B for Brotherhood

Background

The album was released on Pye Records in June 1978 and featured the singles "Figaro" and "Beautiful Lover", which were hits in Europe, reaching No.1 and No.15 respectively in the UK. The album was TV advertised and reached No.18 in the UK Charts, their highest charting album to this point. It was certified silver with sales of over 60,000 on 1 September 1978.

The songs on the album were in the group's now full-fledged pop mould, after experimenting with differing styles on their earlier albums. The tracks were mostly sung by the female members of the group and were often commented upon by the media on their similarity in style to ABBA. Like the group's other albums, the tracks were produced by manager Tony Hiller. Member Lee Sheriden was the musical director on six of the songs (including the two singles), while Colin Frechter performed this task on the other six. Sheriden later recalled that the recording sessions would work as follows; "Ten o'clock to one o'clock, we would put down the rhythm section - the guitar, the bass, the piano, drums, percussion and everything. Then in the afternoon the strings would come in and we'd put on all the brass and woodwind. And then in the evening the singers would come in, they'd been in bed all day, while I'd been working, but the idea is the voices would be warmer, you can sing a bit better at night. Recording sessions would then wrap up around midnight".

Track "Greatest Love" is referred to on the label as "The Greatest Love I've Ever Known". Track "People Over the World" was later covered by duo Peters and Lee and released as a single in 1979. The front cover of the album does not feature the group's name, although the back cover gives the title as: B for Brotherhood of Man. The album cover depicts the group in an autumn forest and reviews at the time made mention of the sophisticated look of the album. On closer inspection however, it is clear that the forest is merely a photographic backdrop.

Track listing

Side One

1. "Figaro" (2.57)
2. "Broken Hearted Avenue" (3.08)
3. "Cinderella" (3.33)
4. "When Summer's Gone" (3.22)*
5. "I'll Never Let You Down" (3.15)
6. "In Love" (3.52)

Side Two

1. "Beautiful Lover" (3.27)
2. "I'm in a Dancing Mood" (3.11)
3. "Much Better Than You" (2.41)*
4. "Roulette" (2.56)
5. "Greatest Love" (3.08)
6. "People Over the World" (3.01)

All tracks composed by Tony Hiller, Lee Sheriden and Martin Lee

* On the cassette version of the album "When Summer's Gone" and "Much Better Than You" were switched in order to even out the lengths of sides

Personnel