Monday, April 16, 2012

Lords of the New Church: Live at The Spit (1982)



What hath the Lords of the New Church wrought? They brought a type of punk, a gussied-up Stooges meets New York Dolls sound with raunchy guitars n' sneered vocals to the mainstream. They, sadly, helped pave the way for bad-boy fashion-disasters like Billy Idol and Motley Crue. And yet their music, all excesses aside, rings as hauntingly true today as ever.

"Truth is the sword of us all."


The Lords of the New Church began in 1981 as that most grandiose of aggregations, the super-group. And a punk rock super-group to make matters worse! The mix of players, from different styles and different countries, did offer hope. Stiv Bators of the Dead Boys and Brian James of the Dammed formed a traditional British song-writing partnership, anchored by a rhythm section of Sham 69's Dave Tregunna and ex-Barracuda Nicky Turner. The final tally may or may not have surpassed than the sum of its parts but it surely created a striking figure all its own.




Taken as a whole, the Lords were a twisted Frankenstein monster. Image-wise, they played up a sleazy punk-goth-metal fashion complete with leather, studs and bandannas. Lyrically, they combined an occasionally incomprehensible political philosophy with a similarly disjointed anti-religious thrust. Musically things only got more complicated.





The band was founded on Bators-James shared love of the Stooges, as evidenced by Bators Iggy-worship, but this was a band who revered the New York Dolls ("L'il Boys Play With Dolls" name-checks almost every Doll’s song) and covered obscure sixties punk songs (Balloon Farm's “Question of Temperature”). Yet, despite having proto-punk influences and a goth-metal look, the Lords decided to be a pop band. They wrote songs with huge hooks (witness the awesome, “Open Your Eyes”) and allowed the keyboards (and occasional horns) equal play in the mix. The Lords tried to make sense of punk, six years after ground zero, sort of like the Combat Rock-era Clash.


Picture disc photo (probably) by Longy


In fact, the Clash's first and last drummer (and only chiropractor) Terry Chimes co-wrote the Lord's third single, "Russian Roulette”. The song mines the same vein of Apocalypse Now jungle psychosis (in an almost Hearts of Darkness way) that his former band-mates did in "Charlie Don't Surf" on 1981's Sandinista. Chimes' wrote the song with Tony James (later Mick Jones co-conspirator in Carbon Silicon), whose former band-mate Billy Idol would take a similar but more limited, set of ingredients as the Lords to the top of the pop charts.





Today, most of the Lords material is out-of-print, though two collection and some dodgy material (including new material with a different lead singer, a sort of Lords of the 21st Century kind of affair) remain available. But we here at MRML have hit upon The Lost Treasures of The Lords and if you just say the word(s), we're willing to bring you to Church! Today's offering is the incredibly rare pseudo-bootleg Live at The Spit which is a 1982 FM broadcast from WBCN, Boston that shows the band spitting out louder, snottier (if not younger) versions of the tracks from their debut album.


 
So the offer is on the table, sacrifice a few words to the COMMENTS section and we're willing to let forth more lost Lords!


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14 comments:

  1. Hi where can I listen to this

    Thanks

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  2. Ta-Da!!!

    https://rapidshare.com/files/2152426256/LNC_Spt_82.rar

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  3. Jeffen can't wait to listen THANKS!

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  4. Thanks for the great Lords post, been a fan of this band for many years

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  5. Gimme more. Always enjoyed this band. But, I liked The Wanderers better.

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    Replies
    1. I see The Wanderers is out-of-print once again - I shall have to think about that.

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  6. Photo by Longy lol :) Hey Jeff I've just forwarded on some top notch artwork for youknowwhat. The same can't be said about the Lords picture disc!

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    Replies
    1. That photo is your handy-work isn't it?

      P.S. Thanks for the artwork, the going is slow but the post is coming soon!

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  7. Nice one - thanks

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  8. I was into Lords' first album a lot when it came up. None of their stuff really holds up that well today. The tinny 80's production is dated and anemic, unfortunately. They were fantastic live, though. Stiv was a great entertainer and singer, and Brian James ripped live, though I know firsthand he drank a half a bottle of Jack Daniels before he hit the stage. As far as recorded stiff, the Stiv Bators solo album is tops in my book. Of course the Dead Boys first album is not too shabby either...

    Thanks for the link, and keep doin' what you doin'!

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    Replies
    1. "The tinny 80's production is dated and anemic," while that's hard to dispute I've come to accept that and love it anyway, Though it is true the live stuff is way kickier.

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  9. And, and as for above, I apologize for the multiple typographic mistakes.

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  10. This is a series waiting to happen Jeff...make it so!

    Longy...phffff....lucky last night mate...LUCKY!!! Come on Barca! :p

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    Replies
    1. Thanks to a last-minute surge in comments, the series will re-commence soon!

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