Bucks Fizz were an English pop group that achieved success in the 1980s, most notably for winning the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest with the song Making Your Mind Up.

The group was formed in January 1981 specifically for the contest and comprised four vocalists: Bobby G, Cheryl Baker, Mike Nolan and Jay Aston. They received attention for the dance routine which accompanied the song, in which the male members of the group ripped the female members’ outer skirts off to reveal much shorter mini-skirts beneath.

The group went on to have a successful career around the world (although they were commercially unsuccessful in the United States), but the UK remained their biggest market, where they had three No.1 singles with Making Your Mind Up (1981), The Land of Make Believe (1981) and My Camera Never Lies (1982) and became one of the top-selling groups of the 1980s.

They also had UK Top 10 hits with Now Those Days Are Gone (1982), If You Can’t Stand the Heat (1982), When We Were Young (1983) and New Beginning (Mamba Seyra) (1986) and, to date, Bucks Fizz have sold over 50 million records worldwide.

The line-up of the group has changed a number of times over the years, most famously when Jay Aston quit the group in 1985 and was replaced by Shelley Preston. Bobby G’s official version of Bucks Fizz has been inactive since 2018, while another group The Fizz continues which comprises the other three original members – Cheryl Baker, Mike Nolan and Jay Aston.

For the first time ever, The Land Of Make Believe [5CD] is the entire singles collection of Eurovision winners and 80s hitmakers Bucks Fizz, as their correctly released versions. It also includes all the hits, plus all the B sides from the singles and all the original extended mixes produced by Andy Hill.

CD4 contains the backing tracks and instrumentals of all the official singles which have never been available before, whilst CD5 contains 11 previously unreleased vintage extended mixes.

The majority of these tracks are taken from the original studio production master tapes. All fully remastered for the best possible quality ever released of Bucks Fizz material.

Also for the first time, this collection contains the instrumentals and backing tracks for all the official singles, which have never been released!

Finally, a whole CD of unreleased extended mixes including New Beginning, If You Can’t Stand The Heat, Love The One You’re With and the song that started it all back in 1981, Making Your Mind Up.

The entire collection contains 31 previously unreleased tracks, and also includes a 28-page booklet with extensive sleeve notes, photographs and discography.

An absolute must for not only fans of this Eurovision winning act but 80s pop aficionados alike, the first CD is The Singles and boy, does it just sum up perfectly everything that was great about not only that ear, but the band themselves.

Indeed, the band’s total chart record includes 20 Top 40 entries, and it was 1988 before Bucks Fizz finally stopped scoring hits - not a bad record for a group that did not even exist before the Eurovision Song Contest!

CD 1: The Singles
1 Making Your Mind Up 2 Piece Of The Action 3 One Of Those Nights 4 Land Of Make Believe 5 My Camera Never Lie 6 Now Those Days Are Gone 7 If You Can’t Stand The Heat 8 Run For Your Life 9 When We Were Young 10 London Town 11 Rules Of The Game 12 Talking In Your Sleep 13 Golden Days 14 I Hear Talk (7 Inch Mix) 15 You And Your Heart So Blue 16 Magical 17 New Beginning 18 Love The One You’re With 19 Keep Each Other Warm (7 Inch Mix) 20 Heart Of Stone

The second CD is The B-Sides and is a collection of songs that I wish all of these box-sets and collections would feature re: all the 7 Inch single B-Sides that, when heard all these years later, might well come across as never before heard tracks by those who didn’t collect vinyl growing up.

For me personally, I love the frenetic opener Don’t Stop and the requisite (from any band/artist) holiday ballad Now You’re Gone (It Doesn’t Feel Like Christmas), and then we get the rambunctious power pop of Taking Me Higher, the fizzing Identity, and both the cracking Oh Suzanne and the smooth pop sounds within Too Hard.

CD 2: The B-Sides
1 Don’t Stop 2 Took It To The Limit 3 Always Thinking Of You 4 Now You’re Gone 5 What Am I Gonna Do 6 Taking Me Higher 7 Stepping Out 8 Shot Me Through The Heart 9 Where The Ending Starts 10 Identity 11 When We Were At War 12 Don’t Think You’re Fooling Me 13 Where Do I Go Now 14 Pulling Me Under 15 Oh Suzanne 16 In Your Eyes 17 Too Hard 18 Give A Little Love 19 Here’s Looking At You

The third CD is some rather glorious Original Extended Mixes of their hit singles and fan-adored tracks, and is yet another bountiful, smile inducing set for all us BF fans.

Stand outs here, in my humble opinion, include the When We Were Young (Extended Club Version), the Talking In Your Sleep (Extended Version), both the You And Your Heart So Blue (Extended Version) and the New Beginning (Extended Version), along with a brilliant I Hear Talk (1986 Extended Version).

CD 3: Original Extended Mixes
1 My Camera Never Lies 2 If You Can’t Stand The Heat 3 When We Were Young (Extended Club Version) 4 London Town (Extended Club Mix) 5 Rules Of The Game 6 I Hear Talk 7 Talking In Your Sleep (Extended Version) 8 You And Your Heart So Blue (Extended Version) 9 New Beginning (Extended Version) 10 Love The One You’re With (Extended Version) 11 Keep Each Other Warm (Long Version) 12 I Hear Talk (1986 Extended Version)

The fourth CD is a vast collection of Backing Tracks, so think of these as your own private karaoke sessions! Nothing overly special here, as with every song you fully expect the vocals to come in at any time, but you get used to them not after a while.

CD 4: Backing Tracks
1 Making Your Mind Up 2 Piece Of The Action 3 One Of Those Nights 4 Land Of Make Believe 5 My Camera Never Lies 6 Now Those Days Are Gone 7 If You Can’t Stand The Heat 8 Run For Your Life 9 When We Were Young 10 London Town 11 Rules Of The Game 12 Talking In Your Sleep * 13 Golden Days 14 I Hear Talk 15 You And Your Heart So Blue 16 Magical 17 New Beginning 18 Love The One You’re With 19 Keep Each Other Warm 20 Heart Of Stone * previously unissued Monitor Mix Instrumental

The fifth and final CD is The Unreleased Extended Mixes of 11 of their most beloved songs and yet again this is a definitive standout highlight of such an already incredible collection from Cherry Red.

For me personally, Land Of Make Believe (1991 Dance Funk Remix) and If You Can’t Stand The Heat (Alternative Version) are top of the tree here, but others such as the aching ballad January’s Gone and the Dub Funk mixes of New Beginning and Love The One You’re With, make this an impressive CD to behold.

CD 5: The Unreleased Extended Mixes
1 Making Your Mind Up 2 Took It To The Limit 3 Land Of Make Believe (1991 Dance Funk Remix) 4 If You Can’t Stand The Heat (Alternative Version) 5 January’s Gone 6 In Your Eyes 7 Too Hard 8 I Need Your Love 9 Don’t Turn Back 10 New Beginning (Dub Funk) 11 Love The One You’re With (Dub Funk)

Official 5CD Purchase Link