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.
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