Of the 11 songs on the album, four were previously released as singles: "Two Hearts" in 1985; "Love Is (the Hardest Part)" in 1986; and "Do You Dream of Me?" and "Move Up" in 1987. All of these were re-recorded in 1988 for the album. After the album's release, three of the new songs were also released as singles: "Hellfire", "Dance Sum More", and "Special Star". The band made
music videos for four of the singles: "Hellfire", "Dance Some More", "Special Star", and the rerecorded version of "Move Up".
"Special Star" "Special Star" was co-written by Kevin Botha, Mango bandleader John Leyden, and bandmembers Siphu Bhengu,
Alan Lazar, and Mduduzi Magwaza. They dedicated the song to the late
kwela musician
Spokes Mashiyane (1933–72). The song's
penny whistle solo was performed by Mduduzi Magwaza, who, like Mashiyane, also played saxophone. In France, Totem Records released the song on a
7-inch single in 1989, as the
B-side to "Dance Some More". "Special Star" was released as a standalone single in 1990—in France by Totem Records, and in South Africa by
EMI.
Music video The "Special Star" music video premiered in South Africa in 1990. It was directed by a young South African man named Nic Hofmeyr, who had worked in London for three years as a
camera operator for music video shoots. When he returned to South Africa in 1987 to witness the end of
apartheid, he started directing music videos—including the video for
Bright Blue's "
Weeping"—while aspiring to become a documentary filmmaker.
Later performances The
Hong Kong Ballet danced to "Special Star", at a Mango Groove performance in Hong Kong in 1990. On 20 April 1992, Mango Groove performed "Special Star" in
Johannesburg for the
simulcast of the
Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert. The main event was at
Wembley Stadium in London, where Mango's performance appeared (live, via satellite) on a large
projection screen. The performance was dedicated to Mercury, who died in 1991. Sometime between 1989 and 2006, a symphonic arrangement of "Special Star" was recorded by the South African National Symphony Orchestra. In a televised performance in April 2018, Claire Johnston, Craig Lucas (2017 winner of
The Voice South Africa), and the Mzansi Youth Choir performed a medley of "Special Star" and "Moments Away" on
Dancing with the Stars.
"Hellfire" "Hellfire" was written by Mickey Vilakazi, who was the band's trombonist and eldest member until his death in June 1988. The song's lyrics speak of an interracial love that is misunderstood and forbidden. The music video for "Hellfire" concerns the
Group Areas Act, a
racial segregation measure enacted by the apartheid government. The video begins in
Alexandra Township in 1989—a time by which the government's "urban renewal plan" for Alexandra had already demolished buildings and displaced or killed many black people. An elderly black man reads a newspaper article about the backlash against the Group Areas Act; he then spots a clipping about
kwela musician
Spokes Mashiyane. A newspaper photo of a street scene transitions into a
sepiatone flashback: Outside a
Sophiatown nightclub called The Land Lady, the words "No
passes" are painted on the wall. Inside, Mango Groove plays to
black and
white patrons. At the end of the video, a caption explains that Sophiatown (a venerable black neighbourhood and cultural hotspot just outside of
Johannesburg) was demolished in 1954 to allow for the construction of a white suburb called
Triomf (the
Afrikaans word for
triumph). These scenes were censored by the
SABC, changing the context and meaning of the rest of the video. In South Africa, "Hellfire" was released as a
7-inch single by Tusk Music in 1989, with the 1988 recording of "Move Up" on the
B-side.
"Move Up" "Move Up" was released as a 7-inch single in October 1987, nearly two years before the album's release. It reached number one on the Capital Radio
hit parade. It spent two weeks in
Radio Orion's national
record chart, peaking at number 27. The band recorded a new version of the song for the album, and it was this recording that was used for the "Move Up" music video. The video was taped at
Zoo Lake in Johannesburg. In the video, lead singer Claire Johnston sits at a bar as the Mango Groove brass section plays. Bandleader John Leyden walks in, and he and Johnston dance together. A surprised Leyden suddenly appears in the park at Zoo Lake, where he is chased by the brass section. As Johnston sings in different settings, boisterous bandmembers repeatedly burst into the scene. Tusk Music issued the rerecording of "Move Up" on the flipside of the "Hellfire" single in 1989.
"Two Hearts" Mango first released this song as a single in 1985, when the band had a different (and smaller) lineup. It was the first recording they made with Claire Johnston. When they re-recorded it in 1988 for their debut album, they used a slightly different arrangement. The back cover of the single describes the song as a "township waltz".
"Pennywhistle" "Pennywhistle" is a kwela song composed by Mduduzi Magwaza and Siphu Bhengu; Magwaza plays the pennywhistle parts in the recording. The song was previously released as the B-side to the 1988 single "Mau Mau Eyes"; it has since been rereleased in more than a dozen
compilation albums.
"Lalissa" "Lalissa" (a misspelling of the verb
lalisa) is the only song on the album whose lyrics are primarily in
Zulu (or, indeed, any
Bantu language). The lyrics (written by Siphu Bhengu) are soothing words sung to a baby whose mother is away. In France, Totem Records released the song as a B-side to "Dance Some More" in 1989. It has reappeared on several Mango Groove compilation albums over the years. ==Reception==