Maybe those who still vaguely remember England’s proto-Acid Jazz scene can better place Animal Nightlife in an appropriate context, but how in the heck did such a group not become a household name like Culture Club, Soul II Soul, and Spandau Ballet?
Unfortunately, now tucked under the “where are they now” section, Animal Nightlife was one of those groups that came into English pop charts like a comet, blazing a trail of completely leftfield disco and jazz fusion bangers, creating should-a-been dancefloor hits left and right, then proceed to vanish leaving little trace as many didn’t quite get it.
Like a mirage, their major label debut, 1985’s Shangri-La, hinted at a bubbling scene just waiting to explode further on in that decade but they themselves wouldn’t get there.
Animal Nightlife began in London’s East End. At the beginning of the ‘80s, friends and fellow football-playing kids Billy Chapman, Steve Shanley, Steve Brown, Declan Barclay, and Michael McDermott, would travel to hip nightclubs like Blitz and Le Beat Route, catching show by early “fashion” bands like Spandau Ballet and Style Council.
Sharing a love of swing, jazz, and funk they decided to form a group — one still nameless at that moment. Realizing they needed a singer, they ran into Black London scenester Andy Polaris, then a roommate of other/future pioneering UK Soul Jazz singer Boy George of Culture Club. Partying together, creating together, they christened themselves “Animal Nightlife” assuming the roles of gatecrashers they were known for at local parties.
As Animal Nightlife became more ambitious they expanded further the vision of the group, inviting female singers to backup and complement Andy. By 1982-83 this unclassifiable band, fusing jazz and funk with ‘80s electronics, opening for like-minded bands like Blue Rondo A La Turk had started to gain a following in gay clubs and loft parties (the only venues they could find an audience for their ideas). Soon, as labels caught on to their trendsetting look and sound, they tried to translate their live sound to early singles. Labels were interested but they still couldn’t quite figure out how to market their panoramic idea of soul music.
In 1982, a few of Animal Nightlife’s early members started to shuffle in or out. Their debut single, “Love Is Just The Great Pretender”, now finds them joined by singers Chrysta Jones and Leah Seresin, augmenting what they thought could have been their first hit. Unfortunately, in spite of growing hype, hope for a chart topper never cemented itself as their equally magnificent dancefloor single “The Mighty Hands Of Love” went nowhere. As the girls in the group left the boys to pursue their own solo careers, the group was left unsigned. “Native Boy” released a year later — as brilliant it’s Gershwin-esque future jazz soul was — was released in the sink of nowhere and the group was left moored.
Two years later after shifting the focus to Andy as lead singer, Animal Nightlife signed with Island Records and were now a leaner five-piece group consisting of Andy, Paul, Billy, Steve Brown, and new bass recruit Leonardo Chignoli from The Style Council offshoot/side thing The Council Collective. Together they came to release a fork in the road: “Mr. Solitaire”.
This new thing, perhaps one of the earliest strains of acid jazz, mixed jazz funk with complex electro-acoustic arrangements that seemed like it came from a generation reared on the realization that groups like Luther’s Change and homegrown ones like Imagination pointed to a new direction in UK Soul. In August 1984, Animal Nightlife finally broke into the top 40 and performed on BBC’s Top Of The Pops (topping out at number 25).
Jetting off to south Philadelphia, recording in the iconic studios of Philly World Records, Animal Nightlife would start work on what would become Shangri-La. Feeding off the influence of contemporary American urban soul music — much like similar-minded contemporaries also recording there (Loose Ends), they fed from a well of existing icons like Stevie Wonder and Earth, Wind and Fire, and integrated in their place the Black British nightclub scene, more so bringing in Andy’s working-class and gay upbringing, rather than hide it.
Working with giants from TSOP and production by Bobby Eli from MFSB (to name a few), now here were these working-class lads who’ve never travelled to America, trying to take in and master the deep skills they were being taught by true masters behind all of it. An album cover was taken, inspired partly by Michael Fassbinder’s Querelle, symbolizing the otherworldly “paradise music” they were creating.
Coming back, through this trial by fire, Animal Nightlife’s Shangri-La sounded like a full album statement of what their nightlife sound really was. Here they were fully cognizant that British radio wasn’t going to play much of it but these songs would live on pirate radio and in the Black diaspora’s British dance halls. In 1985, London’s Scala theatre was enlisted to launch it with a party, of course. Somewhere in Ibiza, at the Ku Club, close to where ex-label mates Wham filmed “Club Tropicana”, there they were celebrating a more sophisticated step forward from that sound. Somehow, they stumbled into being early Balearic musical heroes.
An updated version of “Love Is Just The Great Pretender” (with backup vocals by huge fan Paul Weller) was released as a single, quickly becoming a hit, introducing them voguing, sashaying and tearing it up to a wider audience on Channel 4’s Soul Train. The album would chard but never pick up steam, in spite of widespread critical acclaim. Rather than the UK, it was Italy and continental Europe where they enjoyed success. Somewhere, behind Interscope Records’ walls, little label support left them without crucial airplay. They’d go on to release an equally brilliant album, 1988’s Lush Life, but three years in culture then was an eternity, and they’d shortly split up afterwards.
So what did we lose? We lost sight of all those great huge-sounding jazzy singles. Within the album itself, stunning fiery grooves like “Waiting For The Wait To Bite” and “Between Lovers” hinting at the upcoming UK Garage music other producers would take influence from, through them. “Perfect Match” was a perfect match to the scene other sophisticated UK Soul artists like Sade Adu and Mick Hucknall were sweeping through. Then you had those proto-acid jazz cuts like “Insomniazz”, “I Was Yours But It’s All Over Now (Throw In The Towel)”, and “Native Boy” that still fascinatingly sound ahead of their time, simply by going back in time. Now, I think we’re just about due course to rediscover their work.