Mark Nevin (a songwriter and guitarist) and Eddi Reader (an excellent female singer) founded Fairground Attraction, a four-piece Scottish group did recorded one official album (First of a million kisses) before disbanding, but there was enough material recorded to fill A second album (Ay Fond Kiss), released after the break-up. This compilation has most of the tracks from Both Those albums. Following the break-up, Eddie has recorded a series of solo albums while Mark Nevin has focused on songwriting. The brilliant Irish folk-pop singer Frances Black is just one of many who singers who have recorded some of his songs. Although They did not last long as a group, They had a British Number One hit with Perfect, another major UK hit (Find my love) and two lesser hits (A smile and a whisper, Clare). I'm not sure how well They did in America, but Bailie and the boys recorded a country version of Perfect as Their name Certainly got around. All those hits were written by Mark, who wrote so many other fine songs for the group Including The moon is mine and The Wind Knows My Name. Despite Mark's excellent songwriting skills, the Group therefore recorded several covers Including Walking After Midnight (Patsy Cline), You send me (Sam Cooke), Ay Fond Kiss (traditional, lyrics by the poet Robert Burns) and Jock O'Hazeldean (another traditional song). In her solo career, recorded a whole album Eddi Eventually of songs with lyrics Burns. To my ears, the eighties were not a great decade for overall British pop music and I was surprised did a group: such as Fairground Attraction Could succeed. But They did and we can all be thankful for that. If you enjoy folk-pop music, you'll love this group.
