Writing on the Wall

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Writing on the Wall
Studio album by Bucks Fizz
Released	November, 1986
Genre	Pop
Label	Polydor
Bucks Fizz chronology
I Hear Talk (1984) Writing on the Wall (1986)

Writing on the Wall is an album by pop group Bucks Fizz.

Contents 1 Overview 2 Track Listing 2.1 ORIGINAL ALBUM 2.2 RE-ISSUE (2004) 3 Personnel 4 Reception and Reviews 5 Chart Performance 6 References

[edit] Overview

"Writing On The Wall" was a significant album in the Bucks Fizz catalogue for many reasons. Apart from being their final studio album, it was the first album to feature newly recruited member Shelley Preston, who had replaced Jay Aston a year before. ^[1]

It was also their first album on a different record label - Polydor, after their 5-year contract with RCA had finished. Despite this, the album contained three of its ten songs from the RCA days. These being the first two singles "You And Your Heart So Blue" and "Magical" along with a remix of "I Hear Talk" which was featured on their 1984 album of the same name, but included here as it had since become a big hit in the clubs, as well as a club hit in the US.

The biggest selling point of the album was the top ten comeback hit "New Beginning (Mamba Seyra)", released in the Summer of 1986. The song become their first hit for a while and received some of their biggest critical acclaim.

The group elected to release a cover version as the follow-up - a reworking of Stephen Stills' "Love The One You're With". The song stalled in the top 50 and the next single -"Keep Each Other Warm" also failed to sell well.^[2]

The album came rather late in the day to cash in on the success of "New Beginning" and despite positive reviews, ^[3]didn't make a great impression on the charts. A planned early 1987 single release of "Love In A World Gone Mad" was therefore shelved.

Following this, the group took a break in 1987 and returned in 1988 to release their final single "Heart of Stone" (now back with RCA) and a compilation; "The Story So Far".

[edit] Track Listing

[edit] ORIGINAL ALBUM

Side One

• New Beginning (Mamba Seyra)
• You And Your Heart So Blue
• Soul Motion
• Magical
• Keep Each other Warm

Side Two

• Love The One You're With
• Love In A World Gone Mad
• Don't Turn Back
• The Company You Keep
• I Hear Talk (Extended Mix)

The original cassette version of the album also contained the song "Give A Little Love"

[edit] RE-ISSUE (2004)

(The track listing differed considerably from the original)

1. New Beginning (Mamba Seyra) (Original version)
2. Soul Motion
3. Love The One You're With (Dance Edit)
4. Keep Each Other Warm (7" Version)
5. Love In A World Gone Mad (New Version 7")
6. Don't Turn Back
7. The Company You Keep
8. Give A Little Love
9. In Your Eyes
10. Too Hard
11. I Need Your Love
12. New Beginning (Mamba Seyra) (Ian Levine Club Mix)
13. I Hear Talk (1986 Remix)
14. Love In A World Gone Mad (New Extended Mix)
15. New Beginning (Mamba Seyra) (Ian Levine Dub Mix)

[edit] Personnel

Bobby G - lead vocals on "You and Your Heart so Blue", "Soul Motion", "Magical", "Keep Each Other Warm", "Love The One You're With", "Don't Turn Back", "I Hear Talk", "Too Hard", "I Need Your Love"

Cheryl Baker - lead vocals on "Give A Little Love", shared on "Love In A World Gone Mad" and "In Your Eyes"

Mike Nolan - lead vocals on "The Company You Keep"

Shelley Preston - shared lead vocal on "Love In A World Gone Mad" and "In Your Eyes"

Producers:

Andy Hill, Bobby G, David Motion

[edit] Reception and Reviews

"Writing On The Wall" received some of the group's best reviews.
Smash Hits awarded the album an 8 out of 10 rating and singled out tracks "New Beginning", "You and your Heart so Blue" and "I Hear Talk" as being particularly strong.
No.1 magazine were impressed by the adult rock sound of many of the tracks, but feared that the album wouldn't stand up to repeated listenings. Nevertheless, they gave the album a 4 out of 5 rating.
The newly established Q Magazine rated the album 3 out of 5 and favoured the tracks "Keep Each Other Warm" and "The Company You Keep".
In their year-end polls, No.1 magazine rated Bucks Fizz as the thirteenth best act of 1986, while the single "New Beginning" was placed fifteenth in the the best songs of the year.
The single "New Beginning" became a much played song on radio during 1986 and elicited many positive comments from DJs, while the song remains a firm fan favourite - repeatedly being placed as their best ever song.^[4]

[edit] Chart Performance

^[5]

Release date	Single title	UK Chart position
December 1984	I Hear Talk (single version)	34
June 1985	You and Your Heart so Blue	43
September 1985	Magical	57
May 1986	New Beginning (Mamba Seyra)	8
August 1986	Love the One You're With	47
November 1986	Keep Each Other Warm	45

Release date	Album title	UK Chart position
November 1986	Writing On The Wall	89
November 2004	Writing On The Wall (CD re-release)	-

[edit] References