It's OK, you can say it. We won't judge you, this is a safe place. I'll go first - "I LIKE BONEY M".
There, that wasn't too difficult was it.
Boney M was a bit like ABBA, or eating an ice-cream cone as a teenager. It was a guilty pleasure you didn't want your friends to know about. You were meant to be too 'cool' for that, but when no-one was around you'd be singing ..
"Ra ra Rasputin
Lover of the Russian queen
There was a cat that really was gone"
In the best traditions of The Archies, The Monkees and The Partridge Family, Boney M was created for a purpose. Frank Farian, a German producer singer songwriter put out a single in 1974 called 'Baby Do You Wanna Bump' credited to Boney M. He manipulated his voice on the recording to get low-lows and high-highs. When it started to become a bit of a hit he realised he needed some people to go on the telly and look like a group. He brought together Maizie Williams, Bobby Farrell, Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett.
When they were doing live shows, all 4 of them were on stage singing, along with back-up singers to make it sound good. In reality the recordings were made by Farian, Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett. Farian didn't think the other two voices were suitable for the records.
Farian later went on to 'create' Milli Vanilli, and we all know what happened there.
Regardless of any background shenanigans with voices and studio manipulations and supplemented stage shows, Boney M were popular. Eurodisco had made it big, even in the Soviet Union - although when they toured Moscow in 1978 they weren't allowed to sing 'Rasputin'.
I unashamedly bought this album on the strength of 'Rivers of Babylon' and 'Brown Girl in the Ring' but was pleasantly surprised by their covers of 'King of the Road' and 'Heart of Gold'. Some of the other tracks were a bit disposable, but for it's time, not a bad effort.
One rather spooky coincidence was the death of frontman Bobby Farrell. He passed away on 30 December 2010 in St. Petersburg. Rasputin passed away 30 December 1916 in St. Petersburg. "Oh, those Russians"
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