MODERN TALKING - WITH A LITTLE LOVE

WITH A LITTLE LOVE

MODERN TALKING

SONGWRITER: DIETER BOHLEN

COUNTRY: GERMANY

ALBUM: BACK FOR GOOD

LABEL: HANSA

GENRE: DANCE

YEAR: 1998

Back for Good is the seventh album by Modern Talking, released on 30 March 1998 after the unexpected reunion of the duo. The German duo's seventh album was released after almost 11 years of absence. Back for Good is a collection of their previous hits which consists of 18 tracks, including four new songs, 13 previous hits in a redone format and one medley. Some of the group's earlier hits were rehashed and arranged differently, including "Lady Lai" and "Angie's Heart".

Back for Good entered the number one position in Germany on 13 April 1998 and spent a total of five weeks at the top, it eventually earned 5 gold-awards in Germany alone for selling over 1,250,000 units. The album Back For Good spent total of 54 weeks on the German album chart.

Back for Good was also successful outside of Germany, topping the album charts of many other countries including Sweden, Finland, Norway, Switzerland and Austria. Back for Good eventually went on to sell over three million copies in Europe alone.

Modern Talking was a German duo consisting of singer Thomas Anders and arranger, songwriter and producer Dieter Bohlen, with the participation of Luis Rodríguez in the production. They have been referred to as Germany's most successful pop duo, and have had a number of hit singles, reaching the top five in many countries. Some of their most popular and widely known singles are "You're My Heart, You're My Soul", "You Can Win If You Want", "Cheri, Cheri Lady", "Brother Louie", "Atlantis Is Calling(S.O.S. for Love)" and "Geronimo's Cadillac".

Modern Talking worked together from 1984 to 1987, then the band split up. In 1998, they reunited and made a successful comeback, recording and releasing music from 1998 to 2003. The duo released singles which again entered the top ten in Germany and abroad. Some of those singles were the re-recorded version of "You're My Heart, You're My Soul '98". After the duo's second and final break-up in 2003, their global sales had reached 120 million singles and albums combined.

In 2006, Bohlen included a secret message in his song "Bizarre Bizarre" when played backwards: "There will never be an end to Modern Talking". Bohlen's response: "I meant to say that the music of Modern Talking will live forever". Anders has kept the Modern Talking songs in his repertoire and produced songs in a similar vein for his solo records ("Independent Girl"). In 2006, he produced an álbum Songs Forever of swing and jazz versions of popular songs (including Modern Talking's first hit). Bohlen has written two autobiographical books about Modern Talking's history from his perspective. The first book sold a million copies in Germany. The sequel was heavily criticised for his unfairness towards the people he worked with. As a result of that, Bohlen withdrew from the public for a year until 2006, when he said he regretted putting out the second book. Anders had not been the only one pressing charges against Bohlen and demanding that sections of the book be modified. Frank Farian was also angered by Bohlen's literary output and released a book in which he tried to expose Bohlen as a fraud. Bohlen's first book was the basis of an animated comedy film called Dieter: Der Film. The soundtrack of this film contains the previously unreleased Modern Talking song "Shooting Star" which had been written for the Universe album.

Music critics were unenthusiastic about Modern Talking and gave the band almost bad reviews because of their music and performance. Although recognizing the catchiness and professional production of the songs, the lack of originality was criticized by British representatives of these genres of music, such as the Pet Shop Boys or Erasure. In particular, it was criticized that many of their songs would sound quite similar; a fact that Bohlen also openly admitted to Der Spiegel in 1989:

"I do not deny that all Modern Talking hits sound very, very similar. We have always decoupled those tracks from our LPs as singles that sound as similar as possible to their predecessors." 

They said oh yeah it's a tough world

You are restless and you are young

I said oh girl it's a good world

And your time will come

Your time will come

They said you came from the wrong side

He's a page from the end of the book

I said you came from the right side

Took me just one look

Then you understood

With a little love you will survive

With a little love you will get by

Do what you want go your own way

'cause it's your life

With a little love you make the start

Yeah why lovers break each other's heart

Do what you want go your own way

'cause it's your life

They said no future forget it

You came from the wrong side of town

I said don't listen don't let it

Let it bring you down

Make you wear a frown

They said oh let him down easy

Left at the hearts you have won

I said that love is for livin'

Like the morning sun

It had just begun.