Death Cult and a weird & famous photographer

Tim Page is a self taught English photojournalist whose work became famous mainly due to his Vietnam war shots. He was the sort of guy who would walk without a care in the frontline and do all sort of dangerous things for a good photo. Careless and captured by the excitement of battle and the drugs he used to take, he would frequently venture where other professionals would not. 
Wikipedia reports that he was wounded four times in battle in the '60s - one of them almost sending him to an early grave. His daring and unusual personality -worth investigating- is rumored to have inspired the photojournalist's character in Coppola's masterpiece "Apocalypse Now" in 1979.
Why do we bother with him?
He's the one who shot the aerial photo that appears on Death Cult's "Brother's Grim" EP cover in 1983.
Not a surprising choice knowing Ian Astbury's fascination with the 1970's and the Nam saga...
See his page here:
http://www.timpageimage.com.au/v4/

SOM gig review 1983

This is a press review that appeared shortly after London's gig at the Venue (3-3-1983).
I' m not sure though if it was on the Melody Maker or the NME...
If someone knows please feel free to complete the info...
By the way, I love this exuberant writing style by this certain miss Elissa Van Poznak...
Enjoy!

Press material and gig ads 2

I'll start regularly posting clippings concerning gig ads and other material, from music papers of the '80s (NME, the Sounds, Melody Maker, Zig Zag e.a). It's quite interesting to see who played where and with whom before they became "big names".

OK, as promised, here's part 2. 

Stay tuned as there are many to come...

Gary Marx is underrated!

Ok, I don't know how many of you knew this, but I just recently heard these excellent tracks and got aware of the following fact:


"Nearly 13 years after first coming into being Nineteen Ninety Five and Nowhere receives its first official release on the French independent label D-monic. 
  Recently completed and re-mastered the new 10 track album features songs originally written in 1995 by The Sisters of Mercy co-founder Gary Marx at the invitation of Sisters’ supremo Andrew Eldritch. The material was intended to represent the pair’s first collaboration since the landmark Sisters’ album ‘First and Last and Always’ of 1984, but the notoriously wilful singer pulled out of the project without uttering a single word.
  The backing tracks went unheard until relatively recently when Marx, convinced of the material’s obvious strength, decided to finish the songs himself, writing lyrics and adding his own distinctive vocals. The response on hearing the results among the Sisters fan-base was immediate and the clamour for the tracks prompted him to make 7 of the songs available via the internet.
  Despite continual pressure to make the songs more widely available Marx had refused to be drawn until the approach of the Paris based label. Now with all 10 songs included for the first time the album has been re-mastered and re-packaged and is due for release on December 1st 2007.
  Despite (or perhaps because of ) the twisted path the songs have had to walk these long years, the album works as much more than a mere taste of what might have been – it serves as ample reminder of Marx’s undoubted ability as a writer and guitarist and is essential listening for anyone who has followed his career to date or for newcomers looking for an introduction to his work."

The above excerpt was taken by the French label, D-Monic's website.

I recommend you listen to this album letting your imagination bring in Andrew's voice...

Poor guy, what an opportunity he missed...

Tune in...

Gothic bands and art vol. I (Ghost Dance)

In April 1986, Ghost Dance (x-Sisters, Gary Marx & x-Skeletal Family, Anne Marie) released their first 12" release "River of no return" on Karbon records.
On the sleeve -following a tradition partly imposed by the Sisters of Mercy- a detail of a painting was used.

"The Lady of Shalott" was painted in 1888 by John William Waterhouse, a painter closely associated with the Pre-Raphaelites, who became famous for depicting women belonging to Arthurian legend or ancient Greek mythology.

The Pre-Raphaelites were a group of english painters and poets who formed in 1848. Their ideals were influenced by a fascination of the Middle Ages, a return to Flemish and Italian early Renaissance art and a reject of the changes the industrial revolution brought in society.


Stay tuned... 

Starting point & top 15

Ok, lets begin...

My interest in gothic rock goes back to my high school days when punk and later, gothic bands provided me and a couple of friends with a new spectrum of excitement...

Years passed with endless hours of listening, hundreds of records and gigs, clothes, places, photos, dreaming and even my choice of studies (graphic design) been influenced by gothic and punk fascination with art and atmospherics.

Oliver Vaughan, Chris Bigg (4AD) along with Neville’s Brody’s work on vinyl record sleeves, haunted my walls and my personal work. I can remember that the first poster I ever did as a student, was a collage of xeroxed photos for Bauhaus’ live LP “Press the eject and give 

me the tape”.

“..discover all of earth’s surprises” – Love under will, Fields of the Nephilim

Now, so many years later I know Mc Coy was right when he sang this...

I still feel a strong attraction towards not so much the image, masquerade and paraphernalia 

of this kind of music but to it’s very essence. For each of us it may be somewhat different...

That’s why I bother to upload this blog.

So I’ll start with a cliche.

My top 15 LP’s of classic goth rock.

Please feel free to upload yours.

That’s what blogs are about.

 I think that compilations here are a cheat so I haven’t included any...

Red lorry Yellow lorry - Talk about the weather (1985)

Play Dead - The first flower (1983)

The Sisters of Mercy - First and last and always (1984)

Fields of the Nephilim - the Nephilim (1988)

Fields of the Nephilim - Dawnrazor (1987)

Bauhaus - The sky’s gone out (1982)

The Cult - Dreamtime (1984)

Dance society - Heaven is waiting (1983)

Killing Joke - Night time (1985)

March Violets - Natural history (1984)

The Marionettes - Ave Dementia

Siouxsie and the Banshees - Tinderbox (1986)

Siouxsie and the Banshees - A kiss in the dreamhouse (1982)

The Mission - God’s own medicine (1986)

Dead can Dance - Dead can dance (1984)

That’s about it...

With no particular order.

Y


* whenever someone sends a top something I'm going to upload it to this page too instead of leaving it to the obscurity of the comments...


SavaGeo proposes:


Killing Joke - Fire Dances 
1919 - Machine 
Leitmotiv - Carress & Curse 
Southern Death Cult - S/T 
The Danse Society - Seduction 
The Sisters Of Mercy - First And Last And Always 
Bauhaus - Burning From The Inside 
Play Dead - The First Flower 
Christian Death - Only Theatre Of Pain 
Cocteau Twins - Garlands 
Gene Loves Jezebel - Promise 
Virgin Prunes - If I Die I Die 
Skeletal Family - Recollect