We're digging deep into the realm of forgotten 80's today.
Total Coelo, who I mispronounced for years as Total Coleco, came and went in the early 80's in the blink of an eye, leaving in their wake an obscure hit single in the world of new wave music. Their hit single, I Eat Cannibals (Part 1), is one of those, "Only in the 80's" moments.
The all girl group was formed by Sheen Doran, and Lacey Bond in the summer of 1981, and was soon expanded to include Mindsey Danvers, Ros Holness, and Anita Mahadervan, who would round out the band. Taken from an excerpt from their 1996 released I Eat Cannibals & Other Tasty Trax, Doran said of the band, "The name was discovered by accident," which they took from a thesaurus. The name actually has several different meanings, and Doran would go on to say that it meant, "Heart and soul, and totally different," which to her described what they were. "The name was also strange sounding, hard to pronounce, and it sticks in your mind," she would conclude.
After making their debut, offers started coming from labels big and small, and the girls would make the decision to sign with Radialchoice. They would release their one and only album, Man O' War, in 1983, and while it would find greater success in the UK, Australia, and Sweden, their single, I Eat Cannibals would reach number sixty-six in the USA.
The album is quite the enjoyable hidden gem. It has an enjoyable synthpop / new wave sound, and though it won't deliver top ten tracks, does have a handful of enjoyable tunes. I ended up grabbing their single, I Eat Cannibals (Part 1), Milk From The Coconut (Part 1), Dracula's Tango, Hey Rajah, and (I May Commit) The Perfect Crime.
What they have going for them is catchy-ness in the lyrics. The biggest draw, however, many have been that it was just something "new" to hear, versus the tried and true bands and artists we've all heard a hundred times (or more) over at this point.
I will say that the inclusion of a part one and part two for the songs, I Eat Cannibals, and Milk From The Coconut, feel unnecessarily like filler. There really is no reason for these songs to exist, other than to extend what would otherwise have been a twenty-nine minute album to thirty-seven. I get it. You want people to feel like they're getting their monies worth, but sometimes, less is more.
A fun fact about the group is that they were featured in the film, Grizzly II: Revenge, which was filmed in 1983, but remained unreleased until 2020 when it premiered at the Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival. It was released on DVD as a manufacture on demand in 2021.
There isn't much, if any, information pertaining to why Total Coelo disbanded, and disappeared after their debut album. However, I don't personally see this as a bad thing. Mainly because it's fun to find albums like this hidden in the piles of 80's albums that have long since buried it, and the band. I definitely hope to find more like this as I continue to dig. Readers, feel free to throw some recommendations out there.
While Man O' War was only released on cassette and vinyl, these show up very rarely on secondary markets, and can set you back twenty-five to fifty dollars to grab. This is ultimately driven by the albums scarcity on US shores. Even if you do find one cheap, which you can do, once you introduce shipping charges, you're usually right back around that price point.
With that said, there is a CD option available, and that would be the above noted, I Eat Cannibals & Other Tasty Trax. This was released by label, Razor & Tie in 1996, and is long out of print. While this CD will cost you just as much as a vinyl copy, the appeal is that it contains all the tracks from Man 'O War, as well as additional songs initially unreleased. Of course, the other aspect that makes it desirable is to have a CD format of the album.
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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.
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| THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS February 23, 1980 |
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| THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS February 23, 1985 |
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