No Limits! | ||||
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Studio album by 2 Unlimited | ||||
Released | May 10, 1993 | |||
Recorded | 1992–93 Soundstational Studios | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 59:55 / 1:10:42 | |||
Label | Byte Records (Sony / PWL) | |||
Producer |
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2 Unlimited chronology | ||||
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Alternative cover | ||||
UK cover for the album
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Singles from No Limits | ||||
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Professional ratings | |
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Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | |
Smash Hits |
No Limits, also known as No Limits!, is the second studio album by Dutch Eurodance band 2 Unlimited, released in 1993. The album yielded five singles, including "No Limit", which reached number one in many European charts. The album went platinum in several countries.
2 Unlimited had limited success in 1992 with their debut album Get Ready!. It had produced four hit singles, but the album had not performed well commercially, peaking at just #37 in the UK Albums Chart. At the time, many Eurodance acts were able to produce hit singles but were unable to capitalize on this with a commercially successful album. 2 Unlimited, however, broke the mould.
At the end of 1992, 2 Unlimited were still only known amongst those who followed chart music at the time. With the first single released from this album, "No Limit", this changed. It went to number 1 in the UK Singles Chart in early February (competing with "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston), and spent five weeks there. This exposure led to them being parodied by the mainstream media with the television series Spitting Image parodying the track as "No Lyrics" due to its repetitive lyrical content. The second single from the album, "Tribal Dance", was released in May 1993, followed by this album soon afterwards.
Like all the studio albums by the band, the title of the album was a modification of the title of the lead single to be taken from it. The artwork for the UK cover was designed by Julian Barton and David Howells. As like all the 2 Unlimited releases, most other territories featured a different album cover to the UK edition of the album. Unlike their previous album in the UK, where many of the tracks featured on it were instrumental, the artwork to this album featured band members Ray and Anita on the front cover.
For the debut album, most of the writing had been done by Wilde and de Coster, with some input from Ray Slijngaard and other featured writers. For No Limits!, both Ray and Anita had much more input into the song writing process compared to the previous album. Anita has writing credits on seven of the album's fourteen songs and Ray has writing credits on ten of them.
As their British record company PWL were dissatisfied with Ray Slijngaard's raps, the British version of this album replaced most of the raps with instrumental parts.