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Jimmy Somerville’s debut solo album Read My Lips has been re-issued by London Records in a variety of formats and featuring rarities and new remixes. Originally released in 1989, Read My Lips garnered Gold status, with three UK Top 30 hits and a Top 5 Hit for Jimmy’s version of Sylvester’s ‘You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)’. As frontman for Bronski Beat and later with The Communards, in five short years Jimmy had become internationally renowned to the tune of over five million album sales, his music recognised worldwide for its themes of celebration, protest and advocacy. By the end of the decade, Jimmy focus had turned full beam to the HIV crisis of the time. As writer and activist Paul Burston explains in his new sleeve notes for the album: “Five years have passed since ‘Smalltown Boy’. Jimmy has spent much of that time in New York, where he’s seen the devastation of AIDS first hand. He’s lost friends and lovers. In his own words, ‘Smalltown Boy’ was “much more subtle, emotional, a more considerate plea, whereas ‘Read My Lips’ was like, ‘This time the gloves are off’.” The title Read My Lips was a phrase adopted by NYC queer collective Gran Fury, an affiliate of ACT UP, a platform Jimmy was a committed member of. Members of ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) - a political group working to end the AIDs crisis - regularly risked arrest as they stormed office buildings, blocked traffic “united in anger” at the lack of understanding and support for AIDS sufferers. "Read My Lips isn’t merely a time capsule or an exercise in nostalgia. It’s both of its time and timeless. Listening to it again now, I’m struck not just by the memories it evokes but also by the myriad of emotions it stirs up in the listener – defiance, joy, sadness and, yes, anger. They’re all there in Jimmy’s voice – one of the most distinctive in the history of pop." - Paul Burston (from the liner notes)