''King Kong Groover'' is the second and final album by

Babylon Zoo Babylon Zoo were an English Rock music, rock band formed in 1992 in Wolverhampton. Their song "Spaceman (Babylon Zoo song), Spaceman" gained considerable exposure through its use in a Levi's jeans television advert in the United Kingdom in late ...

, released on 26 February 1999. It met with negative reviews and was a commercial flop. The singles from the album were " All the Money's Gone", which peaked at #46 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, and a cover of

Mott the Hoople Mott the Hoople were an English rock band formed in Herefordshire. Originally known as the Doc Thomas Group, the group changed their name after signing with Island Records in 1969. The band released albums throughout the early 1970s but fai ...

's "

Honaloochie Boogie "Honaloochie Boogie" is a single released by Mott the Hoople. It was the follow-up to their breakthrough single "All The Young Dudes". It reached a peak position in the UK Singles Chart of number 12 in July 1973. Written and sung by vocalist I ...

", which was issued as a promotional single in France (plans for an international release were abandoned). The song "Chrome Invader" was originally called "

Silver Surfer The Silver Surfer is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character also appears in a number of movies, television, and video game adaptations. The character was created by Jack Kirby and first a ...

" but had to be changed for copyright reasons. The Japanese version of the album includes two bonus tracks: an acoustic cover of

T.Rex ''Tyrannosaurus'' is a genus of large theropod dinosaur. The species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' (''rex'' meaning "king" in Latin), often called ''T. rex'' or colloquially ''T-Rex'', is one of the best represented theropods. ''Tyrannosaurus'' live ...

's "Cosmic Dancer" and a remix of " The Boy with the X-Ray Eyes".

Commercial performance

An "abject failure", ''King Kong Groover'' sold less than 10,000 copies and did not chart.

Critical reception

''King Kong Groover'' met with negative reviews. ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' scored the album one out of ten, calling it a "slickly produced machiavellian plundering of pop classics" and a "clumsy effort to resurrect a career that was a fluke in the first place." In the ''

Scotland on Sunday ''Scotland on Sunday'' is a Scottish Sunday newspaper, published in Edinburgh by JPIMedia and consequently assuming the role of Sunday sister to its daily stablemate '' The Scotsman''. It was originally printed in broadsheet format but in 20 ...

'', Colin Somerville awarded the record one star out of five. He argued that "Bikini Machine" plagiarises

The Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...

' " Across the Universe", and concluded: "Sadly lacking in anything even remotely approaching originality, ''King Kong Groover'' is the sound of a career spinning into terminal decline." ''

Dotmusic ''Dotmusic'' was a music webzine that existed as a standalone website from 1 June 1995 to December 2003. Initially intended as the web complement to the UK music industry trade magazine ''Music Week'', the site was relaunched in December 1998 as a ...

'' felt that none of the songs match the "futuristic kick" of Babylon Zoo's 1996 debut single, " Spaceman". Some critics offered scant praise. Caroline Sullivan of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' wrote that bandleader

Jas Mann Jasbinder Singh "Jas" Mann ( Punjabi: ਜਸਵਿੰਦਰ ਸਿੰਘ ਮੱਨ, born 24 April 1971) is a British songwriter, musician, singer, record producer and film producer. He was lead singer of Babylon Zoo, known for their 1996 UK cha ...

is "shrill and fun, but lacking the depth to take him beyond 'Spaceman'." In the '' Sunday Tribune'', Anna Carey described ''King Kong Groover'' as "sub- Bowie" and "stupid", and "Manhattan Martian" a "piss-poor rip off of '

Starman ''StarMan'' is a 1996 fantasy novel by Australian writer Sara Douglass. It follows the second book in the series, '' Enchanter'', with Axis marching north with his army to confront a formidable enemy. Background ''StarMan'' was first published ...

'." She allowed, however, that the record is "hard to hate". Kevin Courtney of ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'' found the record to be a marked improvement over predecessor '' The Boy with the X-Ray Eyes'' (1996), but noted that despite its " spirationsto '' Ziggy Stardust''-era elevation, Babylon Zoo are still tied down by too many threadbare ideas". In a favourable retrospective review,

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

's Dave Thompson said that while there is "nothing in sight to even approach the peaks that their debut hit 'Spaceman' attained", the album has "yearning majesty" and "neo-operatic flair". ''Virgin Encyclopedia of Nineties Music'' author

Colin Larkin Colin Larkin (born 1949) is a British writer and entrepreneur. He founded, and was the editor-in-chief of, the ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', described by ''The Times'' as "the standard against which all others must be judged". Along wit ...

was mildly positive, but remarked that Mann's "full-on adoption of glam rock... appeared too late to cash in on the attendant furore surrounding Todd Haynes' genre tribute, ''

Velvet Goldmine ''Velvet Goldmine'' is a 1998 musical drama film written and directed by Todd Haynes from a story by Haynes and James Lyons. It is set in Britain during the glam rock days of the early 1970s, and tells the story of fictional bisexual pop star ...

''."

Track listing

All tracks written by

except where noted. #" All the Money's Gone" – 3:46 #"Manhattan Martian" – 6:01 #"

" ( Ian Hunter) – 3:28 #"Honeymoon in Space" – 4:53 #"Stereo Superstar" – 3:39 #"Chrome Invader" – 5:03 #"Bikini Machine" – 3:55 #"Are You a Boy or a Girl?" – 5:05 #"Hey Man" – 5:34 #"Aroma Girl" – 6:58 #" The Boy with the X-Ray Eyes" (Armageddon Babylon mix) (Japanese version only) – 5:54 #"Cosmic Dancer" (

Marc Bolan Marc Bolan ( ; born Mark Feld; 30 September 1947 – 16 September 1977) was an English guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was a pioneer of the glam rock movement in the early 1970s with his band T. Rex. Bolan was posthumously inducted in ...

) (Japanese version only) – 4:58

References

{{Authority control 1999 albums Babylon Zoo albums Glam rock albums by English artists