Digging Your Scene: The Best of The Blow Monkeys (2008)
Digging Your Scene: The Best of The Blow Monkeys is a double greatest hits album, released on 4 February 2008 by British bandThe Blow Monkeys. Led by singer, guitarist, piano and keyboard player Dr. Robert, the group formed in the early 1980s and disbanded in 1990. After that, Dr. Robert went on to pursue a solo career. The Blow Monkeys recently reformed, with the aim of touring and releasing a brand new album.
The 36 tracks included on this double compilation were originally featured on the band's first five studio albums, and most of them were also released as singles, the most successful ones including "It Doesn't Have to Be This Way" (which reached Number 5 in the UK Singles Chart in 1987, their highest position ever), and "Digging Your Scene" (climbing to Number 12 in 1986, this song represented their first British, American and worldwide hit, also making it to Number 14 in the US Billboard Hot 100, Number 7 in the US Hot Dance Club Play, and Number 25 in Germany).
Five more duets are contained in the 2008 double greatest hits album, including the politically censored "Celebrate (The Day After You)", sung with Curtis Mayfield (it came out at the time of 1987 re-election, when then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was being attacked by many British musical acts, including The Blow Monkeys), "Be Not Afraid", a heartfelt interpretation of Robert with Arabian singer Cheb Khaled (the description of how this song actually came into being is one of the few things Howard wrote in the booklet to a less recent double compilation), "Choice?", a house stomper played by the band with young vocalist Sylvia Tella (one of their last hits, before splitting up in the early 1990s), who also co-performed "Slaves No More", a less successful single which also features here, and, last but not least, "Sweet Murder", one of the band's earlier interpretations, realised with toasterEek-A-Mouse (never released as a single, this popular album track was contained in their second long playing work, namely Animal Magic, which also included their first hit "Digging Your Scene").
This greatest hits collection comprises many other stand-out tracks which were never taken out their respective albums, among which the fifth LP's title track "Springtime for the World", the instrumentalmedley "Vibe Alive/Reflections '89", "Squaresville", and many more.
For the other musicians, producers and staff in detail, see The Blow Monkeys' six studio albums, their first greatest hits collection and their first live album.
Curtis Lee Mayfield was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer, and one of the most influential musicians behind soul and politically conscious African-American music. Dubbed the "Gentle Genius," he first achieved success and recognition with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-inducted group The Impressions during the civil rights movement of the late 1950s and the 1960s, and later worked as a solo artist.
The Blow Monkeys are a British new wave/sophisti-pop band that formed in 1981. The first single, "Live Today Love Tomorrow," was released in 1982. They subsequently enjoyed a successful career with several hit singles and albums across the 1980s before splitting up at the beginning of the 1990s. Their first hit song was "Digging Your Scene," which hit No. 12 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 14 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in August 1986. They had four albums and eleven singles in the UK charts between 1986 and 1990.
Soul II Soul are a British musical collective formed in London in 1988. They are best known for their two major hits; 1989's UK number five and US number eleven "Keep On Movin'", and its follow-up, the UK number one and US number four "Back to Life". They have won two Grammy Awards, and have been nominated for five Brit Awards—twice for Best British Group.
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"No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" is a 1979 song recorded by American singers Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer. It was written by Paul Jabara and Bruce Roberts, and produced by Giorgio Moroder and Gary Klein.
Animal Magic is the second album from the British band The Blow Monkeys, released in 1986 by RCA/Ariola. It gave the group their commercial breakthrough after their debut album, Limping for a Generation, had won critical acclaim but had only sold modestly.
She Was Only a Grocer's Daughter is the third album by British new wave/sophisti-pop band the Blow Monkeys, originally released in 1987.
Whoops! There Goes the Neighbourhood was The Blow Monkeys' 1989 follow-up album to She Was Only A Grocer's Daughter, released two years before.
Springtime for the World is the fifth album by British band The Blow Monkeys, released in 1990. The work represented the band's ultimate transformation into a dance music act, a direction the band had been gradually moving since their biggest hit single, "It Doesn't Have to Be This Way", and the album it was taken from, She Was Only a Grocer's Daughter.
Choices – The Singles Collection is a compilation album by British band The Blow Monkeys, released in 1989 by RCA and distributed by BMG / Ariola. The album includes most of the band's singles and features genres from the new wave of their debut album to pop rock and funky evolution, up to their discovery of the potentialities of the new dance revolution, a genre that they embraced on their final album, Springtime for the World, which was released the following year, shortly before they split up.
CeCe Rogers, is a two time Grammy nominated American singer, songwriter and record producer from Cleveland, Ohio, United States.
Hits 93 Volume 1 is a compilation album released by Telstar Records and BMG in February 1993. The original Hits Album compilation series had effectively been retired in 1991 by the original partners in the series CBS and WEA, and this release saw BMG, who originally joined CBS and WEA in 1986, revive the Hits brand with specialist TV marketing company Telstar.
The Hits Album 4 or Hits 4 is a compilation album released in the UK in March 1986 by CBS and WEA, with RCA Ariola now also joining the partnership from this release onwards. It followed The Hits Album and Hits 2 to the top of the UK Top 100 Album chart and remained there for 4 weeks. A VHS compilation was also released by RCA/Columbia Pictures International Video.
Blow Monkeys The Masters is a compilation album from British new wave band The Blow Monkeys, released in 1997 by the Eagle label, for its well-known "Eagle Series", presenting many UK group's master collections.
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The Hits Album 10 or Hits 10 is the tenth release of the Hits compilation series, compiled by BMG, CBS and WEA. It was released in the UK on 22 May 1989. With this release, the compilers returned to the tradition of a volume issue number and the revival of artwork used from Hits 6 to Hits 8, with the issue number forming a central graphic against a black background. It was a successful album and reached number one on the UK Compilation Album chart for six consecutive weeks and achieved a Platinum sales award.
Sylvia Tella is a British lovers rock singer, who after working as a backing band vocalist for Boney M embarked on a successful solo career, releasing her first album in 1981. She had a top 40 hit in 1989 in collaboration with the Blow Monkeys and again in 1990/1991 with Pop Will Eat Itself.
"Digging Your Scene" is a song recorded by English band The Blow Monkeys for their second studio album, Animal Magic (1986). The single was released in February 1986 as the second one from the parent record. It was written by lead singer Dr. Robert, while Howard, Peter Wilson, and Adam Moesley produced it. Musically a pop, soul, and jazz song, "Digging Your Scene" discusses the hatred and disgust that is associated with individuals who have HIV and AIDS. Several media professionals felt the song's subject matter would be the subject of criticism.
"Missing You" is a song by British Contemporary R&B band Soul II Soul, released in November 1990 as the fourth and last single from their second album, Vol. II: 1990 – A New Decade (1990). It features American singer-songwriter Kym Mazelle and was a top 30 hit in Ireland and the UK. Outside Europe, it peaked at number nine in Zimbabwe, number 39 on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart in the US and number 166 in Australia. A black-and-white music video was produced to promote the single. It shows Mazelle and Jazzie B dancing together on a dancefloor while performing it.
This article is the discography of British new wave/sophisti-pop band The Blow Monkeys. Also included is the solo discography of frontman Dr. Robert.
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