I woke from a dream Looked up to see your face was Smiling down at me The sunlight crept through Painting my room and I just Had to say Primrose coloured paths lay at your feet
Keep it coming Don't you stop loving I'm high Tripping on your love Keep it coming Don't you stop loving I'm high Tripping on your love
Straight out of the blue Drowning in you it's such a Sweet sensation and I'm Floating above This heavenly love and through my Mirror I see Magic multicoloured painted dreams
Keep it coming Don't you stop loving I'm high Tripping on your love Keep it coming Don't you stop loving I'm high Tripping on your love
Trip on my love Trip on my love Trip on my love Trip on my love Dance on the mike one day with this drama Tripping on my love with the Bananarama
Primrose coloured paths lay at your feet
Keep it coming Don't you stop loving I'm high Tripping on your love Keep it coming Don't you stop loving I'm high Tripping on your love
Keep it coming Don't you stop loving I'm high Tripping on your love Keep it coming Don't you stop loving I'm high Tripping on your love
Keep it coming Don't you stop loving I'm high Tripping on your love (Written by Caine/Dallin/Glover/Schoeger)
This is where it gets EXTREMELY tough. I struggled to decide which Bananarama song was my #1 favourite but in the end this came in second place. Released in August 1991, this was the fourth and final single from the 'Pop Life' album and the last Bananarama single as a trio. It was rather embarrassingly their first single not to enter the charts and prompted the move back to Stock and Waterman for the next album in the hope of giving them another Top 40 hit. For me, this is the girls' most uplifting song with wonderfully euphoric lyrics. I never tire of listening to it. It's just such a shame that in my opinion their most experimental and alternative song of their career went virtually unnoticed. Here is a fan-made video for the fantastic Metropolis mix by none other than George Michael:
SO if you want to find out my #1 Bananarama song of ALL TIME, forget listening to the UK Top 40 this Sunday (you won't find any Bananarama there!) - Banormarama is the place to be as at 7pm the song will be unveiled!
Fancy guessing what my favourite is??? Leave a comment with your prediction and come back Sunday to see if you're right!
We're getting closer and closer to the unveiling of my #1 Bananarama song! On we go with #4, which is...
Angel divine With you by my side I can do anything I want to I'll sacrifice For you I'd lay down my life 'Cause I was alone without you
We all need somebody You know I need somebody No one has to feel alone We all need some love You know I need your love To break these chains around my soul
Only your love Can free me Only your love Can ease me Only your love I need it Only your love Never let me go Let me go Let me go Let me go Never let me go Let me go Let me go Let me go Never let me go Let me go Let me go Let me go Never let me go Let me go Let me go
Heat of the flame That burns in your name Got to got to got to believe it Angel of love Descend from above Come on and shine your light on me
We all need somebody You know I need somebody No one has to feel alone We all need some love You know I need your love To break these chains around my soul
Only your love Can free me Only your love Can ease me Only your love I need it Only your love Never let me go Let me go Let me go Let me go Never let me go Let me go Let me go Let me go Never let me go Let me go Let me go Let me go Never let me go Let me go Let me go
Na na na na na na (na na na na na na) Na na na na na na (na na na na na na) Na na na na na na (na na na na na na) Na na na na na na na (na na na na na na na)
We all need somebody You know I need somebody No one has to feel alone We all need some love You know I need your love To break these chains around my soul
Only your love Can free me Only your love Can ease me Only your love I need it Only your love Never let me go Let me go Let me go Let me go Never let me go Let me go Let me go Let me go Never let me go Let me go Let me go Let me go Never let me go Let me go Let me go (Written by Caine/Dallin/Glover/O'Sullivan/Woodward/Youth)
After a year's absence, Bananarama returned to the UK charts in July 1990 with a new image and a brand new sound. 'Only Your Love' was the first single from their fifth studio album 'Pop Life' (the first with Jacquie). Having struggled to produce any satisfactory material with Stock Aitken and Waterman, the girls went to Youth for a more trendy dance-orientated sound to move them firmly into the 1990s. Sampling the Rolling Stones classic 'Sympathy For The Devil', the girls were clearly out to prove they were taking their music more seriously than ever. The result was pure brilliance. Matched with their most eye-catching and high-energy video to date, this should have been their first #1 hit but, as with the best of their singles, it charted at a disappointing #27. Check out this rare performance where you can see how much their performances had improved in this era:
So it looks like you guys share my favourite Bananarama album as the winner of last week's poll was...
For this week's poll, I'd like to know what your favourite version of the classic 'Cruel Summer' is - the 1983 original as featured on the 'Bananarama' album, the 1989 re-release featuring Jacquie, the 2001 'Exotica' version or the 2009 version as featured on the 'Love Comes' single.
Ok, so my favourite album of all-time is Bananarama's 'Pop Life'. I discovered this album over five years ago when I got it for the first time and started playing it on my CD player everytime I got the bus to Camden to see my ex, LOL. I think it's one of the most creative and exciting pop albums ever in all seriousness. I love the artistic theme behind it - from the artwork, to the videos, to the performances. Every single released from this album was a pop gem and the album tracks were just as exciting and edgy. It's just so wonderful to watch everything related to this era and I think it's such a travesty that it didn't get the attention it well and truly deserved. It was released in 1991, when Bananarama were definitely over their peak and they were starting to move away from the pure-pop sound of Stock Aitken and Waterman that had given them huge hits with 'Venus', 'Love In The First Degree' and 'I Want You Back'. The group were already losing popularity without former member Siobhan Fahey which is another reason why I think they felt more compelled to be daring and different with this album because it was almost as if they had nothing to prove anymore.
The first single to be released was 'Only Your Love' which sampled the Rolling Stones' 'Sympathy For The Devil'. Just the idea of crossing Bananarama with the Rolling Stones was a brave move and a bold indication of what the girls wanted to express with this album. The video I think is absolutely AMAZING! I LOVE the colours, the silhouettes, the clothes, the huge shades, the gorgeous dancers. It embraces everything that made Bananarama so big in the first place - drama, campness, self-parody - but just adds that touch of class and sophistication that wasn't there before.
The second single (and biggest hit from the album) was 'Preacher Man' which was probably the only single that sounded like anything they'd done before. I absolutely love the beat to this - it's pure early 90s dance-pop perfection. I've included this performance rather than the video because of their outfits which matched the artwork from the album. For probably the first time in their career the girls were trying to portray a sexy image when for years beforehand they'd come across like tomboys with messed up hair and baggy trousers. It worked well with the more sophisticated sound they were coming out with at this point and it seemed like they'd brought themselves well and truly into the 90s.
For the third single from 'Pop Life' Bananarama made another bold move. Whilst it was yet another cover version for the girls, this time it wasn't a poor carbon copy of the original รก la 'Na Na Hey Hey' or 'Help' - for this version of the Doobie Brothers' classic 'Long Train Running' the girls collaborated with the critically-acclaimed Gypsy Kings for a latino-tinged result that was so far-removed from the original they'd made it completely their own. For the video they went all-out with elaborate costumes and make up in something that could probably be compared with Girls Aloud's 2008 video for 'Can't Speak French'. Considering Girls Aloud share the same manager as Bananarama at the time (Hilary Shaw) I'd say this was most definitely an inspiration for the video.
And finally, for my favourite Bananarama - hell, favourite SONG - ever! 'Tripping On Your Love' was the smallest hit of their career, not even charting as the single wasn't even promoted at all due to their manager leaving and Sara being heavily pregnant at the time. This was also the last-ever single to be released by Bananarama as a trio as Jacquie quit the band shortly after this release. All of these facts make it even more disappointing that this single went virtually unnoticed in the UK as I find it one of the most uplifting, exciting songs I've ever heard. The contrast of these uplifting utopian lyrics being sung over this grinding trancey beat for me marks Bananarama's finest moment both creatively and musically and the song still sounds fresh today. It feels like such an injustice that such few people know of this song - I'd love someone big to cover it so that it would become the massive hit it deserves to be.
Aside the singles, there are some absolute classic album tracks on 'Pop Life'. 'What Colour R The Skies Where U Live?' is an epic number beginning with the sounds of waves crashing on the shore building into this raggae-tinted beat before this beautiful song unfolds. A largely instrumental track towards the end of the album 'Megalomanic' is a fantastic fusion of jazz and funk - it feels like the girls are just jamming away in a club in New York or something. 'I Can't Let You Go' is a haunting end to the album with lots of strange echos and sound effects which sounds like someone, probably the girls themselves, was tripping while they were in the studio!
All-in-all this album is such an underrated masterpiece which truly encapsulates the early 90s dance-pop scene with brilliant production, some bold decisions that the girls managed to pull off with ease and a strong visual theme that accompied this change in sound for the girls. If this album had been released by Madonna it would have been huge. For me, I'm proud that Bananarama released this album because for the first time in their career they pushed themselves far beyond anyone's expectations and showed the world they could be different and could be taken seriously as singers/songwriters. When most people think of Bananarama they think of bad hair, bad clothes and bad dancing - some people might just have heard 'Venus' in a club once - if you're one of these people, I hope when you think of Bananarama in future you'll think of fantastic songs like these!
