Babylon Zoo - The Boy With The X-Ray Eyes (1996)

Babylon Zoo were a British rock band formed in 1992 in Wolverhampton, England. They are best known for the song "Spaceman", which gained considerable exposure through its use in a popular Levi's jeans TV advert in the United Kingdom in late 1995.

The Boy with the X-Ray Eyes is the debut album by British alternative rock band Babylon Zoo, released in February 1996. The album features the single, "Spaceman", which charted at number one in the UK Singles Chart after being featured in a popular Levi's jeans TV advertisement in late 1995. The album failed to match the success of the single "Spaceman"; it peaked at number 6 in the UK Albums Chart on 17 February, and cascaded out of the Top 40, lasting only a further two weeks on the chart.
Other singles released from the album were "Animal Army", which reached number 17 in the UK Singles Chart, and "The Boy with the X-Ray Eyes", which reached number 32.
For some reason -- perhaps it was because it was used in a television commercial -- Babylon Zoo's "Spaceman" became the biggest British single of the first quarter of 1996. A bizarre, tuneless collage of hip-hop rhythms, techno keyboards and alternative guitars, the song sounded distinctive, but it didn't have any tangible hook to make it memorable. And Babylon Zoo's debut album, The Boy With the X-Ray Eyes, suffers from the same problem. Throughout the album, Jas Mann -- who, for all intents and purposes, is Babylon Zoo -- tries a vast array of modern rock styles, attempting to fuse them together into a daring, progressive whole. However, none of his songs ever gel and Mann only sounds pretentious, not ambitious.
The album's title comes from a moniker singer Jas Mann was given at school.

Track listing

01. "Animal Army" - 5:55
02. "Spaceman" - 5:41
03. "Zodiac Sign" - 4:58
04. "Paris Green" - 4:43
05. "Confused Art" - 4:32
06. "Caffeine" - 6:34
07. "The Boy with the X-Ray Eyes" - 4:27
08. "Don't Feed the Animals" - 1:38
09. "Fire Guided Light" - 6:43
10. "Is Your Soul for Sale?" - 5:52
11. "I'm Cracking Up I Need a Pill" - 3:46

All tracks written by Jas Mann.

Credits
A&R [Worldwide Representation] – Clive Banks
Art Direction – Tim Brannon
Artwork [Initial Artworking] – M@ Maitland
Design – Bill Smith Studio
Mixed By – Clive Black, Mike "Spike" Drake
Photography By [Portrait] – Rankin 
Producer – Jas Mann, Steve Power
Programmed By [Additional Programming] – Him
Producer(s) - Jas Mann, Steve Power

Notes
Release date: 12 February 1996
Genre:  Alternative rock, Space rock
Length:  54:47
© 1996

Label - EMI Records