Bananarama - Nothing Lasts Forever (1989)

In 1988 Bananarama were is a state of flux, as after eight years as a trio producing a string of hit singles, Siobhan Fahey left the group. Her last gig as a member was performing 'Love In The First Degree' at the Brit Awards in February 1988, and she would later resurface as part of the BRIT Award–winning pop duo Shakespears Sister, alongside Marcella Detroit. After Fahey's exit, Jacquie O'Sullivan (formerly of the Shillelagh Sisters) joined in March 1988, and their next single 'I Want You Back' was re-recorded with O'Sullivan's vocals, as was The Supremes cover 'Nathan Jones'. 'Love, Truth And Honesty' was released as a single from their 1988 retrospective 'Greatest Hits Collection', and at the same time the group entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the all-female group who'd had the most UK chart entries in history, a record they still hold. Tensions soon began to appear within the new line-up though, with O'Sullivan complaining that there were no photographs of her displayed at the Soho launch of 'Greatest Hits Collection', and her bandmates were uncomfortable with her partying lifestyle, but these seem to have been resolved in time for their 1989 world tour. After the tour was complete, they started recording their fifth album with producers Stock, Aitken and Waterman (SAW), but were dissatisfied with the results of those sessions, thinking the majority of the songs were of sub-par quality, although 'Ain't No Cure' and 'Heartless' were eventually included on the album. They started looking for other producers, first working with David Z with whom the group recorded 'Some Boys', but felt it was not the direction they wanted to follow, and the song remained unreleased until 2013. They then worked with Steve Jolley who, along with Tony Swain, had produced the group's first three records, and one song co-written by him, 'Is Your Love Strong Enough', did end up on the album, while another remains unreleased. They settled with Youth, who had been Sara Dallin's boyfriend some years before, to produce the majority of the album. The record was a departure from Bananarama's previous albums as it incorporates a much more diverse range of musical genres, including flamenco guitar (on a cover of the Doobie Brothers song 'Long Train Running', featuring Alma de Noche, a pseudonym for the Gipsy Kings), retro-rock ('Only Your Love', 'Outta Sight'), acid house ('Tripping On Your Love'), reggae ('What Colour R The Skies Where U Live?'), experimental club ('Megalomaniac'), and their hallmark Euro disco sound ('Preacher Man', 'Ain't No Cure'). The band completely re-recorded the SAW track 'Ain't No Cure' with Youth, intending to place it on the album, but a furious response by SAW ultimately saw the band relent, and include the original recording on the album. On its release, 'Pop Life' received positive reviews from critics, although it just missed the UK Top 40 charts, and four mid-charting singles were issued from it. Following the release of 'Tripping On Your Love', O'Sullivan left the group, leaving founder members Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward to continue as a duo. Although the band were happier with the finished 'Pop Life' album, fans have often wondered what a completely SAW-produced album would have sounded like, and enough demos of the songs they recorded together have emerged over the years to piece it together and compare it to the officially released album, so here it is for you to decide which would have been the better record.   

Track listing

01 One In A Million

02 Outta Sight
03 Heartless
04 Long Train Running

05 Wake Up And Love Me

06 Don't Throw It All Away
07 Ain't No Cure
08 I Don't Care
09 Love Generation
10 Nothing Lasts Forever