Chart entered : 24 March 1990
Chart peak : 17
Number of hits :16
This was the Spiral Scratch of the nineties, a home-made record made in the duo's dad's converted office space under the stairs of their Sevenoaks home.
They were brothers Paul and Philip Hartnoll making records for the Greater London rave scene, the rough boundary of which was the M25 motorway as referenced by their name. This was their first single and Paul had to excuse himself from the pizza restaurant where he worked in order to appear on Top of the Pops ( a can't-be-arsed debacle which ensured they weren't invited back for six years ). If the appeal of Pacific and Loaded escaped me the success of this just baffles me. "Chime" is an instrumental track played on synthesisers with an acid house rhythm track and a top line melody that is so monumentally boring and repetitive it almost seems aggressive but then it wasn't composed with daytime radio play in mind. I suppose the real question is why would e-stoked ravers who danced to this in the clubs then buy it in sufficient numbers to secure a high chart placing ? Does taking a pill at home and listening to the same music on headphones achieve the same effect or is the record just a souvenir of a great time. Answers on a postcard please.
Perhaps a sign of what I consider "danceable" but the lack of a decent bass drum rhythm makes this seem almost slow to me, at least compared to your average Northern Soul number.
ReplyDeleteThe track itself could pass for a New Order b-side, if you threw on a Hooky bassline and some nonsense lyrics from Bernard Sumner.
That's why I struggle with this stuff, much of it sounds unfinished.
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