~
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
Styrous® ~ Tuesday, March 30, 2021
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
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
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 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 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®
Tracklist:
Side 1:
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
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
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:
Net links:
Furious ~ Lene Lovich (interview)
Genious ~ Flex song lyrics
Louder Than War ~ Lene Lovich: Winchester
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 ~
"Perhaps I just never grew up!"
~ Lene Lovich
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