Flesh
My Boy Lollipop b/w Flesh
I’m very lucky to have come across this long ago (think I actually bought it from Ron Lessard of RRR Records if I remember…) This is mostly an important document for being the first record by Andrew McKenzie, later to be somewhat part of the Come Organization/Whitehouse circle and be a founding member of Dadaist sound artists the Hafler Trio (and eventually the only member left…)
This 7″ is comparatively more conventional than the Hafler Trio (by far) as it does have guitars (although discordant), bass and a primitive Maureen Tucker-like drum thump. But it’s a bit of an uncomfortable listening experience initially. I played this at a recent DJ set I did at a record store and John Schoen of Pengo said it was creepy. Indeed this piece of wax is up there with the German Shepherds, Schloss Tegal and some of Monty Cazazza’s early stuff as far as being unsettling overall… Of course on the back cover it is written: “This record was made especially with you in mind.”
The A side has a reworking of the mid 60s smash hit “My Boy Lollipop”, but manages to put upfront the sexual innuendo that was below the surface of the original, suggesting maybe not pedophilia necessarily but maybe just some kind of pent-up infantilism. The AA side is simply called “Flesh” and is an original and probably won’t make you any less queasy lyric-wise. Sample lyric: “I don’t have friends I just stand beside people…” The record ends with a quite evil laugh, the kind that’s hard to fake, actually…
Well I think I see it worthy of review as a part of little-known post-punk/industrial history. It’s probably not hard to find as I can’t see many people who would want it besides those with a taste for the perverse and darkly humorous like myself. But there are people who actually record weird stuff like this, honestly! You can’t just sweep it under the rug…