Bananarama’s 1986 hit More Than Physical has been given a makeover by DJ Luke Mornay, breathing new life into the classic tune.
The remix comes as part of an anniversary edition of the band’s True Confessions album, celebrating its 40th anniversary. The album, the third of the band’s career, catapulted them to new levels of fame and heralded the beginning of their most successful hit-making era.
For most of the album, the trio worked with producers Steve Jolley and Tony Swain, who had also collaborated on earlier records that yielded hits including Shy Boy, Cruel Summer, Robert De Niro’s Waiting and Rough Justice.
They also branched out by recording two tracks with then up-and-coming production trio Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman. Bananarama had been impressed by the success of Dead or Alive’s number-one hit You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) and asked the producers to create a hi-NRG version of Venus, originally recorded by Dutch band Shocking Blue.
The second song produced by the SAW team was More Than Physical. It appeared on the album, and a remixed version served as the album’s third single in July 1986.
Now, 40 years later, the song has undergone another transformation. Luke Mornay explained his approach to the project in an Instagram post.
“I grew up with Bananarama’s music, so being invited to remix More Than Physical felt genuinely surreal. Thirty five years after cutting my teeth at PWL, I found myself revisiting my very first Stock Aitken Waterman production.”
Mornay said he felt the tune “deserved a little more of the spotlight”, and describes his mix as “a conversation between 1986 and 2026”, infusing the original’s Jam & Lewis-leaning sound “with a touch of Earth, Wind & Fire”.
“After listening to these records for most of my life, I knew how Sara, Keren and Siobhan’s voices were meant to feel,” he added. “Working from the original tapes, rebuilding that feeling became just as important to me as building the remix itself.
““Their performance remains the heart of everything, and my job was simply to build a new world around it.
“You don’t remix a classic to change it. You remix it because great songs deserve another chapter.”
The upcoming reissue of the album will include B-sides, previously unreleased recordings, classic remixes and new versions of the band’s biggest hits.
True Confessions will be released on 28 August 2026 via London Records.
