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.
