Try A Little Harder: The Kajagoogoo Thread

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Well let's start with the big one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXndkQqosPY

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Too_Shy

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And then there's that iconic bass llne to consider:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuXax5-pWzI

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The critics weren’t particularly kind to the follow-up! I will admit it took a while for it to grow on me, but grow on me it did:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8P82bO1uBk

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ooh_to_Be_Ah

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"Hang On Now”, another that had to grow on me, was the lads’ third and last single as a five-piece until their reunion a quarter of a century later: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqqIL4T0-KQ

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This is “Big Apple", with a brief explanation of the new Limahl-less Kajagoogoo by bassist (now also lead singer) Nick Beggs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6bGSTbXhFk  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Apple_(song)

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"The Lion's Mouth" must surely have been the first UK top 30 hit to feature a Chapman Stick:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tU_ik6msJDM

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"Turn Your Back On Me" continued the downward trend, barely scraping into the UK top fifty. Great song though -- and there's a great US mix I'll link another time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlZNRZOm08g

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"Turn Your Back On Me" continued the downward trend, barely scraping into the UK top fifty. Great song though -- and there's a great US mix I'll link another time:

I don't usually approve of the mix format but this 1984 "flipped disc mix" of "Turn Your Back On Me", with the "dub mix" on the flip, is pretty cool (Kajagoogoo became Kaja one album earlier in the US):

"These US mixes were by Steve Thompson and Michael Barbiero and represent a much more interesting 12" mix than what the UK got. The band created a lurching, almost sinister dance-funk here with Beggs doubling on popping funk bass as well as the grinding funk grooves proffered by his Stick. The synths were PPG Wave as favored by Dolby at the time. The sampled percussion breakdowns were fairly innovative here, while the sample flute highlights were the only featherlight thing about this darker, much more muscular sound. This song sounded like the cream of Level 42 [think 'Hot Water'] touched with King Crimson at their dancefloor best [think 'Sleepless']. I had been waiting way too long to have this luxuriant 7:00 mix of this dynamic song."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykuArX_4BGs

Source: postpunkmonk.com/2018/12/13/dr-strangebass-or-how-i-stopped-worrying-and-learned-to-love-kajagoogoo/

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Drummer Jez Strode left at this point. It look a long time to warm to what the remaining trio were doing as Kaja but I've come to love their single. On face value, it's an odd path to take for the band that gave us "The Lion's Mouth" but there you are. Curious to see Nick cavorting without an instrument but he does it very convincingly! That said, this new image and sound was clearly destined to be short-lived.

Taken from their lone album as Kaja, "Shouldn't Do That" was the band's last charting single in the UK and their lowest, getting no further than #63.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PWDTVgc_L0

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crazy_Peoples_Right_to_Speak

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The 2008 EP Death-Defying Headlines was recorded by the original five-piece line-up of Kajagoogoo at the onset of a string of European reunion concerts in 2008 and 2009. From it, this is "Space Cadet":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIJ_kB0vtpY

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Rather embarrassingly, I failed to identify “The NeverEnding Story” as sung by Kajagoogoo’s original front man Limahl on not one but two occasions when playing Hitster with the family. So now I'm making sure there won't be a third time:     

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFJYA2WvT6s

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limahl