Jimmy Somerville’s 1995 album Dare To Love is being reissued as a 30th anniversary edition on 5 December, London Records has announced.
The reissue has been fully remastered and will be issued for the first time on double vinyl, as well as on a two‑CD set and digitally. It includes previously unreleased B‑sides, rarities and remixes by producers and remixers such as Todd Terry, The Beatmasters and Sly & Robbie. A newly edited sleeve uses a different photograph of Somerville, featuring a male silhouette across his torso that was not present on the original 1995 cover.
Somerville said the revised sleeve reflects a long‑running disagreement with the label over the original artwork, which they apparently thought was ‘too gay’. Is there such a thing?
Dare To Love, first released in June 1995, marked Somerville’s third solo outing after his work with Bronski Beat and The Communards. Produced in part by Stephen Hague, the record mixed bass‑led house tracks, reggae‑inflected numbers and ballads, and examined themes including love, identity and loss. It contained the UK Top 30 singles Heartbeat — which reached No.1 on the US Dance singles chart, Somerville’s only solo US chart topper — and Hurt So Good, as well as the song Safe in These Arms.
In promotional remarks accompanying the reissue, Somerville reflected on the personal backdrop to the album, citing the contrast between falling in love and the illness and eventual death of a close friend from AIDS‑related conditions. He said those conflicting experiences shaped the record’s emotional terrain.
The reissue follows a recent trend among catalog labels to remaster and expand albums from the 1990s era for vinyl collectors and streaming audiences. For Somerville, a longstanding figure in gay pop and dance music, the new edition is being presented as both a musical reappraisal and an assertion of the record’s place in his catalogue.
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