The Flying Lizards - Fourth Wall
#122
1981 Housekeeping
The Flying Lizards
Fourth Wall
Genre: Studio antics
1.5 out of 5
Requisite 80s cover: Curtis Mayfield’s “Move On Up”. I’m not sure if they were trying to deconstruct this or get on the radio with it. Either way, it’s not a success.
I was having a discussion today about something I’ve been noticing in female vocalists lately. If you are on Tik Tok you will no doubt have heard “Renee” by Sales or “Coffee for Your Head” by POWFU. Both highlight the female Vox, even though the latter is an annoying dirge rap about death. And in both cases, the women sound like they are trying as hard as they can to sound like insipid 9 year olds.
I find I have mixed emotions about this sound. Much as I loathe “baby talk” I think when the songs are good and the vocals match, cloying as they may be, they work. I’m thinking a lot of Lenka and Regina Spektor in this regard. And, back in the 80s, Thumbelina Guglielmo and, to an extent, Siouxie Sioux.
So, it happens that this album came up next and the very first track featured a sort of insipid sing song forced pre-pubescent female voice and I don’t know if that’s how Patti Paladin sings or if she was putting on an affect. I don’t care for it when Nell did it in Rocky Horror and I don’t care for it here.
Fortunately it doesn’t last long.
Unfortunately, what follows wasn’t much more than studio noodling. Stoodling. “Hey! Let’s redo “Revolution No. 9. A Lot!”
Why did I go on and on about the vocals on a single track? Because believe me, all that I would have left is to issue a screed.
No to this. This album was a chore.
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