Skip to content
Permalink
main
Switch branches/tags

web-hack-mirror/mirror/1999/08/28/www.bowwowwow.org/bio.htm

Go to file
 
 
Cannot retrieve contributors at this time
295 lines (295 sloc) 16.9 KB
Raw Blame
Open in GitHub Desktop
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<!-- Created by AOLpress/1.2 -->
<TITLE>Cleopatra Records Bow Wow Wow Bio/Song Samples</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY BGCOLOR="#ffffff" LINK="#00ff00" VLINK="#00ff00" BACKGROUND="images/doggy_white.jpg">
<DIV align="Left">
<TABLE CELLPADDING="0">
<TR>
<TD bgcolor="#008080"><SMALL><FONT face="Arial" color="#FF0000"><A HREF="http://www.adnc.com/web/pwb/">Back
To Bow Wow Wow </A></FONT></SMALL></TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>
<P>
Note: All Songs take 2-3 minutes to download
<DIV align="Left">
<TABLE CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="0">
<TR>
<TD bgcolor="#808080"><SMALL><FONT face="Arial" color="#FFFFFF"><STRONG>Song
Name</STRONG></FONT></SMALL></TD>
<TD bgcolor="#808080"><SMALL><FONT face="Arial" color="#FFFFFF"><STRONG>Length
/ Size</STRONG></FONT></SMALL></TD>
<TD bgcolor="#808080"><FONT face="Arial" color="#FFFFFF"><STRONG><SMALL>Information</SMALL></STRONG></FONT></TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD bgcolor="#008080"><SMALL><FONT face="Arial" color="#FF0000"><A HREF="sounds/prince.ra"><SMALL>Prince
Of Darkness</SMALL></A></FONT></SMALL></TD>
<TD bgcolor="#008080"><SMALL><FONT face="Arial" color="#FFFF80"><SMALL>01:04
/ 260Kb </SMALL></FONT></SMALL></TD>
<TD bgcolor="#008080"><SMALL><FONT face="Arial" color="#FFFFFF"><SMALL>Live
(Edit)</SMALL></FONT></SMALL></TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD bgcolor="#008080"><SMALL><FONT face="Arial" color="#FF0000"><A HREF="sounds/doya.ra"><SMALL>Do
You Wanna Hold Me</SMALL></A></FONT></SMALL></TD>
<TD bgcolor="#008080"><SMALL><FONT face="Arial" color="#FFFF80"><SMALL>01:04
/ 260Kb </SMALL></FONT></SMALL></TD>
<TD bgcolor="#008080"><SMALL><FONT face="Arial" color="#FFFFFF"><SMALL>CKB
Mix (Edit)</SMALL></FONT></SMALL></TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD bgcolor="#008080"><SMALL><FONT face="Arial" color="#FF0000"><A HREF="sounds/jungle.ra"><SMALL>
See Jungle</SMALL></A></FONT></SMALL></TD>
<TD bgcolor="#008080"><SMALL><FONT face="Arial" color="#FFFF80"><SMALL>01:06
/ 270Kb</SMALL></FONT></SMALL></TD>
<TD bgcolor="#008080"><SMALL><FONT face="Arial" color="#FFFFFF"><SMALL>Live
(Edit)</SMALL></FONT></SMALL></TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD bgcolor="#008080"><SMALL><FONT face="Arial" color="#FF0080"><A HREF="sounds/buddy.ra"><SMALL>What's
The Time (Hey Buddy) </SMALL></A></FONT></SMALL></TD>
<TD bgcolor="#008080"><SMALL><FONT face="Arial" color="#FFFF80"><SMALL>00:52
/ 214Kb</SMALL></FONT></SMALL></TD>
<TD bgcolor="#008080"><SMALL><FONT face="Arial" color="#FFFFFF"><SMALL>Live
(Edit)</SMALL></FONT></SMALL></TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD bgcolor="#008080"><SMALL><FONT face="Arial" color="#FFFF80">Get A Free
RealPlayer Here <SMALL></SMALL></FONT></SMALL></TD>
<TD bgcolor="#008080"><SMALL><FONT face="Arial" color="#FF0000"><A HREF="http://www.real.com/products/player/index.html?src=downloadr"
target="_blank">PeeCee</A><SMALL></SMALL></FONT></SMALL></TD>
<TD bgcolor="#008080"><SMALL><FONT face="Arial" color="#FF0000"><A HREF="http://www.real.com/products/player/index.html?src=downloadr"
target="_blank">MAC</A><SMALL></SMALL></FONT></SMALL></TD>
<TD bgcolor="#008080"><SMALL><FONT face="Arial" color="#FF0000"><SMALL></SMALL></FONT></SMALL></TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD bgcolor="#808080"><SMALL><FONT face="Arial" color="#FF0000"><STRONG>Images
from the CD</STRONG><SMALL></SMALL></FONT></SMALL></TD>
<TD bgcolor="#808080"><SMALL><FONT face="Arial" color="#FF0000"><A href="http://www.adnc.com/web/pwb/wild.htm"
Target=_Blank""> Click</A></FONT></SMALL></TD>
<TD bgcolor="#808080"><SMALL><FONT face="Arial" color="#FF0000"><A href="http://www.adnc.com/web/pwb/wild.htm"
Target=_Blank""> Click</A><SMALL></SMALL></FONT></SMALL></TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>
</DIV>
<DIV align="Left">
<TABLE CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="0">
<TR>
<TD bgcolor="#008080"><SMALL><FONT face="Arial" color="#FFFF80">All Music
Copyright &copy; 1999 Cleopatra Records</FONT></SMALL></TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>
</DIV>
<P>
</DIV>
<CENTER>
<TABLE CELLSPACING="6" CELLPADDING="7">
<TR>
<TD><P ALIGN=Center>
<FONT SIZE=+4>B</FONT><FONT SIZE=+2>OW</FONT><FONT SIZE=+4>W</FONT><FONT
SIZE=+2>OW</FONT><FONT SIZE=+4>W</FONT><FONT SIZE=+2>OW</FONT>
<CENTER>
<P ALIGN=Left>
With thundering African/latin percussion and twangy, Duane Eddy guitars,
Bow Wow Wow struggled to maintain a consistent image and sound through a
host of record producers in their short life span. Bow Wow Wow's history
may be short but it's complex. Over their 4 album life span, Bow Wow Wow's
music ranges from simple, goofy, non-sensical tunes to complex, crisp pop
masterpieces. Bow Wow Wow's music has been described as a pastiche of Latin
and African beats, 50s rock and roll, and spaghetti western soundtracks.
The band packaged all of this together with an incredible sense of humor
and vigor.<BR>
<P ALIGN=Left>
Despite the numerous people who shaped and re-shaped their sound from 1980-1983,
a strong Bow Wow Wow identity remained intact. That unique style created
a wonderful antithesis to the gloom of the London and US music in the early
80s. Unemployment and inflation were at record highs in both countries. As
Annabella Lwin (lead singer) said in 1981: "I Hate London. It's just really
horrible. I just really hate it. It's depressing, you know. At the moment
anyway, it's depressing."<BR>
<P ALIGN=Left>
<B>Let's start at the beginning.<BR>
</B>
<P ALIGN=Left>
The year is 1980 and the place is London. Adam and the Ants were moving away
from their Dirk Wears White Sox" punk days to adopting the driving rhythms
of the central African Burundi tribe, the war paint of Native Americans,
pirate costumes and swashbuckling antics. This change came about through
the mechanisms of ex-manager/image consultant of the Sex Pistols, Malcolm
Mclaren. According to legend, after charging 1000 pounds for his advice and
consultation, the Ants (Dave Barbarossa, Matthew Ashman and Leigh Gorman)
fell prey to McLaren's charm and left Adam to find other Ants, As Matthew
put it: "I was an Ant. It was a horrendous experience. I'm really glad I'm
out of the band. McLaren came along to be our manager in the Ants and he
told us to kick Adam out. So we did. Adam was writing all the songs before
McLaren came along..and Adam wasn't very good really. Didn't really like
him really. He wasn't very good at dancing and I thought he was a bit old.
He was 25...so we kicked him out."<BR>
<P ALIGN=Left>
McLaren knew the group needed a lead singer. Legend has it that McLaren
discovered the 14-year old Myant Myant Aye (Burmese for "cool, cool, high")
singing in a North London dry cleaners. Actually, according to Annabella,
one of McLaren's people came into the dry cleaners where she was working
part-time after school and asked her if she wanted to audition for the band.
She showed up at the audition and got the part. McLaren changed her name
to Annabella Lwin (pronounced Lu-win) for English speaking palates. Annabella
was born in Rangoon (capitol of Burma) and had migrated to England.<BR>
<P ALIGN=Left>
With Annabella's voice, smarts and charm, she fit McLaren's vision of a musical
experience that would be part high camp and high concept, with a huge dose
of adolescent sex and innocence. Bow Wow Wow was now ready to record. According
to most accounts, the name means nothing. It was rumored that they came up
with their bizarre name as a homage to the trademark of the RCA label-the
dog listening to the phonograph. However, Bow Wow Wow were not on RCA when
they named themselves. Their first contract was with EMI. So that theory
doesn't work. When asked about the group's name, Leigh Gorman said "a dog
came up and said it to me one day." I'll leave that for you to interpret.<BR>
<P ALIGN=Left>
Bow Wow Wow's first release came in the form of the world's first-ever cassette
single. In July 1980, EMI released "C30, C60, C90 Go" only on cassette in
the UK with "Sun, Sea and Privacy" to accompany it. The single was followed
by another cassette-only UK-release, "You Cassette Pet," an extended cassette
EP featuring eight snappy tracks. One featured vinyl single came from this
EP, "WORK" was released in march of 1981 with "C30 C60 C90, Anda" to accompany
it. Though McLaren's weak production on the EP and singles make the band
sound cheap and undeveloped, the band's energy and potential make up for
the lack of quality recording.<BR>
<P ALIGN=Left>
Lieutenant Lush arrived on the scene. A camp follower of the group Lush began
co-fronting the group with Lwin and was booed off the stage at the Rainbow
Theatre gig in 1981 and was dropped from the line-up. Lieutentant Lush changed
his name to Boy George and created Culture Club.<BR>
<P ALIGN=Left>
<B>See Jungle!-Bow Wow Wow's first album</B><BR>
<P ALIGN=Left>
In 1981, McLaren, unhappy with the band's limited success on EMI, took the
gang (now sporting mohawk hair cuts) over to RCA. The band's first full album
was release don RCA with possibly one of the most bizarre titles ever to
grace any album cover. "See Jungle! See Jungle! Go Join Your Gang Yeah! City
All Over, Go Ape Crazy." According to Matthew Ashman, the original title
of the album was "Ronnie Reagan, Sue Ellen, Cassanova, Botticelli, in a time,
never, never, Queen Diana, Rockefeller" )a line from TV Savage which includes
Sue Ellen, who was the wife of JR on TV's Dallas, a big hit in the UK and
US at the time of the album's release). But, Ashman said: "That's what we
wanted the album to be called. But people at RCA just, I don't know, didn't
like the idea of Ronnie Reagan being on the album cover. Just his name. We
weren't slaggin' the bloke, I don't mind Ronnie. He's alright."<BR>
<P ALIGN=Left>
The album cover art caused quite a stir. For the cover of "See Jungle!",
the group decided to photograph a living recreation of the 1863 Manet painting,
"Dejeuner Sur L'Herbe" (Linch on the Grass). The photo featured Annabella
in the nude, tastefully turned away from the camera. Since she was only 15
at the time, Annabella's mother tried to stop the release of the cover. McLaren
won and the cover was issued amidst controversy of child pornography. The
US version of the album would not feature this photo but still presented
Annabella only slightly covered in a see-through white dress. The "Dejeuner
Sur L'Herbe" cover would not see the US presses until the "Last of the Mohicans"
EP in 1982. The album spawned Bow Wow Wow's first UK top 10 hit, "Go Wild
In the Country." McLaren stepped down from the producer post for this album
and hired a host of various other producers. The band was slowly developing
a unique style in a hit-and-miss fashion. The album received great critical
reviews and was a success in the UK. However, in the US, Bow Wow Wow album
sales were weak.<BR>
<P ALIGN=Left>
This album was finally put onto compact disc in the early 90s by a small
British company called Great Expecations and contains a wonderful set of
mixes. The US version of the album was finally put onto CD by One Way Records
in the summer of 1997 but lacks the extra mixes on the UK version.<BR>
<P ALIGN=Left>
<B>I Want Candy-Bow Wow Wow's second album</B><BR>
<P ALIGN=Left>
Bow Wow Wow's first (and only) US hit would have to wait for the release
of the EP, "Last of the Mohicans" in 1982. That same year, McLaren terminated
his involvement as producer and went on to record his own albums. Producer
Kenny Laguna, who had worked with Joan Jett, was brought in to record "I
want Candy" and to re-record and fix "Louis Quatorze" (which McLaren had
originally produced using a weak mix).<BR>
<P ALIGN=Left>
The single from the EP, "I want Candy," was a top 10 hit in the UK. However,
it barely made it into the top 40 American charts. yet, the song remains
one of the icons of 80s pop and still receives airplay today on radio, in
soundtracks, and it appears on numerous 80s compilation CDs. Somehow, looking
back, that song seems to define something essential about the early 80s.
One, it marked a return to the 3 (actually 2:44) minute pop song. Two, the
look of the band was just right for MTV and the "beach party" video received
much needed airplay. There, it offered a wonderful much-needed optimism for
pop and "new wave" fans.<BR>
<P ALIGN=Left>
With the success of the single, the band needed to release a full-length
album. The compilation LP "I want Candy" was released immediately in 2 different
forms (US and UK version.) The US version included all of the music from
the "Last of the Mohicans" EP, some remixed songs from "See Jungle!" and
new songs like "Baby, Oh No!" and "El Boss Dicho." This album featured a
total of four producers: Kenny Laguna, Brian Tench (Kate Bush), Colin Thurston
(Talk Talk and Duran Duran), and Ritchie Cordell (Joan Jett.) With a mix
of producers, the album itself had mixed results. This album was digitally
remastered in 1993 and released on CD in its entirety by RCA (BMG.)<BR>
<P ALIGN=Left>
<B>12 Original Recordings--Bow Wow Wow's third album</B><BR>
<P ALIGN=Left>
Also in 1982, EMI wanted to cash in on the US success of RCA's "I want Candy."
So Harvest/EMI released the compilation album called "12 Original Recordings."
This compilation would take the original 8 tracks from "your Cassette Pet"
and the two tracks from the "C30 C60 C90" cassette single and add the tracks
"Mile High Club" (different version with longer spoken intro) and the extended
version of "WORK." "12 Original Recordings" features songs that were produced
mainly by McLaren but with others involved. This album essentially is the
British "I Want Candy" LP minus several tracks.<BR>
<P ALIGN=Left>
This LP would eventually go to CD on EMI's 1993 release" "Girl Bites Dog:
Your Compact Disc Pet." Six other tracks were added to the line up including
"Bow Wow Wow," "Sex," "Work, (single version), "Theme A," "Cast Iron Arm,"
and "C30 C60 C90" (the spanish version of C30..)<BR>
<P ALIGN=Left>
<B>When the Going Gets Tough The Tough Get Going--Bow Wow Wow's fourth and
Final (?) album</B><BR>
<P ALIGN=Left>
For their final album in 1983, the band brought in the wonderfully talented
producer Mike Chapman who had been having great success with bands like Blondie
(who had just split up). The result was the band's first album that had a
clean unified sound. However Bow Wow Wow fans did not like this new, more
mature, polished pop sound and left in droves. The album was a miserable
failure.
<P ALIGN=Left>
In 1983 tensions in the group were rising and they went their separate ways.
This album was finally put onto compact disc in the early 90's by Great
Expectations. The U.S. version of the album was finally put onto CD by One
Way Records in the Summer of 1997.<BR>
<P ALIGN=Left>
<B>WILD IN THE U.S.A. - BOW WOW WOW'S FIFTH ALBUM</B><BR>
<P ALIGN=Left>
For the first time in over a decade, Annabella and Leigh reunited in December
of 1997 for a 4 month tour of America. They recruited new guitar player Dave
Calhoun (Vapours), as a replacement for original guitarist Matthew Ashman,
who had died of complications from diabetes in 1995. They also brought along
drummer Eshan Khadaroo who replaced original drummer Dave Barbarossa.(aka
Dave Barbe) Dave had prior touring commitments with the band Republica and
could not join the Bow Wow Wow reunion. Dave did, however, have enough time
to train Eshan with his unique style of drumming before the band left England
for their American tour.
<P ALIGN=Left>
The "Barking Mad" tour played to packed houses through April of 1998 which
eventually led to the band signing a record deal with indie giant Cleopatra
Records. The live CD titled "Wild In The U.S.A." was captured from performances
on the 97-98 "Barking Mad" tour. In addition to the live material, the CD
contains studio remixes of "Do You Want To Hold Me," "W.O.R.K.," "C30, C60,
C90 Go!," and "I Want Candy" all featuring vocals by Annabella. The remixes
of the studio tracks also spotlight a who's who of musical guests including
Kevin Haskyns of Love Rockets fame ("C30, C60, C90, Go!"), Spahn Ranch (remix
of W.O.R.K.), Razed in Black (mix of "I Want Candy"), Girl Eats Boy (remix
of "I Want Candy"), CKB (remix of "Do You Want To Hold Me") and Wayne Hussey
of Mission U.K., who worked his magic on the Atomic Dog remix of "W.O.R.K."
just to name a few. <BR>
<BR>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">Reprinted with permission
of</FONT><FONT COLOR="#ff0000">
<A HREF="http://www.hallucinet.com/cleopatra/">Cleopatra Records
</A></FONT><A HREF="http://www.hallucinet.com/cleopatra/"><IMG BORDER="0"
SRC="images/cleosm.jpg" WIDTH="60" HEIGHT="50"></A>
</CENTER>
</TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>
</CENTER>
</BODY></HTML>