When in Rome (When in Rome album)
album by When in Rome
When in Rome is the debut album of English synth-pop group When in Rome, released in 1988 by 10 Records in the UK and Virgin Records internationally. It is the only studio album by the original lineup to date. The album includes the song "The Promise", which was the group's biggest hit.
The album peaked at No. 84 on the Billboard 200.
Background
In a 1988 interview with the Evening Times, keyboardist Michael Floreale spoke of the album, "Ben Rogan was great to work with - his ideas on the backing tracks were quite complementary to our own. The songs are the best from our first couple of years, so whenever the album comes out they should still stand up as songs. We just want to be able to sell enough copies of our first album to be offered the chance to do another one."
Critical reception
On its release, Curt Anderson of the Daily Union considered When in Rome to "sound like a lot of today's pop music: synthesizer-based, danceable and rather empty-headed". They added, "The two singers harmonize perfectly, singing lead vocals together on nearly every tune. The music is generally bright and perky, sort of what the Pet Shop Boys probably sound like when they've had too much coffee.
“When in Rome (When in Rome album)” enters the record as album by When in Rome. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what When, Rome and album can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“When in Rome (When in Rome album)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, When, Rome and album provides the most credible route into that argument.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7992943. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1988.
Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “When in Rome (When in Rome album)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow When in Rome (When in Rome album) primary sources, When in Rome (When in Rome album) archive and When research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “When in Rome (When in Rome album)”?
- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
- How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “When in Rome (When in Rome album)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.