Monday, December 10, 2018
birth of the kohl
such a great group, yet one that i would have - and indeed did - sniff at as "lightweight bizniz" at the time
but of course secretly loved
how could you not?
that one above is my favorite, although there's a lot of competition
this is #2 i think
bassist Pete is really in bliss in that video, isn't he?
the boys were a bit ye olde rockist, it's true - you look at them and words like "ligger" and gigging and jamming and so forth waft through the mind - you can almost smell Dingwalls and the Marquee
but true originality radiates out in waves from Chrissie
including her own language - "deterrlinngg"
'what she's on about?' i would think, listening to "Brass In Pocket," as a boy
apparently it's "Detroit-leaning"... poetic!
and then the singing - that is vibrato isn't it, taken to an extreme, but more like tremolo guitar (blurry and smeary with a wobble) than vibrato as irritatingly over-did vocal technique used elsewhere
like a quivering lip, a fluttering moth-mad eyelash
or a sob
hence "Stop Your Sobbing", where she's soothing the sobber and miming the sobber at the same time
sublime mix of voluptuousness and viciousness, lassitude and attitude, sigh and sass
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4 comments:
Yeah love their debut LP, her book is droll and funny, coulda been a bittersweet Dusty type singer but she was far too cool and modern for that. Thanks for the Pete Shelley eulogy, listened to Singles the other day, knew the melodies and lyrics were magical but didn't realise how exciting the guitar interplay was- almost like Wire's 154.
Was thinking of Autonomy in particular. I'm always blown away by The 15th.
was reading up on them a bit and apparently she has a completely unusual sense of timing - the rhythm section had to completely adapt to her way of playing and singing.
yeah Buzzcocks had some interesting angular playing in there, great little spindly melody lines and spiky guitar parts - that's why the Banshees felt that the BCocks and Wire were kindred spirits
Ah cool, that's interesting, punk was full of odd, new, unconventional and energised voices, I guess what must of been different about Chrissie H and maybe Debbie H and Patti S is there were more moments of sheer vocal beauty within their vital rebellion. Checked out 154 again today, a pleasure, clearly an influence on Sonic Youth, controlled, foreboding guitar noise, I can hear some of that dark energy in the Buzzcocks' music but the emotionalism is as profoundly personal and everyday as a prime Kinks song.
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