Retrospect - "Brimful Of Asha" by Cornershop

In early 1998, not long after Oasis topped the charts with "All Around The World" and and Usher did likewise with "You Make Me Wanna", British indie band Cornershop struck big with a remixed version of their previous single "Brimful Of Asha", a lyrical homage to icons of Indian cinema.

Cornershop was formed in 1991, led by singer/guitarist Tjinder Singh.  The band was put together in Leicester while Wolverhampton-born Singh worked as a barman for a music venue.  Over the next few years they would gain a following in the alternative scene, touring with the likes of Oasis, Beck and Stereolab.  1997 saw them record their third album "When I was Born For The 7th Time", on which "Brimful Of Asha" appeared.

For the longest time I believed that the meaning of the title meant 'a whole lot of music'.  In my research I stood corrected, upon discovering that 'Asha' referred to Asha Bhosle, a singer renowned for her recording of songs that would be used for actors to mime over in films.  The term known as playback singing would provide Bhosle over a thousand credits within the Bollywood universe, as well as many, many more vocal recordings, eventually leading to acknowledgment from the Guinness Book of Records in 2011 as the most recorded artist in the world.

The track had been released the year before but only peaked at No 60.  Combining an easy listening sound along with the band's trademark Asian influence, it was background music at best and purely bland at worst.  Nothing about the song stood out, despite the name dropping and recurring '45' featured.  Things changed when Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim got hands on the tune, thus speeding up the tempo, adding his signature sound effects and even slightly increasing it's musical key signature - or in layman's terms, the overall pitch.  Before long it was all over the radio;  every day, everywhere.  The tune went to No.1 in February '98 and was Cook's first chart-topper since "Dubs Be Good To Me" with his Beats International project in the early 90s.

The CD single featured two versions of Cook's remix - a radio edit and seven-minute extended track - along with the original, more laid back mix.  It's packaging was an accessible 'digipack' sleeve where the cover simply folded over to retrieve the disc.  An accompanying music video started to make airplay on MTV before it's re-release.  It toggled between a teenage girl playing through her collection of 7" singles ('45!') on a turntable, while semi-animated images of the band performing appeared on the different record sleeves.  It was a confident statement from the group, as if to announce they had arrived;  that they were ones to watch.

The band are still active today, albeit having had a few personnel changes through through the decades.  Their follow-up to "..Asha" was the irresistibly grooving "Sleep On The Left Side", a tune which gained modest success charting at No 23 but would become better known for it's wrap-arounds during talking segments in between tracks played on BBC Radio 1 programming.  Their late-90s moment of fame has yet to be duplicated but the song lives on via frequent radio play.

https://youtu.be/5LBnMRWeV-E