Springtime for the World
| Springtime for the World | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by The Blow Monkeys | ||||
| Released | 1990 | |||
| Recorded | 1989 | |||
| Genre | Dance, pop rock, new wave | |||
| Length |
44:58 (LP) 49:24 (MC) 54:02 (CD) |
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| Label | RCA/Ariola/BMG | |||
| Producer | Dr. Robert & Hector for Springtime for the World Productions | |||
| The Blow Monkeys chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |
   link
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| Trouser Press | not rated link |
Springtime for the World was a 1990 album from The Blow Monkeys. The work represented the band's ultimate transformation into a dance music act, a direction that had been slowly started by their biggest hits ever, "It Doesn't Have to Be This Way" (Number 5 in the UK), and the album it was taken from, She Was Only a Grocer's Daughter, which, by reaching Number 20 in the UK Album Chart, in April 1987, became their only LP to enter the British chart.
The Blow Monkeys' next album, Whoops! There Goes the Neighbourhood, out in 1988, and still pervaded by a political undercurrent, enhanced the dancey vibe recently picked up by the band, culminating in their 1989 remix of the opening track, "This Is Your Life", which reached Number 32 in this new version, whereas the original track never got higher than Number 70. This earmarked the group's status as dance innovators, not only by embracing political themes, but also by seeing the potential in the dance/pop experimentation crossover, at a time when the whole dance scene had yet to go overground. It was all this that definitively convinced the group to act for a major change of genre, leading to the composition of the ten dance songs featuring on their last CD - The Blow Monkeys actually split up (after nearly ten years spent together), soon after the release of the Springtime for the World album, in late 1990.
The latter saw that fearless experimentation achieving its full fruition (and, predictably enough, consequent commercial flop). After all, being the band's last long-playing work, their path as a group had to necessarily get to some sort of conclusion, and, not at all casually, the essential red booklet, that came along with the disc, highlighted the phrase "will explode in the midday sun" (from one of the stand-out tracks, but also referred to the album title itself, Springtime for the World, and ideally linked to it, as shown by the non-capital initial letter of the quotation). So, as their label RCA released Choices - The Singles Collection (going gold on release, and reaching Number 5 - their highest achievement ever - in August 1989), The Blow Monkeys were meanwhile working on what would be an eclectic and unusual album which, despite confusing both record company and music critics, has retrospectively become revered as an innovative record, perhaps some way ahead of its time (and that's why it flopped).
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Wikipedia