Review - VARIOUS ARTISTS Junior Boy's Own Collection
Spin | November 1994
The cover of this compilation of releases from one of London's hipper dance labels features a gallery of lovable rogues, including Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Patrick McNee (from The Avengers), Mick Jagger, Pete Townsend, and Phil Daniels (star of Quadrophenia). The last two are the giveaway, since the whole Junior Boy's Own ethos is a '90s update of mod. That '60s scene was about boys and their obsessions with the sharpest clothes, the obscurest dance singles, and the pills that allowed them to skip sleep and spend the weekend dancing and posing.
London club culture today really isn't that much different from mod. Ecstasy has replaced speed, but it's still a boy's own affair. Cultural stud- les hipsters use the term "homoso- cial" to describe this kind of male bonding, which nicely captures the way boys divert their passion for each other into shared obsessions like sports, music, motors et al. In fact, Junior Boy's Own's origins stem from a fanzine, Boy's Own, which combined two laddish passions- rave music and soccer.
Well, obsessiveness is the spice of pop life, up to a point, so long as it doesn't get too anal-retentive. And there's no denying that JBO's Terry Farley and Steve Hall have managed to define and foster their own distinct club music aesthetic. Most of their releases are slanted toward smooth, sophisticated elegance. This is music for self-proclaimed connois- seurs that cuts a swathe midway between the "hands in the air!" euphoria of populist house and the frigid frenzy of trance techno.
Collection ranges from bumpin' garage and tuff house to the pop techno of Underworld, a group that became rave-rock crossover stars with their excellent dubnobasswith- myheadman LP. It's worth buying this comp just for the hard-to-find track "Rez," a sublime roundelay of synth- tones that chase each other's tails. Underworld is also in fine form (as its alter-ego Lemon Interupt) with the throbbing and twinkling "Big Mouth." Other highlights include the runaway- train rhythms of XPress 2's "Muzik X- Press" and "London X-Press" (the lat ter spirals off into mad sirens and hollers of "raise your hands"-a police officer, a preacher, or just an MC?), and the Dust Brothers' thun- derquaking hip hop "Song to the Siren" (which has absolutely nothing to do with Tim Buckley).
Nowadays, London's clubland is ruled by "jungle," a ballistic blend of hip hop, dub, and ragga that's ruffer, blacker, and more ferociously exper- imental than the tasteful but rather mild garage scene with which Junior Boy's Own is affiliated. And so Collection is an excellent summation of one particular strand of London dance culture, but one that's already history. (The Saga Centre, 1st Floor Rear, 326 Kensal Road, London, England W105BZ)
