SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: FINE YOUNG CANNIBALS – FYC40

FINE YOUNG CANNIBALS
FYC40
LONDON RECORDS

It seems unusual for a band that was only active for a few years to get a deluxe 40th-anniversary treatment, but Fine Young Cannibals is a band with a long and storied history that reads like a who’s who of the late ‘70s/early ‘80s English ska revival. After the 1984 breakup of The Beat, known as The English Beat in North America, Guitarist Andy Cox and Bassist David Steele spun off into Fine Young Cannibals with lead singer Roland Gift, formerly of the ska band Akrylykz.

The group’s breakout album was 1989’s The Raw & The Cooked, from which this compilation album draws heavily. Eight of the 18 tracks featured are taken from this album, including their two biggest international hits “She Drives Me Crazy” and “Good Thing,” bona fide classics that deserve a spot in any music fan’s collection.

There is a timeless quality to many of these songs that can be attributed to the fact that Fine Young Cannibals has musical roots in sources from the early 1960s. Even the band’s name was derived from an underseen 1960 romantic drama starring Natalie Wood.

These mid-century influences range from the band’s cover of the Elvis Presley classic “Suspicious Minds” to the song “Tell Me What,” which draws inspiration from The Drifters’ “Under the Boardwalk” with its use of layered vocal harmonies and güiro, a Latin American percussive instrument defined by its distinctive zipper-like sounds. These retro sounds combined with distinctly ‘80s synth flourishes gave Fine Young Cannibals a distinct sound that still resonates today. Also worth a listen is their take on “Love for Sale,” originally featured on the charity compilation album Red Hot + Blue: A Tribute to Cole Porter. It’s a tasteful interpretation of the jazz standard that features an understated sax solo.

Meanwhile, the second disc of remixes contains re-imaginings of their classic tracks that range from inventive and interesting such as the John Luongo Suspi-cious Minds remix which dials up the percussive elements to eleven and high-lights the sleigh bells and maracas, making for a fascinating remix, even if it is slightly too long at almost eight minutes, to more skippable content like The “DJ Q Remix of Ever Fallen in Love,” which removes all the melodic flair of their Buzzcocks cover.

While this compilation album certainly covers the absolute best of Fine Young Cannibals’ short career, it seems somewhat unnecessary given that the band has already released four best-of collections. FYC40 is worth a listen for any young music lover who is just discovering this classic band, and it may deserve a spot in the collection of a die-hard fan, but the average listener may as well stick with a copy of The Raw & The Cooked.

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