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Damned eighties! The more you try to get rid of them, the more they come back to you like a boomerang. The more you despise them, the more your shoulder pads grow. As for me, I’ve given up. For a while now, I've stopped spitting in the Burghy tray (God bless it) where I ate in unsuspecting times. The little voice inside that until a few years ago persevered in wanting to convince me that it was all to be thrown away is dead for good.
Take for example "Whose side are you on?" (1984). To paraphrase an epic line from a movie: he who saves a summer saves an entire year, I am forced to prostrate myself a thousand times before the audacity, the cheek of an LP that throws its eighties at you without ifs and buts, enjoying, decade after decade, the best summers of my life. Yes, because for some time now, in a certain sense, I don't wait for summer... I fear it! Since an entire season was ruined for me by a so-called Swiss dogsitter, I have decided that nothing could catch me or my well-equipped convertible unprepared anymore.
So now this record joyfully, year after year, sits alongside other more or less recent knick-knacks inside my dashboard, basking in its ever-green sophisticpop (this is the name of the English scene of which the early Ebtg, Sade, Working Week, Style Council were also part), ready to rescue me when the storm (or hit, if you will) approaches. Because it is precisely under the sun, without tricks and without deceptions, that the bizarre trio surprised the English audience with the perfect balance with which they mixed Latin music, jazz, and synthetic pop.
Through a barrage of hit tracks, the group formed by Mark Reilly, Danny White and Polish singer Basia Trzetrzelewska churned out an album that was more than sparkling and gave the universe at least four evergreens ("Sneaking Out The Backdoor", "More Than I Can Bear", "Half A Minute", "Whose Side Are You On").
Too bad the magic did not repeat. Due to personalities that were too self-centered, due to too little foresight, Matt Bianco got lost and the enchantment that emanated from the splendid vocal harmonies of Basia, the warm voice of Mark, and the sunny rhythms of the backing group vanished in the course of a season and an album. Even today, the project is entangled in useless acrobatics, between agreements and disagreements, reunions and flights: Basia and Danny on one side, Mark on the other, leaving us the choice of deciding whose side we are on.
Whose side are you on? Indeed.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Whose Side Are You On? (04:35)
One empty place,
at the table for two,
our agent in Rome
a cafe rendezvous
A seat is soon taken,
a contact is made,
surveyed by another,
whose secret is saved.
Whose side are you on?
Whose side are you on?
Whose side are you on?
Whose side are you on?
hmmm yeah
The courier falls,
the coffee was druged,
the waiter makes off with,
the microdot,
you don't have to believe
to play that double cross,
spying for the side
that pays them the most
Whose side are you on?
Whose side are you on?
Whose side are you on?
Whose side are you on?
hmmm yeah
Whose that someone on the inside,
an undercover mole?
To late to use a lie detector
now some heads will roll
Ahhhh yow, ba do da do da do
ba do da do da
do do do do do do do
do do do da da, ba da da
da da da do do da da
da da da da da da da
ba do do do do do do do do do
do da da do da
ba da do da dah
Whose side are you on?
Whose side are you on?
Hmm yeah
Whose side are you on?
Whose side are you on?
Whose side are you on?
Whose side are you on?
hmmm yeah
02 More Than I Can Bear (04:16)
I thought that I was over you
How I was mistaken
Why did I bump into you
And start this chain reaction, mm
I felt it building up inside
When suddenly
Oh, it was more than I can bear
Mm, more than I can bear
When I saw you
Walking down the road with someone new
I couldn't believe it was true
It was true, yeah
I find it hard to sleep at night
This jealousy is burning bright
Visions of somebody else
Torments me to distraction, oh yeah
I think of him
Making, making love to you
It's more than I can
Oh, it was more than I can bear
Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, girl
(it's more than I can bear)
Walking down the road with someone new
(it's more than I can bear)
I couldn't believe that it was true
(it's more than I can bear)
It was true
When I saw you
(it's more than I can bear)
Walking down the road with someone new
(it's more than I can bear)
I closed my eyes
I know I'm not over you
(it's more than I can bear)
Over you
When I saw you
Walking down the road with someone new
I closed my eyes
I know I'm not over you
Mm, I still love you, baby
(it's more than I can bear)
Yeah, I still love you baby
(it's more than I can bear)
Hey, I still love you baby
(it's more than I can bear)
Yeah, yeah
It's more than I can bear.....
04 Half a Minute (03:49)
What is there to say
When all the love has slipped away
In half a minute.
There is always something we can blame,
But in the end, it's just the same -
Suddenly, you find yourself alone.
Half a minute
Half a minute
What is there to say
When every dream just fades away
In half a minute.
Every explanation we can find
Will never change it, we are through -
Suddenly, you find yourself alone.
Half a minute
Half a minute
06 Get Out of Your Lazy Bed (03:28)
Get up
get up
get out of your lazy bed.
Before I count to three - step to it
baby.
She goes out every night 'till the morning light
And she sleeps aU. day. So
come on and get up
I won't say it again - I'll drag you out!
Get up
get up
get out of your lazy bed. . . .
I don't care anymore.
You can sleep on the floor
'cause I'm knocking you out.
So
come on and get up
I won't say it again - I'll drag you out!
Get up
get up
get out of your lazy bed.
Get up
get up
get out of your lazy bed.
Get up
get up
get out of your lazy bed. . . .
08 Sneaking Out the Back Door (03:49)
I don't stay long when things are going wrong,
I haven't got time you see,
Moving from place to place, another town, a different face
You may find me
Sneaking out the back door with a grin.
Love I've had before, it nailed me to the floor,
I prefer my own company.
Love to me is being free with no responsibility,
So you may find me
Sneaking out the back door with a grin.
Just another drink and I'll be on my way,
Sneaking out the back door with a grin.
I move along when things are going wrong,
So you may find me
Sneaking out the back door with a grin.
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