Hot Chocolate 'You Sexy Thing'

Chart Peak: 6
YouTube

Errol Brown's 'You Sexy Thing' was originally a No. 2 hit for Hot Chocolate back in 1975... It hit the Top 10 again in 1987 and is due for re-release by public demand on 3rd November '97 following its use in the hugely successful movie The Full Monty.

Now, my recollection from seeing the film is that they used the original 1975 mix of the song (as they used many other songs from that era, although the setting was contemporary) and indeed the soundtrack album uses that version. It was the lead track from the CD single too, and even the Now 38 booklet uses the 1975 copyright date but somehow, by accident or design, the actual CD plays the 1987 Ben Liebrand remix. That's a pity because it duplicates the version on Now 9 (admittedly never available on CD) and, as I've previously mentioned, the remix isn't all that good. It sounds especially out of place on a 1990s album - a 1997 remix might be dated now but at least it would have been somehow fitting at the time, but this is just disappointing.

If you do consider the versions together, this was an unprecedented Top 10 run in separate decades for the track. In another little curiosity, this was the third version of the song to chart within as many months. A cover by T-Shirt slipped in at 63 just a couple of weeks after the film was released (surely too soon for an intentional cash-in) and went on to be a major hit in Australasia, whilst Clock took the song to the Top 20 in October (as 'U Sexy Thing') and that version overlapped in the chart with this reissue.

Also appearing on: Now 2, 9 [same track]
Available on: The Best Of Hot Chocolate

Hot Chocolate 'You Sexy Thing'

Chart Peak: 10 [original version 2 in 1975]

YouTube

Originally made No. 2 for 3 weeks in late 1975. This new mix charted at No. 56 on 13th January 1987. It had reached No. 10 by 10th February and is the group's 23rd British Top 30 single.

By 1986, DJ and producer Ben Liebrand had already made his lasting mark on music history by producing the pioneering classic that is 'Holiday Rap' by MC Miker G and Deejay Sven, possibly the first act ever to swear on Top Of The Pops. Presumably because he couldn't top this glory, he seems to have spent the rest of the decade trying to remix every record made in the 1970s, from Jeff Wayne's 'Eve Of The War' to the Four Seasons' 'December 63' to Bill Withers' 'Lovely Day' and Ram Jam's version of 'Black Betty'. This is one of his more commercially successful efforts in the UK, issued to promote a hits compilation by the now-defunct act; Errol Brown had already departed for a solo career by this point, although a version of the group continues to tour without him. They're supporting Status Quo this December.

'You Sexy Thing' is a song I've always felt ambivalent and slightly squeamish about. The greatest strength of the original is the skill with which it's arranged and produced (by the late Mickie Most, not somebody you'd necessarily expect to have been a natural at soul or proto-disco). There's a nice steady tempo, a luxurious string arrangement and an interesting effect where the congas seem to be merged with a rhythm guitar part. Unfortunately all these elements are either removed or buried in the remix, which substitutes a stolid drum-machine beat and a repeated ostinato on farty synthesiser. It's not even technically all that good, with the original track seemingly shoehorned in the mix as if he didn't have access to individual parts. All that's left is Errol Brown apparently inventing the word "sextacy" which we could have done without, really. If it had been 'It Started With A Kiss' I'd have been more positive.

Also appearing on: Now 2, 38 [this track]
Available on: The Rest Of The Best Of Hot Chocolate

Hot Chocolate 'I Gave You My Heart (Didn't I)'

Chart Peak: 13

Last.FM

Whilst they're rarely taken very seriously (and didn't necessarily want to be) Hot Chocolate arguably have quite a place in history as one of the UK's most successful singles acts, and one who made a success of a racially mixed lineup at a time when that was still commercially difficult.

1984 was the fifteenth consecutive year in which Hot Chocolate had managed at least a Top 75 single in the UK, but it was the end of the run: 'I Gave You My Heart' proved to be their last hit, aside from revivals of 'You Sexy Thing' and 'It Started With A Kiss'. In fact, the whole side 2 of Now II seems to be a bit of a jinx, since Hot Chocolate and Cyndi Lauper are the only acts on there to manage further Top 40 success. In truth, though, you can sort of tell their number was up - the song (notably not written by any of the band, but by ex-Racey singer Richard Gower) is paper-thin, and Mickie Most doesn't seem to have known how to produce in the style of the times, falling back too much on that sampled handclap sound that was everywhere then and a barrage of drumming at the start that has nothing to do with anything. It also contains one of the lamest false endings in pop history, where it seems to stop and start again without any real conviction, and the whole thing provokes no more positive adjectives than "smooth".

After one more single, Errol Brown finally called time and left for a not-massively successful solo career, although apparently you can still see a version of the band, fronted by the man who impersonated Brown on Stars In Their Eyes. They made some very good singles and some very bad ones, but this doesn't really seem to have enough in it to be either. It's a pity that this had to be the song of theirs that I got to write about.


Also appearing on: Now 9, 38
Available on: Their Greatest Hits