Funky Little Demons

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Funky Little Demons
Studio album by
the Wolfgang Press
Released1995
Length47:51[1]
Label4AD[2]
ProducerDrostan Madden
The Wolfgang Press chronology
Queer
(1991) 		Funky Little Demons
(1995) 		Everything Is Beautiful (A Retrospective 1983-1995)
(2001)

Funky Little Demons is the fifth and final studio album by the English band the Wolfgang Press, released in 1995.[3][4]

The album peaked at No. 75 on the UK Albums Chart.[5] The first single was "Going South".[6] The band supported the album by touring North America with Suddenly, Tammy![7][8]

Production[edit]

The album was produced by Drostan Madden. It was recorded in the band's own studio, although founding member Mark Cox was often not present for sessions.[9]

The band split the album between songs that were written in a standard verse-chorus manner, and those that were built out of musical soundscapes.[10] "11 Years" is an autobiographical song; "New Glass" is an instrumental track.[11][12]

Critical reception[edit]

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[13]
Calgary HeraldB−[14]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[15]
Knoxville News Sentinel[11]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide[16]
The Record[1]
The Tampa Tribune[6]

Trouser Press wrote: "No longer enigmatic risk-takers, the Wolfgang Press have become just another white post-new wave soul band."[17] The Guardian thought that the album "contains enough elements from pop's more melodic spectrum to lift them squarely out of their old art-terrorism mode."[18] The Calgary Herald deemed it "funky without tryin'," likening it to "Joy Division goes uptown."[14]

The Irish Times determined that Funky Little Demons "sees the Wolfies change from dark, brooding neo industrialists to bright, ironic soul popsters."[19] The Ottawa Citizen stated that "Going South" "is positively contagious, resonating with gravelly lead vocals, piercing slide work and soul-touching background singers."[20] The New York Times noted that Wolfgang Press "has been letting its pop float to the surface of its dirges, ending up with a stylized soul music that sounds like a chunkier version of Roxy Music."[21] Joyce Jones, of The Washington Post, listed the album among the 10 best of 1995, writing that Allen "exudes a cantankerous charm, coming off like Nick Cave on Soul Train."[22]

AllMusic wrote that "the album is neither particularly funky nor at all demonic, and in these tamer surroundings, Michael Allen's formerly compelling baritone murmur sounds kind of mannered and pretentious."[13]

Track listing[edit]

No.TitleLength
1."Going South" 
2."11 Years" 
3."Blood Satisfaction" 
4."Chains" 
5."Christianity" 
6."Derek the Confessor" 
7."So Long Dead" 
8."Executioner" 
9."She's So Soft" 
10."New Glass" 
11."Fallen Not Broken" 
12."People Say" 

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Jaeger, Barbara (March 5, 1995). "Perfect Picks, One and All". The Record. p. E4.
  2. ^ Jarman, David (Jan 1995). "Best New Music". CMJ New Music Monthly. No. 17. p. 12.
  3. ^ Buckley, Peter (April 10, 2003). The Rough Guide to Rock. Rough Guides. ISBN 9781843531050.
  4. ^ Manning, Sarra (Jan 21, 1995). "Albums — Funky Little Demons by the Wolfgang Press". Melody Maker. Vol. 72, no. 3. p. 32.
  5. ^ "Wolfgang Press Full Official Chart History". Official Charts.
  6. ^ a b Johnson, Rommie (February 10, 1995). "The Wolfgang Press, Funky Little Demons". Friday Extra!. The Tampa Tribune. p. 21.
  7. ^ Dickinson, Chris (19 May 1995). "Wolfgang Press, Suddenly Tammy!, Sunday at Metro". Friday. Chicago Tribune. p. T.
  8. ^ Sherr, Sara (19 May 1995). "Wolfgang Press/Peter Himmelman". Features Weekend. The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 17.
  9. ^ Punter, Jennie (15 May 1995). "U.K. band switches dynamic". Toronto Star. p. E5.
  10. ^ Darling, Cary (April 28, 1995). "A dour Press sees the light". Orange County Register. p. P49.
  11. ^ a b Campbell, Chuck (10 Feb 1995). "British group presses ahead with 'Demons'". Detours. Knoxville News Sentinel. p. 3.
  12. ^ Morgan, Kendall (February 19, 1995). "The Wolfgang Press Funky Little Demons". The Dallas Morning News. p. 8C.
  13. ^ a b "Funky Little Demons". AllMusic.
  14. ^ a b McEwen, Mary-Lynn (29 Jan 1995). "Recent Releases". Calgary Herald. p. E2.
  15. ^ Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 8. MUZE. p. 749.
  16. ^ MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1999. pp. 1241–1242.
  17. ^ "Wolfgang Press". Trouser Press. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
  18. ^ Chiswick, Linton (11 Jan 1995). "Pop: The Wolfgang Press Jazz Cafe". The Guardian Foreign Page. The Guardian. p. 11.
  19. ^ Courtney, Kevin (20 Jan 1995). "The Wolfgang Press: 'Funky Little Demons'". Sound & Vision. The Irish Times. p. 13.
  20. ^ Saxberg, Lynn (21 Jan 1995). "The Wolfgang Press Funky Little Demons". Ottawa Citizen. p. D3.
  21. ^ Strauss, Neil (22 May 1995). "Rock on a Spring Evening to Please All the Pessimists". The New York Times. p. C13.
  22. ^ Jones, Joyce (29 Dec 1995). "Best of '95". The Washington Post. p. N7.
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