A Pocketful of Dreams | |
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Studio album by | |
Released | 30 April 1990 |
Recorded | 1989–1990 |
Genre | Dance-pop |
Label | Jive Records |
Producer | Stock Aitken Waterman (tracks: 1, 2, 3, 6, 10), Phil Harding & Ian Curnow (tracks: 4, 7, 11), Pete Hammond (tracks: 5, 8, 9), |
A Pocketful of Dreams is the debut album by the English boy band Big Fun. It was released in 1990 and reached the Top 10 of the UK Albums Chart, [1] peaking at #7.
The album includes their UK Top 40 hit singles "Blame It on the Boogie" (a cover of The Jacksons' 1978 hit), "Can't Shake the Feeling" and "Handful of Promises". Also included is their cover of "Hey There Lonely Girl", which was released as a single but stalled at #62 in the UK.
The group never released any other albums.
In 2010 the album was released by the Cherry Pop label, including unreleased and rare songs, among them their duet with Sonia, "You've Got a Friend", which was released as a charity single in 1990, and a cover of the Carole King song of the same name which both artists also recorded but was never released.
A review published in Music Week magazine gave a negative review, stating that "it's a sad indictment of the UK public that such mediocre performances can sell in such quantity", and considered the band's inability to reach the high notes on "Hey There Lonely Girl" as a proof of a "severe lack of talent". [2]
Chart (1990) | Peak Position |
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European Albums (European Albums Chart) [3] | 26 |
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista) [4] | 36 |
German Albums (Media Control Charts) [5] | 39 |
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE) [6] | 12 |
UK Albums (OCC) [7] | 7 |
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Spain (PROMUSICAE) [8] | Platinum | 100,000^ |
United Kingdom (BPI) [9] | Gold | 100,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
Sonia Evans, known mononymously as Sonia, is an English pop singer from Liverpool. She had a 1989 UK number one hit with "You'll Never Stop Me Loving You" and became the first female UK artist to achieve five top 20 hit singles from one album. She represented the United Kingdom in the 1993 Eurovision Song Contest, where she finished second with the song "Better the Devil You Know". Between 1989 and 1993, she had 11 UK top 30 hits, including "Listen to Your Heart" (1989), "Counting Every Minute" (1990) and "Only Fools " (1991). In 1994, she starred as Sandy in a West End revival of the musical Grease, while on television she appeared as Bunty in the 1998 BBC comedy series The Lily Savage Show.
The Andantes were an American female session group for the Motown record label during the 1960s. Composed of Jackie Hicks, Marlene Barrow, and Louvain Demps, the group sang background vocals on numerous Motown recordings, including songs by Martha Reeves & the Vandellas, the Temptations, Stevie Wonder, the Four Tops, Jimmy Ruffin, Edwin Starr, the Supremes, the Marvelettes, Marvin Gaye and the Isley Brothers, among others. It is estimated they appeared on 20,000 recordings.
Caroline Catherine Müller, known professionally as C. C. Catch, is a Dutch-born German pop singer, also known for her collaboration with Dieter Bohlen in the 1980s.
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Destiny is the thirteenth studio album released by American band the Jacksons, recorded in part at Dawnbreaker Studios – San Fernando, California. It was released on December 18, 1978 on Epic Records and CBS Records. The album would eventually sell over four million copies worldwide, two million in America during its initial run and another two million worldwide. The album marked the first time in the band's career in which they had complete artistic control, and was also the first album produced by the brothers who promoted it with a year-long world tour.
Big Fun was a British boy band that was active between 1988 and 1994. The band consisted of Phil Creswick, Mark Gillespie and Jason John. Their album was produced by Stock Aitken Waterman, though many tracks on the album were produced by other PWL members.
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"Blame It on the Boogie" is a song released in 1978 by English singer-songwriter Mick Jackson. It has been covered by numerous other artists, including The Jacksons. The song was performed on Musikladen, Aplauso, Sonja's Goed Nieuws Show and ABBA Special: Disco in the Snow Part 1.
"Can't Shake the Feeling" is a pop-dance song written by Stock Aitken Waterman for British boys band Big Fun. It was the second single from their 1990 debut studio album A Pocketful of Dreams on which it is the third track. Released in November 1989 with two different covers, it enjoyed decent chart trajectories in European countries, although it was unable to meet the same success than Big Fun's previous hit "Blame It on the Boogie". It became a top ten hit in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain and Finland, and a top 50 hit in Belgium, France and Germany.
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"You've Got a Friend" is a song written and produced by Stock Aitken Waterman and performed by Sonia and Big Fun, and featuring Gary Barnacle on sax. The song, a midtempo pop ballad, was released as a charity single for the Childline foundation on June 11, 1990. Initially the artists recorded the well-known Carole King song of the same name, but for reasons unknown it was ultimately not used and SAW wrote an original song with the same name instead. The cover version was finally released in the 2010 re-issue of Big Fun's album, A Pocketful of Dreams.
Monster Hits or Hits 11 is the eleventh release of the Hits compilation Series. It was released on 20 November 1989 in the United Kingdom and it debuted at number two on the UK Compilation Chart. The album was issued on vinyl, double cassette and double compact disc and featured 32 tracks.
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"Handful of Promises" is a pop-dance song written by Stock Aitken Waterman for British boys band Big Fun. It was the third single from their 1990 debut studio album A Pocketful of Dreams on which it is the first track. The B-side of the various formats is a new song, "Catch a Broken Heart", which was not included on the parent album. Released on 5 March 1990 with two different covers, it failed to reach the top 20 in United Kingdom where it stalled at number 21. However, it was a top ten hit in Ireland and Spain.