It's Plain To See

This song revolved back into my life at the weekend and I played it umpteen times on Sunday, something about it really striking a chord. 

I'm Not The Man I Used To Be

How good is that? I was reminded on Sunday evening that it was a favourite of Drew of the now dormant but once essential music blog, Across The Kitchen Table. 

In 1989 Fine Young Cannibals were making a second album, The Raw And The Cooked. Some of the songs that would appear on it were already out- their cover of Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn't Have Fallen In Love With) was in Jonathan Demme's 1986 film Something Wild and Good Thing, Tell Me What and Hard As It Is all showed up in Barry Levinson's 1987 film Tin Men (with FYC playing a band in a nightclub in the film). They were moving away from the 60s soul towards something more contemporary. Andy Cox and David Steele had made an acid house inspired single as Two Men A Drum Machine And A Trumpet while singer Roland Gift was acting in Sammy And Rosie Get Laid and Scandal. They reunited and the band told their label they wanted Prince to produce the rest of the album. Prince wasn't available but strings were pulled and Fine Young Cannibals ended up in Paisley Park with David Z, a member of Prince's Revolution. The big hit single She Drives Me Crazy came from those sessions as did I'm Not The Man I Used To Be. 

I'm Not The Man I Used To Be is built around a James Brown drum loop, the ever dependable and in 1989 increasingly ubiquitous Funky Drummer, a subtle guitar part and some lovely synth chords. Roland Gift's voice was indeed a gift and his vocal is wonderful, introspective and heartfelt, full of regret and emotion. It's not house music but it's coming from that plac. 

'Oh, it's plain and it's a shame/ I can't explain/ But I'm not the man I used to be'

It was the fourth single off the album- record companies really rinsed albums back in the 80s. Of the remixes and extended versions the Jazzie B and Nellee Hooper remix is a winner. I don't have an mp3 but it's on Youtube.

I once saw Roland Gift in real life, walking down the street in Islington one evening in the mid- 90s when we used to spend quite a bit of time in that part of London. He has that kind of charisma and style that makes it look like he's in a video when he's doing nothing more than walking down a North London street after dark. Fine Young Cannibals didn't make any more albums, more's the pity- the former Beat pair of Andy and David and Roland drifted apart and they called it a day in 1992. Roland apparently resurfaced this summer playing two gigs. 

Johnny We're Sorry

Another day, another Johnny.

Top Johnny in a Google search is Johnny Depp, as I said last week when I started this. I have no real strong opinion on him. He seems alright. His previous girlfriends include Winona Ryder, Kate Moss and Vanessa Paradis. Vanessa is best known here for her 1988 hit Joe Le Taxi and her gap toothed smile. And pictured above last year seems to have opted out of the aging process, despite smoking.

Fine Young Cannibals' Johnny left home and headed for the big city which sadly didn't live up to his expectations. The verses are Johnny's ('what is wrong in my life if I must get drunk every night?'). The chorus is his parents ('we're worried, won't you come on home'). Pop songs in 1984 didn't shy away from real life stuff and despite the uptempo pop-ska the song is defiantly gritty. The bouncy guitar and bass,  piano riff and trumpet are very good and there's a great little shift from the verse to the chorus. The guitar, bass and rubber legged dance moves were provided David Steele and Andy Cox (both formerly of The Beat, who recruited singer Roland Gift from a support band). Roland had one of the most distinctive voices and faces of the mid 80s and moved into films- Sammy And Rosie Get Laid sticks in my memory but I haven't seen it for donkeys.