A very happy new year to all who follow this blog! So, where were we…? In the real world it’s 2024, while back here it’s the spring of 1995…
Dreamer, by Livin’ Joy (their 1st and only #1)
1 week, from 7th – 14th May 1995
We left things a few weeks ago having just welcomed Oasis to the top of the charts with ‘Some Might Say’, officially kicking off the Britpop age. Our next number one is the direct flip-side to that wall of guitar; the other, equally valid, sound of the nineties.
That is, the sound of a hitherto unknown Europop outfit appearing out of nowhere with a proper old-school dance banger. Having it large, mate! Nice one! Big fish, little fish, cardboard box… etc. etc. I may struggle to convince as a dance music fan, but I really do like songs like this. Songs with conviction. Dance music with the power of rock and roll. Hands to the sky, don’t ask why.
Livin’ Joy were a pair of Italian brothers, who took care of the production, and American singer Janice Robinson, who fronted the whole thing. As with all the best dance tracks – ‘Rhythm Is a Dancer’, ‘Let Me be Your Fantasy’ and the like – the vocals are made to be belted out between mouthfuls of dry ice. Probably the closest comparison to be drawn, though, is with Black Box’s ‘Ride on Time’ – not just because they were also Italian, but because Robinson is one of the few dance divas who can compete with Loleatta Holloway in the belting stakes.
And also because ‘Dreamer’ has quite a few retro house touches, especially as we end with the title line on a tight loop, as if the record has stuck, leaving us dancing to it for eternity. I drew a comparison to rock and roll a moment ago, and in all honesty dance music in the 1990s is what rock was in the 1950s… If you wanted to rock around the clock in 1995, you would do so to songs like ‘Dreamer’, with upbeat lyrics like Love, life, and laughter, Is all that I believe… None of that silly introspective nonsense. There’s also a good example of the ‘dance music as church’ phenomenon, in lines like My saviour is pure now, Because my lonely heart would bleed… They don’t mean much, if they mean anything at all, but they sound good in the moment. Euphoric, even.
I say that Livin’ Joy were ‘hitherto unknown’ before this, but in truth ‘Dreamer’ had made #18 – a not inconsiderable hit – just the year before. Its popularity kept growing, causing it to re-enter the lower reaches of the charts a couple of times, before a full re-release sent it walloping straight in at number one.
The band were good for another couple of Top 10 hits, but they did so without Janice Robinson, who left in 1996 to try a solo career. She has toured with Tina Turner and Lionel Richie, and written songs for a variety of different pop singers. Livin’ Joy meanwhile continued on with a different singer in Tameka Star. Wikipedia lists them as still active, but they haven’t released any new music since 1999.
The UK Number Ones Blog 
Happy New Year! 🙂
And to you too!
Happy New Year to you too! Our charts don’t seem to have improved much in the past 29 years, do they!
Thanks! (Sorry, this comment went to spam, for some reason…) The terrifying thing about your comment is how you claim 1995 was 29 years ago…! Some mistake, surely…
Nope! For once my maths were right. It really is frightening isn’t it 😊
I have never heard this before but, it charted, twice…in 1994 & 1995. It was #1 on the Billboard US Hot Dance Club chart for 1994 and made #10 on a chart I have never heard of…Maxi-Singles Sales in 1995. Plus, it got to #38 on the Top 40/Rhythm-Crossover chart (another one I have never heard of), #72 on the Hot 100 and #75 on Cash Box…1995. It made it across the pond but, I have never heard it.
Happy New Year, Stewart! I hope you had a great Christmas.
So many charts….! Yes, it charted twice in the UK too, and got to #1 after a re-release. Happy New Year to you too! : )
Happy new year to you too Stuart! I can’t honestly remember this one at all, so a listen will be in order, but it was not long after I more or less left the DJ business – apart from 60s summer seasons and occasional dos where someone else provided the equipment, so I was somewhat ‘out of it’ by then. At least I still have some of your early blogs that I’m still catching up on with great enjoyment.
Thanks, and to you too! I am not the biggest dance music fan, as I’m sure the blog has made you well aware, but I really like this one. The best dance songs have the ‘oomph’ of rock and roll, as I think this one does.
Thanks for taking a look at the earlier posts, when it felt like I was shouting into the void. It wasn’t until the early 60s that I started getting regular followers and comments. Interestingly, David Soul’s death has seen my views rocket for his two number ones, so it’s good to know that my old posts serve a purpose (even if I was pretty harsh on ‘Don’t Give Up on Us’…)
In a normal world this dance banger should have stayed at number one for a couple of weeks before being knocked off the top by Common People. Cue for the first instalment of the greatest chart travesty of all time
Yes, I think in my upcoming post I call this the biggest non-#1 travesty – far worse than Engelbert, or Joe Dolce. And then they went and did it again… (Though ‘Wonderwall’ doesn’t feel like the same level of injustice, given that Oasis had their fair share of chart-toppers. Pulp though… : (
great dance track, bung on in a club and get carried away with the beats and vocals! Happily I love great dance music (and quite a bit of cheesy dance music too) so I’m always happy to rave about ’em. So to speak. 🙂
It is good at what it’s purpose is… hope you have a good New Year!