We’ve not been short of dance hits in recent months, although their frequency hasn’t been as rapid fire as it was back in the early-to-mid nineties. And the dance hits of 1996-97 have tended to be of the chunky, Big-Beat variety. But this next number one is very different from the likes of the Prodigy, and the Chemical Brothers…
You’re Not Alone, by Olive (their 1st and only #1)
2 weeks, from 11th – 25th May 1997
It’s a step back towards a lighter, House sound, with a female singer leading the cavalry. But it’s also a step forward, because it’s taking those sounds and adding a few more modern touches. Personally, I often dread writing entries on dance chart-toppers – not because I inherently dislike dance music; more because it’s out of my comfort zone. I’ve just about got my head around big beat and trance, and now I’m being told that ‘You’re Not Alone’ is at turns breakbeat, ambient, and trip-hop.
Basically, I am trying to write and learn as I go. Apologies if any dance music experts stumble across this blog, and it causes them to snap their glo-sticks in anger. Anyway, ‘ambient’ I get – it’s a very atmospheric track: melancholy, haunting even. And trip-hop I get too, thanks to the drum beat. ‘Breakbeat’ I’m happy to go along with, because it sounds fun.
And I do like this record. My favourite part is the trippy keyboard riff, which sounds so much like a passage from a classical composition that I was convinced it must be. It takes great skill to write a chord sequence that sounds so timeless. I remember this record from the time, watching it on TOTP, thinking it sounded very grown-up, not quite getting it. I still don’t quite get it, thirty years on, because this isn’t really in my wheelhouse. But it’s well-made, and diverting enough, to make it a worthy chart-topper. One that enhances further the quality of 1997, so far.
What I will say is that, for all the atmospherics, the track does hold back a little. I’m waiting for the drop, for a full-on, banging, trance finish that never comes. It remains slinky and strange until the end. But, as I’ve just proven, I know nothing about dance music. If I had my way behind a set of decks everything would end up sounding like 2 Unlimited (and, let’s be honest, that would actually be amazing).
Olive were a London-based three piece, formed in 1994. ‘You’re Not Alone’ had been a minor hit the year before, and this chart-topping version was a remix (though you’d be hard-pressed to notice much difference between the two versions.) I believe the video below to be the one that made #1. It was their only Top 10 hit – the follow-up made #14 – and they split in 2003.
The UK Number Ones Blog 
Oh cool, a song that lasts more than two weeks at the top. That’s an achievement that’s become much rarer in the mid-90s. I had a low tolerance for 90s Eurodance – but this whole Breakbeat stuff is actually pretty decent. I like this a lot. Chorus is very catchy and the female singer is doing a competent job with the vocals. It has a little bit of disco influence in there too which I like along with the lush ambient elements. It also charted in the US at #56 which I was a little surprised that it even charted there.
This is a great dance track, still sounds cool and throbbing and yes a bit ambient. I also don’t always get the subtleties of 90’s onwards dance genre labels, I just know if I like it or not, and this one is a definite yes. Laid-back but still exciting, great synths chords and vocals. Still sounds modern to me.
Will they ever end?
Hahahahaha……. No.