Customer Reviews

Nancy Boy

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

 

 

Seriously. I don't know why Nancy Boy is almost unheard of or why there are, what, 42 used copies for sale here? I'm completely obsessed with their music. Everyone should check it out.

Yikes! For the price, you can hardly go wrong.
This is a band featuring the sons of Donovan (Mellow Yellow) &
Mike Nesmith (Monkees). A retro throw back to glam - a bit of Bowie meets the Cars or something like that....and it rocks!
Still holding on to my copy.

Highly underrated lead vocalist, Donovan Leitch (Now of Camp Freddy fame, and has also worked with Velvet Revolver) is truly a gifted musician. Let's not forget that he's the son of folk singer Donovan, and Michael Nesmith's son Jason Nesmith on guitar. This record spans driving rock, glam, even a few beautiful very moving ballads.

Any fan of Camp Freddy, David Bowie, or Iggy Pop needs to have this record. You simply will not be disappointed.

One of the odder curios of 1996 is this release from a couple of famous sons: Donovan Leitch (yes, son of the "Mellow Yellow" fellow) and Jason Nesmith (son of Monkee wool hat man, Mike Nesmith) were the core duo of Nancy Boy. Their Dads may have bought them their first guitars, but the influence comes from another DNA entirely. These guys have obviously spent a heck of a lot of time absorbing David Bowie circa Ziggy Stardust as youngsters. The five members of also Nancy Boy played with their androgyny - Leitch's stint as a supermodel didn't help, either - to the point that they may as well have been Jobriath, but it also meant that no-one outside of progressive New-Wave outlets (ala Los Angeles' K-ROQ) ever heard of them. "Johnny Gold and Silver" was their almost hit, with its combo of Duran Duran/Rio riff and Bowie inflections.

There are plenty of cool tunes to be found here, like "Foxtrot" "Deep Sleep Motel" and "I Don't Mind." Producer Shel Talmy did one of his rare latter day productions for these guys (his forte included early groundbreaking songs from The Kinks and The Who!), which meant the songs sounded crisp and sharp. All the ingredients were there, but no-one was biting.

Other than the rare indie disc "Promosexual" (good luck finding it), this was their sole CD. Nancy Boy were delightfully affected, churning out fun glam ditties when everyone else was still riding grunge. Meaning nobody was paying attention, and their name blotted them out of more than a few playlists. Not surprisingly, they did get a track on the drag-fest Wigstock Soundtrack. For the most part, this is one of the best albums of 1984...too bad it came out in 1996 and even their proud Pops could lift it from obscurity. For the curious only.

It's more than a bit puzzling to see this great record sloshing around Amazon's $0.01 used bin. What we have here is a wonderful throwback to the T.Rex/Bowie era of crunchy glam rock, updated for the 90s. Aside from the obvious Aladdin Sane/Electric Warrior influences, other (minor) touchstones include the bouncy new wave of Devo and New Order (at times), but maintains a tough guitar-driven edge throughout. Recommended tracks: Deep Sleep Motel, Rocking Chair, Mother's Ruin, Can You Dig It? . it also features a reprise of their best known single, 'Johnny Chrome and Silver', which originally appeared on 1995's Promosexual. That's worth picking up too, as it features a great cover of Gary Numan's 'Are Friends Electric?'

I really like this album. some great songs, with an overall nice flow to the album and good production values. I think if it was released today, would have done a lot better. you cant go wrong for $.01 !!! for those not in L.A., Camp Freddy is a radio show on a local indie rock station thats on every saturday night - you can stream it live at indie1031 dot com.