I've written about this song before, so I'm taking the lazy way out and repeating the post from 10 January 2011:-
Bernard Butler and Edwyn Collins had worked together previous to the release of this single. Back in 1995, they co-wrote some material which made it onto b-sides of Edwyn singles and there was the fact that Bernard liked to use Edwyn's studios for much of his production work. They also appeared together on a few music shows.
Message for Jojo is a single released in 2001. It didn't get anywhere near the charts....not sure how many folk in addition to myself bought it (the sticker on the front of the CD case tells me I paid £2.99 from the long-closed Tower Records).
It's a pleasant enough single without being ground-breaking.....the lead vocal is taken by Bernard when it undoubtedly would have been better handled by Edwyn. But believe me, it is a song that gets better with repeated listens.....and the chorus does become quite infectious after a while.
mp3 : Bernard & Edwyn - Message For Jojo
There were two other tracks on the CD single:-
mp3 : Bernard & Edwyn - Can't Do That (The Hoover)
mp3 : Bernard & Edwyn - Clean
The former is a very bizarre but immensely likeable five and a bit minutes. There's a hint of the sort of dance music played by Air about it. I reckon if it was played to you for the first time with no hint who was involved, you would have gotten long odds on guessing it was a collaboration between the former guitarist in Suede and the former frontman of Orange Juice. The latter is a bit disappointing after what has gone before. It's a bit of a nondescript ballad if truth be told.....but you may have a different viewpoint. Again, I feel it might have benefited from Edwyn taking lead vocal.......
SEPTEMBER 2012 UPDATE
Looking on discogs for a photo of the CD single I discovered that there was a 12" version released with the catalogue number SET 084 and this sleeve:-
The tracks on it are:-
1, Barry, Garry & Larry's Message For Jojo (intercepted by Trevor Jackson)
2. Who Said The Victorian Spaceman Can't Do That (Remix)
3. Message For Jojo (Radio Edit)
If any kind reader has these tracks, I'd be grateful if you wouldn't mind sharing them with me.
Even better.....if anyone has a copy of the single that they are willing to part with for a reasonable sum of money, I'd love to hear from you.
JC
2 comments:
"Taking the lazy way out..." You can't be accused of that! Always a pleasure to visit TVV.
I agree, a good single with - as is often the case with Edwyn - listenable b sides. Didn't know about remixes, but in my view his alternate versions tend not to be so strong (I've a Japanese release of 'Keep On Burning' which illustrates this, with several to my mind turgid takes on 'Campaign for Real Rock').
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