"Chance" is the third single by
Act, taken from the only Act album Laughter, Tears and Rage. The single was released by
ZTT Records in February 1988 but was quickly withdrawn. This may have something to do with the 12" mix containing an unauthorised sample of
ABBA's "
Take a Chance on Me". ZTT promptly released the band's fourth single "
I Can't Escape from You" a month later. The non-album B-side "Winner 88" includes in lyrics the lines "
The winner takes it all" and "
Money, money, money" – both big ABBA hits.
The album Laughter, Tears and Rage was reissued in 2004 as an expanded 3-CD box set, containing practically everything the group released plus a wealth of previously unreleased tracks or versions, but the 12" mix of "Chance" (titled "12/1 Chance") with ABBA samples isn't included. Instead, a completely new remix titled 'Throbbin' Mix' appears, along with the standard album and 7" mixes, and the alternate "(We Give You Another) Chance". "Winner 88" appears in two versions in the box set, 'Extended' (originally titled "Winner 88x") and the previously unreleased 'Instrumental'. The original 7" isn't included per se, although it is included in the 'Extended' version - the two versions are the same, except 'Extended' adds a lengthy instrumental coda.
Another new remix of "Chance" titled 'Full Whammy!' appeared on the 2015 Act compilation "Love & Hate - A Compact Introduction To Act" (which contains a 'Director's Cut' version of the Laughter, Tears and Rage album on disc 1), along with the original 7" version of "Winner 88".
