I've been thinking a lot lately about this album, The Blow Monkeys' Animal Magic, and how HUGE this was to me at the time (1986). This album stayed with me for many years and I'm pretty sure that if I dragged out the ol' record player & put it on today I'd still dig it. In retrospect, I think this album had a lot of influence over my musical taste. If I had to pick one word to describe The Blow Monkeys' sound it would be "suave". Dr. Robert had the most elegant voice (and at the time, look too). Their sound was sophisticated, yet fun, and lyrically really smart. They were a new wave band but had a wonderful blend of pop, soul, glam/Bowie, and jazz-elements going on."Digging Your Scene" is certainly on the soundtrack of my life (It's still on my mp3 player today!).
Equal to Animal Magic, I had a cassette EP of "Forbidden Fruit" that was perhaps even more brilliant: there were 2 songs in particular that I thought were absolutely beautiful: "My America" and "Wild Flower". The Forbidden Fruit EP also had a wild long mix of "Sweet Murder" feat. Eek-A-Mouse. Maybe when I'm done typing this I'll go down to the basement & see if I can find it again!
Admittedly I couldn't really get "into" their subsequent stuff, although now I'd probably be willing to give it more of a chance. I'm fairly certain I'll have a new appreciation for it now.
Oh and footnote: apparently The Blow Monkeys have re-formed and are touring again.
Update: I dug out "She Was Only A Grocer's Daughter" (1987)and tried to give it a 2nd chance but nah, what a mess! Apart from 1 track("Beautiful Child") it's complete rubbish. Such a disappoinment when their early stuff was so, so good.
ReplyDeleteThe Blow Monkeys (more specifically, the song "Diggin' Your Scene") immediately takes me back to eighth grade. I always thought it was such a classy, debonair track. I liked this song for much the same reason that I liked ABC...very smooth, slick pop songs. I recall always seeing The Blow Monkeys in just about every issue of Smash Hits during 1986. :)
ReplyDeleteYes! Absolutely in the same category as ABC. I guess I'm rather dim-witted because I didn't realize at the time that "Digging Your Scene" was a song about HIV/AIDS. o_O And yes, I recall many dishy pin-ups from Smash Hits. :) Dr Robert used to be my idea of a perfectly attractive man: so handsome, so elegant & well dressed. (Much like Martin Fry was in his time too, a real "leading man" type.) Have you seen Dr Robert recently? You could mistake him for Robbie Coltrane ("Cracker")!!! He's fat now and neither looks nor sounds (sadly) like he used to. He can still sing well, but his voice has really changed. :(
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