"Oceans of Fantasy" is the fourth studio album by Euro-Caribbean group Boney M., released in September 1979. The album became the second Boney M. record to reach the top of the UK charts, featuring hits such as "El Lute / Gotta Go Home" and "I'm Born Again / Bahama Mama."
The album was preceded in the spring of 1979 by the single "Hooray! Hooray! It's a Holi-Holiday," based on the American folksong "Polly Wolly Doodle," which became one of the band's biggest hits. While this single was not included on Oceans of Fantasy, its B-side, "Ribbons of Blue," was featured in a heavily edited form. The original length of that track is 4:02, and songs like "Gotta Go Home" and "Bahama Mama" were also longer on the 7" singles than on the album.
As with their previous album, Nightflight to Venus, the original Hansa Records pressings included various edits of certain tracks. The 1994 CD version used the same master as the East German version of the album, while the fourth pressing has a longer version of "Ribbons of Blue" at 2:01 minutes, unlike the common West German pressings with different edits. The 2007 reissue added two bonus tracks to the album.
Some pressings featured the wrong running order on the cover and labels, incorrectly listing "El Lute" as the opening track on side two, followed by "No More Chain Gang" and "Oceans of Fantasy," similar to only the first pressing. The first pressing also had "Let It All Be Music" segue into "Gotta Go Home," while later pressings featured the songs separately.
Oceans of Fantasy includes a guest appearance by Precious Wilson, the lead singer of Eruption, on "Let It All Be Music" and features a cover of Sam & Dave's "Hold On I'm Coming," which was also issued as Wilson's first solo single. The Argentinian pressing omitted "El Lute" in favor of "Hooray! Hooray! It's a Holi-Holiday."
This album was unique in that it featured a full track-by-track vocal credits list, confirming that only Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett actually sang on the records. Producer Frank Farian provided the deep male vocals as well as high falsetto parts, even duetting with himself on "Bye Bye Bluebird." Maizie Williams and Bobby Farrell did not participate in the studio sessions, though they performed vocals at live concerts.
The song "No More Chain Gang" was later covered by Turkish singer Tarkan as "Çok Ararsın Beni" ("You Call Me Too Much") on his debut album Yine Sensiz ("Without You Again") in 1992.
