''Bridge of Spies'' is the debut album by British pop group T'Pau, released in September 1987. For its US release,

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...

renamed ''Bridge of Spies'' to simply ''T'Pau''.

Overview

The album was produced by

Roy Thomas Baker Roy Thomas Baker (born 10 November 1946) is an English record producer, songwriter and arranger, who has produced rock and pop and songs since the 1970s. Career Baker began his career at Decca Records at the age of 14 and later worked as an a ...

. It spawned five hit singles – " Heart and Soul" (also a Top 5 in the US), the best-selling number one hit " China in Your Hand" (re-recorded especially for single release), " Valentine," a live version of "

Sex Talk "Sex Talk" is a song by British band T'Pau, written by Carol Decker and Ron Rogers, and produced by Roy Thomas Baker. It was originally released as a single in 1987 under the title "Intimate Strangers", but failed to chart. It was re-titled "Se ...

" (previously released in its original form as "Intimate Strangers") was issued in the UK, and " I Will Be with You". A further release, a remix of the title track "Bridge of Spies", was also released in the US, Canada, Australia and Germany. The artwork for the release includes the name "T'Pau" rearranged to form a face (similar to the

Moai Moai or moʻai ( ; es, moái; rap, moʻai, , statue) are monolithic human figures carved by the Rapa Nui people on Easter Island, Rapa Nui in eastern Polynesia between the years 1250 and 1500. Nearly half are still at Rano Raraku, the main mo ...

stone heads found on

Easter Island Easter Island ( rap, Rapa Nui; es, Isla de Pascua) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is most famous for its nearl ...

). This practice was replicated with the titles of the band's follow-up albums '' Rage'' and '' The Promise''. The album spent one week at number one on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

and was certified Gold on 14 October 1987 and Platinum on 18 November 1987. It was eventually certified 4× Platinum in September 1988. An extended and digitally remastered version of ''Bridge of Spies'' was released in the UK and Europe in 2017. It includes remixes, B-sides and live versions of the album tracks. A companion album called ''The Virgin Anthology'' was released shortly afterwards, and this triple CD and DVD contains the radio edits and remixes of all the singles released from ''Bridge of Spies'' and digitally remastered versions of the follow up albums ''Rage'' and ''The Promise''.

Track listing

All songs written by

Carol Decker Carol Ann Decker (born 10 September 1957) is an English singer and musician. She is the lead vocalist of the band T'Pau, which had international success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Although Decker is mainly associated with the group, she ...

and Ron Rogers. (

Copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...

Virgin Music) Side one # " Heart and Soul" – 4:16 # " I Will Be with You" – 4:05 # " China in Your Hand" – 5:06 # "Friends Like These" – 3:45 # "

" – 4:14 Side two # "Bridge of Spies" – 5:23 # "Monkey House" – 4:24 # " Valentine" – 3:58 # "Thank You for Goodbye" – 3:54 # "You Give Up" – 4.39 # "China in Your Hand" (reprise) – 0:45

Chart performance

Production

* Produced by Roy Thomas Baker * Engineered and mixed by Jerry Napier

Personnel

– all vocals * Ronnie Rogers – guitars * Tim Burgess – drums, percussion * Michael Chetwood – keyboards * Paul Jackson – bass * Taj Wyzgowski – guitars * Peter Ballin – tenor saxophone *

Gary Barnacle Gary Barnacle (born 1959 in Dover, England) is an English saxophonist, flautist, brass instrument arranger, composer, and producer. Barnacle is primarily noted for his session work and live work, including various Prince's Trust concerts at Wem ...

– tenor saxophone (single version of "China in Your Hand")

''View from a Bridge''

A video of the following selected tracks was released as ''View from a Bridge'' in 1988 on VHS and

LaserDisc The LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold and marketed as DiscoVision, MCA DiscoVision (also known simply as "DiscoVision") in the United States in 1978. Its diam ...

. # "Intro" # "Heart and Soul" # "Bridge of Spies" # "China in Your Hand" # "Valentine" # "Sex Talk"

Sales and certifications

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1987 debut albums T'Pau (band) albums Albums produced by Roy Thomas Baker