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The M&E Newsletter - Fall 1997 (1997) 1 The Conspiracy – “Poison Crawl” (391) 2 Oberon – “Oberon” (396) 3 Anima Mundi – “En Directo” (379) 4 The Witches – “Welcome All To The Solstice Sabbath” (347) 5 Dark Star – “Arrival Of The Masters Of Confusion” (398)
The M&E Newsletter - New Year 1998 (January) 1 Mugwump – “In Between Worlds” (416) 2 The Rabbit’s Hat – “Error 5” (408) 3 Endymion – “Endymion” (415) 4 The Conspiracy – “Poison Crawl” (391) 5 Jaws Of The Flying Carpet – “Live At The Whipping Post” (402)
Mugwump (right) came to us via Dave Burton Management in Perry Barr, Birmingham, a Joy Division inspired guitar lead rock band with a slightly Doorsy gothic edge, mostly down to a singer with more than a passing similarity to Jim Morrison. This would be the last ever fixed period chart, e.g. based on sales between one issue and the next only, thus Mugwump get the honour of being the last no.1 under the system that had served us since we started the chart in the Summer of 1992... M&E Newsletter – Summer 1998 (July) 1 The Conspiracy – “Poison Crawl” (391) 2 This Elegant Chaos – “The Virtue Circle” (432) 3 The Now – “The Now” (431) 4 Mugwump – “In Between Worlds” (416)` 5 Endymion – “Endymion” (415)
The
new chart was based on a whole year of sales, which I felt would better
reflect an album's overall popularity. For example, I can remember one
occasion when an album sold enough copies to make the best sellers of the
year chart, even though it hadn't appeared in any of the
year's fixed period charts, just missing out each time. This chart is the
one for Rise '98, based on sales from 1st May 97 to 30th April 98).
Unsurprisingly, this meant some of the biggest sellers from the previous
year leapt back in to the charts again, now permanently expanded to a Top
50, The Conspiracy repeating their stint at top spot. As we've already
covered that album and This Elegant Chaos will get their 15 minutes on the
next chart, let's have a brief look at my New Year '98 Release Of The Season
in third place, The Now. The band was the brainchild of Neil Lawrence,
hailing from Harrow, Middlesex. There was almost a 60's garage feel to their
music, lovely chugaramic psycherock with a
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Unpublished - Fall 1998 (September) 1 This Elegant Chaos – “The Virtue Circle” (432) 2 Gurus Of The New Millennium – “Gurus Of The New Millennium” (444) 3 Endymion – “Endymion” (415) 4 Steve Andrews – “Dive In Deep” (296) 5 The Now – “The Now” (431)
The M&E Newsletter - New Year 1999 (January) 1 Judge Trev & Nik Turner – “Judgement And Thunder” (440) 2 This Elegant Chaos – “The Virtue Circle” (432) 3 Gurus Of The New Millennium – “Gurus Of The New Millennium” (444) 4 Steve Andrews – “Dive In Deep” (296) 5 Pseudo Sun – “Aliens Only” (443)
Unpublished - Rise 1999 (May) 1 Judge Trev & Nik Turner – “Judgement And Thunder” (440) 2 Gurus Of The New Millennium – “Gurus Of The New Millennium” (444) 3 Steve Andrews – “Dive In Deep” (296) 4 Pseudo Sun – “Aliens Only” (443) 5 The Witches – “Welcome All To The Solstice Sabbath” (347)
Another issue that didn't happen, tut tut, so these charts, for year ending 30th April '99, are assembled from the 'previous chart placings' in the Fall 1999 issue. The Gurus have their moment to come, you know the others, so let's have a brief look at Pseudo Sun (right - the cover of the later M&E Special Edition of "Aliens Only"). This was the brainchild of former Darxtar bassist, Juba Nurmenniemi. Though Finnish, he lived in Sweden and that's where the rest of this fine spacerock outfit hailed from. "Aliens Only" was a retrospective of the band's work, from 1984 to present, to serve as an introduction to M&E supporters. We also released an album of Juba's other project, Captain's Log. |
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This
'straight in at no.1' thing was losing its novelty value fast, as The
Conspiracy's (left) "Poison Crawl" became the third album on the trot to do it.
That's not to detract from a decent album, of course, just that I was
starting to think we needed a serious look at how our charts were put
together. This was also our 10th anniversary year, marked by the year's top
seller, the 2 x C90 compilation set that was the original "Decadion" (M&E
400). Rumours that this photo was of me about to attack Duncan with a big
knife for pestering me with too many letters were purely scurrilous...
included
a great collection of projects that he and Nik (left) had worked on
together, featuring tracks from Atomgods, Imperial Pompadours and, of
course, ICU. Trev said Nik probably knew nothing about the tape, but would
be perfectly cool with it. When I mentioned it to Nik in passing some years
later, Trev turned out to be right on both counts. Having hit no.1 in
January 1999, it comfortably saw out the millennium, sitting there on the
top spot for two years, until finally being dethroned on our very last
published chart in January 2001. Sadly, Judge Trev passed away from cancer
in December 2010, he remains a great hero to the underground. Nik Turner,
the Mighty Thunder Rider, now in his 70's, is still a regular on the live
circuit with Space Gypsy. May he live forever...