The Dollar Album


The Dollar Album is the third and final studio album by the pop vocal duo Dollar, released on 22 October 1982 by WEA Records. The album featured five Top 40 hit singles, including their biggest "Mirror Mirror".

Background

By its release in 1982, Dollar had seen a revival in fortunes following their previous, unsuccessful studio album The Paris Collection. After teaming up with producer Trevor Horn in 1981, the group had enjoyed their biggest success with four hit singles; "Hand Held in Black and White", "Mirror Mirror (Mon Amour)", "Give Me Back My Heart" and "Videotheque" - all of which reached the UK Top 20. Members David Van Day and Thereza Bazar began work on a new album and wrote and produced the remainder of the tracks themselves. Although all their own songs were credited as joint compositions, a number of them were written by only one of them, such as "Dangerous Blondes", "Guessing Games" and "Anyone Who's Anyone" by Bazar and "You Made Me Love You" and "I Got Your Number Wrong" by Van Day.
The production was also largely handled by Bazar herself after she had spent much time working closely with Horn in the studio. A fifth single, "Give Me Some Kinda Magic", was released to coincide with the album. Although it became another Top 40 hit, it failed to chart as highly as the previous four singles. The album, backed by a television advertising campaign, charted at No. 18 and was certified Silver by the BPI. Thereza Bazar has since said of the album that she is proud of their own songs but regrets that Trevor Horn couldn't have worked on more of it. She says that the four songs he did with them were very expensive due to the vast amount of time spent in the studio on them, but they were "worth every penny".
In early 1983, Dollar were on a promotional tour of Japan with their new single "Two Hearts". The formerly dating couple were by this time finding it difficult to continue working together and decided to split. The single was never released in the UK. Dollar reformed in 1986 and despite four single releases, including a Top 10 hit, the group never released another album.
Many of the tracks on this album were released on compact disc on a 2006 compilation, The Platinum Collection. The whole album was released on compact disc in February 2010 by Cherry Red Records, and included six bonus tracks.

Track listing

Side one
  1. "Mirror Mirror (Mon Amour)" – 3:30
  2. "Give Me Back My Heart" – 5:01
  3. "Hand Held in Black and White" – 3:20
  4. "Pink and Blue" – 4:13
  5. "I Got Your Number Wrong" – 3:49
  6. "Guessing Games" – 3:42
Side two
  2. "Give Me Some Kinda Magic" – 3:43
  3. "Videotheque" – 3:34
  4. "Dangerous Blondes" – 4:13
  5. "You Made Me Love You" – 4:09
  6. "Anyone Who's Anyone" – 3:18
  7. "The Second Time Around" – 5:01
Bonus tracks
  2. "Hand Held in Black and White" – 3:21
  3. "Mirror Mirror" – 3:52
  4. "Give Me Back My Heart" – 5:13
  5. "Videotheque" – 3:33
  6. "I Got Your Number Wrong" – 4:24
  7. "Guessing Games" – 3:51

Personnel

Credits are adapted from The Dollar Album liner notes.
Musicians
Production and artwork

Chart performance

Release dateSingle titleUK Chart position
August 1981"Hand Held in Black and White"19
November 1981"Mirror Mirror "4
March 1982"Give Me Back My Heart"4
June 1982"Videotheque"17
September 1982"Give Me Some Kinda Magic"34