“Queen Of Siam” by Lydia Lunch - album review

features in: Album Chart of 1980 ● Album Chart of the Decade: 1980s

The solo debut from the 20-year-old arrived in February ’80 and must have come as a bit of a surprise to those who were following on from her days with the abrasive guitar works of Teenage Jesus and The Jerks in mind. After an exceptionally doom-laden opening with “Mechanical Flattery”, “Gloomy Sunday” and “Tied And Twist”, the album twists unexpectedly with a successfully unorthodox interpretation of Mike Sharpe’s mainstream pop hit of 1966, “Spooky”. More genuinely spooky is the creepy, weepy prowler, “Los Banditos”, which follows. The introduction of Billy Ver Planck’s Orchestra on side two is inspired, and accounts for my two favourite tracks; “Lady Scarface” and “Knives In The Drain”. Lydia Lunch as alt-cabaret star makes perfect sense; she was born for melodramatics and theatrics, and the “Queen Of Siam” is a gem which is buried way too deeply.

The Jukebox Rebel
21–Nov–2016

Tracklist

A1	[02:46] Lydia Lunch - Mechanical Flattery (Lydia Lunch) Post-Punk
A2	[02:57] Lydia Lunch - Gloomy Sunday (Rezső Seress, Sam M. Lewis) Moodcore
A3	[02:55] Lydia Lunch - Tied And Twist (Lydia Lunch) Moodcore
A4	[02:40] Lydia Lunch - Spooky (Harry Middlebrooks, Mike Sharpe, James Cobb, Buddy Buie) Cerebral Pop
A5	[03:10] Lydia Lunch - Los Banditos (Lydia Lunch) Post-Punk
B1	[02:17] Lydia Lunch - Atomic Bongos (Lydia Lunch, Pat Irwin) Post-Punk
B2	[03:12] Lydia Lunch - Lady Scarface (Lydia Lunch) Crooner / Cabaret
B3	[03:54] Lydia Lunch - A Cruise To The Moon (Lydia Lunch) Jazz
B4	[02:11] Lydia Lunch - Carnival Fat Man (Lydia Lunch) Avant-Garde
B5	[04:00] Lydia Lunch - Knives In The Drain (Lydia Lunch, Frank Grant, Billy Ver Planck) Crooner / Cabaret
B6	[01:09] Lydia Lunch - Blood Of Tin (Lydia Lunch) Avant-Garde

ratings by TJR