Jo Dworniak and Duncan Bridgeman's instrumentation on
The Garden did not go unnoticed to one of Spain's top bands of the 80s,
Radio Futura (named after a pirate Italian radio station). Early on in 1982, they had a hit with
La Estatua En El Jardin Botanico (The Statue in the Botanic Garden), which is their most electronic piece and which is my favourite from them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=955OSKhlAk8&feature=related Radio Futura fused funk and other styles with new wave which incidentally became part of mid 80s fashion. The difference with their contempories was that they were more arty. Their frontman Santiago Auseron's lyrics were almost poetic, sometimes satirical.
So for their third album they headed for London and under the production talents of Jo Dworniak and Duncan Bridgeman they recorded
De Un Pais En Llamas (From a Country in Flames) at The Music Works and Marcus Studios bewteen February - March 1985. The most memorable moment here was their hit single
El Tonto Simon (The Idiot Simon). Just like
The Garden,
De Un Pais En Llamas creates a unique atmosphere.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3A_eK3VK0Bc&feature=related Dworniak would return as producer for a remix album of some their hits,
Tierra Para Bailar (Space for Dancing) and to remix another set of tracks for the compilation
Memorias Del Porvenir (Memories of the Future).
The band with Dworniak:
The follow-up to
De Un Pais En Llamas was produced by Santiago himself and strangely enough it was called
La Cancion De Juan Perro (The Song of John Dog). Once the group had split in 1992 Santiago adopted the name of
Juan Perro (John Dog) for his solo work.
It'a small and Foxx world!
Chris
