The Lords of the New Church “Killer Lords”

Published On: December 7, 2017Tags: , , , , ,

The Lords of the New Church “Killer Lords” 1985. Compilation album from goth/punk supergroup: Stiv Bators of the Dead Boys, Brian James from The Damned, Dave Tregunna from Sham 69 and Nick Turner of the Barracudas. I’ve had my favorite track (and first Lords I ever heard) on pretty heavy repeat the last couple of days: the slinky and slightly dangerous “Dance With Me” which first appeared on their 1983 LP Is Nothing Sacred? The version on Killer Lords is remixed from the original, with a lot more mysterious whisper-sing and echoey effects. Most of my other favorite tracks on Killer Lords are also from that ‘83 release (I pretty much wore out the cassette in the 80′s): “Black Girl White Girl” and the excellent “Live For Today” which was first recorded by the The Rokes in 1966 and made a hit (#8 in the US) by The Grass Roots in 1967. Two other excellent covers are on this comp – TV Smith’s (the Adverts) “Lords Prayer” and the Lords of the New Church’s rendition of Madonna’s “Like a Virgin.” About “Like a Virgin” Allmusic says, “Opening with a punchy ‘hey’ and ending with an echoey belch (both joyously repeated at crucial moments throughout the song), the band turned in an unusually faithful cover version, albeit one that could barely contain all the cute snottiness that Stiv Bators could muster. Not until the song approaches its climax do the Lords cut loose, dropping all pretenses of art and fidelity, and sexing the material girl right out the door with their hysterical depravity. Outrageous and over the top, and packaged in an eye-catching picture sleeve that reveals one of Bators’ testicles, hanging beneath his wedding dress.” Less successful is the cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Hey Tonight” which sounds way too 80′s hair-metaly for my tastes.