Frank Chickens: Ninja Legends 1983-1989 is a wondrous 4CD box set focusing on their 80s recordings and includes the well-known albums We Are Frank Chickens, Get Chickenized, Club Monkey.

It also includes an additional compilation of BBC live sessions recorded for John Peel, Richard Skinner and Janice Long.

Frank Chickens are a legendary Japanese punk pop performance group with a cult following in the UK. Started as a duo with Kazuko Hohki and Kazumi Taguchi, now the group has expanded to more than 20 members.

Influenced by pop, punk, and traditional music particularly Japanese Minyo (folk songs), Okinawa music and Enka, Frank Chickens set out to deflate the myths separating East and West, and men and women, while showing the absurdity of the dual stereotype of Japanese women as submissive geisha or mysterious femme fatales.

They were John Peel favourites, had an independent chart hit with ‘We Are Ninja’, won the Foster Comedy God Award in 2010, released five albums and toured worldwide. Recently they have become the power behind Ura Matsuri – the festival showcasing ESEA (East And South East Asian) artists in the UK.

Disc One: WE ARE FRANK CHICKENS (1984)
1. Cheeba Cheeba Chimpira 2. Mothra 3. Green Banana 4. Madam Fatal 5. We Are Ninja 6. Yellow Detective 7. Shellfish Bamboo 8. Pikadon 9. We Are Frank Chickens 10. Sake Ballad 11. We Are Ninja (Re-Cut Version) (12”) [Non-Album Bonus Track] 12. Fujiyama Mama [Non-Album Bonus Track] 13. Ninja Dub [Non-Album Bonus Track] 14. Blue Canary [Non-Album Bonus Track] 15. China Night [Non-Album Bonus Track] 16. Japanese Rhumba [Non-Album Bonus Track] 17. Ari Lang [Non-Album Bonus Track]

I was a New Waver and a sophomore in high school (1984) when I found this little gem in the Import vinyl section of my local tower records. I had no idea who the hell Frank Chickens were, or what the music contained on the album would sound like, but man was I blown away when I got this home and onto the turntable!

I thought the album cover was cool and this is what made me originally want to buy the album. These guys, I guess I should say these girls (the two band members are women) were definitely the sound I was looking for back then. Anyway, this remained one of my very favorite new wave bands for many years and I still enjoy listening to this and playing it for people now and getting a reaction out of them.

If you like keyboard, synthesized music you will like this. The hit single off this album was We are Ninja which got played quite a bit at dance clubs over the years, and deservedly now gets a new life within the ears of a whole new generation thanks to Cherry Red Records.

Disc Two: GET CHICKENIZED (1987)
1. We Say You Say 2. Sacred Marriage 3. Street Angels, Tokyo 4. Two Little Ladies 5. Solid Life 6. Japanese Girl 7. Island Inside Island 8. Young Summer 9. Chicken Ondo 10. Yellow Toast 11. One Million Hamburgers 12. Monster 13. The Dark 14. House Of Ninja 15. Yellow Toast (Burnt Mix) (12”) [Non-Album Bonus Track] 16. One Million Hamburgers (Mac Mix) (12”) [Non-Album Bonus Track]

What if Japanese city pop met no wave? Neither in your wildest dream such occurrence could be real, but let’s make things clear. Frank Chickens could have been possibly forerunners for several famous alternative band, Cibo Matto on top of all, but sure had a development on their own.

The record came out in 1987 on the British label Flying Records and showed a different side of the project, with a major focus on the so-called synth wave counterculture, still maintaining a certain Avant feel.

With original conspirator Steve Beresford still on board, the band was propelled in the studio by another key figure of the London underground: journalist, composer and producer David Toop.

Being John Peel’s favorite for a while, the band built a cult following retaining some absurd live performances, well known for their idiosyncratic choreography and quite a bit of that is still part of my memory from their live performances of some of these very same sophomore album tracks.

Disc Three: CLUB MONKEY (1988)
1. Club Monkey 2. Waiting For A Dog 3. Burn That Body 4. Revolution 5. Night Drain 6. Feed Me 7. Jackie Chan 8. Shaken By God’s Hand 9. M.Y.T.H. 10. Hey Dead 11. Club Monkey Reprise 12. Do The Karaoke

Always in danger of being viewed strictly as a novelty act, Frank Chickens manage to avoid such trappings by remaining uniquely bizarre. Club Monkey tells a story about “Monkey People” who eat dogs as a drug and burn dead bodies so they can revive them as ghosts!

After repression by the English squashes these time-honored traditions, they plot a revolution, to be led by a kung fu movie star. Got that? There might be something in there about animal rights; if so, it’s a lot more amusing than a similar message from Morrissey. Musically, the Chickens offer the same oddball mélange as earlier albums, and the lyrics are as farcical as ever (which is a GREAT thing, trust me).

Disc Four: BBC LIVE SESSIONS
BBC JOHN PEEL SESSION 16th MAY 1983 1. We Are Ninja
BBC JOHN PEEL SESSION 28th SEPTEMBER 1983 2. Fujiyama Mama 3. Shellfish Bamboo
BBC JOHN PEEL SESSION 14th MARCH 1984 4. Blue Canary 5. Yellow Toast
BBC RICHARD SKINNER SESSION 26 JULY 1984 6. Black Ship 7. We Are Frank Chickens
BBC RICHARD SKINNER SESSION 14TH NOVEMBER 1984 8. Green Banana 9. Pikadon 10. We Say You Say
BBC JOHN PEEL SESSION 5th MARCH 1985 11. China Night 12. Ari Lang 13. Japanese Rumba 14. Sake Ballad
BBC JANICE LONG SESSION 31 JULY 1985 15. Yellow Detective 16. Madam Fatal
BBC JOHN PEEL SESSION 5TH AUGUST 1986 17. Japanese Girl 18. Sacred Marriage 19. Chicken Ondo
BBC JOHN PEEL SESSION 10TH JULY 1989 20. Jackie Chan 21. Do The Karaoke

The fourth disc is a collection of various BBC sessions and these, quite possible, are the true musical gens of this four-disc collection, my friends!

Stand out tracks, in my humble opinion, include, well, everything from the John Peel sessions - which is about 80% of this disc, so, you are welcome - but also the two tracks from the Janice Long sessions (Yellow Detective and Madam Fatal) are also absolute killers.

Frank Chickens box set - Ninja Legends 1983-1989 [Trailer]

Official Purchase Link