THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

510-B.B.E.-Seven Days and One Week.

1996-Number 3 single.

Best Bit-At 6.02. Just when you thought all the dancing was done, and you could put your feet up, think again.

B.B.E. were formed in France in 1996 by the two Italian music producers Bruno Sanchioni. and Bruno Quartier, and the French music producer Emmanuel Top, the trio took their working name from the first initial of each of their first names, they would remain together until going their separate ways in 2003. As ‘B.B.E.’ they released one studio Album called ‘Games,’ in 1998, on the ‘Positiva Records’ label, and eight singles between 1996-2003, of which four of those tracks reached the UK top 40. The four hits were all tracks off of that debut Album, ‘Seven Days and One Week,’ (1996-UK-Number 3) ‘Flash,’ (1997-UK-Number 5) ‘Desire,’ (1997-UK-Number 19) and ‘Deeper Love (Symphonic Paradise’) (1998-UK-Number 19.) The four singles which all failed to chart, were issued as stand alone singles. The Album ‘Games,’ was experimental in the use of ‘Electronic Music,’ as the trio dabbled with ‘Trance,’ ‘Techno,’ ‘Ambient,’ and ‘Drum and Bass.’

‘Seven Days and One Week’ was the first of four singles released from ‘Games,’ the debut, and only studio Album from ‘B.B.E.’ from July 1998, the song was co-written by Bruno Sanchioni, and Bruno Quartier, with the production being by Emmanuel Top. ‘Seven Days and One Week’ proved to be very popular in Europe, where it reached the top 40 in 20 countries, making the top 10 in 13 countries, and reaching Number 1 in Spain. The much respected Dutch ‘Electronic Music’ producer Jeffrey Sutorius, of the ‘Trance,’ and ‘Progressive House’ group ‘Dash Berlin,’ has spoken in glowing terms about the track, ‘I remember when this track came out on Triangle Records. I believe it was around 1996. The production was really clean for that time and the saw tooth synth lead was really basic, but the record did really well on the dance floor. It has been remixed and re-released many times, but still nothing comes close to the original. There are a lot of Trance records from that time that sampled that typical reversed crash cymbal, but I believe BBE were the first to do it.’

‘Seven Days and One Week’ is a ‘Trance’ music song, but can also be filed under ‘Dream Trance.’ ‘Dream Trance’ is an early sub-genre of ‘Trance Music’ that peaked prominently on the international dance scene between 1995 and 1998. The key element of ‘Dream Trance’ resides in catchy and deep melodies of such tracks, typically played on an acoustic instrument, such as a piano, violin, or saxophone, etc, that are mastered and then sampled onto an electronic beat structure. The melodies are considered ‘dreamy,’ i.e. tending to alter the listener’s mind, hence the name. The creation of ‘Dream Trance’ was a response to social pressures in Italy during the early 1990’s. The growth of rave culture among young adults, and the ensuing popularity of nightclub attendance, had created a weekly trend of deaths due to car accidents as clubbers drove across the country overnight, falling asleep at the wheel from strenuous dancing as well as alcohol and drug use. In mid-1996, deaths due to this phenomenon, called ‘strage del sabato sera,’ (‘Saturday night slaughter’) in Italy, were being estimated at 2000 since the start of the 1990’s. The track ‘Children,’ (1995-UK Number 2 single ) by the Italian music producer Robert Miles, (1969-2017) which was influenced by the Gianni Parrini Album, ‘I Love the Dream Project,’ is one of the pioneering tracks of the genre, and was created due to these accidents. The move by DJ’s such as Robert Miles to play slower, calming music to conclude a night’s set, as a means to counteract the fast-paced, repetitive tracks that preceded, was met with approval by authorities, and parents of car crash victims.

‘Seven Days and One Week’ was produced by Emmanuel Top, who was born on October 25th, 1971, in Tourcoing, Lille, France, in the 1990’s he set up his own record label called ‘Attack Records,’ (not to be confused with the Reggae record label of the same name.) Away from ‘B.B.E.’ Emmanuel Top has released 23 Albums between 1994-2014, many on his own record label. One of this songs writers Bruno Sanchioni, also co-wrote the song ‘The Age of Love,’ in 1990, which is notable as an early popular example of ‘Trance Music,’ the track has been covered on numerous occasions over the decades, originally by Bruno Sanchioni, and others, as ‘Age of Love.’ The track was taken to even greater popularity when remixed in 1992 by the German Electronic duo ‘Jam & Spoon.’ In 1997 ‘The Age of Love,’ with the ‘The Age of Love’ -The Remixes, charted on the UK top 40 at Number 17.