Body Talk | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 9 October 1981 [1] | |||
Recorded | Early–mid 1981 | |||
Studio | Red Bus (London) | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 37:06 | |||
Label | R&B | |||
Producer | Jolley & Swain | |||
Imagination chronology | ||||
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Singles from Body Talk | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [2] |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [3] |
Robert Christgau | B+ [4] |
Body Talk is the debut album by British soul/dance group Imagination, produced by Steve Jolley and Tony Swain and released in October 1981. It is one of the earliest albums of its genre to have a distinctive 'British' sound as opposed to being an attempt to recreate contemporary American styles.
The title track was an immediate hit, reaching No. 4 on the UK singles chart. Two further singles, "In and Out of Love" and "Flashback", also reached the top 20. The album itself peaked at No. 20.
Body Talk proved to be an enduring album, with the tracks "So Good, So Right" and "Burnin' Up" being cited as influential and ahead of their time (the latter has been acknowledged by Frankie Knuckles as a key track in the development of house music).
All tracks composed by Steve Jolley, Tony Swain, Leee John, Ashley Ingram and Errol Kennedy
In July 1982, with the success of "Just an Illusion", the album was re-released in the US as an 8-track album, with the single version of "Just an Illusion" included as the fourth track. [5]
Musicians
Technical
Chart (1981) | Peak position |
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UK Albums (OCC) [6] | 22 |
Chart (1982) | Peak position |
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German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [7] | 37 |
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista) [8] | 21 |
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) [9] | 7 |
UK Albums (OCC) [6] | 20 |
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard) [10] | 46 |
Deep Sea Skiving is the debut studio album by British vocal group Bananarama, released in 1983. The album peaked at number seven on the UK Albums Chart and was certified Silver by the BPI.
Adrenalize is the fifth studio album by English rock band Def Leppard, released on 31 March 1992 through Mercury Records. The first album by the band following the death of guitarist Steve Clark in 1991, it spawned seven singles. Four of those – "Let's Get Rocked", "Make Love Like a Man", "Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad", and "Stand Up " – were major hits.
Steven Nicholas Jolley and Tony Swain were a successful songwriting and record production duo in the United Kingdom in the early to mid-1980s, producing some of the top artists and songs of the era.
Imagination were an English trio, who came to prominence in the early 1980s. They had hits in 28 countries, earning four platinum discs, nine gold discs and more than a dozen silver discs around the world between 1981 and 1983.
Comin' Atcha! is the debut album by English girl group Cleopatra, released on 30 June 1998 by WEA. The album reached number 20 on the UK Albums Chart and has been certified Silver in the UK by the BPI. From the album came the singles "Cleopatra's Theme", "Life Ain't Easy", "A Touch of Love" and a cover of The Jackson 5's "I Want You Back".
Leslie McGregor "Leee" John is a British musician, singer, and actor of St Lucian descent. He was born in Hackney, London, and educated in New York City, later studying drama at the Anna Scher Theatre School. He is perhaps best known as the lead singer of the soul band Imagination, which had three UK top 10 hits in the early 1980s.
"Get Your Number" is a song by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey. It was written by Carey, Jermaine Dupri, Johntá Austin and Bryan-Michael Cox, and produced by the former two and LRoc. It was released as the third international single from Carey's tenth studio album, The Emancipation of Mimi (2005). The song is built around a sample of "Just an Illusion" (1982) by British band Imagination. Due to the inclusion of the sample, several other writers are credited as songwriters. Lyrically, the song features the protagonist persistently asking for the phone number of an individual at a club.
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"Changes" is the eighth single by the British soul and post-disco band Imagination, released by R & B Records in 1982 in the United Kingdom and by MCA Records in 1983 in the United States. The song was produced and arranged by Tony Swain and Steve Jolley.
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Night Dubbing is the third album by British soul/dance group Imagination, produced by Steve Jolley and Tony Swain and released in 1983. The album consists of dub remixes of tracks from Imagination's first two albums, Body Talk and In the Heat of the Night, and reached No 9 on the UK Albums chart.
Scandalous is the fourth album by British soul/dance group Imagination, produced by Steve Jolley and Tony Swain and released in November 1983. In the US and Canada, the album was issued under title New Dimension in February 1984.
"Just an Illusion" is a song by the British trio Imagination. Co-written by Steve Jolley, Tony Swain, Ashley Ingram and Leee John, the song was a major European hit, peaking at number 2 in the group's native UK. In the United States, "Just an Illusion" went to number 27 on the Black chart. The song also peaked at number 15 on the dance charts.
"Burnin' Up" is a 1982 song recorded by British post-disco/soul trio Imagination, published by R&B Records in UK and MCA Records in the United States. "Burnin' Up" was composed by Leee John, Ashley Ingram and the Jolley & Swain duo. The song has appeared on their debut album titled Body Talk.
Errol Kennedy is a British musician, songwriter, composer, producer and original member of the British soul, funk and pop band Imagination.
"Honey for the Bees" is a song by British singer-songwriter Alison Moyet, released in 1984 as a track on her debut solo album Alf. It was written by Moyet, Steve Jolley and Tony Swain, and produced by Jolley and Swain.
"Body Talk" is the debut single by English trio Imagination, taken from their debut studio album, Body Talk (1981). It is their second biggest single on the UK Singles Chart, reaching a peak of number four, just behind their 1982 hits "Just an Illusion" (#2), but just ahead of "Music and Lights" (#5).