A Sooper Spooky Friday 5!!

November 1st 2008 by E..

The Chameleons - “Swamp Thing” from Strange Times

One of the lesser-known bands that contributed to the oft-copied ‘post punk’ genre, The Chameleons (with a UK here in the States) blended the dreaminess of mid-‘80s 4AD pop with the guitar focus of Television…as spooky as the title suggests, this song goes great along with the more overplayed Hallowe’en tunes that show up on your holiday mixes year after year…

The Charlatans - “City Of The Dead” from Simpatico

Another band that had ‘UK’ tacked onto their name for American distribution, this more recent cut from the Madchester honeys is one of their best forays into a genre that isn’t their own…in this case, it’s the eerie reggae of “Ghost Town”-era Specials…while it would be great to hear Tim Burgess and company making Brit-reggae more often, what makes this a standout is how much it, well, stands out…

Bauhaus - “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” from In The Flat Field

If you were to pick any song to embody Hallowe’en (that isn’t by Oingo Boingo, of course), this would be it without a doubt…nearly 10 minutes of brooding music, brooding silence and a brooding Peter Murphy is enough to scare the heebie-jeebies out of just about anyone…while it wasn’t originally on their debut album, the song was added to most later issues of the disc…could you imagine that this was their debut single?…and they only got creepier from there…

Moxy Früvous - “Splatter Splatter” from Thornhill

Towards the end of their career (though I still have my fingers crossed that their hiatus really is just that), the Canadian quartet released this tribute to their beloved horror films…come to think of it, the song structure closely resembles an earlier song of theirs that’s also about movies, “Video Bargainville”…not only was it one of their last great tunes, “Splatter Splatter” also has one of the greatest lines: “He’s got a present for her from her daddy’s shack”…oof…

Siouxsie & The Banshees - “Cities In Dust” from Tinderbox

The leading lady of dark new wave has something in common with The Jam in that many of her best-known and best-loved songs weren’t on any of her proper albums…at least, not at first…good thing this tune made it onto an album, but getting a Banshees education from the Once/Twice Upon A Time singles collections isn’t such a bad idea, either…Siouxsie is also a great person to dress up as, and I’m sure that many Goth girls dress up like her without even realizing it…kids these days!…

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