Lighthouse Family's first two albums, the multi-platinum selling debut Ocean Drive and the follow-up Postcards From Heaven, are both being reissued on vinyl on the 29 August.
Originally released on Wildcard/Polydor Records in September 1995, Ocean Drive reached No 3 in the UK charts, and spawned four Top 20 singles. This version is pressed onto high-quality 180g black vinyl.
Lighthouse Family formed in Newcastle when keyboardist Paul Tucker and singer Tunde Baiyewu were students in the city. Taking their name from lighthouses in Whitley Bay and Tynemouth, the pair began to craft their gossamer pop-soul songs. Signed to Polydor in 1993, the group worked with the cream of session players to make their debut album.
Ocean Drive epitomised the slow burn: on its initial release, it faired modestly well, reflected by the No 61 and No 24 placings of its first singles. However, when Lifted was reissued as a single in February 1996, the album went stratospheric, hitting the Top 3, and getting further lifts every time a further single (the title track, Goodbye Heartbreak and Loving Every Minute) was taken from it – resulting in it being in the charts for a staggering 154 weeks.
Ocean Drive acted as a sweet, soulful antidote to the Britpop and boy and girl bands of the day. Hearing it again makes a listener realise quite how well known the whole album is – it was the perfect soundtrack for the burgeoning bar culture of the mid 90s.
Originally released on Wildcard/Polydor Records in October 1997, Postcards From Heaven reached No 2 in the UK charts, spent over a year on the listings and spawned five Top 30 singles. This version is pressed onto high-quality 180g black vinyl.
If their 1995 debut, Ocean Drive had taken the Lighthouse Family way up pop's mountain, then Postcards From Heaven was the view from the summit. Whereas their debut has been crafted and in development for a year before release, here Paul Tucker and Tunde Baiyewu needed to prove that lightning could indeed strike twice. It could. Recorded again with producer Mike Peden, the album was partially made at Jacques Loussier's Miraval Studios in the South of France, and that sunshine sweetness permeates the work.
Whereas Ocean Drive had taken time to break, the success of Postcards From Heaven was immediate – debut single Raincloud went straight into the Top 10 in October ahead of the album, and second single, High, charted at No 4 in January 1998 – their joint highest position with their anthem, Lifted, two years earlier. Despite increasing success, the images of the Tyne Bridge in the video underlined the group hadn't travelled far from their roots. With further hits Lost In Space, Question Of Faith and Postcard From Heaven, Postcards From Heaven plays like a perfect soundtrack of the late 90s while still sounding vibrant and contemporary.
