Some 23 years after their first album, Deep Sea Skiving, Bananarama Sara & Keren went back into the studio in 2005 to record their new album, and the first to get an official UK release since 1993's Please Yourself.
It
had a been a long time coming for the girls who had been searching for
a UK deal for a few years. They eventually met with a small independent
label in the UK called A&G, introduced through a mutual friend. This
led to the news that they would be releasing an all new studio album in
2005. For a long time, Sara & Keren had wanted to return to the UK
and felt they still had great material to give. The two previous albums
Ultraviolet and Exotica, both suffered from a lack of funding or dodgy
production and felt somewhat 'budget' as a result.
The girls opted to work with Swedish producers Murlyn who had gained huge
success with the likes of Britany Spears, J-LO and S Club 7. They travelled
out to Sweden to write and record some of the tracks, staying in a huge
house in the middle of nowhere. On the last day they came up with Move
In My Direction, which would ultimately become the lead single in June
2005. The album itself had a very distint shift towards electropop and
dance. Tracks like Don't Step On My Groove and I Feel For You follow this
vein and the Goldfrapp inspired Waterfall is pure electro. In total there
were 11 new tracks on the album plus a couple of remixes as bonus tracks
from the girls' back catalogue. Namely; the 2004 remix of Really Saying
Something by Solasso, and a rew remix of old fave, Venus by 80s singer
and DJ Marc Almond. The girls had ironically titled the new album Drama,
which would indeed play out in Dramatic fashion in the coming months.
Oh
bloody album titles - they're an absolute nightmare. 'Drama' wasn't my
choice. I was thinking of 'Away with the fairies', but I suppose Bananaramadrama
sounds good." (Sara)
In October of 2005 they released the 2nd single, Look on the Floor which
would coincide with the release of Drama. The gils struggled to promote
the single and album in the UK, maybe as they had exhausted all avenues
with the release of Move In My Direction so the single and album recieved
little help promotionally.
For reasons which haven't been fully explained the album completely bombed,
failing to make the UK top 100. A result which goes against all the signs
that it would be a hit. Move in My Direction had reached #14 and Look
on the Floor #23 with little or no promotion. There are various theories
as to why the album failed to make a splash in the UK but as yet, no official
word from A&G.
UK:
A&G Records
Released: October 2005
UK chart position: HMMMMM!
