Showing posts with label Brotherhood of man. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brotherhood of man. Show all posts

Sunday, June 08, 2014

I Didn't Know That: Please Speak To Me Of Love



Pic nicked from the Bay
Please Speak To Me Of Love is the English version of Hablemos Del Amor, the 1967 Eurovision entry for Spain by Raphael.
The lyrics to the English version were written by Tony Hiller (I didn't know that), the man who gave us Save Your Kisses For Me (U.K. 1976) and a couple of hundred other Brotherhood Of Man songs.

The clip above is an audio of the coverversion by Earl Wilson Jr., there's also Raphaels own English version on Tony Hillers Youtube.
Earl Wilson Jr.'s version was released in 1968 on the LP This Is. Earl Wilson Jr. (Mercury SR 61147)

Another version of Please Speak To Me Of Love was recorded by the Dutch band Sparklings fronted by 1973's Dutch Eurovision singer Ben Cramer. (on LP ...... And The Sparklings (Kritos 130046, 1967) See discogs entry here)

Tony Hiller Website
New Yorker Earl Wilson Jr. from works as a composer / lyricist of musicals.
There's a good bio here at Don Cornell (it's a PDF file).
Earl Wilson Jr. Website
Raphael Website

Sunday, October 09, 2011

Re-release news, not so historic B.O.M. album finally gets CD release.

Brotherhood Of Man, you either love'em or adore'em.
The 1976 Eurovision winners (Save Your Kisses For Me) were quite succesful in the 70's.
The Eurovision line-up we all know and love had some international hits before the contest (1975 hit Kiss Me, Kiss Your Baby was the first B.O.M. single I bought).
They also managed to hold on to their success after Eurovision (Angelo, even though a blatant ABBA - Fernando rip-off, is totally brilliant).
An early incarnation of the band had also scored some hits in the U.S. in the early seventies, most notably United We Stand.

By the time the eighties came around, the stream of hits dried up and some clever people at B.O.M.s headquarters thought a greatest-hits-of-other-people LP would be a good idea.
And they were not wrong. The LP stayed on the U.K. charts for two months and achieved gold record status.
Brotherhood Of Man Sing Twenty Number One Hits features, well, 20 #1 hits. Most songs were hits in the 70's. The album includes one Eurocover: What's Another Year by Johnny Logan, the Irish winner of 1980.
Other tracks are ABBA's Dancing Queen, Boney M's Rivers Of Babylon and the Commodores' Three Times A Lady.
See tracklist below for all 20 #1 hits.

Da' Brotherhood tried to repeat the success with a similar double album with 20 disco hits and 20 love songs titled 20 Disco Greats / 20 Love Songs. but that failed to repeat the popularity of 20 #1 hits .
The Eurovision line-up of Brotherhood Of Man are still going strong and perform often on the Eurovision / nostalgia circuit, both with 70's tribute shows and their own material. A good time guaranteed for all. Respect!

The original Twenty Number One Hits LP was released in 1980 on the Warwick label, the CD re-issue is released on Northwold records. It's out 10-10-11.

Brotherhood Of Man Sing Twenty Number One Hits
We Don't Talk Anymore
Bright Eyes
When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman
Don't Give Up on Us Baby
Together We Are Beautiful
What's Another Year
I Will Survive
I'm Not in Love
Working My Way Back to You
Mull of Kintyre
Dancing Queen
When I Need You
Rivers of Babylon
If You Leave Me Now
Don't Go Breaking My Heart
Three Times a Lady
One Day at a Time
When Will I See You Again
Annie's Song
Sailing

A Norwegian version of Save Your Kisses For Me by the Bendik Singers can be found in this Eurocovers post. A Czech version by Helena Vondrackova and Jiri Korn is here.