FINE YOUNG CANNIBALS   -   Fine Young Cannibals

YEAR:  1985
LABEL:  I.R.S.
TRACK LISTING:  Johnny Come Home,  Couldn't Care More,  Don't Ask Me To Choose,  Funny How Love Is,  Suspicious Minds,  Blue,  Move To Work,  On A Promise,  Time Isn't Kind,  Like a Stranger
BONUS TRACKS:  Johnny Come Home (Extended Mix),  Suspicious Mind (Extended Mix)
IMPRESSIONS:  This album means driving to college listening to this album on a battery-operated tape recorded sitting on the passenger seat of my 1975 copper Ford Granada.  It was the video I saw on late-night MTV that got me.  "Johnny Come Home":  the jazz-tinged minor-key single with the driving, heavy beat.  It was out to the Echelon Mall to pick up a copy of the LP on a swing-by during my commute to Glassboro State College.  Then it was the spectacular cover of Elvis Presley's "Suspicious Minds" that captured my heart.  And by the way, for some odd reason the cd release cover shown above recoloured the upper quadrant of the cover brown instead of its original blue found on the vinyl record cover.  The blue is superior.  After all, there's a song on the album (and it's second single) called "Blue"!  And for the record:  the band's second huge blockbuster album "THE RAW AND THE COOKED" left me cold.  No sir, I didn't like it.
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  Johnny Come Home,  Funny How Love Is,  Suspicious Minds,  Blue,  Move To Work,  Time Isn't Kind,  Johnny Come Home (Extended Mix),  Suspicious Minds (Extended Mix)
GUEST ARTISTS:  Jimmy Somerville  (backing vocals on "Suspicious Minds")
FACT SHEET:  FINE YOUNG CANNIBALS is Fine Young Cannibals' first album.  Dave Wakeling and Ranking Roger left the English Beat to form General Public so remaining members Andy Cox and Dave Steele advertised on MTV for a new lead singer.  What they got was soul singer/actor Roland Gift and Fine Young Cannibals was born. 

RED HOT + BLUE - Various Artists

YEAR: 1990

LABEL: Chrysalis

TRACK LISTING: I've Got You Under My Skin - Neneh Cherry, In the Still of the Night - The Neville Brothers, You Do Something To Me - Sinead O'Connor, Begin the Beguine - Salif Keita, Love For Sale - Fine Young Cannibals, Well Did You Evah! - Deborah Harry & Iggy Pop, Miss Otis Regrets/Just One of Those Things - The Pogues & Kirsty MacColl, Don't Fence Me In - David Byrne, It's All Right With Me - Tom Waits, Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye - Annie Lennox, Night and Day - U2, I Love Paris - Les Negresses Vertes, So In Love - k.d. lang, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? - Thompson Twins, Too Darn Hot - Erasure, I Get A Kick Out of You - The Jungle Brothers, Down In the Depths - Lisa Stansfield, From This Moment On - Jimmy Somerville, After You Who? - Jody Watley, Do I Love You? - Aztec Camera

IMPRESSIONS: This is one of the first compact discs of new material (that is, not replacing a vinyl or cassette copy) I ever bought after getting a cd player for Christmas of 1990. I bought it at the Sam Goody in the Cherry Hill Mall and first played it in the cd player in the back room of Ritz Camera where my friend Paul worked at the time. Up until this time, k.d. lang was known solely as a country artist and I'm absolutely convinced it was her spectacular performance on "So In Love" which led her to take the plunge and drop country in favour of a mainstream career -- that and the fact her country band was called "the reclines" (after Patsy Cline) and she had already cut an album of Patsy songs with Cline's producer Owen Bradley.

MY FAVOURITE TRACKS: In the Still of the Night - The Neville Brothers, Well Did You Evah! - Deborah Harry & Iggy Pop, Miss Otis Regrets/Just One of Those Things - The Pogues & Kirsty MacColl, Don't Fence Me In - David Byrne, So In Love - k.d. lang, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? - Thompson Twins, Too Darn Hot - Erasure, From This Moment On - Jimmy Somerville, After You Who? - Jody Watley

FACT SHEET: RED HOT + BLUE is the first AIDS benefit album in a series put out by the Red Hot Organization. All the songs are written by Cole Porter and performed by contemporary artists. The title of the album is from the Cole Porter musical of the same name. The album was produced by Steve Lillywhite and Afrika Bambaataa.