Lydia Lunch and Rowland S. Howard - Shotgun Wedding

  by Anthony Strutt

published: 8 / 4 / 2013

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This is the third issue of this stunning album, which originally came out in 1991 on Triple X and UFO Records, and then was reissued again in 1999 on Pilot. The latest issue on Cherry Red of this album from punk poetess Lydia Lunch and the late Birthday Party guitarist Rowland S. Howard adds extra bonus live and studio cuts. Rowland S. Howard until his untimely death from liver cancer at the age of fifty in 2009 breathed fire into his music, and even now over twenty years on from its original release, far from being background music, 'Shotgun Wedding' grabs its listener by the throat. Lunch and Howard's first first work together was a cover of Lee Hazlewood's 'Some Velvet Morning', which was released on 12" vinyl in 1982 on 4AD and is one of the bonus tracks here. 'Burning Skulls' is a rip-roaring raw blues number with a guitar that screams out like a bleeding heartache while Lydia's powerful vocal forces you to listen right up. 'In My Time of Dying' is a country-style ballad with a softly-paced guitar. Lydia's vocals meanwhile falls out like those of a graceful Patti Smith. 'Solar Hex', which again recalls Patti Smith, is beat poetry, set to a strong New Wave fusion of guitar, bass and raw drum fury. 'Endless Fall' is a gothic/psychedelic number, something like the Mission fronted by All About Eve's Julianne Regan . 'What is Memory' recollects mid-1980's the Cure while Lydia's words float in the air on it like hot poetry. 'Pigeon Town' is full of raw punk fury and spite, and 'Cisco Sunset' is a slow blues number for the punk generation which is like a slowed-down Joy Division song, and has a vocal that haunts and teases and gets faster and faster until it reaches an extraordinary climax. 'Incubator' is the perfect marriage of both vocals and raw guitar, and perfectly shows off both talents here. 'Black Juju' ends the original album, and, recollecting the Cure's 'The Hanging Garden', is both gritty and instantly addictive. The album adds onto it a selection of live tracks that are even more raw in sound, as well as the cover of Lee Hazlewood's 'Some Velvet Morning'. A fantastic reissue.

Track Listing:-

1 Burning Skulls
2 In My Time Of Dying
3 Solar Hex
4 Endless Fall
5 What Is Memory
6 Pigeon Town
7 Cisco Sunset
8 Incubator
9 Black Juju
10 Some Velvet Morning
11 Burning Skulls (Live)
12 Oh Jim (Live)
13 Pigeon Town (Live)
14 Run Through The Jungle (Live)
15 Solar Hex (Live)

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/Lydia-Lunch-Retrovirus-534777863275361/
https://www.facebook.com/Lydia-Lunch-160163667361877/
https://www.facebook.com/Official-Lydia-Lunch-852065911514395/
http://www.lydia-lunch-official.com/

Label Links:-

http://www.cherryred.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/CherryRedRecords
https://twitter.com/cherryredgroup
https://www.youtube.com/CherryRedRecords

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