Customer Reviews

Battle Hymns for Children Singing

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

For those who have stumbled onto this, you have been blessed. This album has been ridiculously difficult to find. Nobody in 1983, not even now has come close to the purple-punk-hillbilly mushroom trip that a beautiful, leggy, Black-Dreadlocked hair chic that ran around in a bikini and thigh high go-go boots with her nutty sidekick accompished 18 years ago. These guys experimented with turntable scratching, Dub, reggae, electronic and fiddles on a post-punk, nihilistic stage 18 years ago. I think they scared everybody back then with their bubbly-happy death dance. This album is must is you are at all curious of musicians that were unbelivably ahead of their time. would somebody email me what the hell happened to them? I heard one of them died. I gotta have the scoop : chris_ginsburg@hotmail.com -thanks

Its about eighteen years since this album first appeared on vinyl, and now Haysi fans (and yes - there are many!) are thrilled to see its release on CD at long last.

The album contains the songs which made Haysi Fantayzee such a media and pop phenomenon here in the UK - the style of Kate and Jeremiah visually was always a clue to the music, but the content of that music escaped many. "Sabres Of Paradise" focussed on suicide, while "John Wayne Is Big Leggy" concerned itself with a stab in the eye of racism. And the ubiquitous "Shiny Shiny" was more than just a modern nursery rhyme - the song took a quirky look at an impending apocalypse.

This album is a treat not only on its own merits, but also because of the inclusion of the 12" versions of many of the singles - the Groovy Long Version of "John Wayne" is more fun than a bouncy castle in summertime, and the remix of "Sister Friction" is nothing short of thrilling. The only thing that would have improved the track listing would have been the inclusion of Kate's solo single, "Love Me Like A Rocket" - the remix of that was astonishing, with the vocals of a angel and the look of a devil!

Dip beneath the Dickensian stove-pipes and dreadlocks and listen to the heart of the music. You won't regret it..

Only one album? They had enough craziness for at least several!

I'd admit it, this CD needs some getting used to, but once that is done, you'll like most of the songs. I still don't know about that "John Wayne" one and "Here Comes the Beast" though. However, Jeremy and Kate can rival other New Wave artists.

My favorites: "Holy Joe", "Sister Friction", "Jimmy Jive Jive", and of course, the one hit in the United States, "Shiny Shiny". Track 15 is funny to listen to at first, Jeremy and Kate can be very silly at the same time.

Recommend for big New Wave fans.

What a truly mad reggae-hillbilly new wave experiment this album was! Jeremy "Haysi" Healy and Kate "Fantayzee" Garner were true subversives beneath their seemingly bubblegum veneer and their outrageous raggamuffin fashions. "Shiny Shiny" has garnered (no pun intended!) them a "one-hit wonder" designation here in the States, but was anyone paying attention to the scattershot post-apocalyptic lyrics? This album contains some truly dark visions ("Sabres of Paradise" is downright creepy), sexual subtext and sociopolitical mockery. No, they weren't shallow and innocuous new wavers like so many think; they were like cheerfully wicked and perverse nursery rhyme characters. All the while, the music is deliciously danceable and quirky. Besides the aforementioned, don't miss "Jimmy Jive Jive", "John Wayne is Big Leggy" and "Sister Friction"; and the bonus tracks and 12" mixes make this a completists dream come true.

No one really knew what to make of Haysi Fantayzee when they hit the airwaves in the early 1980s, and I'm not so sure we're any better off now. Take one part synth-pop, two parts new wave, and a dash of country thrown in here and there for good measure, and top it all off with some Buffalo Gal-esque duds, and that's Haysi Fantayzee.

Interestingly enough, I think most of this cd stands up reasonably well to the test of time. "Shiny Shiny" and "John Wayne is Big Leggy" are just plain fun, without a lot of to 80s musical trappings you find in, say, Duran Duran or OMD, that make you wince and wonder "Good lord, what were we thinking?"
Best of all, I can finally stop guarding my prized, very well-worn cassette version.

First off, about the sound- I never really had much complaint about the sound on the first release. It was so thrilling to hear these songs on CD for the first time I doubt anything could have made it less than exciting for me. Perhaps it's all relative to one's own tastes, but I really don't see that the original needed much improvement. But, neither does this one.

Secondly, I enjoyed the debut of the previously unheard demo-remix of Shiny Shiny. It would be nice to have included the original UK 12" mix of it as well, but this new release also does not feature that version. It's the US RCA company version which is actually just an exercise in tape editing and not really much of a remix. It disappointed on vinyl, so it can't be much more exciting on CD. This does have one extra song, though- the B-side of "Sister Friction" called "Jimmy Jive", which is a dub remix of the album track with a similar name.

The booklet of this version is very pretty, and I really enjoyed the updates on all members, as well as the track- by - track reminisces from Kate & Jeremy. The discography seems to have been lifted from the Culture Club "Chameleon Files" website without any credit given (or correction of errors). Two of the later 12" releases are not included in this discography- the promo only one-sided "In The Mix" 12" and the Italian only 12" of "Chizoola / Here Comes The Beast".

All in all, this is a great CD to have if you never found a copy of the 2000 release (and certainly a better buy than the near $100 price tags it was getting on ebay!), but if you have that release, this one offers few improvements, outside of the booklet. It's perfect for completists like myself, and any one who wishes the Haysi Fan Clubee was still around.

I remember watching their videos when the band started out in the early 1980s. I stretched my audiotape years ago, and finally I now have the album on CD. Possibly requires an acquired taste in music, certainly extremely dissimilar to the other UK bands of around the same time.

This album was a staple of listening pleasure in my automobile as a young man. Unfortunately, that cassette tape could not endure the endless hours of use and less than ideal environment in my vehicle. I had to accept that some of my favorite music died along with that cassette tape. Many thanks to Cherry Pop and everyone else that helped make this available on a longer lasting, more versatile media format. Highly recommend this for anyone interested in something a little off the beaten path of mainstream music.

THIS CD WAS SOMETHING I THOUGHT I WOULD LOVE TO HAVE BECAUSE THE 12" MIX OF SHINY SHINY WAS A GREAT DANCE TRACK BACK IN 1983 WHEN I WAS A WORKING D.J.

BUT THE AUSTRALIAN 12" MIX WE HAD IS NOT ON THIS C.D. BUT THE INFERIOR AND LAME "DANCE MIX" WHICH DOESN'T REALLY RESEMBLE THE WONDERFUL CLIVE WHITSTANLEY/ALAN LANGER 12" REMIX WE HAD IN OZ.

I WAITED 4 YEARS TO GET THIS C.D. SECOND HAND AND IT HASN'T GOT THE ONE TRUE GENIUS 12" REMIX....WHAT WERE "RAZOR AND TIE" THINKING WHEN THEY COMPILED THIS C.D.????

"JOHN WAYNE IS BIG LEGGY" REMIX IS ALSO JUST A PALE REMIX OF THE ONE WE HAD IN AUSTRALIA BACK IN THE 1980S.

IF ANYONE CAN FIND THE "REAL REMIXES" OF SHINY SHINY ON A C.D. SOMWHERE IN THE WORLD PLEASE CONTACT ME AT: TOMWYNN007 <AT> HOTMAIL <DOT> COM

I'M SO SAD, I PAID $82 AMERICAN DOLLARS FOR THIS PILE OF LESS TAHN AVERAGE FILLER.

TOM WYNN
AUSTRALIA

OK so this is the second time I have ordered a Haysi Fantayzee CD thinking I would finally get the extended version of Shiny Shiny...but NOOOOO this CD contains another version made by some second rate tape editor who just fiddled a bit with the single version and added an extra minute of guff repeated over and over.....YECH!.....the only place so far I have found the real extended version is on an Aussie DVD called Countdown-The Wonder Years. So it looks like the real 12" of Shiny Shiny is lost to us all. Shame on the person who put this CD out, it is plastic landfill. Sad customer from OZ, Tom Wynn.