FINE YOUNG CANNIBALS 40 REVIEW

Words: Tom Gensler

Fine Young Cannibals are one of the UK’s most iconic bands of the 80s. The

Birmingham trio famed for funky pop-rock and radio-friendly anthems are celebrating 40

years of their massive self-titled debut album, with a special two disc re-release, FYC 40,

featuring their anthems and other songs, so not just ones off that album, despite the

release’s title sounding like a re-release of that debut album. We were lucky enough to

hear it early and here are our thoughts on it!

Disc One is quite simple; high-quality and modernised remasters of some of the band’s

most iconic and favourite tracks. Some tracks have different versions remastered as

opposed to the standard versions; Suspicious Minds and Don’t Look Back have their 7-

inch versions remastered, Love for Sale has its 1990 mix remastered and Funny How

Love Is gets its re-recorded version remastered. These remasters are beautifully smooth,

preserving the energy and feel of the originals whilst making them audibly more pleasing

to the modern ear, which is the exactly right way to go about it. Any good remaster

shouldn’t try to make the music but just improve the actual quality without detracting from

the moments and natural sound of the original music, and so the engineers have done a

simply incredible job with all the songs on this disc. The 18 tracks are all absolutely

fantastic, a monster variety for one disc.

Something that’s really interesting to me about older music that doesn’t happen much

nowadays with newer artists is covers. Back then, everyone did and released covers,

songs been passed on from style to style and generation to generation. This is evident

across this disc, and I’m so glad that this tradition is represented so well. This comes in the

form of a simply fantastic version of Mark James’ Suspicious Minds, from 1968, but made

extremely famous by Elvis Presley in 1969, and then another in the form of a stylistically

different but groovy and fashionable rendition of Ever Fallen in Love by Buzzcocks,

from 1978.

CREDIT: Dave Hogan

In terms of the songs, there’s a clear and historically obvious highlight; the band’s

flagship song She Drives Me Crazy. What I love about the original version of this song is

the feel of it being played in a room, there’s always a sense of being in a space with the

band directly playing the song to you when you listen, its an older sensation and a truly

unique feeling that always brought me to the song. But this version, this new remaster, is

remarkable, and I’m glad for its existence. There’s an extra audio smoothness, a bit more

space on the song, but most importantly that room-like feel is feel there and even more

present. The songs feelings and vibes lay completely undisturbed but everything feels

fresh again. All my fears about the remasters completely disappear with this track, its

recreation is sublime.

Disc Two is a bit different, and certainly a subversion from what I would have expected.

What I had anticipated was a collection of B-sides and maybe live performance or demos,

some vault tracks that we haven’t heard or wouldn’t know. Instead, we get 12 remixes and

alternative versions of some of the tracks off of Disc One, the big hits from the FYC

catalogue. It's certainly a surprise and something that not many other artists would do, and

certainly not on such a big anniversary release, but its fun and different.

The disc opens with an extended and funky version of She Drives Me Crazy, labelled

as the Flight Facilities Extended Rework, boasting a much longer, building intro that taps

into a really special live-sounding feel that’s amazing. I’d argue this rework is the highlight

for me, as it just expands on everything the original has but in a cool and fresh way, thanks

to brilliant electronic duo Flight Facilities, of whom I was introduced to from listening to this.

Another highlight from this varied bunch of alternative versions of hits is another version

of She Drives Me Crazy, but this time its the Louil Silas Jr Extended Version. This version

has a more electronic, spruced-up feel, really cutting up the original and displacing it in

new ways, all set to the rhythm of the original. At 8 minutes, it's not a light listen but it's a

fun one, really pushing the original into a different space entirely.

However, I was really surprised by the Prince Paul Twelve Inch-Mix of I’m Not Satisfied,

which begins with a long and playful intro full of retrofitted samples. Now, one thing that’s

worth noting about the original is that it very much feels like She Drives Me Crazy pt2, in

that it sounds like it in terms of rhythm and has a very very similar chord and song

structure and vocal style, and this version certainly taps into that, splicing the chorus of I’m

Not Satisfied with that instantly recognisable four-note guitar part from She Drives Me

Crazy, crafting an extremely fun and very listenable new version.

Overall, this is a really strong compilation. Disc One is definitely more aimed at the

general FYC audience and those who want better quality audio for those classics, whereas

Disc Two feels like its more for the die-hard fans, really expanding those classics and

driving them into new sonic places. I recommend this for anyone who likes Fine Young

Cannibals or anyone who likes funky retro pop rock!