''The First of a Million Kisses'' is the debut

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 ...

Fairground Attraction Fairground Attraction were a London based folk and soft rock band. They are notable for the 1988 hit songs " Perfect" and "Find My Love", both taken from the group's multi-platinum selling debut album, ''The First of a Million Kisses''. The ban ...

, released in 1988. The album features the number-one single " Perfect".

Composition

The album is a characteristic blend of folk,

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

, country, and

Cajun The Cajuns (; French: ''les Cadjins'' or ''les Cadiens'' ), also known as Louisiana ''Acadians'' (French: ''les Acadiens''), are a Louisiana French ethnicity mainly found in the U.S. state of Louisiana. While Cajuns are usually described as ...

elements (all but one of its songs being written by band member Mark E. Nevin). Released on 16 May 1988, it followed the success of the band's first

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

, " Perfect," by entering 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 ...

at number seven, and peaking at number two. It was the only album released by the band before their break-up in 1990. Three other singles were released from the album: "

Find My Love "Find My Love" is a song by British band Fairground Attraction, which was released as their second single from their debut album '' The First of a Million Kisses'' in July 1988. As with much of their debut album, the words and music of the song ...

" (which reached number seven in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

), "A Smile in a Whisper" (UK #75), and "Clare" (UK #49). ''The First of a Million Kisses'' won the award for British Album of the Year at the

1989 Brit Awards Brit Awards 1989 was the 9th edition of the Brit Awards, an annual pop music awards ceremony in the United Kingdom. It was organised by the British Phonographic Industry and took place on 13 February 1989 at Royal Albert Hall in London. This ye ...

, and was certified

double platinum Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

in the UK. N.B. The incorrect release date is listed for the album.

Cover

The photo on the album cover is from Magnum photographer

Elliot Erwitt Elliott Erwitt (born Elio Romano Erwitt, July 26, 1928) is a French-born American advertising and documentary photographer known for his black and white candid photos of ironic and absurd situations within everyday settings. He has been a member ...

and was taken in 1955.

Track listing

All tracks written by Mark E. Nevin, except track 11 by

Eddi Reader Sadenia "Eddi" Reader MBE (born 29 August 1959) is a Scottish singer-songwriter, known for her work as frontwoman of Fairground Attraction and for an enduring solo career. She is the recipient of three BRIT Awards. In 2003, she showcased the wo ...

A Smile in a Whisper "A Smile in a Whisper" is a song by British band Fairground Attraction, which was released on 31 October 1988 as the third single from their debut album The First of a Million Kisses ''The First of a Million Kisses'' is the debut album by Fai ...

" #" Perfect" #"Moon on the Rain" #"

" #"Fairground Attraction" #"The Wind Knows My Name" #"Clare" #"Comedy Waltz" #"The Moon Is Mine" #"Station Street" #"Whispers" #"Allelujah" The following two tracks are available only on CD issues of the album: *13. "Falling Backwards" *14. "Mythology" The following tracks have been added to the new expanded 2CD edition and come from the Ay Fond Kiss release, the Live in Japan release or are (*) previously unreleased: 15. "Trying Times" 16. "Winter Rose" 17. "Ay Fond Kiss" 18. "You Send Me" 19. "Watching The Party" 20. "Jock O’ Hazeldean" 21. "The Game Of Love" Disc Two: 1. "Mystery Train" 2. "Do You Want To Know A Secret?" 3. "The Waltz Continues" (Live In Japan) 4. "Don’t Be A Stranger" (Live In Japan) 5. "Dangerous" (Live In Japan) 6. "I Know Why The Willow Weeps" (Live In Japan) 7. "Home To Heartache" (Live In Japan) 8. "Fear Is The Enemy Of Love" (Live In Japan) 9. "Broken By A Breeze" (Live In Japan) 10. "Goodbye To Songtown" (Live In Japan) 11. "I May Never Be Queen"* 12. "Prayer For St Valentine"* 13. "Swing Trumpet" (Demo)* 14. "Red Ribbon" (Demo)* 15. "Find My Love" (Demo)* 16. "Mythology" (Demo)* 17. "Station Street" (Demo)* 18. "The Moon Is Mine" (Demo)* 19. "Walking After Midnight" (Version)*

Personnel

Musicians

– lead vocals *Mark E. Nevin –

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 ...

s *Simon Edwards –

guitarrón Guitarrón or guitarron is a common name for a number of stringed instruments found in Latin America and may refer to: * Guitarrón argentino, a six-stringed musical instrument from Argentina * Guitarrón chileno, a 25-stringed, plucked instrument ...

*Ray Dodds –

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 ...

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 ...

Guests

*Kim Burton –

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

, tiny harp,

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

*Roger Beaujolais – vibes,

glockenspiel The glockenspiel ( or , : bells and : set) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the vibraphone. The glo ...

Anthony Thistlethwaite Anthony "Anto" Thistlethwaite (born 31 August 1955, Lutterworth, Leicestershire, England) is a British multi-instrumentalist best known as a founding member (with guitarist Mike Scott) of the folk rock group, The Waterboys and later as a long ...

–

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

*Steve Forster – mandolin *Ian Shaw – backing vocals *Will Hasty –

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

Chart positions

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:First Of A Million Kisses, The 1988 debut albums RCA Records albums Brit Award for British Album of the Year Fairground Attraction albums