Boney M - 1985 - Eye Dance

Boney M - 1985 - Eye Dance

Label: Hansa
Catalog#: 207 100-620
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: Europe
Released: 1985
Genre: Electronic
Style: Synth-pop
Credits: Arranged By, Keyboards, Programmed By - Harry Baierl , Pit Löw
Arranged By, Keyboards, Programmed By, Guitar, Bass - Mats Björklund
Artwork By [Cover Design] - David Simic
Drums - Curt Cress
Engineer - Bernd Berwanger , Carmine Di , Michael Bestmann , Tammy Grohé
Producer - Frank Farian
Vocals - Bobby Farrell , Liz Mitchell , Maizie Williams , Marcia Barrett , Reggie Tsiboe
Notes: Recorded and mixed at: Far Studios, Rosbach; Basic Studio, München.

Tracklisting:

A1 Young, Free And Single (4:15)
A2 Todos Buenos (3:58)
A3 Give It Up (3:55)
A4 Sample City (3:35)
A5 My Chérie Amour (4:15)
B1 Eye Dance (3:50)
B2 Got Cha Loco (3:55)
B3 Dreadlock Holiday (4:15)
B4 Chica Da Silva (3:50)
B5 Bang Bang Lulu (3:55)

Codec: Lame 3.92
Quality: CBR, 320kbps, stereo

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Review by Søren Jensen http://rateyourmusic.com

Liz Mitchell once described the making of this last studio album by Boney M. as "a complete mess". 'Eye Dance' was stamped by an incertainty in which musical direction to go, and with a striking indifference by Farian who seemed much more interested in his new co-operation with members from Toto as FAR Corporation.Packaged in an anonymous cover without the familiar logo andwith the group only portrayed in five individual photos on the backcover, it simply didn't appeal neither visually nor musically to the fans, and with the massive absense of Liz Mitchell & Marcia Barrett's vocals, this came off more as an aborted Reggie Tsiboe solo album, only turned into a Boney M. album in the very last minute. The first single released in Spring 1985 was promising, though, a sunny up-beat version of Stevie Wonder's 'My Cherie Amour' was released. Much repeating the formula of 'Kalimba De Luna', Reggie is doing the lead vocal, and Amy & Elaine Goff sing the light backing vocals. The full-length 9-minutes version was a musical extravaganza, a great recording, although the 7" single edit didn't maintain quite the same magic. The B-side 'Sample City' also didn't showcase neither Liz nor Marcia. With lead- and backing vocals all by Farian himself, the song was based on a rock-oriented backing track of 'I Can't Stand The Rain'. Whereas 'My Cherie Amour' was intended to repeat the success of 'Kalimba De Luna', Farian similarly released a counterpart to 'Happy Song', a solo single by Bobby Farrell: 'King Of Dancing' which was a reworked version of Boney M.'s 'Dancing In The Streets' backed with the Farian / Rulofs penned track 'I See You'. None of them was to be included on the subsequent album as this single was a flop. In August, when the album was nearly completed, 'Young Free And Single' credited to Boney M. feat. Bobby Farrell was released as a forerunner. In itself a great hi-NRG track, introducing new song writers Mary Applegate and Robert Rayen in the team, but the highly synthesized sound, Bobby's voice disguised in a vocoder, and Liz & Marcia only doing the answer-back lines in the verses, it didn't sound like Boney M. at all also due to the fact that arranger Stefan Klinkhammer, who arranged all the Top 10 Hits prior and therefore highly connected with the typical Boney M. sound, wasn't part of the whole 'Eye Dance' album. It was also clear that the group themselves didn't really know how to act while promoting the single on TV, now having both Bobby & Reggie in the line-up. 'Young Free And Single', backed with an instrumental dub version entitled 'Blue Beach', failed to excite the old fans, and with Boney M. now being hopelessly out of fashion, it failed to capture the young audience it was aimed towards. It was the opening track of the album, followed by the latin flavoured 'Todos Buenos' which despite a catchy melody line and a hook-laden chorus failed to be the happy, holiday-flavoured summer hit it pretends to be. As with 'Young, Free And Single', it comes off too synthetic, the drums too cold and clinical, and the production remarkably short of ideas. Farian's apparent lack of any interest in Liz and Marcia can also be seen by the fact that the chorus is sung by La Mama ladies Madeleine Davis & Patricia Shockley together with former Silver Convention vocalist Rhonda Heath. They also did the chorus of the following track, the R&B-flavoured 'Give It Up', a good song with Reggie on lead vocal but again the musical arrangement comes off somewhat lacklustre. Side 1 concludes with 'Sample City' and 'My Cherie Amour'. Side 2 opens with the title track which is one of the better cuts on the album, although Farian singing both the deep voice and the high falsetto voice himself. The failed funk try-to-be 'Got Cha Loco' was the first track on the album to feature Liz Mitchell on lead vocal and the original Farian-Mitchell-Barrett sound on the chorus but remains flat, dull, repetitive, simply uninteresting. A cover version of 10CC's 'Dreadlock Holiday', sung by Reggie & Farian, was much better but didn't really fit a Boney M. album. The track was planned as the next single off the album and was also the finale in Boney M.'s subsequent anniversary show but eventually never materialized although an excellent remix with re-recorded vocals by Farian was released 1987 as Top Deck, backed with an instrumental dub version of 'Todos Buenos'. It was also this remix of 'Dreadlock Holiday' that was included on Boney M.'s 'More Gold' compilation 1994. 'Chica Da Silva' is the only song on the 'Eye Dance' album that actually sounds like Boney M. The fact that Farian co-penned the song with Reyam and C. Courage who were no longer working with him makes it very likely that this was originally composed for the 'Boonoonoonoos' album, being arguably too similar to 'Consuela Biaz' ... 'Chica Da Silva' was the only other song on the album, besides 'Got Cha Loco', with Liz on the lead vocal. Farian offered her the lead vocal of the closing track, calypso-flavoured version of the traditional 'Bang Bang Lulu', but Liz declined, finding the lyrics too vulgar, and the song was handed over to Reggie. A remix of was released on single by summer 1986 but flopped badly - the song remains a #1 hate title by fans. 'Eye Dance' does have its moments but as an album concept, it is hugely disappointing, and the question is if we hadn't been better off without it ...