It's me again yes - how did you guess?

Continuing my trip back through the 1990 album charts.

23/09/90 : Boomania - Betty Boo

I have fond memories of "Doin' The Do", but I suspect a whole album of Ms Boo will probably be a tad too much and I'm also expecting it to sound pretty dated.  I remember almost buying it a few times, but never did in the end (5/15).

Hmmm, it was pretty dated/nostalgic (delete as appropriate) and it's not exactly the best album ever (although "Doin' The Do" is still a fine slice of fromage).  However, I did find it surprisingly enjoyable and didn't get bored of the album - there's actually more variety there than I was expecting (although I decided I didn't need the 2016 bonus CD featuring an hour of 12" remixes).  It's interesting to compare this with INXS's offering because whilst they were striving to make a "great" album but not really getting anywhere, you feel that Betty was having fun and making sounds she thought people might like - which a lot of people did, so fair play to her!

We're at #4 in the charts this week on her second week of a 24 week run, with this being as high as it got.  The rest of the top five were The Three Tenors, George Michael, Deacon Blue (a bizarre compilation album that nearly got listened to, but feels too much like cashing in to warrant inclusion) and The Waterboys (a new entry which I've never heard and feel I should have).  And we have one more new entry in the top ten - The Cocteau Twins' "Heaven Or Las Vegas" (#7) which features some gorgeous sounds, but I do find a whole album of The Cocteaus to be a bit too much.

Wikipedia has remarkably little on the album, except for the shocking fact that the record label re-released it in '99 with the tracks in a slightly different order and a couple of remixes added in and called it "Doin' The Do - The Best Of Betty Boo".  Which is flippin' cheeky!  She was very much a UK thing, but did manage to get to #25 in New Zealand and #68 in Australia.  Her entry reminds us she's better known as Alison Clarkson the songwriter these days but, in a move I'm sure no-one was crying out for, she did put an album out last year.

"Customers also listened to" Billy Piper, Sir Mix A Lot, The Shamen and Gina G - go on, admit it, you weren't expecting The Shamen to be in there were you?!?  I was expecting to find this very grating, but actually found it surprisingly nostalgic - I still find it weird that 1990 was 33 years ago now.  Let me be clear though, it's not a great album - but not everything has to be great all the time now, does it?

16/09/90 - A surprisingly successful album
30/09/90 - Just doesn't go anywhere

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