Week commencing 20 February 1989

We're only into the fourth top 150 chart, and this week we have two returning acts already.  Who was 'lucky' enough to score back-to-back top 150 'hits' in the opening months of 1989?  Read on to find out!

Blondie's Deborah Harry: Once more into the lower region of the top 150.

Top 150 debuts:

Number 137 "Cyclone Season" by Graeme Connors

Peak: number 135

Peak date: 6 March 1989

Weeks in top 150: 5 weeks

Another track from his North album, this gave Connors his second single peaking within the 101-150 region of the Australian singles chart in early 1989.  I recapped the first one in the very first chart recap I posted.

Number 138 "Jack to the Sound of the Underground" by Hithouse

Peak: number 129

Peak date: 13 March 1989

Weeks in top 150: 6 weeks 

Weeks on chart: 12 weeks

With a small number of exceptions, the Australian charts generally weren't ready for this kind of music yet, hence the low peak for one of the more notable acid house tracks from the time.  Of note is that the song samples Kelly Charles' "You're No Good for Me" from 1987, which was also prominently sampled on The Prodigy's "No Good (Start the Dance)" in 1994.  On the state charts, "Jack to the Sound of the Underground" performed strongest in Victoria/Tasmania, where it reached number 80.

Peter Slaghuis, the man behind Hithouse, died in 1991 when his car, traveling at 220km/hour crashed into an oncoming truck.  Hithouse will score another top 150 'hit' in 1990.

Number 139 "Lost Soul" by Ordinary Mortals

Peak: number 139

Peak date: 20 February 1989

Weeks in top 150: 2 weeks

Ordinary Mortals were an Australian band, and "Lost Soul" was their 'sole' top 150 entry.  However, this is quite a reasonable feat, as, according to band member John Gordon whom I contacted, "Lost Soul" was only distributed in the Brisbane area!  He was surprised that the single registered a place on the national chart.  John also managed to track down a copy of the music video, which I have embedded below.

Number 140 "Don't Worry Baby" by The Everly Brothers with The Beach Boys

Peak: number 114

Peak date: 10 April 1989

Weeks in top 150: 10 weeks

Due to the way they have been entered onto the ARIA database, this, along with the plain ole Everly Brothers without The Beach Boys version of the track, charted simultaneously for a few weeks, as the same title, so it is technically impossible to know which is which, and which one peaked higher.  Given the higher profile of the duet version, I am going to assume that it was this which had the higher peak of the two.

Number 148 "Denis (The '88 Remix)" by Blondie

Peak: number 139

Peak date: 6 March 1989

Weeks in top 150: 3 weeks 

Weeks on chart: 6 weeks

Recently enjoying top 150 'success' with "Liar, Liar", which I recapped in my second top 150 chart post, Debs was back already, but with her old pals in Blondie, in this remixed version of their number 12 hit from 1978, from the Once More into the Bleach remix album.  One thing I didn't know, until now, was that this version was remixed by Danny D of D Mob.  I've had to resort to uploading the video below, as it is blocked on YouTube.  On the state charts, the 1988 remix of "Denis" performed much stronger in South Australia/Northern Territory than anywhere else, where it reached number 64 (it missed the top 100 on the other state charts).

 

 

Bubbling WAY down under:

Number 154 "After the War" by Gary Moore

Peak: number 151

Peak date: 27 March 1989

Weeks on chart: 2 weeks

 

Northern Irish guitar maestro Gary Moore had placed five singles on the Australian top 100 chart at this point, although only one of those, a cover version of The Easybeats' "Friday on My Mind" (number 25, September 1987) had troubled the top 40.

 

"After the War" was the lead single and title track from Gary's seventh studio album After the War (number 62, March 1989).  The single peaked at number 37 in the UK in January 1989, number 14 in Ireland, number 12 in Sweden in January 1989, number 4 in Norway, number 17 in Switzerland in March 1989, and number 36 in New Zealand in March 1989.

 

On the ARIA state charts, "After the War" performed strongest in Western Australia, where it reached number 87.

I hadn't heard "After the War" until writing this post, and enjoyed it.

Gary will join us next in April 1989.

Number 156 "All I Ask of You" by Barbra Streisand

Peak: number 156

Peak date: 20 February 1989

Weeks on chart: 3 weeks

 

At this point in time, Barbra Streisand had placed 15 singles on the Australian top 100, with "Woman in Love" (number 1, November 1980) being her biggest hit down under.

 

"All I Ask of You", a song from the Andrew Lloyd-Webber musical The Phantom of the Opera, was recorded by Cliff Richard and Sarah Brightman in 1986, peaking at number 24 in Australia in March 1987.  Their version would bubble under again later in 1989.

Barbra's version of "All I Ask of You" was issued as the second single from her Till I Loved You (number 21, January 1989) album, following the title track, which reached number 34 in January 1989.

 

Internationally, "All I Ask of You" peaked at number 77 in the UK in February 1989, and number 56 in the Netherlands during the same month.

On the ARIA state charts, "All I Ask of You" performed strongest in Western Australia, where it reached number 95.

 

We will see Barbra next in November 1989.

Next week (27 February):   Another five new entries, including a return act, plus three other singles that were bubbling WAY down under.

< Previous Post: 13 February 1989                                     Next Post: 27 February 1989 >