Jimmy Somerville – Dare To Love – Album – July 1995

	5″ CD Five Track Promo “Hurt So Good” “By Your Side” “Someday We´ll Be Together” “Cry” “Heartbeat”
	5″ CD Album – Japan Promo! “Heartbeat” “Smalltown Boy” “Why?” “Don`t Leave Me This Way” “Never Can Say Goodbye” “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)”
	5″ CD Album Germany & UK “Heartbeat” “Hurts So Good” “Cry” “Love Thing” “By Your Side” “Dare To Love” “Someday We’ll Be Together” “Alright” “Too Much Of A Good Thing” “A Dream Gone Wrong” “Come Lately” “Safe In These Arms” “Because Of Him”
	5″ CD Album – UK Promo “Heartbeat” “Hurts So Good” “Cry” “Love Thing” “By Your Side” “Dare To Love” “Someday We’ll Be Together” “Alright” “Too Much Of A Good Thing” “A Dream Gone Wrong” “Come Lately” “Safe In These Arms” “Because Of Him”
	5″ CD Album – USA Promo “Heartbeat” “Hurts So Good” “Cry” “Love Thing” “By Your Side” “Dare To Love” “Someday We’ll Be Together” “Alright” “Too Much Of A Good Thing” “A Dream Gone Wrong” “Come Lately” “Safe In These Arms” “Because Of Him”
	5″ CD Album Japan “Heartbeat” “Hurts So Good” “Cry” “Love Thing” “By Your Side” “Dare To Love” “Someday We’ll Be Together” “Alright” “Too Much Of A Good Thing” “A Dream Gone Wrong” “Come Lately” “Safe In These Arms” “Because Of Him”
	5″ CD Album – signiert “Heartbeat” “Hurts So Good” “Cry” “Love Thing” “By Your Side” “Dare To Love” “Someday We’ll Be Together” “Alright” “Too Much Of A Good Thing” “A Dream Gone Wrong” “Come Lately” “Safe In These Arms” “Because Of Him”
	12″ Album UK “Heartbeat” “Hurts So Good” “Cry” “Love Thing” “By Your Side” “Dare To Love” “Someday We’ll Be Together” “Alright” “Too Much Of A Good Thing” “A Dream Gone Wrong” “Come Lately” “Safe In These Arms” “Because Of Him”
	12″ Album – ACETAT “Heartbeat” “Hurts So Good” “Cry” “Love Thing” “By Your Side” “Dare To Love” “Someday We’ll Be Together” “Alright” “Too Much Of A Good Thing” “A Dream Gone Wrong” “Come Lately” “Safe In These Arms” “Because Of Him”
	MC Album Germany & UK “Heartbeat” “Hurts So Good” “Cry” “Love Thing” “By Your Side” “Dare To Love” “Someday We’ll Be Together” “Alright” “Too Much Of A Good Thing” “A Dream Gone Wrong” “Come Lately” “Safe In These Arms” “Because Of Him”
	MC Album – Promo “Heartbeat” “Hurts So Good” “Cry” “Love Thing” “By Your Side” “Dare To Love” “Someday We’ll Be Together” “Alright” “Too Much Of A Good Thing” “A Dream Gone Wrong” “Come Lately” “Safe In These Arms” “Because Of Him”
	MC Album Promo “Heartbeat” “Hurts So Good” “Cry” “Love Thing” “By Your Side” “Dare To Love” “Someday We’ll Be Together” “Alright” “Too Much Of A Good Thing” “A Dream Gone Wrong” “Come Lately” “Safe In These Arms” “Because Of Him”

Jimmy Somerville, Dare To Love– Ali Sinclair

Dare To Love marks Jimmy Somerville’s return to the record stores and, I’m sure, to the charts – at least in Britain – after an absence of almost four years. And the King of Gay Pop is back with a vengeance!

The CD is a varied collection with the unmistakable Somerville pop-disco-falsetto mark: it includes cover versions of “Someday We’ll Be Together” and “Hurts So Good” (not the John Mellencamp song – I’ve been waiting YEARS for someone to refind this gentle-reggae almost-ballad!); throbbing disco “Heartbeat” and “Love Thing”, pure love songs “By Your Side” and “Safe In These Arms” and the intense, thought-provoking title track.

The pictures on the CD insert show a happy man, and the songs are full of a love of life, even when mourning friends lost to AIDS. It seems to me that the folks who live the hardest lives seem to have the greatest capacity for expressing joy and love. That’s what comes across to me from this CD.

The title track is about an “older” man, aged 25, being persecuted for his love of a 16-year-old boy “with a mind of his own”. Musically and vocally, this song is Jimmy at his best, showing a maturing vocal range and a new strength. Lyrically, this is probably the song most likely to cause controversy this year. After listening to it several times, I found myself examining my own prejudices with a fine-tooth comb. What would my reaction be if my 16-year-old son had a 25-year-old lover? I’d question the man’s motives. I’d wonder if he were corrupting my child. I’d want to protect the boy. I’d suspect that there was something not-quite-right with a guy who chose to mix with kids so much younger than him – is that prejudiced? I don’t know, because if my 16-year-old daughter had a 25-year-old male lover, I’d have the same reaction. Was he using her? What would the future hold? And is this parental care, or has it reached into the area of intolerable interference in someone else’s life? The age of consent is in place – and rightly so, in my opinion – to protect minors from abuse. But sometimes children grow up too soon. They don’t all mature precisely on their 16th or 18th birthday. Sometimes a 25-year-old is younger than an 18-year-old.

The difference between my son and my daughter would be that my daughter’s lover would just have to cope with my caring-interfering. He’d just have to cope with family prejudice. My son’s lover would be committing an illegal act and would have not only me and my questions, but the local community, their prejudices, and the Law to worry about.

Jimmy has been a champion of gay rights, gay love, since Bronski Beat’s single “Small Town Boy” smashed into the British Charts. And the question he provokes is still the same – what right do any of us have to judge someone else’s love and turn it into something sordid? Whether the relationship is homosexual, heterosexual or asexual.

Yes, this CD is thought-provoking. It’s also a great disco record. Don’t forget to take it along to all those late-summer parties. Then you can dance all night – whoever you love. Quelle: www.westnet.com

(P) 1995 London (C) 1995 London Recorded at Bearsville Studios USA, RAK, Whitfield Street, Swanyard, and Bifco Studios, London.