Bucks Fizz (album) - Overview

Overview

In late 1980, songwriter Andy Hill and his partner Nichola Martin came up with a song that was to be entered into the Eurovision Song Contest. Martin quickly set about bringing a group together to perform it. In January 1981, Bucks Fizz were formed from auditionees Bobby G and Jay Aston along with the already chosen Mike Nolan and Cheryl Baker. The song "Making Your Mind Up" not only won the Contest, but went on to reach No.1 in the UK singles chart, as well as many other countries in Europe. This launched the group on a run of success that would last for much of the decade.

In May the follow-up single, also written and produced by Hill, was released. "Piece of the Action" proved that Bucks Fizz were not one-hit wonders, despite the reputation of the Contest, and quickly became another worldwide hit. The record company, RCA were keen to get an album out, and Bucks Fizz was released in late July 1981.

Recorded between promotional tours and a hectic schedule, the album featured ten pop tracks, most of them quite different to "Making Your Mind Up", the song that had made their name. Of the remaining nine tracks, only "The Right Situation" mirrored the Eurovision winner in terms of structure and style. Other variations were the disco-styled "Took It to the Limit" and the funk-influenced "Shine On". Ballads were present in the form of "It's Got to Be Love", "One of Those Nights" and "Getting Kinda Lonely". The album was released in a glossy gatefold sleeve, depicting head and shoulders shots of the group both inside and outside. Produced and largely written by Hill, the album also became a success when it reached the UK top 20 the following month and was certified gold. A third single was released in August, the ballad "One of Those Nights". This, like the others also reached the top 20 in the UK and secured Bucks Fizz as one of the top acts of the year.

No more singles were released from the album, although their next single "The Land of Make Believe" (released in November 1981) went to No.1 and revived the album in the early months of 1982, where it went as far as 39 in the charts and spent more weeks in the top 100 than it had originally done - eventually clocking up 28 in total. Outside of the UK, the album reached number 20 in New Zealand and number 29 in Sweden.

A year later, the group recorded the songs "It's Got to Be Love", "One of Those Nights", "Getting Kinda Lonely" and "Shine On" in Spanish for an album released in Latin America, while "Piece of the Action" and "One of Those Nights" were included on a compilation album released in North America, also in 1982.

The album was re-issued on Compact disc in 2004 with bonus tracks. In 2008, demos and early versions of tracks "Piece of the Action", "One of Those Nights", "Getting Kinda Lonely" and "The Right Situation" were included on The Lost Masters 2 - The Final Cut compilation.