Bananarama Vinyl Re-Issues

Bananarama broke the mould with their fashion forward style, feisty attitude and an arsenal of timeless chart hits spanning three decades.  Now for the first time since their original release, London Recordings are making the trio’s first six albums available on vinyl.  Initial pressings will be available on limited edition coloured vinyl with each album having its own specific colour. In addition, and for a limited period only, the official London Records/Bananarama store will also be stocking coloured cassettes of each album.

‘What A Shambles’, a song on Keren, Sara and Siobhan’s first album Deep Sea Skiving, proves a fitting ethos for the start of Bananarama’s career. “It wasn’t considered at all” says Keren “it was all impromptu”. From such ad-hoc beginnings, via early collaborations with Fun Boy Three’s Terry Hall, Bananarama found themselves climbing the charts and gracing a multitude of magazine covers. 

Having set the template with Deep Sea Skiving (1983) Bananarama (1984) and True Confessions (1986) and a string of pop anthems including ‘Really Saying Something’, ‘Robert De Niro’s Waiting’ and ‘Venus’, their success snowballed with ‘Venus’ hitting the No.1 spot in US and subsequent top ten US hits with ‘Cruel Summer’ and ‘I Heard A Rumour’.

Siobhan left to form Shakespear’s Sister in 1988 but Sara and Keren continued as a duo recording a further three albums - Wow!,(1987) Pop Life (1991) and Please Yourself (1993) - and garnering yet more hit singles.

The last Bananarama performance as the original trio was ‘Love In The First Degree’ – the song Pete Waterman still maintains is the best record to come out of the Hit Factory.  Incredibly Sara, Keren and Siobhan had never performed this, or any of their extensive run of top 10 singles together,  a situation that was finally resolved when the trio reunited for a string of sold out live shows in 2017 and 2018.  For their long standing and inclusive fanbase, it was nothing short of Morrissey and Marr reforming.  As Siobhan so brilliantly summarized – “It’s part of me, part of my history and I love what we did and the crazy life we lead.  Look what we did. Listen to the records.  It’s all there.” 

Deep Sea Skiving (1983) – BLUE

Bananarama (1984) – PURPLE

True Confessions (1986) – GREEN

WOW! (1987) – RED

Pop Life (1991) -  PINK

Please Yourself (1993) – WHITE