We interrupt this shitload of Christian rock to bring you this Lords of the New Church Update: The Lords Live at the Spit has been found and ripped by Mr. Ollie Stench ("I'm no hero", Ollie might have said, "Just a man who loves the Lords".)
Download Live at the Spit but don't forget to leave a thank-you comment for Ollie for the nice 320 kbps rip and to go visit him here (He's posted four MORE Live Lords shows to boot.)
Don't stop me, you have may not have heard this one before*.
MRML posts that offer unfamiliar material by familiar artists get the big reactions. It's the nature of the beast, we want what we already have but slightly different. However, as an obsessive, there's still no rush for me like finding, then sharing, something completely unheard. So now MRML, rather than just chronicling my listening choices, has begun driving them. I'm forever scouring the physical and the digital world for postable material.
This compilation, Shots in the Dark, found here, jumped out at me because of that angular aesthetic that screams "English New Wave". Sure enough it's from England circa 1981, the year before the synths ate the world. You, the listener, will have to decide whether the defining trait of this compilation, is that it's treasure trove of deeply obscure ska, punk and new wave or that it was compiled by early U2 associate and British Christian rock figure Laurie Mellor (no relation to Joe Strummer I'm guessing).
This collection, on which each band got two songs, may as well have been sub-titled 66% British Ska. Ofthe six bands here, the Graphics, the Magnetics, the Mystery Guests and the Stares all borrow heavily from the scratchy rhythms of Two-Tone era ska, The Specials in particular (but with some Clash and Police nicking as well). As for the other two bands, the Predators are a little more mainstream new wave - somewhere between the Records and the Cars, whereas Crowd Control could have opened up for the Cure or Bauhaus without anyone batting a heavily-mascaraed eyelash.
Unlike Sonseed this lacks a deeply comical video (oh the temptation to name this post "Jesus Has Six New Friend Requests" was almost unbearable). But perhaps such anonymity makes it easier to take this unearthed artifact at face value.
{MRML readers: please leave us a comment about your take on the bands herein.}
Download Shots in the Dark L.P. (Contains two M3U's, one with the original L.P. order and one with the MRML order, where each band's songs are consecutive.)
* Of course, if you're a dedicated reader of the fantastic Short Sharp Kick in the Teeth you have. Hopefully I added something to the mix!
It is said by many that the stage was where the Lords reigned. Now is the time to come to your own conclusion. We here at MRML like the studio albums both in spite of and because of their eighties production. There a squirm-inducing moments all over those albums where you wish there'd been a stronger, smarter producer at the board. That being said, there's something cheerfully subversive about the clash between the band's imagine (not to mention their pedigree and lyrical stance) and their pop aspirations. It's ironic but not in a laugh at it kinda way but in an unsettling sort of way. I miss having a band with such complications messing up the pop/underground dichotomy.
Still no "Live at the Spit, though I found a boot from an '82 Boston show that is probably the right one but it's in .WMA , so I'll just wait till a reader can offer us a good copy. Anyone?
Sometimes this blog has a mind of its own. After all, I had no plans for a series of Lords of the New Church posts till Nazz Nomad mentioned Stiv in a list of the Ohio's greatest female vocalists. This brought the disturbing cover image of "Like a Virgin" to mind, so I scurried off to find out what was in print, only to find that all of the band's album are deleted. So, as a public service, MRML posted all three of them, resulting in many visitors and some some great comments (the more valuable of the two). One such commenter, Seattle punk guitar legend Paul Solger, inadvertently led to me to this vignette concerning his band-mates in Solger and their Stiv story.
"TR: What's this about getting into a fight with The Dead Boys?KN: The Dead Boys came to town and we put the word out that Solger was going to beat the shit out of them. We didn't actually go the show of course (Laughter). But me, Doug, and my girlfriend showed up to the after show party. One of the guys in The Dead Boys' road crew kept trying to get me to swing at him. I just ignored him. Then, I remember sitting on the steps and seeing that same guy from The Dead Boys' crew fly above my head! Apparently he said something to Doug and he (Doug) was real strong. After he landed, Doug and my girlfriend started kicking the shit out of him with their steel tipped boots. Then Stiv Bators comes up and says 'Who's Kyle Nixon?' and I say 'I am'. He was real short and had this pointed stick with him. At this point, I was just honored he knew my name! That was the whole point of saying we wanted to fight them, y'know? To get this guy to know who the hell I was. So I told him his whole Punk Rock act was old and he should move on like Lydon did. I guess he listened to me because he started Lords Of The New Church and it bombed!"
Lords of the new Church may not have bombed but it's amazing how long after their dismissal from IRS that the band limped on, bloodshod. With some new New Lords in tow, Bators and James, re-did "Dance with Me" (bigger beat, not much else) in 1987 on the (West) German label Perfect Beat.
This near-dead version of the band also released the pedestrian Makin'' Time 12" on Perfect Beat in 1989. By 1990 Stiv would be dead from internal bleeding suffered after being hit by a car, thus forever ending the Lords of the Church as we knew them.
At the end of the Lords of the New Church's reign of terror, things got ugly, Robespierre ugly. In one of their final moments in the spotlight, they executed a version of Madonna's wafer-thin pop confection, "Like A Virgin". The Lords' take is like that sick joke someone tells you so fast you forget you're not supposed to laugh. Musically, it''s pretty threadbare (only Bators and James perform here, the rhythms were ghost-played by programmable machines). The final result is every bit as pretty as that grisly cover would indicate.
Nearing their final demise the Lords issue the Psycho Sex 12" in 1986. For this e.p. the band was reduced to obscure French indie label Bondage International after their major label deal with I.R.S. lapsed. This particular version of of the e.p. also contains two songs from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre II soundtrack. It's not particularity dire, just unnecessary; but that's never stopped a good obsessive now has it?.
MRML is a blog about the devestating effects of culture: music, politics, comics plus etc. blah blah blah. At times MRML will post fine, unpurchasable three-chord obscurica (punk, pop-punk, new wave, mod, power-pop, gospel, reggae, hardcore, rockabilly, folk, country...whatever.) - - - - - - "The otherwise unavailable files in this blog are posted for a limited time and are intended for educational, non-commercial use. These files were transcribed from what are believed to be out-of-print sources. If you are aware of any of these items being readily available from commercial sources, or if any of these files infringe upon rights that you hold, please notify us so that we can quickly remove the referenced items immediately." - - - SUPPORT THE ARTISTS - BUY MUSIC!
If you have any questions or music to donate you can contact me at musicruinedmylife (at) gmail (dot) com
Re: Re-Ups
MRML does not plan to restore all of the content lost in The Great Mediafire Gutting of 2012. Polite requests may be made in the appropriate section, regular commenters will get priority.
