Released on 9 December 1985 "Fine Young Cannibals" was the debut album by the English rock band Fine Young Cannibals, the album featured the singles "Johnny Come Home", "Blue" & "Suspicios Mind".
The self-titled album from Fine Young Cannibals was one of those debut albums with so much promise, it also had the misfortune of living in the shadow of their second album The Raw & The Cooked, which brought them global fame.
Nevertheless, the band came about under not-so-great circumstances. Back in 1983, bassist David Steele and guitarist Andy Cox of the English Beat discovered through a phone call from the band's accountant that their two lead singers, Dave Wakeling and Ranking Roger, had left the popular band to form a new group, General Public. Instead of trying to resurrect the English Beat, Steele and Cox came up with the idea to form their own band.
Frustrated after not finding what they were looking for in a frontman until they remembered the guy from a ska band from Hull called Akrylykz that supported the English Beat on their British tour. Even though he was the sax player who occasionally sang vocals, there was something about him that stuck with them. They found Roland Gift performing with an R&B/Soul group called Bones and he was singing lead and had that something extra that they needed, so Steele and Cox brought him on board. They came up with the name Fine Young Cannibals from a 1960 film called All The Fine Young Cannibals, starring Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood.
Initially, Fine Young Cannibals had trouble getting signed to a record deal, but a TV appearance changed all of that. The band was filmed performing "Johnny Come Home" on a show called The Tune, a Friday night program that showcased unknown bands.
Thanks to appealing voice of Gift's with certain elements of Redding, the hit single "Johnny Come Home" was practically the sound of the English Beat but without sounding like one of their albums, except for their common thread with their attacks on Thatcherism, like you can noticed in "Blue" which was backed by some ‘60s soul and a killer vocal by Gift. Another highlight from the record was the ballad "Funny How Love Is" to chilled the listener, and then of course the incredible "Suspicious Mind" featuring backing vocals from Jimmy Sommerville (Bronski Beat, The Communards). Written and originally recorded by Mark James but later made famous by Elvis Presley, now this version was absolute perfection and Gift and Sommerville's contrasting voices mix so well that it is my preferred version of the song.
Critics were mixed praising a variety of emotional shades, others highlighted Gift's casual authority as a vocalist and said that the lyrics strike a fine balance, noting the subtle and not so subtle toll politics and economics take on relationships. Definitely a powerful and satisfying debut which unfortunately has been overlooked by the massive succeed of their following album.
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