Flesh For Lulu - Flesh For Lulu

Flesh for Lulu’s self-titled 1984 debut album is a cult post-punk/goth rock release, praised for blending gloomy, moody atmospheres (reminiscent of The Cult or early Death Cult) with new wave, melodic jangling guitars, and glam-influenced, sleazy rock-and-roll. Despite limited initial success, it is now recognized for its raw energy, distinctive vocals, and energetic, bass-driven tracks, often described as an underrated gem of the 80s.

Review by Dave Thompson

For so long a discordant gale of noise, Flesh for Lulu finally made good in late 1983, with the quite remarkable Roman Candle EP. For the first time, their influences -- Iggy, Lou and Bowie on a daytrip to Glamland -- emerged a vibrant brew of textured, dramatic Day-Glo beauty, and even their foes were suddenly looking forward to their debut album, if only to discover whether it was all a ghastly fluke. It wasn't. Ignore the cover (which is hideous by anybody's standards) and make straight for the opening "Restless." Marred only by an implausibly obtrusive girlie chorus, "Restless" introduced a Furs-meet-Spector Wall of Sound that doesn't let up, even when the Lulus dip into the horror show hoedown of side two's epic closer, "Heavy Angel." The trip en route, meanwhile, is spellbinding: "Hyena," an incredible cover of the Stones' "Jigsaw Puzzle Girl," the raucously mesmerizing "Brainburst" and, best of all, "Subterraneans" -- still one of the all time great rock & roll street anthems, with a guitar line that Keith Richard would have been pleased to call his own. Looking back on Flesh for Lulu from a distance of 20 40 plus years, it's easy to see why the British weekly Melody Maker once proclaimed its makers as "[possibly] the most important band we've got." It wasn't the most fashionable thing to say, and the Lulus themselves did their best to dismantle such praise when they started chasing the Yankee dollar. For a year or two after the release of this album, though, there was a lot of truth in that declaration, and Flesh for Lulu still wears its scars proudly.

Flesh For Lulu - Subterraneans (Metro-Mix) 12'' + Restless 12''

Based on available archival and collector information, the 12" singles for "Subterraneans (Metro-Mix)" and "Restless" by Flesh For Lulu are highly regarded as key artifacts of their early "Batcave" era, characterized by a dark, glamorous, and gothic-tinged post-punk sound. 

Subterraneans (Metro-Mix) 12" (1984) Released as the second single on Polydor, this 12" features a mix of a song described as a "soaring Batcave anthem". The track is described as Bowie-esque, featuring "dark music" driven by "tribal rhythms" that were considered highly danceable yet atmospheric. Critics and reviewers retrospectively view the track as a "poignantly poetic rhapsody" and a highlight of the band's early career. It is noted for Nick Marsh's compelling vocals.

Restless 12" (1984) often catalog FFLX2 was released in the UK by Polydor, featuring a full version of the title track along with "Cat Burglar". The song showcases the band's shift away from pure goth into a more soulful, rocking sound, even incorporating backing singers. It is seen as part of their early, "raw" period before they moved towards more American-influenced rock. The 12" format is preferred for its extended, higher-fidelity sound compared to the 7".

Reviews of both 12" records often emphasize that while the band was associated with the goth scene of the early 80s, they were actually more of a "glammed up collision of the Stones" and early 70s rock, often creating "overlooked rock'n'roll gems"

Flesh For Lulu - Roman Candle 12''EP

Starting off this evenings posts the first of four vinyl rips for the purests out there, the 12" vinyl rip of Flesh for Lulu's Roman Candle EP (1984). This is a post-punk, gothic-tinged release featuring a lengthy, somewhat repetitive title track, alongside highlights like "Lame Train" and the Bauhaus-influenced "Coming Down". The EP, which marked the band's early, atmospheric sound, is considered an underrated, moody gem from the 80s scene. The EP is generally seen as a key, if overlooked, piece of the band's early career, capturing their reputation as a solid live act at the time.

Flesh For Lulu - Big Fun City-Blue Sisters Swing

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Flesh For Lulu - Long Live The New Flesh [US Edition]

Determined that an American breakthrough was now within their grasp, Flesh for Lulu gambled the farm on Long Live the New Flesh. In the short term it was a smart move and placed the band right on the verge of stardom, but in the long term it was, in retrospect, suicide. Fed up with the British press' sniping Stones' comparisons, the group severed their strongest roots, leaving their U.K. fanbois to wither away to nothingness. This drastic pruning was deemed necessary for the Lulu’s to take hold and flourish in the U.S. In an altered reality kind of way, New Flesh and its predecessor, Big Fun City, correspond virtually track for track, with the rockers frontloaded and the softer numbers mainly in the second half. But the title tells the whole story, and indeed launched very new Lulu’s upon the world. Gone were the masses of R&B riffs and punky rhythms that fired their last album; in came a new arena sound. The pop/rock melodies still remained, but were now fleshed out (so to speak) with synths, female backing vocalists, big rock guitar, and a Gary Glitter stomping beat. A quick comparison of "Siamese Twist" and Big Fun's "Vaguely Human" illustrates the point. The latter's a punk-fuelled R&B pop/rocker; the former's a punk-fuelled R&B pop/rocker laden with a thumping beat, searing lead guitar, and braying brass. Of course, the British found the new Lulu’s bloated to obesity, but this was what America wanted, and the band were happy to dish it up. Even the wonderful "Postcards From Paradise" (the "Baby Hurricane" of New Flesh), is as chubby as a cherub, beefed up by the repetitive, pounding bass drum, and blend of Big Fun’s previous boisterousness. The U.S., of course, loved it. But even while toning done their punkier sound and R&B riffs, at least the band remained diverse. Going down Big Fun's genre checklist, New Flesh also includes country & western hybrids, a bit of blues, a nod to U2 ("Sleeping Dogs"), and a closing experimental track. Oddly enough, the latter actually returns the Lulu’s to their own post-punk roots, albeit in an extremely twisted way. So what Big Fun City was for the Brits -- a classic pop/rock album in an indie mould – Long Live The New Flesh was for Americans -- a classic pop/rock album in an arena mould. Pick your poison, both records are excellent, although few but the most die-hard fans will find them both equally appealing.

Flesh For Lulu - Flesh For Lulu (The Polydor Years 2xCD)

When people give you the whole ‘it’s all online anyway’ argument about buying music, it’s worth bearing in mind that this is the first CD issue of Flesh For Lulu’s album – which was originally released in 1984. Subtitled The Polydor Years, it brings together the tracks from the first three singles, as well as three BBC sessions recorded between 1982 and 1984. Singer and guitarist Nick Marsh sadly died of cancer in 2015, but guitarist Rocco and drummer James Mitchell spoke to me about the album’s re-issue.
Google Flesh For Lulu, and you will usually find them described as ‘goth.’ Yet this is particularly surprising when you listen to the four tracks they recorded for the John Peel show in the summer of 1982. This version of the band has far more in common with the likes of Human League and Thompson Twins, the ‘new pop’ of the time, than the sound the band would pursue when they signed to Polydor. Guitarist Rocco, who joined subsequent to the session, was blunter when I interviewed him ahead of this re-issue.
‘I thought it was fucking awful!’ he told me, quite cheerfully. ‘They were closet rock’n’rollers! i let them out of the closet’ Mitchell concurs that Rocco joining the band – then including bassist Glen Bishop -brought the thing together. ‘There was Simple Minds, Depeche Mode…we had no idea what we were doing, we were finding our way. Funnily enough, that was what Polydor liked!’
With Rocco on board, the band left behind any connection to synth-pop and set about becoming a great rock band. The following year saw a session for David ‘Kid’ Jensen and a lot of gigging, and finally signing to Polydor. Their first single ‘Roman Candle’ wasn’t included on the original album, but it is now, in both 7″ and 12″ remix versions. It’s a worthy addition, to what is an excellent album.
Flesh For Lulu understood that rock had directions still to go. Building upon the likes of the Velvet Underground and the Stooges, ‘Restless’ kicks off an album bursting with songs that brood and energise at the same time. While it’s possible to date the album as being made in the eighties, at the same time it still feels fresh, and considerably more vital than music a fraction of its age. The cover of the Stones ‘Jigsaw Puzzle’ (originally on Beggars Banquet, quite probably Mick and Co’s finest hour) updates the song another fifteen years or so, adding another layer of menace. ‘Hyena’ and ‘Dog Dog Dog’ had debuted on the ‘Kid’ Jensen session a year earlier, showing that the second session (included here) was a band that had found its sound.
The centrepiece is probably the second single ‘Subterraneans’ – a suitably Bowie-esque title that sums up what is still so great about this period in eighties music. Dark music that you could lose yourself into (though just as possibly find yourself), and was celebratory at the same time, driven by tribal rhythms. This is music that begs to be played loud – whilst zooming down roads at the dead of night. Don’t, however call them goths. Rocco again: ‘We just looked like that. It had only just had a label applied to it.’ He recalls talking with Siouxsie and the Banshees’ bassist Steve Severin about how both their bands had got lumped in with that. ‘I just found the whole goth thing a little bit Rocky Horror Picture Show.’
The Banshees were labelmates on Polydor, as were The Cure. But the dark rock was not what the label were expecting. ‘Polydor were horrified!’ recalls Mitchell. ‘We were signed as a Depeche Mode-type band. The guy who signed us [Alan Sizer] wasn’t happy.’
Polydor dropped them – but the band went onto great success State-side where ‘I Go Crazy’ featured in the John Hughes Film Some Kind Of Wonderful. That is, of course, another story, but be grateful that the first chapter of the story has -been-reinstated.

https://17seconds.co.uk/blog/2017/11/26/album-review-flesh-for-lulu-re-issue/

Subterraneans Re-Loaded

Nick Marsh, singer and guitarist for the band Flesh For Lulu, died Friday 5^th June 2015 after battling cancer. He was 53. Nick formed the band Flesh For Lulu in the early 80's with drummer James Mitchell. The two recruited former Wasted Youth guitarist Rocco and bassist Glen Bishop and, in 1983, they signed with Polydor Records and released the quite remarkable Roman Candle EP. For the first time, their influences (Iggy, Lou and Bowie on a daytrip to Glamland) emerged a vibrant brew of textured, dramatic Day-Glo beauty, and even their foes were suddenly looking forward to their debut album, if only to discover whether it was all a ghastly fluke.

It wasn't.

Ignore the cover (which is hideous by anybody's standards) and make straight for the opening salvo of "Restless." Marred only by an implausibly obtrusive girlie chorus, "Restless" introduced a Furs-meet-Spector Wall of Sound that doesn't let up, even when the Lulus dip into the horror show hoedown of side two's epic closer, "Heavy Angel." The trip en route, meanwhile, is spellbinding: "Hyena," an incredible cover of the Stones' "Jigsaw Puzzle Girl," the raucously mesmerizing "Brainburst" and, best of all, "Subterraneans" still one of the all time great rock & roll street anthems. Looking back on Flesh For Lulu from a distance of 30 plus years, it's easy to see why the British weekly Melody Maker once proclaimed its makers as "[possibly] the most important band we've got." It wasn't the most fashionable thing to say, and the Lulus themselves did their best to dismantle such praise when they started chasing the Yankee dollar. For a year or two after the release of this album, though, there was a lot of truth in that declaration, and the debut album Flesh For Lulu still wears its scars proudly.

After releasing the EP Roman Candle (1983) and full album Flesh For Lulu (1984) with its attendant singles, they were unceremoniously dropped by Polydor Records…Thankfully in 2017 (after 33 years) the Lulu’s have been graced with a double CD release collecting together all of their Polydor output along with three BBC Radio sessions…fuck that! Here’s the vinyl in shiny MP3 @ 320kbps