What, so the name's, like, a pun on Boeing 747? Oh, those quirky chucklesome indie-nerds! They combine music and science, the result being... 'edu-tainment' apparently... or another novelty single by another novelty band who are clearly just too clever by half. With a few chromosomes cloned from Bonzo Dog Band and some strands of DNA pilfered from They Might be Giants (who have themselves made a number of 'educational' children's records), Being 747 inch into the space formerly occupied by We Are Scientists and The Automatic with the lead single from their forthcoming album 'Amoeba to Zebra' - 'A natural history musical 4.6 billion years in the making.'
So, 'Shake Your Backbone' is an uptempo indie-guitar romp with added 'special' effects lifted straight off old episodes of Dr Who and other low-budget sci-fi classics, with lyrics that detail the evolution of the endoskeleton. Flipside 'Reigning Reptiles' races through prehistory, from the first dinosaurs to their extinction, in four minutes. It's like something Ross from Friends might have come up with. The only trouble is that this isn't particularly funny, and the humour wears a bit thin after about thirty seconds. Well, I'm assuming it's supposed to be funny.
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According to the press release, 'this utterly unique combination of music and science is fully relevant to the national curriculum and has received jaw-drop reactions from both pupils and teachers everywhere it has been performed.' I can't read their poker faces, and can't be certain if that's the gag, or the wacky expressions of the three band members wearing lab coats, staring agog at bourbon biscuits is a zany way of getting the kids into science and they're actually serious about all of this.
Yeah, so I can't win, and am likely to look a tit however I approach this. Either I've been duped or I've missed the joke. Whatever, it's clever but ultimately rather lame and they're going to be needing a new gimmick very soon indeed.
www.being747.co.uk
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