| Portrait | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 19 March 1982 | |||
| Recorded | 1981–82 | |||
| Genre | Pop | |||
| Label | Epic | |||
| Producer |
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| The Nolans chronology | ||||
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Portrait is a 1982 album by pop group The Nolans. [1] It featured the UK top 20 singles "Chemistry" and "Don't Love Me Too Hard" and reached No.7 in the album charts. It was released earlier as Don't Love Me Too Hard in Japan with a slightly different track-listing, where it became one of the first 50 albums to be released on Compact disc.
By early 1982, The Nolans had had a run of success in the UK which included three UK top 20 albums and seven top 20 singles as well as achieving major success in Japan. [2] Many of the tracks for this album had been recorded in 1981, but their touring schedule was preventing them from finishing it. With just one day before the deadline, the record company urged the group to work through the night to complete vocals for the remaining tracks. With a cheque for £25,000 to each of them, they did so and Portrait was released in March 1982. [3] Featuring the top 20 hits "Chemistry" and "Don't Love Me Too Hard", the album itself was a success also by reaching No.7 in the album charts. [4]
This, however, signalled the end of their peak, as a third single, "Crashing Down" proved to be aptly titled. [5] The song not only became their first to fail to enter the top 20 this decade, but failed to make the charts at all. Somewhat curiously (and uniquely) it featured on the 'Bubbling Under' section of the chart for five consecutive weeks, without ever entering the top 75. [6] Portrait finished as one of the top 100 selling albums of 1982 in the UK and was certified gold by the BPI. [7]
The album, like its predecessor, was produced by Ben Findon and Nicky Graham separately. Both producers were now giving the songs a heavy disco sound such as "Don't Let it Go By" (by Findon) and "Chemistry" (by Graham). For this album, a third producer was added, Robin Smith, who was Coleen's boyfriend at the time. Two of the songs were co-written by member and lead-singer Bernie Nolan ("Are You Thinking of Me" and "Every Little Thing"), while closing track "Amy" was written for (former member) Anne's daughter, to whom the album was also dedicated. The album was a hit also in their biggest market, Japan, where it had been released as Don't Love Me Too Hard some months prior to the UK. [8] A fourth single was released there also; "How Do I Survive" (which had been a big hit for Amy Holland in 1980 from her self-titled debut album). [9] The album was significant in that it became one of the first 50 pop albums ever to be released on Compact disc, when it was released on the format in Japan in October 1982. [10]
The album was later re-released on CD with bonus tracks in September 2010 by Cherry Red Records. [11]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Don't Love Me Too Hard" |
| Findon | 3:43 |
| 2. | "Chemistry" |
| Graham | 3:32 |
| 3. | "Don't Let It Go By" |
| Findon | 3:43 |
| 4. | "I'm Never Gonna Let You Break My Heart Again" |
| Graham | 3:58 |
| 5. | "A Simple Case of Loving You" |
|
| 3:46 |
| 6. | "Crashing Down" |
| Findon | 3:24 |
| 7. | "Are You Thinking of Me" |
| Graham | 4:19 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "How Do I Survive" | Paul Bliss | Graham | 4:00 |
| 2. | "If It Takes Me All Night" |
| Graham | 3:15 |
| 3. | "Every Home Should Have One" |
| Graham | 3:38 |
| 4. | "Every Little Thing" |
|
| 4:33 |
| 5. | "Take It Through the Night" | Smith | Graham | 3:46 |
| 6. | "God Knows" | Graham | 3:39 | |
| 7. | "Amy" |
| Smith | 1:49 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15. | "Dragonfly" | Friese-Greene | 3:37 | |
| 16. | "Dressed to Kill" |
| Smith | 3:55 |
| 17. | "It Could Have Been Your Love" |
| Smith | 4:09 |
| Release date | Single title | UK Chart position [12] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| July 1981 | "Chemistry" | 15 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| February 1982 | "Don't Love Me Too Hard" | 14 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| May 1982 | "Crashing Down" | - | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Release date | Album title | UK Chart position [13] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| March 1982 | Portrait | 7 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Release date | Album title | Australian Chart position | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| April 1982 | Portrait [14] | 54 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Nolans were an Anglo-Irish girl group who formed in Blackpool in 1974 as the Nolan Sisters, before changing their name in 1980. From 1979 to 1982, the group had a run of hits, including "I'm in the Mood for Dancing", "Gotta Pull Myself Together", "Who's Gonna Rock You", "Attention to Me" and "Chemistry". They are one of the world's biggest selling girl groups. They were particularly successful in Japan, becoming the first European act to win the Tokyo Music Festival with "Sexy Music" in 1981, and won a Japanese Grammy in 1992.
Bucks Fizz were an English pop group that achieved success in the 1980s, most notably for winning the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Making Your Mind Up". The group was formed in January 1981 specifically for the contest and comprised four vocalists: Bobby G, Cheryl Baker, Mike Nolan and Jay Aston. They received attention for the dance routine which accompanied the song, in which the male members of the group ripped the female members' outer skirts off to reveal much shorter mini-skirts beneath. The group went on to have a successful career around the world, but the UK remained their biggest market, where they had three No.1 singles with "Making Your Mind Up" (1981), "The Land of Make Believe" (1981) and "My Camera Never Lies" (1982) and became one of the top-selling groups of the 1980s. They also had UK Top 10 hits with "Now Those Days Are Gone" (1982), "If You Can't Stand the Heat" (1982), "When We Were Young" (1983) and "New Beginning " (1986). Bucks Fizz have sold over 50 million records worldwide.
Bernadette Therese Nolan was an Irish actress, singer and television personality, formerly lead vocalist of the girl group the Nolans. She was the second youngest of sisters Anne, Denise, Maureen, Linda and Coleen. From the age of two, she was brought up in Blackpool, Lancashire, England.
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