La Bouche

Electronic dance beats and computer enhanced vocals are some of the sounds you'll hear on this dance album. Already topping the charts in Germany, La Bouche look set to do the same here among dance devotees. Loud and thumping, you won't have time for Sweet Dreams, just some real non-stop dancing. There are 14 big dance songs on this groove.

All Mixed Up (from Disney Adventures 1997)

Dance freaks will go off with this one. A greatest hits package featuring the pulsating rhythms of La Bouche. This is amazing because some of the songs have been remixed and have a funky new sound. You'll need energy for this one.

A Moment Of Love (from TV Hits March 1998)

If La Bouche's latest CD doesn't get you up and dancin', nothing will! Fans will love unreal ditties like "A Moment Of Love", "You Won't Forget Me" and "On A Night Like This". Also check out the cover of "I Can't Stand The Rain"...the oldies might even like this one! So whack it on and start shakin' your thang!
Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This!

- Disney Adventures 8/8/96

Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This- The Sunday Mail 4/8/96 Neil Melloy

Ther are some dolphins down Texas way which are probably wondering
where daily musical performances have gone.
While the rest of us shell out good bucks for the latest Top 10 dance tunes by
La Bouche, the dolphins at Texas Seaworld were once getting free shows.
Lane McCray Jr, The slick and charming front man of La Bouche, was once the principle vocalist at Seaworld of Texas 1989/1990.

Both Lane and Melanie Thornton are American, even though they base their musical career
in Germany. Lane, 28,who lives
in Luxumbourg, said part of his early musical career
was working at the aquatic tourist attraction.

"I've performed with Shamu and Dolly Dolphine (he chuckles) at Seaworld of Texas." "Personally, I've been singing since I was in church."

But it was as a member of the US Air Force that brought Lane to
Germany after being stationed in various places around the globe.

While on active duty, he thrived in musical theatre
and television starring in productions of "A Chorus line" "Tom Foolery" "Sophisticated Ladies" and Appeared in the 1990 Miss Texas Beauty Pageant as the featured performer and was hearaled as a "breath of fresh air" by the media.

"When I was in the Air Force I toured with "Tops In Blue" an Air Force entertainment showcase. At the same time, Melanie was singing across America in cover bands and
then went to Europe to join her sister and continued pursuing her dream of singing professionally.

Melanie and Lane had been working together in a band for just a few weeks
when they linked up with hit makers Uli Brenner and Armir Sarif to form La Bouche.

"And then, POW! BANG! BOOM!, it happened," Lane said of their instant success.
"Actually La Bouche took off quick and it does
seem overnight to a lot of people. But individually, Melanie and
myself both have been working insome facet of the business, for a while, so over night? not"
The success of Sweet Dreams, has been worldwide but Lane said he had
been a little frightened of returning home to the US to perform.
"Actually, I was a little bit apprehensive about going to the States
with the music because so many people have tried and failed," he said.
As expected their welcome home went beautifully.
"To be home was a good feeling,"

Lane told TV Scene.


Sweet Dreams Of Oz!

Sweet Dreams Of Oz- TV Hits August 1996. By John Karpathakis

They've Eurodanced their way into our charts with "Be My Lover" and "Sweet
Dreams" and they even popped into Oz recently. It can only be Melanie and
Lane from La Bouche!

How has Australia lived up to what you've heard about it?
Melanie: Well, I guess we came at the wrong time of year, so it's not as hot as we've
heard it could be! At least we haven't seen any rain!

What else did you know about us?
Melanie: Not a whole lot! OK, you hear about the kangaroos, and the koala bears,
which you can only find in Australia.

In "Sweet Dreams", you sing "Ola ola ay" ...just like The Real McCoy did last
year in "Love And Devotion". So what's the story there?
Melanie: Actually, "Sweet Dreams" was recorded first, about two years ago, even
though theirs was popular here first. That phrase, "Ola ola ay" came from an older
song, I don't remember which. It was something I did in the studio when we were
doing "Sweet Dreams", and it came to mind, so I sang it. The producers were like,
"Put that in! Do that again."

Did the Real McCoy say, "Yeah we heard it from you song and we did it as
well?"
Melanie: Well they say that is not the way it happened. They say it was just a
coincidence, but it's kinda close for a coincidence. People think we copied them, but
we were first. Check the label dates! (laughs)

When people see you on the street, do they sing, "La da da dee da da da da"?
Melanie: Yeah, I've had that happen a lot.

Do you start singing back?
Melanie: No, no! (laughs) I don't acknowledge it. Well, I'll smile to let them know that
I recognise their appreciation for the song or that they recognise me. But no, I
wouldn't bring much attention to it because it might cause other people to notice, then
you might have problems with people saying, "Can we have your autograph?" while
you're trying to eat!

In "Be My Lover", Lane raps the phrase: Like Boyz II Men, I'm on bended
knee." Have they thanked you for that?
Lane: Yeah it is an unusual phrase, isn't it? But no, they have not. They are probably a
little beyond us at this time! They have, like, multi-platinum selling albums.

Do people think you two are an item?
Melanie: All the time. Always. But no, we're not. People are like, "Come on, tell us
your secret, come on!"
Lane: Actually it's not so much lately. When we first started out, it was a real common
question. "Are they? Or aren't they?"
Melanie: We would tell them no. We're just good friends.

La Bouche means "the mouth" in French. What the name? - Neil Malloy

Euro treat
A small party for La Bouche

La Bouche, dance music's most popular act, played Boston last Thursday night (July 10). But you probably missed them. Only 200 fans showed up at Avalon to see a show originally booked into the much larger Harborlights Pavilion. This was to be a dance-music spectacular, a kind of KISS Concert in miniature featuring brief sets by five dance-music acts -- Krush, Amber, Jocelyn Enriquez, Robin S. , and the Quad City DJs -- followed by a full show from the main act. Unfortunately, the concert was mistakenly conceived, wrongly presented, and, it seems, poorly funded.

If you're going to limit your bill to dance-music acts, who in the US draw chiefly a cult-sized crowd, you should at least schedule the show in the 10 p.m.-to-midnight range, the hours when dance music reigns. This show started at 7 p.m. (It would also have been smart to schedule a tour like this to coincide with the school year, when Eurokids are here being students rather than on summer vacation back home.) And if you're going to present six acts of a genre whose essence is continuity, you certainly don't want to let the hip-hop-heavy, comic, too-loud Quad City DJs collapse the mood created by Amber's lighthearted freestyle, Jocelyn Enriquez's delicate house music, and Robin S.'s raw and lustful diva style. As for the underfunding, publicity for the show was scarce, as were ticket sales, and the performers stayed at a motel in downscale Milford. It was a case of out of sight, out of mind.

Which was a shame, because Robin S. put her foot down and her voice, too, on "Pack It Up" and "Show Me Love," the night's hardest house, directly following Jocelyn Enriquez, who twirled her slight self gently around some sweetly girlish rhythms. So for a while at least, there was a party going on. The Quad City DJs completely cut the momentum. By means of bawdy humor and some standard-gimmick crowd pleasers (such as "The dirty girls on the left side!" "Da clean girls on the right!") and, most effective of all, the hit "Gonna Ride the Train," they worked up a jive-funk celebration of their own. But like all the opening acts, the Quads were limited to three songs. No sooner was their kind of party happening than it was over.

La Bouche, on the other hand, were allowed to go nine songs deep with a performance full of the jubilant soul and full-stride happy rush that Eurodance aspires to. Like most such live performances, La Bouche's featured off-stage music and on-stage dancers, a planetarium's worth of lights, and an abundance of nonstop singing. The mix was dominated by impatient singing and nothing but major chords. And why not major chords? La Bouche's star, Melanie Thornton, sang her stuff -- "Sweet Dreams," "Be My Lover," and "Falling in Love" -- in a flowery, bright, much too optimistic soprano. Her voice justified the music's impatience and personified its abundance. Unlike Donna Summer, who used to sing motionless, like a sleeping beauty dreaming of love, Thornton danced while she sang. She never stood still. Whether harmonizing with co-singer Lane MacCray or going it alone, she was awake to love, alive to liberty and the pursuit of happiness. (So American is her music, it could only have been made in Germany, where American ideals cannot yet be taken for granted.)

The intricate footwork repartee between MacCray and Thornton and the perfectionism of their harmonies recalled the music of Ashford & Simpson. But where those stars of the disco era depicted married love as a difficult if inspiring adventure, La Bouche concentrated on the inspiration only. Difficulty had no place in their songs. The group danced either in unison or in complementary patterns, and the music's harmonies never broke. Emblematic of their idealistic depictions of romance was "I Love To Love," a very fast, European-only club smash in which Thornton voiced the title again and again, affirming her passion without ands or buts in a voice both solid and sweet.

Still, in a new song, "In My Position," which so far they've performed only live, there was a first suggestion that subjects other than perfection matter to La Bouche. Although the beats were still fast, the topic of the song was the difference between the roles of star and audience, a determinism highlighted by the melancholy in Thornton's plaintive singing. It was melancholy with a purpose: if destinies differ, so do one's access to things perfect, love among them. "In My Position" was a poignant, though still danceable, preface to a new realism in what one hopes will soon become La Bouche's overdue second CD -- something for their fans to look forward to on an otherwise disappointing night. - Michael Freedberg

Product Rating:4.5 of 5 STARS
No sophomore slump for the members of La Bouche as Melaine Thorton and Lane
McCray team up again to bring dance music to the masses. Creating a powerful pop
landscape mixed with club beats and up-tempo tracks, SOS is 14 songs deep. Thorton’s
vocal performance shines on tracks like ’’Body and Soul,’’ ’’You Won’t Forget Me’’ and the
title track.

Mega-songstress Diane Warren chimes in, with writing credits on ’’Sweet Little
Persuader’’. Be sure not to miss the infectious cover of ’’I Can’t Stand The Rain’’ and the
sugar-pop, radio-ready hook of ’’On A Night Like This.’’ On the surface, La Bouche is a
dance act, but further listening reveals its skills at giving the fans what they want to hear.
Even though the album is titled SOS, there’s no need for a rescue.
- Chic