The English Beat were a fabulous outfit out of Birmingham. One of the original ska bands their story is for another day. In a backstabbing tragedy worthy of a Shakespeare play the two singers/band leaders jettisoned the band in the interests of splitting the cash less ways and started an outfit called General Public. General Public went on to limited success and had one great hit titled Tenderness that you might recall. The guitarist and bassist from the Beat regrouped and went on to form the Fine Young Cannibals.

In 1985 the Fine Young Cannibals released their self titled debut album to little fanfare. One of the best break-up albums of all time it is laced with self indulgent misery not to mention a rythym section worthy of Sly and Robbie type acclaim and introduced a lead singer with a unique soulful sound. Before disappearing it provided a small club hit called Johnny Come Home that is not indicative of what the balance of the record contains. I urge you to check out Couldn’t Care More, Funny How Love Is, Blue, and Suspicious Minds. Suspicious Minds is a cover of an Elvis tune that features Jimmy Somerville of the Bronski Beat on background vocals (another story for another day).

The band only released one more true album that being the Raw and the Cooked five years after album one. This disc generated a worldwide #1 hit in She Drives Me Crazy and a hit from the movie Tin Men (worth seeing) called Good Thing. They never toured to any great extent and just faded away from there. They have the distinction of being the only band in history to have a number one hit and not record a follow-up.

Some other trivia not worth mentioning. Roland Gift, the singer, was more interested in acting. He did at least one solid film titled Sammy and Rosie Get Fucked (Laid in North America) that takes place in Brixton during the race riots. Dave Cox and Dave Steele the guitarist and bass player remain obscure. There is a funny episode of VH1 Reuniting the Band where the two backstabbers from the Beat attempt to get the band back together and they can’t even manage to get either of Cox or Steele on camera.

Happy listening.