#100 (!!!)
April 21 1984
Bananarama
Bananarama
3.5 out of 5
Highlights:
Cruel Summer
Robert DeNiro’s Waiting
We’ve reached album 100 (and, just to inform you, that’s about a quarter of the way through the list…wow) and I am celebrating that milestone with a first full listen to Bananarama’s self-titled smash.
Yeah, that’s right. I’ve never heard this album. Not all the way through. Why isn’t THIS available for streaming, music gatekeepers?
I always thought of Bananarama (Honestly, I think they get less notoriety in the US cuz typing that name is a pain in the ass…I keep adding “na’s”) as a pop group, and they are, but the production is so lush and whimsical that it’s really the pop version of Dreamy-Pop, which takes any and all edges off and also creates distance between the listener and the music. I think it’s ultimately a detraction and grounds the material in the era it was created. There’s no need for a 7+ minute swirly pop song that doesn’t really go anywhere or beg me to get on the dance floor in any meaningful way.
However, big extra points for the subject matter of date rape in “Robert DeNiro’s Waiting” all wrapped up in their sunny disposition. If only it didn’t try too hard to obscure what they want to say.
I wonder what these songs would have sounded like if the Bananarama girls fronted the Bow Wow Wow band?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clQY40rx_90
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