Chart entered : 21 October 1989
Chart peak : 26 ( 31 on reissue in 1997 )
Number of hits : 10
I wasn't really expecting to be covering this lot but they qualify fair and square.
Beloved arose from an early eighties London outfit Twelfth of August who featured Jon Marsh on drums and Steve Waddington on guitar. They broke away to form The Beloved in 1984 with Tim Havard and Guy Gausden. Jon took on lead vocal duties. I remember reading about them in Record Mirror and the consensus seemed to be that they were a third rate New Order. Listening to the quartet of singles they put out on Flim Flam Productions in 1986-7 I'd have to concur with that . "A Hundred Words" and "This Means War" are Peter Hook bass lines in search of a song. "Forever Dancing" is a tedious re-tread of Confusion ( not New Order's greatest moment in the first place ) and its partner on the double A-side "Surprise Me" only does that by ripping off The Smiths instead. Their EP "Happy Now" follows suit. None of the songs are enhanced by Jon's vocals which are indifferent at best.
The singles made enough impression on the independent chart to interest the majors although by the time they signed for WEA in 1988 they had shed both Havard and Gausden and the definite article.
Their first single for WEA was "Loving Feeling" which has a more electronic sound akin to the Pet Shop Boys. Jon's vocals are bolstered by the addition of female backing vocals but it's an indifferent song and the record simply didn't stand out from the pack. The next single in January 1989 , "Your Love Takes Me Higher " was much better. Jon has found a breathy style of singing that works for him, the synth rhythms are propulsive and for the first time the song has a memorable hook. It was a hit second time round in 1990 reaching number 39.
"The Sun Rising" owed its success to its adoption by the rave scene with the record getting regular club play. There isn't that much of a song, a synthetic house bass line with Jon whispering some trance-y lyrics over the top. The chorus is a mantra of the title behind the killer ingredient, a sample of the classical soprano Emily Van Evera performing a 12th century Latin chant O Euchari recorded in 1981. Sympathetic synth chords add to the atmospherics. Beloved hadn't cleared the sample and so didn't make much money from the single but it did open the door to a flood of similar sounding records over the next few years. The record's enduring appeal made it a hit again in 1997 which also happens to be their last chart entry to date.
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