As I pen this piece, Ultravox! have enjoyed a moment in the sun once more, with the issue of the ‘Island Years’ CD box set gathering their three Island-era LPs (and rarities) and coloured vinyl reissues of their first three long players. So, it is as good a time as any to look back on the proto-Ultravox! single recorded by Tigerlily, namely ‘Monkey Jive’ / ‘Ain’t Misbehavin’, the particular version featured here dating from October 1980. (A small piece about it in Smash Hits of the era can be viewed here.
The single pre-dates the band’s change of name to Ultravox! and it was ‘Ain’t Misbehavin’ that was originally the A side – recorded as a theme to an obscure film of the same name, released as a single in 1975 with ‘Monkey Jive’ on the B side. Check out all versions here.
It’s not difficult to see why the sides would have been flipped over for this reissue. ‘Monkey Jive’ fits in along the same lines as the rockier numbers from their first album, soaking up the Roxy Music/Sparks/New York Dolls styles along the way. You can check out a vinyl cut of this here:Â https://youtu.be/65XA5o1qGck
1920s jazz standard ‘Ain’t Misbehavin”, meanwhile, riffs along in a manner much more akin to Bryan Ferry’s solo lounge lizard covers of ‘Another Time, Another Place’ and the like. Check it out here: https://youtu.be/ko0Z3_FIKkY
‘Ain’t Misbehavin” saw a CD release in 2000, on a compilation album called ‘Glitterbest – 20 Pre Punk ‘n’ Glam Terrace Stompers’. It is also available digitally on ‘Pink Boots and Lipstick 3’. No CD or digital release for ‘Monkey Jive’ to date though.
Ah. You have the same Dead Good 1980 reissue that sits in my Record Cell, but that was the third release of the single. It was originally issued on Gull Records [GULS 12] in 1975 with no PS: https://www.discogs.com/Tiger-Lily-Aint-Misbehavin/release/3021098
Following the release in 1977 of their debut album on Island, the single was dusted off by Gull for another try as GULS 54, this time with a PS taken in the mannequin factory where they rehearsed: https://www.discogs.com/Tiger-Lily-Aint-Misbehavin-Monkey-Jive/release/1124573
It remained until 1980, when Chrysalis came calling that Andy Stephenson and MArtin Patterson’s Dead Good label [home to obvious Ultravox fans B-Movie] once more reactivated the single for a new generation, and flipped the sides for obvious reasons. This time the mannequin became the star of the PS. Word had it that the band recorded the single in 1975 with the A-side a title song for a documentary on vintage pornography from an older tyme for the chance to record the original B-side as well as enough scratch to buy Billy Currie an electric piano.
An interesting route to this particular re-release. Hadn’t realised that there had already been one cash-in opportunity on the back of the debut LP!