Fine Young Cannibals – The Finest

If you can watch the movie “Tin Men” and not purchase a Fine Young Cannibals album the next day, you’re a better person than I.

What the band does is to create fine infectious R&B soul with a magical edge that simply weaves its way into the nature of your being, causing you to clap your hands and preform dance moves you heretofore never dreamed of. In the same breath, there’s an inherent intimacy to this music, especially when “Suspicious Minds” or “Johnny Come Home” filters its way from your speakers, like dark magic, full of stride and warm confidence. Collections like this are what makes pop music so good and worth waiting for. Sure, you can grab the first two albums, as they are filled with the essential material, or you can find your way to this compilation, an assemblage that will ride much more comfortably in your back pocket, an album that you perhaps won’t play often, though it is nice to know it’s there waiting in your collection for the day you do.

The CD’s are available on the secondary market for mere pennies, so there’s no excuse of not own one. Sadly, even when first released back in 1996, this material never found its way to vinyl, an aspect which would only have made it more dear to my heart.

Review by Jenell Kesler