OPO: Boney M

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I'm listening to the best of right now. I always get blown away by Rasputin but then I hit Belfast and it's the best disco song ever I think, with the pulsing walking bass the absurd deep vocals the abtruse but somehow disturbing lyrics "it's the world that's decieving/ All the people/Cause the people believing".

On the other hand I have fond memories of Barbarella Fortuneteller but haven't heard it in years.

Also pick the most frustratingly twee Boney M track -- "Hooray Hooray It's a Holi-Holiday" I think.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Thursday, 27 March 2003 18:43 (twenty-three years ago)

Also is their cover of "No Woman, No Cry" totally superfluous or WHAT?

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Thursday, 27 March 2003 18:59 (twenty-three years ago)

RA RA RASPUTIN

They had Boney M at my University summer Ball one year and you've never heard 'Rasputin' until its been boomed out to 3000 pissed up shtowdents all slurring along - fantastic stuff

― stevem (blueski), Thursday, 27 March 2003 19:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"Rasputin" is great, but I'm going to have to go with "Nightflight to Venus"

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 27 March 2003 19:12 (twenty-three years ago)

10,000 Lightyears is fantastic! Boney M : P-Funk :: Planet Of The Apes : The Time Machine

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Thursday, 27 March 2003 19:13 (twenty-three years ago)

"rasputin" and "belfast" rule. "hooray..." may be annoying, but i find their version of "rivers of babylon" to be a far worse crime.

― lauren (laurenp), Thursday, 27 March 2003 19:20 (twenty-three years ago)

Its about time we had a Boney M thread. I'll plump for 'Daddy Cool' for that awesome bass riff, fabulous vocals complete those typically oblique lyrics (is it actually about incest or what). A Boney M best of comp would be a thing of great beauty.

― stevo (stevo), Thursday, 27 March 2003 19:25 (twenty-three years ago)

'm surprised to honour, for once, the same cosmic fire as 'lex-in-nyc:
"night flight to venus"

(the back-up pick'd be: '...show me your motion, sha-la-la-laa, c'mon show me your mo-o-tion, sha-la-la-la-la-la..."

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Thursday, 27 March 2003 19:29 (twenty-three years ago)

I have "Take the heat off me" on LP here someday. "Mit Grosse poster" too! (yeah, sue me, I don't know how to do the fancy German doubleS-B)

Anyways, my favorite was always Daddy Cool. Those vocals are SO much fun! She kreyzi like a fool.
I only remember digging one other song right now... That stupid "Do you want to buuump [WOOH - WOOOOOOH]" thing.

Boney M generally really isn't good, but those songs were a heap of fun when the right mood struck.

― Øystein Holm-Olsen (Øystein H-O), Thursday, 27 March 2003 19:37 (twenty-three years ago)

hard choice between "Daddy Cool" and "Rasputin"

worst song though was "Calendar Song" where they just listed the months of the year one after the other

― H (Heruy), Thursday, 27 March 2003 19:46 (twenty-three years ago)

Also pick the most frustratingly twee Boney M track -- "Hooray Hooray It's a Holi-Holiday" I think.

Yeah, that was gonna be my pick.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 27 March 2003 19:48 (twenty-three years ago)

"Daddy Cool"

― Kerry (dymaxia), Thursday, 27 March 2003 19:54 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm sticking with Rasputin. The non-historical ones really don't do as much for me.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 28 March 2003 23:23 (twenty-three years ago)

Rasputin. My officemate and I used to have Boney M dance parties.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Saturday, 29 March 2003 04:10 (twenty-three years ago)

Have I heard any of these songs??

― Sean (Sean), Saturday, 29 March 2003 04:14 (twenty-three years ago)

You really need to hear "Rasputin", at least.

I love the spoken part:

"But when his DRINKING and LUSTING and his HUNGER
FOR POWER became known to MORE and MORE people,
the demands to do something about this OUTRAGEOUS
man became LOUDER and LOUDER."

― Arthur (Arthur), Saturday, 29 March 2003 05:14 (twenty-three years ago)

I love it already.

― Sean (Sean), Saturday, 29 March 2003 05:17 (twenty-three years ago)

Downloads, plays. Oh gosh this is hysterical. Was this a hit? I've never heard it ever.

― Sean (Sean), Saturday, 29 March 2003 05:25 (twenty-three years ago)

A big hit in Europe Sean, and banned in the USSR.

― stevo (stevo), Saturday, 29 March 2003 08:42 (twenty-three years ago)

ma ma ma ma Ma Baker

― Daniel (dancity), Saturday, 29 March 2003 09:18 (twenty-three years ago)

The transition between "Night Flight 2 Venus" and "Rasputin" on the LP. Frank Farian, meet Florian Schneider

― dave q, Saturday, 29 March 2003 10:19 (twenty-three years ago)

Sean, Boney M were huge pretty much everywhere but the US. Check out more of their stuff – you will be highly entertained.

I have a weird video of them performing in S. Korea which is v. strange combination of Boney M in sequins, feathered skullcaps etc. in front of dour looking blacktied gov’t officials.

― H (Heruy), Sunday, 30 March 2003 06:49 (twenty-three years ago)

Their cover of "Painterman" owns.

― donut bitch (donut), Sunday, 30 March 2003 08:08 (twenty-three years ago)

The transition between "Night Flight 2 Venus" and "Rasputin" on the LP. Frank Farian, meet Florian Schneider

YES! EXACTLY what I was going to say. Well done, Mr Q.

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Sunday, 30 March 2003 09:07 (twenty-three years ago)

Boney M never were banned in USSR, they even made big concert in Moscow in 1980. There was a lot of banned performers in USSR those days but not Boney M. This concerns 'Rasputin' too.

― another one (another one), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 06:54 (twenty-three years ago)

Another record that the band held was the fact they were the first western pop group to perform in what was called the USSR at the time. Unfortunately they were forbidden from playing "Rasputin", however the last line of "Rasputin" "Oh those Russians", was probably the best part of it for them, according to Bobby Farrell.

Boney M biography. Or is that an urban-myth another one?

― stevo (stevo), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 07:33 (twenty-three years ago)

I am checking out more of their stuff, and I am highly entertained. They have several historical type lyrics that are amazing. That singing style! Those simple melodies! This stuff is so great! I'm buying a best-of soon.

― Sean (Sean), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 14:07 (twenty-three years ago)

They never perform "Rasputin" during their concerts in USSR but the song wasn't in Soviet "black lists" (I saw these lists).

― another one (another one), Wednesday, 2 April 2003 08:16 (twenty-three years ago)

hey Sean, to accompany your enjoyment of the songs check out this link to get a sense of what they looked like on stage (or still do, they're still doing shows)

http://www.diezi.com/boneym/home.html

― H (Heruy), Wednesday, 2 April 2003 14:02 (twenty-three years ago)

"Holi-Holiday" is their best, for being the most frustratingly twee.

― Frank Kogan (Frank Kogan), Wednesday, 2 April 2003 20:24 (twenty-three years ago)

one year passes...

Finally got the best of thanks to JBR. Heheheheheh. Second listen in and I think "Rasputin" is definitely their "Stairway to Heaven," if you will, but I'll have to go with "Daddy Cool" and/or "Nightflight to Venus" for now.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 22 November 2004 21:17 (twenty-one years ago)

the DVD EP is mindbending. several late 70's euro tv appearences.

for 'Rasputin' he dresses the part, and acts 'crazy'.

― (Jon L), Monday, 22 November 2004 23:03 (twenty-one years ago)

never really dug them, but they seemed to be going for something interesting. The tunes just don't deliver for me. The disco-ish cover of the Creation's "Painter Man" wins points for bizarr-o cover choice.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Monday, 22 November 2004 23:07 (twenty-one years ago)

eight months pass...

But they did ANOTHER OBSCURE FREAKBEAT COVER, TOO - a version of "My Friend Jack" by the Smoke. And they wrote a whole new set of lyrics for it. It was about a guy who takes LSD ("My friend Jack eats sugar lumps") and they changed it to this:

My friend Jack eats sugar loaves
My friend Jack eats sugar loaves
Sugarman hasn't got a care
He's been traveling everywhere
He's seen the people in the city
And the bright lights looks awful pretty
He's followed dusty tracks into eternity
Eating sugar cain in Cuba
Try to grow it in Japan
On the west coast, he's real famous
Kids they call him Sugar Man

My friend Jack
My friend Jack
My friend Jack
My friend Jack

My friend Jack eats sugar loaves
My friend Jack eats sugar loaves
Sugarman hasn't got a care
He's been traveling everywhere
Been on a voyage across an ocean
Heard the sweet sounds of wheels in motion
He's seen hawk fly high to hail the setting sun
Eating sugar cain in Cuba
Try to grow it in Japan
On the west coast, he's real famous
Kids they call him Sugar Man

Been on a voyage across an ocean
Heard the sweet sounds of wheels in motion
He's seen the hawk fly high to hail the setting sun

My friend Jack eats sugar loaves
My friend Jack eats sugar loaves
Sugarman hasn't got a care
He's been traveling everywhere
My friend Jack eats sugar loaves

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 31 July 2005 05:36 (twenty years ago)

well i got their greatest hits part 2 ages ago which i just dug up when i was looking for some good morning alarm clock music and that cd has 4 brand new songs (recorded in 1993) including (as well as a 'raggamuffin hip hop' song) another new historical one! LADY GODIVA

Her name was Lady Godiva
A lady so brave and so strong
Her husband the Earl of Mercia
He treated her terribly wrong

She's a lady
She's a lady

She rode naked on horseback
To stop him from his tax increase
But people in town closed their curtains
Than prison for living in peace

*She's a lady
She's a lady
She's a lady, Lady Godiva
The hero of Coventry
L-L-Lady Lady Godiva
She rode into history

Then sneaking a glance through the window
Was a guy they called Peeping Tom
He caught a glimpse and was blinded
Curiosity sometimes is wrong

*(repeat)

People liked Lady Godiva
Respectfully looking away
They honoured incredible courage
Her legend lives until today

*(repeat, repeat)

i love 'curiosity sometimes is wrong'

― jeremy jordan (cruisy), Sunday, 31 July 2005 09:21 (twenty years ago)

also on that cd is 'we kill the world' which is a 2 part sermon - the 1st half with all the nuclear warheads is a bizarrely upbeat (theres no better word to describe the style than) eurovision dance number and the 2nd half slows it down a bit with, yes, a kids choir singing in that same boney m englisch "don't kill the world, she's all we have,,and surely is worth to save"

― jeremy jordan (cruisy), Sunday, 31 July 2005 09:33 (twenty years ago)

another superfluous but still really likeable cover = dreadlock holiday

there shd be a whole thread about their covers really!

― jeremy jordan (cruisy), Sunday, 31 July 2005 09:35 (twenty years ago)

i shd also add before anyone asks that the raggamuffin hip hop song is WACK

― jeremy jordan (cruisy), Sunday, 31 July 2005 09:36 (twenty years ago)

I get angry with myself when my POOed choice is the most obvious one, 'cause it suggests a lack of imagination. So I'll ignore the obvious ("Rasputin") and go with "Nightflight To Venus". Has anyone ever sampled those amazing, immense drumbeats?

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Sunday, 31 July 2005 11:06 (twenty years ago)

boney m. play a small and strange role in this movie.

― el sabor de gene (yournullfame), Sunday, 31 July 2005 11:36 (twenty years ago)

one of their songs, that is.

― el sabor de gene (yournullfame), Sunday, 31 July 2005 11:37 (twenty years ago)

what's with disco tracks that have historical references? obv. "Rasputin" but also ABBA's "Fernando." any more off the top of collective heads?

― imbidimts, Sunday, 31 July 2005 16:47 (twenty years ago)

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