Weekenders on our own, it's such fun

Crocus explosion!

Another glorious sunny day in the garden, and things are looking better all the time. Madam Arcati was up far earlier than I and sorted out the pile of old pots that we had plonked under one of the benches, and swept up the clag that had accumulated at that end of the garden. I got some more repotting and pruning done, a task that's always satisfying. Four bin bags filled with old compost, leaves, weeds and crud later, and we're pleased with the results!

Incidentally, today would have been the birthday of the marvellous Lou Reed, so I think this one is most appropriate for our "Sunday Music" today, don't you?

Lou Reed, David Bowie and friends - Perfect Day [original BBC Children in Need song, 1997]

Fuck! That faboo ensemble version is 28 years old!
[I see dead people...]

Mesdames, messieurs, le disc-jockey Sash est de retour

Having a bit of a pottering day [it's too humid to be really energetic; just a bit of dead-heading and spot-watering], and listening to Vernon Kay's Dance Sounds of the 90s on BBC Radio 2 - inevitably I was whisked back to an odd and life-changing era for me, 1997, when I was dancing my little titties off...

...to SASH! Here are their three megahits from that year:

Sash! - Encore Une Fois

Sash! - Ecuador

Sash! feat. La Trec - Stay

Fuck. Twenty-seven years ago?! That's the year Simone Biles, Camila Cabello, Maisie Williams, Zara Larsson, Marcus Rashford, Max Verstappen and Google were all born... Gulp.

I feel used

We're having another timeslip moment again, dear reader!

A rift in the space time continuum has dumped us (again) in 1997 - the year of Tony Blair, the loss of Hong Kong to China, "the McLibel case", the killing of 62 people at the Temple of Hatshepshut in Egypt, Katrina and the Waves, Titanic, Madeleine Albright and "Mad Cow Disease"; the births of South Park, Maisie Williams, Harry Potter and Channel 5; and the deaths of Laurie Lee, Billy Mackenzie, Gianni Versace and Princess Diana.

In the news in March '97: Pablo Picasso's Tête de Femme was stolen from a London gallery (but was later found); The Sun newspaper controversially "swapped sides" and pledged its support for Blair; thirty-nine members of the loony "Heaven's Gate" pseudo religious cult committed mass suicide in the USA; scandal erupted in Papua New Guinea when it was discovered that British mercenaries were being engaged by the PM to oust his opponents; in the ascendant were Comet Hale–Bopp (literally), Tara Lipinski (who, at 14, became the youngest women's world figure skating champion) and The English Patient (which won the Best Picture Oscar); but Jermaine Stewart (of We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off fame) became the latest casualty of AIDS. In our cinemas: Mars Attacks!, My Night with Reg and The Portrait of a Lady. On telly: the Comic Relief telethon, Formula One racing (for the first time shown on ITV after it won the rights) and Family Affairs (on the new Channel 5); and both Midsomer Murders and Teletubbies were first broadcast.

And in the UK charts twenty-one years ago this week? Naturally, it was the Spice Girls who ruled the roost at Number 1; while No Doubt, Fugees, Sash!, Bee Gees, Kula Shaker, Mark Morrison, Eternal, No Mercy and Ant & Dec made up the rest of the high numbers. However, just arrived outside the Top Ten, and destined to forever be an exemplar of '90s club-dom, was this one by the Sneaker Pimps (another fave here at Dolores Delargo Towers) - and whatever happened to them..?

Sneaker Pimps - Spin Spin Sugar (official video)

...but it was (of course) the marvellous remix [in the "Decade of Dance", everything had to have at least one remix, if not 27!] by flavour-de-jour Armand Van Helden that really made this a classic [I remember dancing to it on many an occasion]:

Sneaker Pimps - Spin Spin Sugar (Armand van Helden mix)

I'm everyone - I feel used
I'm everyone - I need you
I'm everyone - Hang your label on me
I'm everyone - Paint it black and white and easy
I want perfection - I'm real need
I've seen attention - See through me

I'm everyone - Sticks in me
I'm everyone - Sticks with me
Call on me - Spin spin sugar
Crawl on me - Spin spin sugar
Stinks on me - Spin spin sugar
Twists for me - Spin spin sugar

I've seen attention - See through me
I want perfection - I'm real need

I'm everyone - Sticks in me
I'm everyone - Sticks with me
Call on me - Spin spin sugar
Crawl on me - Spin spin sugar
Stinks on me - Spin spin sugar
Twists for me - Spin spin sugar

Sweet.

I'm glad I spent it with you

Timeslip moment again - and its quite scary how time flies...

We've beamed down in 1997 again, dear reader - a world mourning the death of Diana Princess of Wales; the year of Tony Blair, comet Halle-Bopp, Bill Clinton, Madeline Allbright, the Spice Girls, Teletubbies, IBM's Deep Blue computer, Oasis, massacres in Algeria, Great Britain's last (to date) Eurovision win, the launch of Channel 5, Gianni Versace's murder, the handover of Hong Kong to China, Titanic and Dolly the sheep.

In the news in November '97: 62 tourists were mown down by Islamic militants outside the Temple of Hatshepsut in Egypt, the BBC launched News 24 and its full-time online news service, attempts to extradite the Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs from Brazil were thwarted, and the new British Library opened; in the ascendant were Mary McAleese (elected President of Ireland in succession to Mary Robinson, the first time in the world that one woman succeeded another as elected head of state), Bobbi McCaughey (who gave birth to the world's first surviving septuplets) and HM the Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh (celebrating their Golden Wedding anniversary), but the world reeled when the gorgeous Michael Hutchence was found dead in his hotel room. In our cinemas: Chasing Amy, GI Jane, Alien: Resurrection. On telly: I'm Alan Partridge, The Adventures of Paddington Bear, and the last ever series of Give Us a Clue.

And in the charts this week in November two decades ago? The infectious Barbie Girl had just been knocked off its perch. Also present and correct in the Top 10 were Natalie Imbruglia, All Saints, Lutricia McNeal [me neither], the Prodigy, MegaBabs with Slime Dion, Aaron Carter, Louise and Stephen Houghton [whooooo?]. However, there was one song that was to wipe the board with all of 'em, having just crashed into the top slot and summarily deposed the all-conquering Aqua - and lordy, it is a good one...

Featuring possibly the most amazing array of talent ever committed to one record - [in order of appearance] Lou Reed, Bono, Skye Edwards (from Morcheeba), David Bowie, Suzanne Vega, Elton John, conductor Andrew Davis and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Boyzone, Lesley Garrett, Burning Spear, Thomas Allen, the Brodsky Quartet, Heather Small (from M People), Emmylou Harris, Tammy Wynette, Shane MacGowan (from The Pogues), tenor horn player Sheona White, Dr. John, Robert Cray, Huey Morgan (from Fun Lovin' Criminals), Ian Broudie (from The Lightning Seeds), Gabrielle, Evan Dando (from The Lemonheads), Courtney Pine, Brett Anderson (from Suede), Visual Ministry Choir, Joan Armatrading, Laurie Anderson and Tom Jones - it is, of course, Perfect Day!

Lou Reed, David Bowie and friends - Perfect Day [original BBC Children in Need song, 1997]

Can it really be TWENTY YEARS since that slice of magnificence first hit our screens???

I feel old.

Hi ho, Quicksilver - away!

Timeslip moment again...

It's raining, it's miserable today, but our trusty TARDIS has whisked us away from all that, back to the naïvely optimistic world of 1997 - the year of Geri Halliwell's Union Jack dress, "Cool Britannia", Tony Blair, Dolly the Sheep, the Teletubbies, Comet Hale–Bopp and (sadly) the death of Princess Diana.

In the news in May twenty years ago: the Labour Party won a massive landslide in the General Election, ousting John Major and many of his cabinet colleagues and hoisting Tony Blair (Britain's youngest Prime Minister since 1812) to power; the Russian–Chechen Peace Treaty was signed; the Bank of England became independently responsible for UK monetary policy; in the ascendant were Katrina and the Waves (who won that year's Eurovision Song Contest with Love Shine a Light, which received a record-breaking 78.82% of the votes), Mohammad Khatami (elected Iran's first ever "Reformist" president) and IBM's Deep Blue computer (which defeated World chess champion Garry Kasparov), but there were military coups in Zaire and Sierra Leone; and we bade a fond farewell to Laurie Lee, author of Cider With Rosie. In our cinemas: Donnie Brasco, Anaconda and Liar Liar. On telly: Stars in Their Eyes, Jonathan Creek and the 2000th edition of Channel 4's weekday evening quiz show Countdown.

And in our charts this week in 1997? Leading the pack was the utterly sublime Olive and You're Not Alone [one of my favourite songs ever]. They were accompanied in the upper echelons by Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli, (the aforementioned) Katrina and the Waves, No Mercy, the faboo Cardigans [with Lovefool, another fave!], Damage, R Kelly, Shola Ama and Toni Braxton.

But holding on in there was this choon - a true dance classic that I really cannot believe is two decades old - DJ Quicksilver and Bellissima!

DJ Quicksilver - Bellissima

My, how we danced to that one...

Closer than you could ever imagine us

Timeslip moment again...

Today, our TARDIS has landed in this week in 1997, when none other than Miss Rosie Gaines (another one about whom we ask "whatever happened to her?") had crashed in the UK Top 5 with the magnificent Closer Than Close:

Rosie Gaines - Closer Than Close (Mentor remix)

One-hit-wonder she may have been, but what a hit!

Changed the world

This week in 1997 was a strange one, as the world began to wake up to the loss of Princess Diana. Her death had a particularly (and well-documented) moving effect on the people of Britain, and tributes in music - as well as those floral and political - were just about to flood the scene, with Elton John predominant to the end of the year.

But what was the musical state of play just before Royal funereal hysteria took hold? Were there any significant choons we have forgotten from that long, hot summer of 1997? How about these..?

The Course - Ain't Nobody

Todd Terry featuring Jocelyn Brown and Martha Wash - Something Goin' On

Gala - Freed From Desire

Chumbawamba - Tubthumping