''House of Miracles'' is the second and final

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by American new wave band

the Vels The Vels was an American new wave and synth-pop band formed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1980. The band consisted of lead vocalist Alice Cohen (as ''Alice Desoto''), keyboardist Chris Larkin and bassist Charles Hanson. Career The Vels began ...

, released in 1986 by

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...

and it was performed as a duo of

Alice Cohen Alice Cohen (born November 25, 1958) also known by the stage name Alice Desoto, is a New York City-based American singer, songwriter, musician and fine artist. She has performed as the lead vocalist for two major label bands, the Vels and Die Mon ...

and Charles Hansen following the departure of founding member Chris Larkin. It was recorded at

Studio Miraval Miraval Studios is a recording studio located in the Château de Miraval, a 900 hectares estate located in Correns, in the Var department of Provence (France). Founded in 1977 by French jazz pianist Jacques Loussier and sound engineer Patrice Quef ...

Correns Correns (; oc, Correnç) is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. Its name in the Provençal language is ''Courrens''. The geographic position of the village is almost in the middl ...

, France with producer

Steve Levine Steve LeVine (born in New York) is a journalist. He writes The Electric, new publicationon batteries, electric vehicles, and their impact on society, cities and geopolitics. He is a senior fellow on the Foresight, Strategy and Risk Initiative at ...

, best known for his work with

Culture Club Culture Club are an English pop band formed in London in 1981. The band comprises Boy George (lead vocals), Roy Hay (guitar and keyboards), Mikey Craig (bass guitar) and formerly included Jon Moss (drums and percussion). Emerging in the New ...

. ''House of Miracles'' like their debut studio album, ''

Velocity Velocity is the directional speed of an object in motion as an indication of its rate of change in position as observed from a particular frame of reference and as measured by a particular standard of time (e.g. northbound). Velocity is a ...

'' (1984), failed to chart. "Girl Most Likely To" was the only single released from the album but it also did not chart and the band broke up a year after the album was released. The track "Souvenirs" had been written for

the Bangles The Bangles are an American pop rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1981. The band recorded several singles that reached the U.S. top 10 during the 1980s, including "Manic Monday" (1986), "Walk Like an Egyptian" (1986), " Hazy Shade ...

but that failed to materialise and it was instead recorded for this album. To date, the album remains unavailable on CD or

MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...

and has been long

out of print __NOTOC__ An out-of-print (OOP) or out-of-commerce item or work is something that is no longer being published. The term applies to all types of printed matter, visual media, sound recordings, and video recordings. An out-of-print book is a book ...

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl m ...

since its initial release.

Track listing

Side one #"Danger Zone" – 3:15 #"Girl Most Likely To" – 3:42 #"Way with Words" – 3:53 #"Face to Face" – 3:16 #"Hand in Hand" – 3:00 Side two #

"House of Miracles" – 3:19 #"Souvenirs" – 3:23 #"Guardian Angel" – 3:36 #"Buried Treasure" – 3:14 #"Once Upon a Time" – 3:42

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the ''House of Miracles'' liner notes. The Vels *

(as ''Alice Desoto'') —

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

;

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

* Charles Hansen —

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

; bass;

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

; keyboards;

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

Additional musicians * Julian Lindsay — Yamaha QXI sequencer programming * Robert Holmes — guitars on "Girl Most Likely To" Production *

— producer; mixer * The Vels — mixing *

Ron Saint Germain Ron Saint Germain (alternate spellings Ron St. Germain, Ron Saint-Germaine and similar) is an American record producer, audio engineer, and mixer born in post-war Frankfurt, Germany, into a career Air Force family. Prior to his career in music ...

— mixing on "Girl Most Likely To" * Greg Laney —

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

* Jacques Hermet — assistant engineer

References

{{Authority control 1986 albums The Vels albums Mercury Records albums Albums produced by Steve Levine Synth-pop albums by American artists