Legendary Pink Dots

[Dirty Boy]

Just getting into these after first half-dismissing them as goth rubbish. Asylum and The Golden Age are terrific records, but they seem to have about 50 others. Any help with where to go next?

Some songs i like
Hotel Noir
The More It Changes
Green Gang
Fifteen Flies in the Marmalade
True Love

Hopefully no one will argue about whether Edward Ka-Spel has a lisp or not.

[garbed_attic]

Oh they're bloody great!

Personally I think they're remarkably consistent (for a bunch of goth tarot reading stoners - heh!)

Their really early stuff is underappreciated - chilly and lean and pleasingly spooky.

Things really get good with The Tower and Asylum though. I find 1986's Island of Jewels unexpectedly disturbing... musically it's fairly dissonant but it's the lyrics that really get me. It's like a properly nasty and wretched version of Water's The Final Cut. I've rarely heard an album filled with so much fear and loathing of the British establishment. It all makes a horrible sense listening to it today (which is probably why I find it so upsetting). Really puts the willies up me that album does.

The Maria Dimension is the one everyone considers a stone-cold classic, though it's not my personal favourite. It's certainly got a singular atmosphere to it though. It's cerebral psychedelica I guess. My brother really enjoys it though he's much more into drug culture than me... there's something of the lucid dream about it. Definitely one for a dark room with headphones.

Out of the later albums I really love Your Children Placate You From Premature Graves from 2006. It's unusually straight for the Dots, properly intimate and autobiographical in places. Just great storytelling and vocals from Edward across the whole album. A real keeper and one I've listened to a lot of times.

Anyway, embarrassment of riches and all that. I get the impression that their only relatively duff period was the late-90s to early 00s but I'm sure that there's still loads of great stuff within to savour and enjoy. Worthy of laudation!

One way of properly getting into the Dots is to watch lots of Virgil Pink's remarkable fan videos:
https://www.youtube.com/user/therezident/search?query=legendary+pink+dots

You could spent a good afternoon well spent watching them. Here are some favourites:

'Pennies For Heaven'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzW49_Py7P4

'Jewel in the Crown'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FX8_GUpUqJs

'Third Secret'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9C5hrpbG-c

And here's a rather diminished video I made for the Dots' brilliant very early track 'Voices'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcVHWlnSss4

(As a side-note, Vigil Pink's videos from The Residents are even better!)

And finally, me and a couple of friends have actually been engaged in the ludicrous and herculean endeavor of trying to review all the Dots' albums from the start... we've only made a dent so far, though we're still going:
http://kittysneezes.com/?cat=7583

[Dirty Boy]

Thanks for the info/links! There've undoubtably some very good stuff and i'm only scratching the surface. I'm having a hard time with some of it but slowly coming round to Ka-Spel's bleak way of looking at the world. I think it's really something you have to immerse yourself in before it starts to make sense rather than just listening to an album or two (it took me a long time and a similar approach to get into C93/Tibet also).

I listened to The Tower only recently, but it didn't really grab me. I'd consider it 'of it's time' but i probably need to go back to it at some point. The Maria Dimension and Shadow Weaver seem to be fan favourites, but i'm finding them a bit hit and miss. Any Day Now is pretty consistent and Asylum is a great, great album (as is The Golden Age, but i've already said that). Their best stuff is hauntingly beautiful in an almost nostalgic way. Late night walk around in the country music.

Think i'll try Island Of Jewels next based on your (not exactly complimentary) description. Always on the lookout for grim and upsetting music!

I've had a quick scan of that website, is that you interviewing Bill Drake?

[garbed_attic]

Not me, but Matt, who owns the website! Worth listening to!

(He now does more stuff on the LGBTQ* site Unicorn Booty, which is faaaaar more successful, but I rather miss our days of updating rather more regularly to Kitty Sneezes)