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Post by The Rubber Ball Man on Dec 21, 2020 21:26:55 GMT
Heart Of The Country was the last UK single by Frida. 7” and 12” singles were released for this song but it failed to chart. The 7” version differed to the version on the Shine album and 12” as it featured an earlier fade out. Here’s a video I made for the single edit. ![]() What’s your opinion of this song? Personally, I think it is one of the weaker songs off the Shine album and was completely the wrong choice for a single. I think Twist In The Dark or One Little Lie would’ve been better choices for a single instead of this. Does anybody have memories of this song back in the 80’s? |
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Post by HOMETIME on Dec 21, 2020 22:00:44 GMT
I remember being surprised that it was chosen. I appreciate the song now in a way I didn't then. The vocal delivers a mood that you couldn't get from a straight reading of the lyric. I think Epic panicked when "Shine" didn't rip up the charts. Big Country were big business then and this sound is outrageously close to theirs. So I feel its selection was cynical. But without a video, the single was always going to be handicapped. The song itself is fine - but it's not an obvious single. "One Little Lie" or "Come To Me" would have been far more commercial choices, I think.
"Twist In The Dark" has always been my favourite track on the album but it might have been a brave single choice. Given that it was originally earmarked as the album's title track, and given that it was afforded a fabulous video, part of me thinks there might even be an unreleased 12" mix lurking in the vaults.
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Post by agness on Dec 22, 2020 15:04:44 GMT
Heart Of The Country was the last UK single by Frida. 7” and 12” singles were released for this song but it failed to chart. The 7” version differed to the version on the Shine album and 12” as it featured an earlier fade out. Here’s a video I made for the single edit. ![]() What’s your opinion of this song? Personally, I think it is one of the weaker songs off the Shine album and was completely the wrong choice for a single. I think Twist In The Dark or One Little Lie would’ve been better choices for a single instead of this. Does anybody have memories of this song back in the 80’s? Thanks a lot for this video! I have never heard this version before |
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Post by Alan on Dec 22, 2020 23:00:12 GMT
As Hometime says, it must have been the Big Country sound that swung it in its favour.
I’m surprised they even bothered releasing a second single from it. The equivalent from Something’s Going On (To Turn The Stone) flopped completely even though it was following a slightly more successful first single.
There is a sense that the 1980s solo albums were only released in the UK because CBS had a contract with Polar and didn’t want to jeopardise that in case it meant they then lost the right to release ABBA records. They made an effort with Agnetha’s first international solo album but not sure they bothered much with the others.
At least Frida was afforded a picture cover for this, I suppose, which is more than Agnetha was given for One Way Love...
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Post by gazman on Dec 26, 2020 11:14:12 GMT
I can't remember Frida doing any UK promotion for the 'Shine' album or either of its singles - was there any? I guess the public in general just wasn't very interested at the time, or never knew about the releases...
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Post by stepalm on Dec 27, 2020 11:09:35 GMT
She did in Sweden. She sang Come to me I am woman and Heart of the country live on TV and also made a playback version of One Little lie. I was dissapointed when they didnt release OLL because i felt i was the most Commercial song from the album. I also liked the Twist in the dark wich would have been a better follow up to IKTSGO. But i dont like the production of Fridas voice on the album. Its not very warm or personal and sounds so distant. Also i didnt like the videos of that time much. Today it seem that they tried to much to stay in popmusic instead of making mor adult albums. I allways regretted that they didnt use Pet Shop Boys as producers. I think they could have made more suitable production like in the song What have i done to deserve this or the Liza Minelli album. I also remember in an interview with Frida she talked about Writing her own songs and going on solo tour and i would have liked to see that development but now when you look upon Fridas and Agnethas solo albums it seems that you can only connect the voice with there material. But there is very Little personality in their soloalbums. |
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Post by gamleman on Dec 28, 2020 11:58:25 GMT
I seem to be one of the few people who loved "Heart Of The Country" but detested (perhaps a bit too strong) "Twist In The Dark". I also felt "Shine" was a weak song. In my mind, HOTC and "Slowly" were the best songs on the "Shine" album, and I also thought "The Face" was a great track and had hit single potential.
I imagine HOTC was released as a single in the UK because of the Big Country connection - Stuart Adamson, their lead singer, wrote the song and members of the band played on it, and their usual producer, Steve Lillywhite, produced the whole album (he was a leading producer of the era, also producing Simple Minds and U2). I was a Big Country fan at the time, so a link between Frida and them was amazing for me.
With hindsight, perhaps "Come To Me (I Am Woman)" would have been better received as a single in the UK - Sue Pollard had a minor UK hit with this song shortly afterwards.
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Post by Alan on Dec 28, 2020 15:42:45 GMT
^^ Minor indeed... it reached number 71. Su Pollard then had a major hit with the title song of a popular BBC documentary series which reached number 2. Come to Me was apparently reissued sometime after this but failed to chart. Su even promoted the song on TV (she starred in the popular sitcom Hi-De-Hi) and having had a major hit single was given plenty of opportunity to promote the follow-ups.
To be honest, I don’t think any song released as a single from Shine (or, indeed, Eyes of a Woman or I Stand Alone) would have made the slightest bit of difference. This was the “let’s forget ABBA” decade so any association with them was, I’m afraid, seen as toxic. Even I Know Him So Well seemed to be more associated with Tim Rice than Benny and Björn (it was introduced as a “Tim Rice song” on Top of the Pops when it was a hit, as the 2018 BBC Four repeats revealed).
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Post by The Rubber Ball Man on Jan 2, 2021 20:55:09 GMT
An extended version of Twist In The Dark would’ve been so good. Do you know if extended mixes are generally produced during the recording sessions or assembled afterwards (around the release of a single for example)?
Do you get what I mean?
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Post by HOMETIME on Jan 3, 2021 13:38:10 GMT
Pure speculation on my part. Both the edited 7" and extended 12" versions of Shine were released simultaneously, so my guess is that any song earmarked for single release ahead of the album's release probably got the full treatment straight away. They didn't stint on the video production, and TITD was originally supposed to be the title track and lead single. And given that, in 1984, you weren't at the races without a fancy remix at your disposal, I'm willing to bet that a moodily thunderous extended version exists somewhere. I'm hoping that Remko Van Drongelen's book will shed some light on what exists in the vaults.
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