Bow Wow Wow C/D

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Yeah I would be very wary about this reissue after reading these reviews on Amazon.co.uk.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bow-Wow/dp/B003JIOHAO/ref=sr_1_3?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1321126925&sr=1-3

Also how lazy renaming the album so it's self titled, maybe they just couldn't be bothered printing that full title.

I had an earlier CD issue of the album that was really good but I sold it as it was going for a lot, I replaced it on vinyl. It's really easy to find on vinyl usually, are you a CD only man though?

Kitchen Person, Saturday, 12 November 2011 19:46 (twelve years ago) link

are you a CD only man though

I am, yeah. I couldn't wait to ditch vinyl in 1987! I'll poke around for better options, ta.

Gerald McBoing-Boing, Saturday, 12 November 2011 20:24 (twelve years ago) link

two years pass...

growling, howling!

how's life, Thursday, 17 July 2014 13:05 (nine years ago) link

Wow, this thread is crazy short. Utterly classic. They're one of a slew of new wave-era acts who are unfairly dismissed as one/two-hit wonders but had a lot of great album material that transcended those hits (see also: Flying Lizards, Josie Cotton, The Waitresses, Holly and the Italians). See Jungle! See Jungle!... is one of the best albums of that era.

Soggy Spongy Moist & Messy (Old Lunch), Thursday, 17 July 2014 14:04 (nine years ago) link

Yeah, I slept on them so long because of I Want Candy.

how's life, Thursday, 17 July 2014 14:06 (nine years ago) link

Same here. Rip It Up And Start Again inspired me to check them (and many, many other acts) out.

Soggy Spongy Moist & Messy (Old Lunch), Thursday, 17 July 2014 14:14 (nine years ago) link

two years pass...

Children, I want to warn ya,
'cause I've been to California

velko, Thursday, 2 March 2017 09:06 (seven years ago) link

I really like the early stuff the bo diddley/burundi/bubblegum stuff. think that would coincide with Girl Bites Dog as mentioned above though not sure if taht's teh title of the cd compi I have of them.

I thought they went off towards theh end, became overproduced and less energetic but may need to recheck that.

THe Adam And tHe Ants early stuff is also really good, 1st lp is the same band that became BOw Wow Wow for the most part. 2nd, Kings of the Wild Frontier has some of the same ideas being explore but I think less bubblegum.

Matthew Ashman also turns up on an lp called Witch by (C) or Louise Wener, not to be confused with teh sleeper girl. I think it's shortly before he died. I think Wener later complained taht Madonna ripped off her style for a period near whispered spoken word over interesting dubby background. Could have just been a reviewer noting sources for Madonna's sound at one point.
Great, great lp though.

Stevolende, Thursday, 2 March 2017 09:36 (seven years ago) link

Matthew Ashman also turns up on an lp called Witch by (C) or Louise Wener

that's a really good album.

mark e, Thursday, 2 March 2017 10:55 (seven years ago) link

You could do an amazing single-CD Matthew Ashman compilation -

Adam & The Ants - Bow Wow Wow - Chiefs of Relief - © - Agent Provocateur

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Thursday, 2 March 2017 16:01 (seven years ago) link

chiefs of relief !
had no idea he was part of them.
they supported BAD when i saw them.
i have one 7" buried deep somewhere, but never picked up the album.

mark e, Thursday, 2 March 2017 16:49 (seven years ago) link

i did however recently track down a copy of the AP album ..
not half bad when in the mood for big beat/skunk rock grooves.

mark e, Thursday, 2 March 2017 16:50 (seven years ago) link

I'm glad to see some consensus here that "Do You Wanna Hold Me?" is a lost classic. I feel somewhat validated for listening to that song on repeat for like 6 months after finding it in the dollar bin last year.

I think Bow Wow Wow were my favorite discovery while reading Rip It Up And Start Again. Definitely more musical substance there than their legacy would lead you to believe.

enochroot, Thursday, 2 March 2017 18:07 (seven years ago) link

Leigh Gorman in particular was (and is) a virtuoso and multi-instrumentalist, as his wikipedia page details.

For many years When the Going Get Tough the Tough Get Going was my favorite album by anyone.

Josefa, Thursday, 2 March 2017 18:27 (seven years ago) link

No-one pays attention to Malcolm McLaren's Swamp Thing album from '85, but there's a kinda great version of Sexy Eiffel Towers on it (McLaren & Ashman both get writing credits for this song)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6deJmxl0jaA

everything, Thursday, 2 March 2017 18:52 (seven years ago) link

No-one pays attention to Malcolm McLaren's Swamp Thing album from '85

cos its an arse to get on cd/digital etc.
my cassette version died years ago, so unable to listen to it.

mark e, Thursday, 2 March 2017 18:57 (seven years ago) link

Yeah, I had the cassette for years (which still holds up). But not that long ago I found a vinyl version which doesn't sound as good as the cassette!

everything, Thursday, 2 March 2017 18:59 (seven years ago) link

so much trouble re the back catalogue of MM that i got that 'buffalo gals go back to skool' reversion, as it had some of the original mixes interspersed with the revised crap.

mark e, Thursday, 2 March 2017 19:10 (seven years ago) link

"Swamp Thing" isn't available on CD. The only MM I care for is "Fans", anyway. That's quite a unique sound.

Gerald McBoing-Boing, Thursday, 2 March 2017 20:58 (seven years ago) link

On the Swamp Thing LP…

"Eiffel Tower" = "Punk It Up" from Duck Rock + Bow Wow Wow's "Sexy Eiffel Towers"
"Boom Boom Baby" = "Soweto" from Duck Rock + Bow Wow Wow's "I Want My Baby on Mars"

McLaren is given sole credit for the two songs on Swamp Thing although the Bow Wow Wow songs were originally credited to McLaren plus the guys in the band (not Annabella).

What I wonder about is whatever happened to McLaren's friends in Paris who supposedly came up with a lot of the ideas that many early Bow Wow Wow songs were based on. They were trying to make some kind of crazy musical with an underage sex theme, circa 1979. I forget their names, but they never got any Bow Wow Wow songwriting credits at all it seems.

Josefa, Thursday, 2 March 2017 22:42 (seven years ago) link

What I wonder about is whatever happened to McLaren's friends in Paris who supposedly came up with a lot of the ideas that many early Bow Wow Wow songs were based on.

given MMs groove, i would suggest that the answer to this is : nothing ..

mark e, Thursday, 2 March 2017 22:50 (seven years ago) link

Is that what Chicken was? a French paedo musical?

Stevolende, Thursday, 2 March 2017 22:59 (seven years ago) link

I thing Chicken was supposed to be a magazine. Not clear on whether it had anything to do with the musical project. The idea of the musical, iirc, was that a bunch of kids hijack a plane and then all have sex with each other on it (origin of "Mile High Club"). The name "Lieutenant Lush" that Boy George later assumed was a character from the musical.

Josefa, Thursday, 2 March 2017 23:11 (seven years ago) link

And I think there are kid gangs in it, like the Homosexual Apaches (hence "Uomo Sex Al Apache")

Josefa, Thursday, 2 March 2017 23:13 (seven years ago) link

here's the stuff about McLaren & Chicken, it's pretty fucking unpleasant stuff tbh

http://thestreetlampdoesntcast.blogspot.com/2011/07/sexploitation-music-part-2.html

though the tempest rages, (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Thursday, 2 March 2017 23:49 (seven years ago) link

Yeah, it was about how children could be the true revolutionaries if they use their sexuality. And on from there..

Mark G, Thursday, 2 March 2017 23:56 (seven years ago) link

one year passes...

Not sure I need more than the comp I've already got but Cherry Red is putting out the complete works:

https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/bow-wow-wow-your-box-set-pet-the-complete-recordings-1980-84-3cd-clamshell-boxset/

Gerald McBoing-Boing, Sunday, 25 March 2018 15:37 (six years ago) link

Ah, I messed up the link for my comp, it's this one: http://www.discogs.com/Bow-Wow-Wow-Annabella-The-Best-Of-Bow-Wow-Wow/master/300892

Gerald McBoing-Boing, Sunday, 25 March 2018 15:37 (six years ago) link

That's awesome. It's great to have all those 12" remixes in one place; I think some have not been on CD before. The 12" for "Love, Peace, and Harmony" sounds great and is notably different from the album version. This box also includes "Teenage Queen," which is "Baby, Oh No" with different lyrics and only came out in Japan. It also looks like it has the new versions of "Elimination Dancing" and "King Kong" that came out only on a Flexipop single.

The only thing it looks like it doesn't have is the re-recorded versions of "Mile High Club" & "C30 C60 C90 Go!" that appeared on a limited edition promo single when they played at the new Studio 54 in 1981 (unless the last track of Disc 4 is the former... not sure)

Josefa, Sunday, 25 March 2018 16:38 (six years ago) link

three years pass...

There’s a Bow Wow Wow appearance on “American Bandstand” from May 1983 up on YouTube. They do “Do You Wanna Hold Me” and “Aphrodisiac.” The group seem in such good spirits it’s hard to believe they would play the final show of their classic run the very next month.

Dick Clark asks them about the time they’re spending touring the US, which got me curious, so I looked it up and it’s kind of amazing how much they worked in the US. They were gigging in America for practically the entire first six months of 1983, this on top of extensive US tours in ‘81 and ‘82.

Josefa, Tuesday, 25 January 2022 20:10 (two years ago) link

I just have to add, I have never understood the break-up of Bow Wow Wow. It seems like a major case of self-sabotage. They were all still so young, but only Leroy Gorman, the most talented one, accomplished much post-BWW. No one really remembers The Chiefs of Relief, I assume.

Josefa, Tuesday, 25 January 2022 21:29 (two years ago) link

one year passes...

the bass sound on this live version of I Want Candy is immense:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjtvrYZyBEA

I dunno why people bag on this song so much. it's fucking great. the purity of it... all the elements just fused into this unstoppable beat. it honestly almost brings me to tears

Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Sunday, 5 November 2023 00:10 (six months ago) link


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