Crazy Peoples Right to Speak
Kaja
1985/2004: EMI Records 4 73860 2
ABOUT BLOODY TIME, BOYS!!!! I’ve only been waiting for this CD to be re-released for, what, ten years, fourteen?
But the good news has come at last: Crazy Peoples Right To Speak is finally available again. I think the first CD pressing, back in 1985, consisted of twenty copies that were then shipped to Zimbabwe or perhaps Mars, as I’ve never found even *mention* of one online in nearly 10 years of web-surfing. And although I’ve had my vinyl copy to enjoy when the urge hit to savor the finest moments from this album, it’s a pleasure to hear the songs just a little cleaner and fresher (as well as to be able to play them on my laptop when I’m at work).
For those of you who have never heard this album, it’s a lively little bundle of styles, a little heavy on the electronic elements perhaps for some tastes and a bit percussion-programming driven, but still quite a fun set. Best tracks are the punchy little “Sit Down and Shut Up,” “Afraid of You,” “Fear of Falling,” and (uncharacteristically for me) “You Really Take My Breath Away,” the closing track to the original album.
“Afraid of You” has grown on me over the years, and now it’s probably my favorite track from this album…in fact I can visualize a perfect music video for it. A sample of the lyrics to convey its sense of urgency and doubt (as well as obsession):
to you and you alone I lay
the burdens of my heart, I say are bleeding
can’t you remember them?
move across to touch my hand
controller of my soul again
have I really got control of myself?
gotta really get control of myself
I’m so afraid of you
I don’t know what I’m doing
I’m totally infatuated with you
it’s gonna end in ruin
All in all, this is an outrageously underrated gem of an album. Why it never caught an audience when it was released may be a topic for pop-music historians to debate idly, but now that it’s out on CD I hope a new range of people will find it and come to enjoy it as I do.
Comments © 2005 Mark Ellis Walker, except as noted, and no claim is made to the images and quoted lyrics.