Continuing my rummage into obscurity, I unearth, Ēbn-Ōzn.
The group was formed when Ned "Ebn" Liben met Robert "Ozn" Rosen. The duo would spend time together listening to various music in clubs, working on their own sound, and ultimately signing to Arista Records. It was here that they would release their one and only album, Feeling Cavalier.
Their lead single, AEIOU Sometimes Y, would become a mainstay staple on MTV, winning an award for the video, and pushing the single up the club charts. The album is historically noteworthy for being the first ever produced entirely on a computer. Standard these days, mind blowing back then.
Ēbn-Ōzn followed this single with Big Lady (I Wonder), which also became a club charting hit, helped alike its predecessor by its popular music video. However, despite this popularity, the duo never really made a big splash on your average radio station, and as such, seemingly fell into obscurity.
Well, today, I dug up their album, and decided it was time to fire it up for a Retro Spin!
What was interesting to immediately find out was that unlike the lead single, which is predominantly a spoken song, the rest of the album is very pop oriented, with lead singer Rosen singing each track. Quite well, I might ad. I was immediately hooked with track one and two, Big Lady (I Wonder), and Stop Stop Give It Up.
Though my interest dipped a bit from there, I was again piqued by the Rasta flavored Video D.J. It transported me to that sweat spot from the 80's where every style was fair game for artists to play in. Its uniqueness not only helps it to stand out among the other songs from the album, but also makes it a bit more fun to the ears because of how different it is.
It was at this point that the album also started to carve out a touch of rapping, and this led perfectly into the following track, Pop Art Bop. I could start to hear in my head how their single, AEIOU, just a couple songs away in the rotation was going to fit in seamlessly in the album. Which it did.
It does falter under a major misstep of a terrible cover of Rockin' Robin. While it could be said that Michael Jackson did the song justice with his rendering, there's simply no replacing the original Bobby Day release. His version is an iconic rock and roll hit that can never be replaced by any remake.
Everything wrapped up with the simple, but epic instrumental, The Dawn. It was the ultimate cherry on the top. In fact, hearing, Feeling Cavalier, actually bummed me out in a way that the guys never released another album. I would totally be down for hearing more from them.
The two went their separate ways in 1985, with Rosen going on to work
with Scritti Politti, and Liben forming the house group, Dada Nada.
There was a brief resurgence in their popularity in the 90's due to
Beavis and Butt-Head giving the song, AEIOU, a good razing during one of
their segues, but it never led to anything further from them.
Feeling Cavalier is another one of those hidden gems that was sadly lost to vinyl until 2006, when it was re-released by Wounded Bird Records. However, just as it came out of nowhere, it quickly disappeared out of print. As such, CD copies are not only rare, they are expensive. I dropped $75.00 on this, and was ecstatic to find myself getting my monies worth.
Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.
Disclaimer: They Toy Box does not endorse or contribute to piracy. Retro Spins posts are intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. None of the music discussed here is available for sale, downloading or distribution.
No comments:
Post a Comment