Lady luck bestowed a righteous thrashing upon Chicago rockers
Enuff Z'nuff
in the early '90s, and by 1994 the once promising, ever-critically acclaimed band was quite literally down on its knees. Penniless and mired in escalating drug abuse, the band's heart and soul, songwriters
Donnie V
and
Chip Z'nuff
were in a real bind and resorted to desperate measures by releasing their first demos from 1985 as the next
album. A quick remix and repackaging would have been enough for most bands, but prolific songwriters that they were,
recorded an entirely new batch of songs for what eventually became their eponymous 1989 debut. Lucky for them, as the old demo tapes sure came in handy a decade later when the band so desperately needed some pocket change. After opening in surprising fashion with the
Motown
chestnut
"Tears of a Clown,"
the band quickly establishes their power pop sound, blatantly quoting their creative rabbis
Cheap Trick
with next track
"Catholic Girls."
From here on out, hard-edged rockers like
"Fingers on It,"
"Aroused,"
"Goodbye, Goodbye"
(reminiscent of
's black-hearted
"Auf Wiedersehen"
) are interspersed with pluckier, power pop numbers like
"Hollywood Squares,"
"Marie,"
"I'll B the 1 2 Luv U"
(think
Trick
's sugary studio version of
"I want You to Want Me"
). Not bad for a demo, but despite delivering the usual excellent hooks,
1985
still amounts to one of
Enuff Z'nuff's
less rewarding offerings. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia