Album Essentials: Fine Young Cannibals "The Raw & The Cooked" (1984)
By Dave Swanson - Summit FM Contributor
Some things fall apart and, in the process, allow new things to grow. Such was the case with pop sensations Fine Young Cannibals. After a run of success and some fantastic records, bassist David Steele and guitarist Andy Cox had left the Beat, also known as the English Beat in America, due to power pop kingpins from L.A., The Beat.
The Beat fused ska and pop with a punk energy and scored a handful of hits throughout three classic albums. Four of their first five singles hit the Top 10 in the UK, while songs like 'Twist and Crawl,' 'Tears of a Clown' and 'Save It for Later' would all become college radio favorites in the U.S.
By 1983, the band was falling apart, with leaders Dave Wakeling and Ranking Roger exiting to form General Public. Meanwhile, Cox and Steele assembled their own combo, along with vocalist Roland Gift, becoming Fine Young Cannibals. Taking an energetic dance-pop approach, they scored modest hits from their self-titled debut LP, released in 1985, with 'Johnny Come Home' and a cover of the Elvis classic 'Suspicious Minds.' FYC was off and running with an unmistakably fresh sound, perfect for the era.
It would be another few years before they released a follow-up, but that would be their shining moment. 'The Raw and the Cooked' was issued in January of 1989. The album was divided into the "raw" and the "cooked" motif for each side of the LP. A total of five songs were released as singles. 'I'm Not Satisfied,' 'I'm Not The Man I Used To Be,' 'Don't Look Back,' and 'Good Things' all scored hits in England, but it was 'She Drives Me Crazy' that would become a worldwide smash. It, along with 'Good Thing,' hit the number one spot on the US Billboard charts and carried the LP to the top. These were feel-good songs that truly connected with an audience, genuine pop music with roots winding back to Motown, 60s pop, and beyond, with just a hint of the ska they came from with the Beat. A cover of the Buzzcocks 'Ever Fallen In Love With' had previously been a part of the soundtrack to the 1987 film,' Something Wild,' which was also included.
FYC's take on pop music struck a definitive chord for the times. "The dance-music thing is like the punk of the Eighties," Cox told Rolling Stone, "or rock & roll in the Fifties. It seems to be the most vibrant part of modern music."
Part of that style in the underground at the time was the rise of house music. "I don't really like house music, because I find it quite inhuman," adds Gift. Cox described the approach to 'The Raw and the Cooked,' calling it "thirty years' worth of pop music in thirty minutes."
Their success in America even surprised the band, partly due to the multi-racial aspect of FYC. "In America, because of the size of the country, and there is a black economy, black people can make things for black people and sell them to black people," noted singer Roland Gift in a 1989 interview. "They can have a whole economy that doesn't even involve white people at all, and white people can do the same. The fears that stop people mixing are allowed to fester and grow."
'The Raw and the Cooked' went on to be nominated for a Grammy for 'Album of the Year' and did win a Brit Award for best album. It routinely pops up on 'Best albums of the 80s' lists and still receives airplay. It was all too much, however, as it was not only the band's sophomore effort but also their last. Pressure from the label and management to repeat the huge success of the LP toppled the band, which split in 1992.