The Lover Speaks (album)
| The Lover Speaks | ||||
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| Studio album by The Lover Speaks | ||||
| Released | 1986 | |||
| Genre | Pop | |||
| Length | 42:23 | |||
| Label | A&M Records | |||
| Producer | Jimmy Iovine, The Lover Speaks | |||
| The Lover Speaks chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| Billboard | favourable |
| PopMatters |   |
| The Second Disc | favourable |
The Lover Speaks is the self-titled debut studio album from British duo The Lover Speaks, released in 1986.
David Freeman and Joseph Hughes formed The Lover Speaks in 1985, having previously worked together in the punk outfit The Flys. Deriving their name from the Roland Barthes' book A Lover's Discourse: Fragments, the duo began writing material and also recruited keyboard player Barry Gilbert after advertising for a keyboardist. Although Gilbert was not an official member of the group, he would record and tour with the duo. Later in 1985, the band sent a demo tape to Dave Stewart of Eurythmics and soon signed with Stewart's Anxious Music Publishing. Meanwhile, Stewart had forwarded the demo tape to Chryssie Hynde, who sent it to producer Jimmy Iovine. Iovine was successful in getting the band a recording contract with A&M Records in early 1986.
Work on the duo's debut album began in February 1986 at A&M Studios in Los Angeles. The Church in London was also used for recording, while the Marcus Recording Studios was used to master the album. With Iovine as co-producer, the album took three months to complete. Originally, Freeman had put forward two possible titles for the album – The Politics of Roses and Seriously Purple Prose – but both were rejected by A&M in favour of being self-titled. Describing the album's theme, Freeman recalled in 2015:
"Each song on the album is a reference to a specific idea in Roland Barthes' book Fragments d'un discours amoureux. Our idea was to produce a musical cartoon of his book. The whole album is based on that book – an exercise in camp with a bouffant hairdo.
In July 1986, the band's debut single, "No More "I Love You's"", peaked at No. 58 in the UK. In August, the debut album was released, but failed to chart. To promote the album, the band opened for Eurythmics during their Revenge World Tour. A second single from the album, "Tremble Dancing" was released in September, but also failed to chart. A third and final single, "Every Lover's Sign", was released in October in the UK and November in the US. In December, it reached at No. 6 on the US Billboard Dance Club Songs Chart.
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