O’CONNOR TONIGHT: with Ken Dodd, Jackie Mason, Lisa Stansfield, Dillie Keane, Sarah Brightman, Jayne Torvill, Christopher Dean (1991)

DES O’CONNOR TONIGHT: with Neil Diamond, Ian McShane, Lisa Stansfield, Jethro (1992)

THE KRANKIES KLUB: with Jimmy Cricket, Ward Allen, Lisa Stansfield, Rocky Sharpe and the Replays (1983)

THE MRS MERTON SHOW: with Caroline Aherne, The Patrick Trio, Garry Bushell, Lisa Stansfield (1998)

NEVER MIND THE BUZZCOCKS: with Mark Lamarr, Phill Jupitus, Bill Bailey, Jimmy Carr, Claudia Winkleman, Roisin Murphy, Lisa Stansfield (2003)

THE O ZONE: with Pet Shop Boys, Lisa Stansfield, Tasmin Archer (1993)

THE O ZONE: with Boyzone, Lisa Stansfield, Symposium (1997)

PARKINSON: with Jack Dee, Jools Holland, Beverley Knight, Damian Lewis, Jamie Oliver, Lisa Stansfield (2003)

SHOOTING STARS: with Mark Lamarr, Matt Lucas, David Emanuel, Judith Hann, Mark Homer, Lisa Stansfield (1997)

SUCCESS: with Lisa Stansfield, Hot Gossip, Dustin Gee (1982)

SUCCESS: with Stan Boardman, Lisa Stansfield, Robert Guillame (1982)

THE VIDEO ENTERTAINERS: with Alan Price, Stan Boardman, Poacher, Lisa Stansfield (1981)

THE VIDEO ENTERTAINERS: with Shades, Stan Boardman, Johnny More, Tony Christie, Roy Walker, Lisa Stansfield, Allan Mayes (1981)

THE VIDEO ENTERTAINERS: with Lisa Stansfield, Richard Kerr, Sunny Leslie (1982)

WOGAN: with Katerina Hocking, Sir George Solti, Lisa Stansfield (1990)

WOGAN: with Les Dawson, Lisa Stansfield, Paula Yates (1990)

WOGAN: with Michael Ball, Altovise Davis, Lisa Stansfield (1992)

THE WORD: with Alan Pillay, Lisa Stansfield, Blur (1991)

Billy Hicks

8 October 2010 21:07

The whole chart, really, has a definite feel of winding down for the year by this time. Just a couple of months earlier it was jammed full of high-energy pop, yet by now we have ‘Girl I’m Gonna Miss You’, ‘Another Day In Paradise’ and even some early triphop in the guise of Fresh 4 feat Lizz E’s ‘Wishing On A Star’, which has the honour of being the last track to feature on a 1980s Now album.

ciaran10

8 October 2010 21:17

Hard to argue with the 5 score here.the typical “5” record to my ears.Another of the earliest songs I can remember but time hasnt been kind to this one im afraid to say.

Its a ballad dressed up as a dance/pop hit which doesnt fit together really.A bit middle of the road.LS looked like a bit of a clown (in the literal sense) with the image and the short hair made her look like a cut-price yazz.Certainly the video didnt have the madonna or susanna hoffs look to it.

I liked other LS songs.Poeple Hold on and this is the right time were decent enough and LS looked a lot classy in the “all woman” video.

My sister was a very big fan of Stansfield as well as Madonna and Gloria Estefan so I probably was exposed to this more as a result.

I think LS ended up living in Dublin which is very surprising giving her pop star career.

Tom Lane

8 October 2010 21:41

This peaked at #3 in the U.S., and I still love it. Not sure what the 5 rating is all about, but maybe my higher ranking has to do with our U.S. ears wanting to hear something resembling good Soul singing in 1990. A solid 8 for me.

BTW- Barry White and Stansfield re-recorded this song in 1992 and it appeared on one of her B-sides. I have it on White’s 1992 box set, but it can also be seen on YouTube.

Tom

8 October 2010 22:11

“good Soul singing”: I sort of wonder if this is at the root of why I’m not so into it – it feels a bit too classicist maybe? There have been a lot of British singers who sound like they’ve made a careful study of soul music and know all the tricks, but it’s all coming at you one step removed.

Tom

8 October 2010 22:13

It’s like something Swanstep said upthread – obviously not meaning it in this way at all – “flies through every vocal test”: that’s kind of what the performance feels like to me, a sort of soulfulness showcase which ends up disconnected from the song (or from anything much really).

swanstep

9 October 2010 01:14

@Lex, 13. Holy crap that Puffy and Biggie record (new to me) is great. I have to confess, however, that I find it very stressful listening. I love its grooves and its timbral genius, but I almost can’t handle its appropriations of (defilings of?) other records and the hail of N-words. Dre’s great ’90s records tend/tended to stress/freak me out in the same ways. Lisa S. is, of course, the opposite of that sort of divisive, territory-marking, for-me stressful listening. I suspect that I need both sorts of music to feel whole, and that there’s no chance that one sort can ever make the other redundant. Anyhow, thanks for the reference.

Alfred

9 October 2010 14:15

“This is the Right Time” has aged better, as indeed have a few of Affection‘s deeper cuts (the title track, “What Did I Do To You”).

Mark G

9 October 2010 16:47

#3, I do remember Lisa Stansfield doing this as a duet with Barry White, some years later.

It worked very well.

Jimmy the Swede

9 October 2010 16:52

The only thing to say about this is when Lisa clearly admits: “I’ve got too much lager in me” on the hook.

Know the feelin’, sweedhard! (Hic!)

flahr

9 October 2010 17:58

From “Hang the DJ: An Alternative Book of Music Lists”:

“All. Around. The. World. A saner person would have stopped in, I don’t know, Epping.”

(Anyway, a four. Very bland.)

anto

10 October 2010 18:54

Oh Tom I’m sorry you’re not taken with this one cos I think it’s a gem. It’s the first song we’ve come to where I can actually remember being rather glad when it went to number one. As soon as I heard it I liked it.
” This is the Right Time ” was good too.

ace inhibitor

10 October 2010 21:22

One of those records that takes me back to a very specific time, place, and sensibility – I had moved to Barcelona from Manchester this autumn and found myself more homesick than I expected or was prepared to admit to. Lisa turned up on whatever the Spanish early evening pop programme was called, singing this & then being interviewed by the presenter – preamble in Spanish I couldn’t really follow, followed by question in heavily accented English, Lisa’s answer in broad and unmistakable Rochdale, then translation back into Spanish – an unexpected and rather lovely moment of familiarity, and I’ve felt an affection for her and the song ever since. a few weeks later a flatmate’s boyfriend arrived from Scotland and sniffed, unimpressed, that something called Madchester had apparently taken over Top of the Pops and the world

LondonLee

11 October 2010 02:54

British attempts at soul music had always lacked a certain something, there was usually something slightly tinny and provincial about it when compared to the American version. But at the time I thought that with this, and especially Soul II Soul, we’d finally gotten it “right” and not surprisingly both were lapped up in the States. I’m not saying the production is Jam & Lewis or anything, it’s still a little thin, but it sounded slick to me (in a good way) and our Lisa had a great voice, if she does lose it a bit by over-emoting a the end. 8 from me.

And while everyone’s naming their fave Lisa S record I’d probably go with ‘Change’ or ‘Time To Make You Mine’

Chelovek na lune

11 October 2010 06:47

..Coming back to (and rethinking) the topic of best Lisa S records….I’ve just been listening to “In All The Right Places” for the first time in years. Man, that is a seriously masterful piece of soul. Everything comes together perfectly there. (I love “Time To Make You Mine” too; but it’s somehow less complete or polished) Maybe because it was from a bit later on in her career, I’d forgotten just how – timelessly – good it was.

punctum

11 October 2010 09:10

I love the film (Indecent Proposal) version of “In All The Right Places” with John Barry input; wonderful chord changes, fabulous singing.

MikeMCSG

11 October 2010 09:16

#24 Dublin is about the nearest place to Rochdale whilst being non-domiciled for tax purposes.

# 22 Great list Billy. Some real superstars in “the Video Entertainers – wtf were Poacher ? You left out the obvious
“Razzmatazz” which she used to present. I seem to recall she got dropped for kicking a kid. The appearance on The Word was the one where a guy pushed a condom up one nostril and pulled it out of the other and Lisa said “I thought a condom was something you put on your willy”. Always been grateful for that, saved me a fortune in maintenance payments !

Wasn’t it around this time that the concept of the “wigga” was born ? I remember Spitting Image had Lisa and Mick Hucknall duetting on a song called “We Want To Be Black”.

will

11 October 2010 10:54

A pleasant, and as pointed out earlier, a very autumnal Number One. Can’t say I was wild about it at the time but I think, like the best of her other singles – Change, This Is The Right Time – it’s lasted very well.

Chris Gilmour

13 October 2010 20:02

I grew up in Rochdale, so had begun to get a bit irritated by Lisa at this point, not least because she’d always go on about how great Rochdale was, which it really, really wasn’t for me. I’d really loved ‘People Hold On’ and to a lesser extent, ‘This Is The Right Time’, so the dive in tempo was also a disappointment. I’ve changed my opinion since, I think it’s a great classy Brit soul record, though I can see how some would feel it was a little cold, perhaps because this sort of production has more mystique if it’s coming from America and to be fair it does sound a bit cheaper than the likes of Jam & Lewis.
It was my 15th birthday around this time, so bought a load of records that turned out to be important for me; two ‘Deep Heat’ albums, the ‘House Hallucinates’ album, the best of DJ Fast Eddie, and obviously ‘Pacific State’, so I was finally moving away from pure pop.
Anyway, a seven for this one.

Daniel - Yurtdisi Egitim

14 October 2010 13:13

I agree with the criticism regarding the arrangement of the song. It had its “not belonging to the song” parts. But it is interesting to see how some people belong to a period of time, and cannot move forward and improve. Like a painting hanging on a wall. Once in a while you go back, have a look and say, “well, nice”.

vic

2 November 2010 14:08

One could have a look at her version of Cole Porter’s ‘Down in the Depths’ from the Red Hot & Blue video collection, and see that she really can sing. (That vid has some other v. interesting stuff, e.g. the Iggy Pop/Debbie Harry version of ‘Well, did you eva’ or ‘what a swell party this is. (I’m away from home and can’t check them out.
Also, in reference to a post I made many years ago, my Uncle Vic who hosted Macca and Jane Asher as stage door keeper at the Bristol Old Vic, around the time that Macca is believed to have found the name for Eleanor Rigby, also somehow managed to maintain a regular correspondence with Gracie Fields when she was living out retirement on Capri

Steviebab

22 November 2013 01:40

It’s funny how I, like many others, it seems, heard this and thought it’s a Barry White record

Cumbrian

22 November 2013 16:05

How many #1s are there that share the same title but are not covers? This being one, obviously. I guess I could go painstakingly through the list of #1s and work it out but I figure it might be something someone here knows off the top of their head/out of the end of their fingers.

punctum

22 November 2013 16:09

bunny

hectorthebat

7 March 2015 19:32

Critic watch:

1,001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die, and 10,001 You Must Download (2010) 1002
Blender (USA) – The 1001 Greatest Songs to Download Right Now! (2003)
Bruce Pollock (USA) – The 7,500 Most Important Songs of 1944-2000 (2005)
Village Voice (USA) – Singles of the Year 5
New Musical Express (UK) – Singles of the Year 10
Record Mirror (UK) – Singles of the Year 3

Stephen Emmett

21 April 2020 08:00

The exact week this first got to Number One (5th November 1989) actually had a very different looking singles chart in the UK. The reason being it was due to an electrical fire at Gallup HQ (the chart compilers at the time) thus a skeleton staff had to compile data from record stores up until the close of Friday evening (3rd November), thus missing an entire day’s worth of data. This incorrect chart only got one airing (the Radio 1 chart show itself) and quickly got corrected in time for the Monday morning chart recap on Simon Mayo’s breakfast show. Just thought I wanted to bring this fact up.

Patrick Mexico, The Inanimate Carbon God

21 April 2020 23:40

Oof, didn’t know that! Were there any high-charting singles on the “fake” chart that had a brief 5-minute fame but lost out in the “real” one?

Chelovek na lune

22 April 2020 00:32

@48 (from memory, with no evidence in front of me, nor of any idea where to find such): in a word, no. As far as I can recall, the difference in chart positions between those announced on Sunday and those that were subsequently corrected wasn’t generally any more than 5 chart positions or so.

Stephen Emmett

27 April 2020 14:12

@49 You’re absolutely dead wrong. “Drive On” by Brother Beyond (NO.39 on the corrected chart) and “Restless Days” by the band And Why Not? (NO.38 on the corrected chart, didn’t get played on the Radio 1 chart show at all due to the error) were actually affected by this error. Shown here is my accurate reconstruction of what the false data (excluding the rest of that chart retained in the corrected version) actually looked like on the chart show that day:
39 7 O’CLOCK – THE QUIREBOYS (new entry) CORRECT CHART POSITION: 36
38 REAL WILD HOUSE – RAUL ORELLANA (down) CORRECT CHART POSITION: 41
37 THE BEST – TINA TURNER (down) CORRECT CHART POSITION: 42
36 SWING THE MOOD – JIVE BUNNY AND THE MASTERMIXERS (down) CORRECT CHART POSITION: 37
35 SWEET SURRENDER – WET WET WET (non mover) CORRECT CHART POSITION: 34
34 LEAN ON YOU – CLIFF RICHARD (down) CORRECT CHART POSITION: 35
33 NEW SOUTH WALES – THE ALARM (new entry) CORRECT CHART POSITION: 31
32 GOLDEN GREEN – THE WONDER STUFF (new entry) CORRECT CHART POSITION: 33
31 RHYTHM NATION – JANET JACKSON (new entry) CORRECT CHART POSITION: 28
29 TELL ME WHEN THE FEVER ENDED – ELECTRIBE 101 (new entry) CORRECT CHART POSITION: 32
28 DON’T ASK ME WHY – EURYTHMICS (new entry) CORRECT CHART POSITION: 29
27 THE SUN RISING – THE BELOVED (down) CORRECT CHART POSITION: 26
26 YOU GOT IT (THE RIGHT STUFF) – NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK (new entry) CORRECT CHART POSITION: 23
25 DON’T MAKE ME OVER – SYBIL (down) CORRECT CHART POSITION: 27
24 DON’T KNOW MUCH – LINDA RONSTADT / AARON NEVILLE (new) CORRECT CHART POSITION: 25
23 BORN TO BE SOLD – TRANSVISION VAMP (up) CORRECT CHART POSITION: 22
22 WISHING ON A STAR – FRESH 4 FT. LIZZ E (down) CORRECT CHART POSITION: 24
20 C’MON AND GET MY LOVE – D’MOB INTRODUCING CATHY DENNIS (up) CORRECT CHART POSITION: 16
17 IF ONLY I COULD – SYDNEY YOUNGBLOOD (down) CORRECT CHART POSITION: 20
16 EYE KNOW – DE LA SOUL (down) CORRECT CHART POSITION: 17
14 NEVER TOO MUCH – LUTHER VANDROSS (up) CORRECT CHART POSITION: 13
13 GRAND PIANO – MIXMASTER (up) CORRECT CHART POSITION: 12
12 THE ROAD TO HELL – CHRIS REA (down) CORRECT CHART POSITION: 11
11 RIDE ON TIME – BLACK BOX (down) CORRECT CHART POSITION: 14
10 LEAVE A LIGHT ON – BELINDA CARLISLE (down) CORRECT CHART POSITION: 9
09 IF I COULD TURN BACK TIME – CHER (down) CORRECT CHART POSITION: 10
08 I FEEL THE EARTH MOVE – MARTIKA (up) CORRECT CHART POSITION: 7
07 ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE – PHIL COLLINS (up) CORRECT CHART POSITION: 8

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Teenage Ebola Victim on NELLY ft TIM McGRAW – “Over And Over”16 April 2024
Tim McGraw having a UK number one is probably equivalent to EMF having a US number one.
Steve Mannion on NELLY ft TIM McGRAW – “Over And Over”15 April 2024
*hums 'Baby Jump*
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Andrew F on ELVIS PRESLEY – “One Night” / “I Got Stung”1 April 2024
And with video (of the strap part)! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShuA9UPRFd8
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LISA STANSFIELD – "All Around The World"

JIVE BUNNY AND THE MASTERMIXERS – "That's What I Like"

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK – "You Got It (The Right Stuff)"

Latest comments on Popular