Sonia Whittingham Sweet Sensation (1988)
The Isle of Jura is located northwest of the Scottish mainland. Despite the island’s considerable size—it spans approximately 142 square miles (around 366 square kilometers)—Jura has a relatively small population with only around 200 permanent residents. Nonetheless, the isle has witnessed some truly outstanding occurrences over the past century.
Author George Orwell, for example, spent a good part of his final years on Jura, where he wrote the cult novel Nineteen Eighty-Four in the late 1940s. And towards the end of the century, the British band The KLF made several trips to the island, shooting a strange film called Waiting on one occasion and burning one million pounds in a boathouse at the southern tip of Jura on another.
The KLF’s actions have inspired Australia-based British DJ and producer Kevin Griffiths to name one of his labels after the Scottish island. With Isle of Jura Griffiths aims at digging up “lost musical gems,” as he puts it, which has resulted in releases spanning everything from disco to reggae to synth pop.
At the end of last year, the British expat struck gold when he reissued Sonia Whittingham’s “Sweet Sensation”. The A-side of the record originally released in 1988 isn’t just a truly sweet affair, having Whittingham sing “I know our love is true ‘cos you make me happy,” but it is also considered a UK lovers rock classic. It is our song of the day.
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