Middle of the Road - All The Hits Plus More - Music & Performance - CD

In 1970, a Scottish quartet left for Italy as a first step on their way to Argentine, where their ex-footballer manager had promised opportunities for a successful musical career. Instead, in 1971, without their manager, they raced to the top of the charts all over the world with a recording of a song they found in Italy, written by an eccentric Englishman. The song was "Chirpy, Chirpy, Cheep, Cheep"; the group was "Middle of the Road". They had already been the toast of the RCA Studios in Rome, appearing with screen superstar Sophia Loren on a single she made for the film, "The Priest's Wife". The film was a hit in Europe and the single charted in Italy. "Chirpy, Chirpy, Cheep, Cheep", in the meantime, was shooting up the charts worldwide, selling over 8 million copies and elevating "Middle of the Road" to the third most popular recording artistes in the Billboard charts in 1971. Less than a year later, their second recording "Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum", followed "Chirpy" to the number one position throughout most of Europe. The group and the song were featured in a cinema short launching the Fiat 127 to the European market. Five million records later "Soley, Soley", a new song they found and recorded in Spain, became the third high flier in 1972. Such was their popularity in that year, that they were the only act to have three singles in the British top 40 at the same time. In Italy, they won the top award at the Venice Song Festival, the Golden Gondola, in Germany, reader of Bravo magazine voted them Silver Otto winners and in the UK, they were presented with the Carl Alan Award for their musical contribution to the British dance scene. Thirty-two gold discs were presented to the band for these songs alone and their Dutch record company even presented them with a unique special award the Golden Windmill, for grossing the largest amount of guilders by any group in their catalogue. In 1972, they launched "Sacramento" on the music market, once again reaching top ten status in most of Europe, including many of the East European countries like East Germany, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Poland, where they starred at the SOPOT Song Festival. Meanwhile, back in the west, they release "Samson And Delilah", "Yellow Boomerang" and "Talk of All The USA", selling over 2 million copies in Europe alone. By this time "Chirpy" was charting in Japan and Far East and, as a result, the group toured there extensively. Their first taste of Japanese TV was to appear on a breakfast show in Tokyo. They had to perform live to a studio audience at 6.30am. Despite suffering sever jet lag, they took the show by storm and had to be smuggled out of the TV studios in an ambulance before the enthusiastic audience of early risers could stop applauding. Their next hit, "Bottom's Up", was their last for RCA and they swapped labels to the Ariola stable where they continued their run of hits with songs like "Samba D'Amor" and "Rockin' Soul" in 1974. In 1991, "Middle of the Road" featured in a major European TV Show, having been off the world scene for 15 years. Such was the response from the 15,000 audience in Holland they decided to begin touring again. Since then the group has been performing regularly in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, Spain and Belgium with such household names as "The Tremeloes", "The Searchers", "Gerry And the Pacemakers", "The Mamas and The Papas", "The Troggs", "Chubby Checker" and "The Lovin' Spoonful". During these last few years, "Middle of the Road", much to their delight, have regained their popularity, and credibility in Europe. Today, under the banner of "Middle of the Road featuring Sally Carr", Sally Carr (original lead singer), Ken Andrew (original drummer) and Neil Henderson (original lead guitarist), are continuing to satisfy the demands of their fans and are developing their act on a scale which is allowing them to reach not only the markets where they are well remembered, but also new territories that were previously untouched. Joined by Shug Devlin on keyboards and Phil Anderson on guitar and vocals, the group has recently recorded and released new material on a Christmas album along with 70s artistes in Germany. Apart from their live work, regular appearances on German TV have given the group a presence in Europe which almost rivals that of 25 years ago. Recent concerts have included performances in Switzerland where they helped launch a new radio station and, quite appropriately, they took part in the celebrations to open a new motorway there. In October 1996, they returned to Bratislava to appear as guest performers at the International Song Festival - and event they attended in 1972. This CD contains recently recorded up-to-date versions of new arrangements of "Chirpy, Chirpy, Cheep, Cheep" and "Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum" and features re-recordings of all their old hits.