24 Years of Hunger is so sophisticated and subtle, it's hard to believe that it's the result of a one-off collaboration between two then-unknowns [EDIT: Ignore that part. An astute commenter noted that Eg previously was a member of a boy band, of whom I had never heard, called Brother Beyond. Do you know them? I guess they had a number of hits. So maybe, just maybe, I should stop pulling ill-informed 'facts' out of my ass.] and not that of a team of seasoned studio veterans. This is mostly laid-back, smooth pop/R&B with simple but evocative lyrics. Kinda reminds me of D'Angelo's Voodoo -- not in the sense that they necessarily sound the same, but that despite being pop records, it's hard to imagine a mainstream audience fully embracing them. So although it makes sense that this record wasn't a hit, the internet really should have granted it more retroactive fame by now.
[9/2/18: Updated with much better rip.]
Track listing:
1. Rockets
2. In a Cold Way
3. Mystery Man
4. And I Have Seen Myself
5. So High So Low
6. New Year's Eve
7. Indian
8. Doesn't Mean That Much to Me
9. Crosstown
10. I Wish
You always talk of suicide
Well, you know that talk is cheap
Wasnt the Eg in this partnership one of the members or former members of Brother Beyond?
ReplyDeleteI've never heard them, as far as I know, but apparently he was. Should I check them out?
DeleteNah not worth checking really. Brother Beyond were an 80s boyband who had a couple of cheesy hits written by the Stock Aitken Waterman hit factory that ruled late 80s UK pop. Eg i think left the band just before that phase but i remember when this album came out that all the reviews were about his boyband past
ReplyDeleteGuess he was just unknown to me, haha. Bummer that he was in a shitty band that dominated the conversation when this came out. Thanks for the info!
DeleteNot to nitpick, I notice this is missing track 6 (New Year's Eve). The one you have labelled as such is actually Indian, while that one is in turn given as Doesn't Mean That Much to Me and so on (though it would seem you skipped IOU, which should be track 10). Anyway, this is a long roundabout way of asking if it's possible you have New Year's Eve somewhere? Love your blog by the way.
ReplyDeleteGonna say Brother Beyond weren't quite as bad as they were made out to be. Not the worst artists that Stock A&W worked with. Check out their "He Ain't No Competition".
ReplyDelete