Hot Chocolate

Track	Album / Single
Give Peace A Chance	APPLE 18
Brother Louie	RAK 149
A Warm Smile	Hot Chocolate
Heaven Is In The Back Seat Of My Cadillac	Man To Man
Every 1’s A Winner	Every 1’s A Winner
So You Win Again	Every 1’s A Winner
No Doubt About It	RAK 310
Are You Getting Enough Happiness	Mystery
Sexy Caribbean Girl	Love Shot
You Sexy Thing	Hot Chocolate

I was driving to Blackpool in my campervan in August and decided to try and recreate the journey I’d made so often with my dad to see my grandparents during those long hot 70s summers. I found a suitable Spotify playlist and off I went. It did the job. Classic after classic from Carole Bayer Sager’s tale of kicking out an errant tenant who’d overstayed his welcome through the omnipresent Bee Gees disco antics encouraging the wild life, while ABBA warned the teenage me of the perils of Money, Money, Money. I had a Proustian overload on the five-hour drive north which was wonderful.

Another regular was Hot Chocolate, seemingly ever-present on 70s Top Of The Pops. The glorious Errol Brown and his leather trousers making my mums knitting needles click that little bit faster “knit one, pearl one, bugger I’ve dropped a stitch”. That may of course have been a euphemism for mum, but Errol must have caused a stir in many a household. I know all the hits but when I looked a little deeper I found much more than pop hits and Errol’s trousers. This Toppermost will be a mixture of some of those hits and some fabulous deep cuts that I hope you enjoy.

Embed from Getty Images

(l-r): Larry Ferguson (keyboards), Tony Connor (drums, percussion), Errol Brown (lead vocals), Patrick Olive (percussion), Harvey Hinsley (guitars). Photo by Fin Costello.

The band first formed in 1968 as Hot Chocolate Band (shortened to Hot Chocolate by Mickie Most in 1970). Their first single was a reggae cover of Give Peace A Chance that led to the band briefly being signed by Apple. It’s my first choice.

After hooking up with Mickie Most they released a string of singles that made an impact on the charts. The first album Cicero Park was released in 1974. I listened to the 2009 extended CD edition while putting this together which also contains some of the early singles. It’s a brilliant collection of funk, soul, pop and social commentary. Think Curtis Mayfield, Isaac Hayes, the Temptations mixed with Bread or the Hollies. Could Have Been Born In The Ghetto is a real standout. The big hit is Emma, a dark and brooding nod to Errol’s mum.  Written by Errol and Tony Wilson the song tackles suicide, early death and lost childhood. It shows a real depth to the songwriting and Errol’s vocals capture the overall mood of the song brilliantly.  It made number 6 in the UK charts.

My choice from this era, though, is the extraordinary Brother Louie. It was another top ten hit in 1973 but I had absolutely no recollection of it prior to starting this project. It tells the story of a white man and a black woman in a relationship and the reactions of their parents. The parental thoughts containing language you would have heard in Love Thy Neighbour would be shocking today. They are spoken which lends a gritty realism to the racism displayed by both sets of parents. It just feels seismic. It’s a remarkable record. This video with the band looking cool as fuck, multiracial, singing this song while the kids clap along, isn’t going to be bettered in this piece. I’ve peaked early but if you take one thing away from this piece make it Brother Louie.

Cicero Park will be an album I return to often. The next two albums I encountered were Hot Chocolate from 1975 and Man To Man from 1976. They feel very similar. That strange mix of what we’d all recognise as Hot Chocolate songs and some that come from another genre entirely. Looking at the writing credits of both albums there was quite the mix. This from Wikipedia about the eponymous album:

The original 1975 LP release comprised ten original songs, of which only one (“You Sexy Thing”) was credited to the band’s writing team, lead vocalist Errol Brown and bassist Tony Wilson. Brown and Wilson wrote rest of the album separately, with the band members Harvey Hinsley, Patrick Olive and Tony Connor contributing “A Warm Smile”. The album includes the group’s best-known hit, “You Sexy Thing” and the top-10 UK and Irish hit “A Child’s Prayer”.

Listening to the album as a whole, You Sexy Thing leaps out because it’s so well known but also it’s a reminder just how brilliant it is. Could they have known at the time it would still be huge 50 odd years later? I kind of wish I could hear it as new again such is its magnificence.

That said, I’m making A Warm Smile my next pick rather than the ubiquitous You Sexy Thing, mainly because it’s gorgeous but also it best showcases the variety of the songs. A band finding their place, their style and their sound. It reminds me of the band America and songs like Sister Golden Hair or I Need You. Polar opposites to the gritty funk and soul found in Errol’s songs like Hello America or Call The Police. The former would have been at home in Rocky IV while the latter puts you in mind of Starsky & Hutch. The whole Hot Chocolate album is well worth a visit.

Man To Man is pure funk, soul and sex but doesn’t really contain any great standout songs. Tony Wilson had left and most of the songwriting was down to Errol. You can’t help wondering how Mickie Most was feeling at this point. His RAK label was the hit machine of the day. The rest of the band contributed Sex Appeal which is a million miles away from A Warm Smile.

My choice from this album is Heaven Is In The Back Seat Of My Cadillac which only really comes to life when you see it performed. Lyrically incredibly simplistic and misogynistic, it’s very much of its time but it’s a fabulous time capsule which earns its place for its sheer groove.

Into 1976 with 18 singles behind them and many successes across the globe, and we arrive at Every 1’s A Winner and a golden period for the band. Obviously my first selection is the title track. A song that really hit hard on that drive to Blackpool. Used for adverts, and a radio staple, it retains all of its magic. What a song. That guitar by the way. I can’t find a Top Of The Pops clip but here’s something from another TV show especially for my dear departed mum. Somewhere her knitting needles are catching fire.

Bizarrely, the album only made number 30 on the UK charts despite also containing So You Win Again, their only UK number one, and a third top ten Put Your Love In Me. Unfortunately, apart from the quirky reggae style Confetti Day, the rest of the album doesn’t really catch fire which perhaps explains the chart position. I’m going to make So You Win Again my sixth choice in this top ten because it is just so good. Did Errol ever sing better? Written by Russ Ballard and produced by Mickie Most, it’s one of those timeless perfect pop songs.

Still, in 1978, they release the beautiful I’ll Put You Together Again as a stand-alone single which threatened the top ten; more than 20 singles released and 4 albums by the end of that year.  Going Through The Motions from 1979 appears to be exactly that: a flat uninspiring collection of electro disco songs with no soul.

The fabulous hit single No Doubt About It followed in 1980 which becomes my 7th choice. This Close Encounters Of The Third Kind video is extraordinary and a reminder how space-obsessed we all were back then.

Released in 1980, Class came next. Was this an attempt to get back the Hot Chocolate sound that had brough their success? It is a far more interesting and engaging experience than Going Through The Motions. There’s some lovely pre-brit-funk moments and a cover of Walking On The Moon in which Errol tries to sing like Sting. I like it as an oddity but it’s going nowhere near this top ten. Green Shirt is a decent song and Children Of Spacemen defies any logical explanation. It has a kind of Rice/Lloyd Webber vibe but I can’t pretend to understand it. Another oddity. From nowhere you get a funk-driven Christmas song asking for another Jesus. Brand New Christmas is the Christmas song you didn’t know you needed in your life. This album is growing on me purely for its eclectic strangeness. Then as if to seek some kind of acceptance they ask Are you getting enough of what makes you happy? You know what Errol, yes I am. Class deserves an article all its own.

1982’s Mystery feels like a return to normality that even gives Are You Getting Enough Of What Makes You Happy another airing as Are You Getting Enough Happiness. It’s a bit of a funk monster. Errol finds his hit-making magic touch with Girl Crazy and It Started With A Kiss. It all feels like it belongs in 1982 and like they’ve rediscovered their mojo. Mickie Most was a consistent presence here and on the last two albums. I would love to know more about the dynamic between him and Errol.  On Mystery it feels like everyone was trying to achieve the same result. An upbeat pop funk album with a hefty sprinkling of 80s production and some Pino Palladino style bass. Badoing! What’s not to love?

For sheer effort I’m going to select Are You Getting Enough Happiness as my next choice.

The final Hot Chocolate album came with 1983’s Love Shot. Which of us doesn’t want a love shot in their Hot Chocolate? An idea for Costa perhaps for next Valentine’s Day? Love Shot doesn’t disappoint but probably not for the reasons Errol and Mickie were hoping. It’s a band at the end of their road but what a road it’s been.  The opening track Sexy Caribbean Girl sounds like it could have found a home on Simply Red’s Men And Women. It’s such a Simply Red song that I had to check Mick and the boys hadn’t recorded it. The rest of the album, including two songs co-written by Errol and Adrian (gonna write a classic in the attic) Gurvitz, is instantly forgettable. By 1983, Imagination, Shakatak, Linx and others were taking funk and disco to the masses and this just sounds dated and, dare I say it, a bit lazy. I am going to share the wonder that is Sexy Caribbean Girl as my ninth selection because I think it’s worth hearing.

At the end of my Nolans Toppermost I felt I’d discovered a lost treasure, such was the quality of many recordings I uncovered along with their remarkable story. I hoped Hot Chocolate would do something similar but, outside of the genuinely remarkable Cicero Park and the hits, there’s very slim pickings. Some of the song’s lyrics just haven’t travelled very well and I’m not sure they ever really knew what they wanted to be. The fond memories those hits stir in me, putting me right in the middle of my living room or my dad’s car, mean I’ll always listen to them. They’re great records. I will bore anyone who’ll listen and even some who don’t about Cicero Park; it absolutely deserves recognition, and in Brother Louie I’ve discovered a song that has made the whole experience worthwhile.

To finish, you didn’t really think I could do a Hot Chocolate Toppermost without this song did you? Endlessly re-released, played at every wedding or party worth the name, and of course rendered timeless by The Full Monty. Join me in getting your kit off and dancing around your kitchen to You Sexy Thing. I suspect it’s what Errol (and maybe my mum) would have wanted.

Errol Brown MBE (1943-2015) official website

Tony Wilson wikipedia

The Hot Chocolate Singles

Mickie Most (1938-2003) wikipedia

Dave Ross lives near Windsor and hides under his online pseudonym @DaveAmitri to talk mainly about cricket and music. He has written a drama “Jimmy Blue” featuring the music of Del Amitri and has recently published his first book “12 Bowie Albums In 12 Months” based on a series of posts on The Afterword website. Follow him at his website and on bluesky. His other posts for this site include The Associates, Rick Astley, The Blow Monkeys, The Coral, The Kane Gang, Justin Currie, Nick Heyward, The Lotus Eaters, Tears for Fears, Then Jerico, Thompson Twins, Wham!.

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