Dedication (Bay City Rollers album)

Dedication is an album by Scottish band, Bay City Rollers, released in September 1976. It was the band's fourth original studio album, and the first new album to be released in the wake of their enormous worldwide success of early 1976. Its release was supported by a number of singles, most notably "Yesterday's Hero", "Money Honey", "Rock and Roll Love Letter" and their cover version of the Dusty Springfield song "I Only Want to Be with You" which featured only on the North American release.

Dedication
Studio album by Bay City Rollers
Released	September 1976
Recorded	1976
Genre	Pop rock, power pop
Label	Arista, Bell
Producer	Jimmy Ienner
Bay City Rollers chronology
Rock N'Roll Love Letter (1976) Dedication (1976) It's a Game (1977)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	link

Background

Founding group member Alan Longmuir had been replaced by Ian Mitchell prior to the recording sessions. Upon the switch, Mitchell was slotted as rhythm guitarist; Stuart Wood moved from rhythm guitar to bass. Mitchell also provided the lead vocals, for the title track. However, when he left the band, later that year, a version of "Dedication" featuring vocals by Les McKeown was included, on subsequent pressings of the LP and was also released as a single.

The album was noted for being released in the United Kingdom whilst omitting "I Only Want to Be with You" which was the bands current successful single internationally.^[1] Instead, it did feature "Money Honey" which served as the albums lead single in the United Kingdom, whilst it had previously been featured on the North American only release Rock n' Roll Love Letter (1976).^[1]

Release

The album was supported by a total of seven singles – five released internationally, whilst two was released exclusively in North America. "Yesterday's Hero", "Dedication", "Money Honey", "Rock and Roll Love Letter" and a cover of "Don't Worry Baby" by The Beach Boys were released as international single releases, whilst their cover of "I Only Want to Be with You" was released exclusively in the United States from the album.^[1] Elsewhere, "I Only Want to Be with You" was released as a non-album single. Upon its release, Dedication peaked at number four on the national albums charts in the United Kingdom, but sales were lower than expected in the territory, selling fewer than 100,000 copies.^[1] The album fared better in the United States where it peaked at number twenty-six on the US Billboard 200 albums charts, selling in excess of 500,000 copies.^[1] The release of the album is considered by Simon Spence and the beginning of a commercial decline for the band.^[1]

To promote the release of the album, the Bay City Rollers embarked on a worldwide tour which grossed $2 million which included sales from merchandise.^[1] The album was subsequently certified Silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) and Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).^[2][3]

Track listing

UK edition

1. "Let's Pretend" (Eric Carmen)
2. "You're a Woman" (Eric Faulkner, Stuart Wood)
3. "Rock 'N Roller" (Faulkner, Wood)
4. "Don't Worry Baby" (Brian Wilson, Roger Christian)
5. "Yesterday's Hero" (Harry Vanda, George Young)
6. "My Lisa" (Tony Sciuto, Sammy Egorin)
7. "Money Honey" (Faulkner, Wood)
8. "Rock 'N Roll Love Letter" (Tim Moore)
9. "Write a Letter" (Wood, Les McKeown, Ian Mitchell)
10. "Dedication" (Guy Fletcher, Doug Flett)

US edition

1. "Let's Pretend" (Carmen) – 3:31
2. "You're a Woman" (Faulkner, Wood) – 4:15
3. "Rock 'N Roller" (Faulkner, Wood) – 3:30
4. "I Only Want To Be With You (Hawker & Raymond) – 3:27
5. "Yesterday's Hero" (Vanda, Young) – 4:33
6. "My Lisa" (Scutio, Egorin) – 3:35
7. "Don't Worry Baby" (Wilson, Christian) – 3:03
8. "Are You Cuckoo?" (Russ Ballard) – 4:05
9. "Write a Letter" (Wood, McKeown, Mitchell) – 3:47
10. "Dedication" (Fletcher, Flett) – 3:54

Personnel

• Les McKeown – lead and backing vocals
• Eric Faulkner – lead guitar, backing vocals; co-lead vocals on "Rock 'N Roller"
• Ian Mitchell – rhythm guitar, backing vocals; lead vocals on "Dedication"
• Stuart "Woody" Wood – bass, backing vocals; co-lead vocals on "Rock 'N Roller"
• Derek Longmuir – drums, percussion, backing vocals

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (1976) Peak position Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[4] 3 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[5] 21 Canadian Albums (RPM)[6] 5 Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[7] 3 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[8] 5 Japanese Albums (Oricon)[9] 1 New Zealand Albums (RIANZ)[10] 6 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[11] 38 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[12] 5 UK Albums (OCC)[13] 4 US Billboard 200[14] 26 Zimbabwean Albums (ZIMA)[15] 13

Year-end charts Chart (1977) Position German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[16] 9

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[17]	Silver	60,000^
United States (RIAA)[18]	Gold	500,000^
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.