The Living Return
Encyclopedia
The Living Return is the title of the fourth studio album by the British
pop
group Swing Out Sister
. It was released in September 1994 on Fontana Records
.
, the lead single, "La-La (Means I Love You)
", peaked at #37 on the UK Singles Chart
. This song is a cover version
of the 1968 hit by The Delfonics
and was also featured on the soundtrack to the film Four Weddings and a Funeral
. Another song from The Living Return, "Better Make It Better", was released as a single, although it didn't make the music charts in either the UK or the US.
magazine gave The Living Return an 8 out of 10 rating in their 17 September 1994 issue, saying that the album "...sounds divine, a glissando of strings and things, an aural bath for the ears." Q Magazine
also spoke favorably of the album, mentioning that "SOS have an ear for a snappy arrangements and a mature lightness of touch as they gently echo Miles Davis
, Weather Report
and the whole modish Afro era." They rated the album with four stars and an "excellent" rating.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
group Swing Out Sister
Swing Out Sister
Swing Out Sister are a British "sophisti-pop" group best known worldwide for their 1986 song "Breakout". Other hits include "Surrender", "Twilight World", "Waiting Game" and a remake of "Am I the Same Girl?" Though album sales in the U.S. and Europe have levelled off since the early 1990s, the...
. It was released in September 1994 on Fontana Records
Fontana Records
Fontana Records is a record label which was started in the 1950s as a subsidiary of the Dutch Philips Records; when Philips restructured its music operations it dropped Fontana in favor of Vertigo Records. In the seventies PolyGram acquired the dormant label....
.
Charts
Although this marked the first studio album by the group that failed to reach the UK Albums ChartUK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
, the lead single, "La-La (Means I Love You)
La-La (Means I Love You)
"La-La " is a 1968 song originally performed by The Delfonics. It was written by Thom Bell and William Hart and produced by Bell and Stan Watson....
", peaked at #37 on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
. This song is a cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of the 1968 hit by The Delfonics
The Delfonics
The Delfonics are a pioneering Philadelphia soul singing group, most popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Their most notable hits include "La-La ", "Didn't I ", "Break Your Promise," "I'm Sorry," and "Ready or Not Here I Come "...
and was also featured on the soundtrack to the film Four Weddings and a Funeral
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Four Weddings and a Funeral is a 1994 British comedy film directed by Mike Newell. It was the first of several films by screenwriter Richard Curtis to feature Hugh Grant...
. Another song from The Living Return, "Better Make It Better", was released as a single, although it didn't make the music charts in either the UK or the US.
Reviews
New Musical ExpressNME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
magazine gave The Living Return an 8 out of 10 rating in their 17 September 1994 issue, saying that the album "...sounds divine, a glissando of strings and things, an aural bath for the ears." Q Magazine
Q (magazine)
Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...
also spoke favorably of the album, mentioning that "SOS have an ear for a snappy arrangements and a mature lightness of touch as they gently echo Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
, Weather Report
Weather Report
Weather Report was an American jazz-rock band of the 1970s and early 1980s. The band was co-led by the Austrian-born keyboard player Joe Zawinul and the American saxophonist Wayne Shorter...
and the whole modish Afro era." They rated the album with four stars and an "excellent" rating.
Track listing
CD & cassette version- 1. "Better Make It Better" -(5:53) (Andy ConnellAndy ConnellAndrew John "Andy" Connell is an English musician and composer. Along with Corinne Drewery, he is part of the duo that makes up Swing Out Sister....
/Corinne DreweryCorinne DreweryCorinne Drewery is the lead singer of the pop music band, Swing Out Sister.-Early life:Drewery grew up in Nottingham and the Lincolnshire village of Authorpe and went to South Reston Primary School, then Monks' Dyke High School and King Edward VI Grammar School in nearby Louth, then Lincoln College...
) - 2. "Don't Let Yourself Down" - (4:42) (A. Connell/C. Drewery)
- 3. "Ordinary People" - (6:22) (A. Connell/C. Drewery)
- 4. "Mama Didn't Raise No Fool" - (5:11) (A. Connell/C. Drewery)
- 5. "Don't Give Up On A Good Thing" - (3:44) (A. Connell/C. Drewery/Derick Johnson/Tim Cansfield)
- 6. "Making the Right Move" - (10:32) (A. Connell/C. Drewery)
- 7. "La-La (Means I Love You)La-La (Means I Love You)"La-La " is a 1968 song originally performed by The Delfonics. It was written by Thom Bell and William Hart and produced by Bell and Stan Watson....
" - (4:52) (T. BellThom BellThomas Randolph "Thom" Bell is an American songwriter and producer, best known as one of the creators of the Philadelphia style of soul music in the 1970s. He moved to Philadelphia as a child.-Biography:...
/W. Hart) - 8. "Feel Free" - (5:06) (A. Connell/C. Drewery)
- 9. "Stop and Think It Over" - (6:03) (A. Connell/C. Drewery)
- 10. "That's the Way It Goes" - (4:42) (A. Connell/C. Drewery/D. Johnson/T. Cansfield)
- 11a."All in Your Mind" - (4:15) (A. Connell/C. Drewery)
- 11b."O Pesadelo Dos Autores" - (5:52) (A. Connell/C. Drewery/M. White/A. Moreira/R. Werneck/T. M. C. Reis/S. WonderStevie WonderStevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
/S. Moy/H. Cosby/I. Lins/V. Martins/A. De Oliveira/H. Hancock/B. Maupin/Burick) - 12. "Low Down Dirty Business" - (5:19) (A. Connell/C. Drewery/D. Johnson/T. Cansfield)
- The song "O Pesadelo Dos Autores" features a medley of the songs:
- "Brazilian Rhyme" - Earth, Wind & FireEarth, Wind & FireEarth, Wind & Fire is an American soul and R&B band formed in Chicago, Illinois, in 1969 by Verdine and Maurice White. Also known as EWF, the band has won six Grammy Awards and four American Music Awards. They have been inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Vocal Group Hall of...
- From the 1977 album "All 'N AllAll 'N AllAll 'N All is the eighth studio album by the American band Earth, Wind & Fire, released in 1977 on Columbia Records. The album features songs such as "I'll Write A Song For You", "Serpentine Fire", "Love's Holiday", and the pop hit "Fantasy". A remastered version of the LP was issued in 2002...
" (Maurice WhiteMaurice WhiteMaurice White is a Grammy Award–winning American singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, arranger. He is the older brother of Verdine White and Fred White and the leader and founder of the band Earth, Wind & Fire...
)
- From the 1977 album "All 'N All
- "Celebration Suite" - Return to ForeverReturn to ForeverReturn to Forever is a jazz fusion group founded and led by keyboardist Chick Corea. Through its existence, the band has cycled through a number of different members, with the only consistent band mate of Corea's being bassist Stanley Clarke...
- From the 1975 album "No MysteryNo MysteryNo Mystery is the fifth studio album by influential jazz-rock fusion band Return to Forever.Return to Forever's fifth album is their most varied. While the production is similar to the album's predecessor, Where Have I Known You Before, the sheer variety of compositions gives this record a...
" (Airto MoreiraAirto MoreiraAirto Moreira is a Brazilian jazz drummer and percussionist. Airto is married to jazz singer Flora Purim, and their daughter Diana Moreira is also a singer. He currently resides in Los Angeles.-Biography:...
)
- From the 1975 album "No Mystery
- "Come with Me" - Tania MariaTania MariaTania Maria is a Brazilian artist, singer, composer, bandleader and piano player, singing mostly in Portuguese or English. Her Brazilian-style music is mostly vocal, sometimes pop, often jazzy, and includes samba, bossa, Afro-Latin, Pop and Jazz fusion.-Biography:Born in São Luís, Maranhão,...
- From the 1982 album "Come with Me" (Regina Werneck, Tania Maria Correa Reis)
- "My Cherie Amour" - Stevie WonderStevie WonderStevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
- From the 1969 album "My Cherie AmourMy Cherie Amour (album)My Cherie Amour is a 1969 album by American recording artist Stevie Wonder on the Tamla label, his eleventh studio album. The album yielded a couple of major hits, including the title track and "Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday", as well as Wonder's takes on the 1967 hit "Light My Fire" by The...
" (Stevie Wonder, Sylvia MoySylvia MoySylvia Moy is a songwriter and record producer, formerly associated with the Motown Records group. The first woman at the Detroit-based music label to write and produce for Motown acts, she is probably best known for her songs written for Stevie Wonder....
, Henry CosbyHenry CosbyHenry "Hank" R. Cosby was an African American songwriter and record producer for Motown Records...
)
- From the 1969 album "My Cherie Amour
- "The Smiling Hour" - Kalima
- From the 1984 single "The Smiling Hour/Flyaway" (Ivan LinsIvan LinsIvan Guimarães Lins is a Latin Grammy winning Brazilian musician. He has been an active performer and songwriter of Brazilian popular music and jazz for over 30 years. His first hit, Madalena, was recorded by Elis Regina in 1970. Beyond his own performance of his compositions, Simone is his most...
, Victor Martins, Aloysio de Oliveira)
- From the 1984 single "The Smiling Hour/Flyaway" (Ivan Lins
- "Butterfly" - Herbie HancockHerbie HancockHerbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
- From the 1974 album "ThrustThrust (album)Thrust is a jazz fusion album by Herbie Hancock, released in 1974 on Columbia Records. It served as a follow-up to Hancock's album, Head Hunters , and achieved similar commercial success, as the album reached as high as number 13 on the Billboard Hot 200 listing...
" (Herbie Hancock, Bennie MaupinBennie MaupinBennie Maupin is a Detroit Michigan jazz multireedist. He performs on various saxophones, flute and bass clarinet.He is probably best known for his participation in Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi sextet and Headhunters band, and for performing on Miles Davis's seminal fusion record, Bitches Brew...
)
- From the 1974 album "Thrust