Climie FisherLove Changes (Everything)
EMI EM47
Released: 12 Mar 1988
Reached: #2
Reaching number 67 in September 1987 on its original release, Love Changes (Everything) was nearly the best record of the 80s never to be a hit. As it was, a successful remix and reissue propelled it into the top Ten and, if I had to rank these 101 songs in order of brilliance, this four and a half minute slice of pure pop genius would certainly top the list.
Songwriter Simon Climie had already tasted chart success by the time he met with Naked Eyes keyboardist Rob Fisher at the bar of the Abbey Road studios where both were working as session musicians. His composition I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me) had been a 1987 UK Number One for George Michael and Aretha Franklin and his songs had also been recorded by the likes of Jeff Beck and Smokey Robinson. Fisher had achieved significant success in the US and Canada with his band Naked Eyes but was perhaps most famous in the UK for his insidious bassline on Billy Ocean’s hit When The Going Gets Tough in 1986.
The urban myth tells that Climie originally offered Love Changes (Everything) to Rod Stewart and when he declined, Climie sang the vocals himself in a Stewart-esque style. Whilst Climie had submitted songs to Stewart in the past (his song My Heart Can’t Tell Me No appeared on Rod’s 1988 album Out Of Order) Love Changes… was never actually intended for Stewart. It had actually been sent to Robert Palmer (who Climie was a huge fan of at the time) but had been passed over.
After Palmer declined the song, legendary producer Steve Lillywhite encouraged Climie to record Love Changes (Everything) alongside more of his own material and the duo commenced the recording of their debut album as the band Climie Fisher. Most of the writing took place at Fisher’s Richmond home and Simon would often arrive to find that Rob had the basic components of a song (the drumbeat or a basic melody) already written. The verse of Time Changes Everything (as it was originally to be called) came pretty quickly and the whole song took the duo under two hours to pen. The album itself took eighteen months to write and record (partly due to producer Lillywhite having to leave the album half way through the recording process to work on another project) and included several collaborations with American songwriter Denis Morgan.
Eventually, the lyrics and title to the debut single were changed to Love Changes (Everything) (the duo believed it sounded better) and it was released in September 1987. Without much backing from their record company EMI the single barely scraped the top 75. On the brink of being dropped by the label, EMI asked Climie’s advice as to what to do next and he suggested they release the song Rise To The Occasion. A hip-hop mix of the record (rather than the lush ballad originally recorded) became a big hit across Europe and spent three weeks inside the UK Top Ten.
On the back of this success, Love Changes (Everything) started getting significant airplay in Germany (where it became a hit) and it was decided to re-release the song in the UK. Accompanied by a stylish black and white video, the song climbed to number two in the spring of 1988, only kept off the top of the charts by the Pet Shop Boys’ third number One single Heart. It went on to be a huge hit worldwide including reaching number 23 on the US Billboard singles chart and winning the Ivor Novello award in 1989 for “best pop song”.
Climie Fisher’s subsequent releases failed to scale the heights of Love Changes (Everything) and despite further top 40 hits (including the stunning Love Like A River) the duo split in the early 1990s. Simon Climie continued to be a successful producer for the likes of Eric Clapton and Michael MacDonald and Fisher also continued in the industry, co-writing Rick Astley’s superb “comeback” single Cry For Help in 1991. Sadly, however, Rob Fisher died in August 1999 during surgery for bowel cancer. He was just 39 years old.
Love Changes (Everything) (the brackets were included deliberately as it was Climie and Denis Morgan’s desire “to say something that someone has said before in a brand new way”) is, in my opinion, quite simply the finest pop record of the 1980’s. Andy Gill in The Independent once said that Climie’s voice “simultaneously soothes and suggests heartbreak” and this description can also be applied to this song. Simultaneously mournful yet optimistic, its magical mixture of melody, bittersweet lyrics and superb vocals have rarely (if ever) been bettered and if any record of the decade deserved to be a Number One hit, this was it.
Songwriter Simon Climie had already tasted chart success by the time he met with Naked Eyes keyboardist Rob Fisher at the bar of the Abbey Road studios where both were working as session musicians. His composition I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me) had been a 1987 UK Number One for George Michael and Aretha Franklin and his songs had also been recorded by the likes of Jeff Beck and Smokey Robinson. Fisher had achieved significant success in the US and Canada with his band Naked Eyes but was perhaps most famous in the UK for his insidious bassline on Billy Ocean’s hit When The Going Gets Tough in 1986.
The urban myth tells that Climie originally offered Love Changes (Everything) to Rod Stewart and when he declined, Climie sang the vocals himself in a Stewart-esque style. Whilst Climie had submitted songs to Stewart in the past (his song My Heart Can’t Tell Me No appeared on Rod’s 1988 album Out Of Order) Love Changes… was never actually intended for Stewart. It had actually been sent to Robert Palmer (who Climie was a huge fan of at the time) but had been passed over.After Palmer declined the song, legendary producer Steve Lillywhite encouraged Climie to record Love Changes (Everything) alongside more of his own material and the duo commenced the recording of their debut album as the band Climie Fisher. Most of the writing took place at Fisher’s Richmond home and Simon would often arrive to find that Rob had the basic components of a song (the drumbeat or a basic melody) already written. The verse of Time Changes Everything (as it was originally to be called) came pretty quickly and the whole song took the duo under two hours to pen. The album itself took eighteen months to write and record (partly due to producer Lillywhite having to leave the album half way through the recording process to work on another project) and included several collaborations with American songwriter Denis Morgan.
Eventually, the lyrics and title to the debut single were changed to Love Changes (Everything) (the duo believed it sounded better) and it was released in September 1987. Without much backing from their record company EMI the single barely scraped the top 75. On the brink of being dropped by the label, EMI asked Climie’s advice as to what to do next and he suggested they release the song Rise To The Occasion. A hip-hop mix of the record (rather than the lush ballad originally recorded) became a big hit across Europe and spent three weeks inside the UK Top Ten.
On the back of this success, Love Changes (Everything) started getting significant airplay in Germany (where it became a hit) and it was decided to re-release the song in the UK. Accompanied by a stylish black and white video, the song climbed to number two in the spring of 1988, only kept off the top of the charts by the Pet Shop Boys’ third number One single Heart. It went on to be a huge hit worldwide including reaching number 23 on the US Billboard singles chart and winning the Ivor Novello award in 1989 for “best pop song”.Climie Fisher’s subsequent releases failed to scale the heights of Love Changes (Everything) and despite further top 40 hits (including the stunning Love Like A River) the duo split in the early 1990s. Simon Climie continued to be a successful producer for the likes of Eric Clapton and Michael MacDonald and Fisher also continued in the industry, co-writing Rick Astley’s superb “comeback” single Cry For Help in 1991. Sadly, however, Rob Fisher died in August 1999 during surgery for bowel cancer. He was just 39 years old.
Love Changes (Everything) (the brackets were included deliberately as it was Climie and Denis Morgan’s desire “to say something that someone has said before in a brand new way”) is, in my opinion, quite simply the finest pop record of the 1980’s. Andy Gill in The Independent once said that Climie’s voice “simultaneously soothes and suggests heartbreak” and this description can also be applied to this song. Simultaneously mournful yet optimistic, its magical mixture of melody, bittersweet lyrics and superb vocals have rarely (if ever) been bettered and if any record of the decade deserved to be a Number One hit, this was it.
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