Marking 35 years since its original release in December 1985, the Fine Young Cannibals eponymous debut and their follow up album ‘The Raw And The Cooked’ are being re-issued by London Recordings on remastered vinyl alongside expanded 2CD and digital versions featuring rare and exclusive new material.
David Steele, Andy Cox and Roland Gift’s seminal debut ‘Fine Young Cannibals’ struck a chord with public and critics alike. A soulful and heartfelt critique on Conservative rule released midway through the Thatcherite years, it showcased the trio’s distinctive brand of soul-pop, spawned UK top 10 hit ‘Jonny Come Home’, global recognition for their cover of Elvis’s ‘Suspicious Minds’ and was certified Gold.
The re-issued expanded 2CD and digital versions feature previously unreleased material including FYC’s BBC live sessions recorded for Janice Long & John Peel from 1985 and an exclusive new remix of ‘Jonny Come Home’ by Derrick Carter. Remixing ‘Johnny Come Home’ would be a daunting task for most but not for the likes of Carter. He isolates the brass and drills down to the bedrock of Chicago House with his re-rub of FYC’s break through single. The remastered vinyl retains its original track listing.
The explosion of house music in the late ‘80s steered the direction of FYC’s follow up 1989’s ‘The Raw And The Cooked.’ It was a global smash, reaching No.1 on both sides of the Atlantic, spending seven weeks atop the Billboard charts and winning the band two Brit Awards. Singles, the Prince-indebted ‘She Drives Me Crazy’ and Northern Soul-flavoured “Good Thing,” both topped the US Billboard charts. It also boasted FYC’s reworking of Buzzcock‘s ‘Ever Fallen In Love’ included on the soundtrack of Jonathan Demme’s 1986 action-comedy Something Wild starring Jeff Daniels and Melanie Griffith.
New remixes from Dimitri From Paris and Seth Troxler feature on the expanded 2CD and digital versions along with previously unreleased material including unheard mixes and demo versions of ‘Tell Me What’ and ‘I’m Not The Man I Used To Be’ amongst others. Dimitri’s giddy dancefloor assault of ‘She Drives Me Crazy’ plunders sounds from pop, house, disco, and late-80s hip hop. Seth Troxler’s subterranean re-rub of ‘She Drives Me Crazy’ is all static shocks and rumbling hydraulics.
An EP of all three remixes will be available from December 2nd with the reissued albums following on the 11th.
