Fine Young Cannibals – Fine Young Cannibals (Remastered & Expanded) (2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Fine Young Cannibals is the debut album released in 1985 by the band of the same name. The album features the UK #8 debut hit single “Johnny Come Home”.

Fine Young Cannibals were a British band formed in Birmingham, England in 1984, by bassist David Steele, guitarist Andy Cox (both formerly of The Beat), and singer Roland Gift (formerly of the Akrylykz).

Their Their self-titled 1985 debut album was a soul-jazz pop charmer that’s more low key but every bit as entertaining. It contained the singles “Johnny Come Home” and a cover of “Suspicious Minds”.

Along the lines of early Everything But the Girl (the two groups share a producer, Robin Millar) with a heavier Motown influence, the songs on Fine Young Cannibals are uniformly strong. The singles “Johnny Come Home” (a plea to a runaway that sounds like the Beat’s ska stripped down to its tense and obsessive essentials) and “Blue” (one of the more oblique and successful anti-Margaret Thatcher tracks of its era) are terrific, but album tracks like the casually devastating “Funny How Love Is” and the manic “Like a Stranger” (which incongruously ends with a female chorus shrieking “You’ve been too long in an institution!” repeatedly while Gift tries out his Otis Redding impression) are even better. The album’s highlight, though, is a reworking of “Suspicious Minds” (with scarifying backing vocals by Jimmy Somerville) that, while it doesn’t replace Elvis’ version, certainly takes the song into an interesting new direction. Although often overlooked, especially in the U.S., in the wake of their massively successful follow-up, Fine Young Cannibals is a powerful and satisfying debut.

Tracklist:
01. Fine Young Cannibals – Johnny Come Home (Remastered) (03:35)
02. Fine Young Cannibals – Couldn’t Care More (Remastered) (03:31)
03. Fine Young Cannibals – Don’t Ask Me to Choose (Remastered) (03:12)
04. Fine Young Cannibals – Funny How Love Is (Remastered) (03:28)
05. Fine Young Cannibals – Suspicious Minds (Remastered) (03:58)
06. Fine Young Cannibals – Blue (Remastered) (03:30)
07. Fine Young Cannibals – Move to Work (Remastered) (03:27)
08. Fine Young Cannibals – On a Promise (Remastered) (03:07)
09. Fine Young Cannibals – Time Isn’t Kind (Remastered) (03:14)
10. Fine Young Cannibals – Like a Stranger (Remastered) (03:24)
11. Fine Young Cannibals – Johnny Come Home (Extended Mix) (05:40)
12. Fine Young Cannibals – Suspicious Minds (Extended Mix) (04:38)
13. Fine Young Cannibals – Blue (Dance Version) (03:38)
14. Fine Young Cannibals – Wade in the Water (Remastered) (02:56)
15. Fine Young Cannibals – Love for Sale (Remastered) (02:50)
16. Fine Young Cannibals – Motherless Child (Remastered) (02:37)
17. Fine Young Cannibals – Couldn’t Care More (Annes Mix) (03:18)
18. Fine Young Cannibals – Blue (Slow Version) (03:53)
19. Fine Young Cannibals – Suspicious Minds (Caught In A Dub) (07:43)
20. Fine Young Cannibals – Johnny Come Home (Mousse T Cocktail Mix) (04:13)
21. Fine Young Cannibals – Johnny Come Home (Derrick Carter Remix) (07:02)
22. Fine Young Cannibals – Suspicious Minds (U.S. Remix) (05:23)
23. Fine Young Cannibals – Funny How Love Is (Not The Album Mix) (03:31)
24. Fine Young Cannibals – Johnny Come Home (Mark Moore 12″ Remix) (04:48)
25. Fine Young Cannibals – Blue (Live at Town & Country Club BBC Session) (04:02)
26. Fine Young Cannibals – Johnny Come Home (Live) (03:27)
27. Fine Young Cannibals – Suspicious Minds (Suspicious Mix) (07:55)
28. Fine Young Cannibals – Johnny Come Home (John Peel BBC Session) (03:24)
29. Fine Young Cannibals – Blue (John Peel BBC Session) (03:53)
30. Fine Young Cannibals – Time Isn’t Kind (John Peel BBC Session) (03:04)
31. Fine Young Cannibals – Suspicious Minds (Shakedown Mix) (03:48)
32. Fine Young Cannibals – Couldn’t Care More (Janice Long BBC Session) (03:23)
33. Fine Young Cannibals – Move to Work (Janice Long BBC Session) (03:16)
34. Fine Young Cannibals – Don’t Ask Me to Choose (Janice Long BBC Session) (03:09)
35. Fine Young Cannibals – Funny How Love Is (Janice Long BBC Session) (03:26)
36. Fine Young Cannibals – Blue (Demo Long Version) (05:27)
37. Fine Young Cannibals – Johnny Come Home (Mousse T Extended Mix) (05:43)