| Cook da Books | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Big in France |
| Origin | England |
| Genres | New Wave, Synthpop |
| Years active | 1980-1988 |
| Labels | 10, Carrere, Kiteland |
| Associated acts | Smaller, The Sums |
| Members | |
| Owen Moran Peter Deary Tony Prescott John Legget |
|
Cook da Books (also known as Cook the Books, and Da Books) were a British new wave group active in the 1980s.
Contents |
Cook Da Books formed in 1980 in Fazakerley, Liverpool, composed of former members of The Dogems and Brooklyn. The initial line-up was Peter "Digsy" Deary (vocals, guitar), Owen Moran (bass, vocals), Tony Prescott (keyboards), and John Legget (drums).[1]
They initially gained attention with their acclaimed, and politically-charged, debut single "Piggie in the Middle 8", about the widespread British riots in 1981 (which hit Liverpool hard) and other local issues.[2] They then hit the bigtime when they were included on the soundtrack to successful French film La Boum 2. They can be seen giving a concert during the movie, and the track of theirs which was included, "Your Eyes", was very popular, hitting #1 in France and Hong Kong, and scoring the band international recognition, while they remained relatively unknown in their home country and the United States, despite high profile support slots with Men at Work, Joan Armatrading and The Undertones, among others. The band recorded two sessions (in 1983 and 1984) for John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show.[3] They appeared on the BBC TV show Whistle Test in 1985.[4] In 1985 they contributed "Piggy In The Middle 8" to Ronnie Flood's Jobs For the Boys compilation album, released to highlight the lack of jobs available at the time in Liverpool.[5]
After Prescott's departure, the remaining three members became simply "Da Books", and re-emerged a year later with a cover of Stevie Wonder's "Living for the City", released on Probe Plus.
The band also recorded "The Lookout is Out" (based on the melody of "Asterix est la" by Plastic Bertrand) the theme song for the 1986 animated film Asterix in Britain.
Singer/guitarist Peter "Digsy" Deary went on front Smaller, the band (which featured his brother Stephen on drums) having hits on the UK Singles Chart in 1996 and 1997 with "Wasted" and "Is", and was celebrated in the Oasis song "Digsy's Dinner" from their debut album, Definitely Maybe, Oasis's Noel Gallagher also later guesting on Smaller's 1997 album Badly Badly.[1][6] He then fronted The Sums in the 2000s.[7]
Though the soundtrack to La Boum 2 was released on Polymer Records, and they were also signed to 10 Records (part of Virgin Records), Cook Da Books remained fiercely independent throughout their career, running their own label, Kiteland Records.[1] According to the band themselves in an interview with Explicit magazine in 1983: "Being independent means that you've got the freedom to choose whatever we want, have whatever product we want marketed when we want".
The band received comparisons to Duran Duran, U2, and Squeeze.[8]
Chart placings shown are from the UK Indie Chart.[1]