Thereza Bazar - The Big Kiss (Deluxe Edition) (2019)

It’s an industry tale as old as the hills: established artist newly separated from the hit-making machine; expectations in overdrive; an impressive battalion of backroom talent assembled and staggering sums of money being spent. What could possibly go wrong? In the case of Thereza Bazar of Dollar’s solo debut The Big Kiss, reissued on Cherry Pop this month more than 33 years on, just about everything as it turned out.

When David Van Day walked out of the Dollar hit-machine in early 1983, following a run of glorious pop singles created with Trevor Horn, Bazar wasn’t sure where to turn. A lifeline appeared to be thrown by the former Buggles supremo when he expressed interest in recording with her as a solo artist, but growing commitments with the ZTT label and the commercial explosion of Frankie Goes To Hollywood soon derailed those plans. Instead, legendary R&B producer Arif Mardin was drafted in to steer what was billed as the perfect Anglo-American pop record.

Failing to find success on its issue in late 1985, The Big Kiss may have fallen between two stools – lacking the sexual thrust of Virgin-era Madonna or the all-out kooky charisma of Cyndi Lauper. Still, Dollar’s strongest asset rounded up the cream of the era’s British writers such as Terry Britten and Graham Lyle to polish up 10 strong pop diamonds ranging from an effervescent title track to the lush ballad Too Much In Love. Mardin’s production wizardry lends everything a dense, mid-Atlantic sheen that ultimately anchors this record in an era when less could have illuminated more.
A restaging of Give Me Back My Heart throws up questions about what the originally mooted Horn reunion might have delivered. Nevertheless, this largely forgotten 80s gem – now expanded with remixes and the Mike Chapman-produced Gotcha – is a real lost treasure.