In their early years, in amongst the Hi-NRG pop and the ballads, Take That had made a habit of popping out covers of 1970s golden-oldies. A version of Tavares’s ‘It Only Takes a Minute’ had brought them to the Top 10 for the first time, while a pumped up take on Barry Manilow’s ‘Could It Be Magic’ gave them their first Top 5 hit.
Relight My Fire, by Take That (their 2nd of twelve #1s) ft. Lulu (her 1st and only #1)
2 weeks, from 3rd – 17th October 1993
‘Relight My Fire’, their second number one, was the pinnacle of their cover version days, and the final one before their ascent to superstardom. And it’s a perfectly fine piece of pop: complete cheese – though a nice camembert rather than plastic cheddar – and completely undeniable. It’s the ultimate soundtrack to Saturday evening family TV, to a kid’s birthday party at a Charlie Chalk’s, to a Butlin’s disco…
They don’t do anything clever with it, updating the disco beat and percussion for something more post-SAW, but otherwise keeping sensibly close to the Dan Hartman original. An original which hadn’t been a very big hit in the UK. I assumed it must have been a hit of some sort, as it just sounds so very ‘peak’ disco, but no. In the US, it had topped the Billboard Dance Chart for six weeks in late 1979; but in Britain people may not have been aware of it. (The female vocalist on the original was Loleatta Holloway, who we last heard being similarly uncredited on Black Box’s ‘Ride on Time’, while Hartman sadly died just a few months after this cover became a hit.)
I say Take That don’t do anything clever with their version of the tune, but actually… Roping in none other than Scottish pocket-rocket Lulu to belt out the Loleatta verse provided a clever bit of cross-generational appeal. And belt it out she does, as her rasping You gotta be strong enough to walk on through the night… is a clear highlight. She grasps with both hands this gold-plated chance at a chart comeback, also making sure she isn’t overshadowed by these young whippersnappers (though, amazingly, she was only forty-five when this made #1…)
It gave Lulu her first chart-topper a full twenty-nine years after her chart debut with ‘Shout’ – a record at the time. She had recently released her first album in eleven years, and this was her first Top 10 in almost twenty (not counting a re-release of ‘Shout’ in the ‘80s). But just as importantly as relaunching Lulu’s career, it announced to the world that Take That weren’t just teeny boppers aimed at twelve-year-olds. They were looking to become Britain’s foremost pop group, one that appealed to your mum, your granny, and your gay uncle (note Mark Owen’s crop top in the video, as well as Jason/Howard’s – who can tell them apart? – leather chaps…)
Come the end of the decade, all the boyband imitators that Take That had spawned would be trying the same thing. Off the top of my head, I can remember seventies covers from Boyzone, Westlife and 911 all doing very well in the charts, and I’m sure there were more. It’s songs like this which mean Take That are still filling stadiums across the country, thirty years on, with people of all ages looking for nothing more than a good night out. It’s easy to sniff (and sniff I do), but few do it better.
The UK Number Ones Blog 
Wow. I know who Dan Hartman is and Lulu but, I’ve never heard this, before…or the original. I knew about Instant Replay and I Can Dream About You (music track in Streets of Fire 1984). I have never heard of Take That. Didn’t Lulu chart with To Sir, With Love?
It’s a fun romp.
I hadn’t heard of him before this, to be honest. No, for some reason ‘To Sir With Love’ was only a B-side in the UK, despite being a number one in the US…
Wow. Such a great song from a great movie.
Not my type of music but…I listened to the original version and this. The one thing the original does better is to emphasize the main riff driving it. In this version it’s thrown down in the mix…and I thought it gave the original more power.
Hartman wrote all kinds of songs….Free Ride to I Can Dream About You…the guy mixed it up.
Yeah the production here is definitely more pop… Or maybe it’s just the difference between 1979 and 1993. I hadn’t heard of Dan Hartman before this, I must admit.
The Hartman has a little more power to it because of that.
I was one of those who wouldn’t give TT the time of day when they started, but after a few years it seemed churlish not to admit to a spot spot for them. Covering a dance floor tune that originally slipped under the radar in the UK and enlisting one of the UK’s most durable singers was a smart move, and thirty years on I have a kinda liking for this one – though their best was to come. To answer the first above, To Sir With Love was only a B-side in Britain (to Let’s Pretend, No 11 in 1967) but topped the US charts.
Lulu totally deserved a UK number one after the To Sir With Love terrible decision (it’s fab) and Shout being denied, not to mention a near-thing with Bowie assistance on The Man Who Sold The World. She can Claim Shout as an 80’s hit too as it was a new version added to sales of the original reissue for chart purposes that grabbed it. Take That were largely bland in Version 1, but this was a second highlight, terrific version of a song I’d never heard before (it certainly never got radio airplay for Dan Hartman), leaving one more gem to come, and one decent pop song after Robbie left suddenly.
Never heard the original, which somehow wasn’t able to chart on the Hot 100 despite spending several weeks at No. 1 on the Dance Club Songs in late-79, when disco despite steadily declining in popularity was still a popular genre of music. In a way, that’s probably perfect since it’s not that well-known so Take That can take a song that works and allow it to give them a boost.
It’s a pretty faithful take on the original, just updated for the early 90s. I think Barlow’s vocals are a bit weaker than Hartman. I prefer the original due to that 70s disco sound, but their version is pretty decent.