(July 19, 2025) Beautifully blurring the lines between pop, soul and jazz for four decades, the UK collective Swing Out Sister has somehow transcended both time and definition in their constant quest to simply deliver quality music to their heterogeneous fans around the world. And the aura around SOS has just grown over the past decade, with a new appreciation for the group’s long discography.
That appreciation became tangible with the 2022 release of the box set Blue Mood, Breakout & Beyond, documenting, in extended form, the act’s earliest albums. And now fans can revel in Certain Shades of Limelight, an 8-CD set that lavishly highlights five SOS albums originally released between 1994 and 2004 – The Living Return, Shapes And Patterns, Filth And Dreams, Somewhere in the Night and Where Our Love Grows – along with bonus cuts, remixes and alternative versions.
We sat down with SOS singer Corinne Drewery, who told us the story behind some of the well known — and less well known — songs from the collection. Here are some gems:
“‘Somewhere in the World’ almost featured a duet with Phillip Bailey…the high parts were written with him in mind. Our time and busy touring lives didn’t coincide, so Derek Green, who has sung backing vocals on many of our tours & recordings, and also a huge Phillip fan, stepped in with some soaring harmonies. “
“‘You Already Know‘ was written for Dionne Warwick when her label was looking for songs. We heard she liked it, but it wasn’t what the label was looking for. Dionne has always been a great inspiration to us, especially her collaborations with Bacharach & David. Both this and ‘Somewhere in the World’ feature horn arrangements by Jerry Hey, who has worked with Earth Wind and Fire, Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson, Rufus, Chaka Khan, George Benson, George Duke, Aretha Franklin Frank Sinatra to mention a few…so we were in good company!”
“‘We recorded ‘Heaven Only Knows’ in Oakland with En Vogue producers Foster/McElroy and were blown away to work with no other than Nate Phillips and Marlon The Magician McClain of Pleasure who were their regular studio band at the time.” (see video below).
There is just…so…much…here for Swing Out Sister fans to enjoy. And even as the group works on a brand new big band album, Certain Shades of Limelight takes us back to a productive, glorious time of this all-time favorite act.
By Chris Rizik
CLICK HERE to check out Certain Shades of Limelight at Cherry Red Records
or CLICK HERE to see it at Amazon.com
