''Ripe'' is the only studio album by English female

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom.S. Frith, W. Straw, and J. Street, eds, ''iarchive:cambridgecompani00frit, The Cambridge Companion to Pop ...

duo Banderas, released in 1991. It features the single "This Is Your Life", which reached number 16 in the UK Singles Chart, plus the follow-up single "She Sells", which reached number 41. A third single, "May This Be Your Last Sorrow", failed to chart. The album includes an appearance from singer

Jimmy Somerville James William Somerville (born 22 June 1961) is a singer from Glasgow, Scotland who rose to prominence in the 1980s with the synth-pop groups Bronski Beat and the Communards. With Bronski Beat, Somerville achieved commercial success with the 1 ...

, providing backing vocals on the track "Why Aren't You in Love With Me?"; Banderas band members Caroline Buckley and Sally Herbert had been backing musicians with Somerville's band

The Communards The Communards were a British synth-pop duo formed in London in 1985. They consisted of Scottish singer Jimmy Somerville and English musician Richard Coles. They are best known for their cover versions of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes fe ...

Johnny Marr John Martin Marr (Birth name#Maiden and married names, né Maher; born 31 October 1963) is a musician, songwriter and singer. He first achieved fame as the guitarist and co-songwriter of the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. He has sinc ...

from

The Smiths The Smiths were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Manchester in 1982, composed of Morrissey (vocals), Johnny Marr (guitar), Andy Rourke (bass) and Mike Joyce (musician), Mike Joyce (drums). Morrissey and Marr formed the band's songwrit ...

and

Bernard Sumner Bernard Sumner (born 4 January 1956) is an English musician. He is a founding member of the bands Joy Division, New Order, Electronic, and Bad Lieutenant. Sumner was an early force in several areas, including the post-punk, synth-pop, and ...

from

New Order New Order may refer to: Politics * ''L'Ordine Nuovo'' (''The New Order''), a socialist newspaper edited by Antonio Gramsci in the early 1920s * ''New Order in East Asia'', propaganda term for Japanese-dominated East Asia announced by Japanese ...

provide guitar on "This Is Your Life", with Sumner also doing backing vocals.

Critical reception

In a retrospective review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, William Cooper gave ''Ripe'' three out of five stars, describing the album as "addictive ear candy" and that band member Caroline Buckley sings "with confidence and clarity." He described the opening track, "This Is Your Life", as "funky ndbeautifully produced", and "May This Be Your Last Sorrow" as "eerie", though going on to write that the eight remaining tracks "don't quite scale the same heights", yet "Buckley's extraordinary pipes save the material from sinking into mediocrity."

Track listing

All tracks written by Caroline Buckley and Sally Herbert ( Banderas), except where noted.

Personnel

Adapted from the album's

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or cassette j-cards. Origin Liner notes are descended from the prog ...

Musicians

Banderas *Caroline Buckley – vocals *Sally Herbert – violin, string arrangement Other musicians *Simon Bishop – drums (tracks 2, 5–8) *Gary Butcher – guitar (tracks 4–5, 8) *Simon Elms – trumpet (track 8) *

Luís Jardim Luís Alberto Figueira Gonçalves Jardim (born 4 July 1950) is a Portuguese percussionist born on the island of Madeira. He is best known for his work with producer Trevor Horn. Family Jardim is a cousin of Alberto João Jardim (former presiden ...

– percussion (tracks 3, 7) *Adrian Lane – trombone (track 8) *

Stevie Lange Stevie Vann (born Stevie van Kerken), also known as Stevie Lange, is a Zambian-born British singer and vocal coach. She is best known for her work as a backing vocalist and studio singer for many groups and solo performers in the 1970s and 1980s. ...

– backing vocals (tracks 4–6, 8) *

– guitar (track 1) *Andy Northfield – keyboards (track 4) *Dave Pollitt – bass (track 4) *Keith Michael Osborne – guitar (track 9) *Jos Pook – viola (track 5) *

Guy Pratt Guy Adam Pratt (born 3 January 1962) is a British bassist. He has worked with artists including Pink Floyd, Roxy Music, Gary Moore, Madonna, Peter Cetera, Michael Jackson, the Smiths, Robert Palmer (singer), Robert Palmer, Echo & the Bunnymen, T ...

– bass (tracks 2, 5, 7, 8) *

Audrey Riley Audrey Riley is an English cellist and string arranger. Career Riley trained at the Guildhall School of Music with Leonard Stehn. She was a cellist for Virginia Astley from 1983 to 1986 and a one-time auxiliary member of the Family Cat. Ril ...

– cello (track 5) *Sonia Slany – violin (track 5) *

– backing vocals (track 5) *

– guitar, backing vocals (track 1)

Production

*Sally Herbert – programming *Chuck Norman – programming (tracks 1–9) *Produced by

Stephen Hague Stephen Hague (born 1960) is an American record producer most active with various British acts since the 1980s. Early life Hague was born in Portland, Maine, in 1960. Early career Hague started his musical career in the mid-1970s as a session ...

, except track 9 produced by Banderas & Mike Dignam *All tracks engineered by

Tim Weidner Tim Weidner is an engineer and producer, best known for his work with Trevor Horn. Biography Weidner has produced for Dead or Alive. He has done mixing for artists including Seal, Mike Oldfield ('' Tubular Bells II''), Art of Noise, Captain and Gun ...

, except tracks 1 & 3 by Mike Dignam & Mike "Spike" Drake, track 9 by Mike Dignam *Additional arrangement on track 3 by Less Stress *Photography by Chris Nash *Design by "Two"

Charts

References

{{Reflist

External links

''Ripe''
at

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

1991 debut albums London Records albums Albums produced by Stephen Hague Pop albums by English artists