Your eyes - Cook Da' Books - 1983

Cook Da' Books

Your eyes

Cook Da' Books

Source: Wikipedia

Cook da Books (also known as Cook the Books, and Da Books) were a British new wave band from Liverpool, England popular in the 1980s. Their success began with politically 

charged compositions and peaked with pop friendly film soundtrack and commercial releases. The band had a self professed reputation for being fiercely independent but enjoyed major label attention and numerous high profile global performances.

Cook da Books formed in 1980 in Fazakerley, Liverpool composed of former members of pub/cabaret circuit groups The Dogems and Brooklyn" two bands untouched by the phenomenon of the city punk and new wave scene but competent musicians with close 

harmonies gained from the Hilda Fallon Roadshow days similar to other local bands such as Our Kid. The initial line-up was Kevin Kunky Kelly (Guitar/vocals) Peter "Digsy" Deary (vocals, guitar), Owen Moran (bass, vocals), Tony Prescott (keyboards), and John Legget (drums).

They initially gained attention with their acclaimed, and politically charged debut single "Piggie in the Middle 8", whose provocative lyrics about the Toxteth riots were penned by their manager John Smith who secured reggae superstar producer Denis Bovell to produce 

the track at his Studio80 in London. Bovell had recently had a number two record with Janet Kay's "Silly Games" and Smith played the demo to Bovell and secured his support for producing the track. Smith further secured a deal with Probe records to release the record 

in the rising independent market. This was the first record ever released on the Probe label, which went on to become successful with many other artistes following this release. Smith 

also found local photographer John Stoddart for the artwork of the 7" & 12" sleeves, This was his first band session and Stoddart went on to photograph many bands including most notably Frankie Goes to Hollywood through their major success.

The single brought them to the attention of musician Vladimir Cosma, who included three tracks by the band on the soundtrack to the French film La Boum 2. The film includes a scene with the band playing "Your Eyes", which reached number one in Europe and Hong 

Kong, selling over 900,000 copies and earning the band a gold disc. It brought the band international recognition while they remained relatively unknown in their home country and the United States, Smith secured further prestigious live work for the band with high profile 

supporting tours in the UK and USA with Men at Work, Joan Armatrading and The Undertones, among others. Smith further established a recording and rehearsal space in central Liverpool for the band during the Virgin records deal, following the demise of the deal, Smith eventually sold this on to another Liverpool band Echo and the Bunnymen.

Smith gained for the band two further sessions (in 1983 and 1984) for John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show, and one for Simon Bates.[2][5] They appeared on the BBC TV show Whistle 

Test in 1985. In 1984, they contributed the demo version of "Piggy In The Middle 8" to Ronnie Flood's Jobs For the Boys compilation album, released to highlight the lack of employment available in Thatchers Britain and particularly in Liverpool.

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 là" by Plastic Bertrand), the theme song for the 1986 animated film Asterix in Britain.

Singer/guitarist Peter "Digsy" Deary went on to front Smaller, where the band (which featured his brother Stephen on drums) had 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. He then fronted The Sums in the 2000s