20 Disco Greats / 20 Love Songs

20 Disco Greats

Cover to 20 Disco Greats
Studio album by Brotherhood of Man
Released November 1981
Genre Pop, MOR
Label Warwick Records
Producer

Tony Hiller

20 Love Songs
Brotherhood of Man chronology
Sing 20 Number One Hits
(1980)
20 Disco Greats / 20 Love Songs
(1981)
Lightning Flash
(1983)

20 Disco Greats / 20 Love Songs is a double album released by British pop group Brotherhood of Man which was released as two separate albums, but sold together as a 'buy one get one free' package, as was the popular trend at the time.

Contents

Background

This album was a collection of cover versions, following on from their successful Sing 20 Number One Hits album released a year earlier. The songs contained were cover versions of hit songs from the UK charts spanning the years 1972 to 1981.[1][2] The album was released by Warwick Records in November 1981, but failed to replicate the success of the previous one, thus ending their contract with the label.

The album contained no single releases. The label on the 20 Disco Greats record gives the title as Dance Yourself Dizzy, while the label on 20 Love Songs gives the title as In Love.[3] Although listed separately, the songs "Copacabana" and "I'll Go Where Your Music Takes Me" merge into each other, and have been listed as one track on subsequent compilation releases. The song "She's out of My Life" is listed as such, but is sung (by member Sandra Stevens) as "He's out of My Life". A noticeable trend on the album was the tendency to reverse the sex of the original performer. Where songs had been originally performed by males, they were performed here by the female members, such as Rod Stewart's "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy" sung by Sandra and Nicky and Baccara's "Yes Sir I Can Boogie" by Martin and Lee.

Of the covers contained, the earliest was Harry Nilsson's version of "Without You", which was a No.1 hit in March 1972, while the most recent was Stevie Wonder's "Happy Birthday", which had reached No.2 in August 1981.[1][2] Of the 40 tracks, 13 had been UK No.1s, while all the rest were UK top 20 hits apart from "Copacabana" and "I'll Go Where Your Music Takes Me", which reached No.42 and No.27 respectively.[4] The album contained three songs by The Bee Gees, as well as Barbra Streisand's "Woman in Love", which was written by them. ABBA - a group Brotherhood of Man had been many times during their career, were included with a cover of their song "Lay All Your Love On Me", which at the time was the group's most recent (although one of their less significant) hits.

The album was released on Vinyl and Cassette, and although has never been released on Compact Disc, many of the tracks have appeared on various compilation CDs of the group in recent years. The cover photos were taken at Tokyo Joe's night club (now Pangaea) in Mayfair, London.[5]

Track listing

20 Disco Greats

Side One
No. Title Writer(s) Original Artist, Year Length
1. "Dance Yourself Dizzy"   Adrian Baker / Eddie Seago Liquid Gold, 1980  
2. "Use It Up and Wear It Out"   Sandy Linzer / L. Russel Brown Odyssey, 1980  
3. "Blame It on the Boogie"   Mick Jackson / David Jackson / Elmar Krohn The Jacksons, 1978  
4. "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy"   Rod Stewart / Carmine Appice Rod Stewart, 1978  
5. "Copacabana (At the Copa)"   Jack Feldman / Barry Manilow / Bruce Sussman Barry Manilow, 1978  
6. "I'll Go Where Your Music Takes Me"   Biddu Tina Charles, 1978  
7. "Feels Like I'm in Love"   Peter Yellowstone Kelly Marie, 1980  
8. "Stayin' Alive"   Barry Gibb / Maurice Gibb / Robin Gibb The Bee Gees, 1977  
9. "Singin' in the Rain"   Arthur Freed / Nacio Herb Brown Based on version by Sheila B. Devotion, 1978  
10. "Y.M.C.A."   Henri Belolo / Jacques Morali / Victor Willis The Village People, 1978  
Side Two
No. Title Writer(s) Original Artist, Year Length
1. "D.I.S.C.O."   Daniel Vangarde / Jean Kluger Ottawan, 1980  
2. "Lay All Your Love on Me"   Benny Andersson / Bjorn Ulvaeus ABBA, 1981  
3. "Night Fever"   Barry Gibb / Robin Gibb / Maurice Gibb The Bee Gees, 1978  
4. "Brown Girl in the Ring"   Frank Farian Boney M, 1978  
5. "Happy Birthday"   Stevie Wonder Stevie Wonder, 1981  
6. "Yes Sir I Can Boogie"   Frank Dostal / Rolf Soja Baccara, 1977  
7. "Ring My Bell"   Frederick Knight Anita Ward, 1979  
8. "Knock on Wood"   Eddie Floyd / Steve Cropper Based on version by Amii Stewart, 1979  
9. "Le Freak"   Nile Rodgers / Bernard Edwards Chic, 1978  
10. "Pop Muzik"   Robin Scott M, 1979  

20 Love Songs

Side One
No. Title Writer(s) Original Artist, Year Length
1. "Silly Love Songs"   Paul McCartney Wings, 1976  
2. "Woman in Love"   Barry Gibb / Maurice Gibb / Robin Gibb Barbra Streisand, 1980  
3. "Tragedy"   Barry Gibb / Maurice Gibb / Robin Gibb The Bee Gees, 1979  
4. "With You I'm Born Again"   David Shire / Carol Connors Billy Preston and Syreeta, 1979  
5. "Crying"   Roy Orbison / Joe Melson Based on version by Don McLean, 1980  
6. "One Day I'll Fly Away"   Joe Sample / Will Jennings Randy Crawford, 1980  
7. "She's out of My Life"   Tom Bahler Michael Jackson, 1980  
8. "Without You"   Peter Ham / Tom Evans Based on version by Nilsson, 1972  
9. "More Than in Love"   Barry Leng / Simon May Kate Robbins and Beyond, 1981  
10. "Evergreen"   Barbra Streisand / Paul Williams Barbra Streisand, 1976  
Side One
No. Title Writer(s) Original Artist, Year Length
1. "Miss You Nights"   Dave Townsend Cliff Richard, 1976  
2. "My Eyes Adored You"   Bob Crewe / Kenny Nolan Frankie Valli, 1974  
3. "How 'Bout Us"   Dana Walden Champaign, 1981  
4. "Song Sung Blue"   Neil Diamond Neil Diamond, 1972  
5. "Being with You"   George Tobin Smokey Robinson, 1981  
6. "Chanson D'Amour"   Wayne Shanklin The Manhattan Transfer, 1977  
7. "Woman"   John Lennon John Lennon, 1981  
8. "A Little Bit More"   Bobby Gosh Dr Hook, 1976  
9. "I Wanna Stay with You"   Benny Gallagher / Graham Lyle Gallagher and Lyle, 1976  
10. "All by Myself"   Eric Carmen Eric Carmen, 1975  

Personnel

References

  1. ^ a b Chartstats. "Earliest hit ("Without You")". http://www.chartstats.com/songinfo.php?id=5781. Retrieved 2008-12-18. 
  2. ^ a b Chartstats. "Latest hit ("Happy Birthday")". http://www.chartstats.com/songinfo.php?id=9483. Retrieved 2008-12-18. 
  3. ^ Dutch Brotherhood of Man site. "Album Discography". http://www.fortunecity.com/tinpan/sunra/953/discogra.html. Retrieved 2008-10-10. 
  4. ^ Chartstats. "All the No.1s". http://www.chartstats.com/number1s.php?all=true. Retrieved 27 December 2011. 
  5. ^ Album sleeve information