An unusual post for me, but also totally run of the mill as far as my tastes go. Lene Lovich is a true heroine in the Post-Punk, Proto-Goth, "crazy girl" scene of the late 70's. I always thought of her as the American equivalent to Nina Hagen. She may not have the classical chops of Nina, but she still has attitude and character for days. The songs are simple yet strange with Lene's voice always as the focal point. You really have to hear this to know what I'm talking about.
Like Juju, Hyaena was written during the golden age of the Banshees. This album stands out among their other "mid-period" works as being their most ambitious and varied, which is probably due to Robert Smith being in the band at the time. While I've never been a Cure fan, his presence does seem to add an extra layer to their overall sound. By this stage, Siouxsie and crew had finally achieved a truly professional production job. Everything's been rounded out, gone are the sharpness and boominess of their early works, and replaced with soft depth and chime. The instrumental section has also been expanded; melodies are not restricted to just voice and guitar, you can now add piano, woodwinds, and strings to the list. "Yeah, that's all well and good, but is the songwriting still there?" It is, it's just a bit different. The song structures and melodies are a bit more challenging this time, and the overall feel is more "artsy" and less aggressive.
This album exeplifies the career "sweet-spot" the band was in. You see, it's all about balance. As songwriters, they've just gotten mature enough to write challenging music, but had not been tempted towards the darkside of pop accessibility. The production had become lush and interesting, without being polished to the point of flat, emotionlessness. And the Siouxsie's voice was clear, and accurate, without being watered-down and losing her uniqueness. All of those negative aspects would more or less occur in the coming years of their career. Enjoy this album, as it's the peak of their creativity.
I don't normally post bootlegs here, but I'll always make an exception for Kate. This album is a collection of her early demos from '76, '77, and '80. The '76 material is the main focus, and most of it is unreleased. These were home recordings, so the sound is rough, as is her voice at this young age. Still, her signature tone and expressiveness are there, and some these unreleased songs are pretty sweet. If only she re-recorded this old material for Directors Cut, instead of her 89-93 stuff...
Remember, years back, when I made my first post on BBB entitled "Kate Bush - The Albums That Matter"? Well, that statement wasn't wholly true, because The Sensual World alsomatters. While not as exciting or unique as her prior albums, this one is still quite good.
The biggest strength The Sensual World has going for it would have to be Kate's voice. Here, her singing is flawless and has reached an apex of warmth. All the gritty and shrill moments, which were likely artistically intentional, are now gone. Before, she may have gone up and down the chromatic scale like a neoclassical shredder, now she sits very comfortably in Alto territory.
The biggest drawback (which may still be a plus if you're old and frumpy), is her change of direction from "Art Rock" to more Adult Contemporary Pop. Don't get me wrong, she still doesn't sound at all like Air Supply, but since this album, she's gone much more polished and straight-forward. The production value has also changed to suit this new style; the use of Fairlight's and drum machines have been minimized or replaced by "world" instruments (perussion, flute), as well as the return of the violin.
This album definitely has to grow on you, but within it, you can still find lots of musical sustinence.
Ah, my favorite album from my favorite Post-Punk beauty. If you think me bringing up her looks is patronizing, I don't care. You can shove it. She's hot. Anway, I like this album so much because it shows the band at their peak, when they were perfectly balancing punk attitude, experimentation, and the emerging goth gloom. This pretty much has everything you would want in a Post-Punk album: distinctive and catchy songs, mandatory angst, real as well as synthesized instruments, and dark subject matter. Every song here is unique and has a memorable hook, so I'm real surprised it still hasn't gone gold in the UK. Even though this album has a handful of slightly amateurish moments, it's still more consistent and interesting than anything the rest of the "bromley contingent" went on to do. Honestly, who can make a song about stalking and killing sound sexy? Siouxsie can, and no one else!
You've never heard vocals like this before, period. It's pretty amazing that these snarls and squeaks are actually coming from a classically trained opera singer. Even without the atonal qualities of her voice, the vocal melodies alone are impressive and challenging. Maybe it's 'cause I'm a weird guy, but I find this kind of idiosyncratic (and often guttural) singing to be really sexy.
Only Germans could create music this "outside the box" while still maintaining an element of cheesiness as well as serious punk attitude. It's a good thing too that the band is really tight and come up with their own memorable leads and rhythms. The stylistic influences are as wide-ranging as Nina's voice: bringing disco, classic rock, progressive,opera, punk, and even a little reggae into the mix. There's even a pretty hard sounding proto-hardcore song at the end.
Unfortunately, this, her debut album seems to be her only really good output. Later, she and her first band had the typical "sophomore slump", then, she formed a solo band and became comfortable doing mostly covers.
As she's now my favorite musician, I feel that I have to make my very first post about the greatest singer-songwriter of all time. Outside of Elton John, I've never heard melodies this original and complex, or just this good. Through the first two-thirds of her career, she really was the whole package (singer, songwriter, dancer, lyricist), a true multi-talented genius. It's a shame that she's kind of a cult figure these days, and really not that well-known in america. Here, I start from her first album, The Kick Inside (my favorite), all the way to Hounds of Love (her most successful and what most consider to be her best).
