Love Rendezvous
"Love Rendezvous" is a song by British band M People, released in 1995 as the fourth single from their third album, Bizarre Fruit/Bizarre Fruit II (1994). Written by Mike Pickering, Paul Heard and Heather Small, and produced by M People, the song was released on 14 October after the band's world tour. It peaked at number thirty two on the UK Singles Chart. Background Since the release of "Search for the Hero" four months previously, the band had relentlessly continued a world tour, played to sell-out Summer festivals in the UK, Belgium and Sweden. They then created a new radio and master mix for "Love Rendezvous", the fourth single from the album and a new track (the band's live favourite), a cover of The Small Faces' "Itchycoo Park". Like "Search for the Hero", the band re-edited the funky Bizarre Fruit version of "Love Rendezvous" to create a more radio-friendly pop version with the additional trademark sax ad-lib. This would delay the release of the single, which was originally planned for a released on 18 September 1995 but pushed back two weeks. This gave them time to prepare for a re-release of the already double platinum album to a deluxe edition called Bizarre Fruit II, which would feature the same tracks as before, new artwork and the new radio edit of "Search for the Hero" and the new master mixes of "Love Rendezvous" and "Itchycoo Park" as well as an additional second Live and Remixed CD. Composition The new version of the song became part of M People's signature dance sound and was more typical of their sound in contrast to the softer more serious side of the band as heard on "Search for the Hero"; dancey piano chords, house beats and layers of synths. Lyrically, Heather sings about the arranged meeting with a lover away from everything else. She also namechecks singers Patti Smith ("Patti sang horses") and Stevie Wonder ("Stevie got uptight"). The newer version of this single also features a funky saxophone break in the middle-eight and also during the choruses. What remains from the original are the underlying keyboard sequences in the bridges up to the choruses. The backing vocals use the insistent refrain "Uptight, outta sight" as mentioned on Stevie Wonder's 1966 song "Uptight (Everything's Alright)", adding to the song's spirit of fun. M People backing vocalist Paul Johnson also plays a role, singing alongside Snake Davis's funky sax ad-lib during the middle eight. Release "Love Rendezvous" was the second M People single to be available on two CD formats following the success of "Open Your Heart" earlier that year. These CDs were released on 2 October 1995, along with a 12-inch single and a cassette single. The CDs all feature the radio and master mixes of the single. CD1 contains the 'Uno Clio Dub Mix' and the US Remix of "Search for the Hero" by 'Dave Jam' Hall which was released too late to make it onto the last single. CD2 has two further mixes