Now You're A Punch Drunk Sycophant, A Little S.O.B.

March 21, 2018 7:38 AM

"The Commotions had been a certain kind of pop band; a thoughtful pop band. I wanted to do everything the Commotions had not done; I wanted to make stupid rock 'n' roll or beautiful, almost, fleur bleue type music. The things someone in the band would have said no to were all the things I wanted to say yes to."

Lloyd Cole (the X album) released to huge record company marketing campaign and expectation. Life size scowling LC figures are found in record stores all around the world. The album is critically acclaimed and vaults LC to superstar status in France and Sweden, but nowhere else. On the sell out world tour LC shocks Commotions fans with dirty loud rock music. Not all are happy with LC’s reinvention.

Don't Look Back
What Do You Know About Love ?
No Blue Skies
Loveless
Sweetheart
To The Church -
Downtown
A Long Way Down (live with orchestra)
Ice Cream Girl
Undressed
I Hate To See You Baby Doing That Stuff (live)
Waterline
Mercy Killing

posted by Major Matt Mason Dixon (9 comments total)

I was a fan. I still am. When I ask Siri to play me music I like, there's a good chance it'll be a Cole song. I've seen him and Matthew Sweet in concert more times than I can recall.
posted by cjorgensen at 8:46 AM on March 21, 2018 [1 favorite]

I love Lloyd Cole. I reckon he doesn't get enough recognition in my book.

And my favourite contemporary response to a Commotions song: Lloyd, I'm Ready to be Heartbroken.
posted by Kitteh at 9:16 AM on March 21, 2018 [4 favorites]

The reason I installed an early version of WinAmp was because I'd stumbled upon somebody's mp3 collection of Lloyd Cole rarities (Steady Slowing Down of the Heart, Eat Your Greens, etc.) and couldn't find anything to play them on. Of course Lloyd later remastered and re-released all this material and of course I bought it from his store. And of course he signed all the CDs.

Saw him at the Old Town School of Folk Music years ago when he played a solo show even though he had pneumonia. I think he was promoting "Music In a Foreign Language" so maybe 2003.

He does cool synth music, too.
posted by lagomorphius at 9:26 AM on March 21, 2018

The title of this post can be sung as an early-era Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band song
posted by NoMich at 10:08 AM on March 21, 2018

Yeah, I mean, in the context of fey, ultra-literate, college-leaning music in the middle- to late-'80s, his image change may have seemed a pretty strong volte-face, but listening to it now, the music settles into his catalogue pretty seamlessly. I worked for Rykodisc when he was releasing albums with us a few years hence, and although I felt those records were a little too smooth in the production dept., his songwriting rarely waned. I still get "Sentimental Fool" and "Like Lovers Do" in my head on a regular basis. He never really got his due, I think.
posted by mykescipark at 11:07 AM on March 21, 2018

I wanted to make stupid rock 'n' roll or beautiful, almost, fleur bleue type music

Pretentious, moi?
posted by w0mbat at 11:15 AM on March 21, 2018

What a great band he had for that album (and for the others too).
posted by borges at 12:16 PM on March 21, 2018

I got this a while back in the discount section because of the Lou Reed connection with Fred Maher and Robert Quine. I never gave it a proper listen, after the first side turned me off. I have to make soup now and its about 8 years later... I think the time might be right.

Thanks for the post.
posted by kittensofthenight at 7:02 PM on March 21, 2018

Thanks for posting this! I always have at least a hundred LC&TC plus LC songs in my iPhone at all times. I love them coming up randomly or when I need the perfect antidote to just about any situation.
I'll be forever grateful to a short-lived relationship with a girl named Sarah for introducing me to LC.
posted by drinkmaildave at 7:41 PM on March 21, 2018