The Sheffield-based band Respect had a short but sweet career. This single was released just a few days before Christmas 1990 with the result that it only appeared on the shelves in the gap between Christmas and New Year and was gone by the time 1991 came.
It's a pity, because with the contribution of Human League's Philip Oakey they managed to make quite an interesting track. The sound is reminiscent of the Human League, but slightly poppier. The band released one album in 1991, entitled 'The kissing game', and then broke up. What remains is this very listenable single.
Human League frontman Philip Oakey and legendary producer Giorgio Moroder had worked together previously. Two singles had already been released - the hit single 'Together in electric dreams' and the flop 'Good-bye bad times' - when 'Be my lover now' was released in 1985.
Like 'Good-bye bad times', this single did not reach the UK singles chart. Meanwhile, their self-titled album reached number 52 in the UK albums chart.
My collection: 7" single no. 4874 Found: Da Capo, Utrecht, May 21, 2010 Cost: 1 euro Tracks: 'Be my lover now' / 'Be my lover now (instrumental version)'
The film 'Electric dreams' was director Steve Barron's first full feature film. Barron had made a name for himself conceiving and directing music videos, such as the Human League's 'Don't you want me'. For his film, Barron enlisted Giorgio Moroder as director of music. He wrote most of the score. Barron wanted the end credits to roll to 'an emotional song'.
Moroder wrote 'Together in electric dreams' which was to be a male solo vocal. When he asked who Barron would like to sing the lyrics, Barron immediately thought of his former associate Philip Oakey. When Oakey recorded the song it was over very quickly, after the first full recording Moroder told Oakey that the first take was 'good enough, as first time is always best'. Oakey who thought he was just rehearsing insisted on doing another take. Moroder let him but to this day Oakey is convinced that Moroder still used the first take on the final production.
The song soon overshadowed the success of the film. Oakey states that it is ironic that a track that took literally ten minutes to record would become a worldwide hit, while some of his Human League material that took over a year to record didn't.
My collection: 7" single no. 492
Found: Free Record Shop, Den Haag, 1985
Cost: 4 guilders
Tracks: 'Together in electric dreams' / 'Together in electric dreams (instrumental)'
I've seen this single countless times over the years, but I never made the decision to buy it until now. Philip Oakey, frontman of the Human League, and producer Giorgio Moroder, had a big hit with 'Together in electric dreams' in 1984.
They got together again in 1985 to work on an album that was to be called 'Body beat', but finally was simply named after the performers. The record label had high expectatoins for the first single from the album, 'Good-bye bad times', but they did not come true. Both the single and the album flopped. This is still a nice popsong though.
My collection: 7" single no. 3653
Found: Record fair, Utrecht, April 18, 2009
Cost: 0,8 euro
Tracks: 'Good-bye bad times' / 'Good-bye bad times (instrumental)'
