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i bought this cd for my partner and have to admit ,i really find myself listening to it more than he does, i really love heart and soul ,its a great beautiful love song. never get tired of listening to it.
When this album appeared during the summer of 1987, it was a anomaly. Falling somewhere between Pat Benatar-like guitar rock and the post-New Wave Brit pop/rock of the early 80's, it boasted the infectious, glossily layered smash single "Heart and Soul", a song that reverberated through car stereos and night clubs throughout the summer months. After a slow climb up the Billboard charts, the song eventually hit the Top 5 on the the Billboard pop chart before dropping away and relegating this talented British band to the dreaded one-hit wonder status in America. In retrospect, there may have been several reasons for this. The most obvious assumption would be that "Heart and Soul" was too far removed from sound of the rest of the album, which alternates between atmospheric, moody ballads ("Valentine", "I Will Be With You", "China In Your Hand") and frontal assault rockers ("Sex Talk", "The Monkey House", "You Give Up"). It's more likely, however, that this album's failure in America was due to a lack of promotion by Virgin Records. It certainly wasn't due to the quality of the music, evidenced by the fact that five of its tracks were big hits in Great Britain: "Heart and Soul", "I Will Be With You", "Valentine", "Sex Talk" and "China In Your Hand", which spent five weeks at number one on the British charts over the 1987/88 holiday season, eventually becoming the biggest hit of the year. With that being said, this album had all the chops to make a big splash in America, but alas, Virgin Records dropped the ball. The follow up American single, "Bridge Of Spies", did not appear until several months after "Heart and Soul" had dropped off the charts, a critical delay in the development of a new artist. By then, radio had lost interest in T'Pau. "China In Your Hand" followed as a third single following its international success, but by then the momentum was gone and it abruptly disappeared. As did T'Pau. Their sophomore release, "Rage", was not even picked up by Virgin for release in America, but proved a moderately successful follow-up, with three hit singles in Britain. It seems likely that the band may have had a falling out with Virgin America (can anybody verify this?), and therefore did not get the promotional push behind the single release of "Bridge Of Spies", which is probably the best song on an album full of great ones. In retrospect, what we have here is a classic album of its era. Any track could have been a hit single under the right circumstances. Even "On the Wing", a non-lp track that appeared as the B-Side to the "Heart and Soul" single, was catchy and memorable enough to have been a hit. Sure, the production throughout dates the album to its era, but with a plethora of great original material, not to mention Carol Decker's powerful and emotive lead and overdubbed backing vocals, this is one of the best pop/rock albums of the 80's, and it's disgraceful that few Americans ever got to hear anything off of it besides "Heart and Soul". Highly recommended!
Clearly, Carol Decker and company are Star Trek fans, as they took their name from the priestess in the Star Trek episode "Amok Time." Me, I heard their single "Heart And Soul" and was entranced by the dreamy new-wave/alternative pop hybrid they came up with. The smooth melodic keyboards and wall of sound makes me imagine of floating down a river. Carol's voice varies between the sultry monologue: "Something in the moonlight catches my eye/the shadow of a lover goes dancing by/looking for a little bit of love to go, so/give me love give me heart and soul" to lilting singing, of which the two are mixed together, and finally the shrill emotion in the chorus. One of my favourite songs of all time. "I Will Be With You" is one of those wishful dreams of going back to times past. However, it's the third single (in the U.S., anyway) that rivals "Heart And Soul" in sheer silkiness. "China In Your Hand," which did better in T'Pau's native UK, opens with pizzicato strings, and this leisurely paced song coated with their usual wall of synthesizer. The chorus goes "Don't push too far/Your dreams are china in your hand/Don't wish too hard/Because they may come true." Or, as another proverb goes, "Be careful what you wish for-you may get it." The sax solo at the end is a nice touch, and the fact that there is a brief reprise of this song as the last track hints at its status as the keynote track here. "Friends Like These" takes a critical look at tunnel-visioned friends who fall down once their dream and vision prove fallible: "But oh how the mighty all fall down/Heavy in a sea of principles." The chorus goes: "Only one dream/only one way/only one vision and thought for the day." Carol wonders if they are aware that there's more than one way to the answer. "Sex Talk" sounds like a flashy upbeat Elton John pop song. She says of the title theme, done by the phone as "love without a face." The narrator has been alone too long and can't go on this way. "Bridge Of Spies," the second single, is a mid-paced ballad with its slow U2-like guitars, equates the meeting of lovers akin to standing on opposite sides of a bridge the way Cold War spies were exchanged-remember Francis Gary Powers and Rudolf Abel? "I am walking/over the bridge of spies today/Freedom is only one more step away/You only have to hold me/Take me to you." Another nice line: "where I lived in my fantasy on the continent of dreams." Funny, I thought that's where I lived. That song segues into the down-and-dirty "Monkey House" with its watered down AC-DC rock guitar. It's an analogy of Puritanical censorship being the wealthy state of Mental Hygiene. "We can make or break your mind/With Mental Hygiene/And you will see things in the way we think you should" definitely has totalitarian overtones. "Valentine" is a sad forlorn look at a lost love who's now married and has a child: "I know mine are the arms you'll never hold/I know mine is a love remains untold." She sings in her lilting ballad voice here. That is followed by the bittersweet "Thank You For Goodbye" with a sax permeating the song. Notable lyric: "So I really don't matter/I'm just a rung on your ladder/To climb over on your way to town." The raucous "You Give Up" is a scolding tone of people who aim for extremes and don't go for closer dreams. Not a good song for idealists or romantics. Even sixteen years after its release, I still can't find myself just shuffling it off into any category except as a hybrid combination. So give a little bit of heart and soul...
I first saw the video for "Heart and Soul" when I had insomnia as a 17-year old -- and ran out and bought this cassette the same day. Little did I know that, good a song as it was, that it was the worst song on the album.
I recently rebought it in CD form and it's as amazing now as it was then. How T'Pau was so successful in the UK and yet a one-hit wonder in the US, I have no idea. China in Your Hand is such a well-done song, lyrically, musically, and emotionally, and the rest aren't far behind.
Now if only they'll rerelease The Promise, and actually come up with a US version of Rage, I'll be happy.
So I'd had this on vinyl for many years but can no longer play vinyl, so bought a 2nd hand CD. It was delivered promptly, was in very good condition and plays perfectly. couldn't have wanted any more.
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