In Praise of....Electric by the Cult

As for The Cult's Electric, I couldn't even begin to defend it, as it's the kind of thing I likely wouldn't be able to sit through all of without wanting to turn it off. It was certainly a mystifying change for them at the time, a change I wish they hadn't made. It reminds me of a really good friend I had in high school, though, who was pretty crazy about the Cult when it came out (I believe they were his fave band) and even he was rather incredulous. I remember him telling me about some of the lyrics, the use of the word "mama" and such. We laughed about it. I think it's quite possible he stuck by the band anyway and just didn't tell folks about it, though.

I'm afraid the only non-Slaughter & The Dogs stuff I've heard of his is the Nosebleeds' "I Ain't Bin To No Music School" which is amusing but pretty neanderthal (definitely worth hearing, if only to wonder what the fuck it must have sounded like with Morrissey singing it!) and "'Kin' ell Tommy".

I was at the first gig he did with Slaughter & The Dogs (supporting UK Suns at The Lyceum in December '79 iirc) 'though, which was an extremely creditable performance, especially given the absolute last-minute zero rehearsal-time nature of his recruitment, after Wayne Barrett failed to show following a row - he was actually in the dressing room with Mick Rossi desperately learning the set right up until the moment they had to go on!

I saw Billy Duffy a few months ago, playing with Jerry Cantrell in their awfully-named cover band Cardboard Vampyres. Terrible name aside, they were good fun -- opened for Judas Preist at Shoreline, and did a bunch of Cult & AIC covers, with AC/DC, Motorhead, Sabbath, etc thrown in for good measure.

TS: Billy Duffy vs. Geordie?

NO ONE is as cool as Geordie. Not even his Duffness.

Theatre Of Hate and The Cult were both far more image-conscious bands than Killing Joke, the only one of whom actually seemed to make an effort to look cool was Big Paul.

`Cept Geordie doesn't play a Gretsch.

It probably isn't a Gretsch that Duffy plays either.

http://www.anirrationaldomain.net/images/memo/memo07.jpg

"She Sells Sanctuary" by the Cult....in actuality the BEST SONG EVER.

When did he start playing that? I'm no great afficianado of the guitar but I'm sure pretty he was playing something with a solid body (live, even if not in the studio) all the time Youth was still in the band.

http://www.gibson.com/Files/img/anguscover.jpg

http://www.legendsofpunk.com/images/gallery/previews/KGJ005.jpg

I'm afraid I'm already familiar with and deeply in love with this track, if only because the clumsy guitar riff from Vini Reilly shows he could do a punk riff that still sounded like no one else in the known universe could have sounded. Amateurishly brilliant.

Billy Duffy could play for a Kajagoogoo tribute band and still be the coolest motherfucker in the zip code.

True then, true now.

They're reissuing this with the shelved Peace album as a bonus and, though I've heard all the recordings and bought them in various editions, I have to say I'm going to do it again. Love this stuff.

I rejected the false metal of Electric in the 80s (though none of my friends did, so I've heard it many many times) but I learned there's a pre-Rick Rubin version available now, so I picked up Electric Peace and I love the unruined Peace as much as I thought I would!

lol the "false metal" of Electric is one of its prime attributes! It plays both as tribute and parody.

I like Sonic Temple better

Me too! I think I bumped a Cult thread a couple of weeks back to praise "Sonic Temple," which has hooks galore, excellent arrangements, huge drums from Mickey Curry, the return of some psychedelia and about 60% less silliness than its predecessor.

I was like 16 when this came out, and I have really fond memories of it at the time? I *loved* the cover, and had good associations through loving the singles from the previous album. But at age 16, I completely lacked any context for what "false" or "true" metal even was (and didn't really care) - it was just another vaguely psychedelic goth/post-punk record to me, until Sonic Temple really pushed The Cult over the edge into "music for the kinds of dudes who try to beat me up on the bus". (My girlfriend liked that one, but... she was far more metal-friendly than I.)

I just tried to listen to it today - and I just couldn't do it. I was laughing too hard. All of the sonic references and musical quotes that I completely missed when I was 16, I am far too aware of now, to take it in any way seriously.

The "baby, baby, baby, baby" bit was brilliant for helltapes, though.

I tried Peace earlier this week and couldn't disagree more with f. hazel's take. That thing would have absolutely sunk their career. It wasn't hard rock enough to have made any commercial impact, and it wasn't goth enough to hold onto their old fans. Plus, every song from it that showed up on Electric was longer and slower.

It kind of reminded me of White Zombie's Make Them Die Slowly, not in that the two albums were in any way sonically similar, but in the sense that it was a record by a band that hadn't found its identity yet and was still fumbling around.

I just tried to listen to it today - and I just couldn't do it. I was laughing too hard. All of the sonic references and musical quotes that I completely missed when I was 16, I am far too aware of now, to take it in any way seriously.

It's absolutely a tribute album, halfway to being a covers album (except that the one actual cover - "Born To Be Wild" - is one of the worst things on it), but that's not a bad thing. I remember decades ago reading a review claiming that a novelist "steals freely from poor sources"; I always loved that phrase. The Cult steal from the best, and when you point it out, Astbury will happily engage you in conversation about how much the band/album he stole a riff or a piano sound or a chorus from rules. (I interviewed him in 2010 or so and had a blast talking to him - he's right on that line between "smarter than you think" and "dumb as a bag of hair". It was like talking to a puppy, in a way.)

I just feel like Sonic Temple is so much more assured and the ironic air quotes have been removed and they actually became a band that could rock Midwestern rubes, better songs

I don't think of the Cult as being ironic at all. They're like Primal Scream - too dumb to be a put-on. Astbury's always trying on hats, and when he finds one that fits he runs around in it for a couple of years.

I dunno, I think people can be dumb and also winkingly knowing at the same time? Or maybe with Primal Scream, it was the people around them who were clever enough to be knowing? I did think of comparing between the two bands and their attitudes to their source material - but I think the Scream's influences were much wider ranging, and because the records they were pillaging were more interesting (to me at least) the records were marginally more interesting? Or more Zeitgeisty? I agree they're doing the same thing, but the results are quite different.

(That said, I noped out on the Scream a long time ago due to, erm, unacceptable behaviour.)

Y'all it was a joke, I was sixteen and I didn't like any metal* at all. But now I am projecting back and rewarding my teenage judgement: I indeed would have liked Electric more if it had sounded more like Love. Maybe being a goth was protection against false metal, it made you suspicious of earnest sentiment. Not that Love isn't earnest as hell. But nobody can really resist She Sells Sanctuary. I remember being sent Sonic Temple by Columbia House and it felt like a personal insult; Fire Woman struck me as the alchemical opposite of Rain, ugly everywhere Rain was beautiful. But since I only had about a dozen CDs at that point I listened to it all the time anyway. I think of it somewhat fondly now. But I am actively enjoying this Peace album.

*I wanted to, the metal kids at my school were the salt of the earth

Astbury's always trying on hats,

I think Electric rules, but that's entirely down to Billy Duffy. A fantastic guitar sound and some very tasty riffs. Astbury bellows along and sometimes it works well, sometimes not so much. But Duffy delivers every time.

Electric rules! Don't hate fun.

Peace is more fun though

Guys I heard Peace for the first time and I am upset

WHERE ARE THE RIFFS ;_;

ie thanks i hate it

Electric def rules bayby bayby bayby

Love is the better album, imho.

Love is the best, Electric is the most fun, Sonic Temple might be an okay middle ground between those two vibes. I know I've heard other albums by them but nothing has ever clicked.

Dreamtime is A-OK

nobody can really resist She Sells Sanctuary.

Truest statement on this board.

Are there any clunkers on Love? "Revolution," maybe. That's about it.

Choice of Weapon is really good, maybe my favorite of their records. I don't like Love but Electric and Sonic Temple are both more or less equally good. I vaguely remember their most recent record, Under the Midnight Sun, being OK. I'll just quote myself from above re Electric:

It's absolutely a tribute album, halfway to being a covers album (except that the one actual cover - "Born To Be Wild" - is one of the worst things on it), but that's not a bad thing. I remember decades ago reading a review claiming that a novelist "steals freely from poor sources"; I always loved that phrase. The Cult steal from the best, and when you point it out, Astbury will happily engage you in conversation about how much the band/album he stole a riff or a piano sound or a chorus from rules. (I interviewed him in 2010 or so and had a blast talking to him - he's right on that line between "smarter than you think" and "dumb as a bag of hair". It was like talking to a puppy, in a way.)

I don't think of the Cult as being ironic at all. They're like Primal Scream - too dumb to be a put-on. Astbury's always trying on hats, and when he finds one that fits he runs around in it for a couple of years.

I don't like Love

There's a surprise.