The Revillios Jungle of Eyes
Captain Oi!
I'm more than happy to admit that musically speaking I'm a child of
the '80's, but the Revillos is one band from that era that appears to
have definitely passed me by. Whether this is a good thing or not I'm
not sure just yet. Nevertheless, I can tell you that Jungle Of Eyes is
a compilation of extended mixes, previously unreleased, B-sides and
other odds and ends. Given that this is my first encounter with the
Revillos, I can only go on first impressions. Going on the song titles
alone (eg The Vampire Attacks, Trigger Happy Jack and Cat Call), you
could be mistaken for expecting an almost psychobilly-esque sound,
rather than the left of centre pop (non-)sensibilities on offer. It
took a good couple of tracks before I could begin to actually enjoy
this cd, but once I had adjusted to the fact that I was not dealing
with what I thought I would be, Jungle Of Eyes is actually an enjoyable
piece of frivolity and '80's madness. Man Attack is partly reminiscent
of the Slits, but with a healthy dose of Banarama and the Go-Gos, with
a touch of Toto Coelo (namely their Milk From The Coconut "hit") thrown
in for good measure. Actually, I guess it wouldn't be too far off
the mark to describe the Revillos as Scotland's answer to the B-52s.
ZX7 is a good, albeit instrumental, example of what I mean. On
the whole, given that I hadn't heard of this band before now, I think
I'll be making enquires into their back catalogue, but beware, if you
can't get far away enough from the 1980's, especially the early '80's,
you may want to steer clear.
-Reviewed by Dominique-
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