The Donkeys: Late Viewing

There was some show in Manchester, in ’76 I believe, that the Sex Pistols performed at. And without question at that point in the history of music, witnessing something like that should have changed a few people’s lives. I guess it did. I mean, I know that that show occurred and that folks that would go on to make up the Buzzcocks, Magazine and Warsaw – we’ll go with Warsaw since Joy Division/New Order is pretty horrible – were all in attendance. There were most likely people apart from that in the crowd. And while this is strictly conjecture, it’d be a good guess that the guys who would eventually comprise the Donkeys showed up at some point. What else would they have been up to? It’s Manchester after all and it’d be almost half a decade before the wash of drugs that shadowed the town would take over, so let’s at least imagine that the Donkeys were there to pogo and drink beer.

If those guys weren’t there, though, I’d be hard pressed to figure out how the Donkeys were able to release a string of singles beginning in ’79 with “What I Want” b/w “Four Letters” and ending with the ’81 single “Listen To Your Radio” b/w “Watched By Everyone.” In circles where dudes wear tight pants, bleach their hair and do a lotta uppers, the ten sides recorded by this Manchester band has apparently reached some sort of fever pitch with no less than two compilations being cobbled together. There musta been a few stray tracks that didn’t see the light of day before in addition to some demos that were laying around, but two discs? Unnecessary. But if there’s a market, take advantage of it, I suppose.

Anyway, represented on the appropriately titled Monkey Business are all of those assorted singles plus some to boot. Working in chronological order has its merits. And as the disc begins with “Four Letters,” despite the fact that the song was a b-side, it’s got enough of a punky flair and big enough bass line to get the effort over. But as the disc progresses and we get close to that last single, it becomes pretty clear that the Donkeys fell pray to that oh so popular ‘80s sound and some of the lesser trappings of the new wave movement. By the time listeners arrive at the last pair of songs from a single, the band’s devolved into a lame pop group.

I suppose none of this is any worse than some latter day moments courtesy of the Jam, but they were able to be occasionally ballsy, whereas these guys kinda weren’t. The inclusion of “Attitude Dancing”  here – which seems to be the band’s “Watching the Detectives” – isn’t horrible, but just seems like a one off gimmick as opposed to a recording professing the Donkey’s love for the reggae, reggae music.

What’s remarkable – apart from those first few singles – is the fact that the Donkeys never recorded a full length album. So while Monkey Business seems like a collection culled from a variety of sources, it is. There’s better power-pop out there, but there’s certainly also worse.