Chart Review 23rd May 2005 with DJ Chris Plant (3/3)

(1/3), (2/3), (3/3).

Just missing out on the Top 10 at Number 11 is a man whose voice may well be familiar even if his name isn't. Rob Thomas began his musical career as the lead singer of rock band Matchbox 20 whose chart career in this country is less than stellar. Indeed it is one of life's great mysteries as to why the acknowledged classic Push was never more than a minor (Number 38) hit in this country and indeed to this day despite several other releases it remains their one and only Top 40 hit in this country.

His greatest international fame of course came thanks to his guest turn on Santana's Smooth for which he supplied lead vocals and which helped the song to become a worldwide smash hit, even if it had to have two bites at the cherry over here, finally reaching Number 3 upon its second release in April 2000.

Now Thomas makes the chart as a solo artist for the first time, albeit with a track that appears to be trying to push him in a totally different musical direction, the production of Lonely No More stirring in enough latino elements to make it sound more like an Enrique Iglesias off cut than a worthy solo release. Rob Thomas' great selling point is his voice of course which he can use to turn even the most average sounding ballad into a tear-jerker. Hopefully there are more of those on his forthcoming album, for the moment the single is actually a bit of a disappointment.

Electronics wizard Mylo continues to make commercial strides as his third single becomes his biggest to date, In My Arms hitting Number 13 as the follow-up to the rather harder edged Destroy Rock And Roll. Easily one of the standout tracks from the album, In My Arms cutely samples not only Kim Carnes' Bette Davis Eyes but also spookily Boy Meets Girl's Waiting For A Star To Fall which has of course been the subject of no less than two Top 10 singles already this year. Needless to say the Mylo single has rather more artistic merit than anything Cabin Crew or Sunset Strippers managed to excrete.

So to Number 18 and the wonder that is the Eurovision Song Contest, the annual television jamboree that sees almost 40 countries across the continent link up for a competition to see which nation has performed the best pop song on the night.

The UK may claim that we don't take it quite as seriously as some countries appear to do but nonetheless there is the issue of national pride at stake - we want our songs to win at all costs, dammit. This year I actually sat through the whole thing for the first time in ages, owing to the fact that Kyiv is the birthplace of Mrs Masterton and the fact that she discovered she was at university with the female presenter who kept shouting at us. I was thus one of the millions who witnessed UK entry Javine come perilously close to repeating the Nil Points fiasco of two years ago, ultimately coming third from bottom in one of our worst showings ever.

This doesn't of course bode well for the chart prospects of Touch My Fire which slips neatly into the Top 20 in an attempt to cash in on the contest. Ordinarily Eurovision entries can at least expect a small chart flip as a result of the television broadcast (which came too late to have an effect on the chart this week) but despite her best efforts, Javine's performance was poor compared to many others and the likelihood of the single rising to give her a second Top 10 single to follow Real Things from 2003 is slim.

She doesn't even have the satisfaction of beating last years UK entry Hold On To Our Love by James Fox which made Number 13. Heck, even Jemini's Cry Baby made Number 15 in 2003 despite coming last in the contest overall.

It has actually been some considerable time since Eurovision spawned a major chart hit. The UK entry hasn't produced a Top 10 hit since Precious' Say It Again hit which reached Number 6 in 1999 (the group featuring a certain Jenny Frost among their number who would later join Atomic Kitten and top the charts several times) and the last time any Eurovision song topped the charts was Gina G's Ooh Ah Just A Little Bit in 1996. The song didn't win the contest but did at least come from an era when the UK actually stood a fighting chance.

There is a return for a genuine chart legend at Number 19 as Stevie Wonder clocks up his first solo hit for quite some time. His last Top 40 appearance came at Christmas 2003 when he teamed up with Blue on a remake of Signed Sealed Delivered I'm Yours which made Number 11. Although he had a Top 10 hit back in 1997 when teaming up with Babyface on the memorable How Come How Long, his last solo Top 40 hit of any kind was just over ten years ago, For Your Love hitting Number 23 in February 1995.

The new single isn't going to spark off a Stevie Wonder revival just yet (although how nice would that be) but it is nice all the same to see a genuine legend back in the upper reaches of the UK charts. Stevie Wonder is now pushing for his 40th anniversary of chart hits, his first single being Uptight (Everything's Alright) which was a Number 14 hit in early 1966.

To round off the Top 20 this week there is a welcome new entry for New Order, the follow-up to Krafty which hit Number 8 back in March. New single Jetstream was always one of the standout tracks from their current album thanks to a guest turn from the Scissor Sisters' Ana Matronic. Times must be changing, Englandneworder aside, this is the first time a New Order single has featured a guest star. The Singles Chart by DJ Chris Plant (International DJ)

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