Flurry

My toughest rival
On Words with Friends, the mighty
Alice McFlurry

Ju Ju by Siouxsie & The Banshees

Interesting to compare and contrast this album with Talk, Talk, Talk by The Psychedelic Furs that the random generator gave me yesterday. Both albums are from 1981, both described as Post Punk but listening to them one after the other shows that they are very different in tone and feel. Siouxsie was one of the original Bromley contingent of punks and can be seen in the background of the notorious Sex Pistols interview where they - gasp! - swore on live tv. To be fair, the lecherous Bill Grundy really was a dirty old fucker.

As with just about everyone on that scene she didn’t hesitate to form a band and quickly established a unique sound that was darker and more sophisticated than contemporary punk thrash. Although she doesn’t like the term, this is definitely one of the roots of both goth rock and the associated fashion sense - Siouxsie single handedly invented the goth archetype of huge black hair, black clothes and heavy black eyeliner.

This album has a lot going for it - distinctive heavy bass, interesting guitar sounds (using an odd little gadget called a Gizmo to good effect), phenomenal drumming from Budgie (who would later form the Creatures spin off band with Siouxsie) and most importantly Siouxsie’s dark, shimmering vocals giving a unique feel to this album. The lyrics are also edging into dark (and dare I say Gothic) territory - not quite a concept album but there’s a definite air of the macabre here.

Definitely-not-goth-no,siree-tastic!

Sail

We set sail today
Under skies of polished bronze
Endless wine dark seas

Talk Talk Talk by The Psychedelic Furs

The first thing to say is that this band are neither psychedelic nor furry - what they are is a fairly standard post-punk/new wave band with some good wall of sound production by Steve Lillywhite and effective use of saxophone as a sort of droning background honk underneath Richard Butlers nasal vocals. That makes it sound worse than it is, but it did give me a bit of a Proustian rush for the early 80s.

By far the best track on here is Pretty in Pink, which inspired the John Hughes teen rom-com pic a few years later and must have been a nice little payday for the band. The rest of the album is fairly so-so, and I’m still not entirely sure whether Into You Like A Train is rude or not. There’s also an odd bonus track which is an advert for the album itself.

Grasshopper

Deep in the long grass
Playing fiddle with his legs
Noisy little bug

Pacific Ocean Blue by Dennis Wilson

Fun fact! Dennis Wilson was the only one of the Beach Boys who could surf! He was also the only one who got involved with Charles Manson, but that’s not quite so much fun.

Anyhoo, solo albums by drummers generally a bit disappointing. Their role in the band is to provide a solid backbeat to support everyone else, and they usually don’t get recruited for anything other than their ability to keep time. However, Dennis was a Wilson brother and obviously was blessed with the same musical genes as Brian and Carl. It's telling though that the album cover has the family name in large bold letter and Dennis almost hidden unless you squint.

It was with some trepidation that I pressed play on this one, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was pretty much ok. OK, so Wilson’s vocals are a bit thin and croaky after years of drugs and booze, and the music is mostly middle of the roads mawkish late night ballads but there are a couple of funkier and rockier moments in there. Not great, not terrible.

Yarrow

Foretelling futures
With a handful of yarrow
And a cunning book