''Islands'' is the second

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

new wave

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary * Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania * Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, ...

Kajagoogoo Kajagoogoo ( ) were an English Pop music, pop band. They are best known for their 1983 hit single "Too Shy", which reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart, and the top 10 in numerous other countries. History Beginnings (1978–1982) Formed ...

, released on 21 May

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

Background

This was the band's first album without

lead vocalist The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

Limahl Christopher Hamill (born 19 December 1958), known professionally as Limahl ( , an anagram of Hamill), is an English pop singer. He was the lead singer of the pop group Kajagoogoo beginning in 1982, before embarking on a solo career, garnering t ...

, who had been fired by the band in mid-

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

and went on to pursue a solo career.

Bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), keyboard bass (synth bass) or a low br ...

Nick Beggs Nicholas Beggs (born 15 December 1961Larkin, Colin (1997) ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Eighties Music'', Virgin Books, , p. 270-271) is an English musician, noted for playing the bass guitar and the Chapman Stick; he is a member of the Mute Go ...

, already having been the singer in the band's previous incarnation as Art Nouveau, resumed lead vocal and lyric duties. The album was co- produced by the band themselves, now a quartet, along with

Colin Thurston Colin Thurston (b. 1947 – 15 January 2007) was an English recording engineer and record producer, known for his work with David Bowie, Duran Duran and The Human League. Early life Born in Singapore in 1947, Thurston was a guitarist in se ...

, who had also produced their debut album, ''

White Feathers ''White Feathers'' is the debut studio album by the English new wave band Kajagoogoo, released on 18 April 1983 by EMI Records. The album contains their most successful single, "Too Shy", a UK No. 1 hit in February 1983, as well as two other UK ...

'' (1983). It is the final album to date to feature founding

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

Jez Strode.

Release

The album did not sell as well as its predecessor, peaking at #35 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

. The first

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

, "

Big Apple "The Big Apple" is a nickname for New York City. It was first popularized in the 1920s by John J. Fitz Gerald, a sportswriter for the '' New York Morning Telegraph''. Its popularity since the 1970s is due in part to a promotional campaign by t ...

", reached #8 in the UK, but subsequent singles were less successful, with "The Lion's Mouth" peaking at #25 and "Turn Your Back on Me" only reaching #47. The band had shortened their name to Kaja by the time the album was rolled out in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

, where ''Islands'' was released as ''Extra Play'' with different artwork. This edition also replaces the album version of "Turn Your Back on Me" with a

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

by Steve Thompson and

Michael Barbiero Michael Francis Barbiero (born June 25, 1949)Infidel Biography
. Infidel Records. Retrie ...

, which was released as a single and reached #2 on the US dance charts. Despite this, the album stalled at #185 on the ''Billboard'' 200. In 2004, the original UK album was

remaster A remaster is a change in the sound or image quality of previously created forms of media, whether Mastering (audio), audiophonic, Cinematography, cinematic, or Videography, videographic. The resulting product is said to be remastered. The term ...

ed and issued on CD for the first time, along with seven

bonus tracks An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century a ...

Track listing

All songs written by Kajagoogoo. Side one #"The Lion's Mouth" – 3:32 #"

" – 4:09 #"The Power to Forgive" – 4:45 #"Melting the Ice Away" – 5:10 Side two #"Turn Your Back on Me" – 3:58 #"Islands" – 4:52 #"On a Plane" – 4:14 #"Part of Me Is You" – 3:52 #"The Loop (Instrumental)" – 4:40 2004 CD bonus tracks #

"Turn Your Back on Me (Thompson & Barbiero US Mix)" – 3:56 #"The Pump Rooms of Bath (Instrumental)" – 2:31 #"The Garden (Instrumental)" – 2:51 #"Monochromatic (Live)" - 4:08 #"Big Apple (Metro Mix)" – 6:05 #"The Lion's Mouth (The Beast Mix)" – 5:37 #"Turn Your Back on Me (Extended Dance Mix)" – 5:03

Personnel

Kajagoogoo *

– vocal (tracks 1–8), bass guitar (tracks 1–4, 7), Chapman Stick (tracks 1, 5, 9), percussion (tracks 1, 2, 5, 7, 9), fretless bass (tracks 6, 8) *Stuart Neale – synthesizers (tracks 1–9), backing vocals (tracks 1, 2, 5, 7), acoustic piano (tracks 2–4, 6–9),

vocoder A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''vo''ice and en''coder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation. The vocoder wa ...

(tracks 3, 5),

PPG PPG may stand for: Science and technology * Pacific Proving Grounds, a former US-operated nuclear test site * Photoplethysmograph, an optically obtained volumetric measurement of an organ * Pterygopalatine ganglion, one of the four Parasympathet ...

programming (tracks 4, 5, 7, 9), percussion (track 6), sequencer (track 8) *Steve Askew – guitars (tracks 1–3, 5, 6), percussion (track 2), semi acoustic guitars (tracks 4, 7, 9), backing vocals (track 5), effects (track 6), electric guitar (tracks 7–9), semi acoustic Spanish guitar (track 8) *Jez Strode – drums (tracks 1–9), percussion (tracks 1–5, 7–9), programming (tracks 5, 6, 8) Additional musicians *

- backing vocals (tracks 1, 3–5, 7), percussion (track 2), vocoder (track 5) *

Guy Barker Guy Jeffrey Barker, (born 26 December 1957) is an English jazz trumpeter and composer. Early life Barker was born in Chiswick, London, the son of an actress and a stuntman. He started playing the trumpet at the age of twelve, and within a year ...

– trumpets (tracks 1, 2, 7, 9) *Phil Todd – saxophones (tracks 1, 3, 7, 9), solo (track 7), flutes (track 7) *Chris Hunter – saxophone (tracks 1, 2, 7) *Pete Beachill – trombone (tracks 1, 8, 9) *Annie McCaig – backing vocals (tracks 4, 8) *David Geawt – backing vocals (track 5) Technical *Colin Thurston – co-producer *

– co-producer, brass arrangements (track 8) *Guy Barker – brass arrangements (track 9) *Phil Todd – brass arrangements (track 9) *Rob Hahnet with Terry & Mark – engineers (Jacob's Studios) *Mark, Neil, Trevor & John – engineers (Roundhouse) *Robin & Chris – engineers (Good Earth) *Andy & Hutch – engineers (Farmyard) *Steve Chase – engineer ( The Manor) *Dick Jones – assistant engineer *Gordon Vicary – cutting engineer *Kathy Bryan – mastering *Richard Haughton – band photos *Markus Robinson – lighting *Tim - Gud Luc – make-up *

Toni & Guy Toni & Guy (stylised as TONI&GUY) is a British international chain of hairdressing salons founded in the UK in 1963 by brothers Toni and Guy Mascolo. History In 1963, Toni Mascolo and his brother Guy opened their first salon in Clapham, Londo ...

– hairdressers *

Mick Karn Andonis Michaelides (Greek: Αντώνης Μιχαηλίδης; 24 July 1958 – 4 January 2011), better known as Mick Karn, was a British musician who rose to fame as the bassist for the art rock/ new wave band Japan. His distinctive fretles ...

– inner photo (Thai picture) *Cream – original sleeve design *The Red Room – re-issue design *Nigel Reeve – re-issue project coordination

References

External links

*
KajaFax – The Officially Approved Limahl & Kajagoogoo Community & Fan Club

Unofficial Limahl & Kajagoogoo YouTube video archives
{{Authority control 1984 albums Kajagoogoo albums Albums produced by Colin Thurston EMI Records albums