487 Hello The Cult - Ressurrection Joe

Chart  entered :  22  December  1984

Chart  peak :  74

Number  of  hits  : 15

Modest  beginnings  here  for  a  band  I  didn't  think  much  of  at  the  time  but  whose  music  has  held  up  pretty  well  over  the  years.

Lead  singer  Ian  Astbury  was  born  in  Heswall, Cheshire  in  1962  and  was  a  face  around  Eric's  in  Liverpool  before  relocating  to  Bradford  where  he  formed  a  band  called  Southern  Death  Cult  with  three  other  guys  at  the  tail  end  of  1981. They  released  their  only  single  a  year  later  on  Situation  Two .

  "Fatman / Moya"  was  a  double  A-side  but  David  Jensen  picked  up  on  the  former  track  and  played  it  every  night.  It's  a  dense  slab  of  Goth  rock  with  an  anti-capitalist  message  sounding  very  like  contemporaries  The  Chameleons  or  Danse  Society  with  some  good  guitar  work  but  not  much  of  a  tune  for  Ian  to  bark  in  his  Dave  Vanian  meets  Kirk  Brandon  holler.  I  remember  Jensen  having  Bono  in  and  asking  him  his  opinion  of  it. Mr  Vox, clearly  uncomfortable  at  being  asked  to  comment  on  a  contemporary's  work  , mumbled  something  like " there  seems  to  be  some  intelligence  behind  the  bluster"   which  indicated  he  didn't  really  like  it  very  much.   I  think   "Moya"  is  actually  the  stronger  side,  with  its  nagging  bass  line,  ominous  keyboards  and  a  more  focused  lyric  about  the  despoliation  of  the  Native  American  population.

Southern  Death  Cult  were  not  destined  for  a  long  career  and  Ian  split  the  band  in  February  1983, the  others  re-grouping  with  a  new  singer  as  Getting  The  Fear. The  record  label  scraped  an  album  together  by  licensing  tracks  the  band  had  recorded  in  sessions   for  Jensen  and  Peel. Ian's  motive  for  splitting  the  group  was  the  current  availability  of  guitarist  Billy  Duffy  following  the  break-up  of  Theatre  of  Hate  whom  Southern  Death  Cult  had  supported. We've  already  met  Billy  of  course  ( see  the  posts  on  Spear  of  Destiny  and  The  Smiths ).

The  duo  formed  Death  Cult   in  April  1983   recruiting  their  rhythm  section  from  a  band  called  Ritual. Teenaged  guitarist  Jamie  Stewart   was  persuaded  to  switch  to  bass  by  drummer  Ray  Taylor-Smith  and  audition  for  the  group  he  had  already  joined. Ritual  had  put  out  two  records  a  single  called  "Mind  Disease"  and  an  EP  "Kangaroo  Court"  both  of  them  in  thrall  to  the  shouty  Gothic  punk  of  Theatre  of  Hate  or  The  Birthday  Party.

Death  Cult  quickly  put  out  their  own  first  EP  simply  called  "Death  Cult".  It  comprises  four  tracks  of  bracing, tuneless  Goth-rock  owing  much  to  Theatre  of  Hate. Three  of  them  are  based  on  the  Native  American  experience  while  the  final  and  best  track  , the  more  considered  "Christians"  gets  hot  under  the  collar  about  another  of  Ian's  preoccupations  the  Vietnam  War.

After  that release  Ian  decided  that  Taylor-Smith's  drumming  style  wasn't  what  he  wanted  and  arranged  a  swap  with  Sex  Gang  Children  for  their  former  Theatre  of  Hate  drummer  Nigel  Preston. He  had  played  on  their  final  two  singles  ( see  the  Spear  of  Destiny  post). He  then  moved  on  to  Sex  Gang  Children  and  played  on  just  the  one  single,  "Mauritia  Mayer",  an  incomprehensible  but  not  unenjoyable   post-punk  romp  which  sounds  like  PiL, The  Cure  and  The  Virgin  Prunes   at  different  points , before  linking  up  with  The  Cult.

With  Nigel  on  board, the  next  single  "God's  Zoo"  in  October  1983  had  a  much  tighter  sound  with  Billy's  melodic  guitar  riff  and  Nigel's  crisp  drumming. This  state-of-the  nation  address  sounds  almost  U2-like  in  places.

At  the  end  of  the  year  the  band  decided  their  name  was  probably  restricting  their  chances  of  airplay  and  decided  to  become  The  Cult  in  the  dressing  room  before  appearing  on  The  Tube  so  Jools  Holland  got  the  honour  of  announcing  it.  The  first  single  under  the  new  name  was  "Spiritwalker"  in  April  1984.  The  band  again  plunder  Native  American  imagery  for  the  lyrics  but  it's  really  all  about  Billy's  driving  riff  which  pushes  the  song  forward  even  if  it  does  sound  a  bit  like  The  Passions'  The  Swimmer .

The  next  single  "Go  West" , an  ironic  recitation  of  the  U.S.  government's  sales  pitch  to  white  settlers  was  another  step  towards  mainstream  accessibility  with  an  identifiable  chorus  - "We  can  offer  you  everything "  - and  a  guitar  that's  almost  funky  on  the  verses.  It  needed  a  cleaner  sound  for  radio  play.

The  album  "Dreamtime"  followed  shortly  afterwards.  It's  a  patchy  album  , catching  Ian  and  the  band  between  feathers  and  leathers,  with  the  re-worked  "Horse  Nation"  from  the  first  EP  still  sounding  a  bit  of  a  mess  next  to  the  streamlined   guitar  rock  of  the  title  track  and  "Gimmick". It's  also  noticeable  how  Ian's  reined  in  his  vocal  histrionics  since  the  early  singles  and  now  sounds  reasonably  tuneful. It  reached  number  21  in  the  UK.

"Ressurection  ( sic - it  was  Jamie's  mistake  when  designing  the  picture  sleeve ) Joe" was  not  a  track  from  the  original  LP.   Its  minor  showing  on  the  Christmas  chart  notwithstanding,  it's  considerably  less  commercial  than  the  two  singles  from  "Dreamtime", based  on  an  angular  bass  line  rather  than  one  of  Billy's  riffs  and  episodic  in  structure, none  of  it  graced  with  a  tune.  It's  somewhere  between  The  Banshees  and  Wah  with  Ian  sounding  remarkably  like  old  pal  Pete  Wylie  The  lyric  castigates  some  televangelist  but,  like  the  music,  it's  too  loose  to  grab  your  attention; their  real  breakthrough  would  come  with  the  next  one.