You've Got A Friend: looking back at the 1990 Big Fun & Sonia charity single for Childline

October 2016 sees the 30th anniversary of Childline, a UK support service which helps vulnerable children and young people. For much of its history, Childline has been a telephone based service but this September, Childline (with the help of Barclays Bank) is launching an iPhone and Android app called For Me, which will allow children and young people to seek help via their phones and tablets.

To coincide with the launch of the For Me app, Childline asked Mike Stock to write and produce a record to help promote the app and support the charities involved.

This record -- which I'll come to later -- is released on Friday 9 September 2016, but as SAW fans know, this is not the first record Mike Stock has made in support of Childline.

The Childline service had been set up in 1986 by BBC TV presenter Esther Rantzen and BBC producers Sarah Caplin and Ritchie Cogan on the back of Childwatch, a programme they had produced about child abuse. Childline offered -- and still offers -- a 24/7 telephone counselling service for children and young people up to the age of 19, offering support for a wide range of issues.

Childline would eventually be incorporated into the NSPCC in 2006, but the service had been funded for its first three years by benefactor Ian Skipper. By 1990, funding was a real issue for Childline; the service was getting more calls than it was able to handle, meaning that there were children and young people unable to access the help they needed. Its founder, TV presenter Esther Rantzen, was appealing for funding on TV and in the press, and was also looking at other funding opportunities.

Back in early 1990, SAW were still riding high after dominating the charts the previous (and most commercially successful) year. Whilst there were signs that the market would start to move away from them later in the year, they and their acts were still enjoying great success. Two such acts were male trio Big Fun -- who had enjoyed three big hit singles so far -- and solo singer Sonia, who had followed up her debut number one single, You'll Never Stop Me Loving You, with three further hits.

Both acts were on the bill at a Childline Big Day Out charity event at the Alton Towers theme park in early 1990, and as Big Fun member Phil Creswick states in his notes for the 2010 reissue of the Big Fun A Pocketful of Dreams album, Rantzen asked Big Fun and Sonia if they would record a charity single to raise funds for the charity. Both acts liked this idea, and Big Fun's manager Bill Grainger put the idea to Pete Waterman.

By this time, SAW already had produced a number of charity records, including Let It Be (in aid of the 1987 Zeebrugge Ferry disaster), Ferry 'Cross The Mersey (in aid of the 1989 Hillsborough football tragedy) and most recently, a new version of Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas. Therefore, it was almost a given that SAW would agree to support Childline in this way.

A SAW produced version of the 1971 Carole King classic, You've Got A Friend, was recorded, but, for some unknown reason, it was decided that this cover version would not be released. Instead, a new composition with the same name was written by SAW. It is assumed that, given the speed surrounding most of the SAW charity singles, the artwork for the single had been produced before the decision was made not to proceed with the cover version, which would have forced the new composition to carry the same name.

The Carole King cover version remained unreleased until 2010, when it was issued as an extra track on the re-issued Big Fun album (although a short snippet had been available a few years before on the PWL website). Listening to it now, it is a solid version in what many would consider typical SAW style for the time; driven by some pleasingly chunky house piano, backed by swirling synth pads and a funky bassline, it's a fizzy and endearing version of the song. There's no question that this version would have been a hit, so it is difficult to work out why it was ditched in favour of a new composition.

That said, I do think the better track was issued as the single. While the Carole King cover was very much in the vein of early 1990 SAW, the mid-tempo SAW composition is refreshingly different -- and actually, in a different class.

The first thing that grabs you, after some jazz piano and the tight drumming kicks in, is the gorgeous saxophone riff, courtesy of occasional SAW collaborator Gary Barnacle. Barnacle was a very prominent session musician at the time, and this is certainly reflected by his credit on the cover (although it is fair to assume that, given the track's charitable status, this was offered in return for an unpaid contribution). The use of "real" instruments -- whether it be brass, strings or guitar -- was always a welcome addition to SAW records, and actually occurred more often than people think, even if you have to sometimes listen very closely due to their placing in the mix. Here though, Barnacle's sax is right out front, and really embellishes what was an already classy production.

The SAW composed You've Got A Friend is Mike, Matt and Pete in their jazzy soul mood. Underpinning the sax riff is a solid rhythm track -- more laidback than usual but energetic all the same -- whilst the aforementioned jazz piano combines with some neat rhythm guitar, warm synth pads, steady bass and sustained strings. Adding to proceedings are the lovely backing vocals from Mae McKenna, Linda Taylor and Mike Stock, which as usual bring real warmth to the track.

Vocally, it is Sonia who takes the lead, handling the second and third verses solo with typical finesse, with Big Fun's lead vocalist Mark Gillespie handling the first verse. The chorus, as one would expect, is sung by all four performers, and here, the combination of voices works well. That said, I think I'd have preferred it to have been a solo track for Sonia rather than a joint effort with Big Fun. It's almost churlish to suggest this -- given the goodwill shown by the participants for a deserving cause -- but for me, the Big Fun vocals detract a little from the overall effect of this track -- Gillespie's falsetto is very unique, but there is something about its tone which I sometimes find it difficult to warm to.

Lyrically, the track posits as a message to the listener from a friend and/or a lover, offering their support in bad times -- but of course, the lyrics can also relate to the help offered by Childline to those children and young people who are feeling vulnerable and in need of help. This is a "multiple meaning" lyrical trick which SAW used a number of times to great success, and indeed, one which Stock and his co-writer Johan Kalel have used on the Chloe Rose Childline-supporting track.

The whole affair adds up to a more mature sound for SAW compared to much of their output at the time -- and one wonders if this had any impact on its ultimate chart position. Certainly, a peak of #14 is completely respectable (and probably in line with both acts' chart performance in 1990), but given that the charity records helmed by SAW in previous years were much more successful, there must have been some slight disappointment at this chart position.

For me, the problem was this: the SAW composed You've Got A Friend is a classy, mature track that would have appealed to an older audience who would not be seen dead buying a record performed by Big Fun and Sonia (or indeed, produced by SAW). And I suppose the flipside of this is that the teenage audience who predominantly bought records by Big Fun, Sonia and SAW may have considered You've Got A Friend as too mature for them.

That said, I still consider this a fine record, immaculately arranged, mixed and produced. Somewhat underrated in the SAW canon, it's yet another stylistic departure for SAW and one wonders if it would be better remembered had it been performed by a SAW performer such as Sybil or Lonnie Gordon. I would direct you to seek out the extended instrumental, which really showcases the terrific playing by Stock, Aitken and indeed Barnacle -- it's a lovely, smooth listen.

Released in June 1990, the track came in four mixes: the 7" mix, the extended mix, the 7" instrumental and the extended instrumental -- all mixed by Pete Hammond. The 7" mix can be found (as can the previously unreleased Carole King cover) on the 2010 Cherry Red Special Edition of the Big Fun album A Pocketful of Dreams, whilst the other three mixes are currently out of print -- though one hopes for a digital release at some point.

It is worth noting that You've Got A Friend was the penultimate PWL single for its performers: Big Fun would release a SAW produced cover of the Eddie Holman track Hey There Lonely Girl in July 1990, but it's #62 chart position would see it as their final release on Jive Records. Sonia's SAW-produced cover of the Skeeter Davis track End Of The World performed better with a #18 peak in August 1990, but alleged business disagreements would see Sonia leave PWL & Chrysalis Records for a fairly successful run of singles with Simon Cowell's IQ Records.

Whatever your view of the track, You've Got A Friend raised much needed funds for the Childline support service and was therefore a worthy effort by all concerned. And 26 years on, Mike Stock is helping Childline once more, having written and produced a new charity single to support this much-needed service. The track -- For Me -- is the debut single for new pop singer Chloe Rose, and is an upbeat, contemporary pop song which carries the Childline message across in a very clever way. I've covered the track in more detail here. All proceeds go to support Childline, the NSPCC and the Wayne Rooney Foundation, so I would urge you to buy the track as not only is it for a great cause, it's also a terrific melodic pop song --  and we don't get enough of those these days.

You can buy For Me by clicking on the image below:

References:

Phil Creswick & Tom Parker - sleevenotes to A Pocketful of Dreams 2010 re-issue (Cherry Red)
Childline - Wikipedia page

The Harder (Sound) I Try: SAW and their three experimental 1990 singles

"[Big Fun] explain how Pete Waterman sat them down and told them that Stock Aitken & Waterman were looking for "a harder sound because they knew what they were doing wouldn't carry them into the late '90s". Lonnie Gordon's single was an experiment to try it out and, because that worked, they say "Handful of Promises" is the second."

Chris Heath, "Don't Big Fun Look Hard?", Smash Hits, March 1990

It is fair to say that Stock Aitken Waterman had a huge influence on pop music in the second half of the 1980s, and indeed came to dominate the scene in the last three years of the decade. But as the trio enjoyed their most successful year in 1989, the signs of change were in the air. Dance music was on the ascendant, whilst guitar indie bands like The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays were making in-roads to the charts.

One of the key factors of SAWs success was their ability to tap into the musical trends of the day and fuse them with their own pop sensibilities. This approach had borne great dividends, but the downside was that as SAW came to dominate the music scene, they had no-one but themselves to seek inspiration from. PWL mixmaster and producer Phil Harding comments in his excellent PWL From The Factory Floor book that he felt that SAW's amazing success in pop music resulted in a move away from their trendier dance records, and as a result, they lost a lot of crucial support from the DJ community which had supported them in the early days.

Therefore, the influx of new sounds into the pop charts and concerns about the sustainability of a sound which had already enjoyed at least three years of huge success presumably led to SAW thinking about what changes they could make to keep current without losing their unique selling point of strong pop melodies.

Various accounts have it that SAW came up with three tracks to showcase and test out a new harder sound for the 1990s. The first two -- as referenced in the Chris Heath quotation above -- were Happenin' All Over Again by Lonnie Gordon and Handful of Promises by Big Fun. The third is believed to have been Counting Every Minute by Sonia.

The question is: Did these three records really determine a new sound for SAW?

The opening salvo in this bold experiment was Lonnie Gordon's Happenin' All Over Again, which was truly an ideal blend between the melodic SAW pop of the previous year and the harder dance sounds breaking through into the 1990 music charts. Perhaps taking some inspiration from Black Box's 1989 smash Ride On Time, Happenin' All Over Again eschews the Italo piano of that track for a solid backing of acid synths and string synth pads, punctuated by a punchy percussion track. Gordon's powerful voice dominates proceedings, but special credit must be given to the intricate backing vocal arrangement -- immaculately performed by Mae McKenna and Miriam Stockley (plus Mike Stock). It sounds like a new SAW sound for 1990, and a nod back to the soul/dance material they created between 1985 & 1987. Some commentators suggest this track was written for Donna Summer -- and it's not too difficult to imagine Summer perform it -- but Gordon puts her own stamp on it and makes it her own. This venture into a harder sound was deemed a success -- it got a positive critical reaction and reached #4 on the UK Singles Chart -- and it suggested an exciting new year ahead for both Gordon and SAW. Therefore, it's sad to note that the prolonged decision-making that delayed the follow-up resulted in Gordon being unable to build on the impact she'd made with this single.

Kicking off with a dirty great air-raid siren, Big Fun's Handful of Promises certainly offers a denser sound than their two previous SAW-produced singles. "Harder" isn't exactly the right term here, given the act and some of the lyrics, but there is a move away again from the SAW sound of 1988 and 1989. No synth-brass, Staccato Heaven or dramatic drum fills here -- instead we get a crisp, hard beat, punctuated with the "whoa - yeah" sample, as well as a solid synth lead and a driving ringing riff. Some familiar staples remain, such as the synth string pads and female backing vocals, but there's also some acid house synths in there too. Melodically, it's a typically strong song, building nicely from the pacey verse, to a terrific bridge, through to the catchy chorus. There's definitely a punchier sound to this track, but unfortunately it is the act performing the track who prevent it from being "harder". Big Fun were perhaps an odd proposition as a boy band aimed at teenage girls (though they certainly succeeded in that target audience), but crucially, lead singer Mark had such an unusual voice that, in my opinion at least, detracted from the overall success of the recordings. One wonders how much better this track would have sounded with a lower-pitched vocal, though I do wonder if the opening lines of the chorus -- "Just a handful of promises / You gave me / A pocketful of dreams / That just won't do" -- could be better suited to a female performer. Handful of Promises reached #21 on the UK Singles Chart, but, despite my issues with the vocals, I think it's a good track and one which may have done better under a different act.

Sonia's Counting Every Minute completed the apparent trio of "harder" records, and indeed aims to make a statement of intent from the start. Opening with a chunky house beat, Italo house piano and acid synths, it again sounds like SAW are moving away from the trebly sound of the previous year, but the prominent use of chimes results in the record sounding more like what came before and less like a pointer towards the new "harder sound", even with the "whoa-yeah" sample. Don't get me wrong, it's a good track, with hints of Abba in the melody, and performed well by Sonia, but it's perhaps not as bold as the previous two records discussed here. There's some nice playing on the track from Mike and Matt, and interestingly the backing vocals are less prominent here than on other SAW tracks. The middle eight is great fun, with its stuttering sample and sweeping string swirl, and it has a great descending bass line at the end of the bridge, which sounds a bit like a schoolkid twanging a plastic ruler on their desk! Peaking at #16, this is Sonia at her pomp, as her subsequent two SAW singles would see a downshift in tempo.

Overall, it's fair to say that these three tracks did demonstrate an effort to develop the SAW sound for a new decade, and certainly all three were hits. That said, it's notable that all three acts would part ways with SAW as 1990 went on.

However, I'm still not sure that these three tracks fully realised the "harder" sound which Pete Waterman was aiming for, though I do think that Happenin' All Over Again came the closest. If anything, I would wager that there were other tracks in 1990 which were perhaps more successful attempts at a harder sound, such as Romi & Jazz's One Love One World (which I'll cover in more detail another time) and, most notably, Kylie Minogue's Better The Devil You Know.

Honourable mentions should also go to the two 1990 records which SAW produced under two different pseudonyms -- Grand Plaz's Wow Wow Na Na (with production credited to DJ Crazyhouse) and L.A. Mood's Ole Ole Ole (written and produced by Kean Canter Mattowski -- clearly an anagram of Stock Aitken Waterman) --  which also carried a tougher dance sound, though perhaps the Grand Plaz track was more successful in not sounding like a SAW production.

I'd wager, though, that rather than adopting a harder sound, SAW looked towards the dance and soul genres for the rest of 1990 (and into 1991). Whilst SAW still came out with pop-friendly tracks (such as Yell!'s One Thing Leads To Another and Jason Donovan's Another Night), Phil Harding has stated that following the critical and commercial success of Better The Devil You Know, Pete Waterman pursued a more club-orientated sound. Certainly, the singles from Delage, Grand Plaz, LA Mood and the third Lonnie Gordon single followed this model, though a soul & RnB sound was also catered for by the second Lonnie Gordon single and Sybil's Make It Easy On Me, as well as by the Cool Notes and Paul Varney tracks in 1991.

Unfortunately, the second half of 1990 resulted in SAW enjoying less chart success than the first half. A good number of strong tracks failed to make the Top 40, and in one or two cases, the Top 75. In some cases, such as Yell! and Lonnie Gordon, record company issues had an impact, but perhaps there was a general shift away from the SAW sound in favour of the new and exciting sounds coming through. Given that young people drive singles sales and that their tastes are remarkably fickle, it was inevitable that the market would move on -- and in many ways, it is remarkable that SAW maintained their stratospheric success for as long as they did.

One experiment I would have liked to have seen was SAW marrying their unique pop melodies with the indie-dance sound pioneered by The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays, bringing in a bit more guitar and breakbeats. That would have surely been a "harder sound" and an interesting diversification. All that said, I'm happy with what we got from SAW in 1990, but equally I am curious as to what the results of further experimentation in a harder sound would have been...