March 30, 2021

20,000 vinyl LPs 282: Lene Lovich ~ Flex & The Freeze

 ~      
vinyl LP front cover detail 
design by C-More-Tone (Chris Morton)
cover photo by Brian Griffin 
detail photo of album cover by Styrous®


Today is the birthday of wonderfully weird, New Wave Diva, Lene Lovich, born in 1949 in Detroit, Michigan. She moved to England When she was 13, where she met guitarist and songwriter Les Chappell, who later became her long-time music collaborator, partner and who was producer for the Flex album.      
 
 

vinyl LP front cover 
design by C-More-Tone (Chris Morton)
cover photo by Brian Griffin 
photo of album cover by Styrous®
 
 
She was born as Lili-Marlene Premilovich. She used to record screams for Hammer to dub onto their horror-films and wrote the lyrics to the disco hit Supernature for Cerrone in the late 70’s after which she abbreviated her name. She also recorded vocals for Picnic Boy by The Residents as "Sandy Sandwich". The song is only a minute or so long and the video is pretty weird (link below) but be warned, as with some of the Hammer films, it is a bit gruesome at the end.                
 
I was a fan of hers from her first album, Stateless, which was a wonderful array of sounds and themes that will always be among my favorites. The kooky and syncopated, Lucky Number, grabbed me and never let go. Then she came out with her second work, Flex, and it totally blew me out of the water!     

Flex was a radiant transition from the punk of the 1970's to the wonderfully experimental new wave tsunami of the 1980's; it contains the finest elements of both. It rightfully belongs on my "Desert Island" list (link below).            
 
  
vinyl LP front cover detail 
design by C-More-Tone (Chris Morton)
cover photo by Brian Griffin 
detail photo of album cover by Styrous®
 
 
In the punk category, more or less, are What Will I Do Without You, Angels, Egghead and Monkey Talk. However, they have many influences of new wave in them.         
 
 
 
 
vinyl LP front cover detail 
design by C-More-Tone (Chris Morton)
cover photo by Brian Griffin 
detail photo of album cover by Styrous®


A great song written by Judge Smith, You Can’t Kill Me, is VERY dramatic with heavy drum beats, a VERY slow deliberate march (e. g. walking to the Guillotine) and muses on Reincarnation. When introducing it in concert she says, “If you are thinking of killing yourself. Then don’t. It’s selfish!”    

Smith was drummer and one of the founding members of the English progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator in 1967 but left the band in 1968.    

The Night is a cover of the song by Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons. Lovich picked up the record in a second hand shop; she had been interested in the band's music and decided to record it for the album. The song was also covered  by Intastella in 1995, by Soft Cell in 2002.     
 
 
 

Bird song with its beautiful and ethereal start was written by Chappell and Lovich. She woke up in the night to the sounds of birds trilling. She recorded them and the recording was her inspiration for the opening for the song which went into a rapid disco with a marvelous organ .             

Wonderful One is just that, Wonderful! With its fast beat punctuated by a brilliantly played xylophone is superb! However, it is not to be confused with the 1923 song with the same title written by Paul Whiteman and Ferde Grofé.         


vinyl LP back cover 
design by C-More-Tone (Chris Morton)
back cover photo by Brian Griffin 
photo of album back cover by Styrous®
 
 
The Freeze is my favorite cut from the album. It was written by Lovich with her partner, Les Chappell; the instrumentation for the song is lushly sparse (?) and surreal; it features an organ synth, a male chorus humming in the background with tympani accents at the perfect time along with miscellaneous electronic effects. It is a slow march that comes across like a dirge as from the Office of the Dead.  
 
 

 Office of the Dead, 15th century
Black Hours, Morgan MS 493
 
 
The Freeze is a brilliant song. The official video for it utilizes a scene from Juliet of the Spirits, by Federico Fellini, with Giulietta Masina (link below).    
 
 
 
    

The Freeze

The icicles are forming in our eyes
As we go, as we go
The lucky ducks are waving us good bye
What a show, as we go

Don't forget your name, or the place from which you came
And the rest who still remain below

The best of us are taken by surprise
Even so, even so
We can't avoid the ultimate device
What a blow, even so

High and higher
How far do we go?
We can't expect to always see the sun shine
Frozen, silent, waiting in the cold
This is the longest night of all

The instruments are beating with a sigh
Yes we know, yes we know
It¹s time to close the door and say good night
Time to go, yes we know

All is cold tonight, but the stars are shining bright
And one day we¹ll see the light, I know

We can't expect to always see the sun shine

This is the longest night of all


The Freeze Lyrics written by Les Chappell & Lene Lovich

(link to all Flex song lyrics below)

 
vinyl LP front cover detail 
design by C-More-Tone (Chris Morton)
detail photo of album cover by Styrous®


In an interview by record producer, Mike Thorne, for the Stereo Society (link below) regarding her composing method, Lovich said:     
"When I was little, I use to write da, dum, da, de, da, dum, dum, those actual words, on a piece of paper.  Then, I looked at them the next day, they didn’t make any sense at all. So it was a great help when cassette players were invented and I’ve really just stuck to that simple method." 

Flex was recorded at the Wisseloord Studios in Hilversum, Netherlands. The album cover design was by the original art director at Stiff Records, Chris Morton of C-More-Tone Studios.        

The record sleeve

vinyl LP record sleeve 
design by C-More-Tone (Chris Morton)
photo of record sleeve by Styrous®





vinyl LP record sleeve detail 
design by C-More-Tone (Chris Morton
detail photo of record sleeve by Styrous®




vinyl LP record sleeve detail 
design by C-More-Tone (Chris Morton
detail photo of record sleeve by Styrous®







vinyl LP record sleeve detail 
design by C-More-Tone (Chris Morton
detail photo of record sleeve by Styrous®





vinyl LP record sleeve detail 
design by C-More-Tone (Chris Morton
detail photo of record sleeve by Styrous®






vinyl LP record sleeve detail 
design by C-More-Tone (Chris Morton
detail photo of record sleeve by Styrous®






vinyl LP record sleeve detail 
design by C-More-Tone (Chris Morton
detail photo of record sleeve by Styrous®




vinyl LP record sleeve detail 
design by C-More-Tone (Chris Morton
detail photo of record sleeve by Styrous®






vinyl LP record sleeve detail 
design by C-More-Tone (Chris Morton
detail photo of record sleeve by Styrous®



vinyl LP record sleeve 
design by C-More-Tone (Chris Morton)
photo of record sleeve by Styrous®





vinyl LP record sleeve detail 
design by C-More-Tone (Chris Morton
detail photo of record sleeve by Styrous®




vinyl LP record sleeve detail 
design by C-More-Tone (Chris Morton
detail photo of record sleeve by Styrous®




vinyl LP record sleeve detail 
design by C-More-Tone (Chris Morton
detail photo of record sleeve by Styrous®









vinyl LP record sleeve detail 
design by C-More-Tone (Chris Morton
detail photo of record sleeve by Styrous®




vinyl LP record sleeve detail 
design by C-More-Tone (Chris Morton
detail photo of record sleeve by Styrous®



vinyl LP record sleeve detail 
design by C-More-Tone (Chris Morton
detail photo of record sleeve by Styrous®




vinyl LP record sleeve detail 
design by C-More-Tone (Chris Morton
detail photo of record sleeve by Styrous®



vinyl LP record sleeve detail 
design by C-More-Tone (Chris Morton
detail photo of record sleeve by Styrous®



vinyl LP record sleeve detail 
design by C-More-Tone (Chris Morton
detail photo of record sleeve by Styrous®





vinyl LP record, side 1
photos by Styrous®


 

 
 
 
vinyl LP record, side 2
photos by Styrous®
 
   
Tracklist:

Side 1:

A1 - Bird Song - 4:27
A2 - What Will I Do Without You - 3:35
A3 - Angels - 3:08
A4 - The Night - 4:31
A5 - You Can't Kill Me - 3:45

Side 2:

B1 - Egghead - 2:26
B2 - Wonderful One - 4:28
B3 - Monkey Talk - 3:20
B4 - Joan - 3:18
B5 - The Freeze - 4:40

Companies, etc.


    Copyright © – CBS Inc.
    Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Stiff Records
    Manufactured By – Epic Records
    Distributed By – Epic Records
    Recorded At – Wisseloord Studios

Credits:

    Bass – Mark Hayward-Chaplin*
    Drums – Justin Hildreth
    Engineer – Peter Bord
    Guitar, Synthesizer, Backing Vocals – Les Chappell
    Keyboards – Dean Klevatt, Nick Plytas
    Photography By – Brian Griffin (3)
    Producer – Alan Winstanley, Lene Lovich, Les Chappell, Roger Bechirian
    Sleeve [Cover Art] – C-More-Tone*
    Vocals, Saxophone – Lene Lovich

Notes:

 PE 36308 on spine, JE 36308 on labels.

Issued with a printed inner sleeve with art and album info.
 
Barcode and Other Identifiers

    Barcode: 0 7464-36308-1
    Matrix / Runout (Side A, Printed): AL 36308
    Matrix / Runout (Side B, Printed): BL 36308
 
Lene Lovich – Flex
Label: Stiff-Epic – JE 36308, Stiff-Epic – PE 36308
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: US
Released: 1980
Genre: Electronic, Rock, Pop
Style: New Wave, Pop Rock, Synth-pop    

 
 
 
         
Viewfinder links:        
         
Cerrone         
Les Chappell        
Federico Fellini         
Ferde Grofé       
Lene Lovich        
Giulietta Masina        
The Residents        
Van der Graaf Generator         
Paul Whiteman          
        
Net links:        
         
Furious ~ Lene Lovich (interview)        
Genious ~ Flex song lyrics
Louder Than War ~ Lene Lovich: Winchester      
Lene Lovich website       
Post-Punk Monk ~ Lene Lovich: The Pre-Stiff Singles        
The Stereo Society ~ Flex review        
        
YouTube links:         
           
Cerrone - Supernature (Official Video)          
The Four Seasons ~ The Night  
Lene Lovich ~         
           Angels    
           Bird Song         
           Egghead          
           The Freeze           
           Joan              
           Monkey Talk    
           The Night     
           What Will I Do Without You                   
           Wonderful One          
           You Can't Kill Me      
The Residents ~ Picnic Boy       
interviews:          
DJ Andy Anderson (interview)          
Videowave (1990 interview)        
        
        
        
"Perhaps I just never grew up!" 
                  ~ Lene Lovich
        
        
        
Styrous® ~ Tuesday, March 30, 2021       














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