Silk & Steel- Five Star (1986)
Silk & Steel is the second album by the British pop group Five Star. The album was the group's biggest seller, reaching No.1 in the UK. It was also successful in France, Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Switzerland and Italy. In the United States, it was less successful than their first album, Luxury of Life, peaking at number 80 on the Billboard 200.
As with Luxury of Life, the album used a number of producers and was recorded in both the US and UK, the only common producer being Billy Livsey who again produced a track he had co-written (this time with Pete Sinfield), "Rain or Shine", which became the biggest UK hit from the album. Four tracks including first single, "Can't Wait Another Minute", were recorded in Los Angeles with the British producer Richard James Burgess. The band's manager and father, Buster Pearson, co-produced two tracks with Michael Jay (both of which Jay had co-written), also in Los Angeles, and one with lead singer Deniece on the track she composed, "Stay Out of My Life". There were also two tracks produced by Pete Wingfield, "Please Don't Say Goodnight" with lead vocals from Delroy and "Don't You Know I Love It" written by Doris, who also sings lead on that track. The latter track was originally a B-side but proved popular so was included on the album.
The album produced six UK top 15 hit singles and three US R&B hits. As "Are You Man Enough" was a US-only single, that means seven of the ten tracks were hit singles (and as "Don't You Know I Love It" had also been released as a B-side, only two of the album tracks were not available as singles). The album itself was the tenth best selling album in 1986 in the UK, and had achieved 4 x Platinum status (1.2 million copies sold) by 1987. It spent a total of 58 weeks in the UK albums chart.
Not everyone's cup of tea, but it I loved this album, still one of my favourites of the decade. 8.5/10
Track listing
"Can't Wait Another Minute" (Sue Sheridan, Paul Chiten) - 4:42
"Find the Time" (Paul Gurvitz, Nick Trevisick) - 4:30
"Rain or Shine" (Billy Livsey, Peter Sinfield) - 3:59
"If I Say Yes" (Michael Jay, Marvin Morrow) - 4:04
"Please Don't Say Goodnight" (Michael George Jackson-Clark, Clemens Winterhalter) - 4:43
"Stay Out of My Life" (Deniece Pearson) - 4:00
"Show Me What You've Got for Me" (Pamela Phillips Oland, Rick Neigher) - 3:57
"Are You Man Enough" (Paul Gurvitz, Nick Trevisick) - 4:38
"The Slightest Touch" (Michael Jay, Marvin Morrow) - 4:30
"Don't You Know I Love It" (Doris Pearson) - 3:58
