When the German duo Modern Talking released their second studio album, Let's Talk About Love, on 14 October 1985, they were not easing into the spotlight. They were racing to hold onto it. The record arrived on Hansa Records only months after their debut had made them one of the most visible pop acts in West Germany, and the pressure was simple: prove the first hit was not an accident. Dieter Bohlen, who wrote all ten tracks, and Thomas Anders, who sang lead, had to deliver a follow-up that could match the momentum. The album's subtitle, 'The 2nd Album', made the stakes plain on the cover itself.
The single that carried the album
The sharpest proof came from a single that arrived before the album. 'Cheri, Cheri Lady' was released on 2 September 1985, and it became the record's only single. The song did not just perform well; it took over. It spent four weeks at the top of the German singles chart and also reached number one in Austria, Norway and Switzerland. That kind of reach meant the album was not riding on nostalgia or curiosity. It was riding on a song people in several countries could not stop playing.
Bohlen's role was unusually central. He wrote every one of the ten tracks, played guitar, arranged the material and produced the record alongside Luis Rodriguez. That concentration of control meant the album's sound was tightly unified: bright, fast, synth-driven eurodisco built for radio and dance floors. Anders carried the lead vocal with a clean, high register, while a four-man backing group filled out the choruses. The first side opened with 'Cheri, Cheri Lady' and moved through 'With a Little Love', 'Wild Wild Water', 'You're the Lady of My Heart' and 'Just Like an Angel'.
The second side kept the same formula: 'Heaven Will Know', 'Love Don't Live Here Anymore', 'Why Did You Do It Just Tonight', 'Don't Give Up' and the title track 'Let's Talk About Love'. None of these songs became a single, but they gave the album a consistent identity. This was not a collection of experiments. It was a statement about what Modern Talking did best: short, melodic eurodisco with a polished production sheen and a chorus built to be remembered after one listen.
Chart run and international reach
In Germany, the album climbed to second place and stayed there for four weeks. It spent 11 weeks in the top ten and 44 weeks on the chart overall, a long run that showed the public was not just sampling the record. The album also reached number one in Switzerland and placed high in several other countries. In the Soviet Union, the newspaper Moskovskij Komsomolets ranked it fourth on its 1987 chart, a sign of how far the duo's reach extended beyond Western Europe.
The commercial response backed up the chart positions. In Germany alone, the album earned a platinum certification for shipments of more than 500,000 copies. That figure mattered because it meant the record was not just a critical favourite; it was moving in serious volume. Released in West Germany on vinyl, cassette and CD, it was designed to be everywhere at once.
What made Let's Talk About Love work was not a radical reinvention. It was a sharper, faster version of what the duo had already done. Bohlen and Rodriguez kept the arrangements lean, the hooks direct and the tempo high. The album did not try to be anything other than eurodisco, and that focus paid off. By the time the record had finished its chart run, Modern Talking had shown that their first success was not a fluke. They had doubled down, and the audience had doubled down with them.
The album did not try to be anything other than eurodisco, and that focus paid off.