Naked Apes and Pond Life

Last updated

Naked Apes and Pond Life
Naked Apes and Pond Life.jpg
Studio album by
Shriekback
Released2000
Recorded1995 [1]
Genre World, electronic rock
Label Mushroom Records [2]
Producer Ian Shaw, Markus Dravs
Shriekback chronology
Sacred City
(1992)
Naked Apes and Pond Life
(2000)
Having a Moment
(2003)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [1]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [3]

Naked Apes and Pond Life is the eighth full-length album by Shriekback. [2] The 2000 release was a surprise resurfacing for the band, after many years of quiet. [4] It gathered many songs performed in intimate appearances in London over the preceding years, recorded in the studio by Barry Andrews, Martyn Barker, Lu Edmonds (last seen on 1985's Oil & Gold ), as well as Simon Edwards and Mark Raudva.

Contents

Many of the tracks are instrumentals, but the strong vocal-led "Berlin" and Big Night Music -esque "Everything's on Fire" are standouts.[ original research? ]

Critical reception

AllMusic wrote that "much of Naked Apes & Pond Life finds Shriekback playing a sort of twisted world music that resembles the organic/electronic mix of Big Night Music, but adds a variety of exotic instruments and percussion." [1]

Track listing

  1. "Stimulate the Beaded Hamster" - 1:17
  2. "Pond Life" - 4:05
  3. "Hostage" - 4:12
  4. "Invisible Rays" - 3:48
  5. "Claxon Bolus" - 1:36
  6. "Massive Custard" - 1:44
  7. "JP8" - 2:17
  8. "Unsong" - 4:50
  9. "Berlin" - 4:12
  10. "Baby Lion" - 3:00
  11. "Everything's on Fire" - 4:26
  12. "Keep-Net Stevenson" - 1:42
  13. "String, Sedatives, Weaponry" - 3:26
  14. "Anal Piss-Machine" - 1:34

Personnel

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barry Andrews (musician)</span> English singer, songwriter, and keyboardist

Barry Andrews is an English songwriter, singer and keyboard player who is a co-founder of Shriekback and was formerly a member of XTC and League of Gentlemen.

<i>England, Half-English</i> 2002 studio album by Billy Bragg and the Blokes

England, Half-English is a 2002 album by English political singer-songwriter Billy Bragg and The Blokes, and a song from that album. The song is about racism in England and the anti-immigration feelings and racist abuse of asylum seekers fuelled by the tabloid press, particularly the Daily Mail. The song uses examples such as the lions on the English football team's shirts, Britannia and the English patron saint, St. George, the hyphen in Anglo-Saxon and the nation's favourite dish (curry) to convey his message that everything about English culture is shaped and influenced by the waves of immigration that have taken place in the past.

Shriekback are an English rock band formed in 1981 in Kentish Town by Barry Andrews, formerly of XTC and the League of Gentlemen (keyboards/synthesizers/vocals), and Dave Allen, formerly of Gang of Four (bass), with Carl Marsh, formerly of Out on Blue Six (guitars/vocals) soon added to the line-up. They were joined by Martyn Barker on drums in 1983. Their early music was a funk-influenced version of new wave and post-punk, later moving towards art rock and always featuring "insidiously weird vocals".

<i>B-Sides & Rarities</i> (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds album) 2005 compilation album by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

B-Sides & Rarities is a 3CD compilation by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, released in March 2005. It features over 20 years of the band's B-sides and previously unreleased tracks. It is also the first recording to include all members of the Bad Seeds, past and present up to the time of its release: current members Mick Harvey, Blixa Bargeld, Thomas Wydler, Martyn P. Casey, Conway Savage, Jim Sclavunos, and Warren Ellis, and former members Barry Adamson, Hugo Race, Kid Congo Powers, Roland Wolf, and James Johnston. A second volume, B-Sides & Rarities Part II, was released in October 2021.

<i>Size Isnt Everything</i> 1993 studio album by Bee Gees

Size Isn't Everything is the twentieth studio album by the Bee Gees, released in the UK on 13 September 1993, and the US on 2 November of the same year. The brothers abandoned the contemporary dance feel of the previous album High Civilization and went for what they would describe as "A return to our sound before Saturday Night Fever".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yat-Kha</span> Tuvan rock band

Yat-Kha is a band from Tuva, led by vocalist/guitarist Albert Kuvezin. Their music is a mixture of Tuvan traditional music and rock, featuring Kuvezin's distinctive kargyraa throat singing style, the kanzat kargyraa.

<i>Care</i> (Shriekback album) 1983 studio album by Shriekback

Care is the first full-length Shriekback album, released in 1983.

<i>Jam Science</i> 1984 studio album by Shriekback

Jam Science is the third studio album by English pop group Shriekback. It was released in two versions in 1984 and was reissued on CD in a two-disc special release from the band themselves in 2014, the second disc being a live show at Hatfield.

<i>Oil and Gold</i> 1985 studio album by Shriekback

Oil and Gold (1985) is the fourth full-length album by English musical group Shriekback, released on Arista Records in UK and Europe, Australia and New Zealand and on Island Records in the United States,

<i>Big Night Music</i> 1986 studio album by Shriekback

Big Night Music is the fifth full-length Shriekback studio album, released in 1986. It spent six weeks on the Billboard album chart, peaking at number 145. With the departure of Carl Marsh, Barry Andrews takes over as the band's frontman. Remaining original member Dave Allen left the band following this release.

<i>Go Bang!</i> 1988 studio album by Shriekback

Go Bang! is the sixth studio album by Shriekback, released in 1988. It produced a significant number of Billboard modern rock hits, including "Get Down Tonight," "Intoxication," and "Shark Walk". Released after the departure of founding member and bassist, Dave Allen, the album revolves around Barry Andrews.

<i>Sacred City</i> 1992 studio album by Shriekback

Sacred City is the seventh full-length album by Shriekback. Released in 1992, after the failure of 1988's Go Bang!, the album was much more experimental, returning to the original Shriekback sound. Barry Andrews was again joined by founder, Dave Allen, and longtime collaborator Martyn Barker, as well as Karl Hyde. With little commercial success, the band dissolved shortly after the album's release.

<i>Words & Music: John Mellencamps Greatest Hits</i> 2004 greatest hits album by John Mellencamp

Words & Music: John Mellencamp's Greatest Hits is a greatest hits album by American rock and roll artist John Mellencamp. This two-disc set was released October 19, 2004 on the Island and UTV Records labels. It is a retrospective of Mellencamp's career at the time of its release, and features at least one song from each of his studio albums released between 1978's A Biography and 2003's Trouble No More. Two songs, "Walk Tall" and "Thank You", were recorded exclusively for this album. No songs from Mellencamp's 1976 debut album Chestnut Street Incident or 1977's The Kid Inside are represented. Also omitted is Mellencamp's cover of "Without Expression", which was released on his previous compilation album The Best That I Could Do 1978–1988.

<i>Apple Box</i> 2005 box set by XTC

Apple Box is a box set by XTC compiling Apple Venus Volume 1 and Wasp Star along with their respective demo albums Homespun and Homegrown. It is the third box set of their career following Transistor Blast: The Best of the BBC Sessions and Coat of Many Cupboards, released by Idea Records.

<i>Volume 2</i> (Billy Bragg album) 2006 box set by Billy Bragg

Volume 2 is a box set by political folk singer-songwriter Billy Bragg, released in 2006.

<i>For Girls Who Grow Plump in the Night</i> 1973 studio album by Caravan

For Girls Who Grow Plump in the Night is the fifth studio album released by the Canterbury scene band Caravan. Richard Sinclair and Steve Miller left the band prior to the recording of this album. They were replaced by John G. Perry and the returning Dave Sinclair. Viola player Geoff Richardson was added to the band.

<i>Desperate Character</i> 1981 studio album by Kirsty MacColl

Desperate Character is the first solo album of British singer-songwriter Kirsty MacColl, released in 1981. The album was re-released in March 1985 as Kirsty MacColl, with three tracks replaced with other songs. The album has been remastered and received a CD release for the first time on 8 October 2012 on the Union Square Music label and features the original twelve track listing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Y Records</span> British record label

Y Records was a British independent record label set up in 1980 by Dick O'Dell in the United Kingdom, and distributed by Rough Trade.

<i>What Do Pretty Girls Do?</i> 1998 compilation album by Kirsty MacColl

What Do Pretty Girls Do? is a live compilation album by British singer-songwriter Kirsty MacColl, released by Hux Records in 1998. The compilation features fifteen tracks recorded across four BBC Radio One sessions between 1989 and 1995.

<i>Black Is the Night: The Definitive Anthology</i> 2019 album

Black Is the Night: The Definitive Anthology is a 2-CD, career-spanning compilation album by the British punk rock band the Damned, released on 1 November 2019. It collects tracks from most of the band's studio albums between 1977 and 2018, as well as selected non-album singles and B-sides. It also includes the new track "Black Is the Night". Of the band's eleven studio albums to date, Not of This Earth (1995) and So, Who's Paranoid? (2008) are not represented on the anthology. All tracks were chosen by the band themselves, and sequenced thematically instead of chronologically.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Naked Apes & Pond Life - Shriekback | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic" via www.allmusic.com.
  2. 1 2 "Shriekback | Biography & History". AllMusic.
  3. Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 7. MUZE. p. 436.
  4. Buckley, Peter (31 August 2003). The Rough Guide to Rock. Rough Guides. ISBN   9781843531050 via Google Books.