Get Even | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by | ||||
Released | 14 November 1988 [1] | |||
Recorded | 1986–1988 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 49:32 ("Get Even I" CD) 39:14 ("Get Even I" LP) 47:13 ("Get Even II" CD) 37:09 ("Get Even II" LP) | |||
Label | EMI / Parlophone | |||
Producer | various (see Credits) | |||
Brother Beyond chronology | ||||
|
Get Even is the debut album by British boy band Brother Beyond, released on the EMI/Parlophone label in two different editions, both in 1988, generally referred to as Get Even I and Get Even II. The second edition of the album included two songs by Stock Aitken Waterman, "The Harder I Try" and "He Ain't No Competition", which replaced two songs written by the band.
The album's songs were composed between 1986, when Brother Beyond's first single "I Should Have Lied"—the only single by the band not to make the UK Top 75—was issued, and 1988. The two Stock Aitken Waterman tracks, "The Harder I Try" and "He Ain't No Competition", were added to the album after EMI won the production team's services at a charity auction and became the band's only UK Top 10 hits.[ citation needed ]
Like many British bands at the time (such as Patsy Kensit's Eighth Wonder during their earlier period), Brother Beyond enjoyed more success in continental Europe than at home, especially in Italy where their second single "How Many Times" (which only made it to Number 62 in the UK) was a big hit in 1987. In their native Great Britain it would take until the summer of the following year and the release of the Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman produced track "The Harder I Try" for the band to score a hit. The song reached number 2 in the UK Singles Chart. "The Harder I Try" samples the drum intro from The Isley Brothers' "This Old Heart of Mine"; its successor "He Ain't No Competition" reached number 6 in November 1988. The 12" version of the song had already topped the Hi-NRG charts in October.
Brother Beyond's final significant hits were two remixed versions of self-penned Get Even II album tracks "Be My Twin", which got to number 14 in January 1989, and "Can You Keep a Secret?", which got to number 22 in April (the first version of the song had been released as the band's fourth single, reaching number 56 in 1987). The latter would be the last significantly successful single for the group in the UK ("Drive On", the first single from their second and final studio album Trust would only reach number 39 and the title-track "Trust" number 53).
Get Even also spawned a 57-minute live concert video, entitled Brother Beyond – The Get Even Tour – Live 1989, issued on the VHS format in 1991, the same year of release as the band's final single, "The Girl I Used to Know", which found little success in the UK (number 48), but was a minor hit in the United States. The group broke up shortly after its release.
All tracks are written by Carl Fysh except where noted.
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Be My Twin" | 3:19 | |
2. | "Chain-Gang Smile" | 3:40 | |
3. | "How Many Times" | Carl Fysh, David White | 3:09 |
4. | "Restless" | 4:25 | |
5. | "Somebody Somewhere" | 4:36 | |
6. | "I Should Have Lied" | 3:44 | |
7. | "Can You Keep a Secret?" | 3:24 | |
8. | "Shipwrecked" | 4:24 | |
9. | "Sunset Bars" | 4:20 | |
10. | "King of Blue" | 4:13 | |
11. | "Act for Love" (Extended version) | 6:09 | |
12. | "Sometimes Good Sometimes Bad (Sometimes Better)" | 3:55 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "He Ain't No Competition" | 3:19 | |
2. | "Can You Keep a Secret?" | 3:24 | |
3. | "Chain-Gang Smile" | 3:40 | |
4. | "Restless" | Fysh, Eg White | 4:25 |
5. | "How Many Times" | Fysh, D. White | 3:09 |
6. | "Be My Twin" | 3:27 | |
7. | "The Harder I Try" | 3:24 | |
8. | "I Should Have Lied" | 3:44 | |
9. | "Shipwrecked" | 4:24 | |
10. | "King of Blue" | 4:13 | |
11. | "Act for Love" (Extended version) | 6:09 | |
12. | "Sometimes Good Sometimes Bad (Sometimes Better)" | 3:55 |
Same as Get Even II, plus:
Same as Get Even I, plus:
Chart (1988–1989) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australian Albums Chart [2] | 89 |
European Albums Chart [3] | 37 |
German Albums (Media Control Charts) [4] | 63 |
UK Albums (OCC) [5] | 9 |
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
United Kingdom (BPI) [6] | Platinum | 300,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
Country | Date | Format | Label | Catalogue |
---|---|---|---|---|
Italy | 1988 | vinyl LP | EMI Italiana / Parlophone | 64 7467061 |
United Kingdom | CD | EMI / Parlophone | CDPCS 7314 | |
Germany | CDP 7 46706 2 |
Country | Date | Format | Label | Catalogue |
---|---|---|---|---|
Italy | vinyl LP | EMI Italiana / Parlophone | 64 7910691 | |
United Kingdom | CD | EMI / Parlophone | CDPCS 7327 | |
Germany | CDP 7 91069 2 |
Stock Aitken Waterman are an English songwriting and record production trio consisting of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken, and Pete Waterman. The trio had great success from the mid-1980s through the early 1990s. SAW is considered one of the most successful songwriting and producing partnerships of all time, scoring more than 100 UK top-40 hits, selling 40 million records and earning an estimated £60 million.
Dead or Alive was an English pop band that released seven studio albums from 1984 to 2000. The band formed in 1980 in Liverpool and found success in the mid-1980s, releasing seven singles that made the UK top 40 and three albums on the UK top 30. At the peak of their success, the lineup consisted of Pete Burns (vocals), Steve Coy (drums), Mike Percy (bass) and Tim Lever (keyboards), with the core pair of Burns and Coy writing and producing for the remainder of the band's career.
Youthquake is the second studio album by the English pop band Dead or Alive, released on 3 May 1985 by Epic Records. The album was their commercial breakthrough in Europe and the United States, due to the lead single "You Spin Me Round ", which was a UK number-one hit and a top 20 hit in the United States. Additional single releases from the album included "Lover Come Back to Me", "In Too Deep" and "My Heart Goes Bang ".
Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know is the third studio album by British pop band Dead or Alive, released on 21 November 1986 on Epic Records. Continuing their association with the Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW) production team, Dead or Alive scored several hit singles from this album, including "Brand New Lover", "Something in My House", "Hooked on Love" and "I'll Save You All My Kisses".
In the Spirit of Things is the eleventh studio album by American rock band Kansas, released in 1988. It is a very loosely organized concept album, telling the story of a flood hitting the real Kansas city of Neosho Falls in 1951. It is the first Kansas album since 1975's Masque to lack a hit single.
Brother Beyond were a British pop band who had success in the pop rock genre in the late 1980s.
Another Place and Time is the fourteenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Donna Summer, released on March 20, 1989 by Atlantic Records and PWL. The album was produced by Stock Aitken Waterman and featured Summer's top-10 hit "This Time I Know It's for Real", which reached number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was her last top 40 hit on the chart to date.
The Wild, the Willing and the Innocent is the ninth studio album by English hard rock band UFO, released in January 1981. Their first to be entirely self-produced. Its song "Lonely Heart" was a minor UK hit.
Philip James Harding is an English music producer, audio engineer, remixer, academic and author.
Pop Life is the fifth studio album by English group Bananarama, released on 13 May 1991 by London Records. It is the only Bananarama studio album which features singer Jacquie O'Sullivan, who replaced Siobhan Fahey upon her departure in 1988. This album marks the end of the group's association with the Stock Aitken Waterman production team as most of Pop Life was produced by Youth. English singer Zoë provided backing vocals on "Long Train Running". This would be the last album by Bananarama as a trio.
Time to Burn is the second studio album by American hard rock band Giant, released on March 31, 1992, by Epic Records.
If I Have to Stand Alone is the debut album by Hi-NRG and house singer Lonnie Gordon, released in 1990 on Supreme Records. It includes Gordon's breakthrough hit "Happenin' All Over Again", which was a top 10 hit in the UK and Ireland. However, the two follow-up singles, "Beyond Your Wildest Dreams" and "If I Have to Stand Alone" did not fare as well. The album was released in parts of continental Europe in late 1990, and Japan and Australia in early 1991, albeit in limited quantity, and wasn't released in the UK until a Cherry Pop reissue in 2009.
"I Don't Wanna Get Hurt" is the second single from the album Another Place and Time by Donna Summer. The song was remixed from the album version and released on May 15, 1989, by Warner Bros. Records (Europe).
"Breakaway" is a song from the album Another Place and Time by Donna Summer, recorded in 1989. The song was released in October 1989 as the fourth single from the album by Atlantic Records and Warner Bros. Records (Europe) and was a top 50 hit in UK. The song was written and produced by Stock, Aitken & Waterman.
Trust is the second album of the British boy band / pop group Brother Beyond, released in 1989, by EMI / Parlophone. It was their last album, since they disbanded. After their two major hits, "The Harder I Try" and "He Ain't No Competition", written for them by famous producers Stock, Aitken and Waterman, the band, as lead singer Nathan Moore puts it on his Official Website, "made the classic mistake of thinking they did not need Stock Aitken and Waterman... We wrote the whole of the next album ourselves and (it) bombed totally". The three singles taken from the Trust album were only minor hits, getting no higher than the UK Top 40. The first, "Drive On", which was also the opening track of Side 2 on the vinyl edition, got to Number 39, in October 1989. The second, "When Will I See You Again?", a soulful ballad by The Three Degrees, stopped at Number 43, in December 1989. The third and last, "Trust", the title-track and opener to the whole album, stalled at Number 53, in March 1990.
The Very Best of Brother Beyond is a compilation from British boy band / pop group Brother Beyond, released in 2005, by EMI label, for its «Gold Series», containing all the quartet's greatest hits, as well as minor successes, including their last single, that is the United States success called "The Girl I Used to Know". The record also contains five very hard to find 12" versions: "The Harder I Try", "Drive On", "Be My Twin", "Can You Keep a Secret?" and "He Ain't No Competition". The compilation, totally featuring 17 tracks, came out 15 years after Brother Beyond's last single. Besides the above-mentioned five 12" versions, the collection also includes all 11 singles released by the group, between 1986 and 1991, plus 1 B-side. The album contains their only 2 Top 10 hits ; 1 Top 20 ; 1 Top 30 ; 1 Top 40 ; 2 Top 50 ; 2 Top 60 ; and 1 Top 75. The greatest hits collection also includes the very first single from the band, "I Should Have Lied", the only one which never succeeded in entering the UK Top 75. As concerns the one B-side here proposed, this is the original version to the popular track called "Act for Love", previously contained, in its extended version only, in both CD editions of their first album, Get Even.
Hold Me in Your Arms is the second studio album by English singer Rick Astley, released on 26 November 1988 by RCA Records. It is the follow-up to his successful debut album Whenever You Need Somebody, and was his last album produced and written with the Stock Aitken Waterman team.
Indigo is the third album by British pop/jazz/soul/dance band Matt Bianco, released in July 1988.
"The Harder I Try" is a song by British boyband Brother Beyond. Written and produced by Stock Aitken Waterman, it was released on 18 July 1988 as the fifth single from the band's debut album, Get Even (1988). The song peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart the following month. It was a number-one hit in Ireland and entered the top 10 in Iceland while peaking within the top 20 in Belgium, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Switzerland.
"Rain" is a song by New Zealand rock group Dragon released in July 1983 as the first single ahead of their seventh studio album, Body and the Beat. It is co-written by the group's brothers, Marc and Todd Hunter, with Johanna Pigott, Todd's then-domestic partner. "Rain" peaked at number 2 and stayed in the Kent Music Report singles chart for 26 weeks. The song reached number 88 on the United States Billboard Hot 100 charts in mid-1984. For the original single version the group's Kerry Jacobson had provided drums and percussion; he left the group in September 1983 and was replaced by Terry Chambers, who is shown in promotional material including cover art and music videos.