Twenty Greatest | ||||
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Greatest hits album by | ||||
Released | September 1978 | |||
Recorded | 1974–1978 | |||
Genre | Pop, MOR, soul | |||
Length | 64.19 | |||
Label | Pye / K-tel | |||
Producer | Tony Hiller | |||
Brotherhood of Man chronology | ||||
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Singles from Twenty Greatest | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [1] |
Twenty Greatest is the sixth album released by British pop group Brotherhood of Man and their first compilation. It was released in 1978 and became their biggest selling album, peaking at No.6 in the UK and being certified gold. As the title suggests, it is a collection of twenty songs, including their three number one hits, "Save Your Kisses for Me", "Angelo" and "Figaro" alongside their current single release, "Middle of the Night".
This album was a Greatest Hits compilation featuring all their hit singles up to this point as well as selected album tracks and new recordings. The album was released on K-Tel records (in association with their regular label Pye) in late September 1978 and reached No.6 in the UK album charts. [2] It remained on the charts for 15 weeks and was certified gold by the BPI, becoming the most successful album of their career.
The singles included are: "Lady", "Lady Lady Lay", "Kiss Me Kiss Your Baby", "Save Your Kisses for Me", "My Sweet Rosalie", "Oh Boy (The Mood I'm In)", "Angelo", "Highwayman", "Figaro", "Beautiful Lover" and "Middle of the Night". The early hits "United We Stand" and "Where are You Going to My Love" by the previous incarnation of the group, are included here as new recordings by this version of Brotherhood Of Man. Two other new recordings for this album are cover versions of "How Deep Is Your Love" and "Send in the Clowns", which is largely an a cappella piece, with piano accompaniment by member Nicky Stevens. [3] Magazine Record Mirror called current single "Middle of the Night" "positively dreadful". [4]
This album is sometimes referred to simply as Brotherhood of Man - as this was the name (erroneously) accredited to it in the UK Chart listings. Early pressings of the album gave the group's name as 'The Brotherhood of Man' (a name they hadn't been known as since the first incarnation of the group in the early 1970s) (see illustration), but later pressings had rectified this to simply 'Brotherhood of Man'.
The Soviet record company Melodiya released this album in 1981 as a 12-track collection: Side A: "Save Your Kisses for Me", "Angelo", "Oh Boy (The Mood I'm In)", "My Sweet Rosalie", "Kiss Me Kiss Your Baby", "Beautiful Lover"; Side B: "Middle of the Night" , "Figaro", "Highwayman" , "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother", "Lady Lady Lady Lay", "United We Stand". [5] This compilation was very popular in the USSR and sold 500,000 copies.
Side One
Side Two
Release date | Single title | UK Chart position [6] |
---|---|---|
September 1978 | "Middle of the Night" | 41 |
Release date | Album title | UK Chart position [7] |
September 1978 | Twenty Greatest | 6 |
Brotherhood of Man are a British pop group who achieved success in the 1970s. They won the 1976 Eurovision Song Contest with "Save Your Kisses for Me".
"Save Your Kisses for Me" is a song recorded by British group Brotherhood of Man, written by Tony Hiller with band members Lee Sheriden and Martin Lee. It represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1976 held in The Hague, winning the contest.
"Figaro" is a song by British pop group Brotherhood of Man. It was released as a single in January 1978 and became the group's third and final number one hit in the UK.
"Angelo" is a song by British pop group Brotherhood of Man. Released as a single in June 1977, it became the group's second UK number one hit.
Martin Lee is an English singer-songwriter, best known as a member of the pop group Brotherhood of Man.
Good Things Happening is the first album released by the new lineup of pop group Brotherhood of Man. This lineup consisted of Martin Lee, Lee Sheriden, Nicky Stevens and Sandra Stevens and was to be the main lineup of the group's history and would hold for the next ten albums. It contains their first European hit "Lady" which was a hit in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Oh Boy! is the third album released by pop group Brotherhood of Man. It was released in 1977 and featured the UK top 10 hit, "Oh Boy ". It was released earlier in some European countries as Midnight Express.
Images is the fourth album by pop group Brotherhood of Man. It was released in 1977 and featured the No.1 hit, "Angelo".
B for Brotherhood is the fifth album by pop group Brotherhood of Man. It was released in June 1978 and released on Pye Records. The album featured the UK No.1 single "Figaro" and top 20 hit "Beautiful Lover". On the UK albums chart it reached No.18 and was certified silver for sales of over 60,000 copies.
Higher Than High is a 1979 album released by British pop group Brotherhood of Man. It was released in June and contained four singles.
Good Fortune is a 1980 album by British pop group Brotherhood of Man. The album was recorded on manager Tony Hiller's label, Dazzle Records, but went unreleased in the UK. The album did get a release however in Australia and New Zealand on RCA Records. Today the album is virtually impossible to get hold of and is considered to be the 'holy grail' among fans.
20 Disco Greats / 20 Love Songs is a double album released by British pop group Brotherhood of Man which was released as two separate albums, but sold together as a 'buy one get one free' package, as was the popular trend at the time.
Lightning Flash is the 12th album by British pop group Brotherhood of Man. Released on EMI Records in 1983, it remains their final commercially released studio album.
Sandra Stevens is an English singer and member of pop group Brotherhood of Man.
Nicky Stevens is a singer, famous as a member of pop group Brotherhood of Man.
Lee Sheriden is an English singer/songwriter and musical director, best known as a member of pop group Brotherhood of Man.
Greenhouse is a 1997 album by British pop group Brotherhood of Man.
Love and Kisses from Brotherhood of Man is the second album released by the new line-up of British pop group Brotherhood of Man. It was released in the UK the day before their 1976 Eurovision win with "Save Your Kisses for Me", which the album contained. In some European countries the album was released in October 1975 with a slightly different track listing.
The Seventies Story is the 16th and most recent album by pop group Brotherhood of Man, released in 2002. It is based on a live stage show the group had undertaken at the time.
"My Sweet Rosalie" is a 1976 song by British pop group Brotherhood of Man. It was released as the follow-up single to the 1976 Eurovision Song Contest winner, "Save Your Kisses for Me". The song was written by band members Martin Lee and Lee Sheriden with producer Tony Hiller.