“I fought with this record for a long time. I resented the ‘star’ it made of me as though I didn’t have a hand in it myself. I like Swain and Jolley. They were nice blokes. We had some issues but they could be solved with a little care from the record company. They were getting what they wanted then so didn’t help.

After working with Vince who never used a chord, it was really interesting to work in a different way. I was glad to be working again. Everything I had done had been so different from the previous projects I though this would be more of that. I wasn’t prepared for the way it was going to define me. It was well received but in many ways it is not helpful to have so much success early on… before you understand the game and your own part in it.

Along with making a record that appealed to the mass market, I had grown decidedly fat during a year of legal wrangling. All of this presented an image of unthreatening cosy womanliness that would haunt me forever. I was a dark and tortured individual and I was expected to be a very fat retiring lady.

Blah Blah Blah. Record sold loads. Record company wanted another single. I didn’t want to sell my supporters more of the same and so suggested recording That Ole Devil song that I did live and was loved by the punters. This was at a time when these old songs were not everywhere. It was not supposed to be a safe move. As it transpired, it sold massively all over … all the old records were re-released, many more re-recorded and there was I, in the middle of the road. To boot I was heavily pregnant and the video of me lounging in velvet, diamanté and bouffant sealed the deal. Bugger. Even here I am attributing that to Alf… it all became one time.

So… I blamed that album and that time for everything. Yes… there are sounds and production values that have dated considerably. I’m not fond of many of my performances…but there are a couple of fine songs (see All Cried Out recorded by Fink… stripped of the production values that have dated and the original bombast…Fink refocuses on chord structure, melody and lyrics…which are to my mind well formed. A good song can stand alone without bell trees and hooky samples. This is how I judge a song well written. Great “tracks” and “records” are a different thing. A big distinction. It is always said for a lyric to work…as simple as it may be..it has to be sung like you mean it. On Alf, my production team always wanted me to be singing at the very top of my range. That I could make a big noise was milked.

It is often received that yelling equals angst. The singing experience then becomes one of physical exertion alone. That passion gets read into is a mirage. My vocal on All Cried Out is one of the better ones on Alf but I lost my enjoyment of it through years of performing it. The vocal in his recording has an honesty. It reminds me what I liked about the song.It was a time of relative freedom. It does not deserve the approbation I heaped upon it…and it supported me in leaner years. Hoorah that Alf! “

Alison, writing here, in May 2007

• Love Resurrection (2009 Remastered)

  • Lyrics

    What can I do to make light of this dull dull day

    What switch can I pull to illuminate the way

    Show me one direction

    I will not question again

    For a warm injection

    Is all I need to calm the pain

    We all need a love resurrection

    Just a little divine intervention

    What seed must I sow to replenish this barren land

    Teach me to harvest I want you to grow in my hand

    Let’s be optimistic, let’s say that we won’t toil in vain

    If we pull together we’ll never fall apart again

• Honey for the Bees (2016 Remastered)

  • Lyrics

    Here I am and I want you to see

    I want to watch you watching me in motion

    To taste the secret side of me

    Every time I look at you

    I know you’re fighting your emotions

    Now you have no choice but to let go

    And dive into my ocean

    Honey for the bees, sugar never was so sweet

    Hold my hand, I’m going to set you free

    I’m gonna let you fly all over me

    Show me a lock and I’ll show you the key

    Every time you feel like holding back

    I’m gonna pull you deeper

    Always steering from the beaten track

    And I will be the reaper

    Honey for the bees, sugar never was so sweet

• For You Only (2016 Remastered)

  • Lyrics

    Ready to embrace the day as we both break

    When the light stole in it found me wide awake

    Wasted from a sleepless night I reach to touch

    your hair

    Withdraw an empty hand for you’re no

    longer there

    In between the silence leaving is an empty space

    Save the ticking of a clock whose hands

    Are sweeping past its face

    And I just don’t want to be lonely night and day

    But as I look around me I just feel that way

    For you only

    I turn my hand to something that would clear

    my head

    But I could not forget the parting words we shared

    I opened up my mind to all the pictures I could

    trace

    But I could not recall the contours of your face

    And oh, he slipped away before I had the

    chance to say

    If I did something wrong please tell me I’d

    accept the blame

    For you’re no longer there

• Invisible (2009 Remastered)

  • Lyrics

    You’ve got me so confused and there’s words

    I could use

    But I’m afraid to say them.

    I feel I’ve been had, and I’m boiling mad

    Still I can’t live without you

    You don’t have the time, and you won’t spend

    a dime

    Not even to call me

    You don’t know I exist, and I wouldn’t be missed

    If I had the nerve to quit you.

    Invisible

    I feel like I’m invisible

    You treat me like I’m not really there and you

    don’t really care.

    I know this romance, it ain’t going nowhere.

    Invisible (just like your love)

    You treat me like I’m invisible

    When you get the need to flirt, you do the works

    You just don’t care how much it hurts

    I can never reach you on the phone

    It rings and rings when I know you’re home

    It may be naive but I just wanna believe

    That I’m the only one

    I tell myself lies, and give you alibis

    Knowing your promises you’ll never keep

    Like a merry-go-round I’m going up, going down

    I’m on a dead end street.

    Although I know it’s not a lot

    Don’t wanna lose what little we got

    I keep hanging on knowing I can’t win

    ‘Cause it’s too hard to start over again

• Steal Me Blind (2016 Remastered)

  • Lyrics

    Well my friends I feel it’s time

    To reassess the situation and decide what’s mine

    Every time you steal me blind

    With no consideration for the way I feel inside

    And you just look at me

    Like you don’t understand

    How could we, how could we

    Let it get so out of hand

    Don’t steal me blind

    You, my friends, would bleed me dry

    And with no hesitation you’d pass me by

    And you keep telling me that you don’t understand

    What’s the use, there’s no point in building on sand

    Don’t steal me blind

    There’s a fortune in friendship

• All Cried Out (2009 Remastered)

  • Lyrics

    You took your time to come back this time

    The grass has grown under your feet

    In your absence I changed my mind

    And someone else is sitting in your seat

    I know that I said there’d be no-one else

    I know that I said I’d be true

    But baby - I burned cupid’s arrow

    And here’s the short and the narrow

    I’ve nothing left to offer you

    ‘Cause I’m all cried out

    You took a whole lot of loving for a handful

    of nothing

    All cried out

    It’s hard to give you something

    When you’re pushing and shoving me around

    So don’t look surprised there was no disguise

    You knew where I stood from the start

    So stop - look around you

    You’re right back where I found you

    Take back your cold and empty heart

    You go your way

    I’ll go mine

    I won’t stay around here

    Don’t you waste my time

• Money Mile (2016 Remastered)

  • Lyrics

    Into your car park drive obsolete motors

    With petrol consumption at too high a price

    Sell us through needles at backroom board

    meetings

    Blindfolded and handcuffed and in single file

    Send us to battle, send us to the front line

    Point us at the enemy, lest we forget

    It’s for our protection, that we lay here slaughtered

    It’s for our survival we bury our dead

    On your money mile, we are the faceless,

    the nameless, the homeless

    On your money mile, there in your fortress

    where you couldn’t care less

    On your money mile we are the caseless,

    the raceless, the hopeless

    On your money mile, you were caught in

    the crossfire, hauling the flag right down

    Hauling the flag right down

    On your money mile

• Twisting the Knife (2016 Remastered)

  • Lyrics

    I watch it trickle from your lips

    Pearls of ripe ruby

    Soaking up your head until you want to

    push through

    Then the world turns red

    And the wine tastes sour

    Pushing back the hand until the midnight hour

    Every door is closing behind you

    There’s no one left to come and find you

    You’re soaking wet but the fire won’t dry you

    I’d like to help but I can’t stand by

    And watch you

    Twisting the knife

    They’ve got you wasting your life

    Can’t stop you twisting the knife

    I’d rather turn out all the lights

    Than see you like this

    Caress me with your anger

    Sting me with your kiss

    You’ve been pushing too hard

    I’ve been trying too long

    Now I don’t believe I have the will to carry on

    We’re taking one step forward then it’s two

    steps back

    I jump the wire but I’m feeling trapped

    It’s other people make you insecure

    I won’t surrender like I did before

• Where Hides Sleep (2009 Remastered)

  • Lyrics

    Where hides sleep

    Where hides sleep, is she watching me don’t

    desert me now

    Where hides sleep, you’re tormenting me don’t

    forsake me now

    (where is she)

    Take hold of my soul and pull me into darkness

    (come to me)

    Cover me over and stifle my anguish

    Where hides sleep, she’s avoiding me don’t

    evade me now

    Where hides sleep, please don’t torture me

    don’t forsake me now

    (where is she)

    I open my lips to your warm ancient potion

    (come to me)

    I would be still and devoid of emotion

    For I would be slumber that I could be rest

    To curl in warm embers of such peacefulness

    Caressed by oblivion and swallowed by dreams

    I want you to hold me and cover my eyes

    From the cold distant daylight that holds

    no surprise

    You could make me forget

    You could make me believe

    If you’d steal away loneliness

    By any means

• Love Resurrection (U.S. Long Version) [2016 Remastered]

• All Cried Out (The Remix) [2016 Remastered]

• Invisible (Extended Version) [2016 Remastered]

• For You Only (Extended New Version) [2016 Remastered]

• Love Resurrection (Love Injected Mix) [2016 Remastered]

• Baby I Do (2016 Remastered)

• Invisible (Transparent Mix) [2016 Remastered]

• Hitch Hike (2016 Remastered)

• For You Only (New Version) [2016 Remastered]

• That Ole Devil Called Love (2009 Remastered)

• Don't Burn Down the Bridge (2016 Remastered)

• That Ole Devil Called Love (Jazz Version) [2016 Remastered]

• Don't Burn Down the Bridge (Extended Version) [2016 Remastered]

• Twisting the Knife (Recorded Live at the Dominion Theatre, London, 1985)

• That Ole Devil Called Love (Recorded Live at the Dominion Theatre, London, 1985)