Burl Veneer’s Music Blog

Peter Murphy sings all the hits

nobody@vox.com(Burl Veneer) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 19:21:50 -0700

A highlight of our trip to Maryland last week was seeing Peter Murphy in Baltimore, though the less said about the club (and the opening act) the better. The last time we saw him as a solo act was at the 9:30 Club in 2004, when he was being forced into the old tour-to-promote-album-sales paradigm, and the album he was promoting (Unshattered) was just not up to snuff. Consequently he only played a few of his older hits ("They've told me this is not a nostalgia show, " he said). Today everyone knows (except the major labels) that the money is in live performance and merchandising, and the recorded music is more or less a giveaway to promote the shows. So this time he played the hits, though by a twist of fate the ticket price was about half that of the 2004 show. But the songs were glorious: "All Night Long," "Indigo Eyes," "Strange Kind of Love," "Gliding Like a Whale," "Huuvola," even "The Sweetest Drop," a few Bauhaus numbers, a bit of Bowie, and for the final encore, "Cuts You Up." Plus a whole bunch of songs I'm less familiar with. Peter is beginning to show his age as his face wrinkles and his hair thins; he is still spry, though, pogoing at times, even moonwalking (!), and his voice is as effortlessly lovely as ever. He seems quite at home in the role of Elder Statesman of Goth. It was a completely satisfying set. But if I could pick one song from Peter Murphy's catalog to be added to his live repertoire, it would be "Let Me Love You" from Holy Smoke. The slow, mysterious verses just open up and resolve so beautifully into the dreamy major-chord chorus, and who can argue with a sentiment like "Let me love you"? This song always makes me visualize Jean Cocteau's La Belle et la Bête, so I've used a graphic from that instead of the traditional album cover:

06-Let Me Love You

Peter Murphy

And if I could choose a second, it would be "The Scarlet Thing In You"--

Peter Murphy - The Scarlet Thing In You

What would you pick?

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Blues backwards: On the Road Again

nobody@vox.com(Burl Veneer) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 20:39:31 -0800

Of course everyone knows that "On the Road Again" is a blues standard made famous by Canned Heat in 1968:

But I didn't know that in the 80s; my first encounter with it was on synth band (or what in retrospect is referred to as "minimal wave") Schleimer K's debut album from 1981:

A5 - on the road again

Schleimer K

I love the stuttering kick drum in this version, you won't hear that beat anywhere else. Probably. The organ noodling by Dominique Brethes is also nice. What does it say about me that my favorite song on this album turned out to be an old blues cover? Obviously my musical tastes were not as esoteric as I once thought they were. I'm fine with that now, but it was a rather embarrassing bit of self-discovery when I finally heard the Canned Heat song for the first time. (And even that is a cover of sorts, based on a much older song by Floyd Jones, which in turn is based on an even older song. I lack the fortitude to track down the whole provenance.) This Schleimer K album is one of the many I sold during the 90s, thinking I would never listen to it again, so why keep it? Ten years later my life is completely different, and I do want to revisit the music I used to like, and thanks to Mutant Sounds and Phoenix Hairpins I can. And I still like it!

Finally, since every song reminds me of another song, I'll mention that Schleimer K singer Michael Wolfen's offhand, half-spoken vocal style was used extensively by Nik Fiend on Alien Sex Fiend's second (and best) album, Acid Bath. The atmospheric quality and midtempo beat of "Breakdown And Cry (Lay Down and Die...Goodbye) make it a good pairing with "On the Road Again"--

06 - Breakdown and cry (Lay down and lie - goodbye)

Alien Sex Fiend

Some other time I'll relate how Alien Sex Fiend almost played in Adelphi, Maryland.

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Homegrown Gothic: Vigil

nobody@vox.com(Burl Veneer) — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 09:04:04 -0800

One Baltimore-area band to almost hit it big in the 80s was Vigil; I think they were actually based in Glen Burnie. The quartet of Jo Connor, Andy Reynolds, "X Factor" and Gregg Maizel had gained a local following under the moniker "Here Today," releasing a 12-inch single of "Whistle in the Yard," an enigmatic, gothic-tinged song that never quite resolves. I saw Here Today at the Wax Museum in Southeast D.C.; that was a cool venue, with what is now called "stadium seating" but back then was just called "seating." In its brief existence I got to see several great shows there: Eurythmics, Thompson Twins, Root Boy Slim, New Models, and Men Without Hats (eh...) to name a few. Actually, I think that's all I saw there. Here Today was the opening act the night I saw them, and I don't remember who the headliner was, but it was one of the bands I just listed. As for Here Today, their Wikipedia entry says they

signed to CBS records, changed their name to Vigil and were promptly dropped. Vigil was quickly signed by Chrysalis Records and recorded their debut lp in glorious digital. It came out and sold enough copies to allow them to record another lp but only one track was officially released "Therapist" on the Nightmare on Elm Street 4 soundtrack. They recorded their eponymous debut album on Chrysalis Records in 1987. As of 2007 it is out of print.

Before the debut album came out there was a 12-inch single of "I Am Waiting." That song is pretty good, but it was the first song on the B-side, "I Love You Equinox," that got played on WHFS and created a buzz. When Jo Connor sings, "You can set your watch by her cycles 'cause she bleeds like clockwork," don't get grossed out, because it turns out he is singing about the moon, so it's OK, see?

Vigil - I Love You Equinox

Vigil

That song always reminds me of Rush for some reason. The Vigil CD was a big deal because it was one of the first rock albums to have been recorded and mixed digitally, so it got the elusive DDD label on the back. I never got the CD, though, just the vinyl LP and the 12-inch; this is a rip from the 12-inch.

As for the second album, the Vigil MySpace page (on which you can hear "Whistle in the Yard") notes: "Eventually the second album was released on cassette only as Onto Beggar and Bitter Things." The band released it themselves when the record company wouldn't. I saw a copy once, my friend Mark Harp had it, but I never heard it! I sure hope that turns up on a sharity blog someday. Jo Connor is still making music, and has his own MySpace page as well.

Vigil must be in the zeitgeist right now, a 1986 live performance of "I Love You Equinox" has just shown up on YouTube, recently enough that I was viewer number 7:

Vigil / HereToday : Equinox

Hey, there's "Whistle in the Yard," too!

Vigil / Here Today : Whistle in the Yard

I was viewer number 3 for that one. And there's more! Its a veritable Vigil bonanza!

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Gothic funk: Brilliant

nobody@vox.com(Burl Veneer) — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 20:36:46 -0800

At the forefront of the 80s gothic funk bands was Brilliant, the band formed by bassist Youth (Martin Glover) after leaving Killing Joke in 1982. (And they weren't the only one, I can think of about two more.) If Wikipedia is to be believed, the band lineup on the 1983 "Colours" 12" is Youth and Guy Pratt on bass, Marcus Myers on lead vocal and guitar, and Andy Anderson and Peter Ogi on drums; no word on who played the keyboards (probably Youth) or who supplied the sexy moans and groans (probably not Youth).

Colours

Brilliant

The sleeve design is by Mark Manning, who would later team up with Jimmy Cauty (of the final incarnation of Brilliant) , adopt the nom de musique Zodiac Mindwarp and spearhead the "grebo" fad. (The art itself is not by Manning, but Gustave Doré.) Brilliant became a Uriah Heep-like revolving door for musicians, which didn't stop them from putting out a string of great singles. When their album deal was announced I was overjoyed, because that meant I'd be getting a whole bunch of new Brilliant songs all at once. What a disaster that turned out to be. I can demonstrate exactly what went wrong, but later; right now I'm grooving on what went right.

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The March Violets and Leeds again

nobody@vox.com(Burl Veneer) — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 15:05:44 -0800

In the runup to their December 8 reunion show in Leeds, The March Violets have just released a new downloadable mp3 via their website, and they're encouraging fans to share the track, so here it is:

March Violets - Cut Down Pretty [Pre_Release]

The March Violets

What do you think? I'm still on the fence, I don't know if I like that "raunch" groove. Rather, I like it, but not necessarily on the Violets; they weren't about sleaze back in the 80s, so I wonder why they're doing it now. Not that I'm against artistic growth, I'm just not convinced this is growth. Or maybe I'm just getting crotchety in my old age. Still, it has whet my appetite for more. Is it too much to hope for a whole new album?

And how about that concert lineup? With James Ray representing the Sisters of Mercy (sort of), I think they've covered all of the Leeds drum machine bands. Salvation, even! Must go dig out those records...

Right-click this link and "Save" to download the mp3.

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Leeds: The March Violets (The Curse of John Hughes part 2)

nobody@vox.com(Burl Veneer) — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 21:46:46 -0700

Just days after Shelleyan Orphan announce a reunion gig, The March Violets announce one too. I guess there's something to what Bob Lefsetz says about live shows being where the money is in the music industry. Like a mainstream news outlet, I'm going to go ahead and quote the whole announcement/press release and pass it off as reporting:

The March Violets, one of the original (and some say the best) Leeds drum machine bands, are returning to the city that started it all and reforming to give a one night only show. Featuring classic tracks such as Snake Dance and Walk Into The Sun, and some brand new material, plus some very interesting Special Guests: first confirmed being the Chris Reed Unit, Founder member and frontman of Red Lorry Yellow Lorry. After the show everyone gets to stay for an aftershow party till 3am, with DJs from Leeds very own Wendy House providing the sounds in both rooms. We hope you can be there, it should be one hell of a party. Tickets are available from the Met, both online and at the Booking Office, though the cheapest online outlet is at www.myspace/officialmarchviolets where you can also pre-order the CD of new material that will only be available at the gig.
Some Natural History:
In 1982 frontwoman Rosie Garland left the band and went to Africa as an Aid worker. She has since become a solo performer on the gay scene as Rosie Lugosi and a published author.
In 1985 founder and frontman Simon Denbigh left in a storm of "differences" and formed the proto-grunge Batfish Boys. Since then he has had many incarnations, wandered into electronic music, and has been a member of The Sisters of Mercy for the last 10 years.
Guitarist Tom Ashton ran with the Violets until they collapsed in 1986, had a brief stint with Clan of Xymox before moving to the backwoods of Georgia to play with guns and breed.
These parts of the original lineup have agreed to get together for old times' sake and because they felt there was something important left unsaid. The one-off one night only event will be in Leeds, the city that started it.
The March Violets will also be releasing a collection of Brand New Tracks.
This will only be available as a very limited edition to those who go to the Gig.
This is a one time event.
Play Loud, Play Purple.

So here is "Snake Dance," in its extended form. Many extended or "dance" versions of 80s pop songs just take an instrumental portion of the song and repeat it for minutes on end. "Snake Dance" rises above that methodology by adding an atmospheric piano part to the extension (in the middle of the song), making for a pleasant excursion before returning to the song proper:

Snake Dance

The March Violets

How about that bassline: is that not totally Joy Division? Did Peter Hook define the gothic bass? Hmm, I'll have to think about that one some more. Those other "Leeds drum machine bands" would be the Sisters of Mercy, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, the Three Johns, maybe more; it didn't occur to me back in the 80s, while I was following the Sheffield scene, that there might be a Leeds scene as well. (And as Damon Fairclough points out, at least one band I assumed were from Sheffield was actually from Lees: Age of Chance just looked like they were from Sheffield because of their Designers Republic sleeve art. And their releases on Sheffield's FON label.) "Snake Dance" (1983?) was the March Violets' high point: they had come far enough to make the drum machine sound a little less mechanical, production quality was better, the male/female vocal dynamcs are great, and they came up with some great hooks to boot. I bought the 4-song 12" when I was stuck in a synthpop rut and casting about for something new to listen to: the golden snakeskin sleeve, gothic graphic design and song titles ("Slow Drip Lizard" was another song on there) caught my eye, and happily the record caught my ear. The next single, "Walk Into the Sun," was another solid offering. But then the split occurred (Simon D. leaving to form the Batfish Boys), and as with the Human League, after the split neither party could match the prime cuts of the original group. (I saw the Simon-less Cleo Murray lineup at the 9:30 Club in 198..4? 5? One of those years. It was all right. They had a drummer. Cleo wore a loose blouse with no bra underneath, and would occasionally raise her arms while singing so that the hem of her blouse came up to almost expose her breasts, to the delight of all the men in the audience.) Which is not to say they weren't successful: the Violets succumbed to the Curse of John Hughes, contributing two songs to the soundtrack for Some Kind of Wonderful (one of them, the Stones cover "Miss Amanda Jones," the kind of dreck that would define the "Modern Rock" radio format). And that was all. Until now! Here's hoping that collection of Brand New Tracks sees a wider release!

March Violets MySpace page

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The Curse of John Hughes Part 1: Flesh for Lulu

nobody@vox.com(Burl Veneer) — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 17:04:31 -0700

Flesh for Lulu sprouted from the branch of British Goth rock that turned up the guitars, and their 1984 song "Subterraneans" was in my personal heavy rotation list for several weeks that year. I was enamored of synth-and-drum-machine bands at the time, but the loud, pulsating bassline, powerful backbeat, gritty dual guitars, subculture-referent lyrics and singalong chorus of "Subterraneans" (and the fact that they built a whole song around a five-syllable word) really caught my attention:

Flesh For Lulu - Subterraneans

Flesh for Lulu

I liked it enough to buy the album, which included a cover of the Rolling Stones' "Jigsaw Puzzle." That was the first time I'd ever heard that song; it opened a new window onto the Stones for me, and got me to delve into their back catalog and find a bunch of other good songs I'd missed (because I'd never actually looked in the first place). Flesh for Lulu would never recapture on record the energy of "Subterraneans," but they did achieve some popularity and commercial success after "I Go Crazy"-- a sappy, generic "modern rock" song devoid of everything that made Flesh for Lulu vital-- was featured on the soundtrack for John Hughes' Some Kind of Wonderful in 1986. Can you say "sell-out"? It even has the lyrics, "Isn't that nice, like Miami Vice." How cool is that? NONE! Another single from the Long Live the New Flesh album, "Postcards from Paradise," wasn't much better but also fared well on radio. And in what is becoming a familiar refrain here, that's where I lost track of them. According to their website, singer Nick Marsh released a solo album last year, so maybe I'll give that a shot in the hopes that he's tapped back into his early fire. (It could happen; Van Morrison does it every five years or so.)

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The Sociology of Joy Division

nobody@vox.com(Burl Veneer) — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 17:35:10 -0700

I don't read much sociology, but I couldn't resist picking up (from the library) the new essay collection Goth: Undead Subculture from Duke University Press, edited by Lauren Goodlad and Michael Bibby. The two framing questions of the book are (1) What is Goth?, and (2) Why is it still a viable subculture after over twenty-five years, when the dominant model of subcultures (Dick Hebdige's) sees them being "diffused" and then "defused" within five years or so? The answer to (1) is nebulous, but the answer to (2) seems to be that Goths do not see their subculture as a response to societal conditions, but rather an extension of a 200-year-old literary tradition and thus impervious to contemporary trends.

Bibby contributes an article entitled Atrocity Exhibitions: Joy Division, Factory Records, and Goth. He credits Factory Records' producer, Martin Hannett, with being the architect not only of Joy Division's sound, but the sound of Gothic rock in general, in which the bass and drums supplant the traditional primacy of the guitar. Bibby also provides a deep analysis of several of Joy Division's recordings; following is the paragraph about "Day of the Lords," but first, here's the song itself so you can listen to what he's writing about:

Joy Division--Day of the Lords

Joy Division

On Unknown Pleasures Hannett made liberal use of digital delay, intensified the drum sound, and overdubbed to help produce a sense of dread, melancholy, and tragedy. On "Day of the Lords," for example, the guitar uses digital delay and octaver effect, which immediately reproduces the notes played, only an octave higher or lower, thus producing the effect of two guitars playing at once in different registers. After a bass-dominated introduction, [Ian] Curtis sings:

This is the room, the start of it all
No portraits so fine, only sheets on the wall
I've seen the nights, filled with blood sports and pain
And the bodies obtained, the bodies obtained
Where will it end?
Where will it end?
Where will it end?
Where will it end?
Underscoring all this the guitar, along with a sustained synthesizer treble note, produces minor harmonies to the repeated fifth line, echoing Curtis's resigned singing. The repetitiveness of the guitar line along with its doubleness through the octaver expresses both the monotony and inevitability of Curtis's question. Unlike heavy metal guitar, the distortion effects on the guitar signify not power but impotence. This is also supported by the relationship of bass to guitar in the opening theme, where the bass notes play a rising minor progression, while the guitar hits the same note throughout--in effect, the lower sound is heard rising, ascending to dominance in the mix, while the higher sound of the guitar, which in most rock music signifies power, goes nowhere. This contrast underscores the lyrics' vision of a world in which death, despair, and the low rise up and dominate.

That's as good an explanation as I've heard as to why Joy Division's music is so disturbing, though I think the knowledge that the singer committed suicide also casts a pall over the music. Michael Bibby has found a niche in which to exercise music fandom and music-tech geekery in an academic setting, and more power to him! The whole essay is well worth reading. Here's the book info:

Goth: Undead Subculture

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