"No More 'I Love You's'" The Lover Speaks (1986)

 

Betcha thought it was an Annie Lennox song all this time, didn't ya? ;)

Don't worry, you're in good company. A lot of people don't know about this lost gem. Or who The Lover Speaks were.

It was released in 1986 and didn't fare too well on the UK charts and didn't appear at all on the US charts and quietly disappeared.

They did get some American alternative rock radio airplay, including on Seattle's KJET. Playlist courtesy of Mike Fuller.

The Lover Speaks were a New Wave duo from England, made up of two former members of the punk band The Flys, David Freeman and Joseph Hughes. Their self-titled first album The Lover Speaks was produced by Dave Stewart of Eurythmics and the duo were the opening act on the Eurythmics world tour of 1986 for their new album Revenge.

Sadly, the poor sales and chart performance of their first LP led to A&M Records dropping the duo after completing their second album The Big Lie in 1987 (again with Dave Stewart producing.) The Big Lie as far as I know remains unreleased to this day. And The Lover Speaks disbanded.

The Lover Speaks (A&M, 1986)

However, their partnership with Eurythmics paid off handsomely nine years later in 1995 when Annie Lennox covered "No More 'I Love You's'", and made it the lead single on her Medusa album. It became a monster worldwide smash hit and the biggest solo hit of her career.


David Freeman went on to a solo career in the 1990s and is currently retired. Joseph Hughes became a producer and songwriter and is currently active today.

Gallery of Vintage Soviet Radios

Overlooked Americana

I was going through my blog post drafts (I have something like 200 of them in varying stages of completion) and I had intended to put this up on July 4th, but it somehow got lost in the pile. It's about a couple of odd America related songs. One a near hit, the other a gay rights anthem for something that is now the law of the land (and it's not marriage.)

"The Voice of Freedom" Jim Kirk & The TM Singers (1980)

 

If Jim Kirk & The TM Singers sound familiar, you probably heard them on any given radio station jingle of the 1970s and '80s. Because that's what Jim Kirk & The TM Singers were; jingle singers for radio stations. And what's TM? TM is a company that makes radio station jingles (of course), but also supplies radio stations with music libraries, voice overs, imaging and commercial production materials.

They scored a near hit with this patriotic song which made the Billboard Hot 100 and got a good amount of airplay on Adult Contemporary and Country stations for a couple weeks. But like all songs with little kids featured on vocals (as in parts of this song), it just didn't last long. Jim Kirk & The TM Singers continued making radio station jingles well into the 1980s and beyond. TM today is now TM Studios.

The next song is REALLY different.

"There's A Star Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere" Peter Grudzien (1974)

 

You were probably expecting the traditional version, weren't you?

Long before the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" debate over gays and lesbians serving in the armed forces (in spite of the fact they were always there - just not openly. That part was the automatic disqualification), there was Peter Grudzien's rendition of "There's A Star Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere". Perhaps the first song to even address that topic. And this was in 1974. This was from his self released album The Unicorn and quickly it became an underground gay/lesbian music classic.
  
Footnote: Speaking of radio, many thanks to Radio Insight and Puget Sound Radio for linking to my Seattle's KJET 1600 AM blog post this weekend.  And welcome aboard readers. There's lots of radio related posts here with all the usual junk. Cheers!

 

1943 Disney Studio Employees Handbook

(Click on images to enlarge)

Thanks to Open Culture.