Friday, January 02, 2009

Christian Death: Spiritual Cramp

Happy New Year!!! ...

and welcome to my latest obsession: Rozz Williams-era Christian Death, one of the original so called "death rock" bands, and a fixture on the LA punk scene. I saw the Valor incarnation of Christian Death in London recently and was so puzzled by it all. I think what Valor and the fabulously scary Maitri (she looks like she's coming straight out of a Polanski movie...) do is decent and fairly entertaining but it's a completely different band. Check out the wikipedia entry for Christian Death and you find there's a fleeting mirage of incarnations, every one further removed from the original band that made that classic first album "Only Theatre of Pain", made when Rozz was just 16 (!!!). So when I got that recently I realised just why this band was so important and influential. And that it's all about Rozz at the end of the day, he was quite the enigmatic and eccentric artist and character...and his image set trends for decades to come...I love his voice, already so world weary and campy, and the driving punk rock guitars on this track, set to scenes from " It's a Wonderful Life"...


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