The Communards - So Cold The Night 12''

The Communards

So Cold The Night 12''

1986

Pop Dancepop

England

Tracklist:

So Cold The Night 9:12
When The Walls Come Tumbling Down 4:22
Never No More 2:58


     The Communards were a British pop duo active from 1985 to 1988. They are most famous for their cover of Thelma Houston's song, "Don't Leave Me This Way" as well as "Never Can Say Goodbye".
     The Communards formed in 1985 after singer Jimmy Somerville left his earlier band Bronski Beat to team up with classically-trained musician Richard Coles. Though mainly a pianist, Coles played a number of instruments and had been seen previously performing the clarinet solos on the Bronski Beat hit "It Ain't Necessarily So". They were joined by bass player Dave Renwick who had also played with Bronski Beat. Somerville was well-known for his falsetto singing style, and that he was openly gay during a period of increasing socio-political debate and conflict in the UK regarding homosexuality.
     The band had their first UK Top 30 hit in 1985 with the piano-based #30 single "You Are My World". The following year they had their biggest hit with an energetic cover version of Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes' soul classic "Don't Leave Me This Way" (in a version inspired by Thelma Houston's cover) which spent four weeks at number one and became the UK's biggest selling single of 1986. It also made the US Top 40. It featured Sarah Jane Morris as co-vocalist, taking advantage of the contrast between Morris' deep and rounded contralto and Somerville's soaring falsetto. Morris performed both backing and co-lead vocals on many of the Communards' other recordings, and appeared in group photos as an unofficial third member.
     Later that year The Communards had another UK Top 10 hit with the single "So Cold the Night," which reached number 8. In 1987, they released an album titled Red, which was partly produced by Stephen Hague. Red featured a cover version of the Jackson 5's hit "Never Can Say Goodbye" (in a version inspired by Gloria Gaynor's cover), which the Communards took to Number 4. Their last released single was "There's More to Love" in 1988, which reached Number 20 and was, consequently, their final Top 20 hit.
     They split in 1988 and Somerville began a solo career. Coles followed his Christian leanings and, after periods as a journalist for the Times Literary Supplement and Catholic Herald, he was ordained in the Church of England, spending time as the curate of St Botolph's (The Stump) in Boston, Lincolnshire. He is now the assistant priest at St Paul's Knightsbridge and Chaplain to the Royal College of Music.

Miami Sound Machine - Eyes Of Innocence

Miami Sound Machine

Eyes Of Innocence

1984

Dancepop Latinpop EDM

USA

Tracklist:


01. "Dr. Beat"
02. "Prisoner of Love"
03. "OK"
04. "Love Me"
05. "Orange Express"
06. "I Need a Man"
07. "Eyes of Innocence"
08. "When Someone Comes into Your Life"
09. "I Need Your Love"
10. "Do You Want to Dance"


     Started by then, bandleader and accordion player, Emilio Estefan, Jr., as the Miami Latin Boys, in 1975, as a weekend job.
     The group name changed a year later to Miami Sound Machine, when Emilio invited a female singer, Gloria Fajardo and her cousin Merci Navarro, to join the band after a well performed audition on stage. In 1977, the group recorded their first album for a local label, Audiofon Records. Emilio would marry Gloria, a year later.

     Starting in 1977, the Miami Sound Machine with Gloria Estefan began recording and releasing various albums, 45s, and 12"s on the Audiofon Records label in Miami. The first album from 1977 was entitled Live Again Renacer and was released with two different covers. After several more releases on the Audiofon label as well as the RCA Victor label and Miami Sound Machine's own label MSM Records, the band was signed to Discos CBS International and released several albums, 45s, and 12"s beginning with 1980s self-titled album Miami Sound Machine. Growing in popularity in both the United States and around the world, the group would continue recording and issuing various works for Discos CBS International through 1985. In 1984, Miami Sound Machine released their first Epic/Columbia album, Eyes of Innocence, which contained the dance hit "Dr. Beat" as well as the ballad "I Need Your Love". Their more successful follow-up album Primitive Love was released in 1985 launching three Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100: "Conga" (U.S. #10), "Words Get In The Way" (U.S. #5), and "Bad Boy" (U.S. #8) became follow up hits in the U.S. and around the world. "Words Get in the Way" reached #1 on the US Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart, establishing that the group could perform pop ballads as successfully as dance tunes. The song "Hot Summer Nights" was also released that year and was part of the blockbuster movie Top Gun.
     Their next album, 1987's Let It Loose, went multi-platinum, with six million copies sold in the US. It featured the following hits: "Anything for You" (#1 Hot 100), "1-2-3" (#3 Hot 100), "Betcha Say That" (#36 Hot 100), "Rhythm Is Gonna Get You" (#5 Hot 100), and "Can't Stay Away From You" (#6 Hot 100). "Can't Stay Away From You", "Anything for You" and "1-2-3" were all #1 Adult Contemporary hits as well.
     In 1988, Estefan took top billing and the band's name changed to Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine. Beginning in 1989, the group's name was dropped altogether. Estefan was credited as a solo artist, though the ever-changing line-up of Miami Sound Machine continues as her backing band to this day.
     In 1989, after the worldwide chart success of single "Anything for You", her Let it Loose album was repackaged as Anything for You. It became the band's first UK #1 album, selling over a million copies. It was the biggest selling album of the year in The Netherlands, staying at #1 for 22 weeks. The album also took top honors in Australia and Canada, launching Estefan to superstar status.
     Eyes of Innocence is the 8th studio album released by the Miami Sound Machine, and their first English language studio album, released in 1984.
     This release was the first mainstream release by the Miami Sound Machine. The album was filled with dance-oriented music and became the band's breakthrough album due to the success of the lead single, the dance hit "Dr. Beat", a top ten hit in the United Kingdom and other places in Europe.
     "Dr. Beat," a dance-pop song was the most successful cut from the album; the song utilizes synthesizers and dance rhythms of the time, but distinguished itself from other pop music of the era through the inclusion of Latin sounds.
     The second single "Prisoner of Love" was released exclusively to the European market, which was responding much better to the album than the American market had. However, the song, which had a similar sound to the past single, was not a hit like the lead single and was a commercial failure only reaching the Top #98 of the UK singles chart.
     Due the failure of the single "Prisoner of Love", another single was released to the American market, "I Need a Man" (a different song from the Eurythmics hit), but it too bombed, failing to even enter the dance charts.
     With the failure of the last two singles, no more singles were released to promote the album except in the Philippines, where "I Need Your Love" was issued as a promo single only; again, it failed to impact any chart.
     Many of the songs from the album were originally written in Spanish and translated into English, including "Orange Express", which was the main theme of the band's previously album A Toda Máquina, and "I Need Your Love", a translation of the song "Regresa a Mí".
     As of 2008, the album has sold more than one million copies worldwide.

Irene Cara - What a Feelin'

Irene Cara

What A Feelin'

1983

Dancepop Euro Disco

USA

Tracklist:


01. Flashdance... What a Feeling (Radio Edit) [03:59]
02. Why Me? (12" Mix) [07:05]
03. Breakdance (Radio Edit) [03:29]
04. The Dream (Hold on to Your Dream) [04:51]
05. You Took My Life Away [03:55]
06. Keep On [03:31]
07. Romance '83 [03:58]
08. Cue Me Up [03:26]
09. Receiving [03:44]
10. You Were Made for Me [04:23]
11. Talk Too Much [04:03]
12. Breakdance (Extended Remix) [05:27]
13. The Dream (Hold on to Your Dream) (Extended Remix) [06:51]
14. Flashdance... What a Feeling (Extended Remix) [07:12]
15. Flashdance... What a Feeling (Instrumental) [08:04]

     Irene Cara (born March 18, 1959) is an American singer and actress. Cara won an Academy Award in 1984 in the category of Best Original Song for co-writing "Flashdance... What a Feeling." She is also known for her recording of the song "Fame", and she also starred in the 1980 film Fame.

     The 1980 hit movie Fame catapulted Irene Cara to stardom. Cara was originally cast as a dancer, and when production heard her voice they re-wrote the role of Coco Hernandez. As Coco Hernandez, she sang both the title song "Fame" and the film’s other single "Out Here on My Own". These songs helped make the film's soundtrack a chart-topping, multi-platinum album. Further history was made when at the Academy Awards that year: It was the first time two songs from the same film were nominated in the same category and both sung by the same artist. Thus, Cara had the opportunity to be one of the few singers to perform more than one song at the Oscar ceremony. "Fame", written by Michael Gore and Dean Pitchford, won the award that year.

     Cara earned Grammy nominations in 1980 for Best New Female Artist and Best New Pop Artist, as well as a Golden Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture Actress in a Musical. Billboard Magazine named her Top New Single Artist, while Cashbox Magazine awarded her both Most Promising Female Vocalist and Top Female Vocalist.

     Asked by the Fame TV series' producers to reprise her role as Coco Hernandez, she declined so as to focus her attention on her recording career. As a result, Erica Gimpel assumed the role.

     What a Feelin' is Irene Cara's second album and most successful to date. Unlike her R&B heavy debut, this album is dominated by Dance-pop and Euro disco songs produced by the legendary producer Giorgio Moroder. Many of the songs were co-written by Cara herself. Includes the major hit singles, "Dream (Hold On to Your Dream)" (US #37), "Flashdance... What a Feelin'" (her only #1 hit in the US), "Why Me?" (US #13), "You Were Made for Me" (US #78) and "Breakdance" (which was her third and last Top 10 single in the US, reaching #8).

     Cara lives in Florida and works with her band Hot Caramel. Their album called Irene Cara Presents Hot Caramel was released on April 4th, 2011.