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A new box from Cherry Red will be the final word on a band whose name sounds like a first word – and wait ’til you see the title of the box, which we can’t stop thinking about.
Box of Goo: The Complete Anthology is an 8CD set devoted to Bedfordshire synth-pop act Kajagoogoo. It includes just about everything the band ever released: the EMI-distributed albums White Feathers (1982), Islands (1984) and Crazy Peoples Right to Speak (1985), the latter released under the name Kaja; a self-released live album from the ’80s, two reunion projects with varying line-ups, and two discs of remixes and B-sides from the EMI era. All five original band members have had creative input into the set, and spoke with John Earls of Classic Pop for the liner notes. Tony Dixon has remastered each album. The set is available November 27.
Formed in the town of Leighton Buzzard, Kajagoogoo were more than odd names. Originally known as a more esoteric group named Art Nouveau – a four-piece featuring Steve Askew on guitar, Nick Beggs on bass and Chapman stick, Jez Strode on drums and Stuart Neale on keyboards – Kajagoogoo took a step toward the mainstream in 1982 with the hiring of singer Christopher Hamill, who went by an anagram of his surname, Limahl. The deft musicianship meshed well with Limahl’s distinct vocals, and a meeting with keyboardist Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran (who were about to have a big year in ’82) led to a deal with their label, EMI. Rhodes and Duran’s producer, Colin Thurston, oversaw debut album White Feathers, which featured the smash “Too Shy” (a U.K. No. 1 and U.S. No. 5 hit) and “Ooh to Be Ah,” another U.K. Top 10.
What happened next was one of the bigger reversals of fortune in U.K. ’80s pop history. An acrimonious falling-out led to Limahl’s expulsion from the band, after which the other members continued on with Beggs as lead vocalist. While lead single “Big Apple” was a third U.K. Top 10, it disappeared quickly, and little could match the success of singles past. Sophomore album Islands (1984) was passed over in America in favor of Extra Play, which featured remixes of some of Islands‘ singles, including a U.S.-exclusive version of “Turn Your Back on Me” mixed by engineers Steve Thompson and Michael Barbiero. Extra Play was released under the shortened name Kaja, as was the group’s final EMI album, 1985’s Crazy Peoples Right to Speak, recorded as a trio of Beggs, Askew and Neale. (Around the same time, Limahl scored his biggest solo hit, the U.K. Top 5/U.S. Top 20 title theme to the fantasy film The NeverEnding Story.)
While all five members briefly reunited for a VH1 series in 2003, the band was back to self-recording 2008’s Gone to the Moon as the same Beggs/Askew/Neale line-up as Kaja. However, Limahl and Strode returned to the fold after the record wrapped, and the Death Defying Headlines EP (available in two separate mixes on one disc) was recorded in 2008, the band’s final output. Box of Goo includes all those albums and EPs, along with two discs of ’80s-era B-sides and remixes and Live in Japan, initially self-released in 2005 and featuring a set recorded on a Japanese tour to promote Islands. The collection is available November 27 and can be pre-ordered at the links below. (As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.)
Kajagoogoo, Box of Goo: The Complete Anthology (Cherry Pop CR8POPBX296 (U.K.), 2026) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
CD 1: White Feathers (EMI EMC 3433 (U.K.)/EMI America ST-17094 (U.S.), 1982)
White Feathers
Too Shy
Lies and Promises
Magician Man
Kajagoogoo (Instrumental)
Ooh to Be Ah
Ergonomics
Hang On Now
This Car is Fast
Frayo
CD 2: Islands (EMI KAJA 1 (U.K.), 1984)
The Lion’s Mouth
Big Apple
The Power to Forgive
Melting the Ice Away
Turn Your Back on Me
Islands
On a Plane
Part of Me is You
The Loop
CD 3: Crazy Peoples Right to Speak (Parlophone KAJA 2 (U.K.)/EMI America ST-17169 (U.S.), 1985)
Do I
Shouldn’t Do That
Your Appetite
Rivers
Sit Down and Shut Up
Afraid of You
Jigsaw
Fear of Falling
Charm of a Gun
You Really Take My Breath Away
CD 4: Mixes and B-Sides
Introduction
Take Another View
Interview Rooms
Animal Instincts
Too Shy (Instrumental Mix)
Hang On Now (Instrumental Mix)
The Pump Rooms of Bath (Instrumental)
The Garden (Instrumental)
Monochromatic (Live)
Too Shy (Midnight Mix)
Ooh to Be Ah (The Construction Mix)
Hang On Now (Extended Version)
Big Apple (Metro Mix)
Turn Your Back on Me (Extended Dance Mix)
The Lion’s Mouth (The Beast Mix)
Hurricane
Whatever You Want
Tracks 1 and 12 from “Hang On Now” U.K. 12″ – EMI 12 EMI 5394, 1983
Tracks 2 and 10 from “Too Shy” U.K. 12″ – EMI 12 EMI 5359, 1983
Tracks 3 and 11 from “Ooh to Be Ah” U.K. 12″ – EMI 12 EMI 5383, 1983
Track 4 from “Ooh to Be Ah” U.K. single – EMI 5383, 1983
Track 5 from “Too Shy” U.K. single – EMI 5359, 1983
Track 6 from “Hang On Now” U.K. single – EMI 5394, 1983
Tracks 7 and 14 from “Turn Your Back on Me” U.K. 12″ – EMI 12 EMI 5465, 1984
Tracks 8 and 15 from “The Lion’s Mouth” U.K. 12″ – EMI 12 EMI 5449, 1984
Tracks 9 and 13 from “Big Apple” U.K. 12″ – EMI 12 EMI 5423, 1983
Tracks 16-17 from “Shouldn’t Do That” U.K. double 7″ – Parlophone RD 6106, 1985
CD 5: Mixes
Too Shy (Midnight Mix Version Two)
Turn Your Back on Me (Flipped Disc Mix)
Turn Your Back on Me (Dub Mix)
Turn Your Back on Me (Thompson & Barbiero U.S. Mix)
Turn Your Back on Me (Bonus Beats)
Shouldn’t Do That (Disciplined)
Shouldn’t Do That (Undisciplined)
Shouldn’t Do That (Chainsaw Party Mix!)
White Feathers (Manhattan Clique Remix Edit)
White Feathers (Manhattan Clique Remix Instrumental)
White Feathers (Manhattan Clique Remix)
Track 1 from “Too Shy” U.S. 12″ – EMI America 7806-1, 1983
Tracks 2-3 from “Turn Your Back on Me” U.S. 12″ – EMI America V-7850-1/2, 1984
Track 4 from Extra Play – EMI America ST-17157 (U.S.), 1984
Track 5 from “Turn Your Back on Me” U.S. promo 12″ – EMI America SPRO-9321, 1984
Tracks 6-7 from “Shouldn’t Do That” U.K. 12″ – Parlophone 12R 6106, 1985
Track 8 from “Shouldn’t Do That” U.K. white-label 12″ – EMI 12RA 6106, 1985
Tracks 9-11 from “White Feathers” digital single Parlophone (no cat. #), 2009
CD 6: Live in Tokyo 1984 (REDdot Music DLKAJA 1, 2005)
Big Apple
Monochromatic
On a Plane
Islands
The Power to Forgive
Too Shy
Lies and Promises
Melting the Ice Away
The Lion’s Mouth
White Feathers
The Loop
Turn Your Back on Me
Ooh to Be Ah
Part of Me is You
Kajagoogoo
All tracks recorded live at Shibuya Koukaidou, Tokyo, Japan – 7/26/1984
CD 7: Death Defying Headlines (self-released (no cat. #), 2008 (1-4)/2009 (5-8))
Death Defying Headlines
Space Cadet
Dreaming of the Same Thing
High Life
Dreaming of the Same Thing (Dance Remix)
Space Cadet (Dance Remix)
Death Defying Headlines (Dance Remix)
High Life (Dance Remix)
CD 8: Gone to the Moon (REDdot Music KAJA 1, 2008)
Gone to the Moon
Smile
Tracy
Moon in Motion
First Girl on Mars
Tears
The Last Day
Excerpts from the Falling Man
Table for One
Nightingales
Spring’s Eternal Dance
Rocket Boy