Then: I think it was around 10th grade that I started abandoning Tool and Korn and all that crap, and for about a year I really got into 80s goth type stuff, mostly through my previous association with Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson. I picked up all the essentials: Disintegration, Violator, and of course Floodland. It was never my favorite of the group (I was a big Depeche Mode guy) but 'Lucretia My Reflection' was a stalwart on the mixtapes I had in my car when i first got my license.
Now: Listening to the album after a long time away, it really rides so strongly on the good graces of its three singles: 'This Corrosion', 'Dominion/Mother Russia', and the aforementioned 'Lucretia My Reflection'. All three songs remain astounding, and show that Andrew Eldritch could write a killer hook when he wanted to (to say nothing of Jim Steinman's production, which is bombastic, ridiculous, and totally awesome). Sadly, he doesn't show the same panache for the rest of the album as he does for its singles, and honestly the rest of Floodland is actually kind of boring, which is always the most egregious offense when you're creating art. Still, if you could cut Floodland down to the singles, it would be a nifty little EP (and a fairly beefy one too, considering that two of the singles cracked 7 minutes).
I'd bump it up to a six-song record. Flood I and Flood II are indispensable, and Driven Like the Snow is quite good, too. But yeah, 1959 is skippable, and I very rarely listen to the last three songs on the record.
ReplyDeleteLately I've been listening to this one on repeat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2dEAUpTMz4
Great track, dig the atmosphere. It reminds me of the last track on Ministry's 'Psalm 69'.
DeleteI really got into 80s goth type stuff, mostly through my previous association with Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson.
ReplyDeleteSpooky. That's pretty much how it was with me, too.