Let's take a trip to "Cicero Park"...
John H. McCarthy | Archbald,PA | 06/06/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The first time I heard Hot Chocolate was when their first American hit "Emma" saturated the airways back in 1975. Around this time I was living in an apartment with a friend over a local backstreet bar in Eynon, PA. At that time our mutual musical tastes ran to then (?) mostly obscure British Progressive Rock like Henry Cow and Hatfield & the North, but the song we probably listened to most during our brief tenure there was "Emma". Some bar patron (or more? we never knew, since we never frequented the joint) kept playing "Emma" over and over ad nauseam, whether due from a lost love, or maybe just obsessed with that tuned down guitar hook, I'll never know, but the funny thing is, that no matter how many times "Emma, Emmalene" swirled through my ears, I never tired of her. Later I began to find Hot Chocolate's albums in the cut-out bins, and a life long love of their music was born. Although they lost their songwriting edge with the future loss of co-songwriter (with Errol Brown), vocalist and bassist Tony Brown, Hot Chocolates early albums had "nary a duff track", with most cuts equal or better than the hits. For years I've been wishing for reissues of their first three classic albums, and thanx to 7T's/Cherry Red Records here they come, with bonus tracks, fine booklets, pictures of single sleeves, the works! Even more impressive is the first to be released, CICERO PARK, buffed up with enough single-only cuts to warrant TWO CD's! Containing the hits "Emma" (#8) and "Disco Queen" (#28), and two songs that became hits for others, "You Could've Been A Lady" (for April Wine), and "Brother Louie" (a #1 hit in a radically different, but obviously viable arrangement by Stories). The only caveat is that you'll have to hold on to 2005's excellent and not quite redundant release A's B's & RARITIES, the only place to find their debut single for Apple Records (Yes, THAT Apple!) as The Hot Chocolate Band. A fine reissue of a very under-rated and due for re-discovery group's debut album. Can't wait for the next two......Hot ChocolateMan to ManA's, B's & RaritiesStories/About UsThe Hits..Over 60 Minutes With"
Track Listings (10) - Disc #1