Following on from the sweaty, pounding ‘Theme from S-Express’ comes the jaunty, acoustic ‘Perfect’. One of the biggest style switches between consecutive chart-toppers?
Perfect, by Fairground Attraction (their 1st and only #1)
1 week, from 8th – 15th May 1988
I’ve always liked ‘Perfect’, long before I knew it had been a number one hit. It’s the sort of song that plays in the background, throughout your life: the sort of song you think you’ve heard even when you haven’t. A little rockabilly ditty, with a cutesy hook: It’s got to be-e-e-e-e-e-e, Perfect…
But, like I said, I knew the song long before I knew it had made #1. And I’m thinking there must have been some sort of story behind ‘Perfect’ making top spot, because it’s just not the sort of song that should have been making #1 in 1988. Was there a movie? An advert? A climactic scene in ‘Brookside’…? Seems not. It wasn’t even basking in the glow of a big preceding hit, as it was Fairground Attraction’s debut single.
To be fair, it’s not as if rock music didn’t exist in the 1980s, it was just largely absent from the top end of the charts. Maybe ‘Perfect’ was at the sweet spot between ‘80s indie (Smiths, Housemartins) and ‘80s rockabilly (the solo here features twanging guitars last heard in a Shakin’ Stevens hit, and might just be my favourite bit of the song), which gathered it enough steam to sneak a week on top. And hey, let’s not quibble! Guitars are back on top for a week! Having glanced ahead at the #1s to come… we’ll take what we can!
My second favourite part of the song is Eddi Reader’s vocal performance. Crisp and clear, playful on the verses, near soaring on the chorus, Reader had been a busker and a session vocalist before finding fame with Fairground Attraction. Their success didn’t last long, as the group split while recording their second album, but Reader has gone on to have a lasting folk career, re-recording ‘Perfect’ in Irish and interpreting the songs of Robert Burns among many other things.
To finish… Here’s where I’m going to get a bit picky. As nice as this record is – and ‘nice’ is an apt adjective – I do wish that our first rock (with a small ‘r’) #1 in a while had a bit more substance to it. A bit more beef. But it is what it is. We take what rock we can get and we move on…
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It’s a shame they didn’t prove more durable, but I did like Eddi’s voice and I’m glad she went on to have a decent career afterwards. And there was indeed something refreshingly normal, down-to-earth about this record.
This is rockabilly. I was suddenly reminded of Brian Setzer of Stray Cats.
I like this one! Nice song, wonderful melody, nice music, cool vocals, and I like their name. I with you…how the hell did this sneak through the synth doors of the 80s? How did pure music get to the top?
I like their name also… I never heard it but it’s good.
I guess it’s like I said in the post, guitar music still existed in the late 80s… It just wasn’t the dominant style as it was in the 60s and early 70s. Only looking at #1s does kind of skew the picture a bit. Glad you liked it though!
Yes I liked this one… they were down in the charts…that is what it was. Now in the 90s they did come back for a while.
Its very singalong and very chirpy chirpy but i never loved it as such though I did like it enough to rate it top 10. Its fun but i got bored with it quite quickly and much preferred the follow up Find My Love. The early 80s were much more vital for retro Rockabilly hits this was a bit too MOR for me. Now Texas, there was a contemporary band that rocked with soul and had 20 years of non chart topping fabness…❤
Ooh good comparison with Texas, there. Their first hit was just a year or so after this, right?
Yes 89, I Dont Need A Lover slide guitar Scottish Americana and all. Sharleen is one of the great unsung vocalists. Seen her in concert and flawless singer and boundlessly energetic frontsperson. One of my top 5 90s acts no question 🙂
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