Retro Spins: When In Rome - When In Rome

 

They came, had a major hit, faded away, disbanded, and were essentially never heard from again.

Clive Farrington initially recruited Michael Floreale and Andy O'Connell to replace members of the group, Beau Leisure. Shortly thereafter, Floreale and Farrington would begin writing music together, bringing in Andrew Mann to serve as beat man. O'Connell would ultimately depart around this time.

As a trio, Farrington, Floreale, and Mann recorded a series of demos, and set to the task of looking for a label. While they found this in the London branch of Elektra Records, a month after signing the office was shut down, forcing them back to the search. 10 Records, a subsidy of Virgin would pick them up, and release the single, The Promise. While a remixed version would fare well in dance clubs, the original studio version would flop.

Despite this, their self-titled debut would follow in 1988. However, before doing so, their single was again remixed, and this updated version included on the album as the opening track. This new version took off, peaking at number eleven on the Billboard Hot 100. Unfortunately, this new version still failed in the UK, peaking at number fifty-eight.

A second single, Heaven Knows managed to hit the US charts, but stalled and fizzled out at ninety-five. It did manage to fair better on the dance charts, peaking at number fourteen. Two additional singles were released, Everything, and Sight Of Your Tears. While they would be minor dance chart hits, they didn't hit the Hot 100 at all.

I don't suspect I'll have much to say about this one. Mainly because it's simply not that good. I bought it for the hit, The Promise, and essentially that's all I got from it.

The remaining tracks, while pop / dance friendly, are mediocre through and through. There's nothing worth getting excited about, and frankly, nothing memorable beyond the hit. It's one hit wonder generic 80's at its best.

Floreale was fired by Farrington and Mann over creative differences in 1990. This was followed in 1993 by Virgin dropping them from their label, and the remaining two members disbanding.

Tensions would arise again in 2003 when their hit, The Promise, was used for the film Napolean Dynamite. While all three members received equal royalties, Floreale staked a claim for sole ownership of the song. Publicly, it is unknown what outcome came of that.

Since then, the trio have not only not reconciled but further got embroiled in legality issues with each other. This all started when Floreale reformed and trademarked When In Rome in 2006. He sued Farrington and Mann, when in 2009 they too reformed, and called their band, When In Rome UK The two were unsuccessful in challenging the claim, and when performing in the USA must go by Clive Farrington and Andrew Mann formerly of When in Rome to avoid further infringement.

Floreale wasn't done there. He later filed an infringement against Rob Juarez, an associate of Farrington and Mann, who attempted to trademark his tribute band name When in Rome Revisited. There's been no reconciliation between the guys, and they remain focused on their own respective iterations of the band.

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