THE FLYING LIZARDS “MOVE ON UP” (1980)
originally recorded by Curtis Mayfield (Curtis, 1970)
cover version available on “Move On Up” b/w “Portugal” (Virgin 45, 1980) and Fourth Wall (Virgin, 1981)
Here begins a week of Flying Lizards covers on SECOND WAVE. An absolute favorite—I think they are the masters of smart covers, and hence have a special place in my heart.
About Flying Lizards:
Formed by and led by record producer David Cunningham, the group was in fact a loose collective of avant-garde and free improvising musicians, such as David Toop and Steve Beresford as instrumentalists, plus Deborah Evans, Patti Palladin, and Vivien Goldman as main vocalists. It also boasted artist Michael Upton.
The group released an album entitled The Flying Lizards in 1980. The album included two songs - “HerStory” and “The Window” - written and sung by Goldman. Singles include the postmodern cover versions of songs such as Eddie Cochran’s “Summertime Blues” (1958) and James Brown’s “Sex Machine” (1984), as well as several originals. Their album Top Ten consists entirely of covers, done in a deliberately emotionless, harsh and robotic style. Their version of Barrett Strong’s “Money” remains popular, and was used in the film soundtracks for The Wedding Singer, Empire Records, Charlie’s Angels and Lord of War, as well as in the Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning American television medical drama, Nip/Tuck.
An album of dub instrumentals, The Secret Dub Life of the Flying Lizards, recorded by David Cunningham mostly in 1978 was finally released in 1996.
