Released: 29th July 1996
Writers: John McLaughlin / Gordon Goudie
Peak position: #21
Chart run: 21-36-49-75
911’s second single – Love Sensation – was a relatively minor hit in 1996. Still, the track proved pivotal in securing the group a major record deal and gained further popularity thanks to its association with a friendly ghost who was experiencing a ‘90s resurgence.
Love Sensation isn’t necessarily one of 911’s most immediately remembered singles, but it’s an important one in laying the foundation for the group’s subsequent success. The track was released as the follow-up to their debut – Night To Remember – marking a first foray into original material at a point when 911 were still an independent act. They’d steadily built a loyal fanbase in the mid-’90s through touring schools and nightclubs but hadn’t yet gained the backing of a major label. Instead, their manager, Steve Gilmour, secured investment to create The Ginga Recording Co., which aimed to turn 911’s growing momentum into chart success. Thus, while their debut single reaching #38 might be regarded as disappointing relative to the group’s career as a whole, for a new startup, it was a considerable achievement that Love Sensation now sought to consolidate.
The track’s release coincided with the summer holidays, setting the tone for Love Sensation. It exudes that sense of mid-’90s pop music, which was intentionally lightweight and carefree. The production is relentlessly joyous, with trumpet and saxophone riffs cutting playfully through a thumping beat. Lyrically, the song details an immediate and intense attraction: “We’ve been drawn together by love’s chemistry, I was born to be by your side, sure as the river meets the sea, we’ve only known each other for a little while, but you’re my destiny” which is sold convincingly by Lee Brennan’s enthusiastically sincere performance. The proclamations that fill Love Sensation are bombastic, but they convey the giddy rush of emotions likely to resonate with 911’s predominantly teen fanbase.
From a composition perspective, there’s little more to the song than that, though it does what it does very well. Love Sensation zips along with satisfying melodies – like the twinkling pre-chorus with its brass stabs: “I would move all heaven and earth just to set you free…in lover’s liberty…inject the chemistry…that’s gonna move ya-a-a-a-a-a-a, never gonna lose ya” –that sustain its buoyant energy. The hooky chorus fittingly encapsulates all the best qualities of the track: “Don’t go changing, rearranging, hold on to a love sensation, if you ever go away, that would be my darkest day; don’t go changing, rearranging, hold on to a love sensation, there’s a power energy that only flows from you to me” and is another example of how the vocal dynamic in 911 works. Lee is the lead singer; that’s never in question. But Jimmy and Spike’s backing vocals fill out the track, and it wouldn’t sound quite the same without them.
In hindsight, what makes Love Sensation stand out even more so is that, as far as 911 are concerned, they didn’t ever release any other singles like this. It leans towards the dancier Europop of the mid-‘90s (the distorted chant of: “No, I’m never gonna lose ya, no, no, I’m never gonna lose ya, no I’m never gonna lose ya, no, no, no, no…” during the instrumental breakdown is very much of that style), which reflects music trends around the time the group formed and started recording. However, they launched just a few months before the Spice Girls ushered in a new era of bubblegum pop (Wannabe was still at #1 the week that Love Sensation debuted), and 911’s subsequent material thus became guided much more by that. In a sense, and by pure chance, this single sits right at the juncture of a significant shift in the charts.
The original music video for Love Sensation has a suitably summery theme and shows 911 frolicking at the beach. It fits the holiday vibe of the song and is filled with sequences backdropped by cloudless blue skies, golden sands and coastal scenery. Inevitably, certain aspects of the visuals have a formative appearance that doesn’t quite fit the styling and aesthetic of later singles in the album campaign. Yet, what’s apparent is that even before the input of a major label, 911 had a clear sense of the identity they wanted to project. Each member features in a sped-up sequence where they write their name in the sand, allowing them to establish individual personalities. And, though rapid editing means the group’s trademark dance routines aren’t shown to their full extent, Jimmy and Spike still get the chance to demonstrate their acrobatic abilities with kicks and flips. The abundant energy occasionally borders on cheesy, but then, 911 never presented themselves as a group who took themselves too seriously, so they can pull it off.
A second video for Love Sensation was created in 1997 to accompany the release of the movie Casper: A Spirited Beginning. Despite the box office success of Casper two years earlier, this wasn’t a direct sequel, and neither did it receive a cinema release; instead, it was released straight to VHS. The accompanying soundtrack album – from which Love Sensation became the lead single – featured 911 alongside an eclectic selection of artists, including KC and the Sunshine Band, Shampoo, Backstreet Boys and Supergrass. The visuals this time are set in a fairground (which links to a plot point within Casper: A Spirited Beginning) and mix reaction shots of 911 on the rides with a bit more focus on the choreographed dance sequences than is included in the original.
Footage from the movie is also woven throughout, although two edits exist, with the US version using different, longer clips. Either way, this version of the video will likely be the more familiar one to many because it was included on the VHS of Casper: A Spirited Beginning and played before the film started, ensuring audiences were likely to end up hearing Love Sensation (whether they wanted to or not) potentially multiple times. The movie might not be particularly well-reviewed, but that hardly mattered for 911, who were getting exposure nonetheless.
Although Love Sensation was still a modest hit by ‘90s boyband standards, it fared significantly better than their debut, peaking at #21. Furthermore, scoring two top 40 singles on an independent label with a modest budget and limited marketing was finally enough to attract the attention of Virgin Records. They signed 911 and took over subsequent releases; with a major label now behind them, the group received a boost to their profile, which immediately translated to much-improved chart positions. Love Sensation received a US release in 1997 to help promote Casper: A Spirited Beginning. The track was picked up by pop, dance and R&B(!?) radio stations; it didn’t enter the Billboard Hot 100 but came impressively close, reaching #103 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100. The prospect of 911 almost scoring a hit in America isn’t, in itself, such an implausible prospect. But the fact it was almost with Love Sensation (even in the context of it being on a movie soundtrack) of all their singles is a bit of an oddity.
While Love Sensation marked an important turning point for 911, it also revealed more about the direction of the album campaign than anyone at the time realised. CD1 of the single included a radio edit and extended mix of Bodyshakin’. The B-side proved so popular that nine months later, it ended up being released as the fifth single from The Journey and went on to become the group’s signature hit
In hindsight, Love Sensation had a more profound impact on 911’s career than many of their singles, which peaked higher and sold more because it was the stepping stone for them to reach that point. Nonetheless, the exposure that came with Casper: A Spirited Beginning means the song is better known than its chart position would suggest, and it has deservedly remained a staple of the group’s live sets for that reason.
