I'm writing all my posts in advance just now....don't ask. So I don't know if last night's performance by Magazine lived up to expectations. I'm guessing that it did....But anyway, I thought it would be worth bringing your attention to Luxuria, the band that Howard Devoto formed in the late 80s. The only member was Norman Fisher-Jones, aka Noko, who has taken the place of the late John McGeogh in the live line-up of Magazine (and a great job he did at the gigs earlier this year).
So, it is a wee bit of a surprise that Luxuria proved to be a bit of a letdown. All we got were four singles and two albums but the songs, despite some excellent guitar playing from Noko and the occasional bit of lyrical genius from Howard, never really caught the imagination. Critically or commercially. Although there are quite a few folk out there who believe it to be Devoto's best period.
Judge for yourself with this 12" offering which was co-produced by Luxuria and Dave Formula, the keyboardist from Magazine:-
mp3 : Luxuria - The Beast Box Is Dreaming
mp3 : Luxuria - Beast Box
mp3 : Luxuria - Useless Love
There's a great tale of the band's last ever gig over at a myspace site:-
The final LUXURIA gig @ Town & Country Club (now The Forum) in London featured cameo appearances by Barry Adamson - Bass on a rendition of Magazine's "The Light Pours Out Of Me" for an encore, and Morrissey, who read a passage of Marcel Proust's "A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu" over the intro of "Mademoiselle" before throwing the tattered book into the crowd as the band kicked into the song. (There is a bootleg recording of the gig in circulation).
Was anyone there? And did this really happen??
4 comments:
I think you're being a little bit harsh on Luxuria, JC. Unanswerable Lust was for me a little bit of a let down after the brilliant single Redneck (music video on YouTube) I would go as far as saying one of my top5 Devoto songs. Beast Box is the better album though Animal in the Mirror, Beast Box, Our Curious Leader, Dirty Beating Heart all great tracks! Have digged out my Luxuria albums from my collection and am playing them for the first time in a long while. I know Luxuria were no Magazine, but I think, still a pretty good band.
"I know Luxuria were no Magazine ..." and that's probably the problem - expectations were so high.
I loved the first single but nothing else I heard got me that enthused about buying the LPs. Seemed kind of like late period Magazine but not as good.
Yes, at least I have HEARD a recording of Morrissey reading a few bits from Proust´s novel, supposedly from this gig: what is most striking is his pronunciation of "power" - - -
For me Luxuria was a different animal to Magazine. The link was Devoto's lyrics, but the point of view seemed different, jaded or weathered - in a good way. I highly rate Luxuria, possibly because I missed Devoto so much or mostly because they were a bright spot in the muddled musical landscape of the late 80's.
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