Three At Three For Free

SWC, who produces the essential and inspirational No Badger Required music blog, has just wrapped up the Rocks Greatest Number countdown. I was once again privileged to be a voting member of the Musical Jury.

These events are huge fun to participate in and a compelling read, and it's always a thrill to see where your votes land in the final ranking. This one in particular also provided moments of perfect symmetry. For example, placed at #3 were Fun Boy Three.

Not bad for a band that 'only' released two albums and a clutch of singles between 1981 and 1983. But timing is everything and Fun Boy Three arrived at just the right time for this particular music lover.

Fun Boy Three was my band, inasmuch as the other kids at primary school had turned up in their Harrington jackets and buzz cuts, into all things 2-Tone, not least The Specials. But I don't remember anyone else being the first to talk about Fun Boy Three. 

Terry Hall, Lynval Golding and Neville Staple. One moody as hell, barely moving yet effortlessly cool. The other two looking for the rhythm and the good time in everything around them.

Not easy, when Fun Boy Three lyrics spanned The Troubles and childhood sexual abuse. A lot of that was completely over my head as a 10 going on 11 year old. Yet, their music, their friendship, their appearance all affected me deeply. 

Waiting was their second and final album, but the first FB3 album that I owned (on cassette) and it's hard to know how they could have followed (or bettered) it, to be honest. 

Fun Boy Three were a brief but perfectly formed moment in music.

I've picked three videos for today's post: their astonishing debut from 1981 (and worryingly relevant today), followed by the first 12" single of theirs that I bought, and finally a seasonal cover of a George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward classic, originally recorded in 1935 which Fun Boy Three absolutely made their own in 1982.

 

Does Anybody Know Any Jokes?

*** Breaking News ***

Reports emerging of a Fun Boy Three selection this Friday. 

 

Wider impact as yet unconfirmed.

Full story from 9.30am GMT.

*** This story has now been updated ***

You can blame thank Charity Chic Music for this one. On Tuesday, CC wrote about his purchase of Summertime by Fun Boy Three on 7" and it being the first time that he's heard their version of this George Gershwin-written classic. As I typing a reply that, in my opinion, the 12" version of Summertime was even better, a seed had already been planted...

So here we are, loosely keeping with my 'summer' theme of the past few days, here is a selection focusing on Fun Boy Three's excursions on the version via the format of the 12" single. They were pretty consistent in this respect, offering up extended takes that veered off into dub-inflected territory on most of their singles.

 

The only singles that appeared on 12" in unadulterated form (i.e. same as the 7"/album version) were The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum, The Tunnel Of Love and Germany-only release The Farm Yard Connection. 

 

In the late 1980s, when DJs were dusting off and remixing any and every 'old' song they could find, FB3 were no exception, with Dancin' Danny D having a go at album track Faith, Hope & Charity in 1989. It's not included on today's selection but you can listen to it here.

The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum has also proved to be an attractive proposition for 21st century bedroom DJs and a trawl of YouTube will net you a tonne of re-edits and remixes of the song. None as good as the original, of course.

This selection is dedicated to the brilliant Lynval Golding, Neville Staple and of course the peerless and greatly missed Terry Hall. As an additional tribute to the latter, I'm re-posting the previous Terry Hall Imaginary Compilation Albums, previously hosted and co-created by the excellent The Vinyl Villain.

 

1) The Telephone Always Rings (Extended Version) (1982)

2) Really Saying Something (He Was Really Sayin' Somethin') (Remix By John Luongo): Bananarama ft. Fun Boy Three (1982)

3) Our Lips Are Sealed (Special Remix Version) (1983)

4) The Funrama Theme (Extended Version): Fun Boy Three ft. Bananarama (1982)

5) The More I See (The Less I Believe) Parts 1 & 2 (?) (1982)

6) Summertime (Extended Version) (Cover Of Abbie Mitchell) (1982)

7) The Alibi (The Station's Full Of Pipes) (12" Version) (1982)

8) T'Ain't What You Do (It's The Way That You Do It) / Just Do It (Extended Version) (Cover of Jimmie Lunceford, Harry James & Ella Fitzgerald): Fun Boy Three ft. Bananarama (1982)

Does Anybody Know Any Jokes? (50:42) (Box) (Mega)