The Fizz - Cheryl, Jay and Mike from Bucks Fizz - have released a new album today (not sure why a Thursday), Everything Under The Sun.

 

Seems to be on very limited release, available to download and on CD and 'coming soon' vinyl formats from their site, but not available to stream, and can't find it anywhere to buy elsewhere.

 

I downloaded it earlier, nice album on first listen, way more 80s sounding than their previous albums which sounded more like the sort of pop Mike Stock was producing for artists like Scooch at the turn of the century.

 

Some interesting info about it in this review from Retro Pop Magazine.

 

My early favourites are I Close My Eyes (very 80s Melodifestivalen), This One (one of my favourite Paul McCartney singles - great choice of song to cover!), and Everything We Do (We Do It For You).

Its not available to stream which is just daft

I guess the last album didn't light up Spotify (121k streams for the biggest song from it and 15k for the smallest), so they must make precious little from streaming, and they know their fans will buy the record if they want to hear it.

 

I wonder if it might be added after some sort of exclusivity period. I must admit I would have streamed it rather than downloaded it, had it been on Spotify, so if a lot of people are in the same boat they'll make quite a lot more money.

There appears to be a lot of talk between their hardcore fans on Facebook over the fact that it's not available to stream, not on iTunes and CD not available through Amazon, HMV etc.

 

It seems odd, but their first album as The Fizz (then called OBF - The Original Bucks Fizz) was Fame and Fortune? and it got a similar release. It was only when they brought in the fourth member and worked initially with Mike Stock that The A-Z of Pop was released to quite a lot of fanfare - with singles, videos, R2 playlisting, TV appearances. The album was really quite good as well.

 

Back as a trio, they released Smoke and Mirrors to less success and fanfare (still singles and videos though). I didn't buy the album; I'd listened and didn't think it was good apart from The World We Left Behind.

 

Now this album is released to nothing - no single, no video, no tour, no TV appearances - and a very low-key release. Absolutely no chance of charting. I'm not buying it unless I can hear it first and it's not on streaming. I listened to some 30 second clips on their website and hardly anything jumped out at me.

 

Kind of a shame really as Everything We Do sounded promising, at least, with it's Boys of Summer kinda style.

Edited September 8, 20222 yr by CJK

I think overall this is a better, more consistent album than Smoke and Mirrors although that had two very good singles in The World We Left Behind and Winning Ways which this one perhaps lacks. I do particularly like the cover of This One though, interesting to see how the production on that could have sounded if Paul McCartney had worked with SAW in 1989.

 

It's a shame this album isn't having a proper, full release and promo etc.

Edited September 8, 20222 yr by gooddelta

I loved 'Smoke And Mirrors' and really want to listen to this but I'm not buying/downloading it. I would gladly buy it if I could first listen to it and liked it but I guess there's no way of doing that for now. Hopefully it will appear on streaming at some point down the line.

The track Everything We Do (We Do It For You) is available for download and has been Top 30 on iTunes.

What a screwed up release for a good pop album, they have only made it available to download or buy physically from their website only and shunned streaming, iTunes, HMV, Amazon, Indies etc., but have more randomly made their new single available on iTunes?

 

They claimed it was to make a stand on the poor returns they get but if that’s the case the whole campaign should be that rather than randomly throwing out a single on iTunes but you won’t list the album on there :unsure:

 

I bought the signed CD from their website and it took 2 weeks to arrive so it’s not as if their team were on the ball at getting copies sent out quickly either.

I still haven't heard this, because I can't. Really hope it gets added to streaming sites at some point soon.

So the continuing odd release schedule for this comtinued with it being released on iTunes on 4th November.

The result was an entry at No.42 on the official download charts this week.

 

It'll get to streaming one day!!

Edited November 13, 20222 yr by CJK

Nice review here

 

Edited December 2, 20222 yr by Santa Mark

I'm still waiting to listen to this album, which I can't do until it's available to stream... such a bizarre release strategy :wacky:

I bought the CD on Amazon the other week, it wasn't stocked in HMV, so even physically it's an odd release strategy.

 

They've released an extended version of This One this week too, on iTunes and Amazon but not to stream again. Hopefully once they consider they've maximised the potential purchases of the material from the album, they will put it up to stream.

So the continuing odd release schedule for this comtinued with it being released on iTunes on 4th November.

The result was an entry at No.42 on the official download charts this week.

 

It'll get to streaming one day!!

 

Totally passed me by they had belatedly added it to iTunes - such a bizarre release strategy and they’ve ended up doing what they said they wouldn’t anyway and listed it on iTunes so they may as well add it to streaming too now.

 

Such a shame as it’s a really solid pop album!

It's probably worth knowing that the entire album is on YouTube and was added to it officially by The Fizz, so you can listen to it all right there for free!!

50% off the CD with the code FIZZXMAS via their official store at the moment - https://www.thefizzofficial.com/store

Is Everything Under The Sun EVER going to be available on streaming sites? I really want to listen to it!