''Boom Boom Chi Boom Boom'' is the third studio album by

Tom Tom Club Tom Tom Club is an American new wave band founded in 1981 by husband-and-wife team Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth and as a side project from Talking Heads. Their best known songs include " Wordy Rappinghood", " Genius of Love", and a cover ...

, released in 1988. It includes a cover of the

Velvet Underground Weave details visible on a purple-colored velvet fabric Velvet is a type of woven tufted fabric in which the cut threads are evenly distributed, with a short pile, giving it a distinctive soft feel. By extension, the word ''velvety'' means ...

's "Femme Fatale", with

David Byrne David Byrne (; born 14 May 1952) is a Scottish-American singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, writer, music theorist, visual artist and filmmaker. He was a founding member and the principal songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist of ...

Lou Reed Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician, songwriter, and poet. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades ...

, and

Jerry Harrison Jeremiah Griffin Harrison (born February 21, 1949) is an American songwriter, musician, producer, and entrepreneur. He began his professional music career as a member of the cult band the Modern Lovers before becoming keyboardist and guitarist ...

. The track "Suboceana" was released as a single in the UK in late 1988 and received some radio airplay. In the US, a 12-inch (5 track maxi-)single of the song was released, which featured a remix by

Marshall Jefferson Marshall Julius Jefferson (born September 19, 1959) is an American musician, working in the house music subgenres of Chicago house and deep house. Biography Sometimes known as the father of house music, Jefferson was originally a record produce ...

, and contains the track "Devil, Does Your Dog Bite". That song is a bonus (track 11) on the Japanese issue of the album that has the original 10 songs (like the European 1988 issue). "Challenge of the Love Warriors" is played over the ending credits of Mary Lambert's 1987 mystery thriller Siesta though it is not included on the soundtrack album, also released in 1987, from Miles Davis and Marcus Miller.

Production

The band began working on the album in 1986, and eventually spent two months recording it.

Critical reception

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference ...

'' preferred the US version of the album, writing that it "is as much fun for as deep as you care to listen." ''

The Rolling Stone Album Guide ''The Rolling Stone Album Guide'', previously known as ''The Rolling Stone Record Guide'', is a book that contains professional music reviews written and edited by staff members from ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. Its first edition was published in 1 ...

'' called the album "forced" and "hollow-sounding." The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'' called it "a fluffy funkasonic fun house that serves as a fine complement to the Heads’ more arty melanges." '' The Rough Guide to Rock'' deemed the songs "polite white soul arrangements."

Track listing

All songs written by

Tina Weymouth Martina Michèle Weymouth (born November 22, 1950) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and a founding member and bassist of the new wave group Talking Heads and its side project Tom Tom Club, which she co-founded with her husband, Tal ...

and

Chris Frantz Charton Christopher Frantz (born May 8, 1951) is an American musician and record producer. He is the drummer for both Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club, both of which he co-founded with wife and Talking Heads bassist Tina Weymouth. In 2002, Frant ...

, except where noted. # "Suboceana" (Tina Weymouth, Frantz, Laura Weymouth) – 4:53 # "Shock the World" – 3:51 # "Don't Say No" – 4:30 # "Challenge of the Love Warriors" (Frantz) – 3:07 # "

Femme Fatale A ''femme fatale'' ( or ; ), sometimes called a maneater or vamp, is a stock character of a mysterious, beautiful, and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers, often leading them into compromising, deadly traps. She is an archetype o ...

" (

) – 2:48 # "Born for Love" – 4:24 # "Broken Promises" – 3:45 # " She Belongs to Me" (

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

) – 4:03 # "Little Eva" – 4:00 # "Mighty Teardrop" (Tina Weymouth, Frantz, Laura Weymouth) – 4:13

US/Canada (1989) track listing

The album was heavily revised for issue in the US and Canada. Three tracks of the original 1988 issue were dropped ("Born for Love", "Broken Promises" and "Mighty Teardrop"), while four new tracks were added ("Call of the Wild", "Kiss Me When I Get Back", "Wa Wa Dance" and "I Confess"). # "Call of the Wild" (Tina Weymouth, Frantz, Mark Roule, Gary Pozner) mixed by Gary Wilkinson # "Kiss Me When I Get Back" (Tina Weymouth, Frantz, Mark Roule, Gary Pozner) mixed by Louis Scalise # "Wa Wa Dance" (Tina Weymouth, Frantz, Mark Roule, Gary Pozner) mixed by Gary Wilkinson # "I Confess" (Tina Weymouth, Frantz, Mark Roule, Gary Pozner) mixed by David Sussman # "Challenge of the Love Warriors" # "Suboceana" # "Don't Say No" # "Shock the World" # "Little Eva" # "Femme Fatale" # "She Belongs to Me" (on CD version only) mixed by Mark Roule

Personnel

– bass, keyboards, rhythm guitar, vocals; harmonium on "Femme Fatale" *

– drums, keyboards, percussion, front cover painting *Mark Roule – guitar, backing vocals *Gary Pozner – keyboards, drum programming, percussion, backing vocals *Laura Weymouth – backing vocals *

Wally Badarou Waliou Jacques Daniel Isheola "Wally" Badarou (born 22 March 1955) is a French musician. Born in France with ancestry from Benin, West Africa, Badarou is known for his close association with the English group Level 42, and for his prolific work ...

– Synclavier on "Challenge of the Love Warriors" and Bell keyboards on "Broken Promises" *Steve Scales – bongos, percussion on "Challenge of the Love Warriors" *

– keyboards, backing vocals on "Femme Fatale" *

– guitar, backing vocals on "Femme Fatale" *

– guitar, backing vocals on "Femme Fatale" * Eddie Martinez – guitar on "Born for Love" *

Jay Berliner Jay Berliner (born May 24, 1940 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American guitarist who has worked with Harry Belafonte, Ron Carter, Charles Mingus, and Van Morrison, among others. Career Berliner had his first television experience at age seven w ...

– Spanish guitar on "Broken Promises" *Glenn Rosenstein – rhythm guitar on "Born for Love", keyboards on "She Belongs to Me" *Heidi Berg – violin on "Little Eva" *Coco Arnesen Roule – vocals on "Call of the Wild" *Tiny Valentine – vocals on "Wa Wa Dance" ;Technical *Glenn Rosenstein - engineer, mixing *Mark Roule and

Steven Stanley Steven J. C. Stanley (born July 11, 1958), is a Jamaican audio engineer, record producer and keyboardist who has worked in the reggae, dub and rock music genres since 1975, most notably with Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club and Black Uhuru. Stanle ...

- additional engineer

Chart performance

The album spent 11 weeks on the U.S. ''Billboard'' album charts and reached its peak position of #114 in May 1989.

References

{{authority control 1988 albums Sire Records albums Tom Tom Club albums Albums produced by Chris Frantz Albums produced by Tina Weymouth Albums produced by Arthur Baker (musician) Fontana Records albums