Artist: BOYD RICE AND FRIENDS
Title: Music, Martinis and Misanthropy
Year of Release: 1990
Label: NER/Tesco
Format: CD
Not exactly spoken word I would argue that this album has more to offer from a lyrical perspective than a musical one, though it is engaging enough on that front that if for some reason you didn’t get what Boyd Rice and co had to say, you’d still extract something from it, irrespective of how ironic that reality may be.
Rice is joined by Death In June mainmain Douglas P. and Blood Axis’ Michael Moynihan. As suggested, the musical element of this eloquently titled opus sounds a little spontaneous, and not so far removed from much of DIJ’s neo folk output, but the true strength lays in the lyrical component.
Rice has a fantastic grasp on satire, though what makes this offering even more inspiring is that when Boyd calls for a brutal gardener to rid the world of all the stupid, ignorant and ugly people, the degrees which constitutes satire and desire are weighted heavily in feelings born of the heart. Indeed his feelings expressed in ‘People’ could not be more succinct; Rice just paints the picture in less cryptic strokes.
Drawing further inspiration from the likes of Anton La Vey, Ragnar Redbeard, Lee Hazlewod and The Carpenters, I would recommend ‘Rose Clouds…’ by Death In June or ‘The Gospel Of Inhumanity’ by Blood Axis over this offering, though if you are looking for something that channels the loathing for the living a little more succinctly, ‘Music, Martinis and Misanthropy’ is for you.
