Black Lace - Action Party + I Speaka Da Lingo/El Vino Collapso 12" + The Ultimate Party Video!

Longtime followers going back to my old Cosmoblog years may well remember my love - or at least appreciation - for legendary British novelty pop supremos Black Lace. It's been quite a few years since I last did a Black Lace post so here's a great one to make up lost time! For the uninitiated, Black Lace were a 2-man pop combo that had a string of top class anthemic novelty holiday pop hits back in the 80s. They originally began in the 70s as a fully fledged rock band and were the UK's official 1979 Eurovision entry with "Mary Ann" - a song that was a blatant copy of the Smokie hit "Oh Carol". "Mary Ann" came 7th at Eurovision and Black Lace eventually dwindled from a 5-piece to the legendary 2-man band partnership of Alan Barton and Colin Gibb which would give Brits and holidaymakers pleasure and nightmares in equal doses throughout the 80s such as "Superman", "Do The Conga" and the almighty "Agadoo" - a superior cover of a hit originally by the equally trashy Euro group The Saragossa Band. My personal Black Lace favourites, without doubt, have to be the double-whammy of "I Speaka Da Lingo" and "El Vino Collapso". Although a flop in comparison to the likes of "Superman", "Do The Conga" and - of course - "Agadoo", I think "I Speaka Da Lingo" and "El Vino Collapso" really demonstrate the genius of Black Lace to full effect.

For a brief period, Colin left the group and was replaced with Dene Michael who appears on "Wig Wam Bam" (and in the promo video). Colin returned not long afterwards and Alan, Colin and Dene appear together in the 80s cult classic movie Rita, Sue & Bob, Too performing "Gang Bang". In 1995, Alan Barton tragically died in a road accident in Germany whilst on tour with Smokie. He had been lead singer of the band, replacing Chris Norman since 1986. Smokie - with Barton - had just scored a smash hit with the decidedly Black Lace-like remake of the old Smokie classic "Living Next Door To Alice" - now called "Who The Fuck Is Alice" and co-performed with Roy "Chubby" Brown. When Barton had quit Black Lace, he was replaced with Rob Hopcraft. Rob is seen with Colin Gibb on the cover of the "Ultimate Party Video" and recorded the last of the Black Lace classics "I Am The Music Man" in which he also appears in the rather dodgy promo video.... Black Lace officially disbanded in 2000 when Rob left the band but has recently been bought back to life by former temporary member Dene Michael with newcomer Ian Robinson. But perhaps the less said about that particular revamp the better...

Essential, must-own compilation of Black Lace hits and misses - although it's actually missing a few essential Black Lace classics and, in my opinion, two of their best tracks: "El Vino Collapso" and "I Speaka Da Lingo". But not to worry, I've included those along with "Gang Bang" for completism's sake. Listen, laugh, dance, embarass yourself and enjoy!

Black Lace

Action Party - 25 All-Time Favourites

Prism Leisure

1993

100 mb

MU / RS

1. Agadoo
2. I Am the Music Man
3. Wig Wam Bam
4. Hi Ho Silver Lining
5. Penny Arcade
6. Superman
7. Do the Conga
8. Locomotion
9. Hippy Hippy Shake
10. Good Golly Miss Molly
11. Twist and Shout
12. Do You Love Me
13. The Bump
14. Come on Eileen
15. Let's Dance
16. Do Wah Diddy Diddy
17. Mandolin Jivin'
18. Dancin' Party
19. Rock Around the Clock
20. This 'Ole House
21. Birdie Song
22. Teardrops
23. Knock Three Times
24. We Danced, We Danced
25. Time Warp [Live] 

BONUS TRACKS

26. El Vino Collapso
27. I Speaka Da Lingo
28. Gang Bang

I included the bonus tracks myself as they really should have been included on this release and easily fit on a standard length cd. Enjoy!

Ripped & encoded by X-Y-Z-Cosmonaut @ 192 kbps.

Here we have the 12" vinyl release of Black Lace's masterpiece "I Speaka Da Lingo" backed with the brilliant and ultra catchy "El Vino Collapso" with the added treat of a Black Lace megamix on the b-side!

Black Lace
I Speaka Da Lingo/El Vino Collapso
Flair Records
1985
33 mb
MU / RS


A1. I Speaka Da Lingo
A2. El Vino Collapso
B1. Black Lace Megamix:
Agadoo/Do The Conga/Superman/Clap Clap Song/El Vino Collapso


Ripped & encoded by X-Y-Z-Cosmonaut @ 320 kbps.


 And as an extra bonus, here are the two Black Lace "XXX" versions of "Agadoo" and "Superman" aka "Have A Screw" and "Supercock"...!

Black Lace
Have A Screw/Superman (X-Rated)
1984/1985
9 mb
MU / RS

1. Have A Screw
2. Superman (X-rated Version)

Encoded @ 192 kbps.

What I would call the "holy grail" of Black Lace - the promo video collection! As cheap and cheerful as you can imagine and on the old Prism Leisure Video label to boot! (For those out there that didn't know or care, Prism Leisure was the company that released Kevin Toms' ultra huge smash hit legendary computer game Football Manager back in the 80s.) Every video is a pearl - in particular "El Vino Colapsso", "I Speaka Da Lingo", "Agadoo" and "Do The Conga" are stand-outs. Alan excells especially on "I Speaka Da Lingo" in which he gloriously portrays politically incorrect stereotypes of the French, Italian, Chinese and Russian. Plus Colin wins an Oscar for his portrayal of an Indian - straight out of It Ain't Half Hot Mum. Actually,"I Speaka Da Lingo" is the musical equivalent of Mind Your Language. Special mention must go to "I Am The Music Man" - which is so godawful and dodgy that it's brilliant. You just have to dig Colin and Rob's utterly garish idea of fashion mixed with all those hundreds of teenies and kiddies (Gary Glitter would have loved to have appeared in this) - you won't know whether to laugh, cry or vomit.

 One thing that is apparent from watching the Black Lace promo videos is what a superb performer Alan Barton was. The joy, fun and total commitment and professionalism he bought to his performances are there for all to see - he would have made a great actor or comedy entertainer. Alan steals the show in every Black Lace video he appears in. Incidentally, Alan Barton's sons Dean and Lee appear in the hilarious video for the excellent "I Speaka Da Lingo" (you'll probably spot who they are from the hair styles!).


Black Lace - The Ultimate Party Video
Prism Leisure Video
1995
XVID
Approx. 23 mins
358 mb
MU / RS

Ripped & encoded by X-Y-Z-Cosmonaut.