Twenty Greatest

Twenty Greatest
Greatest hits album by Brotherhood of Man
Released September 1978
Recorded 1974 - 1978
Genre Pop, MOR, Soul
Length 64.19
Label Pye / K-tel
Producer Tony Hiller
Brotherhood of Man chronology

B for Brotherhood (1978) Twenty Greatest (1978) Higher Than High (1979)
Singles from Twenty Greatest
  1. "Middle of the Night"
    Released: September 1978
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [1]

Twenty Greatest is the sixth album released by British pop group Brotherhood of Man and their first compilation. It was released in 1978 and became their biggest selling album.

Background

This album was a Greatest Hits compilation featuring all their hit singles up to this point as well as selected album tracks and new recordings. The album was released on K-Tel records (in association with their regular label Pye) in late September 1978 and reached No.6 in the UK album charts.[2] It remained on the charts for 15 weeks and was certified gold by the BPI, becoming the most successful album of their career.

The singles included are: "Lady", "Lady Lady Lay", "Kiss Me Kiss Your Baby", "Save Your Kisses for Me", "My Sweet Rosalie", "Oh Boy (The Mood I'm In)", "Angelo", "Highwayman", "Figaro", "Beautiful Lover" and "Middle of the Night". The early hits "United We Stand" and "Where are You Going to My Love" included here are new recordings by this version of the group. Two other new recordings for this album are cover versions of "How Deep is Your Love" and "Send in the Clowns", which is largely an a cappella piece, with piano accompaniment by member Nicky Stevens.[3]

This album is sometimes referred to simply as Brotherhood of Man - as this was the name (erroneously) accredited to it in the UK Chart listings.[2] Early pressings of the album gave the group's name as 'The Brotherhood of Man' (a name they hadn't been known as since the first incarnation of the group in the early 1970s) (see illustration), but later pressings had recified this to simply 'Brotherhood of Man'.

The soviet record company "Melodia" in 1981 released this album in custom version which included 10 songs: Side A: "Save Your Kisses for Me", "Angelo", "Oh Boy (The Mood I'm In)", "My Sweet Rosalie", "Kiss Me Kiss Your Baby", "Beautiful Lover"; Side B: "Middle of the Night" , "Figaro", "Highwayman" , "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother", "Lady Lady Lady Lay", "United We Stand". This compilation was very popular in USSR and was sold 500 000 copies.

Track listing

Side One

  1. "Save Your Kisses for Me" (Tony Hiller / Lee Sheriden / Martin Lee) 3.04
  2. "Angelo" (Hiller / Sheriden / Lee) 3.18
  3. "Oh Boy (The Mood I'm In)" (Tony Romeo) 3.16
  4. "Where are You Going to My Love" (Hiller / Goodison / Day) 3.24
  5. "Images" (Hiller / Sheriden / Lee) 2.25
  6. "Send in the Clowns" (Stephen Sondheim) 3.50
  7. "In Love" (Hiller / Sheriden / Lee) 3.53
  8. "My Sweet Rosalie" (Hiller / Sheriden / Lee) 2.37
  9. "Kiss Me Kiss Your Baby" (Barry Blue) 3.05
  10. "Beautiful Lover" (Hiller / Sheriden / Lee) 3.21

Side Two

  1. "Middle of the Night" (Hiller / Sheriden / Lee) 3.05
  2. "Figaro" (Hiller / Sheriden / Lee) 2.51
  3. "Highwayman" (Hiller / Sheriden / Lee) 2.32
  4. "People Over the World" (Hiller / Sheriden / Lee) 3.05
  5. "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" (Bob Russell / Bobby Scott) 4.23
  6. "To-night's the Night" (Hiller / Sheriden / Lee) 2.40
  7. "Lady Lady Lady Lay" (Hiller / Groscolas / Jordan) 2.58
  8. "How Deep is Your Love" (Barry Gibb / Maurice Gibb / Robin Gibb) 4.08
  9. "Lady" (Hiller / Sheriden / Lee) 3.27
  10. "United We Stand" (Hiller / Simons) 2.57

Personnel

Chart performance

Release date Single title UK Chart position
September 1978 "Middle of the Night" 41
Release date Album title UK Chart position
September 1978 Twenty Greatest 6

References

  1. ↑ Allmusic review
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Chart Stats - Brotherhood Of Man - Brotherhood Of Man
  3. ↑ Album sleeve notes