The Beloved

articleissues
cleanup = August 2008
wikify = August 2008
copyedit = August 2008

Infobox Musical artist
Name = The Beloved


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Background = group_or_band
Alias = Beloved
Origin = London, England
Genre = Electronic dance
Synthpop
Electropop/Technopop
New wave
Pop rock
Years_active = 1986-present
Label = Flim Flam
Atlantic Records
Warner Bros
EastWest
WEA Records
Associated_acts = Journey Through
URL = [http://www.thebeloved.com www.thebeloved.com]
Current_members = Jon Marsh
Helena Marsh

Past_members = Steve Waddington
Tim Havard
Guy Gausden

The Beloved are a British electronic dance music group.

Biography

Jon Marsh's original advertisement in the music press

In 1983, Jon Marsh placed an advertisement in the music press, which read as follows:

I am Jon Marsh, founder member of the Beloved. Should you too wish to do something gorgeous, meet me in exactly three year's time at exactly 11am in Diana's Diner, or site thereof, Covent Garden, London, WC2.

The Jon, Steve, Tim and Guy new wave quartet: "Where It Is" and the initial indie success

At the meeting in 1986, Cambridge graduate Steve Waddington was present, and the two formed the core of Journey Through, with Tim Havard. When Guy Gausden completed the lineup, the group changed their name to The Beloved. The band originally had a guitar-orientated sound, but soon began using drum machines and dance elements. They sounded at times like New Order, and a summation of this stage of their career can be found on their first studio album, "Where It Is", which is actually best described as a compilation of previously released material, consisting of singles and related B-Sides, pressed onto one individual long playing work. The record includes all the early singles, "A Hundred Words," "This Means War," "Happy Now," and the double A-side "Surprise Me" / "Forever Dancing," all of them released between 1986 and 1987, all of them on "Where It Is", all of them making the Top 30 in the UK Indie Chart, and all of them failing in the UK Top 75.

The Jon and Steve acid house duo: "Happiness", "Blissed Out", and the early UK hits

After slimming down to a two piece consisting of Marsh and Waddington only, they began to embrace a dance sound more wholeheartedly and, in 1988, after another flop with another double A-side single, "Loving Feeling" / "Acid Love," the single entitled "The Sun Rising" became a club favourite, and crossed over to the pop chart, peaking at Number 26 in the UK, in September 1989. "The Sun Rising" featured a sample of "O Euchari" by Emily Van Evera, a sample also used by Orbital on their tune "Belfast." This was followed by their second album, "Happiness", the first and only as a duo and the first fully consisting of previosuly unreleased new songs, out in 1990, from which the hit single "Hello" was also released, becoming their first international hit, and reaching Number 19 in Great Britain. This song features rather peculiar lyrics, mostly consisting in names of real or fictitious people, groups and institutions, representing the band's most important and varied influences (from religion with Saint Peter and Saint Paul, to music with Kym Mazelle, literature with Jeffrey Archer and cartoons with Flintstones). The LP spanned two more singles, "Your Love Takes Me Higher," which made the UK Top 40, and the final cut, "Time After Time," one of their most famous songs internationally, which was only a minor hit in Great Britain, failing at Number 48.

The success of the album as a whole, and the four single releases pushed the group to follow it up with a brand new song, "It's Alright Now," which also failed to make the Top 40, stopping at Number 46 in the UK, but helped promoting a whole remix album, entitled "Blissed Out", which was released in 1991, mostly being an expanded remodelled version of "Happiness", as the title itself suggested. Almost all of the songs from the second album were featured there, in one or more remixed versions, also including an alternative cut of "It's Alright Now," and some previously unreleased instrumental tunes. The work is released in 3 different editions, varying as for length and track listing, depending upon the related format: the vinyl LP, the shortest, includes 8 tracks; the CD version, which is the only one being currently available, features 11 songs; and the MC edition, the richest, contains 16 remixes.

The Jon and Helena pop dance duo: "Sweet Harmony", "Conscience", "X", and the big international success

"It's Alright Now" and "Blissed Out" were the last works made by Jon with Steve at the time. By 1993 Waddington had left the group, and was replaced by Jon's wife, Helena Marsh, who was working as a purchaser for the Parisian fashion house Comme des Garçons, for the third studio album, "Conscience". The band faced some controversy for the video of the first new single, "Sweet Harmony," which consisted of a naked Marsh, among a group of women, also naked (although it was shot and edited so as not to show anything which might cause it to be censored). One of the nude stars of this video is British television presenter Tess Daly. By this time, the project had dropped the definite article from its name, and was now simply called Beloved. "Sweet Harmony," which was originally used to promote the second season of the popular American primetime soap opera "Melrose Place" in some European countries, including Italy, has since been used in Homebase advertising too.

Though the video is thought by many to witness Jon Marsh naked for the first time publicly, it must be noticed that it actually isn't. Due to the huge success of the 1990 album, a VHS video collection had actually been packaged in 1991, containing all four singles from that album, and a final ghost video track, where Jon is openly making love to then official girlfriend, backed by a long extended remix of a track from the "Blissed Out" album. While "Sweet Harmony" went on to become their biggest hit in the UK, reaching Number 8 in January 1993, the other four tracks taken from the "Conscience" album, pressed onto three singles, one a double A-side, did not achieve the former's success. "Celebrate Your Life"/"You've Got Me Thinking" peaked at Number 23, "Outerspace Girl" at Number 38, and the final single, "Rock to the Rhythm of Love" did not even chart. This latter song was performed live at a concert during London Gay Pride in 1994.

After "Conscience", a fourth studio album entitled "X" was released in 1996. Though the record peaked at Number 25 in the UK Albums Chart, and three singles were released from it, only the first, "Satellite," made the Top 20, peaking at Number 19, while the second, "Deliver Me," failed to chart, and the third, "Ease the Pressure," did not enter the UK Top 40, stalling at Number 43; this would be the last original album from the group to date.

The greatest hits collection, the silent years, DJ Jon, and the 2000s comeback

Beloved singles are continually remixed, and the band has not been formally wound up though for the last decade Jon Marsh has concentrated on his flourishing career as a club DJ, as well as his young family.

During this silent period, two Beloved compilations were marketed, the latter a retitled re-release of the former. The first, promoted by a new remix of "The Sun Rising" (which reached Number 31, only five positions lower than the original 1989 release, and their last chart entry in the UK to date), was entitled "Single File", and was released in 1997, just one year after "X". The second compilation was released in 2005, titled "The Sun Rising" after the band's first hit single. Jon has collaborated with original band member Steve Waddington and others on new material, although this remains unfinished as of June 2008.

Discography

Chart placings are from the UK Singles Chart/UK Albums Chart, [cite book |last=Strong |first=Martin C. |title=The Great Alternative & Indie Discography |year= 1999 |publisher=Canongate |isbn=0-86241-913-1 Exact dates of single releases from the "Happiness" album can be found in the 9th edition of "The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles", 1993. ISBN 0-85112-526-3. As for the dates of further album and single releases, please see "The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles and Albums".] except those marked *, which are from the UK Indie Chart. [cite book |last=Lazell |first=Barry |title=Indie Hits 1980-1999 |year= 1997 |publisher=Cherry Red Books |isbn=0-9517206-9-4 ]

Albums

*"Where It Is" (Flim Flam, HARPCD2, 1989) #17*
*"Happiness" (Atlantic 1990) UK #14, US #154
*"Blissed Out" (East West 1991) UK #38
*"Conscience" (East West 1993) UK #2
*"X" (East West 1996) UK #25
*"Single File" (East West 1997)
*"The Sun Rising" (WEA 2005) [re-release of "Single File"]

ingles

*"A Hundred Words" (April 1986) #15*
*"This Means War" (September 1986) #22*
*"Happy Now" (March 1987) #22*
*"Surprise Me" / "Forever Dancing" (June 13, 1987) #15*
*"Loving Feeling" / "Acid Love" (October 1988)
*"Your Love Takes Me Higher" (January 1989) UK #91
*"The Sun Rising" (October 21, 1989) UK #26
*"Hello" (January 27, 1990) UK #19
*"Your Love Takes Me Higher" "(reissue)" (March 24, 1990) UK #39
*"The Sun Rising" "(reissue)" (1990)
*"Time After Time" (June 9, 1990) UK #46
*"It's Alright Now" (November 10, 1990) UK #48
*"Sweet Harmony" (January 18, 1993) UK #8
*"Celebrate Your Life" / "You've Got Me Thinking" (March 2, 1993) UK #23
*"Outerspace Girl" (July 1993) UK #38
*"Rock to the Rhythm of Love" (1993)
*"Satellite" (March 16, 1996) UK #19
*"Deliver Me" (June 30, 1996)
*"Ease the Pressure" (July 29, 1996) UK #43
*"The Sun Rising (remix)" (August 1997) UK #31
*"With You" (2000)
*"Timeslip" (2000)

Promos

*"Up, Up and Away" (1990 - from "Happiness")
*"The Remix EP" (1991 - from "Blissed Out")
*"1000 Years From Today" (1993 - from "Conscience")
*"Let the Music Take You" (1994 - from "Conscience")
*"Crystal Wave" (March 1995 - from "X")
*"Sampler" (1996 - from "X")
*"Physical Love" / "3 Steps to Heaven" (1996 - double promo - from "X")

References

External links

* [http://www.thebeloved.com/ Official website]
* [http://www.swcp.com/lazlo-bin/discogs?beloved Lazlo's Discography Machine]
* [http://www.piccolodiario.it/bee-loved/ Visual discography]
* [http://www.livevideo.com/video/D17B2B7BDA6E42D5A72A0DF75204C4CB/the-beloved-love-to-love-de.aspx New unreleased demo track "Love to love"]