Boney M. Album: “Love For Sale [Remaster]”

This is a truly excellent album on the poppy side of disco. Besides the two massive hits, the dramatic Ma Baker and the hypnotic Belfast, it also contains other gems like the beautiful Plantation Boy with its wistful lyrics and compelling reggae beat, a good enough version of CCR's Have You Ever Seen The Rain? and the title track Love For Sale. Eurodisco was the sound ruling the airwaves and the dancefloors in 1977 and 1978. Although it gathered a lot of flack from music critics back then, Love For Sale's not a bad album at all whether you look at it from a pop or dance perspective. Unlike today's techno music, these melodic songs provide sheer listening pleasure while at the same time being the perfect party music. What's more, it has aged surprisingly well. Anytime as good as Abba!

It's never easy to follow up a million-selling debut album ("Take The Heat Off Me"), but Boney M.'s second album, originally released 1977, is a monster of a disco record! Opening with a snarling "Freeze, I'm Ma Baker, put your hands in the air, gimme all your money", the album takes off with the story of gangster Ma Barker, whose name has had the "R" erased for phonetic reasons, a rousing bass line along with the gimmick percussion (the producer Frank Farian playing on his teeth with a pen), and a pounding, military disco beat, with hard-edged vocals by Marcia Barrett and Liz Mitchell answering back to the deep male voice (sung by Farian). The single topped the charts all over Europe, in the UK it was hold back from the top spot only by Donna Summer's "I Feel Love"! Following "Ma Baker" is the album title track, a sophisticated disco re-make of Cole Porter's classic, brilliantly and intriguingly arranged, also intended as the second single off the album; it was, however, decided to release "Belfast" instead which was the first Boney M. single to feature lead vocals by Marcia Barrett. A haunting melody line, but a somewhat slick production, and not at all as exciting as when Marcia Barrett performed it live in concert (Those recordings are sadly not commercially available). The single was enevitably another Top 10-hit across Europe, including in the UK where it caused some controversy because of the lyrics. Liz Mitchell leads the next song, a cover version of Cleerance Clearwater Revival's "Have You Ever Seen The Rain", with a charming Jamaican flavor to her vocals. Producer Frank Farian takes the lead on the closing track of side 1, the disco stomping "Gloria Can You Waddle" with backing vocals by Black Beauty Circus, the band who'd accompany Boney M. on their subsequent tour. Side 2 opens with a lovely mid-tempo-with-a-reggae-feel track "Plantation Boy", then leading on to another surprising cover version, this time the blues standard "Motherless Child" turned into a 4/4 stomping disco hymn, and another highlight of the album with its complex musical arrangement, the unique sound of Liz Mitchell's lead vocal, and the chanting chorus. "Silent Lover" is a wonderful, much underrated, funky gem with excellent, sexy and jazzy vocals by Marcia Barrett who sighs and pleads for her silent, secret lover to be there when she wants him ... "A Woman Can Change A Man" returns to the disco beat before the melancholic "Still I'm Sad" closes the album. It's incredible that Boney M. have never gained the critical acclaim that f.in. ABBA have, the quality of the recordings are superb, Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett's voices are each highly distinctive, and their harmonies with producer Frank Farian are impeccable. Although it's undeniable that the story of f.ex. "Ma Baker" is kitchy, there is always, contrary to many other disco records, a good melody in every song which is also why their records sold so much more than their contemporaries ...

It's never easy to follow up a million-selling debut album ("Take The Heat Off Me"), but Boney M.'s second album, originally released 1977, is a monster of a disco record! Opening with a snarling "Freeze, I'm Ma Baker, put your hands in the air, gimme all your money", the album takes off with the story of gangster Ma Barker, whose name has had the "R" erased for phonetic reasons, a rousing bass line along with the gimmick percussion (the producer Frank Farian playing on his teeth with a pen), and a pounding, military disco beat, with hard-edged vocals by Marcia Barrett and Liz Mitchell answering back to the deep male voice (sung by Farian). The single topped the charts all over Europe, in the UK it was hold back from the top spot only by Donna Summer's "I Feel Love"! Following "Ma Baker" is the album title track, a sophisticated disco re-make of Cole Porter's classic, brilliantly and intriguingly arranged, also intended as the second single off the album; it was, however, decided to release "Belfast" instead which was the first Boney M. single to feature lead vocals by Marcia Barrett. A haunting melody line, but a somewhat slick production, and not at all as exciting as when Marcia Barrett performed it live in concert (Those recordings are sadly not commercially available). The single was enevitably another Top 10-hit across Europe, including in the UK where it caused some controversy because of the lyrics. Liz Mitchell leads the next song, a cover version of Cleerance Clearwater Revival's "Have You Ever Seen The Rain", with a charming Jamaican flavor to her vocals. Producer Frank Farian takes the lead on the closing track of side 1, the disco stomping "Gloria Can You Waddle" with backing vocals by Black Beauty Circus, the band who'd accompany Boney M. on their subsequent tour. Side 2 opens with a lovely mid-tempo-with-a-reggae-feel track "Plantation Boy", then leading on to another surprising cover version, this time the blues standard "Motherless Child" turned into a 4/4 stomping disco hymn, and another highlight of the album with its complex musical arrangement, the unique sound of Liz Mitchell's lead vocal, and the chanting chorus. "Silent Lover" is a wonderful, much underrated, funky gem with excellent, sexy and jazzy vocals by Marcia Barrett who sighs and pleads for her silent, secret lover to be there when she wants him ... "A Woman Can Change A Man" returns to the disco beat before the melancholic "Still I'm Sad" closes the album. It's incredible that Boney M. have never gained the critical acclaim that f.in. ABBA have, the quality of the recordings are superb, Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett's voices are each highly distinctive, and their harmonies with producer Frank Farian are impeccable. Although it's undeniable that the story of f.ex. "Ma Baker" is kitchy, there is always, contrary to many other disco records, a good melody in every song which is also why their records sold so much more than their contemporaries ...