Fine Young Cannibals - Fine Young Cannibals (1985) - €10,00

Fine Young Cannibals were a British rock band formed in Birmingham, England, in 1984, by bassist David Steele, guitarist Andy Cox (both formerly of The Beat), and singer Roland Gift (formerly of the Akrylykz).

Fine Young Cannibals is their debut album released in 1985. The album features the UK #8 debut hit single "Johnny Come Home". This success did not continue with the next single, "Blue", which languished at #41 in the UK. 

When Dave Wakeling and Ranking Roger split from the rest of the English Beat to form General Public, guitarist Andy Cox and bassist Dave Steele originally advertised on MTV for a new lead singer for the Beat. 

When that didn't pan out, Cox and Steele hooked up with the unique vocalist Roland Gift and the trio formed the Fine Young Cannibals, issuing their self-titled debut album in 1985. Along the lines of early Everything But the Girl (the two groups share a producer, Robin Millar) with a heavier Motown influence, the songs on Fine Young Cannibals are uniformly strong. 

The singles "Johnny Come Home" (a plea to a runaway that sounds like the Beat's ska stripped down to its tense and obsessive essentials) and "Blue" (one of the more oblique and successful anti-Margaret Thatcher tracks of its era) are terrific, but album tracks like the casually devastating "Funny How Love Is" and the manic "Like a Stranger" (which incongruously ends with a female chorus shrieking "You've been too long in an institution!" repeatedly while Gift tries out his Otis Redding impression) are even better. 

The album's highlight, though, is a reworking of "Suspicious Minds" (with backing vocals by Jimmy Somerville) that, while it doesn't replace Elvis' version, certainly takes the song into an interesting new direction. Although often overlooked in the wake of their massively successful follow-up, The Raw and the Cooked, Fine Young Cannibals is a powerful and satisfying debut. 

The album's cover art came in two variations. The original U.S and Canadian releases on I.R.S. Records had a blue-tinted cover; most other versions, such as the U.K. release on London Records, have artwork tinted in red. 

Side A
A1.  Johnny Come Home  (3:35)  
A2.  Couldn't Care More  (3:30)  
A3.  Don't Ask Me To Choose  (3:05)  
A4.  Funny How Love Is  (3:28)  
A5.  Suspicious Minds (3:56) 

Side B
B1.  Blue  (3:31)  
B2.  Move To Work  (3:26)  
B3.  On A Promise  (3:06)  
B4.  Time Isn't Kind  (3:12)  
B5.  Like A Stranger  (3:28)

Notes

Release: 1985

Format:  LP

Genre: Blue-Eyed Soul

Label:  London Records

Catalog#  828004-1

Vinyl:  VG

Cover:  VG  

  

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