Big Thing (Blue Zone album)

Blue Zone was formed in 1984 and consisted of Lisa Stansfield on vocals, and Ian Devaney and Andy Morris on instruments. In 1986, the trio released their first two singles: "Love Will Wait" and "Finest Thing." In 1987, they started working on their first album which was released in November 1988 but did not include "Love Will Wait" and "Finest Thing."[2] The record company postponed the album many times and finally released it in Europe, North America and Australia in November 1988 and in Japan in early 1989. However, the album wasn't released in the United Kingdom until the 2016 deluxe edition.[3][1]

The album includes eleven songs (ten on the US edition) written by Lisa Stansfield, Ian Devaney and Andy Morris, except for "Jackie" written by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly. "Jackie" was originally recorded by Elisa Fiorillo in 1987 for the Summer School soundtrack. The album was produced by Paul Staveley O'Duffy, except for "Perfect Crime" produced by Blue Zone. Ric Wake co-produced "Jackie" and "Perfect Crime." The US edition contains the full intro of "Perfect Crime," which was cut on other versions of the album.[4]

The first single from the album, "On Fire" was released on 26 October 1987 and peaked at number ninety-nine in the United Kingdom. The second single, "Thinking About His Baby" was issued on 25 January 1988 and reached number seventy-nine in the UK.[5] On 26 July 1988, "Jackie" was released as a single in the United States and peaked at number fifty-four on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number thirty-seven on the Hot Dance Club Songs chart.