I wondered why they buried the single,
then I realized that “She Drives Me Crazy”
is not on this album. Instead, we’ve got
a collection of debut tunes from this
Fine Young band of Cannibals, wildly
unique in their era, making a kind of soul music
featuring one of the most distinctive singers of the
day, an upbeat, funky thing, the big reverb
and the gigantic drum sound as really
the only 80’s tell, and an inventive and dance
crazy cover of Presley’s “Suspicious Minds,”
otherwise, there’s not a thing I recognize
here except “Johnny Come Home,” and that
only vaguely, but I am digging it. These brilliant
Brits only made two albums and then they
were done. A little digging around reveals
that there’s a 40 year retrospective of
the band’s short career on vinyl and CD
in 2025, so who knows, maybe they will
grace us with another set of tunes, or at
least, a few shows, if that kind of thing
floats your boat. Part of me thinks that
80’s bands that reunite and start touring
in their sixties and seventies are a little
cringe, and then I remember that, while
I was never famous, I’m at the beginning
of that same window, and there’s nothing
that I would like better than to be playing
gigs again with the band I formed in 1986.
Why not, I ask you. Why not?
Notes on the vinyl edition: Fine Young Cannibals, I.R.S. Records, 1985, bought used black vinyl for $1. It’s in great condition.
In case you don’t already know: I’m listening to almost everything in my vinyl collection, A to Z, and writing at least one, sometimes two or three long skinny poem-like-things in response for each artist, and on a few occasions, writing a long skinny poem-like-thing in response to more than one artist. As a poet and a student of poetry, I understand that these things look like poems, but they don’t really sound much like poetry, hence, I call them “poem-like-things.” I’ll admit that they’re just long, skinny essays that veer every now and then into the poetic or lyric.
michael jarmer 