Book of Love (album)
Encyclopedia
Book of Love is the self-titled debut studio album by American
synthpop
and dance music
band Book of Love, released on April 1, 1986 by Sire Records
. Vocalists Ted and Susan Ottaviano, not related, wrote the album's music and lyrics.
, Pennsylvania
-based synthpop
quartet Book of Love recorded "Boy
" in 1985, a toe-tapping tale of teen-girl angst. The song was given to disc jockey Ivan Ivan, who forwarded it to Sire Records
president Seymour Stein
. Stein subsequently signed the group to his label and "Boy" soon became a hit on dance charts in the United States. "Boy" featured bells ringing over a skip-along beat.
Book of Love was released as an LP album
on April 1, 1986 with twelve tracks, featuring a mixture of memorable melodies and intriguing lyrics. Vocalist and keyboardist Ted Ottaviano explained "I've always believed people's aesthetics are based more on what they don't know than what they do know,...We had great instincts, and wanted to say what we did as swiftly and simply as we could."
Ted and Susan Ottaviano (not related despite having the same last name), who had been art school students, drew on inspirations such as Italian-American painter Amedeo Modigliani
with the single "Modigliani (Lost in Your Eyes)", and covered "Die Matrosen" by Swiss band LiLiPUT
.
In a March 2001 interview, Ted Ottaviano explained how the band attracted to a gay audience. "Even with our first hit, `Boy,' the song was really about a bigger idea. It was about feeling different, wanting to be a part of something, and making your own way in spite of that."
Hot Dance Club Play
and Hot Dance Singles Sales
charts in the US. In 1986, "Modigliani (Lost in Your Eyes)" became as popular as New Order
and Depeche Mode
singles in clubs at its peak. The four minute "Requiem Mass" remixed version of "Modigliani (Lost in Your Eyes)" was featured in an episode of Miami Vice
on November 6, 1987, and the original single was featured in the 1987 film Planes, Trains and Automobiles.
✝ Originally recorded by Swiss band LiLiPUT
.
Additional personnel:
"—" denotes a release that did not chart.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
synthpop
Synthpop
Synthpop is a genre of popular music that first became prominent in the 1980s, in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic art rock, disco and particularly the "Kraut rock" of...
and dance music
Dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
band Book of Love, released on April 1, 1986 by Sire Records
Sire Records
Sire Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, each investing ten thousand dollars into the new company. Its early releases as a...
. Vocalists Ted and Susan Ottaviano, not related, wrote the album's music and lyrics.
Music
PhiladelphiaPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
-based synthpop
Synthpop
Synthpop is a genre of popular music that first became prominent in the 1980s, in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic art rock, disco and particularly the "Kraut rock" of...
quartet Book of Love recorded "Boy
Boy (Book of Love song)
"Boy" is the title of the 1985 debut single by the American synthpop band Book of Love. The song was included on the band's self-titled debut album in 1986...
" in 1985, a toe-tapping tale of teen-girl angst. The song was given to disc jockey Ivan Ivan, who forwarded it to Sire Records
Sire Records
Sire Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, each investing ten thousand dollars into the new company. Its early releases as a...
president Seymour Stein
Seymour Stein
Seymour Stein is an entrepreneur in the music industry who has been a part of the business since getting his first job as a clerk for Billboard magazine in 1958. Stein is a vice president of Warner Bros...
. Stein subsequently signed the group to his label and "Boy" soon became a hit on dance charts in the United States. "Boy" featured bells ringing over a skip-along beat.
Book of Love was released as an LP album
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
on April 1, 1986 with twelve tracks, featuring a mixture of memorable melodies and intriguing lyrics. Vocalist and keyboardist Ted Ottaviano explained "I've always believed people's aesthetics are based more on what they don't know than what they do know,...We had great instincts, and wanted to say what we did as swiftly and simply as we could."
Ted and Susan Ottaviano (not related despite having the same last name), who had been art school students, drew on inspirations such as Italian-American painter Amedeo Modigliani
Amedeo Modigliani
Amedeo Clemente Modigliani was an Italian painter and sculptor who worked mainly in France. Primarily a figurative artist, he became known for paintings and sculptures in a modern style characterized by mask-like faces and elongation of form...
with the single "Modigliani (Lost in Your Eyes)", and covered "Die Matrosen" by Swiss band LiLiPUT
LiLiPUT
LiLiPUT were a Swiss female post-punk/new wave band active from 1978 to 1983.-History:The group formed in 1978 under the name Kleenex, and soon made a name for themselves, until the threat of legal action by Kimberly-Clark in 1979 prompted a change of name to LiLiPUT...
.
In a March 2001 interview, Ted Ottaviano explained how the band attracted to a gay audience. "Even with our first hit, `Boy,' the song was really about a bigger idea. It was about feeling different, wanting to be a part of something, and making your own way in spite of that."
Release and reception
"Book of Love" was released on April 1, 1986. The album itself did not chart, receiving little attention among the large number of New Wave and Synthpop albums at the time. Four of the album's tracks were released as singles, which charted successfully on the BillboardBillboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Hot Dance Club Play
Hot Dance Club Play
The Hot Dance Club Songs chart is a weekly national survey of the songs that are most popular in U.S. dance clubs...
and Hot Dance Singles Sales
Hot Dance Singles Sales
Hot Dance Singles Sales is a chart released weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States, established in 1985. It measures the sale of commercially released singles that deal with dance music and remixes...
charts in the US. In 1986, "Modigliani (Lost in Your Eyes)" became as popular as New Order
New Order
New Order are an English rock band formed in 1980 by Bernard Sumner , Peter Hook and Stephen Morris...
and Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group's original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan , Martin Gore , Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke...
singles in clubs at its peak. The four minute "Requiem Mass" remixed version of "Modigliani (Lost in Your Eyes)" was featured in an episode of Miami Vice
Miami Vice
Miami Vice is an American television series produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series starred Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas as two Metro-Dade Police Department detectives working undercover in Miami. It ran for five seasons on NBC from 1984–1989...
on November 6, 1987, and the original single was featured in the 1987 film Planes, Trains and Automobiles.
Track listing
- "Modigliani (Lost in Your Eyes)" – 4:01
- "You Make Me Feel So Good" - 4:02
- "Still Angry" - 3:23
- "White Lies" - 3:53
- "Lost Souls" - 4:52
- "Late Show" - 3:38
- "I Touch Roses" - 3:26
- "Yellow Sky" - 4:44
- "BoyBoy (Book of Love song)"Boy" is the title of the 1985 debut single by the American synthpop band Book of Love. The song was included on the band's self-titled debut album in 1986...
" - 2:59 - "Happy Day" - 2:32
- "Die Matrosen"✝ - 3:06
- "Book of Love" - 4:35
- Bonus tracks on 1990 CD release
- "Modigliani (Lost in Your Eyes)" - 7:45
- "Modigliani (Requiem Mass)" - 4:02
- "You Make Me Feel So Good (Flutter Mix)" - 6:05
- "I Touch Roses (Long Stemmed Version)" - 5:46
- "Boy (Extended Mix)" - 4:28
✝ Originally recorded by Swiss band LiLiPUT
LiLiPUT
LiLiPUT were a Swiss female post-punk/new wave band active from 1978 to 1983.-History:The group formed in 1978 under the name Kleenex, and soon made a name for themselves, until the threat of legal action by Kimberly-Clark in 1979 prompted a change of name to LiLiPUT...
.
Personnel
- Ted Ottaviano – Keyboards, Backing Vocals, Melodica
- Jade Lee – Keyboards, Backing Vocals, Percussion [Electronic, Acoustic]
- Lauren Roselli – Keyboards, Backing Vocals
- Susan Ottaviano – Vocals
Additional personnel:
- Ivan Ivan – production
- Ted Jensen – mastering
- Steve Peck – engineering
- Michael Halsband - photography
- Jade Lee – wrote tracks 1, 6, 13, 14
- Susan Ottaviano – wrote tracks 1–4, 8, 10, 13–15
- Ted Ottaviano – wrote all tracks except 11
- Jim Dougherty – mixed tracks 2, 4, 8
Singles
| Song | Year | Chart peak positions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| US Club Play Hot Dance Club Play The Hot Dance Club Songs chart is a weekly national survey of the songs that are most popular in U.S. dance clubs... |
US Dance Sales Hot Dance Singles Sales Hot Dance Singles Sales is a chart released weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States, established in 1985. It measures the sale of commercially released singles that deal with dance music and remixes... |
||
| "Boy Boy (Book of Love song) "Boy" is the title of the 1985 debut single by the American synthpop band Book of Love. The song was included on the band's self-titled debut album in 1986... " |
1985 | 7 | 24 |
| "You Make Me Feel So Good" | 1986 | — | 23 |
| "I Touch Roses" | 1986 | 8 | 26 |
| "Modigliani (Lost In Your Eyes)" | 1987 | 17 | 47 |
"—" denotes a release that did not chart.
External links
- Official Book of Love discography
- [ Book of Love] on Allmusic.com
- Book of Love on MySpaceMySpaceMyspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....