It's ironic that I would say in my previous post about Book Of Love that tubular bells and chimes felt a bit overused, only to then fire up their sophomore album, Lullaby for the opening track, Tubular Bells.
Though their 1986 album featured multiple charting hits, it would be the group's commitment to serve as opening act for Depeche Mode's Black Celebration Tour, which kept them out of the studio. It wouldn't be until spring 1987 that they finally got the opportunity to start laying down demos for what would become 1988's Lullaby.
Preceding its release, Pretty Boys And Pretty Girls, was released as a single, and darted up the dance charts to number five. This was followed by the mildly successful album title track, which peaked at twenty-seven. The third single, Witchcraft wouldn't fare so well, failing to chart. As a whole, the album would also be their first to hit the Billboard Hot 200, peaking at one hundred fifty-six.
As noted above, the album kicks off with Tubular Bells, a fun instrumental, which segues into the hit, Pretty Boys And Pretty Girls. The two tracks really hit the mark for me and excite me for the things to come.
I can't help but feel like if Witchcraft had been released in 1984 / 1985 that it would have been a success. It's not a good song by any means, but what it does have is quirky vocals, which bounce from Susan to Jade to Lauren, all mixed together in a solid beat.
While I will say that the album is pretty okay overall, for the year it was released, it's a bit dated. I suppose part of my opinion driving that is that by this point in time I was listening to more hard rock / metal. Still, it's a decent listening session.
Book Of Love would release two more albums, 1991's Candy Carol, and 1993's Lovebubble. Carol would hit the Billboard 200 (174), and both it and Lovebubble would produce one successful dance chart hit. However, witnessing the changing landscape of music in real time, they would opt to disband in 1994. While part of this decision was to avoid continuing on until irrelevant, the members were admittedly burned out and facing family issues. In the end, they just felt that things had run their course, and it was time to bow out.
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