No Limits (2 Unlimited album)

No Limits, sometimes No Limits!, is the second studio album by Dutch Eurodance band 2 Unlimited, released in May 1993.[1] The album yielded five singles, including "No Limit", which reached number one in many European charts. The album went platinum in several countries.

No Limits!
Studio album by
2 Unlimited
Released10 May 1993
Recorded1992–93 Soundstational Studios
Genre
Length59:55 / 1:10:42
LabelByte Records (Sony / PWL)
Producer
2 Unlimited chronology
Get Ready!
(1992)		 No Limits!
(1993)		 Real Things
(1994)
Alternative cover
UK cover for the album
Singles from No Limits
  1. "No Limit"
    Released: January 1993
  2. "Tribal Dance"
    Released: April 1993
  3. "Faces"
    Released: August 1993
  4. "Maximum Overdrive"
    Released: November 1993
  5. "Let the Beat Control Your Body"
    Released: January 1994

Background

2 Unlimited had limited success in 1992 with their debut album Get Ready!. It had produced four hit singles, but the album had not performed well commercially, peaking at just #37 in the UK Albums Chart.[2] At the time, many Eurodance acts were able to produce hit singles but were unable to capitalize on this with a commercially successful album.[3] 2 Unlimited, however, broke the mold.

At the end of 1992, 2 Unlimited were still only known amongst those who followed chart music at the time. With the first single released from this album, "No Limit", this changed. It went to number 1 in the UK Singles Chart in early February (competing with "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston), and spent five weeks there. This exposure led to them being parodied by the mainstream media with the television series Spitting Image parodying the track as "No Lyrics" due to its repetitive lyrical content. The second single from the album, "Tribal Dance", was released in 1993, followed by this album soon afterwards.

Album name and artwork

Like all the studio albums by the band, the title of the album was a modification of the title of the lead single to be taken from it. The artwork for the UK cover was designed by Julian Barton and David Howells. As like all the 2 Unlimited releases, most other territories featured a different album cover to the UK edition of the album. Unlike their previous album in the UK,[4] where many of the tracks featured on it were instrumental,[5] the artwork to this album featured band members Ray and Anita on the front cover.

Writing and composition

For the debut album, most of the writing had been done by Wilde and de Coster, with some input from Ray Slijngaard and other featured writers.[6] For No Limits!, both Ray and Anita had much more input into the song writing process compared to the previous album. Anita has writing credits on seven of the album's fourteen songs and Ray has writing credits on ten of them.[7]

As their British record company PWL were dissatisfied with Ray Slijngaard's raps,[8] the British version of this album replaced most of the raps with instrumental parts.

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[9]
Smash Hits[10]

Despite its commercial success, at the time the album was panned by the critics, especially in the UK. In Smash Hits, reviewer Mark Frith described the album as an "across the board techno splurge" and stated that this album contained clues as to why the band were unpopular in "elite dance circles".[11] In the review of the single "Maximum Overdrive", the magazine reiterated that the band were, "not hard or imaginative and they have no credibility in dance circles."[12]

The AllMusic review stated that beyond "No Limit" and "Let the Beat Control Your Body", there was little to recommend this album.[13] Toby Anstis stated in his review of "Faces" that he "thought the album sounded all the same".[14] Nonetheless, the band won the Best Dance Act award in Smash Hits that year[15] as well as the World Music Award for Benelux.

Retrospective reviews of this album and the band in general have been more favourable. Only three years after the band split, they were described in a Guinness World Records publication as "spectacular" with the sound of "No Limit" being compared to "the sound giant dinosaurs might make stomping on cities".[16] Their entry then goes on to describe their choruses as "chant-worthy" and that the singles from this album "ravaged hearts and minds across the globe", ending with the statement that they "linger forever in the hearts of true music lovers".

Track listing
No.TitleLength
1."No Limit"3:44
2."Tribal Dance"4:31
3."Mysterious"4:23
4."Faces"3:48
5."Maximum Overdrive"3:58
6."The Power Age"3:59
7."Break the Chain"3:49
8."Kiss Me Bliss Me"3:52
9."Throw the Groove Down"4:18
10."R.U.O.K."4:11
11."Let the Beat Control Your Body"4:02
12."Invite Me to Trance"4;07
13."Where Are You Now"5:01
14."Shelter for a Rainy Day"5:15
15."Get Ready for This (Wilde Mix)"5:59
16."No Limit (Automatic Breakbeat Remix)"4:48
Total length:1:14:45

Charts and certifications
Chart Date Peak position Certification
United Kingdom May 1993 1[17]  
Netherlands May 22, 1993 1[18] Platinum[19]
Norway June 1993 2[20]  
Switzerland June 6, 1993 3[21] Platinum[22]
Austria June 20, 1993 3[23]  
Sweden June 2, 1993 3[24]  
Ireland May 1993 1  
Japan May 1993 17  

Singles
Year Title UK Netherlands Germany Switzerland Austria Spain France Ireland Sweden Norway Canada Australia NZ
1993 "No Limit" 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7 40
1993 "Tribal Dance" 4 2 2 2 3 1 4 2 2 4 7 5 38
1993 "Faces" 8 2 8 19 10 4 16 7 11 — — 54 —
1993 "Maximum Overdrive" 15 5 16 23 13 2 35 11 18 — — 32 —
1994 "Let the Beat Control Your Body" 6 2 8 11 11 10 10 6 11 — — 39 29

Writing credits

The following personnel all have writing credits on this album.

  • Phil Wilde
  • Jean-Paul de Coster
  • Ray Slijngaard
  • Anita Dels
  • Filip Martens
  • Xavier de Clayton
  • Peter Bauwens
  • Michael Leahy
  • Jan Voermans
  • Bieman

References
  1. "Allmusic: 2 Unlimited (Biography)". Allmusic. Retrieved 2012-05-06.
  2. everyHit.com – UK Top 40 Chart Archive, British Singles & Album Charts Archived January 2, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  3. For evidence of this, see the chart statistics for acts such as Captain Hollywood Project, Culture Beat and Maxx.
  4. UK sleeve for the Get Ready! album
  5. Tracks 1, 2, 3, 6, 7 and 8 are almost solely instrumental
  6. Get Ready! sleeve notes
  7. No Limits sleeve notes
  8. Producer Jean-Paul de Coster called them "too clumsy for the UK market" (Channel 4's Top 10 Irritating Records of Recent Time, 2003), while company head Pete Waterman spoke of "the worst rap I've ever heard". (Entry 685 of 1000 Number Ones by Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh)
  9. Allmusic review
  10. The review in Smash Hits in 1993.
  11. The review of No Limits in Smash Hits in 1993
  12. The review of Maximum Overdrive in Smash Hits in 1994
  13. allmusic ((( No Limits > Overview )))
  14. The review of Faces in Smash Hits in 1993
  15. Smash Hits
  16. Guinness Rockopedia 1998, p. 456.
  17. EveryHit.co.uk UK Top 40 database Accessed: October 29, 2006
  18. PopInstituut.nl Archived 2007-03-11 at the Wayback Machine Discography 2 Unlimited Accessed: October 29, 2006
  19. NVPI.nl Archived 2007-08-08 at the Wayback Machine Dutch certification database Accessed November 4, 2006
  20. NorwegianCharts.com No Limits page Accessed: October 29, 2006
  21. SwissCharts.com No Limits page Accessed: October 29, 2006
  22. SwissCharts.com Certifications 1994 Accessed: October 29, 2006
  23. AustrianCharts.at No Limits page Accessed: October 29, 2006
  24. SwedishCharts.com No Limits page Accessed: October 29, 2006
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