Lydia Lunch - Queen Of Siam

Prior to this 1980 debut album, Lunch was best known for leading NYC's No Wave band Teenage Jesus and the Jerks and prior to that, being the inspiration for the Dead Boys "I Need Lunch". She has since become a multi-decade acclaimed artist who is still working to this day and has inspired many individuals and groups throughout the years.

While at the time I was not a big fan of the Jerks, this album's different facets clicked with me when I got it - probably a couple of years after it's release. While still maintaining plenty of dissonant noise, here Lunch also toyed with lounge jazz, beatnik poetry and even a hip cover of the Classics IV hit, "Spooky". Working with other new wave/no waves New Yorkers like Robert Quine, Jack Ruby and Pat Irwin, among others, she sets up a strong initial release. I just received the CD of this record, which has odd, unflattering woodcut interpretations of the vinyl's front and back cover photos, for some reason. Otherwise, it does appear to be the same release.

While not having a technically "good" voice, Lunch can be expressive, bored, sexy and even melodic - sometimes within the same song! Opening with "Mechanical Flattery", there is a sparse, disjointed backing with bored-sounding vocals and "Gloomy Sunday" does its best to depict the title in a melancholy, jazzy (and more  musical) way, again with almost spoken vocals, while "Tied and Twist" sounds like a contorted nursery rhyme. After these peculiar, almost fragmentary pieces, the 60's hit "Spooky" is positively melodic and is actually a fairly accurate recreation of the original, with unusual vocals, of course. Side one of the vinyl ended with a Lounge Lizards-like "Los Banditos" with Lydia's voice practically a whisper and mixed low in the instrumentation so it's pretty much impossible to tell if there is a story being told here, but it's a very hip track, regardless.

Flip over the LP and we are treated to a fave of mine, "Atomic Bongos" with an upbeat, circular, percussive, repetitive riff with hip noize/jazz melodies layered and Lunch's depiction of a NYC beach blanket bingo party! Probably my absolute fave is the dynamic, film noir jazz of "Lady Scarface", where Lydia plays a seductress stalking an underage boy after being stood up - this is fun, sexy and swinging! More noir-ish jazz (again, reminding me a bit of the Lounge Lizards if they were playing something from West Side Story) in the groovin' instrumental, "A Cruise to the Moon" followed by the macabre carnival music of "Carnival Fat Man", where Lunch asks the musical question "who's the fat man?". "Knives in the Brain" is basically a recital of pained poetry backed by more hip jazz and the proceedings come to a close with a short snippet in "Blood of Tin".

While I love crazed caterwauling No Wave noize fests, I really enjoy this record for its more musical jazz treatments and Lunch's tempered, temptress-y vocalizing. Great stuff!