| "The First Picture of You" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by The Lotus Eaters | ||||
| from the album No Sense of Sin | ||||
| Released | 1983 | |||
| Format | 7" single / picture disc CD | |||
| Recorded | Surrey Sound Studios, Leatherhead | |||
| Genre | New Wave | |||
| Label | Arista (UK) | |||
| Writer(s) | Peter Coyle Jeremy Kelly Gerard Quinn |
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| Producer | Nigel Gray | |||
| The Lotus Eaters singles chronology | ||||
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"The First Picture of You" is the debut single by the new wave group The Lotus Eaters. The song was first recorded during a John Peel Radio 1 session in 1982 and when aired, stimulated a bidding war between major UK record labels. It took some time for the band to find the right producer for this delicate, acoustic sound, but they eventually teamed up with Nigel Gray, who had produced The Police and Siouxsie and the Banshees. Recorded at Surrey Sound Studios in Leatherhead, the track features session bassist Alan Spenner, well known for his work with Joe Cocker and Roxy Music. Former Cure and Associates bassist Michael Dempsey joined soon after and is featured on the rest of the band's debut album.
The song came to typify the dreamlike ambience of British summer of the early 1980s and received more UK radio plays in 1983 than any other song. "The First Picture of You" was a top 20 hit in the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number fifteen after the band had twice appeared on BBC TV's Top of the Pops. The follow-up single, "You Don't Need Someone New", scraped into the UK Top 40, but this and subsequent songs were more successful for the band in France, Italy, Japan and The Philippines.
"The First Picture of You" is still aired regularly on UK BBC and independent radio. Veteran DJ Peter Powell cites it as being his all-time favourite song.
Norwegian singer Anne Marie Almedal covered the song on her 2007 album, The Siren and the Stage.