Angelo

418. Brotherhood of Man – Figaro (1978)

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The Intro

Brotherhood of Man took their perceived similarity too far with their second number 1 Angelo. When their next single tanked they followed it up with another song named after a man with a similar name to Fernando. It paid off yet again and gave them a hat trick of chart toppers.

Before

The quartet had released Highwayman after Angelo but scuppered a major chance of promoting it on the 1977 Royal Variety Performance by electing to play the former instead. Figaro was their first release from their seventh album B for Brotherhood. As usual, singers Lee Sheriden and Martin Lee penned the track with producer and manager Tony Hiller. I don’t want to be cruel and call them a low budget Stig Anderson, Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus but…

Review

I was incredibly scathing about Angelo and couldn’t believe it when I saw they topped the charts a third time with what was bound to be another Fernando rip-off. So, put it down to very low expectations but I was pleasantly surprised by this. That’s mainly down to it not actually sounding like a straightforward ABBA copy. And I’m all for a bit of wah-wah guitar and the bawdy brass and song’s theme put me in mind of some kind of politically incorrect 70s British comedy film.

Figaro is a lecherous Spanish waiter intent on pursuing the opposite sex. The dirty dog is constantly at it, winking at the girls with his guitar and wandering the beaches looking for prey. The idea came about when Hiller’s daughter returned from a holiday with tales of real-life Figaros trying to romance her and other young ladies. It’s total throwaway nonsense of course, but it’s better than other Brotherhood of Man songs Angelo and Save Your Kisses For Me. Was the title this time around a reference to Bohemian Rhapsody?

After

Brotherhood of Man’s downfall came soon after. The next single Beautiful Lover was the last time they troubled the charts, peaking at 15. A compilation LP, Twenty Greatest, did at least give them their biggest album chart placing at six.

Hiller set up Dazzle Records in 1980 and signed his group but perhaps due to missing Pye’s promotional budget, they stopped selling well. They signed with Warwick Records. No, I’ve never heard of them either. Sheriden opted to leave in 1982 to study for a degree in music. He was replaced by Barry Upton, later a songwriter for Sonia and Steps.

Encouraged by the huge success of Bucks Fizz, Brotherhood of Man signed with EMI in 1982 and Hiller had high hopes of ripping off another Eurovision-winning group. A year later Hiller, Lee and Upton wrote a tune for A Song for Europe for Hiller’s male/female trio Rubic (how early 80s!) but they came fifth. When Upton decided to leave in 1984, the whole group called it a day.

However in 1985 Sheriden returned with Lee, Nicky Stevens and Sandra Stevens for a one-off TV reunion and decided to continue. They became stalwarts of the nostalgia circuit, becoming regulars at Butlins and other holiday camps. As well as their hits from the 70s they performed tracks like 1999 by Prince. That I have to hear.

The Outro

As 2000 dawned they cut back on touring but two years later they unveiled their show The Seventies Story, a nostalgic look back at the decade that brought them their glory years. They still tour now, sometimes with the current incarnation of Bucks Fizz and are often wheeled out for Eurovision-related shows, remaining one of the most successful winners of the competition.

The Info

Written by

Tony Hiller, Lee Sheriden & Martin Lee

Producer

Tony Hiller

Weeks at number 1

1 (11-17 February)

Trivia

Births

12 February: Welsh rugby player Gethin Jones

Meanwhile…

13 February: Anna Ford becomes the first female newsreader on ITV. Also on this day, an opinion poll conducted for the Daily Mail shows the Conservatives 11 points ahead of the Labour government, with an election due by October next year. The quick turnaround for the Conservatives, who last month were behind Labour, is believed to be due to Margaret Thatcher’s recent negative comments on immigration.

17 February: 12 people are killed by the Provisional IRA in the bombing of the La Mon restaurant in Belfast. It was one of the most horrific incidents in The Troubles, with some bodies left melted and unrecognisable by incineration.

410. Brotherhood of Man – Angelo (1977)

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The Intro

This must surely win the award for most unoriginal number 1. Not content with a two-man, two-woman line-up and a Eurovision victory, Brotherhood of Man aped ABBA even further with this blatant Fernando rip-off.

Before

Following the huge success of Save Your Kisses for Me, the group released their second album with this line-up. Love and Kisses from Brotherhood of Man did OK, but couldn’t match the incredible sales of their Eurovision single. Nor did their follow-up single My Sweet Rosalie. It didn’t deserve to though, as it was almost a carbon copy of what came before. This time, the lyrical conceit was that they were singing about their love for a dog, rather than their three-year-old child. Eugh. It only managed a number 30 placing.

They fared better in 1977 with their cover of Oh Boy (The Mood I’m In), peaking at eight. They shook things up this time around as it was the women, Nicky Stevens and Sandra Stevens (no relation) taking the lead. And they did so again on Angelo.

So, yes, this song. Clearly at some point in 1976 when Fernando was storming the charts, singers Martin Lee and Lee Sheriden must have said to co-songwriter and producer Tony Hiller, ‘shall we copy that?’. Perhaps at some point in the process, one of them even said ‘This is too similar, should we at least make the lead character’s name end with a different letter?’. And was then ignored.

Er, why run away, avoid peril and then commit suicide? Doesn’t matter, does it, it sounds like ABBA. And not only is it a dead ringer for Fernando, the cheeky fuckers even add some piano reminiscent of Dancing Queen. Utterly shameless!

Review

They did at least manage to change the story of Angelo. But they forgot to add much detail. Fernando was about two former revolutionaries reminiscing over the war in Mexico. Angelo was a death disc about a shepherd boy in the mountains of, yes, Mexico. He and a girl from a rich family fell in love and so ‘They ran away to their destiny’. Despite avoiding danger, and strangers, their destiny was for them to kill themselves. For some reason.

‘They took their lives at night
And in the morning light
They found them on the sand
They saw them lying there, hand-in-hand.’

The Outro

And so the British public, who should be commended for keeping I Feel Love at number 1 for a month, showed how stupid they can also be. How could Angelo top anything, let alone one of the best songs of all time? Not as irritating as Save Your Kisses for Me, but come on! This belongs on some cheap and nasty light entertainment show, not at number 1.

The Info

Written by

Tony Hiller, Lee Sheridan & Martin Lee

Producer

Tony Hiller

Weeks at number 1

1 (20-26 August)

Meanwhile…

23 August: A new, smaller, £1 note was introduced.