Rocktrospectiva: The Clever And Catchy "Animal Magic" Turns 40

Released on 7 April 1986 "Animal Magic" was the 2nd., studio album from the British band The Blow Monkeys. It gave the group their commercial breakthrough after their debut album, Limping for a Generation, ironically the album had won critical acclaim but had only sold modestly. The album spawned four singles "Forbidden Fruit", the hit "Digging Your Scene", "Wicked Ways", & "Don't Be Scared Of Me". 

The Blow Monkeys were another British band that decided to incorporated R&B influences into its pop/rock sound, the band was led by Bruce Robert Howard, aka Dr. Robert, and managed to scored a Top 20 single in the U.S. with the engaging and catchy "Digging Your Scene," which featured nasal lead vocals and a swirling mixture of keyboards, guitar, and female background cooing. The Blow Monkeys possessed a quirkiness that set them apart from other bands of their style, and maybe this was the reason why the had limited further success in the  USA althought the band achieved another minor hit with "I Doesn't Have To Be This Way" included in the Police Academy 4 soundtrack. 

The band's 1986 album Animal Magic had other interesting tracks like the catchy "Wicked Ways" and the upbeat "Don't Be Scared of Me." Though the band overreaches a bit with the ballad "Heaven Is a Place I'm Moving To" and the title track's silly attempt at exotica, most of Animal Magic was indeed truly pleasant and intelligent enough to make it a better-than-usual release from a 1980s one-hit wonder.

The album displayed an intelligent collection of slick, soul-influenced, mid-tempo tunes. A couple of ballads offered some diversity: one of them, "I Backed a Winner (in You)", which was heartfelt track, mostly a cappella, with lead singer Dr. Robert, softly playing acoustic guitar while giving the lyrics its perceptive rhythm, where his vocals, and especially those of an aptly named ensemble, The Demon Barbers, acting as a sort of doo wop choir. Amongst the album's many gems is also a duet with Jamaican toaster Eek-A-Mouse on the duet "Sweet Murder".

The Sales of Animal Magic were boosted by the hit single "Digging Your Scene", which charted in the UK (peaking at No. 12), the rest of Europe and the US. The album's first single, the ballad "Forbidden Fruit", had been released almost a year before the LP. After "Digging Your Scene", two more singles were taken from the album, both of which, though catchy and cleverly built, but didn't replicate the same level of commercial success: "Wicked Ways" reached No.60 in Great Britain, and "Don't Be Scared of Me" charted at No.77 in UK.

 

Animal Magic Track List:

 

1. Digging Your Scene

2. Animal Magic

3. Wicked Ways

4. Sweet Murder

5. Aeroplane City Lovesong

6. Walking The Blue Beat

7. I Nearly Died Laughing

8. Don't Be Scared Of Me

9. Burn The Rich

10. I Backed A Winner (In You)

11. Forbidden Fruit

12. Heaven Is A Place I'm Moving To