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A new box from Cherry Red will be the final word on a band whose name sounds like a first word – and wait ’til you see the title of the box, which we can’t stop thinking about.

Box of Goo: The Complete Anthology is an 8CD set devoted to Bedfordshire synth-pop act Kajagoogoo. It includes just about everything the band ever released: the EMI-distributed albums White Feathers (1982), Islands (1984) and Crazy Peoples Right to Speak (1985), the latter released under the name Kaja; a self-released live album from the ’80s, two reunion projects with varying line-ups, and two discs of remixes and B-sides from the EMI era. All five original band members have had creative input into the set, and spoke with John Earls of Classic Pop for the liner notes. Tony Dixon has remastered each album. The set is available November 27.

Formed in the town of Leighton Buzzard, Kajagoogoo were more than odd names. Originally known as a more esoteric group named Art Nouveau – a four-piece featuring Steve Askew on guitar, Nick Beggs on bass and Chapman stick, Jez Strode on drums and Stuart Neale on keyboards – Kajagoogoo took a step toward the mainstream in 1982 with the hiring of singer Christopher Hamill, who went by an anagram of his surname, Limahl. The deft musicianship meshed well with Limahl’s distinct vocals, and a meeting with keyboardist Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran (who were about to have a big year in ’82) led to a deal with their label, EMI. Rhodes and Duran’s producer, Colin Thurston, oversaw debut album White Feathers, which featured the smash “Too Shy” (a U.K. No. 1 and U.S. No. 5 hit) and “Ooh to Be Ah,” another U.K. Top 10.

What happened next was one of the bigger reversals of fortune in U.K. ’80s pop history. An acrimonious falling-out led to Limahl’s expulsion from the band, after which the other members continued on with Beggs as lead vocalist. While lead single “Big Apple” was a third U.K. Top 10, it disappeared quickly, and little could match the success of singles past. Sophomore album Islands (1984) was passed over in America in favor of Extra Play, which featured remixes of some of Islands‘ singles, including a U.S.-exclusive version of “Turn Your Back on Me” mixed by engineers Steve Thompson and Michael Barbiero. Extra Play was released under the shortened name Kaja, as was the group’s final EMI album, 1985’s Crazy Peoples Right to Speak, recorded as a trio of Beggs, Askew and Neale. (Around the same time, Limahl scored his biggest solo hit, the U.K. Top 5/U.S. Top 20 title theme to the fantasy film The NeverEnding Story.)

While all five members briefly reunited for a VH1 series in 2003, the band was back to self-recording 2008’s Gone to the Moon as the same Beggs/Askew/Neale line-up as Kaja. However, Limahl and Strode returned to the fold after the record wrapped, and the Death Defying Headlines EP (available in two separate mixes on one disc) was recorded in 2008, the band’s final output. Box of Goo includes all those albums and EPs, along with two discs of ’80s-era B-sides and remixes and Live in Japan, initially self-released in 2005 and featuring a set recorded on a Japanese tour to promote Islands. The collection is available November 27 and can be pre-ordered at the links below. (As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.)

Kajagoogoo, Box of Goo: The Complete Anthology (Cherry Pop CR8POPBX296 (U.K.), 2026) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1: White Feathers (EMI EMC 3433 (U.K.)/EMI America ST-17094 (U.S.), 1982)

1. White Feathers
2. Too Shy
3. Lies and Promises
4. Magician Man
5. Kajagoogoo (Instrumental)
6. Ooh to Be Ah
7. Ergonomics
8. Hang On Now
9. This Car is Fast
10. Frayo

CD 2: Islands (EMI KAJA 1 (U.K.), 1984)

1. The Lion’s Mouth
2. Big Apple
3. The Power to Forgive
4. Melting the Ice Away
5. Turn Your Back on Me
6. Islands
7. On a Plane
8. Part of Me is You
9. The Loop

CD 3: Crazy Peoples Right to Speak (Parlophone KAJA 2 (U.K.)/EMI America ST-17169 (U.S.), 1985)

1. Do I
2. Shouldn’t Do That
3. Your Appetite
4. Rivers
5. Sit Down and Shut Up
6. Afraid of You
7. Jigsaw
8. Fear of Falling
9. Charm of a Gun
10. You Really Take My Breath Away

CD 4: Mixes and B-Sides

1. Introduction
2. Take Another View
3. Interview Rooms
4. Animal Instincts
5. Too Shy (Instrumental Mix)
6. Hang On Now (Instrumental Mix)
7. The Pump Rooms of Bath (Instrumental)
8. The Garden (Instrumental)
9. Monochromatic (Live)
10. Too Shy (Midnight Mix)
11. Ooh to Be Ah (The Construction Mix)
12. Hang On Now (Extended Version)
13. Big Apple (Metro Mix)
14. Turn Your Back on Me (Extended Dance Mix)
15. The Lion’s Mouth (The Beast Mix)
16. Hurricane
17. Whatever You Want

Tracks 1 and 12 from “Hang On Now” U.K. 12″ – EMI 12 EMI 5394, 1983
Tracks 2 and 10 from “Too Shy” U.K. 12″ – EMI 12 EMI 5359, 1983
Tracks 3 and 11 from “Ooh to Be Ah” U.K. 12″ – EMI 12 EMI 5383, 1983
Track 4 from “Ooh to Be Ah” U.K. single – EMI 5383, 1983
Track 5 from “Too Shy” U.K. single – EMI 5359, 1983
Track 6 from “Hang On Now” U.K. single – EMI 5394, 1983
Tracks 7 and 14 from “Turn Your Back on Me” U.K. 12″ – EMI 12 EMI 5465, 1984
Tracks 8 and 15 from “The Lion’s Mouth” U.K. 12″ – EMI 12 EMI 5449, 1984
Tracks 9 and 13 from “Big Apple” U.K. 12″ – EMI 12 EMI 5423, 1983
Tracks 16-17 from “Shouldn’t Do That” U.K. double 7″ – Parlophone RD 6106, 1985

CD 5: Mixes

1. Too Shy (Midnight Mix Version Two)
2. Turn Your Back on Me (Flipped Disc Mix)
3. Turn Your Back on Me (Dub Mix)
4. Turn Your Back on Me (Thompson & Barbiero U.S. Mix)
5. Turn Your Back on Me (Bonus Beats)
6. Shouldn’t Do That (Disciplined)
7. Shouldn’t Do That (Undisciplined)
8. Shouldn’t Do That (Chainsaw Party Mix!)
9. White Feathers (Manhattan Clique Remix Edit)
10. White Feathers (Manhattan Clique Remix Instrumental)
11. White Feathers (Manhattan Clique Remix)

Track 1 from “Too Shy” U.S. 12″ – EMI America 7806-1, 1983
Tracks 2-3 from “Turn Your Back on Me” U.S. 12″ – EMI America V-7850-1/2, 1984
Track 4 from Extra Play – EMI America ST-17157 (U.S.), 1984
Track 5 from “Turn Your Back on Me” U.S. promo 12″ – EMI America SPRO-9321, 1984
Tracks 6-7 from “Shouldn’t Do That” U.K. 12″ – Parlophone 12R 6106, 1985
Track 8 from “Shouldn’t Do That” U.K. white-label 12″ – EMI 12RA 6106, 1985
Tracks 9-11 from “White Feathers” digital single Parlophone (no cat. #), 2009

CD 6: Live in Tokyo 1984 (REDdot Music DLKAJA 1, 2005)

1. Big Apple
2. Monochromatic
3. On a Plane
4. Islands
5. The Power to Forgive
6. Too Shy
7. Lies and Promises
8. Melting the Ice Away
9. The Lion’s Mouth
10. White Feathers
11. The Loop
12. Turn Your Back on Me
13. Ooh to Be Ah
14. Part of Me is You
15. Kajagoogoo

All tracks recorded live at Shibuya Koukaidou, Tokyo, Japan – 7/26/1984

CD 7: Death Defying Headlines (self-released (no cat. #), 2008 (1-4)/2009 (5-8))

1. Death Defying Headlines
2. Space Cadet
3. Dreaming of the Same Thing
4. High Life
5. Dreaming of the Same Thing (Dance Remix)
6. Space Cadet (Dance Remix)
7. Death Defying Headlines (Dance Remix)
8. High Life (Dance Remix)

CD 8: Gone to the Moon (REDdot Music KAJA 1, 2008)

1. Gone to the Moon
2. Smile
3. Tracy
4. Moon in Motion
5. First Girl on Mars
6. Tears
7. The Last Day
8. Excerpts from the Falling Man
9. Table for One
10. Nightingales
11. Spring’s Eternal Dance
12. Rocket Boy