Gene loves jezebel heavenly bodies4/1/2023 Twenty Killer Hurts is another song with a spiky, funky riff that frames the Aston’s rumination on the dangers of drug addition : Take Set Me Free, which kicks off with a stark staccato riff, or the slithering guitar work that punctuates the sultry Suspicion. This song set the template for Dolls less experimental textures in exchange for bigger hooks and heavier riffing. So, you go to a bar and you / Talk to your friends about girls and cars/ And even though you’re bored/ They’ll only go this far/You’re So Gorgeous baby It also featured their sexually ambiguous lyrics: ‘The House Of Dolls’ album coverIt opened with Gorgeous, with a decadent riff that reeked of adolescent hormones and romantic longing. The band’s follow-up House of Dolls (produced by Peter Walsh) would flirt further with the mainstream, and leave a solidly satisfying, catchy collection of Eighties awesomeness. ![]() Click here for my exclusive interview with GLJ guitarist James Stevenson He added rock musculature that distinguished them from their more skeletal, austere beginnings. It flirted with dance beats and benefited from the recent addition of guitarist James Stevenson (formerly of Generation X). The Aston twins front and center on the ‘Discover’ album cover.Their first stateside hit was Desire off their album Discover. On early releases the group had a harsh, angular tone punctuated by the Aston brothers ethereal banshee wails. And rather than sullen solitude, their music was more concerned with romance than alienation. The band’s early mystique revolved around its androgynous dual lead singers, who happened to be identical twins Jay and Michael Aston.Īnd while they had emerged in the Goth scene, their wardrobes were drenched in color. The band were touring for their album The House Of Dolls, which proved to be a defining and divisive point in the band’s history.īut first, some background info GLJ were a post-punk group forged in the early 80’s. It’s the second rock show I’ve ever been to ( INXS being the first). ![]() I’m at the Arcadia Theatre in Dallas, TX to see Gene Loves Jezebel with openers Flesh For Lulu. Let’s look back at Gene Loves Jezebel’s ‘The House of Dolls’, one of the most addictive albums of the 80’s. They were too glam for goth, and too goth for glam. Add to this quality aural schmutter of the calibre of Sweet Sweet Rain and you have something that at least warrants the re-release it’s getting, even if contemporary sources might have rolled their eyes in disbelief on hearing the news that Gene Loves Jezebel would be as warmly received in 2017 (in some quarters at least) as they were in 1987.Albums Revisited: Gene Loves Jezebel ‘The House of Dolls’ Hence The Cult loom large (ironic, that, since GLB guitarist James Stevenson, who writes a great deal of the material on this album, ended up as The Cult’s touring guitarist) alongside names like The Alarm, Simple Minds and, bizarrely, James – the vocal similarities of Jay Aston and Tim Booth are uncanny at times.ĭon’t get me wrong – post punkers and goths of a certain age will afford themselves a wry smile on hearing tracks like In a Lonely Place again – I certainly did- whilst the album’s one semblance of a hit, Josephina (seen here both in its original form and with an extended mix), has actually aged pretty well and would certainly get toes tapping in your local alt.rock disco were it to be released today. Listening now it’s hard to see it as anything other than a lukewarm rehashing of whatever was hot on US college radio at the time, fused with some nods to the greats of British post punk. Of course they’ve reformed, broken up again and sued one another countless times since then, but at the time it seemed as if Heavenly Bodies might well be the epitaph of Gene Loves Jezebel and it’s two prime movers, twins Michael and Jay Aston.Īnd as such it was probably seen as a bit of a damp squib. Originally released on the Savage label in 1993, Heavenly Bodies was something of a swansong for UK goth sensations Gene Loves Jezebel.
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