BANANARAMA


PLEASE YOURSELF


Produced by Stock/Waterman

1.Movin'On
2.Last Thing on my Mind
3.Let Me Love You One More Time
4.More More More
5.Is She Good To You
6.Only Time Will Tell
7.Give It All Up For Love
8.You'll Never Know What It Means
9.You're Never Satisfied
10.I Could Be Persuaded

Released in 1993, this was the first Bananarama album following the departure of Jacquie O'Sullivan. Bananarama had, of course, left the Stock/Aitken/Waterman production stable to work with underground dance artist, Youth, for their last album, "Pop Life" and so, this return to the Stock/Waterman fold (also trimmed down to a duo, following the departure of Aitken) was seen by many fans as a step backwards. Possibly, they were pushed back into this by London records, after the less than spectacular success of the "Pop Life" album. However, "Please Yourself" proved to be a mixed-bag of tricks. Some fans consider this a classic Bananarama album, others hide it at the back of their collection in shame. Either way, it entered the UK charts at a lowly Number 46 for a single week, and never went any higher. Three singles were released off this album, "Movin' On"(UK #24), "Last Thing on My Mind" (UK #71) and "More More More"(UK #24), although there are rumoured to be DJ-only promo copies floating around of "Is She Good To You". The album, savaged by UK critics if they bothered to review it at all, never saw an American release.

All tracks on the album were co-written by Dallin/Woodward/Stock/Waterman, except "More More More", which was a cover version originally written by Gregg Diamond (although Dallin/Woodward/Stock/Waterman were credited for Additional Lyrics). Bananarama also recorded two new songs, "Treat Me Right" and "Another Lover", which did not make the album, but can be found as the b-sides to "Movin' On" and " Last Thing on My Mind" respectively. Half of the album was recorded, and then Sara got too big (because of her pregnancy) to sing properly ,and so the second half was only finished after the birth of little Alice. It was during this period, also, that Keren got together with Andrew Ridgeley, formerly in the group, Wham!. Tom (Keren's son from a previous relationship), Andrew, Alice and Bassy (Alice's father and Nana dancer) are all credited on the liner notes to the "Please Yourself" album.

The album is not a favourite of the girls' either. Keren was particularly upset to find the release of the record being constantly delayed. By the time the album was actually out, she said she had more or less already gotten tired of the album and wanted to move on to something new. This, along with the lack of aggressive advertising on the part of London Records, may explain why this was to be the last album released by the girls on this label.

"Please Yourself" kicks off with the ABBA-influenced "Movin' On" and " Last Thing On My Mind" (apparently, Pete Waterman and the girls had initially envisioned the entire album as an ABBA tribute to be originally titled, "Abba Banana") before stumbling into the kind of standard, formularic pop tunes that Stock/Aitken/Waterman churned out in their sleep in the 80's. There are a few surprises, though. "More More More" is a spirited and sparkling cover of an old disco classic (originally done by Andrea True Connection), and the ballad which closes the album, "I Could be Persuaded" is a winning sultry and soulful number. The cheeky "Is She Good To You" is another particular favourite of mine as is the ballad "Let Me Love You One More Time".

The album was released with ten tracks, although an early limited edition copy came as a double disc/cassette, the second disc comprising various remixes of classic tracks from Bananarama's back catalogue. "Movin' On" has been featured on a few compilation albums such as "12" Dance VIII" (Polydor) and "Circuit Party Spins" (Rhino) while "More More More" appears on "Clubfffloor's Most Wanted Volume 1" (Polygram).

"Please Yourself" is not one of the girls' best, lacking the energy of the earlier "WOW!" album and the musical daring of the raw and eclectic "Pop Life" album but it has a mature and sophisticated vibe (aided by the use of an orchestra and strings on a few tracks) that lends a certain class to the proceedings. Not a great album but not a bad one either.

An interesting footnote to the album is that UK mega-popgroup Steps (who worked with Pete Waterman) subsequently recorded both "Last Thing On My Mind" and "Movin' On". "Last Thing On My Mind" (off the "Step One" album) even went Top 10 in the UK for Steps in 1998. 1999 saw the group's cover of "Movin' On" as an album track on their "Steptacular" album.

'Oh I loved 'Please Yourself'. The big problem with Bananarama was by the time "Please Yourself' came out they'd lost the impetus. There were too many politics. We remixed that album probably six or seven times. We took out the brilliance of Bananarama. We were made to take it out by Pete Tong because he'd become a victim of fashion by the time it came to "Please Yourself". Where before he was important to Bananarama. Later he brought in all these hip and trendy guys that hated Bananarama so all the love we had for Bananarama was stripped out by all the other guys. More, More, More, the original we did was a monster, we did it 2 years before the album came out. Too many people who didn't understand what they were doing got involved. It's a great album especially the ballad on there, it's awesome.' - Pete Waterman, 1994.

Movin' On

Last Thing On My Mind

More More More

Note: For the last word on this album, it's over to Keren and Sara circa May 2006:

Home