Where Love Lives

"Where Love Lives (Come On In)" is a 1990 song by British singer Alison Limerick. It was her first solo-debut and a huge club hit in the early 1990s in both the United Kingdom and United States. In 1991, the single peaked at number 27 in the UK and number 3 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart in the US. It was also voted Dance Track of 1991 by Billboard.[1] In 1996, the song was released in a new remix by Dancing Divaz and peaked at number 9 in the UK and number 4 on the dance chart in the US. The track is famous for the funked-up piano intro and remains Limerick's most successful release. It is widely regarded as one of the biggest club anthems, and has been remixed and re-released several times.

"Where Love Lives"
1991 European reissue
Single by Alison Limerick
from the album And Still I Rise
Released
  • 1990
  • 1991 re-release
  • 1996 Dancing Divas remix
Recorded1990
Genre
Length3:26
LabelArista
Songwriter(s)Lati Kronlund
Producer(s)Lati Kronlund, Dancing Divas
Alison Limerick singles chronology
"Where Love Lives"
(1990)		 "Make It On My Own"
(1992)
Music video
"Where Love Lives" on YouTube
1996 Cover
1996 European reissue
2003 Cover

Background and release

Alison Limerick began her career as a dancer, before shifting her focus onto singing. She performed in the musical Labelled with Love and as a backing vocalist in the mid-80s after attending the London Contemporary School of Dance. Her first major gig was backing vocals on Style Council's Shout to the Top! in 1984. She appeared in musicals including Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Starlight Express and Simon Callow’s The Pajama Game. And in 1989 she made a brief appearance as an African sorceress in Bob Rafelson's film Mountains of the Moon.

"There was one point a few years ago where I was upset about it; upset that it would define me regardless of whatever else I did. But ‘Where Love Lives’ turned me into a focused artist after years spent as a jobbing singer, dancer and actress. And when I see people reacting to it that’s always genuinely amazing. More so now, when those people are not just of the older club generations but the new ones too…the twenty-somethings. When you’re live they are always new ways to sing a classic song like that and keep it fresh."

—Alison Limerick talking to Glitterbox about the song.[2]

Swedish producer and songwriter Lati Kronlund (Lars E.C. Kronlund) picked Limerick to record "Where Love Lives", after seeing her singing at a show at the ICA in London. She performed Billie Holiday’s 1941 song, "God Bless The Child" and Kronlund was in the audience. He told her that "Where Love Lives" was her song to sing because it required someone with a big two-octave range.[3] The track is written/produced by Lati Kronlund and mixed by David Morales and Frankie Knuckles. About recording the song, she told in an 1992 interview with Billboard magazine, "I just went in and sang the song with absolutely no expectations of where it might lead. In fact, I had almost forgotten about the track when I got a call saying [Arista] wanted to sign me up."[4]

The 1990 single was named just as "Where Love Lives", but when re-released in 1991 it got named "Where Love Lives (Come On In)". It is the first single from her debut album And Still I Rise, which was released in March 1992. That year Limerick also won the Best Female Artist Award at 1992’s DMC Awards.[5]

In 1996 Arista released the Alison Limerick Club Classics, a remix album. From this release, "Where Love Lives" again topped the dance charts with "Make It On My Own" following. For the first time "Where Love Lives" was released in America and it reached number 4 in the Billboard Hot Dance 100 Chart. In 2003, "Where Love Lives" appeared on the charts yet again thanks to new remixes, reaching #16 on the Billboard dance charts and #44 on the UK pop chart.

In 2016, Alison Limerick joined music collective Brooklyn Funk Essentials as lead singer and together they released a new version of "Where Love Lives" via Dorado Records in 2018.[6] Lati Kronlund, who co-started the collective commented on the re-recording of "Where Love Lives", "It's a funky version, played all live in the studio by the band, it is almost a live tribute to the Frankie Knuckles and Dave Morales remix of the song from the early nineties, but also to the Philly disco and Chicago house sound that was the song’s original inspiration."

Critical reception

Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet called the song "eminent".[7] David Taylor-Wilson from Bay Area Reporter commented, "What a great song. The vocals are fierce and that piano accompaniment digs right into you."[8] Larry Flick from Billboard said it is "brilliant".[9] Marisa Fox from Entertainment Weekly described it as a "energetic, fast-paced" track with "light, catchy" chorus. She added that "gone are the days when house music meant stone-cold rhythms and hardly any melody."[10] James Hamilton from Music Week wrote, "Sinewy pulsing canterer reissued in the Knuckles & Morales mixes that have been filling floors for five months."[11]

Chart performance

Upon its first release in 1990, "Where Loves Lives" failed to make an impact in the UK Singles Chart when it peaked at number 87. However, after becoming a successful club hit, a re-release some months later in 1991 ensured the song entered the UK Top 30 when it peaked at number 27. Another release in 1996, remixed by Dancing Divas, was even more successful when it peaked at number 9 on the UK Singles Chart becoming Limerick's highest charting hit. Another remix in 2003 peaked at number 44.

The song was also a dance/club hit in the United States, peaking at number 3 on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play in 1991. In 1996, a new remix peaked at number 4 and in 2003 another remix peaked on number 16 on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play chart.

Music video

A music video was made for "Where Love Lives", directed by James Hyman. The 1996 video version used the same video as the original, but was edited in a different way to accompany the remix.

The music video features Limerick performing with dancers moving both in front of and behind a bright backdrop, making shadow-dancing silhouettes. Sometimes they are also seen dancing in front of mirrors. Sometimes she's dressed in a purple suit with a purple caps. Other times she wears a glittery metal dress.

Impact and legacy

Mixmag ranked the song number one in its 100 Greatest Dance Singles Of All Time list in 1996, adding:

Where Love Lives (Come On in) is the greatest dance record of all time because it's got everything. It swings, it makes girls pout, boys preen and hearts sing. There's a touch of sadness about it but it's incredibly uplifting, reaching a bittersweet joy that only the most spiritual of house achieves. Ms Limerick - whose subsequent career never lived up to this - sings with a throaty, controlled abandon, hitting the high notes while arms hit the ceiling. Even the lyrics are cool: strong woman sends out her love but gives her lover a bit of a slagging while she's about it.[12]

DJ Magazine ranked it number 9 in their list of Top 100 Club Tunes in 1998.[13]

In BBC Radio’s 2008 listeners & DJs poll The Greatest Ever Dance Record, "Where Love Lives" came in at #5 after Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean", James Brown's "Sex Machine", Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" and Derrick May's "Strings of Life".[14]

DJ Mag included "Where Love Lives" in their list of the Top 100 Most Important House Tracks in 2011.

MTV Dance placed "Where Love Lives" at #58 in their list of The 100 Biggest 90's Dance Anthems Of All Time in November 2011.[15]

After the passing of Frankie Knuckles in 2014, Barry Walters of NPR music wrote:

If I had to sum up Knuckles' tender, supple sound with one song, it would the 1991 mix he and his pupil Morales did for Alison Limerick's "Where Love Lives." It starts with the kind of piano that makes real club people dance, and continues for several bars without a single drum beat. Then the rhythm machines enter, ensuring that every DJ capable of matching beats could smoothly mix in from the next record if they didn't dare to start with the bare piano. As the track progresses, the sound ebbs and flows as if it had been orchestrated with real instruments, as if disco hadn't died at all. "I'll take you down, deep down where love lives," Limerick growls in a way that doesn't leave any place for doubt. That's where Knuckles' spirit resides, in that place where love lives, a place designed to live on as long as hips feel that impulse to sway."[16]

Time Out`s 2015 list of The 20 Best House Tracks Ever included "Where Love Lives" as #14, adding:

One of the finest example of how dance music could do more than just borrow hooks and melodies from pop, 'Where Love Lives' went one step further. UK singer Alison Limerick's rich vocal lines are layered over upfront house beats, creating the perfect crossover record, aimed right at the mainstream, but still retaining the dance music credentials of all involved."[17]

Irish DJ Dean Sherry put the song at number 3 in his list of All-time favourite 10 old skool dancefloor bangers in 2019.[18]

Accolades
Year Publisher Country Accolade Rank
1991 Billboard United States "Dance Track of 1991"[19] 1
1991 The Face United Kingdom "The Face Recordings Of The Year: Singles" 7
1996 Mixmag United Kingdom "The 100 Best Dance Singles of All Time" 1
1998 DJ Magazine United Kingdom "Top 100 Club Tunes" 9
1999 HX United States "The New York DJs Best Dance Song of the 90s" 1
2006 BBC Radio United Kingdom "The Greatest Ever Dance Record"-poll by BBC Radio’s 2008 listeners & DJs 5
2011 DJ Mag United Kingdom "Top 100 Most Important House Tracks" *
2011 MTV Dance United Kingdom "The 100 Biggest 90's Dance Anthems of All Time"[20] 58
2015 Time Out United Kingdom "The 20 Best House Tracks Ever" 14
2015 Robert Dimery United States "1,001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die, and 10,001 You Must Download (2015 Update)"[21] 1002
2019 Mixmag United Kingdom "15 of the best classic house tracks about love"[22] *
2019 Mixmag United Kingdom "The 20 best diva house tracks"[23] *

(*) indicates the list is unordered.

Track listing
UK CD single (1990)
No.TitleLength
1."Where Love Lives" (7")3:44
2."Where Love Lives" (Classic Mix)7:01
3."Where Love Lives" (Red Zone Edit)4:04
4."Where Love Lives" (Cut To The Bone)5:07
UK Vinyl single, 12" (1990)
No.TitleLength
1."Where Love Lives" (The Definitive Mix) 
2."Where Love Lives" (Classic Mix) 
3."Where Love Lives" (Cut To The Bone) 
UK Vinyl single, 7" (1990)
No.TitleLength
1."Where Love Lives" (7") 
2."Where Love Lives" (Zone) 
UK & Europe CD single (1991)
No.TitleLength
1."Where Love Lives (Come On In)" (Radio Edit)3:49
2."Where Love Lives (Come On In)" (Classic Mix)6:55
3."Where Love Lives (Come On In)" (Red Zone Mix)5:33
UK Vinyl single, 12" (1991)
No.TitleLength
1."Where Love Lives (Come On In)" (Classic Mix)5:05
2."Where Love Lives (Come On In)" (Red Zone Mix)6:52
3."Where Love Lives (Come On In)" (Cut To The Bone)5:33

Charts

Weekly charts
Chart (1990) Peak
position
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[24] 87
Chart (1991) Peak
position
Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)[25] 49
Luxembourg (Radio Luxembourg)[26] 19
UK Singles (Official Charts Company) 27
UK Music Week Dance Singles[27] 2
US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play[28] 3
Chart (1996) Peak
position
Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)[29] 20
Scotland (Official Charts Company) 21
UK Singles (Official Charts Company) 9
UK Dance (Official Charts Company)[30] 1
US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play[31] 4
Chart (2003) Peak
position
Scotland (Official Charts Company) 49
UK Singles (Official Charts Company) 44
US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play[32] 16

Personnel
  • Producer – Lati Kronlund
  • Mix – Frankie Knuckles, David Morales
  • Engineer – John Poppo
  • Keyboards – Eric Kupper, Peter Schwartz

Cover versions, samples and remixes

MDA sampled the song in the track "Take an E (United E Nation Mix)" in 1991.

1st Prodject sampled it in 1992, in the track "Right Before (Remix)".

DJ Red Alert & Mike Slammer sampled it in the 1993 track "In Effect (The Remix)".

British singer Danny Litchfield covered "Where Love Lives" on his 2010 album Soul.[33]

K & K sampled "Where Love Lives" in the track "Peaceful Crowd" in 2016.

Covered by Pete Tong and The Heritage Orchestra conducted by Jules Buckley in 2016.[34]

References
  1. "DJ Directory: Alison Limerick" (PDF). Record Mirror. 1992-02-15. p. 5. Retrieved 2020-10-01.
  2. "The Glitterbox Interview: Alison Limerick". defected.com. Retrieved 2016-12-25.
  3. "The Glitterbox Interview: Alison Limerick". defected.com. Retrieved 2016-12-25.
  4. Flick, Larry (1992-03-21). "Dance Trax: There Was A British Singer Named Limerick..." (PDF). Billboard. p. 35. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
  5. "Alison Limerick Biography". mn2s.com. Retrieved 2017-02-19.
  6. "Listen to "Where Love Lives" by Brooklyn Funk Essentials and Alison Limerick". withguitars.com. Retrieved 2019-12-18.
  7. Aftonbladet. 1991-08-05.
  8. Taylor-Wilson, David (1991-08-15). "The Beat". Bay Area Reporter. p. 39. Retrieved 2020-04-23.
  9. Flick, Larry (1991-10-26). "Dance Trax: 'Dawn' Of The Orb; The 'Killer' In Griffin; Watley's 'Affairs'; Disco's Return (Again)" (PDF). Billboard. p. 29. Retrieved 2020-10-11.
  10. Fox, Marisa (1991-04-26). "Dance Now!!". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2020-11-11.
  11. "Dance: Pick of the Week" (PDF). Music Week. 1991-03-23. p. 14. Retrieved 2020-10-03.
  12. "The 100 Greatest Dance Singles of All Time". Mixmag. 1996. Retrieved 2020-10-10.
  13. "DJ Magazine Top 100 Club Tunes (1998)". discogs.com. Retrieved 2017-03-04.
  14. "Billie Jean voted top dance song". news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2017-03-03.
  15. MTV Dance Tuesday 27.12.2011
  16. "Where Love Lives: Frankie Knuckles And The Dance Floor". npr.org. Retrieved 2016-12-25.
  17. "20 best house tracks ever". timeout.com. Retrieved 2017-03-03.
  18. "Old skool classics: DJ Dean Sherry picks his all-time top 10 dancefloor anthems". Buzz.ie. Retrieved 2019-12-18.
  19. "DJ Directory: Alison Limerick" (PDF). Record Mirror. 1992-02-15. p. 5. Retrieved 2020-10-01.
  20. MTV Dance Tuesday 27 December 2011
  21. "Alison Limerick - Where Love Lives". Acclaimedmusic. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
  22. "15 of the best classic house tracks about love". Mixmag. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  23. "The 20 best diva house tracks". Mixmag. Retrieved 16 September 2019.
  24. "Alison Limerick - UK Chart". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  25. "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. 27 April 1991. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  26. Radio Luxembourg Singles, 5 May 1991
  27. "Top 60 Dance Singles" (PDF). Music Week. 6 April 1991. p. 20. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  28. "Alison Limerick - US Dance Club Songs". billboard.com. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  29. "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. 13 July 1996. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  30. "Official UK Dance Singles Chart (30 June 1996-06 July 1996)". officialcharts.com. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  31. "Alison Limerick - US Dance Club Songs". billboard.com. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  32. "Alison Limerick - US Dance Club Songs". billboard.com. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  33. "Danny Litchfield - Where Love Lives - Alison Limerick cover". youtube.com. Retrieved 2017-03-12.
  34. "Original versions of Where Love Lives by Pete Tong with The Heritage Orchestra conducted by Jules Buckley | SecondHandSongs". secondhandsongs.com. Retrieved 2020-11-22.
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