Oceans of Fantasy


Oceans of Fantasy is the fourth studio album by Euro-Caribbean group Boney M. Released in September 1979, Oceans of Fantasy became the second Boney M. album to top the UK charts and features the hits "El Lute / [Gotta Go Home]" and "I'm [Born Again / Bahama Mama]".

Background

The album had been preceded in the spring of 1979 by the single "Hooray! Hooray! It's a Holi-Holiday", one of the band's biggest hits. This was not included on Oceans of Fantasy but the B-side, "Ribbons of Blue" was, albeit in a heavily edited form. The original length of the track is 4:02, and songs like "Gotta Go Home" and "Bahama Mama" were also longer on 7" than on the actual album.
As with the group's previous album, Nightflight to Venus, the original Hansa Records pressings of the album also included a range of different edits of certain tracks.
The 1994 CD version used same master with East German version of the album. unlike the common West German pressings with different edits of certain songs. On 2007 reissue, two bonus tracks added to the album.
Several pressings also contained the wrong running order on cover and labels, incorrectly listing "El Lute" as the opening track on side two, followed by "No More Chain Gang" and "Oceans of Fantasy" like only the first pressing.
The first pressing also features "Let It All Be Music" and "Gotta Go Home" segued together. So the later pressings feature the songs separately.
Oceans of Fantasy also features a guest appearance by Eruption's lead singer Precious Wilson on "Let It All Be Music" and the cover of Sam & Dave's "Hold On I'm Coming", which was also issued as Wilson's first solo single. The Argentinian pressing omitted "El Lute" in favour of "Hooray! Hooray! It's a Holi-Holiday".
The album was the only Boney M. album to feature a full track-by-track vocal credits list which confirmed that only two of the four band members, Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett, actually sang on the Boney M. records, and that producer Frank Farian sang the characteristic deep male vocal as well as high falsetto vocals. Maizie Williams and Bobby Farrell did not take any part in the studio sessions, though performed vocals at Boney M.'s live concerts.
"No More Chain Gang" was covered by Turkish singer Tarkan as "Çok Ararsın Beni" on his debut album "Yine Sensiz" in 1992.

Track listing

Side A:
  1. "Let It All Be Music" - 4:46
  2. "Gotta Go Home" - 3:46
  3. "Bye Bye Bluebird" - 4:42
  4. "Bahama Mama" - 3:17
  5. "Hold On I'm Coming" - 4:05
  6. "Two of Us" - 3:29
  7. "Ribbons of Blue" - 2:01
Side B:
  1. "Oceans of Fantasy" - 5:26
  2. "El Lute" - 5:09
  3. "No More Chain Gang" - 5:12
  4. "I'm Born Again" - 4:08
  5. "No Time to Lose" - 3:26
  6. "Calendar Song " - 2:44

Personnel

Production

Reissued

  • 1994: CD, BMG 74321 21268 2
  • 2007: CD, Sony BMG Music Entertainment 88697082632
  • 2011: Boney M. Original Album Classics, 5 CD, Sony Music 88697928702
  • 2017: Boney M. Complete, 9 LP, Sony Music 88985406971