Love for Sale | ||||
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![]() Standard edition album cover | ||||
Studio album by | ||||
Released | May 2, 1977 | |||
Recorded | August 1976 – March 1977 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 41:17 | |||
Label | ||||
Producer | Frank Farian | |||
Boney M. chronology | ||||
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Alternative cover | ||||
![]() U.S. and Canadian edition album cover (back cover of standard edition) | ||||
Singles from Love for Sale | ||||
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Love for Sale is the second studio album by Euro-Caribbean group Boney M. The album includes the hits "Ma Baker" and "Belfast". It also includes three covers:"Love for Sale" (by Cole Porter),"Have You Ever Seen the Rain?" (by Creedence Clearwater Revival),and "Still I'm Sad" (by The Yardbirds).
This was the last Boney M. album without different edits on LP and cassette like Nightflight to Venus and Oceans of Fantasy .
The standard cover art features the male member Bobby Farrell "naked [with] a futuristic golden thong" [2] chaining female members,resembling African sexual slaves. [3] [4] American label Atlantic Records found the cover "raunchy", [5] so they used the standard back cover of a vinyl sleeve featuring the band wearing clothes as the alternative front cover of American and Canadian edition. [5] One of the female group members,Liz Mitchell,told The Sydney Morning Herald : [6]
They wanted to photograph us all totally naked in chains with [band member Bobby Farrell] standing over us like it was bondage[...] I wept—trust me. When they showed us the costumes,it was just heavy gold chains.
The front cover of the South Korean vinyl edition features the band in one live performance,and the back cover of the edition features the band in a studio photo session. [7]
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Canada combined sales with first album | — | 48,000 [24] |
Denmark & Sweden | — | 250,000 [25] |
Finland (Musiikkituottajat) [26] | Gold | 26,218 [26] |
France | — | 250,000 [27] |
Germany (BVMI) [28] | Platinum | 500,000^ |
Greece (IFPI Greece) [29] | Gold | 50,000^ |
Hong Kong (IFPI Hong Kong) [30] | Platinum | 20,000* |
Israel [31] | 2× Gold | 40,000 [32] |
Netherlands | — | 100,000 [33] |
Spain combined sales with first album | — | 300,000 [25] |
Sweden (GLF) [34] | Gold | 50,000^ |
United Kingdom (BPI) [35] | Gold | 100,000^ |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |
Boney M. are a disco group that specialises in R&B, reggae, disco and funk. The group was created by German record producer Frank Farian, who was the group's primary songwriter. Originally based in West Germany, the four original members of the group's official line-up were Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett from Jamaica, Maizie Williams from Montserrat, and Bobby Farrell from Aruba. The group was formed in 1976 and achieved popularity during the disco era of the late 1970s. Since the 1980s, various line-ups of the band have performed with differing personnel.
"Ma Baker" is a song by disco group Boney M., released as a single in 1977. It was the first single of their second album Love for Sale and their third consecutive chart-topper in Germany.
Nightflight to Venus is the third studio album by Euro-Caribbean group Boney M., and was released in June 1978. The album became a major success in continental Europe, Scandinavia, and Canada, topping most of the album charts during the second half of 1978 and also became their first UK number one album. In Canada, it received a nomination for a 1980 Juno Award in a category 'International Album of the Year'.
"Daddy Cool" is a song produced and co-written by Frank Farian who had founded the group Boney M. to visually perform to his songs on TV and while touring discos. Farian also provided the male voice parts on the record. The song was included on their debut album Take the Heat off Me. It was a 1976 hit and a staple of disco music and became Boney M.'s first hit in the United Kingdom.
Gold – 20 Super Hits is a 1992 greatest hits album by group Boney M. Shortly after record label PolyGram had acquired the rights to the ABBA back catalogue and had issued the multimillion-selling hits package Gold: Greatest Hits, BMG and producer Frank Farian followed suit with Boney M.'s Gold – 20 Super Hits which resulted in their best chart entry in the UK and most other European countries since 1980's The Magic of Boney M. – 20 Golden Hits.
Take the Heat off Me is the debut album by Euro-Caribbean group Boney M. The album became a major seller in Europe, specifically in the Nordic countries, but in the U.S. the album just missed the album chart. Tracks include the hits "Daddy Cool", "Sunny" and the debut single "Baby Do You Wanna Bump".
Oceans of Fantasy is the fourth studio album by Euro-Caribbean group Boney M. Released in September 1979, Oceans Of Fantasy became the second Boney M. album to top the UK charts and features the hits "El Lute / Gotta Go Home" and "I'm Born Again / Bahama Mama".
The Magic of Boney M. – 20 Golden Hits is a greatest hits album by Euro-Caribbean group Boney M., issued in 1980, which contained all their biggest hits up until that point, including non-album singles "Mary's Boy Child/Oh My Lord" and "Hooray! Hooray! It's a Holi-Holiday", album tracks from Take the Heat off Me, Love for Sale, Nightflight to Venus and Oceans of Fantasy as well as their most recent double A-side single release "I See a Boat On the River"/ "My Friend Jack".
Boonoonoonoos is the fifth studio album by Boney M., released in September 1981.
Christmas Album is the sixth studio album by Boney M. It was recorded in the summer of 1981 and released on 23 November 1981. In certain territories the album was given the alternate title Christmas with Boney M.
Ten Thousand Lightyears is the seventh studio album by Boney M. and the first to feature new member Reggie Tsiboe, who had taken over Bobby Farrell's role as the band's leading man in early 1982.
The Best of 10 Years – 32 Superhits also known as 32 Superhits - Non-Stop Digital Remix is a remix album by Boney M. released in 1986.
More Gold – 20 Super Hits Vol. II is a 1993 greatest hits album by Boney M. Producer Frank Farian issued More Gold - 20 Super Hits Vol. II containing the remainder of Boney M.'s best known songs – again most of them appearing in remixed or overdubbed form but credited as the original versions – as well as four new recordings featuring lead singer Liz Mitchell. Two singles were released from the album in Europe, "Ma Baker Remix '93" and "Papa Chico", the latter credited as "Boney M. featuring Liz Mitchell" and released in early 1994.
The Greatest Hits is a greatest hits album of recordings by Boney M. released by BMG in the United Kingdom in late 2001.
The Magic of Boney M. is a greatest hits album of recordings by Boney M. released by Sony BMG in October 2006.
Greatest Hits of All Times – Remix '88 is a remix album by Boney M. released in 1988. Boney M.'s new manager at the time, Simon Napier-Bell, succeeded in persuading the four original members to briefly reunite and promote this remix album. The man employed to re-arrange the original hits and create new interest in the band was PWL's Pete Hammond, who previously had remixed many of the Stock Aitken Waterman stable's chart-topping hits with Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan, Rick Astley and Bananarama. Five of the tracks also feature new lead vocals by Liz Mitchell. In early 2021, Hammond recalled the following about the '88 remix project, explaining the new vocals: "The 2inch 24 track multi-track tapes were sent to PWL by Frank Farian of Far Music. Apparently, they had lost some of the original recordings—four songs if I remember correctly—and had to record four new versions; they were musically incomplete but good enough for me to overdub and remix". The remix project spun off three fairly successful single releases, "Rivers of Babylon ", "Rasputin " and the 1988 "Megamix", which would appear on the follow-up album issued a year later, and created the first wave of Boney M. nostalgia in Europe.
The Best of Boney M. is a compilation album of recordings by Boney M. released by BMG UK's midprice label Camden in 1997.
The Complete Collection is a compilation album of recordings by Boney M. released by BMG/CMC Records in Denmark in late 2000.
Norske Hits is a compilation album of recordings by Boney M. released by BMG-Ariola in Norway in late 1998.
The discography of German disco group Boney M. includes 8 studio albums, 50 singles, and numerous compilation albums.