Posted September 14, 200717 yr 25 YEARS OF RECORD COLLECTING: MUSICAL MEMORIES 1982 - 2007 5. BREATHE “As I watch you move across the moonlit room, there's so much tenderness in your loving” “So raise your hands to heaven and pray that we'll be back together someday” Breathe were one of those bands who, whilst perceived as a one hit wonder in the UK marketplace, actually managed a good run of hits in America. However, whatever your opinion on this ‘Blue-Eyed Soul’ band might be, that fact they one had one big hit in the UK is not there to give criticism on the listening habits of either nations in the late 1980s and early 1990s. David Glasper was the lead singer of this 4 piece band who first came to pop’s attention in 1986 (with a record on Siren, the release I think was the one called ‘Jonah’). You might remember the advertising for this record, the cover featuring the 4 band members’ faces positioned so it looked like a mirror image of a side view and front view of just one person duplicated so that the side views looked at each other. Flicking through an issue of ‘Smash Hits’ or ‘Record Mirror' it would really catch your eyes and you would have to look hard to realise that it was more than one man. However this record and a number of other early releases never charted in the UK singles chart and it seemed that Breathe would have no success. Thankfully in America a mini-invasion by British bands was starting to happen at this time, with acts like ‘When In Rome’ and ‘Giant Steps’ beginning to make inroads into the American market and instantly finding themselves more popular over there than here. With ‘Breathe’ it was the fabulous soul-pop single ‘Hands To Heaven’ that started to pick up airplay, which is not surprising as it was a record not to dissimilar to the soul sounds of George Michael that was, at the same time, vaulting towards the number one spot on the Billboard R&B chart. Soon the band became massive in the States with that record, and interest started to pick up back at home. By this time the band had shrunk to a trio (like a ‘Halo James’ with more waist-coat’s) and one new video later, ‘Breathe’ were ready to take there positions as chart charts in the pages of Smash Hits with their top ten single and re-issued ‘All that Jazz’ album. Like their slick ‘blue-eyed soul’ contemporaries ‘Johnny Hates Jazz’, ‘Breathe’ couldn’t keep up the interest going in the UK for their next album. It was now the 1990s and those more soulful highly produced sounds were replaced by a ‘new pop ideal’ of dance based sounds spearheaded by the productions of ‘S/A/W’ and the rap of ‘Snap!’ but also encompassing indie-dance acts like ‘EMF’ for the older (cooler) kids. However, and not surprisingly for such a slickly produced band, America was still interested and the band managed to rack up a few more hits on the billboard charts ranked alongside such acts as ‘Wilson Phillips’ and ‘Jon Secada’. 25 YEARS OF RECORD COLLECTING: MUSICAL MEMORIES 1982 - 2007 Edited September 14, 200717 yr by Mr. Mondo
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