Flying Lizards, anyone? (and Stewart/Gaskin)

[briarpatch.uucp!billy@MCNC.ORG (Billy Green)]

> From: sun!sputnik!kmr@SEISMO.CSS.GOV (Karl MacRae)

>> Dave Stewart/Barbara Gaskin - Up From The Dark

>	Duane is absolutly right; this is a GREAT ALBUM!
>		It's the most unusual album I've heard in a long time,
>	and that's saying somthing!

Well, I wouldn't go so far as to say it is the most unusual album I've
heard in a long time.  On the other hand, I'm the only person I know
who has all of the Flying Lizards' albums, as well as Suburban Lawns'
only album and only EP (did they all die after "Baby"?).

For those who might not know who the Flying Lizards are, you have
probably heard their cover of "Money (That's What I Want)".  After two
albums, it seemed that their only popular songs were their covers (all
done with a monotone female voice reciting the lyrics-- sometimes in
time with the instruments).  So, they recorded an album called, "Top
Ten".  It contains ten covers of songs ranging from "Great Balls Of
Fire" to "Suzanne" (Leonard Cohen) to "Purple Haze" to "What's New,
Pussycat?".  The liner notes simply say, "these songs are dedicated to
maelzel, inventor of the metronome, the motto is 'rhythm is not
arithmetic' and the interpretation is innocent".

A casual listen might make one think that they took a humorous idea
(i.e., monotone recitation) and tried (badly) to stretch it into a
full album/joke.  However, these are not jokes--they're serious
interpretations.  Just as Nina Hagen took a seemingly innocuous
sixties song ("Spirit In the Sky") and turned it into something quite
enjoyable, the Flying Lizards do some interesting things with these
songs.  Theirs is perhaps the best version of "Suzanne" that I have
ever heard--dark and forboding, and the speaking draws more attention
to the lyrics (which are the focal point of the song anyhow--Cohen's
repititious melody can distract when the words are sung).

This album is two years old now.  It was never printed domestically,
nor were the singles, nor was the CD.

By the way, does anyone know if "Fourth Wall" can be found anywhere at
all?  I got it when it was first released as an import, and I haven't
seen it since.  Was it that big of a bomb?  If so, what does Robert
Fripp have to say about it (since he produced/ played Frippertronics
on/co-wrote songs for that album)?

So, anyway, "Up From the Dark" sounds a lot more like synth-pop than I
had thought it would.  Since more than half of the tracks are covers
of other people's songs, "Top Ten" was the first comparison that came
to mind when I first read about this disc.  And the comparison turned
out to be inappropriate--the covers aren't as inventive as I had
hoped, since they sound a good deal like the original recordings.
However, the production is very nice on all the tracks of "Up From the
Dark", and most of the original tracks (six out of fourteen) are quite
good as pop tunes.  Still, I find myself strangely attracted to "Busy
Doing Nothing" and to several of the other tracks.  Rate it a 6 out of
10.

Billy Green
Carrboro, NC
{seismo,decvax,rutgers,akgua}!mcnc!briarpatch!billy
"I don't know what came over me."
	"Lack of discipline."