I've always wanted to get as far away as possible from the place that I was born...so that I could find crazy record finds of course! Welcome back to Stay Tuned, my friends.
Folks, you really just never know what you might come across out there, and I trust records more than recommendations. Vinyl doesn’t care who you follow. If you’re lucky, a record store will hand you a small miracle, wrapped in cardboard and static. That's how I wound up here: the album Fever by Annabella. Ring a bell? Maybe not. I certainly didn't, until I realized, I did...believe it or not, so do you...*cue dream sequence*
Twas New Years Day, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, until we remembered our annual New Years Day party our friends host and we can't not show up SO — time to get up! It's time for brunch! And what was doubly great, we were headed to the desert. Why start the new year on January 1st, when you can take a vacation and start it on January 5th? It's just a day really, and that's just how we roll.
A few "I remember you when you were *this* big" and "how old are you now?", a few more overly cheesy appetizers and miss-matching, buffet-style entrees, and we were set to fly. We traveled half wired, half tired, in our finest chariot and confidant, my 2005 Ford Explorer. We had the pleasure of discovering upon arrival that we were locked out of our friends home. Needless to say, if you need a locksmith in the greater Palm Springs area, I know a few places you can call.
After days of visiting the gorgeous San Bernardino National Forest, trespassing in places we shouldn't, and soaking up the new-year sun, it was time to visit my favorite local spots in downtown Palm Springs.
One of my favorite local joints is none other than Gre Records and Coffee. Gre? As in Grey? Or...Gre (Gr-EE) as in Graduate Record Examination? I have no idea. Either way, this place is amazing. This place is like being at home, if your home had someone to make you delicious drinks, fun seating options, and seemingly infinite listening material.
One of my favorite games to play in a record store is 1) How long until I find something I've never seen/heard of? And 2) Let's pick a record solely based on the cover. A timeless game used in libraries, tower records, and blockbusters for centuries. Some of my most favorite discoveries are from option 2.
I was digging in crates and came across this: Fever by Annabella. One look at the album cover and my brain said, "that one". Of course I listened. There are rules here: no reading the back or inserts, no googling/research, and no streaming...not until AFTER the first initial vinyl listen. Can you tell I'm a person who loves surprises and antici-...
...
...pation?
Fast forward to February. I'm home, sick as a dawg, and newly deactivated from my social media accounts when suddenly I remember, "I have all this music to listen to." So, I popped on Annabella, and I really enjoyed it! It's fun record filled with 80's pop and New Wave. Aimee says it reminds her of Soft Cell, and I totally agree. Great songs and a few fun covers as well.
Here's a beautiful photo of that day my friends visited. That's John, owner of The Soundvibe Studio I told you about in my last blog, Aimee (my cousin), and Gruff. Handsome Gruff boy, who steals this photo:
Bow Wow...Woah.
Anabella Lwin was just 13 years old when she was recruited into the band Bow Wow Wow. There's quite a bit of history behind this group, so I'm going to give you some important highlights:
1) She was picked up by Malcom McLaren, former band manager of the Sex Pistols
2) Anabella was marketed as wild and untamed, and was always presented in a barefoot, primitive fashion. She has mentioned that as a child (13) she was not aware of the highly sexualized media environment she was in
3) McLaren’s larger idea of entertainment was that music, fashion, shock, and media outrage were all one performance.
Keep that history in mind. 1 year later, Bow Wow Wow were set to release their album "See Jungle! See Jungle! Go Join Your Gang Yeah, City All Over! Go Ape Crazy". The cover directly re-stages a famous 19th-century painting: Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe (“The Luncheon on the Grass”), 1863 by Édouard Manet. It caused a major scandal in Paris at the time. The shock went beyond nudity: sitting casually with fully clothed men, staring directly at the viewer, placed in a non-mythological setting. The album cover version shockingly shows Anabella in the same fashion, at just 14 years old. It's hard to know what to say. When I got this far down the rabbit hole, I became sad. See the compared images below:
At that time, the image lived inside a cultural fog where art history, fashion, punk rebellion, and the music industry’s appetite for shock all collapsed into the same gesture. The lines were far too blurred between provocation and progress. Time has stripped away that romance. What remains is a clear truth: “artistic daring” protected the adults who designed the moment, far more than the young person placed at its center. Annabella has since spoken about how complicated and unsettling that period became in hindsight. That hindsight is the real legacy of the cover: not rebellion, but a quiet reckoning with how easily a child can be turned into a symbol, before ever understanding what that means or feels like. Anabella is 59 now, has had a beautiful music career of her own, and is doing well.
While I'd like to end it there, I can't complete this section without mentioning that you know this band better than you think. Bow Wow Wow, believe it or not, is the band most famously known for their hit single, "I Want Candy". The song was originally written for and performed by The Strangeloves in the 60s, followed by Bow Wow Wow in the early 80s, and again by Aaron Carter in the early 2000s.
You can imagine my surprise as all this history unfolded before me from this, mind you, completely random record I picked up, just because I loved the album cover. This is the essence of music discovery. Sometimes the discoveries have unfortunate histories, but that history cannot be forgotten. They are the reasons we must look back on, so that we may continue to protect children from the dangers of the industry for generations to come.
Under the Gun
There are some fun tracks on "Fever", featuring covers such as the famous jazz tune Fever, and a new wave version of "School's Out" (for summer/forever). I was immediately drawn to her from the first track "War Boys". "Under the Gun" took me by the hand and gave me reassurance that Anabella, at this point in her life, had reclaimed herself as a woman and an artist. I was perplexed to find that this album doesn't appear to be available on steaming, but just via video; fans who've uploaded recordings from their cassettes to YouTube. There are no lyrics available online. Here are some lines that stand out to me:
—"I remember, as a little girl, my mama cryin' to me 'cause I loved the gun. Pain went through me that cut like a knife. I vowed that I would get him for destroying her life"
—"Somebody's tryna' put the pressure on. You always try and tell me where I'm going wrong."
—"Don't want no pressure on me. Don't put me under the gun."
—"I've been traveling around the world...asking a lot of question but I get no reply...I still can't get the answers and I don't know why."
A song like "Under the Gun", whether literally about that period or not, fits as a perfect metaphor for the pressure cooker of external expectations and limited agency she experienced. Her solo career has that quintessential 80's pop/new wave sound, and deserves not only its flowers, but to not be lost to the archives. Whoever's in charge of her music should upload her discography to streaming as soon as possible. Her story needs to be known, and her music needs to be heard!
Oh reader...the lore on this one went so deep. I do appreciate you so much for continuing to support this blog. If you have a discovery you'd like to share or a song for me to listen to, please leave a comment or send me a message.
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Dig on, crate diggers.
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Listen to "Under the Gun" and the whole "Fever" album here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxhivD5_BSMTrFglFMaNuDu66pAL9dZhI
What a great story and a great read. Thanks for sharing her story.
ReplyDeleteHey thank you, I appreciate you.
DeleteLive laugh love anabella
ReplyDeleteHell yea
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