Description
After discreetly having prerelease album cuts played on the UKs pirate jazzfunk and soul stations, Imagination, with their charismatic lead singer Leee John, burst onto the scene in May 1981, when their debut single Body Talk peaked at 4 in the UK Singles Chart, having gained momentum after a momentous and unforgettable debut performance on BBC Ones Top of the Pops on 4th June 1981. In the period 19811983, Imagination had hits in almost 30 countries around the world, with very high popularity across Europe, especially in France, Italy, the Benelux countries and Germany, whilst also appearing in the Billboard US Dance and RampB Charts on a regular basis in the throughout the 80s. They really were an internationally successful British group, earning numerous Platinum, Gold and Silver discs, for hit singles Flashback, In and Out of Love, the muchsampled Just an Illusion, Music and Lights, New Dimension, State of Love, Looking at Midnight and Thank You My Love, and albums Body Talk, In the Heat of the Night, Scandalous, Night Dubbing, Closer and Like It Is. Imagination worked with legendary producers Tony Swain, Steve Jolley, Arthur Baker, Nigel Wright, Preston Glass, Nick Martinelli and Ron Have Mercy Kersey, and had tracks remixed by David Morales, Frankie Knuckles, Mike Pickering, Graeme Park, Victor Simonelli and Larry Levan. 40 Years is a careerencompassing retrospective of Imaginations and Leee Johns recorded music output, with 189 tracks across 17 CDs, including all of their studio albums from 1981s Body Talk, up until 2016s Retropia. 40 Years also features a 2disc collection of Unreleased Trax, Mixes amp Demos, a 2disc collection of alternate and unreleased mixes from Closer in Closer Revisited, a Live Trax disc from several shows spanning the decades and a disc of extended versions in 12 Singles Selection.