The Flying Lizards were a collective of musicians who made bizarre
original works and also “re-imagined” songs by others in their droll,
mechanical, British-humoured avant garde style. Deconstruction at it’s
finest, the Lizards took apart songs and then rebuilt them form the
ground up, using instruments in odd disjointed ways and utilizing
industrial machine samples, all overlaid with a cold, emotionless (yet
oddly sexy) vocal. “Money (It’s What I Want)” is their biggest hit and
still is played today in movies and on 80s stations.
My
favorite track of their oeuvre, “Sex Machine”, is a rarely-heard track.
In 1984 they released an entire an album of covers called “Top Ten”
and on it they covered this James Brown hit. This one is particularly
good because it is a clean, efficient, sparse and minimalist reading -
the exact opposite of the emotional, soul-filled, sweaty original.
Genius!
"Sex Machine" (and the Flying Lizards in general) are an acquired taste… 3:25
of "Sex Machine" is probably enough but if you’ve just got to have
more, one of my favorite vinyl appreciation sites has re-mixes of six
and eight minutes for you to immerse yourself in!
-WAS
I don't remember this at all from the 80s. I do like "Money" though. This sounds like some of the industrial stuff that would come later. So, ahead of its time.
ReplyDeleteThe Flying Lizards ... ahead of every time !
ReplyDelete